The relationship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with its neighbouring countries and with the United States

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has cordial relations with most of its neighbouring countries, especially those that are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It has made significant efforts to settle disputes regarding borders and helped considerably in improving the relations with Yemen and United Arab Emirates. Although relations with Iraq were tense after the Kuwait invasion, they got better in 2003 when the regime was overthrown. In 2008, Prince Saud al Faisal aimed to appoint an ambassador in Iraq and initiated a diplomatic mission in Baghdad. It has been a mediator in regional crises and has supported the Palestianian-Israel negotiations. Saudia Arabia’s role in the Gulf War has helped it in developing new allies in 1991 and improving its existing relations. King Abdullah has played a big role in providing monetary assistance and resolved regional crises in Sudan, Lebanon and Somalia. Although the relations between Saudi Arabia and Algeria, Libya and Tunisia were strained after the Kuwait invasion, now they have returned back to normal. Relations were Jordan are also very good. United States knowing that Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves and a strategic location has always tried to stregthen ties with this nation. In 1944, the United States embassy opened in Jeddah but diplomatic relations established a long way before that in 1933. The embassy in Jeddah later became the Consulate General for United States. The two countries share common economic interests, concerns over sustainable development, terrorism and security. Having good relationships with these countries is important because United States is highly dependent on the oil exports of Saudi Arabia. Whereas, US is the largest trading partner for Saudia Arabia. Exports from United States also find their way into Saudi Arabia as it is the largest market for US exports in the Middle East region. The US also provides training and support in terms of weapons and security services to the Saudi forces. Saudi Arabia has also bought military weaponary and other equipment from the United States. The prosperity of both countries lies in building and maintaining good relationships with each other.

Essay Dramatistic Analysis on Breaking Bad Essay

Cady is going to encounter psychological struggle and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face today. Through the Marxist perspective, the movie will be analyzed in order to show how sometimes the pull to conform to hegemony is so important that we have no choice that letting us be dragged to respect the established hierarchy. Mean Girls is an excellent artifact, worthy of investigation in the way that it shows how we expect teenage girls to act, but also how difficult it is for them to refrain from acting that way. When using the Marxist perspective, we begin by identifying the subject positions, as models or anti-models. Mean Girls provides clear subject positions about the models – characters that viewers are encouraged to want to be like, and the anti-models – characters that viewers are encouraged to no want to be like. Thus, the models appear to be â€Å"The Plastics†, a group composed of the three teenage girls Regina George, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith. By analyzing â€Å"The Plastics†, it seems like teenage girls need to follow a specific pattern in order to be popular. That is to say, on a physical standpoint, teenage girls need to be thin, pretty, and wear tight and revealing clothes, while on a behavioral standpoint, they spend their time gossiping, partying, dating, and talking about boys, rather than focusing on their academic success. On top of the hierarchy is Regina George, and the two other â€Å"Plastics† are her subordinate. On the contrary, the anti-models, challenging the status quo and considered as abnormal or undesirable are represented by Janice and Damien. Both of them are belonging to the oppressed group, or the group that is considered as â€Å"inferior† and â€Å"subordinate† to the dominant group. Mean Girls depicts how easy it is for a dominant group (â€Å"The Plastics†) to impose its ideology on other groups. The interests of the empowered group are then promoting as being natural. Indeed, in Mean Girls, the dominant social group keeps the control over the other groups because nobody dares challenging the authority claimed by â€Å"The Plastic†. â€Å"The Plastics† keep their status quo by oppressing and manipulating the other subordinate groups. They dictate how things should be. The positive power of popularity combined with the negative disempowerment of being unpopular and rejected ultimately reinforces hegemony. That is to say, those who are popular are empowered even if popularity is just a facade for these teenage girls, and those who are not popular are disempowered. By focusing on Cady Heron, and observing how from an innocent teenage girl, she becomes a terrible â€Å"Plastic†, we can deduce that once accepted by the dominant group, people have trouble in seeing the flaws and drawbacks of the hegemony they are in. In order for them to be aware of it, they have to become a member of the subordinate group. Only the anti-models characters are able to see how wrong is the hierarchy they live in, and are willing to change it in order to create a more equal system. Mean Girls proposed both a preferred and an oppositional view on the hegemony. Indeed, from the beginning to the middle of the movie, Mean Girls brings a preferred reading with Cady altering her original beliefs, joining the dominant group and becoming a â€Å"Plastic†. Cady’s desire to respect conformity can be explained by a need to fit in and avoid ridicule. As a consequence, the viewers, siding with her, support the status quo. On the other hand, from the middle to the end of the movie, Mean Girls gives an oppositional reading by considering that â€Å"The Plastics† ought not to be empowered, in order to have a more equal system. Indeed, by the middle of the movie, Cady understands that her destructive behavior made her loose her two closest friends (Janice and Damien). She also realizes she needs to stop acting like a â€Å"Plastic† and to categorize people according to superficial traits, and that she should start considering people according to different characteristics (intelligence over beauty for example). As a consequence, Cady, desirous of putting things right, starts to think how she could readjust the hegemony around her. Thus, she considers destroying the hegemony reigning at school in order to challenge the status quo. At that time, the movie gives the viewers an oppositional reading rejecting the hegemony. In spite of the casualty and frivolity of the topic addressed (teenage girls movie), Mean Girls is still interesting to study because it gives us some interesting and engaging acumen into Marxist perspective and hegemony. Mean Girls shows us how hard it is to resist hegemony when everyone else is subjected to it. Mean Girls also makes viewers being more critical about how hegemony is reproduced in regular patterns of life, like the passage in high school for example.

Choose any two of the following questions and submit a report on your Essay

Choose any two of the following questions and submit a report on your findings with special reference to G20 summit - Essay Example Some of the drivers that positively influence globalization include the growth of industrialization in other countries of the world which reduces costs, tariff and working capital. Decreasing government trade barriers have increased foreign direct investments much faster than the world outputs (Suk, Seung and Kenneth 2006). For these reasons major corporations are engaged in expansionary activities to outsource their operations abroad. For example Ford is an American based company. It is one of the big three motor companies in the US and used to be the source of livelihood for a significant portion of the US population. However, with the increase in global financing opportunities, Ford has diversified its products to sell its motor vehicles in Europe and Asia. As Europe has opened its consumer markets to the world Ford has capitalized on the ready market to sell its completely assembled cars in collaboration with local companies. However, as the global finance environment in parts of Asia improved and opened up to Western investors, Ford has gradually shifted production of automobiles in low cost country like in China. Investment in China not only reduces cost of operations and productions Global financing has thus become an important source for world trade and incentive for foreign investment as it allows multinational companies to increase shareholders wealth. However, there are risks associated with global investing. Unlike local investment, global investment is subject to political, financial and regulatory risks. In countries where political turmoil is apparent like those in France, India, China and Indonesia, investment in these countries pose great threats to exchange controls, confiscation of assets and changing corporate policies. Similarly, financial risks include the fluctuating exchange rates, tax laws, interest rates and inflation rates as well as balance of payments. Legal risks like differences in legal system, overlapping jurisdiction and

The Relationship Between Soil Properties and Soil Erodibility Essay

The Relationship Between Soil Properties and Soil Erodibility - Essay Example It has the largest water holding capacity which helps to absorb water during the rain and helps in reducing soil erosion (Genna Dunjo Denti,2004, p.125). Soil aggregates are group of soil particles that are bonded together strongly to each other than to the adjacent particles with the help of organic matter. The space between the aggregates provides pore space for retention and exchange of air and water. Desirable aggregates are stable against rainfall. When less organic matter is used to bind these aggregates, due to rainfall these aggregates break down and leads to soil crust formation, this crust in turn increases the infiltration and air permeability, this in turn disturbs the surface soil and sub-soil structure. Thus inclusion of organic matter aids in the formation of stable aggregates and strengthen them. They also increase the porosity of the soil for air and water movement. Thus aggregating helps in reducing soil erosion. As the strength aggregates depends on the organic matter, since the organic matter acts as a binder to the aggregates. Hence weakening of this bond due to frequent tillage ultimately breaks down the aggregate structure of surface soil (Rachman, Anderson, Gantzer and Thompson, 2004, p. 31). Splash erosion is the removal of sand by impact of raindrops on the soil surface, this is also known as soil splash detachment (Jean Poesen, Gerard Govers(2001), p.1,2). If the soil is loose and friable, it has the maximum water holding capacity. This water holding capacity of soil stops soil erosion due soil splash detachment. If the soil is too loose it is very much prone to both the wind and water erosion. Wind erosion includes moving of the soil particles due to wind velocity and when these moved soil particles collide with the other particles and break them .If this continues then the soil is eroded by the wind. Wind also makes some soil particles to remain suspend in air and stay there till the wind continues leading to erosion. Water erosion mainly removes the soil particles by force of water and loss of various soil particles into ground water through infiltration. This leads to rapid dry out of soil due to lack of moisture holding capacity and leachate of minerals and other desirable elements. If the soil is dense, more overland flow may increase the erosion rate (Dr.Cooper, 2005, chapter-2). Soil Color Soil color is one of the physical indicators of soil condition. Soil color is most easily determined characteristic and helps in determining the other characteristics of soil like water-able depth and chemical constituents. Surface soil Surface-soil is the top most layer of the soil and is in interference with the atmosphere. This soil comprises of the organic matter such as manure and dead plants

Reflection journal about study abroad Assignment

Reflection journal about study abroad - Assignment Example It is likely that the language spoken will be foreign and the local culture will almost definitely feel alien to them. Students who are unprepared for these challenges or are unwilling to adjust will find themselves constantly getting into trouble. One of the most obvious signs is in students’ behaviors. While it is good to make new friends, if those friends are not focused on their schoolwork then they may lead a foreign student astray. Excessive partying and drinking can have a detrimental effect on a foreign student’s grades and can result in them being sent home. Generally students who are focused more on the social side of things will be less attentive in class or may not even attend regularly at all. Students who have no interest in learning are usually forced into higher education by their parents, who feel proud of their child studying abroad. Thus, the problem is not so much the student but rather their parents. The students who make the most of a study abroad experience are those who obviously want to be there and keep an open mind at all times. It can be a difficult thing to be away from one’s family and friends for a few months, but if a student has already developed good habits then this shouldn’t be much of an obstacle. Of course it will take a few weeks or even a month or two to adjust to the local customs and cultural habits, but if a student has the right attitude then they are far more likely to succeed because of their positive mindset. In fact, for some students who regularly struggle to study in their home countries, going on a study abroad experience may actually be a good thing because it naturally forces them to change their habits because they are in a foreign environment. However, instances like this are rare, and students who are not high achievers already will likely find the going tough in another country. A

The Public Health Infrastructure, and the Status of World Essay

The Public Health Infrastructure, and the Status of World - Essay Example Discussed below is an agenda that Afghanistan can apply to improve the health situation. The various applicable programs in Afghanistan are; Meeting basic health care wants, mainly in rural regions, putting up primary health infrastructures, planning and monitoring, endorsing research and methodology progress, control of contagious diseases, national free health systems, protecting defenseless groups, meeting the town health problem, decreasing health risks from ecological effluence and hazards, and meeting basic health care wants, mainly in rural regions The Afghanistan government should aim towards food security, with priority sited on the eradication of food contagion; inclusive and sustainable water plans to ensure secure drinking water and cleanliness to prevent both chemical and microbial pollution, and endorsement of health teaching, vaccination and provision of vital medicine (Wright, 2009). Education and proper services concerning responsible setting up of family size, with value for religious, cultural, and social ways, in keeping with liberty, self-esteem and personal principles, and taking into consideration cultural and ethical considerations, also add to these activities. The Afghanistan Government and the local system, with the endorsement of pertinent non-governmental organizations, as well as worldwide organizations, in the luminosity of countries precise conditions and wants, should reinforce their health area programs, with particular attention to achieving the following. (i) Establish and strengthen basic health care systems that are realistic, community-based, logically sound, socially suitable and appropriate to their wants and that meet vital health needs for safe food, clean water, and sanitation (ii) Endorse the application and strengthening of methods that develop harmonization between health and related segments at all suitable

The Capture of Osama Bin Laden Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Capture of Osama Bin Laden - Research Paper Example He married his first wife Najwa Ghanem in the year 1974 when he was seventeen years old but he later divorced her. Osama was a polygamist who is believed to have married about six wives with whom he had about 20 children. Osama bin laden used his Muslim faith and the vast wealth inherited from his father to mount terror on the United States of America and the world. Three United States of America presidents were all involved at various stages in trying to capture Osama bin Laden. During his early involvement in terrorist activities, he had joined with different groups in Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt and Sudan. He had also at some time fallen out with Saudi Arabia government and the Afghanistan president had in the year 1994 revoked his Saudi Arabian citizenship (Mockaitis 43). Libya was the first country to issue a warrant of arrest for Osama bin laden on March 16, 1998. The government wanted him arrested by the Interpol alongside three of his accomplices in connection with the kill ing of a German intelligent service agent, Silvan Becker, and his wife Vera, on 10th march, 1994 (Coll 695). The United States of America issued their first indictment for Osama bin laden on June 1998 on allegations of murder when a truck was bombed in Riyadh Saudi Arabia in the year 1995. During this attack, two Indians and five Americans were killed. Osama bin laden was charged with conspiring to attack the United States of America’s defense facilities and heading al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization based in the Afghanistan. He was also accused of being the major financier of the Islamic fighters in the world. Osama bin laden denied any involvement, but he echoed support for the attacks (Atwan 39). In November 1998, after two attacks on American embassies in two African countries (Kenya and Tanzania), the United States’ Federal Grand Jury indicted him once more. The charges against him this time were for the murder of United States’ citizens inside and outside the United States and attacks on the United States federal facilities. These attacks resulted in deaths and destruction of property in the two countries but it was targeted towards the Americans and their property. The prosecutor presented evidence gathered from phone records gotten from satellite, testimony by people who had decamped from al--Qaeda as well as his phone. He was however not arrested since his sympathizers, the Taliban from Afghanistan, could not extradite him on the basis that non-Muslim courts lacked authority to try him as a Muslim (Randal 78). They also claimed that there was no sufficient evidence linking him to the crimes. The Federal Bureau of Investigations added him to the list of the world most wanted terrorists in 7 June 1999. The United States of America’s president Bill Clinton prevailed upon the United Nations to impose sanctions on Afghanistan aimed at forcing the extradition of Osama bin Laden by the Taliban. On October 10, 2001, Osama bin laden was in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of top 22 most wanted terrorists. This list was made public by the United States of America’s president George W Bush. His inclusion in the list was based on his involvement with the 1998 terror attacks in Kenya and Tanzania. The United States of America and the United Nations’ security organs tried to make the Taliban to extradite Osama bin Laden without success. It was not until October 2001 during the bombing of Afghanistan by the American forces that the Taliban offered to extradite

Marketing case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing case study - Essay Example The closing technique used by Frank was appropriate and suitable to the given situation because as he had made strong selling points, Abby showed certain objections and tentative questions (â€Å"Trial Close,† n.d.). It was also because Frank May wanted to steer the conversation in the right track, to know his real prospect (Paterson, 2006). When the time the customer had come up into a decision, the commitment had been obtained (â€Å"Closing techniques,† n.d.). The future close is a closing technique wherein the closing of the transaction could be in a future date, like â€Å"How much time to you need to think about it Abby? †¦ I know you can’t decide right now, what do you think?† Another method is adjournment close, which basically refers to the consideration of time being offered for the prospect to think, like â€Å"Being the senior purchasing director of Moor International, I know this decision is very relevant to you, I’ll give you time to consider about this. Can I count to it?† Conditional close is about giving conditions when objection occurred from the prospect in order to make a purchased of the product/service, like â€Å"The 50% I guess is only an estimation, if I can figure out the exact percentage of site that needs the scanner, will you choose our product?† A. Selling benefits not features – Frank’s performance was unsatisfactory for he was actually selling the features of the company and not the benefits the prospect can get. He said they had built the finest engineering staff over the past 5 years, what’s in it for Moore? He should refer on what the system can do for Moor because the expenditure can be justified by the benefits but not on the function. B. Using trial closes – The performance was good for he successfully performed the trial close technique with Abby. He responded on the objections and immediately closed the conversation. The good performance in using the trial close method made by Frank increased his performance. C.

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Economics - Essay Example Politicians from the developed nations and even the governments of the developing world expected their economies to boom once the trade barriers were removed, the free flow of capital permitted and modern technology used to increase productivity. However, with the process of unchecked globalization, the problems associated with it at times have taken a greater cost than the benefit provided. Of course the positive or negative impact of globalization has not only been felt by the people in the developing nations but also by people living in America. For example, a company which is heavily outsourcing some of its production abilities may give higher profits to the owners as a positive benefit of globalization. On the other hand, if the same company announces layoffs for American workers, globalization has shown the negative side of itself to those workers who lost their jobs in the process. Another central point made in the film which I feel is very important is the interconnection and dependence of the world economy on everything running smoothly in international terms. For example, an economic crisis in one country can have regional repercussions as exemplified by the case of the economic situation that developed in Brazil. If the country is strong enough or is a significant partner in global trade for many other countries, an economic crisis can shake the whole world into action as in the case of Japan. Finally, I think the most sobering message carried by the film was the idea that globalization and the use of technology will not be the answer to all the problems which are faced by the human civilization. Although these are good tools to help those who need them, they can also serve as tools to deprive some of their rights and disenfranchise those who are unable to be a part of the modern technological revolution. These can only be useful when their application is backed with an understanding of the issues and a belief that

Effects of chinas one child policy on women

Effects of chinas one child policy on women As the most populous country in the world, the Peoples Republic of China has been adopting the One-Child Policy since 1979 in order to improve the problem of overpopulation which is seen as an obstacle of the growth and development of the country. While the Chinese Government emphasizes its achievements of population control in China, the controversial policy has been widely criticized for its negative influences. This paper presents the One-Child Policys effects on the position of women. Womens position in this paper is basically defined by womens rights, freedom, respectability and social status .I will first briefly introduce the policy, then analyze both the positive and negative impacts with relevant data and statistics, and lastly come to a conclusion. The Policy and Population Growth Introduced in 1978 and implemented since 1979, the One-Child Policy is a family planning policy adopted by the Chinese Government in order to improve Chinas over-rapid population as to prevent its unfavourable effects on economic and social development of the country.(Information Office of the State Council Of the Peoples Republic of China 1995) The policy restricts married urban Chinese couples from having more than one child by imposing monetary penalties on families with extra children yet exemptions are allowed for couples who belong to ethnic minorities, live in rural area or do not have any siblings.(BBC News 2000) The One-Child Policy is considered successful in terms of its control on Chinas population growth as the birth rate in the county has been greatly decreasing since the introduction of the policy. (see Figure 1) Compared with 1970, in 1994 the birth rate dropped from 33.43 per thousand to 17.7 per thousand; the natural growth rate, from 25.83 per thousand to 11.21 per thousand; and the total fertility rate of women, from 5.81 to around 2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦According to statistics supplied by the United Nations, Chinas population growth rate has already been markedly lower than the average level of other developing countries. (Information Office of the State Council Of the Peoples Republic of China 1995) Figure 1. Changes in the total fertility rate in China Source: National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (2006) Violation of Womens Reproductive Rights Despite its success in population control, the One-Child Policy gives rise to criticisms among which one lies in its violation of womens reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a subset of human rights first recognized at the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights in Teheran on 13th May 1986. According to the 16th article of the Proclamation of Teheran, Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children. Dixon-Mueller (1993: 12) suggests that reproductive rights can be defined as three types: 1. the freedom to decide how many children to have and when (or whether) to have them; 2. the right to have the information and means to regulate ones fertility; 3. the right to control ones own body. Reproductive freedom is the core of individual self-determination. The One-Child Policy does not only violate womens rights by limiting the number of their children but also leads to forced abortions in the country. Under the enforced policy, every 2.4 seconds there is a woman undergoing a forced abortion in China and this makes a total of about 35,000 abortions per day. (Phillips 2010: 1) Abortion is legal in China and as reported in China Daily in 2009, 13 millions of abortions are performed in China every year, which largely exceeds those performed in other countries such as the United States and Canada. (see Figure 2). There is a direct relationship between the One-Child Policy and Chines abortion rate. PostenYaukey (1992: 290) point out that the abortion rate in China increased by nearly 50% between 1978 and 1979 when the policy started being implemented. It is widely known that abortions can cause women health problems, not to mention its negative impacts on emotional and mental health. Ms. Reggie Littlejohn, president of Womens Rights Without Frontiers, criticized that The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth. (Jiang 2009) Figure2. Abortion statistics in China, U.S.A., U.K., Canada and Australia Source: Jiang (2009) Unwanted Daughters and Sex-Selective Abortions A saying among peasants in China goes like this:The birth of a boy is welcomed with shouts of joy and firecrackers, but when a girl is born, the neighbours say nothing(WestleyChoe 2007: 2) In spite of Chinas modernization over the past decades, it is still common for Chinese parents to prefer sons to daughters. (Wang 1999: 197) Such a preference indirectly leads to sex-selective abortions as female fetuses are usually considered less precious than male ones, especially if the couples are allowed to have only one child. With fetal screening technologies such as ultrasound, amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, the sex of unborn fetuses can be recognized before their birth. Such technologies and available abortions result in the possibility that couples selectively abort female fetuses in the hope of having a son instead.(WestleyChoe 2007: 3) Beside sex-selective abortions, Chinas infant mortality rate is another thing to look into. Generally the mortality of male infants is expected to be greater than that of female ones as male infants are biologically weaker than female infants.(Li, 2007: 2) This assumption is also proved by the worlds infant mortality rate by sex.(See Table 1) However, as shown in Table 2, China goes in the reverse direction. It is believed that this unusual tendency is caused by female infanticides and daughter abandonments resulting from the son preference. Table 1. Worlds infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010 Source: United Nations Population Division (2010) Table 2. Chinas infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010 Source: United Nations Population Division (2010) Gender Imbalance Blessing or Curse? Together with the increasing female infant mortality, there is a rising trend of the sex ratio in China since the implement of the One-Child Policy.(See Figure 3) It is estimated by the State Population and Family Planning Commission that there will be 30 million more Chinese man than Chinese women in 2020. (BBC News 2007) Because of the supply-and-demand law that supply decreases t and demand remains unchanged then the value of supply increase, some people assume that if there are less women in China their values and social status should naturally rise. However, this law would make sense only if the demand of women was high. Poon(2008) points out that when women become the minority in a male-preponderant society like China, China may face a period of unprecedented male aggression, which would likely render women as victims and womens status even more precarious and vulnerable to subjugation. Figure 3. Rising sex ratio and excess female infant mortality in China Source: Sun (2005) Womens Empowerment The Mistaken Focus It is always emphasized by the Chinese Government that the One-Child Policy helps promoting womens empowerment and improving womens position as they are freed from heavy burdens brought about by having many children(National Population and Family Planning Commission of China 2006). This claim contains two causal relations: 1) Because of the One-Child Policy women have fewer children. 2) Women have fewer children so they can spend more time on their career. Both of them make sense in a large extent, but is the One-Child Policy a must to control the number of womens children? Probably no. Despite that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the PRC, the One-Child Policy is never implemented in the city, where the social position of women is relatively high. As shown in Figure 4, the fertility rate of Hong Kong kept dropping even and was even lower than that of China. Of course one can argue that there are various factors contributing to Hong Kongs low fertility rate, yet one can also question whether the One-Child Policy is the only factor causing the decline in fertility rate and the rise of womens position. Figure 4. Fertility rates from 1960-2005 in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and East Asia Pacific Source: The United Families International (2010) The Single Child Generation The One-Child Policy does not only aim to decrease the birthrate but also to improve the quality of the new generation, the future pillars of China. It is commonly believed that having single daughters will raise the position of women as their parents provide them with better and more concentrated resources such as education and materials. It may be true in some ways, but Greenhalgh(2007.) points out that the One-Child Policy has produced the most materially and educationally privileged generation of young people in Chinese history who are spoiled and egocentric. Having been the focus of attention from the family throughout their growing-up years, these children are more dependent on others and easily hurt psychologically.(China Daily 2005) The new single-child generation in China has already concerning Chinese from the older generation. Do better resources necessarily create a better generation? If it does not, how can we expect a decline in qualities of children (both male and fema le) will result in better positions of women? Conclusion The One-Child Policy was claimed to be a short-term measure when it was first introduced in China.(Hesketh, Li Zhu 2005) Now that the policy has already been implemented for three decades, its negative consequences eventually appear and have aroused worries from the society. The policy negatively affects womens position as it violate womens rights and enhances the existing favoritism towards male children and it is not coming to an end yet. According to Zhao Baige, deputy director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, although it is said that the policy has been slowly being relaxed ,Chinas family-planning policy will remain unchanged until at least 2015. (Kumar 2010) (1631 words)

The Catcher In The Rye Essay By Jason So :: essays research papers fc

A 'Phony' Family Each and every action the children performed in school and in any place is a reflection of the quality of life they have in their own homes. Parents have a responsibility of taking care of their children and parents have the influence and impact that creates the primary personality of an individual. This influence can mold a certain individual into a responsible citizen or a rebellious delinquent as perceived in J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout novel, but probably none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of his family give the reader a direct view of Holden's philosophy surrounding each member and would likely explain his actions in the story. Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett, 1997). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett, 1997). Throughout "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as di stant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently throughout his chronicle. Holden's father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him "phony" because he views his father's occupation unswervingly as a parallel of his father's personality. "Lawyers are all right, I guess - but it doesn't appeal to me,' I said. 'I mean they're all right if they go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't'" (Salinger, 1945). When Holden describes his mom, he always seems to do so with a sense of compassion yet also with a jeering tone. Holden makes his mom sound predictable and insincere. These phony qualities are shown in two different examples when Holden is hiding in the closet of D.

Archetypes In Waterworld :: Film, Movie

The 1995 hit film Waterworld is a prime example of archetypes appearing in modern motion pictures. The movie displays three main characteristics that give it archetypal meaning. The first of these is the classic hero archetype. Secondly, many archetypal elements of nature are displayed. Lastly, many other archetypes such as safety, extremes, and topography appear in the film.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Waterworld perfectly portrays the heroic archetype. Kevin Costner plays the role of the mariner whose quest is to get to dryland. Playing the evil side is Dennis Hopper who acts as the evil deacon whose mission is to stop the mariner and get to dryland first. The mariner is forced to leave his current lifestyle and is almost killed shortly afterwards. Along the way, he receives help from a wise old man, soul mate, and innocent youth. Costner defeats the deacon when the young girl, Enola, is captured. Soon after, they return to dryland where everything is peaceful and resources abound.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The various settings in Waterworld include many archetypes and add meaning to the story. For one, the deep, salty sea engulfs the whole world. Archetypally, this holds a demonic meaning, and in Waterworld the characters are constantly trying to overcome it. The sun also makes it very hot, giving the characters a thirst which cannot be quenched, as there is no water. Furthermore, any vegetation is extremely valuable because it gives the people vital nutrients, which they need to survive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many other archetypes also appear in the film. For example, the mariners ship is a place of safety for the mariner and his companions. Therefore it has a positive archetypal meaning and is important to the story. In addition, negative archetypes also emerge. Two of these are extreme heat and dessert like topography.

Victor Frankenstein Essay -- Literary Analysis, Mary Shelley

The break of dawn the sun is shining, over the horizon and the heart is slowly letting in the sunlight. As the sunlight penetrates, through the soul, sun paves a way to joy, peace, and a happy life. As human beings, one thrives to succeed in life, one thrives to come to the point where we may look upon one’s life and remember all the superior times we owned, one thrives to be someone, someone great, and one thrives to accomplish this with our own ability. In further analogy, Willy yearned to succeed as so did Biff, Frankenstein, and the creature Frankenstein had created. To look upon one’s life without any regrets is a hard task to accomplish. In the same way, the characters mentioned are all uniquely different but yet the same in purpose: trying to succeed. The main character of Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman seize similar qualities; yearning to succeed in life, acquire a unique relationship with another key figure in the plot line, and possessing the qualities o f a tragic hero. Generally, Victor Frankenstein experiences a peaceful childhood in Switzerland, Victor Frankenstein experiences an idyllic childhood in Switzerland; surrounded by a loving family and accompanied by his cousin Elizabeth. Victor is fascinated by all of the books he reads about science. After the death of his mother, his first murderous experience was when he attended the University of Germany where he applied his newfound knowledge and created a human being, (a.k.a the monster) of enormous size and strength. When his creation becomes awakens Frankenstein, is so horrified by his creation that he falls into an illness, lasting for months. While he is still sick, the creature leads himself into the woods and deliberately does what his brainpower appr... ...ero. The possession of the tragic flaw ultimately defines them as modern tragic heroes. The main character of Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman possess similar qualities; longing to achieve something at life, acquire an exclusive relationship with another key figure in the plot line, and possessing the persona of a tragic hero. The main characters both create a purpose for their life that they do not ultimately follow through. Victor is on the pursuit to find his creature. On the other hand, Willy is trying to live out the American Dream through wrongs means of doing so. They both have a key relationship in the story: Frankenstein is to the creature as Willy is to Biff. Willy and Frankenstein both are classified as tragic heroes because they both possess a tragic flaw. Willy covets the wrong dream, as opposed to Victor who is over-reaching to create life.

Image Case Study B2B

1. What do you think of Mr. Reynolds’ management methods in general? I think that Mr. Reynolds’ management method is very trusting and his style is somewhat laissez-faire, making it a somewhat fragile system. Reynolds doesn’t require paperwork which is usually used to detail and keep track of each employee’s actions but instead relies on trust and maturity amongst the salespeople. Generally such a method is a very risky but it seems that the intensive training that the employees receive builds their notion of responsibility.Furthermore, Reynolds’ management method tends to shy away from â€Å"burdening† his employees with potential estimates and quota targets like many other companies but believes each worker is ambitious for the company and themselves. His use of rewards and contests are very desirable for the employees but are very costly to implement – Reynolds must really trust his employees to make a return to cover such expenses. I do admire Reynolds discussion approach: discuss all work-related problems weekly or daily if necessary by telephone with their managers.The openness of the workplace probably uses the communication to replace the paperwork, a very admirable relationship in my opinion. I think Reynolds’ has crafted a very unique system which, although currently is effective under his management, seems very delicate to implement elsewhere and is very burdening on the company’s budget. I would not recommend it be to be adopted by other managers unless there is a strong financial foundation. 2.Does he have a quota system? What are quotas used for? Reynolds does not have a specific quota system to manage his sales force or use them as targets for his employees, but he does use a quota system to figure out the monthly shipment schedule. Quotas are figures that act as an individual’s target within a set time period, derived from past performances and â€Å"potential† or expec tations, and used as a benchmark for performance evaluations.Instead of a ‘quota’ system to evaluate, Reynolds uses a point system which is also dependent on one’s level of sales and uses it to rank employees based on their performance. The main difference, as perceived by Reynolds, is that the point system uses â€Å"personal objectives, not arbitrary quotas, to stimulate [his] salesmen. † 3. Do you think that the expenses of the US sales force are too high?I do think the expenses of the US sales force are too high. Reynolds’ incentives indeed are very creative and motivating, however, they are a bit too extreme and extravagant. I think it is possible for Reynolds to cut some of the costs whilst maintaining the same effect. For example, the Palm Springs convention could be cut by two days and top salesman and district manager can only go to one or two locations instead of three each year.

Community policing and Traditional policing Essay

History reveals that crime an awful act that people would not like to be a victim of. Police, therefore, play a significant role in ensuring that crime rates are reduced. Community policing and traditional policing are important aspects when it comes to issues of security and dealing with criminals (Kappeler & Gaines, 201, p. 89). Community policing requires that approaches to serious crimes be done in creative and innovative ways to ensure that there is long-term improvement in terms of security. In community policing, all crimes are treated as serious social problems and are dealt with accordingly. This kind of policing is not concerned about eradicating crime. Furthermore, the number of arrests or the crime rates is not the measure of success (Kappeler & Gaines, 201, p. 89). Community policing is concerned about ensuring that society provides opportunities for people to engage in meaningful business. Young people are often targeted because they are prone to becoming victims. Therefore, this is aimed at ensuring that future crimes rates reduce. On the other hand, traditional policing dictates rules and law to the public but are not on the ground to work with the community. They ensure that they respond quickly in case of a crime and this is a measure of their success. They also focus on identification of criminals, apprehending and prosecuting them. Traditional policing apprehends the criminals using the evidence that is collected at the crime scene. Both community and traditional policing complement each other. Community policing is aimed at ensuring that crimes rates are reduced through engaging the society to enter into gainful employment. Their work is to ensure that people live well with one another, while traditional policing is able to come in and assist in areas where crimes have been done by gathering evidence to assist them to apprehend criminals and take them to court to answer charges. The strategy of community policing is a design that may displace traditional policing. The role of the community policing is to ensure that there is law  and order and to deter any criminal activities from happening. Further, community policing is aimed at ensuring that people engage in constructive work. This strategy is aimed at reducing the rates of crimes hence slowly doing away with the traditional policing. Once the rate of crime reduces, traditional policing will have no role to play. Community policing strategy is constructed to help in creating organizational ethical behaviors. Ethics helps an organization to engage in activities that are in tandem with the moral obligation and the expectations of the society (Ortmeier & Meese, 2009, p. 254). Community policing is a force that does not cause anxiety in the community, but perform their duties diligently by relating well with the members of the community. Therefore, they assist the community members especially the youths with ideas and this makes them shun away from involvement in criminal activities. The major role of community policing is to ensure that society upholds to positive behaviors and moral standards. It helps to foster moral behaviors among the people. People should be able to live well with others and also show respect. Community policing is not concerned about the number of arrests they make but the magnitude at which they are able to change and transform the society into a better society. Therefore, this policing organization is built and performs its functions based on ethical standards. References: Gaines, L.. Kappeler, V. (2001). Policing in America (p. 640). Anderson Publishing. Ortmeier, PJ and Edwin Meese (2010). Leadership, Ethics and Policing; 2nd edition. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

King Henry Iv Part One – Falstaff Notes

Falstaff: J. Dover Wilson – Riot and the Prodigal Prince (1943) â€Å"No on†¦ can have missed the resemblance between Riot and Falstaff Falstaff serves 2 main roles in William Shakespeare’s King Henry IV Part One †¢Alternative father figure to Hal †¢The Vice (comedic representation) As a father figure to Hal, Falstaff’s influence is juxtaposed against that of Hal’s biological father King Henry IV. He influences Hal to steal and behave most inappropriately for a prince.This influence offers comedic relief to the audience from the court aspect of the play and also provides a starting point/lifestyle from which Hal can develop. -Falstaff holds himself much above his setting, considering himself to truly be much greater than he really is he achieves this by such actions as partaking in witty banter with the prince while in the tavern as well as telling lies about heroic deeds he presumably achieved. Act 3 Scene 3 – line 10-15 Comic repre sentation of Falstaff’s virtues -defends himself and by doing so highlights his misdeeds -swore little gambled no more than 7 days a week -went to a prostitute house not more often than every 15 mins -paid off his debts that he keeps burrowing -lived in a good moral compass Falstaff is associated with the Devil of the miracle play and the Vice of the morality play and misleads Hal in such a way as to provide amusement and to lower Hal’s standing to provide contrast to his rising and in such a way as to allow for sympathy to his character but is also obvious to the audience â€Å"that the reign of this marvellous Lord of Misrule must have an end, that Falstaff mu be rejected by the Prodigal Prince,† (J.Dover Wilson) Shakespeare also uses Falstaff â€Å"in order to explain and palliate the Prince’s love of rioting and wantonness† â€Å"a devil†¦ in the likeness of an old fat man† a very different kind of poet, who imagined a very differen t kind of satin. J. Dover Wilson â€Å"Falstaff symbolizes, on the one hand, all the feasting and good cheer for which Eastcheap stood, and reflects, on the other, the shifts, subterfuges, and shady tricks that decayed gentlemen and soldiers were put to if they wished to keep afloat and gratify their appetites in the London underworld of the late sixteenth century. †

Opening Case.

I researched the entrepreneurial story of giftzip. com. This is about Giftzip. com by Sam Hogg who is the founder. He took MBA course from Michigan State University. When he took the courses he and friend thought about waste and discarded plastic gift card and he decided to make it online. After he gets MBA degree he established Giftzip. com and he makes large choice to buy gift card from $25~$250 on the net. Also recipient gets gift card by redeem code or e-mail from the company that they look at it.Sam Hogg has difficulty with big retailer such as amazon. com he almost gave up when he failed to make a deal with them. However he waited the time comes and luckily his business turned succeed. In fall 2008 gift market grows, people are more prefer to buy gift card on the internet and feel comfortable. It turns Giftzip as successful company and in 2009 Giftzip designated as 10 hot startups to watch. And Gift card industry expected to top $100 billion.Reread the opening case, and then li st all the smart or effective moves Sam Hogg made in the early days of building GiftZip. com. Which three moves were most instrumental in GiftZip. com’s early success? Be prepared to justify your selections. 1. He did what others didn’t do before. – (Challenging) 2. He continues to control his company whether it will be succeed or be fail. And he got luck to succeed it. 3. As Sam’s entrepreneurship he believes that his idea/work will be succeed.

The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet - Essay Example In addition, many of these waters ultimately find their way to ocean waters which has cause large areas of the seas to be barren of life. Air pollution causes respiratory problems and, more importantly, is causing the Earth’s climate to change, the consequences of which are far-ranging and potentially catastrophic. Lawmakers have focused their efforts to address the pollution of America’s waterways by passing legislation intended to reduce the amount of contaminants discharged from factories but the American fresh water systems remain polluted. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, roughly 40 percent of the country’s lakes, rivers and streams still are unsafe for fishing or swimming because they are overburdened with silt and chemicals from thousands of small sources, a circumstance known as â€Å"non-point† pollution. This phrase refers to polluting the waterways other than by dumping chemicals directly into the water such as improperly discarded motor oil, pesticides, lawn chemicals, fertilizers or animal waste from commercial farms. Fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural sources, point of contact, cause more of the pollutants affecting the fragile water systems than commercial pollutants. These systems run across the â€Å"Breadbasket† areas of A merica then are deposited in ocean waters of the East Coast and oxygen-depleted Gulf of Mexico. Large areas of these seas have been designated as ‘dead zones.’ Vast areas of East Coast waters and the Gulf of Mexico can no longer support life such as crabs and shrimp. These dead zones are constantly expanding. â€Å"The dead zone fluctuates in size each year, extending a record 8,500 square miles during the summer of 2002 and stretching over 7,700 square miles during the summer of 2010.† (â€Å"Facts,† 2010) Ammonia, a lethal gaseous form of nitrogen released during waste removal, can travel hundreds of miles through the air before falling back to Earth either on the ground or in the water, where it produces algal blooms which kills fish. â€Å"Fertilizers and animal waste from factory livestock farms have helped trigger an unprecedented number of algal blooms, destructive growth spurts that clog waterways and suffocate fish.† (Warrick, 2001). Most i nfamous were outbreaks of deadly algae, including Pfiesteria piscicida, an organism blamed for the deaths of a billion fish along the coast of North Carolina. The quantity of fresh water for drinking continues to be significantly reduced because of chemical pollutants. This regretful circumstance is especially difficult for drought-stricken areas. This critical situation is reversible but must involve educating small and large-scale farmers to more environment friendly means of growing crops and requiring its implementation. A water restoration program initiated by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972 determines the maximum quantity of a pollutant that a body of water can have and still meet federal quality standards by using a calculation named The Total Maximum Daily Load. This is the primary legal remedy for government intervention concerning non-point water pollution. Federal regulations require state administrative bodies to take into consideration all sources of pollution acros s the watershed (drainage basin) of a river. â€Å"Watershed is the term used to describe the geographic area of land that drains water to a shared destination† (â€Å"Report,† 2011). Water, in the form of melting snow or rain, drains toward the lowest point in a

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Business Law - Essay Example 2 In order to have a valid contract, an offer must sufficiently be accepted. In this case when Simon ordered the 20 coffee machines, there was already a valid offer to purchase the said product from the wholesaler. In order that the contract may be perfected, what is needed is the valid acceptance of the wholesaler. But since the wholesaler made no reply since the offer to purchase on Thursday, Simon had every right to change his mind. When Simon sent a telefax canceling his order on Tuesday thereafter, there was still no perfected contract. The general rule is, once the acceptance is made, the offerror can no longer revoke the offer. But the acceptance becomes binding on the offerree only when it reaches the offeror. In this case the telefax was sent on Tuesday, while the letter of acceptance, confirming the order was received the next day. In order for the contract to be valid, acceptance of the offer is needed to create legal rights and duties arising from such agreement. In this case Simon has revoked his offer prior having knowledge of the acceptance the next day. In the case of Entores Ltd. v Miles Far East Corporation (1955)3, where the parties where dealing on an agreement based on telex communication between parties, it was held that it was not until the message of acceptance was received by the offeror until the contract is deemed perfected or complete. Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, provided that if a notice of withdrawal was sent during business hours, the withdrawal was effective as of the time it was received by the telex machine, regardless if the other party received it or not based on their own neglect.4 In our case it is obvious that after a number of days without confirmation of the request, Simon sent a telefax canceling his order on Tuesday, a day before there was a valid acceptance from the wholesaler. Hence, he had all the right to revoke his primary offer to purchase the coffee makers since there was no acceptance yet made, there was no contract yet perfected or created at that time. The telefax remains open to receive messages, there was also no confirmation made by the wholesaler that the request to purchase their product was even accepted, in addition to that there was no consideration or payment made. Simon had timely withdrawn his offer before any contract was created, hence he will not be liable for any demand based on breach of a contract that was never effective. The use of disclaimers in shops or place of business is generally allowed by law, but the rule is not absolute, as it does not include responsibility for negligence as provided in the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. Simon cannot rely on his general disclaimer from preventing himself to be sued based on negligence that resulted to damages. The law provides that although disclaimers are allowed, it cannot be made or put in general terms as to limit the liability of the owner in every case, as the limited liability depends on the nature of the obl igation and must be reasonable as not to cause boundless responsibilities. It was held in the case of Staples v West Dorset District Council (1995) 5that a disclaimer or notice to be valid must renounce responsibility based on specific issues6. In this case, Simon posted a notice renouncing all responsibility for

Ginevra de Benci by Leonardo da Vinci Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ginevra de Benci by Leonardo da Vinci - Essay Example The medium used for painting the piece is oil on wood measuring 42.7 by 37 cm (National Gallery of Art, 2015). The female portrait is Ginevra de’ Benci, a 17 years old who during her era is an intellectual. The background of the painting depicts the ‘leonardesque’ style of trees, mountains, and hazy sky with a dreamlike atmosphere. The artist did the effect of hazy sky through an overlay of oil glazes, hence creating a thin curtain of mist. On the portrait’s reverse side, is a design of a chaplet palm and laurel, which encircles a juniper spring with an inscription of Beauty Adorns Virtue in English but it is in Latin, Virtutem Forma Decorat (National Gallery of Art (2015). The juniper could have meant chastity while the palm represented moral virtue of Ginevra. The portrait depicts a female figure with a marble-like skin while the hair is styled in ringlets putting a face that portrays a sulky and proud facial expression. This could be illustrating that Gi nevra might not have been happy with the upcoming marriage. The portrait has been argued by historians to have been commissioned as an engagement portrait for celebrating her marriage. According to National Gallery of Art, it was commissioned by Bembo, a friend of Ginevra, for celebrating the occasion of her marriage as well as a substitute for the object of his admiration and esteem (2015). Human values are depicted in the painting in the approaching marriage of Ginevra to Niccolini. Human values are standards, principles.

Postpartum Haemorrhage, Hypovolaemic Shock, Post-Traumatic Stress Essay

Postpartum Haemorrhage, Hypovolaemic Shock, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example This essay will also explore the effects of postpartum haemorrhage in relationship to the case study of Mrs. H, focusing on the physical range of interventions that were undertaken to prevent fatal consequences by using oxytocic drugs and fluid replacement as per trust guidelines; care given by the Midwife and also the psychosocial care that is needed to prevent women from suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Mrs H was found to have ruptured her uterus affecting the involution of the uterus and therefore causing the haemorrhage. A postpartum haemorrhage is traditionally defined as bleeding from the genital tract of five hundred millilitres or more following delivery (Hofmeyr, 2001). This can result in death from hypovolemic shock. Sometimes these effects occur long after the event of the haemorrhage, which can cause women to experience psychological impact from effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder. This essay focuses on two effects that can come as a result of pos tpartum haemorrhage: hypovolemic shock and post-traumatic stress disorder. The basic definition of haemorrhage is the abnormal loss of blood (Varney, Kriebs, & Gegor 2004, p. 925). Intrapartum haemorrhage (IPH, occurring during delivery) and bleeding that is considered primary postpartum haemorrhage (PPH, occurring immediately after delivery) is the experience of excessive blood loss during the course of delivery or within the 24 hour period after labour and for which the source of the blood is the genital tract (Crafter 2011, p. 149). Women in labour suffer from substantial fluid loss; so they need to be kept well hydrated to ensure enough circulating volumes to enable them to cope with any excessive blood loss (Hofmeyr and Mohlala 2001, p. 646). After childbirth there is the risk of haemorrhage that can come from a variety of locations. Immediate haemorrhage is more commonly associated with mortality and can come from different factors surrounding the birth. In as much as 90% of t he cases of immediate post-birth haemorrhage the cause is uterine atony which has a number of causes, including incomplete delivery of the placenta. When there are cotyledons, or retained placental fragments, there is both the risk of immediate haemorrhage and of delayed haemorrhage (Varney, Kriebs, & Gegor 2004, p. 925). The amount of bleeding can be any amount that compromises the health of the mother but is generally considered to be 500mls or more. In healthy pregnancy, women have a plasma volume increase of at least 1250mls and the red cell mass also increases, as a result women are able to tolerate up to a litre of blood loss with no adverse effects (Hofmeyr, 2001) In cases of women who suffer from severe anaemia, they may be unable to tolerate blood loss that healthy women can (Crafter, 2011). The speed of the blood flow through the intervillous space can be estimated to be about 600ml per minute (Hofmeyr et al, 2008). There are 4 most common known causes of PPH; traditionall y known as the 4T: tone, trauma, tissue, and thrombin (Mukherjee and Arulkukarin 2009, p. 4). Tone refers to poor contraction of the uterus, which is also called uterine atony. The tearing of tissue and vessels known as trauma is the cause that is seen in the case of Mrs. H. The contributing factors to her ending up with a PPH were instrumental delivery, episiotomy, uterine rupture as well as genital tract lacerations. Tissue refers to when the placenta or membranes are not totally

Information Managment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Managment - Case Study Example However, these retailing powerhouses have weaker market presence in areas where Pamida is located thus creating a competitive, first entrant and first mover advantage for the company. (Porter, 1985) ShopKo has implemented a systems application called Markdown Optimizer in order to deal with pricing of a product according to season, store location, local tastes and past demand. The software analyzes historical pricing plus sales data in order to control and price product leftovers of individual stores. Pamida overhauled its inventory management systems in order to address product shortage from its different stores. It has implemented a full service distribution system in three warehouse locations. Initially, the company experienced setbacks and low earnings caused by the implementation of the new distribution system. This was due to a inappropriate allocation of resources where Pamida focused on new technology infrastructures and new merchandising software without modernizing their back-door operations. The warehouse management system was old, inflexible and outdated. The functionalities and features of the software were not anymore aligned to the new business strategy and it cannot cope up with the growth of the company's demand. The company normalized its distribution operations when it has utilized and employed a better and flexible distribution system software. Results and Business Benefits The ShopKo operations have benefited a lot from the new application. The Markdown Optimizer increased the gross margin and decreased its payroll costs from the previous year. Importantly, it has dramatically decreased the percentage of unsold goods at the end of each season. With these benefits, the net profit of ShopKo has increased. On the other hand, Pamida performed well by maintaining a high in-stock availability of merchandise through effective warehousing, efficient distribution and modernized information systems. At the end of 2001, Pamida has turned around its operational setbacks and implemented a functional full service distribution system.. They had become successful such that the company has decided to consolidate its distribution at two centers instead of three to further save on costs. Key Learnings Information systems strategies should be aligned with the business strategy of a company. It must not focus on modernization of infrastructures alone. It is important for IS to give value to the company and compliment the business goals. As part of strategic management, information system's role in the decision making process has become very important in the organization. It functions both as support and driver of corporate strategies.(Pearlson, 2001) An effective information system needs a valuable and useful symbiosis with the rest of the management structures in an organization.(Turban et al, 1999) Case 2: What Happened to Kmart Background Kmart was the largest discount chain in the retail industry. It was established in 1962 and has expanded to 63 stores at the end of 1963 through their introduction of discount stores.

Managing Strategy ( case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing Strategy ( case study) - Essay Example 1. Amazon strategy Amazon current business strategy is based on high customer value and experience. Amazon has a low cost structure that ensures that customers access products and services at the lowest prices in the market. In addition, Amazon strategy is based on customer convenience through guaranteed on-time delivery with no compromise to the quality of the products and services (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010, p 76). The business strategy has been ‘customer-centric’ in terms of the wide variety of products and increased product innovation. The key pillars of the strategy include selection, price and convenience. Although Amazon was originally thought as an online bookstore, the company has established several physical strategic centers that are used to ship customer products such as the Hazleton facility that serves Northeast customers. The company has leveraged on technology to understand the customer purchasing patterns and needs and also delivery the products to t he customers. Technology enabled the company top expand the product portfolio with new innovative products such as Amazon web services, kindle and digital products. For instance, the Kindle which is a wireless electronic reading device was unveiled in 2007 thus enabling customers to conveniently download and save books from kindle store without extra costs for the wireless access (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010, p 235). Another innovative product is Amazon web services that allow IT vendors to host both hardware and software in their own data centers. The web services include products such as AWS premium support, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon EBS. In addition, Amazon expanded the digital products division in 2007 through launching MP3 music store that allows customers to listen to digital music without restriction. In 2008, the launch of IMDb.com which is a subsidiary allowed customers to watch more than 6,000 full length films and favorite TV series. The comp any is committed to enhancing the accessibility of the products and services to customers in order to create customer convenience and customer value. In 2008, the company launched a currency converter that enables global customers to pay for their products in US dollars and ‘Bill Me Later’s† which is a next generation payment service that enables customers to make instant online payments without using a credit card. Amazon TextBuyit service allows customers find and shop for Amazon products using a text message or web browsers. Amazon has implemented aggressive product diversification strategy. The company also diversified in the sale of motorcycle spare parts and software products that feature other languages such as Spanish. The company has also made various mergers and acquisitions in order to access markets and capital. For instance, it acquired Fabric.com which is a leading supplier of cut fabrics, sewing accessories and tools. The company has reported impres sive financial results over the past few years. Other major acquisition was that of AbeBooks and Reflexive Entertainment.

How to Build Teams Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How to Build Teams - Research Paper Example Employees who have their value acknowledge by the organization and receive respect from their boss go beyond their work jurisdiction willingly to achieve the company’s organization. There is need for companies to have a well built team of staff in the work place. In order to successfully build a team in the work place, there should be consistency and commitment. Team building is a process that calls for a comprehensive strategy which targets at developing and maintaining a work environment of team-oriented employees. When building a team in the work place, one needs to ensure purpose of the team is clearly defined. This is achieved through stating comprehensible realistic goals and making everybody in the team informed on the expectations, organization’s plan and their role in realizing the goals. The team should be made conscious of where they fit in the company through have contribution to the vision and the purpose of team building. Resources available for team build ing are very vital in coming with a team of staff in the work place. The resources should be accessible for use by the team. Furthermore, a proper communication is necessary for ensuring that connection between team members and the manger is two-way. A good team makes members feel excited on what they do and, thus, being in a position to handle challenges and failure. Creation of objectives and goals should be facilitated in a manner that allows all members to share the grounds. It is through this facilitation that talents, interests and ideas are identified from the group members. This way a shared path that influences everyone’s strength and talents is facilitated. According to the article by Allen, Pennisi & Norman on building development, high performance buildings are achieved through high performance teamwork. Given the supply chain and international competition facing the building industry, the industry has to come up with ways of developing high- performance building and a considerable reduction in energy consumption. This was the case with the United States manufacturing industry in 70’s and 80’s. It was necessary for the industry to adopt innovative and improved methods of product development in order to meet the competitive challenges. There is the necessity to make sure that a product meets what companies and customers want. High performance achieved through great products should be regarded as a norm (Allen et al 224). It is of greate value to have a customer focus organizational orientation. This entails having an understanding of customers’ needs so as to incorporate proactively the customers’ desires into the process of product development. Understanding customers’need as over the years evolved with a lot of variations but understanding what the customers want is vital in this field. In order to compete effectively in the building industry, there is the necessity to understand what is needed of a high- performance building. It should be able to tell who the customers of the industry are. Through knowing their customers, players in the building industry will have an understanding of the wide range of what they to experience. Understanding what the customer needs is of great importance as a building of high effectiveness and efficiency to its users. Such buildings are profitable to the owners as well. The building indust

Growing afraid Essay Example for Free

Growing afraid Essay Pip describes the afternoon as being raw, which describes the bitterness of the weather, the weather is almost attacking Pip. The graveyard can be described as very old because overgrown with nettles lays a churchyard, which is uncared for and in an instant it could just crumble away. Pip again adds significant words, as he repeats all of the names on the gravestones, Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias and Roger that have died in this harsh place, Pip reads it as if it were a list with so many people there, who have been there for a long period of time. Dark, flat, wilderness beyond the churchyard again explains the lack of community and the Isolation around the area. Dickens personifies wind as the wind was rushing, as if it were rushing to get Pip who was at the time a small bundle of shivers growing afraid. The marshlands had an effect not only on Pip, but the convict also, the convict had been smothered in mud and lamed by stones and cut by flints, and stung by nettles and torn by briars, showing he had escaped for a long time and had spent most of his time hiding in the marshlands. As the convict roughly treats Pip, he tilts him over, gradually down to the floor, he gives Pip a greater sense of helplessness and danger which adds to the atmosphere significantly. Toward the end of the chapter, a sad atmosphere is created, as the convict hugged his shuddering body in both arms clasping himself as if to hold himself together. The convict limps toward the low church wall producing an image of one who is close to death. Pip creates another childish imagination but this one describes the dead rising up stretching up cautiously out of their graves, showing how much fear he had in him at the time. The marshes are depicted as just a long black horizontal line with the sky being just like a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed, describing the darkness, and anger in Pips world. Charles Dickens leaves you with eerie images of death, of a limping man, as if he were a pirate come to life and come down and going back to hook himself up again. We are introduced to Miss Havisham first as an immensely rich and grim lady, a notorious woman who lived in a large house that was heavily barricaded against robbers. She is described as living a life of seclusion which leads us to believe that she is isolated, miserable and depressed. Pip describes her as being the strangest lady he had ever seen. She was dressed in rich materials, satins, lace and silks, all that are symbols of wealth. She had a long white veil dependent from her hair which makes us believe that she is a bit odd wearing bridal wear for no apparent reason. Her hair was white which symbolizes that she is quite old. Another symbol of wealth is created because she had some bright jewels sparkling around her neck. Pip states that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress which is another clue to her being quite old. We are given another unhealthy image of Miss Havisham, of her dying, the book reflects this by stating that there was no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes and her figure had hung loose and had shrunk to skin and bone. She states that she had never seen the sun since she was born, this makes the reader feel that she is again isolated and hiding away from life outside. She is also a cold-hearted person, because she says that her heart was broken with an eager look on her face. We learn that she despises adults, and that she acts like a child, the novel portrays this by stating that she has sick fancies and she orders Pip with an impatient movement of the hand to play. When Estella came to play with Pip, Miss Havisham says to Estella that she can break Pips heart, this indicates that Miss Havisham has set out to seek revenge on men, and that is one of the reasons why she brought Pip to her house. There is a sense that life has ceased for Miss Havisham, the book shows this by stating that her silk stocking once white, now yellow had been trodden ragged. Pip says that the frillings and trimmings on her bridal dress looked like earthy paper which describes it as being fragile, like Miss Havisham herself. After Pip had finished playing cards with Estella, Miss Havisham states You shall go home soon, Play the game out this illustrates to the reader that she is depressed and emotionally hurt, and is not to used to the company of others, so she sends him away. She had an appearance of dropped body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow which leads us to believe that the marriage which didnt take place, has caused her to drop her body and drop her soul. Miss Havisham once again thinks highly of herself, acting as if she owns Pip, she expresses this by stating When shall I have you here again? . We also learn that she is a misguided woman because she says she doesnt know anything about the days of the week, or the weeks of the year. We first learn that Estella is selfish and speaks in an scornful manner to anyone she isnt familiar with, the evidence of this is that after Pip politely said that she could go in first, she replied by saying Dont be ridiculous boy; I am not going in and she also left Pip in the dark by taking the candle with her. When Pip called her name out to play with him, she didnt come straight away, she took her time, deliberately trying to be awkward. When Miss Havisham tried the jewel on Estella, she obviously had intentions for her to get married. Estella thinks she is better than Pip, the evidence of this is that when she was ordered by Miss Havisham to play with Pip, she replied With this boy! Why he is a common labouring boy! . When Estella asked Pip what games he played, she asked it in the greatest disdain which makes us believe she is strict and again scornful and looks down on lower classes. Estella is used as a weapon, a heartbreaker by Miss Havisham, who as we know wants to treat men as she was treated, Miss havisham illustrates this by stating beggar him to Estella. Estella has no respect for Pip and thinks highly of herself and no one else, the evidence of this is that she says, he calls the knaves, jacks this boy! and what coarse hands he has. This leaves an effect on Pip as he becomes ashamed of his hands. She was watching Pip creating tension, trying to make him do wrong, so that she could insult him more on his faults. Pip tells us this by stating she was lying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouring boy As Pip was whispering to Miss Havisham, even though she wasnt saying anything, Estella was making Pip say nice things about her with her eyes, the evidence of this is that she was looking at Pip with look of supreme aversion. As the game between Pip and Estella finished, Estella threw all of the cards down as if she despised them for having been won of Pip, this shows that Estella is spiteful, treats Pip disdainfully and she is very proud. Estella was to told feed Pip, so she put the food down on the ground without looking at Pip as if Pip was a dog in disgrace, this shows that Estella again thinks Pip as being lower class and she has contempt for Pip. Estella had made Pip cry, she looked at him with quick delight as being the cause of the tears, this proves she has no feelings and is satisfied for making him cry, this makes her not a likeable character at all. The first Impressions of Miss Havisham`s house is that it is a huge house filled with mystery, dismal house, barricaded against robbers which reflects the owners feelings. The house can furthermore be described as bleak and nervous for anyone who approaches it, with its great front entrance having two chains across it. It is a dark, gloomy place, with a sense of bad experiences. The text tells us this by stating, the passages were all dark and still it was dark, and only the candle lighted us. Miss Havisham`s room was also dark, she obviously prefers darkness, and all of the candles represent the light in the room, the evidence of this is that a pretty large room, well lighted with candles and no glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. There is a sense of chaos in the room as everything is untidy, dresses and half-packed trunks were scattered about also Miss Havisham only had one shoe on. Everything was left as it was years ago, all confusedly heaped about the looking glass. Pip relates Miss Havisham to a waxwork he had once seen, with her skin sallow. He also makes a reference to death by describing a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress. Miss Havisham is almost a ghost in her own house, the evidence of this is that waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved. All of the watches and clocks in her room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, which is deliberate and could be linked with her marriage that didnt take place. Pip is made to feel vulnerable, he has no choice but to do what Miss Havisham says, this is because he had the desperate idea of starting round the room meaning that he had to embarrass himself in front of Miss Havisham. She asked Pip if he was sullen and obstinate, he is obviously very misunderstood. Miss Havisham becomes frustrated with him and pitiful for him, the book expresses this by stating So new to him So old to me So melancholy to both of us! Miss Havisham again makes Pip feel discomfort as he is made to shout out Estella in a dark and mysterious passage of an un-known house again he is made to embarrass himself. Another sense that life has seized for Miss Havisham is that there are pale, decayed objects which also creates a deathly and unsettling atmosphere. Pip also describes her clothes as grave-clothes and her long veil looking like a shroud both of which are linked with a corpse. As Pip leaves Miss Havisham`s house, he states that the rush of daylight quite confounded him, this is another clue that the house is a very dark place. Toward the end of the chapter, we feel pity for Pip, because Estella treats him so badly, but he is strong because he refuses to cry in the presence of her, even though his feelings are bitter. This also shows that he wishes he had come from a family who were more of an upper class, than the family he was brought up with, because then maybe Estella would have treated him better.

The Presence of Self-Hatred Essay Example for Free

The Presence of Self-Hatred Essay Racial discrimination has always been one problem that is experienced on a global scale. Although Barrack Obama has won the presidential election in the United States of America, there are still debates concerning the United States and the issue about the blacks vs. the whites. History and literature are two important branches of knowledge that can attest to the racial discrimination that the blacks have always experienced. In fact, even the media has taken up the fact that even though black is beauty, white is even more beautiful—the mountains of bleaching and whitening products available in the market can attest to that. Moreover, while Snow White is loved by many, Princess Jasmine (of Aladdin) is not exactly that famous compared to her blue-eyed counter parts. It has been ingrained in so many people, most especially to that of the younger generation, that it is so bad to be black; or rather, it is so ugly to be black. Fairy tales tell us of the big, bad, black wolf. Hoodlums and villains in movies are most often the darker ones and those that have the fairer skins are hailed as the hero or heroine of the movie. The characters present in the novel written by Toni Morrison are not exempted to this belief. Although the novel provides some of the more domesticated problems that are somehow always present in the dramatic works of literature (like Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment or Franks McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes) and movies (Julia Roberts’ battered character in Sleeping With The Enemy or Jennifer Lopez’s role in Enough), the most apparent subject in the novel is the obvious contempt for the characters’ skin colors and their undeniable desire to change who they are and what they have. The novel features Pecola Breedlove, a young, naive, black girl who hates her color and herself for belonging to her race. She believes herself as very ugly and assumes that having blue eyes will be the only thing that will make her beautiful and likable. The novel centers on Pecola and her relationship with her family as they face the demon in their lives and get lost in their own personal problems and issues. The novel starts with a narrator already telling the resolution of the novel and uses a flashback to recount the events in the part of the novel’s Prologue: Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, nothing remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too. (Morrison 9-10) The narrator is none other than one of the MacTeer sisters, Claudia herself, who Pecola stays with (ordered by Court officials) after Pecola’s father burns down their house and leaves the Breedlove family homeless. Pecola, Claudia, and Frieda (another of the MacTeer daughters and Claudia’s sister) soon become friends, and the MacTeer sisters find that it is their duty to protect Pecola who seems to be bullied by everyone in their town. Because of the apparent treatment of the people in their neighborhood (with the exception of the MacTeer sisters), Pecola develops this belief that the only solution for people to love her and actually be pleased with her is if she acquires â€Å"blue eyes†: It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sightsif those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different. Her teeth were good, and at least her nose was not big and flat like some of those who were thought so cute. If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe theyd say, â€Å"Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola. We mustnt do bad things in front of those pretty eyes. † Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year she had prayed. Although somewhat discouraged, she was not without hope. To have something as wonderful as that happen would take a long, long time. (Morrison 25-26) The novel turns for the worst as Pecola returns to her family, and each family member is revealed as having his or her own issues with who he or she is and coming to grips with his or her personal history. Cholly Breedlove is the man of the house and the father of Pecola—he is lazy, does not work, and is occupied with only two things—getting drunk and beating up his wife, Pauline. Cholly’s drinking can be explained with the fact that he suffered from an earlier humiliation caused by two white hunters who forced him to make love to his first girlfriend Darlene as the two hunters watched the scene. Later, he gets Pauline Williams (another girlfriend and the mother of Pecola) pregnant; they marry and eventually become Mr. and Mrs. Breedlove. Soon, problems arise as they find each other very disagreeable; while the husband gets drunk and beats the wife, the wife lets the husband beat her because she feels like a â€Å"martyr† by letting him do so (Morrison 23). Through the philosophical theory of existentialism, the situation of the drunken husband and the battered, martyred wife can be explained by the fact that they feed on each other’s existence and role so that they can play out their own role. To put it simply, the husband exists to beat the wife, and the wife exists to get beaten. Without the other’s personal issues and problems, none of the intricate themes of the novel will be present and have meaning. Meanwhile, Pauline Breedlove works as a servant in a white’s family’s house and by doing so, creates an illusion or a fantasy that being close to them (proximity-wise) makes her beautiful. Pauline, like her daughter Pecola, believes in her ugliness to be very appalling and horrifying. She runs away from reality and gets lost in the world of romantic television shows. Of all the characters in the novel, it is Pauline’s and Pecola’s evident low self-esteem that makes them â€Å"unique† (Morrison 22). Self-denial is so strong in the novel that it borders on hating themselves so much that they believe in the fantastical (to point of being ridiculous) ideas that if something in them changes, then they can be beautiful, the world will love them, and their lives will be better. However, their notion of ugliness can be traced to the fact that they are black, and the world jeers at them and judges them as ugly because they are black: The master had said, â€Å"You are ugly people. † They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance. â€Å"Yes,† they had said. â€Å"You are right. † And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it. (Morrison 21) The excerpt above proves that because the world considers them as ugly, then they believe themselves to be ugly. The Breedloves saw around them that belonging to such race is awful. This can be traced of course to the fact that when the novel was first published in 1970, the concept of racism was still very much present. Unfortunately, hating one’s own race and skin color is disaster itself since that would mean hating the entirety of one’s being—to be appalled at one’s actions or attitude is very different from hating one’s self because of what or who he or she is. Nevertheless, one important passage can disregard or negate the argument of the assumption above: You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. (Morrison 22) Do the Breedloves hate themselves because they believe the world thinks they are ugly, or do they hate themselves because they believe they are ugly, thus, the world believes so too? It can be likened to a rhetorical question of who came first, the chicken or the egg (and like all rhetorical questions, they are not really meant to be answered)? It is quite sad to think that the characters have decided that they are ugly; for it means they are already determined to be ugly and no matter what other people would say and argue, they would never waver from that conclusion. As a result, because of their decision, they denied themselves of being themselves. The novel ends in much melancholic tragedy for all the characters—Cholly rapes Pecola and gets her pregnant, but eventually, the baby dies and so does Cholly; the MacTeer sisters lose their innocence; Sammy (the brother of Pecola) runs away, and the marigolds refuse to grow in their community. Most of all, however, Pecola thinks she has the bluest eyes, â€Å"My eyes. My blue eyes. Let me look again. See how pretty they are. Yes. They get prettier each time I look at them. They are the prettiest Ive ever seen. † (Morrison 79) It is such a tragedy for Pecola because for her to believe that she indeed has blue eyes is the realization that self-hatred has won. Work Cited Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Penguin Groups, 1994.

Media As Force Multiplier

Media As Force Multiplier Today media needs to be used in a more pro-active manner to shape the operational scheme of a commander. This can be done by more integration and engagement of the media, public relations officer and the men in uniform into two way communication looking after each others needs at the same time. One very important aspect is the education of the staff and subordinate commanders at operational level to realise the need and advantage of engaging media towards military operations. The fourth estate in this informational age gives commanders with vast opportunities to leverage towards own operations which should be exploited to the maximum. The media can be used as potent force multiplier in achieving the objective by boosting the morale of our own forces and people, as an agent of deception for the military, gathering valuable intelligence and enhancing better build up of situational awareness, sustained psychological operation and finally communicating the objective and end state to the international community. Maximizing the use of fourth estate Maximising and moulding the perception of the masses and adversary by the use of fourth estate and how the commander leverage the media to effectively achieve operational objective to his own advantage is what the commander should explore which obviously is the need of the hour. Before employing the media, a brief review of the nature of the media would be required to better understand its potential. Media covering any military operation ranges from novice in the field to the seasoned veteran. Thus employment of media by the commander should be in a judicious manner like not allowing the media to wander in the battlefield at free will due to the wide spectrum of their work experience. At operational level coverage of media can be divided into three main principles namely mobility, capability and responsibility. Mobility is considered as the center of gravity of the media which is reporting from the scene while safety is the medias critical vulnerability. This is evident from journalist getting stuck during operations not able to move due to lack of mobility. The units which are more mobile or the ones with freedom of mobility cover the operation in a much more realistic manner. Regarding the safety many a journalists have landed themselves in dangerous situa tions and few lost their lives while covering news from the crisis zone. With regards to capability, media is often ahead of military on information age battlefield being armed with sophisticated satellite communication technology. This mobility and capability have complicated the operational commanders challenge to be more proactive in winning or at least not loosing to the media coverage. Understanding the medias concerns, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses will help operational commanders in utilizing media towards the operational design and conduct of operations. Use of media by the commanders is enumerated below:- (i) Media as a platform. Media offers a platform for the operational commanders to transmit his operational objectives and goals. In many a cases during the operation when a commander is interviewed he communicates to general masses by giving his objective without divulging any intricacies which could jeopardise the operation. This way the people are aware as to what is happening and further their support towards the operation. This also keeps rest of the forces informed and they understand the goal. (ii) PSYOPS potential. The use of medias PSYOPS potential by the operational commander towards own advantage. Propaganda might get victory before the first shot is fired by merely demoralizing the adversary and breaking the will to fight. Using commercial broadcast would provide a heightened level of credibility with the enemy because its third party stature provides some assurance of truth, over military broadcast. Using commercial television for PSYOPS would have to be covertly subtle, done on a sublime level, and would require special authorization. The military might and capability can be projected to the adversary and people to play with their minds. Destructive images of the adversary, pumping in of more forces to the theatre and special training of our troops to take on the enemy will affect the way the operation will be conducted by the enemy. In short, to maximize the potential of PSYOPS the operational commander must consider the media as a primary means of influencing an o pponents actions. (iii) Media as a deception tool. The operational commander must consider using the media as part of the overall deception plan. Media can be utilized to inject information regarding a plan or designs however act on some other plan thus keep the adversary guessing on the course of action and delay his moves. (iv) Media for intelligence gathering. An area rich with possibilities for operational commander is harnessing the potential of media in gathering intelligence. Valuable intelligence like background information on people, terrain and facilities in a particular region can be provided by the reporters. Military may assign agencies/reporters to a particular geographic region to gain intimate knowledge of the social fabric and the culture. Military leaders need to exploit this intelligence asset when planning or entering a new theatre. Tapping into the media is an excellent open-source for gathering information about the adversary though it might be time consuming and challenging. Radical expansion and modernization of open-source exploitation is an important reform for the intelligence community these days. Commanders should develop innovative ways to penetrate and analyse the most difficult targets, the objective should be to strengthen analytic expertise, methods and practice. Exploit ing open-source information must be the priority and is one way operational commanders and intelligence staff can aide in this challenge. Day in and day out, there are new revelations about Muslim terrorist sleeper cells in India. Most of the suspects arrested and/or tried have links to Pakistan. Islamist extremism in India needs to be explored by recognised experts. Military forces are subjected to this extremism in day to day operations which needs to be addressed. Military has to look into the modus operandi, funding, support (state and non-state), recruiting pattern in terms of location, general populace, mode, means, etc to understand the enemy to maximize its operations. The internet, where a virtual caliphate has been created in cyberspace, is used to proselytize, recruit, radicalize, fund raise and plot act of terrorism. Military should be proactive in tapping the internet in conjunction with the state and friendly nation intelligence network to draw out inferences and intelligence to further their operations. Knowledge building and knowledge sharing should be the priority in this information age. Operational secrecy and media. Some secrecy is essential to both national security and democracy but excessive secrecy undermines accountability and decision-making, and sometimes national security itself. Disclosure decision in a democracy thus must balance the importance of public knowledge and deliberation against the risk of exposing and undermining desirable actions or damaging national security. But neither the military nor the press can be trusted to strike the balance, for both have asymmetric incentives. The military risks public criticism when it announces an audacious plan but risks little when it is secretive. Likewise, journalists have much to gain from publishing classified secret and little to loose. They almost fully internalize the benefits of publication, but may discount or inaccurately assess national security harms. A free press is essential to inform the public, but critic urge that reporters are less accountable than the military they seek to check. The press w ields vast power to undercut desirable classified information and to communicate the nations capabilities and vulnerabilities to the enemy. The military needs to look into unauthorized possession and disclosure of documents or information relating to the national defence by the press which could harm future operations. Operational security is paramount in any campaign be it a full scale war or handling internal crisis situation. Commanders at all times establish rapport with reporters so they develop trust in him and accept his explanation of events. General Schwartzkorf established four rules to engage the press, they are, dont let them intimidate you, there is no law that says you have to answer all their questions, dont answer any question that in your judgement would help the enemy and finally dont ever lie to the people of the nation you are fighting for. These rules apply and holds good to any commander. Press brief of any commander is transmitted via satellite to world wide audience which includes the adversary as well. Clear message can be sent across to the public and the adversary government and its military leaders. Information overload by the media. The rapid advancement in technology and the medias ability to report real time as they occur, military can no longer realistically hope to maintain operational security by denying information to the media. In the present context, to reduce the enemys military effectiveness is information overload. This entails providing the enemy more information than his ability to assimilate in any given point of time. A new military media construct, synergistic relationship with cooperation at all levels will ensure information overload and will force the enemy to focus on many diverse scenarios, making it impossible to discern valid intelligence data. These days media not only gathers information on preparation for the theatre of operation but have gone a step ahead by broadcasting possible strategies and tactics debated by military strategists. International community, general public and fighting forces will monitor these telecasts and contemplate scenarios an d reviews presented on global cable network and may be compelled to commit their scarce military resources to counter possible attacks. Thus the adversarys forces may be diluted and their overall military effectiveness reduced. The media has invariably become an indisputable ally in this process. Media for neutralizing propaganda. Media can be used to expose the untrue stories and the evil design of the adversary and thus making the propaganda machines of the parties involved ineffective. Media can aggressively hunt for the truth and fed with intelligence by various agencies to publish/broadcast the same thereby neutralizing the force multiplication effect of the propaganda by the adversary. Social dimensions Public and military morale. Public support, national morale and soldiers will are powerful force multiplier for a commander to have victory. Opinion creates a state of mind, which is what precisely what constitutes the will and in other words is known as morale. Many difficulties are overcome with a high state of morale. If the people in general are not supportive of the cause of the war or operations other than war and adopt a couldnt care less attitude towards it, the same attitude gets passed on to the soldiers which is detrimental to the cause. Commanders should use media to project a true and correct image to the public and once this is done, no matter what the odds are, a willing public support and response multiplies the chances of victory. The soldiers morale needs be boosted by the media as well and should peak just before the impending attacks sustaining it through the operations. Media serves as a forward as well as a backward link for the soldier with the people back home . Any wrong news or rumours traveling either way will affect the morale of the people as well as the troops which should be monitored by the commanders and negated by responsible journalism. Reaching the public. Today the commander should know the fact that the thrust which comes from the people of the nation when any operation takes place is due to the instant relay of situation to the masses by the media. The military thus have an advantage in reaching to the people as fast as possible to generate and harness the support. Military being known for a respected institution and profession in the country, the image maintenance if not enhancing should be the prime concern of the commanders. During any conventional war or operation other than war, the credibility of military action is seldom questioned due to the trust, confidence and respect which the military enjoys. Commanders need to be proactive in engaging the press rather than being reactive and thus loosing the opportunity to use the media rather than being used by the media. Accurate and correct reporting. Inaccurate reporting and depiction of the operations will have a negative and devastating effect on the conduct of operation there on in terms of likely changed perception of our own people and international opinion. This in turn will effect the decision making cycle from tactical to strategic level. Apart from the people of the nation and high level decision makers, one very important factor which comes into picture is that of our own troops, who are exposed to the same news, be it at the air bases, ships, harbours, communication chains, rear areas, etc will have an impact on the psychi. This again is going to have a telling effect on the way the troops are going to fight subsequently. Commanders should to be concerned of the said fact in this information age to keep the morale of the troops high. In fact the operations where our forces have given a valiant fight should be projected to each and every possible people by the fastest means. Our soldiers are the best and to maintain the image of this potent force especially in this fast pace materialistic world, Commanders must take every opportunity to showcase our outstanding airmen, soldiers and sailors. Image building when our armed forces are engaged in aid to civil power. Disgruntled armed forces personnel, rejected equipment suppliers or contractors, families and others seek justice through media and court. More worrying are court cases, some of which have been widely reported and sensationalised. These incidents are in an increasing trend and common to all the three services. Such adverse publicity has a bearing on the discipline and morale and cannot be simply ignored. Military commanders need to engage with the media and rationalise the news and not let the media to sensationalise the issue. The problem arises because of human rights violation, real, exaggerated or sometimes fabricated. These must be investigated and the findings made known to the public. Human rights commissions, NGO organisations and media can help redress the balance. These instrumentalities, therefore, need to be cultivated, not shunned. The commanders need to pay more attention to these issues and negate any adverse publicity which might bring down the morale of the troops and operation as such.