Music Test 3 Flashcard

Music Test 3

Peace in Jerusalem essays

Peace in Jerusalem essays Just as Madeleine Albright was heading to the Middle East, peace talks were already starting to deteriorate. "The chief Palestinian negotiator, angry about accelerated construction plans at Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank, said he would no longer discuss anything with Israel except the settlements, which the Palestinians and much of the international community consider illegal." 1 This of course disrupted any chance of a "broad settlement to end a century of conflict". 2 Albright arrived in Saudi Arabia late Monday night, the 6th of December, and on to Syria for talks with President Hafex Assad yesterday, arriving in Israel sometime late today. These negotiations were to be a final Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty. They were to be completed within a year17. With this new problem, however, they ground to a halt. According to Abed-Rabbo, "We have stressed to the Israelis that this issue is creating a major obstacle in the path of the final-status negotiations". 3 This issue must be finalized before any further agreements can be made. The negotiators from the United States were "disappointed but not entirely surprised by the latest turn of events. It is hardly uncommon, on the eve of a visit by a U.S. secretary of state, for one side or another to seek tactical advantage by manufacturing a crisis." 4 This ruse is very possibly a way for the Palestinians to pull the U.S. into the negotiations, "to compensate for their weak negotiating position relative to Israel." 5 The "Israeli officials dismissed the dispute as artificial, created by the Palestinians in the hope of drawing Albright into a direct mediation role during her two-day stop here". 6 This is not an unfamiliar situation for the U.S. negotiators as they prepare to come into the region, "similar crisis often have occurred in the negotiation process as American envoys have made preparations to come to the region, and they said it was not yet clea...

Whistleblowing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Whistleblowing - Research Paper Example nzi scheme in 2009 – discuss their causes, analyze the importance of whistleblowing and find out the implications that this practice has had on corporate governance globally. At the end of 2001, Enron’s filing for bankruptcy made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in the history of the United States. This fall from being the most innovative company as per Fortunes Most Admired Companies survey was catastrophic. Enron’s misconduct were brought to the fore by Sherron Watkins, a former vice president who had previously warned Enron’s chairman that its current aggressive accounting tactics were nontransparent and would come back and haunt the organization. From her investigations Watkins became increasingly alarmed as it became apparent that Enron was using accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting to misrepresent earnings by hiding billions in debt from projects. Enron was a classic case of audit failure which forced the US government to come up with legislation to prevent such scandals from future occurrence. In 2002, WorldCom overtook Enron as the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history – a record that has since been broken by Lehman Brothers in 2008. WorldCom, like Enron, was also involved in use of fraudulent accounting techniques that classified operating costs as capital expenditures and inflated revenues through phony accounting entries to create a facade of financial growth and profitability. Even though the WorldCom board reacted swifter than Enron in dealing with the masterminds of this fraud, it still took the courage of Cynthia Cooper to blow the whistle on WorldCom's unscrupulous financial practices. In reaction to these scandals, the US government enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 together with several amendments to the U.S. stock exchanges’ regulations. The new rules included different provisions whose purpose was to ensure alignment of incentives of corporate insi ders with those of investors, and to reduce the likelihood of corporate misconduct and fraud. For example, the new rules mandated exchange regulations to require a majority of independent directors on corporate boards and independence of the board committees that choose new directors and compensate managers (Chhaochharia & Grinstein, 2007). This act also included provisions that protect whistleblowers by forcing companies to create dedicated mechanisms to record and track information provided by employees both anonymously and confidentially (Eaton & Akers, 2007). The third whistleblower case is somewhat different from the Enron and WorldCom cases with the whistleblower being an individual not operating within the company that committed the fraud. In this instance, Harry Markopolos took it upon himself to conduct an independent financial fraud investigation for close to a decade to uncover evidence that Bernie Madoff's wealth management business was nothing but a grand Ponzi sche me. Markopolos probed Madoff’s operation and kept filing formal complaints at the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to have Madoff’s hedge fund investigated. The SEC never acted on Markopolos’ tips until 2008. Bernard Madoff Securities firm pitched investors a strategy he called ‘split strike conversion’

International business context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International business context - Essay Example Most significantly is the fact that mergers have resultant benefits and accrued demerits. As a result, there have been diverse arguments for and against the policy of mergers in the international business. Over the years, the growth of mergers continues to fall. In fact, in 2011 and 2012, there were few mergers, with only four deals hitting the $20 billion mark in 2012. The pro-mergers argue that those global level mega-mergers are inevitable as part of the cycle of consolidation and concentration in globalizing industries where firms seek to gain advantage and accelerate their presence (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). On the other hand, the anti-mergers argue that business leaders should embrace innovativeness and desist from mergers in approaching international business Ghemawat & Ghadar (2000). Indeed, according to AT Kearney, in a span of 25 years, all industries in the globe will consolidate in four stages that include the opening phase, the accumulation, focus, and allia nce stage (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-2). He notes that the four stages are distinct and derive unique results. He argues that industries follow a similar consolidation pattern although some industries may spend more time in certain stages than others may. Moreover, he states that all industries encounter similar challenges at respective stages. Additionally he argues that the size, location, and type of business does not matter in consolidation but endgames stage matters. An industry starts at a low level of concentration and increases its merger and acquisition activity until it reaches saturation. At this point, alliances form. From the article, we can derive that companies follow a uniform consolidation pattern and consolidation allows companies to get bigger (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). More so, merger decline upon reaching concentration and result to alliances. As such, when companies understand the patterns that mergers follow, and appreciate that their com panies stand on the consolidation curve, then they can initiate successful mergers. Actually, A.T. Kearney’s theory predicts that then dominant players in the industry will gain 60-70% of global market revenues in a merger endgame. This demonstrates the escalating free movement of resources, people, and information over the few years (Deans, Kroeger, & Zeisel 2002, p.1-3). Most importantly, it is worth noting that mergers bear significant benefits to international business despite the process having reasonable risks. As such, the benefits of any merger rely heavily on the marketing strategy in application and therefore not all mergers are successful. Notably, a successful merger that combines two or more companies’ leads to expansion of services and products offered as well as customer base and market shares. Ideally, when companies combine in a buyout strategy, they relevantly share resources and expand their market presence locally and internationally. More so, the m arket expansion and consolidation of resources cuts down operation and business costs (Periasamy 2009, p.11). For example, when a local company mergers with an international company the local company gains international market presence through the networks established by its partner. Indeed, most companies lack international networks and thus to gain international market presence a merger is relevant. More so, the establishment of a merger enables a

It's FAMILY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

It's FAMILY - Essay Example Among these authors, Nicolas Cage has tried to uphold the positive sides of a family in his film â€Å"Family Men†. In â€Å"Lottery†, Shirley Jackson talks about the cruelty and superstition of member family members. Whereas in the poem, â€Å"Daddy† Sylvia Plath disparages the conservative control of a father over a girl, Hayden appears to be confused about how to assess his father’s control as well as his care for the child. But in the story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, Flannery O’ Connor tells about the fakery of a family member, namely the Grandmother. But she considers all men and women as members of a common human family. After all, authors present both the good and bad sides of family life and family members. They, to a great extent, reflect Charlotte’s view of the negative consequences of family. Thesis: Though family is important for human life, the authors say that it has both the good and the bad sides and some author itative family members can be harmful for other members. Like Charlotte Gilman, Sylvia is preoccupied with the harmful dominance and control of family members such as a father or a husband on a girl or a woman. In the poem â€Å"Daddy† by Sylvia Plath deals with the negative consequences of a father influence on a child. In the poem, the poet compares her father with a number of imagery, such as daddy, shoe, devil, commander of Jewish extermination, etc to portray the unhappiness that her father caused to her. She compares her father with someone protective; but obviously for her protection, this protection is dark and choking. This is evident in her use of the imagery of black shoe. Shoe protects one’s feet but its blackness means that it is a dark protection (Plaths â€Å"Daddy†). Both Charlotte and Sylvia agree that conservative attitude of family members like father and husband harmful for a woman because they make her passive and choke

Cultural Differences and Switching of In-Group Sharing

Cultural Differences and Switching of In-Group Sharing Nuchelle Atkinson, M.A. Research Article Critique Qiu, L., Lin, H., Leung, A. K. (2013). Cultural Differences and Switching of In-Group Sharing  Behavior between an American (Facebook) and a Chinese (Renren)  Social Networking Site. Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(1), 106-121. Emma J. Barnes Abstract Culture is often mirrored by or perceived through shared practices in a community. The different shared practice on users’ national culture represents their host cultures. Facebook is the main social network site (SNS) in Singapore, thus, the partakers was considered bicultural online users, because of the widespread experiences to two culturally different online environments. The authors studied cultural differences and behavioral switching in the context of the fast emerging, naturally occurring online social networking, using both self-report measures and content analyses of online activities on two highly popular platforms; Facebook and Renren (the â€Å"Facebook of China†). Furthermore, the study considered indications of the extent to which characteristics described perceived cultures. These results set the stage for further investigations on flexible switching of actual sharing behaviors. The results also provided the basis that users’ behavioral differenc es in online sharing are due to their culturally shared practice as opposed to differences in technical capabilities. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to achieve two objectives; to seek to identify cross-cultural differences between technologically similar SNS platforms; Facebook and Renren (the â€Å"Facebook of China†). Second, to demonstrate cultural frame switching in online environments. The study also sought to establish that Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms in terms of system performance, security, and user-friendliness of in-group sharing functions. This would eliminate the possibility that behavioral differences in the two online communities are attributable to technical differences between the two platforms. Methodology: . The study was conducted using a 5-Point Likert-type scale event on the News Feed page of the participants’ accounts. Participants completed a set of questionnaires on perceived characteristics and various technical capabilities of Facebook and Renren. We created a survey to examine the perceived cultures of Facebook and Renren using characteristics that are related to either a collectivistic or an individualistic orientation in the context of online social networking. We used the scale developed by Tuunainen, Pitkanen,and Hovi (2009) to assess user perception of information security on Facebook and Renren. Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory (WAMMI). WAMMI (www.wammi. com) is a measure widely used in industry for assessing the overall system performance Results: The present article fills this gap by studying the practice of in-group sharing, a highly common online behavior afforded by many SNSs. Our findings demonstrated for the first time that users with extensive experiences with two culturally distinctive SNS communities can flexibility switch their online behaviors to match the shared practice on those SNSs. Conclusions: first, our studies demonstrate that SNSs are interesting cultural environments on their own. our research suggests that SNS users can actively participate in multiple online cultures and acquire multicultural experiences through social interactions in the virtual world. Culture is often mirrored by or perceived through shared practices in a community. The different shared practice on users’ national culture represents their host cultures. Online culture has been considered as a knowledge system formed by constellations of shared practices, expectations, and structures that members choose to follow with the help of networked computer technology (Fuchs, 2008). However, little work has been approached from a cultural psychological perspective; there is a need to examine the emergence of online culture. Studying different online cultures will expand the possibility of cultural psychology by providing new evidence to support existing cultural theories or challenge established ones. Thus, it becomes increasingly important to understand the behavioral ramifications of exposure to multiple online cultures. The problem and statement of importance is clearly stated. The purpose of the study is to achieve two objectives; to seek to identify cross-cultural differences between technologically similar SNS platforms; Facebook and Renren (the â€Å"Facebook of China†) and to demonstrate cultural frame switching in online environments. The study also sought to establish that Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms in terms of system performance, security, and user-friendliness of in-group sharing functions. The authors hypothesized that Renren (vs. Facebook) culture is relatively more collectivistic, whereas Facebook (vs. Renren) culture is relatively more individualistic. The second hypothesis is that Renren and Facebook differ in their cultural orientations, with Renren being more collectivistic and Facebook being more individualistic. The authors hypothesize that in-group sharing is a shared practice more prevalent on Renren than on Facebook. All key terms are well d efined. The literature review is very comprehensive in that it covers all of the mechanisms associated with the current study. The authors identify different forms and interpretations of this study. The review concludes with a brief summary of relevant literature and the reasoning for this study. The author intent of the study was explained with words that reflect higher order thinking skills. The participants are mentioned, the setting of the study is explained and words are well chosen; free of jargon and no unnecessary words are used. Thus the purpose was clearly stated. The hypothesis was provided in the literature review and logical. The justification of why the study is important was stated and convincing. It explained the purpose of the study and provided a compelling foundation, enabling the work to be set in the context of both existing evidence and its practical applications. All of the references are pertinent to the problem and help to inform the reader of the study’s purpose. The author used a systematic methodology involving the construction of theory through the analysis of data. The study was conducted using a scale developed by Tuunainen, Pitkanen and Hovi (2009), Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory (WAMMI), and a 5-Point Likert-type scale event. Participants completed a set of questionnaires on perceived characteristics and various technical capabilities of Facebook and Renren. The authors created a survey to examine the perceived cultures of Facebook and Renren using characteristics that are related to either a collectivistic or an individualistic orientation in the context of online social networking. This was an original study as the authors seek to step further in examining if similar cultural switching behavior would occur in natural online environments.Previous research has shown that attributes such as sharing-oriented (Berry et al., 1997; Triandis, 1995), conformity-oriented (Bond Smith, 1996), hierarchical (Triandis, 1995), and supportive (Miller, 1997) pertain to collectivistic cultural characteristics, and attributes such as self-expressive (Kim Sherman, 2007), assertive (Church Lonner, 1998), egalitarian (Triandis, 1995), and competitive (Triandis, 1993) pertain to individualistic cultural characteristics. What are the variables? Participants completed a set of questionnaires’ in Chinese, the participants’ native language. In this study, the authors counterbalanced the order of questionnaires that asked about Facebook and Renren. The present article fills this gap by studying the practice of in-group sharing, a highly common online behavior afforded by many SNSs. The study demonstrated for the first time that users with extensive experiences with two culturally distinctive SNS communities can flexibility switch their online behaviors to match the shared practice on those SNSs. With online social networks becoming a highly viable research tool, the current research offers an example of utilizing online data to study an emerging sociocultural phenomenon. Study 1 confirmed that system performance, security, and the usability of sharing functions are similar across Facebook and Renren, the two SNSs differ in their language medium. Facebook’s user interface is in English, whereas Renren’s is in Chinese (although users can communicate in Chinese on Facebook and English on Renren). From the author’s viewpoint, language is part of the cultural systems on SNSs. Indeed, considerable evidence suggests that language constitutes a part of the larger culture such that the use of Chinese can activate the Chinese cultural system and the use of English can activate the Western cultural system (as sited in Bond, 1983; Trafimow, Silverman, Fan, Law, 1997). Thus, it is reasonable not to consider the effect of language as a rival explanation of the current finding, but to view language as an important element of the online culture in which the users are participating. Another alternative account concerns how different degrees of closeness of friendship on the two SNSs might have affected individuals’ sharing behaviors. Our participants joined the Renren community when they were in China, and later became Facebook users after they arrived in Singapore. One might argue that these friends’ online activities constitute only a small sample of activities that may not accurately represent what other users generally do and therefore the shared practices of the SNS cultures. We contend that, however, it is the practices and activities nominally engaged by their friends that are most likely to reflect the immediate cultural environment in which the participants are actively involved. Conclusions and Implications (2-3 paragraphs)3 points Are the conclusions of the study related to the  original purpose? The present article fills this gap by studying the practice of in-group sharing, a highly common online behavior afforded by many SNSs. The study demonstrated for the first time that users with extensive experiences with two culturally distinctive SNS communities can flexibility switch their online behaviors to match the shared practice on those SNSs. With online social networks becoming a highly viable research tool, the current research offers an example of utilizing online data to study an emerging sociocultural phenomenon. We highly encourage other researchers to capitalize on this valuable resource and study the cultural dynamics of their own interest. The conclusion of the present study is related to the original purpose. The purpose of the study is to achieve two objectives; to seek to identify cross-cultural differences between technologically similar SNS platforms; Facebook and Renren (the â€Å"Facebook of China†). Second, to demonstrate cultural frame switching in online environments. The study also sought to establish that Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms in terms of system performance, security, and user-friendliness of in-group sharing functions. Were the implications discussed? The current findings have important implications, both theoretically and methodologically. In  terms of theoretical significance, first, our studies demonstrate that SNSs are interesting cultural environments on their own. Their technological capabilities enable them to afford new norms and practices that are not previously observed offline. For example, instant in-group sharing of information such as videos and pictures can be easily done online but not offline. Nevertheless,  the use of new media may not alter the fundamental essence of a culture—the newly emerged  norms and practices online may evolve from and later reinforce the shared norms and imperatives prevalent in the culture where the online community is hosted. Thus, SNS practices could be important manifestations of cultural products that contribute to a sense of â€Å"cultural consensus† (Lamoreaux Morling, in press). Second, our research suggests that SNS users can actively participate in multiple online cultures and acquire multicultural experiences through social interactions in the virtual world. Whom the results and conclusions will effect? With millions of people engaging in online communities What recommendations were make at the conclusion? SNS communities can flexibility switch their online behaviors to match the shared practice With online social networks becoming a highly viable research tool, the current research offers an example of utilizing online data to study an emerging sociocultural phenomenon. We highly encourage other researchers to capitalize on this valuable resource and studythe cultural dynamics of their own interest.

Priotities of Gene Therapy Essay -- Genetics Science Medicine Papers

Priotities of Gene Therapy Gene therapy is a relatively new area of medicine that attempts to apply recent advances in molecular biology, genetics and biotechnology to the treatment of human diseases. Gene therapy uses a set of approaches to the treatment of human disease based on the transfer of genetic material (DNA) into an individual. Gene delivery can be achieved either by direct administration of gene-containing viruses or DNA to blood or tissues, or indirectly through the introduction of cells manipulated in the laboratory to harbor foreign DNA. As a sophisticated extension of conventional medical therapy, gene therapy attempts to treat disease in an individual patient by the administration of DNA rather than a drug. (1) Genetic manipulations, such as replacing defective or missing genes with healthy ones, can be used to alter germ cells (egg or sperm) and somatic cells. Theoretically germ-line gene therapy appears to have more advantages since it aims at preventing a genetic defect from being transmitted to future generations. However, the prospects of germ-line gene therapy look more remote due to many unresolved ethical and social problems as well as technical obstacles. (2) What is presently understood as gene therapy is, mostly, somatic cell gene therapy. By altering the genetic material of somatic cells onetime cures of devastating, inherited disorders may be potentially achieved. But, "in principle, gene therapy should be applicable to many diseases for which current therapeutic approaches are ineffective or where the prospects of effective treatment appear exceedingly low." (1) However, gene therapy is still extremely new and highly experimental. The number of approved clinical trials is smal l, and relativ... ...scarbamylase deficiency. Hum Gene Ther 10(14):2419-37. 5. Lehrman, S. 1999. Virus treatment questioned after gene therapy death. Nature 401(6753):517-8. 6. Federico M. 1999. Lentiviruses as gene delivery vectors. Curr Opin Biotechnol 10(5):448-453. 7. Iwakuma, T, Y. Cui, L.J. Chang. 1999. Self-inactivating lentiviral vectors with U3 and U5 modifications. Virology 15;261(1):120-32. 8. Ropert, C. 1999. Liposomes as a gene delivery system. Braz J Med Biol Res;32(2):163-9. 9. Lanzov, V.A. 1999. Gene Targeting for Gene Therapy: Prospects. Mol Genet Metab 68(2):276-282. 10. Kren, B.T., R. Metz, R. Kumar, C.J. Steer .1999.Gene repair using chimeric RNA/DNA oligonucleotides. Semin Liver Dis 19(1):93-104. 11. Zanjani, D., W. French Anderson.1999. Prospects for in Utero Human Gene Therapy. Science 285(5436) p.2084-8. 12. New York Times, August 4, 1998.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Epilogue

Epilogue The angel took the book from him, then went out the door and across the hall, where he knocked on the door. â€Å"He's finished,† the angel said to someone in the room. â€Å"What, you're leaving? I can just go?† asked Levi who was called Biff. The door across the hall opened, and there stood another angel, this one seeming to have more a female aspect than Raziel. She too held a book. She stepped into the hall to reveal a woman standing behind her, wearing jeans and a green cotton blouse. Her hair was long and straight, dark with reddish highlights, and her eyes were crystal blue and seemed to glow in contrast to her dark skin. â€Å"Maggie,† said Levi. â€Å"Hi, Biff.† â€Å"Maggie finished her Gospel weeks ago,† said Raziel. â€Å"Really?† The Magdalene smiled. â€Å"Well, I didn't have as much to write as you did. I didn't see you guys for sixteen years.† â€Å"Oh, right.† â€Å"It is the will of the Son that you two go out together into this new world,† said the female angel. Levi went across the hall and took her in his arms. They kissed for a long time until the angels began to clear their throats and murmur â€Å"Get a room† under their breaths. They held each other at arm's length. Levi said, â€Å"Maggie, is this going to be like it always was? You know, you're with me, and you love me and everything, but it's only because you can't have Josh?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"That's so pathetic.† â€Å"You don't want to be together?† â€Å"No, I want to, it's just pathetic.† â€Å"I have money,† she said. â€Å"They gave me money.† â€Å"That's good.† â€Å"Go,† said Raziel, losing his patience. â€Å"Go, go, go. Go away.† He pointed down the hallway. They started walking down the hallway, arm in arm, tentatively, looking back at the angels every few steps, until at last they looked back and the angels were gone. â€Å"You should have stuck around,† the Magdalene said. â€Å"I couldn't. It hurt too much.† â€Å"He came back.† â€Å"I know, I read about it.† â€Å"He was sad because of what you had done.† â€Å"Yeah, so was I.† â€Å"The others were angry with you. They said that you had the greatest reason to believe.† â€Å"That why they edited me out of their Gospels?† â€Å"Good guess,† she said. They stepped into the elevator and the Magdalene pushed the button for the lobby. â€Å"By the way, it was Hallowed,† she said. â€Å"What was Hallowed?† â€Å"The H. His middle name. It was Hallowed. It's a family name, remember, ‘Our father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.'† â€Å"Damn, I would have guessed Harvey,† Biff said. Afterword Teaching Yoga to an Elephant And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. JOHN 21:25 Can you really teach yoga to an elephant? Well no, you can't, but we're talking about Jesus here. Nobody knows what he could do. The book you've just read is a story. I made it up. It is not designed to change anyone's beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you've decided to be kinder to your fellow humans (which is okay), or you decide you really would like to try to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape. I researched Lamb, I really did, but there is no doubt I could have spent decades researching and still managed to be inaccurate. (It's a talent, what can I say?) While I've made some attempt to paint an accurate picture of the world in which Christ lived, I changed things for my own convenience, and sometimes, obviously, there was no way of knowing what conditions really existed in the years 1 through 33. The available written history about the peasant class, society, and the practice of Judaism in the first century in Galilee degenerates quickly into theory. The role of the Pharisees in peasant society, the Hellenistic influence, the influence of an international city like Joppa nearby: who knows how these things would have affected Christ as a boy? Some historians postulate that Yeshua of Nazareth would have been little more than an ignorant hillbilly, while others say that because of the proximity of Sepphoris and Joppa, he could have been exposed to Greek and Roman culture from an early age. I chose the latter because it makes for a more interesting story. The historical life of Jesus, beyond a couple of references by Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, and the odd mention by Roman historians, is again mostly speculation. What we can know today of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is included in the four slim Gospels found in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For those readers who know the Gospels (bear with me), you know that Matthew and Luke are the only two to mention Christ's birth, while Mark and John cover only the ministry part of Jesus' life. The wise men are mentioned only in one short passage in Matthew, and the shepherds are mentioned only in Luke. The slaughter of the innocents and the fleeing into Egypt are mentioned only in Matthew. In short, Jesus' infancy is a jumble, but the chronicle of his childhood is worse. Of the time from Jesus' birth to when he began his ministry in his thirties, the Bible gives us only one scene: Luke tells us of Jesus teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem at age twel ve. Other than that, we have a thirty-year hole in the life of the most influential human being to ever walk the face of the earth. With Lamb, in my own goofy way, I attempted to fill that hole in history, but again, I am not trying to present history as it might really have been, I'm simply telling stories. Some of the historical elements of Lamb are uncomfortable to work the modern mind around. The precocious sexuality comes to mind. That Maggie would have been betrothed by twelve and married by thirteen is almost certain from what we know of Jewish society in the first century, as are the facts that a Jewish boy of the time would have been learning his trade by age ten, would be betrothed at thirteen, and would be married by fourteen. Trying to create empathy for the adult roles of those whom we, today, would consider children, was of no small concern to me when I was writing that section of the book, but it may be the one section where the sexuality of the characters is not historically out of place. The average peasant in Galilee would have been lucky to live to the age of forty, so perhaps the children, by necessity, reached sexual maturity earlier than they would under less harsh conditions. Although there are, I'm sure, many historical inaccuracies and improbabilities in this book, the most blatant that I have knowingly indulged is in the section where Biff and Joshua visit Gaspar in the mountains of China. While Gautama Buddha did indeed live and teach some five hundred years before the birth of Christ, and while his teachings were widespread in India by the time our heroes could have made it to the East, Buddhism didn't make it into China for almost five hundred years after Christ's death. The martial arts would not be developed by Buddhist monks until after that, but to remain historically accurate, I would have had to leave out an important question that I felt needed to be addressed, which is, â€Å"What if Jesus had known kung fu?† The life of Gaspar, as described in Lamb (the nine years in the cave, etc.), is drawn from the legends of the life of the Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma, the man who is said to have taken Buddhism to China around A.D. 500. Bodhidharma (or Daruma) is credited with the school of Buddhism that we know today as Zen. Buddhist legend does not mention Bodhidharma encountering a yeti, but they do have him cutting his eyelids off to avoid falling asleep and having them sprout into tea plants which later monks would brew to keep awake during meditation (which I left out), so I traded that story in on an abominable snowman and Biff's theory of natural selection. Seemed fair. Bodhidharma is also said to have invented and taught kung fu to the famous Shao Lin monks to condition them for the rigorous regimen of meditation he prescribed. Most of the details of the festival of Kali, including the sacrifices and mutilations, come from Joseph Campbell's Oriental Mythology, from his Masks of God series. Campbell cites eyewitness accounts of the bloody ritual from nineteenth-century British soldiers and states that even today over eight hundred goats are beheaded for the festival of Kali in Calcutta. (Anyone who had trouble with this passage, please write to Campbell in his current incarnation.) The cited verses from the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita are actual translations of those revered writings. The verses from the Kama Sutra are completely from my imagination, but you'll find weirder stuff in the actual book. Theologically, I made certain assumptions about who Jesus was, mainly that he was who the Gospels say he was. While I used the Gospels heavily for reference, and there are a couple of references to the Acts of the Apostles (specifically the giving of the gift of tongues, without which Biff could not have told the story in modern American idiom), I tried not to draw on the rest of the New Testament, specifically the letters of Paul, Peter, James, and John, as well as Revelations, all written years after the Crucifixion (as were the Gospels). These missives eventually went on to define Christianity, but no matter what you may think of them, you have to agree that Jesus would not have been aware of them, or the events in them, or certainly the consequences of their teaching, so they had no place in this story. Joshua and Biff, as Jewish boys, would, however, have been familiar with the books of the Old Testament, the first five of which made up the base of their faith, the Torah, and th e rest which were referred to by people of the time as Prophets and Writings, so I referred to these when I felt it was appropriate. As I understand it, however, the Talmud and most of the Midrash (illustrative stories explaining the law of God) had not yet been formulated and agreed upon, so they were not used as a reference for Lamb. From the Gnostic Gospels (a set of manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, but which actually may have been written earlier than the canonized Gospels) I've drawn only slightly on the Gospel of Thomas, a book of Christ's sayings, because it fit well with the Buddhist point of view (many of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are also found in Mark). The other Gnostic Gospels were either too fragmentary, or frankly, just plain creepy (the Infancy Gospel of Thomas describes Jesus, at age six, using his supernatural powers to murder a group of children because they tease him. Sort of Carrie Goes to Nazareth. Even I had to pass.) Lamb is peppered throughout with biblical references, both real and made-up (i.e., Biff quotes liberally from nonexistent books of the Bible such as Dalmatians, Excretions, and Amphibians). My editor and I discussed the merit of footnoting these references and decided that footnotes would detract from the flow of the story. The problem arises, however, that if the reader knows the Bible well enough to recognize the real references, there's a good chance that he or she has decided not to read this book. Our final decision – well, my final decision, my editor wasn't really consulted on this because he might have said no – was to advise those who are not familiar with the Bible to find someone who is, sit them down, read them the passages in question, then say, â€Å"That one real? How 'bout that one?† If you don't know someone who is familiar with the Bible, just wait, someone will come to your door eventually. Keep extra copies of Lamb on hand so they can take one with them. Another problem with telling a story that has been told so many times is that people are looking for elements with which they are familiar. Although I've glossed over many events that are chronicled in the Gospels, there are numerous elements which many people think are there, which simply are not. One is that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. She's always portrayed that way in movies, but it doesn't ever say that she is in the Bible. She is mentioned by name eleven times in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke, Mark). Most references to her talk about her preparation for the burial of Jesus, and then being the first witness of his resurrection. It also says that Jesus cured her of evil spirits. No whore references, period. There are â€Å"Marys† without surnames all over the Gospels, and some of them, I suspect, may refer to the Magdalene, specifically the Mary who, soon before his death, anoints Jesus' feet with expensive ointment and wipes them with her hair, certainly one of the most tender moments in the Gospels and the primary basis for my rendering of Maggie's character. We know from letters that many of the leaders of the early church were women, but in first-century Israel, a woman who struck out on her own without a husband was not only considered uppity, but was very likely referred to as a harlot (as was a woman who was divorced). That could be where the myth originated. Another Gospel misassumption is that the three wise men were kings, or, in fact, that there were even three of them. We make that assumption because there are three gifts given to the Christ child. Their names are never mentioned. The names Balthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior come to us from Christian tradition written hundreds of years after the time of Christ. We assume that Joseph of Nazareth, Jesus' stepfather, dies before the Crucifixion, yet it is never stated in the Gospels. He just may not have been involved. We make assumptions based on what we have been fed over the years at Christmas pageants and passion plays, but often, although inspired by faith, that material is little more than what you have just read: the product of someone's imagination. The Gospels do not agree on the order of the events that happen during the ministry, from Jesus' baptism by John to the Crucifixion, so I arranged events from all the Gospels in what seemed a logical, chronological order, while adding t hose elements that allow Biff's participation in the story. There are, of course, elements of the Gospels which I left out in the interest of brevity, but you can always find them in the Gospels if you want. My sending Joshua and Biff to the East was motivated purely by story, not by basis in the Gospel or historical evidence. While there are indeed astounding similarities between the teachings of Jesus and those of Buddha (not to mention those of Lao-tzu, Confucius, and the Hindu religion, all which seem to have included some version of the Golden Rule), it's more likely that these stem from what I believe to be logical and moral conclusions that any person in search of what is right would come to, e.g.: that the preferable way to treat one another is with love and kindness; that pursuit of material gain is ultimately empty when measured against eternity; and that somehow, as human beings, we are all connected spiritually. While historians and theologians don't completely rule out the possibility that Christ may have traveled to the East, they seem to agree that he could have formulated the teachings we find in the Gospels with no more influence than the rabbinical teachings in Galilee and Judea. But what fun would that have been? Finally, this story was set in a dire time, a deadly serious time, and the world of the first-century Jew under the rule of the Romans would not have been one that easily inspired mirth. It's more than a small anachronism that I portray Joshua having and making fun, yet somehow, I like to think that while he carried out his sacred mission, Jesus of Nazareth might have enjoyed a sense of irony and the company of a wisecracking buddy. This story is not and never was meant to challenge anyone's faith; however, if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do. My thanks to the many people who helped in the research and writing of this book, especially those who were generous enough to share their beliefs without judgment or condemnation. Many thanks to Neil Levy, Mark Joseph, Professor William â€Å"Sundog† Bersley, Ray Sanders, and John â€Å"The Heretic† Campbell for their advice on religion, philosophy, and history. To Charlee Rodgers for putting up with the fits, starts, whining, and hubris of the process, as well as to Dee Dee Leichtfuss for readings and comments. Special thanks to Orly Elbaz, who was my tour guide through Israel and who showed infinite patience in answering my nitpicky historical questions. Also to my agent, Nick Ellison, and my editor, Tom Dupree, for their patience, tolerance, and advice. Christopher Moore BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA NOVEMBER 2000

Examples of discriminatory practices Essays

Examples of discriminatory practices Essays Examples of discriminatory practices Paper Examples of discriminatory practices Paper Infringement of rights: Infringing a service users rights means treating them in an unfair, unequal or legal way. These could be physical, for example restraining a patient for no logical reason; Financial, for example not informing them that they are entitled to disability benefits or other government benefits; psychological, for example making them feel like they are worthless or not as valued as other service users. It is the care workers’ responsibility to ensure servo=ice users do not have their rights infringed. The various types of abuse: Abuse is when someone is taken advantage of in a negative way. It can be overt or covert, and there are various types of abuse. For example it can be physical, for example punching, kicking, restraining someone unnecessarily, or handling people roughly when helping them with bathing, moving or using the toilet; sexual, for example doing things to a person without their consent; psychological, for example humiliating someone or harassing them; financial, for example stealing their money or possessions, or putting pressure on someone to give you money. Those most at risk from danger and harm are children, individuals with mental health problems, individuals with learning disabilities or physical disabilities, the elderly etc., as these kinds of people can be less powerful and easily influenced. Care workers can protect individuals from danger and harm by raising awareness of possible abuse or problems, monitoring who they have contact with, physically or written (e.g. who phones them, who they write to, who cares for them etc.), by training staff so they know what procedures to follow when they feel someone’s safety might be at risk etc. Bullying: bullying a type of behavior by an individual / group that is repeated on a regular basis over an extended period of time aimed at another person or group of people. Bullying within the health and social care sector may be very damaging to the patient. It may result in the person having low self-esteem and confidence levels, they may feel very angry and powerless at the same time, they may also be worried to talk to the carer as they may feel disempowered and belittled. Prejudice: Prejudice is a negative pre-conceived belief, opinion or feeling towards a certain group of people that is based on unreasonable judgements. For example if there was a group of elderly residents in a care home, and they didnt talk to one of the members because they were homosexual and the residents believed this was wrong, if member of a class was Asian, and all the children refused to play with him because of this, this would be prejudice. Stereotyping and labelling: A stereotype is a belief about how all the people from certain groups of backgrounds behave or feel. Labelling is when someone gets labelled, either positively or negatively. For example if someone gets labelled as ‘lazy’ working for someone, then they might not get offered jobs and opportunities which could help them excel in their career. Covert and overt abuse of power: Covert: covert means that something is hidden, in the case of power, it would mean that someone is concealing their abuse of power from the public/other service users/other care workers. Covert abuse of power can happen in any setting. Overt: overt means that is it out in the open or known by everyone. Overt abuse of power means that someone is abusing their power in front of other service users/care workers and isn’t trying to hide it. This can also happen in any setting. For example, the manager of a care home making all the staff clean her office and tidy up after her every day would be an overt abuse of power. A covert abuse of power would be if the manager didnt supply the residents with all of the complimentary things (free pyjamas, free snacks etc.) because she wanted to keep them all for herself in her office.

Swot Analysis on Hindustan Unilever Essays

Swot Analysis on Hindustan Unilever Essays Swot Analysis on Hindustan Unilever Essay Swot Analysis on Hindustan Unilever Essay According to the study made by me, HLL has basic problems but which have to be dealt with planned strategy. Now we got to see where the problem lies, looking at the market itself will give us a lot of ideas, India is a developing nation with a massive population where majority areas are rural and people living in there are uneducated, moreover to get to these customers is very difficult as the mode of transport to these people are difficult and time taking. In that kind of situation a large company like HLL needs to think over a plan of action where the flow of their products is consistent and is being bought through effective marketing. Here manpower needed for the task is huge at hand and needs to be taken care of, this brings in a newer problem where people can’t be employed from one area and made to work in these different rural areas, the reason being that every state in India speaks a different language, therefore employees of the same area need to be employed. The fact that the task is massive gives a lot of pressure on the company, here the human resource, marketing representatives etc. are required to pull in together to get to a proper liable solution. Let us see the main important problem and also what plan can be used to deal with this problem. The first problem identified by me is that the company is facing problems to train the employees in the rural areas as they are far to reach and sending people to train is becoming expensive. Moreover as of now the company has still covered up only 12 states and so there are more states to cover, as India consists of 28 states. So the rest of the 16 states have to be yet penetrated. With every state speaking different languages it becomes difficult for personnel from one place to go and communicate with them. Knowing culture is a big part of assistance that is needed to know. Now the problem here is that the Shakti project aims at recruiting women as a social achievement. But it comes with a great price as the remote rural culture believes that women are not supposed to work or carry out business, this would result in a chaos among the society which will be against the company’s interest, moreover overcoming such a problem will make the company take more drastic steps to do better. If we go to look at the other kind of problem that HLL face, than we come to know that transport is a big issue for them as the reach to the inner most areas of some villages is difficult by large vehicles and other means of transport needs to be used which is more time consuming. The lack of training that the employees have are one of the major problems that the company will face as the motive is to keep the customers consistent, therefore making the situation more tuff as the employees working with the company are not trained well enough or in other words are not shown the importance of who they represent. The motivation level of the employee will die soon if the sale is not good enough this would make it very difficult for the company which is HLL to keep hiring new staff and training them which would be very devastating. Now as we know what all the problems are that HLL faces we need to see as to what solutions are very much reliable that can be made use of and what tools could we use to make this problem non-existent. As we see the clear problem of the statement is that training is needed for the employees and so the part of the responsibility is of the human resource. Moreover information technology is very important in this kind of a situation as the method of training staff becomes easy and education or information is passed on more smoothly and efficiently. As we see now the concept of the problem and its solution is very much connected, we only have to see how to analyse the situation. We got to take the following analysis Although, rural areas in India have a very small idea about technology and it’s growth, we have to see how is the use of such information going to help solve a problem of transport and also expense of training, so therefore the first plan is to use information systems that can improve the overall performance of the organization and its employees, by doing so we would be able to improve the level of communication from the company to the employees in the rural areas, by installing computer hubs in the rural areas at the entrepreneur’s location where the people under the entrepreneur would be able to get any kind of information that they need. Law education, health and safety education, and much more which will be a very good objective to make sure the employees are well aware of what is right and wrong by law. More over this IT information can also be used to train employees without sending the trainers to the rural areas directly. With the use of Skype and other forms of internet faced live conversations, where video chat is free of charge and the training can be done from the company itself through a aim of knowing what problems the employees face’s, by which the company will be able to look at situations where they can help improve the situation and also improve their sales. More effective trainings can be done through distribution of video cd’s or DVD’s, in which the complete system of training would be visually done to keep the employees up to date and more motivated. This would then help employees become more efficient in their work and the cost for all of it would not be too much. The second plan would be segmenting the customers by age, sex, income levels and so on by this a clear picture will be portrayed and what has to be done. In rural villages in India the majority of the people are family oriented and have a huge number of family members, so we would have to look at the number of people majority in the age groups and also take in account how the income level is as the product has to be to the comfort of the people buying it. After looking into this we could than make an assumption whether or not a particular product would be advisable to sell there or not, or also find the idea as to how many products a bought at an average every day and on this making a thorough note. The third analytical plan is the method of motivating training your staff, which would be more of the human resource side, this is very much important as the employees that the companies are dealing with are not very educated in the field of the work they do so they would need a lot of guidance and help from the human resource team making them fell important and part of the company rather than just middle men doing their job for the third party.

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Bank analysis paper-Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bank analysis paper-Economics - Essay Example The second part is done in order to get an idea about the safety and soundness of Citibank Las Vegas branch from a depositor’s perspective. There are a number of ways to examine the profitability of a bank; for example, for measuring the after-tax rates of return, ROA (the return on assets) and ROC (the return on capital), are extensively utilized for testing the performance of banks. The analysts and regulators of the bank use these measures in order to assess the performance of other players in the industry as well as to forecast trends in market structure. This helps them to gather data to predict bank failures and mergers, and also to come up with a strategy that serves the interests of their bank well. Return on assets (ROA) of a firm is an indicator of how profitable the firm is relative to its total assets, and is calculated by dividing the net income of the firm by its total assets. ROA gives us an idea about how efficient the management of the firm is at generating earnings by using its assets. A higher ROA percentage is considered better as this means that the same level of investment is yielding more earnings for the firm. Citibank’s net income in the year 2009 was $107,923,000,000, and its total assets were worth $1,161,361,000,000. This results in a ROA of 9.3% for the year 2009 which is considerably higher than the ROA recorded in 2008 (74,767Mn/1,227,040Mn = 6.1%). This suggests that there has been a rise in Citibank’s ability to earn with lesser amounts of input i.e. the profitability of Citibank has increased. Return on Capital (ROC), on the other hand, is a measure of how efficiently a firm uses the money that has being invested in its processes. It is being measured by the division of net income and the total capital. ROC should always be greater than the rate at which the firm borrows money. This is to ensure that an