The Human Heart

The human heart is slightly bigger than the size of ones fist. It is situated at a very safe place which is between the cage bones, i.e., in the center of the chest. Usually it is slightly on the left side of the chest but in rare cases, it can be found on the right side. Heart is responsible for the blood flow to every single part of the body by constant contraction and relaxation of cardiac muscles. This is the reason why we hear rhythmic beats all the time. Heart pumps the pure blood to the different parts of the body and then takes the deoxygenated blood from all the parts to the lungs for oxygenation. Normally in a minute the heart beats 72 times. Well, let's check out heart diagram for kids as well as for adults which can help you to understand the functioning of heart better. Parts of the Heart As you can see in the heart diagram, there are many parts in the heart. So, as we discuss the various parts, you keep checking out the parts simultaneously one by one in the given labeled diagram of the human heart. This will help you to understand the part and their functions more easily. Pericardium Human heart is covered by a double layered structure which is called as pericardium. The outer layer is associated with the major blood vessels whereas the inner layer is attached to the cardiac muscles. These layers are separated by a pericardial fluid. This covering is like a membrane which holds all the parts of the heart. Chambers Heart is divided into four chambers which are called as left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. Atrium are the upper chambers of the heart whereas ventricles are the lower chambers of the heart. All these chambers are separated by a tissue layer, called as septum. Left side of the chamber is associated with the circulation of the oxygenated blood and the right side receives the deoxygenated blood from various parts of the body. Valves There are four valves in the heart namely bicuspid valve, tricuspid valve, pulmonary valve and aortic valve. They help in preventing the back flow of the blood from one chamber to other. This maintains a proper one directional blood flow through out the process. Bicuspid valve is present between the left atrium and left ventricle whereas tricuspid valve is present between the right atrium and right ventricle. Pulmonary valve behaves as a gate which stops the back flow of blood from right ventricle to the pulmonary artery which takes the deoxygenated blood to the lungs for purification. Lastly the aortic valve, this valve plays an important role in stopping the back flow of the blood from left ventricle to the aorta. Once the blood is transferred to the aorta it supplies the oxygenated blood to different parts of the body. Blood Vessels Blood vessels are the blood carriers in a human body. These play a very vital role in the supply of blood to various parts of the body. Blood vessels can be of two types, veins and arteries. All the veins (except pulmonary vein) are involved in carrying the deoxygenated blood from various parts of the body to the heart whereas all the arteries (except pulmonary artery) are involved in supplying oxygenated blood from the heart to different parts of the body. Functioning of the Heart After getting familiar with the part let's check out the functions of the heart. Well, as we all know we need oxygen to survive, but have you ever thought how this oxygen is supplied to different parts of the body? This work is done with the help of heart. Heart plays a very important role in the supply of oxygenated blood in different parts of the body. Deoxygenated blood is collected from various parts of the body and is transferred to heart. The blood enters the heart through the pulmonary valve and enters the right atrium, then it goes to the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve. From here the blood then goes to the lungs for oxygenation. Oxygenated blood is then brought back to the heart with the help of pulmonary veins and enters the left atrium. The blood then goes to the left ventricle through the bicuspid valve and then transferred to the aorta through the aortic valve for further blood circulation to different parts of the body.

Music Tempo

Since the early Baroque period, tempo markings had been used predominantly with instrumental music. But despite this fact, not all instrumental music had a tempo mark during those times. Composers have been inconsistent in their use of it; however, conductors have often modified a composer’s indications, either because of a different interpretation of the composition or because of the conditions under which it is performed. It was during the era of Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) tempo markings became necessary which provided metronome markings instead of using descriptive words.Dance and choral music were played at a certain tempo, depending on their style and reflections to the mood of the text. In addition, descriptive tempo markings will most likely present the mood for example, allegro, not only tries to project the thought of quickness but it also conveys brightness. Largo does not only imply slowness but also broadness and expansiveness. Still using today the verbal te mpos frequently together with precise metronome markings are due to the expressive qualities being manifested.Vague idea of speed and notation of confusion will be the results of music being written before the development of particular metronomes. Speed is being indicated as symbols give the number of beats per bar in the system of time signatures being developed during the Renaissance period. Terminologies such as allegro meaning fast, presto as quick and lento being slow are Italian words indicating tempo in the 17th century. To the modern musicians, these words only gave an indistinct concept of speed but for the enthusiasts of contemporary music, customs of tempo were taken as read among composers and nearly all players.Tempo is an Italian word meaning speed or movement. At the top left corner of the musical staff, there could be found an expression that indicates how fast or slow the music should be played. This expression could be a word or a metronome marking. Metronome marki ng is the number of beats occurring in 60 seconds that measures the pace of music. As an example, ‘crotchet=60’ meaning there should be a 60 crotchet beats to the minute, that is to say, one .per second. Tempo is being measured by modern electronic metronomes very accurately.To some performers, they play the tempo according to their preferences and what suit their interpretation of the music. Performers who were encouraged to pay more attention to original tempo markings were caused by the knowledge of performance practice achieved by academic investigation into earlier music. At any one time, some other factors are influencing the choice of tempo, and a critical musical analysis most likely relies on changes in the fundamental tempo throughout a piece such as accelerando which means getting faster, ritardando as getting slower or rubato with a beat that is strictly irregular.The rate of speed is determined by its characteristics, performances’ physical condition s, and the composer’s transmitted instructions. Before the 17th century, from the notation, performers knew the correct tempo, for tempo were related to note values. The adaption of time signatures and tempo marks made visible a variety of durations for any note. The time signature  ¾ gave a quarter note one pulse, 3/2 gave half pulse; 4/8 gave it two pulses. The rate at which these occurred could be modified by the use of tempo markings, such as allegro or andante. A high degree of accuracy in tempo indications was made possible by the invention of the metronome, a device that shows the number of beats per minute.For adagio or very slow tempo, Adagio for Strings by Barber or Trio Sonata in G major by Bach are good sample pieces. Brandenburg Concerto No.6, in B-flat major by Bach and Clarinet Concerto in a major by Mozart are good pieces for allegro that is lively, rather quick. For rather slow, at moderate tempo that is andante, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 in C ma jor is advisable to be listened.For grave, that is extremely low and solemn, Beethoven’s Sonata No.8 in C minor would be the perfect example. And for largo that is slow and broad, Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 in E minor as its corresponding piece. For moderate tempo we have moderato. For the samples, try Shostakovich’s Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano or Hindemith’s Sonata for Bass, Tuba, and Piano. Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.4 in A major is an excellent musical piece for very quick tempo which is called presto. For quick and lively that is vivace, listen to Clarke’s Sonata for Viola and Piano,II.There are lots of tempo markings. From the fastest to slowest, common markings include prestissimo for extremely fast, vivacissimamente as the adverb of vivacissimo meaning very quickly and lively, vivacissimo for very fast and lively, presto and allegrissimo for very fast, and vivo as lively and fast. Allegro is used for fast and bright or called as a ma rch tempo. Allegro moderato for moderately quick, allegretto used in moderately fast, moderato for moderately, andantino for alternatively faster or slower than andante, andante used at a walking pace, tranquillamante is derived from the adverb of tranquillo meaning tranquilly and tranquillo for tranquil.Adagietto is used for rather slow, adagio for slow and stately, grave for slow and solemn. Larghetto is used for rather broadly, largo for very slow, lento is very slow like largo, largamente largo for broadly and very slow and larghissimo also for very slow. Basically allegro, largo, adagio, vivace, presto, andante and lento are the few root words used in markings.The suffix –issimo when put in the root word makes the tempo amplified. –ino used as suffix makes the tempo reduced and by adding the suffix –etto to the word the tempo becomes endeared. For sudden changes of different tempo in a piece of music, a new tempo will be given also marked the same way. Molt o or un poco are terms used as modifiers. Accelerando is used when tempo is accelerating or getting faster. Ritardando is used when slowing down, ritenuto when slower and rallentado when gradually slower. Poco a poco is used if pertaining to little by little or gradually speed. Rubato is used when speeding up and at the same time relaxes in ways that puts emphasis on the phrasing. Tempo I is used when referring to the original tempo again.ReferencesFarlex, Inc.   (2008). Tempo.   RetrievedApril 22, 2008 from

Homeless in America Research Paper Essay

We see them all the time. Homeless people sit at street corners, holding signs, and asking for money or food. We may look at them, choose to ignore, or choose to give, but for many of the homeless, this has become their way of life. The reason I chose this topic was because of my recent volunteer work with the Salvation Army and Thrift Store in Grand Forks. I have seen people in desperate situations and heard some stories while working with community service members during my time at the Salvation Army. I also personally worked with a homeless man every day at the Salvation Army. He was in his 50’s, tall, gray hair and a large build. He always wore layers of clothes which appeared dirty and worn. He never mentioned to me that he was homeless, but it was told to me by one of the other workers. I was also told that he often slept in the truck that was loaded daily with clothes to be sent over to Minneapolis. He always had such a positive attitude about his job, working for the S alvation Army. People in his situation are another reason I wanted to do research on the history and current epidemic of homeless in America. Locally there is not nearly enough shelter for the homeless. The cost of rent, even in this town, has increased dramatically. In order to afford an apartment, you must save more than a thousand dollars much of time. It is not an easy cycle to get out off, as many people think. As we have learned in class, women and children stay in different locations than the men, which means that families cannot stay together. Often, this fact leads families to sleep in their vehicles in order to stay together. There are many different reasons and causes for homelessness in America. Drug use is one of the earliest factors in homelessness. After the Civil War, morphine and heroin could be purchased from Sears and Roebucks catalogs. Hundreds of thousands of war veterans became addicted, and the addiction spread throughout America. The drugs were finally crimin alized,  but the damage had been done. The three common terms, â€Å"hobo†, â€Å"tramp†, and â€Å"bum† came out of this era. Racial divides also still occur in the areas of healthcare, education, access to mortgages, and access to equal paying jobs among many others. Unless some type of intervention occurs, generational issues are often the rule and not the exception. Living in poverty creates depression, which can lead to drug use, alcoholism, and neglect of self and others. Poverty was a well-known issue during the Civil War and many children ended up homeless and in orphanages simply because their parents, or remaining parent, could not afford to take care of them. War often leads to loss of life, and therefore loss of income in families, especially during this time. Our country was still newly formed and there were no social welfare programs as of yet. Further along in history, during the Great Depression, jobs were lost, and the rates of homeless again, increased throughout America. Natural Dis asters are another factor in the homelessness problem. The Great Chicago Fire, The San Francisco earthquake, the massive flooding of the Mississippi in the 1920s from Ohio through New Orleans displaced over 1.3 million people. The Drought of the 30s in Oklahoma and Texas, Hurricane Katrina, are just a few examples of disasters that affected millions of people’s households. The snowball effect of unemployment and poverty attribute to homelessness. People living in generational poverty, for example, may not have the knowledge or resources to become educated and move out of poverty. People living in generational poverty do not have the resources and support to become educated and move out of poverty. In 2011, the official rate of poverty in America was 15.0%, which is 46.2 million. Another category of homeless is the very people who fought for our country: Veterans. One in three homeless people are veterans. The vast majority is single men (97%). In fact, 40% of the male homeless population is war veterans. A large percentage of these veterans (76%) experience alcohol, drug or mental health problems.3 Poverty was a well-known issue at this time and many children ended up homeless and in orphanages simply because their parents could not afford to take care of them. During the Great Depression, jobs were lost, and the rates of homeless again, increased throughout America. Natural Disasters are another factor in the homelessness problem. The Great Chicago Fire, The San Francisco earthquake, the massive  flooding of the Mississippi in the 1920s from Ohio through New Orleans displaced over 1.3 million people. The Drought of the 30s in Oklahoma and Texas, Hurricane Katrina, are just a few examples of disasters that affected millions of people’s households. T he snowball effect of unemployment and poverty attribute to homelessness. People living in generational poverty, for example, may not have the knowledge or resources to become educated and move out of poverty. People living in generational poverty do not have the resources and support to become educated and move out of poverty. In 2011, the official rate of poverty in America was 15.0%, which is 46.2 million. Many of the homelessness are those we do not see on street corners, asking for help. Locally, the North Dakota Coalition for Homeless People reports information regarding the homeless in North Dakota. A statewide January 25, 2012 Point-in-Time Survey of 972 Homeless People indicated: 6% stayed outside, in cars, in abandoned buildings the night of the survey 66% stayed in emergency shelters or transitional supportive housing 16% were precariously housed in motels or doubled up with family or friends and at imminent risk of being on the street 65% (635) were unaccompanied individ uals 35% (337) were families, including 189 children under the age of 18 59% cannot afford rent, even if they have some income 48% were unemployed 36% had alcohol or drug abuse problems 35% had a mental illness Who are the homeless in America? More than 42% of those accessing emergency shelter are families, and, on average these families remain in emergency shelters for 70 days, longer than either single women or single men. The primary reason for family homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, though poverty, unemployment, low-paying jobs, family disputes, substance abuse, and other factors all play significant roles in family homelessness. Recent statistics indicate that 26% of those suffering from homelessness are considered â€Å"severely mentally ill;† 19% are employed; 15% are victims of domestic violence; 13% are physically disabled; 13 are veterans; and 2% are HIV positive. Children are also not exempt from the issue of homelessness. We may not see them on the streets, but families with children are the largest growing segment of the homeless population. The education of these  children is also affected by this lack of stability. Many times, because of the lack of a permanent residence, children miss or change schools, disrupting their education. According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, homeless children are nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to drop out of school, and three times more likely to be placed in special education programs than their housed peers. Runaway youth are also at a high level of risk for homelessness. Homeless and runaway youth had been interviewed after getting into trouble with the law while out on the streets. It was found that some young people felt like they had to make mistakes before they realized they needed help. Rather than learning from seeing their friends get into trouble, they had to try out risky behavior themselves and see the consequences first hand.1 The desire to self-help is key to helping homeless of any age, especially the teenager who often feels like he/she is old enough to take care of his/her self. In this same study, there were three main things that were key to helping out these youth. The first was that the programs designed for runaway and homeless youth need to be flexible and person-centered. The second is that people are more valuable than programs and that process is more important than outcomes. The third is the importance of family and friends. Even after these kids leave or abandon their homes, these relationships often need healing. Homelessness is a national problem and is not exclusive to cities. Rural areas make up 7 percent of the population. Catastrophic life events can trigger homelessness. There is a quote from a publication called â€Å"Starting Point Community Analysis† that states â€Å"We are all one life event away from homelessness.† For many of low income families, this is a true statement. Single moms in America have grown dramatically over the past 50 years. This has created an epidemic of poverty in our country. So many factors contribute to homelessness, many of which are unavoidable. Personal accounts of the homeless in America stated the intense loneliness of being homeless. Because of this loneliness, many single homeless people turn to drugs or alcohol for comfort and a way to escape their current situation. One homeless man stated that once an employer found out he had no phone, no vehicle, and no residence, his application was thrown away. Without  assistance, many of thes e people give up hope on anything better for themselves. It is not as easy as â€Å"getting a job†, as many people are quick to say when seeing a homeless person begging on the street. It is an epidemic of the young, the old, the educated, and the uneducated. Many of these homeless stay out of sight. As social workers, we can provide information on assistance and programs that are available through the state and government. Many of these people simply need a hand up and do not know where to start. By working with these organizations, we can get started on helping via drug/alcohol programs, psychiatric care, financial resources, career and housing assistance. On a micro level, we may need to start with the basic needs of the homeless person. Shelter is the first need to be addressed, but the reasons behind being homeless also have to be addressed. There is usually a root of the problem when it comes to homelessness. Some examples may be a recent divorce, addiction, mental illn ess, or loss of employment. Even the smallest factor can change someone’s life and create a chain of events that they never planned for or saw coming. Also on the micro level we can work as counselors or referrals to health care professionals such as psychiatrists. For those homeless with mental illness, a facility and/or medication may be something that will help them to function in society. Also, introducing the homeless to any programs or help that is available in their local area would be an example of micro level social work. There are a vast array of concerns and reasons for homeless that need to be addressed. On a mezzo level, we may work with organizations such as http://www.endhomelessness.org, http://nationalhomeless.org , or more locally, www.ndhomelesscoalition.org to help raise money to help homeless people in need and further the current help of these organizations. On a macro level, we could work to campaign to raise government funding and policy changes for th e homeless in America. An example would be shelter for families to go to together. This is not available locally right now. Homelessness is a country-wide issue. It does not discriminate. From the wealthiest, to those who have lost everything due to the failing economy, to the poorest who grew up having nothing, homelessness is an epidemic that spans the history of our nation. References 1. Kurtz, P. D. P. D., Lindsey, E. P. D., Jarvis, S. M. E. ,. S., & Nackerud, L. P. D. (2000). How runaway and homeless youth navigate troubled waters: The role of formal and informal helpers. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 17(5), 381-402. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1007507131236 2. Heidi, M. (2011, November 16). The history of homelessness in america 1640s to present. Retrieved from http://www.dceh.org/the-history-of-homelessness-in-america-1640s-to-present/ 3. http://www.supporthomelessveterans.org/statistics.html 4. http://www.ndhomelesscoalition.org/what_we_do/facts.html 5. http://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/ http://www.supporthomelessveterans.org/statistics.html

The connection between incisive poverty and environmental degradation Essay

The connection between incisive poverty and environmental degradation - Essay Example In this case, reports such as World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) and another one commissioned by UNEP titled Global Environment Outlook 2000 (Clarke 1999), identify poverty as a major cause of environmental degradation. However, there is little evidence to connect poverty to environmental degradation since the poor suffer from environmental degradation with human activities and behaviours harming and ruining the natural environment. In this case, it is important to dispel this myth and identify the real causes of environmental degradation. According to World Bank’s 2008 estimates, about 1.29 billion people lived on less than USD $ 1.25 a day with more than 75% of this population living in the rural areas (World Bank 2012). On the other hand, the United Nation (1997) estimated 1.9 billion hectares of land as degraded worldwide as a result of human factors related to unsustainable land management practices and other various land management practices. In the c urrent society, about 25% of the world’s population is directly dependent on degraded land, which highlights a worrying trend that requires being adequately addressed (Bai et al. 2008). More worrying is the fact that the world loses about 5-8 hectares of land each year to degradation (Scherr 1999). Significantly, most of this land that is lost to degradation is in developing nations, which have a high number of poor citizens. However, is there evidence that poverty is linked to environmental degradation? Vosti and Reardon (1997) provide a model to study the link between poverty and environmental degradation as shown in Figure 1. From this model, poverty is an asset that is viewed as a combination of various components that include natural resources, human resources, on-farm resources, and community resources, which have a relationship with the sustainability efforts that communities use to manage the environment. The closest this theoretical model goes to  connect environme ntal degradation to poverty is related to the lack of sufficient resources that can help enhance sustainability efforts by investing in conservation efforts. In this case, the model does not associate poverty with high utilisation of non-renewable resources that are scarce, damage of important renewable resources such as forests, and a high generation of non-recyclable waste that cannot be assimilated easily or broken down properly. In effect, the model fails to link poverty with these three factors that contribute to environmental degradation. Consequently, it is important to identify the link, if any, between poverty and these factors that contribute to environmental degradation. (Vosti and Reardon, 1997). With regard to the use of non-renewable resources, it is common knowledge that people living in conditions characterised by incisive poverty live in dwellings that use reclaimed materials from waste and use little, if any, cement to construct their houses considering that cement requires high input of energy input. In addition, people living in incisive poverty rely on public means of transport, or even walk or use bicycles, which do not contribute to environmental degradation. On the other hand, using public transport ensures that the average amount of oil consumed per person is maintained at a low, which is an effective way of conserving non-renewable resources and consequently avoiding environmental degradation. On average, electricity consumption levels of these individuals is low, which consequently makes their consumption of fossil fuel from oil, gas, natural resources, and coal less than the consumption by rich people. With regard to t

Marxs and Wollstonecraft on Societal Issues Essay

Marxs and Wollstonecraft on Societal Issues - Essay Example Carl Marx argued that capitalist system was a source of alienation of workers in earlier days. In his book, he summarized areas of oppression and alienation into four fundamental areas of concern. Firstly, he argued that laborers were alienated from product and services. He expressed concern in the society that it had been taken over by what he described as fetishism of money. In his writings, he expressed displeasure in the manner in which society was evaluating men based on their materialistic credibility. This is quite similar to Wollstonecraft view on alienation of women, in her book â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Women,† that criticizes acutely society that gave men preference over women. Although the two authors’ argument is based on different societal issues, gender equality, and economic equity, they have a nuanced agreement in the creation of fairness. Marx, for instance, argues that men should not be isolated based on their material possession, but from their abilities and skills addition to the economy . Similarly, Wollstonecraft argues that women should not be discriminated. In her book, she argues that women deserve education that is consummate to their needs in society. She premised her thoughts that better-educated women will result in better-educated society since women determine educational outcome of the children. Both are good proponents of a just society that is free of economic and gender discrimination. Secondly, Marx argues that laborers have been belittled and viewed as lesser human beings.

Discharged for Off-Duty Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discharged for Off-Duty Behavior - Essay Example resources department has the responsibility to evoke such employees of the existence of such rules and make them available once needed by the employees. This paper discusses an example of an off-duty behavior of an employee of AEM company called John. Given the facts of this case, John did not receive a fair treatment. The HR manager was able to mention the existing code of conduct that stated that employee’s off-duty behavior should not affect the company, its employees, or sales of its educational materials. Existence of this code of conduct does not explicitly indicate that John knew about it. The code is quite extensive and has not narrowed in to what behaviors that would amount to breaching off-duty performance by an employee. According to Bohlander and Snell (2009), rules should be widely disseminated, widely known by all employees, reviewed periodically, and reasons for the rules explained. John is right that what he did in his personal life was â€Å"no obligation of the company† if the rules were not stipulated properly and explicitly explained to him not to handle pornographic materials. Besides, he explains the reason for the purchase of materials. It was not at will. Discharging an employee as a disciplinary measure is usually the last resort. From this case, John has no indiscipline records in his personal record for the last twelve years. We do not hear of any warnings prior to this scenario. According to Bohlander and Snell, the employee must know the rule, be notified of his breach of the rules, and be given reasonable warning before dismissal (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). Sales representatives of AEM can be held to a higher level of personal conduct than sales representatives of other companies. Despite the global employment laws that regulate businesses, organizations reviews their codes and guidelines yearly to suite their demands. This happens mostly in private companies where rules of conduct are given and explained to the sales

Psychological support for breast cancer women and mastectomy Essay

Psychological support for breast cancer women and mastectomy - Essay Example Addie Gilbert, 51, saw the final straw while trying on her favorite red dress whose front was adorned with stylish criss-cross straps, thinking she might never have to wear it again. Following her mastectomy, the heavy prosthesis underneath was clearly visible. She said, â€Å"I was so depressed that I sat on the floor of my bedroom and cut the dress up into little pieces with scissors† (Boughton, 2000). After her mastectomy, she was not only worried about her inability to wear her favorite clothes in the future, but was also troubled by the trauma brought about by the diagnosis of breast cancer every time she saw her reflection and the scar over her chest in the mirror. Gilbert thus decided to have her breast reconstructed. Her breast was molded by taking skin and tissue from her abdomen. Addition of an areola and nipple three months later with an office procedure made her whole again. Different women respond to the surgery of breast cancer in different ways depending upon th eir psychology, self-perception, age, and whether or not the surgery is accompanied by such adjuvant therapeutic procedures as chemotherapy and radiation. Mastectomy can be hard to come to terms with for women like Gilbert, though it is an acceptable alternative for many other patient of breast cancer. Women undergoing surgery for breast cancer commonly experience major regrets because of severe emotional trauma, complications of surgery, lack of postoperative psychological support, complications of reconstruction, phantom pain, and dissatisfaction with the procedure’s cosmetic outcome. Frost et al. (2000) performed a detailed research to investigate the overall social and psychological well-being and long-term satisfaction in women that have undergone prophylactic mastectomy. The researchers found a 74 per cent reduction in the emotional concern regarding the

Macroeconomics problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Macroeconomics problems - Essay Example b) Assume the exchange rate changes. Now, ‘1 euro=$1.20’. Showing all work, what does Wanda pay for the wine? What does Pierre pay for the computer? In this case, there is a change in the individual rates of exchange between the euro and the dollar. Currently, ‘1 euro=$1.20’ hence Wanda will spend (1000*1.20) 1200 dollars on a bottle of French wine. On the other hand, Pierre will spend (2000/1.20) 1,666.67 Euros on the purchase of an American computer. c) Which currency appreciated? Explain. Taking a closer look at the two currencies, it is evident that the Euro appreciated against the dollar. According to macroeconomic theory, appreciation of a currency refers to the increase in the value of one international currency against the other in the sense that the appreciating currency is able to purchase more of the other currency (Krugman & Wells 100). In the above mentioned case, the dollar and the Euro are international currency that had an initial exchange ra te of ‘1 euro=$1.08.’ However, there was a change in the exchange rates and the current rate stands at ‘1 euro=1.20.’ This means that the dollar has to fetch more additional units to purchase a single unit of a Euro. This is evident in the case of an American purchasing a bottle of wine and has to pay an initial price of 1080 dollars. Since the euro has appreciated, the American will have to pay a higher price of 1200 for the same bottle of French wine. Consumers using the Euro have a higher purchasing power compared to those using the dollar. SECTION TWO: a) In this section, you will set up a balance of payments table. Please read chapter 26. A BOP has three accounts. You will need to place each item in its proper account and have a dollar value for the total of each account. The table will be in billions. Please indicate, plus or minus, for each number. Credits ‘000,000 ($) Debits ‘000,000 ($) A. Current Account (1) Exports (2) Imports (3) Net Transfers (4) Net Interest Income Balance B. Capital Account (5) Foreign Investments in the U.S. (6) U.S. Investments Abroad Balance (7) Statistical Discrepancies Overall Balance C. Official Reserve Account +2,421 +150 +220 +1150 +250 +30 -2,971 -180 -900 -40 -30 b) What does the official settlements number indicate? Be precise in explaining this. Based on the above table, the official settlements number is -30 and this indicates that the US has an increase in its foreign reserves and that there is also a decrease in the dollar reserves held by foreign central banks (Krugman & Wells 113). The decrease in dollar reserves among foreign central banks count as debits in the Balance Of Payments account. SECTION THREE: a) Under what conditions would the Fed sell government securities? The Fed would sell government securities under conditions such as inflation, employment and national output. Under such cases, the Fed does not have control but can only influence such conditions to its fav or. The Fed can create an effect on such conditions by increasing or reducing the short term rate interest especially through open market operations. Some of the government securities used during open market operations includes treasury bills, bonds and notes (Krugman & Wells 119). The control of money supply offers tangible solutions to the conditions mentioned above. When the Fed is targeting to increase the supply of money in the economy, there will be the purchase of securities. On the

Can you control the competition Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Can you control the competition - Assignment Example The firms progress in this race of competition. However, competition has been observed to be unethical at times. Firms resort to the most down trodden ways and methods to knock out their competitors. For example, the telecommunications industry today is highly competitive. Each firm knows what it needs to sell. From advertisements to deals and offers, everything by each of the firms, is highly organized and planned. However, these firms have a factor of unhealthy competition existing between them. Instead of welcoming the competition and struggling harder, they prefer demeaning their competitors through aggressive advertisements. The media has been a large shareholder of the unethical competition that firms receive. However, it cannot be criticized too much since it is also a source of healthy competition. As long as the telecommunications industry is concerned, competition cannot be avoided since a lot of profits lie with these firms. These extra profits attract new firms. The food industry has long been a competitive market. There are lots of firms making cereals but cornflakes have been a trademark of Kellogg’s alone. This is purely due to healthy competition. If this competition was controlled and other firms were disallowed from entering the cereal market, maybe Kellogg’s products wouldn’t have been this flawless (Dranove, David). Maybe it would have sit back and enjoyed its monopoly and never even tried the flavored cornflakes and those with resins and nuts. It is just competition that keeps on driving the firms to experiment. Thus competition is needed for the firm to grow. As far as the question of whether competition can be controlled is concerned, it is pretty simple to answer that in the food industry. As long as there would be demand for food, which there would be forever, there would be providers of food. As long as the providers will gain, new providers will continue to enter the market and thus there would be no way to control

Accounting Cycle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting Cycle - Research Paper Example An organization that depends on the accounting cycle to create outputs that are needed to evaluate the financial performance of an organization is the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC mandates that public corporation release financial statements at least once a year. The amount of time that it takes to complete the accounting cycle is typically one year. Due to SEC regulations publicly traded companies have to compress their accounting cycles in order to release quarterly financial statements. The primary players that are involved in the preparation of financial statements are the employees that belong to the accounting department. The collective efforts of all accountants of a corporation allows the accounting cycle to run smoothly and serve its purpose of enabling companies to compile financial statements that show the financial performance of a corporation. Some of the users of the financial information formed by the accounting cycle include: lenders, employees, business partners, and shareholders. The person or job position that is responsible for the completion of the accounting cycle is the controller. The controller is considered the top accounting position in any organization. The controller is responsible for the preparation of the different steps that lead to the release of financial statements. Another important executive position that closely monitors the work of the accounting department is the chief executive officer (CEO). The CEO is responsible for the ent ire performance of an organization. They must comply with the demands of different stakeholders groups. A few decades ago the accounting cycle was created manually with the use of traditional accountings books such as the general journal and the ledgers. Accountants would manually keep track of the system through these two mechanisms and other tools to create an accounting information system. Nowadays technological advances have made the job of accountants much

War is kind Essay Example for Free

War is kind Essay ‘War is kind’ is a harsh and critical poem. The poetry is a sort of protest against war and ranks among the large collection of harrowing works of poetry about war. The title draws the reader’s attention to the ironic tone in the poem as it is very hard to picture war being kind. The author seems to be very pessimistic and adopts a satirical and cynical statement after the statement ‘war is kind’. For instance he says, ‘War is kind’, hoarse booming drums of the regiment, little souls who thirst for fight, these men were born to drill and die’ (Crane, 2009, pp 9). By referring to the ‘unexplained glory above them’, Crane seems to be questioning whether the destruction and death is worth it. This is an important question as most wars are really not about what they issues that the people at war claim. There are some exceptions to this, for example, World War II was about a fight for the end of holocaust, while the Civil War was about ending slavery. However for the most part, wars have been conflicts over cultural values and over natural resources. In his poem, Crane appears to be disagreeing with the notion that wars are about glory, nationalism and patriotism. These emotions that people associate with war are in reality made up to enable people feel better about the war and its effects. The level of sarcasm in the poem clearly shows Crane’s doubts as to whether war is worth anything to anyone. The author makes this point even more clearly by pointing out that war its glory and honor are worth very little to the child whose parent has died, the wife whose husband has died or the parent whose child has died. The poem is an emotional and bitter protest against the horrors of war. It gets a lot of its strength form the use of highly descriptive simple words that are contrasted with innocence. In the first line a maiden seems to be grieving about the loss of her husband, but the statement ‘war is kind’ follows. The poem then goes on to present a very dramatic picture of the husband’s death, where the dying soldier is throwing his wild hands in the direction of the sky and his frightened horse is left running alone. The constant repetition of this line is and the line ‘do not weep’, works well to place emphasis on the poem’s objective which is to undermine the fundamentals of war. The poem also has a political angle which is significant to its interpretation. In attacking the situation of those who learn only to die and drill, the poem is accusing the politics of war. In most wars, the poorer people in society are those most affected by the war and left to suffer the real ‘unexplained glory’. The poem is timeless in its setting as its message speaks for all situations and times of its kind. War is dreadful and ugly for all who have to pay the price but in looking at the surface of the political aspects of war one finds that the actualities of war are far much worse. It is more like the politicians of the day are using the lower segments of society or at least those not in politics to achieve their own ends. The poem also mocks the pomp of war with phrases and words such as ‘eagle with crest of red and gold’ and ‘swift blazing flag of the regiment’. The ‘booming drums of regiment’ have an orderly and strong official splendor which is contrasted deeply to the suffering that is displayed throughout the poem. The poem moves to a rapid conclusion where the mother’s humble labor has produced a shroud in which her son lies in together with other corpses. Crane pushes the point home by using the pronoun ‘your’ to relate more directly to the reader. The author also uses the term ‘bright splendid’ to describe the blood that the corpse will be soon covered in. The message in the poem is that there is never any winner in wars as there are losses on both sides that is in terms of the soldiers who die and the innocent people who lose their loved ones and are often also caught in between the wars. Crane emphasizes the psychological torment that people who are dying and their loved ones have to endure as opposed to focusing on the patriotic act of going to war. This depiction is a picture of the world as seen by Crane rather than how he would like it to be. The poem goes back and forth between views of the soldier and the civilian, that is the maiden and the soldier, the soldier and the child and the mother and the soldier. The poem demonstrates the excuses given to those who are left behind and the things the soldiers are told. Messages such as they died for the greater good, they died well- in excellence and virtue, they died for glory. Soldiers die in the belief that they are doing what is best to be a hero and that they are dying for glory. The poem however dismisses all these in the statement,’ but the only kingdom is that of the war god, his subjects a thousand corpses’ (Crane, 2009, pp9). All that is left behind are the tears of the people that loved the soldiers who have died at war. The poem does not simply comfort the loved ones of those who died in warm rather the poem seems to indicate that there is no comfort for these women as there sons, husbands and fathers died in the futility of war. The irony in the poem is not because Crane does not care for the pain of these women but because he feels that the men who died at war died needlessly. Crane has used his gift of writing to voice his opinion on modern events. He uses irony to convince the reader about the harsh realities of war. The reputation of war is not admirable especially when the tragic outcomes of war are realized. The survivors of war are left to endure the terrible pain and also the tactics of killing one another which are rather cruel. Crane achieves this using a style of irony and paradox and statements that have a devastating point. The illustration of how a man died at war in the first verse shows the viciousness of the people at war. The cynicism is at first shocking but it makes the reader think, why someone would speak with such cruelty to a maiden who has just lost her lover. The impact here is one of enlightening the reader to think past what the poet has written. The sarcasm in the description by the author is glaringly obvious from statements such as ‘these men were born to drill and die’ (Crane, 2009, pp9). It is very unlikely that a human being could be born simply for acts of war. The stanza also goes on to make a mockery of the glory to be found in battlefield. This mockery is evident in the lines, ‘Great is the battle-god, great and his kingdom, A field where a thousand corpses lie’ (Crane, 2009, pp9). The battle-god and his kingdom illustrate how battle can be malicious. The irony in the poem is brought out by the disguise of the battle-god as a great god and mentioning the kingdom of the battle-god as a field of a thousand corpses. The images created by the statements about war seem to create as sense of futility, resignation and exhaustion about the soldiers (unexplained glory) as they fight with flag flying above. The bitter irony of the poem is continued in the lines that follow which underscores just how senseless war can be. The bitter irony in the poem draws attention to the soldiers and in effect to all humanity demonstrating the futility that is often seen in life. According to the poem it seems that human beings have their destinies determined by social and biological determinants and do not have much of a choice in their lives. This is developed further by when the poet says, ‘point for them the virtue of slaughter, make plain to the excellence of killing (Crane, 2099, pp10). The tone here is not just ironic; it is also very despairing as Crane seems to be describing something that he thinks cannot go in any other way. Even though the poet seems to be condemning the military, he however is sympathetic to individuals affected by the war including those in the military and those who are civilians. There is a scene described by the poet in which a soldier dies in a trench. Again this is a graphic description of the death of the soldier. The tactile images used to describe him (tumbling, raging, gulping) indicate how physical war can be and the toll it can have on the human body. The description of men born to drill and die is also description of the brutal nature of war. The brutal nature of war is also depicted in the fourth stanza by the description of the flag as swift and blazing. This description points to the fierceness of war. The soldier dies in the yellow trenches. The color yellow could be used to denote a large number of things, for instance, yellow could denote the image of sunlight and thus underscore the tragedy and irony in the death of the soldier. Yellow is also a suggestion of disease and sickness making it easy to see how the soldier would fall among the bodies of his comrades which are probably jaundiced. The simile in the first line of the fifth stanza, ‘mother whose heart hung humble as a button’ describes a connection between the mourning of the mother and the smallest detail of the clothing on her son. This fills the comparison with pathos, a button’s humility comes form its small and unassuming nature. This comparison places emphasis on the unimportance of the victims of war to greater powers. The poem ends with the mother mourning for her son which brings home the highest degree of emotion as there is no consolation for the mother. Reference Crane S, 2009, War is Kind, Biblio Bazaar, pp9-10

Gender Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Gender Discrimination Essay Laws on woman’s rights have changed a lot since the 1900’s. Women weren’t allowed to vote, get an education, and have high authority in jobs. Now, women are allowed to do all of these things and more. But have things really changed, or are they just more hidden? There are three ways in which women are discriminated against: in the workplace, television, and in politics. According to Napoleon Bonaparte â€Å"Nature intended women to be our slaves they are our property. Woman are nothing but machines for bearing children. Even though Napoleon is dead, and has been for a while now, this way of viewing women is very much alive. Why is it that woman are paid less than men for doing the same jobs? For example, a male professional basketball player gets paid way more than a woman. A 2008 study of 63 countries shows that a woman in the same job as a man with the same responsibilities is paid 10% to 15. 6% less then the man. Television plays a big part on the way that our country views woman. For example, in a commercial for pizza bites you see a women coming home from the grocery store with pizza bites, and making them for her children. Why is it that a man is never shown in the kitchen cooking for his children? Another example is on the show George Lopez. George manages an airplane parts factory, while his wife is a stay at home mom. The only thing you ever see her doing in this show is cooking, taking care of her kid, or arguing with her mother-in-law. In conclusion, women are stereotyped when cast for television roles. Television only shows woman, cleaning cooking, or taking care of their children. When it come to politics people can be very unwilling to change. For example we have never had a woman vice president or president. Each time we have a women run for president, I become more aware of gender discrimination in this country. Men will not vote for a woman candidate simply because she’s a woman. I had once seen a shirt stating: â€Å"No women will ever be president because: 1. No woman is a man. 2. See rule 1†. There has never been a women president because men in politics who vote are so unwilling to make a decision without discriminating against woman. Until America changes as a whole discrimination against woman will continue. Even though we women would like to believe otherwise they are still discriminated against: in the workplace, television, and in politics. The only way for women to be truly equal in this country is for women to get the same salary as men in careers, television to stop stereotyping women, and for America as a whole to change the way they view women, and the way they teach their children about the roles of women in society. Until this happens, women will always be discriminated against.

Brand Equity in Luxury Hotels | Research Proposal

Brand Equity in Luxury Hotels | Research Proposal Introduction At the present time, globalisation which just means linking together the localities separated by distance is not an issue in terms of communication, moreover it brings together the world as one (Scheuerman, 2010). The positives of globalisation do not limit itself to just bringing the world together in terms of communication, tourism and hospitality industry has also greatly benefited by this. India is considered one of the fastest growing countries in the world and becoming an attraction for the foreign tourist. India hosted 6.58 million foreign tourist in the year 2012, which was an increase by 4.3% compared to last year. The foreign exchange earnings were a staggering $17.74 billion which was an increase of 7.15 compared to last year (India Tourism Statistics, 2012). The Indian government un It will not be wrong to assume that India has been successful in catering the basic requirements which a tourist looks for before planning their trip to a foreign country. These statistics make India one of the top tourist destinations. The basic requirements being variety of serviced accommodation to choose from, adequate infrastructure, communication system, museum, art galleries, restaurants, cafes, craft places, gardens, historic places and sports amenities. The tourism ministry of India was quick to recognise the tourism market in India and has taken necessary steps to promote it. The Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India during the eighties and nineties lacked consistency but since then it has seen steady growth. The early 2000 can be considered the best years for tourism industry as they saw double digit growth (India Tourism Statistics, 2012). This paper specifically focuses on the 5 star luxury hotels section of the hospitality industry of India. It is very important for the individuals involved in the operations of the hotel to know about the factors which might affect the competition. In the competitive setting, Brand Equity is believed to be the most important value generating asset to the organisation and its customers. Customers can benefit through Brand Equity as it would help them get a better understanding of the services provided by the brand which would eventually increase confidence and help them in making the buying decision. The organisation can benefit in terms of increasing profits, attracting new customers and retaining the loyal customers, having a competitive advantage over rivals (Aaker, 1991). Therefore, the study is carried out to better understand the brand equity of high end luxury hotels in India and the link between brand equity and the post purchase evaluation by the customers. This will provide a better understanding of brand equity of the hotel which is just a small element of brand asset. The post purchase evaluation by the customers for the brand equity in hospitality industry will be directed by analysing the already existing written texts. The suggestions given by the guests who have already visited the hotel are used to analyse as their feedback and opinion would shed light on the major issues faced in terms of brand equity during their stay. Hence, the conclusion of this paper would provide an insight of the different brand equity elements, their features and the influence these elements can have on the day to day working of the hotel by the top management, the marketing team, operations team and everybody responsible for implementing the strategy. A successful brand strategy would give the hotel a competitive advantage over its existing market rivals. Problem Statement A brand can be called an important resource for value addition to the organisation as it is used in the marketing strategy and positioning of the company in the market (Ghauri and Cateora, 2010). Brand equity is a combination of elements namely brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality denoting the improved value of the brand as a whole. In case of hospitality industry, the focus is mainly on how the consumer perceives the hotel brand, this further improves chances of making more profit. The literature on brand equity have largely focused on the product aspect and not much study has been contributed to the service industry. Thus, literature on brand equity for service industry like hotels is very limited. This has attracted my attention and inspired me to study brand equity primarily focusing on the hospitality industry. As stated above, India has been successful in improving its tourism and hospitality sector over the years. This has resulted in stiff competition amongst the hotel operators. To increase the rate of growth, the government helps and extends its support in almost all domains of the tourism industry. As an example, the government’s initiative to improve the Indian tourism industry in overseas market is the brochure support. The overseas offices help promote organisations who intend to promote special tours (Ministry of tourism, 2014). There are marketing development assistance schemes to promote Indian tourism abroad which is administered by the ministry of tourism, government of India to help hoteliers, travel agents, tour operators etc. The competition in the hospitality industry is intense in parts like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra which experienced maximum domestic tourist in the year 2012. The foreign tourist preferred Delhi, Mumbai (M aharashtra), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Bangalore (Karnataka) and Kolkata (West Bengal) as their top 5 destinations in India (India Tourism Statistics, 2012). Furthermore, the intense in business competitions especially for five stars luxury hotels are higher than other hotel with fewer stars rating. Normally, the higher stars rating hotel such as five stars luxury hotel comes with the higher price of the offering. However, the competition is not only based on the price and promotion concern but also the uniqueness of the hotel brand. In addition, the emerging of new comer hotels in Bangkok area can also be the supporting evidence, for example Starwood’ St. Regis, W hotel, Four Points by Sheraton (Starwood, 2010). As a result, brand equity can play an important role in increasing the overall profit of the hotel and the people responsible for operating the day to day functioning of the hotel need to realize this. The elements of brand equity needs to be studied in terms of the hospitality industry, this would help understand the role of brand equity in hospitality industry. This paper primarily focuses on the five star luxury segment of the hotels in India. This paper is based on the comments and feedback of the guests who have visited the chosen hotels which are then linked with the elements of brand equity. Purpose of Study The main motive of this study is to understand brand equity and elements in terms of the hospitality industry in India considering the post purchase evaluation of the customers who have visited the hotel. The research also aims to find the link between the elements of brand equity and the comments and feedback of these customers after their purchase. Moreover, the objective of this study is to find the practical effects of brand equity. By the end of this research, I intend to suggest some articulated hypothesis of brand equity in hospitality industry for future studies. Research Questions The research question has been framed on the basis of the background of the topic chosen and the problem statement to accomplish the objective of this research: What are the features of brand equity of high-end (5 Stars) luxury hotels in India? Which elements of brand equity do most of the customers perceive for evaluation? Thesis Outline The first chapter gives a brief about the research topic on evaluation of post purchase behaviour on brand equity for hospitality industry in India. This is further explained by designing the problem statement and research topic to specify the path of the study with the focus only on five star luxury hotels in India. Chapter two includes the literature review. This is done by investigating the literature available in physical format and those available on the internet. The literature review explains branding and the various aspects of brand equity to give a basic understanding about brand equity. This will be followed by brand equity in hospitality (service) industry, buying decision of customers, electronic word of mouth and evaluation of customers after using the hotel (post-purchase).Along with this literature, a framework has been designed to give a better understanding of the research which includes the idea of brand equity. Chapter three begins by explaining in the research methodology, how the topic was chosen. This is followed by a discussion on the methodologies used in the research design. Qualitative and quantitative approach were used for this study. Qualitative approach was done by carrying out content analysis using a specific set of measurements. Quantitative approach was used to present the findings and the results. The process of collecting data, the use of secondary data like the feedback of hotels from customers, text and other articles on brand equity are discussed in this section. This section continuous with further explaining the limitations of this study and the sampling design in context of the total volume considered and the time period observed for the data collection. This is commenced by highlighting the validity and the reliability of the study. The fourth chapter presents the findings from the collected data from the website tripadvisor.com for feedback from the guests who have visited the hotels. The main aim for this exercise is to analyse and interpret this data and then divide them in terms of the different components of brand equity or the set of measurements. The results are explained by using the quantitative approach by denoting them in terms of percentage of each component and sub component of brand equity. The fifth chapter analyses the findings and discusses the results and a comparison is made with the earlier studies on brand equity and hospitality industry. This section is concluded by analysing each brand equity category and proposing the hypothesis on brand equity for hotel. The sixth chapter concludes the research by explaining the results obtained from findings and analysis in the previous chapter. This section also answers the research questions for the study. The seventh and the final chapter recommends on the real-world effects of the results obtained from this research. This paper is concluded by proposing a path for the future study centred on the hypotheses.

Articles of confederation Essay -- essays research papers

Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, although vastly different in their philosophies of governing the nation, both played a big role in setting the stage for America’s economy in the upcoming nineteenth century. A few years after the Articles of Confederation were drafted many politicians and economists, such as Alexander Hamilton, began to see problems with the decentralized form of government that was created by this document. These advocates of a more centralized government were referred to as federalists, and although they were not in favor of a dictatorship, like that of England’s, they saw the need for a central governing system to reside over the individual states.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the Federalists’ opinion some of the detrimental consequences of the confederate system were the lack of an organized treasury, military or government system. Furthermore, the nation suffered from poor commerce; a result of insecure financial transactions, non-regulated interstate trade, and poorly enforced tax laws. They believed that instead of ridding the country of oppression by a superior government, the Articles of Confederation creates conflict between the states and hinders economic prosperity. The emergence of these difficulties early in the life of our nation indicated, to those in favor of the constitution, the fundamental imperfections and the dire need for reform. Hamilton a...

The Thought-experiments in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five or the C

The Thought-experiments in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five or the Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death In 1945 Kurt Vonnegut witnessed a horrific series of bombings that led to the destruction of the German city of Dresden, where he was taken as a prisoner of war. The controversial fire-storm raid, carried out by bombers of the Royal Air Force and US Air Force, took casualties of up to a quarter million people (Klinkowitz x-xi). As a prisoner of war, Vonnegut was forced to participate as a corpse miner in the city's cleanup process. Upon his return from the Second World War, Vonnegut decided to write a book describing his traumatic war experiences. After twenty years of struggling with research, failing to recall personal experiences, and publishing two novels and countless short stories, Kurt Vonnegut finally published-as what he frequently refers to as-the "book about Dresden." It was titled Slaughterhouse Five or the Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death, or more simply: Slaughterhouse Five. The result of twenty years of work is a biography that has been bizarrely fictionali zed by Vonnegut's incorporation of anecdotes about alien abduction and time travel. Prior to the publication of Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut invented the terminology "Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum," defined as a phenomenon in the universe where matter scatters through space and time, resulting in their simultaneous existence in multiple places and times. Consequently multiple notions-often contradicting each other-can exist and consume the same space. While this strange yet imaginative "space" was conceived in a previous novel, The Sirens of Titan, Vonnegut crafted the structure and progression of Slaughterhouse Five with ... ... Ed. Harold Bloom. Jones, Peter G. "The End of the Road: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" Modern Critical Interpretations Slaughterhouse-Five Ed. Harold Bloom. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Slaughterhouse-Give Reforming the Novel and the World. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990. Lundquist, James. Kurt Vonnegut. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1977. Marvin, Thomas F. Kurt Vonnegut A Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. Sholes, Robert. "Slaughterhouse-Five." New York Times Book Review 6 April 1969, 1, 23. Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York: Delacorte Press, 1994. Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. The Sirens of Titan. New York: Dell, 1974. 1[1] For a technical treatment, please refer to http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/relativity.html, under the section discussing relativistic properties of the speed of light.

The Master of One’s Fate, The Captain of One’s Soul :: Philosophy, Good Judgment, Control, Direction

Successful people have the ability to obviate situations and make concise decisions, which lead them to a final goal or destination. In order to make these decisions and weave a path through a maze of obstacles, they must have confidence in their own judgment. Good judgment is subjective and requires discipline and control to achieve. Good judgment is unfettered by outside influences but allows individuals to conduct themselves in a manner appeasing to themselves and their situation. Individuals of this type maintain their own behavior, separating and acknowledging how they are perceived and who they would like to be. Good judgment leads to a person in control and control is dependant on nothing. Michael De Montaigne describes in his essays how one can gain control over oneself while achieving a coherent totality. One is often influenced and criticized by close peers. Because of this constant speculation and concern for others, people turn trivial decisions into difficult life altering battles. Even in solitude one’s conscious is a constant—and dogmatic—observer. The idea of even having to make a choice has escaladed into a tyrannical monster. To take back control, Montaigne advises individuals to look inward. He proposes people discipline themselves in â€Å"a back shop all our own†(Montaigne 214) because â€Å"it would be madness to trust [one]self if [one] do[es] not know how to govern [one’s] self† (Montaigne 221). In solitude—†free from the violent clutches that engage† (Montaigne 216)—one must go so far in discipline that he â€Å"dare not trip up in your own presence† (Montaigne 221). By doing this, individuals respect their decision, trusting it the most beneficial and appropriate to the situation. Often division is another source of confusion, making it difficult for individuals to have authority in their own life. People are torn between their â€Å"own affairs† and the â€Å"headaches†¦ of our neighbors and friends† (Montaigne 215). To this, Montaigne discusses how one should comfortably detach oneself from earthly materials and allow â€Å"one to be a whole people† (Montaigne 221). Certainly, one should find pleasures in having a, â€Å"wife, children, goods, and above all health† (Montaigne 214); however, one must not be bound to any materials so strongly that his â€Å"happiness depends on them† (Montaigne 214) or â€Å"they cannot be detached without tearing off our skin and some part of our flesh as well† (Montaigne 216). One tends to give one’s self away, so that portions of one’s time and thought belong to others rather than belonging to one’s self.

Larkin and Abse write about the society Essay

‘Larkin often seems to criticise society’. In the light of this statement, what connections have you found between the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about the society in which they live? In your response include at least two of Larkin’s poems. Larkin criticises society in many of his poems and also does it from a superior place in an attempt to distance him from the society which he criticises and this can be seen in Nothing To Be Said. On the other hand, Abse writes about society and community whilst he participates in it and is a part of it. Larkin tries to stunt and remove the parts of society he criticises whilst it is clear Abse attempts to preserve many of the positives in society, for example in The Story of Lazarus, a story that surrounds the optimistic tale of someone surviving something so horrific. Abse is also very proud of the society from which he grew for example he is proud of being Welsh. Larkin labels and stereotypes the working class with a superior view in Nothing To Be Said, for example in the first stanza he describes the working class as ‘small-statured cross-faced tribes’, giving the impression that he views the working class as poorly developed, and a sense of savagery and it is possible to assume that Larkin viewed them as not very intelligent also. In addition to this, the use of the word ‘tribes’ is particularly powerful and evokes this idea of animals and removes their traits as a human being. Larkin’s use of ‘slow dying’ also helps to emphasise his views that these people aren’t contributing to society, just slowly dying as they trudge on in their day to day lives, however it could also be Larkin’s view that for him these type of people aren’t going fast enough either. It may be true of Larkin’s opinion that the only thing he shares in common with these people is death and it is possible that Larkin resents this and doesn’t believe he should share anything at all with them. Larkin uses enjambment in the first verse to emphasise the steady rhythm at which everybody cruises towards death. In comparison, Abse likes to preserve people in time and focuses on the positives in society. Not only does Abse focus on positives but he presents them in a more favourable way unlike Larkin, in addition to this Abse takes people from history and gives them life again in his poetry for example ‘The Story of Lazarus’. This poem aims to continue the legacy of Lazarus, a survivor of the holocaust, ‘he showed us the number on his arm’. Abse’s views on society here suggest that he is upset that people are becoming less interested in preserving the tale, ‘soon they merely nodded’. In comparison, Larkin doesn’t want to preserve the tale of the people he mentions in ‘Nothing To Be Said’, it’s as though the repetition of ‘Slow dying’ is emphasising that for Larkin, it wasn’t slow enough. Abse also hints at the biblical tale of Lazarus, suggesting that this tale should be savoured and of its significance. On the other hand, in ‘Nothing To Be Said’, the title and final line diminishes any significance of the society and can be interpreted that there is nothing more to say on the subject. In the ‘Whitsun Weddings’, an observational poem, Larkin takes superior views upon the wedding party, as he does in ‘Nothing To Be Said’, and he makes bold and unkind judgments such as ‘mother’s loud and fat’. Unlike Abse, Larkin distances himself from society, for example in Whitsun Weddings, ‘I leant More promptly out next time’ – he tries to be involved in society but never feels like he fits, and the train in the poem separates Larkin from community. In the Whitsun Weddings Larkin shows a slightly more sympathetic side as he discusses the train journey from Hull to London and how much it has changed and perhaps shows a sentimental side regarding how time has changed the things he knew. In addition to this, the train journey could be a metaphor for Larkin’s inability to adapt to ever changing society and the fast pace that it moves. To conclude, Abse celebrates people within society and relishes the opportunity to be a part of it, where as Larkin tries distinctly hard to distance him from the ever modernising world, in attempt to disguise his insecurities and promote his sense of superiority. This superiority removes any doubt in Larkin’s mind that he could be wrong and therefore missed out on so many things in life. Abse on the other hand is proud of the society from which he came, especially emphasises his Welsh nationality and in addition to this his Jewish faith. To conclude, Larkin’s poems reflect on all that is missing in society, while Abse is in the middle of it and making the most of everything positive society has to offer.

Nigeria Essay

The Nigerian economy is most definitely a structured political economy similar to that of the United States. The term political economy examines the relationship between politics and economics in modern societies. Specifically, this relationship consists of a key alliance between the government and the economy which are manipulated by the capitalist class in order to serve all of their own interests. The capitalist class however can be further broken down into a ruling class that holds the greatest power ot only among its military governmental branches, but also the business and finance sectors. This is seen in the American society, specifically in the neoliberal policies implemented by the capitalist class system which wishes to privatize and deregulate different markets in order to continue to prosper. Yet, this is not the same as the Nigerian State has ownership over everything. The Nigerian military government and its elite ruling class have come together to create a powerful force hat has exploited people, land, labor, resources and markets. The class structure created by the Nigerian governmental system is the fundamental cause of their peoples’ poverty, and the global political economy produces an increase in unjust social relations in class, race, and even ecological systems. As Nigeria consists of a wealthy class which seeks wealth by any means, it is hard to see how a country like this can evolve much more until corruption is taken out of everyday elationships of the upper class. However, there is great hope at the same time, because Nigeria is a country that has learned to make positive changes and learned from many of these changes, such as the democratization of the Nigerian state. Nigeria has learned to adapt and deal with many of their national issues, therefore if necessary changes are made in order to diversify the wealth produced by the exploited economy. The â€Å"national cake† can be shared to benefit the social order of the society as a whole.

Education of First Nations of Canada Essay

It has been observed that education on the First Nations have been a problem in the academe because of low academic performance, high attrition, poor retention, weak persistence and many more negative feedbacks. It is the purpose of the researcher to investigate on this problem. It is important that in the education of people the four R’s must be present and observed. The four R’s are respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. If the First Nations are seen to have been under-represented in Colleges and Universities, it might be that the four R’s have never been taken into serious consideration in dealing with the First Nations of Canada. This research then intends to review literature and earlier studies to find out about the history of the education of the First Nations of Canada. It shall visit the University of Calgary sites to observe and document through pictures the structure of the academic environment that brought about the education of the First nations which has caused a lot of frustrations not only in the education sector but also in the business world. The field project is relevant as it shall give a first hand information to the researcher and it shall provide the opportunity to draw objective and reliable conclusion as regards to the kind of education the First Nations of Canada have. Reference: Alaska Native Knowledge Network. (2008). First nations of Canada. Retrieved, June 9, 2009 from http://www. ankn. uaf. edu/IEW/firstnat. html

A Personal Nature – The poet Robert Frost

The poet Robert Frost has been described as â€Å"the gentle New England poet†. This is because of his eloquent and subtle use of New England nature scenes as a metaphor for the human condition. In his poems Robert Frost manipulates nature, humanizing and exaggerating it with the purpose of creating a fictional world for his characters. This use of nature as the active driving force for the poems is vital to Robert Frost's subtle implication of deeper meanings in his poems. Frank Lentricchia noted that in â€Å"Birches† nature â€Å"performs the potter's art† and molds ice onto the speaker's figurative birch tree which becomes â€Å"bracken by the load† (line 14). Such a vivid description of the natural process of winter storms leaving behind loads of ice to weigh down trees speaks volumes to the weight the speaker must feel on his life. The poem goes on to allow the speaker to re-live his fantasy and become a â€Å"swinger of the birches† (line 58). In this metaphor, swinging in the birches -nature- is compared to leaving your cares behind and being happy again, in this way according to Frank Lentricchia, Frost â€Å"grants (the speaker's) wish. † These acts of nature give an â€Å"original and distinctive vision to the poem† says John C. Kemp. This is obvious in Frank Lentricchia's allusion to Mother Nature in his analysis of the speaker's descent from heaven in which â€Å"the blessed pull of the earth is felt again† (Kemp). Because Mother Nature is nature herself the speaker feels that nature has a warm pull on man, further emphasizing and humanizing Frost's consistent use of nature. Robert Frost goes even further than creating a metaphor of nature to human condition. The brilliance of the poet brings nature to a humanized level so he can manipulate nature itself to fit his motivation. The purpose of this is to rid the poem of contaminating â€Å"matter-of-fact† (line 22) verbiage. According to Frank Lentricchia the emotive power of the poem rises uncontaminated from the â€Å"morass of philosophical problems† that harm the poem if the poet decides to turn to knowledge of facts to influence a point (Lentricchia). This theme of a humanized nature is evident in â€Å"Design† in which nature's design â€Å"steere[s] the white moth thither in the night,† (line 12) giving nature an active, driving role in the poem's message of the design of nature. Frank Lentricchia also notes that this â€Å"humanized nature† indicates a â€Å"human will riding roughshod over a pliable external world,† giving Robert Frost's characters a sense of separation from the â€Å"external† world and a feeling of security in nature. In â€Å"Birches† nature stands humanized as the poet allows the speaker to transcend the scientific universe and, at the same time, the poet allows the fictive world to be penetrated by imagination (Lentricchia). This secure world in which Robert Frost's characters live in is not a realistic nature but rather an â€Å"unsanctioned vision of the world† (Lentricchia). An immediate example of this is Frost's â€Å"Design† in which the abnormal â€Å"dimpled and white† (line 1) spider sits atop the mutant â€Å"white heal-all† (line 2). These two extremely rare albino obscurities are likely to never meet each other in the real world; however Robert Frost has idyllically introduced them as companions in nature's supreme design. The pleasant swinging of a boy in a birch tree in â€Å"Birches† is also obviously fabricated because of the perfect, linear oscillations of the boy's swing. This lie is very effective, however because the smooth, downward swing of the speaker back to earth's â€Å"love† (line 51) is a redemptive personality inhabited by Robert Frost's Nature, giving man and Nature an intimate connection. The ice on the trees in â€Å"Birches† is also very idyllic. Because of the weight of the ice, the branches may never â€Å"right themselves,† (line 16) however the beauty of the ice makes one believe that the â€Å"inner dome of heaven† had fallen. Although nature in the form of ice represents life's burdens, it redeems its relationship with man through its manifestation of a birch tree in which it grants the speaker his wish by launching him into heaven and back again. Ralph Waldo Emerson describes man's relationship with nature so deeply that he felt man was â€Å"no better acquainted with his limbs† than he is â€Å"with the air, the mountains, the tides, the moon, and the sun† (Montiero). Richard Gray comments that in â€Å"Design,† Robert Frost's imaginary Nature â€Å"whisper[s] secret, sympathetic messages to us. † Because of this perfect relationship established between nature and the characters, caused by the humanization of nature and the exaggerated fantasy world, Frost effectively portrays all of the character's emotions. Robert Frost's â€Å"resource as a poet† is effective enough to use nature not for â€Å"shock's and changes† to keep the reader interested, but rather as a useful tool to deliver the best message (Lentricchia). Because of Frost's great manipulative talents he is able to do what most poets can't. For instance, Frank Lentricchia believes that in â€Å"Birches† Frost's use of the â€Å"pathless woods† would appear â€Å"trite† if any other poets were using it, but for Frost it only adds to the overall feeling of the poem. In â€Å"Birches,† nature manifests itself in three beings- the ice on the tree, the fanciful birch which lifts men up into the heavens, and the â€Å"pathless woods† (line 43) which represents life's considerations. As a result, the poem's passionate concluding lines, its closing pronouncements on life, death, and human aspiration, do not give the reader a sense of finality. Instead, â€Å"they are presented as doctrines that we must accept or reject on the basis of our belief in the speaker as a wise countryman whose familiarity with birch trees, ice storms, and pathless woods gives him authority as a philosopher† (Kemp) . Therefore, the â€Å"the natural order – tree, ice crystal, pathless wood† functions as proof of the wisdom of Robert Frost (Kemp). The manipulation of nature in Robert Frost's poetry turns it into a character rather than a withdrawn force; this character shares human emotion and fantasy and creates a very inviting fiction for the poem's characters to live in. Not only does this characterization emphasize Frost's emotions, but it gives meaning to them. Robert Frost's intention with poetry was to express his feelings in an uplifting way, not to pour out his personal struggles in a form of self-pity, and through such an exact setting of a personal nature, he accomplished just that.

Is it accurate to describe the Global Justice Movement as a 'global Essay

Is it accurate to describe the Global Justice Movement as a 'global movement' - Essay Example For instance, the global character of these emergent social movements reflects the contemporary movement of ideas, information, products, and people. The movement of people outside national borders are viewed as outbursts of aspirations, and by itself, they are considered integral to sociological analysis (Goodwin & Jasper 2009). The French sociologist Bourdieu (2001 cited in Ruggiero 2002) asserts that governments should meddle with the rules running the economy. At the same time, he emphasises the appearance of new kinds of political movement, and new forms of organisations driven by self-supervision, and â€Å"characterised by a structural lightness allowing agents to reappropriate their role as active subjects† (Ruggiero 2002: p. 48). These present-day social movements are described to develop precise goals, to take on kinds of activity of high representative character, to be global, and to demand highly dedicated personal involvement from members, and to form themselves a s freely organised systems (Della Porta & Diani 2006). The Global Justice Movement exhibits almost all of these features. This paper tries to determine whether it is accurate to describe the Global Justice Movement as a ‘global movement’. The Contemporary Global Movement The initial years of the 21st century were a period of hope and enthusiasm for many people across the globe. A new form of social movement was developing. Driven by the dialogical and varied networks of protest envisioned by the Zapatistas, an array of popular movements and militant-directed non-governmental groups, maybe mostly but absolutely not totally from the global North, were banding together to form a mobilization of movements opposed to neoliberal globalisation (Eschle & Maiguashca 2005). Some of them are enemies of the World Trade Organisation, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund; supporters of global finance capital taxation; critics of the strengthened control of multinational en tities; proponents of debt assistance for Third World countries; and detractors of capitalism motivated by different expressions of socialist and revolutionary principles. Nevertheless, the 9/11 attack and their consequences have raised difficult challenges to the GJM. The social significances connected to the terrorist attack in the U.S., the legitimisation of militaristic nationalism forces and the accompanied transformations in the political arena of global governance have merged to change the political setting where in the movement works (Amoore 2005). In this environment of terror and nearly unanimously exercises of U.S. power, mechanisms of political, social, and economic de-territorialisation which had reinforced the development of global movements may be more and more re-expressed in nationalistic ways (Mayo 2005). Whether the Global Justice Movement is capable of calming the neo-imperial rage, holding back the powerful drag of nationalisms, and thus preserving its thrust to wards a more unified, peaceful, and just global order remains unresolved. There are major similarities between the current global anti-war movement and GJM. These similarities attest to the fact the GJM is indeed a ‘global movement’. Primarily, a great deal of the anti-war movement has taken on GJM’s very effective network framework of global grassroots political movement feature. Second, organisations and leaders integral to the GJM have turned out to be strongly involved in the anti-war move

Crimes committed by teenagers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Crimes committed by teenagers - Essay Example As Allen (1996) observes, in many parts of the world, some teens have been engaged in criminal activities because their families do not want to take up responsibilities. So many teens have been neglected by family members who leave them to fend for themselves due to economic hardship, or perhaps because of their (family) negligence. In order to make ends meet such teens have always found themselves doing such criminal activities like robbing with violence. Teens might also find themselves committing criminal activities as a way of revenging for what society has done to them - they will always feel that society has forgotten them and that they are the wretched of the earth.Fourthly, some families have either knowingly or unknowingly entrusted their teenage children with a lot of decision making. It must be understood that in as much as a teen may tend to be mature, one thing families should know is that such children might not be physically or emotionally mature for such decision maki ng. They are sometimes bound to make the very wrong decision, which may result from criminal activities. The law should not be lenient to such family members because it is their responsibility to instill discipline and to control them until they reach the maturity stage where they can be left to take up their personal responsibilities. Making parents pay for the crimes committed by their teenage children along with their teens is something which should not be debated on.

Modern Growth of Gangs in Rural and Suburban America Research Paper

Modern Growth of Gangs in Rural and Suburban America - Research Paper Example (Maxson, 1993) Street gangs are therefore, no exception. This paper examines the growth of street gangs in rural America with the emphasis on California. The US Criminal Code describes a street gang as a group containing at least five persons whose main purpose is to commit at least one criminal offense. (US Criminal Code) The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada offers perhaps, the best definition of street gangs, describing this term of reference as: â€Å"a term that law enforcement traditionally used to categorize crime groups that consisted predominantly of young males from similar ethnic backgrounds that were usually engaged in a low level of criminality, often based within a specific geographical area.† (Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, 2004, 29) The US Department of Justice, however, notes that since the 1990s, street gangs have ceased to be gender specific and have generously spread its reach beyond urban areas and into rural areas. (McGloin, 2003, 1) Moreover, street gang crime has become more prevalent as of the 1990s and is attracting persons of all ethnic groups and ages.(Fleisher and Decker, 2001, 65-77) Criminologists typically agree that street gangs have a largely negative impact on their community and the residents. (McGloin, 2003, 1)This is because street gangs contribute to firearms activity, violence, drug supply and demand, home invasions, auto theft, murder â€Å"and/or general decline in the quality of life,† and other serious crimes. (McGloin, 2003, 2) Since the 1990s the make-up and demographics of street gangs have changed with its growth. (Esbensen and Winfree, 1998, 505-526) As gangs and gang membership increases across America, they are branching out into rural areas and attracting diverse ethnic and gender groups. (Esbensen and Winfree, 1998, 505-526) While street gangs do not demand the

Self Evaluation-Educational Objective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Self Evaluation-Educational Objective - Essay Example To further enhance my skills I would like to get enrolled in the MBA program where I can gain more knowledge and at the same time utilize my practical experiences and contribute to this industry. I got knowledge about it by a friend who has taken part in the MBA program and was satisfied with the curriculum and results of it. I believe that this is the right time to apply for an MBA program as education provides advantages and helps in improving the performance of the person in practical work life. I believe the most important concepts today are globalization, corporate governance and group work. The concepts and theories related to them help a lot in understanding and managing issues which arise. The most crucial issues to be managed are cultural diversity, discrimination and lack of communication skills. I believe that MBA program will be helpful in understanding the ways to tackle these issues and maintain a level of understanding between the group members or employees of the orga nization. I have the capability to work in a group and coordinate with my team members in an efficient manner. This will assist me in coordinating in a good manner with my colleagues in the MBA program and share experiences. The program will at the same time help me in broadening my perspectives with regard to the financial sector.

Digital Revolution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Digital Revolution - Assignment Example The issue of digital revolution has become resistant as the effort to solve it may give rise to other problems which may be harmful for the society at large (Fitzpatrick, 2003, p.3). The digital revolution was brought about with the hope bringing about the concept of globalization, which to an extent has been fruitful thereby creating great economic impact in the society. But, the digital revolution has resulted in the internet predators, information overload, media saturation and forms of social isolation. Moreover with the digital revolution most of the works are being carried out through personal computing and other related digital activities. This in the long–run has led to the invasion of the privacy of the customers through software the keystroke recording and the application that leads to information filtering. Moreover, the personal use of the computer has resulted in the reduction of the productivity level of the employees. Reliability of data has become an issue sinc e the digital revolution has come into being as the information is being easily replicated without being verified. Though the digital revolution has made the outsourcing services possible over the globe yet, the problems faced by the same are irrevocable (Coyne, 2004, pp.1-13).

Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics - Assignment Example Phil covered up his ill intentions by saying that the tidy sum would enhance a complete system overhaul. Fraud is a common unethical issue among firms that aim to make money through unscrupulous activities (Richardson p 18). Kevin’s intentions were not for the good of the company, but for his personal satisfaction. Fraud affects a company’s financial statements. It is much more expensive to cover-up fraud when the financial statements are undergoing audit procedures. 2. Fraudulent activities in Empress Luxury Lines have a material impact on various stakeholders. Kevin Pfeiffer, the computer technician is likely to get fired for two reasons; first, he declined Phil’s order to dig up nearly all the underground wires and cables. Phil is Kevin’s supervisor who has the authority to dismiss him on grounds of declining to perform duties (which is also a fraudulent activity by Phil). Secondly, Kevin was still a new hire under probation. He was well aware that failure to heed to Phil’s orders would have dire consequences on his career. His job was at stake as it is evident from what he told Antonio that his integrity did not matter. The orders he declined were performed by Matt, who would also benefit from the abhorrent actions. The insurance company would also have suffered from fraud. The insurance company was defrauded sums thirty times more of what would have been the real amount. Antonio claimed that he had heard rumours that the company successfully defrauded insurance companies before he arrived. Phil’s fraudulent activities brought truth to those allegations. The fraudulent activities had adverse effects on the company’s shareholders and financiers; the main source of capital for the company. The financial statements they received did not reflect a truthful and fair financial operation of the business. In fact, the parties involved in the fraudulent activities

Political theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Political theory - Essay Example Aristotle said there was a truth in each that had to be reconciled and it is. The 16th and 17th centuries saw the emergence of two political thoughts that proposed singular views on government and the structure of society. Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes put forward their views and solutions on each and each directly influenced political ideology immensely. Each of them lived in a time and place of political turmoil, Machiavelli lived in Florence at a time of continuous political turmoil and Hobbes lived in England during its civil war. Aristotle, Hobbes and Machiavelli each designated in their works the best "practical" kind of government. For Aristotle, it was the aforementioned polity, while for Hobbes and Machiavelli; it was some sort of monarchy where there would be one sovereign or prince that would command all or a community that pledged it's obedience to a authority that promised protection. Aristotle had a profound influence on political philosophy because he invoked challenging discussions of persistent concerns of political philosophy: the role of human nature in politics, the relation of the individual to the state, the place of morality in politics, the theory of political justice, the rule of law, the analysis and evaluation of constitutions, the relevance of ideals to practical politics, the causes and cures of political change and revolution, and the importance of a morally educated citizenry. It has been a common view among political philosophers, especially Aristotle, that there exists a special relationship between moral goodness and legitimate authority. He believed that the use of political power was only rightful if a ruler whose personal ethical makeup was strictly virtuous. Thus rulers were counseled that they must be sure to behave in accordance with conventional standards of moral righteousness. The rulers did well because earned the right to be obeyed and respected because they showed themselves to be virtuous and morally upright. Niccolo Machiavelli criticizes at length the moral idealistic theory on politics in his best-known treatise, The Prince. For Machiavelli, there is no moral basis on which to judge the difference between legitimate and illegitimate uses of power. Authority and power are essentially coequal: whoever has power has the right to command; but goodness does not ensure power and the good person has no more authority by virtue of being good. Machiavelli argues that the only concern of the political ruler should be the acquirement and upkeep of power. He argues that the notion of legitimate rights of ruler ship adds nothing to the actual possession of power. The Prince purports to reflect the self-conscious political realism that integrity and right are not adequate to win and sustain political office. Power characteristically defines political activity, and is required for any thriving ruler to know how power is to be used. Only by the proper application of power