Christianity and Islam Essay

Judaism is the Jewish religion. It is one of the oldest of the great world religions, and is the mother religion of both Christianity and Islam. Judaism was not founded by one towering personality, as were most other religions. Abraham and Moses are not regarded as founders. Abraham was the â€Å"father of the Hebrew people† and Moses was the â€Å"law-giver†. I had the chance to interview Gary Austein. This interview was done for me to know the idea or perspective of a believer regarding his faith in his religion and that concerns his spiritual life. During the interview I asked Gary Austein the important holidays and traditions of this religion. He answered â€Å"The important holidays and tradition of Judaism are Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashana and the Passover. The holiest day in the Jewish calendar is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This day is set aside to repent for the sins of the previous year. It is a day when any adult who has been Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s (age 12-13) fasts and reflects on the past year and asks God for forgiveness. Rosh Hashana is the previous weeks and is the Jewish New Year. Passover is in the spring and it is a time when Jews cannot eat unleavened bread reflecting on the Israelites exodus from Egypt. † When I asked him on how Judaism has shaped his life? And I quote â€Å"Religion defines who I am as a person. I would say I am a Jew first and an American second, that is how important it is to me. My value and belief system is a product of my Jewish identity and upbringing. My adult life has brought my Judaism more into my life than ever as I now have a Jewish home, Jewish wife and child on the way. I also work at a Jewish Day School so I am always reminded of my Jewish identity as both my professional and personal life revolves around my religion. † What are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion? Jews throughout the world are always a target of anti-Semitism. This is a fact that they accepted and so with other families. It is scary that millions upon millions of people have been murdered because of their belief in Judaism. Between the Holocausts, pogroms in Russia, and terrorist’s attacks, an astounding amount of Jews have died because of their belief. Society is not very conducive for an observant Jewish lifestyle; Jews are supposed to observe the Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night) and are not supposed to drive, work, spend money, etc. A lot happens on the weekends so this is difficult. Also if you keep Kosher (Jewish dietary restrictions) it is difficult to eat out as the vast majority of food and restaurants are not kosher. What are the false impression people have about Judaism? People have much false impression about Judaism. A lack of understanding and acceptance has led to misconceptions, not only of Judaism, but throughout the world. People need to always remind themselves that both Christianity and Islam were born from Judaism. Both religions accept the Torah (the Jewish Bible, also referred to at the Old Testament) as the word of God and credit Judaism for the birth of their respective religions. If people are more aware of this people then maybe open to differences of people. Judaism has clung to a number of religious principles, how important are they to your belief and values? Judaism defines who a Jew is; they wear it as a badge of honor. For them it is amazing that time still honors traditions that are still practiced at present. Something like male circumcision is the oldest religious tradition in the world today. It is amazing that it has lasted for thousands of years. It shows the resiliency and the testament of the Jewish faith that they are able to continue throughout the generations. What events and figures have shaped the faith of Judaism? Judaism has greatly shaped his life as a Jew. And it is through the people around that have helped him a lot in his Religious belief. His parents gave him his Jewish identity and the friends of his family have nurtured it. His best friend who is a rabbinical student has been very influential in shaping his Jewish identity. His marriage also shaped his Jewish identity as his wife converted to Judaism which has given him a newfound zeal and love for his religion. His study of Holocaust has been a dramatic part of his Jewish identity. Finally his visits to Israel, the Jewish state has given him a unique pride in his homeland. There are many Jewish denominations. To want certain extent the philosophies of these movements have shaped the reaction to one another? He considers himself a Conservative Jew which is best classified as the middle of the road. For the most part, Jews of different backgrounds are fairly understanding and respectful of the traditions and practices of other sects of Judaism, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox movement. He believes that if you are a Jewish according to the laws and traditions of Moses then it does not matter how you practice as long as you believe it in your heart. However, he believes that there are certain misinterpretations some of the other sects have undertaken, but that is not something that he could be worried or be burden about. Judaism has been the common bond of the Jewish people. It is the foundation of their culture and the reason for the creation of Israel, the Jewish State. Israel is the most important tangible asset they have and something that must be protected at all costs. Judaism is the reason the Jewish people have and are persecuted, yet is the belief and intangible asset that keeps them together as a people. According to Jewish tradition, the history of Judaism begins with the Covenant between God and Abraham. What is the Covenant? â€Å"The Covenant is the â€Å"agreement† between God and Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, that the Jews will be â€Å"the chosen people. † This is a fact that is accepted by both Christians and Muslims alike. This covenant was symbolized by Abraham being circumcised and is something that is required for all Jewish males a week after they are born†. Judaism is different from many religions, how does differ? He answered, â€Å"This is a common misconception. All three of the major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have more similarities than differences. Their major prophets are the same; their historical texts are born out of the Jewish Bible, and their belief in one all powerful, all knowing, and benevolent God is distinct commonalities. They all practice and worship God in different ways, but when it comes down to it, they were all born from Abraham and Sarah, meaning they are all brothers and sisters†. The interview taught me the importance of having respect for other’s faith and beliefs. It is also important that any individual must know the values that the other people in the society portrays because that is how they were brought up with especially with regards to their religion. My experience during the interview was worth it, I learned a lot especially coming from a devoted person. What he shared to me were the same with the information’s in the textbook we used in the class.

Critical Response Paper

The development of political thought was always close-knit with the author’s epoch and regime of governance he lived under; however, in spite of the ethical and technological limitations, associated with the temporal factor, the majority of political scientists sought to build a universalized framework of justice and legitimate state power.John Rawls is distinguished for his positivist, or â€Å"realistic utopian† approach to justice and principles of peaceful coexistence among individuals as well as peace between government and population. However, the proportion of utopianism is much higher in his writings, as compared to the realism ratio, given that he fails to address the challenges, related to diversity and class inequality which are dominating the modern North American society.First of all, it is important to pay attention to Rawls’s dynamic and positivistic model of justice. According to the article, instead of seeking the ideal of justice beyond the exis ting order of affairs, the scholar tries to enable reasonable and gradual improvements of the internal structure and situation: â€Å"We can see this idea through the rather well-worn metaphor of the difference between the efforts needed to fix a boat that is at sea one plank at a time rather than trying to rebuild it from scratch. Generally speaking, it makes more sense to engage the first sort of repair job than a complete rebuild† (Mini-lecture, p.4).Interestingly, the author focuses predominantly on the strong points of the current ideas of justice as articulated both in legal terms and through societal behaviours.However, this task might appear extremely challenging given the focus of diversity in most European and North American policies. Diversity is a delicate issue, since there is a number of conflicts among beliefs, interests and practices, underlying each cultural or social group. Obtaining true impartiality also turns into a difficult task, as the society, which l acks uniformity in certain vital political issues, is likely to encourage its groups to perceive and assess the objective reality from the intragroup value system; as a result, such judgments can seem neither objective nor neutral.According to the article, â€Å"He does not propose a vision of justice that would stretch our character too and tries to build a theory that is responsive to our current conditions† (Mini-lecture, p.5).However, taking into consideration the above provided chain of reasoning, one can assume that the existing disproportion and divergence of political values will inevitably result in the necessity of â€Å"stretching† the philosophies or ideologies of certain minority groups, either religious or cultural. However, for the purpose of maintaining/ establishing social cohesion, this step can be justified, since the vast majority is likely to benefit from it.This excessive pluralism is partially addressed in the reading: â€Å"Bearing this point i n mind, he tries to find a way to build an impartial model for deliberating about principles of justice that everyone can reasonably be expected to endorse despite holding different religious and moral views† (Mini-lecture, p.5).The statement is quite abstractive, whereas the particular scenarios of its realization point to the existence of disparities in core values of each group. For instance, in the United States, there are several large Muslim communities, whose polity greatly resembles the lifestyles of Middle Asian societies. The U.S.-based communities might engage with political activity and unite into a faction, requiring, for instance, the cancellation of women’s right to take certain jobs, and referring to the fact that the existing state-of-art offends their vision of gender morality.Surprisingly, this faction might be supported by other political groups, which also share this view on gender equality – as a result, the society might be torn by the deba te over the true justice. As one can notice, the representation of the core values of liberty might be uneven in our society, so both federal and state legislations necessarily challenge the beliefs of a certain minority.  Furthermore, Rawls’s concept of justice and stability is quite unrealistic, since it provides an abstractive picture, barely imaginable in the current world. According to the political philosophy article, â€Å"His core insight is that a stable and enduring society is one that is also just, that is, where citizens are considered to be free and equal. More importantly, citizens have to be able to see themselves and each other as free and equal† (Mini-lecture, p.6).However, inequality is inescapable, it is often referred to as an engine of social and political development, which motivates individuals to participate in political processes. The true equality, as articulated in the paper, consists in people’s outlooks and convictions, yet the for mation of â€Å"equality beliefs† is normally realized only partly, since there still exist economic, social, regional, gender and age boundaries which make people feel underprivileged or superior.In this sense, Rawls refers to Kant and observes that the greatest political ideas were realized from the personal to the public, i.e. if an individual considers certain pattern ‘fair’, this pattern is likely to appear to be ‘fair’ in the whole society.However, this logic of reasoning fails to take into consideration the fact that the idea of equality was first born in autocratic societies, bearing much higher uniformity within its aristocratic and power circles, as compared to the modern Western world. Given that Rawls himself states that the relevance of political ideas depends on temporal and spatial (regional) factors, so the ideas of liberty and equality, which existed in the ancient world and Enlightenment society, are not fully suitable in the modern North American society.Thus, given that the author implies a positivist approach o the development of political values and proposes that they be formulated â€Å"from within†, Rawls should have also looked closely at specific cases and considered the workability of his perspective in real macrogroup situations.Reference listMini-Lecture. A Brief Introduction to Rawls’s Project, pp.1-10.

Can Data Reduce Health Inequalities Health And Social Care Essay

â€Å" Health Inequalities † is a burgeoning field of research that has given rise to many inquiries and arguments about definitions of constructs, analytical schemes, reading of findings, and explanatory theoretical accounts. [ 1 ] The World Health Organization defines Health inequalities as ‘the differences in wellness position or in the distribution of wellness determiners between different population groups ‘ . These determiners harmonizing to W.H.O are â€Å" the conditions in which people are born, turn, populate, work and age, including the wellness system † .What is Data?Harmonizing to Webster ‘s lexicon â€Å" Data is factual information ( as measurings or statistics ) used as a footing for concluding, treatment, or computation. † Data is chiefly of two types i.e. Qualitative and Quantitative. Qualitative information is the type of informations that is non given numerically. Hence it ‘s based on people ‘s sentiment and picks. Quantitative informations on the other manus is purely based on numerical values and is subdivided into Discrete ( specific numerical values ) and a Continuous ( any numerical value ) information.Data & A ; Health Inequalities:The usage of informations records for wellness of population is nil new ; the earliest survey of a entire population was done by Halley, who, by utilizing informations for the metropolis of Breslau, Germany, for 1687 to 1691, calculated the mean life anticipation at birth. [ 2 ] However it was Aaron Antonovsky, a medical sociologist, who foremost shed visible radiation on the inequality in mortality rates in 1967, which finally lead to the usage of informations to enter wellness inequalities Surveillance of inequalities now is done extensively to supervise alteration and to mensurate the indexs of wellness inequalities among the different strata of any part. With every passing twelvemonth the usage of informations to supervise and control wellness inequalities has become more and more of import. Harmonizing to the 2007 declaration of The Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network ( MEKN ) of the WHO committee on societal determiners of wellness, â€Å" Action on the societal determiners of wellness to better overall wellness results and cut down wellness unfairnesss will be much more effectual if basic informations systems are in topographic point, nationally and internationally, and there are mechanisms to guarantee that the informations can be understood and applied to develop more effectual intercessions. † [ 3 ] The point to foreground in this declaration is that informations should be understood right and applied affectively for it to do effectual intercessions. So the inquiry is does all this collected informations can be the premier ground for alteration and cut downing wellness inequalities? The simple reply would be that natural informations itself can non convey any alteration but the determinations that are taken after treating that informations are the chief agents of alteration.Management of Datas:Datas in itself is merely a aggregation of natural Numberss or characters. The information collected has to be converted into feasible information in order for it to be utile. Here the inquiry arises what the difference is between informations and information? Beynon-Davies used the construct of a mark to separate between informations and information. Datas are symbols while information occurs when symbols are used to mention to something. [ 4 ] It is people and computing machines who coll ect informations and enforce forms on it. These forms are seen as information which can used to heighten cognition. [ 5 ] Thus cognition is the aggregation of information that is stored or memorized with the purpose of doing it utile. For any cognition to go utile it must be analyzed and interpreted. The procedure of understanding the cognition that we have and utilizing it to synthesise new cognition is called ‘understanding ‘ . The apprehension is converted into wisdom when we exercise our innate human nature of morality and moralss. Therefore with the aid of apprehension and the ability to judge right from incorrect the information is eventually converted into wisdom. This transition of natural informations into wisdom is called the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom hierarchy. ( Fig 1 Appendix ) Another method by which information is managed is the simple informations surveillance rhythm ( Fig 2 Appendix ) . In this rhythm the collected information is analyzed and synthesized and is so organized and stored into a information base. This database so aids policy shapers to move as they deem appropriate. By the survey of informations direction it shows that the determination made at the terminal of the procedure is what determines how efficaciously information has been used and whether information has been successful in conveying about a alteration. This determination doing procedure can be influenced by ambiguity, prejudice, desire for short-cuts, resources available and shortage of attending. Any break during the informations processing rhythm can besides hold negative effects on the determination devising. Data itself has many restrictions. It depends upon truth ; if informations is non accurate it can damage a undertaking alternatively of helping it. Data should besides be complete in all respects i.e. it should supply all expected properties. The consistence of information is besides compulsory i.e. informations should be in sync across the endeavor ; sometimes informations is complete but is inaccurate and inconsistent. Data should besides be auditable i.e. it can be traced back to its beginning and can be verified for genuineness. Last, the most of import facet of informations quality is it timeliness. Datas should be fresh and up to day of the month so the steps and actions taken in response to the informations are appropriate.Examples of Data Surveillance in Curbing Health Inequalities:If we take the illustration of a developing 3rd universe state like Pakistan, so it seems as if informations can non assist cut down or alter anything. Here the inquiry arises that why should we ev en take the illustration of a underdeveloped state that is bound to neglect in controling inequalities? The ground for this is that Pakistan, even though being a hapless state, gets ample financess for its health care undertakings by donor administrations and other rich states. The international administrations such as WHO closely monitor the statistics of alteration in the wellness of the population of the state. So, with voluminous financess and aid from international administrations the consequence should demo an betterment in the wellness of the population, nevertheless in Pakistan ‘s instance where limited success has been achieved there has besides been failure, which proves that the regular surveillance statistics of WHO are non plenty for accomplishing success. This failure of surveillance can non be blamed wholly upon the gathered statistics but there is a complex process associated with it that plays an of import function in assisting the information be effectual.The Polio Eradication Campaign:In Pakistan the biggest illustration of the success of informations and so its subsequent failure is the national infantile paralysis obliteration thrust. Launched in 1994, 15 old ages after the planetary thrust against infantile paralysis, the infantile paralysis run started with an purpose to to the full eliminate the disease by the new century. Even after the century arrived and a decennary rolled by, Pakistan has been unable to carry through its promise of full obliteration of the disease by 2010. The run suffered from the legion alterations in authorities over clip. When it was launched, the run was fueled by a media blitz of consciousness plans and ads on Television and in newspapers. This caused the hapless, uneducated multitudes to get down accepting and swearing the authorities to let them to immunize their kids. The figure of confirmed instances of infantile paralysis based on acute flaccid palsy surveillance informations from across the state d eclined from 1155 instances in 1997 to 28 in 2005 [ 6 ] – the lowest of all time recorded in one twelvemonth ( Fig 3, Appendix ) . A really sensitive nationwide describing system was built up to guarantee the sensing of all staying infantile paralysis instances. The system captures all kids aged less than 15 old ages with acute oncoming flaccid palsy, and includes subsequent research lab testing of stool specimens. [ 6 ] The success was short lived as from 2007 the figure of instances came to a standstill, but there was an addition in figure of reported instances from little territories and states where entire unsusceptibility was achieved ( Fig 4, Appendix ) . In Punjab e.g. there were no reported instances in 2007 ; nevertheless in 2008 more than 8 instances were reported. The biggest reverse to the run is due to the on-going war on panic in Pakistan. In 2008, 2009 and every bit recent as February 2010 the instances reported were all from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATA ) where the people are highly hapless and uneducated and the next state of N.W.F.P. Two new instances were reported in the past hebdomad both from North West Frontier Province ( NWFP ) , conveying the entire figure of instances for 2010 to ten [ 7 ] . The most recent instance had onset of palsy on 27 February and that excessively was reported in the N.W.F.P. The radical elements in these countries have started a smear run against the infantile paralysis thrust and have warned the people to maneuver clear from immunizing their kids. This includes snatch of the infantile paralysis run workers and warnings of dire effects to the people of the part. [ 8 ] The recent engagement of the National Database and Registration Authority ( NADRA ) in Pakistan to immunize kids against infantile paralysis has met with great success. The NADRA new waves were successful in publishing ID cards to far flung countries and as a consequence of the success the authorities entrusted them with the responsibly of providing vaccinums to remote countries. Equally many as 20,000 kids were vaccinated as a consequence but the NADRA squad was still unsuccessful in embarking to the N.W.F.P and FATA parts. The migration of Afghan nomads into the countries of FATA & A ; N.W.F.P is another ground for failure. Poor sanitation and dirty H2O supply in the rural parts of the state can besides be the ground for the failure, as this causes diarrhea which in bend reduces the soaking up of the vaccinum in kids. [ 9 ] On top of these hurdlings the run is besides marred by corruptness including larceny of financess and vaccinums. [ 10 ]The National AIDS Plan:The national AIDS plan in Pakistan is one illustration of truth of informations and how any alteration can be hindered if the information is falsified. Pakistan ‘s Federal Ministry of Health established National AIDS Control Programme ( NACP ) in 1986-87. The state has received over 2.9 billion rupees as support. In its early phases, the programme focused on laboratory diagnosing of suspected HIV instances, but increasingly it began to switch its focal point towards HIV bar and control intercessions. The development of National Strategic Framework-one in 2001 provided strategic vision to the national response and authorities of Pakistan with support from World Bank launched an enhanced response in the signifier of Enhanced HIV and AIDS Control Programme. [ 11 ] HIV was foremost reported in Pakistan in 1987 with the aid contaminated blood transfusions. [ 12 ] The chief bearers of the virus were non resident workers chiefly working in the gulf part who were deported back to Pakistan in the wake of their diagnosing. [ 13 ] The full fledged outbreak nevertheless occurred in 2004 among the injection drug users ( IDUs ) in distant desert town of Larkana. Between 2003 and 2004 the rate of HIV in IDUs jumped from 0.4 % to an dismaying 7.6 % . Epidemiologic surveies have shown that out of the 100, 00 IDUs life on the streets, about 21 % are infected with HIV virus. [ 11 ] These IDUs do non indulge in the drugs merely for the bang but alternatively comprise of the highly hapless and flush subdivision of the society who are idle and as a consequence become drug users to get away from their problems. Lahore is the 2nd most thickly settled metropolis in Pakistan with over 3000 IDUs of which 4 % have HIV infection. Faisalabad is the 3rd most thickly settled metropolis with over 8000 IDUs of which 13 % have HIV. The most alarming fact is that surveies have found that about 50 % these IDUs are sexually active with their married womans. To do affairs even worse bulk of the married womans of IDUs work as cocottes. [ 14 ] Another demographic involved with the spread of HIV are the female and male sex workers. There are good known whorehouses in the metropolitan metropoliss of the state with up to 100, 000 female sex workers ( FSW ) in Karachi and 75, 000 in Lahore. The authorities organic structures estimate that HIV prevalence among FSW is 0.02 % [ 11 ] which is disputed by independent organic structures who say that it is about 15 % . Research has shown that these FSW have no information about rubbers or other bar methods. Less than half the FSWs in Lahore and about a one-fourth in Karachi had used rubber with their last regular client. In Karachi, one in five sex workers can non acknowledge a rubber, and three-fourthss do non cognize that condoms prevent HIV ( in fact, one tierce have ne'er heard of AIDS. ( UNIADS Update 2005 ) The other demographics for the disease include closeted homosexual work forces and Transvestites moonlighting as sex workers which are estimated to be approximately 30 % of the manner of transmittal. Breast eating female parents are another demographic that constitutes about 3 % of the manner of transmittal of the virus. The fist instance of transportation of HIV via chest eating was reported in 1994 in Rawalpindi. Irrespective of all this data the most lurid fact is the disproof and use of the informations by the National AIDS control plan who have estimated that there are about 3,000 instances of HIV in Pakistan since 1986. If we compare these estimations to the astonishing 70-80, 000 instances reported by the UNAIDS, we clearly see that the authorities enterprises are a frontage. This estimation is flooring plenty to ensue in immediate action by the authorities but that is non the instance. In world the authorities is to the lowest degree interested in turn toing the issue of AIDS as a world in Pakistan. This may be due to the fact that the state is a conservative Muslim state and even now issues like HIV & A ; AIDS are considered as tabu. In the uneducated and hapless rural sector the disease is still considered as a stigma even though there insecure and closeted sex pattern in these countries. The political determination devising in this issue seems to be influenced by the delicateness of the issue. The policy shapers are besides bound by the civilization of the state and they can non openly publicize safe sex patterns as this may be unacceptable to the people and the policy shapers do non desire to be seen as excessively broad by the conservative vote population. In the visible radiation of all this the World Bank in December of 2009 refused to further fund the AIDS plan in the state.Decision:The above illustrations show that informations itself can merely make so much. Astonishing and amazing figures may drive person to believe about the job and take some sort of action but the magnitude of that action is dependent upon the apprehension, reading and finally determination of that individual. In the instance of the infantile paralysis consciousness run the above illustration shows that informations can be used to an advantage in doing public change their beliefs and accepting alteration. But on the other manus informations can be useless, even if it is difficult striking, if no action is taken upon it i.e. in the instance of the AIDS run. If the Pakistani authorities wants it can alter the attitude of people towards safe sex pattern via an consciousness run but they choose to stay deaf-and-dumb person on the issue. Policy shapers can utilize i nformations to their advantage by utilizing the figures and acquiring the populace to believe about the job. Similarly the populace can utilize informations to demand a alteration from the authorities. Not merely determination devising but other societal factors besides stand in the manner of a complete or any success. Purportedly, If the illustration of a 3rd universe state is deemed unequal by person so we can ever take the illustration of Britain where there are beforehand methods of informations surveillance and a immense sum of research and money is being used to control wellness inequalities but a recent authorities study showed that the rates of indexs like life anticipation for adult females and infant mortality are still unchanged. This has prompted the wellness minster Dawn Primarolo to eventually acknowledge, in stead with our statement, that â€Å" wellness inequalities are hard to alter † .Appendix:Fig 1: DIKW HierarchyFig 2: Surveillance CycleFig 3: Graph 1 ( di minution of infantile paralysis over the old ages )Fig 4: Graph 2 ( diminution and revival of infantile paralysis in little territories of Pakistan )

Kodak and Fujifilm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Kodak and Fujifilm - Essay Example Although Fujifilm has in the past two decades become one of the leading names in the industry, Kodak possessed a long standing history of more than 130 years. In 1988, Kodak camera was launched in the market of the United States (US). Contextually, it came to prominence as a distinct organization with its slogan of â€Å"You Press the Button, We do the rest† which influenced the people to buy its offerings (Kodak, n.d.). George Eastman was the founding figure of the Eastman Kodak Company whose main aim was to make the facet of photography more useful, simpler along with pleasurable. The core principles that were followed by Eastman from the inception of Kodak entail a clear focus upon the needs of the consumers, global distribution, widespread advertising and mass production or manufacturing at relatively reduced cost (Kodak, n.d.). Conversely, Fujifilm is essentially a Japan based company which too is one of the giant companies in its segment. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd started its operations in Japan in the year of 1934. As a key turning point in the success of Fujifilm, it established its United States based manufacturing unit in 1988 which facilitated the company to challenge the dominance of market leader Kodak. In the last decade the company has made a number of acquisitions and has established its subsidiaries in emerging economies such as India, Indonesia and Colombia among others. A few of the areas of innovations where Fujifilm’s interests lie include graphics cards, optical devices, high tech gadgets and a wide range of cameras. Kodak’s core business lies on manufacturing cameras, photographic films, slide projector, scanner and printer. It also engaged itself in performing video analysis and motion processing, mobile communication and audio signal processing. Whereas, Fujifilm deals in offerings digital cameras,3D image products, films, binoculars, medical systems, graphic systems, photofinishing products, motion picture products, optical devices, recording media, industrial products, image management and semiconductor materials among others. Thus, it is apparently visible that the business of Fujifilm is quite diverse. In this regard, it is observed that despite being a giant in the technological field, Kodak faced bankruptcy situation in the year of 2012 due certain drawbacks in its approach such as a lack of focus on innovation. Fujifilm, on the other hand, has been maintaining its market share and profitability quite successfully (Fujifilm Corporation, n.d.). Comparison Between Management That Each Company Pursued In Order To Embrace Innovation In order to make the comparison between these two ‘technology based’ corporations regarding their management approach to sustain innovation, it is imperative to learn about how much the companies provided importance to innovation and technological feature development. The management of Fujifilm always plans to upgrade its innovation process through ex cellent research and development (R&D) process. The management of every company invests a good percentage of capital on its R&D to compete with its competitors. Fujifilm has followed the similar path. It has build ‘Fujifilm Advanced Research Laboratories’ to continue its innovation process in the year of 2006. It has facilitated to create milestone offerings in bio chemistry, pharmaceuticals and printing technologies segments. On

Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Research Methods - Essay Example And the trend has accelerated in the past year.† Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector Reynold Garza (2005) said that criminals continue to cross the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. Several sources indicated the need for greater border security through a wide range of technological, legislative, and military interventions (Antal, 2010; Meyers, 2003), as well as global agreements (Taylor, 2005). Aside from the need of securing the borders, there are also calls for the consideration of ethical and human rights dimensions of border security (Arreolo, 2010). The U.S. government is called by the international community to consider the rights of poor workers and people searching for an asylum to migrate to the U.S. In addition, some sources argued for the weight of understanding cultural geography, when finding and evaluating solutions to border issues (Arreolo, 2010; Hemphill, 2009). This essay discusses the issue and arguments surroun ding border security. Furthermore, it explores the two most common research designs in criminal justices studies, which are considered in conducting the research for this issue. Finally, it explains the chosen research design and its possible problems and ethical solutions. Statement of the Issue The main issue is that border security measures that are currently employed by the U.S. government are insufficient in responding to the complex issues of legal and illegal migration. The U.S. already employs a wide range of technological, legislative, and military interventions (Antal, 2010; Meyers, 2003), as well as bilateral agreements (Taylor, 2005), but border security issues continue to persist (Antal, 2010; Barlett et al., 2004; Meyers, 2003; Wein, Liu, & Motskin, 2009, p.699). Discussion of the Issue It is important to understand how different parties perceive border security’s issues and the solutions to them. In general, two of the opposing arguments revolve around what the real problem is and how it should be properly resolved. On the one hand, some parties support greater military and physical/technological interventions to secure the borders. On the other hand, others argue that these interventions are not enough, because they do not reflect a deeper understanding of its causes and so they do not respond to the underlying issues of border migration. Supporters of enhanced military and physical/technological interventions argued that the real problem with border security is that it lacks visible and immediate impediments to illegal immigrants (Antal, 2010; Marek, 2007). Antal (2010) described physical barriers to immigrants to deter them from illegal immigration or to catch them, if ever they do successfully go through existing barriers. Marek (2007) reminded people of the criminal elements in Mexico, who can easily spillover to America’s border states and imperil the safety and security of the people in these states. These arguments undersco re that when there are more physical barriers established at the borders, illegal immigrants and people who help them will be less motivated to unlawfully enter the U.S. This thinking is similar to the situational ways of solving crimes, by putting up barriers that will increase the difficulty of conducting the crimes and also boost the chances of being caught. In addition, supporters of these means of border security asserted

EU law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

EU law - Assignment Example The researcher states that in European Union, the most important legislative instruments are regulations and directives. A regulation is a general rule that is obligating upon member nations in whole and is directly applicable to all member states. Obligating in whole connotes that the member states has no preference as to method and form. On the other hand, directives are general rule, but they are binding as to their result. For each member state, it is expected, a directive is obligating as to the outcome to be accomplished. As to the choice to method and form, the institutions of the member states can exercise their power. There is less clarity about their direct impact due to the wider policy freedom given to member states in transposing EU directives. Nonetheless, one should not underrate the impact of directives, and the national rules shall have to be construed in such a style that is most in harmony with the directive under reference. Because of its own breakdown to carry ou t the commitments which the directive requires, a Member Nation which has not espoused the enacting initiatives as demanded by the directive within the stipulated time may not bank upon it as against such persons. At the request of an individual who has adhered with the stipulations of a directive, may request a municipal court not to direct to implement a municipal rule which is contrary to the directive not implemented into the domestic official system of a contravening Member Nation. Further, it must sustain that demand if the commitment in issue is sufficiently precise and unconditional.2. S2 European Communities Act 1972 stipulates that â€Å"all such privileges, authorities, responsibilities, commitments and limitations ... arising by or created under the Treaties ... as in agreement with the Treaties are devoid of further ratification to be accorded official impact or employed in the UK, shall be ... imposed so ... â€Å" Further, any designated Minister, Her Majesty may by Order in Council, and or department may by rules, make provision ... for the purpose of implementing any Community commitment of the United Kingdom. Directives fall under secondary legislation of the source of EU law. A directive is a most significant legislative mechanism together with the EU regulation. Its main aim is to bring together the dual aims of both ensuring the needed consistency of Union law and honouring the diversity of national structures and customs. It is to be remembered that directive chiefly aims for the harmonization and not for the unification of the law. The rationale is to get rid of conflicts and contradictions between national regulations and laws or progressively to weep out contradictions, so that, a uniform stipulation exists in all the member nations. It is to be noted that a directive is obligatory on all the member nations as to the goal to be accomplished, but it assigns it to the national officials to fix it on how the consented community goal is to be implemented into their domestic legal structures. Especially, the member nations can take into the picture of unique domestic scenarios when implementing the community rules. What is important that an EU directive does not surpass the laws of member nations but puts a commitment on the member nations to fine -tune their national law in harmony with Community regulations? Hence, there will be two –phases of law- making practice prevail in EU3. Source - eur-lex.europa.eu †º EUR-Lex Home †º Help In UK, the â€Å"General Product Safety Regulations 2005 â€Å"is in force and these regulations are enacted in conformity with the â€Å"section 2(2) of the European Communities Act and transpose the Directive 2001/95/EC on general Product Safety† into UK law. The main aim of the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) is to make sure that all goods aimed for or probable to be used by UK residents under realistically and normal predictable stipulations are safe. In case of mobile phones, the GPS Regulations will extend to those-aspects of safety in UK. The GPSD is applicable to

Filmmaking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 1

Filmmaking - Essay Example I got to learn that the reflected-light meter does not always measure the light accurately because of the difference in reflectance and the result we thus get is underexposed. I learned that when I attempt to take a photo of a sunset, its brightness causes the reading of the light meter to become incorrect. This leads to the generation of an underexposed photo. In the still exercise, I realized that the camera’s aperture can be set as per the individual’s will. The setting of the aperture can be played with to generate stylish and artistic images. In the exercise, I found that one thing that is incredibly important for a director is the camera’s lenses. I was also taught the function of camera lenses. Learning the functionality of lenses was very interesting. One whole lecture was based on the filming exercise. During this exercise, I used a 50mm lens to get a medium close up, but the diameter of the lens decreased the depth of field and made the character isolat ed. Then I used a 12mm lens and took the camera closer to the character. This increased the depth of field and altered the composition of the shot altogether. As a result of this exercise, I learned that different lenses can be used to produce different images, and can totally change the significance of the background in a picture. Lenses are thus of prime cinematographic value. Lenses play a big role in making the photography adorable and the director can use them according to his/her style. Although I have learned quite a lot from the exercise, yet I have not sufficiently practiced what I have learned. Before directing the movie in the first term, I had a clear idea of what lenses to use when and I had also written some notes regarding use of lenses for different kinds of shots.  

Healthcare Websites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Healthcare Websites - Essay Example The Overall Ratings are again sub-categorized in to four. In the Health Inspections, Tacoma Lutheran Home has 5 out 5 in the quality rating system compare to Center’s 2 out of 5 stars. The statistics which may contribute for this rating is also given where Park Rose Care Center has 14 and Tacoma Lutheran Home has 1 as the total number of health deficiencies. Under Nursing home staff ratings Park Rose Care Center (PRCC) is rated with 2 out of 5 stars where Tacoma Lutheran Home (TLH) has 4 out of 5. In comparison TLH has 153 residents to PRCC’s 90 where Total Number of Licensed Nurse Staff Hours per Resident per Day values is high in TLH than in PRCC. Under Quality Measures both Nursing Homes have 3 stars out of 5. This comparison is based on the Long-Stay residents and Short-stay resident statistics. It very interesting to see the graphical comparison is also provided together with numerical percentages. In the graphical presentation the two nursing homes are also compar ed with the average of all Nursing Homes in United States in relevance to each factor. In the context of Fire Safety Inspections PRCC has 12 Fire Safety Deficiencies against TLH’s 7. Finally Nursing Home Characteristics are compared regarding the Program Participation, Number of Certified Beds, and Type of Ownership etc. It should be also mentioned the summarized table is also linked with corresponding detailed description of sub-categorize used for the comparison.

INDIA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

INDIA - Essay Example Despite their superiority in the war field, other natural factors prevented them from capturing vast areas (Kulke & Rothemund, 34). The Vedic who lived along rivers settled and started doing cultivation. This led to a more settled life. The Vedic gave rise to the Indian culture. As people settled, different classes of people emerged. This was the start of the current caste system in India. The earlier Vedic were classified into Vish(ordinary people), Kshatriya(Warriors) and Rajan (chieftains). The chieftains were selected from the warriors (Kulke & Rothemund, 34). The late Vedic established kingdoms that were headed by a king. The Vedic introduced Buddhism and the Indians philosophy. The introduction of kingdoms led to the building of dynasties. The Vedic moved east and occupied Gangetic plains. This led to the development of Gangetic culture. Mahajanapada rose from the small kingdoms. The Majanapadas gave rise to states after asserting powers on others. Koshalla and Magadha are the few examples of states that were formed during that time. These states continued to expand in Northern India to form bigger Dynasties. Bimbisara of Magadha started the annexation of other states. The Nanda’s dynasty was the first to be formed which gave rise to the Mauryas headed by Chandragupta Maurya. The Gupta dynasty is referred as the golden age of India. It was one of the most successful dynasties. The Mughal Empire was set up by Muslim rulers who unified India. Baber helped the Muslims in capturing most parts of India. Some of the weapons used were brought from the west and helped in defeating its enemies (Kulke & Rothemund, 184). Delhi became the centre of the mogul empire. Akbar, who was uneducated but with a lot of wisdom, became one of the greatest leaders of Mogul empire. He conquered Gujarat and Bengal to grow the size of the Mogul empire. Southern India was fertile and different groups fought to control it. Southern India was close to the

Strategic Management of Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Management of Human Resources - Essay Example Therefore, the VEG should embrace strategic plans in ensuring active sharing of knowledge with and impacting skills of their members, in addition to aligning all members with a single objective in enhancing understanding and learning towards meeting its overall objectives. One of the most critical aspects that the VEG suffers from is lack of clear leadership that could set a clear strategy and objectives for the group. As observed, VEG has no business strategy that ties all the volunteers and the community together, and lacks a focus with which such strategy has to be aligned. This might suggest that every member contributes out of his/her own will with no clear strategy in making the contributions. Karamai, Jones and Kakabadse (2008) observed that development and implementation of well created business strategies led to improved effectiveness in firms and the industry as a whole. This could imply that organisations that design their strategic plans and operations towards a streamlined course of action achieve greater effectiveness in their operations. Therefore, as the HRM theory postulates, VEG has to ensure competent staff and a strategic human resource management body, which, alongside a strong strategic business planning, would guide the VEG towa rds achieving competitiveness and the set objectives (Fox, 2013). The HRM theory implies that human resource management has to design strong strategic plans that guide members in a common path towards attaining the specified goals. In this case, while corporate governance by itself may not guarantee a competitive advantage, failure to exercise the right governance may lead to failure of allocating the resources concerned in the right way (Barney, Wright & Ketchen, 2001). To ensure value to volunteers and encourage contributions, Aiekn et al. (2011) noted that the Localism Bill of 2007 entrusted communal based entities with more power to buy, develop and control assets. This could

Innovation and Design Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Innovation and Design Management - Case Study Example Required Capabilities for International Launch Developing a decentralized model for costing similar to a "in-country" model. Access multiple markets by developing a strong public relations and customer connect campaigns through effective training and promotional strategy. Comply with requirements pertaining to sales, quality assurance and marketing in an international scenario to attract larger customer base. Proactive plan for conducting press tours in multiple languages, seminars on the specific product features of Lazy-Dizzy tooth brush by effective product presentations and training sessions Conduct continuous tests to ensure the quality of the product and establish distribution channels for easy availability of the product. Key Resources Content developers for promotional campaign in international languages. Distributors and franchisees for effective sales Product experts for effective manufacturing of the Lazy-dizzy tooth brush. Recruitment professionals and advertisers for staffing and marketing. Competent Sales force and business development professionals Effective Communication experts using latest technologies Voice of the customer as feedback Key obstacles Competition Due to the changing customer preferences on tooth brush design, the competitor toothbrush companies are especially eager to put promising innovative designs onto store shelves as quickly as possible. Competitors offer tooth brush at minimum price to attract customer base with a less profit margin. International Product Launch The major challenge in an international product launch is to ensure that the performance of current product is rated as an accurate product. Another challenge is to provide... It is observed that there has been a drastic increase in the usage of power operated toothbrushes as the customers prefer to swift from traditional tooth brush which is operated manually. This justifies that there is scope of attractive and developing market for the innovative design of Lazy -Dizzy tooth brush. Lazy-Dizzy toothbrush designs allows for an option that sets the power of the brushing action of the brush to either a "high" or "low" level. In most cases the effectiveness of the brush will be greatest when it is set to its higher setting.

Procurement in Construction Essay Example for Free

Procurement in Construction Essay A basic definition for the procurement is â€Å"the way the building is realised† and â€Å"involves assembling and organising the skills and services of a team of construction professionals†. (the Construction Round Table, 1995). More precisely, the construction industry describes procurement as â€Å"a system that establishes the roles and relationships which make up a project organisation†; hence the overall organisation and communication structure for the management, administration and control of a project is established by the procurement system. (D.C.H Coles, 2010) * Procurement Systems essentiality: Choosing the most suitable procurement method for the specified construction project is a long term hard decision; it is a crucial task â€Å"it is one of the most crucial decisions on any building project† (Gillespie, 1994). Choosing the appropriate procurement system is the determinate for a successful project (Building Procurement, 2006) this statement is supported by the investigation done on 25 National Audit Office (NAO) reports, were it was concluded that choosing the wrong procurement method is a major risk source (covering 29% of the risk source percentage) for public sector project failure. Furthermore, an American study concluded the total project cost can decrease about 5% by choosing the correct procurement methodology. â€Å"Failure to choose the appropriate procurement approach is recognised as the primary one source for project failure (Building Procurement, 2006) * Role of the Project Manager â€Å"The presence within the client company of a Senior Executive willing and able to act as a single point of contact throughout the building process, gives the client a distinct advantage† (Construction Round Table, 1995) Within the last fifteen years, the role of the Project Manager has developed in the construction industry, what is mentioned above proves that having someone to manage and supervise the project is the key for a successful project. The client can appoint a project manager from his company â€Å"in-house† or an external consultant appointment. Overview for the Project Manager’s duties: A project manager can be appointed by the client (especially if it was an inexperienced client in the construction industry where the majority of clients in the UK fall into this category), in order to help him build up his business needs case for the project development, find alternatives and options that are more suitable in order to achieve his business needs, work out the investment appraisals and risk assessments, choose the most suitable procurement method for the project, select the project team, establish and supervise the performance. An important task the project manager must perform before adopting the procurement method is to approach the client, and understand specifically what does he requires and what the outcomes from the new construction building are, more specifically the objectives and the products of the building. After performing this action the project manager will look at all the alternatives if there are any. Comparing the past with nowadays, when the architect and the engineer had the major role in the project during the past, if the client requests a new building to be constructed they will support his case while the project manager will look at all the alternatives that might be better for the client and his business, the alternatives might include: * Building an extension to the client’s existing building or carrying out alterations and refurbishments to it. * Moving the building to a position that might be more suitable to the business of the company. After understanding the needs of the client and finding all the alternatives, it is the project manager’s task then to choose the most appropriate procurement method for the project. As mentioned earlier, choosing the most suitable procurement method for the project is one of the most crucial decisions on any building proje ct. The Construction Round Table (1995) covers a list of priorities that the project manager must take into account referring to the client’s objectives in order to choose the most appropriate procurement system, these include: * Timing For most of the clients, timing is a crucial factor that must be taken into major consideration, especially for clients with a required known completion date. For example, supermarkets such as Tesco, the cost might not be their major concern but time is since the earlier they open the supermarket the earlier they can make profit. Timing might not be an important issue for Public Schools since there will be a predicted birth rate. * Price certainty The price of the project generally includes the total constructional cost (design fees, construction contracts, financing costs and client management costs); it may also include the land costs, sales costs and the associated agency costs together with developer’s margin. Nowadays, with the global credit crunch existing, most of the clients and companies are critically focusing on cost, they simply cannot go over budget, and hence cost plays a major role when deciding the procurement method. * Quality/Performance level Quality must be appropriate to what the client request; it is a variable issue, for example the quality for constructing a five stars hotel in central London is different than the quality from building a seven stars hotel in Dubai, most importantly the quality of the design and materials should be appropriate to the standard and functional use of the building. For shops such as Next or Marks and Spenser, the layouts change every now and then, hence the project manager must make ensure that the layout won’t be designed for more than a considerable period since it will be a waste of money. A basic definition for performance is how the building is going to be used (how the goods flow). * Complexity Within the early life of the project, it should be clear whether the project is a complex one or not. Complexity won’t affect simple projects whereas if the project is technically complex (advanced design and high serviced construction requirement), then this will affect the project could be procured in another way. An example for complexity is the British Library; the temperature for every floor was required not to be more than a half degree different. * Competition Suitable competition methods must be includes in the chosen procurement method for Public projects (publicly funded 50% or more) in order to satisfy the EU Procurement Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC and the U.K.s Public Contract Regulation 2006. * Controllable variation This mean making decisions as late as possible in the construction process. Some projects won’t have sufficient detail to enable the contractor to prepare a tender, such as high complex projects, hence a procurement method that allows change in a controlled manner must be chosen. An example on controllable variation is Heathrow Terminal five, the client did not make decisions about a number of issues within the terminal design, such as baggage claims, check in online system. Hence what is ideal for the project manager is to have a procurement system (one or more) that can make decisions as late as possible. * The division of the management responsibilities An important procurement assessment criterion involves the clients choice whether he wants to manage separate consultants and contractors or to manage one company (single point responsibility). Furthermore, the project manager must make sure about the client’s objectives for the fact whether he wants to be in charge or not and if so how much does he want to be included. A good idea for the project is to produce a project management handbook for all the parties involved in the project. For the contracts case, recently the ICE7 contract has been withdrawn from the construction industry and so the projects now have to follow the NEC3 contract. * The extent of the professional responsibility/accountability required For the case of accountability, copies of all the variation, money and extension of time must be provided in order to be accounted, this is very important for local authorities and government departments. * Risk avoidance Assigning and managing the risk has an important effect of the procurement assessment criteria. With the aid of a risk register, the project risks can be carried out in three stages: * Name the risks linked with the client’s objectives and priorities. * Sort out the number of times the risks might occur and their impact on the project. * Choose the best party involved to sort out the risk. The client has a major role in this issue, more specifically if the client does not wish to deal with any of the risks that might occur, then the project manager might choose the Design and Build method since it is the ideal procurement method, since the contractor will carry most of risks existing, but the cost of his tenders will increase since he is carrying most of the risks. If the client does not wish to pay more for the contractors tender for carrying out the risks on site and does not mind carrying most of the risks, then the project manager would go for the Management procurement method which might be the ideal solution for the issue. The next step for the project manager is to relate the client’s objectives and priorities with the primary issues by using Diagram1 (shown on page6), this way the choices of the procurement methods suitable for the project will be narrowed down. Diagram 1 shows the relationship between the client’s objectives and the priorities and the various procurement methods. (Source: Construction Round Table, 1995) The project manager can review the reports of similar successful projects from organisations such as Constructing Excellences in order to guide him for the present project. Generally, the focus of the clients is upon time, cost and quality. Most of the clients request their buildings to be constructed in high quality level, in a small period of time and in a low price. This is very unlikely to happen (does not exist) and if the client did not have a priority of criteria even with the aid of the project manager, disappointment and project failure will exist (Building Procurement, 2006). The project manager must understand exactly the client’s objectives and his criteria, in order to relate it to the ideal procurement method. All of the procurement methods provide satisfactory levels of performance in time, cost and quality but each method have different levels of risks and control on the client (as previously mentioned). Diagram 2 below, shows the three common favourable priorities for the clients and which procurement method is best to follow.

Report on Organizational Structure and finance of British Airways

Report on Organizational Structure and finance of British Airways This report aims to give an analysis of the organisation of the British Airways Airline. It will discuss the organisational structure of British Airways and its sources of finance; that is where it gets its money from, how it is used and whether a profit or a loss is being made. The market the organisation operates in and its management type will also be discussed. The quality of the good or service provided will also be highlighted and an analysis of the supply chain that is showing the forms of distribution will be given. In conclusion, the report will summarise the information on the organisation and a view of its trading in the last five years followed by recommendations on how I feel the business may proceed in the current economic climate. The report was compiled by drawing literature from the British Airways website, lecture notes and relevant Business Organisation books. History: The British Airways, an organisation that operates in the Travel Market is the largest operating airline in the United Kingdom. It has its base at Heathrow Airport in London. Although the airline has been operational since 1919, developments over the years saw the merging of the British Airways Corp. (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 leading to the establishment of the current British Airways,(Corke, 1986). The organisation operates both domestic and international flights to about 600 destinations around the world. This is the reason why it is one of the worlds leading airlines. The British Airline is a Public Limited Company (PLC). It was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1987. Following its privatisation, the airline expanded its operations and managed to take over some competitors such as British Caledonian within the same year and Dan-Air in 1992. During the late 1990s, British Airlines established the One World alliance as it became more competitive to win more customers and had themselves high profit margins during the millennium labelling the airline a major full-service carrier, (Corke 1986). Organisational Structure: Mintzeberg et al, (1979) defines a business as an organisational entity that is legally set up to provide goods and services to customers in a country. He further states that an organisation consists of a large number of people bringing together ideas to achieve common goals using a variety of tactics to come up with short-term and long-term strategies for a businesss future success. Since British Airways is a public limited company (PLC), its type of business organisation is the private sector. Being a Public Limited Company, British Airways is owned by shareholders who buy shares from the stock exchange market and have separate legal identity from the business. If the business goes into debt each shareholder will only lose the amount of share capital they invested and not their personal possessions. Due to the airline being a private limited company, the government is not involved in its running. Its aims and objectives are to maximise profit in the long-term by focusing on improvi ng and maintaining outstanding customer service and becoming the worlds leading premium airline. An organisational structure is important because it determines how the organisation will be run in order to meet its aims and objectives, (Cunnee, 2008). He defines an organisational structure as the number of ways used in a business to set up division and specialization of labour focusing on maintaining co-ordination to achieve the same targets. British Airways has a flat structure meaning it has a small number of management levels but a wide span of control. The airline has adopted a divisional structure mainly because of the nature of its business which is customer focused. The advantages of this method are that it gives clear identification of job roles, less time consumed in decision making and easy supervision for managers between departments. This increases efficiency as different people are given the opportunities to effectively utilise their different skills, but it can also be in efficient because the managers have a large number of subordinates reporting to them therefore increasing their workload. On the other hand, employees may not feel secure about their jobs as they are being strictly watched over and may be de-motivated to work effectively. Another shortfall of this method is that each department may focus on its own objectives which may conflict with other departments, (Martin, 2010). Sources of Finance: British Airways is financed by issuing shares to the general public on the stock exchange market and from convertible bond issues. The bonds which have low interest rates could be used as a long-term fund which can be changed into share capital of the company during times of bankruptcy, (Rutterford, 2007). In 2009, the Market Watch reported that British Airways got a boost of  £600 million through the issuance of convertible bond and an agreement with its pension fund to release bank guarantees back to the airline. Of this amount  £300 million worth of convertible bonds due to mature in 2014 and will be convertible into 15% to 20% of its share capital. The other  £300 million which will only be accessible in the case of bankruptcy will allow British Airways access to bank funding of  £3330 million up June 2012, (Market Watch, 2009). Like most public companies, British Airways aims and objectives are to maximise profit. In 2008, British Airways made a profit of  £726m while its 2009 Income Statement shows a loss of  £358m. Part of the loss is due to the effects of the recession that affected a large number of United Kingdoms businesses and the whole world. Because of the recession, there was a high increase in fuel prices due to limited resources. This left British Airways with no choice but to buy the fuel regardless of the price as it is important for its business. Fewer consumers were able to afford travelling expenses due to high costs. The wage bill of the company also had a great impact during such hard times. The employees demanded high wages for them to be able to afford their own personal needs as well. The differences between the airlines management and the employees led to strikes that also contributed to the loss of profits by the company. The strikes led to a destruction of many consumers travel plans that has also led to bad public image causing a negative influence on the airlines market. The conflict of objectives between the airlines management and its employees still remains unresolved. In 2009, most of the expenditure expenses were made up of fuel and oil costs and employee costs of  £2969(m) and  £2139 (m) respectively. The loss made in 2009 was carried forward through to 2010 of which a loss of  £425(m) was made. Marketing Management Marketing is the identification and provision of customers needs at the same time ensuring that the organisation makes a profit. Marketing management is essential for a business such as British Airways as it allows for flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of the market. In this strategy, the organisation is always assessing the needs of its customers in order to design products of better value. There are many different strategies a business could adopt for better marketing management and this could be done through the marketing mix. Marketing mix is the identification of the 4/7Ps. In this report I am only going to talk about the four main Ps. The 4Ps are the product being made, the place it is going to be provided, promotional strategies put in place and the price to be paid by consumers, (Kotler et al, 2009). The nature of the business of British Airways is to provide flight services to consumers across various places around the world. The airlines product strategy includes f light services that are offered in various packages for example, the differentiation between the business, first and economic classes. This is done to satisfy each consumer as the airline has considered and provided for different classes of the economy. Promotion is the extra cost of a business to differentiate itself from competitors and try to win consumers attention by persuading them to choose them over their competitors. British Airways has branded itself as an airline that provides a luxury, safety, reliable and convenient service that transfers people to different destinations which is why one would want to go out and travel with them. Price is the value placed on the exchange of goods or services during the marketing process. Customers pay up money in return to satisfy their needs, (Smith, 2007). The price should be based on the quality of the product, taking into account customers expectations. However, charging a low price to a product worth more may not be beneficial to the company as that would lead to a loss in potential profit (Kotler et al 2009) while on the other hand; charging a high price for a product not worth it will cause a reduction in demand and bad public image. British Airways pricing policy entitles one to get what they paid for with the freedom of choice in the payment package for the type of flight service they would like. The airlines pricing strategy is based on three class seats provided by the airline. These are premium, medium-value and economy strategies. With the premium strategy, business and executive consumers are given a high quality service being charged a high price for it. British Airways competitors in this service are other giant airlines such as Virgin and American Airlines. The medium-value strategy consists of a standard charge with quality less than the premium strategy but more than of the economy strategy. The economy strategy provides just the basic services with extra benefits like entertainment and free food and drinks adding to the quality and advantage of British Airways brand image, (Kotler et al, 2007). However, the airline has revised its pricing policy to competitive based pricing meaning it charges fares at the same level as competitors or lower. The airline wants to compete with rival low-cost airlines on short-haul European flights. Free food will still be offered alth ough a fuel surcharge of  £8 per single journey ( £16 return) has to be paid by customers on top of their regular payments, (British Airways,). Another advantage of British Airways pricing strategy is that low-cost airline ticket prices a cheap when you book them well in advance but as it gets towards travelling dates they become very expensive, even much more expensive than British Airways. With British Airways the price will relatively still be the same until the week one travels. Quality Quality is a word which is defined differently by different people. From the different meanings, quality is the sum of all the features of a product or service that ensure that the customers needs are met appropriately. The products or services should be at least worth the price charged on them likewise, the quality of employees could be based on their performance with regards to the given tasks, (Mauch, 2010). British Airways adopted a high quality service approach although it eventually came to conflict with cost-cutting measurements that had to be put in place due to increased competition. The service provided by British Airways is flights from one destination to another and its brand core is Quality flights for all people meaning it tries to satisfy and accommodate all different kinds of consumers. As a consumer you get the feel of being a business man and executive traveller and the airline has the glamour any traveller would dream of. Being a fast mode of transport, less time i s consumed for people in a hurry, you are assured of being at your destination at the estimated time shown when purchasing you ticket. Most people who fly with British Airways are the business man as suggested by its brand, although all different cultures are welcome on board. Marketing wise, the airline offers luxury travel with safety and comfort whilst flying. Despite increased competition and cost-cutting, the airline still remains one of the best airlines because low-cost airlines such as Easy-Jet and Raynair do not offer extras or as much comfort and security like British Airways. This is for example, Low-cost airlines only provide cheaper fares but they do not offer luxury comfort like TV entertainment or free food and drinks on flights and business seats compared to British Airways. Supply Chain A supply chain consists of a link between different channels of distribution that is, from the raw materials to the final customer. Supply Chain Management includes five key areas that are transportation, suppliers, warehousing, meeting orders and retailers; (Chopra et al, 2010). British Airways operates in the final product that is providing the service to customers. This makes the supply chain shorter and more effective due to the provision of direct services and saves time on any occurring problems as they can be dealt with quickly. The airline operates from many different locations with its major base at Londons Heathrow Airport. The customers have the strength of buying that can be divided into two main parts that are price sensitivity and relative bargaining power. The price sensitive buyers will look at an alternative option and compare prices charged to similar products and choose the one which is more beneficial. Therefore holiday packages have been introduced to overcome bi g volume products and for the airline to gain control over its supply chain and strengthen its brand. British Airways tries to satisfy all its customers with various needs from the different classes it provides for. Value is added in its supply chain process by providing different lounges and on board food and wine menus for the first class seats. Also the regular customers of the business class seats get blue, silver or gold cards and executive lounge at all main airports. Overall, the airline provides a good service for all fliers that is giving them free food and drinks, different types of entertainment including two in flight magazines, movie collections, radio channels and TV programs, British Airways target market is both domestic and global. Although the airline welcomes customers from all walks of life, it has made a lot of effort in maintaining its business and first class sections where it maximises its profits and increases its competitiveness at the same time customers who use these two sections get real value for their money. Conclusion Due to increasing competition in the flying industry, consumers expect a reduction in the prices charged which would cause the companies to reduce the quality service provided. Although Easy-Jet and Raynair seem to have succeeded, they have had to compromise the quality of the service by making it basic with nothing much to offer apart from the reduced fare. Because of its outstanding service the British Airways has remained competitive in the current economic climate. In the three of the last five years that are 2006, 2007 and 2008 British Airways made profits of  £451(m),  £304(m) and  £726(m) respectively, however in the other two years, 2009 and 2010 it made losses of  £358(m) and  £425(m). This is mainly due to the effects of the recession that started towards the end of 2008. The airline has managed to survive the recession despite having made profit losses. I believe it has the potential to recover from its financial crisis and maintain its position as one of the leading airlines worldwide. The management and employee issues need to be addressed sooner than later in order to avoid strikes that will further increase the financial crisis of the company and also negatively affect its image in the market.

Nursing Reflection Essay Skills Assessment

Nursing Reflection Essay Skills Assessment According to the New Collins International Dictionary of the English language, a reflection is to reflect or to be in the state of reflection. (Collins Brash, 1983) In this essay, I aim to give a brief description of the skills assessment that I underwent, the thoughts and feelings it provoked, the evaluation and analysis of it ,conclusion and lastly my action plan. REFLECTION OF THE SKILLS ASSESSMENT 2.1 Description As part of the Fundamentals of Nursing (FON) skills assessment, I had to attend a test on week seven. Wound dressing and vital signs were the two subjects of this assessment. I had to draw lots to choose which room and subject I got and then proceed to sit outside the room to read the case scenario within the allocated five minutes. Once the case scenario of taking vital signs was clear to me, I was allowed to enter the evaluation room to perform the necessary procedure on the patient within twenty minutes. During the course of the procedure, all the vital signs such as pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure and temperature were recorded on a clinical chart. The entire procedure was then assessed and graded by an assessor, who was observing my nursing skills. 2.2 Thoughts and Feelings I felt really nervous and anxious before the skills assessment as I was seated outside the assessment room. When the time came for me to read and digest the background information, I felt overwhelmed as at that point in time, remembering the information on the sheet provided was just exhausting. As I was about to enter the room and the previous student came out crying, I felt even more nervous as that gave me an intuition that the assessment might be a challenging one . Despite that, I mustered all my confidence and proceeded with the nursing procedure when my turn came. I carried out the procedure in a calm and smooth manner. After my task was complete, I felt satisfied with my performance and happy with myself for having prepared well for the assessment before-hand as it turned out to be a good experience. 2.3 Evaluation On the whole, the skills assessment was a memorable experience for me as I felt that I had carried out the nursing procedure efficiently, keeping in mind all the protocols that had to be followed. Also, the six domains namely critical thinking, communication, technical skills, management of care, safe practice and professional and ethical practice were carried out to my ability in many instances. Then again, I could have done better in certain areas. For instance under the critical thinking component, I could have planned my working area carefully. Instead, I was immediately involved in attending to the patient and completing the procedure within the time limit which should not have been the case. As a result I had to move around quite a bit which could have been minimized with careful area planning. On the part of communication, I tried my level best to re-assure the patient and addressed his anxiety to a large extent. This skill I believe I portrayed well. In terms of technical skills, I was unsure about my readings for the systolic and diastolic blood pressures and I had to repeat the procedure twice in order to double check my first reading. Even then, I experienced some level of uncertainty with the readings. Thus, I have to improve my skills in this domain to become a better healthcare professional. To add on, I managed the patients care relatively well as I made it a point to ensure that he was feeling comfortable throughout the procedure. Keeping in mind the importance of understanding the emotions of the patient (Matsumoto Hwang, 2011), I took note of the changes in his facial expressions to make sure he was receiving good care and was not in any kind of stress. To ensure safe practice I had carried out good hand hygiene however ,I almost had forgotten to clean the ear plugs of the stethoscope, thereby downplaying on safe clinical practice on protecting myself. Furthermore, I had also plotted the readings on the wrong column which was an unacceptable mistake. Lastly, on the part of professionalism and ethical practice, I believe I had done a commendable job. I kept the patient informed on the risks he was taking by undergoing the cataract surgery. Also, I kept the staff nurse informed of his concerns and his rash that he had developed. Apart from these, all the procedures during the assessment were within the terms of ethical practice. 2.4 Analysis For in-depth examination, I have analyzed my skills in each of the above mentioned six domains. Critical thinking is defined as the disciplined, intellectual process of applying skillful reasoning as a guide to belief or action (Paul, 1990). In nursing, critical thinking for clinical decision-making is the potential to think in a organized and sensible manner with the readiness to question and think carefully about the reasoning process used to ensure safe nursing practice and good care. (Heaslip, 1993) In the nursing profession, it is important to plan carefully to save valuable time while attending to the patient. During my practical assessment, I could have placed the hand sanitizer on the same table as I had placed the other medical requisites on. This would have prevented me from constantly shifting to the table close by to perform my hand rubs, saving time. As mentioned by Mr. Tan during lab sessions, area planning is very important. Nurses also need to apply their intellectual skills for sound reasoning. (Heaslip, 1993) Having noticed rashes on one of the patients arm, I chose to take blood pressure from the arm with no rashes as placing the non-sterile cuff on the affected hand could have worsened the rash. As for communication skills, I believe I played a good role as a nurse by clearly explaining the risks involved in the cataract surgery to the patient. As pointed out by Crow et. al, it is paramount for a patient to be aware of his/her medical condition and develop a better understanding of the procedures involved. (Crow, et al., 1999) To add on, I informed him of his various readings to ensure his awareness of his medical status. In terms of technical skills, I could not distinctively identify the Korotkoff sounds hence had to repeat the blood pressure measurement. When I re-took the blood pressure however, I found it hard to release the pressure as I had turned the valve a little too much making it too tight to be released. It is mandatory for nurses to be fluent in the procedures. (Rennie, 2009) Hence, I should keep in mind not to turn the valve too much to allow easy release of the valve in future. During the procedure, I constantly made an effort to ensure that the patient was feeling comfortable by questioning him frequently instead of just carrying out the nursing procedure silently. Reference to Bensing, reveals that it is important for nurses to communicate at an emotional level so that the patient feels cared for and also helps disclose his concerns which he might otherwise not reveal. (Bensing, 1991). Also, I addressed the presence of the rash on his left arm and questioned him on how it originated instead of only taking note of his vital signs. These actions I hope would have sent across the message to the patient that I cared for him well. In terms of ensuring safe practice, I kept the staff nurse informed about the rash the patient had developed on his arm and what medication he had previously consumed which might have led to the allergy. However, I had not plotted the readings taken on the correct column onto the clinical chart. I was unaware of this mistake until I read the remarks on the assessment sheet. Therefore, I have to strictly avoid such a mistake in the future as it may lead to further misinterpretations. My professionalism and ethical practice was portrayed rather well as I maintained a steady and confident poise which I trust would have also allowed the patient to place his trust in me to carry out the nursing procedure safely and effectively. Butts has given a detailed description of the ethics that needs to be followed in the nursing profession (Butts). Not only that, I ensured that the patient was aware of the side effects and risks involved in the surgery so as to maintain ethical practice. 2.5 Conclusion All in all, this reflection has helped me better identify my mistakes in this skills assessment and how I can further improve myself in the near future. Not only that, it has also aided me in the pursuit of realizing the importance of the six different domains that we were assessed on. This assessment was also a good platform for us to reflect upon ourselves and further improve our nursing competencies bringing our skills to a whole new level. At the end of the day, such assessments are the ones that mould us into trustworthy and reliable healthcare professionals. 2.6 Action Plan In similar situations in the future, first and foremost, I would quickly run through area planning in my mind so as to maintain minimal movement to save time when I am carrying out my nursing procedure. Then, when I am taking the patients blood pressure, I will remind myself not to turn the valve too hard so that it will be easier to release the pressure from the cuff when I am recording the blood pressure readings. Most importantly, I would ensure that I record my findings accurately onto the clinical chart. I hope all these precautions will help me carry out my duty as a nurse efficiently in years to come.

Influence Tactics Essay -- Rational Persuasion, Pressure Tactics

Rational persuasion has been found to be used in all three directions: upwards, downwards and laterally. (Yukl, & Falbe, 1990) Rational persuasion is used in all directions in organizations because it is relevant in most discussions. Another contingency affecting the use of rational persuasion is the objective of the influence attempt. (Yukl, Guinan, & Sottolano, 1995) Rational persuasion has been shown to be used most often to procure political support, resources, or approvals. Rational persuasion has been shown to be flexible and adaptable for the vast majority of situations involving influence. However, it is even more so relevant when attempting to obtain the desired results stated above. Personality Factors The use of rational persuasion, as an influence tactic, is also affected by the personality style of the influencer. Managers who score high on conscientiousness will be more likely to adopt upward influence tactics that involve rational persuasion. (Cable, & Judge, 2003) Rational persuasions are consistent with the practical, careful, thorough and organized disposition characterized by conscientious workers. Along with the direct effects of personality styles there is also an interaction between the personality traits of the influencer and the leadership style of the target superior. An individual that scores high on extraversion, and believes their leader is inspirational will be less likely to employ rational persuasion. Extraversion includes characteristics such as assertiveness, sociability, and energy. (Thoms, Moore, & Scott, 1996) Extraverts differ from some conscientious people, in that they tend to be more people focused rather than task focused. Rational persuasion focuses on the task and the reasoning t... ...nsultation tactics are, for the most part, a positive way to gain commitment of the target. Some peers or superiors, however, will use this tactic in an attempt to bring someone on board of a project simply to place blame on them if it fails. The two most effective influence tactics are rational persuasion and inspirational appeals. Inspirational appeals are the most effective when used by a superior influencing a subordinate. This type of tactic is unlikely to bring about negative actions by the target. They tend to appeal to the influencers positive emotions of enthusiasm and loyalty. Rational persuasion can be used in upward, lateral, or downward influence, and is a very versatile tactic. It has a low likelihood to cause negative reactions as well. It appeals to the intellectual and rationality side of the target, and doesn’t attack them on a personal level.

Themes of The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai Essay -- Village Sea

Themes of The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai The novel, 'the village by the sea' by Anita Desai is about how Hari and Lila struggle for the survival of their family in the absence of their drunken father and ill mother. As portrayed in the beginning of the novel, the opening scene is described to be an unstable environment. This is reflected by the setting of the waves and how they are portrayed to be 'unstable' as the author uses phrases such as 'high tide' and 'low tide' to show the instabilities of life and its changes. In relation to this essential opening scene, this novel is briefly paraphrased to be a book describing the transformations and the hardships in life. As connected to these major morals described by the author, there are several minor themes in relation to the morals as mentioned earlier. These themes are responsibility, self-control and love. The main themes of this novel are change and survival. ?Change? in this book is the way each character is able to understand things in life have to be changed in order to progress. The theme of change is portrayed when the governors decide to turn Thul into an industrial area. Other situations are when Biju starts to introduce motor boats to Thul for fishing instead of manual one and this shows that the change of boats is for the development of fishing. Desai is able to communicate to us this theme when Hari?s father is able to turn from a useless drunken man to a responsible and caring person and also how Hari?s mother is able to get better from her ill state. With this, we can see that each situation in the book is linked together by the way Hari?s father changes when his mother falls ill and is taken to the hospital. This theme is stro... ... Coconut day. One main one is the way Hari?s father out of love for the family and his wife changes from drunkard to a responsible man. Another theme shown is self-control and this shown by the way Lila is able to keep the money she earns from the De Silvas to buy food for the family and not spent on useless things.Other examples are the way Hari makes a lot of money in Bombay, but although there so many nice things in there, he does not spend it but saves it. One character that is able to show this is Hari?s father by the way he is able to control himself from drinking toddy. From what we can see in the novel, the themes are related to each other like change and survival leads to responsibility, responsibility leads to love and self-control and also responsibility relates to love. This is created by the way the user creates the setting of the novel.

Locke and the Legitimacy of the State: Right vs. Good :: Essays Papers

Locke and the Legitimacy of the State: Right vs. Good John Locke’s conception of the â€Å"legitimate state† is surrounded by much controversy and debate over whether he emphasizes the right over the good or the good over the right. In the midst of such a profound and intriguing question, Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration, provides strong evidence that it is ineffective to have a legitimate state â€Å"prioritize† the right over the good. Locke’s view of the pre-political state begins with his statement that â€Å"man is ‘naturally in,’ the state of ‘perfect freedom’ and equality,† (Christman 42). Locke believes that man naturally has the capacity for Reason which in turn allows man direct access to moral laws. Reason provides man with his own individual rights and obligations and moral rights and duties. Furthermore, Locke writes that â€Å"‘The State of Nature has a Law of Nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: And Reason, which is that Law, teaches all Mankind, who will consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possession,’† (43). Moreover, man needs an authority to protect and preserve these moral rights which can only executed when, as Locke states, when the â€Å" ‘power and jurisdiction is [are] reciprocal,’† (42). Therefore a social cont ract is created when human beings unite and the majority of a people agree upon a particular state which protects mans natural freedom and equality. Consequently, since all human beings have certain moral rights to health, liberty, and possessions; they also have the right to enforce the protection of those rights by way of punishing violators. And it is in this maintaining of ones own rights that it is necessary for man to initially come together and form a social contract. By forming a social contract they are agreeing to sustain from living purely in a state of nature. According to Locke, living in such a state of nature is ‘inconvienent’, for there is no common ground by which to appropriately judge an individual who infringes upon another person natural rights (Christman 43). Therefore, one can not ‘effectively enjoy’ their own rights until they join under a ‘common political authority’ (44).

Grevious Grendel (Beowulf)

Beware of Grievous Grendel! We have all heard of the great epic poem Beowulf; one of the first major works in English literature. Grendel is a monster in this epic poem, in which he terrorizes people. He is a huge, powerful descendant of the biblical Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. In the same way as Cane, Grendel was cursed and condemned by the mighty Creator. Grendel is envious, resentful and angry toward mankind. He may attack at any time, for no reason at all and there is no way to reach an agreement with him to make him stop what he is doing. He exists to devastate and to murder human beings.Grendel may be a part of fiction in this poem, but he also exists in real life. In modern life we can find the character of Grendel in natural disasters and human beings. A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where peop le came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years: Then, under cover of night, Grendel came o Hrothgar’s lofty hall to see how the Ring-Danes were disposed after drinking ale all evening; and he found there a band of brave warriors, well-feasted, fast asleep, dead to worldly sorrow, man’s sad destiny. At once that hellish monster, grim and greedy, brutally cruel, started forward and seized thirty thanes even as they slept; and then, gloating over his plunder, he hurried from the hall, made for his lair with all those slain warriors. Grendel turns up out of nowhere, kills, murders people, and then disappears. In modern life we deal with natural disasters in a similar way.There are earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and floods, which cause loss of life and property damage. A natural disaster comes without giving any notice, shatters homes, takes lives and leaves a population helpless with the ruins of its attack. People in modern civilization experience the same feelings as Hrothgar’s people, who were attacked for years and years; living in fear of horror, never knowing when to expect disaster to strike. Besides natural disasters, human beings can be Grendels themselves. Before going further into this topic, I would like to mention Freud’s Ego theory.According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child needs to be changed, the id cries; when the child is hungry, the id cries again. The id does not care about reality, or about the needs of anyone else; when the id wa nts something, nothing else is important.Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that people have needs and desires and that something being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It is the ego’s job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. Around the age of five the Superego develops.The superego is the moral part of us, which can sort right from wrong, and develops due to the moral and ethical discipline taught by our parents. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. If the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person’s life. If the sup erego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgemental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world.So when the ego is incapable of maintaining control of the id and superego, some kind of abnormality arises; here we meet the terrorists and murderers in modern life who we can compare to Beowulf’s Grendel. We never know when they will show themselves and their cruel intentions. But when they do appear in our lives, we suffer pain, become afraid and sad because of their actions. We know they are there and can’t stop them from doing harm to people. As a conclusion we can say Grendel is not fiction and he is not in the past.Grendel is still among us, keeping us afraid of what might come to harm us or our loved ones. When the next natural disaster will arise is a surprise and we’ll never know when an unhealthy person or group will decide to attack us. So be aware of grievous Grendel and be ready to suffer, because you mi ght be next in line! Leyla Doner Dugdu – 285533 – evening References: http://psychology. about. com/od/eindex/g/def_egostrength. htm http://www. betterlivingthroughbeowulf. com/? p=328 Beowulf, translation by Crossley-Holland, K. Grevious Grendel (Beowulf) Beware of Grievous Grendel! We have all heard of the great epic poem Beowulf; one of the first major works in English literature. Grendel is a monster in this epic poem, in which he terrorizes people. He is a huge, powerful descendant of the biblical Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. In the same way as Cane, Grendel was cursed and condemned by the mighty Creator. Grendel is envious, resentful and angry toward mankind. He may attack at any time, for no reason at all and there is no way to reach an agreement with him to make him stop what he is doing. He exists to devastate and to murder human beings.Grendel may be a part of fiction in this poem, but he also exists in real life. In modern life we can find the character of Grendel in natural disasters and human beings. A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where peop le came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years: Then, under cover of night, Grendel came o Hrothgar’s lofty hall to see how the Ring-Danes were disposed after drinking ale all evening; and he found there a band of brave warriors, well-feasted, fast asleep, dead to worldly sorrow, man’s sad destiny. At once that hellish monster, grim and greedy, brutally cruel, started forward and seized thirty thanes even as they slept; and then, gloating over his plunder, he hurried from the hall, made for his lair with all those slain warriors. Grendel turns up out of nowhere, kills, murders people, and then disappears. In modern life we deal with natural disasters in a similar way.There are earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and floods, which cause loss of life and property damage. A natural disaster comes without giving any notice, shatters homes, takes lives and leaves a population helpless with the ruins of its attack. People in modern civilization experience the same feelings as Hrothgar’s people, who were attacked for years and years; living in fear of horror, never knowing when to expect disaster to strike. Besides natural disasters, human beings can be Grendels themselves. Before going further into this topic, I would like to mention Freud’s Ego theory.According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child needs to be changed, the id cries; when the child is hungry, the id cries again. The id does not care about reality, or about the needs of anyone else; when the id wa nts something, nothing else is important.Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that people have needs and desires and that something being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It is the ego’s job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. Around the age of five the Superego develops.The superego is the moral part of us, which can sort right from wrong, and develops due to the moral and ethical discipline taught by our parents. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. If the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person’s life. If the sup erego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgemental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world.So when the ego is incapable of maintaining control of the id and superego, some kind of abnormality arises; here we meet the terrorists and murderers in modern life who we can compare to Beowulf’s Grendel. We never know when they will show themselves and their cruel intentions. But when they do appear in our lives, we suffer pain, become afraid and sad because of their actions. We know they are there and can’t stop them from doing harm to people. As a conclusion we can say Grendel is not fiction and he is not in the past.Grendel is still among us, keeping us afraid of what might come to harm us or our loved ones. When the next natural disaster will arise is a surprise and we’ll never know when an unhealthy person or group will decide to attack us. So be aware of grievous Grendel and be ready to suffer, because you mi ght be next in line! Leyla Doner Dugdu – 285533 – evening References: http://psychology. about. com/od/eindex/g/def_egostrength. htm http://www. betterlivingthroughbeowulf. com/? p=328 Beowulf, translation by Crossley-Holland, K.