How can a post-structuralist Reading of Henrik Ibsens Peer Gynt, Wild Essay

How can a post-structuralist Reading of Henrik Ibsens Peer Gynt, Wild duck, and When We Dead awaken, accentuate the political dimensions of his work - Essay Example ated by reference to Derrida’s play of signifiers; section (3) examines When We Dead Waken as part of progressive statement on the role of the artist; finally, the dissertation concludes by considering the unifying characteristics of the plays, and the broader role of post-structural thought. It’s argued that not only is Ibsen one of the primary fathers of Modern Drama, but that specific elements in his oeuvre – Gynt’s conversation with the Boyg, the signification of the ‘wild duck’ – demand a post-structural lens to approach comprehension. When possible, contemporary post-structural scholarship has been incorporated into the dissertation. These plays have been chosen for their resistance to traditional critical approaches. Less emphasis has been placed on developing an inter-textual framework between the plays, as it’s believed such an approach is better suited to a more comprehensive selection. If there is an underlining theme that emerged in the construction of the dissertation it is that the art object anticipates the critical framework needed to adequately articulate its textual functions. That is, traditional Ibsen scholarship was handicapped by an inability to articulate elements of the plays that the post-structural framework, albeit flawed, contributes newfound insight. In keeping with a great amount of post-structural discursivity the essay establishes a methodological framework that is not restricted to an overarching narrative. In the examination of three seminal texts – Peer Gynt, Wild Duck, and When We Dead Awaken -- a myriad of post-structural lenses, including those of Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, and Paul De Man, are coupled with what Foucault (2006) terms ‘founders of discursivity,’ Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. In refining a critical understanding of these ideas, this dissertation is highly indebted to Professor of English at Yale University, Paul H. Fry, whose open-access Survey of the Theory of

Investigation into Virtual Organisation facilities Coursework

Investigation into Virtual Organisation facilities - Coursework Example Growing complexity in the business environment makes "business as usual" ineffective. (Keen, 1991) Globalization calls for communication and synchronization across diverse time zones and locations. Time constraints require reduction in reaction time, driving businesses to just-in-time inventory, orders, scheduling, payments, manufacturing, distribution, etc. Change has become the norm, an unpredictable basic reality. The fresh economic cutting edge is the knowledge economy, and right now about 97% of all employment expansion is coming from knowledge work. Wealth today is generated principally by the value people add through new ideas. (Moyer, 1994) What members of these workgroups do is called collaborative work and they must often overcome barriers of time zones and geography to document what has been accomplished. (Stuck, 1995) To stay aggressive in today's business atmosphere requires new levels of collaboration and dexterity, both within and between organizations. Communications networks and IT are the tools that make possible this "working together apart," and telecommuting (or home working) is making workgroups more productive. (Stuck, 1995) IT plays a fundamental role in supporting critical activities, enabling organizations to make efficient and effective changes in the manner in which work is performed (Turban, 1996) and offering real potential for changing the way in which people work (Daniels, 1995). For example, the Internet provides a way for small businesses to create a virtual organization to complete projects (Blotzer, 1995). Companies are forming worldwide mutual provisions as the basis for developing a competitive advantage from technology (Bailetti, 1993). Coordination of IT management presents a real challenge to these firms which have to deal with detached, decentralized IT practices (DeSanctis, 1994). While decentralization may bring litheness and fast response to changing needs, it also makes systems integration difficult, presents' obstruction to standardization, and acts as a disincentive for achieving economies of scale (DeSanctis, 1994). In juxtaposition with rapid changes in the business environment, the way in which business is conducted is also changing at a rapid pace. Groups, not individuals, have become the fundamental unit of work in modern organizations, with non-routine and new work most often being accomplished through teams, committees, or ad hoc workgroups (Finholt, 1990). Groups and group behavior are momentous for both organizational performance and individual group members. Computer-based technology may affect these groups and their behavior. At least some electronic groups behave

Effect of Anticoagulant on Blood Calcium

Effect of Anticoagulant on Blood Calcium Effect of Anticoagulant: Can Heparin Produce Negative Bias in the Determination of Total Blood Calcium? Soma Santra1, Manju Soni2, Ajay Soni2, Swati Kotwal ­Ã‚ ­1* KEY WORDS:  Quality control, pre-analytical, serum calcium, kit method, o-CPC Abstract Calcium is a vital element in the body which plays an important physiological role as it act as a second messenger in many biochemical pathways. Accurate results of total and ionic calcium level plays a pivotal role in patient care and management. Measurement of serum calcium helps to identify many clinical disorders. Many preanalytical conditions affect the blood calcium estimation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of heparin, used as an anticoagulant on total blood calcium assay. Blood specimen from 10 healthy subjects were collected and the difference in total calcium contraction in plasma and serum samples was assessed. No significant changes were observed when plasma levels were compared with the serum values with p value of 0.56. Deming regression analysis yielded the equation: 1.02 Ãâ€" (serum total calcium value) + 0.28 mg/dl. The bias value was -0.109 mg/dl (95% CI: -0.248 0.030 mg/dl) for total calcium levels assayed using either tube was acceptable. Total calcium values did not significantly differ when either plasma or serum was used with the spearman correlation coefficients (r value) of 0.98. In conclusion, heparinized tubes can be used for the determination of total blood calcium. The use of plasma sample has an advantage in an emergency laboratory setting due to less processing time. Keywords:  Calcium, Heparin, Quality control, Preanalytical, Phlebotomy, Blood collection device Introduction In recent years, there has been an increasing effort by international committees and working groups to develop quality standards for the pre-analytical phase, including the proper use of anticoagulants in sample collection (1, 2). Anticoagulants are additives that inhibit the clotting of blood; they are used only on ensuring that the concentration of the substance to be measured is changed as little as possible before the analytical process (3). The preanalytical laboratory testing takes two major steps: Blood collection and processing (4). The ionic calcium level in blood is recognized to be falsely decreased either due to dilution or binding effects of heparin, which is applied as an anticoagulant (5). The CSLI recommends the use of lyophilized calcium-balanced heparin syringes (6, 7) for collecting specimens for ionized calcium measurement. It has been proposed that ionized calcium levels can be affected by excess of heparin present in blood (8), although it was believed that the clinical significance was minimal (9). In this study, we are determining the effect of heparin on assay of total blood calcium to analyze preanalytical error in the collection of blood samples. Materials and Methods This study was approved by Swami Vivakanand Medical Mission ethical Committee. Informed consent was obtained from the donors. For evaluation of the effect of heparin on total blood calcium assay, blood samples were obtained from the 10 subjects. Blood samples were sequentially obtained by single venipunture from an antecubital vein in BD PresetR lithium heparin tubes (Ref. No. 367884) and BD vacutainer serum (Ref. No. 367812). All the subjects were between 18 50 years age group including both genders. Plasma levels of total calcium were compared to the serum calcium, which was used as a reference here. After the blood withdrawal, samples were then recapped into individual containers, followed by sample centrifugation. The plasma and serum samples were separated within 30 minutes of blood collection. Commercially available biochemical kit (Liquid Gold, Span diagnostic, India) by Arenazo-III method was used for total calcium Assay. Within 2 hours after collection, total calcium was me asured in all samples in triplicate and mean was used for further analysis. Data were evaluated using Analyse-it software (version 2.26). For all statistical comparisons, p values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Data concordance was evaluated via Deming regression analysis. The mean of differences (bias) and limits of agreement was calculated using the Bland and Altman method (10). Differences between total calcium level obtained from plasma and serum were compared using the paired t-test. Correlations were determined via calculation of Spearman correlation coefficients (r values).  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­ Results The total calcium values of samples analyzed in the present study ranged from 8.69 10.47 mg/dl and the mean total calcium values obtained using BD lithium Heparin was 9.34  ± 0.18 mg/dl whereas that for serum samples was 9.48  ± 0.18 mg/dl with SD of ≠¤0.57 (Table 1) by 1-way ANOVA. The Spearman correlation coefficient was r = 0.98 (p Discussion Serum is the preferred sample which is used by many laboratories for biochemical testing since it avoids the addition of anticoagulants that may interfere with some analytical methods or alter the true concentration of the parameters being measured. The use of serum or plasma in clinical pathology remains controversial. However, analyte stability is greater in serum than in plasma (11, 12) and differences between plasma and serum test results have often been documented (13). Moreover, in stored samples, the formation of fibrin strands is lower in serum than in plasma and therefore, there is lesser risk of occlusion in automated biochemical analyzers. However the use of plasma is preferred in some centres as it separates quickly saving preanalytical time thus reducing the total testing period (TTP); secondly, 15–20% more plasma sample can be obtained from the same volume of blood than the serum sample and lastly, with plasma there are no coagulation-induced changes or interferences (3). Heparin has been generally recommended as the most suitable anticoagulant for plasma collection (14) due to its physiological acceptance in vivo. Although in previous reports, a significant differences in selected parameters have been found between heparinized plasma and serum samples (13, 15). In our study, serum and heparinized plasma yielded similar results with no significant changes in total blood calcium assay this confirms the views of Thorensen, S.I.,et al (15) who also reported similar observations; and this adds up to the observation of Ladenson, J., et al (13) in which clinically significant changes were observed in ionic calcium observations on use of heparinized plasma over serum results.. We found that the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.98, indicating a good correlation, when total calcium test results when plasma and serum were compared. Deming regression analysis yielded the slope of the regression line that did not approximate unity, suggesting that, in addition to the presence of a small constant bias, a small and non-significant proportional difference also existed between the test results obtained upon use of the two tube types (16). The total calcium assay bias was -0.109 mg/dl. The criteria of acceptable limits imprecision for total calcium ass ay is 1mg/dl and medically allowable error is 0.37 mg/dl (17, 18). In the present study, we observed that the total calcium concentrations of plasma samples were slightly lower than serum samples with no clinically significant differnece and the bias values were smaller than US CLIA 1988 targets. Although collection of blood samples from the patients administered with heparin prior to the collection may hold in excess of heparin, increasing clotting time in the collection tube and thereby increasing the potential for the establishment of latent fibrin in the preanalytical phase. Preanalytical variables associated with blood collection should be further standardized to ensure the accuracy of test results. It is impractical to expect tube manufacturers to test out their subway systems on all possible assay platforms; this is a project for individual research laboratories. Conclusion We conclude that heparinized tubes are suitable for sample collection for total calcium assay. With the use of heparin tubes use faster processing of blood samples can be possible, which is valuable in an emergency setting and in intensive care units. Moreover, single sample can be used for multiple purpose, including both hematological and biochemical analyses. References Guder, W.G., Ehret, W., da Fonseca-Wollheim, F., Heil, W., Muller Plate, O., Topfer, G. Serum, plasma or whole blood? Which anticoagulant to use? Laboratory Medicine 22, 1998: 297–312. World Health Organization. Use of Anticoagulants in Diagnostic Laboratory Investigations. vol. 1 WHO/DIL/LAB/99, Geneva, 1999: 1–64. Guder, W.G. The quality of diagnostic samples. Blood Gas News 10, 2001: 18–24. Raffick A.R. Bowen, Glen L. Hortin, Gyorgy Csako, Oscar H. Otaà ±ez, Alan T. Remaley. Impact of blood collection devices on clinical chemistry assays. Clinical Biochemistry 43, 2010, 4–25. Sachs C, Rabouine P, Chaneac M, Kindermans C, Dechaux M. In vitro evaluation of a heparinized blood sampler for ionized calcium measurement. Ann Clin Biochem. 199; 28:240–244. National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Ionized calcium determinations: precollection variables, specimen choice, collection, and handling; proposed guideline. Villonova, PA: NCCLS; 2001. NCCLS Document C31-A. Cheung Soo Shin, Chul Ho Chand, Jeong Ho Kim. Liquid Heparin Anticoagulant Produces More Negative Bias in the determination of Ionized Magnesium than Ionized Calcium. Yonsei Med J., 2006; Apr: 47(2):191–195. Ritter C, Ghahramani M, Marsoner HJ. More on the measurement of ionized magnesium in whole blood. Scand J Clin Lab Invest Suppl. 1996;224:275–280. Toffaletti JG, Wildermann RF. The effects of heparin anticoagulants and fill volume in blood gas syringes on ionized calcium and magnesium measurements. Clin Chim Acta. 2001;304:147–151. Bland JM, Altman DG:Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement.Lancet, 1986,1:307–310. Boyanton B.L. Jr, Blick KE: Stability studies of twenty-four analytes in human plasma and serum. Clin Chem2002,48:2242–2247. Narayanan S:The preanalytic phase an important component of laboratory medicine. Am J Clin. Pathol2000,113:429–452. Ladenson, J., Lii-Mei, B., Michael, M.D., Kessler, G., Heinz, J. Serum versus heparinized plasma for 18 common chemistry tests. Is serum the appropriate specimen? American Journal of Clinical Pathology 62, 1974: 545–552. Burtis, C.A., Ashwood, A.R., 2008. Tietz Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry, Sixth ed. WB Saunders, Philadephia, pp. 31–43, 42-62. Thorensen, S.I., Havre, G.N., Morberg, H., Mowinckel, P. Effects of storage time on chemistry results from canine whole blood, heparinized whole blood, serum and heparinized plasma. Veterinary Clinical Pathology 21, 1992: 88–94. Martin RF: General deming regression for estimating systematic bias and Ä ±ts confidenceÄ ±nterval in method-comparison studies.Clin Chem2000, 46:100–104. US Dept. Of Health and Human Services. Medicare, Medicaid, and CLIA Programs: regulations implementing the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). Final rule. Fed Regist 1992;57:7002-186. Desirable specifications for total error, imprecision, and bias, derived from intra- and inter-individual biologic variation. http://www.westgard. com/biodatabase1.htm.

Public Libraries Essay -- Library Science, American Library Associatio

My Library: Celebrate the County Public Library Public libraries play a pivotal role in the lives of many Americans, from early education to senior services. The majority of Americans believe their local library improves their community (94%), and an equally significant number (65%) have visited at least one time in the past year (American Library Association, 2010). Residents of Connecticut are no exception. As of 2007, Connecticut boosts 195 public libraries containing a circulation of approximately 15.5 million books, and enjoys the third highest rate of per capita library visits in the nation, at 6.5 visits per capita (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). The West Hartford Public Library, bests the state average, with approximately 10.5 library visits per capita and a circulation of almost 1 million books, a significant slice of the total state circulation (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). As the birthplace of Noah Webster and mere miles away from the former homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beec her Stowe, West Hartford has a rich literary history that continues to this day. American libraries have suffered financial blows in recent years (American Library Association, 2010), with Connecticut libraries suffering a 15 year operating income low in 2010 (CT Library Community); however, in the current state of the nation, public libraries are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, as individuals hurt by the recession flock to public libraries (Rooney-Brown, 2009). Residents of communities across the country are taking advantage of the free services public libraries offer, such as dvd rentals, computer usage, social groups, workshops, lectures, and countless other benefits (Rooney-Brown, 2009).... ...ion Statistics, 2009). If residents were aware of the numerous services offered by the library, presumably they would visit the WHPL at a greater frequency. The primary tactic of the campaign will be to leverage each service as an argument for visiting the library. The campaign will present a significant number of arguments and in turn, boost My Library’s credibility. The services presented may range from free Internet and computer usage to free mediation sessions. The diversity of the services in addition to the sheer number of services will provide a strong argument, as each service provides a unique benefit to library patrons. Equally important, the act of visiting the library requires a strong degree of motivation and effort. Research shows that several robust arguments significantly supplement the power of a message if the recipient is highly involved (Petty &

Personal and Business Ethics Essay

Individuals and organizations both have their own specific values and codes of conduct which guides their behavior. The individual values should be aligned with the organizational values which make up its culture or else it would result in work place conflict. Organizations need to change their culture at times for the purpose of increased success and profitability or it will not be able to standout and beat the competition. This requires understanding, awareness, communication of objectives, strong sense of commitment and most importantly effective leadership guidance. This paper discusses first the personal and business analysis based on their respective values, mission, vision and code of ethics. Then it goes into the depth of the business ethics by highlighting its social responsibilities and various moral philosophies and ethical principles. Finally, a plan for changing organizational culture is put forward which will ensure success and profitability for the organization in the changing environment. Personal Analysis Every individual has certain values and beliefs on which depends his entire code of ethics. Personal ethics are as much important as the business ethics. A manager needs to have his own personal own values first so that he can relate to the organization’s values. Personal values and code of ethics are important for interacting with people within and outside the organization. A manager needs to have this for dealing with people and adhering to the standards. (Hartman and DesJardins, 2007) Values The personal values that a manager needs to cultivate and that I personally feel important are: Respect The first and foremost ethical priority which I developed from my childhood is ‘respect’. I believe every work should have an element of respect for dealing with people. Communication will not result in fruitful results without respect. If there is respect then people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds can have a dialogue with each other for making important decisions. Therefore, respect is important in all businesses for making decisions that turn out to meet the strategic objectives of the organization. Trust Another important value which I developed from my mistakes, observations and experiences was trust. It is an obvious fact that decisions and deals are based on trust. A manager needs to trust his employees for accomplishing the assigned task. This doesn’t means that one should become completely dependent on others rather he should develop trust to an extent of efficient running of the business. If I can only trust my employees then I’ll be putting them on important assignments or discussing problems with them and thus, the decision making process will become faster. Truthfulness An individual should always try to be truthful in his deals or else no one even his employees will be able to trust him. Thus, truthfulness in business deals establishes the integrity of a person and people trust him Dignity Dignity becomes important when an organization comprises of people from different cultural backgrounds. Every person has his own self-esteem and pride which should be maintained. Dignity develops through lifetime experiences of an individual. Fairness For maintaining your workforce and expanding your business, fairness plays an important role. A manager should be fair in his dealings not only with the internal and external partners to the company but also to the customers. Customers will only prefer the products and services of a certain company if they find it fair and honest. Personal Code of Ethics Personally I feel that a manager should treat people with dignity and respect which appear to me the most important personal values so my code of ethics also surrounds them.   For me showing respect and dignity for others becomes beneficial in the long run because in the business environment there are people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, treating people with dignity and respect is my personal code of ethics. Personal Mission/Vision Statement To cultivate and practice the values of respect, trust and integrity to achieve a recognized position in my profession and will take every possible measure to spread these values in my coworkers. Business Analysis Like every individual, organizations also have a culture and a code of ethics which centers on their core values. General Mills Foundation is counted amongst the world’s largest food company marketing over 100 food products. It deals in cereals, meals, Pillsbury, snacks, yogurt, organic foods, bakeries and food services. The company also operates internationally and has joint ventures to make its service available globally. The company focuses on community services for which General Mills Foundation has been established. They provide financial support to nonprofit organizations which work for the fitness and proper diet of the youth and also provide them education (General Mills). Vision/Mission Statement To become the no.1 food marketing company in every food category through speedy and efficient supply of products in the markets beating out the competition. Workplace Values The values practiced at General Mills become a source of their strength and actually guide them to take an active part in community work and help the society. These values fulfill their promise to the consumers, customers, investors and to the company itself. The first and foremost value practiced at General Mills is superior customer service and satisfaction which gives them a competitive edge over other food marketing companies. They make this possible through their brands, people, innovation and performance. They build leading brands so that consumers establish a trust with them making their lives healthier. Another important value which is seen in their workforce is diversity which they consider as an opportunity with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. The company spends on research and development and strives for innovation to further increase their sales and improve their business. Finally, the company believes in giving outstanding performance to its customers, suppl iers and investors to establish strong and healthy relationships with them. The three most important values the company has endured on over the time are honesty, integrity and trust. These values remain at the heart of the organization and strengthen the ethical conduct and personal integrity of the employees (General Mills). Code of Ethics The company has set very high standards of ethical conduct and does not compromise on any deficiency. It expects from its employees to demonstrate ethical conduct and integrity not only in dealing with customers but at every step of their lives. The company is highly regarded as the ethical company because it centers around the ethical values of honesty, trust and integrity which makes up the code of ethics for the company. Culture at General Mills The culture of any organization is built on its ethical and moral values which the organization believes are important.   The culture should be strong enough to maintain and retain strong relationships with the customers, suppliers and investors. The culture is highly characterized by community involvement, diversity and corporate social responsibility. Their activities focus on the betterment of the environment. They make sure that the effect of their products and the packaging is minimum on the environment. The company donates huge amount of money for communities and also volunteers for them. There is a strong sense of commitment amongst the employees and the customers towards the company. Due to this they have build customer loyalty with feelings of trust and respect prevailing among the customers for the company.   The culture at General Mills is highly service driven. We see a combination of clan and market culture dominant in the work environment where employees work in a friendly and social environment supporting the clan perspective and the organization is results and sales oriented supporting the market perspective. The leadership and management style are democratic taking into account the ideas and suggestions from their employees and allowing for easy interaction between the top management and the coworkers. Thus the culture at General Mills is highly supportive of the community action implemented by the company and strives to enhance relationships with both the customers and the investors (General Mills). Social Responsibilities An important part of General Mills culture is corporate social responsibility. The company is recognized as a responsible corporate citizen who not only strives for its economic performance but also maintaining the environment and serving the customers. The social responsibility which the company highlights at its website is to sustain the environment from any hazardous production operations. For this purpose General Mills Foundation has been established which ensures that the environment is protected from any such operations. The foundation also works for the community through donations and other volunteering programs. The company is very effective in its social responsibility programs which can be seen it from its activities in reducing water and energy usage, controlling air emissions from production operations, using recyclable materials, minimizing and managing waste materials and protecting the environment from any hazardous waste materials or other production processes. Thus i t can be said that General Mills has effectively met its responsibilities which it promises and continues to do so (General Mills). Ethical Analysis and Training Programs It is rightly said that General Mills is an ethical company because of all the ethical and social responsible activities that it practices. Employees are first trained in the job so that work in an environment friendly way. They are taught the production processes that result in minimum wastage of resources of release of any harmful materials or gases. The company also initiates programs on topics of youth nutrition and fitness so that the youth can live a healthy and fun loving life. From the research and observation on the company, no weakness seemed to appear in the ethical conduct seen at the organization. This makes the company a leading food marketer and adds to its strength.

Economics of the movie business Essay

Most of the movies that are eventually released are cofinanced. This is a term that is used within the movie industry to describe those films for which there are more than one firm that share both the cost of production as well as the revenues. Nearly one-third of all the movies that are released are cofinanced. Various studies have shown that the main reason for cofinancing is to manage and share risk. Most of the major studios are in the category of publicly traded firms where the investors are free to carry out their own diversification decisions. Not always is the cofinancing decision related to the movie returns as the studios rarely cofinance highly risky films1. Demand is difficult to predict and thus financial risk remains to be a characteristic of the film industry since most of the cost is incurred long before the demand can be actualized. It’s thus the reason that most of the authors in this field have argued that the key variable that shapes the industry is the financing strategy adopted. Mainly, there are three ways in which cofinancing would reduce risk associated with the movie production. First, the cofinancing of the relatively risky films by the studios would give them the opportunity to participate in the less risky projects. Second, cofinancing would allow studios to fine tune their portfolios thus gaining the advantage of covariances of the gains across the movies. The third advantage of cofinancing is the simple law of large numbers to share a potential loss . Data collection The data to be used here in this paper is the information provided forth in Goettler, R. L and Leslie, P. (2004) where information on over 3,826 movies was exhibited in the US between 1987 to 2000. The primary source of the data was the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The analysis focused mainly on ownership choices of the major studios. Out of the 3,826 movies examined, 1,305 were produced by the major studios. The analysis here focuses on ownership choices that have been made by the major studios. Movie profitability has been based on the return on investment, RIO, which is defined as the revenue divided by the cost. Revenue in this case was measured as the North America box office revenue and cost was obtained from the production budget. Film’s negative cost, which is the standard measure of production cost was also used. Other cost such as advertising are in most cases proportional to the cost of production and were thus not evaluated in this kind of study. Thus the ROI evaluated here was basically the relative profitability of the films but not the absolute profitability. Also the measure of revenues in this study excluded some revenues such as foreign box and video revenue. It would be ideal to use all the revenue sources but the approach would have limited the number of films in the analysis as most of this kind of data is only available only to a subset of films. At the same time limiting the analysis only to the films with this kind of extra data may introduce selection bias as most of this data maybe limited to the successful films only1. Identification of cofinanced films The listing of a production company is the first sign that there are cofinancing partners but this is not a sufficient condition. The most important criteria is to know if a firm contributes towards the production cost. Its worth to note that a firm can be credited for having contributed into the production company of a film after initiating then selling the project to a major studio even without retaining revenue shares. This kind of arrangement referred to as â€Å"first-look deal† is common between a semi-independent production company and a studio in a long-term relationship. The criteria used here in determining if a film is cofinanced is that first if a major studio is on the list of the production company for a certain film, then the assumption is that the studio has some ownership stake in the film. Second, Variety magazine was a source of those firms with the first-look deals from the â€Å"Facts on Pacts† list and those that are equity partners. The assumption here was that a firm was a joint owner if it was on the production company list and also on the equity partner2. For those movie that an independent firm and a major studio cofinanced, the question of whether either of these two had the option of being sole-owner remains. In simple term, one may also question which among the two firms initiated the entire project? The available information suggest that the studio usually has the mandate to decide if it will co-own or just be a sole-owner. This kind of decision called â€Å"greenlighting† is usually made during decision point of whether to make the movie or not. Complications do arise like when two companies have the same subsidiary structure such as having the same parent company and at the same time end up owning the same movie. In such cases, it was assumed that the movie was not cofinanced since the production divisions happen to work as integrated components of the parent studio rather than as being competitors. Another point of ownership ignored was the cases where the directors or the star actors negotiate a part of the movie revenues. This was so because most of this happens as a result of the directors/actors strong bargaining power to have a share of the revenue once the movie is successful rather than a strong will to share and manage risk.

The Conservative Presidents of the 1920s essays

The Conservative Presidents of the 1920's essays The Conservative Presidents of the 1920s The 1920s opened with the election of a new president and would open a new chapter in United States History. Conservative Republicans would rule politics during the 1920s. Conservatism can be defined as being uneasy with change and the idea that government could be blamed for much of the problems. Conservative politics looked down on involvement of government in the business world. Three successive conservative Republicans would be elected to presidency and would create soaring business and put farmers and unions through a time of depression. Warren Harding was the first of three presidents to be elected. After his death, Calvin Coolidge would take over presidency. When Coolidge declined to run for a second term, Hoover won election in 1928. During the twenties the economy was stressed rather than politics. The nation saw a small slump post civil war that was followed by a boom in business which ended in 1929 when the stock market crashed and depression came. Warren Harding was the first of the conservatives to be elected in 1921. Harding was very popular among the Republicans and has been a newspaper publisher in Ohio before his political career began. Harding did not have strong leadership skills. Harding won over the United States by saying the people wanted A return to normalcy and that he would work for peace and prosperity for his country. Harding made the decision to not enter the U.S. into the League of Nations that was suggested by the previous president Woodrow Wilson. President Harding worked to form peace with countries that we had been at odds with over the Wilson administration and previous to that. He also worked on domestic affairs as well. Harding first worked at lowering the taxes. He also reduced the national debt by twenty-six billion dollars. He then went ahead and created a Department of Budget to promote the...

Free Essays on The Bell

The Bell. Thursday I came to school, as I always have, to get my daily dose of information since in the T-days, (as The University of Houston’s vernacular would describe them), I get most of my education. Since in those days I take fourteen of my the eighteen hours, well that day I came to English class, as every other day, being the last one, one would expect not to pay attention at all but today was not the case, as we were going through class discussion as we normally do, Ms Garlick embraced class as she had done previously and addressed a poem written by one of her friends, this poem was about a little bell, the poem at first might seem futile for most people since when you read it, it does not seem to make any sense, yeah even though poems are supposed to be read, this one breaks away from the category of comprehensible poetry since it is more than what it seems, it has a concealed meaning, a meaning that cannot be found until it is thoroughly explained, well this gothic comp ! osition read like this; The little deaf bell Is full of bees In a darkness that might as well have been a small black box For everybody who passes has forgotten the sound is still the bell And this is not a likely sound for the heart of human Josh Mehrgan After I read this poem, I asked myself, what the hell is this guy talking about? And then Ms Garlick was kind enough to tell us what Josh meant with it, basically she told us what Josh meant with his poem since she knows him very well, she said that Josh thought as the bell as lonely and he made the assumption that it was sad, but its meaning was still indistinct to me†¦ Does the bell really fell lonely? , Sad? , Happy? , Old? . But I was not going to sit there and just be told what the little bell felt, so I embarked myself into the quest of finding this little bell and after some demanding search of this relic I came to find myself in wha... Free Essays on The Bell Free Essays on The Bell The Bell. Thursday I came to school, as I always have, to get my daily dose of information since in the T-days, (as The University of Houston’s vernacular would describe them), I get most of my education. Since in those days I take fourteen of my the eighteen hours, well that day I came to English class, as every other day, being the last one, one would expect not to pay attention at all but today was not the case, as we were going through class discussion as we normally do, Ms Garlick embraced class as she had done previously and addressed a poem written by one of her friends, this poem was about a little bell, the poem at first might seem futile for most people since when you read it, it does not seem to make any sense, yeah even though poems are supposed to be read, this one breaks away from the category of comprehensible poetry since it is more than what it seems, it has a concealed meaning, a meaning that cannot be found until it is thoroughly explained, well this gothic comp ! osition read like this; The little deaf bell Is full of bees In a darkness that might as well have been a small black box For everybody who passes has forgotten the sound is still the bell And this is not a likely sound for the heart of human Josh Mehrgan After I read this poem, I asked myself, what the hell is this guy talking about? And then Ms Garlick was kind enough to tell us what Josh meant with it, basically she told us what Josh meant with his poem since she knows him very well, she said that Josh thought as the bell as lonely and he made the assumption that it was sad, but its meaning was still indistinct to me†¦ Does the bell really fell lonely? , Sad? , Happy? , Old? . But I was not going to sit there and just be told what the little bell felt, so I embarked myself into the quest of finding this little bell and after some demanding search of this relic I came to find myself in wha...

Behavior That Has a Different Meaning Another Culture in

Describe a gesture or behavior that has a different meaning another culture in. Provide a complete description of the action and what it means in both cultures Gesture and behavior has a big differences In features and differences in the world. Every time we are taking a trip to another country we try to discover as much as possible information about a country where we are travel to. Every time when we are going to another country we should know that in different countries gestures are different. Many gestures are Interpreted differently than In our own country.Since I m a representative from another country, I would like to tell you about the gestures of my country, too. So, swinging your head left and right, and countries, including Russia, means no; however, In countries such as Bulgaria, India, Greece this means endorsement, yes and so on. One of the most common gestures over the world is Okay Hand Sign as we can judge as an endorsement or so thats all well and fine. In English-speaking countries gesture Okay Hand Sign, has a positive, endorsing the value okay. Also in Russia, this gesture has the same meaning as in English-speaking countries.But In France this gesture expresses conflicting emotions and opposite meaning. In Brazil, such gesture may judge as disrespect to the public or other person. Okay gesture is vulgar and obscene for educated people In Brazil. The gesture is interpreted in various countries In various ways. Another famous gesture is Thumbs up Hand Sign. Raising your hand in front of others and making Thumb up Hand Sigh it can be treated as All right, All is fine. Pulling your hand up and pointing your thumb behind someone, this is used in Russia and In many Europe countries.In Muslim countries, the sigh Is offensive and indecent. So, do not use the gesture in these countries. In Saudi Arabia, the rotational movement of the finger can Judge as a Scram out of here, Goodbye; however, meaning Goodbye will be expressed in aggressive style. Saying Goodbye to the people from America you must keep your hand horizontally and slowly lift it as if you were clapping someone on his shoulder or head. Russians waving their hands from one side to another; although, this gesture in other countries may have different concept. For example, when Hispanics see this gesture they think that It is an Invitation that has different meaning In Russians. Sign of the Horns has a variety of meanings. In Russian tales Sigh of the Horns depicts actual goat. In heavy metal subculture this gesture is view as metal sigh, to signify that the music they are listening to, mostly rock or metal genre. In some Western Europe and North America that sign (corona) Is offensive allusion to the fact that the person to whom It is shown Cuckold Very famous gesture all over the world is The V sigh. In Russia, as a rule means number two. For example, this way we order two beers in a bar. In America, The V facing your target, youre giving somebody a long-established insult in Great Britain and many English speaking countries such as Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. In many countries, one of them is Russia as well; tapping your forehead means What a fool Italian and French, tapping their foreheads, tell you that they do not like the idea and it seems silly. In Britain and Spain, it is a sign of admiration and contentment is in Germany anger and resentment, but the Dutchmen so portray [Our idea they liked. And remember, smile and kindness in any country leads to communication.

Ideologies in Media Texts Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ideologies in Media Texts - Outline Example In providing an argument in the paper I have the intention to prove the significance of ideologies in the media. Generally, these arguments will be based on how much important media sources require ideologies to capture the attention and reasoning of their audiences. Additionally, the paper will provide implementation strategies that media sources should use in order to bring out the real intent of ideologies. The paper will also create frameworks in which ideologies may be effectively presented to influence real case scenarios. The paper will be in support of the argument that ideologies form the basis of all media presentations. Additionally, this supportive argument is based on how can ideologies are well used and implemented by media tools and mediums. The paper will provide a case study of a political ideology presented in the media text. The case study is retrieved from Le Besco & Naccarato (2008) who argue out on the importance of media ideologies in terms of presenting political views and perceptions. In this particular case study, the media publications try to influence the public view on how political leaders use dirty tactics to gain supremacy. The ideologies are further based on the historical occurrences regarding the same issue. Additionally, the paper still highlights a case study based on the lifestyle issue among people. This particular case study seeks to provide a scenario of how influential lifestyle publications are in terms of creating a direction of belief among the public (Barwise & Gordon, 2002). The paper supports the assumption that lifestyle publications are of high significance in influencing decisions made by the public in terms of lifestyles (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1993). The case study as highlighted by B irmingham (2000) also supports the same sentiments and  provides further recommendations on how well to present these ideologies.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example The plot of the story plays a significant role in presenting the gothic aspect of the novel. Frankenstein succeeds in his aim when he creates a human, but when sees the outcome of his experiment, he is utterly disappointed. When the live human comes out of the machine his monster like appearance makes Victor to abhor his creation. â€Å"When I thought of him, I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly made.† (Shelly 100). The monster disappears and then reappears in Geneva killing Victor's brother, William Frankenstein and that sets off a series of killings, leading to a tragic end for all characters. Victor creates a female or romantic companion for the Monster, so they can live together. However, he kills that female companion, fearing about the repercussions of that creation. Monster as a form of revenge cut shorts Victor’s romance by killing his lover and bride, Victoria on the wedding nigh t. Thus, the romance of both Victor and Monster faces violent and tragic ends, due to the actions of each other. The existence of supernatural being in the form of Monster and its destructive powers which results in the tragic end to the romantic affairs of both the Monster and Victor, brings forth the elements of gothic romance. The other gothic convention utilized in the novel is the gloomy manner in which the nature is depicted. The descriptions of natural settings throughout the novel follow the genre of Gothic Romance. When Victor decides to bring an end to the ruin caused by the monster created by him, he follows the monster in the icy regions of the Arctic. In course of his chase, the nature is described by him and the monster in a way which terrifies the human mind.   The monster’s inscriptions in the bark of the trees reveal the extreme nature prevalent in the region, he is heading for. â€Å"Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you feel the misery of cold and frost, to which I am impassive.† (Shelley 244). Nature is presented in its darkest aspects, as it brings hardships to human beings and terrorizes their mind. Nature made it more difficult for Victor to pursue the monster. The structure of the novel also adheres to the form of Gothic Romance. The story in the novel is presented through letters and journal entries, which was a common aspect in various Gothic romances.   Ã‚  Ã‚  The work Frankenstein is a Gothic romance which incorporates some elements of science fiction as well. The creation of a human being by Victor in the novel resembles the workings of a science fiction. Shelley is influenced by the political turmoil that prevailed during her time and her experience of this unrest is reflected in the character of Victor and plot of the novel. A scientific experiment causes a serious of horrific events in the novel. â€Å"Frankenstein's brilliance created a new organism-his abandonment, however, created a monster.† (Shackleford). The monster that is brought to life by a scientist evokes fear and lends Gothic effect to the novel. Victor, who creates the monster, is tormented by his own creation. â€Å"Frankenstein’s monster stands for technology that runs out of control out of control, that destroys its human creature.† (Potts & Murphie 99). Science fictions depict scientific

To what extent was the CIA and the US Government involved in the 1973 Research Paper

To what extent was the CIA and the US Government involved in the 1973 Coup with Chile. Need sources from the American perspectiv - Research Paper Example A strategy was taken after the 4th September 1970 elections to prevent Allende from taking over office. The strategy involved the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) influencing a congressional run off vote as a constitutional requirement since Allende’s victory was not on absolute majority. According to Mirza (270), the intention of the operation was to make the Chileans aware of dangers of the Marxist regime which was to come with Allende’s reign. Allende was a member of the Socialist Party of Chile and he was the Popular Unity between the coalition of communists, socialists, radicals and the Christian democrats. A Marxist, Allende’s program was to nationalize most of the banks and private industries. He also programmed massive land expropriation as well as collectivization. His opposers included Radomiro Tomic of the Christian Democratic Party and Jorge Alessandri. Allende received 36% of the vote winning over Alessadri (34%) and Tomic (27%). Allende won the maj ority but had votes that were less than the popular vote which did not meet the requirements set out in the constitution. The controversy behind Allende’s victory was that he was against the United States’ national interest over Chile. In spite of pressure from the United States, supporters of Allende together with Christian democrats voted for Allende. ... The CIA took various actions, for instance, it made overtures to foreign governments against Salvador’s presidency. According to Hastedt (80), the CIA also circulated propaganda for local media placement which aimed at mobilizing support to raise public opposition against Allende. The CIA contacted a lay man who had connections with church leaders to influence them against Allende. Chilean military officers improved their connections with station officers. Eduardo Frei of the Christian Democratic Party was encouraged to use his influence and encourage officers to form a new government before Allende was elected by the congress as the president. Frei was reluctant to take this action. Between 5th and 20th October, 1970, the station mobilized more contacts with the key Chilean military officers convincing them to engage in a coup .An attachee of the US embassy’s army was put under CIA station as the operational controller. He also relayed vital information to the military . Four of the CIA officers in non-official cover were instructed to meet with the Chilean officers who participated in plotting the coup. This was the track 11 plan which involved a military coup although it failed. The truck one plan involved political action which was aimed at discouraging the congress from electing Allende as the president. Track two failed as a result of the assassination of the army commander, Schneider. He was a strong supporter of the constitution of Chile and a defender of a military coup against Allende. As noted by Schmitz (101), the CIA and the United States government had agreed that absence of Schneider would prove a better position to plan the coup. One of the coup plotters, Robert Viaux, who was a retired

Homosexuality, prejudice, and discrimination Essay

Homosexuality, prejudice, and discrimination - Essay Example I agree with Mohr that antigay stereotypes are a means of reinforcing gender roles in society. Since time immemorial, homosexuals are a minority in society. The traditional gender roles came about because the majority of members of society and who are either male or female. Since homosexuality is not the norm, no role has been defined for it except that it breaks the norm. The antigay stereotypes are thus means to reinforce the traditional gender roles in order to â€Å"normalize† the situation and not change the norm. It is precisely these types of thinking that explains the violence against and harassment of homosexuals. People through time for concepts of right and wrong, which become the accepted norms. Although in existence since the history of civilization, homosexuality has always been not freely manifested, even by the homosexual themselves which also reinforces the notion that being homosexual is abnormal, until the present time that more and more homosexuals have gathered the courage to publicize their sexual orientation. Because for a long time, the view of homosexuality is that it is an abnormality and publicized incidents highlight negative aspects, violence against and harassment of homosexuals has resulted. 2. That something is descriptively moral (or immoral) does not make it normatively moral (or immoral). What is the relevance of this point to homosexuality? According to Mohr, the prevailing definition of morality is what is normative or prescribed by society according to its values which consist of mores, norms and customs. This ways of defining morality is what has brought about the contention that homosexuality is immoral because it violates mores, norms and customs. ... However, Mohr contends that something descriptively moral or immoral does not make it normatively moral or immoral. By this he means that even if something can be described as moral or immoral should not automatically be prescribed as moral or immoral. As an example, he used slavery. For many years, people did not see anything immoral about slavery, perhaps because it had some beneficial aspects to it for both slave and master. However, today, slavery is no longer considered moral, especially after societies realized that the practice of slavery violated basic human rights. This example can be plotted against the issue of homosexuality. Not because the prevailing values seem to categorize homosexuality as immoral, it does not make actually immoral. Therefore discriminations against homosexuals is out of place and also violate of human rights. 3. How does Mohr respond to the argument that homosexuality is unnatural because it violates the function of the genitals, which is to produce babies Why does Mohr believe that sexual orientation is not a matter of choice How is this point relevant to the issue of discrimination Are there moral arguments against homosexuality that Mohr has overlooked or not done justice to Mohr uses a number of arguments against the view that homosexuality is unnatural because it violates the function of the genitals. He starts by using biblical references. He says the bible does not univocally condemn homosexuality, therefore homosexuality is not against God's will. And even if the bible does condemn homosexuality, in a democratic society, religion should not be used as justification for its condemnation. On the grounds that homosexuality should be condemned as unnatural, Mohr argues that

Causes of increasing gas prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Causes of increasing gas prices - Essay Example What is causing this rise in prices of gas? Is it merely supply and demand issues, or are there other factors that are influencing the rise in gas prices? This paper has the general aim of being informative of the causes of the rise in gas prices. However, within this general aim, the paper has a specific purpose in trying to uncover that the rise in gas prices is not merely caused by supply and demand issues. Gas prices in the USA are linked to international oil prices, as the cost of oil constitutes 70% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. Cost of oil has risen. Brent oil prices are a measure of the prices of prevailing in the oil markets. Brent oil has risen by approximately 52 cents over the last two months, reflecting a rise in price of gas by 47cents per gallon in the USA. Four factors are believed to be involved in the recent rise in gas prices. These four factors are rise in demand for oil, inability of oil production to match the rising demand for oil, political turbulence in the Middle-East, and speculation in oil (Hargreaves, 1). The United Nations outlook for oil markets in 2010 demonstrates the reasons for an expected rise in demand for oil. The forecast indicated that there would be a rise in demand for oil to the tune of about 1.5%, raising demand for oil to 85.7 million barrels per day. Two factors would drive this rise in demand for oil. The main driver for rise in oil prices would be growing demand for oil from the emerging nations, like China and India, and the secondary driving force would be the slow emergence from recession of the developed world (United Nations, 63). The rise in demand for oil in 2012 however, was not as large as expected. The International Energy Association has estimated that the demand for oil in 2012 will be 200,000 barrels per day less than the earlier forecasted estimate of 90 million barrels per day. The reason for this

Hatian Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hatian Revolution - Essay Example The army had fought great wars against the armies of Britain, Spain and France, defeating them all in a span of thirteen years. Like the American independence war and the French revolution several decades earlier, Haiti revolution had its basis on the principal of self-rule and termination of cruelty from white masters. The American war of independence was against subjugation by colonialists, with proponents claiming that no country was superior to the other. The principal concern was lack of representation in governments while the Americans were paying taxes to their German and Britain colonists, a practice that amounted to subjugation of their rights. The French revolution on the other hand was an extension of the self-rule principle from nation state relations to the domestic spheres. Their basic tenet was that all citizens in a state were superior to the state itself and that no man was superior to the other. Whereas these two revolutions form the basis for freedom fights, they b oth centred on rights and freedoms of white men only and did not extent to non-whites or to women. Ironically, the Haiti revolution was against slavery and misrule by French and American among other white countries including Spain and Britain. With large farmlands and other economic activities in their colonies, white rulers mistreated local residents and black slaves whom they forced to work under very demeaning conditions (Sara 45). Once a free independent nation, the urge to avenge against the French colonialists drove the new government under the rule of Dessalines to order a total elimination of all white French settlers on the island under the pretext that they posed security risk to the young nation. This venture spared Americans and other foreigners, but led to extermination of thousands of white Frenchmen, women and children. The extend of Dessalines’s ire towards former French settlers surfaced in his â€Å"liberty or death† proclamation where he described wh ite Frenchmen as insatiate blood suckers who had fattened themselves with the hard toils of Haitians. Dessalines destroyed a considerable size of the island’s population in unleashing revenge on the remaining white French settlers. Population estimates indicate that a third to half of the population had died or fled the island over the thirteen years of war while over a hundred thousand were permanently disabled (Sara 33). The revolution period also saw sugarcane plantations, mills, and irrigation works destroyed, burned out or abandoned. The large standing army also kept productive men out of the fields. Dessalines declaration that no Haitian soldier could work on the fields left the fields short of close to forty thousand productive workers. Further, after thirteen years of fighting, the habit of hard work had diminished among the Haitian population. Women who had previously worked as slaves on the field continued to fill that role after independence, contributing essential ly the bulk of Haiti’s productivity, since they constituted over two thirds of the population (Leyburn 77). They however too abandoned this form of manual labour, taking up small scale trading instead. Without devoted and willing labourers on the fields, Haiti’s productivity took a serious dip down the drain. It is estimated that between 1789 and 1801 sugarcane production declined by 80%, while coffee production declined to 30% compared to production before the revolution begun. With this kind of decline in major economic production sectors, the viability of the nation and its economic future were in great peril. Realising the need to improve the island’

Causes of increasing gas prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Causes of increasing gas prices - Essay Example What is causing this rise in prices of gas? Is it merely supply and demand issues, or are there other factors that are influencing the rise in gas prices? This paper has the general aim of being informative of the causes of the rise in gas prices. However, within this general aim, the paper has a specific purpose in trying to uncover that the rise in gas prices is not merely caused by supply and demand issues. Gas prices in the USA are linked to international oil prices, as the cost of oil constitutes 70% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. Cost of oil has risen. Brent oil prices are a measure of the prices of prevailing in the oil markets. Brent oil has risen by approximately 52 cents over the last two months, reflecting a rise in price of gas by 47cents per gallon in the USA. Four factors are believed to be involved in the recent rise in gas prices. These four factors are rise in demand for oil, inability of oil production to match the rising demand for oil, political turbulence in the Middle-East, and speculation in oil (Hargreaves, 1). The United Nations outlook for oil markets in 2010 demonstrates the reasons for an expected rise in demand for oil. The forecast indicated that there would be a rise in demand for oil to the tune of about 1.5%, raising demand for oil to 85.7 million barrels per day. Two factors would drive this rise in demand for oil. The main driver for rise in oil prices would be growing demand for oil from the emerging nations, like China and India, and the secondary driving force would be the slow emergence from recession of the developed world (United Nations, 63). The rise in demand for oil in 2012 however, was not as large as expected. The International Energy Association has estimated that the demand for oil in 2012 will be 200,000 barrels per day less than the earlier forecasted estimate of 90 million barrels per day. The reason for this

Accounting for Small Business Essay Example for Free

Accounting for Small Business Essay ABSTRACT SMEs play a very important role in Indias economy and have a great potential for strengthening the real sector in India. But there has not been appropriate infrastructure yet which is accounting system to show the business feasibility. Traditional business in Indian Villages had been started by a family and ancestors, but has gotten bigger now. This business has many strengths and weaknesses. Based on the condition and background, the proposed-accounting system has been developed. It has been also successfully tested for a month transaction and revised. Adding knowledge management into accounting system is an alternative way to develop the proposed-accounting system. The four modes of knowledge creation will facilitate the business and its owner to add some modules in accounting system and to reengineer the business process. See more: Distinguish between problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping Essay INTRODUCTION: Small business plays a very important role in Indias economy, particularly in aspects increased employment, income generating, economic development. In addition, this sector is considered as a driving force for the rural economy. But until now there are still many problems to hinder the small business growth. Facts in the Asia Pacific region revealed that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) employ about 60 percent of the workforce. Only 10 percent of the total companies in Asia Pacific which is a big business, the rest are SMEs. For India, according to Small Medium Business Corner (SMBC) data in 2012 the numbers of micro, small and medium enterprises develop into 130 Lakhs (http://www.smeindia.net/export_schemes/OverviewofMSME.html) by giving employment to 410 Lakhs people and able to contribute to the total national GDP amounted to 8-9 percent in 2012. Basic problem of management in small business is inability of owners to determine their management style that appropriate with the business need and development stage. In early stage of business, family management style leads to one-man show. According to improvement of business environment, that conventional style could not be pushed longer. Especially in financial management, the business owners could not be able to separate the financial management of business and family yet. Besides, they have not well planned, managed and reported periodically yet. It is caused by there is no appropriate infrastructure which is accounting system. The impact is that the owners of small business have difficulties to cooperate with external such as bank or another financial institution. The owners have difficulties to show their feasibility business when they want to propose credit or make a business contract with another business. Based on the importance of an accounting system, this research results a proposed-accounting system which can be applied by owners of small business in India. The proposed-accounting system is a generic model of purchasing and selling system that should be enhanced according to business need and by refer to the knowledge management approach. LITERATURE REVIEW: ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: According to Gillespie, accounting system is an organization of document, form and report which is managed to provide information for management. Based on that definition, elements of accounting system are documents, forms and reports, but still concern with procedure and internal control. Therefore, proposed-elements in this study will refer to it. SMALL BUSINESS: Under the law of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (2008), definition of SMEs in India is explained by the table below. Based on the definition, the research object is categorized as a small business. DEFINITION OF SMES IN INDIA Enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services (i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment does not exceed Rs. 10 lakh; (ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs.10 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 2 crore; and (iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs. 2 crore but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore. Enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production, processing or preservation of goods (i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs. 25 lakh; (ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs. 25 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore; and (iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs.5 crore but does not exceed Rs.10 crore. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: System development in this study will follow the three main steps a.System analysis: Activities in this stage are initial study, feasibility study, requirement definition, and specification system arrangement. b.System design:   After finishing system analysis, the next activities are system design, system building and system testing. c.System implementation:   Based on system testing, a revised system will be established. Finally, system is implemented and operated. At this stage, company will conduct maintenance activity. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Since this study wants to develop a proposed-accounting system, â€Å"Research and development† approach which is applied in this study is a research program that is followed by a development program. It is a combination of descriptive study that describes the actual phenomenon in an object and exploratory research that develops a proposed -accounting system. A proposed-accounting system is focused on purchasing and selling system since those are the main activities in the business. The location of this study, Traditional small business in Indian Villages, was chosen on purpose, because this business in the Villages has significantly improved in sales and human empowering, also government is paying attention by giving assistantship for both management and technology. Primary data of this study was the results of guided interviews and observation. The steps of this study are designed as follow: a.Initial study Preliminary research was conducted to comprehend previous studies and literature, guided questionnaire drafting, and Traditional business understanding. b.System requirement defining At this stage, the data was obtained by interview with business owners and observation directly to the business. By understanding the research object condition and background, also the strength and weakness, the accounting system requirement could be defined. c.Development of proposed-accounting system At this stage, development of proposed-accounting system was managed by interviews, observation, and group discussion among owners, researcher and government, related to main accounting system elements, which are document, form and report. In its development, knowledge management approach was proposed to use since it can facilitate business daily operation into business standard operation. The result of this stage was a proposed-accounting system. d.Testing and implementation Testing was accomplished by implementing the proposed system to handle a month transactions. Owners and their staff used it to run transactions of purchasing and selling for a month. By running the system, problems were found and then they were used to revise the system. At this stage, a revised-accounting system was established. e.Conclusions and recommendations In the final stage of this study, conclusions and suggestions from all research processes were stated. RESULT AND DISCUSSION: PROFILE OF TRADITIONAL BUSINESS IN INDIAN VILLAGES: India is one of the major exporter and supplier of handicrafts and gift products to the world market. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labor intensive and decentralized, being spread all across the country in rural and urban areas. The sector is considered as the second largest employment-generating sector after agriculture with numerous artisans engaged in craft work on a part-time basis. The industry offers employment to over 6 million artisans, including a large number of women and people from the weaker sections of society. The present day handicraft tradition of India is a perfect example of assimilation between the traditional designs and modern techniques. The fast growing demand for Indian handicraft and gifts products have made this sector a full-fledged large scale organized industry that is growing day by day. History The rich history of India’s craft tradition has evolved over the centuries offering a legacy of Indian culture promising everything beauty, dignity, form and style. The variety is comprehensive and ranges from age-old stone carvings to modern handicrafts making use of glass flints and mirrors. The most popular crafts, include metalware, earthenware, pottery, sculpting, woodwork, hand-printed textiles and scarves, embroidered and crocheted goods, shawls, zari products, stone carving and imitation jewelry. There is a myriad of art and craft traditions in India that depend on social, economic and regional factors. The present status of the sector in India owes much to the rich crafts history and tradition of the past. Majority of the crafts from the past continues to flourish due to their utilitarian characteristics, availability to the common people and popularity in domestic and global markets. Today, some of the sectors within the craft industry have even become full fledged industries in their own, like carpet weaving, traditional textile (Banarsi silk sari, Chikankari etc), gem cutting and polishing, jewelry making, the world famous diamond cutting and polishing industry, brassware, jute products, etc. The growth of these industries is due to their ever-increasing demand and the popularity of Indian crafts in the domestic market and overseas. Gems and jewelry, carpet making, metalware, leather products, jute products etc. are some industries, which are growing rapidly.

Hrm Practices In Hotel Industry In Australia Management Essay

Hrm Practices In Hotel Industry In Australia Management Essay There has been widening recognition that human resource management strategies (HRM) impact organisational performance and overall effectiveness particularly in the service industry where strategic HR practices can contribute to competitive edge (Cheng Brown, 1998). The hospitality and tourism industry essentially comprises a service and production sector and with the immense emphasis on service quality, people essentially represent the entire industry. The success of the industry is dependant on the calibre of its employees and how they are managed in order to help the organisation achieve its objectives. HRM practices in smaller organisations are given comparatively a lower priority with larger hospitality organisations. (Kelliher Johnson, 1987)have recorded studies to suggest that even larger hotels have not yet developed a model for HRM but is moving away from personnel management in the past two decades. The major challenges faced by the hospitality industry and organisations w ithin this industry are that the industry is known for poor pay and employment conditions and a low take-up of HR practices. It is also generally believed that the industry has relied extensively on low-cost, numerically flexible and disposable workforce. Within the Australian context, there has been controversy regarding the extent to which organisations are moving away from a low wage, low-road approach to HRM exemplified by high levels of contingent labour towards a more systematic high commitment approach consistent with functionally flexible, enabling work practices (Angela Knox Walsh, 2005). The key issues that have central implications for strategic HRM are the casualisation of the workforce and high employee turnover within the industry and human resource managers need to utilise practices that enable them to have flexibility with respect to employment contracts and casual labour and also have strategic objectives to reduce the high employee turnover. This report attempts t o identify the key issues within the Hospitality and tourism industry like casualisation of the workforce, employee turnover and its implications for strategic human resource management. The report also discusses the case of Marriott International Inc., a large hotel chain operating within Australia and world over and attempts to identify if there are trends of best practices within its HR department which can be applicable to the entire industry. 2. HRM practices in Hotel industry in Australia (Lockyer Scholaris, 2004)conducted a survey that revealed that there was a lack of systematic selection procedures in the hotel industry particularly the small hotels and the larger hotel chains were having difficulties meeting the demands imposed by the labour market and other recruitment constraints. HR practitioners must have a tacit knowledge of a hotels local labour market and customer base to be able to make strategic selection procedures. Recruiting and selecting staff members is essential to an organisation and since the hospitality industry is largely a service industry, the employees should also be considered as assets. Hiring practices in Australia have moved from traditional methods (advertising, walk-ins, selection interviews, reference checking, etc.) to more strategic approaches like networking, internal labour market, behavioural interviewing, targeted selection, etc. Australian hospitality industry trends suggest that there is more internal recruitment within organi sations and internal recruitment is inclusive of transfers and promotions of casual and part time staff. Recruiting methods in Australia are seen to be predominantly strategic but less innovative. Australian hotels place high emphasis on the recruitment and selection process to attempt to reduce employee turnover and there is a large number of casual labour hired especially amongst the young because of the ease of entry. Consequently it can also be recognised that effective training and development practices within the service industries is imperative to providing a unique and differentiating standard of service, enabling increased profitability and bottom line results. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the hospitality and tourism industry is the largest sector and effective HR practices like training and remuneration and will benefit the organisation succinctly through their implementation (Taylor Davies, 2004). Australian hotels use a number of methods to identify the training needs of the employees by usually analysing guest comment cards, consultation sessions amongst employees etc. The industry being highly labour intensive poses a major task for the management of this labour as the product delivery is conversely based on the effectiveness and manner in which service is delivered within the industry. The hotel industry is associated with long, unsociable hours and poor working conditions highlights the poor pay, low skills and lack of career opportunities as characteristics that influence the attraction, development and retention of managers.(OLeary Deegan, 2005), (G. Martin Woldring, 2001). Therefore a high emphasis must also be laid on the development of managers. (Brophy Keily, 2002) developed a competency framework for middle level hotel managers by mapping these to the key results areas of customer care, quality and standards, managing staff, achieving profitability and growing the business. They highlight the importance of operational activities for middle managers, concurring with the finding of (Watson McCracken, 2002)and (Watson, McCracken, Hughes, 2004) Another area of importance is performance management and most hotels practice procedures like the performance development plan (PDP) which involves employee feedback and input and are integrated into the performance appraisal plan (Cheng Brown, 1998). The practices adopted in Austrlian hospitality firms are a combination of self appraisal in conjunction with supervisor subordinate evaluation. This practice has been widely adopted by a number of Australian firms because it is perceived to be a more balanced assessment of the employees but a strategic and functional practice which can be adopted is the 360 degree feedback because this is a service oriented industry and the feedback from customers and peers would certainly benefit the evaluation of an employees performance. There is also an underlying practice amongst Australian hotel industry employers regarding employment relations and they engage directly in firm-level bargaining with trade unions. The Australian hotel industry was characterised by poor union participation but in recent years, evidence from (Angie Knox Nickson, 2007) suggests that this is not the case especially in larger firms. The union representation of this industry approximates about 37 percent density according to Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. Wages and employment conditions are regulated by legally enforceable awards and Australian hotels are regulated by a combination of federal awards and collective agreements (Angie Knox Nickson, 2007). This in turn has a cascading effect on the type of employment relationship in existence and also introduces the issues pertaining to the hiring of causal labour, part time employment of majority of the entry level service jobs and also the prominent problem of employee retention. The most significant challenge faced by HR practioners is to work effectively with other function managers within the hotel to create integrative plans that help the firms achieve their business objectives and to link the strategic goals of the Human Resource function to that of the other departments and the organisation as a whole (Tracey Charpentier, 2004). This involves intensive practices of Corporate Social Responsibility implemented by the HR function but aligned with the organisational objectives. The interest in business ethics in Australia has also increased with significant research being conducted not only on the role of the HR function but also its ethical implementation. There is a low consensus among HR managers in translating ethical principles into organisational practice and strategic HRM helps to implement these principles and minimise the deficit in transfer of knowledge. Business ethics and the role of HRM is significant here as it includes the concept of product ivity, profitability, efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the organizations basic purposes, comply with legal requirements, or, alternatively, that they succeed in avoiding legal threats and to improve quality of work life, to ensure fairness in policies, and to foster harmonious relationships between management and workers. Therefore strategic HRM is important to achieve organisational goals and therefore achieve better firm performance (A. Martin, Mactaggart, Bowden, 2006). This sort of Strategic HRM practices can be seen in the case analysed below of Marriott International Inc. which is a large international hotel chain also operating within Australia. 3. Marriott International Inc. The case of Marriott International Inc. illustrates some best practice principles which have resulted in the organisation being awarded the employer of choice awards a number of times and placed 50th in a leading newspaper as the Best Company to Work For. Marriott uses its employees as a brand differentiation strategy as revealed by their surveys with employees which was the outstanding service qualities delivered by the employees. Marriott International Inc. has an organisational culture of spirit to serve whereby they use a three stage approach to implementing these strategies. Training programs lasting five days are conducted on a periodic basis for their leaders and managers and have a map of customer expectations created and a plan to exceed those predicted expectations. Managers are given techniques to improve self motivation and that of their team through positive attitude including visualisation, writing goals down, and positive vocabulary. They are also equipped with culture change to drive their business. They also deliver 15 minute training sessions that cover major aspects of job quality and also have a daily basics training that covers on one of the basics to deliver good products. Marriott has recognised that the only way to deliver the brand is through their people (Anonymous, 2003). Marriott is committed to fair treatment of associates and to providing training and advancement opportunities to all employees. Diversity is also an important policy in Marriott. The company believes that this is the way they attract, develop and retain talent people. Such diversity is not only within group, but also applies to suppliers, customers, owners and so on. Marriott states that one of major efforts are devoted to recognize associate hard work, provide health care, and create opportunity for growth and career development. The company is trying to build an associate-centered environment. Therefore, it provides a total compensation package which include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Medical, Dental, Life, and Disability Insurance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Annual Salary Increases à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continuing Education/Tuition Reimbursement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Hotel Room and Food Beverage Discounts à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ongoing Training and Career Development Marriott International Inc has a formal corporate culture; there are also holistically planned HR policies, although there are different emphases between those formal corporate culture and HR policies (Fu Liu, 2005). Marriott award their employees with the highest award, which is the J. Willard Marriott Award of Excellence and the selection is made from over 300,000 employees (Anonymous, 1996). The company also awards employees on their excellence towards corporate social responsibility with the Alice S. Marriott Award for Community Service which goes to show their efforts towards building an ethical and socially responsible organisation through their spirit to serve our community efforts (Anonymous, 2003). Marriott International Inc., also has programs with its low-skilled, low-wage workers to offer them opportunities with day care, English classes, and other social services for loyalty, enthusiasm, and a low turnover rate. Employee stock options are also part of the package. This is one instance where the self-interest of low-skilled, low-wage employees coincides with the self-interest of their employer (Bethesda, 2009). It can clearly be noted here that considering the levels of the casual workforce in Australia, Marriott has made arrangements to attract and retain even these types of employees. Since, Marriott, have recognised that the hospitality industry is a labour-intensive service industry, depending for its success on the social and technical skills of its personnel, their ingenuity and hard work, their commitment and attitude, they have created a conducive environment to treat their internal customers with priority and it permeates to all the HR functions. 4. Casualisation of the workforce in Australia The Australian context of the tourism and hospitality industry has been characterised by casual employment which has been permitted under labour regulation with concerns of it being precarious (Campbell Brosnan). (Wooden Warren, 2004) also emphasises that this is one of the distinctive features of the Austrlian labour market and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggest that just over 27 percent of all employees were employed on a casual basis. Australian Employment law Guide reports that this percentage has been progressively increasing in the past 5 years as shown in Appendix 1 in terms of the number of labour hours worked. Milman suggests that 51.3 percent of teens are employed on a casual basis within the hospitality tourism and retail industries which is a significantly large number of casual workers. On the other hand (Angela Knox Walsh, 2005) suggests that research shows that a number of managers are employing temporary and casual workers and, to a lesser exten t, part-time employees, as well as female, ethnic minority and immigrant labour. The increased number of casual employees is largely filled by young workers especially in the Food and Beverage outlets, Banquets and Housekeeping. There is almost no qualification required for these entry level positions and employees are usually trained on the job. The employment of temporary and casual workers is shaped by fluctuations in customer demand and the size and number of extra events and functions that are scheduled during the day and tight labour cost-control practices are considered to be a key characteristic of HRM in the Australian hotel industry. These characteristics have been the primary reason for the employment of causal and temporary workers based on demand. This form of employment can be seen as employment that falls under Total Quality Management, where employment is on the basis of production, or in this case service demands. As labour regulation has developed, casual employment has come to be firmly embedded in labour regulation. Casual employment has a number of characteristics irrespective of the industry being examined and this can be further reiterated by the laws that provide for casual and temporary employment. The Australian Employment Guide says that it is important to distinguish casual contracts from continuing contracts because by definition casual contracts impose no obligation on either party to continue the relationship. Each period of hiring is distinct and severable and any continuing relationship does not mean in law a continuing contract. In casual contracts, therefore, there is a work/pay bargain that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ provides no continuity of employment, and consequently no obligation on the employer to provide, or continue to provide, work; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ directly ties work, output or time spent to the rate of pay. This is so whether the nature of the payment is on a piece-work or time-rate basis. The issues here that develop as a direct consequence of this kind of employment include but are not limited to greater job insecurity, low pay, limited opportunities for career progression, unsatisfactory working hours, low levels of access to work-related training and low levels of union representation. Even though the union membership has increased significantly over the past few years within the hospitality industry, the union membership for casual employees is virtually non existent. Wooden conducted research which provides conclusive evidence that although there are negative attributes of casual employment, it is extremely misleading to characterise non-standard jobs as sub-standard jobs. It thus follows that initiatives intended to inhibit the diversity of employment options that are available to employers will often not result in changes in working arrangements that will be unambiguously preferred by employees. If Australia wishes to develop a committed, highly skilled workforce, it must offer jobs which are secure and where the employees receive benefits commensurate with their skills and experience; in other words the many holes in the legislative and administrative framework need to be tightened up so that casual work is not abused. The practices used by Marriott International Inc. as described earlier have been very useful in preserving the ethical integrity of casual employment within the hospitality industry in Australia and even hotels like Hilton offer its employees a work at home option to improve both company as well as employee growth and performance. The research findings of (Angela Knox Walsh, 2005) also suggest that a number of recent studies have challenged the notion that the hotel industry takes an unequivocally low-road approach to employment and HRM matters and this reflects insights from research studies on the hotel industry that suggest that differences in employer po licy and practice may well reflect variations in organisational size and market position. As in the case of Marriott which is a large company with 300, 000 employees and with percentage of net profit to be 14.4 percent (appendix 2), the company size and market position have allowed it to take the high road and utilise the HRM function as a source of competitive advantage and align it consistently with the business strategy, goals and objectives. 5. Staff retention and high turnover The Australian hospitality and tourism industry not unlike the rest of the world is notably a highly labour intensive industry with employees often taking on varying degrees of work load and pressure within the service construct. Employees, especially entry level, casual, part time and temporary employees are often faced with high pressure work systems where performance is given considerable importance which has direct impacts on firm performance on the whole. Most leading hotel chains even have regulations on grooming standards and codes of conduct of employees and employees can be dismissed based on those grounds. This puts added pressure on the workers which can lead to an increased percentage of staff turnovers. The prominent issue that arises from high staff turnover is naturally increased personnel costs incurred because of recruiting and training new replacements, but the turnover analysis is often ignored within the Australian hospitality industry as it is seen as a hidden cost and is considered a normality within the industry itself (Cheng Brown, 1998) (Dibble, 1999) suggests that turnover may be caused by personal or personality factors, family issues, work, team relations, as well as organisational structure and strategic human resource practices. (Cheng Brown, 1998)Cheng and brown here suggest that HR practices should pervade every HR function and the organisation itself to reduce the turnover within the industry. Organisations that employ more flexible HR practices have a greater probability to induce low employee turnover. (Davies, Taylor, Savery, 2001) conducted research in hotels in western Australia that enlightened the fact that although researchers have long spoken about the numerous HR functions like training, performance appraisal, remuneration, employee development and their effect in reducing turnover, the most prominent function that indicates an improvement in quality, productivity and reduced employee turnover is the training function. Employees feel empowered and committed to the organisation for the training re ceived by them. The kind of training within the hotel industry can be skills acquisition, performance management training, leadership and development etc. Although the current economic crisis has increased the availability of talented labour for the hospitality it is still imperative to integrate HRM functions to retain employees within the organisation. 6. Recommendations The HRM department of Australian hospitality and tourism industry although strategic in their approach towards their function, needs to adapt to the increasing demands of the industry and the high increase in casual work force. HR managers need to conduct substanstiative training and development activities to empower even their casual staff to reduce turnover and utilise employees as a source of competitive advantage for firms. They need to align their strategy with the goals and objectives of the organisation itself so as to be able to recruit and select appropriate employees whether it is causal, part time or full time employees. Increasing the benefits and compensation given to employees also reduces the turnover in the industry as clearly indicated by the Marriott case. Providing low cost benefits for casual employees and training reduces the annual turnover and increases firm performance. 7. Conclusion The Australian hotel industry is highly dynamic and has various attributes to it; most significant of those are the casualisation of the workforce and high turnover. The recommendations put to practice certainly aides organisations perform better and reduces the negative implications for the HR department within these organisations. Taking a High road approach and focussing on delivery of quality helps the HR managers to focus on training and development of the employees and to increase higher commitment from them. The areas of significant change likely within the hospitality industry are technology, power paradigms, training and development, compensation programs, employee relations and family, social and work life balance. These areas need to be facilitated by the Human resource managers by integrating their practices to ensure high firm performance and low turnover by empowering employees.

Is The African American Family Slowly Disintegrating? Essay -- Family

Is The African American Family Slowly Disintegrating? America, as we know it today, is composed of an eclectic mix of cultures including African, Asian, Hispanic, Native American as well as diverse European cultures. These cultures have amalgamated in some ways, but in other ways certain cultures have established themselves as dominant, immensely contributing to the paradigm shifts in the American culture. The English language, for example, is the language that is prevalently spoken in the United States today; it is traditionally associated with the Yankees who have European descent. Of particular interest in this research, however, is the African component of American culture. Why, for example, don’t Americans speak Portuguese, the language that most of the African Slaves were familiar with? After their emancipation, were the black slaves incapable of propagating their own culture to their children and their children’s children? Are they an inferior race? Or are they simply unmotivated and unwilling to rise above their de spondency? These are some of the questions that this research attempts to investigate. It is a well known fact that social, economic and political ills continue to beset the African American family in all walks of their lives. They constantly experience racial discrimination, unemployment, and various forms of violence. Numerous reports indicate blacks as the perpetrator of crimes. They are faced by issues such as welfare, illegitimacy, a large number of children and, the resulting cycle of poverty (Newman, 150). The figures and the statistics speak for themselves making us all too aware about the plight of the blacks in America. In light of all this, a pertinent question arising from this would be â€Å"when ... ...se trap, it won’t matter whether you are black or white. People will buy it.† Secondly, a concerted effort by all Americans should be put in place to uplift the blacks socially, economically and politically by affording them equal opportunity, completely stamping out racism in the community and by fostering the learning of young African Americans. Without this, the rich will get richer while the poor will get poorer, meaning that any economic development will be nullified by an increasing crime rate and the society will, as a result, remain stagnant. Sources: Newman, D.M. 1958, 2002. â€Å"Sociology of Families.† Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, C2002. Wikepidia Encyclopedia: http://www.fact-index.com/s/sl/slavery.html Father John Hardenbrook.The Christian activist, â€Å"A Journal of Orthodox Opinion†: http://www.thechristianactivist.com/vo9/V9Maction Is The African American Family Slowly Disintegrating? Essay -- Family Is The African American Family Slowly Disintegrating? America, as we know it today, is composed of an eclectic mix of cultures including African, Asian, Hispanic, Native American as well as diverse European cultures. These cultures have amalgamated in some ways, but in other ways certain cultures have established themselves as dominant, immensely contributing to the paradigm shifts in the American culture. The English language, for example, is the language that is prevalently spoken in the United States today; it is traditionally associated with the Yankees who have European descent. Of particular interest in this research, however, is the African component of American culture. Why, for example, don’t Americans speak Portuguese, the language that most of the African Slaves were familiar with? After their emancipation, were the black slaves incapable of propagating their own culture to their children and their children’s children? Are they an inferior race? Or are they simply unmotivated and unwilling to rise above their de spondency? These are some of the questions that this research attempts to investigate. It is a well known fact that social, economic and political ills continue to beset the African American family in all walks of their lives. They constantly experience racial discrimination, unemployment, and various forms of violence. Numerous reports indicate blacks as the perpetrator of crimes. They are faced by issues such as welfare, illegitimacy, a large number of children and, the resulting cycle of poverty (Newman, 150). The figures and the statistics speak for themselves making us all too aware about the plight of the blacks in America. In light of all this, a pertinent question arising from this would be â€Å"when ... ...se trap, it won’t matter whether you are black or white. People will buy it.† Secondly, a concerted effort by all Americans should be put in place to uplift the blacks socially, economically and politically by affording them equal opportunity, completely stamping out racism in the community and by fostering the learning of young African Americans. Without this, the rich will get richer while the poor will get poorer, meaning that any economic development will be nullified by an increasing crime rate and the society will, as a result, remain stagnant. Sources: Newman, D.M. 1958, 2002. â€Å"Sociology of Families.† Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, C2002. Wikepidia Encyclopedia: http://www.fact-index.com/s/sl/slavery.html Father John Hardenbrook.The Christian activist, â€Å"A Journal of Orthodox Opinion†: http://www.thechristianactivist.com/vo9/V9Maction