Building International Relationships Case Study

Building International Relationships - Case Study Example There are several companies it has acquired since its establishment; one of the most prominent companies that this discourse will focus on is the critical acquisition of J.A Jones. Holzmann has been involved in not less than fifty expansionary steps, from partial share purchases and absolute acquisition. J.A Jones Inc. is of the leading U.S construction companies. The company has offices throughout the world it has been engaged in multiplicity of industrial, commercial, government and military constructions projects throughout its over 100 years of business. One of the high profiles the company enjoys is the construction of the tallest building in the world. In the year 1979 J.A Jones merged with Philip Holzmann AG. Since the signing of the joint venture agreement, the two companies have been doing well especially in the construction industry which has seen the two partners excel in most of the construction projects. Since marriage, the joint venture has been rocked by several challenges with major one being bankruptcy. This made Jones construction approach a decision to detach from the parent company. Although J.A Jones has been the main business player, the construction company feels that its woes are as a result of the parent company: Philip Holzmann AG that filed for bankruptcy protection in the year 2002. J.A Jones interim chief executive officer J.P Bolduc says that revenue earned is diverted to Holzmann: this crimps Jones’ ability to obtain bond for its projects. In as much as their marriage has been long, they are currently at war on dissolving the marriage. This is evident after Jones filed petition in a German court to end ties. Jones was ranked 7th among contractors in the building and construction industry in 2002 listing of the largest United States Non-residential design and construction firms, owning a volume of $1.9 billion. There are other five units belonging to Jones that are up for sale. Whatever J.A jones has never dreamt of could now be

Jupiter confectionary ltd - quantitative research design Essay

Jupiter confectionary ltd - quantitative research design - Essay Example Results can also be validated for reliability by implementing both a mixed research design methodology. Table of Contents About the Company Purpose of study Objectives of study Need for a research design Types of research design Advantages of the proposed research design Disadvantages of the proposed research design Alternative research design Conclusions References JUPITER CONFECTIONARY LTD - QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN About the company Jupiter Confectionary Ltd makes a variety of chocolate bars and has recently introduced a healthier range of cereal-based breakfast/snack bars. Purpose of study Jupiter now wants to evaluate customer satisfaction with the new product line. The brand manager has suggested running an online survey, printing the web address on the packaging and offering a prize draw as an incentive for people to participate. Objectives of study 1) To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed research design, and 2) To propose other approaches that might be more appropriate. Need for a Research Design Rose and Sullivan (1996) observed that there exist patterns in the universe, certain specific patterns for all kinds of activities that can be noted on careful observation. These specific patterns in the universe and the behaviour in time can be explained and predicted to a certain extent to a certain accuracy based on the information or data collected at that particular time. However, there is a large amount of data available for a particular activity, that is often confusing, and the researcher needs to select that particular data that is most relevant to the activity in time. Understanding the behaviour of the data collected helps explain complex concepts or theories through developing hypotheses about the relationships that may exist between the data collected. Further, the hypothesis can be validated for correctness and patterns of behaviour collated to explain the theories (Mamia, 2012). While conducting a research design, sever al aspects of the research are to be considered since the object of research is always dynamic and so the data collected is also changing in time. Further, there are two basic kinds of research design methodologies, descriptive and explanatory. While descriptive research attempts to research what activities happen or exist in the social sphere, explanatory research helps explain why the activities happen or exist. A typical research should include both descriptive and explanatory research as usually, good explanatory research is always built on descriptive research. A research in itself needs to be planned sufficiently to achieve the desired results (Mamia, 2012). Typical research design involves identifying project methodologies, planning the processes and identifying strategies while moulding the research objectives through the methodology and context (Richards, 2006). Types of Research Design Research design can be theoretical or empirical, qualitative or quantitative or a combin ation of theoretical and empirical, qualitative and quantitative. Research can be aimed at comparison or classification of the available facts through theoretical or empirical frameworks. However, most common method of research design is to use both theoretical and e

Assignment on Human Trafficking and Prostitution

Assignment on Human Trafficking and Prostitution Human trafficking and prostitution both are not new issues to get noticed. In south Asian countries, human trafficking and prostitution are getting out of focus as if there is no right called human right. Bangladesh is one of the south asian countries where human rights are not developed yet. Human trafficking, especially in children and women, has been increasing in Bangladesh. This criminal business is linked with the globalization and this business is growing across the world. Human trafficking, in fact, is a trade in human flesh, particularly when girls fall prey to it.  [1]  After the trafficking part, prostitution comes in second. Most of the time it has been seen that trafficked women or children works as prostitution in other countries. Some over 25,000 women and children are trafficked out of the Bangladesh to other countries every year, which is very alarming for Bangladesh.  [2]  In terms for human trafficking and prostitution women and children are the most common victims than men. Bangladesh is called a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾sourceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ country as men, women and children from poorer and vulnerable families are collected and smuggled out of India, Pakistan, UAE, Europe, America etc.  [3]   As a developing country Bangladesh is not aware of the Human Right (trafficking or prostitution) which is mandatory for a civilized nation. Bangladeshi government is not taking effective steps to get rid of human trafficking and prostitution problems. In Bangladesh mainly poor people are getting involved into that problem. Lack of proper monitoring, controlling and effective implementation of law against human trafficking and prostitution are the root causes of that problem. There are enough laws in Bangladesh on human rights but most of them are inactive that is why criminals are getting chances to do more crime. Because of poor execution of laws most the victims are not getting right justice. If Bangladesh government takes efficient steps to minimize that problem then the human rights will be survived otherwise proper civilization can not be made for Bangladeshi people. HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION IN BANGLADESH Human trafficking involves transporting people away from the communities in which they live by the threat or use of violence, deception or coercion so that they can be exploited as forced or enslaved workers for sex or labor. When children are trafficked, no violence, deception or coercion needs to be involved, it is merely the act of transporting them into exploitative work constitutes trafficking.  [4]  The Constitution states that each individual is entitled to choose her own profession/occupation or trade. Taking advantage of the vulnerability of the poverty-stricken or opportunity seeking people, unscrupulous persons (flesh traders) force, entice, lure or sell minors and other gullible persons into prostitution. They make them execute affidavits in front of false magistrates/impersonators stating that they have gone into prostitution of their own volition and they are over 18 years old. Most reports emphasize that, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of children and women being trafficked from Bangladesh into India and other countries. The causes of trafficking and the factors leading to this apparent increases in recent years are multiple and complicated. These factors are embedded within the socioeconomic structure of the country and require an in-depth analysis. According to the trafficking record it has been seen that there are some group which are becoming victims, those groups can be categorized as poor women and children, abandoned women, widows and separated women, girls of broken families, migrants, ethnic minorities.  [5]  Those trafficked victims are used for forced labor (domestic work, farm work, and factory work), forced sexual service (prostitution, barmaids, work in sex tourism industry and pornography), begging, smuggling, organ sale, camel jockeying. In Bangladesh there are some approaches of human trafficking some of those are selling a person by family members, neighbor, and friends, luring out a person with a promise of job or marriage, kidnapping a person. Most of the cases women and children are generally recruited from rural areas or small towns. In the transshipment process they are handed over and taken over by numerous procurers, brokers and intermediaries, usually not known to authorities as ones with criminal. Traffickers usually take help of local people and villagers to identify poor families. Traffickers operate in an internal network having agents make contracts with unsuspecting women and children around bus and train stations. Prostitution is legal in Bangladesh but according to our culture and community system that does not go with Bangladesh. According to the law Female prostitution with minimum age 18 is legal. Male prostitution is illegal. Female prostitution is legal, Male prostitution is illegal, although local NGOs claimed it is common in the major cities. The authorities generally ignored the minimum age of 18, often circumvented by false statements of age, for legal female prostitution. The government rarely prosecuted procurers of minors, and large numbers of underage girls in prostitution worked in brothels. Local NGOs estimated the total number of female prostitutes was as many as 100,000. The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) estimated in 2004 that there were 10,000 underage girls used in commercial sexual exploitation in the country, but other estimates placed the figure as high as 29,000. Trafficking of women internally and internationally remained a problem 6. As many as 10,000 children were used in brothels for commercial sexual exploitation, and procurers of minors were rarely prosecuted. Government corruption greatly facilitated the process of trafficking. Police and local government officials often ignored trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual exploitation and were easily bribed by brothel owners and pimps. Trafficking and Prostitutions Routes in Bangladesh: 6 US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2008 Human Rights Report: Bangladesh, 7 Rahman Mahfuzur , Human Trafficking: Children and Women are the worst victims. (Bangladesh: News Network, 2004). P. 25 Bangladesh and India have 4,222 km of common borders stretching over 28 districts of Bangladesh. According to sources, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Chuadanga, Comilla, Coxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s Bazar, Dinajpur, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Joypurhat, Jushtia, Lalmonirhat, Meherpur, Chapainawabganj, Nilpahar, Panchagarh, Rajshahi and Satkhira are the districts through which children and women are frequently smuggled out of the country. Now this trafficking and prostitution are not included in just India, now speeded in other countries as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan 7. Purposes of Human Trafficking and Prostitution in Bangladesh: Bangladesh is not a developed country so many sufferings are here for people. Poor people suffer a lot as food problem, health problem, sanitation, cloth problem, education problem and some other sufferings, there is no end. From these problems those people get involved in unethical works. Some part of the people take chances of suffered people and use them for trafficking or protection. So the number of trafficked and prostitute are increasing in Bangladesh day by day. Poverty is certainly driving rural young women to cities. They take job in the garment factories or work as housemaids or in any other sectors. Their employers sexually abuse and harass them and finally drive them thus loosing chastity to the profession of prostitution. Prostitution is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. Religion although does not permit prostitution, its law does not prevent a woman from becoming a prostitute if she likes to be. This oldest institution having enrooted deep in the society can not be a bolished overnight. None can, however, define human prostitution simply as the use of sexual responses for an ulterior purpose. This would include a great portion of all social behavior, especially that of women. It would include marriage, for example, wherein women trade their sexual favors for an economic and social status supplied by men. Being repressed under growing economic crises, women and minor girls are forced to engage in prostitution for survival. More and more children are joining this profession. While most of them initiate this profession under the repression of economic hardship they are exposed to several vulnerabilities. They are forced to share their hard-earned money with a third party. Guardian such as elder sisters, brothers, parents are accepting this profession. It is difficult to have the statistics of floating and hotel sex workers since they neither have any particular locations nor do they maintain any registration. It is important to ensure proper implem entation of the laws regarding the rights of the sex workers and to ensure their total liberty so that they can take as many clients as their bodies permit. However, Hotel sex working is an emerging dynamics of sex working in Bangladesh in terms of the rate and volumes with the declining trend of brothel sex with the subsequent eviction of the oldest and biggest brothels in Bangladesh. Law against Human Trafficking and Prostitution: Laws and rules are available in Bangladesh but problem is the execution of law is the main problem. We do not practice what is according to the law and rules. The power of law is bit low here that is why the crime and corruption rates are increasing in Bangladesh day by day. In the case of trafficker and business of prostitution, laws are not becoming very effective against that. Under Bangladeshà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s Suppression of Violence Against Women and Children act (2000) trafficking of women and children is illegal. Harsh penalties are prescribed for traffickers. However, this law is frequently not implemented and fails to safeguard the rights of people who have been trafficked.  [6]   Most of the trafficked women in Bangladesh end up as young prostitutes. Young girls from poor families, lures by offers of jobs, marriage, invariably land into brothels on both sides of the border. According to the suppression of immoral Trafficking Act 1933, provides for punishment for forcing a girl into prostitution. In Section 11 of the Act provides a penalty of maximum three years of imprisonment or fine or both9. RECOMMENDATION Human Trafficking and Prostitution is not a local problem but global problem. Bangladesh government is aware of the problem of trafficking and has taken up measures to prevent it. One such measure is the strengthening of border posts. However, the sheer length of Bangladeshs border with India and Burma makes it impossible to prevent people crossing the borders. Another measure is the strengthening of legislation and increasing punishments for trafficking. There are some steps which can help to minimize the social problem of Human trafficking and Prostitution which are mentioned below: Strengthening laws against unethical works (trafficking, smuggling etc.) Increasing Government monitoring system and controlling system. Permitting more NGOs and social agents to increase awareness (A uniform plan of action on the issue of trafficking of women and children involving the governments and NGOs of the region needs to be developed, so that a coordinated approach toward the conviction of traffickers is possible) Minimizing the rate of corruption and fulfilling the basic rights of human being. Increasing media exposure and social awareness activities.(for example medias reporting and social activities on creation of awareness have been effective in making people aware of the deceptive mechanisms adopted by the agents of trafficking.) Government can take measures by which people have complete control over food and livelihood. Increasing the Awareness-raising Program, Monitoring and Support Services to victims. CONCLUSION The trafficking issue is closely linked with the human rights issue with important ramifications in the area of health, law-enforcing, and socioeconomic development in general. Poverty, attitudes toward women and deeply-entrenched gender discrimination, unemployment, cultural norms about marriage, well-organized national and international networks of traffickers, and weak law-enforcing agencies are few critical factors relating to trafficking of women and children in Bangladesh. This criminal activity cannot be addressed through tougher laws alone. Several legislations, including the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000, already provide penalties for violence against women and children, including trafficking and kidnapping. Yet, implementation of these legislations remains a formidable challenge. In Bangladesh social and economic vulnerability of women and children have left them with only a few options to eke out a livelihood. For that reason crimes are incr easing as well as Environmental degradation, ecological erosion all these systems further accelerate the process. So the traffickers are taking advantages of that situation also prostitution business is getting higher. The government must take effective measures to defeat the rising problem of human trafficking and prostitution.

Analysis of Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros Essay examples -- Caramelo His

Analysis of Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros Caramelo has been quite an interesting novel. It describes a Hispanic family to the tee. Sandra Cisneros chose her title perfectly for this book. Life’s hardships and possibilities are explored throughout this fascinating novel. The author describes the word caramelo in different ways and in two different occasions. The first occasion was to describe Candelarias’ skin color. Celaya quoted: â€Å"Her skin a caramelo. A color so sweet, it hurts to even look at her.† (p.37). She also says: â€Å"Her skin is as smooth as peanut butter and deep as burnt-milk candy. The other occasion caramelo is mentioned was to describe the awful grandmothers’ rare, old, unique, and unfinished silk rebozo. â€Å"The grandfather pulls out a cloth from the walnut-wood armoire of caramel, licorice, and vanilla stripes.† (p.58) These two events are mostly connected by the description of color. The author describes Candelarias’ skin color being so sweet it hurts, much like a very sweet candy would. Much like the candy is sweet, so is Candelaria and her personality. I believe Cisneros chose Caramelo because a caramelo or candy cane has dark and bright long stripes on it. To me the stripes indicate a person’s life span. They also symbolize the dark, dreadful times we all go through and the bright stripes would tell the joyous, wonderful times we have in life. In addition, the stripes twirl around and around similar to our lives. Everyone’s life has a curve or tu...

Parable of the Sadhu

Ethical Decisions Tough decisions are scary to most people. Therefore, we have guidelines or theories to help us make these decisions. The most effective managers are ideally those that simply don’t crack under pressure and are â€Å"action-oriented people. † Sometimes, people do not dedicate any of their time to the decision in front of them, and make decisions based on their situation. This is one of the many issues that arise in The Parable of the Sadhu. Buzz McCoy went on an adventurous six-month sabbatical program with his friend, Stephen, and when they were hiking in Nepal, they came across a serious ethical dilemma.As him, Stephen, and a few other hikers were hiking up the treacherous Himalayan mountains, they came across a sadhu. Stephen had been showing symptoms of altitude sickness and they had decided to rest for a bit, when one of their fellow hikers found this man. The sadhu was barely clothed, and was consequently suffering from hypothermia. The man who fo und the sickly sadhu grew irritated, as he wanted to continue on because he â€Å"[did] what he [could do]. † He left soon afterward, leaving the sadhu in the hands of Buzz, Stephen and a few other hikers.We are all less likely to take charge of a situation if there are people around us. We simply assume that someone else will take full responsibility and get our wheels turning. They had all given him clothing and tried to warm him up a bit, but none had stepped up and taken full responsibility. Buzz then also gave in, as he grew afraid of the â€Å"heights to come,† and â€Å"without a great deal of thought,† continued on. Looking back on this moment, Buzz regrets how he handled the situation. In all actuality, he never handled it at all; he never even gave it a thought.With all the adrenaline and the possible ecstasy that awaited his arrival at the peak, he never thought of the consequences of this decision. Buzz states, â€Å"I felt and continue to feel guil t about the sadhu. † If he had thought it through, he probably wouldn’t be carrying this burdenous regret. He later goes on to mention, however, that the situation he was in is parallel to a corporate situation, wherein people need to make split-second decisions (no matter the consequence). This is not an ethical method in any ay, shape or form. Buzz was not thinking about the â€Å"best option† or the â€Å"decision that would make for the greater good. † He was focused on himself, and reaching the peak of that mountain. Buzz never thought that this decision would haunt him for the rest of his life. In applying the universalization test to McCoy’s decision, I am left with a serious question: what if everyone were to act as McCoy did. What if, when faced with a challenge, or an annoyance, or simply something unexpected, everyone were to simply give up?What if everyone in the world were to walk away saying, â€Å" oh, I gave him some clothes†¦ therefore I did all I could do. † Just because they aren’t personally responsible for the sadhu, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t care. They needed to be responsible human beings, like Stephen. What if we lived in a world where everyone was out for his/her own gain? Although it may seem like it, there are still glimmers of hope once in a while, and we, as inhibitors, must fight for them. If everyone was out for their own personal gain, nothing would be accomplished.Ethical guidelines, such as the universal test, are definitely more relatable and easier to apply. The theories, on the other hand, are much more malleable and subjective. There was really only one answer when I asked myself, â€Å"what if this were the behavior of everyone on this planet? † Though, when I asked myself, â€Å"what would have been the best outcome for everyone? † the lines got a little blurry. One final thought: a valuable piece of information is the sadhu’s intentions.If he had gone to the mountain to die in the first place, then taking him down and saving him would be completely against his own intentions. The story states that he was an elderly man with hardly any clothes and no food; thus, he could have wanted to go in peace, on his own terms. Here in lies the problem: we never are given all of the information necessary to make an educated informed decision. This is why we have ethics, or guides for us to follow in situations that we seem to be blindly coming to decisions. They can help us come to ethical decisions for the situations before us.

Comparison Piece Essay

The discussion herein compares two stories which are The Odyssey and Much Ado About Nothing. The comparison shall take a look at one theme that is similar in both stories and will explain how the theme has been brought out in both stories. The theme selected is that Women are Powerful. In both stories, it is very clear that women are powerful. The power that is referred to herein is not physical but rather emotional. The power that women have over men makes them make mistakes some of which turn out to be costly. In Much Ado About Nothing, the main female character Hero seems to be at the center of all the controversy that goes on throughout the story. Claudio who had earned recognition by his army leader Don Pedro in the last couple of battles has his eyes on the daughter of the Governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, however, offered to woo Hero on behalf of Claudio (Shakespeare, p. 32). One cannot help the great efforts that the men in this story have put for the sake of women. Don John, the bastard brother Don Pedro makes Claudio believe that Don Pedro is in fact wooing Hero form himself and not for Claudio as agreed (Shakespeare, p. 24) In The Odyssey, Odyssey is believed to be dead after he failed to return from war. His wife Penelope has attracted many suitors all of who are interested. They all hope to get a chance to court even if she has made it clear that she does not want to remarry (Parks, p. 28). They are all patient and they are hoping that Penelope is going to change her and consider one of them. When Penelope is asked by the many suitors why she will not give them consideration and yet her husband is already, she argues that she needs to complete funeral arrangements (Lister, p. 14). They still wait even if the funeral arrangements do not seem to come to an end.

Writing an Outline for an Informative Essay on Politics of Educational Inequality

Writing an Outline for an Informative Essay on Politics of Educational Inequality No one, not even the literary greats you admire, started writing a novel, short story or an essay without first developing an outline that will serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Although in some cases, this outline may be just a mental picture of how a story should go, this mental image still falls under the category of a writing outline. Therefore, when writing an essay, it is recommended you have an outline to serve as a ‘lighting tower’ to guide your path. Now, there are easy topics to write about as well as difficult subject matters and an essay on the politics of educational inequality definitely belongs to the latter. This is due in part to the sensitive nature of the topic as well as the racial undertones contained in the facts and figures you may include in your essay to make your points. Therefore, it is imperative that you create an outline for your take on the politics of educational inequality and this article will be dedicated to providing you with essay tips on creating an all-encompassing outline. Understand the Questions Asked Most essays are dedicated to clarifying your position on certain policies, answering questions raised or to making a point for or against the subject been discussed. Therefore, the first step to creating an outline for your essay on the politics of educational inequality is having a clear understanding of your stance on the topic to be expatiated on. Therefore, your outline should start with your understanding of the topic and this will serve as a great resource for your introductory and conclusion texts. Outline the Facts and Information to Be Shared To simplify your writing task, it is important that you fish out the information and facts that would help you intelligently make your point and include them in your rough outline according to their level of relevance. This categorization - according to relevance - will help you organize your thoughts and allow you place these facts accurately throughout the body of your essay. Outline the Basic Shape of Your Essay Creating clear cut sections for how you plan to organize the entire body of work contained in your essay provides you with a certain vision on how to proceed and conclude the project without getting bogged down in the middle with unnecessary distractions. The universally used ‘shapes’ for essays include a clear introduction, an essay body which contains all the facts, information and arguments and a good conclusion. And we advise that you also make use of this pattern when writing about the politics of educational inequalities. Simplify Your Concluding Paragraphs It is universally acknowledged that an excellent essay must contain a conclusion which helps the writer reaffirm his or her answer to the questions raised. The outline method already provides you with enough ammunition to draft a moving conclusion for your essay since all the important factors that make up a conclusion have already been previously outlined. All you need to do is use this information in a convincing manner to get the reader on your side or at least to acknowledge your points in your concluding paragraphs. Please check our 10 facts for an informative essay on education as well as 20 topics and a sample essay on the subject. The art of paper writing is a methodical one that requires extensive effort and we hope this little tips will inspire you to keep putting in the required effort to move your writing attempts from good to great.

Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think

Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think Mandarin Chinese is often described as a difficult language, sometimes one of the most difficult ones. This is not hard to understand. There are thousands of characters and strange tones! It must surely be impossible to learn for an adult foreigner! You can learn Mandarin ChineseThats nonsense of course. Naturally, if youre aiming for a very high level, it will take time, but I have met many learners who have studied for just a few months (albeit very diligently), and have been able to converse rather freely in Mandarin after that time. Continue such a project for a year and you will probably reach what most people would call fluent. So definitely not impossible. How difficult a language is depends on many things, but your attitude is certainly one of them and its also the easiest one to influence. You stand little chance of changing the Chinese writing system, but you can change your attitude towards it. In this article, Im going to show you certain aspects of the Chinese language and explain why they make learning a lot easier than you might think. How difficult is it to learn Mandarin Chinese? Of course, there are also things that make learning Chinese harder than you think (or perhaps as hard), sometimes even the same things from different angles or on different proficiency levels. That, however, is not the focus of this article. This article focuses on the easy things and is meant to encourage you. For a more pessimistic outlook, Ive written a twin article with the title: Why Mandarin Chinese is harder than you think. If you already study Chinese and want to know why its not always easy, perhaps that article will provide some insights, but below, I will focus on the easy things. Difficult or easy for whom? With what goal? Before we talk about specific factors that make learning Mandarin easier than you might think, Im going to make some assumptions. You are a native speaker of English or some other non-tonal language not related to Chinese at all (which would be most languages in the west). You might not have learnt any other foreign language, or perhaps youve studied one in school.   If your native language is related to Chinese or is influenced by it (such as Japanese, which largely uses the same characters), learning Chinese will become even easier, but what I say below will be true in any case. Coming from other tonal languages makes it easier to understand what tones are, but its not always easier to learn them in Mandarin (different tones). I discuss the downsides of learning a language completely unrelated to your native language in the other article. Furthermore,  Im talking about aiming for a basic level of conversational fluency where you can talk about everyday topics youre familiar with and understand what people say about these things if targeted at you. Approaching advanced or even near-native levels requires a whole new level of commitment and other factors play a bigger role. Including the written language also adds another dimension. Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think Without further ado, lets get into the list: No verb conjugations - Partly because of bad teaching practice, many people associate second language learning with endless verb conjugations. When you learn Spanish or French and care about being accurate, you need to remember how the verb changes with the subject. We have this in English too, but its much easier. We doesnt say we has. In Chinese, there are no verb inflections at all. There are some particles that change the function of verbs, but there are certainly no long lists of verb forms you need to memorise. If you know how to say çÅ"‹ (kn) look, you can use it for any person referring to any period of time and it will still look the same. Easy! No grammatical cases - In English, we make a difference between how pronouns are handled depending on if they are the subject or the object of a sentence. We say he talks to her; him talks to she is wrong. In some other languages, you need to keep track of different objects and sometimes also not only for pronouns, but for nouns as well. None of that in Chinese! 我 (wÇ’) I, me is used in any situation referring to myself in any way. The only exception would be plural we, which has an extra suffix. Easy!   Flexible parts of speech - When learning most languages other than Chinese, you need to remember different forms of the words depending on what part of speech they belong to. For example, in English we say ice (noun), icy (adjective) and to ice (over)/freeze (verb). These look different. In Chinese, though, these could all be represented by one single verb å† ° (bÄ «ng), which incorporates the meaning of all three. You dont know which one it is unless you know the context. This means that speaking and writing becomes much easier since you dont need to remember so many different forms. Easy! No gender - When you learn French, you need to remember if each noun is meant to be le or la; when learning German, you have der, die and das. Chinese has no (grammatical) gender. In spoken Mandarin, you dont even need to make a difference between he, she and it because they are all pronounced the same.  Easy!  Relatively easy word order -  Word order in Chinese can be very tricky, but this mostly becomes apparent at more advanced levels. As a beginner, there are a few patterns you need to learn, and once youve done that, you can just fill in the words youve learnt and people will be able to understand. Even if you mix things up, people will usually still understand, provided that the message you want to convey is relatively simple. It helps that the basic word order is the same as in English, i.e. Subject-Verb-Object (I love you). Easy! Logical number system - Some languages have really bizarre ways of counting. In French, 99 is said as 4 20 19, in Danish 70 is half fourth, but 90 is half fifth. Chinese is really simple. 11 is 10 1, 250 is 2 100 5 10 and 9490 is 9 1000 400 9 10. Numbers do get a little bit harder above that because a new word is used for every four zeroes, not every three as in English, but its still not hard to learn to count. Easy!Logic character and word creation - When you learn words in European languages, you can sometimes see the word roots if youre good at Greek or Latin, but if you take a random sentence (such as this one), you cant really expect to understand how each word is constructed. In Chinese, you actually can do that. This has some significant advantages. Lets look at a few examples of advanced vocabulary that are really easy to learn in Chinese but very hard in English. Leukemia in Chinese is è ¡â‚¬Ã§â„¢Å' blood cancer. Affricate is Ã¥ ¡Å¾Ã¦â€œ ¦Ã©Å¸ ³ stop friction sound (this r efers to sounds like ch in church, which has a stop (a t sound), then friction (the sh sound)). If you didnt know what these words meant in English, you probably do now after looking at a literal translation of the Chinese words! These are not exceptions in Chinese, this is the norm. Easy! These are just some of the more obvious reasons that reaching a basic level in Chinese is not as difficult as you think. Another reason is that Chinese is much more hackable than any other language Ive learnt. The difficult parts are easier to hack What do I mean by this? Hacking in this case means understanding how the language works and using that knowledge to create smart ways of learning (this is what my website Hacking Chinese is about). This is especially true for the writing system. If you approach learning Chinese characters like you would learning words in French, the task is daunting. Sure, French words do have prefixes, suffixes and so on and if your Latin and Greek are up to par, you might be able to use this knowledge to your advantage and be able to understand how modern words are created. For the average learner, however, thats not possible. Its also the case that many words in French (or English or many other modern languages) cant be broken down or understood without doing serious research into etymology first. You can of course break them down yourself in ways that make sense to you. In Chinese, however, you dont need to do that! The reason is that one Chinese syllable corresponds to one Chinese character. That gives very little room for change, meaning that while words in English can gradually lose their spelling and morph over the centuries, Chinese characters are much more permanent. They do of course change, but not that much. It also means that the parts that make up the characters are in most cases still present and can be understood on their own, thus making understanding a lot easier. What all this boils down to is that learning Chinese neednt be all that hard. Yes, reaching an advanced level takes a lot of time and effort, but getting to basic conversational fluency is within reach for all those who really want it. Will it take longer than reaching the same level in Spanish? Probably, but not that much if we only talk about the spoken language. Conclusion This article was meant to convince you that you can learn Chinese. Of course, an article like this also has its dark twin, why learning Chinese is actually very hard, especially if you go beyond just basic oral communication. If youre a beginner, you dont really need such an article, but if youve already come a long way and want some sympathy, make sure you read on:Why Mandarin Chinese is harder than you think

Introduction to Beaux Arts Architecture

Introduction to Beaux Arts Architecture Beaux Arts is an opulent subset of the Neoclassical and Greek Revival architectural styles. A dominant design during the Gilded Age, Beaux Arts was popular but short-lived in the United States from roughly 1885-1925. Also known as Beaux-Arts Classicism, Academic Classicism, or Classical Revival, Beaux Arts is a late and eclectic form of Neoclassicism. It combines classical architecture from ancient Greece and Rome with Renaissance ideas. Beaux-Arts architecture became part of the American Renaissance movement. Beaux Arts is characterized by order, symmetry, formal design, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamentation. Architectural characteristics include balustrades, balconies, columns, cornices, pilasters and triangular pediments. Stone exteriors are massive and grandiose in their symmetry; interiors are typically polished and lavishly decorated with sculptures, swags, medallions, flowers, and shields. Interiors will often have a grand stairway and opulent ballroom. Large arches rival the ancient Roman arches. In the United States, the Beaux-Arts style led to planned neighborhoods with large, showy houses, wide boulevards, and vast parks. Because of the size and grandiosity of the buildings, the Beaux-Arts style is most commonly used for public buildings like museums, railway stations, libraries, banks, courthouses, and government buildings. In the US, Beaux Arts was used in some of the public architecture in Washington, DC, most notably Union Station by architect Daniel H. Burnham and the Library of Congress (LOC) Thomas Jefferson building on Capitol Hill. The Architect of the Capitol describes the LOC as theatrical and heavily ornamented, which is perfectly suited to a young, wealthy and imperialistic nation in its Gilded Age. In Newport, Rhode Island, the Vanderbilt Marble House and Rosecliff Mansion stand out as grand Beaux-Arts cottages. In New York City, Grand Central Terminal, Carnegie Hall, the Waldorf, and the New York Public Library all express Beaux-Arts grandeur. In San Francisco, California, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Asian Art Museum made the California Gold Rush a reality. Besides Burnham, other architects associated with the style include Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909), Raymond Hood (1881-1934), and George B. Post (1837-1913). The popularity of the Beaux-Arts style waned in the 1920s, and within 25 years the buildings were considered ostentatious. Today the phrase beaux arts is used by English-speaking people to attach a dignity and even a frivolity to the ordinary, such as the volunteer fundraising group named Beaux Arts in Miami, Florida. Its been used to suggest luxury and sophistication, as the Marriott hotel chain expresses with its Hotel Beaux Arts Miami. Its also part of a famous poem, Musà ©e des Beaux Arts, by W.H. Auden. French in Origin In French, the term beaux arts (pronounced BOZE-ar) means fine arts or beautiful arts. The Beaux-Arts style emanated from France, based on ideas taught at the legendary LÉcole des Beaux Arts (The School of Fine Arts), one of the oldest and most esteemed schools of architecture and design in Paris. The turn into the 20th century was a time of great growth throughout the world. It was a time after the American Civil War when the United States was truly becoming a country- and a world power. It was a time when architecture in the US was becoming a licensed profession requiring schooling. These French ideas of beauty were brought to America by American architects fortunate enough to have studied at the only internationally known school of architecture, L’Ecole des Beaux Arts. European aesthetics spread to wealthy areas of the world that had profited from industrialization. It is found mostly in urban areas, where it can make a more public statement of prosperity or an embarras sment of riches. In France, Beaux-Arts design was most popular during what became known as the Belle Époque, or the beautiful age. Perhaps the most important if not best-known example of this French opulence within a logical design is the Paris Opà ©ra house by the French architect Charles Garnier. Definitions of Beaux-Arts Architecture Historical and eclectic design on a monumental scale, as taught at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th cent.- Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, Cyril M. Harris, ed., McGraw- Hill, 1975, p. 48 The Beaux Arts is a classical style with the full range of Greco-Roman elements: the column, arch, vault and dome. It is the showy, almost operatic, manner in which these elements are composed that gives the style its characteristic flavor.- Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation To Hyphenate or Not Generally, if beaux arts is used alone, the words are not hyphenated. When used together as an adjective to describe a style or architecture, the words are often hyphenated. Some English dictionaries always hyphenate these non-English words. About Musà ©e des Beaux Arts The English poet W. H. Auden wrote a poem called Musà ©e des Beaux Arts in 1938. In it, Auden describes a scene from a painting by the artist Peter Breughel, a piece of art that Auden observed while visiting the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. The poems theme of the commonplace of suffering and tragedy- how it takes place / While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along- is as relevant today as it ever was. Is it ironic or on purpose that the painting and the poem are paired with one of the most visibly ornate styles of architecture in an era of conspicuous consumption? Sources Richard Morris Hunt, Beaux-Arts Architectural Drawings The Architecture of the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts by Arthur Drexler, 1977 The Beaux Arts Style by Jonathan and Donna Fricker, Fricker Historic Preservation Services, LLC, February 2010, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation (PDF) [accessed July 26, 2016]; Beaux Arts Architecture on Capitol Hill, Architect of the Capitol [accessed April 13, 2017]

Challenging the process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Challenging the process - Essay Example It is the role of the organization leader to recognize this and ensure smooth implementation of the proposed changes (Paton & McCalman, 2008). 2. The leader of the organization should assess the sustainability of the organization in its current state and the benefits of change. If change will make the organization sustainable and the status quo is unsustainable, then the leader should take measures into convincing, and involve the organization’s members in the expected change. 3. The leader creates a vision for the future. This guides the need for change. The organization’s leader then develops a change coalition. This is appropriate to eliminate any resistance to change. It is also important for effective implementation of the new processes. The leader then mobilizes the commitment. Employees and other stakeholders of the organization have to be committed to what the organization intends to achieve. Lastly, the manager leads the change process (Paton & McCalman, 2008). 4. Change processes are initiated for various reasons. Sometimes organizations need to update the system in all the departments and to deal with such a system requires change in certain processes. Sometimes focus is on improving the performance of the organization by adopting a new culture. The organization may have new distribution centers or markets to exploit, requiring changes in its systems (Paton & McCalman,

Domestic partner benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Domestic partner benefits - Essay Example Further requirements were then added for the partners to continue sharing financial obligations and that they  are  over eighteen (Badgett 2006).. A domestic partnership denotes a much that may be or may not be recognized by law as compared to  marriage. According to  Wikipedia, public and private employers in America provide health insurance and other benefits to spouses and same-sex partners of their employees. The employee receiving benefits for his or her spouse may sometimes be forced to pay tax for the benefits. The qualifications for benefits for domestic partners vary from one employer to the next. Different employers have different benchmarks for those that are suitable for these benefits and those that are not. Domestic partner benefits can be categorized into two: same sex partners and opposite sex partners. It is up to employers to determine which  partnership  to include. Some employers only  recognize  same-sex or different-sex couples, while others acce pt both categories. Employers ought to compensate their employees through more than salaries and wages. They should provide benefits such as health insurance. A growing number of employers are now offering domestic partner benefits to gay, lesbians, bisexual and transgender employees and the  partner’s children. These benefits include health benefits (dental,  sight  and medical); retirement benefits (pension plans); bereavement leave; travel assistance; adoption assistance; education and  tuition  assistance and disability and life insurance. Employers  are known  to create their own definitions of domestic partners. This is to  enable  them to know who is eligible for benefits and who is not.  Same sex  unions were usually left out of this consideration. Employers have since begun offering benefits to  same sex  partners. Employers have traditionally offered benefits, such as health insurance, to the spouses and legal dependants of their employees. In 1982, the first  employer  to break ranks and  offer  domestic partner benefits to its  lesbian  and  gay  employees was a New York City weekly  publication  called the Village Voice. Today, the Human Rights Campaign (a nonprofit organization devoted to working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights) claims that employees who  offer  these benefits stand at more than 2,500. In an effort to promote equality in the workplace, more and more employers are choosing to  offer  benefits to domestic partners. However, these efforts to  bring  more  equality  to the workplace are not without  consequence. Before adopting policies that  afford  domestic partners the same benefits that  are afforded  spouses, employers must carefully consider the benefits and risks to such an  approach (Badgett 2006).. Cost of domestic partner benefits According to Michael E. Hamrick (2009), lack of information has made it difficult to  es timate  the overall  cost  of domestic partner benefits. Some employers believe that the cost for providing benefits for domestic partners is much higher than providing benefits for married couples. An  excellent  example comes from a small group  plan  in California. It paid 17.1% more in the same year for

On the road Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On the road - Essay Example At the time of of its premiere, many critics called it fascinating or indecent while some branded it as a noble piece of work. The road being a metaphor for the eternal is unchanging in the whole play. In fact, while discussing in a philosophical mood the two men exchanged jokes, laughs and tragic comments that reflected the eternal truth only. During the conversation, Vladimir says, â€Å"In an instant all will vanish and well be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!† As they just keep on passing time, while waiting aimlessly. The road appears to be an unknown landscape to them. They just do not recognize anything on it The comments and jokes that are the part of the rare conversation between the two brings forth the helplessness and compulsion of aimless waiting for the one who never appears. The following phrases partly summarize their irony and daydreams, while they apparently remark on their surrounding space –The road. Estrogen asks â€Å"Well, shall we go?† and Vladimir replies â€Å"Yes, let us go†. However, they never move away from the road. They keep on passing their time while uttering remarks like â€Å"we are in hell† or â€Å"look at this muckheap† and â€Å"nothing happens.. no body comes.. no body goes.. it is awful† , on their surroundings, which is supposed to be a road. They crack jokes and do funny things at times like both men trying to hang themselves by the tree that simply is a shrub only. While this shows the tragic irony, it certainly describes the utter despair and depressive state of their mind. There is hardly any action on the road. However, the only real action in the play is when the two characters Pozzo and Lucky appear on the road. While Lucky is half dead with the load he carries for Pozzo and the rope around his neck so tight that he is not able to breath properly, Pozzo keeps on driving him on the road with the whip. This seems to be the most interesting part

Change Management and Management Styles Assignment

Change Management and Management Styles - Assignment Example In terms of ethics in research and ensuring that information is accurately conveyed within the publication process, this is an essential aspect of ensuring that all individuals involved feel as if the process has spoken directly to the needs of each and every stakeholder; not necessarily a given group to any larger extent as compared to another. Researchers, scholars, and authors have long understood that the guidelines and procedures with respect to the way in which information is represented allow stakeholders to approach such information from a variety of different standpoints. In such a way, the mechanisms through which understanding can be provided are multiplied; allowing a situation in which an approach to the research or an understanding of available information can be determined from an alternative point of view - perhaps even one that the authors or researcher did not initially intent. Not only does this help with the creation of further bodies of knowledge, it also ensures that ethical standards are met and that stakeholders from varying positions are able to utilize the available information and draw inference upon it. Likewise, in terms of assisting overall credibility, it is without question that the process of ethical consideration and the impact of the way in which information is viewed, and by whom, greatly maximizes the overall level of credibility that any particular publication or scholarship might otherwise achieved. For instance, with respect to the process of writing a university paper, something that is nothing more than practice for the way in which information is revealed and produced in the professional world, the student must be continually aware of the way in which information is represented and the potential for discriminatory bias or other harmful miscomprehensions being present within the publication. Just as college professors are

English literature paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English literature paper - Essay Example â€Å"A prudent leader, however, will be able to anticipate problems long before they actually arise, using virtà ¹ to forestall what would otherwise be great difficulties† (Kemerling). Machiavelli describes a business principle here which I would utilize as a leader of an organization in the future in order to select among the best alternatives. Machiavelli through virtue is describing the business function known as forecasting. Forecasting involves planning for the future by predicting future outcomes and choosing the best possible option. Virtue is going to provide lots of positive outcomes. By creating a clear understandable path the followers receive adequate instructions on how to proceed. Another quality of leadership describe by Machiavelli is the need for the leader to acquire a good reputation while doing whatever wrong see necessary in the circumstance (Kemerling). According to Machiavelli a good leader must be able to make touch decision and always stand by them. For example in the future as a corporate leader I might have to make some tough decisions, I might be the person responsible for firing 3000 employees. If that is the best business decision that will bring the greater benefit for the company I have to stand by my action and show confidence in front of others when discussing this business move that affected the lives of so many people. Another important principle of management mentioned by Machiavelli is that the ruler will need the assistance of advisors. This principle can be converted in the 21st century as the need to work in team settings. In our society a good leader recognizes he / she can not do the work alone and participation of others is necessary. In our times a good leader also seeks the advice of experts in certain situations to gather better information before making a decision. For example when working on a project a l eader may seek advice from an outside consultant in order

Elderly Patients and Malnutrition Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Elderly Patients and Malnutrition - Dissertation Example Nevertheless, as previous reports establish, hospital services are insufficient to meet the nutritional needs of ill patients. Given the present scenario, the government, along with health care professionals, faces a serious problem of alleviating the risks associated with malnutrition in the elderly population. Several proposals have been made in the past to address the current issue but the problem remains unresolved. It is therefore important to reassess current approaches to nursing practice and further expand research in the field of elderly care. To date, experts have identified proper screening and management as basic responses to the current problem. However, the diverse needs of elderly patients in the hospital setting demand comprehensive approaches and resources in the nursing practice. Additionally, the availability of resources is another question. For such reasons, nurses assigned in hospitals should have a wide background of the issue and the solutions to the problem. Basic information such as the causes, symptoms, and risks of malnutrition are therefore imperative and should be considered common knowledge in the nursing practice. To address the current issue, nurses in the hospital setting should, in the first place, be aware of the symptoms and causes of malnutrition. A working definition of malnutrition should lead every health care practitioner to be aware of the problems associated with malnutrition and to be sensitive to the symptoms at-risk patients have. According to Peters (1996), malnutrition is a ‘deficiency state which occurs when inadequate proteins, calories, or specific nutrients are ingested to meet an individual’s nutritional requirements’ (p.45). Malnutrition can cause varying adverse effects on... This paper approves that the current literature offers a number of screening tools and interventions to malnutrition. Among screening tools are the MUST, GNRI, and Nursing Nutritional Checklist. Commonly, these screening tools aim to guide nurses on proper screening of at-risk patients. They also ensure communication between the nurse and the patient, giving way for patients to express their needs and apprehensions relating to hospitalisation. Screening tools also serve as guide for making recommendations to doctors, dieticians, and other health care providers. The screening tools found in the literature obviously vary in structure but they commonly aim at securing information about the patient. This paper makes a conclusion that pharmacologic therapy and giving supplements are the most successful interventions based on the literature. However, it should be clear that pharmacologic therapy was often used in the past for preventing anorexia among terminally ill patients. Therefore, future research should examine the effectiveness of the intervention to elderly patients in general, including those who are not suffering from diseases. Nevertheless, extra care should be taken when administering drugs to patients, making sure of the absence of side effects. Exercise, educating patients and their families, and minimising dietary restrictions likewise emerge as other alternatives to pharmacologic therapy in fighting the problem of malnutrition in the field of elderly care.

English literature paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English literature paper - Essay Example â€Å"A prudent leader, however, will be able to anticipate problems long before they actually arise, using virtà ¹ to forestall what would otherwise be great difficulties† (Kemerling). Machiavelli describes a business principle here which I would utilize as a leader of an organization in the future in order to select among the best alternatives. Machiavelli through virtue is describing the business function known as forecasting. Forecasting involves planning for the future by predicting future outcomes and choosing the best possible option. Virtue is going to provide lots of positive outcomes. By creating a clear understandable path the followers receive adequate instructions on how to proceed. Another quality of leadership describe by Machiavelli is the need for the leader to acquire a good reputation while doing whatever wrong see necessary in the circumstance (Kemerling). According to Machiavelli a good leader must be able to make touch decision and always stand by them. For example in the future as a corporate leader I might have to make some tough decisions, I might be the person responsible for firing 3000 employees. If that is the best business decision that will bring the greater benefit for the company I have to stand by my action and show confidence in front of others when discussing this business move that affected the lives of so many people. Another important principle of management mentioned by Machiavelli is that the ruler will need the assistance of advisors. This principle can be converted in the 21st century as the need to work in team settings. In our society a good leader recognizes he / she can not do the work alone and participation of others is necessary. In our times a good leader also seeks the advice of experts in certain situations to gather better information before making a decision. For example when working on a project a l eader may seek advice from an outside consultant in order

Everybody Needs Somebody Essay Example for Free

Everybody Needs Somebody Essay Many people vacillate to commit themselves to marriage because of the responsibilities involved, but what does the word â€Å"marriage†, that so many desist from means. It’s the state of being united; body, soul and mind to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife consensual and contractual relationship recognized by both the Lord and the law. Moreover, pledging your allegiance, promising to be there† for better or for worse, in sickness and in health..till death do us path†. A lot of individuals make the decision never to marry; there may be certain circumstances why they may feel that way. For example they may have had awful relationships in their past and of the opinion that their significant other will never be found or plainly the bulk just don’t want that type of commitment. Marriage has its advantages by the bountiful, so if you are in love and sure that you want to subsist the rest of your life with him/her, then unquestionably go ahead and walk down the aisle. I confidently disagree that being single is far more advantageous than being married. Marriage offers companionship. In a healthy marriage, you are never alone. Your spouse will always be there to lend a sympathetic ear. Sometimes, of course, your spouse might not be â€Å"actually† listening to you but it is better to talk to someone than being alone. Additionally, it’s satisfying to have someone you trust completely and love unconditionally to have stimulating conversation with. For instance to discuss ideas, major financial matters and practice your humor and simply want o be consoled at the end of the day. In the period 2008, research done in the USA showed that expressing your feeling, merely talking to your spouse and letting them know how you feel, reduces your chance of divorce, dishonesty and senseless arguments. As well, companionship offers support and can be particularly important at times of misfortune. Thus, the companionship that marriage offer beats being single any day. Marriage opens the gates to a rich social life. Basically by having a partner with you, you can have a social life that is not so readily or easily available for a single person. You can visit romantic places together or holiday together. You can spend meaningful quality time with each other also relaxing without any interruptions for a single person; it may be difficult because usually social life is geared around â€Å"couples†. Hence a single person can often be left out or sometimes just not invited. Although it may be true at times, that having children might seem to encumber your social life but really it brings a pulsating change in your social life also much of that life involves being with your children. Marriage puts a stamp of tolerability in society. Research reveals that married men/women have longer lifespan compared to single individuals. This can result in three points 1. Marriage stabilizers men and women this is so because, the need for multiple partners aren’t considered necessary when you are married besides you can be confident that your trustworthy spouse isn’t going to be adulterous 2. In the case of reducing stress, take for example raising a child, although many single parents do raise children successfully. It seems the stress is less when the tasks are shared with a partner.3. The point of being pleased. Many men/women get satisfied sexually by being married. This is so because by being intimate with someone you pledged your life to and love, you are contented both physically and mentally. Consequently, by having sexual relations when single your mate is random. This type of intimacy is fabricated and has no symbolic meaning. At such times having a marriage has its rewards over being single. As stated above marriage has its advantages, the ones mentioned are just a few to start with. Each marriage is of course different, but the connection that is shared among two married persons who have unexplained love, intimacy and forever commitment is extremely sacred. Being married, said by many people is about accepting a person for who they are, faults include. To be so dedicated and honorable that together you can overcome any type of ordeal life throws also learning to grow from those hardships. It’s about making sacrifices and putting your complete trust in your spouse. Knowing, they would refrain from temptation and be honest when it is needed. There are so many types of definitions that could be used to describe what marriage is nevertheless the one that really carries the most sentimental value is the one shared among married couples. It is forlorn that single people choose to remain unmarried, they may not the joy marriage brings to a person, but marriage is a privilege so why not make use of it.

Social criticism through science fiction literature

Social criticism through science fiction literature Science fiction frequently involves social criticism. The use of social criticism is an author’s interest in addressing specific political, social, cultural, economic or religious issues in their work. When reading or critiquing these stories, it is necessary to see what the author might be saying about our lives, our society, our political and power relations, gender roles, or sexuality. Every author has a point to make, and may make use of social criticism as a means to this end. In the short story, â€Å"Baby, You Were Great!† by Kate Wilhelm, she employs one of the best ways to critique society, by playing with gender roles. This story was written in 1967, when sexism was rampant and her interpretation of women as commodities seems very timely. The story also works as a commentary on the future of media, celebrity, and the various forms of vicarious pleasure that can be acquired from our new technologies and the myriad fantasies that these technologies permit. Obviously, this story predates our current reality shows, which have become so popular. Nonetheless, it was a harbinger of things to come. This seems to be attributable to the universal human need to feel and experience novelty, and technology’s ability to allow humans to do so much more than their physical bodies may allow. Who doesn’t wonder what it is like to have some of the experiences that people have on these shows? Another, more obvious way that science fiction comments on society is through the relationship between man and technology. These stories are usually used to caution us against an over-dependence on technology. Humanity is seen as always searching for the next thing that can make our lives easier, but sometimes things can go radically wrong. For instance, in â€Å"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,† by Harlan Ellison, computers were created by humans to fight their wars. Somehow they join together into one linked and unified computer called AM, who discovers sentience. He quickly runs data to kill everyone on Earth except for five survivors with whom he plays out his sadistic and revenge-filled mind games. The goal of his game is not to actually kill them, but to torment them and to continue to torture them forever. Moreover, AM has acquired hatred for his creators. Obviously AM is only reflecting the traits that were inherent in the society that created him. The story demonst rates that there is a little piece of AM in all of us. AM is the watcher and Punisher. He is the terminator that cannot stop, for that is his job. The reader can feel and empathize with the survivor’s ongoing state of misery, apprehension and fear. In conclusion, the ending is pretty horrific with Ted ending up a slug-like, mouthless blob with no extremities. It is nice to know that Ted does care about the others because he frees them by killing them, leaving himself alone to face the music. The story shows us what we can look forward to if we choose to hand over our choices and our control, to the semi-sentient machine of government. This whole catastrophe happened due to a global world war. It is a warning as valid today as it was when this story was written, back when people realized that we should not be in Vietnam and anti-war sentiment had finally begun to spread on a mass scale. We lost that one too. Finally, Harlan Ellison comments on social control and regulation in the short story â€Å"Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman, which was published in 1965. The story describes the Marxist perspective of the inherent class warfare and contradictions that are part and parcel of a society subjugated and oppressed by a dominant ruling class. In any class society, there will be a dominant ideology, made up of the ideas and institutions which favor the ruling class. Ticktockman and Harlequin personify the struggles between law and order and personal freedom, as well as the paramount conflict between forced discipline and creative individuality. Specifically, it seems to have been written to protest the rigid bureaucracy ruled by an equally unfeeling social elite. It shows what can happen in the future if the world resorts to coerced labor forces and obsession with time. People then were already addicted to mass consumption and many countries were/are under totalitarian rule. At the e nd of the story, it is ironic that Ticktockman is even guilty of not being on time. The Harlequin is the solitary person who refuses to be controlled. Indeed, disruptive and rebellious, Harlequin is the obvious deviant because he is the only human being who goes against the powers that be. In short, the theme of the story basically shows how useless protest usually is in achieving social change. Only the great, tragic, jelly bean showering clown had the guts to go against the status quo of the government, only to be forcibly reprocessed by the ruling hierarchy and forced into conformity. All three stories exemplify the authors’ use of particular social issues to comment on and criticize many of man’s ongoing dilemmas that underscore the volatile state of the world and our place in it. Of particular importance is how we treat one another in a world so obsessed with consumerism, sex, power, and money. It is time for a reassessment of what is truly important as we trudge into an uncertain future. Question 3 During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War with Russia, also known also as the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Americans had a fear of the communist regime taking over the U.S. Senator McCarthy investigated government employees and the Hollywood film industry in search of communist sympathizers. America had also gone to war with Korea, and the Vietnam War was spiraling out of control. In addition, the Soviets had launched Sputnik, so we were rivals in many areas. Subsequently, these mostly unfounded fears spurred conservatism and the compromising of many civil liberties. Many of the science fiction stories played on these fears. According to many people, the 1950s and 1960s is when science fiction â€Å"grew up.† I concur with this assessment. During the 1950s, science fiction was finally getting some respect by literary scholars. People were beginning to see that science fiction fantasy was actually becoming scientific fact. Many inventions which had been predicted in earlier pulp novels, such as the atomic bomb, transistor radios, ATM’s, the computer mouse, and television were now a reality. With the coming of the 1960s a radical change, known as the New Wave, took place in science fiction. These stories were about everyday people being influenced by science and concerned itself more with sex and violence than with the science itself. Without a doubt, it was a reaction against earlier science fiction. This New Wave created a more urbane and metaphoric style of science fiction much different from the past. Also, during this time, America was going through a cultural revolution known as the â€Å"Psychedelic Sixties.† Young people broke society’s rules in every imaginable way, especially through rock music and fashion. They rejected the establishments mores and manners. The hippie counter-culture was born. They were embracing new ideas, thoughts, and inspiration from the world around them because they had grown up in a changing society influenced now by drugs, as well as science and technology. They saw the first space flights and watched as the first man walked on the moon. Thus, science fiction matured along with society, incorporating these new influences which now appealed to adults, not just kids. Based on what we have read so far, I am in total agreement with the notion that it was during this time period that science fiction â€Å"grew up.† In short, these last series of stories demonstrate this maturation process. Stories such as â€Å"Baby, You Were Great,† which dealt with sexism, reflected the 1960s women’s rights movement, and the changing cultural and social climate of that era. Repent, Harlequin! Said The Ticktockman,† by Harlan Ellison, can be seen to epitomize the young hippies and other young adults’ aversion to being forced to be puppets of the ruling elite and drafted into the military as agents in a war they did not believe in. According to Timothy Leary, people were advised to Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out. That is what the Harlequin did, but to no avail. Like the hippies, he succumbed to the powers that be. At least he valiantly tried, and who doesn’t like a clown?

Essay --

Handling Difficult Conversations Olatunji Sowunmi Walden University January 19th, 2014 Introduction Every now and then, we often find ourselves in different situations where we have to engage in a difficult face-to- face conversation. Most times it involves our loved ones, colleagues or managers. These conversations often revolve around relationships, money, job performances, and various expectations. There are moments as well when we have to engage in such conversations but for one reason or the other we choose not to do so. Perhaps, because we’ve had different experiences of a face to face conversation that didn’t go we way we planned, or maybe because we fear that such conversation would worsen the situation or fear of hurting someone’s feeling. But still, the urge of setting yourself free from that stuck sensation in your chest calls for more reasons to have a one on one talk. This paper will discuss few circumstances I had of a difficult face-to-face conversation, describing specific actions I took to resolve the situation and evaluates whether or not those actions were effective. I will also mention strategies that will help improve my communication skills which will help me in the further to prepare for similar situations. As an Associate Director of Quality Management in a Level 1 Trauma Center and a Teaching Hospital in Queens, NY, I have been working in this field for the past six years and I have had several employees that I’ve supervised and worked with over years. But one of my colleagues Mrs. D an older lady with over twenty years of experience has been a torn in the way I’d like to manage my team. Our responsibilities involve updating the hospital policies and guide... ...m solving, selfish, curious, or angry. Channeling our emotional energy into something meaningful is important to be aware off. Being able to know and understand the purpose of a difficult conversation and putting ourselves in their shoes will help us see things from their point of view. Three techniques that have been identified for handling stressful conversation are clarity, neutrality and temperance, and they are building blocks of all good communication, Weeks, H., (2001). References †¢ Yates, K., & Beech, R. (2006). Six crucial steps to effective global communication. Strategic Communication Management, 10(5), 26-29. †¢ Engels, J., (July, 2007). Delivering Difficult Messages. Tool to tackle dreaded conversations. P50-52. †¢ Weeks, H., (2001). Taking the Stress Out Of Stressful Conversations. Harvard Business Review. P114-119.

Business :: essays research papers

I own a local business that provides Internet access to individuals and businesses, my business is one of four businesses in the local market that provide internet access to both individuals and businesses. Each of the four businesses charges the same price of twelve dollars a month for unlimited dial up services. My businesses breakeven price is seven dollars per customer, so no matter what I must charge it least seven dollars per package in order to cover all my costs. Recently my business and the other three businesses have begun to enter into a price war, to ensure that my business isn’t destroyed I will have to develop specific pricing strategies based on certain situations brought upon by my competitors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Demand for my businesses service is often fluctuating because of the constant price changing between my competitors and I. Demand for my service is affected by changes in prices because people are drawn more toward the lowest priced Internet service providers The provider that offers the most bonuses and upgrades along with a strategically low priced internet service, will most likely succeed in bringing in the most customers. Dramatic price drops by my competitors would make it hard for my business to stay afloat because my breakeven price is seven dollars per person, so if they drop their prices to seven dollars or less, then my business would probably have to close because of insufficient profits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My business has three competitors selling the same service as I am, and most any of their business decisions can affect my business in either a positive or negative way. If those businesses are able to drop their prices and offer more extras with their Internet service than my business is able to, it could result in a dramatic loss of business for me and a gain of business for my competitors. The opposite could also occur, my competition could start losing profits and have to raise their prices to maintain operations. In this instance some of their customers might switch to my Internet provider so they wouldn’t have to pay higher prices. My customers who were previously thinking about switching to one of my competitors will now decide to stay with my business rather than switching to a provider with fluctuating prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Having too many of the same kinds of businesses (such as an internet service provider) in the same area, results in a loss of business for everyone because now consumers have so many options of which business to choose form. Business :: essays research papers I own a local business that provides Internet access to individuals and businesses, my business is one of four businesses in the local market that provide internet access to both individuals and businesses. Each of the four businesses charges the same price of twelve dollars a month for unlimited dial up services. My businesses breakeven price is seven dollars per customer, so no matter what I must charge it least seven dollars per package in order to cover all my costs. Recently my business and the other three businesses have begun to enter into a price war, to ensure that my business isn’t destroyed I will have to develop specific pricing strategies based on certain situations brought upon by my competitors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Demand for my businesses service is often fluctuating because of the constant price changing between my competitors and I. Demand for my service is affected by changes in prices because people are drawn more toward the lowest priced Internet service providers The provider that offers the most bonuses and upgrades along with a strategically low priced internet service, will most likely succeed in bringing in the most customers. Dramatic price drops by my competitors would make it hard for my business to stay afloat because my breakeven price is seven dollars per person, so if they drop their prices to seven dollars or less, then my business would probably have to close because of insufficient profits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My business has three competitors selling the same service as I am, and most any of their business decisions can affect my business in either a positive or negative way. If those businesses are able to drop their prices and offer more extras with their Internet service than my business is able to, it could result in a dramatic loss of business for me and a gain of business for my competitors. The opposite could also occur, my competition could start losing profits and have to raise their prices to maintain operations. In this instance some of their customers might switch to my Internet provider so they wouldn’t have to pay higher prices. My customers who were previously thinking about switching to one of my competitors will now decide to stay with my business rather than switching to a provider with fluctuating prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Having too many of the same kinds of businesses (such as an internet service provider) in the same area, results in a loss of business for everyone because now consumers have so many options of which business to choose form.

Practical Assignment: Introduction to Information Technology

Objective This coursework aims to provide students an opportunity to explore the use of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powering to enhance their understanding of the application software features in word document and power-point slides presentation. Grouping This Is a group-based assignment. Student must form a group with minimum 4 members and maximum 5 members. Note: same group members of theory assignment. Plagiarism All work is to be the result of the student's own individual and group effort.Students found to have copied others' work will be penalized for plagiarism. A student who plagiarisms will receive zero point credit on the assignment. Late Policy The assignment should be submitted on the due date stated below unless there are legitimate reasons as to why a student can not complete the assignment by due date. As a general rule, no extension of time will be granted. Assignment received after the due date without legitimate reason will be penalized. Submission date: 22/07/2014 (Tuesday, week 1 1) Assignment return week: Week 14 To begin†¦ Find an article from newspapers, internet, magazines etc. And you have to make sure the article is able to match the features checklist [PART 2 FILE]. The article that you have selected must get the approval from your tutor. Take note: the article length must be at least a full page long of AAA paper size and/or at least 400 words. You can refer an article sample In Attachment 1 on Cell. Task 1: Based on the article that approved by your tutor, you need to design that article into organized. Task 2: Retained the contents of the article you designed in task 1 you need to create a retrieve and great-looking Power-point presentation slides show.Note: The power- point slides length must be between 10- 15 slides long. Assessment This assignment contributes 70% of the overall practical course assessment. Submission Details and Report Sequence Assignment report must properly staple with suitable labels. Use AAA sized paper with printing on one side only. Arrange the assignment report follow the sequence below: 1 . Submission form (is a cover page, you can download from. Plagiarism statement (you can download from Cell- PART 3 FILE) 3.Plagiarism statement form (you can download from Cell Features Checklists (you can download from Cell – PART 2 FILE) 5. Acknowledgement 6. Table of Contents 7. Word report 8. Powering presentation slides Note: Printed in Landscape Orientation with 4 slides in a sheet 9. References (follow Harvard Referencing System) Note: Inappropriate referencing style will cause marks deduction Save a softly of Powering presentation in a CD for Submission. (One tutorial class submit one CD ONLY which contains all different groups Powering slides show)

Plate tectonics Essay

Ever since the beginning on time, Humans believed the ground is solid and immobile. But this is not true whatsoever. The Earth is every-changing and continually in motion. The stability of the Earth is not at all what we think it is. Thinking about the rotational axis of the Earth, and possibly of what the Earth may become at a certain point in time, has a great influence on understanding all aspects of living things, either in the past, present, or future. The study of Plate tectonics is accredited to most of the creations of Mountain Ranges, the drifting of continents, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. Plate tectonics and mountains also play a big part in the geological features of our planet or any planet for that matter. Geophysics, which studies the physics of the Earth, has led to many important findings about the Earth and how it is made. Seismologic studies of planet Earth have revealed new information about the inside of the Earth that has helped to give new openings in understanding plate tectonics. The Earth is made of several significant layers. Each one of these layers has its own properties. The crust is the outermost layer of the Earth. The crust is made up of the oceans and continents. The crust has a fluctuating thickness, being thirty to seventy-five kilometres thick in the continents and ten to fifteen kilometres thick in the ocean basins. The crust is made up mainly of alumino-silicates (Fowler p472). The layer underneath the crust is the mantle, which is made up mainly of ferro-magnesium silicates. The mantle is approximately two thousand, nine hundred kilometres thick, and is separated in to the upper and lower mantle. It is in the mantle where most of the centralized heat of the Earth is located. Big convective cells in the mantle disperse heat and produce the plate tectonic processes. The core is the last layer of the Earth, which is broken down into the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. The inner core is about thirteen hundred kilometres thick and the outer core is about twenty-three hundred kilometers thick. A nickel-iron alloy mixture makes up the outer core, and the inner is almost all composed of iron. The Earth is separated in layers based on composition and mechanical properties. The top layer is the lithosphere, which is comprised of the solid upper mantle and the crust. It is divided into plates that move due to tectonic forces. The lithosphere floats on top of a semi-liquid layer that is called the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere allows the lithosphere to move around since it is much weaker (Tarbuck p605). Early scientist believed that one huge supercontinent existed over two hundred million years ago. The name for this supercontinent is Pangaea. Pangaea was broken in to several pieces, and each piece was a part of the lithosphere. They believed that the pieces of Pangaea formed the continents that we know of in present day geology. When Pangaea existed, the rest of the Earth was covered by an ocean called Panthalassa. Eventually, Pangaea split into two land masses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwanaland to the south. The theory of plate tectonics does in fact have an explanation for the movement of the Earth’s crust. The fact that Pangaea did exist could be quite plausible. Scientist also believes that as the Pacific Ocean is closing, a supercontinent may form in millions of years to come. In present day geology, we can consider Eurasia as a supercontinent because the Ural Mountains separate Europe from Asia and make a line of compression and change where the two continents smashed in to each other (Tarbuck p606). In 1620, Sir Francis Bacon wrote in his book Novan Organum and noted that the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean seemed to be parallel to one another. However, the plate tectonic theory really started to begin in 1915 when Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift. Alfred Wegener believed that the continents bulldozed through crust on the ocean basins, which would explain why most of the coastlines look like they could fit together. Wegener was not the first one to realize that the continents looked like they could fit together because Magellan and other early explorers noticed this also. However, he was the first person to realize that the Earth’s surface has changed over time, and that continents that are not together now could have possibly been joined together at some point in the past (Twiss p532). Many people were against Wegener’s theory because he did not really have an explanation for why the continents moved. During that time, geologist believed the Earth possessed these features because the planet went through periods of cooling and heating. Anti-mobilists were people that were against Wegener’s theory. People who were in favor of Wegener were known as mobilists because they had seen proof of continental movement in the Alps (Fowler p475). In a few short years, Wegener’s theory was denied. However, his theory was the first time the idea of continental movement was announced to the science community. His theory laid the foundation for the advancement in twenty-first century plate tectonics. Years would pass and more evidence became available to support the idea that plates were in fact in motion and changed over a period of time (Fowler p476). After the Second World War, more information was discovered which supported the theory of plate tectonics. In the sixties, a bunch of seismometers were installed to collect data on nuclear bombs, and these instruments sparked curiosity among geologists. It showed that volcanoes, earthquakes, and other features were along the Pacific Ocean and ran along the continents edges for the most part. It turned out that all of these edges became known as tectonic plates (Kearey 2009). Further studies showed a pattern of magnetic fields in the ocean basins. The rock basalt contains a lot of magnetic minerals called magnetite. The lava forms and cools and the magnetic minerals align with the North Pole. This proves that the Earth has gone through several magnetic reversals; this would not be possible if the lithosphere was not in motion. Since all of this has been discovered, plate tectonics has gained acceptance as the Earth processes (Kearey 2009). Plate tectonics is made up of the study the motion and change in the Earth’s crust. This is based on the theory that the lithosphere is divided into seven major plates and several minor plates, and they all move in accordance with each other. They also move in relation to hot spots, which is where mantle material comes up. The plate tectonic theory tries to tell us that the Earth’s crust moves over a period of time. The crust moves in a rigid way, which explains the change that we see. The theory is based on a few beliefs. New material is made by the spreading of the ocean floor and eventually become part of a plate, and motion of plates occurs only at plate boundaries. Plates are rocks that pretty much float on top of the asthenosphere. The crust has two types, the oceanic and continental; they both differ because of composition. The continental crust is made up of mostly granite. This brings us to the conclusion that the rocks have a lot of quartz and feldspars. However, most of the oceanic crust is made up of basalt. Basalt usually has other minerals like olivine and mafic minerals (Fowler p477). There are three types of plates, divergent, convergent, and conservative. Wide places of change are usually around plate boundaries because of the two plates colliding. We know that these boundaries exist because of their motions. One sort of plate is the divergent boundary. At this boundary two plates move apart. As they move apart it creates a crack in the crust and magma comes in to the ocean and cools. When the plates move, more and more crust is formed. Divergent boundaries are believed to be the reason for the plates moving. The formation of the new crust pushes the two plates apart, this is apparent in the mid-ocean ridge, which helps to move Europe and North America further and further apart. Mid-ocean ridges are mountains under water. They can even be as tall as mountains that are on land, this process is known as convection. Magma is pushed up by convection currents. Some magma erupts through the crust and some moves under the crust away from the ridge crest. The magma flows and helps move the plates away from each other to allow more crust to be created and to grow; this is called convection cells. We know this to be sea-floor spreading. The mid-ocean ridge plays a big part in the plate tectonic theory because of the minerals uniqueness within the basalt. It contains a lot of magnetic minerals that align with the Earth’s magnetic field when it crystallizes. In the past, scientist has known the Earth’s magnetic field to change. When the magnetic minerals align scientist can use it to date the crust. This plays an important role in the theory because it is first proof that plates were in fact moving and have been for almost Earth’s existence. We can use the magnetic information to prove that the plates are moving, and we can also determine that new crust is being formed and that the old crust was erased in a continuous process that has been going on for all of Earth’s past. The oldest crust ever dated is approximately one hundred million years old, which is quite recent in geologic time. This may lead you to question, where did all of the old crust go (Fowler p478). This brings me to my next discussion which is convergent boundary. A convergent boundary is when another plate overrides another plate, causing one plate to go underneath it. Most of the boundaries can be found in island systems and trenches. Most of the old crust goes in to these systems as new crust is formed at spreading centers. This explains why scientist cannot find any crust that date past the Cretaceous period. The old crust was destroyed by the process of subduction. Earthquakes are very active in subduction zones. The earthquakes occur because one plate slides under another. Although this movement is not visible, it has very strong effects on the Earth. The outer edges of the Pacific Ocean are referred to as the â€Å"Ring of Fire† because the subduction zones go all around the Pacific Ocean. Volcanic activity is also caused by subduction zones because when one plate goes under another it gets hotter. The reason it gets hotter is because it is closer to the mantle. When the old crust gets close to the mantle, it melts and forms in to magma. The magma eventually runs up through the crust and forms volcanoes. One good example of a subduction zone surfacing is the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska (Twiss p536). When two plates collide, subduction zones do not always occur. Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust, and when they collide, they do not run over each other. Instead, they kind of plow in to each other and create mountains. This type of boundary is called a collisional boundary. An example of two plates colliding is the Himalayas in India. The third type of boundary is the transform boundary. It is called this because plates are not destroyed or created, but they slide past each other. A good example of a transform boundary would be the San Andreas Fault in California. In California, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate are sliding past each other. This is why many earthquakes occur in that region. The earthquakes occur because of the strain that the two plates exert as they slide past each other (â€Å"Historical perspective). The Earth changes in many ways, however there are three forces the cause change within the Earth. When these forces act, they create stress and they change the volume and shape of a material. The three main types of stress are shear, compressional, and tensional. Stress puts a lot of strain on the Earth which causes the change in rocks and the Earth’s crust. Compressional forces may cause a rock to compress or shorten. Tensional forces may cause a rock to become longer and pull apart. Shear forces can cause rocks to slip past each other (â€Å"Historical perspective). Faults are places where rocks have been broken and have been changed. There are three big types of faults. These are strike-slip, normal, and reverse. The stresses caused by motion of the plates build up over a course of time and ultimately cause the Earth’s crust to break when the rocks rub past each other. Usually when a fault happens, an earthquake occurs. Every plate boundary has some characteristic of a type of fault. Normal faulting can be affiliated with crustal extension. Normal faults can usually be found at divergent boundaries. Crustal shortening can be affiliated with reverse faulting. Reverse faults can usually be found at convergent boundaries. Strike-slip faulting is affiliated with sideways movement of the crust. These faults usually form at transform boundaries (Twiss p538). Even today, we are constantly reminded that the plates are in motion. One recent catastrophe caused by plate tectonics was the earthquake that happened in Haiti. Studies suggest that the earthquake occurred due to a strike-slip fault. The Caribbean sits on its own little plate and is surrounded on three sides by the bigger North and South American plates. Scientists believe that the North and South American plates are moving westward at approximately two to three centimeters per year. Based on the recordings of the earthquake, the Haitian quake seems to have occurred close to the Enriquillo Fault. The Enriquillo Fault is a big strike slip fault that runs across the southern border of Haiti. Scientists presume this is the fault that most likely ruptured because it is closest to the epicenter of the rupture. Although this was a big catastrophe for human life on the island of Haiti, it was not really unusual given the plate tectonic activity in that area. Unfortunately for Haiti, it is one of the most poorest and underdeveloped countries in the world. Its government was not really in the position to have any preparations in line for such a huge earthquake, and this caused thousands of people lost their lives (Kearey 2009).