Lack of Education Essay

Student life is full of charm and enjoy and everyone who is in practical life always seem to miss his/her student life. But the student life also has challenges and problems of its own. The students of developing countries like Pakistan have lots of problems, such as financial problems, poor transportation system, language barrier, incompetent teachers and many more. One of the problems faced by students is that usually they are not free to choose study programmes of their own choice. Parents normally impose upon them a field of study which may not be suitable for the child or which he doesn’t feel comfortable with to study. This is a very common problem of our society. A student may want to be a journalist or a photographer but his parents may select engineering for him. So when he gets admission to the engineering college, he does not perform well. He then starts to feel that he is not fit for the field. Parents should think about it and stop imposing study programmes on their children. They should only inform them about the scope and problems of every field, and let them choose a study programme. Students, after passing their matriculation examination, face too much confusion about the selection of their further studies. They don’t know which study area is best for them. Most of the students don’t even know different fields of studies other than engineering and medical due to lack of study and career counselling. They get admission to these programmes and then don’t get good marks. That’s when they can’t get admission to medical or engineering colleges, and become upset thinking about their career. We don’t have career counsellors in Pakistan other than a few institutions which hire career counsellors to guide their students. Students should have some basic knowledge about any profession before deciding to take it as their future profession. Students should be able to consult their teachers, parents and friends in this regard, particularly the persons that are already attached with the profession they are interested in.

Intensive Livestock Operations in Industrial Agriculture

As the world’s population continues to grow at an ever increasing rate, we are forced to find more efficient ways to produce sufficient quantities of food in order to satisfy consumer demand. Although there are several alternatives, the most convenient solution seems to be the development of industrial production agriculture, which results in the farming practices of confined animal feeding.Intensive livestock operations or confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are farms in which anywhere from several hundred to several thousand animals are being raised in tremendously condensed spaces for the commercial production of poultry, meat and dairy. The Swiss College of Agriculture defines â€Å"industrial systems [as having] livestock densities larger than 10 livestock units per hectare, and they depend primarily on outside supplies of feed, energy, and other inputs, as in confined animal feeding operations†(Menzi. Oenema.Shipin. Gerber. Robinson. Franceshini. ). Althoug h CAFOs are currently the most cost-effective and efficient way to produce animal products, there are multiple adverse effects associated with these production practices. Tons of manure, waste, and other by-products generated from intensive livestock operations pollute the air, soil, and water in surrounding areas due to agricultural run-off. CAFOs pose a serious threat to the environment from water and air pollution, which in turn is potentially harmful to the wellbeing of humans.Nevertheless, supporters of modern industrial agricultural production practices claim that the economic benefits of theses farming practices currently outweigh the potential consequences to the environment and society. Although modern industrial agricultural practices may have a few problems, there are a multitude of advantages that are commonly overlooked when discussing the effects of these production techniques. After all, the development of industrial agriculture was the solution to a problem before it was ever the problem.When demand for cheap food began to grow substantially in the mid twentieth century, farmers began to use production techniques such as intensive livestock operations to supply this increased demand. In addition to increased production quantities, intensive livestock operations have significantly lowered food prices by allowing farms to enjoy lower production costs, greater production efficiency and increased consistency and control over product output due to standardization.According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, â€Å"the benefits of industrial agriculture have been cheap food; a release of labor from agricultural activities for employment in other sectors; large, profitable chemical and agricultural industries; and increased export markets. † It is difficult to ignore the massive economic contributions indirectly related to intensive livestock operations as well. For example, â€Å"the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that nontherapeut ic animal agricultural use (drugs given to animals even when they are not sick) accounts for 70 percent of total antibiotic consumption in the United States† (Sayre).The excess profits these pharmaceutical companies earn each year as a result of confined animal feeding operations enables new business investments, which in turn creates new jobs. Nevertheless, the system is not perfect and several problems do exist with industrial production agriculture. However, the revenues generated by these industrial production practices account for a significant portion of US GDP and are an integral part of the economy. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, â€Å"agricultural products make up 10 percent of all exported US merchandise. It would simply be too detrimental to global and domestic food supplies as well as the economies associated with each to suddenly discontinue the use of industrial farming practices. Industrial livestock operations are widely scrutinized, and right ly so. Although the monetary production gains from industrial livestock operations are substantial, there are countless environmental and social costs associated with these production practices. Pollution from animal waste is the most immense problem concerning CAFOs.John Cotter of the Canadian Press states that, â€Å"Canadian livestock produced 164 billion kilograms of manure in 2001, enough to fill Toronto’s Sky Dome stadium twice a week. † There is simply too much manure in too small a space to be able to economically dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way. The inability to properly dispose of all the tons of animal waste produced results in farmland around industrial livestock operations to become overly saturated with excrement, which leads to agricultural run-off; polluting streams and rivers.Polluted water from agricultural runoff has tested positive for â€Å"E. coli from farm animal manure [and] was responsible for killing seven people and making 2 ,300 others ill in the rural Ontario community of Walkerton in May of 2000†(Cotter). Antibiotics used in intensive livestock operations may contaminate the water supply as well; causing a â€Å"rapid rise of antibiotic-resistant microbes, an inevitable consequence of the widespread use of antibiotics as feed additives in industrial livestock operations† (Sayre).Air pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations is of growing concern as well, â€Å"they emit methane gas, a factor in global climate change, and hydrogen sulfide, which causes flulike symptoms in humans and, at high levels, leads to brain damage†(EH Update). Although there are numerous additional consequences resulting from industrial livestock operations, water and air pollution have the greatest impact on human safety and the environment.The adverse social and environmental costs of intensive livestock operations must be taken into consideration when determining the true cost of â€Å"cheap food. † Although substantial conflicts arise between the two opposing views on CAFOs in industrial production agriculture, neither side can deny the resulting economic benefits nor the potential environmental and societal hazards related to these production practices. The core discrepancy between the two outlooks lies within the cost/benefit analysis of industrial farming practices.Supporters of industrial agriculture and intensive livestock operations claim that the economic benefits gained through these efficient production techniques; such as increased output, lower production costs, and profits to input suppliers significantly outweigh the latent environmental and societal dangers associated with these production practices. On the other hand, opposing parties maintain that the water, air, and soil pollution caused by industrial livestock operations along with the resulting detrimental consequences to society and the environment are far greater than the economic benefits pr ovided by these production practices.Although I am an avid believer in the free market and the theory that public resources such as water and air should be shared, there is much needed regulation in industrial livestock farming practices. These factory farms are extremely unhealthy: not only for consumers of the products produced, but for society as a whole. The farming practices related to concentrated animal feeding operations are socially, environmentally, and economically unsustainable in the long run. Antibiotic resistance, the creation of new pathogens as well as water and air pollution will have detrimental effects on society.Nevertheless, a healthy domestic and global economy is critical to the well being of the US and world populations. It would be impossible to simply stop or ban industrial agricultural practices without causing a huge disruption in both domestic and global food supply, as well as the economies associated with each. If we are serious about cleaning up prod uction agriculture, â€Å"government policies such as zoning regulations and taxes can discourage large concentrations of intensive production†(Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations).Other policy decisions include, â€Å"eliminating subsidies, adjusting taxes and providing incentives for investing in technology to reduce pollution could reduce the environmental damage caused by industrial livestock production† (Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations). Above all, it is imperative that we implement policy decisions that aim to reduce industrial agricultural practices by limiting government subsidies and transfer payments, in addition to increasing the benefits farm income programs provide to farmers who practice sustainable forms of agriculture.It is somewhat difficult to truly analyze the costs and benefits related to CAFOs and industrial agricultural practices because many of the consequences cannot be quantified. However, we must r emember that these industrial farming practices were adopted in order to increase output to meet the growing demand for agricultural products. Without the use of industrial farming, it would be nearly impossible to economically supply the global population with sufficient quantities of food. In addition, these farming practices support numerous other business ventures that allow other sectors of the economy to grow.Nevertheless, these industrial agricultural practices pose serious threats to the environment and society due to the pollution they produce. Although it is unreasonable to suggest that these farming practices should be prohibited, steps can be made toward reducing agricultural pollution by implementing effective and economical policy decisions, that support sustainable agriculture. Works Cited Cotter, John. â€Å"Rein in factory farms, group tells Ottawa; Environmentalists’ report urges federal; regulation of large-scale manure dumping. Canadian Press (2002): Lexu s Nexus. 17 Sep. 2011. â€Å"EH Update; Water Fluoridation Debate. † Journal of Environmental Health. Issue 65. 3 (2002); Vol. 52. pgs 1-7. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 17 Sep. 2011. (No author listed) â€Å"Environment; Industrial Livestock Production Near Cities Considered Damaging. †Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Africa News. (2006); LexusNexus. 17 Sep. 2011. Sayre, Laura. â€Å"The Hidden Link Between Factory Farms and Human Illness. † Mother Earth News 232 (2009): 76-83. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.Web. 17 Sep. 2011. Swiss College of Agriculture, Menzi, H. ; Oenema, O. ; Burton, C. ; Shipin, O. ; Gerber, P. ; Robinson, T. ;Franceschini, G. â€Å"Impacts of intensive livestock production and manure management on the environment. † Livestock in a changing landscape, Volume 1: drivers, consequences and responses. 2010 pp. 139-163. ISBN: 978-1-59726-671-0. Union of Concerned Scientists. â€Å"The Costs and Benefits of Industrial Agriculture. †Sustainable Agriculture—A New Vision. 1997. http://www. portaec. net/library/food/costs_and_benefits_of_industrial. html

The Scene book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Scene book - Essay Example Nevertheless, redemption desires emerge in Gaitskill’s protagonist while sex desires are seen as a theme in the Dybek’s protagonist characters. However, combining the two stories as a single unit through creative and critical analysis, negotiation technique is acknowledged as a driving pulse for both stories, even though, the end goals of the characters used by the authors are different (Williford & Martone, P. 232). On a broad front, Dybek’s story creates a visual scene of a first sexual encounter with a teenage boy to build tension as a stirring need to his sexual fulfillment desire. Anxiety is manifested through systematic memories of the teenage boy first sexual encounter. However, pressure remained as a central focus of the story by the arrival of the police investigating the dead of a young pregnant girl although the impulse was significantly changing. Conversely, negotiation appears in twofold generating both arguments and disagreements independently. For the first scenario, a boy and a girl negotiation perspective is used to demonstrate negotiation technique in action while in the second case, negotiation is seen as an internal debate that point out the protagonist anticipation of unfulfilled sexual desires. In simple terms, negotiation technique demonstrates a shifted tension from uncontrolled desire to an acceptance of a situation that Sandra Scofield calls ‘’peaceà ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ regarded as a sign of the end of a conflict (Williford & Martone, P. 189). In comparison, Gait Skill’s story (â€Å"Tiny, Smiling Daddy†) illustrate a shift of pulse and conflict through the character’s anxiety of her daughter’s self-magazine article contents that touches the main character. However, the interactive negotiation reveals the character’s overall unhappiness and his personal relationship from an immediate conflicting event to internal conflicting

Knowledge managementl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Knowledge managementl - Essay Example In this milieu an increasing number of companies are getting to recognize the fact that they cannot excel in everything connected to their business and delivery of products and services they are known in the market for and construction industry is one such industry where dependence relationships develop in networks with specialization clearly demarcating inputs into any project. Construction Industry has begun to realize that it makes sense to find sub-contractors for parts of their work and leverage on their work to roll out a finally bundled up product. Outsourcing of manufacturing can help companies concentrate of areas of competence whilst a the same time ensuring that the other related tasks are being attended to with necessary know how and skills. A lot of innovative skills are required in order to achieve successful networks of competence that deliver a high cost and long duration construction project. The innovation is almost needed at each point a problem is encountered in a complex construction project. Knowledge and its appropriate management contributes to the cause of innovation on the simple logic that a better knowledge brings forth better solutions. This paper examines these both aspects in UK construction industry milieu at some length. We would also discuss the factors which contributed to this movement and the consequential adaptations required by the construction industry to accommodate the design, contractual, administrative, control and co-ordination aspects of various levels of involvement on construction projects. "In most cases, the Department of Finance and Administration’s Bureau of Building serves as the construction program manager for state construction projects in Mississippi. The Bureau of Building represents the interests of the entity and exercises independent oversight of the professional contractor and constructor team (i.e., general contractor and sub-contractors). The Bureau of Building, professional team,

What is the link between individual learning and organisational Essay

What is the link between individual learning and organisational learning - Essay Example This primarily requires the commitment and dedication of the top management because top management primarily assumes the decision making power. The process of organisational learning includes introduction and implementation of change. Change introduction and implementation is one of the biggest challenges in front of a manager because the change causes redesigning of the organisational policies which is against the rights of several stakeholders, most of which are within the organisational workforce. Likewise, individual learning is directed at reflecting upon personal experiences in order to identify the mistakes as well as strategies that may be adopted in the future in order to avoid them. As individual learning involves correcting personal behavior for the better, it is the main component of self development. Change is the basic element of both organisation learning and individual learning. The agency undergoing the change makes one different from the other, though both influence and are influenced by each other. The relationship between individual learning and the organisation learning is very strong and yet very weak. The two may not always be paired up with each other. It may be possible for an organisation to take informed decisions with the majority of its personnel being unlearned and vice versa. This paper discusses the relationship between organisation learning and individual learning. Individual learning, as the name indicates, reflects the level or degree to which individuals of an organisation are learned. Individual’s learning is of great significance to the organisation because organisation achieves its objectives with the efforts of individuals that make part of it. Although individuals’ learning is an important element of organisational success as a whole, yet it is not the sole determinant of the success as the decisions and actions resulting from individuals’ learning need the support and approval of certain agencies and authorities which are beyond the control of the individuals. In an organisational setup, people are organized in a hierarchical structure which is generally known as the organisation structure. Different individuals are assigned different roles and responsibilities within the organisation structure and everybody is held accountable for his part of the game. Accordingly, there is a distribution of decision making power among the organisational personnel. In a conventional setup, subordinates usually are not involved in the decision making and the top management assumes complete decision making power, though it is one of the characteristic features of learned organisations that they do involve and gain the consent of subordinates in the decision making while resting the ultimate power with the top management. In the conventional setup, a subordinate may be very learned, experienced and technically strong, but these qualities of the subordinate are of little importance because their display is restricted by the minimal role of the subordinate in the achievement of the organisational objectives. The individuals do not assume enough rights to exercise and thus have to surrender in front of the organisational culture. Learned organisations are characterized by the involvement of complete organisation structure in the decision making process. Although subordinates are not competent enough to understand the complexities and requirements of

Critical Appraisal of a Clinical Guideline Essay

Critical Appraisal of a Clinical Guideline - Essay Example It is against this backdrop that this essay is seeking to critically review and appraise the research undertaken by Chan, Lopel And Chung. Research Design The aim of the research was stated as â€Å"to investigate the perceptions of coronary heart disease among a sample of Hong Kong Chinese people.† Qualitative study was conducted using focus group interviews. To a very large extent, qualitative research has been endorsed as a very appropriate research methodology for social rather than scientific researches. Since this research was set out to find the perceptions of people about a health related issue, it could be concluded that this is a social research. To this effect, it is right the qualitative research was used. Ereaut (2011) notes that â€Å"Qualitative research seeks out the ‘why’, not the ‘how’ of its topic through the analysis of unstructured information – things like interview transcripts.† This also means that the choice of i nterview as a research design was appropriate since the research method was a qualitative research method. These two points not withstanding, in relating the research design, which was group interview to the aim of the research, it could be said that the researchers could have resorted to one-on-one interview instead of group interview. This is because the research aim focused on finding the perception of people on the coronary heart disease. In a situation like this where people’s perception are sort in a group interview, it is likely that the view, ideas and perceptions of some people would be influenced by others in the same interview group and would therefore undermine the core aim of the research, which is to find the individual perception of people. Sampling The researchers clearly stated the recruitment method or strategy used saying that â€Å"Convenience and snowball sampling methods were used† (Choi et al, 2010). They also explained how the participants were selected stating that â€Å"The LRP participants were recruited from the public domains; Participants in the MRF and MI groups were recruited from one cardiac rehabilitation and prevention centre in the community-based hospital† (Choi et al, 2010). Again, the researchers were clear on why the participants recruited were the most appropriate for the study. To this effect, they wrote that â€Å"The LRP participants had three or less CHD risk factors; The MRF participants had four or more CHD risk factors with or without a history of CHD, and the MI participants had a medical diagnosis of MI† (Choi et al, 2010). Relating the recruitment strategy to literature, Treweek et al (2010) explain that there should be sufficient participants for the research. In this direction, it can be said that the researchers were right in choosing to pick participants from as many as three different quarters. Again, Treweek et al (2010) posit that it is appropriate that â€Å"participants kn ow which treatment they are receiving in the trial, rather than having some of them receive a placebo or dummy intervention to mask this.† In this area also, it could be said that the researchers took the right step because it was clearly stated that â€Å"Each eligible participant recruited was given detailed explanation of the nature and purpose of the study. They were also informed that participation was on a voluntary basis and that they could withdraw from the study at any time.†

The development of the legend of King Arthur Research Paper

The development of the legend of King Arthur - Research Paper Example He is thought to have fought during the Dark Ages warrior of the Celts. The mythological structure that followed his history was based on his reign in the Dark Age. However, there is no common agreement that the legend existed either as an individual or in the form of composite of several persons. The relationship between Saxons and Celts in Britain has helped authors to explain the development of the legend (Castleden 226). He became famous for during a time when there was social unrest and erratic moral stability in Britain. He was the only military leader whom people thought could bring law and order back in the famous paradise of the west. King Arthur had relationship with Queen Guinevere, who allegedly had an affair with Lancelot (Castleden, 229). Lancelot was one of the best knights and a member of the Knights of the Round Table. The tale of King Arthur tells of his deadly conflict with his nephew and son Mordred. He king was turning down son’s quest for the Holy Grail. King Arthur’ stories developed during the 5th century when Britons were fighting Saxon advance to the paradise of the west. The Saxons were forced back to the Cornwall and Wales, and their territory became what is presently known as England. The Welsh narration of King Arthur mentions a foreign leader who helped Britons to hold Saxons at bay. The Welsh chronicles explain that the Saxons had no intentions with the exploits of King Arthur (Caerleon.net). Historia Britonum is one of the first references to how the legend developed and is a compilation of Welsh Chronicles in 830 AD. The chronicles describe King Arthur as a warrior who braved twelve battles during his reign. The legend fought the battler of Mount Badon and City if the Legion to mentioned a few of the battles he helped Britain to win (Caerleon.net). Geoffrey of Monmouth also helped to develop King Arthur’s stories. Geoffrey narrates King Arthur as a

Memorandum to Canada's National Leader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Memorandum to Canada's National Leader - Essay Example It is recommended that mediation, negotiations and dialogue in addition to the application of the law be applied in the mitigation of the various security challenges which are facing the contemporary Nigerian society. National security challenge in Nigeria There is a lot of insecurity in Nigeria which manifests itself in different forms in various parts of the nation. In South West Nigeria there are many incidences of armed robbery (Eme and Anthony 172). The Northern part of the state on the other hand is characterized by operations of cross-border bandits. The south is full of kidnapping incidences which are reported on daily basis. It is notable that no citizen is spared. Children, the aged, government officials, professionals, titled men, professionals and women have not been spared at all from the security threats which are currently Nigeria’s talk of the day (Enu and Ude 254). The security challenge that the various parts of Nigeria are experiencing demonstrate how nation al insecurity in such a significant scare within the contemporary Nigerian society. Insecurity is so rampant in Nigeria that it is becoming a norm. The common wave of crime in Nigeria and the current use of explosives and other terrorist instruments further reveal how such crimes are a threat to the national security (Omede 90). The lawlessness which characterizes the modern Nigeria is attributed to the criminality which is ever becoming common within the state (Hills 92). It is notable that the response of the governing authorities to incidences of insecurity is very inadequate. Investigations are called after major security threats but they never lead to substantive mitigation of the security problem. On daily basis Nigerians face the fate of criminal activity which has led to many killings without the killers being arrested. As a result, there is little fear among the criminals within the country because they know that in one way or another they are likely to escape the long arm of the law. The social and economic insecurity in Nigeria which is perpetuated by the state of lawlessness in the country has led to misery within the society and threats to the well being of the citizens (Ayodele 301). The root causes of insecurity in Nigeria have been theorized. The armed robbery theory stipulates that the major cause of incidences of insecurity within the country is the increasing incidents of armed robbery. This theory recognizes that there exist groups in Nigeria with the intent for armed criminal activity. Moreover, the armed robbery theory explains the armed nature of Nigerian politics where elections are characterized by violence as the electoral tool (Omede 101). However what makes the insecurity problem in Nigeria worse is the fact that the modern armed groups within the country are more trained, sophisticated and armed than in the past which poses a challenge to the governing authorities and police departments. The wobble economic theory on the other hand describes the cause of the increasing insecurity within Nigeria as an adjunct of the ever growing number of youths who are scrambling for the labor market without success. Failure to acquire jobs makes the young people to indulge in criminal activities. The wobble economic theory further illustrates that the high level of poverty within the Nigerian society is the cause of people’s attraction to violence. The ruling opposition party theory has also been linked to the causes of Nigeria’

Current Event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Current Event - Essay Example But to characterize this crisis as a tribal conflict would be simplistic in the extreme. To the contrary, the Darfur crisis is caused by political, economic and social marginalization that, unless properly addressed by both national policies, will wreak havoc upon the region for some time into the future. To fully understand the root causes of the present crisis, it is necessary to gain a complete appreciation of the Darfur region in its proper geographic and historical contexts. Geographically speaking, the western portion of Sudan known as Darfur is in area about 493,180 square kilometers, about 20% of the nation's total territory of 2,505, 813 square kilometers and is subdivided into three wilayats or states known as Gharb (West) Darfur, Janub (South) Darfur, and Shamal (North) Darfur. These states suffer from the lack of perennial watercourses and as a result, their population is scarce and tends to cluster around permanent wells. Western Darfur is a plain that has the greatest water supply. The drainage from the volcanic massif, the Jabal Marrah, washes onto the plain, allowing for a somewhat larger settled population. This area also has a significant portion of the so-called qoz sands. Here, although livestock raising is the major economic activity, significant crop cultivation also takes place. In contrast, North and South Darfur are semi-deserts that have little water from the wadis or the wells that dry up in the winter. The soils in these areas support vegetation for grazing (Geography). The entire region has few natural resources. About six million people inhabit Darfur, drawn from about eighty different tribes and ethnic groups. From a subsistence perspective, these ethnic groups fit into two categories. First, there are the livestock herders who are for the most part, Arabic speakers. The second group is composed of the farmers, who are bilingual and are considered Africans. The ethnic groups in Darfur include the Fur, Bani Halba, Tanhor, Borty, Habaniya, Zaghawa, Zayadia, Rizaigat, Masaleet, Taaishya, Maidoub, Bargo, Dajs, Bani Hussain, Tama, Mahria, Mohameed, Salamat, Messairia, Eraighat, Etafab, Fallata, Ghimir, Bani Mansour, Ab-Darag, Selaihab, Mima, Turgom, Marareet and other African and Arabian tribes. The language spoken is Arabic and the religion for both Arabs and Africans is Sunni Muslims (Darfur Conflict). Historically, the inception of modern day Darfur came with the Fur dominated Keira dynasty that arose in the seventeenth century. This sultanate, which was established by Sulayman Solongdungo (1650- 1680), managed its expansion throughout the region through a combination of peaceful and coercive incorporation of territorial and tribal groups (Young). In 1787, Sultan Mohammed Tayrab extended the sultanate to the Nile when he conquered the Funj province of Korodofan (Young, 2). The rulers of the Keira dynasty then continued to encourage a pattern of immigration into the region to provide for increased manpower needs. Whole groups were brought into the area through means such as land grants and high sultanate positions (Young, 2). Eventually, this process of assimilation and incorporation settled the basic pattern of ethnic grouping into specific regions that still stand to the present day. The tribal distribution that emerged can be categorized by livelihood and ecology. The sedentary farmers, which include

Is there a relationship between service delivery to customers from Essay

Is there a relationship between service delivery to customers from different cultural backgrounds and the issues arising from cr - Essay Example â€Å"Firms compete and create value in differing ways: transforming inputs into outputs solving clients problems and mediating between customers in a value network, and there are implications for critical activities, drivers and strategy† (Weaver, 2001). Hospitality management strategy can also employ customer segmentation to identify those groups who are most likely to stay at a moderately-priced hotel and convince them that the main sources of their previous dissatisfaction at other chains would be remedied at the current firm. â€Å"When determining the strategic objectives pursued by their collaborative strategy, international hotel chains should make no compromises to the standards of the product they offer and/or to their product positioning, but stay focused on the strategic objectives determined in advance† (Fyall and Spyriadis, 2003). In looking at cross-cultural strategies, programs are not necessarily geared towards helping businesses keep payroll costs at a minimum and job security a prize, and this situation often works out in reality, along with an insidious sort of pity on the part of the business that seeks to sidestep the bottom line. Discrimination may also be a problem in a scenario in which inhabitants of the firm’s native country are sent into expatriate conditions. However, individuals can influence the system at large by creating microcosms in which diversity is encouraged and respected and cultural equality is the rule rather than the exception. â€Å"The way managers think about diversity has evolved and changed over time. In the 60s and 70s, EEO laws focused managers’ attention on the task of eliminating race and sex discrimination in the workplace†¦ managers began to understand the importance of creating a workplace that is great for everyone† (Hellriegel et al., 2005). In the case of intercultural concepts, the vision or guiding principle or goal is looked at in an inclusive way. That is, the concept is inclusive to the culture in this construction, and bears communication across cultural barriers and boundaries to a greater understanding of the positive side of communication. Multicultural signifies a respect for diversity and individuality in the organizational environment, rather than a platform that is based on assimilation or the unitary non-acceptance of cultures other than one’s own. Organizational culture, also defined in the context of the hospitality industry, is more about the shared vision of individuals within a certain organizational environment, which is often supported by the environment itself. â€Å"We have unlimited demand out there. There are so many companies out there on an assignment basis. We're finding out the number of stays over seven nights at hotels to see if they would stay in corporate apartments if they knew about it† (Walsh, 2001). Remaining adaptable to new circumstances is an important part of cultural integration. Cross c ultural management shows, the most effective organizations are those that are able to create a strong internal culture that unites rather than divides the employees and managers in the organization. But this is not always easy to achieve in reality, because many individuals differ in their goals and expectations, and cannot be reasonably assumed

Two Gender System Essay Example for Free

Two Gender System Essay Setting out this boundary denies one the ability to express their sexuality freely: this may result in the discrimination and subordination of alternative forms of gender that society does not deem as â€Å"natural†. In other words, individuals who do not classify themselves as belonging to the main types of gender systems may be socially neglected and their sexuality, frowned upon. This essay will illustrate what society deems as â€Å"natural† and how the concept of gender and sexual diversity vary across cultures and historical periods. In addition, this paper will argue that the two-sex systems embedded in our society are not adequate to encompass the full spectrum of human sexuality. The â€Å"two-gender system† is defined as the classification of sex and gender into two biological categories of masculine and feminine: a social boundary used to prevent people from crossing or mixing gender roles, where the society divides people into male and female gender roles (Larkin, June. From lecture oct. 3, 2012). This binary system forces an individual to fit into one of the two categories of male or female. This bipolar categorizing of sexuality however does not and cannot encompass the full range of human sexuality. According to statistical analysis, it is said that out of 1,000 children born, seventeen children are intersexual (Fausto-Sterling, 2010, p. 14). The 1. 7 percent, though it is an estimate, is not a small number: theses intersexual individuals will feel out of place and/or easily uncomfortable in society that imposes a two-sex system. In addition, children born with both male and female anatomies as well as genitals are more likely to develop grave psychological frameworks when forced to obey the socially accepted two-gender system. The genital ambiguity in newborns is seen to be a medical emergency and in most cases, the newborns undergo surgery. Psychologist Dr. John Money further highlights this argument by claiming that gender identity can be changed and enforced upon up to eighteen months after a baby is born (Fausto-Sterling, 2010, p. 15). In the case of John/Joan however, the sex reassignment was unsuccessful. The doctors performed the procedure on John, who then was surgically turned into â€Å"Joan†. The case, although codified as John/Joan, was actually about an adult male named David Reimer. David eventually turned to masculinising medication, rejected his female assignment, and committed suicide (Fausto-Sterling, 2010, p. 15). As one can learn from David Reimer’s case, children born with genital ambiguities are faced with confusion and psychological stress as they grow up. The two-gender system leaves no room for such people to freely express themselves and their sexuality. The patients in this case, upon being obliged to follow the decisions made by the physicians, are then expected to act â€Å"natural† in the gender that was chosen for them. It is clear that the gender system embedded in society is not holistic enough for all humanity to truly express their full spectrum of sexuality. To avoid such conflicts and controversy, society should implement a wider, holistic perspective on gender and sexuality so various forms of intersexuality can be recognized and accepted as a both natural and normal way of life. Science, taking a biological approach to the topic of gender, inserts that gender and sexuality is strictly determined by the innate biological organs that one is born with. Ajnesh Prasad, in an attempt to supplement this argument, claims that â€Å"sexual difference is commonly experienced as part of ontology rather than epistemology, as part of nature instead of culture† (Prasad, 2005, p. 80). Other scholars however, argue for both a cultural and a historical perspective in explaining this gender ambiguity. The cultural view is related to the historical perspective in that while colonizers took over these already domesticated societies, they enforced strict cultural gender roles and sexual relations in order to reflect what they deemed was natural. For example, when the English settlers invaded North America, they took it as one of their primary goals to colonize the way these indigenous people dealt with sexual relations and gender: â€Å"the western imperialism†¦governance of sexual relations was central in classifying the colonizer and the colonized into spheres of distinct human kinds while policing the domestic recesses of imperial rule† (Prasad, 2005, p. 81). The gender role that was enforced was one of heterosexuality: the argument that men should act masculine and females, feminine. Previously existing practices that did not reflect this Westernized notion of heterosexuality was heavily frowned upon and neglected. This ultimately led to the subordination of other such frameworks pertaining to gender and/or sexual relations. Historical events thus as evidence from the colonization of indigenous people, renders concrete that gender is not a concept that is biologically determined, but one that implemented and reinforced through culture. Moreover, the native settlers rarely linked, â€Å"biological† sex, gender, and sexual activity together. These Native cultures were not divided up between heterosexuals and homosexuals as contemporary â€Å"Western† societies were, and in their culture, cross-working and cross-dressing men and women belonged to the other gender or to a third gender that either combined male and female features: â€Å"Encounters [were made] with male and female ‘berdache’ [meaning prostitute]. These berdache were cross dressing, cross-working people who constituted a third gender of fourth gender in some of these indigenous cultures† (Kinsman, 1996, p. 92). There were not just two gender groups, but three or four gender groups for â€Å"biological† females, and these alternate-gendered people were seen as combining the spirits of the other two genders (Kinsman, 1996, p. 93). Furthermore, the societal notion of what composes a widely accepted gender and sexual relation is extensively dependent on the culture and the fabrication of historical intervention. In conclusion, the two-gender system advocates the individuals in society to be defined as either male or female and sets limitations for individuals who do not fit into specific categories imposed on them. As a result, intersexuals or individuals born with genital ambiguity face discrimination and is forced to accept what is widely accepted as â€Å"natural† gender in society. Moreover, taking a scientific approach to gender, many argue that sexuality is determined by nature, what genitalia one is born with, but taking on a historical and cultural view, the issue bag to differ. As seen from the indigenous people and the way how two-spirited gender roles work in their society illustrates that the concept of gender is not singular and is determined by culture and society one is exposed in. The two-sex system enclosed in society is not adequate to encompass various forms of sexuality, so rather than confining one’s view to society’s ways, we should raise awareness for wider perspective on gender and sexuality to allow various forms of sexuality can be recognized.

Business report on a hotel

Business report on a hotel I have given you the assignment of preparing a detailed business research report on any good business problem or opportunity or may be you can prepare a report based on a problem related to your institute or may be on some other factors. The purpose of this term report is to enhance your professional skills in terms of practicality and research skills. The body of report should be prepared and presented to me by November 8, 2011 It should be a survey research for the collection of primary data. You may use secondary sources for gathering information. I would like you to make use of SPSS software for feeding and analyzing the data. It would be better if you support your findings with visual aids that would illustrate the facts in a more meaningful form. A hostel is a facility where students, families, back payers and other travelers can stay. The trend of hostel facility is very low in Pakistan, the main reason of which is self satisfaction. We are not quite confident as a student to avail the hostel facility within the campus. Also the hostel fees, security, room safety and size are the main factors of not availing the hostel facility. These issues happen to take place everywhere but we wanted to know the core reasons behind the low trend of hostel facility in Pakistan. We have collected relevant data via well designed questionnaires and interviewed some of the students of IoBM. We tabulated and analyzed our data using SPSS software. The results interpret that the students of IoBM are aware of this concept and have the tendency to avail the hostel facility but factors like financial issues and security of these services not being trustworthy is refraining the students from availing this facility. If the respective improvements are considered then there is a high opportunity for such services to flourish in IoBM in the near future which in turn will benefit the academic progress of IoBM. LITERATURE REVIEW A hostel is a low-priced facility where students, families, backpackers and other travelers can stay. But in our research we are only focusing on students to avail this opportunity if provided to them.hostel.jpg The primary purpose of this research is to identify the most important factors that predict undergraduate students level of satisfaction with the student hostels they are living in. This research will also explore the difference in the satisfaction levels of students living in hostels within the campus and the ones who live in their own houses and homes etc. Based on literature review, our hypothesized will be is there any difference in the satisfaction level between these two groups of students. This means the ones who will avail this facility and the ones who will not avail this type of facility if provided to them. In our research the most important factor or the keyword would be satisfaction. For example Satisfaction with fees, Satisfaction with distance from university facilities, Satisfaction with room safety, Satisfaction with room size, Satisfaction with hostel security, and Satisfaction with hostel facilities are the most important factors which predict undergraduate students. Satisfactions with hostel influencing factors: Many researches have been conducted on the impact of hostels on the life of students among which most of the researches showed a positive and a far reaching impact on students life. Following are the factors that influence the satisfaction level of students. Academic Challenges According to the previous researches it has been revealed that most of the students who live at university hostels/boarding schools face many academic challenges. They are very competent because of the living environment provided to them over there. It is also revealed that students that lives at hostels spend 17 hours a week on their home works and academic work where as other students who lives at their own home or not availing the facilities of hostel spends 8 to 9 hours a week. This is one of the satisfactory factor with which 95% of the students living at hostels are agreed. Time Productivity Time is a very important factor about which most of the people remain curious. As everyone knows that ones the time is over it wont come back again. Therefore spending the time productively isnt an easy task. Most of the people keep on trying to manage the time better and productively. Students living at hostel better know about how to spend a time and productively because they have been taught in such a way that it builds sense of responsibility in them. According to the previous researches students live at hostel spend their time equally in extracurricular activities and studies. They spend less time in watching television and computers and spend more in other activities like painting, sports etc. Personal Development Hostels play a vital role in shaping the values of the students and ethics. Hostels not only focus on making the student more competent in academics but also focus on the personal development of each student. More specifically they focus on their self-discipline, maturity, self-determination and critical thinking skills. Hostels not only provide accommodation but their objective is to make a student competent in each and every aspect of the life. Therefore this is also a satisfactory factor for most of the students for being the part of the hostels. Career Development As students learn how to live independently and how to cope with the particular situation as well as they come to know about stress management as they go through a hard and tough time, they become more career oriented. Hostel life creates such abilities and potential in them because of which when they go into the market for searching jobs the recruiter take them at first hand. Hostel not only provides opportunity to develop their personal skills and abilities but also helps them for their career. There are many more factors that provide satisfaction to the students lives at hostel but most important of them has been discussed above. These all factors have been taking from the perspective of those students who lives at their university or college hostels not from those who have their own accommodation. INTRODUCTION The prime objective of Hostel is to provide the students with the necessary amenities to develop an integrated personality, besides providing a calm and peaceful atmosphere for students. The hostel can provide an environment that certainly provides self-confidence and instills discipline in the minds of students. The personal development of students could also be nurtured and supported through living in a community environment. The secondary objective of establishing hostel for students of Institute of business management is to provide them a Home away from their Home where they can feel some ease and put their best in academics. Our research has been divided into two groups of strata. This means the ones who live in Karachi but far away and the ones who live outside Karachi. We have conduct this research through survey and will ask the IoBM students that would they like to avail this facility (if provided) to them or not? RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SamplE design QUOTA TOTAL Students of IoBM: At least 60% long-route 100 People (students) Students live in Karachi: 60% 60 Students live outside Karachi: 40% 40 Our population includes every student who lives in Karachi but little far away from IoBM and as well students who live outside Karachi. No age or gender limit is imposed. However to get a mature result, we would be targeting people above seventeen years of age. The above mentioned table shows how we have distributed the total transport users. We have set a quota that our respondents must contain at least 60% of the people who live in Karachi but little far away from IoBM and the remaining population should belong to some other areas of Pakistan. This quota is set because of the fact that they are the ones who are the most frequent users of such type of hostel facilities if provided to them. Because of many factors like time and control of work, we are keeping our sample size small. The total sample size is of 100 respondents. Moreover, we are not dividing the population geographic regions. Therefore, people from every part of the city have the equal participation opportunity. Research design We selected survey methodology because it is quick and inexpensive. The cost of contacting the respondents is very low and respondents will contact randomly from classes, library, and activity centre of IoBM etc. Person-administered questionnaires were developed which are more accurate than face to face interviews in which many open ended answers would be given. A short and simple questionnaire was designed for this research. As our segment of the target audience includes students from IoBM only. Name and contact number of every respondent is recorded for the back checking of the data. This eliminates the most common researcher bias in which the field researchers cheat by self filling the questionnaires. We tried to keep things very transparent so that our course instructor or other concern authorities may any time randomly check our data collection efforts. This will eventually increased the credibility of our research findings. Data collection Every group member worked as a field worker in carrying out the research. The female group members as well as male group members collected data from boys and girls. We wanted to make sure that there shouldnt be any gender biasness involve in our research. We went and interviewed students from activity centre, library and etc. We tried our best to cover the students who live in all areas of Karachi and as well as outside Karachi. HYPOTHESIS Null Hypothesis: Students of IoBM prefer the hostel facility. Alternative Hypothesis: Students of IoBM dont prefer the hostel facility. DATA ANALYSIS All of the questions were close ended except the remarks of the respondents. This made our analysis work much easier. We developed a complete database of all the hundred questionnaires in SPSS software. Limitations Initially, we thought to target 200 respondents. But then we realized that as the questionnaires are person-administered, so it will increase our time per respondent. That is why we restricted our sample size to 100 respondents. As the research is carried out by a group of six students, limited human resource definitely restricted us from covering a large sample size. This research is compiled under immense time pressure. Some more time might have improved the accuracy of this research. RESEARCH PROPOSAL PROBLEM The problem of the topic is that students who live far away from Korangi get chaotic and tired because of their long routes which tend to affect their performance. The law and order situation of Karachi is deteriorating day by day so many a times the students who live far away and in the areas which are not safe have to miss their classes as they are unable to reach university in strikes and calamities. Secondly, the students who live outside Karachi are hesitant to come to IoBM even after getting admission, because of the absence of hostel facility. So IoBM loses valuable students who can add to its prestige. So our research problem is Should there be hostel facility for the students of IoBM. OBJECTIVE The prime objective of Hostel is to provide the students with the necessary amenities to develop an integrated personality, besides providing a calm and peaceful atmosphere for students. The personal development of students could also be nurtured and supported through living in a community environment. The secondary objective of establishing hostel for students of Institute of business management is to provide them a Home away from their Home where they can feel some ease and put their best in academics. DESIGN Secondary Data: Google search engine, Jstor.com, Springerlink.com, Yahoo search engine. Primary Data: Descriptive Survey Research. SAMPLE Sampling quota: At least 80% long-route people (students) Students live in Karachi: 60 Students live outside Karachi: 40 QUESTIONNAIRE Language: English only (Because we are targeting only students of Iobm and therefore we dont required multiple languages) No. of Questions: 15-18 Variables: Positive Impact on Studies (Dependent Variable) Easeful routine (Dependent Variable) Hostel Facility (Independent Variable) Competency (Intervening Variable) Ease of registration (Moderating Variable) PROJECT MANAGEMENT Members: 6 Researchers All students of MBR 20 questionnaires per researcher Scheduling: Oct 20, 2010: Secondary data collection Oct 20, 2011: Questionnaire design Oct 30, 2010: Sampling Quota setting Nov 1, 2010: Survey starting Nov 4, 2010: Collection compilation of questionnaires Nov 6, 2010: Evaluating (results) studies variables Nov 17, 2010: Interpretation of results in meaningful forms. COSTING For Questionnaire: No. of prints (P) = 100 Total Pages (TP) = 200 Cost per print page (CP) = 10 Photocopy per page (PC) = 1 rupee 2(TP) * 10(CP) = 20 rupees 198(TP) * 1(PC) = 198 Total Cost = Prints Cost + Photocopy Cost + Travelling Cost Total Cost = 20 + 198 + 150 Total Cost of Questionnaires = 368 For Report: No. of prints (P) = 38 Cost per plane print = 10 Cost per colored print = 15 Total colored prints = 20 Total plane prints = 17 Colored Prints Cost = 20 * 15 = 300 Plane prints Cost = 18 * 10 = 180 480 TOTAL COST: Questionnaire Cost + Report printing cost 368 + 470 850 approx. FINDINGS ANALYSIS SECTION: A GENDER 68.9% Male respondents 31.1% Female Respondents 68.9% 31.1% Question: 1 When asked about the residence of the respondents 40% replied that there permanent residence is outside Karachi and 60% claimed that they are permanent residential of Karachi. QUESTION: 2 The permanent residential of Karachi are from diversified locations that cant be calculated through SPSS QUESTION: 3 When the respondents were asked about how they come to university in the sense of mode of transport than 61% respondents replied that they come through Universitys own transport (University Van), 30% replied that they prefer their own conveyance to reach IoBM where as only 9% respondents claimed that that use public transport (Buses, Taxi or Rickshaw) to come to IoBM QUESTION: 4 On asking about the time they spent in coming to IoBM 40% respondents claimed that it takes them an hour to reach university, 49% respondents claimed that it takes them 1-2 hours to reach IoBM where as 11% respondents claimed that it takes More than 2 hours to them to reach IoBM. QUESTION: 5 On asking the question that how many of respondents from the sample of 100 would like to avail Hotel facility if IoBM provides? 41% respondents replied that they wont like to avail such sort of facility but 59% replied in favor of availing such hostel facility if IoBM provides. SECTION: B (Only those people who want to avail Hostel Facility QUESTION: 6 Among 59% respondents who want to avail hostel facility, 19.7% replied that hostel facility should be near IoBM whereas 80.3% respondents replied that it should be with in IoBM. QUESTION: 7 63.9% respondents replied that the hostel should be only for students and 1.6% respondents replied that it should be only for faculty where as 34.4% respondents replied that it should be for both Students and Faculty QUESTION: 8 On asking a question about the sharing of a room,18% respondents replied that there should be separate room for every person, 73.8% replied that 2 persons should share a room where as 8.2% respondents replied that the room should be shared by 4 or more people. QUESTION: 9 On asking about the attached bath in a room, 82% agree that its essential, 18% replied that it is not essential whereas no one replied in no idea. QUESTION: 10 On asking about the 24/7 security, 93.4% respondents agreed that its essential, 4.9% replied that they dont have any idea about that whereas 1.6% replied that it isnt essential. QUESTION: 11 On asking about the Wi-Fi facility that should it be there 24/7; 83.6% respondents replied that yes its essential that there should be 24/7 Wi-Fi, 8.2% respondents dont have any idea whereas 8.2% of respondents dont feel that its essential. QUESTION: 12 On asking about the Mess/Cafà © facility, 93.4% respondents showed there interest that there must be a cafà ©, 3.3% respondents were with no ideas and 3.3% respondents dont feel that its essential. QUESTION: 13 On asking about the recreational facilities (i-e, Indoor games, gym and swimming pool), 67.2% respondents says that its essential, 11.5% have no idea where as 21.3% respondents dont feel that its essential QUESTION: 14 For knowing the impact of the hostel facility on students a question was asked that will hostel facility be helpful in providing learning environment, 80.3% respondents said yes its very helpful, 16.4% said that its somewhat helpful whereas only 3.3% respondents said that it will not really be helpful. QUESTION: 15 On asking to what extent hostel facility would be helpful to you in extracurricular activities, 49.2% respondents replied that it will be very helpful, 41% replied it would be somewhat helpful whereas 9.8% respondents replied that it wouldnt be really helpful. QUESTION: 16 On asking about the impact of socializing in hostel facility ,72.1% respondents replied that it will be really helpful for them to socialize, 23% replied that it would be somewhat helpful whereas 4.9% replied that it wouldnt be helpful QUESTION: 17 On asking about the saving of travel time and cost due to hostel facility if provided, 83.6% respondents replied that such facility would be very helpful for them to save time and cost, 13.1% replied that they dont have any idea where as 3.3% replied that it wouldnt be that much helpful for them. QUESTION: 18 On asking that will your parents allow you to live at hostel or avail hostel facility, 83.6% respondents replied that yes their parents will allow them to avail such sort of facility if provided but 16.4% respondents replied that they are not sure that whether their parents will allow them or not. QUESTION: 19 On asking the question that what charges are you expecting per month of hostel facility, 63.9% respondents replied that it should cost 5000 per month, 23% replied that it should cost 8000 whereas 13.1% replied that it should cost 10000 per month for such facility. QUESTION: 20 When a question was asked about the political interference in such sort of facility, 88.5% replied that No there shouldnt be any sort of such interruption whereas 11.5% replied that Yes it should interfere. HYPOTHESIS TESTING Null Hypothesis: Students of IoBM will prefer the hostel facility. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Would you like to avail hostel facility? 11.936 99 .000 .590 .49 .69 Alternative Hypothesis: Students of IoBM wont prefer the hostel facility. One-Sample Statistics N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Would you like to avail hostel facility? 100 .59 .494 .049 RESULT: Since 0.49 CONCLUSION: From this we can conclude the the students of IoBM are willing to avail Hostel Facility in case IoBM provides to them. CONCLUSION This research has shown some very enormous facts. Almost 59% of the students of IoBM want the hostel facility and out of those 59%, 80% of the students want to have this facility within the IoBM campus only, with a Wi-Fi facility, low-cost, no political interference, security should be good enough and also with a cafà © facility. 80% of the students said that the hostel facility will be helpful in providing them the learning environment, so that they could concentrate on their studies and should be able to perform well in this competitive environment. About 72% of the students also said that the hostel facility will also help them in socializing with other students and their fellow members and as well as with the management also. About 83% of the students responded that the hostel facility will reduce the travelling time and cost, which will eventually help them in giving more time to their studies and extracurricular activities. So, after analyzing all the questionnaires and the respondents answer to those questions, we can easily accept our null hypothesis and can easily conclude that the students of IoBM are willing to avail the hostel facility if IoBM provides it to them. REFERENCES www.schools.com www.research.com.au www.tarsa.edu.au www.springerlink.com www.jstor.com www.wikipedia.com

Sacrament Of Reconciliation

Sacrament Of Reconciliation So lets define the difference between apology, forgiveness and reconciliation. The following definition is from the Webster Dictionary. Apology is a formal justification, defense, excuse; an admission of error accompanied by an expression of regret. It implies an attempt to avoid or remove blame or censure. Steve Cornell posted on the web a really great insight into the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Here he summarizes a key distinction: Its possible to forgive someone without offering immediate reconciliation. Its possible for forgiveness to occur in the context of ones relationship with God apart from contact with his/her offender. But reconciliation is focused on restoring broken relationships. And where trust is deeply broken, restoration is a process-sometimes, a lengthy one. So why the importance of distinguishing the difference? Steve continues to explain why recognizing the difference is important: The process of reconciliation depends on the attitude of the offender, the depth of the betrayal, and the pattern of offense. When an offended party works toward reconciliation, the first and most important step is the confirmation of genuine repentance on the part of the offender (Luke 17:3). So another word that can be used for reconciliation is Transformation. So when we sin we separate ourselves from Gods love or put a barrier between God and ourselves. We have deliberately, by our own free will, performed an act of disobedience against God. We can apologize to God, but it does not hold the person accountable to change or transformation of oneself. But if we ask for forgiveness resulting in reconciliation, we then are asked by God for a commitment to change in which a transformation takes place of ones lifestyle. The sacrament of reconciliation can also be used as a sacrament of healing. A healing of not only our spiritual self but also our emotional and psychological being. Sin leaves ugly scars on a person. These scars can be emotional and psychological which can have physical effects. A person can go to a physician and be healed from the physical aspect but if the scars go deeper into the spiritual being of a person then one is not completely healed. A good example are women who have had an abortion. No term can adequately express the heartbreak that abortion causes, but for the purposes of identification we will call it Post-Abortion Trauma. Common feelings associated with Post-Abortion Trauma include guilt, grief, anger and regret. These feelings frequently manifest themselves through anti-social, self-destructive, and other abnormal behaviors. Many who suffer from Post-Abortion Trauma experience flashbacks, nightmares, and varying degrees of depression. The woman who holds a Christian w orldview is very likely to begin, at some point after her abortion, to feel like a second-class citizen in Gods economy, even though she may know this to be incompatible with Scripture. She usually will either turn away from the church completely or try to prove herself by being good long enough until God will finally forgive her. Many post-abortive women, as we have already described, are secretly convinced that their transgressions are literally in a class by themselves, beyond the reach of Gods forgiveness. The more important task, then is to accept on an emotional level what they may already know on an intellectual level: that Gods forgiveness is already available, and that they must decide to reach out and grasp it firmly. There are three important aspects to this firm grasp on forgiveness: (1) knowing Who ultimately has paid the debt, (2) allowing intimacy with God to be restored and (3) understanding the difference between punishment and consequences. The Bible clearly teaches that God has made provision for the forgiveness of wrongdoing. But the post-abortive woman often has a very difficult time believing that forgiveness is available for her selfish and catastrophic choice. Thus, in apparent contradiction to (or ignorance of) her own theology, she cannot accept Gods forgiveness. Instead, she continues to live in a compartmentalized state in which her head knowledge and her heart knowledge do not match. Like the person described in the Matthew 18 parable, she has been told of her Lords forgiveness; but her guilty emotions still demand that she pay her debt herself. Restoring intimacy is the second aspect of forgiveness, and it is perhaps best understood in the parent-child relationship. When a child chooses to do something wrong, a healthy, loving parent needs only to know that the child is genuinely sorry for her actions for reconciliation and intimacy to be restored. In the same way, God only needs for us to verbalize our responsibility and sorrow for our action in order to restore intimacy with Him. Finally, the third aspect of forgiveness has to do with understanding the difference between punishment and consequences, which are all too easily confused. For the post-abortive woman. a consequence might be infertility. It is tempting for her to interpret this as a sign of Gods continued judgment and rejection. Instead, she needs to understand Gods care for her, and His limitless capacity to redeem the fallout from unwise choices in a fallen world. God, as a loving parent, is as grieved as we are about the losses brought on by our choices. But living with the consequences of our choices is a key part of the uncoerced relationship God desires to have with us. The sacrament of confession unveils us and humbles us before God. Confession removes barriers of sin so that the love from the Father can be completely received by us and then we in turn are strengthened to return that beautiful unconditional love back to the Father and share it with others around us, particularly our spouse. Christ conquered the death of sin at the cross- He became sin itself, died and defeated it through the resurrection. Ironically, it is through Christ, that our sin brings us to new life. The more we reveal of ourselves, the more we are forgiven- where there is much forgiveness there is much love and gratitude. Our anger dies, our bitterness dies, our resentment dies, our critical spirit dies, and our desire for revenge dies. We are now set free so that we ourselves may forgive and live a joyful, fulfilling marriage in and through the grace of Christ. It may be that at one time or another we have found the sacrament of Reconciliation a burden. Perhaps we even can remember an occasion when we said, I wish I didnt have to go to confession. But certainly in our saner moments we find Reconciliation a sacrament that we love, a sacrament we would not want to be without. Just think of all that the sacrament of Reconciliation does for us! First of all, if a person has cut himself off from God by a grave and deliberate act of disobedience against God (that is, by mortal sin), the sacrament of Reconciliation reunites the soul to God; sanctifying grace is restored to the soul. At the same time, the sin itself (or sins) is forgiven. Just as darkness disappears from a room when the light is turned on, so too must sin disappear from the soul with the coming of sanctifying grace. When received without any mortal sin on the soul, the sacrament of Reconciliation imparts to the soul an increase in sanctifying grace. This means that there is a deepening and strengthening of that divine-life-shared by which the soul is united to God. And always, any venial sins which the penitent may have committed and for which he is truly sorry are forgiven. These are the lesser and more common sins which do not cut us off from God but still hinder, like clouds across the sun, the full flow of his grace to the soul. It is a spiritual medicine which strengthens as well as heals. That is why a person intent upon leading a good life will make it a practice to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation often. Frequent confession is one of the best guarantees against falling into grave sin. It would be the height of stupidity to say, I dont need to go to confession because I havent committed any mortal sins. All these results of the sacrament of Reconciliation-restoration or increase of sanctifying grace, forgiveness of sins, remission of punishment, restoration of merit, grace to conquer temptation-all these are possibleonly because of the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, which the sacrament of Reconciliation applies to our souls. Jesus on the cross already has done our work for us. In the sacrament of Reconciliation we simply give God a chance to share with us the infinite merits of his Son. Your sins are forgiven. (Luke 5:20) t was many years and many struggles later that I realized that it is in the solitude of the confessional when I most live by the way (or power) of the cross. It is in the confessional that I become soulfully naked and surrender my sinful life to God. He then gifts me with new life (His Grace). It is through Gods grace that the possibilities for life become endless and exciting. Philippians 4:13 reads I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power. Realize the sacraments are living. God is actually present in the sacrament of reconciliation through His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit). God loves humility so when I completely reveal my weaknesses and failings to God in the sacrament of reconciliation, God gifts me with His grace and through His grace HE inwardly strengthens me against future sin and temptation. The Holy Spirit fills me with love, joy, peace, true happiness and a feeling of being content no matter what my life circumst ances may be. Ultimately, in the confessional, I am slowly being set free from the bondage of sin because in my deepening love for God I loose desire to sin.

Americans Will Never Accept a License to Drink Law :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Americans Will Never Accept a License to Drink Law Mike Brake’s â€Å"Needed: A License to Drink† has many claims, but the thesis is anything but qualified. In my opinion, this is a story that explains the desperation of a man who had family members close to him pass away due to alcoholism. The author believes everyone must take a course and a final test to see whether they should be allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages or not, with a certain alcohol license issued when they pass the course. Even if this so-called drinking license were to become a law, the truth still remains that people will always find ways to get alcohol. Do you honestly believe such a ludicrous idea would work in today’s society? When I read this article, I was astonished to find out somebody would even think of such an outrageous idea like making people take tests to get an alcohol license. â€Å"Addiction to alcohol is one of the primary public-health problems in the United States. It causes more than 19,000 auto fatalities each year and it is responsible for more than a third of deaths from drowning and fire† (135). Any one of those people could have simply been at a wedding or casual get together in which they had alcohol. I know that does not mean they have an alcohol addiction problem and should be required to have a drinking license. Even though nobody close to me has ever died due to alcoholism, like the author’s past experiences, I simply cannot see anything this strict going into effect, especially here in America. This is still America where people come to live for our freedom. This plan would definitely fail due to people’s constitutional rights. This country’s backbone was built on people’s freedoms, and this idea of having a license to drink would definitely try to restrict far too many people that should not be restricted. What says every single person of the 19,000 had an alcohol addiction problem? In addition, even back when prohibition was taking place, people got around that obstacle by making their own alcohol behind the walls of their houses. If people were to do that today, it could become very dangerous. People could mix the wrong amount of ingredients together and come up with a deadly concoction, or neighbors could fight for their alcohol when people become desperate and try to steal each other’s alcohol.

Essay --

Approximately three to four percent of babies born every year are born with some kind of genetic disorder. A genetic disorder is described as an illness caused by an error in one’s genome, and is usually hereditary. To understand how these errors occur, one must first understand the basic concept of genes. Genes are the basic units of heredity and are made up of pieces of DNA that instruct the cell how to make specific proteins. Humans are estimated to have about 20,000 to 30,000 genes in their genome. Chromosomes contain these genes and DNA. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes or a total of 46 chromosomes. One pair of these chromosomes determines the sex of a person while the other 22 are autosomal, meaning that they determine the rest of the body’s traits, both genetic and phenotypic. Sometimes mutations occur in the genes of the chromosomes which could lead to a genetic disorder or could be perfectly harmless. Other times they happen from the chromosomes themselves i f the chromosome breaks off, switches with another part of a chromosome, or is swapped within the same chromosome. This leads to mutation in gene coding and could potentially cause genetic disorders. There are different types of genetic disorders that each cause different kinds of diseases. Genetic disorders arise from chromosomal abnormalities, single gene defects, multifactorial problems, and teratogenic problems. Chromosomal abnormalities occur when there is an anomaly in chromosome number or structure. The two main types of chromosomal abnormalities are numerical abnormalities and structural abnormalities. Examples of numerical abnormalities are monosomies which is when a chromosome is missing from a chromosome pair and trisomies which is when there is an ext... ...known as balanced translocation is when segments of chromosomes have been exchanged, however nothing is lost or added. A Robertsonian translocation is similar to a reciprocal translocation except that one chromosome attaches to the centromere of another. In an inversion, part of a chromosome has broken off, been turned upside down, and has reattached to itself. Lastly, in a ring, a portion of a chromosome has been broken off and forms circle. Usually these structural abnormalities are due to an accident in one of the gametes, and therefore are also present in all of the body’s cells. However, in some instances, these abnormalities occur after conception, resulting in mosaicism, in which some cells have the abnormality where others do not. In general, chromosomal abnormalities are either inherited or be â€Å"de novo† which means they are new to that specific individual.

Essay --

2.1 INTRODUCTION The first chapter of this dissertation has indicated organizational commitment (OC) as the way to improve a wide range of positive organizational outcomes and in curing turnover and absenteeism problems. It is vital to have a thorough understanding of the overall concept of OC. Therefore, the main objective of this chapter is to provide a review on OC based on an extensive search of existing literature. This chapter starts with the theoretical background of OC and its definition in the current world. Different approaches of OC are then discussed and Three-Component Model will be presented in detail. This chapter progresses to evaluate the OC in the construction industry based on the existing literature. Finally, a summary is provided at the end of this chapter. 2.2 BACKGROUND AND DEFINITION OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT (OC) Commitment is a multi-foci concept. One may find commitment to the profession associations, the union, the work teams as well as commitment to the family, the state or religion, projects, values or career (Reichers, 1985; Baruch, 1998; Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001; Paillà ©, Fournier & Lamontagne 2011). OC is one of the five forms of work commitment indicated by Morrow (1983) and has been conceptualized in different constructs, definitions and interpretations to better understand the intensity and stability of an employee’s dedication to the organization (Cohen, 2007; Singh & Venugopal, 2008). The earliest attempt of the conceptualization of commitment is by Becker’s (1960) side-bet theory. He argued that an individual is committed in an organization is because of the hidden investments. The threat of losing these investments, along with a perceived lack of alternatives to replace or make up for th... ...onship is essential in undertaking project tasks to attain the goals. To the QS, goal attainment within the work group creates a positive influence to be a member of the group. Hence, QS is likely to gain or maintain their membership in the group (Chiu & Ng, 2013). In order to achieve the desired attitude and behavioural changes among employees, it is essential to understand the objectives, expectations and goals of the organization and the employees (Mohyin, Dainty, & Carrillo, 2009). Failing in understanding what employees require and expect from the employment relationship will often lead to the deterioration in commitment and loyalty and thus increase employee turnover (Loosemore et al., 2003). This reflects a need in studying the antecedents of OC among QS, by looking at QS who work in different consultant and construction firms to fill the gaps in knowledge.

Research funding of medical product development Essay

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common ailments in adults especially the old. Over 26.6 million people around the world are affected by the disease with an increase expected in the coming years. So far, there has been no established cure for the disease whose results are pain and suffering in the patients and death. With these facts, research that can lead to success in tackling this global calamity would be instrumental and welcome. This makes it critical and worth for any form of funding to be provided in any research towards elimination of the same. The document evaluates the various forms of funding available which would help in the research to develop a novel compound critical in controlling and even curing the disease. Discussion National governments are one of the biggest sources of funding for clinical research. Various governments set aside some money in their Health sector budget of which a big portion includes money for research. The government funding programs operate locally or internationally (Murray & Johnston, 2010). An example in national government funding is the NIH (National Institute of Health) which through its various sections such as the National Human Genome Research Institute provides funding for research projects in America (Kulakowski, 2006). For the case of research in Alzheimer’s disease, national funding is through the National Institute on Aging. Government funding is beneficial in that they are not discriminative compared to funding from other sources such as organizations. However, one disadvantage is that the funds may take long thus jeopardizing the research (Kaitin, 2010). Associated closely with national governments and also a source of funding are government agencies. Agencies operate both nationally and internationally (Shaw, 2005). An example of such an agency is the Department of Energy in America. The agencies provide the funds to different sub-divisions of research areas, for example, the Human Genome Project section which may assist in developing the compound identified (Boss & Eckert, 2006). With their international operations, the benefit is that the agencies will fund any project that fulfills its requirements. One disadvantage however is that agencies are prone to manipulation and thus may be biased in funding projects due to political differences (Smith, 2006). Another source of funding for scientific research projects are foundations. These entities have a wide range of research requirements and interests (Hulley, 2007). Some of the foundations will be specific in the areas they want to fund such as the American Cancer Society that focuses on Cancer. Others are open for any research in any area such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute which provides funding for various areas, for example, Alzheimer’s disease (Reinhart & National Research Council, 2006). Brightfocus Foundation and Alzheimer’s Research Foundation are some of the foundations that focus on funding Alzheimer based research (Financing roundup, 2008). The benefit in using foundations is that they span a wide range of research areas thus a big chance of being funded (Clinical research in Finland in 2002 and 2007, 2013). There is a disadvantage in that funding from foundations is subject to misappropriation through vices such as corruption affects the operations (C ambron, 2008). Many individuals have been known to offer private funding for research projects all over the world. Wealthy individuals are now funding scientific research institutions or individual based ones (Page, 2012). Armand Hammer, former chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an example. For his case, he provided funding for cancer related projects (Lee, 2010). Another example is Ronald Perelman and Lilly Tartikoff who funded the Revlon/ UCLA women’s Cancer Research Program under the leadership of Salmon (Bazell & Bernstein, 1998). One advantage of funding from individuals is that there are no rigorous processes involved in obtaining the funds like is the case with government agencies and foundations. A disadvantage in using the same is that individual funding may be withdrawn when differences arise thus stalling the research (Kullmann, 2006). References Bazell, R., & Bernstein, A. (1998). Her-2: The making of herceptin, a revolutionary treatment for breast cancer. New York: Random House. Boss, J. M., & Eckert, S. H. (2006). Academic scientists at work. New York, NY: Springer. Cambron, J. (2008). Grant funding for elderly health services (6th ed.). Manasquan, NJ: Health Resources Publishing. Clinical research in Finland in 2002 and 2007: Quantity and type. (2013). BioMed Central.Financings roundup.(Harvard University Office of Technology Development is funding for research projects in biomedical and life sciences )(Report). (2008, February 11). Medical Device Week.Hulley, S. (2007). Designing clinical research (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Kaitin, K. (2010). (video) Research funding of medical product development.Kulakowski, E. (2006). Research administration and management. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett. Kullmann, P. (2012). The Inventor’s Guide for Medical Technology From Your Napkin to the Market. Minneapolis: Hillcrest Media Group. Lee, J. (2010). Biomedical engineering entrepreneurship. Singapore: World Scientific. Murray, T. H., & Johnston, J. (2010). Trust and integrity in biomedical research: The case of financial conflicts of interest. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Page, P. (2012). An introduction to clinical research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reinhart, G. R., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2006). Enhancing philanthropy’s support of biomedical scientists: Proceedings of a workshop on evaluation. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Shaw, G. (2005, October). Tapping Alternative Sources: Funding Beyond the NIH. G & P, 5(8)12-18. Smith, C. (2006). The process of new drug discovery and development (2nd ed.). New York: Informa Healthcare. Source document

Two Business A2 Level Critical Path Analysis Questions

Q1) Discuss the benefits to Balfour Beatty of using critical path analysis in order to plan its construction projects. (15 marks) Critical path analysis identifies the most efficient and cost effective way of completing a complex project. The various activities which together will make up the project are identified, and the order of these activities are identified. Then, the duration of each activity is estimated and these factors are then arranged as a network or graph, showing the whole project from start to finish, and showing which tasks can happen at the same time.The sequence of tasks which have to be done one after another with no gaps in between is called the Critical Path. One benefit of Critical Path analysis to Balfour Beatty is that it always finds the shortest time possible for completing a complex project. â€Å"The customer requested completion in 124 weeks but through careful planning using Critical Path Analysis, Balfour Beatty was able to plan the project for compl etion in 79 weeks. This can give a competitive edge and is an important element of time-based management. If a company is able to complete the task faster than others, it is more likely that they will get chosen, providing the company with more customers, more revenue and therefore more profit. A second benefit of Critical Path Analysis to Balfour Beatty is that it allows managers to operate Just-in-time production. Resources such as raw materials, labour and equipment can be employed right at the earliest start time.Construction companies rely on subcontractors to complete certain tasks and for certain equipment to be hired at specific times, so with Critical Path Analysis, a manager could predict the exact time a certain piece of equipment would be needed and book the particular equipment early on to ensure that the company will have it when needed. This saves on the storage costs and opportunity costs of stock holding, and improves liquidity.Overall, I believe that Critical Path Analysis is a very recommended way of managing time, and will ensure that a Balfour Beatty will use their time in the most productive way possible when using this network, improving efficiency and making customers want to use them again. Q2) Evaluate the main difficulties faced by Balfour Beatty and other construction companies in their use of CPA to plan their projects. (15 marks) Critical path analysis identifies the most efficient and cost effective way of completing a complex project.The various activities which together will make up the project are identified, and the order of these activities are identified. Then, the duration of each activity is estimated and these factors are then arranged as a network or graph, showing the whole project from start to finish, and showing which tasks can happen at the same time. The sequence of tasks which have to be done one after another with no gaps in between is called the Critical Path. One difficulty of using Critical Path Analysis is t hat unless critical activities are identified and supervised closely, there’ll be delays to the whole project.Critical path analysis puts pressure on mangers to manage effectively and meet deadlines. If, for example, Balfour Beatty was unable to get hold of a particular piece of equipment when needed, the whole project could be delayed by the amount of time that it takes to get the equipment. This means that there will be many employees being paid with no output and the whole project is delayed with doesn’t usually bode well with the customer. A second difficulty of using Critical Path Analysis is that Critical path analysis sets tight deadlines, especially for critical activities.It can be very tempting for the employees to cut corners in order to meet these deadlines, but that can mean quality can suffer. If Balfour Beatty’s employees cut corners with the Bull ring shopping centre, this could mean that the construction was not done properly, causing risks to p ersons entering the shopping centre, or the planning of the bull ring centre may have been rushed, meaning that the layout was not thought out properly, causing problems when it came to construction. Critical Path Analysis puts a lot of pressure on all employees, which could in turn affect the whole project.

Written Project Base on Case Study

From the case we discuss, LabCo’s accounting policy for recognizes revenue from construction contract is reasonable. According to ASC605-35-25-61, an entity†¦ shall use the completed-contract†¦ for which reasonably dependable estimates cannot be made or for which inherent hazards make estimates doubtful. LabCo Company uses a normal standard for its accounting policy which is using Percentage of complection method base on how it determine the profit (cost-to-cost method); but in contract with Halibut, LabCo experiences unexpected difficulties includes: revising design, outsourcing engineering, price of material rising unforeseeably. These are the factors that make cost estimation harder. Percentage of Completion method is appropriate under ASC605-35-25-57, criteria B, The buyer can be expected to satisfy all obligations under the contract and C, The contractor can be expected to perform all contractual obligations. Completion of contract method is used according to ASC605-32-25-90, When lack of dependable estimates†¦inherent hazards relate to contract conditions or external factors that raise questions about contract estimates and about the ability of either the contractor or the customer to perform all obligations under the contract. Percentage of completion method is inappropriate for this contract, not only because it’s difficult to estimate the cost, but also the product fails to fulfill the buyer’s need. In this case, choosing completion of contract is better decision; based on previous experience, LabCo underestimate the cost and ability of complete the contract is the main reason forces them to change the policy. Change in method of accounting from the percentage-of-completion to the completed-contract is considering change in accounting principle. In ASC250-10-45-2, it states clearly about company can use alternative accounting principle to better interpret the current financial issues. According to ASC250-10-45-1, a presumption exists that an accounting principle once adopted shall†¦consistent use of the same accounting principle from one accounting period to another†¦and with a,b criteria. Once a new accounting principle is adopted, entity should consistently practice. Base on ASC250-10-45-5, entity should use retrospective approach apply for the new accounting principle. There are three basic requirements to do: A. Back to prior accounting period, the change of cumulative effect must be showed once apply the new principle. B. adjustment of the balance of retained earning must be made. C. Each individual financial statement from prior period shall apply the new principle. In LabCo’s case, once it changes the revenue recognition principle, the prior year’s revenue will become less in completion of contract method. Retain Earning account must be higher when using percentage of completion method. Therefore, retained earnings account needs to be adjusted. For current year, adjustment shall be made to beginning balance of retained earnings. Base on ASC250-10-45-8, Retrospective application shall include only the direct effects of a change in accounting principle, including any related income tax effects. Using retrospective approach shall contain direct effects, in this case would be income tax from prior period which should be less than the entity actual paid. Disclosure, ASC250-10-50-2 An entity that issues interim financial statements shall provide the required disclosures in the financial statements of both the interim period of the change and the annual period of the change. When reporting a change in Principle, explanation of why use new principle should be included. Work Cited Kieso, D. E., T. D. Warfield, and J. J. Weygandt.Intermediate accounting. 14th. Hoboken: John Wiley& Sons, Inc. , 2012. Print. https://asc.fasb.org/advancedsearchresults

Macroeconomics – institutions by Acemoglu

In Progress. Abstract: In this paper, we discuss how and why institutions— broadly, the economic and political organization of societies— affect economic incentives and outcomes. After briefly surveying a number of theories of institutional differences across countries, we focus on two questions: why societies may choose institutions that are not good for economic development, and why institutions, even bad Institutions, persist.In light of the Ideas we develop, we discuss three case studies of Institutions alluding and persistence: the united States, India and Guatemala. L. Introduction Institutions, defined broadly as the political and economic organization of societies, differ markedly across countries and over time. For example, until recently, a large number of societies were organized along socialist lines, with widespread collective ownership of the means of production and centrally planned resource allocation, while much of the rest of the world was capitalist, with predominantly private ownership and resources allocated Vela markets.For much of the 1 8th and 9th centuries, a number of societies, Including the Caribbean, much of Central and Latin America, and parts of Asia, were organized with political and economic power concentrated in the hands of a small elite, and relied on productive relationships based on slavery and forced labor. In contrast, economic and political power was more equally distributed in parts of Europe, North America and Australia, and the majority of laborers were free.Similarly, as emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), North and Whiniest (1989) and Till (1 990), there were Important differences In the organization of the European societies during the 17th century. While England and the Netherlands had developed limited governments, France and Spain had absolutist regimes.Economic theory and basic common sense suggest that differences in the organization of society should have an effect on economic outcomes: when institutions ensure that a potential investor has property rights over the proceeds from his Investments, he Is more likely to invest than when he expects the fruits of his efforts to be taken by other parties In the economy or by the government. An obvious hypothesis is then to link variations in economic performance across countries to their institutions. We refer to this point of view as the institutions hypothesis.According to one version of this hypothesis, what is crucial is whether the organization of the society ensures that a broad cross-section of the society have effective property rights, so that those with productive emphasis on â€Å"a broad cross-section of the society' is meant to capture the notion that it is not sufficient for the rights of a small elite, landowners, dictators or Politburo members, to be enforced. Citizens need to have effective property rights, and be involved in politics, at least some degree, to ensure the continuation of these repertory rights in the future.Do we see marked differences in the economic performance of societies with different institutions? The examples mentioned in the first paragraph suggest so: while West Germany prospered with a capitalist system, East Germany did much less well under socialism. While Western Europe, North America and Australia grew rapidly, the elite-dominated societies of the Caribbean, Central America and India stagnated throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), while England and the Netherlands prospered during the 17th century, Spain and France failed to do so.Also telling are cases where large changes in institutions are correlated with radically changed growth paths. Examples of this are Argentina in the sass's with the rise of populism and Person, South Korea during the early sass's with the transition from the Rhea to the Park regime, and Indonesia in 1965 with the transition between Saguaro and Short. In addition to these selective examp les, much empirical evidence suggests that institutional differences are a major source of the differences in economic performance across countries.For example, cross-country work by a number of economists and political scientists found a first-order effect of institutions on growth or the level of income (e. G. , Knack and Keeper, 1995, or Hall and Jones, 1999). More recently, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) we found that as much as % of the income gap between the top and bottom of the world income distribution may be due to differences in their institutions. 4 But these findings pose as many questions as they answer: 1 . If some institutions generate more income and growth, why do a large number of societies adopt institutions that are bad for economic development? . Why do institutions that are detrimental to economic performance persist rather than being overhauled at the first opportunity? Despite the importance of these questions for understanding differences in econ omic performance across countries, there is relatively little research on this topic. In this paper, we develop a number of conjectures related to these questions. Then, in light of these ideas, we discuss three case studies of institution building and persistence: the U. S. , India and Guatemala.In the process, we also provide a brief survey of a number of theories of comparative institutions. II. Institutions As emphasized in the introduction, our focus is on the set of institutions— the organization of society— that determine economic incentives. Why such institutions and social arrangements will affect economic outcomes is clear: economic actors will only undertake investments when they expect to be rewarded for their spending and effort. In a society where property rights are not well enforced, investment and output will be low.We therefore take the degree of enforcement of property rights to be a central feature of the institutions and the broad organization of a society. To of private property, which we take to correspond to a set of institutions ensuring that a broad cross-section of society have effective property rights. 2. Extractive institutions, which place political power in the hands of a small elite. With extractive institutions, the majority of the population does not have effective property rights, since the political power of the elite means that they can hold up the citizens after they undertake their investments.We expect institutions of private property to encourage investment and development, while extractive institutions are less likely to dead to high investment and successful economic outcomes. Notice that there is more to institutions than the legal code or the formal definition of property rights at a point in time; in particular, political institutions matter. This is for the simple reason that in a society where there are few constraints on political elites, these agents can change the legal code or manipulate the ex isting property rights to their advantage. Therefore, effective constraints on political elites are an essential ingredient of institutions of private property. In reality, there are many intermediate cases teens the extremes of institutions of private property and extractive institutions, and a complex interaction between the exact form of the political and economic institutions and whether they provide effective property rights protection to citizens. There is also a deep and difficult question of how the state commits to providing property rights to the citizens (see Whiniest, 1997, for a discussion of this problem).To limit the discussion, we do not focus on these issues. So what determines whether a society ends up with institutions of private property or extractive institutions? Let us distinguish four broad theories, which we call: 1. The efficient institutions view. 2. The incidental institutions view. 3. The rent-seeking view. 4. The inappropriate institutions view. We now discuss what we mean by these different views, and examine some selective examples of institutional theories falling within each category. . The Efficient Institutions View According to this view, societies will choose the institutions that maximize their total surplus. How this surplus will be distributed among different groups or agents does not affect the choice of institutions. The underlying reasoning of this view comes from the Cease Theorem. Ronald Cease (1960) argued that when different economic parties could negotiate costless, they will be able to bargain to internalize potential externalities.The farmer, who suffers from the pollution created by the nearby factory, can pay the factory owner to reduce pollution. The same reasoning can be applied to political situations. If the current laws or institutions benefit a certain group while creating a disproportionate cost for another, these two groups can negotiate to change the institutions. By doing so they will increase the size of the total surplus (â€Å"the pie† that they have to divide between themselves), and they can hen bargain over the distribution of this additional surplus.Many different versions of the efficient institutions view have been proposed. Demesne (1967) argued that private property emerged from common property when land become sufficiently scarce and valuable that it was efficient to privative it. Other famous examples are Case's (1936) earlier work and the more formal analysis by Grossman and Hart (1986), is more concerned with the governance of firms or markets than the political organization of societies, but his reasoning was guided by the same principle.North ND Thomas applied this reasoning to the nature of feudal institutions arguing that they were an efficient contract between serfs and Lords. While Williamson and North and Thomas do not specify how different parties will reach agreement to achieve efficient institutions, Becker (1960) and Whitman (1989) have invest igated how democracies can reach such agreements via competition among pressure groups and political parties.In their view, an inefficient institution cannot be stable because a political entrepreneur has an incentive to propose a better institution and with the extra surplus generated will be able to make him more attractive to voters. We believe that, despite correctly emphasizing certain forces that are likely to be at work, the efficient institutions view does not provide the right framework for an analysis of the differences in institutions across countries. Both historical and econometric evidence suggests that the economic costs to societies of extractive institutions have been substantial.For example, our estimates in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) suggest that changing Insignia's or Sierra Lens's institutions to those of Chile loud lead, in the long run, to a more than 7-fold increase in these countries' income. It is difficult to argue that these institutions are t herefore efficient for Nigeria, Sierra Leone or many other less-developed countries in Africa or Latin America. In the rest of the paper, we therefore focus on theories of institutions where societies may end up with institutions that are not optimal for aggregate growth or income. 2.The Incidental Institutions View The efficient institutions view is explicitly based on economic reasoning: the costs and benefits of different institutions are weighed against each other to determine which institutions should prevail. Efficiency arises because individuals calculate according to the social costs and benefits. Institutions are therefore choices. A different approach, popular among many political scientists and sociologists, is to downplay choices over institutions, but think of institutions as the byproduct of other social interactions. Here, we discuss three such theories.The first is the theory developed by Barrington Moore (1966) in his Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, th e second is Till's (1990) and Herb's (2001) theory of state formation, hill the third is Burner's (1976) theory of the emergence of capitalism in England. Barrington Moore constructed his famous theory in an attempt to explain the different paths of political development in Britain, Germany and Russia. In particular, he investigated why Britain had evolved into a democracy, while Germany succumbed to fascism and Russia had a communist revolution.Moore stressed the extent of centralization of agriculture and resulting labor relations in the countryside, the strength of the ‘bourgeoisie,' and the nature of class coalitions. In his theory, democracy emerged when there was a strong, politically assertive, immemorial middle class, and when agriculture had commercialese so that there were no feudal labor relations in the countryside. Fascism arose when the middle classes were weak and entered into a political coalition with landowners.Finally, a agriculture was not commercialese and rural labor was repressed through feudal relationships. In Moor's theory, therefore, class coalitions and the way agriculture is organized determine which political institutions will emerge. Although Moore is not explicitly concerned with economic development, it is a direct implication of his analysis that societies may end up with institutions that do not maximize income or growth, for example, when they take the communist revolution path.While this theory is highly suggestive and clearly captures some of the potentially significant comparative facts there are clear problems with it. For instance, though Moor's remark â€Å"no bourgeoisie, no democracy' is famous, it is not clear from his analysis whether this is Just an empirical correlation or a causal theory. More generally, Moore does not clarify the connection between the formation of class coalitions and political outcomes. It is also not clear whether this theory is empirically successful.There are many examples of societ ies with relatively strong capitalist classes in Latin America, such as Argentina and Chile, which did not make the transition to a consolidated democracy until recently. In fact, in these societies capitalist classes appear to have supported the coups against democracy, suggesting that the role of the poor segments of the society (the working class) in inducing demagnification could be more important than that of the bourgeoisie (see Archduchesses, Stephens and Stephens, 1992, Guacamole and Robinson, Bibb).In a very different vein, Till (1990), building on the Hibernia tradition, proposed a theory of the formation of modern states. He argued extensively that modern state institutions such as fiscal systems, bureaucracy and parliaments are closely related to the need to raise resources to fight wars and thus arose in places with incessant inter-state competition. Herbs (2001) has recently provided a substantive extension of this line of research by applying it to the evolution of st ate institutions in Africa.He argues that the poor functioning of many modern African states is due to the fact that they caked the features–high population density and inter-state warfare— necessary for the emergence of the modern state. Although interesting and sweeping, this theory does not seem to accord well with a number of major facts. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we documented that among the former colonies, it was the less densely settled places that became richer.In fact, North America, Australia and New Zealand were very sparsely settled in 1 500, especially when compared to West Africa around the same time. Despite this, they developed effective states and institutions of private property. This suggests that the issues stressed by Till and Herbs are not the major determinants of institutions, at least, in the context of the development of institutions among the former European colonies, including Africa. Burner's (1976) theory of the rise of capitalism in Europe can also be thought as an example of the incidental institutions view.Although Brenner subscribes to the Marxist view of feudalism as an extractive institution (see next subsection), he interprets the rise of capitalism as the byproduct of the collapse of existing social institutions after the Black Death. Brenner argues that the decline of feudalism resulted from the successful class struggle by the relatively powerful British peasantry. Brenner, however, believes that the peasantry's aim was not to build capitalism; capitalism just emerged like an incidental phoenix from the ashes of feudalism.Because, economic growth required this set of (extractive) institutions to be replaced by capitalist institutions. Therefore, Burner's work also gives us an incidental- institutions theory for why some societies grow faster. None of these theories provide a framework that is at the same time consistent tit the first-order facts of comparative development and useful for generating predictions. Therefore, it is difficult to apply these theories to understand why some countries develop extractive institutions.Moreover, being trained as economists, we find it to be a shortcoming of this group of theories that institutions and political outcomes arise as byproducts, not as the direct consequences of actions taken by rational agents. The fact that the key outcomes are byproducts of other interactions, not choices, leads to the additional problem that these theories often do not generate tight empirical predictions (I. E. Comparative static). But an analysis of comparative development, above all else, requires comparative static results regarding when institutions of private property will emerge.In the remainder of the paper, we therefore focus on the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views to build a simple framework for comparative development. 3. The Rent-seeking View According to this view, institutions are not always chosen by the whole so ciety (and not for the benefit of the whole society), but by the groups that control political power at the time (perhaps as a result of conflict with other groups demanding more rights). These groups will choose the institutions that maximize their own rents, and the institutions that result may not coincide with those that maximize total surplus.For example, institutions that enforce property rights by restricting state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler who wants to appropriate assets in the future. By establishing property rights, this ruler would be reducing his own future rents, so may well prefer extractive institutions to institutions of private property. Therefore, equilibrium institutions will not be those that maximize the size of the overall pie, but the slice of the pie taken by the powerful groups. Why doesn't a Cease theorem type reasoning apply?Although a large literature, especially in industrial organization, has emphasized how informational problems may limit the empirical applications of the Cease theorem, we believe that the main reason for the non-applicability of the Cease theorem in politics is commitment problems (see Guacamole, 2001, for a more detailed discussion of this issue). If a ruler has political power concentrated in his hands, he cannot commit not to expropriate assets or revenues in the future. Effective property rights require that he credibly relinquishes political power to some extent.But according to the Occasion bargain, he has to be compensated for what he could have received using this power. Herein lies the problem. When he relinquishes his power, then he has no guarantees that he will receive the promised payments in the future. Therefore, by their very nature, institutions that regulate political and social power create commitment problems, and prevent Occasion bargains that are necessary to reach efficient outcomes. As an application, consider the decision of a powerful rich elite to mount a coup in a populist redistributive regime, such as that of Salvador Allendale in Chile in 1973.By undertaking a coup, the rich will ensure that economically. Why wouldn't the elite enter into a Occasion bargain with Allendale who would wish to place future restrictions on taxes so as to remove the threat of the coup? The problem, as pointed out and analyzed in Guacamole and Robinson (2001 a), is that the democracy cannot promise not to increase taxes again once the threat of the coup disappears. By its very nature, taxes are set by the politically powerful agents, determined by the institutions at that time.Promises made at the past may be worthless when they are not backed by political power. The first systematic development of this point of view is the economics literature is North (1981), who argued in the chapter on â€Å"A Neoclassical Theory of the State† that agents who controlled the state should be modeled as self-interested. He then argued that the set of property rights wh ich they would choose for society would be those that maximized their payoff and because of transactions costs' these would not necessarily be the set which maximized social welfare.Though his analysis does not clarify what he meant by transactions costs, problems of commitment might be one mispronunciation for this. The notion that elites may opt for extractive institutions to increase their incomes is of course also present in much of the Marxist and dependency theory literature. For example, Dobb (1948), Brenner (1976) and Hilton (1981) saw feudalism, contrary to North and Thomas (1976)g's model, as a set of institutions designed to extract rents from the peasants at the expense of social welfare.Dependency theorists such as Wholesalers (1974-1982), Rodney (1972), Frank (1978) and Cards and Falsetto (1979) argued that the international trading system was designed to extract rents from developing countries to the benefit of developed Mounties. Perhaps, the earliest, and often igno red, contribution to this line of reasoning is in the book by Beard (1913). Anticipating many of the insights of rational choice political science literature, Beard argued that the U. S.Constitution was an institution designed to benefit those who wrote it (such as James Madison) at the expense of the rest of society. Another important example of inefficient institutions designed to extract rents from the society is the Spanish colonial system (Stein and Stein, 1970, Coauthors, 1978, Lockhart and Schwartz, 1983). Finally, the notion that leaver is an inefficient institution designed to extract rents from slaves is also widespread (for example, Williams, 1944, Geneses, 1963, Beckoned, 1972).More recent, and for our purposes more relevant, contributions in this tradition have sought to explain comparative development. For example, in the context of Africa, Bates (1981) formulated an influential and important theory based on rent-seeking by elites. Bates argued that when elites were no t invested in the productive sectors of the economy, mostly agriculture in the context of Africa, and had to rely on urban interests to remain in power, they were likely to distort prices, for example by using marketing boards to transfer resources from the rural areas to the cities.The implications of this for political stability and economic growth were disastrous. Anger and Soulful (1997, 2000) have used related ideas to analyze long-term development in the Americas. They argued that the different paths of development observed in North and Latin America in the last 300 years were due to institutional differences. In North America institutions promoted development, in Latin America they did not. Why did Latin America develop a set of institutions that impeded Caribbean, the factor endowments were suitable for growing crops such as sugarcane.Such crops had large technical scale economies and could be cultivated by slaves, factors that led to large concentrations of landownership an d repressive institutions designed to control labor. Therefore, despite their costs for economic development, extractive institutions were adopted by elites who benefited from the system. On the other hand, in North America, factor endowments were suitable for growing crops with limited scale economies such as wheat, and this led to an egalitarian distribution of land, income and political power.Their theory therefore emphasizes the impact of factor endowments and technology on inequality and institutions building, and ultimately economic development. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000, 2001 a), we developed a complementary theory, emphasizing how European colonialists set up institutions of private property in areas where they settled in large numbers, since these institutions were directly affecting their own investments and well-being. This led us to emphasize how European settlements ere often conducive to the development of institutions of private property in the colonies .In contrast, European colonists introduced or took over existing extractive institutions in other colonies. They were more likely to do so when they did not settle, for example due to an adverse disease environment, and when extractive institutions were more profitable, for example, as in Central America where the densely settled large population could be forced to work for low wages in plantations or mines. These extractive institutions did not benefit the society as a whole, but they were inefficacy for the Europeans, who held the political power and were the extractors.We believe that the rent-seeking view provides the best framework for thinking about why certain countries ended up with extractive institutions, and provides a number of useful comparative static, which will be discussed in Section Ill. 4. The Inappropriate Institutions View According to this view, institutions may be efficient when they are introduced, but they are also costly to change (see below on this). Ther efore, institutions that are efficient for a set of circumstances may no longer be efficient once the environment hinges. Nevertheless, it may be difficult or too costly to change these institutions at this point.The idea here goes back to Crosschecking (1963). In the context of financial institutions, Crosschecking argued that certain arrangements, such as bank finance, might be more appropriate for backward countries trying to catch up. This is widely thought to be a good explanation for why banks are more prevalent in Germany, even today when Germany is no longer a backward country. So perhaps, social arrangements that were introduced at some point as an optimal response to the resistances may continue to prevail, even after they cease to be the optimal response.In the context of financial institutions, this point is developed in Guacamole, Action and Kilobit (2001). Another economic example is the QWERTY typewriter keyboard. David (1986) argued that this was appropriate at the t ime because it slowed down the speed of typing, when the rudimentary nature of typewriters meant that rapid typing would make them Jam. However, despite the fact that the QWERTY arrangement was inefficient once the basic technology improved soon after, it has similar thesis.Perhaps, extractive institutions were appropriate for certain resistances, but they continue to apply even after they cease to be the efficient institutional arrangement. Related ideas have been suggested in the literature. For example, Wittingly (1957) argued that centralized despotism, which may not have been very costly in terms of economic outcomes in China before the 1 5th century and arose as the result of providing desirable public goods such as irrigation, persisted almost to the present, creating a substantial economic and social burden.Given how long institutions persist (see Section ‘V) the view that institutions of a different age ay continue to apply even when they become costly to economic suc cess is highly plausible. Nevertheless, in the context of comparative development, it appears more useful to combine the inappropriate institutions view with the rent-seeking view, explicitly allowing for political elites to introduce inefficient institutions. In fact, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we suggested a hypothesis combining the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views, and provided evidence in favor of this hypothesis.We argued and empirically demonstrated that extractive institutions, tit power concentrated in the hand of a small elite, were much less costly during the age of agriculture than during the age of industry. When agriculture is the main source of income, and the political elite owns the land, this elite will have, to a first approximation, adequate incentives to increase the productivity of the land. In contrast, in the age of industry, many different agents, not previously part of the ruling elite, need to undertake investments and be involved in productive activities.Without effective property rights, these agents are unlikely to invest, so extractive institutions become much more costly once industrialization opportunities arrive on the scene. This explains why the sugar colonies of Barbados, Haiti and Jamaica were amongst the richest places in the world in 1700 but rapidly fell behind when industrial technologies became available. Overall, we therefore conclude that to understand the significant differences in how countries are organized, we need to move away from the pure efficiency view.Moreover, existing series of institutional differences based on the incidental institutions view cannot provide a satisfactory tarring point, and make less sharp empirical predictions, since institutions are simply byproducts of other social actions. Instead, we believe that conflict over the distribution of rents matters, and the rent seeking view provides the best starting place for an analysis of institutional differences across countries.In addition, there may be an important element of the inappropriate institutions view, so that institutions that were introduced at a certain point in time may become less appropriate and more â€Å"harmful† in the future, but may still remain in place. Ill. Institutional Origins The rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views do not immediately generate a theory of comparative institutions. They simply point out that inefficient institutions may be chosen by political elites, and the institutions in place may become more costly for growth over time.As discussed above, by the institutions hypothesis, we mean that differences in the development experiences of countries can be explained by differences in their institutions. To make this hypothesis operational, we need to choose institutions of private property. In other words, we need to develop comparative static on institution building. This is not an easy task. In fact, some of the pioneering theories of institutions, such as North (1981), give us few clues about when we should expect extractive institutions to prevail.Here, we highlight a few potential determinants of what type of institutions politically powerful groups will choose: 1. Economic Interests: A first determinant of whether institutions of private property will emerge is whether they will lead to outcomes that are in interests of the politically powerful agents. For example, institutions that restrict state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler ho wants to appropriate assets in the future.Yet this strategy may be in the interest of a ruler who recognizes that only such guarantees will encourage citizens to undertake substantial investments or lend him money, or will protect his own rents. They will also be in the interest of the major groups that can undertake investment in production activities in the future. Anger and Solidify explanation for why extractive institutions emerged in the Caribbean but not in North America falls within this category. In the Caribbean, the factor endowments made extractive institutions more profitable for the elite.In particular, sugar production, which could exploit economies of scale and profitably employ slave labor, was conducive to a society where a small elite would control both political and economic power. Our argument in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) for why European settlement in the colonies led to institutions of private property is also based on the same reasoning. When a large number of Europeans settled in an area, they preferred institutions enforcing property rights, since these property rights would enable them to undertake investments.Our argument in Guacamole Johnson and Robinson (2001 a) is also related. There, we suggested that high population density and relative prosperity (I. E. , GAP per capita) of the colonized territory encouraged European colonialists to set up extractive institutions. The reasoning is that high po pulation density implied a large labor force that Europeans could force to work for low wages, and both high population density and the relative prosperity of the population provided Europeans with a greater resource base for extraction or taxation. Economic interests† therefore suggest that we should expect extractive institutions to develop when the powerful agents have little to gain from enforcing property sights because they have few investment opportunities themselves and are not linked to other productive agents in the society, and when there are resources, such as crops or abundant labor, that can be effectively exploited by extractive 2.Political Losers: Another important factor is whether institutional development will destabilize the system, making it less likely that elites will remain in power after reforms. An institutional setup encouraging investment and adoption of new technologies may be blocked by elites when they fear that this process of growth and social change will