Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Essay Example Although Twain’s story is largely focused on the world from the perspective of little boys, he also gives the reader various insights into the adult world which runs parallel to it. The theme of superstition and religion may be seen throughout the narrative. Tom’s religious opinions and superstitions are compatible with each other and reflect adult society’s religious hypocrisy. Tom’s religious beliefs are very superficial. He names â€Å"David and Goliath† as two disciples (Twain, Ch.IV).   As it is compulsory to memorize five verses, Tom â€Å"chose part of the Sermon on the Mount, because he could find no verses that were shorter† (IV).   Sunday school is â€Å"a place that Tom hated with his whole heart (IV). Tom compares the boring church unfavorably with a circus, stating that â€Å"Church ain't shucks to a circus. There's things going on at a circus all the time† (VII). It is not his love of Scripture, but his love of glory , and his need to show-off in front of Bessie Thatcher, which leads him to barter his little knick-knacks for the colored tickets which earn him the prize of a Bible. Tom’s religious beliefs are compatible with superstitions. ... dead spirits, the only prayer Tom can manage is the bedtime â€Å"Now I lay me down to sleep.† When Injun Joe falsely accuse Muff Potter of murdering Dr. Robinson, Tom expects â€Å"God's lightening upon [Injun Joe's] head† as punishment† (XI). Tom and his friends say their prayers before sleeping on the pirate jaunt only because they fear â€Å"lest they might call down a sudden and special thunderbolt from heaven† (XIII). Tom’s religious beliefs are very alike superstitions. Tom’s life is filled with superstitions, which often dictate the course of his actions. An effective cure for warts ranges from â€Å"spunk-water† and charms, to split beans and blood. Of course, the efficacy of dead cats is the superstition which leads to the biggest of Tom’s adventures. Tom uses incantations to look for lost marbles. When the stairs creak at night, it is evidence that â€Å"spirits were abroad† (IX). An oath is to be sworn in blood for it to be binding. A dog howling is a sign of approaching death. Buried treasure is to be found under a tree when â€Å"the shadow of the limb falls at midnight, a guarded by a dead man† (XXV). Witches have no power in the daytime and Fridays are unlucky days. Here again, the boys meld religion and superstition. Old Mother Hopkins bewitches people by â€Å"saying the Lord's Prayer backards† (VI). The holiness of the Sabbath ensures that â€Å"Devils don't slosh around much of a Sunday, I don't reckon† (VI). Finally, it is clear that Tom’s superstitions serve the main purpose of making life more interesting and banishing the boredom of daily routine. When Huck tires of life with the Widow Douglas, Tom prevents him from running away by promising adventures as part of his gang of â€Å"respectable† robbers. It is the anticipation of an initiation

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Universal declaration of human rights

Universal declaration of human rights INTRODUCTION Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) was adopted on 10th of December 1948 by General Assembly resolution 217(III).it includes civil and political rights, economic, social, Cultural and group rights. There are quests to transform the declaration to legally binding documents, United Nations eventually adopted the two covenants, that is International covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR) and International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (ICESCR) in two separate instruments. The reason for the separate covenants was clearer in different arguments by scholars. In the course of two streams of arguments on whether economic and social rights received United States and western allies support or not was highly polarised that US and Western allies advocated for two separate documents while the desire for single document for both economic and political rights were from USSR and developing counties and when there was need for agreement on both sides during the cold war, US therefore advocated for ‘signature of two separate covenants to allay many fear that division of the Covenant might prioritize civil and political rights over econ omic, social and cultural rights.It indicates that many countries were against proliferation of the covenants while US and allies supported the separation because a single document was then against its capitalist policy, federalism and US stakeholders support, the motion was moved by USA and its interest hold sway, the covenants were proliferated. As a result, human rights were classified into three sub division; the ‘first generation rights known as civil and political rights while the ‘second generation rights are economic, social and cultural rights and ‘group rights as ‘third generation rights.But USA till now has not incorporated the covenants in its national law. ICCPR and ICESCR will be adumbrated by juxtaposing them with other bill of rights. INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR) The preamble of the covenant which was adopted in 1966 but ratified and came into force in 1976 acknowledged that the state parties to the covenants consider principles in the charter of the UN and recognized the civil and political rights in Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) and duties of individual to other individuals and community.it can be said that this covenant has its foundation in Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN charter .Currently, there are 165 state parties and 72 signatories to the ICCPR , 113   states are also parties to the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR..The Second Optional Protocol on abolition of death penalty was adopted for ratification in 1989 and came into force in 1991 with 71 state parties. The Covenant can be divided into a preamble and six parts, Part I -III (Articles 1 to 28) constitutes civil and political rights comparable to European and American conventions on Human Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples rights and majority of these are ‘negative rights and briefly they are, the right to self determination,the right to life ,freedom from torture ,degrading treatment freedom from slavery and slave trade ,right to liberty and security,the right of detained persons,freedom from imprisonment from debt, freedom of movement and choice of residence,freedom of aliens from arbitrary expulsion ,right to fair trial ,Prohibition against retroactivity of criminal law ,right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law ,right to privacy, right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right of opinion and expression ,prohibition of propaganda for war and of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred ,right to peaceful assembly, freedom of association ,right to marry and found a family,rights of the child, political rights,equality before the law,right of person belonging to the minorities.Part IV to VI(Articles 28 to 53) contains monitoring provisions, interpretation and final c lauses. The First optional protocol has 14 articles with nexus to procedures on individual complaints while second optional protocol basically amended the right to life in article 6 of ICCPR. A cursory look at the rights shows they were copied from UDHR in order to develop it from ‘soft law to ‘hard law even the ones without nexus to it could be traced to other regional human rights, for emphasis, civil and political rights are in UDHR articles 2 to 21 while Articles 22 to 27 contains economic, social and cultural rights .ICCPR unlike Article 17 UDHR and ECHR first protocol did not however cover ‘protection to the right to property, it also did not contain rights to nationality and asylum. UDHR is normative declaration and statement of guidance in observance of human rights universally while ICCPR and ICESCR are legally binding instrument on the basis of the principle of pacta ,sunt servanda .it confers obligation on the parties because it arises from treaty. The advantage of UDHR is that all human rights and covenants relied on it and copied copiously from it, for example civil and political rights copied from, articles 3,4,5,6,9,10 etc; economic and so cial rights also copied from articles 22,23,24,25,26,and 27,importantly, ICCPR is the most comprehensive and well established UN treaty on civil and political rights.ICCPR and UDHR both share similarity by setting universal standard with the use of word ‘everyone ‘no one ‘all people, ‘all human beings. ICCPR nature as a ‘general and universal human rights treaty, most of its rights apply to every human being. Article 2(1) of ICCPR disallow any discrimination in the application of the rights, however, some of the rights are applicable only to certain categories of people like Article 6(5) restriction on death penalty is applicable only to pregnant woman and under 18 years of age. Article 27 is applicable only to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Article 12 on freedom of movement is applicable to lawful residents and not illegal immigrant. Article 25 on political rights is exclusive to citizens; Article 13 on lawful redress against expression is for alien. Article 24 is for children. Political rights in article 25 ar e not for alien but for citizens. The benefit of Article 14(2) and (3) is for those charged with criminal offences. A keen observation shows that some rights are more detailed in the covenant while some are in general terms, for example Article 6,9,10, and 14(restriction) are detailed while   others are generally mentioned. Other treaties however provided detailed provisions of the generally termed rights in ICCPR, for example, UN Conventions on Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Right of the Child, Convention against Genocide, Torture, Racial Discrimination and Declaration on Elimination of Belief or Religious Intolerance. Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities, International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.All these have generated civil and political rights into details. Most importantly however, Section 40(4) enables Human Rights Committees to comment while transmitting its report and by this explain the meaning of the rights under the covenant. Importantly, Article 2(1) talked about ‘positive character of civil and political rights ‘it means, as in the case of economic, social and cultural rights, that states parties must take positive steps to give effect to the covenant rights and to enable individuals to enjoy their rights.Some covenants on human rights are not without enforcement mechanism which is common in report system; whereby state parties submit report on the implementation of the rights in the covenant.Human Right Committee (HRC) has the monitoring task ascribed to it by article 28 of ICCPR to ensure compliance of state parties to their obligations and examine state reports in accordance to Article 40.It has inter-state and individual complaints procedure and this the committee has developed ‘far beyond the narrow limit of their legal framework due to its independent membership. The committee however lack power of forceful enforcement but only has persuasive enforcement power in term of submission of reports per time by state parties since they have obligation under Art icle 2(1) to respect and observe the covenanted rights. ICCPR substantive rights can be analysed further and in relation to incorporation of same in states national laws, many state parties had incorporated ICCPR in their national law and allow its invocation in national courts save countries like Australia, Canada, UK , USA and few othershowever, that does not mean ICCPR is not binding on these countries. Right to life in Article 6 is about ‘arbitrary deprivation of life and not about ‘absolute prohibition of taking life.In Guerreno V Columbia, where national law authorized killing by police on national interest. HRC found that national legislation could not justify Columbian police action of taking life ‘arbitrarily. In regards to the Socio Economic aspects of Article 6, right to life must not be seen in narrow perspective, right to life can also be deprived by hunger, diseases, malnutrition and epidemics .HRC confirmed that article 6 has an aspects of socio economic rights and many people died of these than being kill ed, it is submitted that death can be a result of absence of implementation of social and economic interest in ICESR. It is encouraging that HRC has addressed ‘socio-economic aspects of Article 6 which optional protocol lack ‘mechanism for its redress. HRC cited war, armed conflict and abortion of foetus as threat to life. Article 7 disallows torture, inhuman and degrading treatment ,and complemented by Article 10 which disallow a lesser treatment than that disallowed in Article 7.The article was expanded in scope by UN Convention Against Torture(CAT)1984.The act must be ‘malevolent and required   public official as perpetrator of it by consent as CAT committee agreed with the author in Dzemajl et al V Yugoslavia as well as HRC in Francis V Jamaica.It is submitted that torture can be a result of social and economic deprivation like lack of   housing facilities and gainful employment can cause people to sleep on the floor under the bridge which constitute tortur e. Also, solitary imprisonments without medical attention constitute torture. Few of the  Ã‚   rights discussed though constitute civil and political rights, nevertheless has economic and social interest and this is applicable to almost all civil and political rights, therefore, concern must also be given to economic   and social rights as well. INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS The covenant was adopted alongside ICCPR to develop UDHR rights, it contains ‘second generation rights. it was opened for signature in 1966.it came into force in 1976 with 155 States as parties as at January 2007.During the cold war, western countries showed preference for political and civil rights while socialist states became sponsors of economic, Social and cultural rights.ICESR covenant with new optional protocol has preamble that is similar to ICCPR that is, ‘founded on the inherent dignity of the human person. it also has five parts, Part I of the covenant is solely on Article 1,which on right of all people to self determination with free right to pursue economic, social and cultural development and right to deal freely with their natural resources and wealth. Part II of the covenant in Article 2 to 5 states obligations and clauses that are applicable to Part III generally. Part III constitutes substantive provisions, what Cravens called ‘the heart of the covenant includes, the right to work,the right of fair condition of employment, the right to join and form trade unions, the right to social securities, the right to protection of family right to adequate standard of living, the right to health, right to education, and the right to culture and enjoyment of scientific progress .Part IV is about system of supervision by submission of periodic report to UN ,the reports which will be scrutinized by economic and social council of the UN (ECOSOC).The   part also contain ‘saving clause with intention of ensuring   developed states did not interfere excessively by means of the supervisory system in the utilization of natural resources within developing countries.Part V is on ratification ,process of amendment ,its application to federal ,states ‘without   any limitations or exceptionsand its entry into forceSome of the article of the covenant are recognised in other international convention like Convention on the Rights of Child(1989),Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination(1965) e.t.c. The supervision of the covenant by virtues of Articles 16 and 17 is by Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the UN organs, states send their report to the Secretary General of UN, who will in turn transmit the report to ECOSOC for consideration. ECOSOC in 1985 created a new body to assist in report consideration, the body is the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, now the main supervisory body. ICCPR, ICESCR AND PROTECTION Preamble of both covenants indicates they are both Civil and Political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights. The two covenants are like a coin with two sides. The 1993 Vienna declaration of programme of action recognised the ‘interdependence and interrelationship of both covenants. Both covenants contribute to the erga omnes principle and care must be taken trying to classify rights into ‘superior or ‘inferior, in hierarchical terms so as not to affect the credibility of human rights.Both covenant codified in treaty form the rights in UDHR. Parties can not terminates both covenants once ratified, it is an obligation that can not be denounced because they have no temporary nature.Both covenants believe in ‘collective right to self determination, the right allows ‘all people to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural developmentand both instruments are legally binding and they are treaties that must be respected. Both instruments copied copiously from UDHR and both rights are product of cold war era between USSR and its allies and USA and its allies. Universa l language and terms are in the two covenants, UDHR shows the interdependency of the covenants before they were separated and made binding treaties. The compactness and interdependency still reflects in their articles, for example, rights to form Trade Union in ICESCR is recognised as freedom of association by ICCPR, Article 13 of ICESCR deal with education and liberty of parents to choose school for their children can be seen in Article 18 of ICCPR right of parents to choose religion and moral education of their child; Article 2 and 26 deal with prohibition of same discriminations and both recognise family They are interrelated to the extent that one will be miserable without the other covenant. The difference between the two covenants can first be seen in both covenants Artcle2 (1) of ICCPR is assertive while Article 2(1)   of ICESCR is passive .ICESCR is subject to the ‘maximum of its available resources and ‘with a view to achieving progressively while ICCPR put it that state parties ‘undertakes to respect and ensure compliance. The language in ICESR has been criticised ‘for devoid of meaningful content and only impose ‘programmatic obligations upon government. ‘The tenor of the economic covenant is promotional rather than mandatory, the covenant is designed to promote economic and social welfare, not to hinder it by placing states under obligations, that prevent widespread economic and social reformThe   enforcement machinery of ICESC is not as strong as that of ICCPR, State party under ICESC is to submit report every five years to the committee on economic, social and cultural rights(CESCR)with the aim of achieving same purpose as human right committee of ICCPR but of which the outcome of CESCR has been more ‘political than ‘legal exercisesUnlike ICCPR,ICESCR has no right of individual petition because the intention of ICESCR is not to interfere with ‘State Control over citizen and non citizen at the same pedigree as ICCPR.HRC according to article 40 of ICCPR, is the only mandatory monitoring procedure that the covenant established, it received report at the first year of its entry into force and subsequently in accordance to committee requests. Their report is publicly examined, the inter state procedure is not better than mediation and conciliation procedure and committee can only express its view on this basis which may not be accepted by state party, and Parties to First Optional Protocol had submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of Human Rights Committee, in ‘practice, a total of 844 individual communication relating to 59 states have so far been dealt with by the committee of which 248 were declared inadmissible and 308 were decided on their merits by so called final views under Article 5(4)of the optional protocol. ‘Decisions are neither legally binding nor politically enforceable and by implication, compliance are left at the mercy of relevant state organs for adoption of the committees recommendations which based its decisions on written submission of parties before it. SHOULD HUMAN RIGHTS BE PRIMARILY CIVIL AND POLITICAL ALONE? The two rights are sacrosanct to balanced protection of human rights since the two Covenants are interrelated; therefore one must not be neglected at the expense of the other. The juxtaposition of both covenants above shows that they are interwoven and interdependent, though this has been criticised as a compromise after the failure to equate ICESR with ICCPR which is not true. it is submitted that the foundation of both covenants made them equal but the cold war separated them and classified them into ‘generations of rights if ICESR had been considered with ICCPR as a single document, it would have been ‘ first generation rights as well, after all UDHR never desire the instrumental divorce. It has been argued at one extreme that economic and social rights are superior to civil and political in hierarchical standard of value, the argument well founded, for example, what essence is the political rights to an illiterate who doesnt know his right?   Economic and social right can correct this. Again, what essence is freedom of speech and expression to an hungry man? Economic and Social rights like right to work and right to food or standard of living can solve this. Displaced and homeless will only understand freedom of association as avenue for crime. it is therefore submitted that   total deficiency of social and economic interest will lead to counter productivity of civil and political freedom. if Social and economic   interest are deficient in mass and free civil or political will society, it will eventually hamper the latter. Hunger, Homelessness, economic frustration can cause violence and breach of civil and political rights, the civil and political problems in Rwanda, Somalia and Niger Delta in Nigeria were due to social and economic imbalance that ICESR can address for peace to reign. Economic and Social interest are instrumental to societal peace. Should human rights therefore be concerned primarily with protection of civil and political rights? The analysis above answers the question, the two covenants are contiguously related and where they are not, they complement each other. The argument of critics against economic and social interest can be summarised and dismissed as follow. That civil and political right has binding obligation language whereas economic and social right has passive and ‘progressive achievement.One may partially agree with this but law is not static, it has progressive formation of a binding nature, it only allow state party to have assessment of resources   for steady implementation. Another criticism is that to observe civil and political rights, state party has to abstain from doing act against the right s and these are ‘negative rights whereas state party has to intervene to observe economic and social rights and this makes it ‘positive rights. One may rightly say here that some civil and political rights required prompt intervention too like economic and social right. It has been argued that civil and political right are easier to implement because of little resources required while economic and social right required substantial resources for implementation. it is submitted that resources wasted in political right alone is enough to take care of economic and social interest, especially in developing countries, resources wasted on rigged election, bribery and corruption on political reasons and payment of political office holders is enough to fix economic and social interests. it is submitted that political rights in expression through democracy, is the most expensive rights in the world. ICESCR was criticised further that it lacked enforcement mechanism and that the co ntent of the right is not as authoritative as ICCPR. Argument premised on ICCPR Inter state and individual procedures of complaints while that of ICESCR is weak. This problem has received the attention of UN General Assembly when on 18 June 2008, HRC adopted Optional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and   10 December 2008,UN adopted it, the optional protocol in its Article 2 provides for Inter State and Individual Complaint Procedure like ICCPR in economic, and social rights Complaints, Article 1 states that CESR can receive communication on breach of economic, social and cultural rights. The protocol was opened for signature in September 2009; this is a primary focus on economic and social interests. State membership and cooperation with International Organisations are making them to protect and promote indirectly and directly Economic, Social and Cultural rights, organisations   like UNDP, UNICEF and specialised agencies like IMF .ILO,UNESCO and few NGO in coop eration with chapter IX of UN charter. CONCLUSION The school of thought that believes that the two covenants are interrelated and interconnected is the best. Most Articles in ICCPR has economic and or social interest, Primary concern for civil and political rights only will collapse the rights itself. ICESCR is no longer weak in its enforcement with September 2009 open signature of its Optional Protocol. Giving primary attention to civil and political rights as opposed to economic interest is no longer in compliance with new World economic order, if States can fund political rights via democracy, they must be able to fund economic and social interest, many government of State parties that neglects economic and social interest do fail woefully in civil and political mandates, why? Because economic and political interest falls within primary values encompassing children and family interest and unit of family makes a state .it is high time States began to honour the covenant they entered into 33 years ago   (1976) with intention to b e bound   on pacta sunt servanda principle. The era of its gradual development is gone with 2009.Absence of war or conflict is not an assurance of peace and security but sincere determination in solving economic and social obstacles. Political and civil rights will only exist at the assurance of economic and social interest.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Know Thyself Essay -- essays research papers

Consider the ancient imperative â€Å"know thyself†. How can different ways of knowing help us as individuals and communities to achieve this goal? Shakespeare once said, â€Å"Life is but a stage and men merely players on it.† In order for us to become main characters on this stage, instead of mere extras, we must be able to truly identify who we are as individuals first. After this has been accomplished we can find out how we can benefit our society. When complete self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-confidence, and self-respect are reached, than you can truly â€Å"know thyself.† In all of the Natural Sciences, be it physics, chemistry, or biology, the physical world is dissected and analyzed. Using a language of their own, the Natural Sciences go about defining and declaring what we are. In biology the human brain is analyzed and studied; in fact when my parents were in medical school and were studying neurology, they were given actual brains to dissect. However these studies merely identify what is there physically, not the soul or the identity. Sant Kirpal Singh explains, â€Å"Man is composed of body, mind (intellect) and soul. We are extremely careful to develop ourselves physically and mentally, but understand very little about the soul, which is the Power ruling both the body and the mind.† I have a sixth grade sister named Nora, and she is going through what most young adults go through at her age, self-discovery. She is neither an adult nor a child and is feeling lost and angry at ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Infosys Case Analysis Essay

? Case analysis – infosys document structure We have approached the case by first analyzing the identified issues, and then associate root causes to those issues. Further to it we have used two frameworks, â€Å"Web of Change† and â€Å"Hewitt Best Employer Characteristics†, to theoretically assess the weaknesses in Infosys Human Resource and Change Management policies. These frameworks can be used by organizations to better plan their change management and human resource management initiatives. We have used â€Å"Hewitt’s Best Employer Survey†, to identify the key initiatives which Infosys should undertake to enable it to reach its target of â€Å"Best Employer† by 2011. Further to it we believe that â€Å"Best Employer† and â€Å"Best Performer† are complementary goals, and it’s difficult to achieve one without the other, and hence we have identified the key initiatives which can help Infosys to achieve â€Å"Best Performer† target without compromising on its â€Å"Best Employer† objective. about infosys Infosys is the second largest Indian IT software services company. Infosys has reached pinnacles of success in short span of 20 years, through innovative business strategies and human resource practices. Currently it is facing challenges around balancing between business growth and employee satisfaction. About its business Model Infosys delivers IT services to its clients globally in a model called GDM (Global Delivery Model). The main characteristic of this model is that it decouples client location and project execution. Project is executed in locations which provide best combination of cost and talent. Project teams are spread across client site and offshore development centers in countries like India, China, and Mexico etc which provide rich availability of talent at competitive cost. Usually teams at client site document requirements and manage client relationship and offshore team manages delivery. This is a human resource intensive industry and the challenge is exacerbated by the fact that most of the resources are highly skilled professionals (engineers, MBAs, computer scientists etc). Being an industry where human resource is your only asset and your only competitive advantage, managing, ssues and Root Cause analysis In this section we’ll analyze the issues identified in the case and will attempt to identify root causes which led to employee dissatisfaction. After our analysis we believe that issues mentioned in the case is symptomatic of gaps in general principles of leadership, change management and HRM. Policies are not written in blood and stone, and they change ov er the lifetime of organizations. What should not change are basic organizations principles around human resource management. Our assessment is that policy changes in Infosys were reflective of external environment and business imperatives. However, diverging from the basic principles of Change management, leadership, communication and employee development in implementing new policies is what led to its fall in Best Employer ratings. â€Å"Stock Options started lacking luster to the new employees and created equity imbalance among employees† Stakeholders involved New Employees Discontentment Impact Inequity of income/wealth effect in the company which created tension between employees. New employees who had seen Infosys from outside as an organization committed to fairness, equity, and employee wealth creation got disenchanted. Root Cause Failure to Manage Expectations This issue primarily arose because of incorrect expectation setting of new employees. Infosys kept on using stock options and the millionaires’ stories as branding activity, even when stock options were no more an incentive to new recruits. Company should have made it very clear about its new compensation philosophy when it discontinued ESOPS. 1. Managing scale and attrition risk Stakeholders involved Employees Managers Discontentment Impact Infosys was growing at a speed where it was doubling its organizational strength every 1-2 years. However organization was plagued by high attrition rate. Employees felt lack of motivation, due to repetitive process tasks, which the business model demanded. Due to high growth, a lot of employees moved up the managerial ladder, but lacked proper training and orientation and hence couldn’t connect to employees Root Cause Lack of Employee fulfillment ( from the job ) Detached Lleaderships To stress on the need for the above two, we’ll give two examples from Indian public sector. Indian Railways Indian railways has recently transformed itself into a highly profitable organization, and according to the officer on special with Railways, single most critical factor which contributed to this success is involvement and commitment of employees of railways despite having a poor compensation structure. Employees of Indian railways take great pride in their work, since they believe they are contributing to the running of the country’s biggest infrastructure and are responsible for transporting of 2 crore customers every days. This association with organizational goal and pride in your organization is what makes an organization for perpetuity. Due to changing business needs, Iinfosys couldn’t connect to its employees in motivating them. Indian Army A unit commander in the army is able to inspire its soldiers to give up their life, compensation etc notwithstanding. The only reasons soldiers are so committed, is their immediate leader. It depends on the unit commander’s ability to connect to his soldiers, motivate them and show a genuine concern for their wellbeing, is what motivates the soldiers to do the unthinkable for their leader. According to research in human resources field, people leave managers and not companies. The leadership skills of managers are the greatest source of employee fulfillment at work. Lack of engagement and commitment of managers towards their subordinates, was probably the single biggest reason for high attrition rate at Infosys. 2. Strong formalization and process orientation, which came as part of growth, took away bandwidth to innovate from employees. Stakeholders involved Employees Discontentment Impact Employees who were used to getting the thrill and satisfaction from using their skill on technical challenges were feeling cocooned because of new process driven and re-use methodology. Similar impact was observed in people policy issues. All personal policies were getting more and more formalized. Root Cause Lack of employee Motivation Resistance to change One of the basic principles of organization design is that you don’t use strong formalization from highly skilled agents (employees). Formalization is for low skilled repeatable tasks. Infosys should have come up with business models aimed at high end, value added services much earlier. This would have kept its inherent talent not only motivated but better utilized for higher margins. In 1990s moving away from body shopping to GDM provide this opportunity, but in early to middle 2000s, Iinfosys couldn’t reinvent itself. Formalization in organizational policies when it grows out from entrepreneurial stage is inevitable. It’s actually needed to ensure consistent implementation of policies and create a sense of equity and fairness among employee. Dissatisfaction on this front could be attributed to resistance to change, and hence effective change management principles should be employed for disruptive changes. 3. Introduction of variable pay Stakeholders involved Employees Senior Management HR Department Discontentment Impact Variable pay was received with a lot of skepticism by the employees, fearing that it was introduced to reduce their compensation Root Cause/s Change Management Failure Lack of Leadership engagement Communication Failure This was probably one of the most disruptive changes introduced by Infosys. The amount of skepticism and distrust displayed by employees was a first in Infosys. Immediate reaction of employees was that this policy has been introduced to cut employee costs to satisfy shareholders demand for higher and higher profitability. The fact that a vast majority of senior management were shareholders in the company added to employee distrust. There was no clarity among employees how this policy will pan out. A lot of employees were not comfortable in linking their performance to factors outside their control (market conditions, decision taken by management etc). Also since the amount of variable component was high (more than 50% for project managers and above), employees could not understand how much their monthly take home were. This is a classic case of failure in change management and involvement of leadership at every level. Infosys data on variable payout shows that most of the time company has delivered 100% payout and even higher percentage to high performers. So employee skepticism bore from lack of clarity and communication on this policy. Lack of clarity, communication and involvement of employees was to such an extent that even middle management was taken by surprise by this policy. Many managers, who couldn’t appreciate the policy implementation, were reluctant in communicating the changes to the employees. For an employee first point of contact for clarification is his/her immediate line manager, hence it’s important to fully equip leadership at every level with information. To understand the role what leadership plays in motivating, retaining employees, we should look at armed forces. Unit commanders are able to motivate their employees to give their life, despite the fact that compensation package of soldiers is one of the lowest. This commitment in subordinates comes because of total commitment of their leader in engaging with them and motivating with them. Immediate line managers are the biggest reason employees leave an organization and are also the main reason employees go beyond their capabilities to outperform. 4. Retaining Organizational Culture with fast track growth Stakeholders involved HR Department Employees Discontentment Impact Due to business growth imperatives, and its business model, Infosys was doubling its employee strength every 1-2 years. To accommodate this type of growth, it had to lower its hiring standards and quality and culture was a victim of this. Root Cause/s Lack of Employee on boarding ( orientation) planning This issue had an impact on multiple facets. It led to a feeling disenchantment in existing employees, as they felt their brand equity in the market was getting diluted. New employees, who were not able to appreciate infosys inherent culture, didn’t felt comfortable and had a feeling that the organization is biased toward old employees. Root cause of this issue was that although organization had changed its selection criteria, it didn’t change its employee orientation strategy, or training methodology. Infosys should have changed its orientation program to be more customized offering for similar group of employees and using existing employees as mentor to help develop organizational culture and values in new employees. Similarly if you are hiring for quantity and not quality, it should have modified its training plan to be more exhaustive. 5. Broad Banding and promotions Stakeholders involved Employees Discontentment Impact Lack of faith in the organization Chaos and confusion in employees minds Root Cause/s Change Management Communication Leadership This policy again created a lot of employee discomfort since they didn’t knew the details of change. It’s again a classic change management failure. Although the policy was designed to bring more clarity in role structure and bring equity amongst similar roles, across the organization, poor communications created fear and scientism in minds of people. We can observe from the reinvention of Indian Railways, one of the reasons organization could progress on the growth trajectory, was employee commitment to the cause of Indian Railways, despite of low compensation. Employees felt proud to be part of the world’s biggest railways and were motivated to excel. Some of the senior managers lacked clarity about policies, hence they were apprehensive of clarifying the policy. This shows a major organizational failure in terms of change management and engagement of leadership with people. Similarly as discussed above, since employee appraisal parameters were not clearly defined, an employee could not appreciate how his/her appraisal going to impact promotions? Web Of Change – Change Management Framework To do substantiate our above understanding of issues at Iinfosys, we used â€Å"Web of Change†, a change management framework to understand the change management issues at Infosys. â€Å"Web of change: is the framework proposed by Stephen Thomas. This model defines 8 change elements as shown below and the web of change helps us to see how the values of each element changed during the Organization Change process in Infosys. The baseline score is the value of the Change elements in Infosys during the glory years of 1990’s and the re-assessment scores the value of the same change elements in the 2000’s when Infosys was going through the â€Å"Growth pangs†.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

All Contracts Are Agreements but Not All Agreements

According to section 2(a) of Indian Contract Act states that, â€Å"every promise on every set of promises forming the consideration for each other an agreement. An agreement is a form of cross reference between different parties, which may be written, oral and lies upon the honor of the parties for its fulfillment rather than being in any way enforceable. It is also a fact that an agreement is a proposal and its acceptance, by which two or more person or parties promises to do abstain from doing an act. But a contract according to section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, â€Å"An agreement enforceable by law is a contract.It is clear these definitions that the two elements of a contract are: (a) Agreement Contractual Obligation (b) Enforceability by Law. For Example: X invites his friend to coffee and the latter accepts the invitation. This is a social agreement not a contract because it does not imply any legal obligation. We can say that: (a) All contracts are agreements, (b) Bu t all agreements are not contracts. (a) All Contracts are Agreements For a Contract to be there an agreement is essential; without an agreement, there can be no contract.As the saying goes, â€Å"where there is smoke, there is fire; for without fire, there can be no smoke†. It could be said, â€Å"Where there is contract, there is agreement without an agreement there can be no contract†. Just as a fire gives birth to smoke, in the same way, an agreement gives birth to a contract. Another essential element of a contract is the legal obligation for the parties to the contract; there are many agreements that do not entail any legal obligations. As such, these agreements cannot be called contracts. For Example:A gives his car to B for repair and B asks for Ksh. 2000 for the repair works. A agrees to pay the price and B agrees to repair the car. The agreement imposes an obligation on both. The third element of a contract is that the agreement must be enforceable by Law. If one party fails to keep his promise, the other has the right to go the court and force the defaulter to keep his promises. There are other elements are: 1. Offer and acceptance, 2. Legal obligation, 3. Lawful consideration, 4. Valid object, 5. Agreement not being declared void by Law, 6. Free consent, 7.Agreement being written and registered, 8. Capacity to contract, 9. Possibility of performance from what has been discussed. It is clear that all contracts are agreements. (b) All Agreements are not Contracts: An agreement is termed a contract only when it is enforceable by law. All agreements are not necessarily legally enforceable. It can rightly be said that an agreement has a much wider scope than a contract. For example that agreements are not legally binding are an invitation to dinner or to go for a walk and its acceptance. These are agreements not contracts.An agreement does not necessarily imply a legal obligation on the parties to the agreement. It is import here to clarify what exactly is an obligation. Obligation is a legal tie which imposes upon a person or persons the necessity of doing or abstaining from doing definite act or acts. An agreement need not necessarily be within the framework of law and be legally enforceable. If it is, then it is a contract. A promises B to do physical harm to C whom, the latter does not like and B promises to pay A Ksh. 1000 to do that, it cannot be termed as a contract because such an act would be against the law.Any agreement of which the object or consideration is unlawful is void and cannot be called a contract. It would be clear from what has been said so far that an agreement has a much wider scope than a contract. An Agreement implies fulfilling some agreed condition. It does not necessarily imply that the stipulated conditions conform to the law and are enforceable by it. It may be said that an agreement is the genus of which contract is the species. It also makes it clear that all agreements are not contra cts but all contracts are agreements.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Henrietta edwards

Henrietta edwards HENRIETTA MUIR EDWARDS Born in Montreal on December 18, 1849, Henrietta Muir Edwards was one of Alberta's "Famous Five Women". She began her fight for woman's rights at her home in Montreal with her sister. Here she founded the Working Girls' Club, which offered meals, reading rooms and study classes, in 1875. Henrietta and her sister then published the periodical, known as the "Working Women of Canada". They paid the costs of publishing the paper by depriving themselves of all personal luxuries. Henrietta also made money by selling miniature paintings.In 1886 Henrietta Muir became Henrietta Muir Edwards when she married Dr. Oliver Cromwell Edwards. Her husband soon took a job at Fort McCloed. Here she met the other four women involved in Alberta's "Famous Five Women". The group included Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby and Louise McKinny. With their help Mrs. Edwards began her fight to change the law on Woman's rights.A statue of Henrietta Edwards, part of a monument ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Civil Action Plan Paper Teen Drinking †Health Essay

Civil Action Plan Paper Teen Drinking – Health Essay Free Online Research Papers Hi, my name is Marshall Mathers, I’m an alcoholic†-eminem, â€Å"I sip a Heiniken brew, for my deceased crew†- Nas. These are just two of thousands of quotes in songs referring to alcohol. This can be very influential towards teens who listen to this music to drink at a young age. But then again, what does not? Alcohol is in movies, songs, advertisemnts, pictures, tv shows, and at home used by parents, or other teens. So, with all of these influences, why do 75% of parents believe that their teen does not drink, when over 80% of high school students have at least once had alcohol? Also, why has the government not stepped in to specifically help out teen drinkers through AA type meetings? There are also no non-profit orgainizations geared specifically towards teen drinkers. The most common and perhaps only influential anti-teen drinking addressing would be a brief lesson in heath class. This is not enough. This then leads to many problems, and my groups civil action plan. Parents, and even the government, seem to be ignorant to the fact that children are drinking which is why my group had come up with a support group for teen drinkers. It is first best to hear the teen drinking statitics before anything. Beware, because these first few facts are shocking. The average age for boys to first try alcohol is 11, and is 13 for girls. The average age at which Americans begin drinking regularly is 16 years old. 60% of high-schoolers drink weekly. 11% of alcohol that is consumed by America is consumed by teenagers. Drinking such large amounts at such young ages can lead to serious problem; both mentally and physically. Teenagers, as everybody knows, can be and are very irresponsible. They think not of the consequences, because they only think of the short term benfits. This is why teens are three times more likely to drive drunk then adults. One leading cause of this is because a designated driver, better know as DD, is never established before hand. When that 12:00 am call from the house arrives, by this point, the een and his friends are all unablke to drive. The most important thing to the teen is making it home on time without getting in truoble; not about driving drunk or making it home ALIVE. This is why in our teen drinking anonymous program a DD will be a big topic. The three leading causes of death for 15- to 24-year-olds are automobile crashes, homicides and suicides alcohol is a leading factor in all three. If teens see the consequenes of drining impaired and the importance of a DD, lives will be saved. It is a proven fact that children that have been informed about alcohol and warned of the dangers by their parents are less likely to drink. This will be another part of our civil action plan. Informing parents to tell their children is very crutial. Sending out fliers to homes stating things such as how many American teens/ high school students drink, how many are in drunk driving accidents, and the statistical benefit of teaching your child, young or old, the harms of drinking will have a great impact.if parents preach at home their dissatisfaction of underaged drinker will make young children less likely to drink, and make already drinking teens think twice about what they are doing. Behavioral and drug problems also come hand in hand with teen drinking. Teens age 12 to 17 who use alcohol are more likely to report behavioral problems, especially aggressive, delinquent and criminal behaviors, according to findings of a new study released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The study further revealed that teen alcohol users wether they are heavy or light drinkers report they are more likely to use illicit drugs than non-drinkers. Teens who were current heavy drinkers were 16 times more likely than non-drinkers to have used an illicit drug in the past month. Light drinkers were eight times more likely to have used an illicit drug in the past month than non-drinking adolescents. This is another big problem with take drinking. Many people believe that marijiuana is a gateway drug; once one uses weed enough times theyb want to move on to more â€Å"hardcore† drugs to get a better ad more lasting high, or just for fun. Th is concept can then be applied to alcohol. If alcohol, as it is statistically shown, is in a way a stepping stone to use gateway drugs such a marijiuana, why is alcohol not taken as seriously for teens as marijiuana? The CAP orgainzed group, Teenage Drinker Anonymous or TDA, will show the connection between drugs and alcohol. The task of the Civil Action Plan is to develop solution to a particular issue, and the issue had to be a social issue. Teens who drink are a group in society who suffer from an injustice, because they are unaware of the facts and consequences of drinking. The expert briefly interviwed, Peter Rupert, volunteers a few times a month to work at AA meetings. He agrees that alcohol should be talked about in homes at a young age to prevent teen drinking. He also stated that teens who drink are a group of people who â€Å"suffer from a lack of knowledge†. Setting up the TDA groups will be open to both drinkers, and non-drinkers who would jut like to hear the facts. Fliers will be sent out at school and to homes regarding the amount of teens statistically drinking and what can lead from teen drinking. The fliers and posters will raise a physical awareness. The meetings will be very welcoming and non-judgemental. Hopefully with the TDA orgainization and all the fliers and post ers, awareness of this social injustice will be raised. Research Papers on Civil Action Plan Paper Teen Drinking - Health EssayPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenHip-Hop is ArtHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseStandardized TestingThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoWhere Wild and West Meet

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Example Sentences of the Verb Leave in English

Example Sentences of the Verb Leave in English This page provides example sentences of the verb leave in all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms. Base Form leave / Past Simple left / Past Participle left / Gerund leaving Present Simple I usually leave for work at seven in the morning. Present Simple Passive Books are left on the desk at the front of the room. Present Continuous Mary is leaving for London today. Present Continuous Passive The city is being left by thousands this week. Present Perfect She hasnt left for the meeting yet. Present Perfect Passive The city hasnt been left by everybody yet. Present Perfect Continuous She has been leaving reminders around the house for years. Past Simple I left for work early yesterday morning. Past Simple Passive The magazine was left on the table yesterday afternoon. Past Continuous We were leaving for our vacation when they arrived. Past Continuous Passive The tourists were being left behind when the tour guide noticed they were missing. Past Perfect They had already left home when we got there. Past Perfect Passive The ticket had been left behind so he couldnt come. Past Perfect Continuous She had been leaving him reminders for a while before he remembered to take out the trash. Future (Will) Alice will leave soon. Future (Will) Passive The book will be left by the student. Future (Going To) We are going to leave on Friday. Future (Going To) Passive The house is going to be left by the visitors next week. Future Continuous This time next week we will be leaving on vacation. Future Perfect She will have left him by the end of next month. Future Possibility She might leave at the end of the week. Real Conditional If she leaves him, he will be very unhappy. Unreal Conditional If she left him, he would be very unhappy. Past Unreal Conditional If she had left him, he would have been very unhappy. Present Modal You can leave at any time. Past Modal They must have left early.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Muslim jesus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Muslim jesus - Essay Example In Islam, however, while Jesus is not divine, he certainly existed and was regarded a great teacher of his day. Upon examining various accounts of Jesus and his time spent on earth, it is prudent to conclude that the Muslim account of Jesus is more similar to the true account of the historical Jesus as compared to the Jesus of the Christian faith. This report will, therefore, reflect the reality that the historical Jesus can be seen as more of a zealot or criminal as opposed to a divine being, as recounted in the varied accounts of the Christian gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. While Islamic teaching does regard Jesus as having been a human being who was a messenger of God, the Muslim faith rejects the idea that he was God, nor was he the begotten son of God. In fact, Islamic scripture teaches that anyone who believes that Jesus either God or the Son of God is Shirk. This is to mean that the individual has committed the sin of idolatry, as Islam teaching comes form the express point of view that there is only one true God, and that His prophet is Muhammed. To attach any status approaching divinity to the personhood of Jesus is simply wrong and cannot be accepted under the Islamic faith1. Muslims simply cannot reject the notion of God’s divine oneness, as that is a fundamental tenant of their faith. As such, to make the claim that the Muslim Jesus is divine would be equatable to committing an unpardonable sin. One of the arguments in the Christian faith is that Jesus is divine as represented by the concept of the Trinity. This is to say that God, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Sprit (the Essence of Jesus that has remained after His ascension to Heaven) are all divine and the same person. As such, since Jesus is part of the Trinity, Christians argue that He was and still is divine in his own right. This, again, rejected by Islamic teaching2. The Muslim perception

Friday, October 18, 2019

MUSEUM VISIT & ESSAY ASSIGNMENT Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MUSEUM VISIT & ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example The painting depict Buddha seated on his throne while stepping on a tiger that seems to drink water from the stream below. Buddha is holding a golden scepter in his right hand. The scepter has a shiny lamp at the top and a flowing red cloth. Above Buddha’s head, wavy lines are used to depict cloud movements in the blue sky. The sun is depicted on the left side of the painting while the moon and stars are on the right side. This symbolizes that Buddha controls both day and night. On the left side of the painting, there are green mountains and valleys with a flowing stream of water (Tulachan 1). Down the mountain, a half body of a horse and two men seems to be enjoying their bountiful harvest. The right side of the painting depicts flowing air and human figures. A stream of cool water flows beneath Buddha’s legs. The tiger seems to be drinking from the stream and blooming flowers and green plants manifest the importance of the water. The artist combined shades and tints of red, blue and yellow and complemented them with brown color. The sky and the waters below are blue, symbolizing calmness. The light blue clouds have red tails symbolizing their energetic and strong movement in the sky. Part of Buddha’s garment is blue, signifying loyalty, order and peace. Buddha’s garment parts, throne decoration, center of the sun, and lamp are red orange to symbolize his power and strength, and love and energy on humankind. The golden yellow color of Buddha’s face, hands, sun and the environs signify the promise of an affirmative, happiness and enlightenments. The green color symbolizes fertility while brown signifies protection, security and wealth. The painter made use of line to create shape and movement. Wavy lines are used to depict movement and create outlines. Curved lines are predominantly used in natural forms to depict grace, softness, joy and flexibility that come with

A healty way of life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A healty way of life - Essay Example There are some individuals who would go to any length to make sure that their exercise regimes are the best possible ones but would these bring any sanity within their life is hard to fathom. This is because some believe that exercising is good for their health which is not the case at times. In fact this can prove to be a hurdle on their frail body, especially for the ones who are weak and yet they indulge within exercises (Sloan, 2006). This is a well known and proven fact that exercising does not need to be vigorous in order to be termed as effective. This is the case because research and evidence of study has been on the side of the people who do exercises regularly yet in short spells. There needs to be a proper balance between what they eat and how they exercise so that their body and mind remain fit at the end of the day. Another important aspect of remaining healthy is to eat properly and that too within fixed schedules. This allows the people to feel good with their domains and they start enjoying their lives in a better way. Eating right does not need to be a boring task. In fact there must be excitement attached with how one eats and what one eats. The aspect of nourishment is very essential towards gaining an understanding of the ways and means through which one consumes food. When one follows a proper schedule where his diet comprises vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, proteins and other food nutrients, the boring part involved with eating vanishes quickly. This nourishment can only come about when there are concerted efforts by the people who want to spend their lives in a very healthy manner. However, this is hardly the case because there are cravings that the human beings face from time to time, and they succumb to pressure within their bodies, which asks of them to eat whatever they feel like. Hence making food eating an exciting process is a much needed entity in this day and age, especially when it involves so much of time and energy. A lso the price entailed in bringing food to an individual is worth the effort as this ensures that he pays a particular price for what he wants within his life and how he wishes to have it within a quantifiable limit. Therefore it would be correct to state that eating healthy does not need to be a boring job at all. Moving ahead, it has been proven with sound research at hand that eating right prolongs one’s life to up to 10 to 15 years. If a person eats properly and that too in moderation, there is no reason why they cannot live his life happily. This is because he is eating healthy and then exercising in an adequate manner which in essence increases his life span by 10 to 15 years (Foxall, 1999). Nearly every person wishes to have a long life and if this is ensured with the help of a proper and healthy diet, then there is no reason why one cannot stick to such a health regime and plan. This will also be the basis of knowing how he will enjoy his life and take care of his nea r and dear ones as and when they like. Even though it is a difficult process to eat healthy, it requires strict vigilance on an individual’s part to make sure that there is no point in straying from the already thought out course of action. Therefore if a person wishes to extend his life duration by quite a considerable period of time, it is imperative that he eats right and takes

Marketers and the child consumer Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 9500 words

Marketers and the child consumer - Thesis Example The paper tells that marketing to children has been of immense interest to marketers in recent times. Marketers use advertising to inform, communicate, persuade, entertain, and sell to the viewer. Children have become attractive markets not only because they can influence their parents’ purchase decision but also because they have their own income through jobs or allowances from parents. Their immense purchasing power has tempted the marketers to exploit the situation. Besides, certain characteristics such as repetition, branded characters, celebrity endorsements, and interesting production features enhance the importance of television as a medium. Advertisers use stealth marketing techniques and have started embedding or placing the product in movies or TV shows. They also use advergames where the tweens feel the flow of information. The fast food restaurants entice the vulnerable minds with the promise of a toy on their visit. Advertisers have also exploited the school arena to reach out to the children. Advertisements can be found on report cards, on school book covers, on school buses and the intention is to demonstrate their commitment to academic excellence. While there are debates and studies on how food advertising has led to increased incidences of obesity in tweens, there is no conclusive study to confirm this. However, advertising for children has certainly enhanced consumerism and the children feel they can decide what they want and when they want. Suddenly the children feel grown up and want to look and feel older. This may not be a positive impact as the childish innocence is lost a very early age. The study concludes the materialism and consumerism should not be promoted through advertisements directed at tweens. The appropriate marketing technique should contain relevant and important information about the product, its benefits and the potential adverse impact. Recommendations for further studies were made and limitations highlighted. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale for the study 2 1.3 Research aims and objectives 3 1.4 Structure of the study 4 1.5 Significance of the study 5 Chapter II Literature review 2.1 Chapter overview 6 2.2 Definition of tweens 6 2.3 The child consumer 7 2.4 Media used for marketing to children 10 2.5 Marketing techniques used by advertisers 13 2.6 Impact of advertisements on children 15 Chapter III Methodology 3.1 Chapter Overview 17 3.2 Research Philosophy 17 3.3 Purpose of the research and phenomenon 17 3.4 Epistemology 17 3. 5 Research Strategy 19 3.6 Data collection 19 3.7 Justification for secondary data 20 3.8 Data analysis 20 3.9 Limitations 20 Chapter IV Findings 4.1 Chapter Overview 21 4.2 Cause of changes in tweens’ consumer behavior 21 4.3 Marketing techniques used by advertisers 22 4.4 Impact of advertising and marketing 26 4.5 Television as the most important medium 29 4.6 Discussions 29 Chapter V Conclusion & Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion 31 5.2 Recommendations 33 References 34 Tables & Figures Table 2.1 Media Channels that reach the tweens 11 Table 2.2 Media use by Tweens 12 Figure 4.1 Tweens shopping without parents 22 Figure 4.2 Pleasure & Fun 23 Figure 4.3 Excitement and surprise 26 Figure 4.4 Lollipop as a â€Å"popping candy† 26 Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background Marketing to children has been of immense interest to marketers in recent times. Marketing campaigns have three-fold purpose –

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Manufacturing of Porous Steel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Manufacturing of Porous Steel - Essay Example The new industrial methodology for manufacturing and producing Porous Steel is a relatively new invention and was patented only recently in 2006-2007 through its Korean inventors Rin-soon, Yongsang, Wonjong-dong, Ojeong-gu, and Bucheon. (WO/2007/018403) Porous steel is a special type of steel which requires a method of manufacturing steel through special preparation of the metallic bodies with plural cores which are coated and then rearranging them in contact with each other in a certain position which allows the pores to be formed there between, and thus the arranged metal bodies are heated to be point welded. (WO/2007/018403) The above mentioned Porous methodology allows the pores formed in the porous special steel to be flexible enough to be able to change according to the size of the metallic bodies. This further allows other special steels to be manufactured with ease and flexibility according to the kind of cores and coating metals. (WO/2007/018403) Porous Steel manufacture relates to a method of manufacturing the special steel in diverse shapes and sizes due to its flexible pores. This is a novel invention in a time of heavy industrial development whereas the improvement in life environment necessitates an increasing need in the Steel industry for flexible raw materials. Porous steel is different from the traditional metallic steel products in the sense that they are found in powdery or other solid forms but the porous special steel with its flexible shapes and sizes has appeared in the various industrial uses and works better than ordinary steel by securing sufficient pores therein. This property of the metal allows to also serve a filtration purpose which having a function of filtering particles contained in gas or liquid can then be utilized as a highly efficient heat resistant material due to its qualities of excellent air permeability and conduciveness to heat. There is however a problem which can technically hinder the use of the porous steel. The conventional method of making Porous steel consists of a number of steps for example it will include the salts to be welded to each other and placed in a press die ,where as the raw metal will have lower fusion points. (Lee et al 2007) However the problem is that not only does this require a heavy use of equipment (like the use of magnanimous press dies in order to permeate the salts and metal into the raw metal) but the welding process can prove to be a nuisance in itself. (Lee et al 2007) However the inventors have also presented a new methodology to get around these complications with ease by the arrangement of metallic bodies in which a plurality of cores thereof is coated with metal. Such a method warrants better achievement of the dexterous task of manufacturing porous special steel, which is capable of manufacturing even complex-shaped special steel with ease. This will involve the coating of the cores of the metallic bodies with ferromagnetic metal. Then these metallic bodies will be magnetized to allow the arrangement to build a magnetic force between the metallic bodies. (Molin et al 2008). The method allows for the provision of easily manufacturing special steel alloys based on various cores and coated metals which are then capable of changing the

Discuss the significance of the endi ng of The Glass Menagerie , in Essay

Discuss the significance of the endi ng of The Glass Menagerie , in terms of symbols, characters, and themes - Essay Example The mother is trying to compensate the shortcomings in her life by thinking of her good old days. Amanda says â€Å"What are we going to do, what is going to become of us, what is the future?" ( Williams ) All the characters are forcing themselves to escape from the reality as her daughter Laura is illussioned by glass works while son wanders along in frustration. In the climax, we can see that characters come at different points of struggling. The climax has lot of significance because people in the story change their choices and preferences to make their life better. Tom who is the son of Amanda decides to use the money he have for his purpose instead of paying electric bill of house. He thinks to leave his family in search of an adventure to break off from family struggle and start a life of his own. In the end also the dreams of Laura changes as Jim announces his engagement. He then breaks the horn of her glass unicorn in mistake which was gifted by Laura. When Jim announces that he is engaged it destroys the chance of eliminating the self doubt and shyness of Laura. We can see that this incident has brought a mental and emotional trauma in Laura and Amanda. When Amanda hears the news of Jim getting engaged, she loses the hope of her daughter getting popularity and social standing. She related this to her experience where she also lost a chance to come up in social circle of life. In the end, we can see that all the hopes and desires of characters fall apart and show how illusion and fantasies can spoil our life. Amanda says â€Å"I’ll tell you what I wished for on the moon. Success and happiness for my precious children! I wish for that whenever there’s a moon, and when there isn’t a moon, I wish for it, too." (Williams ).Tom not paying the bills shows that the he is frustrated with his family. Amanda has a change

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Manufacturing of Porous Steel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Manufacturing of Porous Steel - Essay Example The new industrial methodology for manufacturing and producing Porous Steel is a relatively new invention and was patented only recently in 2006-2007 through its Korean inventors Rin-soon, Yongsang, Wonjong-dong, Ojeong-gu, and Bucheon. (WO/2007/018403) Porous steel is a special type of steel which requires a method of manufacturing steel through special preparation of the metallic bodies with plural cores which are coated and then rearranging them in contact with each other in a certain position which allows the pores to be formed there between, and thus the arranged metal bodies are heated to be point welded. (WO/2007/018403) The above mentioned Porous methodology allows the pores formed in the porous special steel to be flexible enough to be able to change according to the size of the metallic bodies. This further allows other special steels to be manufactured with ease and flexibility according to the kind of cores and coating metals. (WO/2007/018403) Porous Steel manufacture relates to a method of manufacturing the special steel in diverse shapes and sizes due to its flexible pores. This is a novel invention in a time of heavy industrial development whereas the improvement in life environment necessitates an increasing need in the Steel industry for flexible raw materials. Porous steel is different from the traditional metallic steel products in the sense that they are found in powdery or other solid forms but the porous special steel with its flexible shapes and sizes has appeared in the various industrial uses and works better than ordinary steel by securing sufficient pores therein. This property of the metal allows to also serve a filtration purpose which having a function of filtering particles contained in gas or liquid can then be utilized as a highly efficient heat resistant material due to its qualities of excellent air permeability and conduciveness to heat. There is however a problem which can technically hinder the use of the porous steel. The conventional method of making Porous steel consists of a number of steps for example it will include the salts to be welded to each other and placed in a press die ,where as the raw metal will have lower fusion points. (Lee et al 2007) However the problem is that not only does this require a heavy use of equipment (like the use of magnanimous press dies in order to permeate the salts and metal into the raw metal) but the welding process can prove to be a nuisance in itself. (Lee et al 2007) However the inventors have also presented a new methodology to get around these complications with ease by the arrangement of metallic bodies in which a plurality of cores thereof is coated with metal. Such a method warrants better achievement of the dexterous task of manufacturing porous special steel, which is capable of manufacturing even complex-shaped special steel with ease. This will involve the coating of the cores of the metallic bodies with ferromagnetic metal. Then these metallic bodies will be magnetized to allow the arrangement to build a magnetic force between the metallic bodies. (Molin et al 2008). The method allows for the provision of easily manufacturing special steel alloys based on various cores and coated metals which are then capable of changing the

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Gender communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gender communication - Essay Example (Payne, 2001) Thus drawing for a communication difference scenario between men and women, one comes to an understanding that the two communicate in quite varied ways. This is because it is an inherent feature of their make-up, the composition in which they have been made. While men tend to be open and blunt about their thoughts, actions and perceptions, women, on the other hand are more inclined to take it the soft way. This is because they perceive things pretty easily as compared to men who usually are hard and stubborn in their undertakings. Because of this men are known to be violent even within their communicative regimes while women are more sedate and sober when it comes to conversation and the like, all under the heading of communication. (Cody, 1995) Furthermore, men are known to be dominant over their clan while women are known to be subversive within their own rights – yet raising no qualms about their dealings and the ways in which they go about conducting themselves. It is a known fact that within the communicative aspects, men are open to defend their own selves in the wake of differing reactions, afterthoughts and attitudes while women, for the large part, remain confident of their own disposition by remaining quiet and diffident. This is not because they are afraid of coming out clean and clear as per the issue at hand but because they like to remain light on every aspect on which their attention is hailed as supreme right from the onset. It is difficult to make out what women usually would come up with in the case of extreme circumstances. They are easier to cry and weep while it is a well known fact that men usually do not cry unless special circumstances prevail upon their nature. The role of assertion within men is generally more as compared to women. Men feel more asserted as per their points of

Monday, October 14, 2019

Internal and External Impacts on Child Development

Internal and External Impacts on Child Development The expected pattern of children’s development is as follows. The development of children should be viewed in a holistic way each child is unique and will develop in their own way. Physical Development 0 -3 years. This is a time of fast physical development . New born baby’s have little control of their bodies at first it is reflex movements eg. Sucking , grasping. In the first year they gradually learn to have more control over their bodies and most babies have stated to crawl or roll as they continue they will begin to walk and control their bodies, also they may climb and begin to feed and dress themselves. By about 3 most children will page turn and colour and explore toys like tricycles and cars. They will have developed their gross motor skills ,but have no sense of danger they require close monitoring. Also their vocabulary may be around 200 words but consistency in behaviour 3 -7 years. At this stage children will be more co-ordinated and will gain confidence as a result. Their fine motor skills will have developed and they can cut write and draw. Also their gross motor skills are developed running , kicking a ball and using large equipment are easier. 7 – 12 years. Children will continue to grow and develop, and refine many skills. They may start to have hobbies and interest which help their fine and gross motor skill for example dance, football, ,music or sewing. Girls may star to show signs of puberty from 10 or 11. In boys this is usually later. 12 – 16 years. At this stage young people will be growing stronger. Boys will begin puberty and many girls will have completed the process. Between these ages height and strength will vary most boys will be taller than girls on average. 16 – 19 years. This is the stage at which young people are adults, although most girls may have reached physical maturity, boys continue to grow into their mid -20s Intellectual and Cognitive development. It is important to know that children develop in a variety of ways depending on their own experiences and opportunities given from an early age. Children have their own strengths and abilities. Good point. 0 -3 years. Babies will start looking at the world around them and enjoy repetitive games. They begin to understand that when objects are hidden they are still they also they may point to objects. 3 – 7 years. At this stage children will be starting to learn to read and developing skills of number and writing. They will be looking for adult approval and learning about their world 7 – 11 years Children will start to decide what activities or subjects they enjoy. They will still be influenced by adults. They will transfer information and think In a more abstract way. They will be becoming fluent in reading and writing. 12 – 16 years. Young people by now will have a clear idea of subjects they like and be motivated in these areas. They will be choosing their learning pathways. They may lack confidence and avoid less popular subjects. It is very important that they feel good and want to belong. 16 – 19 years. School leavers will now be thinking about career or university choices. They will focus on their areas of strength and look forward to continuing development. Communication and language development. 0 -3 years. From birth onwards adults will talk to their baby even though they do not understand what is being said yet this is important for babies to be stimulated and have an interest shown in them if this does not happen they may struggle to communicate later in life. After early babbling babbies at about 12 months they will try to speak single words but not very clear. Between 1 and 2 they will start to put words together by about 2 years old they will have about 200 words .Between 2 and 3 they will start using plurals and negatives I their speech but may still make errors like â€Å"I drawed it. 3 – 7 years. Communication is very important at this age for friendships to develop they are very sociable and enjoy jokes and stories. They will also ask a lot of questions and be able to talk about things past and present with confidence. 7 – 12 years and upwards. By this stage most children will be fluent in their language. They will develop in reading and writing and be able to think and discuss their ideas in more abstract terms. Many young children will now use phones and technology to communicate with their friends. Social, emotional, and moral development. This area of development concerns how children and young people feel about themselves and relate to others. They need to learn how to grow in confidence and how to become independent adults. 0-3 years. Very young children will be finding out about themselves. They need strong attachments to parents/carers. In nursery children are usually given a key worker who will be the main contact. They may begin to have tantrums at this stage through frustration when wanting to do things for themselves. They will also begin to smile and show enjoyment and recognise certain routines or familiar sounds that make them smile. 3 – 7 years. Children In this age group will be more independent and make their own choices. They will start to play alongside their peers and socialise in imaginative play. It is now important for children to recognise boundaries . Friendships are important at this stage and many children will have close friends. Even though children are becoming independent they still need parents/carers to meet their emotional needs. They will respond well to responsibility for example class helpers, but still need adult approval. 7 – 12 years . Children’s friendships will be more settled and they may have best friends. They will now need the chance to solve problems and carry out activities which require independence. At around 12 years old children may be moving schools this transition may cause anxiety if they are to be separated from their friends. They will still need encouragement and praise, and will be very aware of what others may think of them. 12 -16 years . At this stage young people self-esteem can be very vulnerable, as their bodies look grown up they still need guidance. They will spend more time with their own friends, but may display some childish ways because they may be unsure how to behave in some situations. Children are more aware of actions and consequences and are thinking about other children’s feelings. 16 -19 years. Children now enter adulthood but will sometimes still need advice and guidance from adults. Some will still will lack emotional maturity and vary in interaction with others. Young people have a very good understanding of right and wrong. Influences on Development. How development is influenced by personal and external factors’. A child’s development begins at conception ,the genetic information for that child is determined .A healthy embryo is 46 chromosomes 23 form the egg and 23 from the sperm if any are missing and the baby survives this will have a dramatic effect on the development of the child. For example most children with Down syndrome have 47 chromosomes the additional one is 21,also the older a mother is the risk is higher. A baby can also be affected due to smoking, taking drugs and alcohol consumption. According to the NHS choices your health your choice. The alcohol a mother drinks passes from her blood to the placenta and to the baby. A baby’s liver is the last organ to develop and does not mature until the last half of pregnancy .Too much exposure to alcohol can really affect the baby’s development. If you drink too much during pregnancy your baby may develop (FAS) foetal alcohol syndrome which presents as restricted growth, facial abnormalities and learning and behaviour disorders. Good. Illegal drugs use during in pregnancy including cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin) can have serious effects on your unborn baby. However people who take drugs daily need to seek medical advice due to withdrawal problems when stopping any drugs. Also not all â€Å"natural† remedies are safe always seek medical advice. A child’s birth experience will have an influence on their development if a baby is premature or does not breathe straight away their brain may be starved of oxygen which can affect learning in later life. A child’s health can be determined by genetic factors for example NHS choices states the blood disorder Sickle cell anaemia can cause a wide range of symptoms though not all people will experience all symptoms which are ,episodes of pain which is the most common and upsetting symptom. A crisis is triggered when the abnormal blood cells block the small blood vessels that supply the bodies tissues, this causes swelling and damage younger children may have swelling of the hands and feet. As a child gets older the most common areas of pain are ribs, spine, pelvis, abdomen, breastbone, long bones in the legs and arms A crisis can occur for no apparent reason but certain triggers are, changes in body temperature due to illness or environment, dehydration or a sudden lack of oxygen due to sudden exertion or stress. In older children potential triggers are alcohol , cigarettes and illegal drugs. Children with sickle cell anaemia are prone to infections under the age of 3 because of th e abnormal blood cells which disrupt the function of the spleen which filters harmful bacteria and viruses from the blood so these children are vulnerable to pneumonia, osteomyelitis a bone infection and meningitis .Jaundice is another common symptom as are lower leg ulcers, delayed growth and priapism in teenage boys. Due to the life threatening conditions it is important to seek medical advice straight away if your child’s develops any of the above symptoms. Coeliac disease is a common digestive condition where the person has an adverse reaction to gluten eating foods that contain gluten can trigger a range of symptoms such as : diarrhoea, bloating and wind, abdominal pain, weight loss, and feeling tired all the time .This disease is known as an autoimmune condition, this is where the body’s defence system against infection mistakenly attacks healthy tissue due to substances found inside gluton. This damages the small bowel disrupting the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food .Why this happens is not clear although a combination of genetic make- up and the environment play a part. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, which is in pasta, cakes, breakfast cereal, most breads, certain sauces and some ready meals .There is no cure for coeliac disease but a gluten free diet may help control the symptoms and prevent long term consequences. Complications may occur if you continue to eat gluten which are osteop orosis and anaemia. The symptoms of Tuner syndrome vary upon the age of the girl or woman affected .Baby’s born with Turner syndrome often have swollen hands and feet which is caused by excess fluid around the tissues. Other symptoms that may develop before birth are thick neck tissue .swelling of the neck and being a small baby. The 2 most common symptoms are short height and ovaries that do not work properly. Baby’s with Tuner syndrome usually grow normally until the age of 3yrs, after this they will grow at a slower rate. At puberty there is not the normal growth spurt and on average a woman with this symptom is about 20cm smaller than other women .Ovaries may not function properly which may result in infertility. The appearance is also affected causing, a short wide neck, a broad chest and wide nipples, arms that turn slightly at the elbows, a low hairline ,mouth and teeth problems, a lot of moles, spoon shaped nails, a short fourth finger or toe. Eye symptoms are eyes that slant down, droopy eyelids, a squint, lazy eye, cataracts, short sightedness. Ear symptoms are low set ears, reoccurring middle ear infections, hearing loss which may occur in later life .Turner syndrome is associated with other conditions some are heart murmur , underactive thyroid, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, scoliosis, diabetes, lymphoedema, gastrointestinal bleeding, other digestive conditions, kidney and urinary tract problems. Most girls have good language and reading skills, however some social and behaviour difficulties are over looked by doctors and this can cause great anxiety for the family, they are problems with social intelligence, lack of spatial awareness problems with numeracy, attention and hyperactivity problems. About a third of girls will have social relationship problems due to the way the brain develops. More than 8 out of 10 females will have spatial awareness problems which may cause problems when driving of using a map. A similar number struggle with maths this is known as dyscalculia and if teachers are not aware of this it may cause problems. ADHD may be present in toddlers which may reduce about 12 years old. In some cases medical treatments may not work because of Turner syndrome. Any child who has any learning difficulties should be encouraged to develop to the best of their ability in all areas of learning and development. When working with SEN children you will have advice from other professionals regarding this. External factors. Pupils will come from a range of different background, family, culture, circumstances. Many families will go through a lot of changes in a child’s school years some of which the school may not be aware of. These may be divorce, bereavement, illness or moving house or country . Good overview of the external factors that may influence development. Any one of these may affect children’s emotion or intellectual development you may notice a change in the pupil. Poverty and deprivation will have a significant effect on pupil development. Statistics show that children who come from deprived background s are less likely to thrive in school. This could be relative poverty which is comparison of income compared to the average.. It is concerned with material possessions that society deems relevant to daily life. Absolute poverty is the lack of basic human needs such as food, shelter, warmth, sanitation, education and health care. This is quite rare in the UK. Poverty can have an effect on diet, housing and play opportunities A balanced diet Is important for children growth. Families on a low income have to buy cheaper foods which are mostly fast food or highly processed, these types of food contain little nutrition value. Eating this food can lead to becoming over weight and malnutrition in children which means they may become lethargic unsettled and hyperactive. Diets that lack certain vitamins may cause health conditions for example lack of Vitamin C may cause scurvy-easy bruising spontaneous bleeding, joint and muscle pain lack of Vitamin D may cause rickets –tiredness aches and pains as will lack of calcium, lack of Iron may cause anemia delays in infant motor functions and if present in pregnancy small or early births and fatigue. Poor housing conditions resulting in damp and crowded houses may results in child on set of asthma and no room to play or develop due to lack of exercise. These children need other clubs or groups but due to low income they cannot be provided, this may lead to obesity and delay in physical development. A child’s development is strongly influenced by the family around them and parents are the most important educators and source of information in the childcare setting. Most parents will do their best to stimulate and help their children to thrive and grow. But some parents are unable to do this because of ill health or drug abuse or depression .Also stress with in the family through bereavement or divorce can cause anxiety within a child and lead to a major change in their behaviour. .As children grow older they will often decide for themselves which club to join and which friends to have. They will be in situations which require their own decisions to be made, they may find themselves under pressure to experiment with drugs or alcohol and the decisions they make will affect their behaviour if they choose to abuse drugs such as cannabis as this can affect brain development. Also they now decide what they eat and the wrong choice may result in obesity. A good quality of education from home and school is extremely important to a child’s overall development both social and moral. The reasons why children’s development may not follow the expected pattern are personal and external factors as stated above. There are also many other factors which are as follows Emotional, Children grow and learn when their emotional needs are fully met and their development will benefit. Physical reasons are if a child has difficulties with their growth their fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination may be affected. Environmental factors are an external factor as stated above. Cultural reasons these are the different values and beliefs according to their country of origin and their religion in some cases boys are treated different from girls ,girls are often viewed as the homemaker and it is not essential for them to complete their education. This can affect their development as they do not receive their statutory education as recommended in the UK. Good point. Social influences and family structure as stated above family structure and lifestyle has an influence on children’s development, divorce or bereavement will cause a child to stress resulting In the child becoming anxious and withdrawn. If parents struggle with a particular area of learning this area may become delayed. Disability may affect development in many ways. Depending on the child’s need it may cause a delay in a certain aspect of their development for example a physical disability may affect their social skills and if they become withdrawn this may lead to becoming frustrated also the attitudes and expectation of others affect the child- if we assume that it is not possible for a disabled person to do something we restrict their opportunity to take part so we restrict their development in all areas. It is important that we look at the needs of the child no on the disability. In my role as TA2 in special needs school we always have to be realistic about the expectations of our children as all our children require extra support but are 100% encouraged to be as independent as is possible. There are no labels in our school only children and their needs. Early intervention is important when delays are suspected so a child may receive the help they require as soon as possible, as this may help the child live a full and successful life as adults. Early years settings play a crucial part in early identification of SEN in young children. When a young child attends an early years setting they will be assigned a key worker who will observe and assess the child’s development and can quickly identify any possible delays. For example if a child has a language delay which is crucial to learning, as it is linked to our thoughts, which enables us to store information an organised way, they will be at a disadvantage straight away as their thought process will be less able and they may struggle to express themselves .The earlier any delay is detected the sooner other professionals can be sought and advice and plans for support are given. This is important for the child as early years are a time of rapid growth and development.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Benedick and Beatrices Love in Much Ado About Nothing Essay -- Much A

Entry 1: Act I: Don Pedro and his men return from the war and visit the house of Leonato and his brother, Antonio. This sudden meeting reunites Beatrice with her archrival, Benedick, and it is here that Claudio and Hero fall in love. React: In Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, there are the usual characters that show up in most of Shakespeare’s pieces. For instance the characters Hero and Claudio could easily be compared to Romeo and Juliet. Both Hero and Juliet are innocent, quite, and beautiful young women who fall in love instantly without conversing with the other person. Likewise, Claudio and Romeo decide to marry these women within twenty-four hours. Because of these characters’ lack of unique and interesting qualities, I am intrigued by Beatrice. Beatrice is by far the best character Shakespeare created; because of how effortlessly she lightens the mood. Beatrice is gifted with wit, humor, and strength uncommon in Shakespeare’s time. One can tell Beatrice’s drollness is at its best when speaking about or to Benedick. When Benedick greets her as â€Å"Lady Disdain† (I.i.109), she snaps, â€Å"Is it possible disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence† (I.i.110-113). Instead of taking offense, she welcomes the name and essentially tells Benedick that she acts contemptuous only because she’s talking to him. She adds that she’s agreeable with everyone, with him as an exception. Benedick retorts that she’s lucky that she doesn’t love him like all the other women he knows, because he loves no one especially not her. Beatrice responds, â€Å"A dear happiness to women, th ey would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. ... ...r it’s Hero and both the couples are happily married. Create: The painting that I created is an abstract depiction of fire. Benedick and Beatrice’s love is like fire because it can’t be tamed or put out. They both try to hide the kindling of their affection for each other to no avail. Even after they initially confessed to each other they both tried to douse their feelings and completely denied ever having loved the other. Despite this, their friends revealed their secret letters and the flames rekindled burning fiercer and brighter than ever before. Therefore they can only let it grow with fiery passion and succumb to their emotions and get married just like their friends planned. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. Paul Werstine, Barbara A. Mowat, and Gail Kern. Paster. New York: Simon &ump; Schuster Paperbacks, 1995. Print.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Theme of Failure as Presented in Das Boot :: Das Boot Essays

The Theme of Failure as Presented in Das Boot      Ã‚  "When 'Das Boot' was first released in the United States, its running time was 145 minutes, and it won huge audiences and no less that six Oscar nominations-unheard of for a foreign film." The genius of Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" is that to Americans it is considered a foreign film indeed; not only in the sense that the film is from Germany, but because the film offers a unique perspective of World War Two, the German perspective. This point of view allows American audiences to walk away from theaters and be impacted by themes which are common in the cinematic industry. However, because the film is the story of a German submarine, the effect is different than anything American audiences have previously experienced. One of these themes is failure. "Das Boot" presents German forces as being able to overcome failure in a victorious manner, while the Allies are shown to be a rather unsuccessful military force.    The Captain of the U-boat serves as a symbol for German warfare. He is first introduced in his full uniform, immediately it is known this man is a figure of authority. In the film's chaotic opening scene, he is one of the few sober soldiers at the bar, illustrating that he is in control at all times. While many are frightened when he pushes the boat twice beyond the recommended depth to test its sturdiness, no one challenges his decision. He is stern, powerful, and respected. As Roger Ebert writes about a scene later in the film: "He's capable of shouting 'I demand proper reports!' even as the boat seems to be breaking up." On several occasions while under attack from depth charges, only the veteran Captain's knowledge is the only thing which keeps the sailors of U-96 from the grave. Because the Captain serves as a human link to Germany's war effort, his characterization shows Germany's relative success in the war. When the Captain is triumphant, so too is Germany.    Under no circumstances can the men onboard the U-96 fail. They are literally trapped in the boat, and all mistakes quickly lead to the same fatal end. Whether the Captain mistakenly surfaces and has the periscope spotted by an enemy ship, or Johan abandons his post in the engine room, the consequence each time is disastrous. Every sailor on the boat depends on one another to perform his duties satisfactorily.