Monday, September 30, 2019

Pythagorean Quadratic

Reflection on Crib Bumpers Tracey Crawford ECE 214: Nutrition and Health of Children and Families Kelly Wells November 12, 2012 Kids in Danger website is value because it keeps parents as well as caregivers much needed information on recalls of certain things that are not safe for younger children. Kids in Danger website does have information on other website you can go to get more information about the product as well as numbers you can call.This website gave me a lot of information on crib bumpers pads and why they were recall. Due to an incident that happen in 2009 where 6-month-old Aiden died because of a crib bumper pad he rolled into and couldn’t get out. His grandmother who got kids in danger involved on the importance of crib safety and the danger of bumper pads told this story. We use this information by creating brochures or even books with activities that the parents as well as the caregivers to the safety on using products safe.We can even have seminars that would not cost too much for people to attend to give the importance on why certain toys and products have to be recall because more and more children are dying of things that can be prevented. We could also teach parents about how to use some of the product than just using what is read in the book because some of the products do come with instructions but people still could be putting it together wrong. If we educate more and more people on what is happening in the manufactures and why it happen than there would not be so much death.This information is essential to parents and caregivers on this information than there would not be so much deaths and serious injuries. I feel that parents need to know this information because if it were their own child or a family member they would want to know what they could do to prevent this from happening to them. I know we as people need to wake up and see what is going on in our neighborhoods as well as what is going in our home because the people wh o building this items are not paying close attention to how they are making stuff.Last year I had a cousin who was 9months old who almost choke to death on a piece of toy that felt out the box of a toy her dad was building for her brother. It really scares me to the point that I always make sure toys are very sturdy before I decide to let my kids play with them or kids in my care. I want my brochure to be of some help of the hazardously things that are been build today. I would like for my brochure to be somewhat use in the classroom or out in public. References Improving Children’s Product Safety. Kids in Danger. Retrieved on November 12,2012 from www. kidsindanger. org/product-hazard/crib-bumpers/ Pythagorean Quadratic Even though Ahmed’s half of the map doesn’t indicate which direction the 2x + 6 paces should go, we can assume that his and Vanessa’s paces should end up in the same place. I sketched this out on scratch paper I saw that it forms a right triangle with 2x + 6 being the length of the hypotenuse, and x and 2x + 4 being the legs of the triangle. Now I know how I can use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for x. The Pythagorean Theorem states that in every right triangle with legs of length a and b and hypotenuse c, these lengths have the formula of a2 + b2 = c2. Let a = x, and b = 2x + 4, so that c = 2x + 6.Then, by putting these measurements into the Theorem equation we have x2 + (2x + 4)2 = (2x + 6)2 The binomials into the Phythagorean Therom x2 + 4Ãâ€"2 + 16x + 16 = 4Ãâ€"2 + 24x + 36 are the binomials squared. This a 4Ãâ€"2 on both sides of the equation which can be (-4Ãâ€"2 -4Ãâ€"2) subtracted out first leaving the equation to be x2 + 16x + 16 = 24x + 36. Next we should Subtract 16x from both sides of equation, which then leaves us with: x2 +16 = 8x + 36. The next step would then be to subtract 36 from both sides to get a result of. x2 -20= 8x. Finally we need to subtract 8x from both sides to get x2 – 8x – 20 =0.Now we have a quadratic equation to solve by factoring and using the zero factor. (x – ) (x + ) = 0 Since the coefficient of x2 is 1 we can start with a pair of parenthesis with an x in each. Since the 20 is negative we know there will be one + and one – in the binomials. I noticed that in order for a number to multiply to -20 and add up to -8 the numbers would then have to be -10 and 2. So when I put that into the pair I ended up with (x – 10)(x + 2) = 0 Use the zero factor property to solve each binomial. Then I set each equation up to zero which made, x– 10 = 0 or x + 2 = 0 creating a compound equation.When I did the math and solved for each problem, I got the answer of x = 10 or x = -2. These are the possible solutions to our equation. However, one of these solutions will not work because it doesn’t work with this scenario at all. You cannot have negative paces in this equation because it would simply not make sense, so the -2 solution does not work, leaving us with the answer of x = 10 as the key number of paces. The treasure lies 10 paces north and 2x + 4 = 2(10) + 4 = 24 paces east of Castle Rock, or 2x + 6= 2(10) + 6 = 26 paces straight from the rock. After solving this problem I went to howstuffworks. om to read the discussion on how GPS works. This article explained things about the GPS that I never knew before. I learned a great deal from this article and found a lot of parallels between the article and this assignment. I noticed in the article it discussed trilateration and I thought it seemed very similar to the Pythagorean Theorem, being that 3 points are identified between you, the satellite, and the location you are trying to get to which alm ost forms the shape of a triangle, although it is far more complex than that and is using circles instead of triangles.However the way I saw it is that my position and where I am trying to go would be the legs and the satellite that is directing me to my location from my current position, would have to be a 450 angle, making it the hypotenuse. If one was able to put that into numbers or do some calculate the distance of the satellite, themselves, one would easily be able to calculate your distance using the Pythagorean Theorem.Using this information a GPS is able to detect where you are, how far you are away from your location and the time it will take to get there, which can be incredibly handy, especially for those who do not have the greatest since of direction. After reading this article it should be that the Pythagorean Theorem is much more useful than I thought. It really simplifies the use of maps and a GPS system. It can be incredibly helpful in many aspects of everyday life .

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How are marked and unmarked identities socially produced

A simple definition of identity might be no more than â€Å"who we are†. People of the same nationality or age, for example, can be said to have an identity in common. It follows that by virtue of belonging to more than one group, or â€Å"collective identity†, we all have multiple identities. Identities can connect people; and disconnect them too. Similarities in group identities may give rise to positive connections between people, but equally connections may be negative when referring to differences. An identity created by differences can be: one that is negatively valued; one which ceases to be equal; and one where social life is maintained on an imbalance. Identities can be both individual (for example: female, Southerner) and, through referring to relationships and connections to others (whether they be similar or different), social. Furthermore, social identities can be either situated, that is given by what people are doing (shopping, working), or relational and given by the relationships between people. It is important to note this relational identity can be unequal. The concepts of marked and unmarked identities are a pairing of unequal relational identities where the unmarked identities – taken for granted – are not noticed; in contrast to the marked identities, which always are. As Taylor states, the marked identities â€Å"in most cases carry a negative value† (Taylor, 2009, p179). This essay describes the way marked and unmarked identities are created. An example of marked and unmarked identity is found in Raban’s Street People. They were the homeless living on the streets of New York; they were grouped by â€Å"others† (everyone else) as a collection of â€Å"thieves, alcoholics, the temporarily jobless† (Raban cited in Taylor p176). The identity given to the Street People is relational; it is both detailed and negative and is the marked identity of the pairing. â€Å"Everyone else†, the other half of the relationship, is of course the unmarked identity. People with unmarked identities have a â€Å"vaguely positive ‘normal’ identity which is not really described† (Taylor, 2009, p179). Moreover, the Street People were grouped together as being the â€Å"same†, because as Taylor suggests it is part of the nature of group identities that they are not seen as individuals with different life histories (2009, p177). â€Å"The social process through which the difference of other people is marked and their negatively valued identity becomes established† is known as Othering (Taylor, 2009, p179). From the articles both the Roma or â€Å"immigrants† and the â€Å"thugs† are the marked identities. The Roma immigrants have a racial and ethnic collective identity; they are Roma, from Romania, living in Northern Ireland, some of whom are English-speaking. The attacks against them (by the thugs) are racially motivated, and in racist rhetoric a frequent insistence is that immigrants should ‘go back to where they come from’. As Taylor observes, a racial and ethnic identity, like the Roma, often positions people â€Å"as recent immigrants to the country in which they were born and grew up† (2009, p182). Although the article doesn’t say how long the immigrant Roma people have been living in Belfast, the mention of a baby indicates that in this community there is at least a second generation. The other marked identity is that of the thugs. They are described with labels such as, â€Å"gang†, â€Å"neo-Nazi†, â€Å"racist criminals† and â€Å"far-right faction† whose actions were â€Å"illegal†; although unlike the Street People they may be comfortable claiming at least part of that identity. In both articles figures of authority use powerful language to condemn the behaviour of the thugs and unconditionally support the Roma. The Roma are recognised as making a contribution to the community where they were living, presumably side by side with their assailants, in a cosmopolitan district of Belfast. Despite this, however, they remain marked; their identity is further reinforced and re-created by the negative effect of the rhetoric of persecution and discrimination in both the articles. In contrast, the unmarked identity are the Western, white, Irish who are also given a situational identity by association with their â€Å"cosmopolitan and affluent† place of residence – a strong impression is given of a â€Å"nice† (not a â€Å"working-class†) place to live. In the article the journalist makes a particular point of mentioning that the attacks did not happen in a working-class, Protestant neighbourhood, where perhaps it would be less surprising to see this behaviour? In a modern society it is no longer possible to divide up a community into Karl Marx’s neat groups of capitalists and workers. A more complex picture exists in the contemporary UK of â€Å"middle-class† and â€Å"working-class† groups. Both terms refer to characteristics such as affluence, education, background and even accent, furthermore terms, such as â€Å"chav†, â€Å"posh† or â€Å"yummy mummy† can add further detail. In the article the description of Lisburn Road with â€Å"coffee shops full of affluent young mothers† is describing a comfortable, middle-class district which confers an identity just on the unmarked. As with Raban’s Street People, the Roma and the thugs have been grouped into an â€Å"imagined community†. ’Imagined’ refers to the importance of our ideas and beliefs about the world† (Taylor, 2009, p178). Typically, members of an imagined community are too numerous to be personally acquainted, however, as both the Roma and thugs were relatively small groups it is probable that members were acquainted. The negative collective identity, again as with the Street People, was given by others. Taylor suggests that at some level the experience of being homeless in a modern society in some way constituted the Street People as a group, as the experience of persecution helped constitute the Roma as a group (2009, p178). Finally, the story of the Roma people here is an example of how established differences and inequalities are reinforced. The attacks by the thugs were â€Å"part of a trend of growing abuses against the Roma across Europe† (www. amnestry. org. uk accessed December 2010) they were challenging and contesting the right of the Roma to live in their community. In turn their persecution of the Roma was challenged by residents of the community and figures of authority in an attempt to repair and improve society. Taylor, S (2009) ‘Who do we think we are? Identities in everyday life’ in Taylor, S. Hinchliffe, S. , Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Amnesty International accessed 4th December 2010 http://www. amnesty. org. uk/news_details. asp? NewID=18258 Order and predictability are important if society is to exist therefore it is inherent that social order is maintained. Social order can be referred to as a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which act to conserve, maintain and enforce an orderly way of relating and behaving within society. There are various views and theories of how social order is created within society two such views come from Erving Goffman and Michael Foucault. The difference between theories such as those of Erving Goffman and Michael Foucault is primarily one of focus. Goffman analysed social rules governing nonverbal interactions by individual people to develop his theories using the metaphor of a theatre. Goffman demonstrated that the most casual actions, such as posture, body and eye movements that people make are performances aimed toward communicating a positive impression for an audience. Goffman focused on the self and self-presentation he preferred to study individuals. Goffman’s descriptions of individual’s face-to-face interactions formed the large body of his work through this he noted that social interactions could be reworked by changing interactions. In contrast, Michael Foucault preferred to analyse the entire society. He examined the ways in which societies function and the principles of exclusion societies developed to define their differing forms of order throughout different historical times. Foucault did not conduct the type of first hand and intensive field work characteristic of the development of Goffman's theories. Foucault's theories on history and the self were more impersonal and global in focus. They centred on how societies interpreted and implemented their definitions of sane and insane, innocent and criminal and insider and outsider and how with each differing discourse social change emerged creating a new and greater power than the last. Goffman looks at the way individuals present themselves and their activities to others using the theatre as a framework. In his theory of impression management Goffman saw that through interaction with others in society an impression of the subject is given off to others. This is automatic and inevitable. The way people perceive others is through this social interaction. This means that through messages that are given off whether intended or unintended they are the judgments by which people will hold their opinion of others they come into contact with. According to Goffman impression management is fundamentally about expressive responsibility it is about self-consciously crafting an exterior appearance that will not offend the audience. In other words social interaction is an act of dramatization in which people perform in accordance with the social order or environment expected of them the nature of the environment and with the goal of manufacturing performances that are acceptable keeps social order constant but if these interactions are changed or reworked the result will be different disrupting the social norms within society (Silva, 2009, p. 16). In contrast to Goffmans research Foucault dismisses the view that individuals have any power or control over society looking instead at historical evidence and exploring how social order is written and talked about differently depending on what is deemed appropriate by the organisations which govern society at the time which he is studying he called these discourses the way different frameworks guide what is acceptable within these periods of time whether it be the way people are talking or acting at any given point in history. So as well as looking at how these subjects act within the larger society he is looking at society itself as a larger organism this allows him to explore micro as well as macro rather than Goffmans studies of only the micro or the individual. (Silva, 2009, p. 319) There are however similarities between the two in that they are both concerned with the bigger picture of understanding how society and social order is formed, maintained, changed and rebuilt over time the differences only become visible when their methods and theories are broken down. A good way to explore both the similarities and differences in these theories is to look at the case studies by Buchanan and Monderman In these instances the focus is the relationship between traffic and pedestrians and how the governance of these variables act as agents in the conception of social order. Buchanan and Monderman explored how the relationship between traffic and pedestrians makes and remakes social order. Traffic congestion in Britain’s towns and cities increased in correlation with the rise in car ownership following the conclusion of the Second World War. Buchanan was commissioned in 1961 by the UK Government to deliver the report ‘Traffic in Towns’. This report was deemed necessary to avoid demand for road space being greater than that available. The recommendation of the Buchanan report was that traffic and pedestrians should be segregated. Buchanan’s principle was to isolate areas for working, shopping and leisure, separate to ‘corridors’ where traffic could move freely without disruption, regulating the movements of both traffic and pedestrians. The isolated areas were described as ‘environmental units’ (Silva, 2009, p. 328). Monderman’s view directly contradicted the ideas presented by Buchanan. Monderman challenged the principle of segregation as well as other factors associated with traffic calming such as warning signs and speed humps. This philosophy of shared space takes a different approach to public spaces and highways in that segregation are almost exclusive to highways. Monderman’s thesis uses psychological traffic calming to improve road safety using measures such as abolishing roadside markings and Signposting. Monderman pioneered the idea of the ‘naked street’ the removal of what he viewed as unnecessary ‘street furniture’ within this model which promotes the idea of social order being maintained and balanced by the interaction between drivers and pedestrians (Silva, 2009, p. 333). Monderman displays awareness and understanding of the driver of the vehicle in contrast to Buchanan, Monderman implies that the driver rather than the vehicle is the true cause of potential danger on the road. Both of these studies can be used and compared to those of Foucault and Goffman both have differing views centred on the same big issue for example Michel Foucault theorised that we behave according to what he refers to as discourse. In this instance discourse is what is in everyday talking, thinking and reading, but it has come down from people and institutions invested with authority. In his view we think we are free to act but in reality we are obeying authority figures this can applied to the report by Colin Buchanan When people drive they automatically obey road signs and physical features Foucault proposes that discourses are replaced as the need arises but that they are always cascaded down from authority figures. These figures change through time from the organisations in charge of social order and so on. So as we had more cars on the road we had new rules around their use. Monderman’s approach had the street furniture and segregation and claimed that pedestrians going through what became known as shared spaces instinctively knew to be aware of other road users and pedestrians and negotiated their way by making eye contact with each other. Erving Goffman's theory can be compared to this as he believed that people interact with each other in daily life to make things work better so that they can make changes in social order which they can claim as their own rather controlled governing bodies. n conclusion both have many similarities such as their desire to understand social life and order, they are both rational in their ideas of authority although neither claims to have a definitive theory of social order both believe it is made up of sequences whether it be small individual pieces or discourses that creates power and organisation however they differ in their approaches to what components make up society one taking the individual and one taking society as a whole. One believing that the way individuals act towards one another directly affects how social order is made and remade one believing that this is only influenced by larger organisms such as government as a whole not as individual entities. Both views have merit and are not without fault but are in their own ways directly concerned with the bigger picture that is social order within society.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Accounting For Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Accounting For Managers - Essay Example A deeper analysis would indicate that the purpose was to cover the cash shortage, which may represent misappropriation of company funds. Based on the auditor’s report, it appears that management is creating fake sales and fake purchase of equipment. The fake sales necessitated overstatement of inventory and understatement of cost of goods. However, the overstatement of inventory is reclassified to fake purchase equipment. These activities resulted in overstated sales, overstated income, understated cost of sales, overstated gross margin and overstated equipment. Overstatement of equipment might have been intended to defer the recognition of expenses through future depreciation expense. The volatility of accounts receivable and accounts payable compared to creditors was caused by fake accounts payable and accounts receivable at the same time for Red Desert. Faking the same is a way of manipulating cash. Red Desert’s high liquidity did not come from operation but from the investment of stockholders. A $10 million fresh infusion of equity in 2001 just went to wastage in 2001 because management is able hide the shortage of $ of 7 million cash. This would be fooling investors. If Red Desert has fooled the new investors in 2001, what is the assurance that they will not fool Surftex when the latter would have strategic alliance with it? It is really hard to deal with dishonest management. However, when we consider financial stability and liquidity of Red Desert as bases of having alliance with, it would appear that the debt-to-equity ratio and current ratio of Red Desert are still good. In terms of profitability, it is not too bad not to give it a chance. With the willing investors coming in 2001, it would show that there is a good prospect in its business. Therefore, it is recommended that unless Surftex would be given a controlling interest when strategic alliance is pursued, there is no reason to

Friday, September 27, 2019

Diabetic Foot Ulcer Infection Prevention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diabetic Foot Ulcer Infection Prevention - Essay Example The role that education plays in preventing foot ulcers have been emphasized in a comprehensive study written by the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) (2010). Their report evaluated and compared diverse studies which focused on non-healing wounds, or initially termed chronic wounds (European Wound Management Association (EWMA), 2010). The paper thereby defined non-healing or chronic wound as â€Å"a wound that has not healed for at least 4–6 weeks from its first observation at a trial screening visit† (European Wound Management Association (EWMA), 2010, p. 264). Since there were different types of wound that were apparently identified (diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, as well as pressure ulcers), the focus of the current review is clearly on diabetic ulcers. Concurrently, relevant issues and concerns regarding providing relevant information to patients, management, diagnostic and therapeutic protocol, as well as factors influencing the outcome of suggested int erventions were revealed (European Wound Management Association (EWMA), 2010; Faglia, et al., 2002; Schaper, Apelqvist, & Bakker, 2012).The main concern among the articles evaluated on the subject emphasized that management of diabetic foot ulcers actually require a multi-disciplinary approach (Schaper, Apelqvist, & Bakker, 2012; Lavery, Peters, & Armstrong, 2008). For instance, merely understanding the risk factors or variables associated with the development of foot ulcers was deemed insufficient and virtually ineffective in addressing the dilemma. Most of the interventions that were expounded were reactionary; as opposed to preventive – where education plays a relevant role. Only in the studies written by Dorresteijn, Kriegsman, Assendelft, & Valk (2012) and Lavery, Peters, & Armstrong (2008) did the authors emphasize education.... The paper thereby defined non-healing or chronic wound as â€Å"a wound that has not healed for at least 4–6 weeks from its first observation at a trial screening visit† (European Wound Management Association (EWMA), 2010, p. 264). Since there were different types of wound that were apparently identified (diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, as well as pressure ulcers), the focus of the current review is clearly on diabetic ulcers. Concurrently, relevant issues and concerns regarding providing relevant information to patients, management, diagnostic and therapeutic protocol, as well as factors influencing the outcome of suggested interventions were revealed (European Wound Management Association (EWMA), 2010; Faglia, et al., 2002; Schaper, Apelqvist, & Bakker, 2012). The main concern among the articles evaluated on the subject emphasized that management of diabetic foot ulcers actually require a multi-disciplinary approach (Schaper, Apelqvist, & Bakker, 2012; Lavery, Peters, & Armstrong, 2008). For instance, merely understanding the risk factors or variables associated with the development of foot ulcers was deemed insufficient and virtually ineffective in addressing the dilemma. Most of the interventions that were expounded were reactionary; as opposed to preventive – where education plays a relevant role. Only in the studies written by Dorresteijn, Kriegsman, Assendelft, & Valk (2012) and Lavery, Peters, & Armstrong (2008) did the authors emphasize education as one of the interventions for preventing diabetic ulcers. Accordingly, the authors asserted that â€Å"educating people with diabetes about foot care (would potentially) help reduce foot ulcers and amputations†

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Business Environment - Essay Example In simpler words, globalization has become a deeply-rooted phenomenon in the present world that there seems to be zero alternative of capitalism. Different skeptics have come up with new and effective economic theories and practices to suspend the common grounds of capitalism in the world (Thornley & Appay, 2010). Nevertheless, the impact or the implementation of capitalism is effective to the core that independent economic policies are failed to practice. Herein, it should be noted that the mentioned view is merely projected by the skeptics and there is still a lot of room of explanation concerning the credibility of the aspect (Milward, 2003). The aim of this essay is to critically assess the thesis statement the proposition that governments are no longer able to implement independent policies. There is supposedly an ongoing debate when it comes to the aspect of efforts made by the governments to implement and promote independent economic policies. The weighing or the effective dimensions to the debate can only be evaluated by understanding triumphed nature of capitalism in the global world, paradox of neo-classical theory, the role of the transfer national companies (TNCs). The fact remains that the economic activities in the past were quiet limited because of the limitations imposed on the trade. In the present times, one can see that it is easier for the organizations to design a product in one region and then deliver it to customer in the opposite part of the world (Ohmae, 1994). Herein, the intensity of skepticism is evident from the fact that western civilizations see capitalism as a threat to social equality. Milward (2003) in his research included that the skeptics of capitalism have always shown great interest in the international discussion of need of non-free market structure. Such an assertion is made

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Burden of the Bourgeoisie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Burden of the Bourgeoisie - Essay Example Economic data of present times show that families now have more money to spend as more members are earning. The typical two income family of the present where both the husband and wife are earning make75 percent more than what a typical family of the last generation   Economic data of present times show that families now have more money to spend as more members are earning. The typical two income family of the present where both the husband and wife are earning make75 percent more than what a typical family of the last generation  earned. Although they have more to spend, their savings have drastically fallen. They are the educated class, having decent jobs, but they find it difficult to pay their medical bills. Filing for bankruptcy has increased drastically among this class. Warren and Tyagi argue that the reason for the financial crisis among the middle class is not their spendthrift habits, but that they have to spend much more for basic necessities, like housing, school for the children, healthcare and basic expenses. Families who face the calamity of foreclosure, are isolated, instead of being supported. The authors put up a strong case against the credit industry which is at the bottom of the myth of overspending by the middle class. They conclude by giving a number of suggestions for improving the situation.America is an affluent society, considering the global situation. The middle class, which is the backbone of the American society has never been so prosperous as it is now.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Employment plan coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Employment plan - Coursework Example I have always dreamt of working at a construction company like Terna. Terna is known for its projects, its highly qualified personnel and the work opportunities that it gives to young engineers. I hope that the demonstration of my skills and experience are suitable for the junior civil engineer position. Task 2: My SWOT Analysis for my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) In no more than 400 words critically appraise your current position using the SWOT analysis framework. Strengths a) My University degree is in Civil Engineering and I was among top five performers. b) I have relevant experience - I spent three months at a construction site in Saudi Arabia. c) I have good knowledge of project management. d) I am able to demonstrate team working and time management skills. I was managing a small team of workers at the construction site in Saudi Arabia. Weaknesses a) Although I have basic knowledge of AutoCAD, I am still not considered an experienced user. I currently attend seminars for improving my knowledge in AutoCAD. b) I do not speak Arabic. Speaking Arabic can be advantage since a civil engineer has to communicate in Arabic with the workers. I would consider learning Arabic prior to obtaining the position. Opportunities a) There is a shortage at a national level for engineers wanting to live and work in Saudi Arabia. Experienced engineers do not want to leave their families and migrate and young engineers do not possess relevant experience. b) Our country is famous for the large construction projects that its construction companies take over all around the world. In addition, University programs prepare top quality engineers. c) There are also many... I am aware that Terna looks for candidates that have a basic experience at this kind of projects and gives a particular emphasis on team working skills, time and project management. During my university years I attended a module called Project Management which enabled me to study the requirements of a construction project. In addition, I attended two free choice modules concerning team working and time management and two seminars dealing with these issues. The project in Middle East gave me the opportunity to practice these skills since I was part of a large construction team and as one of the chief engineer assistants I was responsible for a small number of workers. I have always dreamt of working at a construction company like Terna. Terna is known for its projects, its highly qualified personnel and the work opportunities that it gives to young engineers. I hope that the demonstration of my skills and experience are suitable for the junior civil engineer position. a) There is a shortage at a national level for engineers wanting to live and work in Saudi Arabia. Experienced engineers do not want to leave their families and migrate and young engineers do not possess relevant experience. a) Global economic crisis has a negative effect on construction projects esp

Monday, September 23, 2019

Strategic fit analysis of Gilbert sports Equipment Company Essay

Strategic fit analysis of Gilbert sports Equipment Company - Essay Example Strategic fit analysis of Gilbert sports Equipment Company However, when the rules of Rugby and thereby rules regarding ball shapes and sizes got formalized in the early part of the 20th century and with availability of Rubber bladders, Gilbert Sports Company started making the modern Rugby balls. Although, the company changed hands quite a few times, the company continued to modernise and update the quality of the balls through the second part of the 20th century particularly during the 1980’s and 90’s. It was during the same period, they developed the first range of balls for Netball. However, it fell into the debt trap in 2002, and so it was acquired by another sports equipment maker, Grays of Cambridge in the same year. It continues to function with a lot of autonomy and even diversified into other product segments, with Grays of Cambridge ‘stewarding’ it. Thus, after rising from the internal crisis in 2002, Gilbert under Grays ownership has been able to consolidate its position. However, there are certain fact ors in its macro and micro environment, which could impact as well as influence its functioning. Market Environment Analysis Certain factors in the external environment as well as in the ‘immediate’ external environment will always influence the functioning and the strategies formulation of any organizations in the sport equipment manufacturing sector. Gilbert is no exception to it, as it can be controlled by the factors in the macro-environment, and also by factors in the micro-environment. Both these macro and micro factors can be collected and assessed in a detailed manner through certain analytical tools. The macro environment of Gilbert can be assessed through PEST analysis, while its micro-environment can be analyzed through Porters’ Five Forces. PEST Analysis Political When one focuses on the political factors in Gilbert’s external environment, the UK government can play both a regulatory and constructive role. Regulatory role in the sense, governme nt with its regulations on quality, advertising, pricing, etc., influences the production processes of sports equipment companies including Gilbert. Constructive role in the sense, the UK government through programs like Schools Sports Partnership provide funds to schools to buy sports equipments and construct other infrastructures, so the children can have an active lifestyle with good fitness levels. Although, the UK government had â€Å"plans to end funding for the Schools Sports Partnership program, it was forced to back down as a result of pressure from top athletes, educators and school children themselves.† (caloo.co.uk 2011). Economic The economic aspect of the UK Sports Equipment manufacturing and retail market shows a positive picture, because it â€Å"is valued at US$4.1 billion and grew at a CAGR of 4.19% for the period 2004-2008.† (Reportlinker 2009). However, with the British economy showing little signs of full recovery from the 2008 economic recession, and threatening to go into recession again, the prospects of these sport equipment manufacturing organisations could also suffer. â€Å"Bank of England policymakers agree that Britain's stalled economy will fail to pick up in the current fourth quarter, according to minutes of their last meeting published on Wednesday.† (AFP 2011). If this situation continues, there could be lack of readily available finance options because of credit crunch, and this will make the consumers cut back on their non-essential

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Paired Reading Essay Example for Free

Paired Reading Essay Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers, or children who read at the same level can be paired to reread a story they have already read. Paired reading can be used with any book, taking turns reading by sentence, paragraph, page or chapter. Share your examples! Why use paired reading? * It helps students work together. * It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning. When to use:| Before reading| During reading| After reading| How to use:| Individually| With small groups| Whole class setting| How to use paired reading How to pair students Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers. Use the following steps to pair high-level readers with low-level readers: * List the students in order from highest to lowest according to reading ability * Divide the list in half. * Place the top student in the first list with the top student in the second list * Continue until all students have been partnered * Be sensitive to pairings of students with special needs, including learning or emotional needs. Adjust pairings as necessary * The reader from the first list should read first while the reader from the second list listens and follows along * The second reader should pick up where the first reader stops. If additional practice is needed, the second reader can reread what the first reader read * Encourage pairs to ask each other about what was read. What was your page about? What was your favorite part? Implementing the strategy 1. Introduce the students to the Paired Reading strategy. This includes: * Establishing a routine for students to adopt so that they know the step-by-step requirements for engaging in paired reading (i. e. Will they read out loud, simultaneously? Will they take turns with each person reading a paragraph? a page? Or will one person read while the other person listens? ). * Teaching students an error-correction procedure to use when supporting each others reading (i. e. re-reading misread words; signals for difficulty). * Modeling the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy. 2. Ask students to begin reading in pairs and adjust reading speed if reading simultaneously so they stay together. 3. Have students offer feedback and praise frequently for correct reading. 4. Monitor and support students as they work.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Leadership Capabilities Of Steve Jobs Commerce Essay

Leadership Capabilities Of Steve Jobs Commerce Essay The main goal of this report is to examine and evaluate leadership capabilities of Steve Jobs. Jobs is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Apple and nowadays possibly one of the most successful businessman on the world. Despite of many critics about his leadership. The fact that he is an effective leader is not contestable. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine the leadership qualities that have brought Jobs to the top of business World. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND OF STEVE JOBS Steve Jobs was born on 24 February 1955, in San Francisco, California, United Sates. Clara and Paul Jobs adopted him shortly after birth. He was growing up in two with his sister Patty. In 1961, whole Jobs family relocated from San Francisco to Mountain View in California, which, was at that time the heart of electronics industry called Silicon Valley (Butcher, 1987). During his childhood, he was an individual who liked making things alone. He liked to compete with others, but definitely, he was not attracted in group sports or other team games. However, from the early age he demonstrated an intensive interest towards electronics field. He devoted all of his spare time observing and working together with neighbor who was employed at Hewlett-Packard (HP) that was an electronics producer. Moreover, at that time young Jobs joined to HP Explorer Club. This gave him possibility to observe engineers working on new products. When he was twelve, he could see and touch HPs first computer. Th is was huge milestone in his life, because then he thought that he wanted to work on this field (Stross Randall, 1993). While in high school, Jobs participated lecture at the HP factory. Once he asked directly William Hewlett CEO of HP, for some specific part, which, he required to finish a school project. Therefore, Hewlett was so dazzled he not only donated Jobs the parts, but most of all he proposed him a holiday job at HP. After High school, in 1972, Jobs joined to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. However, after one semester, he left and in summer, he decided to go to India and take a course of eastern religions. This is because Jobs was a contradictory, trifler young recluse with an inclination for problems. He liked hippie way of life, narcotics and Zen philosophy (Butcher Lee, 1987). After a few months in India, he came back. In 1975, Steve Jobs enrolled to the Homebrew Computer Club. There he met Steve Wozniak, a technical maniac who was designing a small sized computer. Steve fell in love in this idea and started exploring marketing possibility of such a product. Therefore, in 1976 together with Wozniak established their own company, which they named Apple. Initially they had no money to invest, thus to gain same resources for a startup Jobs sold his microbus and Wozniak his calculator which gave them $1,300. The first products they sold were circuit boards, which keep the inner parts of a computer. However, while selling these boards they were working on their core products that were personal computers (Norman, 2009). While doing marketing research Jobs realized that there is huge opportunity for them to expand on the market. This is because in that period time all computers available on the market were huge size that could hardly fit in the large room. What is more, at that time computers were so expensive that potential customers were not able to afford to purchase them. In response to the market needs, Apple designed its computers in this way in order to be able to sell its products to large number of users. Finally, in 1977 Apple II released to the market personal computer (PC) which in first year generated extraordinary sales of $2,7 million. The Apples sales rose to $200million within following three years. Apples example became the most unusual situation of corporate development in whole United States history. Throughout this implementation of PC Steve Jobs and its Apple permanently inscribed on the pages of history, because initiated completely new era era of personal computers (www.referenceforbusiness.com). In eighties, era of PC was progressing rapidly. Because of appearing competition on the market, Jobss and Wozniaks company was constantly pressed to develop its computers to remain a market leader. Jobs as a head of marketing of Apple in 1983 officially presented new computer called Lisa. That was created for users having smallest computer knowledge. However, mostly because of its high price this PC was not to o successful. For example, IBM, Apples biggest competitors (50% of PC market share) sold its PC at the lower price (Landrum Gene, 1993). In 1984, Jobss company issued pioneering model of computer on the market, called Macintosh (Mac). This PC differs from others in term of its usability (very easy to use). However, once again the sales level of Mac was poor. This is because; it did not have attributes that competitors had, for instance an adequate high tech printer. The catastrophe of the Mac initiated the start of Jobss collapse at Apple. Jobs retreated in 1985 from the company he had established; however, he kept the title of Chairman of the board (Norman, 2009). Short after this, Job employed several of his previous workers to establish another computer company named NeXT. Then in San Francisco in 1988, Jobs presented his new company. Preliminary feedback was good, because new PC was very easy to use, equipped in very fast processor, had great graphics, and an excellent sound sy stem. Unfortunately, no matters on the initial response from the users, the NeXTs PCs had never been released on the market. This was because once again these new computers were too expensive, possessed a black-and-white display, and were no compatible with other computers or could not work on universal software (Stross Randall, 1993). Definitely, NeXT was not the last one word of Jobs. Because in 1986 Steve bought from moviemaker, George Lukas a small-sized firm named Pixar. The core activity of Pixar was computer animation. Consequently, in 1995 this company issued famous Toy Story, which was a huge success of Pixar. Furthermore, in following years they released most successful animation movies ever such as Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, and Monsters. After long time of failures, Pixars success was not the only one. Jobs privet life got better as well. Because in the same year, he got married and shortly he had, a baby girl named Lisa (www.referenceforbusiness.com). In the meantime, A pple wrestled below a sequence of six CEOs that had no vision and were not able to inspire the firms unmotivated engineers. Morale was down and so Apple was facing profit lose and poor financial liquidity. Then in following year, Jobs came back to Apple as consultant to the CEO. Right after this Apple bought NeXT Software. In 1997, Apple and its main competitor Microsoft became partners. In the same year, Apple started selling its products directly to customers both by internet but as well by telephone. Right after this, Apples web store went into the top three most successful e-shops worldwide (Butcher Lee, 1987). In following year, Steve publicly declared the issuing of the iMac that possessed great computing capability at the reasonable price. Additionally, in 1999 Apple released laptop available on whole plateau of colors called iBook. In 2000, Steve Jobs became once again permanent CEO of Apple (Norman, 2009). After 2001 has came a period of splendor for Apple and for Jobs tha t continues to these days. Consequently, in 2009 Forbes listed Jobs on the 43 position wealthiest people on the globe, with $5,100 million fortune. LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY OF STEVE JOBS Numerous academics have claimed that proper management of knowledge can bring to organizations crucial and essential competitive advantage. Leadership is foundation of the process of managing information efficiently and effectively (Bryant, 2003). The recent studies show that most successful managers, uses a set of different styles of leadership (Goleman, 2008). What is more Golemans survey identified the following role: leaders who have mastered at least four styles of the leadership especially the authoritative, democratic, unifying and coaching create the best atmosphere at work and have the best results. (quotation translated, 2008). Based on the leadership theories, in term of specific traits the most effective leaders are calm, innovative, confident and challenging (Belbin, 2008). They have a vision and charisma (Goleman, 2008). They have ability to convince and motivate others to act effectively, while encouraging personal development (Kouzes Posner, 2002). They uphold wid e picture, while delegating details to the others (Coutu, 2008). In case of Steve Deutschman stated (2001) that his most significant leadership feature was creativity and being innovative. We could easily state that innovation was a base on which he built his empire. Until these days, we can observe that innovation is still key factor, which brought Apple to the market leader position in information technology industry. Jobs understood that being innovative and providing permanently new ideas to meet customers needs is essence in effective leadership (Quittner, 2004). Some of us can joke that Jobs has no education background, because he has not finished any college. However, undoubted fact is that devoting his life to his passion, new solutions in IT branch achieved more than almost every human being could ever dream about. Despite of many critics towards his behavior and styles of leadership such as Jobs is perfectionist with tendency to intimidate others (Harvey, 2005), there are a few important facts: In 1976, he co-founded Apple, and until n owadays, he has successfully led company, which now has 15K employees. This can prove that Jobs possesses great leadership qualities. In period, from 1977 to 1985, Apple had in total six CEOs. Within this time company was losing money, management had not vision for the future and stuff was not motivated. Right after this, Jobs came back as a CEO and by implementation of a few innovative products in very short time Apple returned to the prosperity (Young, 2005). Moreover, additional capability of Jobss leadership is product passion and deep-seated consumer orientation. Jobs was judged for his approach to leadership, however his accomplishments were never negated, because all of these were world shattering. Another important of trait of Jobs leadership is ability to see big picture, thus not only PCs, but also long distance ahead (Landrum Gene, 1993). Consequently, many times people working with him did not understand choices of Jobs concerning new products implementation, or his lon g-term vision. For instance, shortly after he came back to Apple, he decided to stop most of running production lines. Instead of this, he focused only on four products. This soon after turned out to be a huge success (Deutchman, 2001). Steve is very challenging both his towards his employees, but first of all for himself. Thus, tasks he delegates to workers are very likely not fully SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed). However, from the other hand, which is good thing, Jobs is permanently working to improve all fields of his job (Erve, 2004). Furthermore, there is crucial feature of Jobs leadership style that is his capability to connect passion and respects of his workers. Business Week (1997) argued that Jobs is a great example of transformational leadership (TL). This is leadership, which causes that workers devote all their energy in the companys strategy. TL takes place when, employees interact one on another, by which increase their morality a nd motivation (Kouzes Posner, 2002). Jobs as a transformational leader, was able to make its employees to do things that were in line with his vision of the companys development. Jobss best-known gift is his capability to charm and convince others. That is an extremely powerful trait, which, he uses often to persuade anyone of everything (Siracusa, 2007). Bennis and Thomas posted in their article that great leaders are born in the crucible of harsh experience (quotation translated, 2007). Furthermore, they added that: what makes a great leader is a resistance to adversity, and perseverance in the pursuit of goals. This is definitely significant capability of Jobs as a leader. As demonstrated above (leaving Apple in1985) Jobs life was full of failures. Most of the people in a similar situation would leave for good. However He did differently. Having a look on the Steves biography, we can also state that he has additional trait which good leader need to have, to perform effectively. Namely, this is self-confidence and ability to experiment and take a risk. These, according Kouzes and Posner are necessary (2002). All his live Jobs was confident, he deeply believed in all what he has been doing. He profoundly believed in his success, in success of companys strategy and so success of its products (Erve, 2004). This self-confidence and courage led him on the top. Many Journalists suggest that Jobs is egoist (Norman, 2009). Very likely he is indeed. However, this could be perceived also as crucial trait of effective leader, especially here in this case of company founder. Possibly Jobs has dreamed to be billionaire, and so egoism helped him to make this dream come true. Possibly egoism was a driving force which convinced him to create successful teams of employees that were able to develop such a revolutionary products. Jobs possesses also ability to create and develop great teams, consisted of star talents (Young, 2005). This is crucial trait, which is essential i n effective leadership (Kouzes Posner, 2002). This skill combined with great ideas, its vision and capability to manage and motivate his team could be key factors of his overall success. Summarizing the core features of Jobs success as leader are the following: being visionary, innovative and charismatic confidence and trust in: himself, success, his strategy capability to recruit, develop and motivate effective teams built of star talents persistence and resistance for defeats product zeal huge consumer devotion skill to transmit his ideas to the teams for realization; LEADERSHIP WEAKNESSES OF STEVE JOBS There is undoubted fact that overall performance Jobs has to be considered as a successful, because numbers on his bank account do not lie. He is extremely victorious businessman who achieved great financial status. However, there are also numerous of weaknesses, which, Steve Jobs possesses. Here based on the statements of people who have had direct contact with him, we could have a feelings Jobs represents typical for Belbins Shaper weaknesses, such as emotionality, the tendency to irritation or aggressive behavior (Belbin, 2004). Moreover, research performed by Belbin in 2004 to identify behavior of most effective manager indicated shaper team role as a least effective. Jobs represents also autocratic style of leadership. This approach has a tendency to weak decision-making process on the middle management level. Recently Apples management team gives the impression of being more motivated by dread of Steve than by their own inherent aspects (Siracusa, 2007). Webber from Washington Post said (2009) that Jobs had became a living legend in term of leadership style. Since his behavior discredits all existing best practices of leadership. He demonstrated long list of less than advisable behaviors, from public rebuking his employees to disrupting practices within meetings to the time consuming overview of every detail in product designing process. However in contrary experts and academics from leadership area state: Never reprimand your subordinate publicly! Rather, If necessary do it face to face (Walasek, 2010) The most effective leaders maintain wide focus, while leaving details to the others (Belbin, 2004) The most effective managers are calm and they are able to control their emotions (Rzyska, 2010) CONCLUSIONS This hard task to indicate weaknesses of the one of the biggest leaders ever CEO of decades (Fortune Magazine, 2009), whether to indicate the room for improvement in his leadership. Numbers do not lie he had no money when he started making business. Now he is billionaire. In 2009, Forbes magazine listed him on the 43 position wealthiest people on the globe, with $5,100 million fortune. Many traits that Jobs possesses seems to be completely opposite in relations to these indicated by leadership experts as an essential in order to be effective. However, those that he has, such as being innovative, self-confident, persistent for defeats or capability to make its ideas come true seem to be sufficient.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Success of Communist Ideas in American Government Essay example -- Exp

The Success of Communist Ideas in American Government      Ã‚   Ever since the beginning of the Cold War, Americans have held the word "Communism" to have many negative connotations. Our country has been focused on preventing the spread of that evil form of government. Wars were fought in foreign lands; American lives were lost protecting the world from Communism. Many Americans would be horrified, then, to find that the righteous system of Capitalism actually incorporates many Communist ideas. In fact, many of Karl Marx's radical ideas have reached the most fundamental establishments in the United States government; the government that did everything in its power to prevent the seeds of Communism from taking root in other countries.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The government Karl Marx envisioned has never seen the light of day. The Communist governments we're all familiar with, such as the ones in China and the former USSR, never came close to achieving true Communism. They can be better described as dictatorships, rather than governments for the people. As such, the United States was correct in preventing their control over the world. However, as a result of the use of the label "Communism," many Americans have equated this noun with "dictatorship." "To be Communist is to be in favor of a totalitarian government," they say. This simple prejudice lead to the age of McCarthyism, which destroyed the lives of supporters of Marx's ideas. So has Marx's Communism survived? Then and now, several of the United States' government agencies are intrinsically Communist, taking their foundations almost directly from The Communist Manifesto.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most radic... ... best examples of communism can be found right here, in the United States.    Works Cited    Air Transportation Association - Industry Information. 21 July 2000. Air Transportation Association. http://www.air-transport.org/public/industry/16.asp    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 13 Oct. 2000. The Federal Reserve Board. 14 Oct. 2000 http://www.federalreserve.gov/    Brief Corporate History of AT&T, A. 2000. AT&T Corp. 17 Oct. 2000. http://www.att.com/corporate/restructure/history.html    Marx, Karl. "The Communist Manifesto." A World Of Ideas. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford, 1998. 212-232.    Public Transportation Ridership Statistics Index. 17 Oct. 2000. American Public Transportation Association. 17 Oct. 2000. http://www.apta.com/stats/ridershp/index.htm

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Macbeth Appearance Vs Reality Essay -- essays research papers

In real life, we should not judge people solely on their appearances. There are many people who appear to be trustworthy but in reality, are not. Appearance versus reality is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The theme focuses on characters who are deceived by what appears to be real, and on the tragic consequences that follow this error in judgment. These characters include, Duncan, who trusts Macbeth too much; Lady Macbeth, who tricks by the witches and herself; Macbeth trickes by other people in the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  King Duncan trusts Macbeth too much. Macbeth appears as a super hero and faithful to King Duncan. He fights against the traitor Macdonwald, and he helps the king to solve a great problem that is won the war. Duncan trusts Macbeth very much because of Macbeth’s heroic efforts and he gives Macbeth a title Thane of Cawdor. Actually Macbeth is not that faithful to the king, he has the ambition to be the king when he hears the prophecies from the three witches. After Macbeth back to his castle, he plans to kill Duncan with Lady Macbeth, but Duncan doesn’t recognize this and goes to Macbeth’s castle to visit him. When he just gets in he says something very important: Duncan says, “This castle hath a peasant seat; the air/ Nimbly and sweetly reconnends itself/ Unto our gentle senses.'; (Act I, Scene 6, Lines 1-3) This quote shows that Duncan like Macbeth very much even he feels that Macbeth’s place is comfortable for him. Duncan never suspects the trustworthy of Macbeth and never does anything to guard himself. Macbeth kills Duncan easily. Therefore Duncan has deceived by Macbeth’s appearance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lady Macbeth tricks by the three witches. When Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth the prophecies from the three witches. Lady Macbeth thinks that it will be terrific for her to be a queen when Macbeth becomes the king. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill king Duncan, and this action causes Macbeth to start his first crime. Lady Macbeth becomes sleeplessness, nervous and she kills herself. The witches’ appearance lets Lady Macbeth to her death ending. Lady Macbeth also tricks by the appearance of herself. In the beginning she thinks that she should persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan. When Lady Macbeth knows about the proph... ...ese lines Lady Macbeth shames Macbeth’s manhood by saying that everything is ready, they have the chance to kill the king, Macbeth should give out weakness like her and if Macbeth is a man he should kill the king. Lady Macbeth seems to telling him the right thing he should do and Macbeth listens to her, and does his major crime that is killing the king. Therefore Macbeth judges people in their appearance and led him into a tragedy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the examples of the three characters in the play Macbeth who are deceived by the appearances of other characters, therefore the theme Appearance versus Reality is an important theme in the play. This theme focus on characters having error in judgment with the appearances of other characters, and deceived by other. This error of judgment let them in to tragedies. This theme is also very important to us and other people in our daily life, and I have known some of my relatives and friends who had also tricked by other people. Base on my knowledge from the examples of characters in the play, we should never judge people by their appearances, and I believe that time can clearly show the reality of people.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Review/critical thinking Essay

1. Syncopation is placing emphasis or accents on beats that are unexpected, or not having emphasis or accents on beats that are expected too. Syncopated rhythms add variety to music. 2. Ragtime is a musical genre, it combined march music with African rhymths. The instruments used in the bands using ragtime would become the instruments used to create jazz which is how the two were related. 3. Buddy Bolden helped create Classic Jazz. Bolden led a band in New Orleans from about 1895 to 1906, its hard to tell what their music was like because there’s norecordings only stories. 4. Bebop had faster rhythms and more complex harmonies. The music also has more frequent chord changes, often after only a beat or two, and greater dissonance. 5. Hot jazz is a form of jazz with a lot of improvisation. One of the differences between classic jazz and hot jazz is that with hot jazz, multiple musicians engage in improvisation at the same time, whereas in classic jazz, improvisation was typically limited to one instrument at a time. Critical Thinking Questions 1. They’re a lot of similarities and diffrences when it comes to jazz and classical music,they’re similar because Jazz is referred to america’s classical music, and jazz was often influenced by classical music. A lot of composers were good at improvising and jazz musicians are sort of know for their improvising. Both classical and jazz music use basic forms and structures. Differences: the tone of the music and the instruments and performances of the music. 2. Characteristics of Jazz: different, unique, many subtypes, ragtime, big bands amd little bands, syncopation, off-beat rhythm and improvisation. 3. A lot of people call Jazz â€Å"America’s calssical music† I think they say that because classical music developed more in Europe and Jazz is very relative to classical music but it developed in the United States so if thats why they call it that then I agree. 4. Ella Fitzgerald (â€Å"First Lady of Song†) Shes an icon and one of the best scat singers in the history of jazz. She won thirteen Grammy awards, including Lifetime Achievement award in 1967, and her records sold over forty million copies. Her contribution was just her greatness. 5. Improvisation is the act of creating music in the moment. Its found in many of the subgenres of jazz, some forms of jazz are based on it (Hot jazz. )

Monday, September 16, 2019

Competitive Advantage †Microsoft Case Essay

When trying to spill the beans of MS’s success, the titles of two books from Bill Gates slip into my mind. They are â€Å"The Road Ahead† and â€Å"Business @ the speed of thought†, which I would translate into â€Å"Direction† and â€Å"Speed† and could be the reason for MS’s success – be good at setting strategy and adapting to the changes. However, to reframe them within the context of Modern Competitive Strategy, the reasons for MS’s success are to create and maintain its modern COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES. With the analysis of it competitive advantages, MS’s profitability was more rely on its ability to DEFEND its market position rather than to create. To put it another way, the usage of MS’s resources and capabilities can be better understood in light of isolating mechanisms. On one hand, MS focus on increasing customer retention. Software is an experience good. It can be tell exactly from the name – Windows XP – where XP is short for experience. For an experience good, the search costs, training cost and learning cost are high, which in turn help to increase customer retention. Here is a classic example. In 1998, Bill Gates gave his speech at Washington University and talk about piracy in China, and he said: â€Å"About 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.† For the same reason, MS bundled Office Suite, expanded server platforms, and gave many stuffs/features for free like IE and Media Player. We can expect the adding to the list will grow on and on. Its broad scope of products and global presence also helped MS to increase customer retention. On the other hand, MS defend its market position fiercely. A typical tactic used by MS is the prohibitive development cost. For example, it spent $2 billion alone in 2001 for its .net platform. When MS identifies a potential threat, it react with all of it resources and capabilities to compete with. Through advance technology, enticement OEM manufactures, or even giving for free, it won battles over Office Suite, OS, Internet browser and media player. As a result, MS stands above its competitors and reaps its profit like printing money. For example, while application software price dropped by an average of 8.9% at 1989, MS could raise its OS price. While WordPerfect was priced at $79, MS charged $249 for upgrades of Office 2000. The challenges MS faced somehow derived from its own marketing activities. The antitrust litigation is a warning for its aggressive assault on its competitors. In general, Microsoft should keep focus on defending its market positions, using its resources and capabilities cautiously and smartly. Its isolation mechanisms could be enhanced by strategies like product development and acquisition, platform integration, user and channel enticement, all happen at prohibitive cost.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Chemistry: University and Study Area Essay

Introductory Chemistry 1405 for non-science majors is designed to meet the needs of students with no background in Chemistry or who are in need of additional preparation before taking Chemistry 1411. This course is concerned with the study of matter presented at an introductory level. The prerequisite for this course is DMAT 0091. Topics covered include: chemistry and measurements, matter and energy, atoms and elements, compounds and their bonds, chemical calculations, gas laws, solutions, acids and bases and nuclear reactions. This syllabus is your legal contract for this course. The first requirement is that you read it entirely. You are responsible for all of the readings and assignments as defined. Questions or issues requiring clarification are welcomed at any time. REQUIRED OR RECOMMENDED MATERIALS (ISBN FOR TEXTBOOK): Required textbook:Introductory Chemistry for Non-Science Majors, the pearson custom edition for Eastfield College, by Timberlake. This book can be ordered from the bookstore http://follett. com/. ISBN#: 1256414824. It is bundled with Eastfield custom edition lab manual for first part of the laboratory and homework code for Mastering Chemistry. Lab Supplies: You must order a lab kit CK-EF. Order your LabPaq online at http://www. labpaq. com. once you are sure to continue the class, as the returned policy is strict. For labPaq order call 866-206-0773 x 114. OR, go to www. labpaq. com/order here, and enter Log in ID: C 000091, Password, labpaq (all lower case) and Choose CK-EF. You can obtain any digital balance with an accuracy of 0. 1 grams. Recommended digital weight balance from NorthShore Care Supply ( http://www. northshorecare. com) is Triton T2 digital precision handheld scale, Item # 7400 ($19. 95). Other required materials:Laboratory Safety Goggles (may be purchased at campus bookstore) Scientific Calculator STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1. Demonstrate understanding of the subatomic particles and types of matter 2. Use the Periodic Table to identify metals, non-metals and metalloids 3. Make calculations using the metric system of measurements and significant figures. COURSE OBJECTIVES The course is to demonstrate a general knowledge of the basic concepts in chemistry, and to prepare the student for Chemistry 1411. CORE CURRICULUM COURSE OBJECTIVES: I. INTELLECTUAL COMPETENCIES: 1. Reading: The ability to analyze and interpret a variety of printed materials such as book, documents and articles written at a level above the 12th grade level 2. Writing: The ability to produce clear, correct and coherent prose adapted to a purpose, occasion and audience at a level above the 12th grade level 3. Speaking: Ability to communicate orally in clear, coherent and persuasive language appropriate to a purpose, occasion and audience at a level above the 12th grade level 4. Listening: Analyze and interpret various forms of spoken and visual communication at a level above the 12th grade level 5. Critical Thinking: Think and analyze at a critical level 6. Computer Literacy: Understand our technological society, use computer-based technology in communication, problem solving, and acquiring information II. EXEMPLARY EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: 1. To understand and apply method and appropriate technology to the study of natural sciences 2. To recognize scientific and quantitative methods and the differences between these approaches and the other methods of inquiry, and to communicate findings, analyses, and interpretation both orally and in writing 3. To demonstrate knowledge of the major issues and problems facing modern science, including issues that touch on ethics, values, and public policy 4. To demonstrate knowledge of the interdependence of science and technology, and their influence on and contributions to, modern culture MEANS OF ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING OUTCOMES The course learning outcomes are assigned in more detail for each chapter in various learning objectives. These objectives will be assessed by exam questions, terminology, study area quiz, assignment from mastering chemistry and written laboratory report. It is encouraged to start your weekly activities by understanding â€Å"terminology†, which will be followed by reading corresponding units in the textbook. You will continue working on â€Å"Study Area† quiz and Review Questions, and homework assignments from mastering chemistry. Finally, you will perform the lab experiments. These steps are written in order under â€Å"Things to do† in all the weekly activities. EVALUATION PROCEDURE: 1. Lab Grades: This online course of Chem 1405 uses the â€Å"Wet Lab† experiences from Hands-on lab, Inc. For the first five labs, students use the basic laboratory conceptual practice using Pearson published laboratory manual. After completion of five labs from Pearson published lab manual, students will use their purchased lab kits for the â€Å"Wet Lab† experiences and perform real chemical experiments using chemicals and standard techniques, in the convenience of their house. To ensure the credibility of the lab portion of this course, students will be asked to submit their picture showing their face at one or two specific steps of each experiment along with the data as reflected in their report. The specific steps where they need to submit their picture are well- written in the attached report form in the corresponding experiment on eCampus. Lab grades will be earned from their completed lab reports. These reports have to be typed in Microsoft office word and upload on ecampus in order to be graded, unless otherwise specified (Hand Written lab Report Will not be Accepted). You must use the report attached on ecampus under the folder â€Å"Lab #† of each week activities, and not the one that comes on the CD from LabPaq. You will get ZERO SCORE if you won’t use REPORT FORMAT UPLOADED on ecampus under the â€Å"Lab #†. However, to synthesize the conclusion and discussion of your result in the report, you can use â€Å"Lab Report Assistant† that comes in the CD with the CK-1 kit from Labpaq. The â€Å"Lab Report Assistant† can also be found on ecampus under â€Å"Start Here† button. The CD also has the introduction, safety enforcement agreement and the procedure to perform the lab. You have to sign; scan, and upload the safety agreement in the first week of the semester. Students have to upload the report on ecampus after the completion. The instructions on â€Å"how to upload† the report can be found in eCampus menu under the â€Å"Start Here† button. Students can purchase the lab kit, LabPaq CK-EF, from Hands-on Labs, Inc. Please log on to http://www. labpaq. com/ to order the kit. The lab kits also contain the manual of the experiments on CD. Students CANNOT PASS this course with a failing lab grade. A score of 70% or better and completion of 8/11 labs (cannot miss more than 3 labs) is required to pass the lab portion of this course. The lab reports has to be uploaded on eCampus by 11. 30 pm on the specific due date found on the course calendar. Late lab reports will be accepted but they will drop by 25% for each day the reports are late. Students are encouraged to read the helpful suggestions after they read the procedures on the CD and before they do the experiments. Similarly, it is advised them to complete the lab as early as they can and do not wait until the last minute. The lab schedules are found under the weekly activity for each week. 2. Weekly Activities: These are located under â€Å"Course Contents† button in eCampus. Every week the learning items are placed in the following order. 1. Things to do: Helps to figure out the things to do quickly 2. Learning Objectives: Helps to focus on the goals to learn units of the chapter 3. Powerpoint: Gives you the main direction of concepts for each chapter 4. Terminology: It is a quick guide to know the definition and brief concepts of the topics 5. Study Area Quiz 1 &2 (www. masteringchemistry. com/study area) & Key Concept 6. Assignment (www. masteringchemistry. com/study area) 7. Lab report: Attached on the†Lab #† folder. The lab manual is CK-EF from www. LabPaq. com 8. DO NOT BEG FOR THE EXTENSION OF DUE DATES! 2. 1. Terminology: These are copyright materials and should not be altered. These terms help you to understand the concepts and to prepare for the exam. Download the list of terms from eCampus on the folder â€Å"Terminology #† under â€Å"Week of #† from the ecampus menu†. Study the terminologies, read the corresponding section in the book and answer them concisely with examples. You can try this as many times as you want, and upload your final version on ecampus with the file name â€Å"Terminology #† (NOTE: Please see â€Å"How to load a document on ecampus under â€Å"Start Here† button) 2. 2 Study Area These are self check activities and students can attempt as many times as they want. It helps to understand the concepts as well as to prepare for the exam 2. 2. 1 Quiz 1 & 2 After log on to www. masteringchemistry. com/study area, answer the multiple choice questions. These are self check activities and you can try this as many times as you want, scroll down and email the final trial to yourself. Repeat this step for quiz #2. Copy and paste both the quiz 1 & 2 score and answers of all the questions in a new file called as â€Å"Study Area # 1† for chapter 1. Upload the â€Å"Study Area #† on eCampus. Follow the same procedure for all the chapters. (DO NOT EMAIL TO THE INSTRUCTOR) 2. 2. 2 Review Questions To complete this activity, please follow the same procedure as in 2. 2. 1. However, create a file name â€Å"Study #† where # is replaced by 1, 2, 3, and etc. for the corresponding chapter. 2. 3 HOMEWORK (ASSIGNMENT) You will use Mastering Chemistry for the online homework tutorial. This will help you to understand the various concepts and to prepare for the exam. You can go directly to mastering chemistry without going to eCampus, by log on to http:// www. masteringchemistry. com/site. Many of the problems come from the back of the book to help you figure out the right answer. Do not attempt the homework without preparing yourself. You have to study the practice problems and worked out examples related to various units before to attempt the homework questions. For first time registration and to be more knowledgeable about this system please log on to http://www. masteringsupport. com/videos. Your COURSE ID is for this course is MCADHIKARI89707 It is advised to complete the assignments in preparation for the tests. Late homework will worth’s 50% of the total possible points. Homework due dates will be shown in Mastering chemistry web site. It is recommended to do the homework questions little by little, rather than solving all the problems at one sitting. Once you have completed the homework assignments, you can revisit them even after the due dates during the preparation for the exam. The total score of the homework from all the chapters will be posted on your ecampus grade book at the end of the semester. DO NOT LOOK THE ANSWER before you solved the problems, if you do so, you will GET ZERO SCORE on that problem. Students have to take full responsibility of THEIR SCORE REPORTED correctly on the website. If you have doubt on any technical issue contact the technical support at 1-877-672-6877. You will get ZERO SCORE IF YOU EMAIL the answer of the ASSIGNEMENT to the instructors’ email. You must answer the assignment on the website. Mastering Chemistry Assignments Problems Chapter # of Problems Chapter 1: 15 problems Chapter 2: 13 problems Chapter 3: 33 problems Chapter 4: 15 problems Chapter 5: 15 problems Chapter 6: 15 problems Chapter 7: 15 problems Chapter 8: 15 problems Chapter 9: 15 problems GRADING SCALE: Total number of points possible for this course is 1055. The following scale will be used to determine the standard letter grade of A, B, C, D and F of ? 90, ? 80, ? 70, ? 60 and ? 50, respectively, earned in the course. 810-905 = A; 808-719 = B; 718–629 = C; 628-538 = D; 537-0 = F Evaluation Items Points Quiz 1 45 Quiz 2 45 Quiz 3 45 Exam 1 100 Exam 2 100 Exam 3 100 Vocabulary 45 (9 submittals @ 5 pts. each) (mandatory) Homework 90 (9 submittals @ 10 pts. each) (mandatory) Study Area (quiz 1& 2) 45 (9 submittals @ 5 pts. each) (mandatory) Lab reports) 220 (11 @ 20 pts. Each) Study Area (Review Questions) 45 (9 submittals @ 5 pts. each) Syllabus Quiz 10 *Discussion Board 15 ______________________________________________________________________________ Total Points 905 *The instructor evaluates the overall performance of the student in all weekly activities DO NOT BEG FOR THE GRADE! PLEASE EARN IT!! Syllabus Quiz: A quiz over syllabus material will be taken on eCampus. The quiz worths 10 points. It will be used to determine if students have read the syllabus material. You may use your syllabus on the quiz. You may take it as many times as you like until the deadline. I advise you to take it until you score a perfect 10 points. The quiz can be found on eCampus under the syllabus quiz section. DISCUSSION BOARDS Participation in the thee Discussion Boards (DB) is required. The discussion boards are worth 5 points each for a total of 15 points. DISCUSSION BOARD ETIQUETTE This science course is based on scientific fact alone, not personal opinions. Please refrain from using the discussion board to express political viewpoints, as a dating service, to advertise any and all types of solicitation, from expressing religious viewpoints or quoting Biblical passages, or giving personal opinions. Please refrain from using any inappropriate language in the discussion boards. Please do not â€Å"sign† discussion boards. The discussion board will automatically be posted with your name. ***Failure to adhere to discussion board etiquette may result in the student being blocked from using the discussion board and a loss of points. EMAIL ETIQUETTE When sending an email message to an instructor there are a few guidelines to follow: 1. Address the instructor as Mr. , Ms. , Mrs. or Professor, and in subject line please mention your class and section number 2. Always include your name, course, and section number in the email. 3. Never use foul, vulgar, inappropriate, discriminatory, rude, or otherwise unprofessional language in the email. 4. Remember, the relationship between the student and the instructor is a professional relationship not a friendship; therefore, be sure not to include instructors in your forwarded emails to friends, chat rooms, or personal updates. 5. Email between the instructor and student is to relate to course, campus, or educational matters INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES: Withdrawal Policy (with drop date): STOP BEFORE YOU DROP For students who enrolled in college level courses for the first time in the fall of 2007, Texas Education Code 51. 907 limits the number of courses a student may drop. You may drop no more than 6 courses during your entire undergraduate career unless the drop qualifies as an exception. Your campus counseling/advising center will give you more information on the allowable exceptions. Remember that once you have accumulated 6 non-exempt drops, you cannot drop any other courses with a â€Å"W†. Therefore, please exercise caution when dropping courses in any Texas public institution of higher learning, including all seven of the Dallas County Community Colleges. For more information, you may access: https://www1. dcccd. edu/coursedrops If you are unable to complete this course, it is your responsibility to withdraw formally. The withdrawal request must be received in the Registrar’s Office by Januay 06, 2014. Failure to do so will result in your receiving a performance grade, usually an â€Å"F. † If you drop a class or withdraw from the college before the official drop/withdrawal deadline, you will receive a â€Å"W† (Withdraw) in each class dropped. Repeating This Course: Effective for Fall Semester 2005, the Dallas County Community Colleges will charge additional tuition to students registering the third or subsequent time for a course. This class may not be repeated for the third or subsequent time without paying the additional tuition. Third attempts include courses taken at any of the Dallas County Community Colleges since the Fall 2002 semester. More information is available at: https://www1. dcccd. edu/cat0506/ss/oep/third_attempt. cfm . Financial Aid: Students who are receiving any form of financial aid should check with the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from classes. Withdrawals may affect your eligibility to receive further aid and could cause you to be in a position of repayment for the current semester. Students who fail to attend or participate after the drop date are also subject to this policy. The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) is a statewide program designed to ensure that students enrolled in Texas public colleges and universities have the basic academic skills needed to be successful in college-level course work. The TSI requires assessment, remediation (if necessary), and advising of students who attend a public college or university in the state of Texas. The program assesses a student’s basic academic skills in reading, writing, and math. Passing the assessment is a prerequisite for enrollment in many college level classes. Students who do not meet assessment standards may complete prerequisite requirements by taking developmental courses in the deficient area and passing them with a grade of C or higher. Additional information is available at https://www1. dcccd. edu/cat0506/admiss/tsi_requirements. cfm . Academic Honesty: Academic honesty is expected, and integrity is valued in the Dallas County Community Colleges. Scholastic dishonesty is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. As a college student, you are considered a responsible adult. Your enrollment indicates acceptance of the DCCCD Code of Student Conduct published in the DCCCD Catalog. More information is available at https://www1. dcccd. edu/cat0406/ss/code. cfm . Academic Dishonesty Course Contract: Academic dishonesty is defined in the District Catalog includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a quiz, a test, or assignment or lab work; plagiarism (including the internet); copying another student’s lab or lecture work; or allowing another student (even lab partners) to copy all or any portion of an assignment. All written assignments are to be in the students’ own words. Written assignments for both the lab and lecture works are to be completed solely by the student, not in collaboration with other students unless otherwise noted in the assignment or instructed by instructor in exceptional cases. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Any student found to be violating any portion of the academic dishonesty policy will automatically receive a zero (without exception or discussion). Students repeating the course are not permitted to use any old assignments or graded materials. All written assignments must be new, not just modifications of old assignments. When working in partners or groups, each student is expected to turn in his or her original work in their own words. Exact (or overwhelmingly similar as per the instructors discretion) duplication of an assignment (in any form), from any group or partner set, will not be accepted, and a grade of zero will be given. If further clarification of this policy or explanation of actions that will be taken for any and all violations is necessary, please see the instructor. ADA Statement: If you are a student with a disability and/or special needs who requires accommodations, please contact the college Disability Services Office. Religious Holidays: Absences for observance of a religious holy day are excused. A student whose absence is excused to observe a religious holy day is allowed to take a make-up examination or complete an assignment within a reasonable time after the absence. Students must notify the instructor of any religious holiday that will impact his/her time in this course by no later than the certification date. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). In compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), the College may release information classified as â€Å"directory information† to the general public without the written consent of the student. Directory information includes: (1) student name, (2) student address, (3) telephone numbers, (4) date and place of birth, (5) weight and height of members of athletic teams, (6) participation in officially recognized activities and sports, (7) dates of attendance, (8) educational institution most recently attended, and (9) other similar information, including major field of student and degrees and awards received. Students may protect their directory information at any time during the academic year. If no request is filed, directory information is released upon written inquiry. No telephone inquiries are acknowledged. No transcript or academic record is released without written consent from the student, except as specified by law. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Food and Drink Policy Food, drinks, and tobacco products are prohibited in Eastfield College classrooms. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Children on Campus The institution strives to protect an environment most conducive to teaching and learning for all enrolled students. Children who are taking part in organized scheduled activities or who are enrolled in specific classes are welcomed. Minor children, however, should not be brought to the institution unless closely supervised by their parent. Minor children should not be brought into classrooms, laboratories or other facilities of the college. This practice is disruptive to the learning process. In the case of an emergency where the student-parent has no alternative but to bring the child to campus, classroom faculty or the administrative heads of other units have full discretion as to whether a child may be allowed to quietly stay in the location. These individuals may require that children be removed by the student-parent from the setting if, in their opinion, the presence of the child is deemed to be disruptive to the learning process. For reasons of security and child welfare the institution will not permit unattended children to be left anywhere on the premises. Parents who have problems with childcare should visit the Counseling and/or Advisement Center to receive referrals to childcare services in the area. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eastfield College Email Policy Faculty and students must have and use a DCCCD account for all correspondence relating to academic coursework. For information on setting up a DCCCD student email account go to: http://www. dcccd. edu/netmail/home. html _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Obtaining Final Course Grades Using eConnect Final Grade Reports are no longer mailed. Convenient access is available online at www. econnect. dcccd. edu. Use your identification number when you log onto eConnect, an online system developed by the DCCCD to provide you with timely information regarding your college record. Your grades will also be printed on your Student Advising Report, which is available in the Admissions Office. ____________________________________________________________________________________Instructor Reserves the Right to amend this syllabus as necessary !!! A sample of lab report: ( For lab number 7 and up) Unless otherwise specified in a particular lab the sample and the grading scheme of the report is as below. Date:_________________ Name____________________.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Hvac Tube

Tube in tube condensers Small tube in tube condensers Straight tube in tube condensers Shell and water cooled condensers Vertical shell and coil water cooled condensers Shell and tube water cooled condensers Vertical shell and tube condensers Surface condenser Counter flow in condensers Cross flow in condensers Air cooled condensers Cooling Tower Re circulated water system Condenser control Condenser capacity Condensing temperature control Expansion valve Objectives Expansion device Superheat sensor on dry expansion circuit Thermostatic expansion valve Automatic expansion valveThermal electric expansion valve Capillary tube High pressure float valve Low pressure float valve TWO Control Operation of thermostatic expansion valve TWO Operation Evaporator Evaporator Control Splitting finned – tube evaporator coils Row – split coil configuration Refrigeration accessories and their locations Superconductivity. Webby. Com Filtering and drying Pressure controls and their applic ation Window air conditioners The refrigeration system of the window air conditioner Parts of the window air conditioners The reiteration system to the window air conditioner :The refrigeration system of the window air conditioner: Types of Split A/c Parts of a split air – conditioning system Air filter Outdoor unit Refrigerant piping or tubing Working of split AC Pressure sides Air Conditioning schematic system : The various steps involved in this method are: 1. Select suitable velocities in the main and branch ducts. 2. Find the diameters of main and branch ducts from airflow rates and velocities for circular ducts. For rectangular ducts, find the cross – sectional area from flow rate and velocity, and then y fixing the aspect ratio, find the two sides of the rectangular duct. . From the velocities and duct dimensions obtained in the previous step, find the frictional pressure drop for main and branch ducts using friction chart or equation

Friday, September 13, 2019

An Outpost of Progress Infobox

Notes for the Teachers One Language – Many Voices Joseph Conrad: An Outpost of Progress INfO-BOx Cultural and historical background The colonization of Central Africa did not set in until the very end of the 19th century, when ‘the scramble for Africa’ – the race of European powers to divide the continent among themselves – got under way: In 1870 European countries owned only 10% of Africa, by 1900 it was 90%. For a long time access to the huge territories in the Congo River basin was considered impossible due to the impenetrable forests and the impassable rapids of the river itself, which served as a barrier to European exploitation.The adventurer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley gained the interest and support of the Belgian King Leopold II for his expeditions into the Congo basin ‘to prove that the Congo natives were susceptible of civilization and that the Congo basin was rich enough to repay exploitation’. In the name of Leopold II he appropriated land and labour for the king’s newly founded ‘Association Internationale du Congo’. Leopold’s claim to the Congo was recognized at the International Africa Conference in Berlin in 1884–1885, presided over by Bismarck. The Congo Free State, as it was ironically called, was confirmed as the private property of King Leopold II in return for guarantees of neutrality, free trade and opposition to slavery. The Congo Free State, 1900 next to nothing, apart from small amounts of cloth, beads or brass rods. The rubber boom started in the mid-1890s due to the increasing industrial demand from Europe. While the rubber trade made a fortune for Leopold II, it led to the extreme brutalization of the local population. Under Leopold’s ownership approximately 10 million Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease.To enforce the rubber quotas, the Force Publique (FP) was called in. The FP was an army, but its aim was not to defend the country, but to terrorize the population, which it did by cutting off the limbs of the natives; this practice was disturbingly widespread. When news of these atrocities reached Europe, there was a public outcry; the British parliament asked Roger Casement to make an inquiry into the situation in the country. The result of his enquiry was the famous Congo Report (1904). Casement had been a British diplomat in the Congo, where he met Conrad and whose Heart of Darkness (1899) had deeply influenced him.In 1903 Conrad wrote to Casement saying, ‘there exists in Africa a Congo State, created by the act of European powers, where ruthless, systematic cruelty towards the blacks is the basis of the administration’. Conrad’s novel also contributed to a widespread knowledge of the colonial abuses and crimes taking place in Africa. In 1908 Leopold II was forced to sell the Congo Free State to the Belgian government, which annexed it as a Belgian colony until its independence in 1960, when it was named Zaire. Its history since then has not been much happier. Following the secessionist Katanga CivilWar, the country was brutalized under the dictatorship of President Mobutu. In 1997, when Mobutu was overthrown by the rebel leader Laurent Kabila, the country was renamed The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Torn between ethnic strife and civil wars, involving refugees from Rwanda and Burundi and displacements from Sudan, the country is still unstable. Biographical aspects Ivory and rubber were the main sources of income for King Leopold’s company and its agents: they and their African auxiliaries seized all the ivory that could be found, buying tusks from villages for a pittance, or simply confiscating them.They were working on a lucrative commission structure imposed by the King in 1890, of which the African elephant hunters received 26 As captain of a steamship, Joseph Conrad travelled up the Congo River to Central Africa and the heart of the Congo in 1890, and then went on an overland track to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). As we kn ow from his diaries and letters, which he wrote in English, he was deeply concerned with the greed of Belgian (and other European) merchants, the abuses of colonial powers and atrocities committed by white managers and their black auxiliaries, always in the name of a missionary and rogressive spirit to ‘enlighten the dark continent’. But he also met with what he thought to be cannibalism, and was confused Notes for the Teachers by the natives’ drums and ‘wild savagery’. His decision to resign from his post as captain was as much caused by his ill health as by his desire to become a writer. It has been said that ‘Africa killed Conrad the sailor and strengthened Conrad the writer’1 In his extensive writings (over 40 works of fiction of various length) the themes of travel and the pursuit of material and idealistic goals as well as isolation, ambition and failure can be said to be drawn from his own experiences.Conrad: An Outpost of Progress His deep-rooted scepticism of imperialism can be linked to his Polish background: born into a nation which had vanished from the map after being annexed by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795, and into a family which had opposed Russian oppression and been exiled to Ukraine, Conrad had good reason to question the right of stronger powers to impose their wills on smaller nations. 1 Jean-Aubry, Georges. Joseph Conrad in the Congo. New York: Haskell, 1973. Interpretation Summary Kayerts and Carlier are p ut in charge of a remote and unpromising trading station on a river.