On the amtrak from Boston to New York City Essay

The situation of the poem is described in the title â€Å"On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City,† was about a white woman and a person with a Native American background who were on a train together. What was being taken place when the speaker is meditating about the â€Å"white† woman they were having a conversations with other passengers, including an older white woman about the brief history of the city as they pass landmarks of the Native American Culture. The subject of the conversation had to do with the frustration the man had with the woman being ignorant about what land was taken away from him and his ancestors. He had brought her orange juice because it was stated right after in the next sentence he respects all elders it could have been out of kindness. That shows that the character is being bigger than himself he himself knows that being rude to this woman will now solve anything. The idea of Don Henley really made Alexie mad do to the fact that Native Americans inhabited the lands long before anyone else. Throughout the poem Alexie continues to talk to himself and use profanity whenever the white women would bring up the â€Å"white† men. For instance, when the woman asks him about Walden Pond. He says, â€Å"‘I don’t give a shit about Walden. I know the Indians were living stories around that pond before Walden’s grandparents were born†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Using profanity here represents Alexie’s outrage at the woman’s ignorance. He continues: â€Å"I’m tired of hearing about Don-fucking-Henley saving it, too†¦ If Don Henley’s family hadn’t come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved.† Again, the use of profanity shows Alexie’s anger as a Native American whose family had been pushed out of their land. The perspective the speaker makes his judgment about the historicity and values of Thoreau’s Pond from first person from his perspective. The speakers opinion of what he thinks of the â€Å"white† history is that his peoples stories and land were taken away from them they were over powered by the white man and were not able to continue there history. Along with what they had created historically the white man would take credit for it. The poem â€Å"On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City,† by Sherman Alexie was about a white woman and a person with a Native American background who were on a train together. This is an interesting poem, because it provides a new outlook on our country as it is today, from a Native American. Alexie appears to wish other races would leave his country. He refers to all other races as, â€Å"the enemy† and believes his biggest challenge every day is simply dealing with â€Å"the enemy.† Due to all that happened to the Native Americans in the past Alexie believes his people were treated harshly, which I agree with. â€Å"Blue Winds Dancing† The story tells of a young Native American’s struggle with growing up in America. The struggle of the character exists because of the ancient Indian thought conflicting with our American expectations. The attitudes the speakers expresses are frustration or anger and how they both wish they could have there home back but it was taken away by the â€Å"whites.† For blue winds dancing the internal monologues as the narrator searches for his identity and copes with society, respectively. As for â€Å"On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City† the internal monlogues is expressed through frutration from the whites taking away land.

Answers: Risk Aversion and Security

Your assistant, Thomas, is briefing you on the current portfolio and states â€Å"We have too much of our portfolio in Alpha. We should probably move some of those funds into Gamma so we can achieve better diversification. † Is he right? Hint: Feel free to use spreadsheet statistical functions. ] Here is the data on all three stocks. Assume, for convenience, that all three securities do not pay dividends. Alpha, Current Price 40; Current Weight 80%; Next Year's Price: Expansion 48, Normal 44, Recession 36; Beta, Current Price 27. 0; Current Weight 20%; Next Year's Price: Expansion 27. 50, Normal 26, Recession 25; Gamma, Current Price 15; Current Weight 0%; Next Year's Price: Expansion 16. 50, Normal 19. 50, Recession 12. It depends. No. Yes. Answer : Yes Question 10 (15 points) Suppose there are two mortgage bankers. Banker 1 has two $1,000,000 mortgages to sell. The borrowers live on opposite sides of the country and face an independent probability of default of 5%, with the banker able to salvage 40% of the mortgage value in case of default.Banker 2 also has two $1,000,000 mortgages to sell, but Banker g's borrowers live on the same street, have the same Job security and income. Put differently, the fates and thus solvency of Banker g's borrowers move in lock step. They have a probability of defaulting of 5%, with the banker able to salvage 40% of the mortgage value in case of default. Both Bankers plan to sell their exceptive mortgages as a bundle in a mortgage-backed security (MBPS) (I. E. , as a portfolio). Which of the following is correct?Banker g's MBPS has a higher expected return and more risk. Banker Xi's MBPS has a higher expected return and less risk. Banker Xi's MBPS has a higher expected return and more risk. Banker g's MBPS has more risk, but the expected returns on both MBPS are the same. Banker Xi's MBPS has more risk, but the expected returns on both MBPS are the same. Banker g's MBPS has a higher expected return and less risk. The sam e. In accordance with the Coursers Honor Code, I (Oddity Vats) certify that the answers here are my own work.

Alienation in The Revolver, Housewife, and How it Feels to Be Colored Me

When society considers the word alienation, they refer to people who are excluded by society, or those who are psychologically separated from themselves. There are several uses for this term. But both the sociological process and the mental state seem to be particularly dominant. In 'revolver', 'housewife', 'way of coloring', Bazan, Tutai and Hurston combine alienated social and psychological aspects with fear, repression and identity, respectively. Modernism: Heston and How to feel my color Zora Neil Heston's work embodies the reaffirmation of alienated modernist themes and racial and social identity. She has a subjective sentence style, but it is not external, it comes from that person's inner heart and mind. Heston will discuss racial relations, discrimination, race, social identity themes. - ... If your family goes out in a conversation, she needs to pull it hard. This is contrary to the experience I grew in the 1990s. When I was a child, I tried not to talk to strangers and told me to teach the general teaching dangers of strangers. If you are not talking directly to your parents or grandparents, you were asked why you should not accept the kidnapping of children and why someone is riding. When society considers the word alienation, they refer to people who are excluded by society, or those who are psychologically separated from themselves. There are several uses for this term. But both the sociological process and the mental state seem to be particularly dominant. - The experience of African Americans with Langston Hughes of Zora Neale Hurston is an excellent writer of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, but the attitude towards personal experiences as African Americans varies. These differences arise from various reasons from gender to life, but even if you have different views on the experience of African-Americans, they share a common goal of achieving racial equality through art It is.

The Value Of The Internet For Terrorists - Case Study Al-Qaeda Research Proposal

The Value Of The Internet For Terrorists - Case Study Al-Qaeda - Research Proposal Example With the enormous growth in the size and use of the network, positive aspects of the internet were challenged by the use of the internet by extremist organizations of various kinds. Groups with very different political goals but united in their readiness to employ terrorist tactics started using the network to distribute their propaganda, to communicate with their supporters, to foster public awareness of and sympathy for their causes, and even to execute operations [Weimann, 2004]. The cyber attacks arising from the events of September 11 reflect a growing use of the Internet as a digital battleground [Jenning, 2001]. Since 9/11, public awareness of, and government concern with, Internet security issues has mushroomed. Several news reports and studies have suggested that Al-Qaeda preparations for the terrorist attacks were facilitated by the use of new information and communication technologies, including those associated with the Internet [Deibert, 2006]. FBI Director Robert Muller while addressing the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate mentioned Cyber-terrorism as a clearly emerging threat. There is cause for uneasiness as the present generation of terrorist groups are found to be increasingly computer savvy, and some probably are acquiring the ability to use cyber attacks to inflict isolated and brief disruptions of U.S. infrastructure. Muller expressed apprehension that as terrorists become more computer savvy, their attack options will only increase [Muller, 2003]. In this context it is particularly important to make an in depth study on the efficacy and use of internet to terrorists groups and to evaluate their way of utilising the cyber world to spread their network and activities, such as for generating support, and networking among their affiliates. Objectives of the study 1. The study will focus on terrorist groups' 'use' of the Internet, in particular the content of the groups' Web sites, and Terrorist groups' use of the Internet for the purpose of inter-group communication and coordination. 2. The possible 'misuse' of the internet by terrorist groups 3. To analyse political agenda or religious fanaticism associated with cyber terrorism 4. To understand the nature and spread of online presence of Al-Qaeda and their gradual and systematic entry into cyberspace.

NASA risk management analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NASA risk management analysis - Essay Example The weaknesses clearly indicated in the RIDM process flowchart include understanding the stakeholders’ expectations. In any organization, the number of stakeholders and their expectations can be uniquely different, thus causing a major collusion of defining their overall expectations. This will make it even harder to make a performance measurement analysis, therefore, creating yet another reason to start the first step again. Starting again from step one will require the usage of resources both material and financial and an extension of the time difference created will need to be either replaced or induced into an overtime system. Another weakness is if the imposed constraints are altered in the midst of evaluating the performance of the proposed decisions. If the imposed constraints are altered, then the entire research will need to begin from the first step in order to cover all areas of identifying risks and opportunities. Qualitative measures define the manner in which reports of the performance measures are presented in a constructed scale (NASA, 2011). When it comes to the representation of data from the RIDM process of the performance measures stage, the information will not contain any numerical information. Every detail will be presented in constructed scale that project the rank terms. This type of data presentation requires professional quality analysis skills to interpret the information and make it much easier for everyone to understand it. Technology readiness level is one example of a parameter that measures quality performance. The main challenge in using quality measures is that there are too much articulated content in the reports when the public who will review it would much rather have a summary of it to save up on the time spent reviewing it. This can even influence the lack of review of this information that is paramount while conducting the RIDM procedure. Due to the complexity of the information presented, the skills

Planning Science Lessons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Planning Science Lessons - Essay Example Students must also do the following: ".demonstrate an awareness of how scientific evidence is collected and are aware that scientific knowledge and theories can be changed by new evidence" "describe how and why decisions about uses of science are made in some familiar contexts" "demonstrate good understanding of the benefits and risks of scientific advances and identify ethical issues related to these." Students should be able to address these issues better if they are able to argue and support their points. While learning how to do this, students must be aware that their arguments must have a clear goal. Thus, the teachers need to make sure the students are taught how to approach this when doing argument lessons and combining them with science lessons. Using argument to teach science should also help to effectively stimulate the students since most students enjoy debating, and this enjoyment usually makes the learning much easier. Learning how to argue scientific concepts is an impo rtant concept for students to learn because science is based on facts; therefore, students must use facts to back up their arguments and prove their points. ... In order to stimulate thought-provoking questions that have to do with science, teachers need to make sure that they use open-ended questions or statements while allowing the students to interact in groups. Therefore, Shakespeare's book demonstrates fantastic concepts and lesson ideas that will help get students interested in learning about science, and to help them adequately learn science so that they can meet and pass expectations in the subject. The lesson plans and ideas offered help to stimulate student thought and critical thinking. In the researcher's opinion, this is a very effective book, and can greatly assist teachers with getting their students interested. Science has always rated as one of the more difficulty subjects for teachers to teach, simply because of lack of resources, and many times, because of lack of student interest. However, by using Shakespeare's approach of asking questions and getting the students ready to participate in a discussion by argument, it should be easier for the teacher to both capture and retain the attention of the students. This book is well formed and would help the UK science student gain a better understanding of the concepts of science t hrough critical thinking and argument. These lessons could truly help many UK secondary students prepare for the debates and other arguments that may come to light when they are in college. Thus, this practice will not only help to develop their understanding of science, but it will also help to develop their critical thinking skills. Rosalind Driver Rosalind Driver's book Making Sense of Secondary Science was inspired by the fact that she understood many students had a lack of understanding regarding the

Sales Force Compensation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sales Force Compensation - Coursework Example The features of the Compensation Plan of Hindustan Unilever are cited below: - 1) The first feature is Salesman of the Month which aims to reward the best salesman in the organization. It is completely a performance based reward awarded to the best salesman. This award is given when the employee meets its target or exceeds it. 2) The second feature is Customer delight. This is also a reward that is based on the performance of the employee. The reward is presented to the employee keeping in view his dealings with the customers, both internal and external (Hindustan Unilever Limited, 2013a). 3) The third feature is an A-T book which records all the achievements of the employees and at the end of a quarter rewards the employees who succeeds by maximum achievements. This is a good way public recognition (Hindustan Unilever Limited, 2013a). 4) The fourth feature is TOTB, which means ‘think outside the box’ (Manwani, 2014). This reward is given to that employee who comes up with new ideas and suggestions to enhance the business of the organization. 5) The fifth feature is On the Spot award. This is a very special award in HUL. The award is given to those employees for their on the spot attitude towards a particular situation, which gives a lot of honor to the employees. 6) The sixth feature is Target Commission, which gives monetary benefit to the employees. Here, the employees get a percentage (for example, 2% or 4%) of the target amount, if fulfilled (Hindustan Unilever Limited, 2013a). The higher the volume of sales, the higher the commission received. For any kind of reward, the employees must possess a positive attitude towards fulfilling its target. They must be self-motivated, enthusiastic, energetic, and focus-oriented in order to qualify for the rewards. The behaviors those are required for the above mentioned rewards are mentioned accordingly as follows; 1) Salesman of the Month- This is

Midwifery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Midwifery - Essay Example The NHS Modernization Agency, which was just recently superseded by NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, was established to facilitate the modernization of health services and the improvement of the patients' experiences and outcomes of health care. With the establishment of the Agency was of course the establishment of specific themes, which in turn, were targeted towards NHS' goals (NHS, 2006). The establishment of such themes is expected to make an impact in everything which are affiliated with health care, most specifically the patients and the workers. The midwives, being medical practitioners themselves are affected by these themes both in positive and negative ways (NHS, 2006). One of the themes emphasized in by the NHS Modernisation Agency was that about the Workforce. Based on this theme, the attempt to modernize the Health Care system would entail the effective use of staff, the attraction of staff and the retention and development of staff. Under the effective use of staff, it is important for the Health Care system to meet the changing demands imposed by the erratic nature of the field by achieving a balance between the workers' skills and service demands (NHS, 2006). According to NHS (2006), to achieve the balance, flexibility and skills are necessary in their workforce. These requirements put the status of midwives in both the advantaged and disadvantaged. As the role of midwives is concentrated on child delivery concerns, this puts them in the advantageous position as well as gives them specialization in which aspect of health care, they are supposedly the only ones sought after. If "balance," is more a function of skill than flexibility, then the power to handle delivery becomes exclusive only to physicians, midwives, and no one else's'. However, the opposite is true otherwise. Flexibility entails the knowledge, experience, trust and ability to perform and be responsible to do more than a single duty. It is not enough that a person has the knowledge and ability to perform duties. It is necessary that the person has the experience and has the legal responsibility for possible miscalculations. This is what is lacking in the midwife profession. If only "balance" is a matter of specialization, knowledge and ability, midwives could be having the advantage over other health care professionals. But since "balance" is also a matter of flexibility, then other health care professionals, specifically, the nurses are gaining the upper hand. Nurses, as it is known, can do assessment, prescription, as well as handling of child delivery, all within the scope of their licenses. Midwives cannot prescribe. They could only handle child delivery, the women's and children's health after birth. In other words, nurses can always act as midwives while midwives cannot act as nurses. The Workforce theme of the NHS modernization promotes independence, competition and thus, improved service given by the health care workers. This is a result of the development of appraisal and performance structure in hospitals based on standards. The results of such appraisals could then be used as basis for matching competencies with specific roles within the framework of the institution. This brings back the subject on specialization. The matching of competencies would be useless without any

Silence of the Lambs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Silence of the Lambs - Essay Example He sees himself as a genius surrounded by idiots. Since Hannibal is a criminal psychologist, every profile and police technique used against him would be known to Hannibal. Thus he would treat the police with contempt. Since Hannibal was not born in America, the chances of him returning to Europe would be high. The FBI should work with INTERPOL. His European background makes Hannibal associate with more refined set of acquaintances. The first place to look for Hannibal would be in high society Europe. He would not be around royalty due to security, but people with money. His acquaintances would be intelligent. Hannibal would find average people boring. The final aspect of Hannibal’s profile would be his cannibalistic manners. Any hint of a body missing parts would need to be checked out, whether a natural or unnatural death. Different offenders commit different acts. Hannibal’s crimes would carry traits that could only be attributed to him. 2. Develop a detailed profile on Buffalo Bill. a. Consider that your profile will assist law enforcement in apprehending Buffalo Bill. (Less is known about Buffalo Bill since the police did not have his identity at first.) Buffalo Bill would be a white male. I would agree that the butterfly/moth would be a sign of transformation. Based on this, Bill would probably a pre op transsexual. If that is correct, he would be twenty-five to thirty-five. Any older, Bill would have had his operation. Any younger, Bill might still be confused about his gender. Bill would not have had his sex change completed, because he would fail the psychological test needed for this type of surgery. Bill’s motivation would be domination of women. Since he only hunted women, Bill must have had ill will towards women. The lack of sexual abuse, once again shows his lack of interest in women sexually. The women he chose were women like his first victim a size fourteen. If Bill wanted more skin, then he

Violence in the Workplace Essay Example for Free

Violence in the Workplace Essay Workplace violence includes threatening behaviors, verbal abuse and physical assault. In any given week about 20 workers are murdered in the United States (Bruce Nowlin, 2011). This can include the harming of an employee or client/customer of an organization by another employee, client/customer, or member of the general public. Many internal and external factors, including socioeconomic conditions, problems related to drug and alcohol abuse, layoffs, dictatorial workplaces, stress over job security, and domestic problems, are leading causes of workplace violence. Organizations have to deal with human productivity and economic costs from incidents of workplace violence. For example, employees and customers or clients can be seriously injured or killed. In addition, a loss of productivity generally occurs during the incident because the business may be closed or on reduced hours pending investigation and employees may fear that another incident could occur within days or months. Some employees also may quit as a result of fear of another incident or dissatisfaction with the employer for failing to prevent or properly respond to the incident. Physical injuries or emotional difficulties that result from the violent incident may cause increases in workers compensation claims. Organizations with policies on workplace violence are more likely to implement practices that can reduce the potential for workplace violence. The managers in these organizations indicated that counseling for potentially violent employees, investigating unfairness in the workplace, disciplining/arresting people responsible for violent acts, mandating fair treatment for terminated employees, using mediation to resolve disputes that have the potential for becoming violent, and intervening in problems between employees were part of their workplace violence policies. These elements are further evidence that organizations that initiate formal policies for workplace violence are more likely to consider ways to be proactive, rather than reactive. Organizations must take steps to ensure that employees feel safe and secure. While organizations are unable to anticipate all situations, basic preventive measures can deter some violence in the workplace. While every employee with the potential for workplace violence cannot be pre-identified at the point of hire, organizations should have a variety of pre-employment assessments in place to ensure selection of individuals whose credentials, work experience, personality, and life experiences appropriately correspond to organizational needs and values. At the pre-incident strategy stage, the organization should create a zero tolerance policy. The organization should document all forms of aggression that have occurred against people and property associated with their organization. Employees should be encouraged to report incidents of which they are aware. Furthermore, for a second strategy, pre-employment screening should include psychological testing, background checks to validate an applicants resume, reference checking, employment history verification, or even integrity interviewing. Training should include interpersonal communication, conflict resolution techniques and hostage survival skills to ensure that employees are prepared for any violence that should occur in the workplace.

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act Erica D’Souza The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act:  Impediments of Implementation Introduction to the Subject: The present paper basically focuses on the problems and impediments that have been faced in the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) in India. The paper primarily analyses and utilizes the secondary data available in the form of scholarly and newspaper articles on the concerned subject. The paper also attempts to understand, in a reverse mode, the advantages and drawbacks of the RTE Act. A new ray of hope became visible for the largely-undermined Public Education System in India when the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into force on 1st April, 2010. It has made free and compulsory education a fundamental right of every child in the (6 14) age group, irrespective of gender or social category (The Gazette 3). Now, it is a shared responsibility of both Central and State Governments to provide free and compulsory education to all children by all means. If a child is not getting access to the education, the State as well as the Central government will be responsible for it. The RTE Act also states that the responsibility of enrollment, attendance and completion of 8 years of schooling of every child will also be borne by the State. There is a special provision for the differently-able children in the Act. They will also be educated in the ordinary schools as well as up to the age of 18 (Soni and Rahman 6). Some important features of the act in brief (Gazette of India II): Every child belonging to the age group of 6-14 has the right to free and compulsory education. Private school will also have to take 25% of their class strength from the weaker section and the underprivileged groups of the society and that is also through a random selection process. It also states that there should not be any vacant seat in 25% quota in private schools. Moreover, these children from weaker background should be treated equally in all ways. Every school will have to follow norms and standards prescribed in the Act and school that does not follow these standards within 3 years will not be permitted to function further. No admission test or interview will be taken for children or parents in order to secure admission. A fixed student and teacher ratio is to be maintained suggested by the central government. The ratio is (30:1). The Government must ensure a Primary school within 1 KM and secondary school in 3 KM of all the territory of the State to ensure 100% enrollment. Impediments of Implementations: Different organizations have carried out various studies to find out status of implementation of the RTE Act focusing both on the educational infrastructure and quality of education. The most comprehensive and important survey is the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) which is carried out by Pratham, an education foundation bringing such annual report since 2005. ASER is carried out carried out by a local institution in every rural district in India. It is carried out each year in two months: September and November. In 2012, the survey reached 567 districts, 16,166 villages, 331,881 households and 5,96,846 children. About 500 organizations and 25,000 volunteers participated in this effort (Status 7). The ASER report for the status of implementation of the RTE Act in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan reveals two major findings which are not very gratifying for the implementation of the RTE Act in India and universalization of education: poor quality of education and privatization (8). The reports also provides some specific findings such as: turn down trend in student and teacher attendance; enrolment is high, but proportion of out-of-school children also high, first choice was given for private schools and declining reading skill, private tution in demand etc. In his article â€Å"Advantages and Disadvantages of RTE Act†, published in The Hindu on 21 May 2013, Mohamed Imranullah S. argues that despite 25% reservation for children from the weaker sections of the society in private schools, they do not end up enrolling themselves in the lack of proper information about it (Imaranullah 2). It shows that lack of awareness regarding the RTE Act and facilities which one can avail under this right is one of the major impediments in the successful implementation of the RTE Act. Siddhartha Shome in her article â€Å"What is Wrong with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act† draws our attention to a discrepancy inherent in the law itself which may also affect the proper implementation of the Act itself. She point out that if a private school fails to meet the required norms and standards, it will be fined heavily. But, in the same condition, a government run school will face no punishment (Shome 4). This inherent discrepancy, I feel, will also affect the attitudes of authorities in charge as they will not be responsible to provide answers if they fail to meet the given standards. And that will surely affect the education of children too. In their jointly written article â€Å"Feasibility of Implementation of Right to Education Act† and published in Economic and Political Weekly, Pankaj S Jain and Ravindra H Dholakia argue that insufficient allocation of the funds for the universal school system also weakens the proper impleme ntation of the RTE Act (Jain and Dholakia 38). They argue that government school system is inefficient to fulfill the dream nurtured by the Act and as a kind of solution to this problem they suggest to â€Å"rely on low cost private schools as a significant instrument of the government education policy† (Jain and Dholakia 38-43). In response to their article’s argument, Vimala Ramachandran in her article â€Å"Right to Education Act: A Comment† argues that reliance on alternative schools or private schooling will condemn the poor and marginalized to a second-rate education as they can never afford private and expensive schooling (Vimala 155). Status of Implementation of the RTE Act (2013): The study carried out in the year 2013 in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan regarding the implementation of the RTE Act reveals two major impediments in the implementation of the RTE Act: 1) The role of the state and 2) the coordination between the implementing agencies (The Status 26-27). The report reveals that the state is not very much willing to spend money on the proper implementation and there is a lack of coordination between implementing agencies such as the Labor Ministry and the police, the Human Resource Development Ministry, the child rights commissions in each state, etc. For example, In Uttar-Pradesh, the state has no intention of contributing towards implementation of Act and is wholly depended on the central government (Rai 3). The RTE Act states that a child must have access to a school near their home. How many schools would we have to build to meet the needs of the population? Dilara Sayeed in her article â €Å"Hurdles in implementation of Right to Education Act in India† draws our attention towards this problem. She argues that proper infrastructure, poor distribution of budget, acute shortage of teachers and great heterogeneity of citizenry all make proper and smooth implementation of RTE Act very difficult (Sayeed 4). According to her the lack of schools is a major hurdle for the implementation. She argues that for educating every Indian as proposed in RTE Act, not many schools have been built up by the centre or state government to meet the needs of the population (5). Moreover, the alarming growth of private tution-based education with heavy load of fee is also another reason. And because of it children of the poor class lag behind (6). Ramakant Rai in his article â€Å"Challenges in Implementing the RTE Act† draws our attention to another fragile issue which obstructs the smooth implementation of the RTE Act in India. He argues that the Indian Constitution has clear ly stated that implementation of RTE Act cannot be only done by the state but the Centre will have to contribute equally. Lack of funds cannot be the only hurdle for its implementation but lack of intent and political will is the primary obstacle. There is improvement seen in the facilities provided by schools and in infrastructure facilities but still quality of learning could not bring remarkable change over the period of nine years (Madhav Chavan- ASER report). There are many accusations against government school being questioned with mismanagement, skipping, negligence and of appointment made on political expediency (RTE Wiki). The act has provision for orphans to provide admission without seeking any certificates but still schools are not admitting students without required documents (RTE). It has also been argued that the RTE Act has been hastily drafted without concerning many expertise scholars in the field of education. Moreover, it did not properly mention the actual defin ition for quality education. Bibliography: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act, 2009). The Gazette of India. Web. http://www.ncte-india.org/Norms/RTE-1.pdf>. Soni, R.B.L. and Md. Atiqur Rahman. Status of Implementation of RTE Act-2009 in Context of Disadvantaged Children at Elementary Stage. Deptt. of Elementary Education. National Council of Educational Research and Training. Delhi. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). Pratham. Jain, Pankaj S and Ravindra H. Dholakia. â€Å"Feasibility of Implementation of Right to Education Act.† EPW 44.25 (2009):38-43. Print. Ramchandran, Vimala. â€Å"Right to Education Act: A Comment.† EPW. 44.28 (2009): 155-157. Print. Imaranulllah, Mohamed S. â€Å"Advantages and Disadvantages of RTE Act.† The Hindu. May 21, 2013. Sarkar, Chanchal Chand. â€Å"Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and Its Implementation.† India’s Infrastructure Report 2012. Shome, Sidhartha. â€Å"What is Wrong with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.† Manushi: Working Towards Solutions. http://www.manushi.in/ articles.php.> Accessed on October 18 2014. Status of Implementation of the RTE Act: Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Web. https://socialissuesindia.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/status-of-implementation-of-rte-2013.pdf>. Srivastava, Prachi and Claire Noronha. â€Å"Institutional Framing of the Right to Education Act: Contestation, Controversy and Concessions.† EPW 49.18 (2014): 442-456. Print. Rai, Ramakant. â€Å"Challenges in implementing the RTE Act.† Infochange News Features. May 2012. Web. http://infochangeindia.org/education/backgrounders/challenges-in-implementing-the-rte-act.html>. Sayeed, Dilara. â€Å"Hurdels in Implementation of Right to Education Act in India.† India Tribune. Web.http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=7659:hurdles-in-implementation-of-right-to-education-act-in-india-catid=30:opinionItemid=460>.

Determining Ones Fate :: Autobiographies Writing Literature Papers

Determining One's Fate In his preface to Portrait of a Lady (New York Edition) James commends Turgenev's method of first inventing a character which subsequently offered that character's fate (4). It can be said that James applied this procedure to his own autobiography. Having completed every novel he would ever write, he was, theoretically at least, in full possession of his character as a great novelist and therefore able to impose the pattern of this fate on his personal history as a small boy. As he reviewed his past writing A Small Boy and Others, James consciously "read into it" certain recurring motifs, aided by the power of retrospect to see what was formerly not observable, if even extant at all. Although James's definite interest in writing does not emerge until much later, in the second volume of his autobiography The Middle Years, James as a small boy is presented as a writer, albeit yet unformed, a writer in the embryonic stage. It is only because the mature autobiographer is provided with hindsight that he is able to cast the small boy in this light, the small boy whose existence while limited to a meaningless present was not, apparently, directed. James contrives to demonstrate that his early life was not spent idly, however much it might have seemed so to the "others." He offers an apology for the fact that at the time of his boyhood his fate was not at all obvious and he had nothing "to show" but appeared like "some commercial traveler who has lost the key to his packed case of samples and can but pass for a fool while other exhibitions go forward." James's family and friends, it seems, observed him from perspective of readers of a novel whose point of view is limited first or third person and whose solution is kept till the end. The autobiographer's conceit is to indicate the clues which might have revealed his character even then if only one had been an imaginative enough "reader" to see these clues, clues such as his preference for observation and his interest in art. James supports the conceit that he was always a writer by sometimes referring to "Fate" which seems, at first, to be at odds with James's acknowledgement that during the process of writing it was his hindsight that imposed the pattern. In any autobiography there is tension involved in the desire to depict life in all it realistic messiness while giving that representation artistic shape.

The Reality of Rape Essays -- essays research papers

Running head: THE REALITY OF RAPE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rape is a crime of violence and aggression that not only hurts a victim for the moment, but it shatters her entire life. According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, rape is defined as â€Å"any kind of unlawful sexual activity, usually sexual intercourse, carried out forcibly or under threat of injury and against the will of the victim.† This definition has been redefined to cover same-sex attacks and attacks against those who are incapable of valid consent, including persons who are mentally ill, intoxicated, drugged, etc. (rape). Because rape crimes affect all races, cultures, ages, and economical classes, it is difficult to create concrete research on the topic because of the variances. Society in the United States by no means condones rape, but it does expect it. The theories of rape are all different but the crime is always the same, a violation of one’s self through a sexual act. There are many different types of rape including date rape, statutory rape, gang rape, and acquaintance rape. Though there are more than a handful of different names to view rape, all of the names have one thing in common: a victim. The frightening reality is that all of the rape studies that have been done show that the perpetrator is usually someone that the victim knows and/or trusts; during the dating years, seventy to ninety percent of rapes are acquaintance or date rapes (Mackey). Even more terrifying is that only one-third of rapes are reported to law enforcement officials (Buddie & Miller). Victims are most likely afraid that by going through with the process of pressing charges on his/her perpetrator that they, in turn, will be blamed using one or more of the ridiculous rape myths, by society. The reality of rape is a startling combination of ignorance relating to rape myths, lack of reportings and convictions, severe post-traumatic feelings of the attack, and theories of ra pe, both psychological and sociological.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rape is such a difficult crime to prove because it usually comes down to the victim’s word against the perpetrator’s word. In the United States, anyone who is charged with a crime is innocent until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In order to prove that the crime did indeed happen, a victim is usually humiliated and she is forced to re-live the h... ...d be convicted and sent to prison. REFERENCES Buddie, Amy, & Miller, Arthur (2001). Beyond rape myths: a more complex view of perceptions of rape victims – 1. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Retrieved from the World Wide Web November 18, 2004: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_M2294/is_2001_August/ai_82782443 Mackey, Frank Misogynist. Cultural rape myths. Survivors Emerging. Retrieved November 18, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://people.morehead-st.edu/students/ar/aeruck01/culturalrapemyths.html rape Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 19, 2004 from Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service: http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?tocld=9376486 Rennison, Callie Marie. (2002). Rape and sexual assault: reporting to police and medical attention, 1992-2000 (United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics No. NCJ-194530). Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retzinger, Suzanne, & Scheff, Thomas. (1997). Shame, anger, and the social bond: A theory of sexual offenders and treatment. Electonic Journal of Sociology. Thio, Alex. (2004). Deviant Behavior (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Essay on the Perfect Women of As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing

The Perfect Women of As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Rosalind and Beatrice, the principal female characters of Shakespeare's As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing respectively, are the epitome of Shakespeare's ideal woman. From these two characters, we can see personality traits and characteristics of what Shakespeare might have considered the perfect woman. Rosalind and Beatrice are characterized by their beauty, integrity, strength of character, intelligence, gaiety, seriousness, and warmth.    Shakespeare used Rosalind and Beatrice to portray his belief that the ideal woman is a woman of beauty. In the play As You Like It, poems were written to Rosalind by her lover Orlando praising her beauty and fairness. "All the pictures fairest lined are but black to Rosalind. Let no face be kept in mind but the fair of Rosalind."1 Phebe, another female character in this play, had a crush on Rosalind when she was disguised as Ganymede, a young boy in the forest. Obviously, this love was merely physical; Phebe was just attracted to Rosalind's good looks. Beatrice is also a fair lady. Men were attracted to her, including Don Pedro, the prince of Arragon, who asked for her hand in marriage. Benedick, whom she married in the last scene, must have been attracted to Beatrice's beauty as well, because he swore to himself that the woman he would choose would have to be fair (II, iii, 29-33). Shakespeare's ideal woman was one of integrity and strength of character as seen in Rosalind and Beatrice. Rosalind is virtuous. According to Monsieur Le Beau, a noble of the court in As You Like It, "... the people praise her for her virtues ... " (III, 284). Rosalind is described by Stanley Wells as "the full... ...terary Characters. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1963. Magill, Frank N., ed. "Much Ado About Nothing." Masterplots Vol. VII. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Salem Press, 1949. O'Connor, Evangeline M. Who's Who and What's What in Shakespeare. New York: Evangel Books, 1978. Schoenbaum, S. As You Like It--An Outline-Guide to the Play. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1965. Scott, Mark W., ed. "As You Like It." Shakespeare Criticism. Vol. V. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1987. Scott, Mark W., ed. "Much Ado About Nothing." Shakespeare Criticism. Vol. VIII. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1989. Shakespeare, William. The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1968. Wells, Stanley. "William Shakespeare." British Writers, Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1979.

Abdul Basit

Introduction McShane and Von Glinow state that â€Å"the best organizational structure depends on the organization’s external environment, size, technology, and strategy† (409). To identify the best organizational structure for Protege Engineering, I will first determine what ‘Organizational Structure’ means. In a second step I will analyze its elements and carve out the important components for the considered organization. Finally I will provide a conclusion and recommendation.Organizational Structures In general, organizational structure is related to the way that an organization organizes employees and jobs, so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. McShane and Von Glinow define ‘Organizational Structure’ in more detail; they state that organizational structure â€Å"refers to the division of labor as well as the patterns of coordination, communication, workflow, and formal power that direct organizational activities† (386).To understand what this means we will have a look at each component. The division of labor is related to the â€Å"subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to different people† (McShane and Von Glinow 386). The patterns of coordination refer to the coordinating of work activities between the employees where they divide work among themselves. This process requires coordinating mechanism to ensure the workflow, which means that everyone works in concert (McShane and Von Glinow 386).The primary means of coordination are informal communication which involves â€Å"sharing information on mutual tasks and forming common mental models to synchronize work activities†, Formal hierarchy which refers to the â€Å"assigning legitimate power to individuals, who then use this power to direct work processes and allocate resources†, and Standardization which involves the â€Å"creating routine patterns of behavior or output† (McShane and Von Glinow 387).We can admit that informal communication is necessary in no routine and ambiguous situations because employees can exchange large volume of information through face-to-face communication and other media-rich channels. Therefore informal communication is important for Protege Engineering because their work involve new and novel situations when developing specific solutions for each client. Even if informal communication is difficult in large firms it can be possible when keeping each production site small (McShane and Von Glinow 388).Now, that we identified what organizational structure means, and that informal communication is necessary for Protege Engineering, we need some more information of how structures differ from each other. McShane and Von Glinow state that â€Å"every company is configured in terms of four basic elements of organizational structure†; namely: span of control, centralization, formalization, and departmentalization (390). Further on, I will explain these four elements and carve out what this means for Protege Engineering.The span of control â€Å"refers to the number of people directly reporting to the next level hierarchy† (McShane and Von Glinow 390). Today’s research found out that a wider span of control (many employee directly reporting to the management) is more appropriate especially for companies with staff members that coordinate their work mainly through standardized skills and do not require close supervision – like the highly skilled employees of Protege Engineering (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391).However, McShane and Von Glinow also state that a wider span of control is possible when employees have routine jobs and a narrow span of control when people perform novel jobs. This statement is based on the need for frequent direction and supervision. Another influence on the span of control is the degree of interdependence among employees. Employees that perform highly interdependent work with one anoth er need a narrow span of control because they tend to have more conflicts with one another.I assume that the employees working for Protege Engineering do not require close supervision because they are highly educated – have university degrees in these fields and a few have doctorates; therefore, a wider span of control allows the employees to work in self-directed teams that coordinate mainly through informal communication and formal hierarchy plays a minor role (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391). Centralization â€Å"occurs when formal decision authority is held by a small group of people† (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Companies often decentralize when they become larger and their environment more complex; however, â€Å"different degrees of decentralization can occur simultaneously in different party of the organization†. In my opinion, the power of decision-making should be decentralized in the considered company because the mentioned projects demand highly spec ialized knowledge, which cannot be provided by the head of the organization. Formalization â€Å"is the degree to which organizations standardize behavior through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanism† (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Usually larger organizations tend to have more formalization because â€Å"direct supervision and informal communication among employees do not operate easily when larger numbers of people are involved†. Notwithstanding that Protege Engineering employs about 600 individuals, I assume that a high degree of formalization is not appropriate because their jobs cannot be standardized, every project is customized to the client and has therefore novel and new components.Another evidence against formalization is, that formalization tends to â€Å"reduce organizational flexibility, organizational learning, creativity and job satisfaction†, which the employees of Protege Engineering definitely need (McShane and Von Glinow 409 ). Regarding the first three elements of organizational structure we can admit that Protege Engineering should have an organic structure because organizations with â€Å"organic structures operate with a wide span of control, decentralized decision making, and little formalization† (McShane and Von Glinow 395).This structure works well in dynamic environments because they are very flexible to change, more compatible with organizational learning, high performance workplaces, and â€Å"quality management because they emphasize information sharing and an empowered workforce rather than hierarchy and status† (McShane and Von Glinow 395). Departmentalization â€Å"specifies how employees and their activities are grouped together† like presented in an organizational chart of the organization (McShane and Von Glinow 395).A functional structure organizes organizational members around specific knowledge or other resources, which enhances specialization and direct supervi sion; however, functional structure weakens the focus on the client or product (McShane and Von Glinow 396-397). A functional structure would not support Protege Engineering because the success of this company highly depends on especially developed products for its clients; therefore, this organization should focus on the satisfaction of its clients rather than focusing on organizing employees around specific resources.A divisional structure organizes groups of employees around geographic areas, clients or products in very flat team-based structures with low formalization. This structure seems to be very appropriate for Protege Engineering because it focuses employee’s attention on products or clients and self-directed teams with low formalization. However, there are some disadvantages that need to be considered, like duplicating resources and creating silos of knowledge. Conclusion and Recommendation In the introduction I stated that the best organizational structure depends on the organization’s external environment, size, technology, and strategy.We found out that Protege Engineering should have an organic organizational structure because a wide span of control, decentralized decision-making, and little formalization will organizes employees and jobs so that Protege Engineering work can best be performed and its goals can best be met. Furthermore, McShane and Von Glinow give the advice that â€Å"corporate leader should formulate and implement strategies that shape both characteristics of the contingencies as well as the organization’s resulting structure† (409). This advice is very valuable because the structure of an organization should follow its strategy and not vice versa. . Many organizations think that they integrate organizational cultures when merging or acquiring other companies. Explain what does integrating organizational cultures means? Under what conditions is this strategy most likely to succeed? Case 6: Merging Or ganizational Cultures Introduction Every organization has its own culture. According to McShane and Von Glinow organizational culture stands for â€Å"the values and assumptions shared within an organization† (416). When companies are merging with, or acquiring, other companies the likelihood is very high that the organizational cultures differ from each other.To avoid that the new company ends up with two different cultures, there need to be any kind of integrating organizational cultures. First I will explain what integrating organizational cultures means and second I will present the conditions under which this strategy is most likely to succeed. Finally, I will provide a conclusion and recommendation. Merging Organizational Culture The necessity of merging organizational cultures becomes clear when regarding that failures to coordinate activity, based on cultural conflict, contribute to the widespread failure of corporate mergers (Weber and Camerer 412).Differences in cul ture in an organization lead to consistent decreased performance for both employees after the merger, and there is an evidence of conflict from the differences in culture, which could be a possible source for the high turnover rate following mergers (Weber and Camerer 412). McShane and Von Glinow also state that â€Å"most mergers and acquisitions fail in terms of subsequent performance of the merged organization† and that this happens because leaders fail â€Å"to conduct due-diligence of the corporate cultures† (426).At this point, we can admit that some forms of integration may allow companies with different cultures to merge successfully. One strategy in avoiding cultural collisions is to conduct a bicultural audit. A bicultural audit is â€Å"a process of diagnosing cultural relations between companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur† (McShane and Von Glinow 427). The bicultural audit identifies cultural differences an d determines those that possibly result in conflict. In addition, it also identifies values that provide a common ground on which cultural foundations can be built.Finally, it identifies strategies and prepares action plans to bring the two merging cultures together (McShane and Von Glinow 427). In some cases the bicultural audit may identify that the two cultures are too different to merge effectively; however, the companies can still form a workable union, if appropriate merger strategies are applied (McShane and Von Glinow 427). Like the following illustration shows, McShane and von Glinow provide four main strategies to merge different corporate cultures successfully. Figure 4: Strategies for MergingDifferent Organizational Cultures Source: McShane and Von Glinow 428. The first strategy is Assimilation, which â€Å"occurs when employees at the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization† (McShane and Von Glinow 427). This strategy is most likely to succeed when the employees of the acquired company are looking for improvement because they have a weak, dysfunctional culture and the acquiring company has a strong culture, which is aligned with the external environment (McShane and Von Glinow 427).The second strategy is Deculturation, which means that the acquiring company is â€Å"imposing their culture and business practices on the acquired organization† (McShane and von Glinow 428). However, this strategy rarely works because employees usually resist organizational change, especially regarding personal and cultural values. Sometimes deculturation may be necessary; for example, when the culture of the acquired company does not work effectively (McShane and von Glinow 428). The third strategy – and the strategy which the given case is asking for – is the Integration Strategy.This strategy is a combination of â€Å"the two or more cultures into a new composite culture that preserves the bes t features of the previous cultures† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). That sounds like a good compromise, but the integration strategy is â€Å"slow and potentially risky because there are many forces preserving the existing cultures† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). McShane and Von Glinow also state that â€Å"mergers typically suffer when organizations with significantly divergent corporate cultures merge into a single entity with a high degree of integration† (McShane and Von Glinow 427).This strategy works best when both sides can benefit from an integration strategy; for example, when the existing cultures of both companies are not optimal and could use some improvements. The negative aspects of the integration strategy – for example being very time-consuming – result from the employees being resistant to changes, or ambiguous rules which are also a source of conflict and often occur during mergers and acquisitions (McShane and Von Glinow 335).Howeve r, the integration strategy, which is the most effective combination of all existing cultures, is most likely to succeed when the â€Å"existing cultures can be improved† and members of the organization â€Å"are motivated to adopt a new set of dominant values† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). The fourth strategy is separation, which â€Å"occurs when the merging companies agree to remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices† (McShane and Von Glinow 428).This strategy is most suitable when the merging organizations operate in different industries or countries because cultures differ between industries and countries (McShane and Von Glinow 428). Conclusion and Recommendation The integration process of merging companies is a combination of the existing cultures into a new culture that maintains the best features of the previous cultures, and it is most likely to succeed when existing cultures already need improvement so that employees are motivated to accept change.This strategy is particularly challenging when the members of the organization are satisfied with their previous culture because they will be resistant to change. Another very important factor for the success of mergers is the level of commitments made by the employees. Therefore, employees should be brought into the process as early as possible (Badrtalei and Bates 314).

Case Study Analysis †Abc, Inc.

As a new worker you have finally landed that dream job, now what? You are excited about the possibilities awaiting you at your new dream job. As you prepare for your first day, you are told you will have to attend new hire orientation. Suddenly, the butterflies in your stomach return as you anticipate what to expect next. Then you ask yourself, â€Å"What is new hire orientation and what does it mean for me? † The goal of any successful onboarding program is to ensure that the investment in a new employee pays off by creating a sense of connection between the new worker and the organization. But what happens when company representatives lack organization and the new worker’s transition is traumatic? Take for example the Case Study for Student Analysis. In this selected paper, it is easy to immediately observe a lack of communication going on at ABC, Inc. between Carl Robbins, the campus recruiter and Monica Carrolls, the Operations Supervisor. Lagging communication skills at any organization can be catastrophic and ABC, Inc. is no different. As a first time recruiter with only six months experience, Carl will face very serious problems. This case study will illustrate the many problems that grew when he attempted to hire employees to work for Monica Carroll. Possible solutions available for Carl to resolve the situation will be explored as well as any alternative solutions he should take. Carl Robbins is not incompetent; he simply lacks experience. As with any new position that a person is involved in; he will face challenges. With some direction, Carl can easily overcome these challenges. Background In early April, Carl was tasked to recruit and hire fifteen new hires to work for Monica Carroll, operations supervisor for ABC, Inc. After successfully recruiting them, Carl scheduled an orientation session to take place on June 15. His goal was to have all new recruits working by July. Traditionally, new hire orientation programs have long been designed to help new hires quickly learn the important things they will need to know to be successful in their new job. Most orientation programs provide the new hire with: †¢an overview of the company’s history; †¢a description of the company’s organizational structure; †¢an overview of employee-related policies; and †¢details of employee benefit programs. ABC, Inc. ’s orientation should be no different. With only a few weeks left until the planned orientation, Carl still has lots of work to do. On May 15, Monica contacts Carl about several key issues such as the training schedule; manuals; policy booklets; drug tests; and other issues related to orientation. Carl reassures Monica that everything will be fine. Subsequently, shortly after Memorial Day, Carl pulled out his new trainee file to finalize things for the orientation scheduled for June 15. After going through his files, Carl becomes concerned. He discovers that some of the new trainees have not completed their applications and some transcripts are missing. He also discovers that none of the new hires have been sent to the clinic for their mandatory drug screens. Next, he searched the orientation manuals and realized that only three copies exist. He then discovers that those three copies are missing several pages. Carl is in big trouble as his first recruitment effort is not going as smoothly as it should. Carl’s problems however are just beginning. Upset and frustrated, he decides to go for a quick walk. As he returned to the office, Carl decides to check out training room for the upcoming orientation. To his surprise, he found Joe from technology services. Joe was setting up computer terminals. Carl decided to review the scheduling log and discovered that Joe had already reserved the training room for other training activities the entire month of June. Panicked, Carl returned to his office; put his head on his desk; and silently wondered, â€Å"What am I going to do? † Key Problems The first key problem that Carl faces is his lack of experience. Initially, Monica contacts Carl about the key items needed for orientation and he assures her that everything is good to go. This could not have been further from the truth. At this point, he is not aware of the problems he ill face in his new endeavor. Carl’s lack of experience is clearly exhibited when his assurance has not been tested. The next key problem that arises for Carl is when he checks the new trainee files and discovers that they are incomplete. All the new recruits have gone through the interview process and filled out their paperwork. Unfortunately, the paperwork is incomplete and missing lots of valuable data. To make matters worse, some files are missing transcripts, and no one has completed the required drug screens. Problems only get worse for Carl when he discovers that only three copies of the employee manuals exist. Of the three manuals that exist, they are all missing several pages. Unfortunately, he needs fifteen complete copies. As if the previous issues alone are not bad enough, Carl also learns that the training room he plans to use for orientation has been booked by another individual for the entire month of June. At this point, he is faced with a serious dilemma, and his lack of experience reveals that he does not realize the severity of his problem. Namely, he lacks leadership because he failed to prepare and assumed that his first project would go smoothly. Next, he reveals his lack of organizational skills because he failed to review his trainee file prior to guaranteeing Monica that everything would be ready for orientation. Alternatives A possible solution for Carl as a new recruiter is to use this onboarding process as a welcome mat for new hires as a means to display his potential talents as a top notch recruiter. To accomplish, this he must determine who will be affected by his failure to develop his first orientation. Next, Carl should analyze how these parties will be affected as a result of his failure to prepare. Then, he should evaluate possible alternatives to the dilemma he is facing. Unfortunately, Carl is not quite in a position to do this. Subsequently, he should have developed his project prior to promising results. Carl could improve his organizational and communicative skills by establishing the parameters for the project. In other words, he should have determined his needs and effectively communicated those needs to any other parties early on. This strategy would have granted him the opportunity to plan for alternative solutions without anxiety. Proposed Solution Many successful new hire or onboarding programs start with a checklist of typical new employee needs. Certainly, Carl could have used a checklist to help him determine his needs as a new recruiter. Since most new employees want to make a good first impression, Carl could have made this transition easier for himself and everyone else by seeking the assistance of a more seasoned professional. Monica Carrolls is also not exempt from her role in this fiasco. She could have ensured a more seamless transition by providing Carl with a detailed orientation program. This would have lifted the burden of him having to figure things out on his own. Not only would a detailed orientation program have comforted Carl’s anxiety; it would have also sent a positive message to the entire organization about their organizational skills. Since Carl had only been on the job for six months, Monica could have required that he produce a detailed checklist for the proposed orientation. In my opinion, Monica’s role for Carl should have been that of coach and mentor to ensure a successful onboarding process. This could have been accomplished by developing a simple framework and tailoring it to meet ABC, Inc. s specific needs. Clearly this was not done and ultimately disaster struck. Recommendations As previously noted, many problems surfaced when new recruiter, Carl Robbins attempted to hire employees to work for Monica Carroll at ABC, Inc. Many factors contributed to the downfall of his first recruitment effort. How could Carl have overcome the pitfal ls that he faced? Anonymous research provided by Workforce Management (2009) outlines and recommends the following guidelines for a successful onboarding program: * Start Before Day One – Clearly Carl should have prepared for the orientation from day one. Socialize – Carl could have been prepared by aligning himself with the accepted practices of the company and his superiors. Therefore, he would have exhibited less anxiety and been better prepared. * Extend Beyond Day One – Once Carl prepared for orientation, he should have extended beyond day one by analyzing any potential issues and preparing possible alternative solutions. * Assign a Mentor – Monica should have assigned herself as Carl mentor in this situation. Since this was Carl’s first recruitment effort, he certainly needed the assistance of a more seasoned professional. Keep in mind; it was necessary for Carl to have implemented these specific solutions. However these guidelines are a good place to start. Any guidelines would have relieved Carl’s anxiety and allowed him to create a successful onboarding process for his fifteen new recruits. Ultimately, all of this could have been avoided had Carl sought the advice of a more seasoned professional and displayed better organizational skills. Simply put, his failure to plan was a direct result of a botched first project. Hopefully, Carl recognizes his mistakes and uses them as a learning tool in his next recruitment endeavor. References Case Study for Student Analysis. Comm 215. University of Phoenix. Ecampus Course Materials. Retrieved from the website at: myresource.phoenix.edu Steps to a successful onboarding process. (2009). Workforce Management, 88(7), 1-S14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219780888?accountid=35812

Modern Family Essay

The show â€Å"Modern Family† is one of the most successful sitcom on television today. The show depicts a total of three families, a parental family, (Jay and Gloria) and the families of the two grown siblings, (Mitchell & Claire). Claire is married to Phil and has three children of their own, while Mitchell is a gay father with a live-in husband, Cameron. The on-screen worldview of the families are very open with an almost anything goes attitude that is based on an atheist or an agnostics perspective. The limited amount of shows that I watched did not display any references to God. The family values portrayed the â€Å"New Normal†, that is currently being offered on many new television shows. On the show, I witnessed a lot of light-hearted moments that made fun of the life choices that each character made, and how different characters resolved them. The comedy is situational, and dilemmas faced are often real-life, but offer whimsical, light-hearted solutions. The shows worldview is secular, but adheres to defining the â€Å"New Normal† in its application. The three families all interact with each other and depict three different types of households, all coping with everyday problems that define that particular group. When dealing with gay issues, Mitchel and Cameron are in the fore front offering an exaggerated look and perspective. Family issues are addressed by Phil and Claire, and how they interact with parenting of their three children. Jay and Gloria deal with life from viewpoint of an aging father, who marries a younger woman, who is currently pregnant with his child. The shows core values are loosely interwoven with standards and practices that suggest an anything is â€Å"OK† attitude, which would be expressed by secular humanist. Observations of this show are based on my own personal up-bring and how we handled different situations in our lives. My Christian parents would not have been so excepting of two men living together. Our family believed that marriage is between a man and a woman. â€Å"‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable†, (Leviticus 18: 22, NIV). Our family values were centered on our Catholic faith, whereas we believed and trusted in the Lord. In the show, Phil (husband of Claire) is portrayed as being a weak father figure, who is often laughed at and scorned by his family. He constantly wants to be everyone’s friend and does not fall into the role of a strong and guiding force within his family. In contrast, my father was the head of our household, and for a long time he was the sole provider. Both church and prayer were a large part of our daily lives. These are beliefs and traditions that I have passed onto my family. My views are in direct contrast to this sitcom. Its impact on my family is very little since I am not a regular viewer and the show is a negative influence on my personal worldview. I believe that the influence of this show on the American public is limited in scope. Many people watch and except the shows premise for what it is, just a funny comedy that really has no real value or worth. Other people will see it as an example of how a modern family should behave and create those same dynamics in their household. I see this show as a negative influence when it comes to the family. Television has a way of shaping public opinion. If enough similar programing is available, we as a society tend to accept the â€Å"New Normal† without question. In conclusion, the show â€Å"Modern Family,† is a portrayal of the American family that presents an atheist view on life. I saw no reference to God or even a slight suggestion that the family has a religious background. In today’s society the family is always being redefined by the media and has no religious insight. Television networks record on social and moral issues is very poor. The television executives believe the theory that they are open and honest, and present a product that the public wants. Modern Family is one networks’ answer to what is considered the â€Å"New Normal†, in today society.

Birdsong: Man and Stephen

Birdsong Essay Sebastian Faulks shows us many horrors of World War One by using language and structure of the novel. For example this shows the imagery of the horrors of war at the hospital when Stephen got injured and what happened with the boy. Faulks starts of with Stephen Wraysford and how he is coming back to life but with pain. His pain is nothing compared to the man next to him, the man apparently could â€Å"visualize the pain† also its says he could see it hovering over him this I think could relate to two thing either his pain or the mans spirit. Faulks describes the imagery for us how bad it is- â€Å"His body decomposing as he lay there, like those that hung on the wire going from red to black before they crumbled into the earth leaving only septic spores†- this shows us the horrors of what war does to people. Also Faulks uses this one man to describe the many other men that go through this in the war. Faulks uses descriptive language and we can visualise the boy when â€Å"His mouth was pulled open and his neck were stretched† and also â€Å"The skin of his cheeks and forehead was marked with bluish-violet patches. His eyes were oozing, as though with acute conjunctives†- shows us the graphic imagery of the boys eyes. Stephen tells us in about this boy, not knowing who he is and having no relation to Stephen at all this shows that Stephen has sympathy and thoughts about what these soldiers go through I think he is comparing on how lucky he is that his pain was very minor to the ones that other people s uffer. Stephen describes the boy’s body â€Å"The soft skin on the armpits and inner thighs was covered in huge, raw blisters†. Makes the reader visualise and actually see what Stephen is seeing. On page 187 it tells us that the boys voice came back to Stephen and â€Å"He begged to die†- this shows us the effect on how the damage and the pain that the boy actually must be going through. Faulks also shows us how hard the nurses job is and how her love can take over her job† Impotently, she held both her arms wide in a gesture of motherly love, as this would comfort him. † Stephen hopes that the boy would die soon, it is all so reverse he should be praying for him to live soon, but seeing and hearing the agony the boy is going through death would be more peaceful. On page 188 Faulks describes the boy the last time before he dies and we can see and imagine how his condition would be like for example-â€Å"He lay motion-less, trailing his raw skin. His infected lungs began to burble and froth with yellow fluid† Faulks shows Stephen with no emotion or sympathy for the boy no remorse â€Å"Stephen prayed that the boy would die† the nurse was the opposite to what he was like she was â€Å"pale, shocked, then burst into shuddering tears. She has sympathy for the boy and some feeling of lost. The next horror incident is when they go over the top to attack and Faulks uses emotional horror in the letters when they write back home. Faulks shows in Michael Wiers letter is formal like he says â€Å"Don’t worry about me, please. It is warm enough. †-shows he is covering up reality and not showing or telling the real truth because even if he does they would be able to understand it. And he says that â€Å"May your prayers be with the men who will go over the top†- shows respect and feelings to all the other soldiers. Stephens letter to Isabelle shows how lonely he is and what he has experienced

Legal Relationship with Powers and its Legal Issues and Implications Essay

Legal Relationship with Powers and its Legal Issues and Implications - Essay Example In my opinion, the relationship is not a limited partnership as Powers played an active role in the management of the computer business. In Ontario, limited liability partnerships can only be used for carrying on a profession, where statute permits. Examples include lawyers and accountants (Shani, 5). The relationship between Lawrence and Powers is thus not a limited liability partnership as they are not in a profession such as doctors and lawyers but rather entrepreneurs in the copier and computer renting business. A partnership is a relation that subsists between persons-individuals or corporations-carrying on a business in common with a view to profit (Shani, 2). A partnership can be a formal relationship (that is, express partnership agreement) or an informal relationship. The court may hold that the relationship is a partnership even if the parties don't realize they are in a partnership (deemed partnership) (Shani, 3). But the receipt of such a share or payment, contingent on or varying with the profits of a business, does not of itself make the person a partner in the business, and in particular, a contract for the remuneration of a servant or agent or a person engaged in a business by a share of the profits of the business does not of itself make the servant or agent a partner in the business or liable as such (Shani, 8). Lawrence told Powers, "If you will agree to operate the new computers, I can pay you more by sharing the profits from that branch of our new business with you." Powers agreed. Hence, there is a relationship that subsists between Lawrence and Powers to carry on the personal computers renting business with a view to profit. However, more information is needed as to whether there is an employment contract between Lawrence and Powers that makes him a servant or an agent. The relationship between Lawrence and Powers for the personal computer renting branch of the business is assumed to be a partnership since there was no mention of contract by Lawrence. Even if Powers is not aware that his relationship with Lawrence is a partnership, the court may construe otherwise. Where there is no partnership agreement, the partnership is governed by the Partnerships Act (Shani, 5). The Partnership Act sets out the fiduciary duty of partners. No partner is allowed to incur secret benefits - that is, each partner must account for all benefits received by him/her personally from any transaction arising from the use of the partnership's name, property or business connections - if he/she fails to get permission of his/her partners beforehand, the benefit then belongs to the partnership (Shani, 6). Applying the law to the case, Powers purchases the computers from Intelli Inc., an office equipment and supply company of which shares are held by Hugh Powers mother and father. Powers has incurred secret benefits because the purchase price of the computers entered into by Powers was at the manufacturers suggested retail price and did not reflect any form of volume discount, even though volume discounts were routinely given by

The implications of Tudor-Stuart polices on Ireland Research Proposal

The implications of Tudor-Stuart polices on Ireland - Research Proposal Example Hence, â€Å"...obeyeth to no other person, English, Irish except only to such persons...† that could subdue them in the battlefield in case of invasion with a sword2. However, this did not last long before Tudors and later Stuarts showing interest in subduing them though encountered severe resistance from some of the then uncooperative chieftains but eventually complied with English king’s laws. This was contrary to earlier times when they were not under the subject of any King’s laws except their Gaelic chiefs doing what they wished3. However, the imposition of Tudor-Stuart policies on Ireland aimed at subduing Ireland as well as bringing the entire state under complete control. This included even the then powerful Irish Landlords who later after the conquest turned into mere chiefs subject to Henry VIII as per the Pope Andrian IV’s wish who had given king that title4. Despite strong resistance waged by some of the then powerful proprietors like Oâ€℠¢Donell and O’Neil supported by Philip of Spain (Elizabeth’s enemy), they gave in to Henry’s regime after a miserable defeat5. Hence, they both recognized and accepted Henry III as king whereas in their capacity remained only as Anglo-Irish Nobles6. Henry VIII after subduing powerful Irish land Landlords especially in Ulster and more agreeing to give in their full compliance, he resulted to autocratic rule. This constituted torture especially to those who showed any disobedience besides bringing English settlers in Ireland7.

Europe after the Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Europe after the Cold War - Essay Example After the Soviet Union disintegrated, the post-Cold War world broadly seems as unipolar and the US remains the only remaining superpower. The Cold War was instrumental in defining the political rule of numerous states including the US after the WW2, and as of 1989, the US had military alliances with more than fifty states while having almost one and a half million troops deployed abroad in more than one hundred nations. The cold war was also integral in institutionalizing a worldwide commitment to large, lasting peacetime military and industrial complexes along with large-scale funding for science by militaries. Â  The occurrences of 1989 along with the fall of the Berlin wall demonstrated in the short term to be enormously undermining as they resulted in the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a United Germany as well as an expanded NATO while unleashing volatile forces, although the instability was not permanent (Engel, 2009). The European continent after the Cold War has demonstrated to be comparatively stable; nonetheless, judgments have to be reserved as the ramifications of these events continue to be felt. For instance, the current crisis in the Eurozone is directly connected to the greater integration of the EU, which can be attributed to the fall of the Berlin wall. The Cold War period provided a certain level of stability for governments in the European continent, as they were aware of their status quo and the sides they supported. Boundaries and conflicts had clear definitions with the key to making the system stable being a lack of interest in changing the status quo on both sid es. Â  It may also be contended that this status quo was not sustainable with the communist bloc directing huge amounts of money to the purchase of arms while daily lives behind the Iron Curtain were being marked by a high degree of hardship.

Oedipus the King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Oedipus the King - Essay Example Creon returns with a message from the oracle and insists on delivering the message in private to the king. Oedipus however, insists that he will hear the message in front of his citizens. The message is that the god Apollo through the oracle, demands that, for the curse to be lifted, the murderer of Laius must be found and brought to justice. Laius was the former king of Thebes before Oedipus. He was attacked and killed on a crossroad by thieves when on his way to consult an oracle. All, but one of his travelling companions survived the attack (3). Oedipus’s Innocence In determining whether Oedipus was guilty or not, one has to put into account information that was available to him at the time his alleged crimes were committed. A great portion of Oedipus’s innocence lies in his ignorance of his past and that of Thebes. Oedipus had attacked and killed a group of travellers at a crossroad sometime in the past. At the time, they did not seem significant and never did he th ink that this incidence would ever come up in the future. When he was a child, it was revealed to him, by an old man that he was adopted; furthermore he was told that he would kill his biological father and have carnal relations with his biological mother. What he did not know at the time that these individuals would be king Laius and his wife, Jocasta, respectively. There was some aspect of relief when news reached Thebes that his adoptive father had passed on. The relief was however, short lived since future investigations revealed that the man he killed at the crossroads was king Laius. In this aspect, Oedipus is innocent of both regicide – Killing a king- and patricide – Killing his father- because he had no idea who the man was at the time (30 - 35). Assassinating a leader was and still is a serious offence. Oedipus’s case however has two possible outcomes. First, if Oedipus attacked Laius’s travelling party first without being provoked, then, he is guilty of murder. Secondly, if Oedipus was attacked first By Laius, then this can only be viewed as a classic case of self-defence. Both these theories can be true depending on who among the two survived to tell the story. When Oedipus took over as king following Laius’s death, he also took up his widow, Jocasta, as his wife. Oedipus had a number of children by Jocasta as his wife. Knowing what has been mentioned above; this is an obvious case of incest. Oedipus is however, innocent of incest since neither he nor Jocasta had any idea that they were related in the remotest possible manner. When Oedipus realized that he had been having an incestuous relationship with his own biological mother, he punished himself very harshly by plucking out both his own eyes. His mother or wife consequently killed herself on learning that the son that she thought had been killed long ago, was the man whom she shared a bed with. Oedipus’s Guilt Oedipus’s guilt in one aspect seems to stem from hubris. He had previously gotten his peoples acclaim by saving them from the curse of the sphinx. Seeing a chance to emerge a hero yet again, he completely ignores all advice given to him. First, on lifting the curse of the sphinx, he was specifically warned not to investigate the murder of Laius. Instead he promises his citizens that he will investigate the murder and decrees a steep penalty for whoever is found guilty. Secondly, his pride comes in when he orders Creon to tell him the news from Apollo

Importance of Managers for the Success of an Organization Assignment

Importance of Managers for the Success of an Organization - Assignment Example The operations of various departments become smooth, fast and efficient. The managerial configuration is a road map for managers while conducting promotions inside the organisation. Managers can make available solid progression tracks for employees and all their workers at entry level. Organisational structure cultivates joint efforts. If all employees work in their departments with the aim of accomplishing their targets as predetermined by the organisational arrangement, the company will easily reach its business aspirations (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). Leaders of the diverse departments are accountable for handing over projects and tasks to all subordinate staff members. These departments are then able to meet the time limits of their assignments. Through the help of a managerial structure, managers can assess the performance of their human resources. Supervisors are able to see the tasks accomplished by their juniors by utilizing the linear arrangement. They can review the skills and potential of their assistants, how they communicate with their fellow staff and the time they take to complete responsibilities. Using this understanding, the supervisors can go on to carry out semi-annual and annual performance evaluations of the employees. For most organisations like sales and promotion companies, organisational arrangement is useful in running changes in the market (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). Managers are in a point to meet, identify the origins of problems and build solutions as a team.

ASTHMA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ASTHMA - Essay Example In accordance to Mill (2006), Asthma is a chronic obstructive airway disease that often becomes characterized by hyper responsiveness of the trachea-bronchial tree to various stimuli resulting in spasmodic narrowing of air passages (p.1). Another definition of asthma could be that it is an episodic disease clinically manifested by dyspnoea, wheezing and cough. Asthma hence is a respiratory lung disease that is chronic in nature. Asthma always involves two components: in the lungs, constriction causes tightening of air passages, resulting in inflammation, irritation and swelling of airways. Inflammation and constriction of the airways often cause many symptoms. When asthma is left untreated for long, it often results in chronic loss of lung function; in addition it also contributes to a condition called Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. Once a person gets exposed to a trigger, lungs get inflamed or swollen to an extent that it causes difficulty in breathing (Mills 2006, p.10). 1.2 His torical background of asthma. The term Asthma has originated from the Greek word, which means to pant, or sharp breath or exhale using open mouth. In an epic Greek poem, Iliad, asthma was first mentioned. It became recognized in antiquity with the famous Hippocrates. Hippocrates correlated asthma to metal workers, farmers, tailors, and fishermen among others. With the recognition of asthma caused by external factors like dust and pollen, more studies were carried out to find out the causes and origin of this pathology and its effect on the respiratory system. The first well-documented occupational asthma case was implemented on workers of castor beans in 1923 (Mills 2006, p.3). 1.3 Prevalence of asthma. Asthma affects nearly seventeen million Americans, of which five million are children. Incidence of asthma has increased in the last 15 years by over 50 percent. Nearly five hundred thousand patients become often hospitalised due to asthma. Hence asthma is amongst the top five expens ive diseases in the health care system (Mills 2006, p.6). 2. Types of asthma. Asthma can be categorized based on the basis of what triggers it. 2.1 Classification by triggers. 2.1.1 Allergic asthma Allergic asthma becomes often progressively atopic or allergic asthma which is the most common asthma type. It often begins in childhood or early adult life. Patients with allergic asthma have family or personal history of preceding allergic diseases like urticaria, rhinitis or infantile spasm. Patients with allergic asthma often exhibit hyper-responsive reactions to extrinsic allergens. Examples of allergens that affect such people are pollens, house dust, moulds, animal danders and others. Patients with this type often have high levels of IgE levels and test positive for skin test (Mills 2006, p.8). 2.1.2 Seasonal asthma Grass pollen, tree pollen, moulds pollen or flowers release pollen that in turn trigger the asthmatic attack. For instance, some people always find their asthma worse i n the spring especially when flowers are flowering compared to other seasons. Others may find their asthma

Tactics to reconstruct the completed buildings due to shifting of Case Study

Tactics to reconstruct the completed buildings due to shifting of project layout by the government agency - Case Study Example As the 5 individual buildings were privately owned and the external road works was under the auspices of the government, it means that the real situation at hand had to do with an amicable private-public sector engagement. A major climax of the private-public sector engagement came about when the client who is on the government side issued notice to the contractor to re-establish the settings of the all the 5 buildings to ensure that they do not conflict with the external road. It is important to note that construction had also started for all the buildings. Once the notice was received by the contractor to re-establish the settings of the road, he engaged with the owner and informed him about the demolition, a situation that merited claim for additional time and cost for the project. As a person tasked with the responsibility of Senior Contracts Administrator, I had a role of reporting to contractors Project Manager. This means that my role was very crucial in ensuring a successful engagements and negotiations between the owner and the contractor. The private-public sector engagement widened the stakeholder base of the project, giving rise to both external and internal stakeholders. Externally, representations from the GRA, beneficiaries of the external road, financiers and third party quality control administrators on the project were all stakeholders. Internally, the project owner, people living in the community, contractor, all employees under the cont ractor, including project manager, and other internal auditors and inspectors were part of the project’s stakeholders. Given the nature of the stakeholders, the stakeholder theory which sees the true ownership of a project as belonging to all people who may be directly or indirectly affected by the project applied. As part of the principles of construction and

Security and idententy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Security and idententy - Essay Example In the modern society, security does not refer to the state as a government or a territorial entity, but relatively as a collective identity of the nation. This indicates that, security in a society may be compromised by anything that compromises their identity (Panic 30). On the other hand, societal security relates to the capability of a society to preserve its essential characteristics in the face of variable circumstances despite of the potential and actual threats. In this case, security is compromised when a community perceives a threat as a hazard to its identity since identity is defined as a set of ideas and practices that recognize particular individuals as members of a social group (Panic 30). Moreover, nations are imaginary communities and national identities, which are the most important references object of the societal security. National identity, therefore, involves some forms of political community, common institutions and one code of duties and rights for all member s of the community. This identity also suggests a definite social space and demarcated territories, which are easily identified by members of the community (Panic 31). This means that community members have a feeling of belonging into this identity. This will, therefore, give a clear definition of a state as a group of people obeying similar rules and institutions within a given territory. According to David Campbell, there are two conceptions of a nation, which includes the civil model and ethics (Campbell 24). These are two predominantly conceptual territories, which need to be protected by the nation. This is due to the fact that nations have to possess compact, well-defined territories. Campbell indicates that territories cannot be just anywhere but must be... It is clear that security and identity have a deeper meaning rather than protecting the affairs of a country since, after the Cold War that appeared in European countries in early 1940s, there emerged new and complex security models of states and individuals. These new approaches were considerably divergent compared to traditional, narrow concepts since they indicate that something can be a security issue despite having no threat to the state. Different from traditional phenomena, other factors such as migrations and cultural identity challenges can contribute to identity securitization in a country. The identity of social group is the object of societal security concept. Social security is thus something concerning individuals and its nature in the prevailing economy. On the other hand, societal security relates to the collectivity of identities and actions undertaken with the aim of protecting such identities in a country.

The Lemba Clan, Are They Real Jews Essay Example for Free

The Lemba Clan, Are They Real Jews Essay Introduction Walking through the Venda Plaza shopping center in Thohoyandou, South Africa, R dai ae ta a ad a tm ,T aioe f Jws bo e . Gv g i a uznw vdo m n n si o eâ€Å" hts n o my e i rt r† i n h d h hs i m pzl ytn i e l kh ep i dâ€Å"a a l k e . cm f m I al l gi e uz d ei r ud o ,e xln ,Im Ba Jw We a er s eao t e tg o ae c o r n m aoT e hv poe iwt gns N t nowing what to say and not having heard about this g. hy ae rvdt i ee. o k h † before, I let his statement pass. My time in South Africa was devoted to working with a victim empowerment program, but I continued to wonder about the idea of Black Jews. The Black Jew or Lemba population creates a blip on a cultural map of sub-Saharan Africa. When researchers discovered and studied them over the last fifteen years, the Lemba also made a blip on the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa. Genetic analysis of the Lemba has focused primarily on the Y chromosome, which is useful for studying variation among and distance between populations. The Lemba genetic markers support the oral tradition which says the Lemba came from the north. This paper reviews biological and cultural studies of the Lemba and the correlation between genes and oral tradition to propose a biocultural history for the Lemba people. Biology Genetic Variation across Populations Much of the study of genetic variation has focused on dissimilarity between groups. Genetic variation over time is used to postulate about the place and time of the origins of modern humans as well as subsequent movement and migration. Genetic variation is the greatest in Africa, and it is reasoned that the longer a group has been around, the more variation it will have in its gene pool. Additionally, the longer groups are apart, the greater their genetic distance (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). Maps of variation show migrations out of, around, 1 and back in to Africa (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). Based on comparison of genetic landscapes, maps by Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza (1995) show the arrival of Neolithic cultivators in northern Africa 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. The migration of people continues down the eastern side of Africa, with groups mixing and moving. According to Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza (1995), the Bantu arrived in South Africa 300 to 400 years ago, and the archaeological and linguistic data support the history of Bantu expansion. Cavalli-Sforza’t e o py gnt r aosi a gnr e t og ae g sr s f hl eece t nh s r ee t h uh vr e e o i li p e ad r a linkage analysis. Synthetic maps are produced from principle-component analysis of multiple gene frequencies. MacEachern (2000), however, criticizes Cavalli-Soz’sn eio gns fr s yt s f ee a h s and language for its assumptions about the nature of language and groups and its lack of cni r i o t d e i o hm n oii . A r a e n ui a ntone, os e t n fh i rt f u a sc ts â€Å" fcn t i n s r obudd d ao e v sy ee i hc t e homogeneous monoliths either frozen in place since before A. D. 1492 or caroming around the continent like cultural-ba n b lr bl†MaE ce ,00 7) G nr sn ec as er g ii d as ( c ahr 20: 0. ee lyt t m p i la l n 3 a hi provide a visual representation of variation, but they do not show how the variation came to exist nor do they reveal anomalies. The Lemba are an anomaly in the genetic patterns of Southern Africa. Variation and the Y Chromosome The primary genetic research on the Lemba has used the Y chromosome for comparison with other groups. The Y chromosome has many characteristics that make it favorable for investigating lineage. Almost all of the Y chromosome consists of non-recombining regions and the information is passed intact from generation to generation, from father to son. The variations, called polymorphisms, occur so infrequently that they are commonly called unique event polymorphisms (UEPs) (Stumpf and Goldstein, 2001). UEPs occur along male lines in 2 different time intervals, thus the changes can be compared between and among groups to examine relatedness and age by identifying variations (Bradman and Thomas 1998). More changes on the Y indicate an older line, and more shared sequences between Ys indicate a more similar gene pool. Once thought of as mainly junk, researchers have identified 20 different genes on the Y (Lowenstein, 1999). The function of Y is related to imparting maleness and to fertility (see figure 1). Figure 1: The human Y chromosome (Quintana-Murci et al. , 2000:173) Because most of the Y does not recombine, the Ycrm sm ise a a ui r tl ho oo es en s â€Å"n a n l p e ay t nm tdi ae ru† r s ie l kg gop which allows the history of the paternal line to be deduced (Poloni et a t n al. , 1997: 1015). The non-recombining section of the Y has the potential for a large number of different mutations (Stumpf and Goldstein, 2001). Because most variation in the Y is not expressed, changes are not selected for or against, which allows the record of these changes gets passed on (Bradman and Thomas, 1998). Four types of changes can occur between generations: microsatellites, minisatellites, snips and indels (Bradman and Thomas, 1998). Microsatellites are a section of repeats of a short 3 nucleotide sequence and minisatellites are a section of repeats of longer sequences. Snips refers to single nucleotide polymorphisms, meaning one nucleotide is changed. Indels are insertions or deletions of DNA in a particular location (Bradman and Thomas, 1998). An example of an indel is the Y chromosome Alu polymorphism (YAP). Alu is a sequence of about 300 base pairs which is inserted into a particular region of the DNA. There have been about half a million Alu insertions in human DNA and YAP is one of the more recent (Bradman and Thomas, 1998). Because they are unique event polymorphisms, YAP inserts and snips are unlikely to have arisen more than once in evolution (Thomas et al. 2000). An Alu can be copied, but it is not removed from a locus. After an Alu change, the YAP will accumulate new mutations at the same rate as surrounding DNA loci. One can think of an Alu insertion as a fossil, and patterns of new mutation allow the fossils to be sorted into lineages. (Dolan DNA Learning Center 2002). Different combinations of polymorphisms are known as haplotypes (Bradman and Thomas 1998). The more similar the haplotype frequencies of two populations, the more similar their biological history is likely to be (Bradman and Thomas 1998). Quintana-Murci, Krausz, and McElreavey caution that genetic drift, founder effects, and male-specific migration processes may lead to over-representation of specific haplotypes (2001). Genetic drift refers to random change in gene frequencies between generations which will cause frequencies to fluctuate up or down (Releford, 2003). After enough time and if no other forces are acting on a population, variation within a population will be reduced (Releford, 2003). The founder effect is a type of genetic drift where a small number of people form a new population, causing allele frequencies to deviate from the parent population (Releford, 2003). The Lemba Y 4 If Lemba migrated from Judea and Yemen and maintained the tradition of marrying only within the group, the Lemba Y haplotypes may be over-represented when compared to the neighboring populations. Thus, the Lemba Y is useful for comparison with African and Semitic populations their contribution to the Lemba. More genetic evidence of a non-Bantu origin for the Lemba is expected and found (Bradman and Thomas 1998). The Lemba Y has an additional genetic marker that indicates links to the Jewish priest class Cohen. Members cannot be appointed to this class and priesthood can only be inherited, thus a possible Jewish marker will be preserved down the line (Bradman and Thomas 1998; Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza 1995). Judaism began in Semitic tribes living about 4,000 years ago in the Middle East. In 586 B. C. , the Babylonian exile spread Jewish populations out of present-day Israel (Hammer et al. 2000). Hammer et al. (2000) used Y chromosome haplotypes to trace the parental origins of the Jewish Diaspora. Multi-dimensional scaling (figure 1 ) of frequencies of 18 Y-chromosome haplotypes in 29 populations produced three main clusters: sub-Saharan African, North African, and European. 5 Figure 2: Multi-dimensional scaling from Hammer et al. (2000:6772) The Jewish cluster appears in between the European and North African population clusters. The Lemba population is set halfway between sub-Saharan African and Jewish clusters (Hammer et al. 2000). Genetic and geographic distances were not correlated for other Jewish populations, which supports a recent dispersal and subsequent isolation model. Hammer et al. conclude that â€Å" m j pro o N Yb ll d e i .. ae to a common Middle Eastern source a a r ot n f R ili i rt . t cs o i aec v sy r ppli svr t uad erao (00 74. h iue lo ea an c i s f ou t n ee lh sn ya g†20: 7) T i s sf frvl t g lm o ao a o s 6 s u ui a Jewish origins as well as for supporting old ties to the Middle East. Once populations dispersed from the Middle East, gene flow with surrounding populations was likely. The Lemba present genetic markers identified with Bantu and Semitic populations (Spurdle and Jenkins, 1996; Wilson and Goldstein, 2000). Wilson and Goldstein (2000) examined 66 markers on the X chromosome to study the effect of admixture of Bantu and Semitic populations on linkage disequilibrium. Recent mutations will tend to have more linkage d eu i i (D t n i o eoe ( l n n G l tn20)â€Å" h s n i n i qib u L )h wl l r nsWio ad o s i 00. T e i ic t s lr m a ld s de, g fa difference between partially linked and unlinked loci rules out substructure as the sole source of the LD in the Lemba . . . Ethiopian-Bantu differentiation is not sufficient to produce the d eu i i osre it L m a ( l n n G l tn20: 2.T e oc s ns i qib u be dn h e b†Wio ad o s i 00 3) h cnl i i s lr m v e s de, 9 uo that the Lemba LD has two sources: parental population and admixture. Another examination on the worldwide distribution of Y haplotypes (Poloni et al. , 1997) found a significant correlation between genetic and linguistic distances. The picture of genetic affinities places the Lemba not with other sub-Saharan African populations but with Afro-Asiatic populations (figure 2 ) indicating admixture or a different parent population from other subSaharan groups. 6 Figure 3: Multi-dimensional scaling from Poloni et al. (1997:1019) Spurdle and Jenkins (1996) also looked at Bantu-Semitic variations to establish genetic affinities and offer a model for the origin of the Lemba. Their study analyzed allele frequencies of Y-linked Restriction Length Fragment Polymorphisms (RLFPs). Ht4 is a typical Negroid haplotype and it is found in the Lemba sample at a frequency of . 20, which indicates significant Negroid male gene flow into the Lemba (Spurdle and Jenkins, 1996). Ht7, Ht8, and Ht11 are Caucasoid markers and the Lemba show high frequencies of these markers as well. These haplotypes seem to be typical of Jewish populations but also occur in Asiatic Indians, thus it is not possible to distinguish between Semitic and Asiatic Indian sources with these markers (Spurdle and Jenkins, 1996). The allele frequencies of the Lemba are significantly different from those of the Bantu-speaking Negroid population and the European population but not from those of the Jewish group. Spurdle and Jenkins (1996) conclude that 50% of the Lemba Y chromosomes analyzed appear to be of Caucasoid origin, and 36% appear to be of Negroid origin. 7. One possible method for distinguishing a Semitic origin, versus a general Middle Eastern origin, of the Lemba is to make comparisons with the Cohen modal haplotype, which is dominant in the Jewish priesthood (Thomas et al. , 1998). There are three castes of Jewish males: Cohanim, the paternally inherited priesthood; Leviim, non-Cohen members of the paternally defined priestly tribe of Levi; Israelites, all non-Cohen and non-Levite Jews (Thomas et al. , 1998). If the Lemba Y has Jewish origins, the Cohen modal haplotype is expected to be present. Thomas et al. (2000) continue the study of Bantu and Semitic markers in the Lemba adding the investigation of the Cohen modal haplotypes. Y chromosomes were analyzed for six microsatellites and six biallelic markers in the Lemba, Bantu, Yemini-Handramaut, YemeniSena, Sephardic Jews, and Ashkenazic Jews. The twelve polymorphic markers were characterized in multiple Jewish populations and identified single haplotypes (Thomas et al. , 2000). Genealogical trees were drawn based on microsatellite variation to explore possible origins of the Lemba Y chromosomes (Thomas et al., 2000). The trees can be used to assess whether each Lemba haplotype has a close genealogical relationship with one or more haplotypes in the other five populations. Trees for the individual haplotypes were drawn for each UEP group by measures of average squared distance and proportion of shared alleles (Thomas et al. , 2000). Thomas et al. (2000) designate 67. 6% of Lemba chromosomes as having a Semitic origin and the other 32. 4% to have a Bantu origin. The high frequency of the Cohen modal haplotype in the general Lemba population supports a Jewish contribution to Lemba gene pool found. The Cohen modal haplotype is observed only moderately in Ashkenazic and Sephardic Israelites, in a single Yemeni, and is present in a very low frequency in Palestinian Arabs (Thomas et al. , 2000). The genetic evidence is consistent with the Lemba oral history of Jewish origins in a population outside of Africa followed by admixture with Bantu neighbors. 8 Culture Oral tradition and Origins of Lemba The Lemba people claim ancient Jewish origins. According to oral history, they come from Judea, from whence they traveled to Sena. From Sena they crossed into Africa, moving down the coast, building great cities in Zimbabwe, and finally settling the northern part of South Africa. Additionally, the Lemba assert Jewish identity through their customs of food prohibitions, ritual slaughter of animals, and circumcision (Buijs, 1998; NOVA 1999; Parfitt 1992). These are not black people who have been recently converted to Judaism. Judaism is not a proselytizing faith thus conversion and intermarriage as an explanation for Jewish genes is unlikely (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). However, many groups across the world claim connections to lost tribes of Israel (Parfitt, 1992). Furthermore, the surge in Lemba Jewish identity is connected to political economy and other social circumstances in South Africa in the last fifty years (Buijs, 1998). The Lemba say they came from the North, possibly from Judea. Then they went to Sena, they crossed Pusela and came to Africa, where they broke the law of God and were scattered across African nations (NOVA, 1999). Parfitt (1992) located Sena in a remote valley of Southern Yemen. Parfitt reasons that Pusela is similar to the Masilah River, which they would have had to cross to get from Sena to the sea. The port town of Sayhut was used for Arab exploration of Africa. In Hadramaut, the valley where Sena is located, tribes have the same names as Lemba tribe names (NOVA, 1999; Parfitt, 1992). Genetic samples of Lemba and of people in the Hadramaut showed similar features as well as the Cohen modal haplotype (NOVA, 1999). Lemba Identity in South Africa 9 The Lemba live in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, but according to Buijs it is only in South Africa where one finds the belief of Jewish origins (1998). The Semitic identity was propagated by early white missionaries and colonial officials; their writings emphasized differences of the Lemba by comparison with European Jewish communities (Buijs, 1998). T ee ri supr d a e o o a ii tdn t (u s19: 1. u s19) o s hs w in spot â€Å"n t s f d t ci ty B i,98 6) B i (98 nt tg e h sn e i † j 6 j e that the Lemba were aware of their distinct cultural heritage prior to colonization, but when ethnic identity became important in Apartheid, the Lemba Cultural Association (LCA) became a m d mfrosut g peet a Jws H rae B i asr,T eniec ..n ei o cnt cn a r n dy e i e t . u s s t â€Å" h i s ne . O u r i s h ig j es st their Jewish heritage is a direct result of the struggle for resources, initially land and later civil sri j sit N r e Tasaln V na (98 6) Ietyi l i r i ad e c o , h ot r r vaad ed†19: 2. dn t n u n a a n ve b n e hn n 6 i, c d g c l ethnic identities, is not a static concept. Identity, especially during Apartheid, was tied to power. The Lemba Cultural Association was founded in the 1940s when Europeans were encroaching o r or s T e C polm d spr e u uai n tadh L m a i pr ne n e uc .h L A rc i e a ea tcl r d ty n t e b’ m ot c s e a a t l ei e s a identified the Lemba with a non-African community (Buijs, 1998). During Apartheid, literally meaning separation, people were classified by race: white, cl e,n b c. n’sc laaits e df e acri tt s cnet( e o r ad l k O e oi cpb ie w r e nd cod go h e ocp s od a s a li e i n e se Mandela 1994 for a first hand description of the Apartheid system). The Apartheid government, the white minority, knew that if black people were united, the white autonomy would be threatened. They instituted a Bantu education system that further classified blacks according to tribe and encouraged local identity and rule in hopes of keeping blacks divided (Mandela 1994). In the 1980s, as the white hold on power was becoming more and more challenged, the gvrm nc a d i eednhm l d† h h e stp uhhthy e sl oe etr t â€Å" dpneto e ns w i w r eu sc t t w r tl n ee n a c e a e ei 10 overseen by South Africa but the government no longer provided money or services to these areas. Lemba in Venda Vendaland was created and within these bounds were the Lemba. Before the independent hm l diw saoalfrBak e s ti n f t m e e ad e e o e n, a f r eo â€Å" l Jw †o d tyh sl s n b r a t v b c ei e v cognized as Lemba, because they were associated with whites and considered superior to other Blacks. However, in t â€Å" l k o e n,w e b cseu t io n oe m n ibcm m rf oalt h Ba hm l d hr l k stph r w gvr et tea e oe a r eo e c a † e a e n , v b be Black and not associated with whites. A highly placed civil servant in Venda government cm et â€Å" i t V na e e a etgop I t s dy w w rl h o m n d ‘ t h ed w w r n le ru. nh e as e e i t e wh e e i o e g -skinned .. . V nar t u l e sro uprl s . t C oe pol (a i,92 8. h h ed t a d si a otf pec s.. e hsn ep †Prt 19: ) T i e ee k a h e ft 7 s refers to the days of their arrival in southern Africa. At the beginning of the century, in spite of the dark skin, the Lemba were commonly called valungu – white men (Parfitt, 1992). The civil srate a e,‘ sog s vrt n ge j ti , y e g L m a os’matter . . . e nr r dâ€Å" l a ee h g osu f em bi a e b dent v m k A n yi s n n B tson sh g s rgi w ogiiar u do y e b oi n†19: ) T e ua so a t nst to g rn, s ti t tm L m a r i (92 7.h i a n t tb e g’ 7 status and identity of the Lemba has not been fixed and it has not always been Jewish. Proclaiming a form of Judaism is an event of the 19th century, but it does come from an o e cm la d eg u i n f ao (a i 19)â€Å" h L m a e e a a i l my l r o p ct r i osd ti t n Prt 92. T e e b si d prc a t d, i e li e ic i ft z tu r h and used it as a means of ridding themselves of a rather ancient ambiguity at a time when new ambiguities were being created every dy (a i,9225. T e e b igop i a†Prt 19:5) h L m as ru wt ft h particular traditional practices, and some say they are not a religious group but a cultural one (Sand, 2002). The Lemba culture today points to ancient Hebrew origins but some Lemba practice Christianity and Islam (Sand, 2002). The practices they do ascribe to ancient Jews would 11 not be identified as Judaism in the West, however they have adopted more Jewish traditions in recent years (Sand, 2002). Lemba today In post-Apartheid times, the Lemba identity is flourishing. They continue to have LCA meetings (Buijs 1998). Websites about their heritage and culture are published on the Internet. People in South Africa can identify themselves with whatever group or groups they please. About 80,000 Lemba live in the Venda area of the Limpopo Province in South Africa as well as the Johannesburg township of Soweto (Buijs, 1998; Sand, 2002). Lemba are also found in villages in the southwestern region of Zimbabwe (Buijs, 1998; Sand, 2002). In the Venda region, people speak TshiVenda. Another day when Rudzani and I were walking through the shopping center, he called up to a man with a phrase I did not understand. With a twinkle in his eyes, he told me that was the traditional greeting for a Jewish brother. Again, I let that pass, thinking he could translate it to mean whatever he wanted since I did not know TshiVenda (a favorite joke of my friends there). In reflection and after research, I do not doubt the old Jewish ties and if I go back to South Africa, I will be sure to find out more. Conclusion The problem with constructing the history of the Lemba identity is that it has been passed down through oral tradition. When it was recorded at the turn of the twentieth century, it is possible the outside visitors were biased or projecting a Jewish identity on the Lemba. Genetic data support the oral tradition, and genetic research has identified anomalies in the Lemba population. Across the articles, the same information about the oral tradition and culture of the Lemba was offered. Ethnographic study of the Lemba traditions, not in contrast to Jews or other Africans, is needed to understand what being Lemba means today. Further research considering political 12 economy, as Buijs did, will continue to fill out the picture of constructions and projections of identity for the Black Jews of South Africa. 13 Works Cited Bradman N, and Thomas M. 1998. Why Y? The Y chromosome in the study of human evolution, migration, and prehistory. Science Spectra, 14. 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