Financial Statement Analysis Essay

Now complete the tables to develop pro forma financial statements for 1996 and 1998. In making these calculations, assume that the bank is willing to maintain the present credit lines and to grant the requested additional $12750000 of short-term credit effective January 1, 1996. In the analysis, take account of the amounts of inventory and accounts receivable that would be carried if inventory utilization and day’s sales outstanding were set at industry-average levels. also, assume in your forecast that all of SPC’s plans and predictions concerning sales and expenses materialize , and that the firm pays no cash dividends during the forecast period. Finally, in your calculations use the cash marketable securities account as the residual balancing figure. 6. Based on the forecasts developed earlier, does it appear that SPC will be able to retire all this outstanding short-term loans by December 31, 1996? In answering this question, assume that the firm will, if possible, repay the loans at a constant rate throughout the year. Therefore, on average, the amount of short-term loans outstanding will be half of the beginning of year amount. 8. Under that circumstance might the validity of comparative ratio analysis be questionable? Answer this question in general, not just for SPC, but use SPC data to illustrate your points. 9. Revise your pro forma financial statements for 1996 to 1997 on the basis of the following assumptions: a. short-term loans will be repaid when sufficient cash is available to do so without reducing the liquidity of the firm below the minimum requirements set by the bank, and when the company is able to maintain at least the target minimum cash balance (5 percent) b. SPC will reinstate its cash dividend, set at 25% of earning, in the year during which all short-term loans and credit lines have been fully cleaned up(paid in full). 11. On the basis your analyses, do you think Julia should recommend that the bank extend the existing short and long term loans and grant the additional $12750000 loan, or should she recommend that the bank demand immediate repayment of all existing loans? If she does recommend continuing to support the company, what conditions (for example, collateral, guarantees, or other safeguards) might the bank impose to help protect against losses should SPC’s plans go awry?

Its All About the Law Paper Essay

Many states fail when it comes to providing policies that support the rights of English Language Learners. According to Quality Counts 2009, only New York, Florida and Arizona mandate that teachers receive training on how to work with English Language Learners. Research shows that approximately eleven states offer incent for incentives for teachers to get bilingual credentials. Certain states offer policies that try to stop the process for teachers and support staff to assist students in keeping an attachment to their native languages. In 2009, Quality Counts asserted that, seven states—Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, placed bans or restrictions on the use of native-language instruction with English Language Learners. Citizens in these states however are voting to bring about a change. As it was quoted by Judge William Douglass, â€Å"Under these state-imposed standards there is no equality of treatment merely by provid ing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education. We know that those who do not understand English are certain to find their classroom experiences wholly incomprehensible and in no way meaningful.†(Wright 2010). The Massachusetts English Language Education in Public Schools Initiative, which some call Quest, was approved in Massachusetts. The Objective of Question 2 was to have ESL students be immersed into learning English by requiring all their subjects in English. In addition to the fast track curriculum, students would be placed in English language classrooms. Students that could not successfully complete assignments in English and whom could not speak English would go through a year long sheltered English immersion program. If and when the student is able to complete schoolwork in English, the student would then transition into an English language mainstream classroom. (http://www.ballotpedia.org). Ron Unz is the individual responsible for Proposition 203 in Arizona. Also referred to as the Unz initiative, proposition 203, is a proposal that 63% of Arizona citizens voted for on November 7, 2000. Proposition 203 minimizes the amount of instruction available to English language students. Because of a shortage in bilingual teachers the freedom that Arizona schools once had in educating English Language Learners has been reduced. The resolve to this issue is again a rapid English immersion program. According to the legislative program, parents or guardians of English Language Learners can request for their children to sit out of the English Immersion Program under these specific circumstances. The circumstances were as followed: If it could be proven that the child already knows English, if the child is older than grade school age or if the child is identified as having special needs. (Wright 2005) In Colorado, Amendment 31 was the initiative placed in front of citizens to vote on. Colorado’s proposal was on the November 2002 ballot as a constitutional amendment. To the dismay of ESL Learners, the initiative was not accepted. The law, if accepted, would make it mandatory for all public school students to have to learn their schoolwork in English, unless otherwise exempted. According to the website ballotpedia.org, it would be required for school districts to identify (with evidence) English learners, and to test their English proficiency once a year. Consequently, stakeholders established programs to educate ESL students English skills. This was necessary to participate in a school’s regular educational program. Over 70,000 public school students, or approximately nine percent of Colorado’s public school enrollment, qualified as an English learner. (ballotpedia.org) The types of programming English Language Learners received are as followed. English Language Learners received assistance through one of the following options: 1. English as a Second Language: Students are taught mainly or entirely in English with some native tongue assistance. 2. Bilingual education programs- English Language Learners are taught in their native language how to learn English 3. Dual language programs or dual immersion programs: Subjects are taught in two languages in order to develop proficiency in both languages. Requirements for this program is that these programs must be fluent in English or be English learners. In closing, in analyzing the three different state proposed legislatures of Colorado, Arizona and Massachusetts, they are all similar in objective. The difference is that Colorado initiative was not accepted. The similarity of three initiatives is that they were all fighting for English Immersion classes for English Language Learners. The English for the Children campaign was spear headed or supported in California, Arizona and Massachusetts by Ron Unz. In some states the percentages of English Language Learners is great in volume. Thus ESL they would ultimately benefit from the initiatives the most. References Colorado English Amendment 31(2002). Retrieved October 17, 2012. http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_English,_Amendment_31_%28200 Massachusetts English in Public Schools Initiative, Question 2 (2002 .Retrieved October 16, 2012 .www.ballotpedia.org/†¦/Massachusetts_English_in_Public_Schools_I†¦ Wright, W.E. (2005). The political spectacle of Arizona’s Proposition 203. Educational Policy, 19,662-700.

Case Brief Essay

Mr. David R. Bullock filed an appeal from his convictions for attempted statutory rape, and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. David R. Bullock put himself in numerous conversations via email and chat rooms with a Newton County Deputy Sheriff who was conducting a sting operation against pedophiles. The Deputy took on a persona of a thirteen year old female by the name of â€Å"Ashley Anne†. Many of the conversations that took place between Mr. Bullock and â€Å"Ashley† were of a sexual nature. During conversations between Mr. Bullock and â€Å"Ashley†, he discussed how he would like to engage in certain acts (sexual) with her and her friends (girls of younger age) and how he would like to video those acts. He informed â€Å"Ashley† that the conversations about meeting with her and her friends should not be discussed because it was not legal for them to meet. Eventually a meeting was scheduled for a time and a place to meet and specific instructions were given to â€Å"Ashley† on how the meeting should take place. â€Å"Ashley† was told that upon her arrival to the specified location, she should meet Mr. Bullock in a specific area of that location. History On October 18, 2002, Mr. Bullock and the decoy â€Å"Ashley† were present at the specified location, along with computer and video equipment in his vehicle, which ultimately leads to the arrest of Mr. Bullock. At the time of the arrest, Mr. Bullock did not deny having conversations with â€Å"Ashley† but explained that if she would arrive, he just wanted her to be counseled by the authorities on the dangers of meeting strangers on the internet. Mr. Bullock argues that his case is a case of entrapment and that he took no â€Å"substantial steps† towards committing the crimes he has been charged with. Issue: The sufficiency of the evidence is challenged and Appellant claims an entrapment defense for the reason that he was not predisposed to engage in the charged offenses, we shall set forth in greater detail a series of sordid internet and telephone communications between Appellant and the purported 3 victim than we usually would. Holding First, Appellant does not admit that he committed the crimes for which he was convicted and, second, there is no evidence that Appellant was not predisposed, ready and willing to commit these crimes.   Appellant did not meet his burden of injecting into the case a proper case for entrapment. Rational Appellant tendered four jury instructions alleging the affirmative defense of entrapment.   Appellant cites to the evidence that Ashley induced Appellant to take the â€Å"substantial step† of committing the crimes of statutory rape and sexual exploitation of a minor when he was not otherwise so inclined.   Appellant contends that he was only willing to express his fantasies, which was not a crime he was charged or convicted of, and he was not willing to act upon his fantasies without the inducement by Ashley.   He notes that Ashley initiated the majority of contacts with Appellant; specifically, he claims Ashley initiated seventeen of the nineteen instant messages and four of the eight e-mails between her and Appellant.   Appellant indicated the portions of the conversations where Ashley first proposed that Appellant come to Diamond and persisted in trying to set a firm date; he claims he was reluctant to act on his desires.   Appellant†™s claim that he would not have committed the charged offenses but for the enticement by Ashley is not supported by the evidence.

Patrolling Policeman Ride Along Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Patrolling Policeman Ride Along - Essay Example This department, in addition to the police officers, also has a Special Weapons and Tactics Department and the S.P.I.D.E.R. (Special Police Investigative Division and Emergency Response) Unit that responds to all critical and life-threatening incidents in the city limits and the surrounding area. On this evening, Officer Kerr reported in 9 p.m. Upon arriving to the office, he reviewed department emails, read reports that were taken between the time when he got off the previous day and when he came in. There was also a shift meeting where information is passed down from one shift to the next one that is taking their turn to discuss anything that may be going on in the department. Some of the information is about suspicious activity, people being looked for questioning or any other information that needs to be transferred between shifts. During the ride along, we did routine patrol and traffic enforcement as well as responding to calls for services. During routine patrol, we just drove through neighborhoods and alleys looking for people out walking around, open car doors, open doors on houses, broken windows on houses, and basically looking for things that look out of place and any other suspicious activity that may have been going on in the area. ... ir business which meant we were dispatched and had to go to check out the door locks and then contact the business owner to come and reset their alarms. It turned out to be nothing other than something had set off the business' motion sensor detector. We were dispatched to go on a domestic violence call in which a married couple were arguing. The husband left, went to a bar, became intoxicated and came home. While she was at home, the wife became intoxicated and locked the husband out of the house. The husband then called the police department to try to get his wife to let him back in the house as she was screaming at him through the door and refused to let him in. Upon patrolling, we went through one of the city's parks. We found that a group of 15-year-old kids hanging out on the playground at 12 a.m. which is after the city curfew. We gathered up all of the kids, took them to the police department. We then called all the parents to come get them. Once the parents arrived to pick u p their child, we collected both information from the parents and the kids to be and put it in a report to be forwarded to the juvenile department for review for curfew violation. At one point we received information from an anonymous caller that was in regards to a noise complaint in their apartment complex. After gathering information about where the complex was, we made our way to an area where we heard loud music from the outside, lots of loud noise and found that several people were going in and out of the apartment. At this point, Officer Kerr knocked on the door, asked to speak to someone inside the residence that lived there. He made contact with an underage male (he was wearing a letterman's jacket with his graduation year on his sleeve) and the male happened to have a big group of

A Critical Analysis of Duncan Joness Moon Essay

A Critical Analysis of Duncan Joness Moon - Essay Example The movie setup represents a futuristic aspect whereby human beings have managed to solve their fuel problems, and hence managed to substitute the earthly fuel reserves with newly discovered oil supplements on the moon. Therefore, Sam’s role was to make observations, and communicate with other members of the extraction team on earth. For, a common case, human beings perceive science fiction to be associated with scientific innovations and matters concerning the space and the moon in general. Human being's perception about science fiction involves the belief that the moon and other features found within the earths galaxy basically indicated untapped fields. As a result , most of the scriptwriters and movie directors tend to incorporate the aspects of complex machinery, with amazing features and abilities. This feature basically forms an illusion that some of the features that are relayed in the movies will be realized after a number of years. This feature makes up the entire co ntent of the science fiction movies. The features will be the basis of discussion in the following essay. The movie moon, clearly illustrated the various innovations that the modern day scientist has not been able to achieve. It is a clear reflection of the scientific milestones that human beings hope to achieve in the near future. According to the movie, the human being character exhibited , gives the impression that the post -modern human being is surely and educated on the various earthly complications, that affect life, on the surface of the earth. Secondly, the human being exhibited in the movie is also knowledgeable about the various environmental implications of mining, and the results of disruption of activities in the biosphere. According to Science Tech Story (2013), Science fiction movies are usually far from reality. The Creators of such movies, do not usually have the real data and reference material that can back up their illustrations. They base their work on mere spe culation, and also the relation to the present innovations, that have come up in comparison to the previously produced science fiction films. In comparison to Cinema, science fiction according to Bradshaw. P (2009), takes an animated view, most of the highlighted subjects are usually fabricated, or the authors merely make an assumption of futuristic occurrences. Generally, the information reflected upon is entirely false, or there is some little bit of truth in it. Scott. A.O ( 2009), noted that science fiction movies tend to adopt some of the already proven information. In addition, they make certain alterations to it, in order to enable people to relate to it, which might in a way influence how they respond to the movie. A cinema on the other hand is not different from science fiction, according to Velasco. R. J (2013), cinema is basically the British name for movie theatres. Science fiction is in itself a component of both cinema and television. Many schools may hold the opinion that one is the improvement of the other, but in real sense both are different from each other. Science fiction is a field that is endowed with numerous scientific modifications. To be able to come up with efficient technology, involving both cinema and television viewing, there must be an application of efficient technological advancements that back up this invention. This among other issues generally relates to both fields. Science fiction is a field related to advancement in technological creations. Some of the innovations made in the yester years that served as key indicators of the changes are displayed by the televisions. Science fiction relays the future as time with significant changes in motion. When the same

Marketing Week 4 Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing Week 4 Discussion - Assignment Example These are the fact that technology helps in providing computer-based clinical decision support systems, computer-based clinical protocols, and enhancement of electronic patient record systems and computer networks. Meanwhile, all these computer-based and electronic based systems of undertaking day to day processes within the health care sector have been guaranteed for effectiveness and efficiency (Morrisey, 2007). In a recent study, Koplan, Liverman and Kraak (2005) collected data on the weaknesses of paper based patient record and general health care delivery from 50 different health workers. The result of this study showed that there were as many as six (6) key weaknesses that paper based patient record present. These are lack of completeness, inaccuracies, lack of uniformity, slow transmission, lack of backup, and sheer physical volume (Morrisey, 2007). Meanwhile, using technology based systems helps in addressing all these issues in a single domain. Among the 50 respondents, the following results were produced as the worse affecting circumstances of absence of

Healthcare Management - Organizational Behavior Essay

Healthcare Management - Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Essentially, this culture reveals the shared beliefs, values, and assumptions that work together to as a social fabric that binds the members of the organization together (Buchbinder and Shanks, 2012). Whereas each organization has its own culture, it is sometimes difficult to establish or reinforce it. A strong culture comprises informal rules that spell out the general behavior of people of an organization. On the other hand, employees in an organization with a shaky culture waste a lot of time trying to figure out how they should act in different scenarios (Frost, 1985). Factors that influence and shape organizational behavior The establishment of organizational culture is a combination of several factors. However, before the culture becomes clearly cut out, the role of effective management team cannot be downplayed. While most managers do not dispute the role that a culture plays in satisfying employees, very few of them fail to note the direct influence that they have in shaping the culture. From the numerous factors that influence organizational culture, the main ones are discussed below. The working group: the work force in most organizations is a combination of several networks of formally created work groups. The variables that influence the formation of these work groups include personalities (i.e. training and experience) and situational variables (i.e. availability of space and the task to done). The nature of the group and the number of members constituting it affect the manner in which the culture of an organization is perceived. This is because each of the members in these groups brings their own attitudes, behaviors and convictions whose interactions result in the formation of organizational culture (Dugger, 1991). The second factor influencing organizational culture is the style of leadership of the managers. Organizations that have created a ‘distant’ barrier between managers and the subordinates often create a negative impact on the culture. On the other hand, the trust in a manager often influences positively the affective commitment of working groups. It is worth noting that managers influence greatly the formation of organizational culture and this influence is directly proportional to the hierarchical level (Frost, 1985). The organizational characteristic is the other factor that influences the formation as well as the type of a culture in an organization. These characteristics include the attributes and the degree of complexity of the organization. For instance, there exists a directly proportional relationship between the complexity of organizational culture and the size of the company. In addition, bigger organizations have a tendency towards high degree of specialization as well as impersonal character. Unlike in bigger organizations where the overall culture is shaped by sub-cultures, the cultures of small companies are normally homogenous (Dugger, 1991). In addition, the founders or owners of an o rganization play an integral role in influencing the nature of the culture developed by an organization. In most scenarios, it is the founders who create the philosophy of the company as well as stipulate the fundamental values to be upheld. The owners of the company can impress their influence on the culture developed from a multiple dimensions which include the type of the owner (i.e. natural or juridical persons) or the number of owners.

Stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Stress - Essay Example This kind of stress is experienced equally by administrators, managers, employees and workers. Segal et al (2008, para.2) assert that â€Å"while some stress is a normal part of life, excessive stress interferes with your productivity and reduces your physical and emotional health, so it’s important to find ways to keep it under control†. A little stress is beneficial, as it keeps one going and forces him to maintain his good performance. This is called positive stress. However, negative stress weighs heavily on one’s well being because one feels weakened enough to fight the hurdles (Volhard & Volhard, 2011). Behavioral effects of stress include discontentment, argumentative behavior, lack of attentiveness, lack of commitment to the job, and conflicts in relationships (Soreq, Friedman, & Kaufer, 2009, p.42). Physiological effects include headache, stomachache, slow digestion, obesity, decreased sex drive, blood pressure leading to coronary heart diseases, and var ious skin infections (Mayo Clinic, 2011). Before treating stress, it is important to rule out the possibility of factors that accompany stress. Segal, J., Horwitz, L., Jaffe-Gill, E., Smith, M., & Segal, R. (2008). How to reduce and manage job and workplace stress. Stress at Work. Retrieved 6 April, 2012, from

Irish Immigrants and Scottish Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Irish Immigrants and Scottish Society - Essay Example The arrival of the large mass of Irish immigrants belonging to lower social classes and carrying no educational values, but only the desire to survive, made it difficult for both sides to coexist and found the basis of a new society. The immigrants brought with them the religious and ideological conflict between Catholics and Protestants and supplemented in this way a problem that haunted British history from early times. As Tom Devine discusses in his paper there is a major crisis that started with the first wave of immigrants who came from area belonging to what is nowadays the Republic of Ireland and who were mostly Catholics. In such conditions, generated by what should be interpreted as the fled from famine and not immigration per se, the identity of the Irish immigrants transformed itself in a very spectacular way. Their values that were founded on religious beliefs represented an impediment in the process of assimilation that was supposed to take place between the Scottish society and its values and the newly arrived. The differences between the Irish and the Scottish are not to be analyzed only in terms of religion, but also from a social perspective; the nineteenth century meant for Scotland industrialization, new means of work and production that were not present in the rural Ireland. Lack of systematization of work generated not only the difficulties related to food in Ireland, but it triggered problems such unemployment and lack of education and working skills. After the first wave of immigrants, in the years following 1800, the Irish who came to Scotland carried with them a different aspect of Irish identity and, as Tom Devine points out, the interaction with the Scots was starting to open new paths, and the relationship between the two waves of immigration unveiled the fact that there were significant differences of mentality between them and that in the first decades there has been an agrarian improvement in Ireland and that Protestants developed a different intellect and thus were able to cope better with the new social environment. Comparing the two movements, the first one, the Catholics, were driven to Scotland by famine, these people who formed in Ireland a crafting society changed their lives in a significant way, leaving behind their rural homelands and throwing them in the middle of a society that they could not cope with because they lacked industrial skills. However, their identity was not shattered immediately because of the pride they took as Catholics, without realizing that to be an Irish immigrant is not all about expressing a religious statement. The stubbornness and will to survive shaped both English and Irish identities and the experience generated even by these uneducated and ill people imposed new values in the British history. Nevertheless, their desire to permanently reinforce their beliefs and also to create the necessary institutions devoted to its practice helped them surpass their minimal organizational status and rise in time to that of the more evolved Scottish society. The Protestant Irish belonging to the second wave provided a change for the Scottish society and Irish

Analyse the potential of group work to promote mutual aid and Essay

Analyse the potential of group work to promote mutual aid and empowerment - Essay Example Empowerment is a complex process that does not just happen at an individual level but also occurs in a group, organisational or other setting (Woodall, Raine, South & Warwick-Booth, 2010,   p 9). This is based on the fact that members have experiences, opinions and information that can be of benefit to other members in the group, assisting the others helps the helper, some types of intervention such as confrontation are better received when they come from a peer rather than a professional provider. Mutual aid is a factor of social support that helps cushion or provide a buffer for individuals from potentially harmful or unfavourable physiological conditions. Though social support may include professional help from a trained individual, mutual aid is more of a bi-directional support from people who are peers and who are able to relate to each other’s condition and experiences. Mutual aid groups usually have three objectives – as a solution for the problems that the members of the groups are experiencing, as a springboard for action in resolving these issues and as an alternative way of dealing with these social and personal situations (Hammond & Taylor, 1998, p1 5). Mutual aid is empowering to the group members as they not only get involved in the sharing and participating in all the activities, they all learn a lot from each other and thus are all better equipped to deal with their situations. The sometimes spiritual nature of the group makes the members more comfortable with themselves and each other and that is quite empowering and liberating (Mutual aid and self-help programmes, 2012). Unlike in a situation where there is a professional leader of the group the mutual aid group all gets to lead and learn and are thus empowered. The fact that the group are all at the same level and all dealing with similar situations it empowers the group members to be able to discuss in a free and conducive

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 379

Assignment Example As much as physical capital is important to an organization, the intellectual capital carries the same weight in an organization performance. The knowledge and skills held by the employee matter most in a firm productivity. The employees need to work with each other as well as the physical capital to bring out output hence productivity. Without employee input, there will be no results. It is therefore, necessary for the employees to have necessary skills and knowledge. According to Organizational Learning Perspective, gone are the days when the physical capacity determined the organization ability to achieve its goals. In this model, the knowledge and skills are the major in gradient that can help an organization achieve its goals. One classic case is how Google Company managed to be a top performer by hiring talents, skills and knowledge in the employees. Additionally, the intellectual capacity model states that the knowledge held by the employees help in running of the organization. The employee coordinates activities within an organization. It is, therefore, the knowledge held by the skilled labor that helps move things around. If the employees leave, then they leave with such knowledge and can affect the company performance. Corporate social responsibility is trending in the business world today. A company becomes more competitive if it engages in CSR and hence the need for any organization to implement these polices. Nevertheless, the conflict between company between company CSR and stakeholders cannot be ruled out. If the leaders pay attention more to the stakeholders, they may forget to take care of CSR that plays an integral role in productivity putting an organization in a risk â€Å"Shock events† are common phenomena in the workplace. The situation arises due to myriad of reasons but one thing that is common for sure is that, the situations generate emotional pressure whereby one feels better without that job. I had one experience

Training & Development Essay Example for Free

Training Development Essay At McDonalds they have training that will benefit the managers for example they offer courses to the applicants. For the first 18 weeks, they will build foundations for their entire career. Amongst other things, they will discover how to prepare food, master the equipment, develop their serving ability and learn how to motivate a team. When you done well enough they will graduate to 2nd assistant manager and receive more training and experience from other managers, helping them gain more information on how to run a store of their own. As well as attending training courses, they will be asked to do some self-study and complete computer-based training programs, these will help them build knowledge about people development, cash control etc. once they have succeeded the program they will then move up to 1st assistant manager where they are able to run a store of their own. There is a session where all the managers have to attend to its called the Nuts and Balls Integrations Teams NABIT. This is where they get informed about new products, new rules and new promotions; it is their responsibility to pass that information on to their staff back at their stores. Shift Manager Roles Responsibilities The responsibility of the shift manager is to operate the Quality Service Cleanliness Value principles to the rest of the staff. The principles help the store to meet the requirements of the customers and therefore it is the shift managers job to explain them to the staff. He is also in charge of the shifts and giving the shifts to the employees, making sure that they have expertise in charge of each equipment. He also needs to rotate his crewmembers in order for them to experience each department; therefore they wouldnt have to rely on an individual. Hes responsible for training the employees as well, McDonalds use the buddy system, this system helps the employee understand how to use certain things by following orders from an experienced employee, hence the word buddy. Its his responsibility to put untrained workers on a buddy system. The shift manager is expected to handle the floor properly and spread the work within teams, giving the team leaders the orders on how/what to operate in the store. You could say that the shift manager is the right-hand man of the store manager because he is passing on a lot of delegation. Motivation The shift manager on our visit explained that he is mainly motivated by the fact that he is able to progress to become a 2nd assistant manager. You could say promotion is his essential motivating factor and McDonalds therefore have training programmes in order to meet those needs. However, he has stated that money also plays a huge part in his motivation factors. He claims that bonuses, payroll increase etc motivates him as an individual. The shift manager at the McDonalds has a lot of different motivating factors and one of them was money, which related back to the motivation theory of Taylor who suggested that money drives people working in a firm. However, he also claimed that he always looks forward to move up a position and enhance new skills and knowledge, which also could be related to theory of Maslow, who suggested the Hierarchy, meeting the needs of the employees by stages. Qualities As a shift manager, you would be expected to have certain amount of qualities including, flexibility, cooperative, experience, sympathetic, motivated, enthusiastic, optimistic, consistent and a sense of hospitality. These are very important qualities to have to gain the position at the store. The important one is to be able to give commands to teams and being able to meet daily objectives and communicating with each team. Spreading out the stronger characters with the weaker ones and balancing the strengths of the teams. According to crewmembers I have caught up with, stated that they usually spread their workers and each team would have an experienced worker and some new workers. Training and Development The shift manager has training and its both on and off the job training. He follows a course provided by McDonalds in order to enhance new skills and knowledge on how to run a business by their own. This will help them move up and open up a store of their own if success shows. They receive computer-based programs of training to take home and do some self-study; at the same time they receive training on the job where they get to experience some of the managerial work with other experienced managers.

Tetrodotoxin And The Threat Of Bioterrorism Biology Essay

Tetrodotoxin And The Threat Of Bioterrorism Biology Essay The threat of bioterrorism remains a reality worldwide, although of low probability, an attack would be a high-consequence event. Microbes are available to individuals with appropriate contacts and even many low-grade bacterial pathogens can severely affect health. Toxins provide bacteria with a system of defense that is often detrimental to humans and their versatility makes them potential tools of bioterrorism. It should be remembered that the aim of terrorism is not always to kill but rather to strike fear into peoples lives. Importantly, no state can ever be fully prepared for a response and it is probable that no state ever could be. It is for this reason that biological agents are so attractive as weapons. (British Journal of Biomedical Science, 2005) Deserving of a closer look as a potential weapon of bioterrorism and as a threat to public health and safety is tetrodotoxin. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent marine neurotoxin, named after the order of fish from which it is most commonly associated, the Tetrodoniformes (tetras four and odontos-tooth), or the tetraodon puffer fish. The tetraodon puffers are equipped with four large teeth which are nearly fused, forming a beak-like structure used for cracking mollusks and other invertebrates, as well as for scraping corals and general reef grazing. (Florida State University, January, 2002) According to the New York Times, first isolated from the puffer fish, tetrodotoxin is among the most potent toxins known. It is 100 times as toxic by weight as potassium cyanide two milligrams can kill an adult human and it is not destroyed by cooking. Tetrodotoxin is found in more than just marine creatures. It is present in high concentrations in the skin of certain newts in North American and Japan, and in several kinds of frogs in Central and South America and Banglaesh. (New York Times Science, December, 2009) The flesh of the puffer fish (i.e. fugu) is considered a delicacy in Japan. It is prepared by chefs specially trained and certified by the government to prepare the flesh free of the toxic liver, gonads and skin. Despite these precautions, many cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning are reported each year in patients ingesting fugu. (Medscape CDC Commentary Series, October, 2009) From 1974 through 1983 there 646 reported cases of fugu (puffer fish) poisoning in Japan, with 179 fatalities. Estimates as high as 200 cases per year with mortality approaching 50% have been reported. (Florida State University, January, 2002) Interestingly while tetrodotoxin is found in several different branches of the animal kingdom, the tetrodotoxin found in each of these creatures is identical unlike the venoms produced by snakes and scorpions which are made up of different kinds of toxins particular to that species. The evidence suggests that these animals do make the toxin themselves. (New York Times Science, December, 2009) The toxin itself appears to be made by relatively common marine bacteria, specifically Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis tetraodonis, which associates with these animals. Validating this theory when puffer fish are raised in aquariums with filtered, bacteria-free water, they are non-toxic and the same results are achieved when Japanese newts or Panamanian frogs are raised on special diets they lose their toxicity. These experiments validate the theory that these toxic animals obtain the toxin from the food chain. Several species of tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria have been found in puffer fish, the blue-ringed octopus, and certain small and other animals. It appears that the animals become toxic by sequestering the bacterially produced toxin in their tissues. (New York Times Science, December, 2009) The exact origin of tetrodotoxin in the food chain remains unclear. The only common dominator seems to be that tetrodotoxin producing animals are closely related to an aquatic system and the bacteria that commonly inhabit the aquatic system. (MDPI Marine Drugs, May 2008) The toxic dose is not clear because puffer fish have different concentrations of tetrodotoxin. A dose of 1-2 mg of purified toxin can be lethal. Reported cases from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have documented toxicity with ingestion as little as 1.4 ounces of puffer fish. (Medscape CDC Commentary Series, October, 2009) In contrast, the botulinum toxin (Clostridium botulinum) is reported to be the most toxic substance known. If evenly dispersed for inhalation, 1 gram of pure (botulinum) toxin is sufficient to kill 1 million people. (Ryan Glarum, 2008, p. 65) Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin. Neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells of the nervous system, typically by interacting with membrane proteins and especially ion channels. (Knowledgerush, n.d.) Tetrodotoxin binds to the sodium channel of the nerve preventing the passage of sodium ions through the cell membrane and therefore (passage) of the nerve impulse. (CBWinfo.com, 1999) Many of the venoms and other toxins that organisms use in defense against vertebrates are neurotoxins. A common effect is paralysis, which typically onsets extremely rapidly. (Knowledgerush) The first symptom of (tetrodotoxin) intoxication is a slight numbness of the lips and tongue, appearing between 20 minutes to three hours after eating poisonous puffer fish,. The next symptom is increasing paraesthesia in the face and extremities, which may be followed by sensations of lightness or floating. Headache, epigastric pain, nausea, diarrhea, and/or vomiting may occur. Occasionally, some reeling or difficulty in walking may occur. The second state of the intoxication is increasing paralysis. Many victims are unable to move; even sitting may be difficult. There is increasing respiratory distress. Speech is affected, and the victim usually exhibits dyspnea, cyanosis, and hypotension. Paralysis increases and convulsions, mental impairment, and cardiac arrhythmia may occur. The victim, although completely paralyzed, may be conscious and in some cases completely lucid until shortly before death. Death usually occurs with in 4 to 6 hours, with a known range of about 20 minutes to 8 hours. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; FDA U.S. Food Drug Administration, n.d.) No specific antidote has been tested in humans. No drug has been shown to reverse the effects of tetrodotoxin poisoning. Treatment is symptomatic. Specific drug efficacy has only been documented anecdotally. (Medscape CDC Commentary Series, October 2009) Animal studies using monoclonal antibodies against TTX have been done. Monoclonal antibodies were shown to e life saving in mice treated both before and after the ingestion of a lethal dose of TTX. Further studies are needed to document the efficacy in humans. In another study using guinea pigs intoxicated with tetrodotoxin, 4-aminopyridine (a potassium channel blocker) showed dramatic improvement in respiratory, cardiac, and CNS status occurred after administration of the drug. No human studies of this drug for use in tetrodotoxin poisoning are in progress. (Medscape CDC Commentary Series, October 2009) No specific laboratory test confirms tetrodotoxin ingestion exits; thus dietary history is key for diagnosis. Tetrodotoxin poisoning can be misdiagnosed as one of many differential diagnoses including: gastroenteritis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree heart blockage, hypocalcemia, Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome, myasthenia gravis, octopus envenomations, and ciguatera, scombroid and shellfish toxicity. Since tetrodotoxin is produced from bacteria, there is a risk that the toxin could be manufactured on a significant scale by fermentation. (CBWinfo.com, 1999) Tetrodotoxin is a colorless crystalline solid that darkens when heated about 428 ° F or 220 ° C. (CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, n.d.) Relatively is little is known about tetrodotoxin as a possible toxin weapon although the Japanese did some work its weaponization in Unite 731 during World war II. It is included on the Australia Group lists by reason of its toxicity. It is not known to be made in large quantities that could be used in weapons and little or nothing is know about its inhalation toxicity. (CBWinfo.com, 1999) ( NOTE: The Australia Group (AG) is an informal forum of countries which, through the harmonization of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons. Coordination of national export control measures assists Australia Group participants to fulfill their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to the fullest extent possible.) (The Australia Group, n.d.) The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) offers insight into the various methods tetrodotoxin could be disseminated and the feasibility of each method. For example, dissemination through indoor air, outdoor air or water is extremely unlikely because the source of the toxin is living organisms and to manufacture tetrodotoxin in appreciable quantities is extremely difficult. And, since tetrodotoxin is unlikely to be disseminated in the air, it is also unlikely to be disseminated through agricultural products. Ingestion does seem the most likely source of dissemination. Exposure to tetrodotoxin usually occurs through eating improperly prepared fish or possibly through contamination of other food products. (CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, n.d.) According to NIOSH, there is no antidote for tetrodotoxin toxicity and initial treatment is primarily supportive. In 2007 two individuals developed symptoms consistent with tetrodotoxin poisoning after ingesting home-cooked puffer fish purchased in Chicago. Both the retailer and supplier claimed the product was monkfish. High levels of tetrodotoxin were detected in the remains of the ingested meal and fish retrieved from the contaminated shipment. This case of tetrodotoxin poisoning highlights the need for continued stringent regulation of puffer fish importation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, education of the public regarding the dangers of puffer fish consumption, and raising awareness among medical providers of the diagnosis and management of foodborne toxin ingestions and the need for reporting to public health agencies. (PubMed U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, 2009) Currently tetrodotoxin is manufactured by several specialized biotech companies. CHEMTE Biotech Company, LTD located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China specializes in the manufacture of tetrodotoxin. According to CHEMTE Biotechs website, after ten years research and development, we have achieved extensive isolation and purification of TTX based on the abundant resource in our area. We founded the TTX production base in the world with annual product (sic) is more than 1000g. (CHEMTE Biotech Company, Ltd., n.d.) Through the use of their technology process CHEMTE has raised production rate and product quality of TTX up to the worlds highest level. CHEMTE boasts that their customers in many countries find their purity is higher than their own pure products. Currently in the European market, TTX from CHEMTE is sold as the standard product. (CHEMTE Biotech Company, Ltd., n.d.) The China Kantte Bio-Chemical company located in Shanghai, China produces tetrodotoxin extracted from puffer fish in large scale, and purified close to 100% by high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis. (China Kantte Bio-Chemical, n.d.) While it is possible to procure TTX for research as a potential pain therapeutic and medicine for opium withdrawal symptoms, its purchase is limited to researchers and scientistsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.just ask Edward F. Bachner IV of Lake Hills, Illinois. On August 26, 2008 a federal grand jury in Rockford, Illinois returned a ten-count indictment charging him with unlawfully acquiring and possessing tetrodotoxin, on five separate occasions between November 7, 2006 and June 30, 2008. Five of the counts allege that on five separate occasions, Bachner acquired tetrodotoxin in order to use it as a weapon. Bachner possessed tetrodotoxin in a quantity that was not reasonable justified by a prophylactic, protective, bona fide research, or other peaceful purpose. If convicted of acquiring TTX to use as a weapon, Bachner could be sentenced to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008) As a fun aside, during my research I came across an interesting article about the use of tetrodotoxin and folklore surrounding creation of zombies. In eight samples of zombie powder collected from four regions of Haiti all appeared to have four ingredients in common: 1) one or more species of puffer fish which contained tetrodotoxin, 2) a toxic marine frog, 3) a hyla tree frog which secretes an irritating substance, and 4) human remains. (Strayer University, n.d.) According to some theories a person poisoned with Haitian zombie powder regains consciousness either while in the coffin or shortly after being removed from it and therefore, think they have died and are now a zombie. (How Stuff Works, n.d.) When analyzing an agent as a potential biological agent for use as a weapon of bioterrorism one must examine certain attributes as they apply to that specific agent. Some of these attributes include ease of dissemination, route of entry, morbidity, mortality, infectivity, potential for contagion, potential for panic and social disturbance, and the impact on public health and public health preparedness. The most efficient route of entry for tetrodotoxin would be ingestion either through consumption of the toxin itself or the consumption of other food products tainted with tetrodotoxin. Because ingestion is the favored route of entry, tetrodotoxin does not lend itself for use as a weapon that is easily disseminated or for use as a bioterrorism weapon. Tetrodotoxin does have some potential use as a target specific biological weapon. Bioterrorists could use tetrodotoxin for targeted victims, such as political figures, world leaders or small contingents of military forces. Even for use on targeted specific victims tetrodotoxin is not be easily disseminated. Tetrodotoxin poisoning would require the introduction of the toxin directly into a food or liquid source ingested by the target. Ingestion as a route of entry makes tetrodotoxin not easily disseminated. Morbidity rates are 100% for tetrodotoxin poisoning; rarely will ingestion of tetrodotoxin contaminated food leave the victim unscathed as evidenced by the number of fugu poisoning cases recorded in Japan each year. Tetrodotoxin with its high morbidity rate could be considered as a weapon for bioterrorism. Infectivity rates for tetrodotoxin are 100%. Another fact influencing the high morbidity rate of tetrodotoxin poisoning is the possibility it can easily be mistaken for one of many differential diagnoses. Patients presenting with tetrodotoxin poisoning could easily be misdiagnosed especially if a valid dietary history is unavailable or overlooked. Mortality rates for tetrodotoxin are difficult to establish; anecdotal reports suggest 50-60% mortality, even with good supportive care. One report suggests that prognosis is good if the patient survives the first 24 hours. (Medscape CDC Commentary Series, October 2009) The same cannot be said for biological agents like plague. In the pneumonic form plague is almost 100% fatal without immediate medical attention. (Ryan Glarum, 2008) A biological weapon with only a possible 50-60% mortality rate would probably not be perceived as an effective weapon of bioterrorism. Unlike some other biological agents that lend themselves to inhalation or person-to-person transmission, tetrodotoxin poisoning is transmitted only through ingestion of the toxin. It does not have the potential as a weapon of bioterrorism because transmission is limited to persons ingesting the toxin. Tetrodotoxin poisoning offers no potential threat for contagion in terms of an epidemic or pandemic. The bacteria are contained within the host organism. Tetrodotoxin poisoning could certainly create panic and social disturbance, especially if the targeted victims were persons of political or military importance. There could also be public panic caused by the concern as to the nature, origin and location of the toxin. To be considered as a potential weapon of bioterrorism the biological agent would need to: 1) be easily disseminated or transmitted, 2) cause high mortality, 3) severely affect the public health, 4) cause public panic and social disruption, and 5) require special action for public health preparedness. Overall, while tetrodotoxin is a lethal neurotoxin with: 1) a high level of morbidity, 2) moderate level of mortality, 3) a difficult dissemination method, 4) ingestion as the route of entry, 5) no transmission qualities, 6) no likelihood of contagion and 7) unlikely to cause panic or social disruption, in my opinion it would not be useful as a biological weapon of mass destruction. In my opinion tetrodotoxin has some modest potential as a limited bioterrorism agent in special circumstances. Tetrodotoxin does not meet all the necessary criteria to be considered as a biological agent capable of causing severe damage to the health and safety of the public.

The History Of The Arduino Microcontroller

The History Of The Arduino Microcontroller The Arduino microcontroller was initially created as an educational platform for a class project at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea1 in Milan (Italy) in 2005. It derived from a previous work of the Wiring microcontroller designed by Hernando Barragà ¡n2 in 2004. From the beginning, the Arduino board was developed to attract artists and designers. The Wiring microcontroller was created by Hernando Barragan to be used for parsing data to electronic devices. His aim was that it could be used by non-technical people who only had basic experience with using computers. He first of all wanted it to be used as a prototyping tool. Since he needed help to create an easy software tool to programme the board he engaged Casey Reas3 and Massimo Banzi4 as his assistants. Reas created the visual programming language for the prototyping tool. He had studied interaction art as an undergraduated, and continued studying with John Maeda5 at the MIT6. After that he developed Processing7, an easy programme language oriented to designers and artists. Banzi was more interested in developing the microcontroller as an art and design tool. So he decided to brake up with Barragan and to instead create a new prototype that would fit with his ideals. The Arduino creators were Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles8, Dave Mellis9, Gianluca Martino10 and Tom Ignoe11. This team wanted to simplify the Wiring board through the Arduino microcontroller (created by Banzi), making it easier and friendlier for the non-technical audience. And that was one of their goals to make this device triumph against others. The price was another goal to make them win against others. The Wiring Board costs about  £ 54 while the Arduino Board is  £ 20. That makes sense because it is less powerful and smaller than the Wiring Board. But this isnt a problem for designers and artists because they were searching for something that could be destroyed and your wallet wouldnt suffer from that. David Zicarelli12 (): I was really struck by the idea of what a radically inexpensive computer could mean to people making art a design goal of the Arduino project was that you could make installations and not have to tear them apart when you were done because you needed your laptop to read your e-mail. So then you can leave it embedded into projects permanently. Another way to assist users was the USB connection. The Wiring Board works with a Serial port, which is more difficult to have in a normal computer or laptop and to work with. The Arduinos plug and play nature makes it easy to understand and easy to manipulate the interaction of a project. Further goals were to achieve competitive advantage in IDE13 and open source14 supported by the community. 3. IDE. The software tool Every microcontroller needs software to be programmed. The Arduino board is not a case apart. It has its own integrated development environment (IDE). It is free and everyone can download it from its official website using either the Windows, Mac OS X or Linux platform. That allows Arduino Board to gain more users and it also helps it to grow. The IDE is very easy to understand. It contains only three different sections. The compiler, the text editor and the debugger. In the compiler part we can find the verifying tool that shows the user if the code was well written. Next to that tool, there is a button to make a new project. Then, we can see the open and save buttons; the project can be opened or saved in any folder. In addition we can find the most important tool, the compiler tool that allows you, when the code is verified, to upload the code into the Arduino Board. And the last button that it has is the serial monitor tool, which is used to debugging and monitoring data from your project. The next section is the text editor tool where the code is written. Arduino works with processing language. This language was designed with the intention to make cryptic looking instructions comprehensible and useful. It contains a lot of libraries15, which make it easier for artists and designers to prototype their ideas. However, experienced users are allowed to work in a lower programmatic level to access certain aspects of the Arduino code. In other words this means the more experience a user has the lower is the level in which he can work. And the last section is where the debugger is placed. This one provides feedback to the user fostering confidence to move forward at a rapid pace. It also helps to find the bugs in the code when this doesnt work. The whole Arduino project is supported by a community. The IDE and the Arduino microcontroller continuously advance in hardware design, software examples and popularity because users save and share documents, codes and designs online. This method of allowing other users to freely use someone elses documents is called open source. This means that every user contributes a part even if it is only a very small one to the fast development of Arduino project. However, the Arduino project is not only useful for artists and designers but also for other groups of people such as engineers, hardware hackers, interaction designers, educators and robotics enthusiasts. For example, if you are an engineer you can work on artistic projects and if you are and artist you could work on engineer project as well. This means those groups of people are blending ideas each other to growing up the Arduino community.

Teaching Philosophy :: Philosophy of Teaching Education Essays

Teaching Philosophy When I was growing up I wanted to be everything I could think of from an astronaut to a doctor. You name it and I wanted to be it. I could not make up my mind and even as I started college no decision fro my major was made. I waited two years until coming to the realization that I would like to teach. A small girl in Wal-Mart helped me come to this realization. I did not even know who she was, but somehow she caught my attention. The first time I looked at her I saw nothing, just an ordinary girl, but something made me look again. When I did the girls’ face was glowing like she was an angel and then she just smiled. The smile filled my heart with such joy that from that moment on I realized that I wanted to see that smile everyday as an elementary school teacher. I wanted to become a part of a child’s learning experience and development. The following pages contain my philosophy on education and some goals that I will meet in my teaching experience s that are waiting for me. Recently, I have discovered my philosophy of education is progressivism. The person most responsible for the success of progressivism was John Dewey. This approach stimulated schools to mold education to the needs and interest of the students. After the launching of Sputnik progressivism was looked down upon to go back to traditional instruction with defense-related subjects. Progressivism came back with renewed popularity in the 1960’s and 1970’s, however; in the 1980’s and 1990’s traditional approaches dominated the nations schools again. I intend to have classroom management, the curriculum, teaching methods, and ways of evaluating my students all following the progressives approach. I believe that the classroom should be student centered so they feel free to make decisions on their own. After all, education is for the students so they should have some say in how they want to lean. First, I would like to discuss how I intend to manage my classroom.

The 1st Stasimon in Sophocles’ Play, Oedipus the King :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The 1st Stasimon in Sophocles’ Play, Oedipus the King The 1st Stasimon in Sophocles’ play ‘Oedipus the King’ is mainly showing the Chorus’ confusion in regards to Tiresias’ accusations made towards Oedipus. The Chorus seem terrified and powerless, and, like Oedipus, do not want to believe the accusations. They feel that the gods know the truth, yet will not reveal it, thus feeling as though the gods are of no real help. There are many issues and techniques to be discussed in regards to the 1st Stasimon, one of these being the significance of the section. The real significance of the 1st Stasimon is that it shows the reader how much of a respected role model Oedipus is to the community of Thebes; they will not accuse him until true proof has been revealed about the incident. This can be shown from the third quote in the 1st Stasimon handout. It reads: â€Å"No, not till I see these charges proved will I side with his accusers.† This shows that the Chorus considers Oedipus to be a true leader, and hence will follow him regardless. Another factor of significance in the first stasimon is that it shows the audience how the Chorus believes that Oedipus was brought to Thebes for a reason; this being to bring joy back into the city. The fourth quote in the handout is a good example of this: â€Å"We saw him then†¦with our own eyes his skill, his brilliant triumph – there was the test – he was the joy of Thebes!† Through this quote we can see admiration shown towards Oedipus due to his defeat against the Sphin x, and ridding the city from the curse. This brought joy back into the city, and turned Oedipus into a hero. Another issue raised in the 1st Stasimon was gender representation. Gender representation played a minor role in the First Stasimon. In this section, all well respected people or gods were men; the only woman mentioned in the text was the Sphinx, whom was rather referred to as the ‘she-hawk’. This can be seen in quote 7 in the 1st Stasimon handout. Hawks are considered to be evil birds, and are often in some texts considered to be possessed by the Devil, which shows that the Sphinx was not respected whatsoever, and was considered evil. Also, when the Chorus was trying to solve the question of who killed Laius, they basically ruled out the thought that the killer could be a woman.

Modern Day Slavery Essay

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Yet it is still very much alive and well despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practiced. Millions of women, men and children are coerced or forced into slavery and are sold like objects, forced to work in dehumanizing conditions for little or on pay and are oftentime abused by their employers. Modern-day slavery can be defined as unlawful imprisonment, demoralization of human being and the violation of human rights of others. Modern-day Slavery Practices The International Labor Organization and respected abolitionists put the global number of slaves at between 10-30 million worldwide (Maddox, 2012). According to the United Nations the total market value of human trafficking at 32 billion U.S. dollars. In Europe, criminals are pocketing around $2.5 billion per year through sexual exploitation and forced labor (Maddox, 2012). In essence, modern day slavery is alive and very prominent all over the world. Modern day slavery manifest in many forms namely forced labor, bonded labor, sex trafficking, forced migrant labor, involuntary domestic servitude, and forced child labor. According to the US State Department 2005 and 2007 reports, between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. Worldwide, there are roughly 800,000 people that are trafficked across international borders and of that number 70 percent are females (Anka Rising, 2012). Based on a 2009 research study conducted by the United Nations nearly 20 percent of human trafficking victims are chidren. Furthermore, in an extract from the US State Department â€Å"Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP)† (June, 2009) the following facts were revealed: 1 – The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; 2 – While the majority of trafficking in the PRC occurs within the country’s borders, there is also considerable trafficking of PRC citizens to Africa, other parts of Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America; 3 – Women are lured through false promises of legitimate employment and forced into commercial sexual exploitation largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan; 4 – Chinese women and men are smuggled throughout the world at great personal financial cost and then forced into commercial sexual exploitation or exploitative labor to repay debts to traffickers, and; 5 – Women and children are trafficked to China from such countries as Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, Vietnam, Romania, and Ghana for purposes of forced labor , marriage, and sexual slavery (p. 104). Addressing Modern-day Slavery The US State Department suggest that punishment, protection and prevention are ways of addressing and cracking down on modern-day slavery, namely human trafficking. The 2009 TIP Report analyzes foreign goverment anti-trafficking laws and policies in respect to the type of punishment imposed on trafficking offenders. As such, the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA of 2008) was put into place to strengthened the U.S. Government’s criminal statute on forced labor (Trafficking in Persons, 2009, p. 26). The act clears up any misconception about nonphysical forms of coercion, that are mostly recognized as potent tools used by traffickers and provides a detailed explanation of â€Å"abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process,† a prohibited means of coercion under both the forced labor and sex trafficking statutes.

Hayward Healthcare Systems Essay

Mr. Bob Jackson is the new operations manager in Hayward Healthcare Systems. He came in to solve a number of problems with the distribution center including high levels of defects and errors in orders from clients. In just a few weeks after accepting the position, Mr. Jackson discovered that the former manager hired supervisors on the basis of job seniority and friendship. Moreover, many of his employees were convicted felons who disturbed the work environment. Arguments and other issues between employees were solved with physical or verbal abuse; this in part was because background and references were not checked prior to hiring those employees and managers and supervisors failed to fulfill their duty and responsibilities. One day Mr. Jackson was informed about a heated dispute between two of his employees. The tense situation was between a black and a white male for the music that was played in the workplace. Because there was no official company policy in regards to the music that was allowed in the workplace, Mr. Jackson was puzzled on whether or not to penalize the employees and even more important, how he could prevent further similar situations. Summary of Recommendation Before creating a new company policy in regards to unacceptable employee conduct, Mr. Jackson must settle the conflict by disciplining both Mr. Ed Williams and Mr. Buddy Jones. Mr. Jackson must use his power as operations manager and suggest upper level management to suspend these two employees for a short period of time. In addition, both employees should be issued a written warning informing them of immediate termination of their employment upon another confrontation or other unacceptable conduct. Aditionally, Mr. Jackson must recommend company management to create a corporate policy on the music allowed in the worksite. By informing all his employees that all of them should respect this policy or they are going to be disciplined, he can ensure that incidents such as the one of Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones will be less likely to occur in the future. Case Analysis Mr. Bob Jackson is the new operations manager of the distribution center for Hayward Healthcare Systems. This $80 million a year business hired Mr. Jackson for this job in hopes that he solve the problems in the distribution center. Recently, â€Å"the center had experienced a very high level of defects (140 per month) and an unacceptable rate of errors in the orders taken from client hospitals† (O’Rourke, 2013, p. 301), so Mr. Jackson seemed to be the right candidate to correct these issues. Considering that Mr. Jackson had operations experience in the company, top level management felt confident of his capabilities to improve the performance of the distribution center in a fairly short period of time. After a few weeks into his new position, Mr. Jackson discovered that five supervisors hired by his predecessor had been selected for their position on basis of job seniority or personal friendship (O’Rourke, 2013, p. 301). Without any doubt, this caused employee – supervisor relationships to be tense, unprofessional and of poor credibility; For example, it was evident that employees had an overall negative attitude towards their peers and managers. This caused the overall working environment to be hostile, between others. In addition to the situation of the supervisors, Mr. Jackson also discovered that â€Å"seven employees were convicted felons who had been imprisoned for violent assaults on their victims† (O’Rourke, 2013, pp. 301-302). Clearly, it can be assumed that employees were hired without their backgrounds and references being checked. On the other hand, because of their violent background, employees were used to settle their differences with physical and verbal attacks to each other. Even worse, poor management did not attend these issues letting the situation to escalate. The climax of this situation came when Mr. Ed. Williams and Mr. Buddy Jones got into a heated dispute on the type of music that was played in the worksite. Considering that Mr. Jackson’s workforce included minorities, including black people such as Mr. Williams, it was essential for upper level management to develop a corporate policy on this, which at the time they did not have. In contrast to past managers, who failed to discipline  negative actions, Mr. Jackson had to be sure to both discipline these two employees and advocate for a corporate strategy that would specify music issues in order to avoid similar situations over the long run. Alternatives Identified Upon this issue, Mr. Jackson is limited in his alternatives. As a newly hired manager, he must decide on two important issues: the situation of Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones and also how he will prevent similar situations in the future. I have identified two alternatives on the situation of his employees and also one on how to prevent future harsh situations. Also, an option has been identified so Mr. Jackson in case he can not deal with the situation. In reference to the situation between Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones, Mr. Jackson can: †¢Accept the situation †¢Ignore the situation By accepting the situation, Mr. Jackson will be able to discipline both employees by perhaps suspending them from their shores and also issuing them a written warning. Besides serving as punishment for their actions and as a statement of â€Å"this behavior will not be accepted anymore†, this action will indicate other employees as a warning that unprofessional behavior will not be longer accepted. Besides taking this immediate action, Mr. Jackson must suggest to upper level management to create a corporate policy on the music allowed in the workplace in order to prevent future similar situations. On the other hand, Mr. Jackson can also ignore the situation and just let it as is, following the pattern of unprofessional management from the previous manager. If Mr. Jackson feels like he can not deal with this situation, he can simply ignore it and just step down from his duties as operations manager. This would not be a good option since not only is this a great opportunity for him to show off his skills but also he was hired to solve this problem. Recommendation Based on the possible alternatives identified for Mr. Jackson, it is  recommendation for him is to discipline both Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones and also to advocate for a corporate policy on the music allowed in the workplace. Immediately, Mr. Jackson should take disciplinary actions against the two employees, Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones. As stated above, Mr. Jackson should suspend 5 business days without pay both of them for their actions on the music player incident. In addition to this, he should also issue a written warning to both of them specifying their wrongful actions and detailing that on a future occasion, similar actions will cause employment termination. On the other hand, a good test on the effectiveness of this recommendation would be to see if after the suspension and warning, the employees continue their past behaviors. In regards to financial costs for this action, these actions will actually save the company money. Specifically, they will save in total 5 days of salary from the two employees. For example, $120 per day for each in five days will total savings of $1,200.00. Besides the financial benefit, a more important benefit will be the security that similar situations will be less like ly to happen. Besides this action, Mr. Jackson should also support the creation of a corporate policy on the music that should be played in the workplace. This will benefit all in the company since everyone will know the type of music that can be played and its volume. No two employees will argue for the music issues since the company will rule over this. A great way to supervise the progress of this this move will be to survey satisfaction from employees after six months of its implementation and to chart future situations dealing with music in the future. In sum, this will be great for everyone in the company and will prevent many future situations such as the one of Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones. References O’Rourke, James S. â€Å"Managing Conflict.† Management Communications: A Case Analysis Approach. 5 ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 2012. 289-315. Print.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Everything happens for a reason and this I can prove by looking back at previous experiences which made vital contributions to my personality. My name is (insert name of student here) and I am aiming for a good position in your credible university as a student majoring in Industrial Engineering. My personal and academic experiences made me realize the importance of taking up another level of this field since I can seek for broader opportunities in the future. I came from China and graduated there with a degree in Electrical Engineering and upon graduation, I still long for more knowledge relating to this field. I was too confused at that time of changing my career path since I am also fascinated in studying Industrial Engineering. I seek for a friend's advice and his name is (try to insert a friend's name here) and I was able to get the best advice that made a lot of difference in my life. My friend told me that I should go out of the country and try studying in the United States where they give the best quality of education. My friend gave me a life changing advice since he convinced me to step out of my homeland so I can make my dreams come true of taking up a different field of Engineering. I felt really blessed and relieved since I got the necessary support from my family who agreed to my decision of furthering my education abroad. I started to follow the advice given by my friend by having the necessary courage and never be intimidated by the fact that I will be in a foreign land. I utilized most of his words of wisdom by trying to seek for more details regarding the said country and seek for a credible institution that will help me fulfill my career. I am now in the point of my life were bravery and confidence is at its best. I will never loose hope and I will maintain my optimistic attitude especially when it comes to my future career. Taking the stand and going to the United States is indeed a worthy advice given by my friend. I am looking forward to spending my educational days at (insert name of university here) and learning more about Industrial Engineering. I believe that this University is capable of producing excellent Industrial Engineers in the future. I anticipate my future with success. Impossible is nothing for a person who shows dedication and passion for success. I will never be this confident if not by the help of my friend. He brings out the best in me by means of his encouraging words. I will follow what he told me because I know that it will make a difference in my career path. At the same time, choosing to study at (insert name of university here), will make all my dreams come true since I will be taking up a major in a university that recruits only the best and finest students. In addition there are wide array of academic resources on this university along with professors who are experts in the field of Industrial Engineering. Now is the right time for me to make all my dreams into reality. I am an optimistic person and considers problems as important factors that will make me a person stronger that before and well prepared for tomorrow. I will not let my friend down and I will follow what he told me when it comes to taking up the field of Engineering that I love most.

Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

The early 1920s art movement of surrealism was founded by Andre Breton, a French writer. Compared to other art groups or movements, surrealism focused on evoking the unconscious in painting. Members of this group showed immense importance in illustrating a â€Å"more profound reality revealed by the unconscious mind. † Most of the surrealists have unusual portrayal of images in their paintings. They create visuals that go â€Å"beyond mere painting to reach a new level of reality. † This extraordinary approach in creating a provocative image is derived from the surrealists’ dreams. The products of their subconscious mind combined with the concept of â€Å"enigma or mystery† have been their inspiration in producing eccentric but remarkable masterpieces (Artbeyondsight. com). One of the famous Surrealist painters who is well-known for his bizarre ideas and eccentric behaviors was Salvador Dali. Most of his artworks became and integral part in the advancement of the Surrealist aesthetic. His main objective was to â€Å"materialize images of concrete irrationality with the most imperialist fury of precision. More so, Dali’s paintings illustrated dream-like images but these were treated with precision and fine details that made the viewers enter a hallucinatory landscape. Dali named these paintings with dream and fantasy theme as â€Å"hand-painted dream photographs. † In these artworks, unusual placement of images and the modification of a specific form into another completely new form were evident. Because of this composition, it appears that most of Dali’s paintings defy the principle of Physics. He created images that represented the â€Å"irrational and unpredictable world of the dream† (Artbeyondsight. om). In the painting Persistence of Memory, Dali presented the unusual images of melted watches. Dali said that the elements present in this particular painting are â€Å"nothing else, but the Camembert cheese of space and time; tender, outlandish, solitary and critical-paranoiac† (3d-dali. com, 2008). This painting can be classified as a landscape painting, a self portrait or a still-life painting. It all depends on the viewers’ perception and knowledge on how to understand and interpret the painting. In terms of the visual elements exhibited, the background is a beach landscape while the foreground consists of the strange images of three melted pocket watches, the rectangular box and an animal-like creature. The unusual objects created a mysterious effect while the realistic lighting and coloring added a realness factor to the painting. At first glance, these may all seem meaningless and peculiar but if viewers would look closely and try to find out the rationale for putting these elements together, they could get a better grasp of understanding of the paintings and the inner workings of Dali’s mind. According to Robert Bradford, the bare, hard outline of the cliffs and the crystal light of the sky are there, but the empty, desert-like expanses of the painting are much closer to the topography of the min, to a dreamscape. The viewer’s anxiety is fermented precisely through the lack of clues of distance, of recognizable landmark, of time of day, of temperature-it could equally be as hot, or as cold as an unknown planet. We are in an arena of silence, a frozen nightmare, in which nothing moves or make a noise. (p. 146) Overall, the Persistence of Memory is an artwork that takes the viewers into a very interesting world wherein they are transported from the predictable realm of reality to a place filled with ambiguity and peculiarity. The techniques in coloring and brush strokes employed by Dali were conventional but it is the compositional aspects that stand out are the placement and the choice of objects displayed in the painting. This painting ingeniously juxtaposed the real with the make believe which are the primary characteristics of Surrealism. References 3d-dali.com. (2008). Salavador Dali Painitngs. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from http://www.3d-dali.com/dali_paintings_analysis_interpretation.htm Artbeyondsight.com. (n.d.). Salvador Dali and Surrealism. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from http://www.artbeyondsight.org/ahtts/dali-read.shtml Radford, R. (1997). Dali. London: Phaidon Press Ltd.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest Social class and public reputation are two of the most common things that influence a person in their decision making. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, Oscar Wilde mocks a society for their reasons of choosing who to marry. Oscar Wilde expresses an ironic and satiric perspective on a society that builds a marriage upon a foundation of money, power, and deceit. The play â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest,† is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture. Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class.The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish. It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish. The play also uses hyperbole to make its point. Every character in it is exaggerated. The character s Jack and Algernon are both willing to change their names to Earnest just because the women they love say that they will only love a man named Earnest.This is an example of how much emphasis Wilde believes that society places on love and how important it is to us. In they play, Wealth is a desirable aspect in life that many people crave. Many people will venture to extreme limits to acquire riches. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, prosperity is wanted so much that woman will consider wealth as their rationale to get married. In the book, when Jack Worthing proposed to Gwendolen Fairfax, Gwendolen’s mother refused to let her marry him. Her reasoning was since Jack didn’t know who his parents were; he would not receive an inheritance.Lady Bracknell refused to let her daughter marry someone who was not exceptionally wealthy. In this society, a person who descends from wealth is forbidden to marry someone from a lower class. It is considered disrespectful towards the family and it would degrade their self image. Power, in Wilde’s society, is also greatly commendable for a man who wants to marry. When Lady Bracknell questions Jack about his social status within the city, she is disappointed to hear that he is not of high class.Without money in the society, it is impossible to be a part of the high-class society; which is where power is attained. In this society, people marry inside of their own social and economic class. Since Jack does not have any power within the city, and does not have a lot of money to his name, he is not qualified to marry a woman of upper class. In addition to power and wealth being two ludicrous factors being heavily weighted for marriage, a man’s name also decides eligibility for matrimony. Jack lies to Gwendolen and tells her that his name his Ernest.When she learns that his name is not in fact Ernest, she refuses to marry him. Oscar Wilde used humor and irony when titling the play, â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest. † Earnest describes a person who is honest and sincere, which does not describe anybody within the play. All of the relationships in the play are built upon lies and deceit. Jack Worthing’s friend also deceives the woman that he loves, Cecily. Algernon also lies about his name and creates an imaginary friend so that he can avoid spending time with people that he does not want to see. Algernon and Jack come to call it â€Å"bunburying. When a social event is occurring that Jack or Algernon does not want to attend, they fake a visit with an extremely sick friend or relative. Eventually, Cecily and Gwendolen learn of all the secrets that Jack and Algernon are keeping. At first they are justifiably outraged. But after they all have talk, all is forgiven. This is another example that shows absurdity towards marriage. Cecily and Gwendolen realize that the men that they are supposed to marry have lied to them about everything. They don’t e ven really know who Jack and Algernon truly are.Even though Algernon and Jack have lied about everything, Gwendolen and Cecily both agree to carry on with the wedding. â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† provides many ironic and satiric views in a society where marriage is built upon all of the wrong foundations. Marriage, in this society, is built upon wealth, power, lies, and deceit. The characters in the story are very scandalous and indecent. Men lie to their fiances and women marry them for money and power. In today’s society, this would be considered a huge disgrace and would be untolerable. ? The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance Of Being Earnest â€Å"Women’s roles are often tokenistic in dramatic comedy† To what extent do you believe this to be the case in relation to the play you have been studying? In dramatic comedy it can often be said that women’s roles are ‘tokenistic’ which essentially means: that women are there to serve a little more than the minimum, or may not serve much of a purpose at all, they may also follow social stereotypes during the era of this literary piece.In this essay I will be assessing this statement and come to a final decision by looking at both sides of the argument and looking for secondary sources/opinions to prove some points that will be made. I believe that women are not tokenistic in terms of comedy in The Importance of being earnest because they do serve a purpose and add to the humour but on the other hand they may only do the very minimum within the story line and many of the female characters follow social stereotypes s trongly.Wilde often uses characters within his plays and pieces as an opportunity to discuss or highlight certain contemporary issues, and may sometimes mock them through satire and farce. An example of this is the character of Gwendolen who is used to create humour; Oscar does this by presenting her as an inversion of the traditional female during the era Importance of Being Earnest was written.In the third act Gwendolen Says â€Å"But we will not be the first to speak† and then instantly contradicts her statement and addresses Algernon straight away after saying so, this would be found rather humorous by contemporary audiences because women were traditionally meant to be quiet and should ‘speak when spoken to’ Gwendolen recognises this, but yet she does speak first, and this is a break of a social stereotype.This is an example of a women’s role within The Importance of Being Earnest as un-tokenistic because she serves a purpose in creating humour, and al so the language used in that line suggests that she is leading the conversation and in turn leading Cecily, that is because the plural â€Å"we† in the quote indicates both herself and Cecily, should both conform to her statement, she is in a sense telling Cecily what to do. Also linked to this, after the later quote she then begins to interrogate Algernon and Jack, and she is the first to do so.This shows that she is accustomed to being in a position of power, so to conclude this point: how can Gwendolen truely be tokenistic if she serves a purpose in terms of comedy and is in a position of power within the stated conversation/section. On the other hand Gwendolen seems to support the typical patriarchal society which is present in The Importance of Being Earnest’s era. It is shown by this quote – â€Å"How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! † And â€Å"men are infinitely beyond us† Both in Act 3 also the use of the word infinitely emphas ises this driving Gwendolen’s further.Gwendolen indirectly mocks the idea of ‘new women’ which was a  feminist  ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence on feminism well into the twentieth century as well. It can be said that her role knocks back equality, which then leads to us thinking she is indeed tokenistic. But her role and this particular quote draws attention to the unfairness and importance of the issue at hand. This could be another example of Wilde using characters and satirical mocking to highlight certain issues, so therefore she again does indeed serve a purpose and an important one at that, so she may be un-tokenistic.Another example of roles of women serving a purpose is Lady Bracknell – â€Å"The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square† on page 20 act 1. This is an example of Oscar Wilde’s satirical mocking technique, directed towards the upper classes and the education system, through characters such as lady Bracknell and Gwendolen.Also the use of language and words such as ‘radically’ and ‘theory’ emphasises the satire because they are fairly emotive or serious words, contrasting with the absurd bigoted point. â€Å"Lady Bracknell is the main character to portray this satirical technique, as she believes the upper class to be much more educated than the lower class, purely because of social status† – hubpages. com/education, this point taken from an online website agrees with the idea that Wilde uses characters as a way to highlight issues and mock them. This is shown in the wording.And in turn this point suggests that if characters used to mock and highlight issues within society, then they are serving a purpose a nd are important to aspects of comedy within the play, examples of such characters are, Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen. So how can they be tokenistic if they are doing so? This shows that they are un-tokenistic. On the other hand Oscar Wilde often uses stock characters to enhance comedy and have no real purpose. â€Å"A  stock character  is a  fictional character  that relies heavily on  cultural types  or  stereotypes  for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics† – Fritzfreiheit. om, this shows that characters following stereotypes could be considered tokenistic, such as Lady Bracknell, who is described as â€Å"a symbol of Victorian earnestness and the unhappiness it brings as a result. She is powerful, arrogant, ruthless to the extreme, conservative, and proper. In many ways, she represents Wilde's opinion of Victorian upper-class negativity, conservative/repressive values, and power† – Cliffnotes. com, this shows tha t Lady Bracknell follows contemporary social stereotypes and only serves a minimum purpose and that is to make the audience laugh.So she may well be tokenistic. Also many other stock characters are considered to be tokenistic because they are only used to enhance comedy, not to add to the story or to highlight issues. Examples of a stock character with a minimal role is Miss Prism she is an example of a stereotype of an aspiring romantic novelist, she is the typical woman of the time with a dream that is suppressed. This means she both abides by contemporary social stereotypes and in no way highlights issues as much as Gwendolen or other characters may.So this could be suggested that indeed she is tokenistic due to the later points made. In conclusion I believe that female characters in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of being earnest such as Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell both serve a purpose in terms of comedy by enhancing it with the use of; farce, satire, and mocking. Linked to th is he also uses the humour created by these characters as well as the actually characters themselves as an opportunity to mock or highlight issues and ideals, for example Lady Bracknell and the upper class.But on the other hand it could be said that any female characters are stock characters which follow stereotypes and therefore produce a minimum affect, examples of this are Miss Prism and Lady Bracknell who has proven to be most contradictory and can be used by both sides of the argument because she does serve an important purpose. Over all I believe the large majority of female roles within The Importance of being earnest are not tokenistic because they most serve a purpose and enhance comedy.By James Rae Bibliography – Importance of Being Earnest * http://rachira. hubpages. com/hub/The-Importance-of-Being-Earnest-Mocking-Education – Author: RachiRa (username) – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://fritzfreiheit. com/wiki/Stock_character – Author: Fritz Freiheit – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/literature/importance-of-being-earnest/character-analysis/rev-chasuble-miss-prism. html – Author: Susan Van Kirk – Date of citation: 14/3/13 The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest Social class and public reputation are two of the most common things that influence a person in their decision making. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, Oscar Wilde mocks a society for their reasons of choosing who to marry. Oscar Wilde expresses an ironic and satiric perspective on a society that builds a marriage upon a foundation of money, power, and deceit. The play â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest,† is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture. Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class.The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish. It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish. The play also uses hyperbole to make its point. Every character in it is exaggerated. The character s Jack and Algernon are both willing to change their names to Earnest just because the women they love say that they will only love a man named Earnest.This is an example of how much emphasis Wilde believes that society places on love and how important it is to us. In they play, Wealth is a desirable aspect in life that many people crave. Many people will venture to extreme limits to acquire riches. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, prosperity is wanted so much that woman will consider wealth as their rationale to get married. In the book, when Jack Worthing proposed to Gwendolen Fairfax, Gwendolen’s mother refused to let her marry him. Her reasoning was since Jack didn’t know who his parents were; he would not receive an inheritance.Lady Bracknell refused to let her daughter marry someone who was not exceptionally wealthy. In this society, a person who descends from wealth is forbidden to marry someone from a lower class. It is considered disrespectful towards the family and it would degrade their self image. Power, in Wilde’s society, is also greatly commendable for a man who wants to marry. When Lady Bracknell questions Jack about his social status within the city, she is disappointed to hear that he is not of high class.Without money in the society, it is impossible to be a part of the high-class society; which is where power is attained. In this society, people marry inside of their own social and economic class. Since Jack does not have any power within the city, and does not have a lot of money to his name, he is not qualified to marry a woman of upper class. In addition to power and wealth being two ludicrous factors being heavily weighted for marriage, a man’s name also decides eligibility for matrimony. Jack lies to Gwendolen and tells her that his name his Ernest.When she learns that his name is not in fact Ernest, she refuses to marry him. Oscar Wilde used humor and irony when titling the play, â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest. † Earnest describes a person who is honest and sincere, which does not describe anybody within the play. All of the relationships in the play are built upon lies and deceit. Jack Worthing’s friend also deceives the woman that he loves, Cecily. Algernon also lies about his name and creates an imaginary friend so that he can avoid spending time with people that he does not want to see. Algernon and Jack come to call it â€Å"bunburying. When a social event is occurring that Jack or Algernon does not want to attend, they fake a visit with an extremely sick friend or relative. Eventually, Cecily and Gwendolen learn of all the secrets that Jack and Algernon are keeping. At first they are justifiably outraged. But after they all have talk, all is forgiven. This is another example that shows absurdity towards marriage. Cecily and Gwendolen realize that the men that they are supposed to marry have lied to them about everything. They don’t e ven really know who Jack and Algernon truly are.Even though Algernon and Jack have lied about everything, Gwendolen and Cecily both agree to carry on with the wedding. â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† provides many ironic and satiric views in a society where marriage is built upon all of the wrong foundations. Marriage, in this society, is built upon wealth, power, lies, and deceit. The characters in the story are very scandalous and indecent. Men lie to their fiances and women marry them for money and power. In today’s society, this would be considered a huge disgrace and would be untolerable. ? The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance Of Being Earnest â€Å"Women’s roles are often tokenistic in dramatic comedy† To what extent do you believe this to be the case in relation to the play you have been studying? In dramatic comedy it can often be said that women’s roles are ‘tokenistic’ which essentially means: that women are there to serve a little more than the minimum, or may not serve much of a purpose at all, they may also follow social stereotypes during the era of this literary piece.In this essay I will be assessing this statement and come to a final decision by looking at both sides of the argument and looking for secondary sources/opinions to prove some points that will be made. I believe that women are not tokenistic in terms of comedy in The Importance of being earnest because they do serve a purpose and add to the humour but on the other hand they may only do the very minimum within the story line and many of the female characters follow social stereotypes s trongly.Wilde often uses characters within his plays and pieces as an opportunity to discuss or highlight certain contemporary issues, and may sometimes mock them through satire and farce. An example of this is the character of Gwendolen who is used to create humour; Oscar does this by presenting her as an inversion of the traditional female during the era Importance of Being Earnest was written.In the third act Gwendolen Says â€Å"But we will not be the first to speak† and then instantly contradicts her statement and addresses Algernon straight away after saying so, this would be found rather humorous by contemporary audiences because women were traditionally meant to be quiet and should ‘speak when spoken to’ Gwendolen recognises this, but yet she does speak first, and this is a break of a social stereotype.This is an example of a women’s role within The Importance of Being Earnest as un-tokenistic because she serves a purpose in creating humour, and al so the language used in that line suggests that she is leading the conversation and in turn leading Cecily, that is because the plural â€Å"we† in the quote indicates both herself and Cecily, should both conform to her statement, she is in a sense telling Cecily what to do. Also linked to this, after the later quote she then begins to interrogate Algernon and Jack, and she is the first to do so.This shows that she is accustomed to being in a position of power, so to conclude this point: how can Gwendolen truely be tokenistic if she serves a purpose in terms of comedy and is in a position of power within the stated conversation/section. On the other hand Gwendolen seems to support the typical patriarchal society which is present in The Importance of Being Earnest’s era. It is shown by this quote – â€Å"How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! † And â€Å"men are infinitely beyond us† Both in Act 3 also the use of the word infinitely emphas ises this driving Gwendolen’s further.Gwendolen indirectly mocks the idea of ‘new women’ which was a  feminist  ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence on feminism well into the twentieth century as well. It can be said that her role knocks back equality, which then leads to us thinking she is indeed tokenistic. But her role and this particular quote draws attention to the unfairness and importance of the issue at hand. This could be another example of Wilde using characters and satirical mocking to highlight certain issues, so therefore she again does indeed serve a purpose and an important one at that, so she may be un-tokenistic.Another example of roles of women serving a purpose is Lady Bracknell – â€Å"The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square† on page 20 act 1. This is an example of Oscar Wilde’s satirical mocking technique, directed towards the upper classes and the education system, through characters such as lady Bracknell and Gwendolen.Also the use of language and words such as ‘radically’ and ‘theory’ emphasises the satire because they are fairly emotive or serious words, contrasting with the absurd bigoted point. â€Å"Lady Bracknell is the main character to portray this satirical technique, as she believes the upper class to be much more educated than the lower class, purely because of social status† – hubpages. com/education, this point taken from an online website agrees with the idea that Wilde uses characters as a way to highlight issues and mock them. This is shown in the wording.And in turn this point suggests that if characters used to mock and highlight issues within society, then they are serving a purpose a nd are important to aspects of comedy within the play, examples of such characters are, Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen. So how can they be tokenistic if they are doing so? This shows that they are un-tokenistic. On the other hand Oscar Wilde often uses stock characters to enhance comedy and have no real purpose. â€Å"A  stock character  is a  fictional character  that relies heavily on  cultural types  or  stereotypes  for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics† – Fritzfreiheit. om, this shows that characters following stereotypes could be considered tokenistic, such as Lady Bracknell, who is described as â€Å"a symbol of Victorian earnestness and the unhappiness it brings as a result. She is powerful, arrogant, ruthless to the extreme, conservative, and proper. In many ways, she represents Wilde's opinion of Victorian upper-class negativity, conservative/repressive values, and power† – Cliffnotes. com, this shows tha t Lady Bracknell follows contemporary social stereotypes and only serves a minimum purpose and that is to make the audience laugh.So she may well be tokenistic. Also many other stock characters are considered to be tokenistic because they are only used to enhance comedy, not to add to the story or to highlight issues. Examples of a stock character with a minimal role is Miss Prism she is an example of a stereotype of an aspiring romantic novelist, she is the typical woman of the time with a dream that is suppressed. This means she both abides by contemporary social stereotypes and in no way highlights issues as much as Gwendolen or other characters may.So this could be suggested that indeed she is tokenistic due to the later points made. In conclusion I believe that female characters in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of being earnest such as Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell both serve a purpose in terms of comedy by enhancing it with the use of; farce, satire, and mocking. Linked to th is he also uses the humour created by these characters as well as the actually characters themselves as an opportunity to mock or highlight issues and ideals, for example Lady Bracknell and the upper class.But on the other hand it could be said that any female characters are stock characters which follow stereotypes and therefore produce a minimum affect, examples of this are Miss Prism and Lady Bracknell who has proven to be most contradictory and can be used by both sides of the argument because she does serve an important purpose. Over all I believe the large majority of female roles within The Importance of being earnest are not tokenistic because they most serve a purpose and enhance comedy.By James Rae Bibliography – Importance of Being Earnest * http://rachira. hubpages. com/hub/The-Importance-of-Being-Earnest-Mocking-Education – Author: RachiRa (username) – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://fritzfreiheit. com/wiki/Stock_character – Author: Fritz Freiheit – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/literature/importance-of-being-earnest/character-analysis/rev-chasuble-miss-prism. html – Author: Susan Van Kirk – Date of citation: 14/3/13