The Rhymes in Christina Rossetti’s Echo

In the three-stanza lyric poem â€Å"Echo,† Christina Rossetti uses rhyme as a way of saying that one might regain in dreams a love that is lost in realit. As the dream of love is to the real love, so is an echo to an original sound. From the comparison comes the title of the poem and also Rossetti’s unique use of rhyme. Aspects of her rhyme are the lyric pattern, the forms and qualities of the rhymng words, and the special use of repetition. The rhyme pattern is simple, and, like rhyme generally, it may be thought of as a pattern of echoes. Each stanza contains four lines of alternating rhymes concluded by a couplet: a b a b c c. There are nine separate rhymes throughout the poem, three in each stanza. Only two words are used for each rhyme; no rhyme is used twice. Of the eighteen rhyming words, sixteen — almost all — are of one syllable. The remaining two words consist of two and three syllables. With such a great number of single-syllable words, the rhymes are all rising ones, on the accented halves of iambic feet, and the end-of-line emphasis is on simple words. The grammatical forms and positions of the rhyming words lend support to the inward, introspective subject matter. Although there is variety, more than half the rhyming words are nouns. There are ten in all, and eight are placed as the objects of prepositions. Such enclosure helps the speaker emphasize her yearning to relive her love within dreams. Also, the repeated verb â€Å"come† in stanzas 1 and 3 is in the form of commands to the absent lover. A careful study shows that most of the verbal energy in the stanzas is in the first parts of the lines, leaving the rhymes to occur in elements modifying the verbs, as in these lines: Come to me in the silence of the niqht (1) Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live (13) My very life again though cold in death; (14) Most of the other rhymes are also in such internalized positions. The free rhyming verbs occur in subordinate clauses, and the nouns that are not the objects of prepositions are the subject (10) and object (11) of the same subordinate clause. The qualities of the rhyming words are also consistent with the poem’ emphasis on the speaker’s internal life. Most of the words are impressionistic. Even the concrete words — stream, tears, eyes, door, and breath — reflect the speaker’s mental condition rather than describe reality. In this regard, the rhyming words of 1 and 3 are effective. These are night and bright which contrast the bleakness of the speaker’s condition, on the one hand, with the vitality of her inner life, on the other. Another effective contrast is in 14 and 16, where death and breath are rhymed. This rhyme may be taken to illustrate the sad fact that even though the speaker’s love is past, it can yet live in present memory just as an echo continues to sound. It is in emphasizing how memory echoes experience that Rossetti creates the special use of rhyming words. There is an ingenious but not obtrusive repetition of a number of words — echoes. The major echoing word is of course the verb come, which appears six times at the beginnings of lines in stanzas 1 and 3. But rhyming words, stressing as they do the ends of lines, are also repeated systematically. The most notable is dream, the rhyming word in 2. Rossetti repeats the word in 7 and uses the plural in 13 and 15. In 7 the rhyming word sweet is the third use of the word, a climax of â€Å"how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet.† Concluding the poem, Rossetti repeats breath (16), low (17), and the phrase long ago (18). This special use of repetition justifies the title â€Å"Echo,† and it also stresses the major idea that it is only in one’s memory that past experience has reality, even if dreams are no more than echoes. Thus rhyme is not just ornamental in â€Å"Echo,† but integral. The skill of Rossetti here is the same as in her half-serious, half-mocking poem â€Å"Eve,† even though the two poems are totally different. In â€Å"Eve,† she uses very plain rhyming words together with comically intended double rhymes. In â€Å"Echo,† her subject might be called fanciful and maybe even morbid, but the easiness of the rhyming words, like the diction of the poem generally, keeps the focus on regret and yearning rather than self-indulgence. As in all rhyming poems, Rossetti’s rhymes emphasize the conclusions of her lines. The rhymes go beyond this effect, however, because of the internal repetition — echoes — of the rhyming words, â€Å"Echo† is a poem in which rhyme is inseparable from meaning.

Moliere’s Portrayal of Religion and Religiosity Essay

Moliere’s Tartuffe is about a man named Tartuffe who is a beggar and holy man that was recently taken in by a Christian man named, Orgon. Tartuffe has Orgon fooled, but the entire rest of Orgon’s family sees Tartuffe as a hypocritical, self-righteous con artist. Orgon becomes obsessed with Tartuffe and would rather talk and hear about him than his own sick wife. Even though Moliere rewrote this play twice, there are many reasons that the church might still be concerned about the hypocrisy that he used toward Christianity in this play. In 1666 Tartuffe was banned, a play many found offensive because of its assault on church hypocrisy. Many people of the church could still be concerned, due to Moliere’s portrayal of Christianity and how it is almost mocked in this play. Allot of the comedy Moliere portrays is intense focus on Orgon as example of a certain kind of traditional Christian. He isn’t the ‘only’ type of Christian in this play, but the way he is portrayed is almost in a hypocritical manner. Orgon is so eager to believe Tartuffe, mainly due to the fact that Tartuffe is professing to be another type of Christian. Moliere regards the type of Christian that Tartuffe is as insane. The way mankind is portrayed on behalf of Orgon is almost as depraved as a result of Original Sin, so therefore Orgon has to be subjected, for his own good, to somewhat of a dictatorial control by divinely appointed authorities, or the King. Moliere portrays Orgon as a good Christian man, who is taken advantage of and ultimately almost loses everything because he is willing to take Tartuffe in and treat him as if he were family. The reason the church should be concerned here is the fact that Moliere portrays the way Tartuffe is insane and manipulates the good Christian man. He shows Orgon, the good Christian man as blind to all the wrong, and coming out as essentially the â€Å"loser† and the insane Christian and manipulator, Tartuffe, comes out with all of Orgon’s belongings. After reading Moliere’s Tartuffe I now can see how the church would be heavily concerned with how Moliere portrays Christianity as ‘the nice guy finishes last’ with relation to Orgon and Christianity. The church could also see the hypocrisy by the portrayal of Tartuffe as a â€Å"religious con man† or â€Å"religious fraud. †

Innovation Report

INNOVATION REPORT ON DABUR CHYAWANPRASH GROUP MEMBERS LAVANIA SAJEED KHAN MUGWANEZA ELYSEE CONTENTS OExecutive summary OIntroduction OInnovation:  §Innovation model  §Dabur as an innovative product  §Market pull OProduct features OConclusion OReference EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Dabur India Limited is the primary market influential in FMCG products. Many initiatives were taken by the company which includes reduction in price, reducing the impact on environment, introduction of a new product and improvement of quality which is making them a leader in the market. Dabur has positioned its products in the ‘natural health’ category. To meet the fitness and individual grooming wishes of their customers with secure, effective and ordinary solutions, Dabur India Ltd has synthesized a profound information of Ayurveda and herbs with modern science. Dabur India Limited is the 4th largest FMCG Company in India with revenues of Rs. 4110 crores and is ranked among the top 50 OTC(Over-the-Counter) Companies in the world. We see the diversification and expansion in their product segments under various brand names. It is trusted worldwide and is the world’s foremost Natural Health Care and Ayurvedic Company. Dabur has been in the front position by establishing an alternate way of living by going beyond national boundaries and hence they are marketing their products in many countries outside India. Combining luxury, nutrition and wellness, the â€Å"nutraceutical market† is growing at a faster pace. Chyawanprash is made by using various herbs and is one of the products of Dabur India Ltd which is in great demand in the market. Herbal supplements were gaining popularity as preventive supplements. Thus, the concept of preventive care coupled with the rising use of herbals was a major reason for the relatively rapid growth of herbal medicines over allopathic drugs. Another major segment where herbal products outperformed allopathic drugs was in the segment of ‘lifestyle disorders’. The increase in lifestyle disorders like diabetes,joint pain,stress caused individuals to consider herbal medicines, as these diseases were lifetime problems and using herbals in conjunction with allopathic products would reduce the allopathic dosage and thereby reduce the incidence of side effects. A shift from prescribed medication to self-medication was a significant shift. As prescription products proved to be expensive, consumers started buying OTC products. Shlomo Maital, D. V. R. Seshadri,2007 Many products including Dabur Chyawanprash started appearing in OTC form,hence these products benefitted. Hence the product’s innovation is in using herbal supplements and dominating the market segment over other allopathic medicines. It has identified its market segments by implementing the market pull strategy and thereby produces the products according to the changing needs and preferences of the consumers. Example: Chyawanprash which is for adults and Chyawanprash Junior which is for children. Chyawanprash Junior has various nutrients required for growing children and is present in different flavours to attract that segment of the society. It typically uses product innovation where the company comes up with innovative value added features like being sugar free to its existing product category to increase the demand and therefore to occupy the Number 1 position in the market. INTRODUCTION: Driven by a vision to bring Ayurveda to society in a contemporary form, Dr. Burman founded the Dabur India Limited in 1884 by targeting to a large number of people who didn’t have access to proper cure; hence he came up with the idea of Ayurvedic medicines to treat people in a natural way. His rigorous hardwork made the company grow from a small Ayurvedic pharmacy, to a well-established company which is a global leader in the market. Dabur India Ltd has effectively changed its position from being a small business to an efficiently managed venture. Their continuous innovation is the secret to their success and Dabur India Ltd retains the focus on quality and has an ISO 9002 certification. It has three major strategic business units (SBU’s) which includes Consumer care division, Health care division and International business division. VARIOUS PRODUCT INNOVATIONS OF DABUR: Launched Chyawanprash in tin pack-The ancient curative was in a packaged form and it dominated the market by being the wide seller with a huge market share. Entered Oral Care segment- Introduced a herbal toothpowder which was called Lal Dant Manjan. It was well-packed and was made available to the masses at affordable prices. Launched Hajmola tablet- Used to control indigestion and became popular world wide and thereby came up with Hajmola tablets which are of different flavours.. Became successful by coming up with Real Fruit Juice- Real Fruit Juice was very much successful throughout India and hence accounted for majority of the company’s share. First-ever online shopping portal – First-ever online shopping portal www. daburuveda. com[->0] came into existence. Nutrigo-A new range of health supplements. WHY CHYAWANPRASH? -It is an authentic ayurvedic product,hence they do not make use of any chemicals. -No side effects. -Superior in quality. -Improves immune power and stamina. -Has a huge market share. INNOVATION The practical refinement and development of an original invention into a usable technique or product; or a process in which creativity is applied to every facet of an organization’s value chain, from beginning to end, to develop new and better ways of creating value for customers. Shlomo Maital and D. V. R. Seshadri. Chyawanprash is an example of Product Innovation: The development of new and improved product is called product innovation, so it is definitely a product innovation because it came up with new products which are first of its kind in the market with better product attributes. DABUR AS AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT By expanding their presence through smart innovations, managing costs efficiently and getting consumer insig hts, the company takes into consideration these opportunities very seriously to stay ahead in the market. Chyawanprash is a very good example of product innovation because the original flavor of the product was the first of its kind and shook the existing market with its innovative idea and superior quality. â€Å"Innovation is becoming increasingly important in attaining and maintaining competitive advantage†. ShlomoMaital,D. V. R. Seshadri After it established a position for itself in the market, they came up with two different flavors like Mango and Orange. Chyawanprash targeted for children were known as ‘Chyawanprash Junior’ with yummy chocolate flavours that children would like and has all the nutrients that a growing child may require apart from the child’s normal diet. Another product which was launched in the market was called Chyawanprash sugar free. As Dabur Ltd came up with new innovations, it was able to cater to the needs of various segments of the society and age group in terms of product attributes, affordable price and variety in flavours. MARKET PULL : It is a strategy where the needs of the consumers are satisfied and one of the main motive of this strategy is to make profits. Since majority of the people these days are prone to various diseases due to unhealthy eating habits, the company adopted various techniques for manufacturing the product. Chyawanprash is sometimes given as a prescribed medicine by Doctors which boosts the energy levels and strengthens the immune system of the body. Hence it uses the market pull approach where it identifies the need in the market and manufactures its products accordingly. Understanding that a majority of the people have become health-conscious, age-old traditional practices are blended with science in making the product, thereby ensuring that there are no side-effects. Research was done and it was found that children are not really health-conscious and hence their main target segment was people above 30years of age. The R&D found out that small kids did not eat Chyawanprash until and unless they were given by force by their parents, hence they came up with fruit-flavoured Chyawanprash exclusively for children which were first of its kind in the market. INNOVATION MODEL ADOPTED BY DABUR CHYAWANPRASH: SIMULTANEOUS COUPLING MODEL Continuous innovation can be attributed to the company’s success. After Chyawanprash became the leader in the market, the company’s continuous R&D activities have helped in identifying the changing preferences and tastes of the consumers based on the demographic details of the consumer. Research was done and it was found that people belonging to the age group 13-30 were not really health-conscious and hence they strategically divided their target segments into two groups and manufactured products to suit the needs of both these segments. 1. Dabur Chyawanprash Junior for children was made of various yummy flavors like Chocolate,Orange and Mango. 2. Dabur Chyawanprash for people above 30. It is very good for health as it contains anti-oxidants and hence it is a health supplement for people belonging to various age groups. GROWTH OF THE COMPANY IN OTHER COUNTRIES: Because of the brand loyalty that has been built over a long period of time, the company has crossed the Indian boundaries and has established a foot-hold in places outside India. Dabur’s overseas product portfolio is specially made to suit the needs and aspirations of the consumers in the international markets spreading through the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa, Europe and South Asia. Dabur has a number of manufacturing facilities in International business as well. The company has its manufacturing facilities spread across the Asia & Africa with 8 being in India and 5 outside India. The company has a world-wide recognition. Dabur is on the verge of becoming a global market leader. PRODUCT FEATURES:  ·Made by using the age old approach of Ayurveda.  ·Healthy and prescribed by Doctors.  ·Available in different flavours.  ·Protects from day to day ailments like cough and cold to ‘lifestyle disorders’. It is very good for health and hence recommended to all age groups because it contains anti-oxidants which helps to fight against diseases. CONCLUSION: There is considerable increase in the sales of the company which means there is greater demand for the products in the market. Dabur has come up with various innovative products under various brand names for different product categories like food products, Health care products etc. Dabur Chyawanprash contributes for the company’s majority of the market share. Dabur with its various product features is in the fore-front and is able to keep customers loyal to their brand. Its vision of being in the forefront in the healthcare sector by providing remedies and care from ‘head to heel’ is now becoming a reality. Since the costs are affordable, people belonging to the lower strata of the society have started consuming Chyawanprash because of its added advantage. REFERENCES: http://www. dabur. com/About%20Dabur www. thehindubusinessline. in[->1] http://www. dabur. com/en/Investors1/Annual_reports/2010-11/Dabur-Annual-Report-2010-11. pdf http://www. dabur. com/Chyawan%20Junior [->0] – http://www. daburuveda. com [->1] – http://www. thehindubusinessline. in

The fast fashion retail sector in the UK with reference to two Essay

The fast fashion retail sector in the UK with reference to two value-fashion specialists, T.K. Maxx and Primark - Essay Example The selected companies are T.K. Maxx and Primark, two value-fashion retailers that have larger presence in the UK. Both T.K. Maxx and Primark are held by larger holding companies, TJX Companies and Associated British Foods, respectively. The report begins by giving descriptions of these two companies, their target markets and profitability. To pace the report in context, we next evaluate the macro-environment using PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) approach. After that, we look at the competitive environment using Porter’s five forces analysis. The report is then concluded with an analysis of the core strategies deployed by these two firms as well as the challenges that emanate. 2.0. Company descriptions 2.1. Primark Primark Stores Limited is a retailer of affordable fashion that has 232 stores as at December 10, 2011, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands (Primark, 2011). It is par t of Associated British Foods (ABF), a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group. Primark contributed 28% of ABF’s total group revenue in 2011 which was 13% greater than 2010s figures (Associated British Foods, 2011). In 2010 Primark was UK’s largest clothing retailer with sales of ?3,043m, closely followed by ASDA and Marks & Spencer (Shields, 2010). The company sources its apparel mainly from manufacturing units in China, India, Turkey and Bangladesh, but also sources from other countries as well. Its target market is the fashion-conscious under 35s and its positioning is to offer the best value on the high street. Primark sells a range of fashion items that includes... This report seeks to compare the strategy of two retailers with a UK presence competing in the same market sector and segment. The selected companies are T.K. Maxx and Primark, two value-fashion retailers that have larger presence in the UK. Both T.K. Maxx and Primark are held by larger holding companies, TJX Companies and Associated British Foods, respectively. The report begins by giving descriptions of these two companies, their target markets and profitability. To pace the report in context, we next evaluate the macro-environment using PESTEL approach. After that, we look at the competitive environment using Porter’s five forces analysis. The report is then concluded with an analysis of the core strategies deployed by these two firms as well as the challenges that emanate. The fast fashion industry has been turned on its head by the emergence of value-retailers such as Primark and T.K. Maxx. Primark has utilized its lean and efficient supply chain, limited operation costs and store location and size to create its competitive advantage in the sector. On the other hand, T.K. Maxx has exploited the strategies of opportunistic buying, pricing and flexible business model as its competitive advantage. Neither company has fully exploited online retailing as an alternative business model despite its steady growth in the UK. Also, the companies are overly reliant on the UK market for bulk of their sales and profits whereas they could exploit the larger European Union to increase their profitability.

Leadership Development Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership Development Plan - Assignment Example With the help of these techniques, individuals can make sure that they identify their strengths and weaknesses and carry out necessary initiatives for capitalizing on the requirements of the corporate world. One of the most effective framework developed for evaluating the competencies of an individual is MBTI which was developed by Isabel Meyers and Katherine Briggs. The main idea behind this inventory model is that everyone needs to appreciate the individual differences and look for developmental opportunities so that the skills are further polished and refined. Considering the matrix developed by the experts, there are four sets of preferences of individuals which are as follows: According to the developers, there are sixteen classes in which people’s personalities can fall. I believe that I belong to the class ‘ESFJ’ which means that I have high extroversion, sensing, feeling and judging capabilities. I believe that this reading is true to a great extent as I am friendly and outgoing person. I can easily express my feelings and make sure that people around me have a good time to cherish. Moreover, I make decisions on the basis of feelings which means that the decisions are already made either by my traditions, culture or ingrained perceptions. Moreover, I have the ability of leading people as I am aware of the techniques of inducing others to motivate towards achieving the desired objectives. In various life situations, I get a bit hard with myself. There is a gap between my own perceived performance and my ideal behavior and due to this discrepancy I struggle against the feeling of guilt and depression. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with these feelings and I end up in moments of emotional pain. I try to motivate myself by showing the brighter side of various aspects of my life such as my kind, unselfish and charitable nature. I am always ready to help people out and

Food taboos in Nigeria and their nutritional effects Research Paper

Food taboos in Nigeria and their nutritional effects - Research Paper Example This study â€Å"Food taboos in Nigeria and their nutritional effects† focuses on the eating behavioural qualities of people in Nigeria and the problems of malnutrition of due to the lack of awareness and education. Talking about Nigeria, it is an under developed country with a huge amount of population, in terms of population it stands at tenth place in the world. It is divided into different ethnic groups each having their own culture and beliefs. Each of the group has different taboos mostly regarding children, pregnant women and mothers and people follow them like a sacred religion. Due to such reasons many parts of Nigeria are either suffering from malnutrition or have high infant mortality rate, people are uneducated and do not know the significance of adding a particular food in their diets. They do what they have seen their ancestors doing for ages. For example, people in most part of Nigeria do not include meat and eggs in their children’s diet, they believe th at adding such eatables would make them thieves. The logic behind such insane thought is that since meat, eggs are expensive food items, and they cannot afford it so if children get used to eating them just to fulfil their desire, they will start stealing because of such myths. Nigeria falls into the countries with one of the highest maternal mortality rate and every year millions are spent to improve the health sector but despite of this there has not been much change. It has been noticed that all such taboos are primarily related to foods of animal origin. Meat contains approximately 18% protein which is very high plus it is rich in phosphorus, moderate in iron content, and is an important source of niacin and riboflavin. Especially fresh meat contains ascorbic acid which prevents scurvy. Eggs which are forbidden to pregnant women contain proteins, vitamin A and thiamine. Cutting short all these important nutrition from the diet results in a handicapped society. It has been observ ed that some 170 thousand Nigerian women die as a result of following such food related taboos (UNCIEF, 2001). The most common causes of death include hemorrhage, sepsis, anemia and others. Hemorrhage is particularly caused when a mother is anemic; a condition marked by lowered production of red blood cells which have a

Choose an interesting topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Choose an interesting topic - Essay Example As Alice is presented a thimble as a ‘gift’, I think back to the many aspects of my life that lacked meaning, purpose, and direction. Wonderland as a whole motivates us to challenge the traditional social order. Chapter 3 is our first glimpse at Alice becoming frustrated with her life and the community around her. Perhaps she is beginning to question the meaning of life. What exactly the author wants us to think about Alice is not entirely clear to me. I do realize, however, that life does have meaning and it is up to us to seek that meaning out. There is so much I want to do with my life. I think Alice had the same thoughts. As she wanders around ‘Wonderland’ participating is meaningless Caucus Races, she was probably questioning what in the world she was doing. Surely she hoped for something bigger than she was experiencing at the moment. It is not that she did not appreciate those around her, including the animals, but she simply wanted and needed more. In a similar manner, I feel it is important to surround myself with people who can help me locate that meaning in life that truly helps me look for a reason to continue in a forward moving

MIH514 - Cross-Cultural Perspectives Module 1 - SLP Essay

MIH514 - Cross-Cultural Perspectives Module 1 - SLP - Essay Example Besides, immigration laws are relatively friendlier especially with growing number of â€Å"edu-tourism† agencies, which are aggressive in ensnaring would-be students. Of great importance is the enormity of Malaysia’s diversities. Most of what is presently called Malaysia was under the Buddhist Malay kingdom of Srivijaya, for almost five centuries (from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD). The territory later came under the powerful Hindu kingdom of Majapahit in the 14th century. Islam started penetrating the Malays in the early part of the 14th century through to the 15th century. By this time, Malaca has become a major commercial centre, where Chinese, Arabs, Malays and Indians traded. Europeans traders (starting with the Portuguese and the Dutch) joined in the 16th century. The British gained control of Malaca from the Dutch in 1826 (www.state.gov). In 1867, Britain formally established control of the land as a colony. After almost a century rule (in 1963), present-day Malaysia created. By 1965, the British colonial administration separated Singapore (with a dominant Chinese population) as an independent country from Malaysia (now with dominant Malay population) given the prevalent tension between the two territorially disaggregated populations (World Almanac Education Group, 2006, 802). Today, Malaysia with a population of about 28 million is considered as one of the most cosmopolitan countries in the world. It a center sustained relationship among Indonesian archipelago, the Islamic world, India, China, and Europe. This makes it one of the most heterogeneous countries in the world with a blend of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian cultures as well as cultures of indigenous groups. Religion strongly correlates with ethnicity in Malaysia. The Malays are largely Muslims, the Chinese are dominantly Buddhists while the

International Law , A treaty is basically an agreement between parties Assignment

International Law , A treaty is basically an agreement between parties on the international scene. Although treaties may be co - Assignment Example Sources of international law are referred as materials as well as procedures by which a state tends to impose certain guidelines and rules in order to regulate the international trade community. Moreover, international law is also characterised as a kind of obligation which exists between two or more states. It comprises international institutions which play major roles administrating the issues regarding legal matters in terms of global telecommunication, human rights and ‘the law of the sea’. It is a decentralized form of law which is developed by the states generally in the form of global conferences, treaties and usual international law enactments1. Based on this context, the study concentrates on the nature and operation of the treaties as a valid source of international law. Literature Review It is in this context that various studies have been conducted with the sole intention to understand the implications of international law in relation to the treaties signed b y two or more states. ... trines regarding the sources of international law studied by various scholarly writers concentrating on the conditions under which treaties and basic guidelines of the law acted as a hierarchy. As stated by Kennedy (1987), the ‘International Court of Justice (ICJ)’ whose operation is determined according to the international law, court is bound to be applied under the four sources i.e., ‘global conference’, ‘international custom’, ‘general guidelines of the law’ and ‘judicial decisions’. Notably, all these four sources have been mentioned in Article 38(1) of the Statue of the ICJ. Moreover this article also states that as per the enumeration of these sources, ICJ should be scrutinized in order to find the necessary legal concerns to resolve the cases of the states involved through treaties2. According to D’Amato (1962), treaties are often enacted as a source of ‘General Rules of the International Lawâ€℠¢. It is in this context that the example of the ‘Nottebohm Case’ which took place in the year 1955 is regarded as a significant illustration of ICJ’s judgements regarding treaties. Undoubtedly, this case has been considered as an isolated instance regarding the utilization of the treaties. It was fundamentally owing to the reason that this case was related with the report regarding the international tribunals where one party(s) supports the argument of the treaty while the other party(s) perceives a contradictory view concerning similar aspects. In addition, D’Amato (1962) affirms that customary international laws only recover the small section of the global functioning norms and frequently concentrate upon the interference of rules and regulations of the treaty within the field of customary practices. In modern times certain areas of

Pathology Assignment on Atheroscelorisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pathology Assignment on Atheroscelorisis - Essay Example Acute coronary syndromes and stroke can result if a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque is superimposed by thrombosis (Falk, 2006; Dugdale, 2010). Normal physiology of arteries Arteries are high-pressure vessels that carry blood to various parts of the body. A cross-section of the normal arterial wall consists of three layers: outer, middle and inner layer. The middle layer or the media consists of tightly packed smooth muscle cells, tissue proteins such as collagen and elastin, and proteoglycans which form gels. The inner layer or the intima consists of loosely packed cells and there are open spaces between the tissue components. The outer layer or the adventitia also consists of loose cells and bundles of collagen and connective tissues. Atherosclerosis occurs in the inner layer or the intima which is a form of connective tissue. These tissues are responsible for providing shape and structure to the body organs. The fibrous tissue proteins such as elastin and collagen which are present in between the cells give strength to the tissue. The arterial intima consists of elastin, collagen and proteoglycans which give strength to the tissue. In addition, the boundary between the arterial intima and the blood is lined by closely packed endothelial cells which prevent the cells and proteins in the blood from coming into contact with the underlying connective tissue (Atherosclerosis, n.d).

Diversity Worksheet Essay Example for Free

Diversity Worksheet Essay 1. What is diversity? Why is diversity valued? Diversity means different. This can be a difference in cultures, goals, values, lifestyles, and ideas. There is not two people that will think or live alike. We need to learn to accept that others will do things and think different then we do. It is important to value our diversity in order to be able to work together. 2. What is ethnocentrism? In what ways can ethnocentrism be detrimental to a society? Ethnocentrism is where people believe that they are better than others in an ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences. This can cause problem by leading to false opinions about different cultures, maybe causing communication problems. 3. Define emigration and immigration. Emigration is where people are exported from a country whether it is voluntary or not. Immigration is where people are coming into a new country to live as a permanent resident. Reasons that people might leave a country for one to another is that there may not be jobs there and even war can make people want to leave. 4. What are some of the ways groups of people are identified? There are four ways that groups are identified and they are race, religion, gender, and ethnicity. Racial group refers to minorities that are socially set apart because of obvious physical differences. Some examples would be the color of skin, the color of hair and maybe even the amount hair on the body. Religion groups vary worldwide. People should not be judged on the religion that they believe in. With gender it is said that males are the social majority and the women are the social minority. Ethnic groups are different because of the way cultural differences such as the food that they eat, the way that they raise their children, the language that they speak ,and even the way that they look at being married to somebody. 5. Why do people label and group other people? I would think that the reasons why people put others down would be that they want to make themselves look better and feel better about themselves. This can have a positive or negative effect on the person and the one that it is directed at. If it is positive it can help lead to the person or the group getting more confidence. If it is negative then it can lead to the group or individual becoming withdrawn from shame or bullying. 6. Define culture. Is culture limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds? Explain. The definition of culture is the characteristics of a certain group of people defined by everything such as the language they speak, the types of music that they listen to, the type of food that they eat, and the religion that they practice and believe in. I do not believe that it is limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds because every group is different in the way that they live and there is not right way or wrong way to live.

What do we learn about the role played by Curleys wife in of mice and men Essay Example for Free

What do we learn about the role played by Curleys wife in of mice and men Essay Curleys wife is a very interesting character. As the sole woman in the novel she could be said to represent her gender. However, few readers would regard her in a positive manner. Even before she appears in the novel, readers are given a negative impression of her as a sexual promiscuous character. Her role in the novel allows Steinbeck to develop hes central themes such as loneliness and dreams. In society women are terribly degraded by mens comments and actions. They are victims of prejudiced, which leads to loneliness. she got the eye goin all the time on everybody. I bet she gives the stable buck the eye. Curleys wife is never referred to anything but Curleys wife. This symbolises that she is thought of as hes property. None of the men speak very highly of her they all think in their words that she is Jail bait. This is realistic because even today we see this type of sexism occurring. Curleys wife walks the ranch as a temptress, she also hides a deep sense of loneliness behind the tramp, tart and bitch attitude she puts on. Her first outburst in crooks room shows her image. Satiday night. Everybody out doing sompin. Everbody! An what am i doin? Standin here talkin to a bunch of bindle stiffs, a nigger an a dum- dum and a lousy ol sheep, an likin it because they aint nobody else. For a young lady to be left home alone all day would send anyone in a deep state of depression. She is married to a man that gives her little attention and none of hes time. This is why I think she degrades herself. She shows little or no sign of respect for herself. She flirts with other men to keep herself entertained. Swell guy aint he? Spends all his time saying what hes gonna do to guys he dont like and he dont like no body. As a woman during the depression she has no choice but to marry someone who can support her. Society gives jobs and independence to men and women have no power. She is at the bottom of society. Her marriage to Curley is a disaster because he only cares about himself and he isnt interested in her at all. Curleys wife understands that all men think of her as an object, she uses her beauty to attract men so they will talk to her. She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. She needs friends and people to talk to, but everyone turns her away. Curley is jealous and treats her like his possession to be guarded, she feels frustrated. Whats the matter with me? Aint I got the right to talk to nobody? Desperate to satisfy her need for belonging and love, she turns to strangers such as Lennie, the only person that she feels she can talk to. She hints at her loneliness when she says, Seems like they aint none of them cares how i gotta live, Her aggravation and frustration about being lonely is being released, and she may be free from loneliness because she has finally released most of her feelings and emotions before her death. Loneliness is a large aspect of the novel. Different characters deal with it in different ways. When Curleys wife opens up to Lennie the readers sympathise with her. Well I aint told this to nobody before This shows her inner feelings of how desperate she is in wanting a friend. She is successful in getting a person like Lennie to talk to and trust in, but from all this she had been killed by the hands of the one she trusted. Curleys wife has a dream she wants something to call her own, she wants fame, fortune and admiration. When she is talking to Lennie, alone in the barn, she recounts her obviously well told stories of her offers of fame. Coulda been in the movies an had nice clothes. She is unhappy with her husband, and his constant stories of who hes going beat up next. This brings up a very important question in the readers minds. Why did she marry Curley? I ast her if she stole it, too an she says no, so I married Curley. This shows that Curleys wife is a very stubborn character she wants everything her own way, and doesnt care what she has to sacrifice. She seems to have a deep regret that she didnt take up either of the men on their offers. This dream is important to her because it decides weather or not shes going to try again and go on in life and be a success and full fill her dream of being an actress or that she stays where she is and becomes something else. She tells Lennie of her need for affection, and how she needs to be wanted. Curleys wife does not seem at all likely to achieve her dreams. Even if she wasnt murdered, she was stuck in a rut with Curley, a rut that would have gone round and round in until he left her for a new woman, or she finally built up the courage to leave him. The first description of Curleys wife is described very differently from how Steinbeck describes her at the end of the novel. Steinbecks first description is very sharp and harsh. She had full roughed lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up Steinbeck describes her to be a tart; he wants the readers to think that she looks like a prostitute. When Curleys wife is murdered hes description is changed. she was very pretty, simple and her face was sweet and young. This description was given after her death, there is a hidden meaning to why I think Steinbeck did this. He wants the readers to understand that the description that was given earlier in the novel was what everyone thought of her, it was like a mask she had on. Her real personality and her real self were only discovered before she died.

Research and Review into Crisis Management: Mitigating Disaster

Research and Review into Crisis Management: Mitigating Disaster A crisis is a major occurrence with a potentially negative outcome. However, almost every crisis contains within itself the seeds of success as well as the roots of failure. At a conference in Japan on June 21, 2006, a Dell laptop suddenly exploded into flames, and lucky for its owner the fiery blast occurred while the PC was sitting on a table and not in his lap. An onlooker reported that the notebook continued to burn, producing several more explosions over the course of about five minutes. On August 15th, members of Dell Inc.s Global Corporate Communications/Investor Relations organization were part of a team facing an unprecedented challenge. The team had been working with regulatory agencies in various countries for an announcement of the largest recall in the history of consumer electronics, 4.2 million Dell branded lithium-ion batteries, with cells manufactured by Sony. The announcement was leaked to the press and Dell accelerated its plans by 12 hours, including launching the recall Web site early. The focus of the Corporate Communication/Investor Relations team and key business leaders remained clear: to effectively and efficiently inform customers, employees and shareholders about the recall. The recall, one of the largest in the history of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, couldnt have come at a worse time. According to a closely watched annual study by the University of Michigan, Dells efforts to improve service, which it only recently acknowledged publicly was inadequate, appear to be paying off. That progress is a key part of a long-awaited turnaround at the worlds largest PC maker, which is struggling with a host of problems, including sluggish sales growth in its core businesses. The news of the notebook computer recall hits just as Michigan released its American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) showing that Dells customer-satisfaction score jumped 5.4% from a year ago, to 78-a point above the industry average. That puts Dell in second place, behind Apple Computer, whose score rose 2.5%, to 83. Dells recent improvements follow many quarters of poorer service that became fodder for countless customer complaints, sometimes publicized on high-profile chat rooms and blogs. Consumers, which account for about 14% of Dells total revenue, have complained of hold times stretching for 30 minutes or more, numerous call transfers, dropped calls, and, perhaps most important, an inability of the call-center representatives to communicate clearly and answer their questions. Indeed, many consumers posting on blogs and chat sites continue to complain bitterly about Dell. Literature Review In contrast to the disciplines of emergency and risk management, which deal primarily with natural disasters, the field of crisis management deals mainly with man-made or human-caused crises, such as computer hacking, environmental contamination, executive kidnapping, fraud, product tampering, sexual harassment, and workplace violence. Unlike natural disasters, human-caused crises are not inevitable. They do not need to happen. For this reason, the public is extremely critical of those organizations that are responsible for their occurrence. Nonetheless, even with the best of frameworks and the best of preparations, it is unfortunately still the case that not all crises can be prevented. This even holds true for those crises that we know with almost complete certainty will occur. But the impacts of all crises can be lessened if one has a thorough understanding of the essential basics of crisis management. While not all crises can be foreseen, let alone prevented, all of them can be managed far more effectively if we understand and practice the best of what is humanly possible (Mitroff and Anagnos, 2001). Effective management of information is vital to the operations of most organizations. Some years ago Wells said Without adequate communication an organization will soon grind to a halt (Wells, 1978). More recently Bakewell has pointed out Communication is the hallmark of good management (Bakewell, 1997). Good communication goes hand in hand with effective management of information. Effective management of information at a time of crisis is even more vital, when damage to an organizations reputation or damage to established goodwill can result in severe damage to operations. An organizations reputation is as important as any other corporate asset, and many organizations have some kind of crisis plan intended to protect that reputation should something go wrong. This is when effective management of information (controlling communications) is so vital and always difficult. A few basic rules have clearly emerged from some recent crises. First of all the importance of telling the truth. Second, rather than let the media network speculate, use the media network as a opportunity to disseminate your information. Leave no room for speculation if you cant tell them something, tell them why you cant tell them (PR Journal, 1995). Perhaps another basic rule to be mentioned at this point is the need to apologize promptly when appropriate. Sir Jeremy Morse, banker and past chairman of the Institute of Bankers, maintains that it almost always pays to issue an early apology. Although this could lead to an organization being blamed for something which is not its fault, he comments: Nevertheless, there are two central reasons why this is usually the right course. First, externally, the public respect an apology freely given rather than one that comes after a considerable period of stonewalling. Secondly, internally, an early apology frees managers to sort out the problems far more effectively than if they are still maintaining an outward front that nothing is wrong (Haywood, 1994, p. 177). However, Black (1993) points out that if a lawyer is present there may be pressure not to express sympathy in case this is taken to imply liability: Lawyers must be told that the consequences to the company of not communicating and showing sympathy in practical terms are sure to be much worse than if an open policy of full information and generosity is adopted. It is vital to realize the speed of media coverage because of new technological developments. Not only can stories be relayed by mobile phones and faxed from cars, but they can also be sent from helicopters and bounced off satellites. Pictures too can be taken by digital computerized cameras and sent down telecommunications lines: When Greenpeace staged its high-profile stand against the sinking of the Brent Spar oil platform, it not only posted information on the Web, but was reported to have airlifted sophisticated filming equipment and a satellite down station on to the rig, so that they could provide their own VNRs direct to news outlets (Nicholas, 1996a). This means that it is unlikely that there will be a time delay between an incident or crisis erupting and the resulting media coverage. This emphasizes the need to react quickly at a time of crisis, and to let all parties know immediately about the action you have taken. Communicating effectively was now more often seen as of t he same importance as putting the problems right. (IPR Journal, 1995, p. 14). Furthermore, the media are in competition and hungry for the most newsworthy stories. Generally bad news is very newsworthy and more sensational (Ashcroft, 1994). If immediate information is not available, this leaves room for speculative stories. Methodology This paper reviews how Dell itself has responded to the challenges raised by bloggers, how it has enhanced its customer services and how it has itself undertaken social media initiatives. We use a proven customer loyalty metric the Net Promoters index to assess whether these initiatives have been successful. We conclude that Dell has made some limited progress in reducing negative consumer commentary about its customer services. Where Dell has been most successful is in creating a conversation about its own social media initiatives: Dell has absorbed in its own product planning and its communications the hard lessons of the Dell Hell experience, and opened a dialogue with its customers, which is directly benefitting its word-of-mouth approval rating. Findings A crisis can be divided into six stages. First, the detection of prodromes is a way for the company involved to predict any potential occurrence. For example, if an organization in the same line as yours is faced with a crisis, then you may start looking out. The second stage is prevention. It refers to how a company can prevent a crisis. That can be done by maintaining public relations programs, or by establishing a corporate culture, or even by including a crisis management plan in the strategic planning process. The third stage is containment. It is a process of limiting the amplitude of the crisis, the impact of the crisis and the spread of the crisis. Then, the next stage is recovery. It consists of two major aspects: getting the organization back to normal, and restoring stakeholder confidence in the organization. The following stage, learning, is a post crisis process consisting of examining the crisis, looking at what was lost and what was gained, and how the organization fun ctioned during the crisis. Finally, the last stage is the adjustment of the crisis management plan and crisis communication team. In view of what was achieved in the learning stage, the crisis management plan and the crisis communication team must be updated and any new risks uncovered by the crisis should be incorporated in them. Detection of prodromes It turned out that this occurrence was not an isolated case. In December last year, Dell launched a massive recall of about 35,000 notebook batteries contained in laptops that were deemed to pose a potential fire risk. The company said at the time it had received three reports of batteries overheating, and while no injuries were sustained, damage to a tabletop, a desktop and minor damage to personal effects had been recorded. The problem is not limited to Dell laptops. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, as many as 43 laptop fires have been reported in the US alone since 2001. It has been almost ten years now since we were first warned about the dangers of the lithium-ion accumulators/storage batteries, the only ones that include a flammable liquid in a pressurized container. In case of short-circuit, they can go up in flames and explode. This is therefore why this kind of battery is rarely used in do-it-yourself tools and hybrid cars. However, they are very popular in IT as they offer an energy density between two and four times superior to those of traditional batteries (nickel-cadmium, hybrid-metal or lead). Also being much lighter, they facilitate the manufacture of miniature devices able to hold a whole day with one single charge. Several cases of explosion have occurred in the past few years, but they were rarely given publicity in the media. At best, these explosive batteries were considered to be isolated incidents. At worst, they were seen as fabrications. In the summer of 2006, the context changed, after several explosions in Singapore in June, and in Utah in July. After an enquiry, we learnt that the problem had been diagnosed more than one year ago. Between 2004 and 2005, Dell analyzed a dozen batteries that had overheated. They detected a fault in the lithium-ion cells of its supplier Sony. Some small particles could infect the cells, provoke a short-circuit and overheat the battery. The fault would have been repaired in February 2006. Sony reviewed its manufacturing process as well as its quality control in order to limit the presence of these particles, and eventually everything was back to normal. But nothing had been done for the batteries already on the market. At the time, we had no serious confirmation of disaster, fire or explosion. There was therefore no reason to launch a substantial operation, added a member of the conception team for the Latitude laptops. We have to wonder: was Dell waiting for a drama to start before making a move? Today, Dell admits having known about these problems for more than a year, but declares that they had trouble in evaluating the seriousness of the situation. They also needed time to find the source of the problem, before launching a modest recall. However, its quite possible that Dell was simply trying to protect itself by sending some information to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which would have allowed them to negotiate in a better position in case of litigation. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission actually doesnt blame Dell for anything, indicating that the company did its job by acknowledging the problem. It is not the first time that Dell acted this way; it happened three times in five years. Already in 2001, 284  000 computers had been recalled for the same kind of symptoms, and 35  000 others in December 2005. However, during their press conference, the American giant renewed its confidence in Sony, which would keep its status of battery supplier for the laptops of the number one worldwide. Prevention During 2005 and 2006 Dell experienced a series of financial shocks. On November 10th 2005 Dell announced quarterly profits had dropped 28%. On May 9th 2006, and again just a few weeks later on 21st July 2006 Dell announced that its earnings would not meet previous guidance. These profit warnings arose from a combination of continued price pressure on margins in the PC business and also the fall-out from its attempts to strip costs out of the business by a) off-shoring customer support functions and b) ending unprofitable aspects of warranty repair. Dells actions created an outburst of anger from customers on the receiving end of this cost cutting. Jeff Jarviss blog was symptomatic of this criticism. Dell responded to their critics by making two major changes: They began by investing an additional $150m in their customer service operations. The result (according to Dell) is that the average waiting time for support calls has come down from nine minutes to three minutes. They launched an official Dell customer services blog (summer 2006) along with two further social media sites Dell Studio and IdeaStorm. Containment On July 31st, Engadget posted photos of a Dell notebook that had caught fire in Singapore. Its comment: Well keep posting these until we see a recall or a solution, so please, Dell, treat them right. By then, Dell was working closely with the government to figure out the scope of the problem. It turned out that the glitch was the same as it had been the previous year: metal particles inside the battery were causing the problems. Apples problems with overheating batteries had been cropping up in the online media during the spring and summer as well. The CPSCs Stern says Sony connected the dots and figured out which of its batteries and which of its customers were affected. After The Inquirer, a European site for computer hardware news, expressed serious concerns about the batteries, Dell and Sony proposed a second recall to the CPSC. On August 13th, writer Theo Valich reported on The Inquirer site that another recall was on the way. Magee said the leak came from a Dell insider, whom he refused to identify. I attribute being on top of the story to old-fashioned print journalism standards-cultivating, and, if youll excuse the pun, not burning such contacts, he says. The formal recall was announced a day later, on August 14th. Once Dell announced the recall, it, too, harnessed the Web to reach out to the disgruntled computing masses. On August 14th, the company set up a Web site (www.dellbatteryprogram.com) telling customers how to get a replacement battery. On its customer-service blog, (www.direct2dell.com), Dell also published some postings from executives and staffers about the recall (Appendix 1). These included blow-by-blow descriptions of Dells response from Alex Gruzen, senior vice-president of the companys Mobility Product Group, and a detailed explanation of how lithium-ion batteries work from Forrest Norrod, vice-president of engineering. The company also elicited dozens of comments from customers, some of whom were plenty irked. On August 15th, George Johnson demanded to know why Chairman Michael Dell hadnt responded to questions about the battery problems at a press conference the previous day in Sydney, Australia. When he was asked about the recent problems and if there were any developments, he did not volunteer the information that a new battery recall was in the works. If he was so concerned about customer safety, why was the announcement held over until after the press conference was over? asked Johnson.   But most people who commented praised Dell for its response. I commend Dell for looking out for the consumer on this issue, wrote Jim Jones. I have been fearful of leaving my system on while unattended. Its nice that I can leave my system on overnight and not have to worry about my house catching fire.   Dell credits the blogosphere for helping it get through the crisis. Information travels around quickly, says spokeswoman Gretchen Miller. Also, its another channel to get the message to our customers so they can be safe.   On August 15th, Dell received more than 50 million hits on https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com, responded to more than 135,000 phone calls and received more than 150,000 battery replacement orders. Dell shipped the first replacement units the day it announced the recall. Dells Corporate Communication/Investor Relations team played a critical role in the implementation of the recall by developing and executing a strategy based on a key central message: Dell had taken aggressive, proactive action to retrieve and replace all suspect batteries with a clear focus on customer safety. The team worked to help key the stakeholders message to customers that the safety of Dells customers was of utmost importance. This message was supported by articulating the benefits of the companys direct business model including: 1) Dells detailed information on units sold to customers, including the units configuration when it shipped to the customer. 2) Dells records of customer contact information, which enabled Dell team members to reach out to customers immediately. 3) Dells close relationship with its suppliers, such as Sony, which enabled the company to identify the problem, diagnose it and find a remedy. By working so closely with suppliers, Dell was able to respond in a way unlike any other company in the industry. Recovery and Turnaround In February 2007 Dell went further and launched IdeaStorm and StudioDell. IdeaStorm allows Dell users to feedback valuable insights about the company and its products and vote for those they find most relevant. StudioDell is a place where Dell users could share videos about Dell-related topics. IdeaStorm has already been the site of an extraordinary exercise in stakeholder democracy the reprieve of Microsofts Windows XP operating system. Have Dell turned the corner? To answer this question Market Sentinel analyzed stakeholders perceptions of Dell customer service. The analysis compares the sentiment of online commentary before and after Dells commercial slump and their new online customer initiatives. We believe that anyone wishing to track the financial prospects of Dell over the next few quarters could do worse than to watch the key metrics on word of mouth. Using the Net Promoters, we identified five key topics of commentary about Dell customer service and placed each post into one of these categories, according to the most central concern expressed (Appendix 2). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Speed (the length of time it takes to get through to someone at the call centre, to get through to the right person to address callers concerns, to get issue resolved, to get problem fixed, to get delivery of items etc.) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Off-shoring (customers feelings towards technical supports relocation from USA/UK to India and other countries, especially in relation to language problems) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Errors (inaccuracies in dealing with Dell customer service e.g. wrong items sent, orders lost, incorrect delivery details etc.) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Technical Competence (of Dell technical support staff) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ New Initiatives (Direct2Dell, Dell IdeaStorm, StudioDell, engaging directly with bloggers) The distribution of comments about Dell customer service between the categories remained roughly constant in the two years, with the largest share accounted for by general comments, followed by comments about the speed or promptness of service, and then comments about off-shoring. A significant change year-on-year was the number of comments, predominantly positive in tone, which were gathered in the second wave about Dells new customer initiatives. Although this was encouraging, the most immediate conclusion to be drawn from the Dell Net Promoters analysis is that negative commentary outweighs positive commentary across almost all categories. This is not at all unusual for a study of customer service attitudes, as people come to message boards or blogs in search of answers to problems they have failed to solve with the customer support services of the company in question. The tone is therefore somewhat negative. Have Dells actions had any noticeable effect upon online feeling on customer service? The good news for Dell is that opinion has improved overall, but there are still areas for concern. There is a slight improvement in customers feelings about Dells speed of service (up +4) and technical competence (up +1). This improvement is offset by increasing dissatisfaction with the policy of off-shoring technical support (down -12) and with the ongoing problem of order, service and delivery inaccuracies (down -8). However, there are two significant positive shifts in opinion about Dell. The first finding is the positive reception given to Dells new customer initiatives. However, the recent deterioration of Dells customer service had eroded much of the goodwill of the online community. Commentators are wary of show without substance. What will be definitely interesting to see is if Dell does anything with these comments or is this yet another example of a company putting all their efforts trying to make themselves look better instead of actually being better à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦as long as they follow through and put some of the ideas in action. If they dont do this, people will realize that they dont actually have the power to influence the company and Dell is just trying to give that illusion à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if nothing comes out of this youll bring the wrath of khan down on your head The guarded welcome is spelled out clearly by B.L. Ochman on her whatsnextonline.com blog: I dont know if that will make Dells lousy service any better, but it shows they want to listen, and thats where recovery can begin. The second shift in opinion which we found in our analysis is the reduction in the negative comments about Dells customer service. Although the overall mood still appears quite gloomy across all comments, with a Net Promoters Index of -20, this is a considerable improvement on the position 12 months earlier when the Net Promoters Index stood at -38. Changes in the sentiment of commentary seem to lag service delivery. Many of the positive comments which were collected in the first wave of this study traded on the long term legacy of Dell as a provider of best-in-class customer service; the negative comments were more likely to be customers reports of unsatisfactory customer service experiences in the recent past. At the beginning of 2007 negative stories about customer service continued to circulate in message boards and in blogs, but these are now being counterbalanced by those who have more positive stories to tell having benefitted from the effects of Dells re-investment in customer service. It took many years for Dell to establish the reputation for exemplary customer service which it had built up in the years up to 2001, before technical support was off-shored to India and Dell cut back on engineer visits to customers homes. This reputation, as a long term legacy, is still present in some loyal customers minds. But the fallout from Dell Hell means that Dell now has a different and conflicting reputation to deal with poor service from a company which doesnt care about its customers. And it is this reputation which is freshest in the mind. Learning On August 14th, the Associated Press chronicled incidents stretching back to 1999, including, among others, a Lufthansa fire in Chicago, a UPS plane in flames in Philadelphia, and an emergency landing by a plane carrying the then-Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, all apparently the result of computer batteries spontaneous combustion. It did not require great prescience to anticipate that air flight safety would dominate inevitable coverage of the burning batteries and their subsequent recall. The issue should indeed have been a main component of crisis war games at Dell. Once the recall was inevitable, Dell can reasonably have anticipated the necessity to talk loud and clear about air flight safety, and it should have been prepared to do so at the earliest possible moment. By delaying any announcement, Dell harmed its position on multiple fronts. It allowed the Consumer Product Safety Commission to define the story and cloak itself in the garb of public protector. Nor was the agency shy about describing the recall as the largest computer-related recall in history. The magnitude of the disaster became an integral part of the story reported in the first few paragraphs of both the Austin American-Statesman and Wall Street Journal Online on August 15th. Words like largest or first or worst become the story itself.   At the strategic level, theres a best practice called Bad News All At Once predicated on the time-tested wisdom that full and fast disclosure shortens the life of most stories. In fact, the art of both Investor and Consumer Relations supports this best practice almost every time. Investors want nothing more than closure, a sense that a crisis, no matter how multifaceted, will be resolved in the immediate future. Consumers, meanwhile, can be wooed back, but not so easily if the story drags on indefinitely, a new twist on each front page edition.   Bad News All at Once contains bad news in the exact meaning of the word contain. By stanching the flow of revelations, the story is separated from events that may still lie ahead. There are times when major news, like a terrorist plot or a hurricane, can indeed minimize attention to your story. Its a factor to weigh but not simply assume. In Dells case, the terrorist revelation magnified its crisis to an extent that must have been unimaginable when the company first decided to delay. Now theres the Securities and Exchange Commission account practices probe to further elongate the Dell litany. Unlike the terrorist story, this time bomb has been ticking since last year. There may be good practical and legal reasons why Dell did not reveal this material event. On the positive side, Dell seems to have done a better job working with Sony to coordinate a response to the crisis by avoiding the no-win scenario weve seen in the past when major brands blame each other in the national media. Customers do not care who is at fault. They only care that the problem gets fixed.   Even here, Dells performance was, unfortunately, less than perfect. In the opening paragraphs of those August 15th stories, we read that Dell blamed Sony for the problem. Only further down in the Austin story and nowhere in the Journal story does a Dell spokesperson express confidence in Sony. The fact that many other computer manufacturers may face the same product liability represents an opportunity for Dell to offer some sort of industry-wide support to safeguard products. Such an initiative would underscore Dells public safety leadership even as it reminds the world that it is not the only computer company with a problem. It is a company that is resolved to correct the problem and it deserves the recognition for doing so. Here are some basic lessons learned from the Dell laptop battery crisis:   Predict the future. Play war games. Had Dell done so, they might have anticipated that their exploding batteries were an airline disaster story waiting to happen, even without the terrorist plot that ultimately magnified the story. In determining when to disclose, watch for material events and early warning triggering mechanisms that compel public disclosure as soon as possible. Disclosing Bad News All At Once shortens the life of a negative story and contains it by preempting substantive links to other stories. An industry-wide public safety leadership role generalizes the problem beyond your own company. Adjustment of CMP/CCP Dell is reaching out into the world of blogs and user-generated media. Perhaps the most potent and valuable business lesson Dell has absorbed from its experiences lies in the way the company has taken into its business methods the idea of dialogue with its consumers. In the following blog post by Lionel Menchaca Dell digital commerce manager, he outlines in turn each of the advantages of opening a dialogue with customers online. It is worth reprinting the post in full and highlighting the lessons Lionel identifies: 1. Brands can quickly learn about and address, product bugs and issues; 2. Brands can open an additional communication channel for customer service; 3. Brands have to listen to their consumers and that means monitoring the web; 4. Brands can use blogs to help manage crisis communication; 5. Brands can enhance off-line conversations with consumers based on what they have learnt online; 6. Brands have to be honest and admit it when they get it wrong. Dell said: Our policy [towards blogs] in the past may have been look, dont touch. Today, its more like listen, and join the conversation the right way (Appendix 3). Conclusion The Dell Corporate Communications/Investor Relations teams focus was to engage key media, such as the New York Times, CNBC, and leading regional media, to ensure a wide distribution of the key messages. Within the first 12 hours of the recall, a Dell executive participated in interviews with the Today Show and Bloomberg TV and later in the process worked with global outlets such as BBC World News. Members of the Corporate Communications/Investor Relations team from around the world briefed industry analysts and responded to a number of inquiries from TV, radio, newspaper and wire services. The team faced challenges in responding to the volume of the media requests and with the expected quick turnaround of information. Team members across communications disciplines responded to help. The story shifted when Apple followed Dells recall 10 days later. At that time, none of the other PC manufacturers had made any statement that they could have been impacted by the same contaminated battery packs. Ultimately, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu also announced recalls, and eight weeks after the Dell announcement, Sony announced the recall of batteries used in its VAIO notebook line. Within 60 days after the recall launch, the story evolved from the initial but inaccurate perception that the battery issue was solely a Dell issue to the accurate story that the Sony battery cells were the sole cause of the issue. In the process, Dell became a model for Performance of Guggenheim Investments: An Analysis Performance of Guggenheim Investments: An Analysis Research Purpose This research aims to analyze and evaluate six different funds and their benchmarks and risk-free rates in order to compare the overall performance of the funds from Guggenheim Investments and the selected funds from three different asset managers. Research Design The research involved 60 monthly observations (from January 2012 to December 2016) to analyze the performance of the Guggenheim Investments and the selected different asset managers, Aberdeen, Wells Fargo, and Pimco, which were selected from the top 500 global asset manager (Towers Watson, 2016).   Three funds from Guggenheim Investments and three more funds from each asset manager, in total of six funds, were selected with similar investment strategies Small-Cap Blend, Mid-Cap Value and Large-Cap Blend for the consistency of the analysis.   The performance would be measured in term of return and risk based on statistical and financial theory.   The performance will be measured in term of return, risk and ratio. Findings All of the fund from Guggenheim Investments, from the results in this research, perform worse than the competitors funds in many ways. The ratios analysis shows lower level of risk rewarding from the poorer management of risk, the funds also generated lower level of return throughout the observation period. Furthermore, the regression analysis shows that all of the fund in this research utilize Fama French model effectively, but the competitors funds also utilized Carhart 4 Factors Model, incorporating the momentum factor which makes them perform better than the funds from Guggenheim Investments. Research Limitations Due to the small observation size, the daily and weekly volatility were ignored from this research.   In term of data quality, using OLS regression may not be efficient to analyze the data as the data consisted with unit-root, which was caused by the price drift. Research Implication The research should provide a good example of how could an investor conduct the statistical analysis of fund performance analysis using E-View 9 and Microsoft Excel.   The result of the research could support the investor, in term of analysis and decision making, to include funds as an asset class into their portfolio. Mutual fund has been around for many decades and is becoming more popular in both developed and emerging markets. As the mutual fund is managed by professional fund managers, it unlock many good features that non-professional investors desire such as well diversified portfolio, access to highly priced securities like bluechip stocks, infrastructure and real estates, or tracking any particular index which required a lot of money. Many mutual funds are provided by asset management companies, some are doing good, some are doing bad. The performance evaluation can be difficult for individual investors that are not specialized in this area of work. This research aim to provide basic knowledge and example of assessing the performance of mutual funds, both in terms of risk and return, to simplify this process for every investor in order for them to effectively and efficiently invest in mutual funds. Data Collection All of the numbers in this research including total return index of each fund and their benchmark, risk free rate are collected from Bloomberg Terminal. The funds fact sheets are directly downloaded from the asset managers website. The benchmarks that are used in this research are selected by using the same benchmark stated in the Guggenheim Investments fact sheets as the main benchmark. Three more supporting benchmark are selected by using the same category from MSCI, Russel, and SP. The Fama French and Momentum factor are collect from the data library of Tuck Business School at Dartmouth. Data Preparation After the data collection, they were processed via Excel Spreadsheet to apply the formulas in order to evaluate the performance of the funds, as well as several statistics.   In addition, the processed data from Excel would be exported to E-View 9 to estimate the regression model to apply CAPM, Fama French and Carhart Model. (Table 1 Funds Overview) According to the funds fact sheets, all the fund is passively managed as the funds objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. The funds are also investing only in the United States of America. In this research, I additionally use Bloomberg category to match the characteristic of the funds in order to make a more distinctive and more consistent comparison of the similar funds. The main asset manager in this research is Guggenheim Investment and the comparable funds are from Aberdeen, Wells Fargo, and Pimco. The tables below show the statistical data of the funds in terms of simple calculated excess return and log calculated excess return. The returns can be calculated as the followings; The Average Logged Return   The monthly return of the fund and risk-free rate were calculated into logged return in order to calculate time-consistent return. The Arithmetic Mean Excess Return The Arithmetic Mean Excess Return can be calculated by deduct the country risk free rate, in this case US 3-month T-Bill Rate, from the return of the portfolio. (Table 2: Simple Return Statistic) (Table 3 Log Return Statistic) From the tables, we can observe that the funds from Guggenheim Investment generated lower return than the competitors and also have higher downside risk, which is semi-standard deviation. We will further observe the trend of each fund and its competitor and how it performs against the benchmark in these line graphs. (Figure 1 Performance Comparison: SSUAX) This line graph above and the following two graphs are calculated by setting the starting point as 100, and then increase exponentially with the excess return in that period. The illustration shows that both SSUAX and GSXAX effectively track the benchmark from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2014. After that point, SSUAX started to underperform the benchmark and GSXAX started to outperform the benchmark. The trend tends to persist to the present. (Figure 2 Performance Comparison: SEVAX) The graph above show the strong underperforming trend of SEVAX, while CBMAX can effectively replicate the benchmark since the starting point of the observations. However, both funds still have the same pattern as the benchmark. This should due to difference in the weight of the assets allocation. (Figure 3 Performance Comparison: SECEX) This graph illustrate that PSPAX slightly outperform the benchmark for almost the whole period of the observation, while SECEX still able to replicate the pattern of the benchmark but slightly underperform the benchmark. Standard Deviation and Variance As the widely used mean dispersion or volatility measurement (Lhabitant, 2006), the variance and standard deviation capture the risk of an investment over time.   The larger the dispersion means the greater the value of both variance and standard deviation. With Microsoft Excel, the function STDEV.S() was used to calculate sample standard deviation from the logged return. Semi-Variance and Semi-Standard Deviation Focus only the downside, Semi-Variance and Semi-Standard Deviation present the downside risk of the distribution in term of dispersion to mean. Drawdown Risk Maximum Drawdown simply measures the largest percentage change between the peak price and low price during a specific period of an investment. Shortfall Risk Shortfall Risk measures the downside risk in term of probability that the downside will occur. Value at Risk The Value at Risk measures the maximum loss that a portfolio can be expected within an observation interval at a specified confidence level for example 95% or 99%.   Within this research, two type of method are introduced, the historical VaR and normal distribution VaR, where the confidence level was specified according to the historical distribution and normal distribution respectively. (Table 4 Risk Measurements) For small-cap and mid-cap funds, Guggenheim Investments tend to suffer from higher risk than its competitors as they have higher values in most of the risk measurements used in this research. On the other hand, the large-cap fund of Guggenheim Investments has better risk management than the competitor in all perspective. These risk measurements will affect the risk rewarding ratios in the next section. The ratios shown in this analysis can be calculated as the followings, Information Ratio    average excess return of the portfolio over the market benchmark return    standard deviation of The ratio is used to compare with the Sharpe Ratio of the asset as the Information Ratio is considered as the benchmarks Sharpe Ratio.   By comparing the asset Sharpe Ratio with Information Ratio, the higher Sharpe Ratio in compare to Information Ratio represent that the asset is outperforming the benchmark (Deborah, 2011). Sterling Ratio average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate average minimum drawdown over the observation period The ratio has similar meaning to reward-to-risk ratio.   It is used to measure the ability of the fund manager to control their risk to lower the portfolio drawdown. The Sterling Ratio as well as the following Burke Ratio are widely advertised by commodity trading advisors, who wish to highlight their perceived skill in letting profits run and cutting losses. Burke Ratio average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate sum square root of the minimum drawdown over the observation period The Burke Ratio assumes an investor to experience an increasing instead of a linear incremenal disutility as reaction to a one unit increase in drawdown. Sortino Ratio average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate semi standard deviation of This ratio considers the lower partial moment in the second moment, the semi-standard deviation, to measure the risk-premium of the asset in comparison to the downside volatility of that asset. Kappa 1 average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate semi-mean of excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate Kappa 3 average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate semi-skewness of excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate Treynor Ratio average excess return of the portfolio over the risk free rate sensitivity of the portfolio with the market The ratio considers the risk premium of the asset in compare to systematic component of an assets risk (Spaulding, n.d.). (Table 5 Risk Rewarding Ratios) From the table above, it is clearly shown that funds from Guggenheim Investment are highly inferior to its competitors in terms of risk rewarding return of every aspects, especially the information ratio, which measure how the fund outperform the benchmark. In this case, all Guggenheim Investment fund have highly negative information ratio, this shows that all the funds are underperformed the benchmark, which further confirmed the graph from previous section. We can conclude that the small-cap and mid-cap funds of the competitors can outperform the similar funds from Guggenheim Investment mainly because of the better risk management when the higher return further boost the ratios even higher. For the large-cap fund, although fund from Guggenheim Investments has a better risk management, it still suffer from lower return generated by itself, which make its risk rewarding ratios lower than its competitor. In this research, I run the regression based on the following models using EView, The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) The CAPM and the SML are included in the research to predict the expected relationship between the risk and return.   Using E-View, if the result from model (see appendix ) in term of ÃŽÂ ±_i or Jensen Alpha shows positive and significant, the asset is said to outperform the market benchmark and vice vesa. Fama French 3 Factors Model By applying some market anomalies to support the model, Fama-French Model included the empirical evidence that small stocks could outperform the large stocks and the high book value to market value stocks could also outperform the low ratio stocks. In this research, two factors that were included in addition to the CAPM model are the SMB (Small Minus Big) and HML (High Minus Low). Carhart 4 Factors Model   By applying more market anomalies to support the model, Carhart Model included the empirical evidence that the winner security will keep winning and the loser will keep losing, one factors that were included in addition to the Fama French model is the MOM (Momentum). (Table 6 CAPM Regressions) (Table 7 Fama French 3 Factors Regressions) (Table 8 Carhart 4 Factors Regressions) (Table 9 Correlation Matrix) From the regression tables above, we can see that most of the intercepts of the model are insignificant, indicate that the fund cannot outperform the benchmark. However, there are some intercepts that are statistically significant, but the value of those intercepts are very less likely to deviate from the benchmark, which make the decision whether the fund outperform or underperform the market becomes more difficult. We can further discuss more about this with the correlation tables, the tables show that the funds, both from Guggenheim Investment and from the competitors, have strong positive correlation (more than 0.95) with its own benchmark. From this point, we can imply that it is very difficult for these funds to outperform or underperform their benchmark due to the highly-correlated characteristic of them. In fact, we can say that these funds are doing well in tracking their benchmark. For Fama French model regression, the values are mostly significant when regress against its own factors, and not significant when regress with the other benchmarks. Furthermore, the regression results from this model confirm each fund objective and strategy. For SSUAX, the values for SMB are positively significant, which means that the small stocks are dominated in the portfolio, the values for HML are slightly positive and significant, meaning that the value stocks are also in the asset allocation of the funds. The Carhart 4 Factors Model regressions for this fund did not show any significant value for the MOM factor. As for GSXAX, the regression results are quite not clear, as we have both positively and negatively significant value of SMB and HML in the different regression. I therefore conclude that Fama French 3 Factors Model cannot effectively explain this fund. After using Carhart 4 Factors Model, the result shows the positively significant values for Market Risk Premium, SMB, HML, and MOM. This may conclude that the fund utilize the same strategies as SSUAX, but by following the momentum of the stocks makes this fund outperform SSUAX, which does not utilize the factor. SEVAX and CBMAX have the similar characteristic to SSUAX and GSXAX, this may due to the funds have closely related choice of investment for being mid-cap and small-cap funds respectively. The regression result still confirm that these two funds mainly invest in small, value stock as SMB and HML are positively significant. However, CBMAX has some evidence of incorporating momentum factor, as the MOM values are negatively significant, indicate that the fund is short selling the loser stocks. This may also help explain why CBMAX outperform SEVAX that does not effectively utilize momentum factor. SECEX and PSPAX can also be explained by Fama French 3 Factors Model, as the values for SMB and HML factors are all significant, but negatively. This as well confirm the investment strategies of these funds that mainly invest in big-cap stocks that lean toward growth style. We can also determine why PSPAX performs better than SECEX by looking into Carhart 4 Factors Model. PSPAX has positively significant MOM value indicated that it incorporated momentum factor in the strategy when SECEX does not. Noted that all model has very high level of adjusted r-squared, which means that the estimates are fitted and reliable. All of the fund from Guggenheim Investments cannot outperform the competitors funds. The funds show poorer risk measurement which result in worse risk rewarding ratio. The regression analysis indicate that the funds also have poorer choice of asset allocation compare with the competitors. The use of Carhart 4 Factors Model clearly shown strong evidence of higher return as seen in the competitors funds. In the funds selection, the investors should not only consider the return, but should also consider the level of risk that one is willing to take in order to match each individual risk profile and maximize ones the utility. Appendix 1: Fund Fact Sheets SSUAX http://fulfillment.marketpowerweb.com/showpdf-sku.cfg?clientcode=rdxsku=SGIFS-SCVA SEVAX http://fulfillment.marketpowerweb.com/showpdf-sku.cfg?clientcode=rdxsku=SGIFS-SMCV SECEX http://fulfillment.marketpowerweb.com/showpdf-sku.cfg?clientcode=rdxsku=GIFS-QTR-SLCC GSXAX http://www.aberdeen-asset.us/doc.nsf/Lit/FactsheetUSOpenSmallCap CBMAX https://www.wellsfargofunds.com/assets/edocs/fact-sheet/equity-fund/cb-mid-cap-value-retail.pdf PSPAX https://www.pimco.com/handlers/displaydocument.ashx?c=693390403wd=Fund%20Fact%20Sheetfn=StocksPLUS%20Fund%20Institutional.pdfid=JJRUIU9YBGygdBZkoxEM7%2b9RTHXIxyZIw0T%2bDne2n4UiurFgvuWSI8U3wKrDgiR8kjwOaIhElyjPQMcsZ%2bacURlLGpyqDSkrerDNZSiUec1YccO167PpDiuxswUDimVQPGA3zF19hjqoyfUcbclAy6QGDvzW7jER5g0rHppMRCXw703Hec%2bRG7KS%2fxoNdq5X%2bSjJwmdqQmUxuiAz3vlHMWzvm6AuGcBMvm21xM%2byPTeKc0imjl19hPI6kgDYi4pvkIWF4XaSXGC0Freoikh1YeOJlv6DRnEAICWDdyOS1bGFTMAt9JLXeE1YpNtVmWJlatcNbvkEsFiINtBzcupchii02oWEi0VYYMm6kkgLZr%2fAWYpymqhkFshcCdH5SgFvTOY9sv5cj6nt9YakDxDe6lTPMwDnUGIKX3H8b39X0JMtY6B3Y6f8HSGl5ylRsRIh Appendix 2: Assets Allocation Bodie, Z.; Kane, A. Marcus, A. (2014) Investments. 10th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Deborah Kidd, CFA (2011). The Sharpe Ratio and the Information Ratio. Online at https://www.cfainstitute.org/learning/products/publications/ipmn/Pages/ipmn.v2011.n1.7.aspx (accessed on 16-03-2016) William C. Spaulding (n.d.). Portfolio Performance. Online at   http://thismatter.com/money/investments/portfolio-performance.htm (accessed on 16-03-2016) Lhabitant, F.-S. . (2006) Handbook of Hedge Funds. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Chap 19 20

Lament :: Personal Narrative Writing

Lament I have matured, and, at the proper time, the winnower will come for me. I will be ready. I have cast off my seed into the rich humus born of past generations. It has taken root, and now sings its own Song of Spring Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-- John Keats, â€Å"To Autumn† It is fitting on this day of cold bluster and unsentimental sunlight to write of endings. Spring, so recently past, seems a dream. Was it so long ago that I, like spring, burst onto the scene? The faces and days of my youth are veiled within the mist of memory, but not beyond my reach. I inhale and the aroma of lilacs engulfs me, just as they encircled my house. A sister is born; she is named June Iris, but she has arrived too early in April. She is carried home in her namesake month. My mother places her in the sunlight that leaks between our drapes. We have to be quiet; she is sleeping. . . . In an instant I am riding my bicycle beneath the elms whose branches rise to the sky like the vaulted ceiling of a cathedral. Lining my street, they provide a cool respite from the relentless heat of a Midwestern sun. The orb drifts over, shifting the patterns of shade and light as though it were setting designs in stained glass. Sometimes with a friend, but more often alone, I gallop my two-w heeled steed up and down the block. Obsessed with horses and the westerns on television, I have no need for companions to challenge my imagination and diminish the enjoyment. In pretend, I wile away the days of girlhood that reach to a future I never consider. I try to recall the sounds. The birds sang, I’m certain. Surely there were the shouts that accompanied the games. But there is no music in my reverie, no sound to break the white silence. Like the caterpillar in its cocoon, I’m insulated within myself. The Wind. I remember the wind as it rushed through the elms, ruffling the branches or swirling them in circles. I turn and am standing in the picture window that looked out upon our street. The sky is blackish green. The trees shift violently from side to side. I watch, oblivious to the potential danger of a breakaway limb, mesmerized by the dance before me.

quotes :: essays research papers

The world is a puzzle and we're two pieces that fit perfectly together. Within you, I lose myself, without you, I find myself, searching to be lost again Love is like an hourglass with the heart filling up as the brain empties Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says: "I need you because I love you." I don't need to be wanted, I want to be needed. Love is when you've ran out of excuses for hating someone. When a young man complains that a young woman has no heart, it is a pretty sure sign that she has his Love is like pizza, when it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, It's still pretty good. Absence sharpens love, but presence strengthens it Devil, don't you know you are as beautiful as an Angel? G. Leopardi In any relationship in which two people become one, the end result is two half people If you're sweet and sincere, I'll call you my dear. If you're kind and funny, I'll call you my honey. If you're caring and smart, I'll call you my sweetheart. If you posess all of the above, then you are my true love. It's easy to fall in love, but it's hard to find someone to catch you Im sweet like suger, soft like suade, but unlike nintendo i never get played Why shed tears in the pond of life when you can make a splash? Thou art to me a delicious torment. My heart is ever at your service Kiss me and you will see stars; love me and I will give them to you. Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes. It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist. I'm in the mood for love Simply because you're near me. Funny, but when you're near me I'm in the mood for love. A kiss is something you cannot give without taking and cannot take without giving. "Where should one use perfume?" a young woman asked. "Wherever one wants to be kissed," I said.-- Coco Chanel Where one drop of blood drains a castle of life, so one kiss can bring it alive again. Some people grumble because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses. We are each of us angels with only one wing. And we can only fly embracing each other

Why Our Grading System is Important :: Free Essays

Why Our Grading System is Important   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to the belief of Arthur Lean, author of the article 'The Farce Called 'Grading'';, students are 'naturally, stupid dolts who must somehow be coerced, cajoled, persuaded, threatened, strong-armed into learning.'; Those few however, who are not, can go to college where an honor code is in place, such as New College of USF or Harvey Mudd, and the 'farce'; called grading will be of no encumbrance to the individual. The rest of the students need a system by which academic achievement can be measured. After observing many a high school student, it is apparent that without a system of scholastic comparison very few would strive to learn. What motivation would there be to read that extra page or two the night before the big examination? In the world of grading, the extra page could mean 20 points on a physics test. In the unrealistic world of Lean, however, that one page which could result in the absolute epiphany of the reader, could mean nothing, save the writt en reports of 'descriptive comments… dependability, intelligence, and honesty.';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Arthur Lean claims that it would be more beneficial to an employer to have written reports regarding certain character traits of job seekers. This, he states, is more helpful to the employer than say, 'a B-plus in college algebra.'; This idea is altogether untrue. Working as a computer technician, I was informed by my employer that the most advantageous part of my application was my advanced level of high school classes and standardized math test scores. Letters of recommendation were disregarded in his statement. In short, any job that requires high levels of thought and logic can be matched with individuals who present high test scores. Any Microsoft employer would quickly argue that evidence of strong computer programming (i.e. grades, original written programming code, previous jobs) are better indicators of expected performance than written letters of characteristic traits, or history of parent-teacher conferences.