The “High Court Ruling Only Tweaks Sarbanes-Oxley Act” Article

ARTICLE SYNOPSISThe â€Å"High Court Ruling Only Tweaks Sarbanes-Oxley Act† article is about the Supreme Court ruling in Free Enterprise Fund vs. PCAOB indicating that Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) will remain â€Å"fully operative as a law† with the exception to remove members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Prior to the SOX Act, the removal of member was said to violate the appointments clause of the Constitution. In addition to discussing the ruling, the following will explain how the Sarbanes-Oxley act affects ethical decisions in today’s business and the criminal penalties that it provides.ETHICAL DECISIONThe process of making decisions consists of ethical attribute that include integrity, transparency, and accountability. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has the effect of ensuring investor confidence through the existence of regulatory provisions effective in enhancing ethical standards. In the case of Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB shows the extent to which the issue of separation of powers is upheld. The main argument in the case was the excess power granted to the board as it was appointed by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) other than the president.This means that the board had regulatory non-restricted power by the executive. According to the ruling, PCAOB has the power to continue overseeing public company audits with the intention of protecting investors interest (Jaeger, 2010). This is a major development as it relates to ensuring that proper measures supports the scope of executives ensuring that proper decisions are effective in protecting the interests of investors. The court’s ruling indicated that PCAOB board members will be removed from office by SEC at will other than for good cause (Jaeger, 2010).However, other programs of PCAOB remain unaffected by the decision of the court. It is important to note that the enactment of the SOX Act is a major development that has ensured integrity in decision-making proce ss essential in protecting the integrity of investors. As a result of maintaining proper books of accounts and ensuring proper internal controls are in place, the SOX Act ensures ethical decisions are made enhancing the integrity and transparency. Ultimately, the impact of the SOX Act is to protect the interest of investors through prevention of accounting frauds.CRIMINAL PENALTIES The SOXAct provides for various criminal penalties under certain sections. Section 802 of the SOX Act provides criminal penalties for influencing the United States agency investigation, which is also known as proper administration. The criminal penalty punishes any person who knowingly falsifies information or document with the intention of obstructing a particular investigation. An individual can be put in jail if found guilty of this criminal offense for a period not exceeding 20 years.Another criminal penalty under the SOX Act is retaliation against whistleblowers (Jaeger, 2010). This relates to any pe rson who takes harmful action against another person with the intention to retaliate. A fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years can be placed if a person is found guilty for this criminal offense. Section 906 of the SOX Act provides for criminal penalties for CEO or CFO financial statement certification. According to this section, any corporate officer who fails to certify financial reports is liable for a jail term not exceeding 20 years.

The Beatles Influence on Rock-and-Roll

The Beatles are one of the most innovative rock bands of all time. They have not only changed the way rock and roll is looked at, but also the way that the music is recorded. They have influenced the artists of the 60s and the 70s, and also many generations later and to come. Originating from Liverpool, England, the Beatles, or the Fab Four, consists of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Topping the charts in ’63 with â€Å"Love Me Do,† and bringing in the highest rated viewing in history while performing on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles are definitely a band that broke the sound barrier of rock and roll.They used unique sounds in their music and weren’t afraid of experimenting in the studio, they even welcomed accidental occurrences and toyed around to get the sound they were looking for. Artificial double tracking was invented during the recording of their album Revolver and also a new technique on miking strings. They paved the way for other British Bands in America and even had full-blown imitators, like the Monkees, that copied everything from their look, to the spelling error in their name, and their campaign. They also helped create a whole new genre of music called folk rock.Their influence is still seen in today’s musicians, such as the band Oasis, who compare their music constantly to the Beatles. The Beatles Influence on Rock-and-Roll â€Å"The impact of the Beatles – not only on rock and roll but on Western culture – is simply incalculable. As musicians, they proved that rock and roll could embrace a limitless variety of harmonies, structures and sounds; virtually every rock experiment has some precedent on Beatles records. † Said by the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, could not be any more wrong.The Beatles had a huge impact on not just rock and roll, but music as a whole, as well as influencing the technology used to record their music. They weren’ t afraid of experimenting and instead of producing music they produced art. Their influence is seen all over the world, but no one has come close to the fame that was Beatlemania. The Beatles originated from Liverpool, England and consists of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They first started playing shows in Hamburg, Germany as a skiffle band in 1960.In 1962 they released their first single â€Å"Love Me Do,† which reached the number one spot on U. S. charts in May of ’63. Their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of ’64 brought in over 73 million viewers, the most in U. S. history. By April 1964, they held the first five places in the Billboard Hot 100. The Beatles were one of the biggest influences on music during the 60s and 70s. Their music, to this day, remains more widely known than any other music of the rock era. They have brought new sounds and ideas in their music and revolutionized the idea of rock and roll.Their work was always invested with originality, using unique sounds in their music, which is most dramatically seen in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They used many studio effects on this album, including reverberation, echoes, and reverse tape effects. They experimented with sounds that no other bands used, and had great success with it. They created their own material, breaking the Tin Pan monopoly of song writing, setting in motion revolutionary changes in the music publishing industry. They wrote songs for fellow artists and even encouraged the Rolling Stones to write their own music. The Beatles were the first group to use the recording studio as a writing tool, building up complex song arrangements by multi-tracking and importing orchestral textures and avant-garde effects under the guidance of producer George Martin† (Glassman).In Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, instead of using traditional breaks in between songs, one tracked merged i nto the next, which were linked by studio talk, laughter, electronic noises, and animal sounds. They also used audio tricks involving steam organs, orchestras, sitars, and even a pack of foxhounds in full cry at the end of â€Å"Good Morning, Good Morning. The use of animal sounds were actually first used in the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds that the Beatles admired. When asked the Beach Boys where they got their innovation for Pet Sounds, the Beatles Rubber Soul album was what inspired them. â€Å"A Day In The Life,† the last song on the album, featured â€Å"what Lennon described as ‘a sound building up from nothing to the end of the world’† (Lazarescu). The song â€Å"Strawberry Fields Forever† fused two different versions of the same song and used reverse-tape cellos for an eerie effect.After George Harrison used sitar on the song â€Å"Norwegian Wood,† other bands like the Byrds, Yardbirds, and the Rolling Stones, soon followed incorporat ing Eastern-influence sounds into their work. Paul McCartney once said, â€Å"We would say, ‘Try it! Just try it for us. If it sounds crappy, OK, we’ll lose it. But it might just sound good. ’ We were always pushing ahead: Louder, further, longer, more different† (â€Å"All About Jazz†). The Beatles had complete access to Abbey Road studios free of charge, spending hours upon hours experimenting and writing music.They used the studio as an instrument in itself. They were the first band to push musical and technological boundaries. They took advantage of accidental occurrences in the recording process. You can see this in â€Å"I Feel Fine† where there is feedback and also in â€Å"Long, Long, Long† where there is a resonating glass bottle. They also deliberately toyed with situations and techniques that would further chance effects. An example of this is in â€Å"I am the Walrus,† where they used a live mixing of a UK radio broa dcast into the fade of the song, and also the chaotic assemblage of â€Å"Tomorrow Never Knows. Ken Townsend invented artificial double tracking (ADT) during the recording of Revolver because Lennon didn’t like singing a song twice. ADT is still widely used for instruments and voices; however, it is now mostly known as automatic double tracking. Other influences the Beatles had on technology were the use of close miking the strings by engineer Geoff Emerick when recording. In 1966 that was a radically new way of miking strings, and now it is common practice. The Beatles were also the firsts to use direct injection to record McCartney’s bass on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.This is done by connecting the bass to the recording console via an impedance matching DI box. The Beatles paved the way for other British bands in America. The Beatles were the first British group to break into America and since the Beatles were able to have fame in the US, they gave other British bands the possibility of making it in America. Such bands were Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and the Searchers, who were all also managed by Brian Epstein. Other British bands that followed the Beatles were the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Yardbirds.The Rolling Stones had a raunchier dirty bad boy look, different then the clean-cut look of the Beatles. As the 1970s began, you can see the Beatles influence in artists like Elton John and Pink Floyd. In America, the most blatant imitators of the Beatles were the Monkees, who even calculatedly misspelled the name just like the Beatles. The Monkees were four actors portraying longhaired whimsical musicians; however, their music was actually performed by studio musicians. They copied the Beatles to a tee, including their campaign.Before the Beatles came to the US, their manager Brian Epstein had Capital Records spend $50,000 on a campaign, plastering posters all over the country stating, â⠂¬Å"The Beatles Are Coming,† and gave disc jockeys records of interviews with the Beatles to feel like they were actually making personalized interviews. For the Monkees, â€Å"The band’s label spent $100,000 on an ad campaign that involved seventy-six advance men, who distributed thousands of posters proclaiming ‘The Monkees Are Coming’ and provided preview records to 6,000 disc jockeys† (Szatmary 125).After the assassination of President John Kennedy, the whole country was at a low point and the Beatles brought them back to happier times, especially the folk artists. A lot of folk artists felt like the protest was over after Kennedy was killed. Kennedy was making a change in the country, but after his death, they felt like there was no more fight left in them. Bob Dylan, one of the major folk musicians of the era, just gave it all away and went towards the more electrified sounds of the Beatles.Gene Clark, who at the time was part of the folk group the New Christy Minstrels, was on tour when he first heard the Beatles song â€Å"She Loves You. † â€Å"I must have played it 40 times in the two days the New Christy Minstrels were playing that town,’ he later enthused. ‘I knew, I knew that this was the future† (Szatmary 140). Gene Clark later quit the New Christy Minstrels and formed his own band with Roger McGuinn and a few other former folk musicians. They called themselves the Byrds, misspelling it to emulate the spelling error in the Beatles.They combined Dylanese folk, vocal harmonies and Beatles music to create folk rock. Other folk bands that switched to folk rock were the Turtles, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and Scotland’s folk singer Donovan Leitch, which Paul McCartney was featured singing with him on his song â€Å"Mellow Yellow. † One other band was Lovin’ Spoonful who owed their debt to Dylan and none other than the Beatles. When new wave and punk music started in th e late 1970s, their sound and style could still be heard in artists like the Squeeze, the Police, and Elvis Costello. Their music has spoken not only to its own time but to every generation since† (Campbell, Brody 168). In the late 1980s a new style of music called â€Å"baggy† originated from Manchester. The musical devotees sported Bealte-esque haircuts and drew heavily on the 1960s. They fused Beatles psychedelic with electronic elements taken from the simultaneously developing acid house scene. You can see the Beatles influence in the guitar style and song arrangements of the Stone Roses, guitarist John Squire cited them as one of his main influences.The mid 90s saw a whole new host of Beatles influenced bands. The band Cast, which was formed by guitarist John Powers in 1994, has Lennon-esque vocals and memorable songs, which are still reaping the rewards. In 1995 a Liverpool band called the Boo Radleys had both the Beatles pop and psychedelic styles. Songwriter/gui tarist Martin Carr told Melody Maker in 1994 that, â€Å"There's never been a time when they haven't been a part of my life† (Glassman). The Gallagher brothers, who formed the group Oasis, lived and breathed the Beatles.They even named dropped the Beatles whenever they could in interviews. They would write their own melodies and then arrange them in a Bealte-esque style, but with a rocky, attitude-dowsed edge. â€Å"It's beyond an obsession. It's an ideal for living. I don't even know how to justify it to myself. With every song that I write, I compare it to The Beatles,’ Noel Gallagher told Q in 1996† (Glassman). Of the eight years that were the Beatles, no band has received more attention from fans, musicians, and scholars. Their music tells us more about the sixties than any other band.Their influence is seen in music and even the technology used to record music. From their first album Please Please Me (1963) all the way to their last album Hey Jude (1970), n o band has seen such a diverse selection of songs, going from retro one minute to folk-influenced the next. With their use of experimentation, they have opened a whole new door to the way rock is heard, converting even folk musicians, like the Byrds, to their style of music. You can still hear their inspiration in music even in today’s bands such as Oasis. Yet no one has seemed to copy the sound that was the Beatles.

Gantt Chart for Execution of House Construction Essay

The activity of house construction involves many stages which are spread over many months. The case study example taken for the preparation of Gantt chart is selected as it involves various stages and there are many people involved in different activities. These activities are interdependent on the performance of various work groups and can get delayed if not planned and executed timely. Thus I present a Gantt Chart that will assist and ensure effective working in order to obtain the end result as planned. Explanation of Gantt Chart (refer appendix) The overall activity has been planned for a time span of 9 months. The activities have been classified as follows Excavation (A) : This is the first stage where excavation for the house columns needs to be carried out. The lead time for this activity is one month. This is a process which is labor intensive and needs to be completed as per the architectural drawing. Other activities cannot be started before ensuring accuracy of the excavation work as the structure cannot be modified if desired at a later stage. Hence activity B , RCC cannot start before 100 % completion of activity A. In case during this phase it is realized that any delays could be caused in reaching the first milestone then additional workforce or earth moving equipment needs to be outsourced. RCC (B) (Reinforced Cement Concrete) : The lead time for this activity is three months. Once excavation is complete the next stage is of RCC which involves making columns and beams of the house. Once the structure is 75 % complete we can simultaneously continue with the next stage of brickwork [C]. The achievement of this milestone will not hamper activity C but due caution has to be exercised that the activity gets completed by the fourth month form the project starting date as it is the start of activity D and E. Brickwork (C) Along with brickwork the other activities Electrical (D) and Plumbing (E) also need to be commenced upon the completion of stage B and 50 % of stage C as the electrical pipes and fittings need to be covered inside the walls. Similarly toilets and kitchen requires plumbing to be done simultaneously. If the activity deviates from its planned lead time of two months then activity D, E and F will need to be carried out at an increased pace than its actual to cover up for the lag time. Electrical (D)and Plumbing (E) These stages can be executed simultaneously as they are not interdependent on each other . Once these are complete we can move on to the next stage. Plastering (F) After completion of electrical and plumbing work we can start with the internal plastering activity. However external plastering can be carried out when 50 % of stage D and E are complete. This is the third milestone. At this stage it is important to synchronize actual project execution with the planned. Tiling (G) Once plastering is 100 % complete then we can move on to Tiling & Flooring work Painting (H) This is the final milestone to be executed after 100 % completion of activity G . Conclusion: Gantt chart gives a clear picture of the stages and helps in noticing any deviations and corrective steps can be implemented which in turn will not disrupt other schedules and help in achieving desired results in a cost effective and efficient manner. The case for buy Vs make is indeed a matter of individual capacities and judgment in the said example. By choosing to make as in the above case the maker gets freedom of choice and taste to suit his own needs. If activities are carried out with due diligence the project would be cost effective. Reference : Gantt Chart- Wikipedia, 19 October 2008, < http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Gantt_chart>

Compare and contrast thermodynamics and kinetics Essay

Compare and contrast thermodynamics and kinetics - Essay Example It studies the factors that affect reaction rates and the mechanisms in which the chemical reactions proceed. Kinetics is concerned with the measure of reaction rates of that proceed under specific conditions of pressure, temperature and concentration. This paper seeks to compare and contrast kinetics and thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is complementary to the theory of kinetic. It provides the relations between the physical properties of a system under specified measurements, while kinetics enables the calculations of the magnitude of the system’s properties. Thermodynamics determines the equilibrium of the reaction, the constant of the equilibrium, and it is also determined by enthalpy and entropy. On the other hand, kinetics determines the rate and speed of the reaction, the constant of the rate and it is determined by the activation energy. Thermodynamics and kinetics are hence related to one another in a chemical reaction. As described in the above paragraph, a chemical reaction contains aspects of both thermodynamics and kinetics. The kinetics related quantities are constant rate which is associated with the required activation energy for reaction to move forward, while thermodynamics is associated with the energy difference that results from a free energy released in the process of a chemical reaction. Although kinetics defines the speed and rate of reaction, they don’t specify conditions of the equilibrium. On the same note, thermodynamics only details the equilibrium conditions and says nothing about the rate and speed of reaction; hence the two are related and complement each

Analysis of Googling Out of Control and Work in Google Essay

Analysis of Googling Out of Control and Work in Google - Essay Example Organizational Structure is where roles and/or ranks of employees are determined. It is advanced that success may still be realized so long as the culture and values of the organization and its employees are attuned with each other thus any challenges faced by the organization may be managed or prevented. A concrete example of culture adaptation or acclimatization is that of Google. In the video, Google is commended for its fun and relaxing work atmosphere. Notwithstanding the laid back work structure, it is able to provide perks and incentives to everyone in the organization. Google is able to support its management style due to the billions of revenues and profits it is able to generate through their Online Services and advertisements. And, it is in this context that this paper will analyze the Google’s success. Discussion There are 3 forms of Organizations, the Classical, Modern and Post-Modern. In the Classical Organization Form, managers avoid risks that would put the org anizations at jeopardy while in the Modern Organization Form managers create contingency plans for possible situations that can happen in risky decisions. On the other hand, Post-Modern Organization Form managers take risks and create an action plan only when bad situations arise. Google has come a long way from the original objective of its founders. It was initially created as a graduate project in Stanford University. The website was launched in 1996 in the internal website of Stanford and two years after, Google turned into a successful commercial enterprise. From a name that is represented by 100 zeroes after a number 1, Google has been a success since its inception. The founders were able to transform a simple university project to a lucrative company valued at more than $30 billion. Google’s reach is extensive considering that it receives more transactions than the stock exchanges of New York, London, Geneva Frankfurt and Paris combined. From the video â€Å"Work in G oogle†, Fortune Magazine has named Google as the best company to work for in America in 2007. The founders of Google are able to create an environment where employees are able to have fun and enjoy being at work while creating a place where employees are able to be productive and excel in their fields. According to the video anchors, Fortune magazine chose Google as one of the best workplaces in America because of numerous reasons one of them being the food it serves in its cafeteria. It does not merely house a simple cafeteria that other organizations normally have but Google distinguished itself by providing a service comparable to eleven gourmet restaurants inside its cafeteria. The unconventional way of Google’s management style is well-appreciated by its employees—they positively respond and return the favor by working hard and being productive. Google employees declare that they are willing to do anything for the company since Google is invested towards pro viding an environment that is comfortable and conducive for work. It puts ahead the comfort of the employees by not employing a restrictive dress code—instead the employees are given the freedom and liberty to wear any type of clothes they deem comfortable. Pets are also allowed in the workplace provided that colleagues are not bothered by their presence. It is evident therefore that the lack of structure in the management system is not a factor in the success of the business.

Interprofessional Education Workshop Assignment

Interprofessional Education Workshop - Assignment Example The first way in which the workshop expressions show a need to fill the gap of the health profession with the right education is through the roles of each individual. In the first segment of the workshop, basic introductions and expectations of the field which one was studying were given. During this part of the workshop, each individual stated their field of study and how this would be used in the profession after graduation. It could instantly be seen that there was a gap in the understanding of what each individual was doing. In one participant describing the pharmaceutical role she played, others questioned what that meant and what she would be doing. The discussion led to the need to define why the individual was in the group, how it related to medicine and what the expectations were. Even though the individual would be in a health department and team, the collaboration was limited by the inability to understand the specialization that each of the members had. If there are these gaps with the basic job descriptions and roles which each individual holds, then it won’t provide the right support for patients while working in a health professional setting. The concept of interprofessional education works by filling this gap so basic introductions of those working in the field are understood. The practice of knowing what each individual is required to do is one of the ways in which the gap is shortened while in the field. This is combined with understanding what an individual has the capacity of doing while in the field. The practice of collaboration that the education offers is the beginning to understanding the processes which each individual should go through while building a basic understanding of what the roles of the professionals are within a health setting (D’amour, Oandasan, 2005, 8).  

Capital Budgeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Capital Budgeting - Essay Example It is imperative to note that, the expected spot rate appreciation or depreciation is determined by the expected inflation differential (Johnson, 92). RPP is the most useful tool of parity conditions considered in determining whether to accept or reject projects. It is fundamental to note that, RPP predicts the change in the exchange rate over time of the project. The illustration below indicates the most likely setup for NPVs. The table above indicates that all NPVs are positive numbers. It is essential to note that, foreign exchange threat can add, or annihilate the value of the project. Furthermore, a higher parent prospective foreign exchange, adds value to the project. Similarly, a higher project prospective foreign exchange destroys the value of the project. There are two kinds of NPVs. They include NPV from the project prospective, which does not contain foreign exchange risk. The other type is RPP NPV from the parent prospective. It does contain foreign exchange risk (Johnson, 65). In this circumstance, the project risk gives a slightly positive number. On the other hand, the RPP NPV parent prospective gives a bigger, positive number the foreign exchange risk is included (Johnson, 67). In this circumstances, the project can be accepted due to the positive number for the Canadian NPV from the parent prospective RPP. More over, the NPV with foreign exchange risk add more value to the project. The Crystal Ball report results, indicates that maximum and minimum scenarios of NPVs from the project and the parent prospective exists. Consider the following table, which illustrates the maximum scenarios for NPVs. It is imperative to note that, despite changes of variables, the maximum scenario for all the NPVs increased in positive values. In this case, the project could be accepted because NPVs are positive (Johnson, 69). More over, it is fundamental to note that RPP is critical in this course. The value of RPP is observed to be

Neighborhood walk report and ecological analysis using your six senses Case Study

Neighborhood walk report and ecological analysis using your six senses - Case Study Example For that reason, walking in our neighborhood at around 6 PM, on a Saturday afternoon, when people are out for fun with families, the environment is still very serene and quite peaceful; regardless of the fact that Brooklyn is merely one borough of one of the largest metropolitan areas within the United States. We live in an area that has three residential blocks closely built next to one another; with some other blocks built close by. They blocks are of the typical brick red color; with small balconies opening at the front. The windows have black square frames. All the blocks have around three floors and are well equipped with both stairs and lifts. There occasionally are dresses hanging in the balconies, or even at times, brooms or dusters hanging down the railing. The face of the last block in the row is somewhat decayed because of frequent rain; probably combining the affects of not having been painted with the long term impact of acid rain. At around this time, people are moving in and out of their blocks. There are very few cars in the front area since the parking lot is built towards the back of the building. Children are coming off the blocks, returning to their homes for dinner. Some small boys are sitting in the block entrances fixing their helmets, putting on their knee pads; one was even seen fixing his hair in the motorbike side mirror. Some grownups, mostly dressed up casually are seen heading towards the beach for walk. As we walk out of the block, the serenity seems to slowly and gradually disappear from the surroundings. The mental tranquility and environmental serenity often gets interrupted as the cars move closer to our blocks. The most cited traffic nuisance is normally created by a garbage truck driver; who visits our neighborhood around this part of the day. He oftentimes appears to me as if he is an angry and frustrated man; seemingly suffering from some type of internal depression. At the same time, people in cars and cabs are seen looki ng occasionally to their watches. They must be getting late for home or other plans they must have sequenced for Saturday evening. If we walk closer to the cars with their glasses drawn downwards, we hear people in different languages; mostly in a thick accent of one form or another cursing the other drivers. The cab passengers are seen with equally aggressive and frustrated expressions. Sometimes they are even cursing their driver or quarrelling to drive faster. Some people reach for cell phones or quickly glance at the screen; as if reading the text or punching a rapid succession of buttons on the screen in order to type an urgent message to someone. Certain of them make calls and talk loudly, sounding as if they are explaining or apologizing for being late. In this busy hassle, some people are at times seen very calm. In fact, there seems to be an occasional dating couple. The men usually sit calmly on the driving seat, with shades on and smiles, along with a lady, sitting adjace nt generally as equally happy. The Three Blocks in a Row Some Local Eastern Residents The Famous Neighborhood Gang The library Close to our Blocks 2. Analytical Report of Neighborhood The people in the neighboring areas are very busy with their own lives. In the past 10 years or so, many different cultures have arrived in this area. New York has always been a melting pot of different religions, races, and ethnicities;

European Labour Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

European Labour Market - Essay Example (Theil, 2008, p. 76) Unemployment in Europe has been shown to be worrying phenomena based on the fact that more than 20 million people are unemployed in the continent. But the most worrying fact has been that this is only affect some segment of the society and especially based on ethic factors. Fore example it has been shown the Italy is one of the European countries where the level of unemployment is affecting some segment of the population and it has been closely liked to certain social components. It has been shown most o the region in Europe with has excess labour supply with exception of France and Spain enjoys full employment while others have very high rate unemployment. (OECD 1997, p. 3) But there is a close relationship between economic performance and the level of unemployment in these European counties. It is to be found the unemployment and economic growth are two non-integrated factors and which are derived by the same autogressive united roots that are present in majority of the growth models. Economic growth and unemployment of any nation are positively correlated and it will be found that in the short run economic growth and unemployment relates in away that the equilibrium rate unemployment rate relates to a decline in the economic growth rates of the country as postulate in the Okun's law. According to studies that have tried to relate the two factors in the European market, it has been found that Okun's coefficient is in line with the estimate of the all the countries in Europe except UK whose label market looks more flexible in the way it accommodates transitory shocks compare to the European labour markets. (Pia 2006, p. 3) The pattern of unemployed in Europe has been attributed to other factor including the social stature of the individuals who depend on the participant the economic system of production and exchange in the society. The high rate of unemployment has therefore led to loss of some social aspects that have acted as the social fabric and hence the more people lose their social values, the more the effect is spreading even to those who are not affected. It has grown from an economic problem to take a social dimension. This paper will look closely at levels of unemployment in France in order to understand the level of unemployment as contributed by economic polices and the labour laws of the countries. It will look at unemployment statistics and relate them to economic theories. Unemployment in France Franc has been one of the largest economies in the world and by 2005, it was estimated the France had a GDP of $1.862 trillion according to the World Bank report which was measure in terms of purchasing power parity. In 2008, CIA Word Factbook rated France economy to be more than $2.067 trillion which means that it was ranked at the eighth targets economy. But the economy of France is place at sixth position by both World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and much other survey have ranked France in the third position in Europe behind German and the UK but in 2006 it was ranked ahead of UK in the second position. The economy of Fran

Abolitionist movement Essay Example for Free

Abolitionist movement Essay With the enlightenment and awareness of people regarding human rights came the abolitionist movement. Slavery was something that violated the basic tenet of human rights and dignity, and so it had to be abolished. Northern states have begun to pass acts which declared that all men were born free and equal. Several movements that involved religion and political movements highly influenced the strength and expanse of abolitionist ideals throughout the country. The movements that supported abolitionism varied in method and degree. Some were pacifist, as they tried to use the legal system and passed legislation seeking to make slavery illegal. Others utilized literature and the press like Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of the famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Religious movements declared slavery to be sinful and un-Christian, to discourage believers from keeping and owning slaves. Only a minority of abolitionists used to armed revolt and instigation of unrest and anger among the slaves as the main machinery to further their cause. The movement continued its stride to abolish slavery, but its strongest anchor point came with the election of a known contester of slavery, Abraham Lincoln, as president. With the head of state holding this position of opposition of slavery, the south felt that their way of life was endangered and threatened. Economic repercussions will be felt by their planters in the cotton, tobacco and sugar farms if the hands that worked in the plantations were to be set free. The zenith of the tensions between the south and the north was the American Civil war. It broke out when the south organized and removed themselves from the control of the American government. Rise of Abolitionism Historian James McPherson defined an abolitionist as a person who has fought for the abolition of slavery in the United States before the Civil war. American abolition started early on, as there were several groups already fighting for the liberation of slaves, such as the Society of Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, and there were several institutions which prohibited slavery already. Several states had passed laws that completely prohibited slavery in their territories. Those who joined the American Anti-Slavery Society or other groups were abolitionists. These movements were not unified, and so could not boast a unified strength. Vermont was the first territory to make slavery illegal, and Pennsylvania was the first state to abolish slavery in 1780. Then several states followed Pennsylvania’s example while some states chose to limit slave trading. Many of the states in the south retained the institution of slavery as it was the region’s life line in their plantations. Their strong adherence to the institution drove them to take a defensive stance against the rising popularity of the abolitionist movement. Many abolitionist writers distributed many anti-slavery writings and literature to the south to help spread the ideologies. Novels, pamphlets and other forms of writing began to circulate not just in the north, but also in the southern region. Southern officials were enraged at the act, and thus moved to ban all types of literature that might instigate rebellion and changes in the south. Violence was even employed to stop the circulation of antislavery media in the south. Elijah Parish Lovejoy, the editor of an abolitionist newspaper was murdered by a mob of pro-slavery southerners. His printing press was also destroyed. Abolitionists recognized the fact that slavery needed to be abolished everywhere in the country, but the north cannot interfere with the affairs of the south because of federal ruling. Because of this, many abolitionists focused on liberating the north and skipping the southern states. Some abolitionists were frustrated and did not like this idea, as they believed that every state should be free of slavery. The movement was further fortified by the support of free African-Americans and their church. With the issue of the constitution, the American Abolitionist movement split up into two groups, the Garrisonians, led by William Garrison and Wendell Phillips and another camp led by Spooner and Gerrit Smith. The Garrisonians believed that the constitution promoted slavery while Spooner’s group believed the constitution to be antislavery. Since slavery was unconstitutional, it could be abolished with the blessing of the law. More divisions in the abolitionist movement arose, but because of the social classes of the abolitionists themselves. The artisans and elites divided themselves on the issue of slavery as well. The Underground Railroad was used as a venue by many abolitionists to become more active in the cause for abolition of slavery. Many of the fugitive slaves were illegally transported away from their masters to be free men via this rail. But the railroad was made illegal by the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. But this did not stop the abolitionists from providing shelter and transporting slaves to freedom. After the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 was done, many abolitionists moved to liberate slaves in the slave states. There were also movements to improve the social and living conditions of African-Americans all over the country. The Thirteenth Amendment finally ended all slave subjugations in the country.

The effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in hong kong

The effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in hong kong Construction in the past Years ago a construction project was a relatively simple arrangement. The owner retained an architect or engineer to develop the design and prepare the specifications for the desired project. The owner and architect or engineer then engaged the general contractor to perform the physical construction of the work leaving the methods of performance to him or her. Contractors and subcontractors were relatively straight forward, simple agreements without extensive exculpatory clauses. At that time, contracts were completed with appropriate time extensions with liquidated damages or pay for delay are depending of who was responsible for delay. Usually the work was of excellent quality because all parties of the team were working together. Nowadays, everything among the construction industry become complex and likewise resulted in a complex dispute resolution whether for a settlement of minor issue. Construction Claims In many construction projects, the argument always arisen among the parties, i.e., in between the contractor, consultant, material supplier and employer and in relation to the conditions of contracts, construction design, buildability, construction methodology and construction standard and etc. Likewise the argument will gradually step into a claim as the parties are intents to preserve their rights, interest and responsibilities as the argument of the works will always result delay and disruption to the construction progress and consequently incurred in an additional time and cost to the project under several particular circumstances. Nowadays, the construction projects are becoming more and more complex due to the innovation, evolution and technology development in the industry, the understanding and interpretation of the project requirement may differs among the parties (Malak and Saadi and Zeid 2002). In the meantime, the increased complexity of construction project, the construction processes, specification, documents and conditions of contracts has been contribution to higher possibilities of conflict that results a higher frequency of claims issue. There are many different types of construction claims are into categories relative to terms and generally defined in a contract. The parties are required to process the claim in accordance with the requirement specified in the main contract. Normally the claims are raised by the contractor as they were the first party acknowledge the construction progress is delay or disrupted by some kinds of event and responsible to identify the circumstances for reporting to the employer. The employer will then require assessing the claim issue. However, the basis of the identification of claims issue is often not exhaust enough by the contractor and therefore the employer will have a difficulty during the assessment process that results an adverse desire to the claimant, which is the contractor. Consequently, the claims cannot satisfy the claimant by extension of time or additional money during the construction period and become a higher degree of dispute that is requires further dispute resoluti on. All claims have the potential to be time consuming and expensive once the claims has different understanding among the employer and contractor (Barnard 2005). To reduce the potential time cost and expensive, usually the associated parties in the claims will proposed to a dispute resolution, i.e., Litigation, Mediation, Conciliation, Adjudication, Arbitration and etc. for minimize the unnecessary cost. Though these dispute resolutions are very common, the effectiveness is questioned by the industry due to the higher cost and time are still required for processing these resolutions. Research Aim, Objective(s), Hypotheses AIM The aim of this research paper is to investigate the effectiveness of dispute resolution techniques as used in Hong Kong. And, the investigation is concentrate on the review and quantifying the process and outcome effectiveness of one of the common use dispute resolution Mediation. OBJECTIVES * To conduct a critical review of literature relating to the definition and process of Mediation. * To conduct a critical review of literature relating to the history of dispute resolution of Mediation in Hong Kong. To review and investigate existing common use of dispute resolutions in Hong Kong. * To research and detail the actual processes, the difference in between these dispute resolutions, analyse the advantage and disadvantage of these dispute resolutions and summerise the general conclusion of these resolutions. * To collect data by face to face interview through the professional body that has experience involves in construction claims and mediation process. * To summerise and analyse the effectiveness of mediation which in the basis of time cost and reflection by the disputants. * To draw conclusion on the quantified effectiveness of mediation to testify the recognition by the construction industry and evaluate the future development of the applicable of mediation. Literature Review How claims propagate to a dispute A claim may be defines as a request, demand, application for payment of notification of presumed entitlement to which the (claimant), rightly or wrongly at this stage, considers himself entitled and in respect of which an agreement has not yet been reached (Barber and Hughes, 1992). For protect their own interest, the claimant will promptly reserves his rights to claim and presents a detailed account of the claims only a the need of the project where they can take advantage of any losses and delays and incorporate them into a claims. Therefore, the prevalence of the reservation of rights approach a construction claims. Normally, the contractor is the host and navigate the claims as the change to the project is always request by their employer, owner, consultant, employer or employers representative and the proof of contractor is breach the contract by the employer is often a difficult task (Hassanein and Nemr 2007). The change orders were the most prevalent causes of claims. The frequent appearance of a change order on a project is due to the engineer do a less thorough job in the design and planning stage and thereafter, the employer try to minimum the costs by not planning the project as real-time since initial planning. As a result the employer is put in a position where they are less likely to anticipate adverse conditions before they arise and are less capable of dealing with the variable. Accordingly, numerous cases had been reported about the contractor was received direct inductions from the employers representative or consultants due to their poor management in the pre-contract phase and outdate realization of the project. The consequence was additional incurred expenses. The increasing scope of work and poorly coordinated designs result change order and easier to propagate a construction claims. In addition, the differing site conditions, defective construction documents, suspensions of the work at the direction of the employer or consultant, wrongful delays in handling shop drawings, late deliveries of owner-furnished equipment and materials, interference by other prime contractors, lack of site access and etc. are easier to constitute a contractor claims once the poor management practice occurs in the employers team. The construction project is often delayed by the change and a claim may arise on account of a delay disruption. The nature of the construction claims leads to adversarial relationships regarding impacts and changes and often results in disputes. Background of Mediation The settlement of disputes arising from construction industry by methods other than litigation is common practice. The main reason for this is, where the substantial questions of the dispute are matters of fact rather than of law, a final and conclusive decision can be obtained in a manner which is quicker and cheaper than the formal legal. Construction disputes have used mediation since 1985 (Phillips, 1997). Compared to litigation, mediation has proved to be a faster, less expensive, more confidential, and more satisfactory way to resolve disputes. There is a national trend in favor of alternative methods of dispute resolution and away from the trench warfare style of litigation which has become so costly in recent decades. Mediation reflects a shift in the balance of power between employers and their lawyers. In scorched earth litigation the dispute is in the hands of litigators whose strength lies in motion practice and mammoth discover regimens. Mediation cuts through the posturing and tactics of litigation to get the merits of the dispute, where the employer is more of an authority, and to get to settlement negotiations, where the employer controls decision making (Fisher 1994). In fact, Mediation is a popular mode of dispute resolution in the United States (Bush and Folger 1994). As it is a non binding, consensual process of resolving conflicts through settlement conferences expedited by an impartial third party who facilitates negotiations (stories and their interpretation) between the disputants (Gillie et al. 1991;Rondeno and Rumbaugh 1999). Mediation may be considered a form of distributive justice, even though the contending parties control the discussion of the conflict and is ultimate resolution. It can be entered into voluntarily or as a result of a court order, and it does not bind the parties in any way other than by mutual agreement. Obviously, the mediation has been introduced and widely applied as a settlement method of dispute to construction industry for more than twenty years. As mediation describes a voluntary process which either side may abandon at any time without prejudice, whereby each side to a dispute is brought together before a neutral mediator, whose function is to assist the parties to arrive at common position by joint open session and private caucus (Hills 1995). During this process the mediator acts only as catalyst, not expressing his or her own opinion and not disclosing confidential information imparted by one of the parties, to the other. Through this process the parties move closer together until they reach a common position when settlement is reached. Because the mediation process itself is non binding and entirely without prejudice, it is necessary to record the agreement, in contract form, if it is to have legal effect. Although mediation is not regulated process, some rules do exist and are published by a few organizations that is applicable to Hong Kong construction industry. For example, the Construction Industry Mediation Rules published by the National Arbitration Committee in the United States, and the Hong Kong Government Mediation Rules published by the Government of Hong Kong. Mediation Process The Mediation is begins with the agreement of disputants that intents to settle certain amount of money and employ a mutually agreed mediator to commence mediated meeting to define issues and confirm each sides commitment. Agreement to mediate in the event of a dispute is either through terms of the contract (such as a mediation clause), or by mutual consent when the dispute arises. More commonly, one party approaches the mediation company to begin mediation proceeding. A representative then contracts the other side inviting them to cooperate in a mediation and consequence assists the disputants in negotiating a settlement. This is a form of collective decision making in which the mediator facilitates voluntary agreements between the parties in dispute. During this decision making process, the mediator compiles information, evaluates alternatives, and makes suggestions to the disputants aiming for a consensual agreement. The mediator will meet each party in turn to assist them to exa mine and highlight the respective strengths, and weaknesses of their case and, if he is so authorized, carry offers from one side to the other until the parties reach a common position, as a result, the mediator helps in breaking barriers and pulling communalities. In these contexts, mediation is regarded as nonthreatening, and effective in suppressing or even settling construction dispute. Thus, mediation is used because of the prospect of achieving settlements that are mutually satisfying, win-win situation, cost effective, flexible, speedy, confidential, and voluntary. At this point a settlement is usually agreed and, if the parties so wish, a contract will be drawn up to make the terms of the settlement legally binding (Hills 1995). Why Mediation This method is aimed to employ an independent third party for assist to agreed certain specified desires from the disputants in a short time and most likely they will satisfy the mediation result as the lightly litigation is applied and cost saving in comparing with other dispute resolutions. And, mediation can restart the usual course of construction claim resolution by carving out one or more of the simpler claims for early agreement. Even if the parties cannot agree that those compromises will be paid right away, at least they can stipulate that they will be paid as part of any arbitration award or court judgment. The real value of such partial settlements is that they improve the atmosphere. They demonstrate to each side that the other is acting on good faith and deserves some credibility. A good mediation advocate helps identify the clients real interests and needs, so that it is possible for the parties to reach a bargain. For example, a contractor may be less interested in mon ey than in having additional time to complete the job, or in obtaining future work, while the owner wants the project completed as quickly and as economically as possible. Because the parties craft their own settlement, they are more likely to honor their agreement voluntarily. Mediation also provides a forum wherein the aggrieved party can present its position or defense directly to the opposing party rather than through an attorney (Trantina 2001), thereby giving the aggrieved party voice or recognition of being heard. Also, mediation can preserve the partys relationship (Lederman 1997). Mediation display of commercial acumen and far from being soft, it is a continuous process of structured, condensed, guided and intense negotiation requiring quickness of mind, flexibility and imaginative thinking. And mediation can be used at the same time as litigation or arbitration procedures or can replace litigation. So it is possible to litigate or arbitrate to show serious intentions but t o negotiate with mediation to get a better result. Even the mediation fails, it has more benefits than risks. Mediation can be tried fast and at little extra cost. Parties are free to leave the process if it is unproductive (Harmon 2003). At the same time, using mediation helps clarify the issues, helps with preparation for trial or further negotiations and encourages a realistic assessment of the case more rapidly than the adversarial process. Conclusion The principle finding of this paper is aimed to have a brief review of an understanding of mediation in construction industry. An investigation is also held for realised the consequential effect is resulted by construction claims to the industry. Nevertheless, the outcome of initial finding on the literature review is not ideal as original thought. The construction claims detailed in many literature papers are mainly focusing on the claims effect how delay and disrupt the project that very limited reports are specified, i.e., the outcome effect of mediation, the problematic occurs during the mediation. For the research aim regarding dispute resolution in this report is assess the effectiveness of the mediation. As this report is only focusing the dispute resolution on Mediation, quite a lot of literature reports actually already have concluded the effectiveness of this resolution methods. Unfortunately the concluded result is limited to list out the advantage and disadvantage of this resolution and leads to have a personal (author) bias which seems not neutrally enough(Yiu Cheung Mok 2006). Furthermore, it is not difficult to have the knowledge of the process of dispute resolution but the key information or real mediated case is hard to obtain. Most likely the reason is mediation is not open to public. As a result, the critical information of real case for consolidates substantiation to this report is relatively very limited. In summary, the topic actually has a greatly development space as the gap of the above said research objective do exist in the industry. The general description on the outcome effect of mediation by limited reference to real dispute case is the key finding during this investigation of literature review. And as above mentioned the papers are only listed out the particulars of the mediation without any consolidated data, i.e., amount to settle, time consumed and cost of mediation. Accordingly, the mediation application has not been clear identified for which scale or what kind of disputes. The difficulty of data collection is recognised and foreseeable. Thus, the further development of the final report will be initially focusing on the real case data collection and the development of quantify effectiveness of mediation. Methodology Based on the concerning to the objectives of this research paper, the research methodology is considerate to choose combining a case study and face to face interview with associated professional body in the construction industry who has similar experience that involves in the construction claims and mediation process. The presentation of a case study can reflected the cause and consequence of a claims event as a full story broad and accordingly indicate how the claims falls into a dispute. From the review of the claims process by a case study method, we can easier to understand the fundamental reason why the claims event is arisen and defining the claims type or determining the validity of claims by the point of view as an external third party. Thereafter, based on the stances of the relevant parties on the claims can evaluate the necessarily of the dispute as the claims somehow is without any contractual ground backup but become as a dispute shortly. For the method of face to face interview that is an effectiveness and straight forward path to obtain the result. The professional bodies who has experience on a claims and mediation process are able to tell what the consequence and subsequence of a construction claims and how the dispute resolution process. Moreover, the method for assess the effectiveness of the dispute resolution is by quantified the time cost by these peoples contributed on each case. The case study will select the construction project that has a dispute for detail analysis and illustrate the disputes among the construction industry in Hong Kong. The case study will be considered a recent completed bridge project in Hong Kong. This project is one of the longest cable stayed bridges in the world. The bridge was just completed recently and has 2 years delay from the originally planning. Mediation has had been carried out for settle the claims dispute in early construction stage. For the face to face interviewer selection, it is very depend on the availability of those personnel. Nevertheless, the target interviewer is decide to meet minimum 4 professional body involved in this project, assuming the key data can be obtained among these professional body. Restraints/Limitations In this research paper, it can be foreseeable the difficulty to systemize and identify the dispute nature among the construction industry. Initially, to collect the claims issue event from the as-built real construction project is time consuming and require lots of contacts to meet this objective but the outcome may not be satisfied to achieve the original idea as the industry always keep the claims as a confidential issue and not open to irrelative parties. Eventhough the claims was settled completely and not necessary proceed to kinds of litigation or arbitration, the information regarding the settlement definitely involves a sum of monies that the industry still inclined not to release the details as a reference for any further similar claims. Whilst the peoples who involves in the claims process of a construction project are very limited to Claims consultancy, Q.S. or senior manager. These peoples are always difficult to reach and as the industry norms, the fact of the claims event may not present thorough. It means the realistic of claims event may be questionable due to the limitation of the sources. Nevertheless, for simplify the evaluation of the effectiveness of the dispute resolutions is quantifying the time cost and feedback from the disputants, further measure the applicable frequency of this resolution. Research Programme Please refer to Appendix A Ethics and Safety Approval Please refer to Appendix B REFERENCES: Fisher, T. (1994) Construction Mediation. Dispute Resolution Journa, March 1994, pp.8-16. Harmon, K. (2003) Resolution of Construction Disputes:A Review of Current methodologies. Leadership and management in Engineering, October 2003, pp.187-197. Flake, R. and Perin, S. (2003) Mediating Construction Disputes:What Works and What Doesnt. Construction, May/July 2003, pp.24-34 Hassanein, A. and Nemr, W. (2007) Construction Claims in Egypt:Contrasts and Similarities With Published Literature. AACE International Transactions, INT.04, pp.1-5 Mcdonald, P. (1984) Construction claims costing for owners and contractors. Construction management and Economics, 2, pp.1-12. Baki, M. (1999) Delay Claims management in Construction A Step-by-Step Approach. Cost Engineering, 41(10), pp.36-48. Chester, M. and Hendrickson, C. (2005) Cost Impacts, Scheduling Impacts, and the Claims Process during Construction. Journal of construction engineering and management, January 2005, pp.102-107. McDuff, C. And Ray, M. (2002) Total Cost Construction Claims Tactics. AACE International Transactions, CDR 11, pp.1-3. Goyal, B. (1996) Consturciton Claims and Disputes:Causes and Cost/Time overruns. Journal of construction engineering and management, June 1996, pp.197-198. Brooker, P. And Lavers, A. (1997) Perceptions of alternative dispute resolution as constraints upon its use in the UK construction industry. Construction management and Economics,15, pp.519-526. Thompson, M. and Vorster, m. and Groton, J. (2000) Innovations to Mange Disputes:DRB and NEC. Journal of construction engineering and management, October 2000, pp.51-59. Cheung, SO. and Yiu, TW. and Yeung, SF. (2006) A study of Styles and outcomes in Construction dispute Negotiation. Journal of construction engineering and management, August 2006, pp.805-813. Treacy, T. (1995) Use of alternative dispute resolution in the construction industry. Journal of construction engineering and management, January 1995, pp.58-63. Mcgreevy, S. (2005) Arbitration, mediation, ligtigation:Whats best?. Mcgreevy on Law. Joyce, W. (2008) Returning Arbitration to an effective process in construction contracts. Dispute resolution journal, July 2008, pp.15-18. Shapiro, J. (2002) using Mediation and Arbitration to Resolve Construction Disputes. Business Credit, November 2002, pp.59-61. Kuzma, S. and Hoffman, D. and Bradley, L. (2002) The Impact of Daubert on Expert Testimony in Construction Disputes. Construction Law and Business, 3(1), pp.19-23. Gransberg, D. and Joplin, A. (2000) Developing Construction Claims for Arbitration:Two Arbitrators Viewpoint. Cost Engineering, 42(7), pp.29-31. Yiu, TW. and Cheung, SO. and Mok, FM. (2006) Logistic Likelihood analysis of mediation outcomes. Journal of construction engineering and management, October 2006, pp.1026-1036. Spalj, G. (2005) Construction Disputes. Construction Bulletin, 14 October 2005, pp.3-6. Hills, M. (1995) Building Contract procedures in Hong Kong. 3rd ed., Hong Kong:Longman.

Comparing the Train in The South and One Hundred Years of Solitude :: comparison compare contrast essays

  Ã‚   In One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez and "The South" by Jorge Luis Borges, many similar devices are used by the authors. Their presentations and their uses are sometimes similar and at times dissimilar. There is one device that is used by both authors that is one of the most prominent devices in both works--the train. The presentation and use of the train in both texts is different, but in both it is a method of transportation and an evil entity that is an active symbol of change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Juan Dahlmann, the protagonist in Borges' "The South", cuts his forehead on the edge of a recently painted door and is poisoned. He is taken to a sanitarium where he makes a gradual recovery. After his release, Dahlmann takes a train to his ranch in the South for further recuperation. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, the train is brought in by Aureliano Triste, a son of Colonel Aureliano Buendà ­a, when his ice business outgrows the local market. With the coming of the train, Macondo becomes verily linked to the outside world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The train in "The South" is presented as a sleek, mystical, and evil entity. Before Dahlmann leaves for his ranch, he visits a cafà © where there is a black cat, sleeping. It is almost as if it is lying in waiting for something. The cat is described as "the magical animal"(1). Immediately following is a description of the train, which is described as being lying waiting. A connection between the mystical animal and the mechanical train has been established. The train has become a mystical beast. It begins to move when Dahlmann gets on, it stops to let him off, it takes him where it feels. The beast decides Dahlmann's fate. Cats are often seen as beasts of evil omen. The linking of cat and train brings an evil aspect to the train.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In One Hundred Years of Solitude, the train is presented as concrete and real, but terrifying and with a malevolent, living connection: the snake. There is no mystical imagery and sleekness surrounding it. Instead, it's plain and simple, just "the flower-bedecked train."(2) The first Macondian to see it describes it as "something frightful, like a kitchen dragging a village behind it."(3) The train has "a whistle with a fearful echo and a loud, panting toom-toom"(4) The train is very much like a snake, a symbol of evil.

Hippocrates’ Role in the Shift From Irrational to Rational Medicine in

Although populations in ancient societies suffered attacks, invasions, starvation, and persecution, there was a more efficient killer that exterminated countless people. The most dreaded killers in the ancient world were disease, infections and epidemics. In many major wars the main peril was not gunfire, nor assault, but the easily communicable diseases that rapidly wiped out whole divisions of closely quartered soldiers. Until the time of Hippocrates, in the struggle between life and death, it was, more often than not, death that prevailed when a malady was involved. In the modern world, although illness is still a concern, advances in thought and technique have led to the highest birth rates in recorded history. No longer is a fever a cause for distress; a quick trip to the store and a few days of rest is the current cure. An infection considered easily treatable today could have meant disablement, even death to an ancient Greek citizen. In modern medicine when an ailment arises it can be quickly diagnosed, attributed to a precise bacteria, virus, or body system, and treated with medication, surgery or therapy. During the time before rational medical thought, this streamlined system of treatment was unheard of, and all complaints were attributed to the will of the multitude of commonly worshiped Greek gods (Greek Medicine 1). It was during the period of Greek rationalism that a perceptible change in thought was manifested in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in astrology, physics, math and even medicine. Among these academics was Hippocrates, one of the first e... ...ill Cornell Medical College. 2005. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. . Sources consulted: "Greek Medicine - Asclepius." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 02 July 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. . Hippocrates. On Regimen in Acute Diseases. Trans. Adams, Francis. Ca 400 BC. MS. The Internet Classics Archive: 441 Searchable Works of Classical Literature. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. . Hippocrates. On Airs, Waters, and Places. Trans. Adams, Francis. Ca 400 BC. MS. The Internet Classics Archive: 441 Searchable Works of Classical Literature. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. .

Women in the Progressive Era Essay -- American History

In the 1890s, American women emerged as a major force for social reform. Millions joined civic organizations and extended their roles from domestic duties to concerns about their communities and environments. These years, between 1890 and 1920, were a time of many social changes that later became known as the Progressive Era. In this time era, millions of Americans organized associations to come up with solutions to the many problems that society was facing, and many of these problems were staring American women right in the face. Women began to speak out against the laws that were deliberately set against them. Throughout this time period, women were denied the right to vote in all federal and most state held elections. Women struggled to achieve equality; equality as citizens, equality in the work place, and equality at home. During this time, Americans worked to fight corruption in government, reduce the power of big business, and improve society as a whole. Just as the Irish wanted good work and the farmers wanted a good banking system, women wanted equality. Women and women's organizations worked for various rights for different groups of people. They not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for political equality and for social reforms. But how did this all start to happen? It didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t a one-person battle. Women wanted the same rights as men already had. But they didn’t just stop there, women played a major role in the rise of the child labor laws, stood up for minorities, and they wanted prostitution to end. Most people who opposed woman suffrage believed that women were less intelligent and less able to make political decisions than men were. Opponents argued th... ... â€Å"75 Suffragists.† Women’s Studies.(29 October 2003). Berkeley, Kathleen C. The Women’s Liberation Movement in America. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999. Frankel, Voralee and Nancy Schrom Dye. Gender. Class, Race, and Reform in the Progressive Era. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1991. Freeman, Julie. The Progressive Era. 11 February 2002. (04 November 2003). Kerber, Linda K., Alice Kessler-Hessler and Kathryn Kish Sklar. US History as Women’s History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. â€Å"Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848 - 1998." The National Women's History Project. 1997. (30 October 2003). Muncy, Dr. Robyn. Women in the Progressive Era. 30 March 2003. (04 November 2003). Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.

Classical Argument

Tiffany E. Duncan Shannon Collins Eng 101 September 23, 2012 Classical Argument Remodeling a house on one’s own isn’t as cheap or as easy as it may seem, because more problems are often revealed during the demolition stage of remodeling. One can’t always prepare in advance for unforeseen problems when remodeling and it isn’t always cheaper doing them on one’s own rather than hiring a professional. I was able to prove this to myself when I was remodeling my own house.The original plan was to have all the remodeling completed within a year; my time spent on the project is now over double what I expected and I’m only about three fourths of the way complete. I had 6 projects that I wanted to do, keep in mind I live in an old farm house that was abandoned for 4 years before I began. I planned on: refinishing all of the cabinets throughout the house, installing all new windows, a complete bathroom remodel, new floors in the entire house, new ceilin gs in three rooms, and painting the entire house.I couldn’t remodel my house full time when it wasn’t livable being I’m a single mother of two. That made it even harder; but I also had less time to work than I planned because I also started attending college about one month into the renovation. When I started I expected to spend right around $5,000. 00. This was roughly the cost of all materials with about $1,000. 00 extra for anything that came up unexpected. For the most part I have done all the renovations myself with some help from family and friends; I’ve had to call in a professional once. My running total is around $10,000. 0, which is double of what I planned on spending and it’s still going up! The first project I began was refinishing the cabinets. This was quite a task; I took all the cabinet facings and doors off, sanded them as well as the cabinets and painted them. All the cabinets in my kitchen, 16 of them, took me approximately 5 mo nths to complete. Luckily my Dad was his own handy man so his tools and skills of the trade came in handy often! An unforeseen task came when I started redoing the ceiling’s in the bathroom, my bedroom, and the hall way. I learned the house wasn’t exactly built square.Just to be able to do my ceiling the correct way I had to add two inches to the ceiling rafters on about half the room. Not expecting this, I over spent $80 on this project. This was a small increase but every little thing you don’t expect adds up quickly. The entire ceiling project ended up costing me an extra $600 over my estimate. With the house not being square, drywall was wasted and it was harder to apply the mud tape (which led me to buy a more expensive tape). What should have taken approximately two weeks to complete took a total of two and a half months.For the bathroom remodel I allotted myself $600. 00 to spend; which is on the lower side for a complete bathroom overhaul. But I really d id my research on this one; a new toilet was $300 and a new bathtub $200. I was able to get cabinets from my mom when she was redoing her kitchen and I used those in the bathroom; which surprisingly saved me about $600. 00 if I bought them new. I just had to refinish them and paint them, and that little project still isn’t complete. When I tried to take the bathtub out, I removed seal and unhooked all the plumbing but it wouldn’t budge.I called a few of my family members to help remove it since it was a porcelain tub which is quite heavy. It still wouldn’t come out, the fit was too tight. We used a little intuition and decided to just cut the bathtub out. Once it was cut in half it did give us enough room to get it out. However, putting the new tub in became and even harder task. We tried every way possible to put it in, but there wasn’t enough room. It was even the same size as the old tub. When we measured the dimensions; it was out of square by almost three inches.So we had to tear down the wall at the end of where the bathtub would go, install the tub, and rebuild the wall. Supplies were costly for this bringing my expenses up $150 more than I planned and it added almost a weeks’ worth of work. The toilet was supposed to be an easy job; uninstall the old one, add a new seal and install the new one. Once the old one was taken off, we discovered it had been leaking on the floor; ruining approximately a 4’x5’ section. We had to rip the old floor out, install new floor rafters and new floor.This added $200 more to my quickly rising total, for my new toilet and about two extra weeks of work since I couldn’t begin doing the flooring myself. Now I was 10 months into the project and more than ready to move; since I was living with my mother while I was completing the renovation. I decided to redo the floors and paint next; I could redo windows after I moved in. I pulled the old flooring up first; this took 3 weeks and should have only taken a couple of days. Apparently the previous owners had pets and they used the restroom on the carpets numerous times.So instead of being able to just pull the carpet up, I had to scrape it up. This didn’t add on to my expenses since I was doing it myself, it just took a lot of patience because it took so long to do. Once it was all up, I had the floors inspected. To my surprise a support beam had given out under the front of the house. I had to call in reinforcements; my dad and brother were both great handymen for the project. They had to use three jacks and actually jack the house up while they cut out the floor over the broken beam, took the beam out and put a new beam in.This added about $700 onto my estimates but only an extra day worth of work. With the carpet up and the beam fixed, I was ready to paint. It took me 3 months to get everything painted. I ended up having to buy Kilz to cover up stains, trimming to replace what was already mis sing or broken, and a lot of paint supplies. It took me three months to paint the whole house, and I ended up about $500 over budget on supplies then I anticipated. I was going to do my floors myself, but it wouldn’t have saved me any money once I purchased the trimming and the tools needed to install the carpet.Plus I was so exhausted from working on everything else I opted to hire in professionals to install my carpet. I did have to get on a list for installation, adding a week of just waiting to my time. It was worth it once the floors were in, it looked great and I was finally getting my energy back. Remodeling a house on one’s own isn’t as cheap or as easy as it may seem. It took me 14 months until I was able to move in my house. I had planned on being finished within 12 months and my work was only half done. Not to mention I was already over $2500 being past my estimates on the house.It took a lot to be able to do the renovations myself, running into probl ems every time I turned around. I had to hire in professionals once but I probably should have a few more times. I tried to stay as close to my budget as possible. Many of the factors that rose my spending were because more problems were revealed during the demolition stage of remodeling. One can’t always prepare in advance for unforeseen problems when remodeling and it isn’t always cheaper doing them on one’s own rather than hiring a professional.

Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture Essay

Greek mythology ‘s impact on modern societies cannot be understated. Modern language, industry, arts and culture all demonstrate the impact of Greek mythology in today ‘s world. For example, most people who have no formal knowledge of Greek mythology still know that Hercules was a strongman and that Venus (the Roman version of the Greek Aphrodite) is the goddess of love. The Impact of Greek Mythology on Language Very few people speak ancient Greek on a regular basis, but Greek mythology has shaped English and other languages on many levels. A â€Å"Herculean task, † for example, is one that requires great effort. This phrase comes from a myth about the Twelve Labors of Hercules. The drug morphine takes its name from the Greek God of Sleep, Morpheus. â€Å"Venereal disease † is a rather unflattering reference to Venus. The goddess of love fares better in the term â€Å"aphrodisiac â€Å", referring to any substance or circumstance that arouses sexual desire . To this day, an unpleasant woman may be called a â€Å"harpy † (a winged monster with a woman ‘s torso and a bird ‘s feet). Alternately, a handsome man is an â€Å"Adonis, † the mortal man so beautiful that Aphrodite herself fell in love with him. We call computer viruses â€Å"Trojans, † a rather unfair comparison with the Trojans, as we ‘re actually referring to the Greek-built Trojan horse, used by the Greeks to infiltrate Troy and end the Trojan War. The impact of Greek mythology on western culture and language isn ‘t confined to individual words. Many expressions, proverbs and clichs are direct references to ancient Greek myths. For example, the expressions â€Å"caught between a rock and a hard place † and â€Å"between the Devil and the deep blue sea † both come from tales about sailors being caught between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis of Greek mythology. Other common expressions that demonstrate Greek mytholog y ‘s impact on modern societies include: †¢ an Achilles heel (a single fatal vulnerability) †¢ having the Midas touch (everything turns to gold) †¢ lying in the arms of Morpheus (sleeping) †¢ opening Pandora ‘s Box (unlocking a world of trouble) †¢ rich as Croesus (Croesus was known for his wealth) †¢ the face that launched a thousand ships (a woman worth going to war for). Cultural Impact of Greek Mythology in the West Greek mythology ‘s impact on modern societies is often seen in the arts and popular culture. In the 1980s, the all-female rock band The Bangles had a top ten hit with the single Venus. Television shows and movies, such as Disney ‘s Hercules, have also reintroduced mythological figures to new generations, including characters such as Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. In fact, movies have been retelling versions of Hercule ‘s story since the 1950s. Some of the most famous works of art and literature demonstrate the impact of Greek mythology on western culture. Botticelli ‘s The Birth of Venus is one of the world ‘s most recognizable paintings. Operas often delve into Greek mythology, as well. Offenbach à ¢â‚¬Ëœs Orpheus in the Underworld is one of the most famous examples. Great writers such as Dante, Shakespeare and Milton make frequent references to Greek mythology, so much so that an understanding of Greek myths is necessary to truly appreciate their works. American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne ‘s Tanglewood Tales is a collection of rewritten Greek myths. Science and Greek Mythology Greek mythology ‘s impact on modern societies can be seen on any clear night. Many constellations are named after characters or monsters from Greek myths, including Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Hercules and Gemini. All of the planets and most of the moons in the solar system are also named after Greek mythological characters, although the planets have been given Roman versions of the Greek names. Even our Earth was named after a Greek myth: Another name for our planet is â€Å"Gaia, † the name of the Greek earth mother. Signs of Greek Mythology in Modern Societies The names of Greek mythology surround us today, sometimes in unusual places. Would Ajax, one of t he great Greek heroes of The Iliad, be happy knowing he ‘s the namesake for a popular cleaning product? Sometimes, references to Greek mythology are appropriate. The Aegis is the shield used by both Zeus and his daughter Athena. Today, the Aegis Group is an insurance company, and the U.S. navy uses Aegis cruisers. In both of these instances, the reference to Greek mythology is clearly valid in that the insurance company and Navy boats provide protection, just as the Greek shield. At other times, the connection between Greek mythology and modern products is more tongue-in-cheek. A popular brand of condoms is named â€Å"Trojan, † slyly alluding to the Trojan horse that allowed the Greeks to safely penetrate Troy ‘s defenses. Despite our sometimes questionable uses of Greek mythology in contemporary culture, its impact on modern societies cannot be understated. References to Greek myths abound. In fact, Greek myths even influence our maps. A collection of maps is an Atlas, named for the titan who held up the earth. And Europe, seat of so many societies influenced by Greek myths, is named for Europa, the maiden carried off by Zeus, who had disguised himself as a bull to trick her.

Northern Renaissance Art

The epoch of Renaissance in general was an age of humanism characterized by a new spirit of freedom, a new sense of the individual, a new realism in visualizing nature and the emergence of the artist as an individual creator. The Renaissance art traditions developed in Italy and then traveled to the north of the Alps and there became known as â€Å"Northern Renaissance†. Though the Northern Renaissance displays some differences from that of the South, it shares with the Italians in the three essential Renaissance qualities, namely, â€Å"a new interest in the world of fact, a new acceptance of that world as having independent value for artistic creation irrespective of any super sensuous presuppositions, and the separation of the several arts†. (Rowley, Sarton, Schevill and Thompson, 111) However, these qualities exhibited themselves in the north and south in quite different appearances because of the fundamental differences between the Gothic and the Classic traditions. Italy's climate, customs, and racial tendencies would never permit to assimilate the Gothic tradition, and the northern countries could never forget it. For example, in northern tradition we cannot find the mathematically exact perspective to reveal the space and volume, as well as the interplay of light and shadow is replaced by the scrupulous work with light and colors. North Renaissance portraits became living entities through the new realism which could render the detailed peculiarities of the individual and courtly approach and this trait derives from Gothic style. For example, Jan van Eyck's realism led to an examination of the details of actuality, so that he painted portraits that are convincing likenesses. To illustrate how the concept of Art Nova was reflected in the works of northern artists it would be appropriate to discuss some of them. In general the realism of the north as Rowley and his colleagues put it â€Å"was more discursive and more minute than that of the south†. (114) Jan van Eyck's painting of Arnolfini and his wife is packed with incidentals, the dog, slippers, pillows, fruit, fly whisk, chandelier, and the mirror which repeats them all again, inscription on the wall of the richly furnished room recording that Jan ‘was here’. The new element of light, which seems diffused through the room, is regarded as illumination for each separate object. Jan van Eyck gives us a realism that is more than real. In Eyck's Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rolin realism showed itself in a microscopic examination of objects. Each hair and each pore of the skin was scrutinized so carefully that the visual unity of the whole was lost in the focus upon small detail. The study of surfaces results in the qualities of things, the masterful use of light and color hues affected by light which makes the work different from Italian Renaissance. The most surprising characteristic of northern realism is the absence of movement. After the dramatic gesticulation of Giotto’s compositions and the Internationalists, the figures of Van Eyck, seem to be absolutely frozen. Perhaps much of the â€Å"sanctified mood† (Rowley, Sarton, Schevill, and Thompson, 116) of Van Eyck's paintings is created by the fact that his people never look at anything, which gives them a curiously removed quality. Another artist of the period, Robert Campin, was one of the earliest and greatest masters of Flemish painting. Characterized by a naturalistic conception of form and representation of the objects of daily life, Campin's work marks the break with the prevailing International Gothic style and prefigures the achievements of Jan van Eyck and the painters of the Northern Renaissance. One of his masterpieces is the Mà ©rode Altarpiece, a triptych of the Annunciation with the donors and St. Joseph on the wings. The Virgin is portrayed in a setting of bourgeois realism in which interior furnishings are rendered with the frank and loving attention to detail traditional to the Art Nova of Flemish art. Campin's passion for the natural and domestic world dominates his picturing of the sacred story. This feature to depict sacred motives within mundane context also testifies to the difference between South and North as regards Renaissance. Campin meticulously depicts even the tiniest trifle in a technique which combines semi-transparent oil overlay on water-based opaque pigments that results in the creation of space. Yet Campin’s work includes several symbolic elements like the brass laver or lily flower, both referring to Mary's purity. The innovations of the Northern Renaissance were apparent not only in painting but also in sculpture art. Thus Claus Sluter was the influential master of early Netherlandish sculpture, established highly individual monumental, naturalistic forms. The grandeur of Sluter's forms can only be paralleled in Flemish painting by the van Eycks and Robert Campin discussed above. The works of Claus Sluter infuse realism with spirituality and monumental grandeur. Sluter was an innovator in art, and thus it would be just to apply the concept of Art Nova to his works too. He moved beyond the prevailing French taste for graceful figures, delicate and elegant movement, and fluid falls of drapery. His sculptures are weighty, massive, dominantly large and balanced forms. The six-sided Well of Moses, presents six life-sized prophets holding books and scrolls. The head and torso fragment of Christ from the Calvary reveal a power and intensity of restrained expression that conveys overwhelming grandeur. Suffering and resignation are mingled, a result of the way the brow is knitted, though the lower part of the face, narrow and exhausted, is calm and without muscular stress. The figures of the composition dominate the architectural framework but also reinforce the feeling of support that the structure provides through their largeness of movement. Sluter's latest preserved work is the tomb of Philip the Bold consisting of forty figures, each about 16 inches high and made up the mourning procession. Sluter conceived of the figures as weepers, of whom no two are alike; some are openly expressing their sorrow, others are containing their grief, but all are robed in heavy wool, draping garments that occasionally veil a bowed head and face to convey a hidden mourning. Sluter epitomized in sculpture the growing awareness of an individualized nature with an enduring grandeur. Reference List: Harbison, Craig. The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context, New York: Abrams, 1995. Rowley, George et al. The Civilization of the Renaissance. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1929.      

Nicholas Carr vs Steven Pinker Essay

There is no doubt about it that in today’s generation the Internet is one of the best phenomenal creations invented. By simply having a computer, cell phone, tablet, ect, anyone and everyone can access the Internet. But can this powerful yet simple creation have a drastic effect on how the new generation operates today? The entire world is rapidly becoming obsessed; everywhere you look you’re bound to see something related to the Internet. Search engines, texting, twittering, blogging; to name a few. We have all heard of at least one of those internet friendly applications. But can those applications become too friendly to the point where they are a distraction to the young mind? Can those applications hinder how the human brain functions? There are numerous arguments, views and statements regarding such an important question. Two writers that I researched share their opinions and views based off of how the internet has affected others intelligence today. These two writers go by the name of Nicholas Carr and Steven Pinker. Without having any knowledge of what the articles are about one only needs to read there titles to distinguish the differences between the two. Where as Nicholas Carr’s article is titled, â€Å"Does the Internet Make You Dumber? † Steven Pinker’s article is titled, â€Å"Mind over Mass Media†. Both writers have completely different types of titles but one can assume that they are responding to the same subject. After thoroughly reading both articles, Nicholas Carr and Steven Pinker have completely different views when it comes down to how the internet influences others. Firstly, Nicholas Carr addresses heavily how in fact the internet does make you dumber. All throughout the article he gives examples of studies aimed at showing how the internet doesn’t positively contribute to the brain at all. As stated from the article Nicholas Carr explains how â€Å"People who read text studded with links, comprehend less than those who read traditional linear text. How, people who watch busy multimedia presentation remember less than those who take in information in a more sedate and focused manner†. All of which are pretty apparent that the effect that the internet has on the mind is quite drastic. On the other hand, Steven Pinker’s article strongly disagrees at the fact that the internet affects the human brain. His defensive points primarily explain how without the internet a lot of today discoveries and new inventions wouldn’t be possible. Also he defends the fact that distraction or addiction is not a new phenomenon. Regardless of whether the internet is a popular utility or not, distraction would still be an occurring issue. It is quoted: â€Å"If electronic media were hazardous to intelligence, the quality of science would be plummeting. † Also, â€Å"Yes the constant arrival of information packets can be distracting or addictive, especially to people with attention deficit disorder. But distraction is not a new phenomenon. The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control as we do with every other temptation in life. † Steven Pinker is trying to get the reader to understand that the internet doesn’t essentially make you dumber but it does hinge at one’s attention span. Outside of the internet distractions are common everywhere. One can become distracted by their job, parents, work, internet, ect. Because of these interruptions Steven Pinker’s makes it known that all distractions require self-control. If one doesn’t have self control over an issue they will become addicted. Lastly my research wasn’t over. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t get a third opinion to help provide some extra study. A third writer that I came across was a woman named Sherry Turkle. Sherry Turkle has written a popular novel titled â€Å"Alone Together†. In the novel Alone Together author Sherry Turkle explains a third completely different concern on how technology affects the average American. This concern is in regards to how individuals will end up alone together because technology has distanced face to face relationships. That society expects more from technology and less from each other. Over the years Sherry Turkle has examined how technology has jeopardized the true meaning of hands on communication. Although she does not mention how the internet may interfere with learning or brain capabilities she does still presents other exceptionally important factors. In conclusion, in comparison of the two primary articles that I researched I would ultimately have to agree with the Nicholas Carr piece. I feel as if the Nicholas Carr piece will convince more people. His article compared to Steven Pinker’s has a lot of legitimate studies and facts. His studies included one conducted at Cornell University, where they conducted the laptop experience, which compared the effect of students who studied utilizing the traditional method of the library and those who studied using the laptop for research, with the conclusion that those who studied using the library grades were higher; studies from Stanford where they conducted a multi-tasking trial, also, studies from the University of California in San Francisco where they conducted a brain experiment. Where, Steven Pinker’s article comes off as an opinion piece with little to no background information or supporting references. I would want to believe that the mind is in fact over mass media but Steven Pinker’s article doesn’t defend his title strongly at all. Thus, leaving me with the conclusion that the internet is a major distraction, can hinder how I use my brain properly, and can jeopardize my in person communication skills that I have available.

Tourism of Valais,Switzerland Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tourism of Valais,Switzerland - Research Paper Example Every tourist area undergoes a life cycle that mainly consists of the exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, and rejuvenation or decline stages. The involvement stage saw the establishment of a few hotels and the significant growth in the number of tourist arrivals in the destination. The domestic and German markets were the most popular at this time. The development stage saw the involvement of government and private developers in the establishment of infrastructures such as roads, airports and railway networks and expensive facilities for the expansion of the tourism sector. The consolidation stage was characterized by the improvement of infrastructure and tourist facilities so as to boost the tourism economy of the area. Over the last six years, the tourism sector has been on the decline stage with tourist arrivals reducing almost every year and the balance of payment only slightly improving.Valais has gone through most of the stages of the TALC model. A t the exploration stage, locals especially enjoyed the natural environment the number of tourist arrivals being quite low. Considering domestic tourist arrivals as shown in table one, it is evident that for the last six years beginning 2005 and ending in 2010, the popularity of Valais has been on the steady decline. This state of events is mainly as a result of the destination having reached a point of unsustainable development. The destination generally seems to be congested with little room for development.