Monday, September 30, 2019

Mahsa

But, it is not a problem at all from the view of human rights. The author claims that homosexual marriage is neither culturally nor physiologically possible and it is a dead-end street without the cooperation of a third party due to extinction of generation. He satirized that gay marriage is not programmed properly and there are hardware problems as well in cyber language. He explores the question of whether homosexuality is an immutable characteristic because there is no evidence for the claim that homosexuality Is genetic, hormonal or biological from any school of medicine, medical Journal or professional organization.He comments that homosexuals are the richest, most educated and most traveled demographic group although they are few in number. He believes that homosexuality is a behavior-based life-style and presents the 1986 Supreme Court decision of Bowers vs.. Hardwire case for claim that gay marriage is state's public school curriculum and homosexual marriage should be taught to their children as â€Å"abnormally'. To reinforce his views, he insists that churches may resist homosexual weddings and it may be used as a basis for denying them access to all kinds of government programs.And, Catholic churches were singled out by the city and denied aid for providing emergency shelter to the city homeless for resistance against homosexual â€Å"rights† ordinances. Sheldon asserts that â€Å"homosexual marriage† is an oxymoron, unnatural and against our country most basic standards. Finally, he reports that every reputable public opinion poll demonstrates that nearly 8 of every 10 Americans don't accept the pretence of â€Å"homosexual marriage. † Although homosexual marriage is not generational, his claim is narrow view about marriage. The meaning of marriage is not limited on only preserving our species.Everyone has a right to pursue one's happiness through living with a person whom one loved. Also, all mankind has the right to pursue on e's civil liberties. The only action that should be banned from doing is the action that causes harm on someone else, but homosexual marriage does not cause harm in many cases. We need to consider that we could not predicate homosexual to be behavior-based life-style Just because there is no recognition from any school of medicine, medical journal or professional organization that homosexuality is genetic, hormonal or biological.A questionable aspect of this article is that homosexuals are the richest, cost educated and most traveled demographic group. The author should provide evidence to support his views. Another questionable aspect of this article is that homosexuality is not a constitutionally protected right. Homosexuals are the citizens of the United States who phototypesetting's a citizen. They've taxes, obey laws, vote and educate themselves, etc. So, their right should be guaranteed discriminated. According to the article 2 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyon e is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration.This indicates that being homosexual should not effect on possessing the right of marriage and having family. His claim has no bases why homosexuality should be taught to children as the â€Å"abnormally' and why churches stopped supporting for providing emergency shelter to city homeless. He looks like worrying that admitting same sex marriage will make homosexuality as kind of a trend and will be spread over people. And, it is questionable why churches used homeless people as sacrifices to against homosexuality. I could not find any relationship between homosexuals and homeless people.In a final shortcoming in the article, the author claims that ‘homosexual marriage' is against our country most basic standard. He should explain in detail what standards are and how ‘homosexual marriage' is against those. Despite these criticism, the author's claim should not be criticized as a witch hunting. Peo ple against homosexuality and people supportive homosexuality Just have different opinions. In my view, more systematic and comprehensive research of this issue is needed including the countries which legalized same-sex marriage before any firm conclusion can be drawn.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How do we feel about the monster at the end of the novel? Essay

Mary Shelly wrote the novel â€Å"Frankenstein† in 1817, she was just seventeen. It was a time of great exploration and discovery, this helps Mary Shelly delve into the unknown without it seeming too fictional. Mary Shelly had had a tragic life; she knew what it felt like to grieve as she had lost both her mother and child. Her experiences of death and grief greatly shape the context of this novel. Mary Shelly wrote â€Å"Frankenstein† in ‘Villa Mantalege’ in Switzerland. The villa was very isolated; as were many scenes in her book, for example the ice bound boat, the feelings of isolation run deeply throughout this novel in the form of the monster. He feels isolated in his own body because of his appearance. Isolation is also a great way to bring mystery and the extraordinary into the novel. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Frankenstein himself has experienced grief and is determined that nobody should ever feel like he did, he also wanted the world to know who he was; so, to pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold the mysteries of creation, the monster was born. Here Frankenstein spoke the most famous quote from the novel, â€Å"Beautiful! Great God! † Frankenstein is horrified with the result of the creature he has made and flees his laboratory. We have to remember that even though the monster had, â€Å"yellow skin, a shriveled complexion, and watery eyes†, that he was still a baby. He was one day old and the first taste of life he was handed was complete rejection. When Frankenstein runs to his bedroom and shuts the curtain on his four poster bed, the monster follows him. The monster reaches his hand out to Frankenstein who is petrified and flees once again. Mary Shelly presents the monster here as innocent, childlike just reaching out to his mother/father figure for some love. We empathise with the monster and remember a time when we have felt rejected, hurt or unloved.   

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The Wonders Of Golf Good And Bad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Wonders Of Golf Good And Bad - Essay Example Golf is gaining in popularity a lot these days. With players like Tiger Woods and Tom Watson in the professional league earning millions of dollars and making golf gain immense recognition, the game has attracted many new comers from through out the world. Golf also has a lot of other advantages over other sports: Another plus point about this game for newcomers is that they do need partners to play with them. It can be played by a single individual. And unlike other sports such as football and tennis, there is also no upper limit on the number of players that can play at a time. For those people who need exercise but are limited by physical potential to play sports like tennis and squash can play golf. These people usually include middle aged and older men and women. Playing golf does not only provide for them good entertainment for passing time, it also provides to them physical exercise in the natural, outside as they have to walk at least a couple of miles all in the name of fun. Even though golf is gaining popularity through out the world, there still remain people who do not like the idea of a sport that does not demand much from its players physically. There still remains a crowd that believes that this game is more suited for older people than young athletes. The same points that go in favor of the game can be manipulated to go against it too. Young athletes who are attracted to this game must take into consideration that more aggressive games like tennis, squash, basketball etc. are more likely to keep them fit both physically and mentally. Another very important concern related to golf is its environmental impact. The construction and maintenance of the golf courses is very costly and uses up thousands of gallons of water and in today's world where there is scarcity of a resource like water, it is quite shocking. Conclusion There are many wonderful things about golf. It's nice being outdoors playing a relatively peaceful game in the open, under the sky, with the trees and beautiful scenery around. But it is clear that when it comes to physical exertion and fitness, the game does not have much to offer compared to the other games. Ultimately then, it depends on the player who has to make the choice between the different sports available to him and whether he chooses golf as a sport for himself or not, depends on his preferences. Works Cited 1) Adler, Ben. "The case against golf." 14 june 2007. www.commentisfree.guardian.co.uk. 26 may 2008 . 2) NYTimes. "Golf is growing in favor." 4 october 1891. query.nytimes.com. 26 may 2008 . 3) Jean Wyrics. Steps to Writing Well. 6th Edition, isbn#1-4130-0109-2.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Negative ECONOMIC impacts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil Research Paper

Negative ECONOMIC impacts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil - Research Paper Example Most available literature has also been limited to the positive aspects of hosting the FIFA World Cup. The argumentative question that this research paper poses however is whether there are no negative economic impacts of hosting the FIFA World Cup. In the opinion of the researcher, there could be some very crucial negative economic impacts that the hostage of the FIFA World Cup comes with, but most of these have been ignored by host countries. In this research paper, Brazil is used as a case study, where the hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is brought under perspective. The research paper shall be delimited to only the negative economic impacts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and so will not look into other aspects like social effects. The approach to discussing the negative economic impact would be to look at different variables of economic parameters that may be of concern to the country’s economy, before, during and after the World Cup. At the end of the paper an argumentativ e debate shall be developed with the question given below: 1.1 Research Question Is the 2014 FIFA World Cup an economic imprudence for Brazil? 2.0 Pre-World Cup Effects 2.1 Government spending Government spending is a crucial aspect of the economic determinant of Brazil. This is because already, the government is under much pressure for its inability to live within its annual budget (Bukova, 2013 International Finance Corporation (2009) notes that within the past decade, the Brazilian government has used a supplementary budget in about 7 out of 10 national budgets. The simple reason is that the bid for the World Cup came several years ahead of 2014. For countries to be approved to host the World Cup there are strict requirements laid down by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) that must be adhered to. Greater part of these requirements looks at the availability of sports infrastructure, security, transportation, power supply, accommodation, sanitation, among others (Istomina, 2005). In effect, the very moment that the country announced its intention to host the World Cup in 2014, active preparations started going on. Meanwhile, even though there were some level of sports development in Brazil, it was not adequate to get the country the bid. To this end, government had to start spending, in most cases, beyond its budget to get some of the required requirements underway. As an economic effect however, whenever government is forced to spend beyond its budget, there are sectors of the economy that suffers massively. It is not surprising the number of labor unrest that has hit Brazil since the government started spending on the World Cup preparation (Ivanova, 2004). Already, the government has spent R$9.9 billion (USD1.1 billion) on infrastructure alone; made up of the construction and renovation of existing stadia (Karbalevich, 2011). The upgrading of international airports alone in Brazil ahead of the World Cup has cost the government US$2 .5 billion with some other budget spending that have come up to a total of S$14 billion (). 2.2 Taxation The effect of the World Cup hostage on taxation in Brazil has been analyzed in various peer reviewed literature and economic forums. It has for example been noted that one of the very first economic policies that the government undertook as a way of raising money to cater for the US$14billion budget it was faced with in hosting the World Cup was to raise taxes in several aspects of the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

SOLUTION TO PARK AND RIDE PROJECT COURSEWORK Assignment

SOLUTION TO PARK AND RIDE PROJECT COURSEWORK - Assignment Example The basic rule for numbering events is that the starting point of an activity is lower than the completion point. Meanwhile, the activities or tasks which need to be completed are represented by arrows. In Figure 1, the tasks indicated in Appendix B were replaced by activity codes using letters. Task duration in days is shown beside their respective codes as numbers in parenthesis. Table 1 presents the activity data for the project with the activity codes, description of each task, normal task duration, the early start (ES), early finish (EF), late start (LS) and late finish (LF) times based on normal duration. The ES and EF times were computed based on the analysis of the network using a forward pass. In a forward pass, computation is made from left to right. The earliest starting time of an activity is the earliest finish time of its predecessor. When an activity has no predecessor, such as for initial activity (or activities), the ES of this activity is 0. The earliest finish time is the sum of the early start time and the duration of the activity (Kerzner, 2009; De Marco, 2011). Meanwhile, the LS and LF times were calculated using a backward pass or a right to left computation. The late start of the final activity is taken as the late finish of this activity and from here the late start of the final activity is computed by subtracting the activity duration from the LS time. If there are two or more terminal activities, the highest LS time of these activities should be adopted as the LS time of the rest of the terminating activities (Kerzner, 2009; Demarco, 2011). Table 1 is presented below and the network diagram is shown as Figure 1 on page 4. Table 1. Activity Data for the Park and Ride Project Using ‘Normal’ Task Durations – Float Times Task Description Duration (in days) Early Start (ES) Early Finish (EF) Late Start (LS) Late Finish (LF) Total Float (TF) Free Float (FF) A Excavate Site 10 0 10 0 10 0 0 B Install Ground Drainage 5 10 15 15 20 5 5 C Install Piled Foundations 10 10 20 10 20 0 0 D Erect Steel Frame 10 20 30 20 30 0 0 E Pour In-situ Concrete Floors 9 30 39 30 39 0 0 F Install Electricity, Lighting and IT Cabling 10 39 49 39 49 0 0 G Electrical and Lighting Fit Out 8 49 57 51 59 2 2 H Fix IT Hardware and Screens 10 49 59 49 59 0 0 I Tar-macadam to Access Ramps and Parking 4 49 53 55 59 6 0 J Fix Automated Entrance Barriers 3 49 52 56 59 7 7 K Commission Services and IT Equipment 10 59 69 59 69 0 0 L Landscaping 10 53 63 59 69 6 6 1. The critical path based on the ‘normal’ activity durations There are three ways of determining if an activity is critical. First, from the tabulation of the ES, EF, LS and LF times, if the ES and EF times of an activity are identical to the LS and LF times, then this activity is critical. An examination of Table 1 revealed that seven activities are critical and these are highlighted in blue and bold font in the table. These are activities are: A, C, D, E, F, H, and K. Another way of determining which activities are critical is by computing the float or slack. Float or slack is the difference between the early schedule (ES, EF) and the late schedule (LS, LF). Tasks with zero (0) float are critical (Kendrick, 2010). As reflected in Table 1, the critical activities have 0 total float and 0 free float. To differentiate, total float is the amount of time (i.e. days, in this project) that an activity can

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Compare and explain the historical political instability experienced Essay

Compare and explain the historical political instability experienced by France, Germany and Italy - Essay Example There is a period in every nation’s history when political turbulence reigns. These are periods when governments experience economic, social and political crises, which could be the result of contemporary development or a change in political system. More specifically, political instability could be attributed on several factors such as industrialization, population growth, â€Å"the revolution of rising expectations† or even international tensions. â€Å"Some social scientists have followed Aristotle's view that political instability is generally the result of a situation in which the distribution of wealth fails to correspond with the distribution of political power and have echoed his conclusion that the most stable type of political system is one based on a large middle class. Others have adopted Marxist theories of economic determinism that view all political change as the result of changes in the mode of production. Still others have focused on governing elites an d their composition and have seen in the alienation of the elite from the mass the prime cause of revolutions and other forms of violent political change.† Vibrant democracies in Europe have undergone same internal political conflicts, which have brought down governments and have shaken political systems. France, Germany and Italy have experienced their own respective political upheavals in differing timelines in their history. This made it possible for us to improve our ability to describe and analyze any pattern, situations or factors that brought about conflicts in European political system.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Classroom Management and Discipline to Accommodate the Needs of a Research Proposal

Classroom Management and Discipline to Accommodate the Needs of a Diverse Student Population - Research Proposal Example Instead, the changing demographics of students require teachers to engage in continuous professional development. The introduction will give an overview of the structure of the essay. Apart from the Introduction, there are three major parts of the essay that builds on the argument that I wish to present. The final part is the conclusion, which summarizes the points I will raise to emphasise my argument. The second section will give a comparative analysis of major theories and philosophical issues in learning and its relationship with classroom management. This discussion with then highlight effective classroom management, specifically those that minimise disruptive behaviours while optimizing learning. This section will examine the relationship of learning theories and classroom management. It will draw out from major philosophical trends that manifest in the relevant literature discussing classroom management. It will touch on behavioural management techniques and learning theories. Based on the previous discussion, I will present what are the contemporary strategies and techniques on classroom management. The strategies will be compared based on the objectives that they aim to address. I will then discuss the impact of context in lesson planning and classroom management. I will discuss the importance of socio-cultural background and justify the need to incorporate these factors in the learning environment. I will discuss the common practices to accommodate and adapt instruction to the diverse needs of the students. This section will provide a critical analysis of the issues relating to addressing the challenge of teaching a diverse population. The conclusion will re-introduce the purpose of the essay and provide a summary of the issues discussed. It will then give a comprehensive overview in support of the argument that I wish to

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Mentoring Process in Professional Nursing Research Paper

The Mentoring Process in Professional Nursing - Research Paper Example Those educationists who gained formal education to conduct the role of educating nursing students are experiencing various problems. Those who have attained the role of being a faculty member in the profession of nursing are expected to figure out complex issues experienced by the system of health care and to help graduates prepare for being able to analyze and make decisions for situations that are novel to them and these faculty members are even responsible for making the students ready to accept and facilitate change. These members of the faculty are even required to take the role of researchers, promote the profession and even provide their services to the institutions and health care settings they are associated with. A nurse educator has to fit in various roles and the nurse educators are not ready to provide services for all these roles and it is becoming really hard for them to balance their career and their lives in such complex situations. Body The concept of mentoring is a renowned one and used in almost every field to aid individuals to adapt new roles with the assistance of socialization. The conventional relationship between a mentor and his protege used to be of a kind in which the mentor used to provide the pathway and the guidance to the protege and the protege used to follow those methods and guidelines to learn, the relationship between these two individuals used to be supportive in nature. Roche states that those individuals who are able to learn through this method experience great success in career and at a very early age they start working at the management level of the organization. This type of relation ship is very renowned but this type of relationship is not the only relationship that exists between a mentor and mentee. Other methods of mentoring include peer mentoring, where nursing faculty who are at the same stage of their career and work at the same hierarchical level, use their information to assist each other (Grossman, 2012, p .16). Another method of mentoring is recognized as Co-mentoring, in this kind of mentoring program, the teacher and the student both participate equally; the teacher conducts the job of teaching as well as listening (Grossman, 2012, p.16). These two mentoring processes rely heavily on communication and empowering of student and teacher. According to Boice, the new members of the faculty of the profession of nursing experience diminished support from the peer members and this support helps them in eliminating the feeling of isolation they experience in their everyday lives (Utley, 2010, p.338). Boice further states that co-mentoring and peer mentoring are mentoring techniques that does not only benefit the new members of the faculty; it even benefits the experienced ones (Utley, 2010, p.338). The involvement of the new faculty members to the mentoring process is of high benefits because these members bring in new ideas and challenges that the experienced ones might be unaware of. The process of peer mentoring recognizes the fact that even the newer members of the faculty have a lot of information and experience to share and when they participate they feel important and are able to address their issues (Jokelainen, 2011). All the three models of mentoring, collaborative, peer and traditional mentoring process are of great value and none of them can be recognized as obsolete. The base of any mentoring process is communication with other faculty members and sharing of ideas and

Sunday, September 22, 2019

A Position Paper for the Enhancement of the Strategic Ability of Air Essay

A Position Paper for the Enhancement of the Strategic Ability of Air Asia - Essay Example Following sections presents the strategies and the enhancement proposed accordingly. 1. Air Asia to control its costs and source of funding for purchase of new fleet of aircrafts. Increase of fleets’ strategy. Air Asia wants to continue to be the lowest cost short-haul airline in every market it goes in. In considering this vision, the action required is significant investment in aircrafts, distribution channels, production capacity and working capital. In this situation, there is a need to determine first if Air Asia has the capability to raise funds and its financial worth. Financial resources. Financial worth of Air Asia as of 2009 shows current net assets of RM 511,284 million which is an improvement from its RM 263,085 million current net assets in 2008. It has the ability to raise funds from creditors and shareholder, its debt/equity ratio is 2.61 and a net profit margin of 16.2%. A debt equity ratio is a measure of the company’s financial leverage and indicates w hat proportion of debt and equity the company is using to finance its assets. A high debt ratio means that the company is using a lot of debt in financing its assets as in the case of Air Asia. However, in further analysis, capital intensive industry generally has a high debt ratio of 2 (Investopedia, n.d.) Air Asia has a net cash flow of RM598million, equivalent to $181.2 million (Air Asia.com). Air Asia reports of 21.1% profit after tax margin in Malaysia, 1.8% profit after tax margin in Thailand and 17% profit after tax margin in Indonesia (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, 2010). Chart 1 shows the EBITDAR margin and profit after tax margin in 2Q2010 for year 2010l. It will be noted that after deducting... The study analyzed the strategies used in each strategy of Air Asia, had seen its strength as well as weakness in achieving targets. On this, proposals for enhancement have been recommended. On the first position that requires funding for purchase of additional new aircrafts for new routes and replacement of old ones, recommendation is to get funding from long term debt because of tax advantages. Getting funds from outside sources will save the cash flows for internal operations of the company. Second position pertains to inventory management that will require management to maintain an RFID technology along with a perpetual inventory system that will track inventory and supplies of the airline company in its various segments. The third position calls for a study on the cost saving realized by the on line system of booking to properly explain to stakeholders the benefit of the strategy and to outline further enhancements. The fourth proposition is a recommendation for promotions and a dvertising to attract more customers in order to maximize use of airline capacity. The fifth position is the continuous training and skills development of employees as airline business is dependent on skills of employees particularly in aircraft flying and maintenance. This paper makes a conclusion that a position is presented that needs government approval for a patent to protect brand image of Air Asia as the lowest cost airline carrier in the region.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Policy and Strategy in Global Competition Essay Example for Free

Policy and Strategy in Global Competition Essay Discussion Question 11.1: Why is it important for an organization to have alignment between its strategy and organizational structure? The relationship between an organization’s strategy and structure are extremely important because it â€Å"directly impacts a firm’s performance† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309). Also, as an organization grows, it should reevaluate the current strategy and structure to ensure that it remains the optimal choice for the organization (Rothaermel, 2013). The four types of organizational structures, listed in order of least to most complex according to Rothaermel (2013), are: (1) simple, (2) functional, (3) multidivisional, and (4) matrix. The simple structure is for small firms or organizations that are just starting out (Rothaermel, 2013). The decision-making structure is quite flat, as â€Å"the founders tend to make all the important strategic decisions† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309). Growth will often cause the higher-ups to feel overwhelmed under this type of structure, requiring the organization to adopt a different, more complex structure (Rothaermel, 2013). A functional structure groups employees into teams, allowing for increased decision-making at lower levels of the managerial chain (Rothaermel, 2013). The opportunity for specialization allows for the functional structure to be employed with each of the business-level strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, or integration (Rothaermel, 2013). One of the hurdles to overcome would be the likely increase in difficulties which arise from departmentalization of the varying teams (Rothaermel, 2013). The best way to overcome such a hurdle is through cross-functional teams (Rothaermel, 2013). Whenever the organization seeks greater diversification, into varying product lines and service offerings, it will likely look into utilizing a multidivisional structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Under this structure, the organization is further compartmentalized  into strategic business units (â€Å"SBUs†) which are governed by their own profit-and-loss (â€Å"PL†) responsibilities (Rothaermel, 2013). At this level, each of the SBUs is viewed as its own independent entity, pursuing its own profit-creating goals (Rothaermel, 2013). While organizations with a corporate-level strategy with a single or dominant business would be best served by a functional structure, organizations seeking related or unrelated diversification would be wise to utilize a multidivisional structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Lastly, the matrix structure is a combination of the functional and multidivisional structures (Rothaermel, 2013). It is most appropriate when an organization needs a structure which allows for both centralized and decentralized decision-making, and can be organized by geographic areas and product divisions (Rothaermel, 2013). While a global strategy does not automatically lend to a matrix structure, a transnational strategy which has the requirements above is better served through a matrix structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Discussion Question 11.3(a): What commonalities across the products would likely be enhanced by flexible cross-functional teams? Gore has product lines which include consumer products like guitar strings and vacuum filters, cables and cable assemblies, electronic and electrochemical materials, fabrics, fibers, filtration products, medical products, pharmaceutical processing, sealants, and venting products (Gore, 2015). Its product lines are used in industries ranging from aerospace and automotive to military and textiles (Gore, 2015). Gore utilizes cross-functional teams to help develop its many products within varying lines (Rothaermel, 2013). Cross-functional teams allow for individuals from differing functional areas within an organization to temporarily come together and work on a particular project (Rothaermel, 2013). These teams would allow for the differing products, though developed for a particular function, to be developed for use in more than one of the organization’s products (Rothaermel, 2013). As an example, the cables developed for aeronautics can likely be used in other electronic or automotive applications if developed by members from the appropriate cross-functional teams. Discussion Question 11.3(b): What would be your expectations of the type of norms found at W. L. Gore? Organizational norms â€Å"define appropriate employee attitudes and behaviors† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 318). The norms which exist at Gore likely arise from founder imprinting,  which means that Bill Gore, the founder of W. L. Gore Associates, has helped to establish and define the company’s culture (Rothaermel, 2013). The organization’s four core values, stated succinctly, are: (1) fairness, (2) freedom, (3) individual commitment, and (4) consultation and collaboration (Rothaermel, 2013). These values, coupled with the open nature of the organization’s structure, result in organizational norms which encourage the free exchange of ideas and collaboration up and down the organizational ladder (Rothaermel, 2013). Employees, associates as they are called at Gore, likely show great respect to one another and to the customers for whom their products are developed (Rothaermel, 2013). Chapter 12 Discussion Question 12.1: How can a firm lower the chances that key managers will pursue their own self-interest at the expense of the stockholders? At the expense of the employees? Corporate governance tools are utilized to help align the interests of principals and agents, or organizations and employees (Rothaermel, 2013). A board of directors is one such tool which helps to prevent key managers to avoid pursuing their own self-interest at the expense of the stockholders (Rothaermel, 2013). A board of directors is independent, made up of both inside and outside directors, and answers directly to the shareholders (Rothaermel, 2013). Another tool is executive compensation which links compensation to the performance of the company (Rothaermel, 2013). This means that the CEO would receive certain stock options in lieu of pay (Rothaermel, 2013). If the company’s stocks are doing well, likely showing that the company is successfully operating, then the CEO receives greater value in the stock options (Rothaermel, 2013). The concept of the market as a corporate control has the potential to protect both stockholders’ and employees’ interests through a key manager’s fear of being replaced if the company performs poorly (Rothaermel, 2013). If a company is not performing well, then the stock prices will begin to plummet, increasing the opportunity for an entity to purchase enough shares to exert significant control over the company (Rothaermel, 2013). Such control would likely result in the removal of current management, and possibly the dismantling of the organization (Rothaermel, 2013). This clearly injures the management, employees, and shareholders of the failing organization. As  such, managers are motivated by the external market to perform well, thereby protecting the interests of stockholders and employees alike (Rothaermel, 2013). Discussion Question 12.2: Why are these two roles typically separated? Is it a positive development for so many firms to have a combined CEO and board chair? The two roles of management and ownership are typically separated to ensure that the board of directors maintains its necessary independence (Rothaermel, 2013). Where a board of directors is   The decline stage differs from those above, as it introduces four strategic options for firms to pursue: (1) exit, (2) harvest, (3) maintain, and (4) consolidate (Rothaermel, 2013). The exit strategy is precisely as it says: it involves the firm choosing to leave the market to pursue other endeavors (Rothaermel, 2013). The harvest strategy means that the firm will still sell the product or service, but will reduce the level of investment in its maintenance and development (Rothaermel, 2013). The maintain strategy is also exactly what it sounds like: the firm continues offering the product or service at the same level as it has been, despite the declining demand (Rothaermel, 2013). The consolidate strategy involves the purchasing of rivals in an effort to shrink the industry, which provides firms employing this strategy to reach near-monopolistic status (Rothaermel, 2013). References Rothaermel, F. T. (2013). Strategic Management. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Walmart. Our story. Retrieved on January 25, 2015, from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/

Friday, September 20, 2019

International Marketing Mix

International Marketing Mix Since 1900, Coca-Cola already moves into Europe market, when 1970 Coca-Cola moves to international market, it already 39 years ago until 2009. After 39 year, Coca-Cola has modified their product to international marketing and they used marketing strategy to build up their market. (http://heritage.coca-cola.com/) Nowadays ,Coca-Cola which already operating in many country as a multinational company. Marketing mix is the key element of Coca-Cola to set up business in international market, and the marketing mix include four pices was product, price, place and promotion. In international market, Coca-Cola major focuse to using marketing mix to built their business, however,Coca-Cola also have using certain part of PEST startegy to their marketing mix startegy. PEST is a external analysia theory to mention about the general enviorment influences to firm and how the firm to resist it. The Introduction of Core Product of Coca-Cola Coca-Cola product planner need to think about the product of the three basic level. From the graph shows that, the core product of Coca-Cola, which is how the product satisfied their consumer. The second level of actual product of Coca-Cola is how Coca-Cola to develop the product and services features, brand name and packaging. The last level of argument product of Coca-Cola is around the core product by offering additional consumer services and benefit, (author Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler (pg232). The Currently Ways of Coca-Cola Using In International Marketing Mix -Product The first marketing strategy of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia is product. Coca-Cola is a famous soft drink product in Malaysia market, their packing outlook, is easy to attract consumer. Nowadays Coca-Cola beverages drink on the current markets has varieties of choices (Refer to appendix 1), that are selling in Malaysia (http://www.thecoca- colacompany.com/brands/index.html). Coca-Cola using three strategy to built up their product image, it was product branding, packaging and labeling, (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler 2007,pp238, 239). Branding which is a key element of Coca-Cola, to build up relationship with their consumer. Brand was representing Coca-Cola to give the first impressions to their consumer perceptions and feeling about their product, so, it was an important part to build Coca-Cola product. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler(pg242) In addition, the constituents of branding which include both tangible benefit such as quality and reliability, moreover, intangible benefit may bring out whole range of feeling like status being fashionable or possessing good judgment by purchasing a particular brand. (Isobel Doole and Robin Lowe) Therefore, this is the reason why Coca-Cola emphasis on branding that helps to Creates brand awareness among the consumers and brings out the feeling of possessing good judgment so that the brand is very successful in Malaysia market. The packaging of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia market, is light red in color to be on the surface of product, they using aluminum tin to be soft drink material and plastic bottle. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/brands/index.html). Labeling was a range from simple tags attached to product complex graphic that be a part of the package, and where the product made and how to use it are safety .( Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler (pg239) The labeling of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia market, was to identify the product using material and ingredient. Furthermore, the labeling show that Coca-Cola to confirm as a Halal drink product at Malaysia cultural refer to (appendix 1.2), it base on an external analysis theory of Michael Porter PEST social strategy (Stuart Wall Bronwen Rees2004). As mentioned above, the reason is Malaysia as a Muslim country the government control food or drink production very serious, therefore; the labeling of Halal is very important in Malaysia market. The Currently Ways of Coca-Cola Using In International Marketing Mix-Price The second marketing strategy of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia is Price. Price is the element in which of Coca-Cola Company use and it was the amount of money charge for the product. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler pg 291) Coca-Cola set up the pricing in Malaysia market, which is using normal and fair pricing to attract Malaysia consumer, refer to (appendix 1.3) show that the four types Coca-Cola selling price on Malaysia market. The way of the price that affects demand of Coca-Cola is influence by some factor like elastic demand and inelastic demand. Refer to graph (1) show that elastic demand of the price was sensitive; so, the sales volume increase significantly as price is reducing. (Isobel Doole and Robin Lowe pg386) Otherwise, refer to graph (2) inelastic demand mean the product is under have no increase, decrease correspondingly with a fall, or rise in the price. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/inelastic-demand.html ) Graph (1.1) Elastic Demand Graph (1.2) Inelastic Demand As a result, refer to graph (1.1) Coca- Cola was under elastic demand product, so they set the price are base on Malaysia market direction. Before Coca-Cola set up the price, they need to determined suitable for pricing in international market and consider the options available in setting individual prices. By contrast, Coca-Cola setting their price which to base on stabiles the competitive position within the market, to penetrate the the market by adopting an aggressive strategy to increase market share, to reflect differences in the perceived value and performance of competitive product and prevent or discourage new entrants in the market, according Isobel Doole and Robin Lowe (2008). As mentioned above, graph (1.1) show that Coca-Cola is sensitive of price changes in Malaysia market. Because Malaysia market has several of the soft drink competitors refer to( appendix 1.4) , and their product price which under RM1-RM2 in Malaysia market; hence, if Coca-Cola set up their price above from competitor, the consumer can easily substitute to other product, so that Coca-Cola has to set the price around competitor price in Malaysia market. The Currently Ways of Coca-Cola Using In International Marketing Mix- Place The third marketing strategy of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia is Place. Place, which is important section area of Coca-Cola to operating their market. Due to place is concerned with various methods of transporting, storing goods, and then making the product available for the customer, hence it getting product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. Furthermore, the choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances and be more convenient for some manufacture to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while others will prefer to sell directly to retailers or customers. (http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theorymarketing-mix-(price-place-promotion-product)243.php ) Coca-Cola was using the transporting system to sending their product to the selling place in Malaysia market. Otherwise, Coca-Cola also set up some soft drink machine around the bus station to let consumer easy to get there product. Because Coca-Cola set up soft machine around public places; so, it may let Malaysia consumer easy to find their product. Coca-Cola corporate with FN Company, become FN Coca-Cola (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to set up factory to manufactures and distributes soft drinks in Malaysia. (http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=6464014 ) In addition, Coca-Cola that is using 7-11 stores, hypermarket and retail supermarket etc, to distribute product. Because Coca-Cola corporate with Malaysia businessperson to selling Coca-Cola, so, the businessperson may also indirectly let Coca-Cola, have place to sell their product in whole Malaysia. Otherwise, Coca-Cola may also using Cinema and restaurant being places to selling their product in Malaysia market. Due to Coca-Cola using hypermarket store and restaurant to promote their product, hence, it was a best place to sell their product in Malaysia market. The Currently Ways of Coca-Cola Using In International Marketing Mix- Promotion The last marketing strategy of Coca-Cola using in Malaysia is promotion. Promotion is an important element to helping Coca-Cola set up operating in Malaysia. Promotion major function, that is to promote and communicating with the public and to influencing consumer toward buying products or services. (http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/g/promotion.htm) According to Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler, claim that promotion as a promotion mix that include advertising, sales promotion, public relation, push and pull strategy. Firstly, the promotion mix of advertising that was any paid from of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. In addition, advertising can reach of geographically disperses buyers at low cost per exposure, and it enable the seller to repeat a message many times (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler 2007pp387). Coca-Cola was successfully to promote their advertising in Malaysia, because they using television media, newspaper, magazine and internet media to publish their product and repeat many time to consumer, so, Coca-Cola to establish a good promotion by advertising. Such as, Coca-Cola will using Malaysia culture and lifestyle to be advertisement title to showing Coca-Cola have good relationship with Malaysian. In under developing country Coca-Cola practice radio and newspaper to advertising their product. The reason is under develop country was poverty, hence, Coca-Cola using radio and newspaper to promote their product. Coca-Cola excep t using radio and newspaper to promote their product in under developing country, they also can use signboard to advertise Coca-Cola. Secondly, the promotion mix that of sales promotion that mean short-term incentive to encourage the purchases or sale of a product. Otherwise, sales promotion that was include a wide assortment of tools such as coupons, contest, cents-off deals, premiums and other which have many unique qualities. Because of sales promotion are attract consumer to attention offer strong incentive to purchases; therefore, it can increase the sale volume. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler) Malaysia is multiple nations and the Malaysian has different culture festival to celebrate, so; the best period of Coca-Cola to use sale promotion strategy in Malaysia market is when they celebrate their festival. Otherwise, Coca-Cola corporate with MacDonald to sell the soft drinks with its popular burgers and fries, and the handshake still covers the Coca-Cola contract with McDonald, therefore; Coca-Cola are indirectly to promote their product to Malaysia consumer. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-shakes-up-coke-tries-new-drinks ) Thirdly, the promotion mix of public relationship means the public relationship is very believable like news stories, features, sponsorship, event it seems more real and believable to readers. Otherwise, public relationship may also be able to reach many prospects that avoid salespeople and advertisements, as the message gets to the buyers as news rather than as a sale- directed communication. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler) Coca-Cola was using new story and sponsorship to promote their product in Malaysia market. When there is any sport game competitions, Coca-Cola will be a sponsorship to sponsor the sport team. In addition, Coca-Cola may also create news stories to let Malaysian know well they product. On the other hand, marketer can choose from the two basic of promotion mix to be push and pull strategy on promotion. The relationship emphasis on the specific promotion tools differs for push and pulls strategies. Push strategy that include pushing the product through marketing channels to final consumer and the producer directs its marketing activities like primarily personal selling and trade promotion, however; pull strategy was make the producer directs its marketing activities like primarily advertising and consumer promotion toward final consumers to include them to buy the product. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler 388) Coca-Cola was choosing the advertising and public relationship to practice in push and pull strategy in Malaysia market. In advertising Coca-Cola was using pull strategy, like television media, magazine to promote their product. Due to pull strategy are make Coca-Cola successfully directs marketing to primarily advertising in Malaysia market, hence, it attract consumer to buy their product (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler). Because Malaysia is developing country and the Malaysia consumer have economic power to purchases television, so Coca-Cola pull strategy of using television media to advertise their product is benefit affect to Coca-Cola. By contrast, Coca-Cola using push strategy in public relationship, of sponsorship to sport game competition or charity activity to promote their product. Because of push strategy was include pushing the product in marketing channels to final consumer and Coca-Cola can directs to do marketing activities in Malaysia market, like primarily personal selling and trade promotion; so, push strategy may help Coca-Cola achieve more promotion result. (Gary Armstrong Philip Kotler) Due to Coca-Cola was using push strategy of public relationship to do charity activity and event to attract Malaysia consumer ,so, Coca-Cola can more easy to promote their product in those activity. Suggest Any Changes of Coca-Cola that Might Make to the International Marketing Mix over the Next Few Years The first suggestion in international marketing strategy of product using Coca-Cola in Malaysia market for the coming years is where Coca-Cola may focus in the changes of Green issue of the packaging material. Because nowadays some producer is practicing Green issue in their operation; so, Coca-Cola may also practice green issue in the packaging of the product. Coca-Cola can promote the green issue knowledge to Malaysia consumer and sending the message that Coca-Cola product is advocate in green issue and their product can be recycles. In addition, Coca-Cola can use rewards method to attract consumer to join green issue activities in Malaysia market where if any consumers who join the recycle activities, they can get one free Coca-Cola by recycling ten empty aluminum tin of Coca-Cola. Furthermore, Coca-Cola also can corporate with hypermarket to promote, reclaim the soft drink plastic bottle and aluminum tin. The second suggestion in international marketing strategy for price of Coca-Cola in Malaysia market for the coming years where, Coca-Cola can produce low calorie of Coca-Cola to attract consumer and the price is same as original Coca-Cola. In addition, Coca-Cola also can produce mini size Coke to consumer and set the price under RM0.50 in Malaysia market to attract their customer. The third suggestion in international marketing strategy for place of Coca-Cola in Malaysia market for the coming years where Coca-Cola can put more soft drink machine around the public places to let consumer easy to find and buy it there product, like put at college, shopping complex and taxi station. The last suggestion in international marketing strategy for promotion of Coca-Cola in Malaysia market for the coming years, where Coca-Cola can using discount voucher to attract consumer buy more their product, for example purchase 12 bottle get 2 free Coke. Otherwise, Coca-Cola may able to using gift to be focal promotion to attract consumer to purchase their product, for example buy one boxes of Coca-Cola can get Coca-Cola limited edition gift. Coca-Cola can corporate with Malaysia hypermarket to conduct lucky draw activities and event to attract Malaysia consumer to purchase their product. For example, when consumer purchases Coca-Cola they may have chances to join the lucky draw competition to win cash or expensive gift. As a conclusion, Coco-Cola is a high potential product in Malaysia market and they were successful to using currently marketing mix to apply in their product. Otherwise, for the coming year Coca-Cola add on the future change marketing mix strategy to their product it may decline to high level position and the Coca-Cola sales revenue may also increase more in Malaysia market.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Importance of Character in Homers Odyssey Essay -- Odyssey essays

Importance of Character in Homer's Odyssey Odyssey, by Homer, is about Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. Odysseus fights in the Trojan War and wins. He travels towards Ithaca but does not reach it because he is not in favor of Poseidon, god of the sea, who prevents his return. For many years, Odysseus wanders the seas and has many adventures. Meanwhile, suitors attempt to marry Penelope, Odysseus' wife, but she remains faithful to her husband. The gods pity Odysseus and assist in his safe return to Ithaca. Though Odysseus has the help of the gods, his personal qualities contribute to his survival in the seas and the return to his family in Ithaca. Odysseus' personal qualities of bravery, self-discipline, and intelligence also help him to survive. Bravery is one of Odysseus' qualities that enable him to survive his adventures. In one adventure, Odysseus encounters the goddess, Circe who has turned his men into pigs. Eurylochus escapes from Circe and tells Odysseus what has happened. When Odysseus offers to rescue the men, Eurylochus says that no man can return alive. Knowing this, the brave Odysseus says, "very well, Eurylochus, you may stay here in this place, eat and drink beside the ship. But as for me, go I must, and go I will" (Line #). In another adventure, Odysseus must visit Hades, the kingdom of the dead. When he arrives, he takes out a cup of blood for the prophet, Teiresias, which attracts all of the dead souls. "All this crowd gathered about the pit from every side, with a dreadful great noise, which made me pale with fear" (Line #). Despite Od... ...sp; Odysseus' intelligence with the Sirens, the Cyclops, and in his plan to kill the suitors, helps him to survive and regain his family. Odysseus' personal qualities of bravery, self-discipline, and intelligence contribute to his survival at sea and his return to his family in Ithaca. His bravery is shown through his encounters with Circe, the dead souls, and Scylla. Self-discipline is shown through the adventures with the wooden horse, Nausicaa, and in disguise as a beggar. And intelligence is shown through the encounters with the Sirens, the Cyclops, and the suitors. Professors Comments Always underline titles of long, epic poems. When quoting, always give the line number of the quote. You have a clear thesis statement, which you fully discuss in your paper.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Free Internet Essays: We Must Not Permit Internet Censorship :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

We Must Not Permit Internet Censorship    The internet is the largest and most diverse source of information our planet has ever known. The internet is integrating our daily life transactions. This is possible because newspapers, television programs, movies, phone calls, computer data, commercial services such as banking and shopping, and a host of other sources of information and communication are all being reduced to the same digital format, and are all be sent along fiber optic cable (Harvard Law Review, 1994).    The libraries of the world, once on line will combine to form a larger base of information than anyone ever imagined. This vast library of information will be accessible in an instant, with the click of a mouse, where internet technology is available. We can compare the internet to another technological advance, which also changed the world. The knowledge potential created by the diverse information accessible on the web is similar to the energy potential realized when we discovered nuclear energy. Like nuclear energy, knowledge is very powerful, and can be used to for both good and evil deeds. Knowledge can indeed have the same converse negative side to it like nuclear energy does. Nuclear energy can be used to power entire cities, or it can be used to erase them. There is an important distinction to be made here. Knowledge is what we use to search for the truth in life, and this fact makes knowledge indispensable. Once we know the truth we can be free from manipulation. Because the internet is so unique in the way it allows access to information, we must protect the internet as a very precious resource. Censoring the internet, a cause, leads to a chain of related effects. The first of which is the upset of the natural balance of information on the internet. This happens when information is removed, thus narrowing the spectrum of available information. From this spectrum of information we derive bits of knowledge. So the second effect of censoring the internet is reduced knowledge. If we allow censorship to weaken the material our searching tool, knowledge, is made of, then we might even lose the truth. The loss of the truth is the third effect of censoring the internet. The final effect of censoring the internet is manipulation made easy. Before we follow this causal chain through its effects, I think it is important to explain what I mean by the truth.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Capital Punishment Essay: Christians and Capital Punishment

Christians and the Capital Punishment    The restoration of the death penalty by the Supreme Court prompted statements of opposition by some Christians around the country. This essay reflects on these statements and draws the conclusion of their suitability and correctness in light of our Christian heritage and other secular, practical reasons.    These statements acknowledge that Christians of equally serious moral concern can and do disagree on the issue of capital punishment. We must honor the personal freedom in Christ for different people to exercise moral discernment and come to different conclusions on this issue. Still, many Christians feel compelled to bear witness to our views and ask the people of America to give us heed.    The death penalty might be justified as the lesser of two evils if it could be shown conclusively that, by inhibiting violent crime, it served as a significant protection to society. However, the weight of sociological research strongly suggests the reverse - that lawful violence may actually encourage criminal violence. Since the sociology of... ... Its actual use in our state demeans us all. It reduces our shared dignity as human persons and violates our professed respect for human life.    That there should be punishment of crime, we hold to be self-evident. That the punishment should fit both the crime and the criminal we hold to be the steadfast aim of our courts of law. If the law of the land should mature to the point of forbidding the retaliatory violence of punishing crime by killing the criminal, we would hold this to be a triumph of God's redemptive sovereignty in human affairs.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Malcomes final speech Essay

In Malcomes final speech he describes Lady Macbeth as a fiend like â€Å"queen†. Explain how far you think this description of her is justified Lady Macbeth is a very essential character to the play. She is singly responsible for the most tragedy and destruction throughout the play. She is very responsible because she is the one who talks to and persuades Macbeth. But she cannot be purely seen as an evil influence for she is a much more complex character then many would think. We first see Lady Macbeth in act one, scene five when she is reading the letter that Macbeth sent her. When reading the letter, she reads it in an innocent ladylike voice that we will not see much of until later on in the script. As she calmly reads the letter you can see her slowly spiralling towards the more evil sinister way. The letter is read as if he was writing it to his â€Å"Dearest partner of greatness†. He treats her with a lot of respect as if she is an equal. This would seem to be very awkward to an audience in the Shakespearean era for women were seen to be inferior to men. She decides on Macbeth’s behalf that they are to kill the King Duncan, without Macbeths approval. The only problem is that she thinks that Macbeth is â€Å"too full of th’ milk of human kindness† to commit such an evil task. She then thinks that she had the power to alter Macbeth’s mind like an evil conscience. This makes her more evil than seen so far for she is seen as an evil presence. Lady Macbeth feels that in order to commit the murderous task herself she will need to look for help of evil ghosts and spirits to take her body and do the dirty deeds for her. She suggests strong sentences to â€Å"unsex her † and turn her evil. â€Å"Come to my women’s breasts And take my milk for gall.† In Shakespeare’s time the average person in the audience still believed in witches, evil sprits, potions and evil presences, so they would be scared as if it were real. The audience will also look at her in a very strange, different way for she is willing to give up all her femininity for a natural evil. She continues to make obscene comments to hell. â€Å"Come thick night and pull the In the dunnest smokes of hell.† She says this because she wants not to be discovered for it will cost her life if she was discovered. For a stage production I would start with her sitting in darkness on a chair alone with the spot light on her. She would wear a white dress to promote her innocence. The background music would be slow, low and quiet in a solitary tune. As she starts to ponder evil thoughts, I would slowly creep up in tempo and make all the notes more sinister. She would get up and keep her head down as she wanders around the stage reading the letter. As soon as she finishes reading the letter she will raise her head and start to whisper her lines to the audience making eye contact. The lights would be dim as she goes from side to side on the stage. She will get louder and louder until the servant walks in and after he leaves she will continue walking from side to side getting louder and louder until her husband enters and a red light will fade in as she explains the plot to Macbeth. The second time we see her is when she is at dinner acting sweet and innocent when at heart she is completely evil and filled with hate and gall. Duncan ironically and innocently speaks of sweet and good air which has a ironic relationship to Lady Macbeths earlier quote â€Å"The dunnest smokes of hell† in the last scene. In Act 1, Scene 7 we see Lady Macbeth for the third time. She is alone in the bedroom with Macbeth discussing their hidden sinister plan to kill king Duncan and steal his throne. In this scene we can see again how much influence on Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has. Macbeth decides that he wishes not to conduct in this evil scheme any further, but once again Lady Macbeth bends and twists Macbeths mind to see the opportinity the way she does. An audience would again be surprised to see a women taking more or less complete control over Macbeth. Her character would seem very masculine and the power over Macbeth would seem to be some sort of witch’s spell, again making her seem more evil than she really is. It would not be surprising to see lady Macbeth fall to even lower levels of murder and in justice for all her goodness and innocence has been completely corrupted by greed, therefore making her nothing more than a victim to her inner evil. Macbeth stands for shining goodness in that moment that he refuses to commit this disruption of the hierarchy for it would not only be a murderous crime, it would also mean that he has turned his back on his God, for the king was seen to be God’s representative on earth. Lady Macbeth uses blackmail to get him to obey her. She starts to accuse him of not loving her and not acting like a real man treats his wife. This is ironic, for she does not treat him as a real husband, but none the less she gets her way through these obscene accusations of him being a coward â€Å"And live a coward in thine own esteem† The last time we see Lady Macbeth is in Act 5 Scene 1, after all planned has successfully happened. In this scene we can see how the aftermath of the killings has actually affected lady Macbeth. The scene begins with lady Macbeth being analysed by a doctor and his decision is that she is suffering mentally. Lady Macbeth is mentally scared and is sleepwalking in anguish. Lady Macbeth is constantantly rubbing and washing this certain spot in her palm because she (and only she) can see a red â€Å"damned spot† of blood. She is conveying images of the murder and she is speaking of the killing of an old man ( King Duncan ). â€Å"Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him† Through sleep walking and being nervous we can see that Lady Macbeth does have a conscious and is liable to greed instead of being this evil monster which the audience has all seen before. The audience for the first time would start to understand and see that all the evil within her was â€Å"evil spirits† and the greed assigned to every human being. In this last scene with her, as she fall apart we can see all her greed and wickedness being stripped from her just leaving her an image of pure, innocent child like women. As Lady Macbeth becomes mentality ill and losses all her influence and greed it is as if Macbeth and his wife have swooped feelings and brains. Her obsession with a â€Å"damned spot† of blood which she cannot remove from her hand contrasts with her attitude to the blood after Duncan’s murder, when she says: â€Å"A little water cleans us of this deed† The way an actress would perform this scene would be very different from the way she would act in Act 1 Scene. Her face would be pale and without make-up, and she would wear a white nightdress to suggest return to a vulnerable childlike state. Her voice would be frail and trembling, and some lines, such as â€Å"The Thane of Fife had a wife† would be spoken like child reciting a nursery rhyme. Referring back to the title question, I think that Lady Macbeth cannot be fully justified as a â€Å"Fiend† for she is a normal women who is corrupted by greed and I am sure that many people in the same situation would be very tempted to do something similar.

Monkey: Journey to the west Essay

Monkey: Journey to the West is a story of an adventure for enlightenment to India in order to find ancient Buddhist scriptures. The story consists of Chinese legends, tales, and superstitions. Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism play a huge role throughout this story. Monkey: Journey to the West is a story that discusses religion, and moral issues. The monkey acts the way he does due to underlying religious themes played throughout the story. At first understanding why the Monkey acts the way he does may seem difficult. However, after reading deeper through the story one learns that social satire in the Monkey is what gives him his rebellious personality. The end of the story reveals the hidden spiritual meaning behind the monkeys change in actions. Monkey: Journey to the West is told in three major parts. The first being the monkeys early life history and spirit, and the second about Tripitakas family and history before leaving to obtain the religious Buddhist scriptures. The remaini ng section has to do with his three animal spirit disciples, monkey, pig, and a fish. The story of the Monkey shows the struggles of educating oneself on a spiritual path. The characters are representations of religious figures in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. The Monkey represents restlessness and powerful energy, which has to be under control before the journey to the religious scriptures can start. After a while he becomes worried about the thought of death and reincarnation. Buddhists believe in cycle of birth, life and death in order to achieve what they call Nirvana. One must release their self desire in order to obtain the ultimate goal. The Monkey desires to be immortal, however Confucianism recognizes death to be one of the most important times in ones life. Monkey decides that he must explore the ends of the world in order to find a way to get around death and reincarnation because he is not happy with the ways on the three religions. His journey leads him across oceans and over mountains to the Cave of the Slanting Moon where the immortal Patriarch lives. Monkey decides to become a student of the Patriarch in order to gain his knowledge on becoming immortal. Monkey abuses the situation and he is let go by the patriarch due to his extremist actions. When Monkey learns ways of being immortal he returns home and he is more greedy than ever. Greed is looked down upon in Buddhism, Confuscism, and Taoism. Monkey then continues his journey to the dragons and takes their treasures in an ungrateful manner. He uses immoral and threatening actions  to obtain his goals, which are clearly looked down upon. At this time the Monkey is beginning to upset a lot of people, and even the Jade Emperor of Heaven is becoming upset. Monkey totally disgregards everyones feelings and continues to act in such a rude and immoral manner. Monkey still has a desire for more so he eats the immortal fruits, drinks the immortal wine, and he even takes Lao Tzu’s special pills. At this point heaven is becoming even more angry over the Monkeys actions. The Monkey returns home and Heaven implements another attack on him. This attack was successful, Heaven defeated the monkey with the help of Buddha and Lao Tzu. In conclusion Monkey is imprisoned for 500 years. At the end of they story the Monkey has a huge change in mind set due to some help.. The Monkey changes when Hsuang-tsang gives him a second chance to prove himself. Hsuang-tsang stays within the same morals and values of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The qualities of forgivenes are in each path to reaching great peace. Monkey realizes the way he acted before being imprisoned was not suitable for his pilgrimage he set out on. Monkey becomes a student of Hsuang-tsang and joins his journey to India. The Buddha shows the Monkey. He explains to him how his spiritual mind has opened his inner soul to help interpret and accept forgiveness from others. Thus, helping Monkey reach his own spiritual purpose.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Livoria

Livoria deliver enjoyable experience to vacationers 2. Livoria is socially responsible that always exceeds environmental and safety regulations 3. Crew members , vacationers and marine life are safe during the journey 4. The services on cruise are high quality but affordable Leveraging (S-O Strategies) Livoria's strong brand in safety can take advantage of the growth in tourism industry and strengthen economy in Canada. After acquiring Natural Splendour, Livoria can offer mix of products that can satisfy both vacationers who value for price and for special amenities.The steady growth in revenue and income has developed a strong financial fundamental for Livoria to expand the business in Canada. Constraints (W-O Strategies) Ineffective and inefficient promotion strategies become constraints for Livorla to get full benefit of strong demand in cruise. Because of the lack of web-based booking system, Livoria only can rely on Sales agent for booking. This not only cause Livoria to miss th e opportunity to capture Saleslers who prefer booking online, but also increases the passenger acquisition cost. Even worst, Livoria attracts younger people ho less willing to spend on cruises.Vulnerability (S-T Strategies) As Livoria is known as outstanding safety among competitors, It can give confident to vacationers that the probability of on-board outbreak of disease In the cruise Is minimal. Its unique services such as whale watching and ports of call can serve a niche market In cruise Industry. This allows Llvorla to compete with large brand operators in the market. Problem (W-T Strategies) Canadian market Is relatively small for cruise Industry and the Industry Is already dominated by large cruise ships and large brand operators. The competitive force among rivals Is very Intense..The accident of Sandwich causes Llvorla over 3 Millions repair cost. In the future, Sandwich will still potentially harm Llvorla's financial stability as Its damage Insurance coverage Is Ilmlted. L lvorla's high operation cost and Ineffective marketing strategies can drive It out of the business easily. Issue Terrorist attack Is a severer external threat for Llvorla. Base on the effects of the past terrorist attacks, Llvorla's revenue Is expected to drop around 35% In 2011. Fortunately, the effect should only last for a year. In addltlon, the accident ofSandwich will Increase the repair cost for Llvorla In 2011. Comblnlng with the affect Llvorla's financial health. If management does not have contingency plan, Llvorla Is expected to have 32. 4M record losses In 2011. Current financial situation In 2010 fiscal year, Llvorla performed better than planned. Total passenger was almost 2% more than planned. Revenue was 6. 6% more than budgeted, so was net Income 15. 7%. (Appendix 2) Given the terrorist attack Incident and 6 Millions repair cos n 2011, solvency ana llqu101ty 0T Llvorla are Delng concerned. I ne current long term debt to equity is 1. which implies that Livoria has ris k of overleveraging. Fortunately, Income before tax and interest is 6. 43 times interest expense and current asset is 1. 75 times current liability. Moreover, Livoria has over 10 Million cash and marketable securities which is enough to pay off repair cost and interest expense next year. This conclude that the solvency and liquidity of Livoria is not an issue. Comparing over the course of 4 years, Livoria recorded increase in revenue, expense and net income. However, in 2010 fiscal year, the annually growth rate of revenue is lower compare to 2009 (13% vs. 31%).This also causes the annually growth rate of net income drop from 67% in 2009 to 33% in 2010. Given both cruises, Sandwich and natural Splendour were operating at more than 90% capacity, even there was no terrorist attack incident, Livoria would not have impressive growth in number of passengers in the near future. Assumptions: 1) Direct material, credit card and Sales agent commission is variable to revenue. Thus, if revenue drops 35%, so does these variable costs. 2) Dry dock revenue stays the same as maintenance works should be performed no matter good or bad season. 3) Livoria can book 2.M in capital gain by selling the dry dock 4) All maintenance, refurbishment and repair for Sandwich can be finished before the beginning of May next year. Thus, Sandwich can service in 2011 cruise season 5) Termination cost for all kinds of labour are also $6,000 each 6) Training cost for unskilled labours is $1,000 each. Alternative: 1) Divesting the Fraser dry dock. Pro: During the economic downturn, it is wise to spin off non-core business, so that company can focus its limited resources to improve its core business. Dry dock business is non-core business for Livoria. It only contributed 8. of company's total revenue in 2010. If removing inter-division transaction and associated direct material cost, dry dock actually reported 667 thousands loss. Con: Selling price for dry dock is only 4. 3 Million which is not e nough to cover the estimated repair cost for Sandwich in 2011. Later on, Livoria has to spend two Million on refurbishment every year. More importantly, reputation for safety is core competency of Livoria. Livoria is relying this to stay competitive in the market. Livoria can no longer ensure maintenance works are well performed and exceed regulation standards if it contracts the maintenance ork out.The effects on project 2011 net income for divesting dry dock; Divesting dry dock will worse off than status quo. 2) Target more profitable market segment Base on customer survey conducted in 2010, Annual family income of our customers is $72 thousand vs. $78 thousand in the industry. It is mainly because we have more customers who under 40 years old than the industry (40% vs. 29%). The revenue per passengers per day for this group is only $209 vs. $334 for 40 to 60 years old group. In aaaltlon, we naa OITTlcult to attract repeat customers. I nere was only customers were repeated vs. % i n the industry. Each repeat customer can generate $2000 vs. $1800 from first timer. The effects on project 2011 net income for aligning customer mix to industry average: Net Income before tax (691. 15) 3) Hire unskilled crew and hospitality from underdeveloped countries. Pro: It is a W-T strategy that prevents firm's weakness from intense competition in the industry. Because of registering in Canada, Livoria has higher operating costs than competitors. By hiring employees in underdeveloped which commonly practice in all kinds of businesses, Livoria can lower its labour cost by 30%.It is critical for Livoria to stay competitive in the industry. Con: Experienced crew is rare and invaluable. By swapping all experienced crew by unskilled labour, Livoria may risk losing its core competency – reputation of safety. Moreover, this may also affect our quality of service. Superior service is also critical to survive in the industry as well. Furthermore, termination and training costs c an offset the benefits of labour cost saving. The effects on project 2011 net income for hiring unskilled labour Net Income before tax. Livoria Key Success Factors 1. Livoria deliver enjoyable experience to vacationers 2. Livoria is socially responsible that always exceeds environmental and safety regulations 3. Crew members , vacationers and marine life are safe during the journey 4. The services on cruise are high quality but affordable Leveraging (S-O Strategies)Livoria’s strong brand in safety can take advantage of the growth in tourism industry and strengthen economy in Canada. After acquiring Natural Splendour, Livoria can offer mix of products that can satisfy both vacationers who value for price and for special amenities. The steady growth in revenue and income has developed a strong financial fundamental for Livoria to expand the business in Canada. Constraints (W-O Strategies)Ineffective and inefficient promotion strategies become constraints for Livoria to get full benefit of strong demand in cruise. Because of the lack of web-based booking system, Livoria only can rely on Sales agent for booking. This not only cause Livoria to miss the opportunity to capture Saleslers who prefer booking online, but also increases the passenger acquisition cost. Even worst, Livoria attracts younger people who less willing to spend on cruises. Vulnerability (S-T Strategies)As Livoria is known as outstanding safety among competitors, it can give confident to vacationers that the probability of on-board outbreak of disease in the cruise is minimal. Its unique services such as whale watching and ports of call can serve a niche market in cruise industry. This allows Livoria to compete with large brand operators in the market. Problem (W-T Strategies)Canadian market is relatively small for cruise industry and the industry is already dominated by large cruise ships and large brand operators. The competitive force among rivals is very intense. . The accident of Sandwich causes Livoria over 3 Millions repair cost. In the future, Sandwich will still potentially harm Livoria’s financial stability as its d amage insurance coverage is limited. Livoria’s high operation cost and ineffective marketing  strategies can drive it out of the business easily.Issue Terrorist attack is a severer external threat for Livoria. Base on the effects of the past terrorist attacks, Livoria’s revenue is expected to drop around 35% in 2011. Fortunately, the effect should only last for a year. In addition, the accident of Sandwich will increase the repair cost for Livoria in 2011. Combining with the scheduled refurbishment, the repair cost can reach 6 Million. This will seriously affect Livoria’s financial health. If management does not have contingency plan, Livoria is expected to have $2.4M record losses in 2011. Current financial situationIn 2010 fiscal year, Livoria performed better than planned. Total passenger was almost 2% more than planned. Revenue was 6.6% more than budgeted, so was net income 15.7%. (Appendix 2) Given the terrorist attack incident and 6 Millions repair cost in 2011, solvency and liquidity of Livoria are being concerned. The current long term debt to equity is 1.23 which implies that Livoria has risk of overleveraging. Fortunately, Income before tax and interest is 6.43 times interest expense and current asset is 1.75 times current liability.Moreover, Livoria has over 10 Million cash and marketable securities which is enough to pay off repair cost and interest expense next year. This conclude that the solvency and liquidity of Livoria is not an issue. Comparing over the course of 4 years, Livoria recorded increase in revenue, expense and net income. However, in 2010 fiscal year, the annually growth rate of revenue is lower compare to 2009 (13% vs. 31%). This also causes the annually growth rate of net income drop from 67% in 2009 to 33% in 2010. Given both cruises, Sandwich and natural Splendour were operating at more than 90% capacity, even there was no terrorist attack incident, Livoria would not have impressive growth in number of pa ssengers in the near future.Assumptions: 1) Direct material, credit card and Sales agent commission is variable to revenue. Thus, if revenue drops 35%, so does these variable costs. 2) Dry dock revenue stays the same as maintenance works should be performed no  matter good or bad season. 3) Livoria can book 2.3 M in capital gain by selling the dry dock 4) All maintenance, refurbishment and repair for Sandwich can be finished before the beginning of May next year. Thus, Sandwich can service in 2011 cruise season 5) Termination cost for all kinds of labour are also $6,000 each 6) Training cost for unskilled labours is $1,000 each.Alternative: 1) Divesting the Fraser dry dock. Pro: During the economic downturn, it is wise to spin off non-core business, so that company can focus its limited resources to improve its core business. Dry dock business is non-core business for Livoria. It only contributed 8.5% of company’s total revenue in 2010. If removing inter-division transactio n and associated direct material cost, dry dock actually reported 667 thousands loss. Con: Selling price for dry dock is only 4.3 Million which is not enough to cover the estimated repair cost for Sandwich in 2011. Later on, Livoria has to spend two Million on refurbishment every year. More importantly, reputation for safety is core competency of Livoria.Livoria is relying this to stay competitive in the market. Livoria can no longer ensure maintenance works are well performed and exceed regulation standards if it contracts the maintenance work out. The effects on project 2011 net income for divesting dry dock; Divesting dry dock will worse off than status quo.2) Target more profitable market segment Base on customer survey conducted in 2010, Annual family income of our customers is $72 thousand vs. $78 thousand in the industry. It is mainly because we have more customers who under 40 years old than the industry (40% vs. 29%). The revenue per passengers per day for this group is onl y $209 vs. $334 for 40 to 60 years old group. In addition, we had difficult to attract repeat customers. There was only 20% of customers were repeated vs. 40% in the industry. Each repeat customer can generate $2000 vs. $1800 from first timer. The effects on project 2011 net income for aligning customer mix to industry average: Net Income before tax  $ (691.15)3) Hire unskilled crew and hospitality from underdeveloped countries. Pro: It is a W-T strategy that prevents firm’s weakness from intense competition in the industry. Because of registering in Canada, Livoria has higher operating costs than competitors. By hiring employees in underdeveloped which commonly practice in all kinds of businesses, Livoria can lower its labour cost by 30%. It is critical for Livoria to stay competitive in the industry. Con: Experienced crew is rare and invaluable. By swapping all experienced crew by unskilled labour, Livoria may risk losing its core competency – reputation of safety. Moreover, this may also affect our quality of service. Superior service is also critical to survive in the industry as well. Furthermore, termination and training costs can offset the benefits of labour cost saving.The effects on project 2011 net income for hiring unskilled labour Net Income before tax  $ (3,550.04)

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Development in Durban

Here at USAID, our mission is to provide economic development and humanitarian assistance to people located all around the world. At USAID we ave a strong sector focused on Sub-Saharan African development. We notice that Durban is an up-and-coming city, with the potential to be a thriving seven million- person city by the turn of the century. We are contacting you about your future sustainable urban development.There are rural areas located around your city which are extremely agricultural, but these farms are in need of exporting their goods in order to make money, and a high poverty level still arises in South Africa. We want to stimulate both Durban and the surrounding rural cities' economic development and growth through implementing sustainable agricultural evelopment programs throughout the area. Much attention has been raised towards sustainable economic development and growth as barriers are taken down and globalization continues to expand to the most rural parts of the world .We believe that Durban, as a booming city of more than three million people, is a perfect place to implement sustainable urban agriculture and a city where the benefits will be fully reaped. Once these plans have taken shape, countries throughout Africa will take notice of the efficient resource use and city-wide positive development that has taken place. This paper will lay out three advantages that will stem from adding agriculture into urban life: the involvement of women and children in societal development, environmental benefits, and a benefit in food security.As the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Durban is around the corner (l am sure you know but as a reminder the 28th of November), now is a perfect time to seriously consider the benefits of sustainable urban agriculture as a means towards bettering the society, economy, and environment. Why does Durban, South Africa need to involve urban agriculture within its city nd surrounding a reas? A r ca, Latin America, and Asia, by the year 2 home to 75% of urban dwellers world-wide.This same study conducted by the Resource Centres for Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) predicted that by 2020, 40-45% of the poor in Africa will be concentrated in towns and cities (â€Å"Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security†). After taking a look at these statistics, one can comprehend the magnitude of the effects on cities that the global population increase will cause. I am going to give you some examples of urban gricultural projects from other cities worldwide before I delve into the positive effects of implementing such projects into your city.Essentially, an urban farm can be found in window sills, abandoned warehouses, and old parking lots. The magazine Farming the City highlights several examples of urban agriculture. One such community-boosting project is under way in Berlin, Germany. Here, the community has come together to convert the unused s pace of a half-century-old wasteland into an area suitable for growing vegetation and fruits. Activists and community members were the main people involved in the project.The article notes that such spaces would promote community development through the sharing of knowledge, a â€Å"mini utopia† where people enjoy fresh foods and relax (Stipo 7). Architectural design has aimed at building fixtures in the urban sectors of cities, such as in the OosteliJk havengebeid district of Amsterdam. Here, a greenhouse† plan has been undertaken. This greenhouse will feature shops on the ground floor, restaurants on the top and effective uses of window-placement that allow maximum sunlight for the cultivation of crops.The area outside of the greenhouse will be used as a locally- rown vegetable garden. (Stipo 6). Examples such as these show how community development can be achieved through organized gardens run by civilians and new building designs where sustainable practices are enfo rced. Let me start out with giving a detailed overview of why sustainable agricultural development will be implemented into Durban and the surrounding rural areas.Sustainable development, without the added agricultural term, is defined as â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†l . Why have humans even come to this point where there is an extremely viable chance that future generations will not be able to survive on this planet? The answer can be boiled down to misuse of natural resources and humans' inability to be environmental stewards, taking care of the land which they rely on for food and water.I Just want to include some data on Africa's deforestation and poor land use so as to drill home the point of the need for sustainable agricultural methods to be implemented. South Africa, as a growing developing country, should heed warming of the harmful effects that deforestation as to lled upon Earth and its people in recent history. For one, deforestation causes soil erosion, which eventually leads to desertification and the pollution of waterways. Sub-Saharan Africa does not need dry, infertile land.Land needs to remain fertile in order for the production of food to take place. South Africa's climate does not provide for much indigenous forest, as only 0. 5% of its surface area is covered by it (Collins). Urban agriculture will relieve deforestation, as it provides food to be produced within a city and not on large-scale farms. Much care should be put towards preserving hese forests. Urban agriculture aims at using less resources and the creativity of the human mind to create organic toods which nave the ability to keep the relationship between man and the world a healthy one.The fact that up to 75 percent of the population in 29 Sub-Saharan Africa countries was constituted as malnourished in 2004, is alarming. Most of these individuals farm for a living, not m aking much money or providing food for their families or even their selves. Malnourishment and poverty essentially go hand in hand. In fact, in the year 2000, 59 percent of people lived below the poverty line of US 1 [day (United Nations Environment). Urban agricultural development can be used to benefit the society of African areas.The fact that children and women are forced to work long hours on their farms and are still hungry is mainly due to the fact that they have no money to support themselves. They are not making enough money selling their crops and therefore do not have enough money to buy their own food. As a solution to this problem, Alex Colletta, a columnist for the University of California, Santa Barbara's daily newspaper, Daily Nexus, writes that by implementing self- ustaining farms into vacant lots and backyards, children and women can â€Å"promote community spirit†¦ rovide fresh vegetables and fruits to several businesses and homeless shelters and also help feed a dying economy by helping small restaurants get the best food for cheap prices† (Colletta 4). As urban farmers no longer have to worry about paying for food, they can make a profit to live on. While the organic farming that Alex Colletta talks about in her article is coming from Detroit, a city in northern Michigan, USA, there is no doubt that the poor in South Africa can use it as form of both a societal community booster and a form of economic development.Detroit has many abandoned factories, and these are what are being used for the new urban farms; Durban can build greenhouses and buildings in non-developed areas in order to promote the citys poor to become urban famers. Bill McKibben writes in his magazine article entitled A Special Moment in History that â€Å"Growing too fast may mean that they [poor people in slums] run short of cropland to feed themselves, of firewood to cook their food, of school desks and hospital beds† (McKibben, 400). He explains in t his part of his article how population growth akes it difficult for the poor members of society to sustain their livelihoods.One key pressure in the wake of rising African populations is food security. One major dilemma the poor face in the growing world, food security, centers on individuals' abilities to have healthy food when they need it. In Amy N. Lerner's article about food security and food production in the global south, she states that â€Å"research in Africa has found that economic and caloric needs are the primary motivations for populations in urban and pert-urban areas to pursue agriculture† (Lerner, 6).With ising population densities, there is a rise in resource necessities; while this is the case, available labor and land remains low. Urban agriculture has the ability to provide organic fresh vegetables and fruits to a growing population within Durban. Families will be working within the community in order to provide food for community-run farmers markets and for their own families. With the smart use of land-planning, which is a major part of urban agriculture, along with having more people work, smarter, less resource-intensive urban areas will bloom.Three advantages of organic farming are centralized on the society, the economy nd the environment; urban agriculture, as an organic form of farming, brings about all three ot these advantages. The advantage that organic urban farming poses towards cities and its population (society) revolves around the development of women and the alleviation of poverty, which brings about greater food security. Organic public markets, commonly known as farmers' markets, provide a place where members of society can convene and purchase locally-grown foods.So, by promoting local food production for local needs, global policy should move away from subsidizing corporate food exports and opening p to foreign food imports, which drives small-scale farmers off of their land, and towards a policy that promotes s mall-scale, environmentally sound farming that provides for local markets (Brecher, Costello, Smith 316). Due to the fact that 59 percent of people worldwide lived below the poverty line of IJS$I ‘day in the year 2000, new forms of aid for those who suffer from wages not able to sustain a healthy livelihood are pivotal in development (United Nations Environment Programme ).With development strategies in place, women and children will learn how to grow vegetables and fruits, therefore being able to feed hemselves and sell food in local farmers markets. An increasing role in women's livelihoods has an extremely positive benefit for communities. Mayra Buvinic notes in her article Women in Poverty: A New Global Underclass manors in which national and international policies can change and improve to yield great benefits for poor women and the developing world. Two implementations Ms.Buvinic recommends are to â€Å"Increase rural women's access to agricultural extension servicesâ⠂¬  and â€Å"adopt labor- intensive ‘pro-poor' economic growth policies that expand employment opportunities† (Buvinic 161). Examples of agricultural extension services include access to current news via internet and television broadcasts as well as agricultural production information and technologies (â€Å"Rural Extension and Advisory Services†). With these services, poor women in urban South Africa will become more knowledgeable as to ways they can improve their livelihoods while still being considered farmers.Urban farmers are realizing that food markets where they can share their products with other members of their community are great places to make money, socialize, and learn new ways to efficiently grow crops. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization's â€Å"The State of Food and Agriculture, 2010-2011- Women in Agriculture† report, if women had the same access as men to productive resources, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30 percent. This increase would cause for a 2. 5-4. percent increase in Africa's agricultural output (â€Å"State of Food and Agriculture: Women in Agriculture† 3). The message essentially being conveyed here is that women who are given equal access to resources as men are will generate more food and be able to deal with food scarcity and poverty throughout their respective countries. As the Center for American Progress points out, 26. 5 percent of African women are poor compared to 22. 3 percent of African males (Cawthorne ). The societal benefits of poverty alleviation with integration of urban agriculture are great.Giving women the opportunity to work in a community- run garden where they can consume and sell foods gives them an occupation that empowers and insights them with knowledge. These women and children realize that they are helping the environment while improving their ownlivelihoods. Recreation provides physical and/or psychological relaxation, as well as act ivities where the poor an become educated about ecology, mentions an article on the reasons urban agriculture is important by the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (â€Å"Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security†) Foundation.The social impacts that revolve around women and children's participation in urban agriculture are a positive reason to enforce policies that will give them land for the creation of their own urban farms. The environmental benefits of urban agriculture are the alleviation of the costs surrounding transporting foods over long distances, ater-saving irrigation (reclaimed water), and composting materials to use as fertilizers instead of synthetic chemical fertilizers. Even with the amount of deforestation that has taken place worldwide, land is no longer suitable for agriculture.Of the 11 percent of our planet Earth that is suitable for agriculture, humans have destroyed 38 percent of it through poor natural resource mana gement practices (â€Å"Sustainable Agriculture†). Becoming good environmental stewards presents itself as humanities' last option. There is no longer enough land to provide food for the growing worldwide population. Cities will need to make use of urban agriculture to make up for this discrepancy. An overall adaptation towards organic rather than conventional methods of farming is the future of food production.With less conventional and more organic farming methods, the use of pesticides will decrease dramatically. Pesticides create harm both for wildlife and humans, as toxins seep into waterways and onto vegetation. â€Å"Overall public health and ecological integrity could be improved† through the adoption of organic, pesticide-free, farming practices, says David Pimentel, who is part of the Cornell Department of Entomology. Pimentel 573). Composting can be seen as an environmental benefit in urban green spaces because it provides the soil fertility that otherwise i s not present on old construction sites where growing operations are under way.The main benefit that composting brings to urban agriculture, according to Arne Saebo, is that â€Å"high-quality compost consists of many compounds that influence the biological processes in the soil positively, thus improving the physical and chemical soil characteristics (Saebo, and Ferrini 160). Reclaimed water – coming from treated waste water – will be an ffective way to rid of urban waste water and will save water that can be used for other reasons, such as drinking. 2 Local governmental policies need to implement these sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices into Durban's urban agriculture system, and enforce them.Urban agriculture is economically viable for civilians of South Africa for some key reasons. For one, urban agriculture in Nairobi consists of only one-third private residential land; this means that the other two-thirds of land where crops are grown in the city co nsists of â€Å"roadsides, riverbanks, and other publicly owned lands† (Romanik, 18). Clare T. Romanik, who works for the think tank Urban Institute, also notes in her article, An Urban-Rural Focus on the Food Markets in Africa, that urban agriculture has less means for the packaging, transportation, and storage of food (18).As noted in the social benefits of urban agriculture stated earlier, food security is a great benefit of growing food that can be both consumed and grown by the consumer; this is also an economically important benefit due to its aid against poverty. According to RUAF, Africa city-dwellers spend 50-70 percent of their income on food (â€Å"Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security†). Growing one's own vegetables in vacant lots or other creative places within Durban will allow tarmers to botn provide valuable vegetables tor their own consumption as well as for profit sales.People who oppose or are speculative of the implementation of ur ban agricultural practices contend that available land is decreasing as populations in cities rise. As these populations rise, people are taking the land in informal ways and purchasing rights are not easy to obtain (Romanik 35). Also, some people may be speculative of how organic and healthy the vegetables and fruits coming from these urban farmers truly are. These speculations can be resolved through strict legislative policies. One other concern regarding urban agriculture is the question surrounding if it will support growing cities with enough food.Mr. Pimentel observed a study of both organically-grown and conventionally-grown soybeans between 1981 and 2001. Respectively, the crops produced were 2461 and 2546 kilograms per hectare (Pimentel). As we see here, it is evident that growing food the organic way without powerful pesticides still provides close to the same yield as conventional farming. Investments in sustainable development need to occur, and uickly. Population press ures are continuously throwing wood on the fire that drives legislature and human minds to create new policies and ideas which are necessary to sustain life on earth for all its inhabitants.Investments should be made that incorporate money into the public sector to meet human and environmental needs. Urban agriculture will provide locally-grown, healthy food for members of Durban. A vast sum of money will be saved from paying for food imports if city-dwellers purchase their food from farmers markets and consume food from their own organic arms. For women and children, and society as a whole, urban agriculture will expedite development through invigorating a sense of community and education of ecological processes.Currently, the state of global trade is making life very difficult for those who do not earn a living wage. Locally-grown foods will bring food and money to those who are impoverished. Essentially, I write this as an alert, an invigoration of awareness, that there is a prob lem of people suffering in South Africa who need food. Solutions to food security and hunger are available: it is within egislatures hands to create policies that allow for city-wide composting, the management of public green spaces, and the development of self-sufficient ways of life for all.