Discussion Post Essay

New Format Requested this week While the format is to be changed thisweek, you are still required to make 3 postings; one original post and comment on two other student’s post. ORIGINAL POST REQUIREMENTS: You are to apply the major topics covered in the course (finance/accounting, economics, marketing) to your company and provide an â€Å"analyst’s report†. 1) (Apply Marketing techniques to:) create an interesting, unique or otherwise attractive catch line (humor works great for me! ) as your post title. Make a recommendation (can be here AND in your subject line) (some of you may not feel you have enough â€Å"experience† where your opinion (i. e. , recommendation) is â€Å"worth something in this world†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. however note, you may have more experience NOW than some analysts at major investment banking houses! (scary I know! )) 3)(Use your corporate report to:) provide certain and specific quantitative analysis of your company. DON†T repeat your entire report†¦. but provide highlights†¦.. as some examples: Net Income rose 20% from 2008-2011 to $1. 35 billion Expenses dropped†¦.  by 15% Shareholder equity (highlights mean â€Å"outlyers† of data†¦.. especially NEGATIVE information 4) (Use some economics learned†¦. predict macro and micro â€Å"futures†)†¦.. describe what Macro world events have affected your company (global eco slow-down†¦. price of oil) †¦.. even micro events (consumption among consumers w as down due to†¦. )provide sensitivities for world events on your corporation and how it will affect that company’s future activities. Provide predictions about future macro economic events and how your company will react going forward. The Network & Space Systems segment is engaged in the research, development, production and modification of products and services to assist its customers in transforming their operations through network integration, information, intelligence and surveillance systems, communication, architectures and space exploration. The Global Services & Support segment is engaged in the operations, maintenance, training, upgrades and logistics support functions for military platforms and operations. The Boeing Capital Corporation segment facilitates, arranges structures and provides selective financing solutions for its commercial airplanes customers. In the space and defense markets, it primarily arranges and structures financing solutions for its Boeing Defense, Space & Security government customers. Its portfolio consists of equipment under operating leases, finance leases, notes and other receivables, assets held for sale or re-lease and investments. The company was founded by William Edward Boeing in 1916 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL. http://www. marketwatch. com/investing/stock/ba/profile 2) The Boeing Company has a long history of providing complex systems and integrated assembly’s to its customers. 3) The Boeing Company is headquartered in Chicago IL. In 1997 Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merged to form what is the Boeing Company of today. This was approximately 1 year after Boeing acquired Rockwell Corporations Space and Defense division. The company has over 249 subsidiaries. The largest competitor on the commercial side is Airbus a division of EDS and the largest competitor on the Defense, Space and Security side is Lockheed Martin with many other companies lining up for second place. In order for Boeing to maintain it’s market share the company has had to continually research and develop new products in both major business units. Notes for special consideration† 1. Cash and cash equivalents increased from $5,359 billion to $10,049 billion from 2010 to 2011 2. Retained Earnings rose from $24,784 billion to $27,524 billion during the period of 2010 to 2011 3. Net Earnings rose from $1.3 billion in 2009 to $4. 02 billion in 2011 4) Boeing is a company that is always going to be challenged. The challengers for the Defense, Space and Security market typically have come from within the US but that is starting to change. EADS which is the largest defense business in Europe is continually trying to enter US ma rkets. Also Airbus which is a subsidiary of EADS is the most prominent competitor in the commercial segment but many countries such as Japan, China, Brazil and Canada are working very hard to position themselves as challengers to the commercial market. This will be a challenge for Boeing and Airbus for the next several decades. Commercial airline customers and airlines will continue to demand enhancements and improvements to the commercial airplanes and the service / cost associated with the. This will continue to drive performance by the manufacturers including Boeing which is the industry leader. The US government acquisition may decline depending on the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections. Boeing and it’s competitors in those markets will look toward no US markets to sell their products. Continued increase in energy and material cost will drive Boeings focus on keeping costs down. 5) Research and development are the single most important factor in keeping Boeing relevant for the future. Research and development expense amounted to $3. 9 billion, $4. 1 billion and $6.5 billion in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. In 2009 this included $2. 7 billion alone for the new 787 commercial aircraft. Research and development costs also include bid and proposal efforts related to governme nt products and services, as well as costs incurred in excess of amounts estimated to be recoverable under cost sharing research and development agreements. Bid and proposal costs were $332 million, $355 million and $343 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009 respectively. R&D within the Defense, Space and Security business unit is primarily focused on supporting customer requirements and providing new technologies to meet the needs of military, security and space agencies.

Human Resources Management in Business Essay

Human resources department is a part of business that deals with its staff. The department is seen as part of strategic management, in the effort to achieve the goals of the business, and is crucial to the business’s success. Some of the human resources department’s responsibilities include recruitment, retention, selection, job enlargement/enrichment, motivation and leadership, job role allocations, training, and payroll appraisals. The department’s decisions are influenced by, however, internal issues for workforce planning. One of the issues could be the cost of its operations. The business would want to minimize cost, so any decisions made by Human resources should be cost-effective. Another issue could be the company’s business strategy, for example when the company want to expand, the Human resources department would have to recruit more employees; if the company wants to cut costs and increase profit, the department would have to consider reducing the number of staff. It is also responsible for training current employees for any new equipments. There are also external factors that affect how workforce planning is carried out. These external factors include government actions that affect the business environment. For example, the government can impose new minimum wages that would increase the Human resources department’s spending on wages payment. The education situation of the country can also affect Human resources, as education is the means that workers gain their skills; without proper education, Human resources wouldn’t be able to recruit highly skilled workers without paying large salaries or recruit foreign nationals. An important external factor is the economic situation of the economy. If unemployment rates are high, Human resources would be able to recruit new employees much easier and cheaper than when the economy is in boom, which makes labour more expensive. The age ranges of the labour force can affect Human resources decisions, since they don’t want to recruit too old of employees who are going to retire soon. The business often want more young employees who can potentially contribute to the company for a long period of time, and can also be more innovative. Another external factor is technology advancements, as this may result in the introduction of new equipments into the company. The Human resources department would then have to organise training for their current staff to enable them to work with the newly acquired machineries. There are many benefits to Human Resources planning. One of the most important purpose of the Human Resources department is to motivate staff. This can be done by means of promotions, training, and rewards. Another benefit is that Human Resources help import important skills into the business through the process of recruitment. Human Resources would compose a recruitment process that selects the right people for the business. Without a Human Resources department, a firm cannot efficiently recruit employees that they need. Also, the department helps the business plan the right number of workers. They make sure that there are no redundancy or shortages of labour in the company, and if there is any, Human Resources would fix this either by cutting or recruiting staff. Human Resources department also ensures smooth operations in regards to labour management. This means they make sure that employees arrive when they are needed, and are allocated to the right tasks, and that each workers know their role within the business. In addition, they resolve whatever arguments that may arise between the workers and company management, making sure that the employees are clear of company regulations, and that management are clear of their workers’ conditions. Finally, the Human Resources department ensures that no laws are broken in regards to labour employment. For example, the recruitment process must not violate discrimination laws. All necessary laws are briefed to staff to ensure no illegal activities are conducted within the company. Before selecting staff for any position, key skills needed for that particular job need to be identified, creating a list of criteria for candidate selection. British Sugar is one of the largest provider of sugar products in the UK. Their Human Resources department has been directed to recruit three new production managers, as part of the company’s expansion project in China. The Human Resources department has identified the key skills for a potential production manager: Confidence: the manager needs to be confident in handling large responsibilities, whether it be meeting production deadlines, ensuring worker safety etc. They need confidence to be able to make decisive actions, taking the initiative without too much dependence on higher directives. As they direct the production process, confidence is also needed for negotiating with suppliers, making the best deals for the factory. Technical skills: a production manager has to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the production technology of their factory, to be able to understand and resolve technical problems should they arise. Technical knowledge of a manager does not have to be detailed, but must be sufficient to issue correct directives to the factory’s engineer force. High technical skills is preferred, as the manager will be more likely to be innovative in improving production methods of the firm. Communication skills: a good production manager is able to communicate to all different divisions of the company. They are quick to absorb information from different levels of the company, whether it be top management or floor workers, and then provide quick and effective feedback. Communication skills are crucial in a manager, as it helps him ensure the coordination between different elements of the company. Problem-solving skills: the production manager should be able to independently deal with problems within their factory. They will be extremely resourceful in coordinating factory or company-level efforts to solve problems. This requires an intelligent person that can improvise upon their resources to damage-control and reverse the problem and put the factory back onto its original course. Motivating staff is an important part of company operation, as it ensure the employees do their best and be productive while working for the company. There is a variety of reasons why employees would want to work harder in their working environment. Such reasons could be money, bonuses, power, working with friends, social aspects of work, the need to provide for family, promotion, team work, and promotion. Frederick Taylor’s theory of motivation simply stated that all workers are worked by money. This means that in order to better motivate employees, the employer simply just has to raise their pay, and this would make them work harder. Taylor introduced the Theory of Scientific Management, which said that workers are naturally lazy and need close supervisions and control. The theory also says that managers should break down work to the simplest tasks to their employees. Workers also need adequate training and equipment to perform their simple tasks as efficiently as possible, then they would be paid according to the amount of products they had produced. The theory is often applied in mass production lines which involves repetitive tasks. Elton Mayo later introduced a new theory of motivation of his own. He believed that money is only part of the worker’s concern, and social needs are more important in motivating workers at their work place. Mayo published the Human Relation school of thought, which encourage managers to focus more on social interactions between workers. Mayo went further in his studies and conducted his own experiment at the Hawthorne factory in Chicago. From these series of experiments, he concluded that although physical conditions worsened, they do not affect the productivity of the Hawthorne workers. Instead, social factors such as better communication between workers and managers, better involvement in employees’ lives from their manager, and team work was what improved productivity levels. In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow introduced the Neo-Human Relation school of thought. This new theory focus on the employee’s psychological needs, which are structured into five different levels of needs. The theory says that once a lower level of needs is satisfied, would then the worker could be motivated by an upper level of needs. These levels of needs in lower to higher order are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation respectively. Managers also need to realise that each worker moves up this ladder at a different pace, and therefore might need different sets of incentives from worker to worker. In financial-related type of motivations, the most common motivation is salaries and wages. Salaries are what permanent employees are paid monthly or annually. Wages, on the other hand, is what is paid to workers per hour they have worked. These can motivate the employees, for the harder they work, the more they would earn. A piece rate system is when an employee is paid a fixed rate for each unit of production; In other words, they are paid by results, which motivate them to achieve better results. Commission and fees are similarly dependent on the results of the workers. Commission is a percentage of the sale revenue, and fees are fixed amounts that are earned after sale. The more the employee sells, the more commission or fees they get, motivating them to sell more. Fringe benefits are any non-wage payment or benefit such as pension plans, profit-sharing programs, vacation pay, and company-paid life, health, and unemployment insurance. Having these extra benefit with their jobs can make the employees feel more secure and work harder. Performance-related pay or pay by performance is money paid relating to how well the employee works. This would motivate them by giving them knowledge that the better they perform in their field, the better their assessment would be and the more they would be paid. Profit sharing is another way of motivating staff, it consists of a plan that gives employees a share in the profit of the company. Each employee receives a percentage of those profit based on the company’s earnings. This makes staff work harder, knowing the more their company earns, the more they would get in shared profit. Share ownership is when employees who have worked in the company for a long time are given part of the business as shares. These shares would give the employees power, and they get to take part deciding how the company is run. Other than financial motivations, there are non-financial ones that could boost motivation while costing minimal for the business. Job redesign involves restructuring the elements including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific job in order to make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees. Job enlargement is basically increasing the employees’ work load, so that they feel more responsible and work harder. Job rotation is when employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The purpose of this is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and to cross-train them. Job enrichment is a variation of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. Team work is a Cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal. Working in a team may motivate employees to do better to fulfill their part on the team. External link for employees motivating can be found here: http://www. forbes. com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/04/top-9-things-that-ultimately-motivate-employees-to-achieve/ The fundamental method which British Sugar would use to motivate their staff is to make them feel safe. Feeling safe would clear the employees’ minds from external worries, helping them to focus more on their tasks and try harder to achieve. This method would include providing their employees with adequate facilities to work in. This means that British Sugar’s factories and offices would to the most basic safety regulations such as fire safety, electrical safety, and protection from hazardous conditions inside their factories. British Sugar would also make sure that their facilities have appropriate security measures to protect employees and their possessions safe. This method of motivation is one of the most basic levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Another method that British Sugar uses is providing extra employee benefits beside their regular salaries and wages. They would give company cars for manager and directors, along with free O2 mobile phones. British Sugar also looks after their employees by providing them with free healthcare in the form of free check-ups with company nurse, eyesight tests and glasses, and subsidised scheme with AXA. Families of employees can also enjoy company benefits with provided child vouchers and team meals for spouses. British Sugar’s factory workers are also provided with free safety work wear. There are numerous other benefits that employees can enjoy working for British Sugar, which includes sports clubs, gym facilities, free parking†¦etc. A popular method of motivation from Taylor’s school of thought is recognition. British Sugar would give out tokens of appreciation and to recognise employees/teams that have made a significant contribution over and above that reasonably expected. Company managers would award their employees with vouchers, meals, bouquet of flowers, or bottles of wine to boost their work morale. Long Service Awards are given to employees with significant length of service. Annual bonuses of ? 400, ? 600, ? 800, and ? 900 are given to employees who have served 20, 30, 40, or 45 years in the company respectively. British Sugar also use chances of promotion to encourage their employees. This is a process known as internal recruitment. When a position is open, employees are often promoted to fill the position instead of recruiting new people externally. This keeps the employees motivated to work harder, knowing there are chances of future promotion. Another method of motivation used by British Sugar is performance management. Performance management is a proactive and continuous process of communicating and clarifying role responsibilities, performance expectations and priorities in order to ensure mutual understanding between managers and employees. To ensure the proper functioning of the business, British Sugar would have to maintain a high level of cooperation and satisfaction in its employees. Making employees cooperate would increase productivity, reduce labour turnover, and make sure that they can maintain the quantity and quality of work they are capable of. One of the methods of doing this is by communication. This method involves staying in touch with the staff to make sure they are updated with company information. When staff have the information that they need for their job, they will be more likely to be oriented towards their tasks, and be able to do it correctly and more efficiently. Communication with employees can be done by many means. It includes emails, which are quick, efficient, and reliable. Face-to-face communication is an important form of communication, often in the form of meetings; however it has time and distance limitations , for example a manager might not have the time to see all of his employees to talk about new policies, while he could just send them all an email. There are other methods such as telephone calls, which can be made easily over long distance or face-time technology that allows employees to communicate despite the long distance. Another way of improving employees’ cooperation and commitment in the business is making them more involved in it. In British sugar, this is know as the â€Å"quality circle†. British Sugar would engage its employees group discussions, where groups of workers meet and discuss the good and bad side of the issues that they face. The employees would try to resolve their problems together, and discuss ways to improve how they work and how the company works. This method generates a feeling of involvement, employees would feel that they are a contributing part of a team, and therefore view their work more positively and become more inclined to cooperate with other employees as well as the company managers. Clear employment contracts also help boost staff cooperation and commitment. A clear contract would have to explicitly explain the details of the job, such as explaining the roles and duties that the employee is expected to carry out, along with the hours of work required. The business would also need clearly identified procedures such as disciplinary policies or grievance policies. A clear pay structure that explains basic time as well as overtime is essential. All of these will reduce arguments in the company, enabling more efficiency and cooperation within the business. Motivational methods are a way of getting more cooperation from staff. Motivated employees would perform better while feeling better about their prospects than demotivated ones, therefore cooperating more in their work. Similarly, training and charity links should also be used to boost the morale of workers. Training would increase the employees motivation and performance, as well as charitable activities such as helping out the local community. A well-motivated workforce with high morale is more likely to cooperate with the company and to each other. The culture of the business itself will also affect how its employees cooperate. If the company has a culture of cooperation and an atmosphere of teamwork, then the employees are more likely to have more cooperation in their work. Training in a large organisation such as British Sugar is carried out extensively. An example of British Sugar’s training operation is their Graduate scheme, a scheme in which British Sugar finds apprentice in universities. The company would offer university graduates a period of vocational training, with the assurance of a job at the end of their training, in addition to have year-long job placements for engineering students. British Sugar also organises over 1000 training courses every year involves all levels from senior managers to new apprentices and our seasonal workers. The company encourages its sites to play an active role in local communities through media visits, schools activities, agricultural and environmental events. British Sugar have regular dialogues with leading and local non-government organisations. They also organise sponsorships and charitable funds, allocated to their employee fundraising activities through a â€Å"Supporting YOU to support others† programme. Measuring the workforce can be done by a number of ways. This is generally looking at the key indicators in the business’ workforce such as labour productivity, health and safety, labour turnover and absenteeism. Labour productivity is how much the workers produce in terms of goods and services per hour worked. In the business, it can be measured by looking at the efficiency of individual or teams. However, this method should be used with cation, because there are factors that could affect labour productivity such as the age of machinery, type of sector that the business is in or whether production is automated or labour-intensive. If machineries are old, they wouldn’t be able to produce as much, therefore being the cause of low labour productivity. A business in the secondary sector would be more productive than one in the tertiary sector since manufacturing makes more products than service. Similarly, a business that has automated production will be much more productive than one with labour-intensive production, since machines are able to mass produce more products than individual workers. A business can try to improve labour productivity by using motivational tools such as bonuses. Training can also be used to add productivity to workers, and business plans help staff work more efficiently. The business can also buy new equipments to improve productivity of their workers. Another measurement is health and safety. As it is one of the motivational factor, the quality of health and safety at the workplace can affect the staff. The better the health and safety standard, the better the staff will perform. The business must consider the possible causes of poor health and safety, such as poor equipment, dangerous environment and also the poor training in the matter. Labour turnover can also be used to measure a company’s workforce. Labour turnover is the proportion of staff leaving the business over a period of time, usually each year. A company can lose their staff due to de-motivation, retirement, social factors, better opportunity elsewhere ,or that the employee wants to start their won business. Staff leaving can also be involuntarily as their positions become redundant or they are fired due to performance. A high labour turnover is generally not good because it spawns many problems such as the loss of productive capacity, the costs and the time taken to recruit new staff, and the extra training and induction programmes to new employees. However, new staff can bring benefits such as introduction of new ideas to the business, or more efficient workers. Absenteeism is another measurement to the company’s workforce, as it tells managers how much their staff go on break from work. This can be a substantial problem for the business, because production output will suffer if employees are absent, projects will run into delays, and the quality of products affected due to the lack of staff. There are many other costs associated with absent staff, such as sick pay, and temporary staff pay, which is often expensive. Absenteeism also cause de-motivation in the business, as other employees will have to take the work load of the absent employees. To lower the level of absenteeism, the business can issue fines to absent staff, improve the safety of the work environment so staff would want to be at work, and improve their motivational methods. British Sugar uses a range of performance indicators to evaluate and improve their performance. SMART targets are a set of criteria that are based on the specific words: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific. These criteria are applied in the process of making goals and objectives, to maximise the business chances of obtaining them. Punctuality is the characteristic of being able to complete a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously designated time. Attendance is the frequency with which a person is present. An appraisal system, or performance management, is a proactive and continuous process of communicating and clarifying role responsibilities, performance expectations and priorities in order to ensure mutual understanding between managers and employees. It is very useful as it is both a motivational strategy and a review system where mangers can assess their employees. The appraisal system would fulfill the employees’ social and recognition needs according Maslow’ theories, motivating to work harder to achieve more and be more recognised. The system is not without flaws, however. The appraisal system can be very costly, requiring a lot of administrative work, and is time-consuming. It is also exposed to favouritism. Managers can tend to trust and praise some employees more than others, causing distrust discontentment among team members.

The Significance of Minor Characters in A&P

Minor characters are crucial to a reader’s understanding of any story. In John Updike’s short story, â€Å"A&P† this idea is very apparent. In this short story, two of the minor characters are quite important. These two minor characters are Queenie, a young women shopper and Lengel, the manager of the A&P. Qeenie and Lengel are vital minor characters, as Updike uses them for the reader’s understanding of the young adult main character, Sammy, including his personality and motivations, which provides further understanding of the story. In John Updike’s â€Å"A&P† Queenie is the lead girl if a group of girls who walk into the A&P. â€Å"She kind of led them† (17), as Updike puts it. These girls, including Queenie, are all wearing bathing suits, which at the time the story was written, was considered quite risque. Sammy refers to this girl as Queenie because as he puts it, â€Å"- and then the third one, that wasn’t so tall. â€Å"She was the queen† (17). Based on how much Sammy talks about her and the way he does it, Queenie is his favorite girl of the group. Lengel is the manager of the A&P. According to Sammy, â€Å"Lengel’s pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss much. † (19) He’s a quiet man, â€Å"as I say, he doesn’t say much† (19), but he starts the controversy that eventually leads to Sammy quitting his job. The way Sammy thinks of and talks about Queenie reveals parts of his personality and motivations. As for Lengel, the manor which Sammy interacts and when Sammy interacts with him reveals parts of Sammy’s personality and motivations, as it does with Queenie. Throughout â€Å"A&P,† Queenie and Lengel enlighten the reader’s understanding of Sammy’s personality. Queenie, as the lead girl, has Sammy’s hormones raging throughout the story and shows the reader how Sammy is quite fond of women, but also disrespectfully defaces them by analyzing every part of their body’s as pieces of meat, not as respectful young woman. Updike reveals this when Sammy refers to Queenie by saying, â€Å"She just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs† (17). Sammy also illustrates this idea when he says, â€Å"You never know how girls work (do you think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar? )† (17). The fact that Sammy is has no respect for women is undoubtedly true. Author, Patrick W. Shaw explains this in his short story criticism, â€Å"Checking Out Faith and Lust: Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ and Updike’s ‘A & P’†. Shaw states, â€Å"He punctuates his juvenile thoughts with chauvinistic asides and double entendres† (1). When Sammy talks about his manager, Lengel, he does not seem to respect him, which is another reason why Sammy is disrespectful and not only towards women. An example of this is when Lengel comes in from the outside lot, Sammy says, â€Å"is about to scuttle into that door marked manager  behind which he hides all day when the girls touch his eye† (19). For a regular employee to talk about his manager in such a way suggests that Sammy does not have much respect for Lengel. That quote also illustrates that Sammy also is a jokingly juvenile young man. The way in which Sammy talks to and about Queenie and Lengel shows very little respect. The fact that Lengel is Sammy’s boss and Queenie is a woman who he doesn’t know says to the reader, Sammy does not feel obligated to show respect for anyone, regardless of who they are or what their status is. This is another large piece of Sammy’s personality, revealed by these two minor characters. Queenie and Lengel also enlighten the reader’s understanding of Sammy’s motivations, which are to stand up to Lengel in order to be a hero to these girls. Sammy shows this after Queenie and Lengel have an altercation, regarding her and her friend’s bathing suits and how the suits aren’t appropriate attire for a food market. This leaves Queenie feeling pretty embarrassed. As Queenie leaves the store, Sammy says, â€Å"The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say, I quit to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero† (20). This is a clear example of how Queenie brings out that Sammy really sticks up for the girls as an attempt to get their attention and come across as a sort of hero to them. This reason for Sammy sticking up for the girls shows, that is his real motivation. During the same situation, Lengel also brings out Sammy’s motivation, as his words are the reason the girls feel embarrassed and leave. Lengel’s conversation with Queenie was about the girl’s attire in the store. Lengel starts by saying to the girls’, â€Å"Girls, this isn’t the beach† (19). He then explains how they should be dressed more decently in the store because it is the policy. After the girls leave and Sammy says, â€Å"I quit† (20). Lengel addresses Sammy and tells him not to do that again. Sammy still refuses; he puts his apron on the counter and walks out. When he gets outside to the lot, he is still motivated to find the girls as he says, â€Å"I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course† (20). The fact that Queenie is who Sammy sticks up for, along with the fact that Lengel is the reason Sammy feels as if he has to stick up for Queenie show Sammy motivation. This motivation is to be a sort of hero to Queenie by confronting Lengel and even quitting his job, in hopes that Queenie and her friends will recognize his efforts and appreciate him. The idea that Sammy wants to be a sort of hero to the Queenie and the girls, also is felt by Harriet Blodgett as in her critical essay in The Explicator. Blodgett writes, â€Å"Sammy plays a mythic role, too, seeing himself as the distressed damsels’ proverbial knight in shining armor† (1). In addition, in the book â€Å"John Updike Revisited†, by James A. Schiff, the idea that Sammy is a hero like character is also present. Schiff writes, â€Å"Updike’s apparent intention was to cast his protagonist heroically, via Sammy’s hope that the girls might at some point materialize† (116-117). Minor characters are a very important part of any story, as they provide a lot of information about others things such as, the main character. In John Updike’s â€Å"A&P,† this remains true. Throughout the story, two minor characters, Queenie and Lengel, reveal Sammy’s personality and motivations. Qeenie and Lengel are vital minor characters, as Updike uses them for the reader’s understanding of the main character, Sammy, including his personality and motivations, which provides further understanding of the story.

Evaluating, Narrating, and Describing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evaluating, Narrating, and Describing - Essay Example Backgrounder and Significance â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† a short story published in 1892, is about a young, upper-middle class woman who suffers depression within her marriage. Some literary critics said that this is a hyperbolic version of Gilman’s own experiences as a mother and a wife particularly after giving birth to her child in 1887 (Kurrus 68). In addition, during Queen Victoria’s reign, a woman’s role in the home was emphasized. The Queen became the icon of the ideal wife, mother, and woman. Women were expected to be content with domestic role and motherhood, and females are expected not only to fulfill such roles, but also to be entirely happy in doing so. What is interesting to note here is that the story was written over a century ago but the feminist struggle still echoes to this day. Women in the cities may experience some forms of gender equality, but women in the rural areas still live under the shadow of the gender stereotypes set by the society (Veeder 65). Any person, especially woman, who have felt oppression and inequality at some point will be able to sympathize with the story’s main character. ... y decides for almost every activity that the narrator will do, and even if she prefers the prettier but smaller room downstairs, John decides that they should stay in the upper, larger, airy room. In the short story, it is obvious that the narrator does not have any voice in the marriage, and she is expected to obey everything that her husband says. John, the narrator’s brother who is also a doctor, and the other family members also discourage the narrator from writing --- an activity she truly likes. Analysis Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story is laden with irony. Irony is a literary device that utilizes words to deliver different meanings that are usually contrasting each other. This literary device is used to convey the real setting of the short story. At several points in the story, the narrator uses dramatic and verbal irony to refer to her condition, the surroundings, her husband, and their marriage. Taken at face value, the setting of the story looks ideal: t he narrator marries a doctor, stays in a large summer estate with her husband, has a husband who dotes on her, a nanny to take of the newborn, and a sister-in-law who helps in the house chores. The irony in the story, however, emphasizes that these facades are not as ideal as the true setting that they cover. For example, the narrator marries a doctor and she is declared to have a temporary nervous depression. It may look ideal that her comfort is being taken cared for, but on the lines: John is a physician, and PERHAPS--(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)--PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster. (p.1) one would immediately realize that there is something wrong in how she is being treated of her medical condition. Another

How would you account fro the rise of fidel castro Essay

How would you account fro the rise of fidel castro - Essay Example Fulgencio Batista’s government which seized power illegally in 1952 was corrupt and unstable. This form of writing pieces together what might have driven Fidel Castro’s rise to power at the age of 30.Fidel Castro introduced the first communist state in the western hemisphere after a successful overthrow of Fulgencio’s government in 1959 and ruled for almost five decades with great performance in plummeting illiteracy, engraving out racism and improving public health though condemned for depriving economic and political freedoms. Fidel Castro who interestingly came to power with an intention of fighting oppression, injustice, corruption and poverty finally became the oppressor after realizing that only revolution could help Cubans. â€Å"Bio. True Story† explains that Fidel was born in 1926 in the eastern Cuba before studying law at the University of Havanna where he got into student politics (1-2). His intelligence, political savvy and being a good orator earned him a place as a student leader and later joined a political system that was opposed to Batista. His attempt to go for peaceful political change was unsuccessful and being an idealist, he believed that the populace would gather behind him to overthrow the then leader, Batista. Castro initially attacked the Moncada military barracks with only 100 followers using inferior weapons (Eldridge Web). Interestingly, Fidel Castro even prepared a revolutionary address which he expected to be broadcasted on the radio stations then give weapons to people and win Santiago. However, inadequate experience of the revolutionaries failed the mission. The failure was followed by brutal overreaction of the army killing innocent civilians and later led to Castro being put on trial and imprisoned for 15 years in Isle Pines (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 1-6). Although in prison, Castro still used his oratory prowess to make outstanding speech and ensured they were printed and circulated during his trial. Fortunately, the violent response to the attempted revolution by the army and the reaction by the Catholic Church to the army’s response made him respectable and a great hero. In 1955, Batista declared a general amnesty for all political prisoners prompting the release of Fidel, his brother Raul who went to Mexico and formed the 26th of July Movement where he officially announced that they would invade and overthrow Batista (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 2-5). On December 1956, he landed with his team in eastern Cuba where they prepared for a night march while sleeping in a cane but they were betrayed by a guide. They were then ambushed and badly tortured and butchered but still Castro survived and he continued gathering and recruiting his army. They invaded small town army posts and the army expeditions in the mountains making soldiers to refuse marching at the head of the column. He divided his army into various columns headed by numerous commanders as more people wer e recruited in the revolution. They established base camps and resembled small cities with hospitals, schools and hydroelectric station and a rebel newspaper, El Cubano Libre was published as well as telephone lines connecting several revolutionary columns (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 2-4). â€Å"Bio. True Story† explains that Fidel’

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

Homework - Essay Example The second video explains the bot attacks; the first potential attack is Distributed Denial of Services (DDOS) can be activated by sending a huge amount of traffic b from many bots herders on the victim’s computer so that the customers cannot access the online server. The video explains the second attack named Command Line Control through an Rlogin server in easy to understand method. Further, the video talks about the third bot attack known as Spying on Zombies. The video makes you understand regarding spying the victim’s computer through a key-logger, packet sniff, capturing screenshots etc. The third part of the video emphasis on defenses your system from the potential threat of botnet by keeping bots out, mute bots and detecting the bots activities. The video explains to install firebox, upgrading patch promptly, using antivirus with auto-update, using firebox proxies and GAV, and training of the professionals and users for keeping bots out of your computer system. Organizations can mute and detect activities of bots as well by configuring the firebox appropriately as explained in the video. The article titled â€Å"Microsoft disrupts Nitol botnet spreading on counterfeit Windows PCs† written by Lee Mathews and published on 13th September, 2012. The article explains that the digital crime unit of the Microsoft identified enormous botnet and they have taken control of the domains as per instructions of the court order. The report from the Microsoft’s digital crime unit notifies a malicious attack of Nitol, the botnet. It classifies that the domain Nitol, 3322.org along with over 70,000 subdomains have been found to be affected by 500 different malware. Following the court orders, Peng Yong, a Chinese businessman surrendered, giving not only the DNS control of Nitol but also the effecting domains to Microsoft, allowing them to filter the incoming and outgoing traffic for the security of users from the suspected attack by Nitol, and other malware from 3322.org and other sub-domains. At this time, the action taken by Microsoft was not as vigorous as against Waledac, Kalihos or Rustock. Because the investigation teams vigilant the Microsoft while investigating the problems of illegal Windows Installation in China, that more than 20% of the systems have pre-installed unnecessary software including, but not limited to HP or Toshiba-style software bloat. It was the thing as Microsoft suspected from Nitol botnet, developed catastrophic malware that could not only able producing spam and redirect DNS requests but also proliferate through flash drives. http://www.geek.com/articles/news/microsoft-disrupts-nitol-botnet-spreading-on-counterfeit-windows-pcs-20120913/ The student has summarized the article titled â€Å"Botnet Masters Hide Command and Control Server inside the Tor Network†, by Lucian Constantin. The student has spectacularly discussed the article regarding research of Germans as they found a botnet t hat is hidden in the Tor secrecy network. The botnet can operate on an Internet Relay chat server and it has advantages as well as disadvantages. According to them, it is hard to find its specific location so that is very difficult to locate and shut down. A signal is sent to another computer from the user’s computer, when one uses Tor for internet access.

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

Quotation - Essay Example Why else would our government continue to allow tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies? These companies certainly do not need subsidies, yet they continue to get them. In the meantime, there are many poor people who rely on basic government services, and see these services being cut, year after year. It angers me that the money that is given to oil companies could be used for much better causes, and this is just one glaring example. Our health system is broken, in part because of the big lobbying money that is given by the health care industry and, especially, the pharmaceutical companies. Our Congress will not raise taxes on the wealthy, because of all the money that the wealthy gives these congressional representatives and senators to make sure that this doesn't happen. Sure, on the surface, we live in a democracy, but when one really gets down to it, we really don't – we increasingly live in a country that is by the wealthy and for the wealthy. As for the rest of the quo te, it does seem like this envisions a country that is a little bit less complex than our society. For instance, this quote talks about there being equal justice to all and alike. This might be true in some areas, not so much true in others. It is a common fact that African Americans represent, proportionally, a high percentage of our prison population, so this implies that justice is not always equal. Distinguished citizens might prefer public service, but they often do not, preferring to work for profit just like anybody else might. Poverty is an obstacle to advancement in this country, although there are some who work their way up from poverty, this is true. But if a person is in poverty, that person does have much longer odds in making it in this world than people who are not in poverty. They do not have the same educational opportunities, they do not have the advantage of a stable home many times, and they face prejudice and discrimination in their lives often because of who th ey are. So, while a man â€Å"may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition,† this is often not true, more often than not. The quote that states that we are not angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes might be true in some cases - there certainly are a good share of people who are â€Å"live and let live† types. But there are others who make everybody else's business their own - if this were not true, then we would have gay marriage in all 50 states. Moreover, part of the quote implies that â€Å"we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and the laws.† This is true for some, but certainly not true for all. This country certainly has its share of lawlessness, and this is true for most people - every time a person speeds in his or her car, they are technically breaking the law, and there is certainly crime that is rampant in this country as well. In short, this quote assumes that there is some kind of perfect count ry. Our country isn't perfect. It's messy, people commit crimes, others have to be in others' businesses, and there isn't enough attention to the poor. That said, this quote may also be seen as true for a certain percentage of the population, so this quote is not entirely true, nor entirely false. The next quote that will be examined will be quote number 10. This is that all men are created equal and they are endowed by

A real hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A real hero - Essay Example These superheroes joined forces (Moore & Gibbons chapter 1:3) after the death of Edward Blake. In accordance to my opinion, I believe that Doctor Manhattan qualifies as the real hero in the comic book as evidenced from being expressed as the main character in the story, he is close to perfection plus he is not a costumed hero. Doctor Manhattan is expressed as the main character in the story. Moore and Gibbons (chapter 3: 5) describe Doctor Manhattan as the character on which other superheroes rely on. Born as normal human beings, but later transformed to a superhero after an accident while conducting a nuclear physics experiment, Doctor Manhattan acquired god-like powers, telekinesis power, superhuman strength, teleportation ability, and control over matter existing at subatomic level. He also has the ability to perceive the present, past and future â€Å"... particles which travel backward through what... *you* perceive as time... therefore obscuring my vision of the present†¦ †(Moore & Gibbons chapter 3: 7). Not any superhero mentioned in the comic book surpassed the powers which Doctor Manhattan possessed hence remaining as the true hero. Among all others superheroes, it is only Doctor Manhattan that is perceived as a close to â€Å"perfection† creation (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4: 6). ... He acts as the leader of the superheroes as he possesses an ability that can only be equated to a god (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4:8). Lauri, Nite Owl, Rorschach, and Veidt are not real heroes as they had powers, but did not surpass that of Doctor Manhattan. In addition, these superheroes usually followed orders from Doctor Manhattan on what to do since they were dependent on his intellect abilities to make decisions on what to do. Doctor Manhattan was a real hero since he was not a costumed hero like the rest of the superheroes like Dan, Laurie and Rorschach. In the comic, other costumed heroes become disturbed when Doctor Manhattan gets picked up by the United States army and kept as the ultimate weapon in case of attack. In addition, he is dubbed as a real super hero making the costumed superheroes more worried of what might become of them (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4:9). Hence, the costumed superheroes more so depended on Doctor Manhattan a lot to make sound decisions. It is via Doct or’s Manhattan intelligence that the military is able to build sophisticated weapons that they could use in fighting their enemies. The costumed superheroes also took advantage of these. In summary, Doctor Manhattan is a real superhero in the comic book as evidenced from his depiction as a main character of which the story is dependent on him. In addition, he is a real hero since he is equated to a perfect being in the sense that he is equated to a god and could not be killed easily like the rest of the superheroes who expressed various weaknesses. Furthermore, Doctor Manhattan is depicted in the comic book as a real hero as evidenced from him being taken by the U.S government army to help them in the fight of their enemies. This did not happen to the other costumed superheroes and at

Automotive component Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Automotive component - Assignment Example It is part of the wheels of the machine which offer a lot of advantages in the automobile ensemble, as well as within the auto industry in general. The wheels make the automobiles run, and the tires are the coverings of the wheels to make the ride pleasant. They protect the total ensemble from crumbling into pieces when they are used. What are tires ? Tires are parts of automobile that provides the coverings for wheels that is used for the general locomotion of the whole machine. They are black donut like forms generally made up of rubber and other complex materials. Tires make the automobiles steer, brake and corner easily along the road. The presence of tires makes the ride comfortable and safe. Tires must be durable and they make the automobiles last for long time. What are Tires Made of? Tires are products of engineering technology mostly made up of rubber. Rubber compounds come from polymers such as Natural Rubber, Isoprene Rubber, Styrene Butadiene and others. They are mixed wi th softeners, reinforcement materials and other various chemicals. Mostly, natural rubber coming from rubber trees are the preferred materials used to manufacture tires. Rubbers are the most suitable materials for tires because they have high tear strength, wear resistance, impact resilience, and low heat generation. In order for the rubbers to achieve such characteristics, they are subjected to heat and pretreated with various chemicals. The rubber materials are enhanced with substances such as waxes and antioxidants. These substances protect the rubber from aging and wearing caused by heat, ozone and deflection. Tires are structured with steel cords to provide reinforcement and strong body. These steel cords have high level of carbon content to assure that the tires would have superior tensile strength with high modulus of elasticity in the entire length. The total performance of tires depends upon the construction of these cords to assure that tires are durable and would last a l ong period of time (Tire Materials, n.d). What are the design parameters of tires? Tires look simple from the outside, but they are actually mixtures of various materials processed and designed through sophisticated equipment and facilities. They are intricately formed and manufactured so as to make them durable, flexible, and make them last long. There are many parameters in the design of tires to consider them as those having high quality. Tires are designed with tread, beads and sidewalls. Treads are the patterned and molded surfaces that come in contact with the road surface. The body and sidewalls gives the shape of the tire and the rubber covered beads embedded with metals and wires holds the wheel tires. The tread depth is the parameter that shows the wear and tear of the tire. It can be measured through the difference of the top of the rubber tread with the bottom of the deepest grooves of the tire. The tread wear percentage is calculated for the remaining usability of the e ntire tire. Tires have maximum load. The load of the tire is related to the overall size and diameter of the tire. Tires with higher loads are considered to have stronger internal construction. Tires are also marked with their allowable inflation pressure for the general safe operation for tires with specific load ratings. Every tire has an allowable recommended inflation pressure

John Updike A&P Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

John Updike A&P - Essay Example Within the play the role of Sammy has been on the sidelines of being a conformist. Inevitable to state here that this nineteen-year-old cashier at A&P does not believe in playing around with his point of view and focuses on what is the right thing. More than that, he is proud to say what he sees and then judge in the light of the same which definitely distinguishes him from the rest of the lot in our society. (Saldivar, 1997) He is a non-conformist to start with and he is one that is not really appreciated by the society norms and customs that are so very religiously followed in the present times. The writer has made Sammy the main character in the play whereby he has written of him from the first person’s perspective. This essentially has made his character look a bit highlighted and one that could be seen as the main one during the course of the whole saga. Add to that, the tone with which the writer has penned down the same has been certainly set by Sammy’s rigid and stern attitude which can be rightly remarked as being nonchalant as well as frank as Sammy does clear the air when a question is raised on his calling the things as he sees them and quite rightly so he comes out as clean as a whistle. His wits are a mode of cynicism and this is an added facet when one speaks highly of the frank and vivid attitude related with the young man. (Lewis, 2003) Add to that, he has turned out to be pretty crude at times during the story which meshes along quite nicely with his attitude and ways that he has so very easily been showing. Another aspect that gives evidence t o his non-conformist ways and attitude is that he loves to be taken as an adult by all and sundry and would really mind if someone, out of the blue, starts calling him like a kid as he is of the perception that he possesses wisdom par with no one and his thoughts and feelings have a deep embedded meaning that is not easily comprehensible by people of his age, let alone the ones

Business College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business College - Essay Example Therefore, in order to understand these markets, it is important for the western country to comprehend these differences from country to country by using the five contexts of framework. The five contexts include a country's social and political arrangements, openness, product, labor, and capital markets. Business executives can form their strategies around this by asking questions that relate to the five contexts, and thus begin to develop upon the country's individual strengths. While doing this, it is also important for the business to measure the positives and negatives of forming a relationship with this country. If they discover that the negatives outweigh the positives, other aspects may need to be considered. It is a good idea to link social performance targets to executive competition, in the researcher's opinion. Social performance targets give the company an overall goal and focus when entering into any new business strategy or plan, and therefore help to give the company a stronger approach to accomplishment. Competition, and certainly executive competition, is always a good way to trigger the best and brightest ideas. By allowing executive competition, hopefully the best ideas and goals will come into play in the atmosphere of the business. With this occurring, the business could then link social performance targets to executive competition, seeing which goals are the best, and figuring out the direction the company would need to take in order to proceed and reach the best possible goals. Thus, competition should put forth several good options, and the social performance target can then be chosen and used to provide solid direction. Question 2. a. Companies have used centralized Organizational Structures. However, the current organizational trends are to change then into lean, flatter decentralized structures. Describe briefly some of these changes taking place in the organizations. Decentralization removes the focus of power, or shifts the focus of power, from few individuals to more individuals. The concept allows for power to be spread out more equally in the business, thus allowing individuals to all have a part of company decision making. Decentralization still relies on authority for decision making, but it also must rely on lateral relationships rather than a direct order from above. More and more companies are chosing to use decentralization because it brings many minds into the framework. With several people in the decision making strategy, the hope is that many ideas will come to light, and that way, the best of these ideas can be chosen and acted upon. Therefore, these industries are seeking what is best for the business. Many of these companies are therefore spreading out power as well as the decision making process instead of putting all of the power in the hands of a few individuals. While this process may make decision making take longer, the hope is that for the company, it will provide the best possible answers and

School and Bi Essay Example for Free

School and Bi Essay This is the town where his father saw the light of day, and where he sent to continue studying the rudiments of Latin, where he started to learn. Early Schooling Teodora Alonza Realonda * Was the first teacher of Rizal, where he learned the Latin alphabet and the Catholic prayer. Maestro Celestino and Maestro Lucas Padua * A private tutors of Rizal. Leon Monroy * Give the first lessons in Latin. Jose goes to Binan June, 1870 -Jose left Calamba for Binan, where he was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as his second father. They rode in a carromata. Leandro -a cousin of Rizal, went for sightseeing in the town. First Day in Binan School Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz -owner of the Binan school -tall, thin, long-neck man, w/ the sharp nose and a body bent slightly forward. Usually wore a sinamay shirt woven by the skillful hands of the Batanguenas. First School Brawl Pedro * The bully classmate of Jose and the son of their teacher Maestro Justiniano. Uncle Manuel * An athlete, the one who taught Jose in arts of wrestling. Andres Lakundanan * Challenged Jose to an arm-wrestling fight. Painting Lesson in Binan Juancho An old painter and the father-in-law of the school teacher. Who freely gave a lessons in drawing and painting. Jose Guevara * A classmate of Rizal, who also loved painting, and became the apprentices of the old painter. Daily Life in Binan Jose led a methodical life in Binan, which strengthened his body and soul. He recorded in his memiors: I heard the four o’clock Mass (in the morning), If there was one; or I studied my lessons in the same hour and heard mass afterward. Upon returning, I looked for mabolo fruit in the grove and I ate it. Afterward I took my breakfast, which consisted usually of a plate of boiled rice, and two fried sardinas. Then I went to class, which was over at ten. I went home immediately. If there was a particularly appetizing fish, Leandro and I were told to take it to the house of my aunt’s sons (a thing which I never did at home, and would never have done). I returned without saying a word, ate with them, and then applied myself to my studies. I went back to school at two, and was out at five. I played for a while with some good cousins before going home. There I studied my lessons, doodled a little, afterward taking my supper of one or two plates of boiled rice and an ayungin. We said our prayers and then, if there was a moon, my friends would call me out to play in the street in company with others. Thanks to God, I never fell sick when away from my parents. Best Students in School Jose beat all Binan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin and other subjects. â€Å"in spite of the reputation I had of being a good boy, the day was unusual when I was not laid out on a bench given five to six blows† End of Binan Schooling Maestro Justiniano informed Jose’s parents that their child should be sent in college in manila. December, 1871 * Jose received a letter from his sister Saturnina, to inform him of the arrival of the steamer Talim. Dec. 17, 1871 * Rizal left Binan on Saturday afternoon, he accompanied by Arturo Camps.

Essay Globalization Consumerism And Sustainable Development Environmental Sciences Essay

Essay Globalization Consumerism And Sustainable Development Environmental Sciences Essay Sustainable development has been a globally paradigm in different areas. Citizens lifestyle has an important relationship with the sustainability of a city. In living environment area, world-wide experts have adopted the Agenda 21 and tried to find the appropriate way to achieve a sustainable living lifestyle. According to Agenda 21, the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances. However, as the global population increasing, how to balance the relationship between resources supply and demand is still a research question. For communities and individuals, special attention should be paid to the demand for natural resources generated by unsustainable consumption and to the efficient use of those resources consistent with the goal of minimizing depletion and reducing pollution. In other word s, the communities and individuals should look for an appropriate living style towards achieving sustainable goal. Although government has been put much efforts to encourage people to do some reduction of pollution, reduction of energy consumption, and waste recycling, actually there is still a long distance to reach the goal of sustainability, and there should be a series of fundamentally changes for individuals to adopt to pursue a green, sustainable society. Globalization Globalization means quite different things to different people. In general, globalization is a process that promotes world-wide exchanges of national and cultural resources. It includes economic globalization, social cultural globalization, and environmental globalization. In recent decades, the world markets have become increasingly integrated. As Lindert and Williamson 2011 pointed out, world market integration is not a new phenomenon, but it has steadily increased since the 1820s if we exclude the period between the two World Wars. A long-term correlation between the globalization of international markets and environmental degradation is quite obviously. The globalization of markets also brought about the globalization of environmental problems. Global climate change, ozone layer, reduction of biodiversity, over consumption of natural resources, desertification are all global environmental degradation brought after the economic globalization. The industrial revolution use large am ount of natural resources as materials in the process, as well as the deterioration of their quality as a consequence of pollution. The acceleration of economic growth led to the increasing of world population that promoted the deterioration of environment. Lifestyle and sustainability Concept of sustainable development The concept of sustainability means that something is maintained for a period of long time. The concept of sustainable development came out of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in 1972.() Since the publication of the UN Brundtland Commission report  Our Common Future  in 1987, the concept of sustainability has become associated with the integration of economic, social, and environmental development to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The conference was held to let all nations agree to act to reduce pollution together to share the resources equally. Since 1972, it has become clear that what we do has an impact on the environment, from the climate change, desertification, and the destruction of forests to the disappearance of species. By introducing the word sustainable, the discussion on environmental development got a social and economic dimension, especially by the inclusion of the Nort h- South dialogue and discussion of the rights of future generations. This finally led to the world community holding the United Nations Convention on Education and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 where the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework on Climate Change, the Rio Declaration and 38 of the 40 chapters of Agenda 21 were agreed. The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was set up to review progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and other UNCED documents. The Commission meets every year and more than 1,000 N.G.Os are accredited to participate in the Commissions work. Concept of lifestyle The concept of lifestyle comes from social science and refers to a bundle of practices or ways of behaving that are meaningful for individual as well for the community. Lifestyle includes different ways of socializing with others and different types of consumption of everything, from houses to clothes, food, and leisure time activities. Lifestyle could reflect individuals attitude and values and at the same time signals these to others through visible, or conspicuous, consumption. Sustainable lifestyle can thus be defined as bundles of practices that are tied together by attitudes related to sustainable development, or as ways of living that in practice lead to sustainable development. In 1992 at the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro, there was an international agreement on promoting sustainable development and thus also promoting sustainable lifestyle. Following the line of the Brundtland report, the conference reached consensus on the so-called Agenda 21 programme, which contains detailed guidelines and objectives, in a nonlegally binding language, and advice on how NGOs, citizens, and other actors can be involved in the process. The slogan was act local -think global and during the 1990s Local Agenda activities were initiated in many countries by both authorities and NGOs. In 2007-08 such initiatives received renewed interest, with global climate being high on the political agenda. Local Agenda 21 was no longer a catchword, though the concept of sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles was then used together with climate discussions. The processes of Local Agenda 21 build on the idea that changes must come from below, from changes in the everyday life of ordinary consumers. Current lifestyle When talking about living lifestyle, tobacco use, poor nutrition, obesity, elevated stress, and suboptimal sleep will come into ones mind, these are major contributors to the pandemic of lifestyle-related conditions, morbidity, and premature death (E dean) Preventable lifestyle-related conditions such as ischemic heart disease, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema (largely smoking related), hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and some cancers, are not only leading causes of disability and premature death in high-income countries, but increasingly in middle- and low-income countries.  (stop) Compared to the impact of environment brought from lifestyle, the bad lifestyle seems to have much effect on individuals health. However, from long-term sight, bad lifestyle will bring waste of resources, pollution of environment and at last hinder the development of society. When talking about the lifestyle related to consumerism, green consumerism should be advocated. What is green consumerism? In short, who and why buy. current global levels of domestic energy consumption and waste production have been acknowledges as important contribution to detrimental environmental change (United Nations 1998) Political and academic interest in this component of sustainable development implementation has stimulated debates in post-industrial nations concerning the social practices of contemporary consumerism (Macnaghten and Urry 1998) and how we will live in the future (De Young 1993) n response there has been a call for the development of national policies and strategies to encourage changes in consumption patterns (UNCED 1992:64). One approach has been the promotion of environmentally-friendly lifestyles which often take the form of media or community campaigns (for further analysis see Hobson 2001). These campaigns encourage individuals not only to decrease the amount consumed, but also to alter the nature of goods consumed (lUCN/UNEP/WWF 1991; Librova 1999). Changing Lifestyles Towards Sustainability From a policy perspective, it is relevant to discuss how to promote more sustainable lifestyles. Changes can be initiated from the bottom-up, where people experiment with changing lifestyles, or from the top-down, where authorities make initiatives to promote changing lifestyles. Authorities can promote changes by political initiatives such as economic incentives or green taxes and through information and labeling of green products and campaigns focusing on changing attitudes. Furthermore, authorities can focus on establishing the physical infrastructure which supports sustainable lifestyles: public transportation, renewable energy production, recycling waste system, and so on. What follows describes, first, the people who have made radical changes to their lifestyles and, second, evaluations on initiatives to get ordinary people to change their lifestyle in a more sustainable direction. In the last couple of decades, some citizens have chosen more radical lifestyle changes and have joined so-called eco-villages. Some of the catchwords of this approach are closed cycles and self-sufficiency: water and waste should be recycled, energy locally produced from renewable resources, and the technologies organised in neighborhoods to strengthen and revitalize local social life. The ecological vision is followed by the social vision of a holistic everyday life a life that is not split between work, family, and home. In this sense, the eco-villages follow in the footsteps of the collectivist movement of the 1960s and 1970s and are a reaction against the lifestyle in detached suburban houses. Furthermore, in some of the eco-villages there is a spiritual relation with nature and an ethical concern for future generations. The people deciding to build and live in these eco-villages thus establish other physical, social, and cultural structures around their everyday life as part o f living a sustainable lifestyle. In the environmental debate, it has been questioned to what extent this type of experiment is part of a broader solution to sustainable development or whether these structures are only isolated pockets. Some of the alternative technological solutions, such as solar heating or wind power, had their hesitant first beginnings in these alternative environments. However, some of the eco-villages and other grassroots experiments had such alternative visual expressions that might have frightened the not-so-dedicated others from choosing sustainable lifestyles. This raises the question of whether sustainable lifestyles are only for those who want to live an alternative life or whether they should be mainstreamed and made available for a broader audience. In the twenty-first century, however, this debate might seem less topical, as grassroots approaches and more mainstream approaches to sustainable lifestyles appear to converge Many public initiatives have tried to persuade citizens to live a more sustainable life, and there are also examples of studies following the extent to which these types of efforts have an effect. In general, social science approaches dealing with these issues can be divided into psychological and sociological approaches. As an example of the psychological approach, a study performed by Abrahamse and others in the Netherlands followed the effects of an Internet-based tool that used a combination of tailored information, goal setting, and feedback on households direct and indirect energy consumption. An evaluation after 5 months showed that households gained a significant direct energy saving of 5%, whereas there was no measurable effect on indirect energy consumption. It is thus possible to document a small but significant relation between knowledge and action. From a sociological approach, the UK campaign Action at home, which is part of the Global Action Plan that originally developed in the United States during the late 1980s, has been evaluated by Hobson, and this evaluation questions the simple relation between knowledge and change of behavior. The Action at home campaign was a 6-month voluntary programme where households were provided with information, support, and feedback in a local setting enabling local support and networking between participants. An evaluation based on qualitative interviews suggests rethinking the ideas on information, barriers, and behavioural change. Information should be seen as a much more constructivist approach, where people use and develop arguments through conversations with others, rather than by receiving objective knowledge. The focus should be on the whole array of social structures sustaining specific behaviors, rather than on only barriers to action, and finally the understanding of behavioral chan ge should rather focus on how debate can bring unnoticed routines that are never consciously thought of. Though there are disagreements in the understanding of behavior and the role of information between the social and the psychological approach, it is possible to draw some general recommendations on how to best persuade people to change to a more sustainable lifestyle: Communication should be as specific and personalized as possible, and information should be as adjusted to the lifestyle of the citizens as possible, thereby making the advice meaningful and useful for the citizens attitudes and practices. With climate change high on the political agenda, especially before the climate summit conference in Copenhagen in 2009, sustainable lifestyles have gained renewed interest among the public, politicians, and academics. Will this interest be a short bobble followed by resignation? Will it be the start of mainstreaming sustainable lifestyles so they spread and become the norm? Or, will there continue to be a development fuelled by the tension between initiatives by different actors? Sustainability is a contested concept, and developments in the structures and practices of everyday life continue to change and thus provide new challenges for what a sustainable lifestyle is or should be. In the future, there is also a need to continue experimenting, debating, and developing new approaches to sustainable lifestyles Linking lifestyle and climate change literature The concept of lifestyle in the behavioural sciences has been studied in connection with social class [31,81,64 -66,86,87,47 ], culture-specific consumption patterns [ 22,30,52,79 ] as well as individual choice [25,7,6 ]. Social theorists have described how the disappearance of norms and economic limitations, mass consumption and the market have gradually removed restrictions and made the individual lifestyle a more appropriate way to describe differences in action, world views and consump-tion. Research suggests that the consumption behavior of individuals constitute a more or less coherent con-sumption pattern because individual tastes and prefer-ences conform to socially determined structures [13,19]. The fact that conspicuous consumption [17,77] is seen as a status symbol of wealthy people makes the less afflu-ent aspire to emulate this lifestyle [ 5 ]. Individuals use consumer goods to preserve their position in the social hierarchy [ 12]. A convergence of lifestyles has been accelerated by homogenisation in the human system over time and space due to the globalisation of the built environment, occupations, industry, trade and advertis-ing. Lifestyle is also described in an operational sense through the correlation between the level and pattern of consumption and socio-economic and demographic parameters such as age, family size, occupation, income, gender, education and ethnicity. Consequent energy and emission outcomes vary widely ( Table 1) calling for more inclusive action strategy to avoid leakages. The focus of change needs to be on the hotspots and patterns of energy consumption. Attempts to change energy consumption pattern are likely to lead to a change in energy consump-tion behaviour that make up the complete pattern. In the energy literature in the late 1980s, the energy researchers introduced the lifestyle concept into the study of energy consumption and established a positive correlation be-tween better lifestyle and high-energy consumption for both households and individuals. Kaya identity [34] has been used to show how both the individual and aggregate consumption pattern are an important driver of emission level along with the technology choice. Recent literature Suggestion

Copyright Law in United Arab Emirates

Copyright Law in United Arab Emirates Introduction Media Law is a branch of law that concerns governance of the telecommunications industry, broadcasting, advertising, the entertainment industry, censorship, and internet and online services inter alia. There are several branches of this law that help maintain an effective control over different media. An important aspect of media law is the Copyright law. Protection of a person’s, be it a natural person or a legal person, creative expression can be called as copyright. It usually pertains to the protection of intellectual property (Forstenlechner, Mellahi, 2011). Discussion Legal copyright issues can come to light with respect to several original works including trademarks for various brands, patents for technologies or processes involved in media. Among several issues, licensing occupies a huge space in this regard as illegitimate distribution of copyrighted works has become exceedingly persistent. Although, peer-to-peer sharing of technologies or spreading of online streams for audio/visual content is extremely beneficial to disseminate news of a new creativity in the market, it is incredibly anti profit for TV, movie and music industry. For free consumption it works like a blessing, for the legal networks, it is nothing short of a curse (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). This report describes the provisions of copyright laws in the United Arab Emirates. Copyright Law in the UAE as per Federal Law No. 7 of 2002, as Amended in 2006 The following is a summary of the important aspects of the copyright law as followed in UAE. Items forming part of the copyright law Chapter one, article two: Under this law, the losses of authors and other concerning right holders are covered if their violation occurs within the boundaries of the UAE (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Certain works that can be compensated for, if violated, are mentioned below: Literature including books, booklets, articles, computer software, applications and databases, lectures, speeches, sermons, plays, musicals and pantomimes, musicals both accompanied and unaccompanied by dialogue, audio visual work, architectural work and plans, work involving drawing, painting, sculpturing, etching, lithography, screen printing, relief and intaglio prints and other similar works of fine art, photographic work and the like, works of applied art and plastic art, charts, maps, plans, 3-D modeling for geographical and topographical applications and architectural designs, derivative works etc (Forstenlechner, Mellahi, 2011). Items not forming part of the copyright law This copyright shall not only provide coverage of losses against violation in respect of title of the work but also in case of the use of the concept of the work by someone not authorized for (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Article three of the chapter one of the copyright laws in UAE further explains that ideas, procedures, business methodologies, mathematical algorithms and basic principles and facts are not covered under this law but only their way of presentation or expressions are covered. That means, that one two persons can use the same idea provided both their presentation differs. A very common example of such a thing can be the design of a water cooler and that of a water dispenser. Both have the same idea but both have utterly varied designs (Hassan, 2009). Copyright also does not provide coverage to any of the following: 1. Official documents, regardless of what is their source or the language they were designed for, for instance, provisions of law, regulations, decisions, international conventions, court judgments, arbitrators’ awards and decisions issued with concern to judicial matters by administrative committees (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). 2. News of current events and issues falling under the spectrum of media coverage. 3. Works that are now owned by the public, such as books, magazines, novels etc. Regardless, the items contained in paragraphs one, two and three of this article can be covered if some sort of innovation has been involved in the way these works have been sequenced or collected. Retention rights of the author and his successor Article five of chapter two explains that the author and his general successors get perpetual and inalienable rights to the work in question (Hassan, 2009). These rights include: 1. The right for publication for the first ever time. That means that no one can publish before the first author. 2. The right of paternity/ attribution to receive credit as the author. A patent is automatically raised for the author. 3. The right of integrity for objection to belittling treatment of a work including alteration of a copyright work that alters the work negatively or impacts the honor or reputation of the author. 4. In the light of newly made discoveries, the right to remove a work from circulation that provides sufficient reason for doing so (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Effect of translation on copyright Article six of chapter two explains that alteration in the work by translating it into another language can also be a base for violation of copyright laws at the places where the translator does not point out specifically where the alterations were made or if these alterations affect the honor or image of the author (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Right of author, successor of author or copyright holder to license use of the work Chapter two, article seven describes the rights of the author and that of his successors. Exclusively, the author and his general successors or whoever the copyright holder may be, shall have the right to license any utilization of the said work. This can be done via any of the following channels particularly reproduction including electronic loading and storage, any form of representation, broadcasting or re-broadcasting, public performance or broadcasting, translation, modification, alteration, leasing, lending or any form of publication including access through computer or information networks, communication networks or other means (Hassan, 2009). Transfer of economic rights of the work Article nine of chapter two further explains that the economic rights of the work can be assigned by the author or his successor to a third party whether it is a natural or a legal person. This assignment must be in black and white and clearly refer to the right in question, and the objective, period and place of the assignment must also be referenced. And the rights that have not been transferred explicitly, in writing, shall be retained by the author (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). The author shall respecting the moral rights of the person to whom he has assigned the right, shall not obstruct any use of the same. Quid pro quo Article ten of chapter two explains that the author, keeping in mind quid pro quo, shall do the assignment of rights in exchange for monetary compensation based on the pro rata share of the revenue generated from the consequential utilization of the work. The author has also been allowed to add another sum of money to it or can also use both of these methods (Hassan, 2009). Disposal of the work shall not be considered as transfer of right Article thirteen of chapter two explains that the disposal of the author’s work by him shall not count as a transfer of right to use it, but only as a transfer of right to ownership unless the author has agreed for any such clause (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). International case laws featuring infringement of copyright laws The following legal issues arose due to infringement of copyright laws. These followed opinions and judgments by the laws of their respective countries or states (Hassan, 2009). Case one Brown v. Bandai America, Inc., et al., 2002 WL 1285265 (N.D. Tex. June 4, 2002) Plaintiff Brown owns the copyright for cartoon drawings called Bone Masters. In the Brown’s version of it, the cartoons are a unique figure that can add bones on the outside of their small structures, and can further turn into dinosaurs. Sunrise and Bandai are the defendants. They are a Japanese company (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). They make and sell toy action figures called Dinozaurs. The Dinozaurs exhibit features much similar to Brown’s characters inclusive of dinosaur-like bones on their head, legs, arms and torsos. The Fox and the Children’s Network broadcasted the character of Dinozaurs from July to November 2000. Therefore, the plaintiff filed a copyright infringement case against Bandai and later made the addition of Sunrise and Fox as defendants in the federal court of Dallas, Texas. Case two United States vs. Elcom, Ltd., etc., et al., 203 F.Supp. 2d 1111 (N.D. Cal. 2002) Elcom Ltd is a Russian software company that violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by fooling its anti circumvention defenses to bring and sell a computer program that removed restrictions from Adobe Acrobat PDF files and made formatting possible for the Adobe ebook Reader Programs. Such a program had been developed to accommodate ebook publishers in their respective distributions but it had been exploited by Elcom. United States was the plaintiff here with Elcom being the defendant (Hassan, 2009). UAE case laws featuring infringement of copyright laws Case one Sturdza vs. United Arab Emirates, et al., 281 F.3d 1287 (D.C. Cir. 2002) For a new embassy of the UAE in Washington D.C a competition was held for architects where plaintiff Sturdza submitted a design. The plaintiff was told by the defendant that her design had won the competition and that she was going to get the contract for the embassy. However, later the UAE gave the contract to another architect Demetriou (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Demetriou’s design had close resemblance with that of the plaintiff’s. Using Demetrious design, the UAE began building its new embassy. The plaintiff filed a case against the UAE and Demetriou in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, blaming the UAE, inter alia, for copyright infringement. Sturdza’s copyright infringement claim, along with other claims, was dismissed by the court. However, the court revoked the dismissal of the copyright infringement claim as the jury found profound similarities between the two designs (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case two Dubai which is a renowned city of the UAE has now been highlighted for copyright infringement cases by the world’s largest networking website, Facebook. A hairdresser in Dubai’s Discovery Gardens seems to have adopted Facebook’s logo and has a name quite similar to that of the famous and large website. It has even used the same color scheme for its logo. In fact, the font of the logo is also identical to Facebook (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). This case was brought into light by International Media Houses. Several small time companies take the liberty to adopt logos or trademarks of larger companies in the hopes to draw their customers, quite forgetting that in doing so they are committing a breach of law (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case three Another case that had been reported by Emirates 24|7 pertained to a clothing store in Dubai that had adopted the name of Europe’s large retailer Primark. After realizing that the fact that they had committed a breach of law, they altered their name to ‘Mercato’ (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case four Likewise, a grocery store in Dubai had unintentionally named itself after United Kingdom’s retail giant Tesco. Apparently, they had also not realized their crime. Case five On another note, an Emirati internet pirate was arrested by the local authorities in Abu Dhabi. He had the charge of downloading and distributing TV content on free online website. By the time he was caught, he was penalized was one million US dollars. He had been apprehended on 802 counts of piracy breaches (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). He was caught by a complaint filed by the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) with pay-TV network OSN. He made a clear confession of willingly establishing a website where free users could download the subscription only content of the OSN network. His total penalty amounted up to $962400 (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Case six The month before apprehension of this pirate, another one had been convicted for establishing a website where altered Xbox 360 consoles were offered and pirated Xbox 360 games were also traded (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). As per the law, the pirate was sentenced to a three month jail on the charge of copyright infringement and illegitimate alterations in Xbox 360 consoles by the court of first instance in Dubai (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Conclusion According to the CEO of AAA these current apprehensions express the efficiency of the government coordinated operations against profit makers from internet sharing websites. However, the International Intellectual Property Alliance believes differently. Keeping in view the above cases, it understands that UAE be put back on the Special 301 Watch List in 2014. References Daghfous, A., Barkhi, R. (2009). The strategic management of information technology in UAE hotels: An exploratory study of TQM, SCM, and CRM implementations.Technovation,29(9), 588-595. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497209000765 Forstenlechner, I., Mellahi, K. (2011). Gaining legitimacy through hiring local workforce at a premium: the case of MNEs in the United Arab Emirates.Journal of World Business,46(4), 455-461. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951610000635 Hassan, M. K. (2009). UAE corporations-specific characteristics and level of risk disclosure.Managerial Auditing Journal,24(7), 668-687. Retrieved from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/02686900910975378 Samuelson, P., Wheatland, T. (2009). Statutory damages in copyright law: A remedy in need of reform.Wm. Mary L. Rev.,51, 439. Retrieved from: http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wmlr51div=15id=page=

All Quiet On The Western Front Themes :: essays research papers

1) The Destructiveness of War A major theme, not only on lives and property, but also on the human spirit. Men are subject to physical torment-eyes are blinded, limbs are blown off, blood flows everywhere, and innocent men die in agony. When soldiers take shelter in the graveyard, bombs explode all around them, the living hide in coffins and the dead are thrown from their graves. The destructive power is so great that even the fundamental differences between life and death become blurred. The impact of war on the spirit is subtle. They find themselves less able to returrn to civilian life- friends die all around them. 2) The Lost Generation This theme is an offshoot of the destructiveness of war. Paul's generation grew up too fast, its perceptins of life grossly distorted by the horror or war. The youthful idealism that might someday have blossomed into constructive maturity has been nipped in the bud. Unlike earlier generations, Paul can never again hope to find comfort and inspiration in the hollow rhetoric of politicians and generals. The war has shattered their illusions. Their innocence is gone, and only in aimless skepticism is left to fill the void. 3) Comraderie The theme of comraderie occurs constantly in the novel. The comraderie that exists in Paul's company keeps them from being driven insane by the horrors all around them. In a sense, the comraderie among Paul's friends can be seen as a last desperate clinging to the innocence of youth. These young men were transported almost directly to the battlefield from the schoolyard. The adolescent pranks of Paul and his classmates can be seen in their "adult" behavior, as in their attack on Himmelstoss. If the social responses of Paul adn his friends seem at time childish, it is essential to remember that these are young men whose experience of life took them directly to the barracks from the classroom. If they seem immature, it may be because they weren't given the chance to grow up normally. The best example of this theme os when Kat and Paul shared their roasted goose with Kropp and Tjaden. They were taking care of each other. 4) Alienation The theme of alienation develops as the novel progresses. At first, Paul and his friends still behave as if their lives will someday return to normal. In the middle of the book, Paul goes home on leave, only to discover that his real home is now with his friends on the front.

Analytical Essay on The Fire On The Snow :: essays research papers

Douglas Stewart’s radio play, The Fire On The Snow, first performed in 1941, presents the story of Captain Falcon Robert Scott’s tragic expedition to the South Pole. In the radio play, Stewart skilfully positions the audience to accept the dominant reading of the play by showing the dominant discourse: that heroes’ nobility depends on their action and ordinary people can become heroes too. Stewart also positions the audience by using the role of the Announcer as a mask for himself to give comments to the stages during play in lyric verse forms and factual commentary statements, and also involve the men’s dialogue. In November, 1911, Captain Falcon Robert Scott led a British team across the snows of Antarctica, striving to be the first to attain the South Pole. After marching and hauling over 800 miles, Scott and his four comrades reached the Pole in Jan, 1912, only to find out that Amundsen’s team (five Norwegians) had achieved the goal a month earlier. Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans, all perished in the ice on the return journey, but became national heroes, because of the selfless, sacrifice for the others and their heroic action to the Pole. Their race against the Norwegians to be the first reaches the Pole, laid the foundation of one of Antarctica’s most tragic legends. Due the time frame when Stewart was writing the play, which is during the Second World War, he effectively positions the audience to sympathize with the tragic death of the heroes in the play by reinforcing the main discourses of both personal and national sacrifices of ordinary men. Many dramatic techniques were used to enhance the audience’s awareness of the struggles that the men had been through. One of the major techniques is Stewart’ positioning of the audience involved the use of lyric verse to assist the audience to create the visual and auditory imagery and to feel the harsh atmosphere that the play has created; and also through some technical devices such as the metaphors, similes, alliteration, assonance, repetition and rhyme within the verses, as found in the texts of the Announcer. Stewart has successfully used these techniques to reflect the feelings deep inside the men’s struggle of physical difficulties against the nature of freezing snows an d blizzards; emotional struggle of depression, pressure and disappointment; and Stewart symbolizes â€Å"The Fire On The Snow† as â€Å"man against snow, the spirit of man against all that conspires to defeat him†. Analytical Essay on "The Fire On The Snow" :: essays research papers Douglas Stewart’s radio play, The Fire On The Snow, first performed in 1941, presents the story of Captain Falcon Robert Scott’s tragic expedition to the South Pole. In the radio play, Stewart skilfully positions the audience to accept the dominant reading of the play by showing the dominant discourse: that heroes’ nobility depends on their action and ordinary people can become heroes too. Stewart also positions the audience by using the role of the Announcer as a mask for himself to give comments to the stages during play in lyric verse forms and factual commentary statements, and also involve the men’s dialogue. In November, 1911, Captain Falcon Robert Scott led a British team across the snows of Antarctica, striving to be the first to attain the South Pole. After marching and hauling over 800 miles, Scott and his four comrades reached the Pole in Jan, 1912, only to find out that Amundsen’s team (five Norwegians) had achieved the goal a month earlier. Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans, all perished in the ice on the return journey, but became national heroes, because of the selfless, sacrifice for the others and their heroic action to the Pole. Their race against the Norwegians to be the first reaches the Pole, laid the foundation of one of Antarctica’s most tragic legends. Due the time frame when Stewart was writing the play, which is during the Second World War, he effectively positions the audience to sympathize with the tragic death of the heroes in the play by reinforcing the main discourses of both personal and national sacrifices of ordinary men. Many dramatic techniques were used to enhance the audience’s awareness of the struggles that the men had been through. One of the major techniques is Stewart’ positioning of the audience involved the use of lyric verse to assist the audience to create the visual and auditory imagery and to feel the harsh atmosphere that the play has created; and also through some technical devices such as the metaphors, similes, alliteration, assonance, repetition and rhyme within the verses, as found in the texts of the Announcer. Stewart has successfully used these techniques to reflect the feelings deep inside the men’s struggle of physical difficulties against the nature of freezing snows an d blizzards; emotional struggle of depression, pressure and disappointment; and Stewart symbolizes â€Å"The Fire On The Snow† as â€Å"man against snow, the spirit of man against all that conspires to defeat him†.