English: Literacy and Century Learners Essay

English is a widely-used language that is originally used by the countries United States, Great Britain, England and many more. English is the universal language because it is widely used by many people like Asians, Europeans, Africans and many more. However, how can we use English in shaping 21st century learners? English has many purposes that can help shape 21st century learners. One is we can use English in expressing our thoughts, ideas, feelings and many more. Because English is important, we need to use English precisely because if we don’t use our language properly it will result to different interpretations that will lead to chaos. Moreover, we need to master our skills in English in order for us to express what we know because in the future I believe that most of our professions need English as a medium for communicating. Another reason why we need to master English is today, many people are engaged into new technologies that requires new and different skills and that involves our literacy. Literacy demands nowadays, have changed along with the changes that happen in our world. Literacy is very important to a person because a literate person possesses a wide range of abilities and competencies compared to a person who is illiterate. Another reason why we need to master English is if we are communicating to a foreigner we use English as our medium of instruction in order for us not to misinterpret each other. Another purpose of English is to bring a new world. We can attain the world we wanted by using English in uniting all the people in the world because all of us wanted the same thing which is a new world. Another purpose is we can empower the voice of the youth with the use of English because I believe in the saying of Dr. Jose Rizal â€Å"ang kabataan ay ang pag-asa ng bayan†. Furthermore, we need to empower the voice of the youth because if we don’t empower them there will be no hope for our world and no great change will happen in this world we live in right now. English is the key to success. English can make us successful by making a great change through English because I believe language has a great influence and that influence is based on our decision if we want to make our world a better or a worse place. Another is we can be also successful in our lives through English because we use English as a medium of instruction at school and when we become successful in school there is a great chance that in the real life we become successful too. Another is if English did not existed we will not discover the technology we have now that helps in shaping up 21st century learners. Another is if English did not existed there would be no fun at all because there would be no tongue twister, poem, stories and many more. English plays an integral role in our daily lives so let’s give it up to the fullest.

Ethical Theory, Utilitarianism and Kant’s Theory Essay

Ethics is a branch of philosophy which has a central concern of determining of how people should live their lives in accordance of distinguishing the right actions from wrong actions (Boatright, 2007, p. 7). In ethics normative theory propose different principles on how society can deal with this dilemma and that is through the introduction of deontological and theological ethical system. Deontological ethics or non-consequentialist theory requires people to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do regardless of its consequences (Barry, Sansburry, & Shaw, 2009, p. 1). On the contrary, teleological or consequentialist approach sees action to be morally right or wrong due to its producing type of consequences like pleasure, welfare, knowledge, or happiness (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 61). Different approach on deontological and teleological ethics was introduced in explaining the different views of philosophers in accordance of decision making or resolving our daily problems. Firstly is Immanuel Kant, the famous deontologist introduced relationship between duty and the morality of human actions. He stated that an action can be considered moral if and only if it is in relation to our good will which is in accordance with the moral law instead of just basing it on our natural inclination (Boatright, 2007, p. 66). He specified that doing things based on our feelings or self-interest even though it might look like we are doing our duty it has still no moral worth. He then stated that we should relate our subjective choice on moral law which explained that in every intention on our acts should include maxim which is use by Kant’s to set the standard of morality or the categorical imperative (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 72). He proposed that based on this maxim people can only act if this action can be become a universal law or which can possibly accepted by the majority. In addition to this, action should always be in respect on other people, that we should never treat others as merely means to our end or to use others for the attainment of our own interest. On the other hand, Jeremy Bentham, one of the first to develop the utilitarian theory, a form of teleological ethics; approach the issue by always relating our actions to the moral doctrine which stated that the morality of our action can be weight to its consequences, that if it results o the greatest good for the human welfare the action is right, if not then it is wrong (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 72). He then added that a moral prescription of utilitarianism requires that consequences should not only be taken in consideration of an individual but also in respect of the common good. Added to the consequentialist theory is egoism, which equates morality to the attainment of an individual’s long term interest (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 59). As stated in Kant’s theory, maxim should always take into account other people which are a total rival to egoism in which the basis of moral act is self-interest. Another proponent of deontological approach was the British scholar W. D. Ross, a well-known opponent of utilitarianism. Ross emphasised other non-consequentialist perspective emphasizing our duty of care to those who depend on us (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 72). Unlike utilitarianism we cannot have single obligation to maximise happiness for our obligations which develop out of different relationship or our different roles to others. For an instance, our duties as a mom to our children, sister to our siblings and a friend to colleagues vary on each. Another deontological approach by Ross and other contemporary philosophers explained that our moral obligation is our prima facie (Barry, et. al. , 2009, p. 73). In relation to utilitarianism’s ratio of good consequences over its bad outcome prima facie explains that one of our obligations can be overridden by a more important obligation that in reality there will come a time that we need to choose from which of our moral duties must outweigh. But then again, unlike utilitarianism, prima facie recognize a genuine obligation that the reason behind this decision is because of the inherit act itself, like breaking our promise to attend to a friend’s party over bringing someone injured to the hospital. Although, we can see that deontological theory is somehow totally contradicting to teleological theory we should still put into account that both views what makes right acts right. As stated earlier, utilitarianism presents moral action based on the greatest happiness for the greatest people. Utilitarians hardly believe that the principle of utility should be the one universal moral code. Principle of utility describes as the greatest happiness principle, that whenever people need to make a choice they should consider the one that can maximise their happiness and minimise their unhappiness for the benefit of the greatest number of people (Boatright, 2007, p. 33). Within the scope of the theory of utilitarianism is the existence of its two subdivisions namely the act of utilitarianism and the rule of utilitarianism which is somehow coincides with each other but in a way see the said theory in a different point of view. Both act and rule utilitarianism agree that an ethical decisions should merely be based on its consequences, that any chosen decision which minimizes the utility is morally wrong and whatever will result in maximising utility is considered to be morally right (Boatright, 2007, p. 2). In addition to this, both views that an individual must aim to act in regards to maximising the happiness of the group as a whole, not just on acting based on their intention to maximise their self-interest (Boatright, 2007, p. 33 ). However, in regards to the assessment of maximising the greatest happiness of the people conflicts arises between the said subdivisions of utilitarianism. Act of utilitarianism is said to be more straight forwards who entails that â€Å"always do whatever act that will create the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people† (Boatright, 2007, p. 36 ). Jeremy Bentham believed that the only criteria for an action to be moral if it will result to the maximisation of utility. He based his moral theory in accordance with hedonism, that whatever is pleasurable for human is good and whatever is painful is bad thus, he insisted that pleasure and happiness is the ultimate intrinsic value or our act. Bentham introduced the hedonistic calculus which can serve as an individual’s guide to act based on the maximisation of utility. This calculation states that individual must rate in accordance to seven proposed consequences: intensity, duration, certain or uncertainty, remoteness, fecundity, purity, and extent. Once the individual equates all the said pleasures and pains on each side, he can then decide to which action result to more pleasure for the common people involve. This approach of Bentham received negative feedback from other utilitarians because of lack in providing overall happiness in the future. Other utilitarians specified that hedonistic calculus is unclear of how long and individual must wait to whether their actions is right or wrong. The inconsistency that was observed in Bentham’s hedonistic approach gave rise to the formulation of rule-utilitarianism. This approach gave emphasis on the relationship of act and the context in which the act occurs. It considers more than just a singular situation by taking into account various types of situation and the respective right actions which both should be based in a set up rules to maximize utility. This set up rule is grounded by harm principle which states that rightful actions should prevent harming people. Another basis of the said rule is the golden rule which states that individual should not do something which he cannot be accepted by everybody and standard of judging should not only be based on single happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness in total(Boatright, 2007, p. 8). Compare to act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism is said to provide stronger foundation for the accomplishment of ethical decisions for it satisfied both present actions and present situation, but also considered present actions and future situations. On the other way around, rule utilitarianism and Kant’s theory which we just mentioned earlier can present the often confusion that people fac ed in reality of which of the said approach will bring the most moral act. Both of them set some standards in which we can base our actions to determine its morality. Kant’s theory proposed that our actions can only be seen as morally right if it is relation to our good will which is in accordance to the moral law. In here, Kant’s stated that our every intention should include maxim which can be either an act than can be accepted universally or a deed that will take into consideration the respect for other people which generally explained by the golden rule. Same with rule utilitarianism, Bentham introduced the set up rules as standard of moral act which is also grounded by the golden rule and the principle of harm which in a way is relative to the universal acceptance, that harming people in our actions just for maximising our utility cannot be accepted by society. In contrast, Kant’s insisted that moral obligation has nothing to do with the consequence in which rule utilitarianism is promoting. Our actions to be moral should just arise from a moral law that is binding on all rational beings.

Training and Development Program for Bass Pro

Training and Development program for Bass Pro Shops Top Managers Training and Development Final paper Bass Pro Shop Company Overview Bass Pro Shop (Outdoor World) is a private retailer known of selling hunting, fishing and camping gear related to all outdoor and recreational activities that started in Missouri in 1972. By 1974, Bass Pro Shops became very popular and its first catalog first was mailed out. Soon, it became the world's largest mail order sporting goods store. Around 1995, Bass Pro Shops Sportsman's Warehouse opened in Atlanta, Georgia, its first store outside the state of Missouri.Today, Bass Pro Shops became one of America’s premier outdoor retail leaders serving over 75 million sportsmen. Bass Pro Shops have over 39 stores within the US and have several other stores that do not fall under the Outdoor World flagship brand The article we will be analyzing for this paper is called, Bass Pro Failed to Hire Blacks and Hispanics at its Stores Nationwide, EEOC Says in Suit. The article was press released on September 21, 2011 by The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World is being accused in a nationwide federal lawsuit of discriminating against qualified black and Hispanic employees and applicants since 2005 (EEOC, 2011). Bass Pro Shops is additionally being accused of retaliation against employees who were against the discriminatory practices, firing them or forcing them to quit their jobs. They also destroyed or did not save documents associated to internal discrimination complaints that made racially derogatory remarks about minority employees and employment applications.In the lawsuit it cited examples from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Indiana showing a national pattern of discrimination. Analysis of the EEOC Article This topic and article was chosen by our team from the EEOC website for the following reasons: 1) It is a credited article 2) It includes the findings and the fact based upon the EEOC filled t he lawsuits against Bass Pro 3) It is well written, accurate, verifiable, clear and concise 4) Broad in its coverage: (a) It addresses the main aspects of the topic; and b) It stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail 5) Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each. 6) It is very detailed in the findings and investigation processes. 7) It provides information and help for those who have been discriminated against and never dared to file a lawsuit or complain. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency charged with enforcing antidiscrimination laws in employment.The EEOC found evidence of nationwide discrimination by Brass Pro under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, â€Å"which prohibits discrimination based on race and national origin, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who complain about employment discrimination and requires them to keep certain employment recordsà ¢â‚¬ . (EEOC, 2012) Bass Pro is been held responsible for consistently denying jobs to qualified minorities based on their race (African-American), ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino) or national origin not their skills, knowledge, abilities or work experience.The EEOC did an investigation and found statistical evidence based on the number of minority employees working nationwide for this employer that Bass Pro has engaged in discriminatory hiring procedures. The underrepresentation of minority employees and applicants was so noticeable that the possibility that it could happen without discrimination is extremely small. The EEOC found plenty of data to accuse Bass Pro with a national pattern of discrimination. In the lawsuit there were a number of examples of racially derogatory remarks made by management at different Bass Pro stores.Some of the examples are the following: â€Å"it is getting a little dark in here, you need to hire some white people†, â€Å"Hispanics are wetback s†, â€Å"Hispanics should be shot at the boarder by the Border Patrol†, â€Å"hiring black candidates did not fit the corporate profile. † (Samuel, Post, 2011) The EEOC also specified in the lawsuit that Bass Pro did not offer any evidence that the company is using fair hiring practices. On the EEOC website you can find what is considered Race/Color Discrimination and Harassment.The EEOC considers harassment to include, â€Å"racial slurs, offensive or derogatory remarks about a person’s race or color. Harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision such as the victim being fired or demoted † (EEOC, 2011). The reason Bass Pro is being sued by the EEOC is because they believe they have a case against them based on the evidence and data they collected throughout the investigation. Needs Assessment Organizational Analysis:The top manager s of Bass Pro Shops are reluctant to apply diversity practices on their recruitment processes, which has significantly damage their reputation and organizational climate. The successful implementation of a training and development method focused on promoting diversity will attract more customers and skilled employees to Bass pro shops stores. Thus, improving the reputation of the company in both employees and customers. The lawsuits derived from their discrimination practices has already damage Bass Pro’s reputation and might jeopardize their cost structure.Thus, the implementation of a diversity training method is a good strategy to change the top managers mindset and promote the benefits of having a diverse workforce across the organization. Person Analysis: The top managers of bass pro shops need to be trained to understand the importance of having diverse workforce across the organization. This means, that trainers should ensure that the managers are committed with the tr aining before the implementation of the program.According to (Brighthub, 2011) it is essential for managers to understand the problem they are involved in and be mentally committed to change their mindset regarding discrimination acts. On the other hand, the managers of Bass pro shops have sufficient technical skills that allow them to utilize technological equipment and understand software solutions that the training program might contain. Task Analysis: The task analysis would be focused on the top manager’s job. The activities that the program contain involve the interaction of top managers with non-white employees.The main objective of the interactive activities is to break up with the existing bias that top managers have of non-white employees. Thus, the creation of activities that require the collaboration of both managers and employees will improve the knowledge and skills that top managers require to get along with non-white employees. Recommendation: According the in formation stated in the article, Bass pro shops have four main issues that we as consultants are trying to address by the implementation of a training and development program for the top managers of the organization.The four main issues include, the misconception of the basic assumption, which is the organization necessity to hire only white people in order to maintain customers satisfaction; the legal implications derived from their discriminatory practices against afro-American and Hispanic people in their hiring policies; the potential high costs of losing the case and the bad reputation the organization might build with these discriminatory practices. According to (Noe, 2010), There are six stages that the training and development method should accomplish in order to positively impact the main issues that the organization is facing.These include: Ensuring Managers’ Readiness for Training & Creating a Learning Environment in an open dialog with diversity counselors. This i s very important because managers can get feedback regarding their performances. That way, the manager can evaluate the employees perspectives regarding his/her own diversity practices. According to (PACT Training, 2006) The development plan of a succesful training and development program should always start with the definition of the learning outcomes. There are two learning outcomes of the training and development plan for Bass Pro Shops.The first learning outcome is to increase the knowledge of top managers about discrimination acts, and the seccond learning outcome is to build in top managers, skills and behaviors that enables them to effectively apply diversity practices. If managers successfuly learn how to apply these two expected outcomes, there must be a decrease in the number of complaints and litigations against the Bass pro shops. Thus, reducing the potential costs derived from lawsuits and improving their public image. A Cost-benefit analysis will also be a part of the developing plan.Costs such as the purchase of the training program, learning materials, equipments, facilities, and the salary of trainers will be included in the analysis. Some of the specific benefits that the program will pursue include: improvement of managers performance derived from diversity practices, increase of the number of customers, increasing sales of products, and cost saving derived from a decrease in lawsuit payments. Selecting Training Method The training program has to be in adherence to the legislation.Bass Pro Shops need a training program that helps its managers to understand when their behaviors violate the equal employment opportunity laws. Some of the strategies used to enforce this knowledge include: †¢ Encourage managers to learn about Title VII online. Managers can the web to self-train their knowledge about laws. When the self-training is finished, use evaluation test such as online tests or paper-based tests to evaluate the learning outcomes. †¢ Use case studies (Noe, 2010), to encourage anagers to understand the legislation. Managers might find in case studies, a more practical exercise to learn about behaviors that may violate the law. †¢ Incorporate diversity-related news items into the content of the program (PACT Training, 2006). For example, the article mentioned that Abercrombie & Finch had to paid over $50 million dollars to settle employment discrimination suits in 2004. This type of news might increase the awareness of top managers about the implications of engaging in discriminatory practices. Conduct adventure learning activities that encourage the interaction of top managers with non-white employees (Noe, 2010). These type of activities promote trust between the two groups, which allows top managers to deeply observe the characteristics of non-white employees. Thus, improving the managers ability to hire based on skills qualifications rather than hiring based on a specific race. Monitoring and evaluatin g the program There are different techniques that Bass pro Shops can use to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the training program.Bass Pro Shops can use test methods to evaluate the impact of the training. These test can be conducted online and paper-based, and they will be focused in measuring the training outcomes. Some of the tests that Bass pro shop can use to evaluate the training program include: Performance appraisal and pretest/posttest evaluation methods (Noe, 2010). Both of these evaluation methods will strive to evaluate the extent to which the top managers apply diversity practices in the organization, and how the results are aligned to what was taught, practiced and expected.Additionally, they will also measure the extent to which the employees performance has improved as a result of the diversity practices. Bass pro shops can also encourage managers to research about workforce diversity best practices and continuously put new practices into action as a part of the monitoring process of the program. These new practices maximize the skills, satisfaction and retention of the employees as well as promoting a continuous learning environment. References Basspro. com (2012). Retrieval April 3, 2012, from Bassproshop Website: http://www. basspro. com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC? storeId=10151&ca

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz Essay

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - Essay Example In this novel, Oscar is a character that can not maintain a physical relationship with a girl because of his obesity. (Diaz) has emphasized that sex is the fundamental element that an individual must exhibit in order to be a Dominican male. Dominican male in the novel has been described as an individual that has charm, physical attraction, and virility. All of these qualities have been replaced in Oscar’s persona by his obesity. Other characters in the play like Yunior and Rudolfo are able to make girlfriends and maintain a physical relationship with them because they are smart, and have captivating looks. Thus, Diaz has placed a lot of emphasis upon the significance of looks of men. When Oscar’s mother, Belicia reaches puberty and develops large breasts that appeal to all the boys around her, she chooses to date nobody but the most handsome boy in the school named Jack Pujols. The fact that this happens between the year 1955 and 1962 reinforces the concept that menâ₠¬â„¢s beauty has not just recently gained importance, but has been of significance for a long time in the past. Clare Spurrell has expressed the consequences of obesity on the physical relationship in her article Obesity and relationships. Spurrell supports the notion that people have been weight conscious for long. â€Å"Since the 1960s the population as a whole has become more sedentary with greater hours spent in front of the television, and an increasingly automated lifestyle† (Spurrell 1). ... The idea compares well with the issue of obesity in the present age. Proponents of obesity control programs are of the view that obesity lowers an individual’s confidence level and may put the individual into social exclusion. In a society that stereotypes obesity as a symptom of sloth, overindulgence and a lack of self-control, sufferers are often left with feelings of social exclusion and isolation. Even more so in a relationship, the psychological implications of the 'fat stereotype' can be equally disruptive. (Spurrell 1). Diaz and Spurrell have both maintained that obesity has negative effect on people’s physical relationships, though Diaz has gone a step further by not letting Oscar make love with anyone because of his obesity whereas Sara and her boyfriend, do make love with one another, but their relationship is complicated by the obesity that both suffer from and eventually, they part ways. Oscar develops several affairs in the novel by Diaz, though the intimac y never grows up to the physical level. First, Oscar finds Ana Obregon in the SAT preparation class. He finds her attractive and the two make friends with each other. However, Ana is taken over by Manny because he is physically intimate with Ana unlike Oscar, who is only good in conversing with her. Later, Oscar finds Jenni Munoz, a Puerto Rican girl. He does the same to her what he did to Ana i.e. kill the time speaking to her and never making love. Because of that, the end of their relationship is also like before. Jenni finds a boyfriend and breaks all ties with Oscar. Once again, Oscar is left alone. Break up of Ana and then Jenni with Oscar as well as the breakup of Sara with Jonathon essentially tells that sex is fundamental to the survival and sustainability of a relationship.

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

Inventory - Assignment Example Both the goods and invoice were received in early 19X3, with the invoice being re ­corded at that time. (b) The above errors had an overall effect of overstating the balance of owner’s equity as at December 31, 19X2. In the first error, it is assumed that only the purchases journal was wrongly entered. The effect of understating cost is to an understatement of cost of goods sold, hence overstating the net income, which is part of owner’s equity. The ownership of goods purchased on F.O.B terms revert to the buyer immediately the seller delivers them to the port of delivery. It is therefore assumed that the goods were already on transit by the end of business on December 31, 19X2. Therefore the exclusion of this transaction had no effect on the cost of goods sold since it was neither included as purchases nor closing inventory. It will only affect the value of inventory in the balance sheet with no effect and accounts payable or cash. There is no effect on owner’s equity. Excluding $3,000 from the closing inventory in 19X1 means that the cost of goods sold was understated with the ending result being an overstatement of net income, hence owner’s equity. Since the amount was not included in 19X2, it means that sales revenue was recognized on these goods with no corresponding

Research Tools and their Effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Tools and their Effectiveness - Essay Example The research took more than 26 weeks to complete. With the sensitivity of the matter, training them for only 8 weeks doesn’t make a lot of sense in that they will not have experienced the necessary knowledge which they can use with ease to determine whether to report as casualty or not. Further, the issue of monitoring the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy is not much encouraged because, if you monitor them, they will tend to be accurate and may not sway away from normality due to your presence. For a research to have the required scientific vigor homogeneity of data is required and this can only be obtained if some certain restrictions are imposed on the participants (Agnes, A 2007). This may include: Age, gender, occupation, health status, earning and many others depending entirely on the objective of the study. For example, for one to take part in this study, the researcher ensured that, he/she had at least some experience in radiography which he himself knew and another which had brought him to that health facility to assist in the provision of the service. However, they were not required to have any formal training in radiography. In any scientific research which involves human participants, freedom to take part in it is a priority as you cannot force one to get involved without his/her consent (Mailu, S. 2004). Participants have to be given the opportunity to say what they want based on the restrictions above. In this study, all the participants are not provided with the necessary information and a verbal consent is not sought from each of them. Mainly a consent form is signed by him/her stating that, all that is involved in the study will be followed to the later voluntarily (Charles, A 2000). The protection of human participant’s information is key for any research to be successful (Bailey, 2005).

Company analysis on Dollar General Stores expanding into Britian Research Paper

Company analysis on Dollar General Stores expanding into Britian - Research Paper Example The first Dollar General store opened in 1955 at Scottsville in Kentucky was based on the central concept that all items in the store would cost less than one dollar (â€Å"The founding family†). Within two years of it business commencement, the organization earned an annual sales of $5 million from its 29 stores. Four years after the death of the co-founder J.L. Turner, the company went public as Dollar General Corporation with more than $40 million annual sales and net income in excess of $1.5 million. In 1983, the company acquired the 280 stores of the P.N. Hirsh Division of Interco, Inc and subsequently in 1985, the company added 206 stores and warehouse of Eagle Family Discount Stores by another acquisition process. The recent practices show that the company is constructing more stand-alone stores in remote areas where another general merchandise services are not reached. The most attractive feature of the Dollar General is that it offers both name brand and generic merchandise within the same store or even sometimes on the same shelf. The company mainly competes with national chains Family Dollar and Dollar Tree in the dollar store format whereas its regional competitors include number of independently owned stores. By the beginning of 21st century, the company launched â€Å"Dollar General Market† which is a store that carries a wider selection of grocery items. The developing home cooking trends helped the company in selling its grocery items. The Dollar General stores has grown notably within the short time period of 55 years. One of the major strengths of the company is that it has different potential customer groups that assist the organization to experiment with new business concep ts. Newly emerging market segments also effectively contribute to company’s global competence. Similarly, the Dollar General maintains an efficient liquidity position which aids the organization to effectively and timely respond to unexpected contingencies. In addition, the firm performs well in all areas wherever it has business interests. Dollar General performs outstandingly in the ‘backyard’ of large SuperCenters and hence time and saturation pressures are reduced to a large extent. Business efficiency and operational regulations are found to be some of the competitive advantages of the Dollar General as these features significantly add to the organization’s market attractiveness. The company employs most recent developments of e-commerce in order to provide improved services to its customers. Recently, the Dollar General stores announced that it has selected Aldata Solution, a global leader in retail and distribution improvement software to meet the n eeds of the company’s next generation integrated supply chain solution (â€Å"Dollar general selects Aldata â€Å"). In addition, the firm makes use of satellite facilities to transmit selling information to the headquarters each evening. The e-trade techniques and the resulted global interconnectedness would greatly aid the organization

Review of Tesco Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words - 1

Review of Tesco Strategy - Essay Example This is mainly due to the presence of numerous rival players, with varying product lines and services. Due to which, the bargaining power of the customers and suppliers is increasing at a rapid pace thereby amplifying the rate of switchover costs. Similarly, the food and beverage retailing segment is the largest and extremely competitive industry in the market of United Kingdom. The prime reason behind it is the presence of numerous existing players such as ASDA, Sainsbury, Tesco Plc and many others. As a result, the retail segment offered approximately 12 percent to gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation that amplified its economic standard and image in the entire globe among others. Apart from this, the retail segment also proved effective in presenting employment to almost 3.5 million educated citizens that reduced the rate of poverty and unemployment significantly. This proved extremely effective for the nation that enhanced its portfolio and equity in the market among others . Tesco Plc is recognised as one of the reputed international grocery and merchandise retailer in the market of United Kingdom. It includes more than 2318 stores in the entire globe comprising of 472000 experienced staffs to assist the customers in their purchases. It has positioned itself as the third largest retailer in the market of United Kingdom thereby comprising of a market share of 40 percent among many other rival contenders. It is mainly due to wide range of product lines such as clothes, electronics, financial services, and telecoms, furniture’s, healthcare products, retailing, pet products, DVD, CD, internet services and many others. Due to which, its total revenue, net income and operating income increased by  £60.93 billion,  £2.67 billion and  £3.87 billion in the year 2010-2011. The company of Tesco Plc mainly operates under the banners, named: Extra, Supermarket, Metro and Express. This essay mainly highlights the strategies implemented by the

RESPONSE PAPER for Comparative Politics class Essay

RESPONSE PAPER for Comparative Politics class - Essay Example the concept of comparative politics that asserts â€Å"politics in different countries works in much a similar manner and differently in others† is brought out. In this story, the concept of political similarity and differences in countries is brought out when it is asserted that the political stability of the UK is on the line. Specifically, political similarity is the most prevalent concept of comparative politics that is seen in this text. According to this concept, it is evident that like several other countries in the world that are experiencing political disunity, the UK is also on the verge of joining the same route. There is more than can be seen in the future of the unified nation because the disunity in the political arena is worrying. The entire political system in country is on the verge of entering into the unknown after enjoying political stability for several decades, and with some excellent prime ministers such as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.1 The current trend is seeing the strengths of biggest political parties in the country, the conservatives and the labor, being tested by the introduction of the smaller parties into the political arena. Much the same way as in some other countries where most political parties are based on regional or ethnical backgrounds, the smaller parties in the UK have also emerged the same grounds. The smaller parties are based on regional links and their political agenda is to drift away from the current culture of two-part dominance.2 The story by CNN on the politics best brings out the concept of comparative politics. The story confirms that indeed the way politics is conducted in various countries is much similar. Much the same way like most countries in the world, UK is also facing the likelihood of mushrooming of smaller political parties. Many political scientists hold that partisanship and voting behavior are such a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained by a single model. Nevertheless, the current

Health Care Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Health Care Reform - Research Paper Example Despite the federal government having some public funds to compensate the public on sickness and death, there lacked public programs and legislations that would facilitate the realization of these efforts by the government. The raising concerns of wage loss were because of failure to be paid in the event of illness. This led to the introduction of insurance schemes (sickness funds) to cover against loss of wages due to illnesses by workers. There arose evolutionist reformers in the progressive era of the early 20th century whose motives were to address social concerns especially for the working group (Palmer para 4-5). The efforts of the reformers received great support by the government of Roosevelt who equally highly esteemed the health of the people. The early period of the century, saw combined efforts by the AMA (American Medical Association) and the AALL (American Association of Labor Legislation) design and formulate legislations and health care bills that were meant for effec ting the universal accessibility of health care to the U.S citizens. Shortly after these moves, the reformers introduced the concept of cost of illness as against concentrating on the lost wages through which they brought about the concept of ‘sickness’ insurance. Health sector regulations were not left behind as well in the reforms with the end of great depression (1935) marking the introduction of social security act. The great depression had serious implication to every American as well as the various departments such as the health care sector with general low finances in circulation within the entire economy. This therefore encouraged the insurance sector to introduce the medical covers through which medical expenses to the public would be easily met. Latter on some employers took to their role to provide health care to their employee, which equally marked great steps. By the mid century, over two thirds of the U.S citizens enjoyed some form of medical coverage over the private insurance schemes. However, the achievement of compulsory national health insurance as were the efforts of the reformers failed due to the opposition that resulted from the doctors, business, insurance sector as well as some labor groups. However, by the year 1965, great steps had been taken within the sector and there was assenting to the legislation to universal health care in the United States (Palmer para 16-20). According to a brief by the Maine Health Access Foundation, the last thirty years have seen great efforts by the state government to improve on the accessibility of health care support through insurance especially to the uninsured (Maine Health Access Foundation 3). The states have undertaken multiple roles in the health care provision system of America by serving as a regulator, administrator and a purchaser among other roles. The comprehensive health care reform has been a great phenomenon to be implemented within many of the U.S states. The guiding facto r to these notable reforms has been to provide universal, quality and affordable services in health care to all her citizens. Therefore, individual states have been responsible in developing and adopting health care policies, which in common are seen to have focused much on expanded Medicare coverage (Maine Health Acc

Labor Reallocation in The Transition Economics Essay

Labor Reallocation in The Transition Economics - Essay Example Some important failures of the capitalist system like the Great Depression serve as the reasons on why the event should be remembered. Capitalism has not tested success on everywhere it was implemented (Aslund, n.d.). Transition Economies The economy which experiences change from a centrally planned economy to free market is defined as transition economies. In this type of economies the central planning organization is not entrusted with the task of setting the price. The market forces tend to determine the prices. There is no restriction to trade and the economy witness economic liberalization. There is tendency towards privatization and the financial sector takes the responsibility in facilitating stability in the economy. The change and creation of institutions characterizes the process of transition. The private enterprises have a major role to play (Atkeson, Andrew and Patrick, 1996, p. 377). The process of transition changes the role of the state. The process encourages the cre ation of different institutions and promotes state owned enterprises and financial institutions which can act independently. The role of the state in the transition transforms from being the provider of growth to an enabler. The private sector serves as the engine of growth in the transition economies. ... China and Vietnam followed the gradual transition mode while Russia and some East-European countries followed the aggressive model of transition. The main indicators of the process of transition include liberalization, macroeconomic stabilization, restructuring and privatization and legal and institution reforms (Boeri and Terrell, n.d. p. 2). A rapid change was expected in the configurations of institutions that structured the transition countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost all transition economies were expecting to face the twin impacts of recession and income inequality. In order to shift to an economy where wage is determined by the market transitional unemployment is necessary. Structural challenges like shortage of labor demand can result because of long periods of unemployment. The market should set the appropriate price of labor taking into account free mobility of labor and a supportive institutional framework (Nickel, n.d. p. 96). Labor Reallocation in T ransitional Economies The process of transition involves substantial reallocation of labor. Employment in the planned economies is concentrated on the heavy industries. There was absence of small business sector and private initiatives concentrated almost solely in agriculture. The economic planners used to determine the pattern of foreign trade. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was used to govern the trade flows in what are now regarded as the transition economies. In the process of transition, employment is concentrated in the small scale business sector. Actually shifting of employment from the state owned industries to these units take place. The success of transaction depends on how efficiently the reallocation of labor has been handled. Comparison of the modification

Natural Resources And The Politics Of Middle East Essay Example for Free

Natural Resources And The Politics Of Middle East Essay Oil production in the Middle East has not only been a subject of geology or exploiting the lowest-cost field. Where exploration is performed and what fields are developed has been influenced as much by political as by economic factors. Until the late 1960s oil production and exports from the region significantly reflected the major western oil companies’ need to cope with the demands of the different governments in the Middle East, all of whom wanted to see more oil produced in their territories in order that they could get more revenue. The oil companies were as well concerned with the political stability of the regimes in the oil-exporting countries, the dependability of supply, the likelihood of the nationalisation of oil company facilities, demands over royalty levels and pressures to make use of and train local nationals. In view of the fact that then, what gets produced where and exported has depended on political and economic muscle within OPEC which efficiently determines country quotas. Iran was the first country in the Middle East in which oil was exploited with test production starting in 1903 and a key discovery in 1908. Under Reza Shah the country was politically stable, and the oil concession agreement which was signed with D’Arcy in 1901 on very positive terms was to run until 1994. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which afterwards turns into British Petroleum, was founded in 1909. Oil was not discovered in Iraq until 1927, however by that time Persian production was well established, plus a slow growth of demand, reflecting the fragile state of the international economy at the time, intended Iraqi oil exploitation was restricted in these early years. (Mohamed Rabie, 1992). Which oil fields were developed as well reflected rivalries in Middle Eastern interests between the major western powers. Britain, through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, had a virtual monopoly of exploration in Iran, consequently the United States had little choice however to look to Saudi Arabia on the other side of the Gulf, the one area that had not come under European imperial influences. In the 1930s the oil fields of the eastern province were opened up, plus the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) was formed by a consortium of leading United States oil companies. It was ARAMCO that developed the Ghawar and Safaniya fields in the Dhahran area which were to prove to be the largest and most dynamic in the entire world. ARAMCO carries on to account for most Saudi Arabian oil production and exports, although it was nationalised in the 1970s and the role of the American associate companies is now restricted to specialist support and marketing. There was huge resistance to attempts to take over the oil concessions awarded to western multinational oil companies. Conflicts between the oil companies and host-country governments over revenues date back to the 1920s and 1930s when oil started to be exploited in noteworthy quantities, however it was the Iranian government which was the first to demand control of production. After Dr Musaddiq consolidated his power as prime minister in 1952 he set up the National Iran Oil Company, a state-owned entity, to take over Iran’s oil from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. This aggravated a two-year boycott of purchases of Iranian oil by the major western oil companies. Purchases were merely started again when Musaddiq was overthrown and terms were agreed which were satisfactory from the viewpoint of the oil companies. (John Page, 1999). In the meantime the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had changed its name to British Petroleum. It was to focus on developing the oil fields of the Emirates on the Arab side of the Gulf, where the rulers were much more co-operative. It was this new orientation and the co-operation with Shell, the Anglo-Dutch company, which were to consequence in the major developments in Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and ultimately Oman. The increasing importance of the Arab Emirates as oil suppliers was not so much a reflection of the quality of their oil or relative cost factors, to a certain extent what mattered was the political environment and the security of oil supplies. Iran, and subsequently Iraq, had their exploration and production curtailed on account of their political intransigence. The beneficiaries were the Arabian Peninsula states that had their oil fields developed and exploited to a greater extent than might otherwise have been the case on the basis of geological decisions alone. (Nora Bensahel, Daniel L. Byman, 2003).

Effects of Macroeconomic Policies upon a Single Organization

Effects of Macroeconomic Policies upon a Single Organization Understanding the Tree by Knowing the Forest The analogy of the forest and the trees is particularly apt in illustrating the difference between macro- and micro-economic areas of concern. Whereas microeconomics ‘operates’ at the level of the individual firm, manufacturer or even individual consumers, macroeconomics is principally concerned with the national or even global aggregate issues of these entities. In other words, if single firm is a tree, macroeconomics is concerned with the policies that ‘drive’ the forest. Thus, it must be kept in mind, the goals of the tree may not always be furthered by following the governance of the forest. Similarly, the policies that are best for the forest may not be in the best interests of any one tree. Utilizing this perspective, a brief examination shall be made of how macroeconomic â€Å"forest† policy might affect a single organizational â€Å"tree†. Depending on semantics and the exact metric utilized The YMCA is arguably the world’s largest human service organization. This nonprofit organization was founded in 1844 in London and rapidly spread across the world, now being active in over 140 countries. In the United States the YMCA has approximate 2,500 branches with nearly 20,000,000 members. Each of these operating units is independently governed by a local board of directors who hires the CEO. This position runs is the operations end of the business and is immediately responsible for the hiring of all other employees. Some operating units are quite small, perhaps having less than 10 employees while others have several hundred or more. Financial impact of a unit, in terms of projected revenue, could range from less than one hundred thousand dollars to nearly $100,000,000 (personal communication, J. Bean, retired YMCA Senior Director, October 6, 2005). One of the key concerns of macroeconomic policy is to maintain optimal employment levels (Keifer 1999, p. 59). While the wage policies of a single organization are very unlikely to affect the forest, a minimum wage policy does certainly affect individual organizations. On October 1, 1996, the US minimum wage increased from $3.85 to $4.75 per hour and increased again effective September 1, 1997 to $5.15 per hour (US Department of Labor, 2005). Though businesses had months to consider and adjust, the net effect, in the end, was that a 34% wage increase was evidenced. In an organization such as a YMCA unit, this had the potential of having serious consequences as there are a number of operating parameters different from many other businesses: The YMCA is a nonprofit organization. – While still being run as a â€Å"business†, the operating margins of nonprofit firms are typically much slimmer†¦ there are no real â€Å"profit margins†, there are no dividends or bonus and there is no excessive executive compensation. The YMCA employs and extensive part-time work force. – Many of these individuals are either entry-level or accept entry level wages. The YMCA is a service driven organization. – In many private sector businesses, firms get very nervous if total personnel costs exceed 30% of budgeted expenses. In a YMCA, depending on the exact program mix in a specific community, it is not uncommon to see human resource costs occupying 60% of the budget. With these factors in mind, it is easy to see how increases in minimum wage can disproportionately affect the bottom-line of service driven organizations. In 1996 or in 2005 (were their to be additional increases), there are but a number or strategies to be deployed. First, one can make ‘budget cuts’ and trim service levels. For a nonprofit meeting the needs of the community, this is generally unacceptable. A second solution is to increase the efficiency of human assets so that you are doing more with less. For example, if one had 10 employees at minimum wage ($5.25/hour) for an hourly expense of $55.25, the goal would now be to somehow â€Å"re-engineer† the process so that only six employees are required. This approach is a good one†¦ in the long run. In the short run, additional funds must be invested, often in technology, so that workers efforts are leveraged to a greater extent. Also, a potential problem with this solution is that many YMCA programs invo lve youth for which there a either government or organizational policies in regards to staffing ratios (i.e., in infant childcare programs, the ratio must not exceed one staff to four children). A third option is to increase revenue to cover the additional expense. In a YMCA, this can be achieved two ways: Increase earned revenue by increasing program fees. In this situation, increases would likely be tolerated as there is a bona fida increase in the cost of doing business. Increase contributed income by philanthropy. Faced with increasing operating costs and a compelling need for a program service, donors are often quite willing to help out a benevolent organization who demonstrates principles of good stewardship with existing assets. While employment policies are one example, the field of macroeconomic policies is one in which there is seemingly no such thing as an isolated variable. Increases in minimum wage policy are likely to trigger inflation (Knoop 2004, p. 39). Inflation, in turn, increases the cost of doing business, particularly as the cost commodity goods such as gas, oil, electricity and water increase. Again, the same three strategies present themselves to the operators of enterprise. A final example of how macroeconomic policies can impact the organization in question is that of federal monetary policy. While a nonprofit organization does not play the market per se, money is often borrowed for capital projects. A loose fiscal policy will drive interest rates down, creating opportune times for consideration of borrowing funds. A related consideration is the overall tone of the market. As nonprofit organizations are often the beneficiary of financial instruments, the specific tax advantages set by federal fiscal policy have an effect upon the generosity of some donors. In summary, the politics of the forest have a tremendous effect upon the trees. While the policies may, in the short run, create mild operational havoc, we must have some faith that the forest has our best interests at heart as a strong forest is better for all trees. Works Consulted Knopp, T. (2004). Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles. Praeger: Westport, Connecticut, US. United States Department of Labor. (2005). History of Changes the Minimum Wage Law. [online] http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/coverage.htm. Accessed October 6, 2005.

Computer Science Essays VB Net

Computer Science Essays VB Net Microsoft VB.NET is part of the .NETframework. Discuss the impact of VB.NET on the Visual Basic programmer. Abstract The impact of the introduction of the .NET framework withspecific reference to the effect on the Visual Basic programmer will beconsidered. A brief overview of the development of Visual Basic and the .NETframework will be given and a comparison of the two will be made withparticular focus on object orientation. Changes to web application developmentand database connectivity will be explored. Issues surrounding the portabilityof legacy Visual Basic code will be examined. Conclusions will be drawn onregarding changes to the role of the Visual Basic programmer. Visual Basic evolved from the Beginners All-PurposeSymbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) language created by John Kemeny and ThomasKurtz at Dartmouth College. BASIC began as compiled language and was used for asignificant amount of application development. A BASIC interpreter wasdeveloped by Paul Allen and Bill Gates of the Microsoft Corporation for theAltair. This was released in 1975 and began Microsofts long relationship withBASIC culminating in the release of Professional Development System BASIC.(Mack, G. 2004) In 1989 Bill Gates predicted, Futureversions of BASIC will increasingly provide support for this kind ofprogramming. The programs will look different from the BASIC were all used to.A visual BASIC program will be a mixture of code, programmer-written objects,and visually specified objects. (Jacobson, M) In 1987 Alan Worthcreated Ruby, a graphical programming environment that was combined with PDSBASIC to create Visual Basic. Visual Basic 1.0 was released in 1991 and wentthrough six incarnations leading to Visual Basic 6.0 in 1998. This marked thestart of a phase change in Microsofts programming architecture and six yearslater Visual Basic 7 was released as part of the .NET framework (Mack G, 2004,AddressOf, 2003). The purpose of the history listed above is to give contextto the installed base of Visual Basic code. Visual Basic has been extant for 14years and has remained unchanged for the last 6 of these. John Kemenys vision was to create a language of suchsimplicity that every computer user could write code. While this vision is yetto be realized Visual Basic 6.0 has the best claim on being its inheritor. Dueto its ease of use VB 6.0 has been used to create a vast installed base ofcode. This presents a number of issues to both the VB programmer and to theuser/owner of the system. VB 6.0 To address an issue like the impact of VB.NET on the VB 6.0programmer it is necessary to consider what purpose VB 6.0 serves. VB 6.0builds applications for the Windows environment. It is a fully-fledgedprogramming language with support for the standard control structures, datastorage and file I/O. VB 6.0 exhibits a degree of interoperability throughMicrosofts Component Object Model (COM) specification. VB 6.0 is object awareand can with careful programming be shoehorned into behaving as an objectorientated programming language (Deitel, H 1999). VB 6.0 is an appropriate language choice to support aproject team engaged in rapid prototyping or in the Windows environment. Theprefabricated components and drag and drop design tools allow GUI constructionin short time frames. VB 6.0 would also be an appropriate tool to supportprojects based Rapid Application Development paradigm for similar reasons. Inthe context of a RAD project other tools will either be integrated with VB 6.0or supplant it as some point in the project cycle. VB 6.0 has strong support for building web application andweb front-ends to server applications using sockets and TCP/UDP and HTTP. VBScript is supported in HTML. VB 6.0 would be an appropriate tool for e-commerceprojects. VB 6.0 may be an appropriate choice for SMEs attempting tocode a project in house given the simplicity of the language, the abundance oftutorial information available and the speed of development. SMEs that adoptthis approach may consider that having made the initial investment in VB 6.0technology and training continuing to support VB 6.0 makes good business senseparticularly if initial projects are successful. This attitude may continue,and involve VB 6.0 in project were it is not the most appropriate technologicalchoice. VB 6.0 excites a range of opinion among its users and thewider programming community. Supporters of VB 6.0 can reach evangelical fervourin its defence, to the extent that Microsofts decision to cease supporting VB6.0 resulted in a petition that has garnered close to six thousand signaturessince 8th March 05 including 243 Most Valued Professionals (MVPs)(Whitelist, 2005). Among such gurus VB is generally praised for its simplicityand is credited with encouraging non-programmers to become programmers. This isvery much in line with John Kemenys original vision. .NET .NET is heavily influenced by the ideas of portabilitygarnered from the Java project of Sun Microsystems. A Java program compiles toan intermediate bytecode that is then interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine(JVM) (Horstmann, C. 2001). .NET adopts a similar strategy of compilation ofcode to an intermediate language Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). TheCommon Language Runtime (CLR) then compiles MSIL to native code. Where .NETbuilds upon the Java project is by including multiple front-end programminglanguages and giving them all the capability to build MSIL. With the .NET framework Microsoft has embraced ObjectOrientated philosophy. IL is fully OO compliant and fully supportsencapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism (MSDN 2005a). VB.NET Of the various front-end languages of the .NET frameworkVB.NET has undergone the most radical evolution. To take advantage of theinteroperability offered by the CLR (i.e. that code written in one language canfreely interact with code from another language) VB.NET has had to become fullyobject orientated. Comparing this with the previous method of achievinginteroperability, (i.e. COM, DCOM and ActiveX) a platform specific binarystandard, Microsoft considers the advantages of complete interoperabilitysufficient to warrant the wholesale change of the VB paradigm to OO. (Deitel, h1003) VB.NET introduces exception handling to the VB 6.0programmer. The advantages offered by exception handling are in improving thereadability of code and in improving the efficiency of code. This is in linewith Microsofts view that the .NET framework is designed for scalability. Theinline error handling of VB 6.0, particularly in large scale applications willcreate code that is difficult to maintain. The .NET framework Class Library makes concurrencyprimitives available to the .NET languages. VB.NET therefore allows thecreation of multithreaded applications. This capability represents asubstantial increase in the complexity of software that can be created by VB.NETover VB 6.0. The VB 6.0 graphics library has been supplanted by GraphicsDevice Interface (GDI)+ API. Although VB 6.0 is unlikely to be the graphicstool of choice it is worth noting that VB 6.0 graphics will not upgrade toVB.NET graphics, and will need to be rewritten in using the GDI+ vectorgraphics tools. These changes, while not syntactically or conceptuallyproblematic for previously object-oriented languages such as C++, have asignificant impact on VB. VB 6.0 can be described as object aware. It iscapable of creating classes and supports interfaces, but has no support fordirect method implementation inheritance. VB 6.0 is based on an event drivenprogramming model. In the previous section some of the difference between VB6.0 and VB.NET have been discussed. The following section considers the changebetween the two languages in the context of web development and databaseconnectivity. One of the most common uses of VB 6.0 was createapplications with database connectivity. Microsoft created a number ofconnection controls (e.g. DAO, RDO, ODBC and ADO). VB 6.0 supports each type ofconnection and the choice of connection is largely based on the supportprovided for it by the database. VB.NET includes a range of support for theseconnection types, with the exclusion of DAO and RDO data binding capability.VB.NET also includes support for ADO.NET. The changes offered by ADO.NET aresummarized in the following paragraph. The most significant change in ADO.NET the separationbetween the physical data model and the logical model used by the control.ADO.NET thus provides a disconnected programming model allowing for greaterscalability, which is particularly valuable for providing web access. ADO.NETis a rebuild of the ADO control incorporating XML support from the ground upwhich again contributes to its usability over the web. XML can be used to movedata between computer, which contributes to the interoperability of ADO.NETwith non-Windows platform and also solves the problem in ADO 2.0 of having tomove binary (COM) files across firewalls. The following paragraph considers theimpact of these changes on the VB programmer. (McManus, P. 2003) While ADO is separate from VB, it is included here due to itbeing a common use for VB programmers. The impact of ADO.NET as part of the.NET upgrade will be to allow VB programmers to continue building front-endapplications to databases with the added facility to support many moreconcurrent users and the added flexibility of XML. This provides an opportunityfor VB 6.0 programmers to continue their professional development with familiarsyntax and programming philosophy but at the same time begin to consider objectconcepts. Another area that has seen significant change with theintroduction of the .NET framework is web programming. ASP.NET now supportsVB.NET code rather than the older model where ASP add-ons would be written inVB Script, a subset of VB 6.0. This gives the VB.NET programmer access to allof the features of the language when running server-side applications. Additionally, VB.NET can be used to create Web services.These are class libraries that can be access via a Remote Procedure Call (RPC).The VB.NET programmer can therefore produce SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol- an open XML compliant standard) compliant services or consume them via theInternet (WC3, 2004, Buyens, J. 2002). VB 6.0 has been around for six years and VB since 1991. Itis arguably the worlds most popular programming language. There is therefore asubstantial volume of VB 6.0 code in use today. VB will continue withoutsupport for some years hence but Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade toVB.NET. Part of Microsofts strategy to facilitate this upgrade is theprovision of a code conversion tool within the VB.NET IDE. Microsoft claimsthat 95% of code will upgrade without difficulty and for that which does notthey have provided a simple to use tagging system with dynamic help to allowthe programmer to refactor the code quickly. The issues raised by the code convertermay be trivial type conversion issues or non-trivial issues such as connectingto legacy COM files. The code converter assumes that the VB 6.0 programmer isready to work in the OO paradigm and leads to an oversimplified view ofconversio (Piquet, L. 2002). While the automated code converter is a useful tool forquickly arriving at code that will build and run, it does not address issuessuch as the refactoring required to make the original source comply with theprinciples of object orientated design, the extensive retesting of working(possibly mission critical) code that would be required before substitutioncould occur or the extensive retraining program required for VB 6.0 programmerswithout wider language exposure to be confident in using VB.NET (MSDN, 2005b). Conclusion For the purposes of this discussion VB 6.0 programmers arecategorised into the following groups; formally trained (Computer Sciencegraduates), work based trained (other graduates/non graduates using VB 6.0 in aprofessional context). For formally trained graduates in CS then the changes inVB.NET may not be significant. CS graduates are likely to be aware of ObjectOrientation and have had exposure to a variety of programming languages. Theseprogrammers are more likely to view VB as a tool and be using it for what it isbest suited for i.e. prototyping in RAD projects and building desktopfront-ends to other more powerful applications (e.g. databases). For the second class of programmers with exposure only to VB6.0 there will one of two reactions. Some will see the enhancement to thefunctionality in VB.NET as an opportunity to develop new skills, to integratemore effectively into project teams and to take on more responsibility withinprojects. Others may see the added complexity and conceptual jump to OO asbarriers to productivity, progression and job security. Microsoft has committed to the .NET framework and looks setto make object orientation the dominant programming paradigm for theforeseeable future. The impact of VB.NET on the VB 6.0 programmer will besignificant in the medium to long term. RAD will continue to be a widely useddesign methodology and VB.NET programmers with an understanding of OO will havea valuable skill set in rapid prototyping. Microsoft is expecting the marketfor Web services to undergo significant growth. VB.NET will remain a strongcontender for developing web applications and database front ends on thedesktop. The future of a VB 6.0 programmer is as any other programmerin their ability to adapt to new programming paradigm, learn new skills andfind new opportunities, so the impact of .NET will depend ultimately on whetherthe programmer sees opportunities or barriers. References and Bibliography AddressOf.com (2003) Timeline: BASIC to Visual Basic .NEThttp://addressof.com/blog/articles/VBTimeline.aspx(accessed 26/04/05) Buyens, J. (2002), Web Database Development Step by Step,Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington Deitel, H.; Deitel, P. and Nieto, T., (1999), VisualBasic 6 How To Program, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Deitel, H.; Deitel, P. and Nieto, T., (2002) Visual Basic.NET How To Program, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, Upper SaddleRiver, New Jersey Horstmann, C. and Cornell, G. (2001) Core Java Volume 1 -Fundamentals, Sun Microsystems, Palo Alto, California Jacobson, M. A History of Basic, http://www.softexsolutions.com/crc/programming/historyOfBasic.doc(accessed 26/040/05) Jones, P. (2003), Visual Basic .NET A Complete Object-OrientedProgramming Course Including Unified Modelling Language (UML), Continuum,York Road, London Mack, G. (2004), The History of Visual Basic and BASIC onthe PC, http://dc37.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/compsci/gmack/info/VBHistory.htm(accessed 26/04/05) McManus, P. and Goldstein, J., (2003), Database Accesswith Visual Basic .NET 3rd edition, Addison-Wesley, Boston MSDN (2005a) Overview of the .NET framework, http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpovrintroductiontonetframeworksdk.asp(accessed 27/04/05) MSDN (2005b) Migrating, http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/using/migrating/default.aspx(accessed 27/04/05) Piquet, L. (2002), Abandoning the Fantasy of VB MigrationWizardry, http://www.devx.com/vb/article/16822(accessed 27/04/05) WC3 (2003), SOAP Version 1.2, http://www.w3.org/TR/soap12-part1/(accessed 27/04/05) (2005) A Petition For TheDevelopment Of Unmanaged Visual Basic And Visual Basic For Applications, http://classicvb.org/petition/(accessed 27/04/05)

A Greatly Troubled System - School :: essays research papers

The formal education system used in today’s schools is greatly troubled indeed. We are oblivious to the hundreds of thousands of students oppressed by tyranny that encapsulates our schooling system. From homework and grades to the progression of school; schools need changes. This system stands waiting, while the talents of many young men and women are exposed to a backward system with hypocritical framework. One of the many examples is the policy of homework. It seems that this tends to be abused to give students mere busy work, while students in their free time should be relaxing, and doing activities they enjoy. Yet another flaw among the many, is the grading methods used today. Afterall, a letter or percentile could never fully represent a human being’s interpretations, with many positive and negative sides and emotions. These "judgements† tend to cause for great stress and are in effective. Finally the last point to be stated in this essay (seeing as if all the points were stated this would turn into a novel and not an essay) is the matter of the pace of school and specialization in courses. Courses should be more varied and options given as well as changing the pace and time of school. Plain and simple; a more flexible form of education would prove to benefit everyone. With greater specialization, the learning process can become quicker, more efficient and less tedious. In the following paragraphs the points stated above will be further stressed. The concept of homework in our formal education is wide spread propaganda. This highly unconstitutional form of schooling tends to be more busy work under the much repeated cover of ‘reinforcing subjects learned.’ This disguise has flailed for years but the truth shall soon be found. Homework crowds the free time of students; free time that should be used to do other productive activities. Homework causes much stress to students which leads to the deterioration of interest in learning and eventually all hatred of anything school related. As Mark Twain so beautifully put it, "Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education.† This quote referring to the fact that experience in life can be gained outside of school in great abundance and proves the production of a much better education than that of sitting in a class-room scribbling characters onto paper. With a slightly longer and more efficient school day, time could be optimized and homework could be abolished in its entirety. A true balance of work and play could be formed leading to a bounteous and supreme education. The formal education system could be incredibly more productive and beneficial if our system of merit was modified.

gatjay Failure of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald :: Great Gatsby Essays

Failure of Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby A society naturally breaks up into various social groups over time. Members of lower statuses constantly suppose that their problems will be resolved if they gain enough wealth to reach the upper class. Many interpret the American Dream as being this passage to high social status and, once reaching that point, not having to concern about money at all. Though, the American Dream involves more than the social and economic standings of an individual. The dream involves attaining a balance between the spiritual strength and the physical strength of an individual. Jay Gatsby, of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, fails to reach his ultimate dream of love for Daisy in that he chooses to pursue it by engaging in a lifestyle of high class. Gatsby realizes that life of the high class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activ ity as his only path to being rich. His need for money had become so great that he "was in the drug business" (Fitzgerald 95). Furthermore, he lies to Nick about his past in order to cover up his criminal activity. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby enters a world where money takes precedence over moral integrity. Materialism has already overshadowed a portion of his spiritual side. A quest for true love is doomed for failure in the presence of immorality. Once wealth has taken priority over integrity, members of the high social class focus on immediate indulgences, rather than on long-term pleasures of life such as love.

Lab Report Essay

As part of my module Nip1002 I was required to perform a set of observational skills which included; pulse, blood pressure, respirations, hand washing and urinalysis and then compare them to previous results. In this lab report I am going to discuss blood pressure in detail. Procedure * Explain the procedure to the patient and gain consent * Wash hands thoroughly following the hand wash technique to prevent the transfer of bacteria * Clean equipment e.g. blood pressure cuff and stethoscope using antibacterial wipes * Ensure the patient is comfortable and has been resting for 10 minutes * Remove tight clothing and support the arm at heart level, overestimation or underestimation can occur if it is not at the appropriate level * Ensure you have the correct cuff size for the patient or this could give an inaccurate reading * Locate the brachial artery and apply the cuff * Estimate the systolic pressure by using the radial pulse and inflate the cuff until the pulse cannot be felt. This is important to provide an estimation and avoids error in reading. * To take the patient’s blood pressure use a stethoscope and place on the brachial artery pulse and inflate 20-30 mmHg higher than the estimated systolic pulse * Immediately release the pressure using the thumb valve at approximately 2mmHg per second. If it is deflated too rapidly you may not hear the sounds accurately * The systolic pressure is the level when clear tapping sounds first appear and the diastolic pressure is the level when the sounds disappear * Record the measurements on an observation chart and compare the previous results as this will allow changes in the patient’s condition to be monitored appropriately (see appendix 3) * Remove the cuff and explain the reading to the patient * Clean all equipment and wash hands again to prevent cross infection (Glasper, Richardson; McEwing, 2009, p.168 & 169) Discussion The heart is located in the centre of the chest and is protected by the rib cage. The heart receives oxygenated blood from the lungs through the pulmonary veins. It then goes to the left atrium, to the left ventricle, to the ascending aorta and is pumped around the body. The superior and inferior vena cava delivers de-oxygenated blood to the right atrium from the body. (See appendix 1) It then goes to the right ventricle, pumps through to the pulmonary trunk to the right and left arteries and then to the lungs. (Tortora and Derrickson, 2011, Chapter20) Blood pressure is the force exerted by the blood on the walls of blood vessels and this should be at a certain level to ensure that the body is functioning correctly. Blood pressure varies from person to person but the normal reading for a healthy adult is around 120/80. (BPA 2008) The top number is called systolic blood pressure and is the highest pressure attained in arteries during systole. The bottom number is called diastolic blood pressure and is the lowest arterial pressure attained during diastole. (Tortora and Derrickson, 2011, p.814) The blood pressure reading that I got on my patient was 120/90 this was slightly higher from the previous readings which were 90/50 and 90/60. Although this reading is slightly high I would not consider it to be a case of hypertension. Hypertension is when your blood pressure readings consistently show readings of 140/90 mmHg. (NHS, 2010) A persons chances of having hypertension are raised due to a number of factors; age, weight, family history and diet. Hypertension creates a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes. ((Glasper, Richardson; McEwing, 2009, p.170) Reflection I am going to use Gibbs (Glasper; Richardson, 2011, p.xix) reflective cycle (see appendix 2) to analyse my reflection. I did a set of observations which included; pulse, respirations, blood pressure, hand washing and urinalysis. When I was doing the observations I was very nervous and I was aware that I was being evaluated which made me feel stressed. Overall I think I did well in the exam because I remembered all the steps and got it done in the time limit. I felt I could have done better if I wasn’t as nervous, as I feel this affected my skills technique. Looking back on the exam I think I was lacking in communication skills as I did not talk to the patient enough. In conclusion it is important that all vital signs are monitored as this can be one of the first indications that a patient is deteriorating. Blood pressure is one of the most important physiological measurements used to diagnose a patient’s condition. References BPA (2008) what is normal blood pressure? [online]. BPA. Available from: http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Thebasics/Whatisnormal [Accessed 27th July 2012] Glasper, A. Mcewing, G. and Richardson, J., (2009). ‘Introduction’ in Glasper, A, Mcewing G, and Richardson., Foundation studies for caring. Palgrave McMillan, pxix Glasper, A. Mcewing, G. and Richardson, J., (2009). ‘skills for physiological assessment’ in Glasper, A, Mcewing G, and Richardson., Foundation skills for caring. Palgrave McMillan, p168 & p169 Glasper, A. Mcewing, G. and Richardson, J., (2009). ‘skills for physiological assessment’ in Glasper, A, Mcewing G, and Richardson., Foundation skills for caring. Palgrave McMillan, p170 NHS (2011) High blood pressure: hypertension. [online]. NHS. Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Blood-pressure-(high)/Pages/Introduction.aspx [Accessed 5th of August 2012) Tortora, G, and Derrickson, B,. (2011). ‘The cardiov ascular system: Blood vessels and hemodynamics’. In Tortora, G and Derrickson, B., Principles of Anatomy and Physiology: Maintenance and continuity of the human body’ (13th edit) Wiley. p814. Tortora, G, and Derrickson, B,. (2011). ‘The cardiovascular system: The Heart’. In Tortora, G and Derrickson, B., Principles of Anatomy and Physiology: Maintenance and continuity of the human body’ (13th edit) Wiley. Chapter 20. Appendix 1

Party influence in Congress Essay

The decline of party strength and influence began in the 19th century, partly due to the growth of the federal government under FDR whose ‘New Deal’ establishment served to undermine traditional social functions once carried out by party machines, thus weakening party loyalty. In the 1960’s and 1970s new issues such as civil rights, feminism, environmentalism and consumer rights arose to challenge traditional voting habits. These issues did not divide neatly along party lines and more voters indulged in â€Å"ticket-splitting† (voting for different parties in different elections). Partly in response to these trends, the parties themselves began to question their own policies and challenge their leaders. In Congress, reforms democratized or ‘opened up’ selection procedures to broader participation. Senior members found themselves surrendering committee chairmanships to unknown newcomers. Whips found it harder to enforce party discipline and junior members increasingly pursued their own personal projects to gain media attention and impress their constituency voters. Congress members have much to gain, in publicity and in tangible rewards (grants for their constituencies) from unpredictable behavior. The effect upon presidential influence in Congress has been destructive. President Carter struggled to pass bills through a House and Senate controlled by his own party. President Reagan’s early successes were largely due to Democrat ‘Boll Weevil’ defections. President Clinton has likewise been unable to rely upon solid party support, particularly for his anti-crime legislation and Healthcare Reform bill. Congress has been split by the new individualism of its members. The rise of the primary in presidential selection was another method used to ‘open up’ the political system and weaken party influence. Primaries allow voters a direct say in the choice of the party’s standard bearer in the presidential election. However, they enable candidates to hijack the party nomination for president by assembling teams of consultants, lawyers, financiers and media advisers, many of whom have no party affiliation and no loyalty or goal beyond the victory of their chosen leader. The victorious candidates sometimes lack any experience of government at the national  level. Modern presidents, facing a fragmented Congress, aggressive pressure groups and a skeptical media, cannot afford the luxury of limited experience. Unfortunately, the modern election system tends to favor those candidates who are effective campaigners rather than those who may be effective administrators. Given these difficulties, it is not surprising that recent Presidents have appeared to struggle. The cement of practical experience, party loyalty and common cause is too often thin or nonexistent at both ends.

Analysis of Act 1 Scene 1 of Measure for Measure

Act 1 Scene 1 at its most basic interpretation is encircling the thoughts and actions of three characters; the Duke, Escalus and Angelo. The reader observes the Duke of Vienna telling Escalus, an his advisor, that he is leaving the city and would like to leave Angelo in his place. Escalus agrees with the Duke's choice and Angelo is summoned. Angelo appears surprised and slightly reluctant of the Dukes offer but accepts it readily. However if the reader decides to prove deeper inside the scene, it becomes clear that the seemingly simple interpretation above conceals a more complex scenarios. Firstly the scene is set the city of Vienna in approximately 1604, the reader is made aware it is Vienna when Escalus states, ‘if any in Vienna†¦'The reader is left to wonder whether the play is set in Vienna because of it beautiful historic acitchecture or it dazzling surrounding. Or if perhaps there is a more fundamental reason such as the plays context, whether for instance the themes running rife throughout the play are so diverse and unconventional for its time, that Shakespeare feared situating it in more familiar surroundings such as England. These imminent revelations help to captivate and develop the curiosity of the reader. The language used in measure of measure is Elizabethan, formal and conventional of its time. The play is composed of words such ‘t'affect' and ‘y' are' which were frequently used during that period. The play is constructed within iambic pentameter are subsequently blank verses. The fact that the verses do not rhyme may indicate to the reader, the sincerity of the issues stirring inside the play. As in most plays, the characters within it help guide the play through its stages. Measure for Measure is not an exception. The Duke appears to be an intelligent and sensitive man who cares about the welfare of his citizens, this is emphasised utters statements such as ‘The nature of our people, Our city's institutions, and the terms For common justice†¦' and ‘ I love the people' although he seems to be dismayed by the by the decay in his city and wishes to reform it. The Duke speaks with formal, somewhat legalistic language of a ruling, noble figure. He uses the royal ‘we' and regards the citizens of Vienna â€Å"our people,† the city is â€Å"our city†. Again demonstrating his status as well as his care for his citizens. His diction is quite elegant in some places; he makes use of alliteration, stating that with his â€Å"special soul† he has chosen Angelo. The Duke also uses paradoxical terms that convey the duties of a ruler; he says he will lend Angelo both his â€Å"terror† and his â€Å"love† to rule with, showing how a ruler must be authoritarian, yet caring for his subjects. This causes the reader to ponder just why he is leaving and what drives the urgency. The Duke seems to confide earnestly in Escalus his advisor. Escalus seems to genuinely respect and look up to the Duke, along with a strong fondness towards Duke. The reader becomes increasingly aware of this throughout the scene. A classic example is when Escalus chimes ‘I'll wait upon your honour' just before the Duke's departure. As a result the reader is not sure whether Escalus agreed with the Duke's choice because of his fondness for the Duke or if hemade an objective decision and agreed. The puzzling issue is likely to befriend the reader and subsequently encourage them to read on. The reader is made aware that Escalus is an intelligent man, when to the Duke reports to Escalus, ‘since I know your own science exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice my strength can give you. Then no remains but that, to sufficiently, as your worth is able'. The reader is left to wander how substantial Escalus's role will be in the remainder of the play. Lastly we are introduced to Lord Angelo. The Duke and Escalus both seem to be immensely confident in Angelo's capabilities. Highlighted with phrases such as when Escalus states ‘ if any in Vienna be worth to undergo such ample grace and honour it is Lord Angelo' and when the Duke states to Angelo that: ‘There is a kind of character in thy life that to the' observer doth thy history fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings are not thine own so proper as to waste thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee'. Angelo is portrayed as a young trustworthy, righteous able man. However he although he does accept the offer humbly he does express reluctantly and concern as times. For example when he pleads, ‘let there be some more test made of my mental before so noble and so great a figure be stamped upon it'. The reader cold possibly perceive this as warning to his behaviour in the rest of the pay. Angelo's righteous appearance subtley disturbs the reader; the reader is subsequen tly left to ponder whether there is something sinister under this loveable exterior. The imagery of a coin could possibly signify Angelo becoming corrupt and obsessed with money. After the reader's brief introduction to the setting, chracteters and subsequent situation the scene leaves the audience crying what next. As although it is a short scene the reader is overwhelmed with a variety of themes and potentialities. Such as the Dukes intentions. For instance why this imminent departure? Also the reason for the portayl of Angelo is it possibly to contradict his behaviour within the rest of the play. The scene could also be a breeding ground for lots of themes for instance, how power can curopt or how responsibility is handled. To summarise although Act 1 scene 1 appears docile in appearance, the volcano is bubbling with possible revelations waiting to erupt, possibly mirroring the potential pattern for the rest of the play.

Chinese Cinderella Essay

The most persuasive and intriguing aspect of an author’s stylistic choices are within the schemes, tropes, diction and syntax. Adeline Yen Mah, author of Chinese Cinderella, paints an authentic picture of her childhood in twentieth-century China; Mah’s childhood, fraught with painful memories and bad luck, accentuates her strength and courage and ultimate triumph over despair. Mah’s stylistic choices and appeal to pathos aggrandizes the overall effectiveness of her book, Chinese Cinderella. A worldwide bestseller that has been translated into eighteen different languages, Chinese Cinderella has a wide, varied audience. The style and effectiveness are heavily dependent on the writer’s diction; Mah carefully chooses words that convey the quiet tragicness of her situation and the cultural aspect. One of the most predominant aspect of the Chinese culture is the names- Mah could write about her grandmother, grandmother and stepmother, but instead chose instead to write about her Ye Ye, Nai Nai and Niang. Choosing to write using the Chinese words creates a compelling, permeating story: â€Å"Besides Father and Niang, we lived without Grandfather Ye Ye, Grandmother Nai Nai and Aunt Baba in a big house in the French concession of Tianjin, a port city on the northeast coast of China† (Mah 5). Removing the names disturbs the authenticity of the piece and upsets the overall meaning; so much of the story is derived from the culture and time period. Culture is a significant element in the writing, but Adeline Yen Mah’s personal experience is the most essential aspect. Mah begins as a young Chinese girl growing up in Shanghai. Mah utilizes syntax to convey the juvenile tone; simply constructed sentences create a childish perspective while maintaining an intelligent insight: â€Å"Next day, there was a grand funeral. Nai Nai’s coffin was draped with white sheets and placed on a hearse pulled by four men. We all dressed in white robes with white headbands for the boys and white ribbons for the girls† (Mah 20). While describing scenes and occasions so simply may seem less interesting, the simple, clean sentences actually paint a clear image in one’s mind. The strong, clean sentences keep the story from seeming too pitiful- Mah does not need verbiage to write well. If excessively descriptive, long sentences are employed the effectiveness of the writing would decrease, â€Å"Later, I saw Big Sister and Niang walking toward the balcony and talking privately just before she and Samuel left for their honeymoon. Was she able to explain it all away? I hoped so. I only wished I could have helped her more† (Mah 89). Straightforward observations create an innocent perspective. Verbiage would hinder her child-like persona- if she writes to sound like the settled, distinguished writer and doctor she is, her novel, in which she is a young Chinese girl, would be considerably less qualified. Through the syntax and diction, Mah appeals to her most compelling appeal, emotion. Her story is tragic- an unloved daughter, Mah suffers cosmic misfortune after cosmic misfortune. Syntax provides the youthful insight, diction provides the cultural aspect, and Mah’s life provides the emotionally evocative story, â€Å"Though a fascinating variation on the classic Cinderella story, with a monstrously hateful villain and a smart, plucky heroine, the book is also rife with simplistic caricatures and shallow melodrama. Yet the daily contempt Yen Mah encountered as a child often touches the heart† (Cruz). Mah eloquently details the tragic events of her past, and as a result, appeals to pathos strongly throughout the entire book. Mah’s stylistic choices and appeal to pathos aggrandizes the overall effectiveness of her book, Chinese Cinderella. The appeal to pathos is the greatest weapon in Mah’s arsenal, and she uses diction and syntax as her bullets. Strong, simple sentences and poignant, culturally related diction â€Å"Verges on soap-opera theatrics, Yen Mah remains true to her sympathetic nature† (Cruz). The elegance and skill of Mah are evident in her writing.

Helpful and intelligent Essay

From his hovel, the monster notices a nearby cottage occupied by the De Lacey family. He observes them cautiously from a safe distance as he now recognises man’s potential to be cruel. This shows us again that the monster is constantly developing, and experiencing a variety of different emotions, such as love. Love is portrayed in ‘Frankenstein’ after he watches the daily routine of the De Lacey’s (through a small gap in the wooden panes, previous to where the window was. This is a sign that they were not very wealthy). He discovers the sound of music through the old, blind man playing his recorder. This enchants him and he begins to admire this family. After this point his mixed emotions are so strong when watching Agathe and the old man, so strong that he cannot bear to watch the family anymore. (the music touched his heart and he felt a mixture of both pain and pleasure with love) He gradually learns more about them and increases his intelligence while doing so. He knows that they live in poverty and so his admiration grows for them, also for their wonderful appearance, as he is unaware of ugliness and deformity. He shows a caring side of himself when he became devoted to help the De Lacey’s by cutting wood. ‘This monster’ becomes generous, helpful and intelligent. He also decided to ‘satisfy himself with berries, nuts and roots’ instead of eating tastier food that they ate. This implies that this so called brute was also thoughtful. The monster’s narrative tells us that he is determined character who would do anything to belong, he attempted to learn the English language to hopefully reason with the De Lacey’s and make them realise that he wasn’t a wretched evil brute but a kind-hearted being. He was doing well until he saw his reflection in a pool of water. This part of the story (Chapter 12, page 109) is significant in tracing the change of his character because he was mortified with his appearance and became miserable. He now knew entirely why he was hated in the previous village; it was for his monstrous, alien appearance. He became aware of all the racial prejudice in the world and realised that this was the source of all his problems. Knowing this made the monster bitter at man, however he still thought of the De Lacey family as wonderful and still he wanted ‘to restore happiness to these deserving people’.  Other experiences the monster undergoes during Chapter 12 are his first realisations of the four seasons. This happens when he found that different flowers grew at different times of the year. This is another example of his developing intelligence. The next vital point in the development and change of the monster is the arrival of Safie, an Arabian woman not knowing the English language. This immensely profited him because during Safie’s stay with the De Lacey’s she began to take lessons to speak English. The monster therefore also learned the language at a rapid pace. Also in Chapter 13 we see a very sensitive side of the Monster when he is describing the nature surrounding him. (‘innumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods’) While Safie remains in the De Lacey household the monster begins to learn more about human nature, especially involving the love between a man (Felix) and a woman (Safie). He could not believe the ecstatic joy that Felix was in when meeting Safie, when before he seemed to be so miserable. He realises that they were both ‘affected by different feelings’, Felix by the way ‘his cheeks flushed with pleasure’ and Safie by how she ‘wiped tears from her lovely eyes.’ The monster observes more involving human nature when he heard ‘of the difference of sexes and the birth and growth of children’, he also heard of the different relationships between humans such as mother, father, brother and sister. This is the first stage of his life when he asks himself, ‘where are my friends and relations?’ To his recollection he has had no one to care for him and remembers nothing before his first account in his narrative story. He genuinely questions what and who he is and so again we feel sympathy. The monster emotionally develops from what he learns of human nature, this occurs when Safie sings to Agatha and the old man. This deeply moves him as her voice ‘at once brought tears of delight and joy from his eyes.’ He described the music as ‘a rich cadence, swelling or dying away like a nightingale of the woods’.’ His reaction to her singing again brings out his sensitivity.  The monster while constantly developing his knowledge of English, (now with the help of Safie’s lessons) still longs companionship with the De Lacey’s. He feels that he needs to be part of this ‘wonderful family.’ Although he understands that he has been previously rejected and seen as an ‘ugly wretch’, he believes that the power of language can overcome the deformity of his face. However much he hopes that he will be accepted, he still remains conscious of his previous encounters with man. The monster remains fearful of how the De Lacey’s’ will react to him.  The next part of the monster’s narrative (Chapter 14) relates little to himself but his knowledge increases of the De Lacey’s history, before they moved to Germany. The monster discovered such information from several letters written from Safie to Felix. Here we find that he has learnt more skills, the skills to read and write. The monster later decides to copy these letters himself to bring truth to his tale, for Victor Frankenstein. From these letters we learn an awful lot about the De Lacey’s, such as that previously they led wealthy lifestyles in Paris. He learnt that their wealth was lost when a Turkish merchant was condemned to death for becoming obnoxious towards the French government. This affected the De Lacey’s because Felix vowed to help the Turk escape and did so. (In return he was offered a reward but he declined; however he agreed to marry the merchants daughter, Safie) When learning from the De Lacey’s he also confirmed the relationship between the family. The old man is known as De Lacey and is father to Felix and Agatha. It was of course illegal to do this and so this resulted in the De Lacey’s being exiled. Knowing all this improved the monsters understanding of why the De Lacey’s seemed so unhappy and he now fully realised the poverty they were in.