Global risk analysis Essay

This paper aims to review the publication of the World Bank Risk Management on the natural disaster hotspots. Specifically, this book is entitled â€Å"Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis†. In addition, this book was published in 1995 in order to address increasing risk brought by the natural disasters all over the world. As a result, this book gave light to the role of natural disasters in significantly shaping the lives of every people as well as its economy and its community. And so, a review in this book will yield great results to the readers of this paper. A Global Risk Analysis on Natural Disasters Natural disasters are described as any terrible event, not caused by human activity, which results in deaths, injuries or even damage to property. (Forces of Nature, 2007) As it name implies one cannot avoid the occurrence of natural catastrophes since they are not man-made activities. In other words, human activities cannot interfere with the occurrence of natural phenomenon. More importantly, their occurrence usually causes great damage on the lives and community of people. And as a matter of fact, it disrupts the everyday conduct of lives of human beings. In the book, the authors have presented the great risk faced by people with the occurrence of the natural catastrophes. More specifically, the study reveals that 3. 4 billion people, more than half or the world’s population, live in areas where at least one hazard could significantly impact them. Aside from this finding, other important findings in the book are as follows: (Uku and Tobin, 2005) †¢ Approximately 20 percent of the Earth’s land surface is exposed to at least one of the natural hazards evaluated; †¢ 160 countries have more than one quarter of their population in areas of high mortality risk from one or more hazards; †¢ More than 90 countries have more than 10 percent of their population in areas of high mortality risk from two or more hazards; †¢ In 35 countries, more than 1 in 20 residents lives at relatively high mortality risk from 3 or more hazards; †¢ More than one-third of the United States’ population lives in hazard-prone areas, but only one percent of its land area ranks in the highest disaster-related mortality risk category; †¢ Taiwan may be the place on Earth most vulnerable to natural hazards, with 73 percent of its land and population exposed to three or more hazards; †¢ More than 90 percent of the populations of Bangladesh, Nepal, the Dominican Republic, Burundi, Haiti, Taiwan, Malawi, El Salvador, and Honduras live in areas at high relative risk of death from two or more hazards; and †¢ Poorer countries in the developing world are more likely to have difficulty absorbing repeated disaster-related losses and costs associated with disaster relief, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Indeed, natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, droughts, landslides and floods cause tens and thousands of deaths as well as hundreds of thousands of injuries. Aside from deaths and injuries, natural hazards also cause economic losses around the world each year. As such, billions of dollars are expended also every year in the aspect of humanitarian assistance, emergency loans and development aids. (Dilley et. al. , 2005) And so, the key findings of the book imply that in almost all parts of the world, people are faced with great risks from natural hazards. As a result, the occurrence of these natural phenomena disrupts the regular conduct of personal and business activities of people and organization. This disruption, in turn, results to the overall socio-economic development of a nation. And in the case of the developing world, development will even become more elusive. With the annual occurrence of natural disasters, it is the poor nations that are greatly affected, such that they become poorer and poorer with every cyclical happening of natural phenomena. Despite the large losses of people and money from natural disasters, organizations especially governments are unable to address effectively the damages brought about by natural disasters. This claim has been evident on the recoded loss of human lives as well as properties annually due to natural catastrophes. For instance, the tsunami incident that happened in Thailand last December 26, 2004 had killed 229,866 people. Also, the international community has donated an estimated US $7 billion for humanitarian aid to all the victims of the tsunami incident. And so, the reluctance on the part of the government and the people can be traced on the fact that natural disasters are unavoidable phenomena. What they can only do is to experience this phenomenon and hope for the minimal damage it brings. This kind of thinking has been the target of the book. It aims to deliver the message that in spite of the potential threats brought about by natural disasters, the people and the government can coordinate in order to have a successful encounter with these phenomena. Furthermore, the book emphasizes more on the development issues rather than the typical issues on humanitarian aspect. It also identifies the regions which are highly at risk with natural hazards. In this way, development efforts can be better informed and designed to reduce disaster-related losses in the future. Because of the natural hazard cycles repeating themselves every few years, developing countries find themselves in a vicious cycle of loss and recovery without the ability to move forward and achieve sustainable development. As such, there is a need for the highly affected nations such as the developing world to cooperate with the international community in devising ways to manage disaster risk rather than merely giving humanitarian aids. It is through disaster risk management that the international community can truly help the developing nations. As mentioned earlier, the occurrence of natural catastrophes cannot be avoided. And so, it is best to have an effective risk management program on disasters than forever be included in the vicious cycle of damage and revitalization. By stepping out of the vicious cycle, one is removed from the path of continuous loss and recovery, thus achieving development. Based on the book, risk management on disasters is effectively done by primarily focusing on the two disaster-related outcomes- the mortality and economic losses. The risk level was then estimated by combining the hazard exposure with historical vulnerability for two indicators of elements at risk- gridded population and gross domestic product (GDP) per unit area- for six major natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, drought and cyclones. The natural disasters were classified in three categories- geophysical, hydro and drought. The geophysical includes the volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides. On the hydro, it consists of the floods and hurricanes. And so, by calculating the relative risks for grid cells rather than for countries as a whole, the authors are able to estimate risk levels at sub-national scales. (Dilley et. al. , 2005) Conclusion Overall, the book served as a catalyst in enlightening individuals as well as organizations both in the public and private realm about the impact of natural disasters and how they will be able to address this phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the book has shed some light into the ways of escaping the vicious cycle of loss and recovery, which is brought about by the annual occurrence of natural disasters. This is especially true in the context of the developing world wherein development becomes elusive once countries have entered the natural hazard cycle. And so, in order not to aggravate poverty, countries especially the developing ones must properly manage natural hazards. The occurrence of natural disasters can be addressed by the international community not through humanitarian aid but by development programs in the context of risk management on disasters. REFERENCES Dilley, M. , Chen, R. , Deichmann, U. , Lerner-Lam, A. and Arnold M. (2005, April). Natural disaster hotspots: A global risk analysis. World Bank disaster risk management series no. 5. Forces of Nature. Glossary. Retrieved June 26, 2007 from, http://library. thinkquest. org/C003603/english/glossary. shtml. Uku, R. and Tobin, M. (2005, March 31). Natural disaster hotspots: A global risk analysis- Columbia University and the World Bank produce new report. EurekAlert.

Complicated Attitudes Towards Female Characters Essay

I agree with this statement, as the female characters are revealed to the reader as being powerful over men, seductive, suspicious, mysterious, bewitching and in the end, cause destruction. However, in the poems, males claim some possessiveness over the females. For example; in the poem ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ a beautiful woman tempts men/ knights with her ‘faery’ beauty. The knight in the poem, falls in love with her through her seductive actions, but then she abandons him. ‘ I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful – a faery’s child’ This quote shows how mysterious the female is by describing her as a ‘faery’s child’ which basically means a mystical fairy in human form, who is playful and has magical powers. In ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ the reader only gets one interpretation of the female through the knights direct speech, this reflects a complicated attitude to the reader as we have a biased opinion of the female. Also, not having direct speech from ‘La Belle’ adds to the mysterious-ness of female characters in Keats’ poetry. A male contrast in this poem is quite important, as in many of Keats’ poetry. The knight claims possession over the female. He creates garlands and bracelets for which could be used to enclose and trap her. ‘I made a garland for her head, And bracelets too, and fragrant zone’ ‘I set her on my pacing steed’ These quote shows his possessiveness over the beautiful woman. In the same way, ‘The Eve Of St Agnes’ portrays these attitudes towards females. The narrator focuses on a virgin named Madeline, describing her as pure, nieve, vague and blinded by superstition. This gives the reader the impression of her being easily led and expressing her as being quite innocent. In the poem Madeline is at a party and is oblivious to everything going on around her, she is only thinking of the legend St Agnes. St Agnes Eve is believed by virgins that on this night they will see their future husbands in the dreams. The poet describing Madeline as one of these believers, shows the theme of suspicion and witchcraft, as Madeline will perform the rites associated with St Agnes. Keats’ uses negative capability to contrast innocence with flirtatious, this happens when Madeline goes up to her bedchamber to undress for bed. ‘Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees; Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one; Loosens her fragrant boddice; by degrees Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees:’ Describing the way she undresses makes her seem like shes doing a striptease. A male in the poem named Porphyro, affects the readers attitude towards Madeline, as he comes across as being the seductive one. As Madeline undresses he watches as he’s hiding in her closet. This could portray to the reader about the attitudes towards women, that Madeline purposely stipped like that, because she was thinking about and wishing to tease Porphyro. But as a coincidence, he was there watching every move, showing the powerfullness of women over men. Also, the quote: Sudden a thought came like a full blown rose flushing his brow, and in his pained heart’ Keats’s could be referring to how cunning Porphyro might be, as he was told by the old belle dame that it’s St Agnes Eve and Madeline had gone up to her bedchamber to dream of her future lover, giving him a seductive idea. To conclude, Keats uses many different methods, to have an impact on the reader about complicated attitudes towards females in his poetry. Using sympathy as a weapon for the males in his poetry. However, more indepth reading shows that there may be contrasts between men and women and that their roles can be switched over.

Vampire Academy Chapter 9

NINE I SNAPPED INTO HER MIND, once again seeing and directly experiencing what went on around her. She was sneaking into the chapel's attic again, confirming my worst fears. Like last time, she met no resistance. Good God, I thought, could that priest be any worse about securing his own chapel? Sunrise lit up the stained-glass window, and Christian's silhouette was framed against it: he was sitting in the window seat. â€Å"You're late,† he told her. â€Å"Been waiting a while.† Lissa pulled up one of the rickety chairs, brushing dust off it. â€Å"I figured you'd be tied up with Headmistress Kirova.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not much to it. They suspended me for a week, that's all. Not like it's hard to sneak out.† He waved his hands around. â€Å"As you can see.† â€Å"I'm surprised you didn't get more time.† A patch of sunlight lit up his crystal-blue eyes. â€Å"Disappointed?† She looked shocked. â€Å"You set someone on fire!† â€Å"No, I didn't. Did you see any burns on him?† â€Å"He was covered in flames.† â€Å"I had them under control. I kept them off of him.† She sighed. â€Å"You shouldn't have done that.† Straightening out of his lounging position, he sat up and leaned toward her. â€Å"I did it for you.† â€Å"You attacked someone for me?† â€Å"Sure. He was giving you and Rose a hard time. She was doing an okay job against him, I guess, but I figured she could use the backup. Besides, this'll shut anyone else up about the whole fox thing, too.† â€Å"You shouldn't have done that,† she repeated, looking away. She didn't know how to feel about this â€Å"generosity.† â€Å"And don't act like it was all for me. You liked doing it. Part of you wanted to – just because.† Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise. Lissa might not be psychic, but she had a startling ability to read people. Seeing him off guard, she continued. â€Å"Attacking someone else with magic is forbidden – and that's exactly why you wanted to do it. You got a thrill out of it.† â€Å"Those rules are stupid. If we used magic as a weapon instead of just for warm and fuzzy shit, Strigoi wouldn't keep killing so many of us.† â€Å"It's wrong,† she said firmly. â€Å"Magic is a gift. It's peaceful.† â€Å"Only because they say it is. You're repeating the party line we've been fed our whole lives.† He stood up and paced the small space of the attic. â€Å"It wasn't always that way, you know. We used to fight, right along with the guardians – centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and stopped. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells.† â€Å"Then how did you know that one?† He crooked her a smile. â€Å"Not everyone forgot.† â€Å"Like your family? Like your parents?† The smile disappeared. â€Å"You don't know anything about my parents.† His face darkened, his eyes grew hard. To most people, he might have appeared scary and intimidating, but as Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seemed very, very vulnerable. â€Å"You're right,† she admitted softly, after a moment. â€Å"I don't. I'm sorry.† For the second time in this meeting, Christian looked astonished. Probably no one apologized to him that often. Hell, no one even talked to him that often. Certainly no one ever listened. Like usual, he quickly turned into his cocky self. â€Å"Forget it.† Abruptly, he stopped pacing and knelt in front of her so they could look each other in the eye. Feeling him so close made her hold her breath. A dangerous smile curled his lips. â€Å"And really, I don't get why you of all people should act so outraged that I used ? ®forbidden' magic.† â€Å"Me ? ®of all people'? What's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"You can play all innocent if you want – and you do a pretty good job – but I know the truth.† â€Å"What truth is that?† She couldn't hide her uneasiness from me or Christian. He leaned even closer. â€Å"That you use compulsion. All the time.† â€Å"No, I don't,† she said immediately. â€Å"Of course you do. I've been lying awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you two were able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting to meet your parents. Then I figured it out. You had to be using compulsion. That's probably how you broke out of here in the first place.† â€Å"I see. You just figured it out. Without any proof.† â€Å"I've got all the proof I need, just from watching you.† â€Å"You've been watching me – spying on me – to prove I'm using compulsion?† He shrugged. â€Å"No. Actually, I've been watching you just because I like it. The compulsion thing was a bonus. I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that math assignment. And you used it on Ms. Carmack when she wanted to make you go through more testing.† â€Å"So you assume it's compulsion? Maybe I'm just really good at convincing people.† There was a defiant note in her voice: understandable, considering her fear and anger. Only she delivered it with a toss of her hair which – if I didn't know any better – might have been considered flirtatious. And I did know better? ­right? Suddenly, I wasn't sure. He went on, but something in his eyes told me he'd noticed the hair, that he always noticed everything about her. â€Å"People get these goofy looks on their faces when you talk to them. And not just any people – you're able to do it to Moroi. Probably dhampirs, too. Now that's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible. You're some kind of superstar. Some kind of evil, compulsion-abusing superstar.† It was an accusation, but his tone and presence radiated the same flirtatiousness she had. Lissa didn't know what to say. He was right. Everything he'd said was right. Her compulsion was what had allowed us to dodge authority and get along in the world without adult help. It was what had allowed us to convince the bank to let her tap into her inheritance. And it was considered every bit as wrong as using magic as a weapon. Why not? It was a weapon. A powerful one, one that could be abused very easily. Moroi children had it drilled into them from an early age that compulsion was very, very wrong. No one was taught to use it, though every Moroi technically had the ability. Lissa had just sort of stumbled into it – deeply – and, as Christian had pointed out, she could wield it over Moroi, as well as humans and dhampirs. â€Å"What are you going to do then?† she asked. â€Å"You going to turn me in?† He shook his head and smiled. â€Å"No. I think it's hot.† She stared, eyes widening and heart racing. Something about the shape of his lips intrigued her. â€Å"Rose thinks you're dangerous,† she blurted out nervously. â€Å"She thinks you might have killed the fox.† I didn't know how I felt about being dragged into this bizarre conversation. Some people were scared of me. Maybe he was too. Judging from the amusement in his voice when he spoke, it appeared he wasn't. â€Å"People think I'm unstable, but I tell you, Rose is ten times worse. Of course, that makes it harder for people to fuck with you, so I'm all for it.† Leaning back on his heels, he finally broke the intimate space between them. â€Å"And I sure as hell didn't do that. Find out who did, though? ­and what I did to Ralf won't seem like anything.† His gallant offer of creepy vengeance didn't exactly reassure Lissa? ­but it did thrill her a little. â€Å"I don't want you doing anything like that. And I still don't know who did it.† He leaned back toward her and caught her wrists in his hands. He started to say something, then stopped and looked down in surprise, running his thumbs over faint, barely there scars. Looking back up at her, he had a strange – for him – kindness in his face. â€Å"You might not know who did it. But you know something. Something you aren't talking about.† She stared at him, a swirl of emotions playing in her chest. â€Å"You can't know all my secrets,† she murmured. He glanced back down at her wrists and then released them, that dry smile of his back on his face. â€Å"No. I guess not.† A feeling of peace settled over her, a feeling I thought only I could bring. Returning to my own head and my room, I sat on the floor staring at my math book. Then, for reasons I didn't really get, I slammed it shut and threw it against the wall. I spent the rest of the night brooding until the time I was supposed to meet Jesse came around. Slipping downstairs, I went into the kitchen – a place I could visit so long as I kept things brief – and caught his eye when I cut through the main visiting area. Moving past him, I paused and whispered, â€Å"There's a lounge on the fourth floor that nobody uses. Take the stairs on the other side of the bathrooms and meet me there in five minutes. The lock on the door is broken.† He complied to the second, and we found the lounge dark, dusty, and deserted. The drop in guardian numbers over the years meant a lot of the dorm stayed empty, a sad sign for Moroi society but terribly convenient right now. He sat down on the couch, and I lay back on it, putting my feet in his lap. I was still annoyed after Lissa and Christian's bizarre attic romance and wanted nothing more than to forget about it for a while. â€Å"You really here to study, or was it just an excuse?† I asked. â€Å"No. It was real. Had to do an assignment with Meredith.† The tone in his voice indicated he wasn't happy about that. â€Å"Oooh,† I teased. â€Å"Is working with a dhampir beneath your royal blood? Should I be offended?† He smiled, showing a mouth full of perfect white teeth and fangs. â€Å"You're a lot hotter than she is.† â€Å"Glad I make the cut.† There was a sort of a heat in his eyes that was turning me on, as was his hand sliding up my leg. But I needed to do something first. It was time for some vengeance. â€Å"Mia must too, since you guys let her hang out with you. She's not royal.† His finger playfully poked me in the calf. â€Å"She's with Aaron. And I've got lots of friends who aren't royal. And friends who are dhamps. I'm not a total asshole.† â€Å"Yeah, but did you know her parents are practically custodians for the Drozdovs?† The hand on my leg stopped. I'd exaggerated, but he was a sucker for gossip – and he was notorious for spreading it. â€Å"Seriously?† â€Å"Yeah. Scrubbing floors and stuff like that.† â€Å"Huh.† I could see the wheels turning in his dark blue eyes and had to hide a smile. The seed was planted. Sitting up, I moved closer to him and draped a leg over his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, and without further delay, thoughts of Mia disappeared as his testosterone kicked in. He kissed me eagerly – sloppily, even – pushing me against the back of the couch, and I relaxed into what had to be the first enjoyable physical activity I'd had in weeks. We kissed like that for a long time, and I didn't stop him when he pulled off my shirt. â€Å"I'm not having sex,† I warned between kisses. I had no intention of losing my virginity on a couch in a lounge. He paused, thinking about this, and finally decided not to push it. â€Å"Okay.† But he pushed me onto the couch, lying over me, still kissing with that same fierceness. His lips traveled down to my neck, and when the sharp points of his fangs brushed against my skin, I couldn't help an excited gasp. He raised himself up, looking into my face with open surprise. For a moment, I could barely breathe, recalling that rush of pleasure that a vampire bite could fill me with, wondering what it'd be like to feel that while making out. Then the old taboos kicked in. Even if we didn't have sex, giving blood while we did this was still wrong, still dirty. â€Å"Don't,† I warned. â€Å"You want to.† His voice held excited wonder. â€Å"I can tell.† â€Å"No, I don't.† His eyes lit up. â€Å"You do. How – hey, have you done it before?† â€Å"No,† I scoffed. â€Å"Of course not.† Those gorgeous blue eyes watched me, and I could see the wheels spinning behind them. Jesse might flirt a lot and have a big mouth, but he wasn't stupid. â€Å"You act like you have. You got excited when I was by your neck.† â€Å"You're a good kisser,† I countered, though it wasn't entirely true. He drooled a little more than I would have preferred. â€Å"Don't you think everyone would know if I was giving blood?† The realization seized him. â€Å"Unless you weren't doing it before you left. You did it while you were gone, didn't you? You fed Lissa.† â€Å"Of course not,† I repeated. But he was on to something, and he knew it. â€Å"It was the only way. You didn't have feeders. Oh, man.† â€Å"She found some,† I lied. It was the same line we'd fed Natalie, the one she'd spread around and that no one – except Christian – had ever questioned. â€Å"Plenty of humans are into it.† â€Å"Sure,† he said with a smile. He leaned his mouth back to my neck. â€Å"I'm not a blood whore,† I snapped, pulling away from him. â€Å"But you want to. You like it. All you dhamp girls do.† His teeth were on my skin again. Sharp. Wonderful. I had a feeling hostility would only make things worse, so I defused the situation with teasing. â€Å"Stop it,† I said gently, running a fingertip over his lips. â€Å"I told you, I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas.† That peaked his interest. â€Å"Yeah? Like wha – ?† And that was when the door opened. We sprang apart. I was ready to handle a fellow student or even possibly the matron. What I was not ready for was Dimitri. He burst in the door like he'd expected to find us, and in that horrible moment, with him raging like a storm, I knew why Mason had called him a god. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and jerked Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding the Moroi off the ground. â€Å"What's your name?† barked Dimitri. â€Å"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir.† â€Å"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?† â€Å"No, sir.† â€Å"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?† â€Å"Yes, sir.† â€Å"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again† – Dimitri pointed to where I cowered, half-dressed, on the couch – â€Å"I will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?† Jesse swallowed, eyes wide. None of the bravado he usually showed was there. I guess there was â€Å"usually† and then there was being held in the grip of a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy â€Å"Yes, sir!† â€Å"Then go.† Dimitri released him, and, if possible, Jesse got out of there faster than Dimitri had burst in. My mentor then turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but the angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear. And then it shifted. It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he'd never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was checking me out. As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face, my body. And I suddenly realized I was only in jeans and a bra – a black bra at that. I knew perfectly well that there weren't a lot of girls at this school who looked as good in a bra as I did. Even a guy like Dimitri, one who seemed so focused on duty and training and all of that, had to appreciate that. And, finally, I noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than Jesse's kisses had. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes, but he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into? ­well, sex. I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and – shit! What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with attitude. â€Å"You see something you like?† I asked. â€Å"Get dressed.† The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. That fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I immediately pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side. â€Å"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?† â€Å"Be quiet,† he snapped, leaning down so that we were at eye level. â€Å"A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?† â€Å"I know, I know, the whole probation thing, right?† â€Å"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in that kind of situation in the first place.† â€Å"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal.† Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child. â€Å"Stop calling me that. You don't know even know what you're talking about.† â€Å"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year.† â€Å"U.S.S.R. And it is a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So?† he looked disgusted. â€Å"So don't you have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me.† â€Å"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?† â€Å"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen.† His voice hardened again. â€Å"Now get back to your room – if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else.† â€Å"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?† â€Å"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you.† Ouch. I wanted to yell back that it was none of his business what I did with my body, but something about the anger and disappointment on his face made me falter. I didn't know what it was. â€Å"Disappointing† someone like Kirova was a non-event, but Dimitri ­I remembered how proud I'd felt when he praised me the last few times in our practices. Seeing that disappear from him? ­well, it suddenly made me feel as cheap as he'd implied I was. Something broke inside of me. Blinking back tears, I said, â€Å"Why is it wrong to? ­I don't know, have fun? I'm seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it.† â€Å"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands.† His voice still sounded firm, but there was a gentleness there too. â€Å"If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do things other girls could.† â€Å"But you're saying I can't.† He glanced away, and his dark eyes went unfocused. He was thinking about something far away from here. â€Å"When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction? ­Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed. â€Å"And it's too late.† A lump formed in my throat as I thought about one slip or one distraction costing Lissa her life. â€Å"Jesse's a Zeklos,† I said, suddenly realizing Dimitri had just thrown around a relative of his former friend and charge. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?† â€Å"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel.† â€Å"But it does bother you.† It suddenly became very obvious to me. I could read his pain, though he clearly worked hard to hide it. â€Å"You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him.† Dimitri looked surprised, like he didn't want me to know that, like I'd uncovered some secret part of him. I'd been thinking he was some aloof, antisocial tough guy, but maybe he kept himself apart from other people so he wouldn't get hurt if he lost them. Ivan's death had clearly left a permanent mark. I wondered if Dimitri was lonely. The surprised look vanished, and his standard serious one returned. â€Å"It doesn't matter how I feel. They come first. Protecting them.† I thought about Lissa again. â€Å"Yeah. They do.† A long silence fell before he spoke again. â€Å"You told me you want to fight, to really fight. Is that still true?† â€Å"Yes. Absolutely.† â€Å"Rose? ­I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this.† He gestured around the lounge. â€Å"Can I trust you?† Again, I felt like crying under that gaze, under the seriousness of what he asked. I didn't get how he could have such a powerful effect on me. I'd never cared so much about what one person thought. â€Å"Yes. I promise.† â€Å"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate the running, but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi are like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast? ­well, you can't even imagine. So I can't stop the running and the conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more trainings. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot.† I thought about it, about him, and about Lissa. â€Å"It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it.† He studied me hard, like he was still trying to decide if he could believe me. Finally satisfied, he gave me a sharp nod. â€Å"We'll start tomorrow.†

Is the UK economy out of recession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Is the UK economy out of recession - Essay Example But this hope was to prove a mirage as the trend reversed in subsequent months. Though the UK took a little while to catch up with the crisis in the United States, at the beginning of the second quarter of 2008, the region’s economy was in acute recession. It has been close to two years since the onset of recession in the UK and the economic condition of the region remains weak and vulnerable. While some economists assert that the turnaround is already underway, others take a more pessimistic view. This essay will try to answer this important question, by way of perusing scholarly and news media resources. (Lynch, 2009) The recession that began in early 2008 gave no signs of recovery even after one full year. As the industry data for third quarter 2009 revealed, the economy shrank a further 0.4 % in during this period, which completed the sixth consecutive quarter in decline. As per the Office for National Statistics, by this time â€Å"output has slumped 5.9% since the onset of recession - almost as bad as the 6% slump seen in the early 1980s. The lingering decline came despite interest rates at a record low of 0.5% since March, additional Government spending and an unprecedented pounds 175 billion boost to the money supply through quantitative easing† (Lynch, 2009). But even as the UK was enduring this economic decline, neighbouring countries such as France and Germany have already shown early signs of recovery. While neighbouring countries in Europe were already into recovery, it was only during the heralding of year 2010 that the UK economy showed clear signs of recovery. Financial experts have declared that technically the UK economy has emerged from recession, but concerns still remain about the stability and strength of the pound against the dollar and the euro. Due to the internal economic turmoil, there is a strong possibility for deflation of currency during

Is Monetary Policy Overburdened Literature review

Is Monetary Policy Overburdened - Literature review Example The monetary policy, today, is not expected to achieve goals it used to achieve before. Unemployment and inflation are speculated to persist if overburdening of the monetary policy continues. Whenever the employment rates suddenly increase, the central bank is forced to print more money for salaries, but, this is not a solution to inflation. During the crisis, central banks focused on price stability and at this time, they became independent institutions dominating the control of inflation without interference from the government. At that time, they achieved their goal in controlling inflation, but in 2008 and 2009, the inflation rate started increasing. The governments doubted on the credibility of central banks in maintaining price stability. Today, most central banks are not independent in their operations and that is why public policies from the government are overburdening the monetary policies. Price stability may not be realized if the public policies continue to overburden the monetary policies posing a threat to economies in the future (Orphanides 2013, p. 2). The monetary policy is aimed at stabilizing the price levels of goods and commodities in accordance with the state of the economy. The global financial crisis incorporated inflation which led to a continued increase in unemployment rates. Governments rushed to reduce their spending and reduce unemployment rates that resulted in overburdening of the monetary policy. The monetary policy has been practiced before and deflation was achieved, and thus, stabilizing the price levels. Before the financial crisis, discussions on what constitutes a good monetary policy run among the major central banks where they agreed on the practice of targeting inflation (Orphanides 2013, p. 2). At the first stages of the global financial crisis, disappointing growth was associated with many economies. The real GDP was maintained in countries like the US, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

Individual case study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Individual case study - Research Paper Example On ethical issues, Nike was faced with the challenge of providing the required wage for its workers. Although the company provided jobs for the locals of contractor countries, the pay was less, and this was unethical. In Vietnam worker were being paid about $1.6 per day, a pay that was way below their daily wage of $3 a day. In addition, workers were not given protective wear during work within Vietnam and other countries working on behalf of the company. For instance, it was confirmed that those working in areas with dangerous chemicals were not wearing glove and those in areas with poisonous gases were not given masks as is required by safety procedures. In amidst of all these, the company was reporting large profits and various organizations felt that the company was exploiting people and especially underage workers (Carroll, 2009). Nike experiences a challenge in developing a strict monitoring system to use in its contactor countries. This would ensure that issues like the amount of wages paid to workers and even working conditions are improved. In addition to this, such a system would ensure that workers are given protective wear and paid acceptable wages. The other challenge is the difficulties in establishing and hiring a competent body that would ensure proper and accurate accounting records. This has resulted to poor payment terms of those employed to work for the company and improper records. In addition to this, company has difficulties in determining the countries in which it would establish its branches. This is because of the legal requirements required by the countries in which it plans to establish its other companies. The host government in various countries played crucial roles in the establishment of contractors. For instance, host countries were involved in licensing Nike to carry out its manufacturing activities on their land. In addition to

Medical Model and Social Model of Health Assignment

Medical Model and Social Model of Health - Assignment Example This means every illness has another dimension, the dimension of perspective that deals with the ways that people explain and deal with illness and health. These perspectives may be unique, but the traditional medical model traditionally has tended to ignore these (Hart, 1985). In this assignment different such views from each school of thought will be dealt with backed by evidence from literature. It is hoped that the findings may be helpful in understanding of diseases from all angles so care delivery becomes more complete. Healthcare professionals work with patients in an established framework guided by medical and clinical insights. Obviously, this framework provides a narrow focus, although numerous people visit their care practitioners or clinicians daily for various reasons. The same is applicable for patients who are being treated in the hospitals as inpatients. Obviously, the reason for such care is illness. However, the question arises, is illness the only cause There are many reasons for which people deal with healthcare professionals, who are supposed to provide healthcare. ... It seems the medical model of care is placing extra attention to the medical part and the care part is gradually going into oblivion. Gradually mounting technological advances have indeed some role to play, but negligence about the existence of the social aspect of the care is also an important contributing factor. Many recent evidences suggest that "failing to effectively communicate about illness and treatment are the most frequent source of patient dissatisfaction" (Coulter 2002). Why does this discrepancy arise Research has now shown that there is a sociological aspect of health which plays a very prominent role in the patients. As an example, the issue of health beliefs can be considered. The patients' beliefs about health and disease have been implicated in health-related behaviours, uptake of health promotion and health education, perception of the symptoms, and in the patient-professional communications. In the medical model, beliefs were known to exert no significant effect, but they indeed can influence the experience of illness and even symptoms like pain. Acknowledgement of this fact from the social model may foster communication in the medical model, and a better understanding of the disease may lead to better outcome in medical treatments (St Claire et al., 1996). Mills (2000) has indicated that every time a patient and a care professional interact, the context would invariably be socially structured. Therefore, the personal experiences of these encounters must be understood within the frameworks of social and institutional relationships. Taking the case of coronary artery disease, it is now known that lifestyle associated risk factors play very important roles in genetically susceptible individuals. Cardiology practice is

The effect of family eldercare responsibilities on labour market Research Proposal - 1

The effect of family eldercare responsibilities on labour market involvement in South Africa and Canada - Research Proposal Example Gerontological research nowadays has placed emphasis more often on trends of family or informal care for the elderly in less developed countries Without the basic social services and assistance the vulnerable elderly in LDCs are a group exposed to significant risk. Nevertheless, according to Williams (2000), at present, majority of empirical findings indicate that a significant portion of the elderly population in developing countries depends on their own job or their families as their sole protection at later life periods. One important variable in the subject matter of family elder care is the participation rate of women in the labour force. Globally, the proportion of women in the work force grew significantly between 1970 and 1990 not including sub-Saharan Africa and ex-USSR where it dropped to some extent (Mueller 2000, 2). Former USSR, sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Southeast Asia have the highest rates whereas Southern and Western Asia and North Africa have the lowest (Muelle r 2000, 2-3). The rate of women’s labour force involvement may be indicative of the level of eldercare responsibility placed on women. A. Objective of the Research This study will try to compare the influence of family eldercare on the labour market, specifically the involvement of women in the work force, of South Africa (developing country) and Canada (developed country). It is the objective of this study to contribute to the insufficient understanding of the impact of informal or family care of the elderly on the composition of the labour market in developing and developed nations. B. Research Questions The primary question that this study will try to answer is what is the effect of family eldercare on the labour market of South Africa and Canada? More specifically, this study will attempt to address the following questions: a. Do women feel or think that they are more obliged to take care of the elderly in their families than their male counterparts? b. What is the typica l age at which working women initially take up obligations of eldercare? c. Do women decide to leave the work force if the obligation of caring for the elderly becomes onerous? C. Significance of Research Even though extensive consideration has been conferred over the recent years to the difficult endeavour of building equal status for men and women in the labour market, there have been comparatively very few methodical attempts to evaluate or measure the effect of family or informal eldercare obligations on males’ and females’ employment prospects, in that case, of labourers generally. Hence, this study hopes to give explanation of the implications for labour force involvement of choices made by women to assume eldercare responsibilities. II. Review of Related Literature Because of the dearth of available literature on the impact of family eldercare responsibilities on the labour market of South Africa and China the researcher will present in this section piecemeal in formation about ageing and the labour market of each of the two aforementioned countries. The next section will generally discuss the implication of family eldercare obligations on the labour market of both developing and developed countries. Nevertheless, it is important, above all, to discuss first the theoretical foundation of this study. A. Theoretical Paradigm In conceptualising the labour market in the perspective of the family, time distribution frameworks are suitable. The influential work

Immunology Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Immunology - Coursework Example Innate immunity is usually immediate and non-specific response. The Adaptive immune response is only activated when the pathogen evades the innate immunity. Adaptive immune response acts by recognition of the pathogen and retained after the pathogenic infection has been eliminated (Doan, 2008). The Humoral immune response is a branch of adaptive immune response. Humoral immune response act on pathogens that are outside the bed such as toxins and bacterias, during the response antibodies which are protein bodies present in the body are produced and secreted into the blood stream and other body fluids to help in fighting with the intruding agents by binding to them and destroying them (Doan, 2008). In the case of the student who was first exposed to the avian flu the humoral system retained the response given first hence when the student was infected again by the flu the immune response had the memory and hence acted on it faster than the first time (Doan, 2008). The T helper cells are responsible for suppressing and regulation of the innate responses. Low helper T cells results in hypersensitivity reactions to the patient because the body will view the host’s antigen presenting the antibody as foreign and go on to destroy all the host antigens. They include chemical, mechanical, and biological barriers. Chemically the skin produces an antimicrobial agent that protects against pathogens. Mechanically, sneezing helps to expel foreign bodies present in the respiratory tract. This response comes first after an infection. Cytokines are produced and they communicate with the white blood cells to recruit immune cells to the infection site hence healing takes place after removal of the pathogens (Doan,

Containing Acinetobacter Baumannii Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Containing Acinetobacter Baumannii - Case Study Example The pneumonia cases area further proof that indeed it was A.baumannii (Bruijn, 2011, p. 129). Among those most likely to get infected are those who recently had a surgical procedure, those with weak immune systems, those recently from an intensive care unit, and those with poor health. Someone who recently took antibiotics has a catheter or came into contact with another one harboring the bacteria also has a high chance of getting infected.   It is genetically transmitted from other organisms and found in pairs or in groups. It causes many life-threatening illnesses among them blood infection where it either enters through a catheter placed in one’s vein or when an infection spreads from another part of the body to the blood. It also causes meningitis especially after brain or spinal cord surgery; it could also occur if one has a drain or a shunt in their brain. Catheters used to drain urine put one at the risk of contracting A.baumannii and getting a urinary tract infection. Pneumonia is another disease caused by this particular bacteria strain (Bergogne-Bà ©rà ©zin and Fewson, 1991, p. 119).   Since A.baumannii is resistant to most first-line antibiotics among them Ciproflaxin, Gentamicin and Colistin and desiccation, containing an outbreak is usually a hard task for the health authorities. Besides requiring expensive drugs for its control, a lot of care needs to be taken to avoid further spread of the same (Schlossberg, 2008, p. 87). Research into its characteristics is also expensive, requiring a lot of equipment to isolate and test it. Since it also puts those inflicted by wounds at a higher level of infection, it is hard containing it in places with many injured people like wars. It also presents another hurdle in controlling it by causing diseases that have other causes (Bowden, Ljungman, and Snydman, 2010, p. 28).

Attitudes Towards Jewish Migration to Australia in the 1930s Essay Example for Free

Attitudes Towards Jewish Migration to Australia in the 1930s Essay Describe and account for attitudes towards Jewish migration to Australia in the 1930s (distinguishing between political and public attitudes). Did Australian policy towards Jewish refugees change significantly during and after war from what had prevailed in the 1930s? How would you explain the policy continuity or change? Throughout the 20th Century, the policy adopted by Australia towards Jewish migration can best be described as one of restriction and limitation. Australian political and public attitudes during the 1930s were influenced by fears of the Jewish community’s inability to assimilate into Australian culture, the threat that they may have posed on job security and standards of living as well as the potential for their arrival to stimulate extreme anti-Semitism problems within Australia. The outbreak of war and the publication of Jewish persecution in Europe did little to alter the feelings of insecurity towards Jewish communities in Australia. While there were some attempts to increase the arrival of Jewish people after World War II, the sentiment of the majority of the Australian population remained unchanged and restrictions on immigration were still enforced. This theme of underlying racial prejudice continued to shape Australian policy throughout this entire period. During the 1930s, it is evident that the Coalition Government, comprised of the United Australia Party and Australian Country Party, made attempts to restrict the immigration of Jews into the country. First and foremost, the recent Australian struggle through the Depression meant that the Government was intent on protecting the job security and living standards of the Australian populace. The migration of any foreign immigrants was therefore unpopular due to the threats it placed on the Australian worker. This policy became an excuse for limiting the number of Jewish refugees accepted into Australia and resulted in an increase of the amount of landing money required to five hundred pounds for alien immigrants. This requirement was difficult for the majority of Jewish refugees to satisfy, making their entry into Australia virtually impossible. This policy remained in place until 1936 when the amount required was reduced to two hundred pounds or fifty pounds with a guarantor. Due to the poor economic conditions that had been experienced in Australia throughout the 1930s, the Government was reluctant to increase Jewish migration when so many of the migrants were impoverished, meaning that they would place a further strain on the Australian economy. The Government was also reluctant to permit the entry of a significant number of Jewish refugees due to the belief of their inability to assimilate into Australian society compared with some other cultures. The Government believed that the Jews were a separate race due to their distinctly different religious beliefs and customs and that this would significantly inhibit their assimilation into the Australian population. Australia’s political attitude towards Jewish migration was made clear at the Evian Conference, a meeting for the discussion of Jewish refugees, in June 1938. Australia realised the importance of attending the meeting so as not to gain a bad reputation, however the outcome showed that the Government was unwilling to increase the number of Jewish immigrants into the country. At this international meeting, the Australian representative Colonel T. W. White stressed the idea that Australia did not suffer from internal racial problems and its desire to maintain these peaceful conditions meant that allowing ‘undesirable’ migrants into the country was not an option. Colonel White also made it clear that the Australian Government felt that as a young nation, the importance of maintaining a strong connection with its Anglo-Saxon roots was vital for the growth of the Australian population. At the conference, the nations present most often put forward the case that they had already done what they felt was enough in response to the refugee crisis without undermining the standards of living within their own countries. It was felt however, that due to the vast amounts of free space and low population compared to some other nations, Australia should take a greater role in accepting refugees as the economy would not be as degraded and these refugees had the potential to provide workers needed in primary and secondary industries. Despite the prevalence of this resistance to Jewish migration, it is evident that there was at least one politician who pushed for the Australian Government to accept more refugees. Stanley Bruce, a former Australian Prime Minister who moved to London and became the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom was well known on an international platform due to his appearance at numerous world conferences and meetings as an Australian representative. He pressed for Australia to take a more humanitarian approach to the issue of refugee migration, especially after the Kristallnacht in Germany and Austria in November 1938. He appealed for the Government to increase its quota to 0,000 refugees over a three year period, thereby doubling the 15,000 quota suggested by the Australian Government. With a large increase in the number of applications being made to Australia House for entry into Australia after the Kristallnacht, this number seemed reasonable to Bruce. Instead it was decided in December of 1938 that Australia would accept 15,000 refugees over three years. In comparison with the number of refugees that had been accepted over the past five years, this was a significant increase, however not enough to satisfy the humanitarian plight of Bruce. It is also evident that this quota was never reached as the outbreak of war in 1939 saw the termination of immigration and by this time only 7-8,000 refugees had been accepted into the country. While the Government was developing its policy regarding migration during the 1930s, politicians were under a significant amount of pressure from the Australian public to limit the growth of the Jewish population in Australia. Interestingly, this sentiment was felt from groups in both non-Jewish and Jewish communities in Australia. The Australian Jewish community were opposed to the large influx of Eastern European Jews due to the difference in language spoken which they felt would make it difficult for them to assimilate easily into Australian society with the help of the already established Jewish community. Another fear was that due to the impoverished state of the Jewish refugees, the Australian Jewish community would be burdened by the arrival of the poor refugees and thus their status within society would be diminished. It was also hard to convince the majority of the Australian populace of the benefits of a large migrant intake. It is evident that many Australians felt that the Jewish population would undermine the standards of living as well as pose threats to the security of their jobs, a prominent issue after the hardship of the Depression. There was belief that the Jews were far too distinguishable from the normal ‘Australian way of life’ through the way they dressed, their general behaviour and their religious customs. This sentiment was particularly strong amongst religious groups within Australia. For example a particular Anglican group felt that the Jewish community should not be welcomed on a large scale as their beliefs would challenge the traditional Christian teachings of many Australians. It was also feared that the establishment of a larger Jewish community in Australia may lead to the development of a strong anti-Semitic . movement within Australia. The Australian community was aware of the problems this had created in other nations and was fearful that the same problem would face Australians. Therefore, the preference of the public was for the migration of smaller numbers of Jews, as it was felt they could be more easily assimilated into Australian culture this way. The public resistance to migration was further evinced by the fact that members of the public made requests to the Government to create specific application requirements and toughen selection procedures in order to restrict the numbers of migrants who were able to meet these requirements. Throughout this period Australians were unaware of the atrocities that were to follow during the war period and so their priorities lay with the protection of the economy, maintaining standards of living and ensuring peaceful relations between members of society. Despite this widespread public sentiment, there was some pressure from the media to increase Jewish migration for humanitarian reasons. The Sydney Morning Herald and the West Australian both stressed the need to make a larger contribution to the refugee problem and expressed that Australia was in fact not doing enough to assist the refugees. It is also evident that within some professions, there was encouragement of refugee migration, for example some architects in New South Wales welcomed the arrival of Jewish migrants with an architectural background as they had the potential to bring with them new ideas and thus add to the cultural identity of Australia. However, such opinions were in the minority and there is increasing evidence that the majority of Australians, along with their political counterparts, were sceptical of the Jewish arrival and wished for only particular migrants to be allowed into the country that were non-intrusive and therefore able to assimilate easily. While Jewish migrants that entered Australia during the 1930s did their best to quickly assimilate into Australian society, the outbreak of war in 1939 prevented this from occurring as once more Jewish migrants were seen as aliens who threatened the security of Australia. Throughout the first few months of the war, newspapers around Australia detailed some of the atrocities occurring in Europe against the Jewish population. However by 1940 the large publication of this murderous activity had declined significantly. While the papers still published stories about the treatment of Jews in Europe, the Australian public was largely unaware of the extent of the persecution. With the world at war, Australians were fearful of people who had previous ties with Germany and the Nazis and therefore refugees were termed ‘enemy aliens’. In Britain this led to harsh internment policies of these potential spies, however in Australia the internment policy was more relaxed. It is evident however that even if the refugees were not interned during the war period they were often treated with hostility by other Australians. Jewish communities in Australia also had to deal with frequent police checks and restraints on their freedoms, such as the ability to own a radio. There is evidence to suggest that post-war attitudes to Jewish persons in Australia in many respects mirrored those of the pre-war years. After the direct attack on the Australian mainland during the second half of World War II, Australian Government policy was directed towards increasing the population so as not to leave the vast unoccupied lands in Northern Australia unprotected. For the first time, Australia began to look further than Britain for prospective migrants, although it is apparent that regardless of this, Jewish migration was still looked upon unfavourably. After World War II, both of the major political parties shared a similar view in relation to Jewish migration; that the emphasis should be placed on the arrival of British migrations in preference to any others. The newly appointed Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell’s policy in the early post-war years implied a restriction on Jewish migration. While he had introduced a family reunion scheme in which 2,000 survivors of the Holocaust could be united with family in Australia, this only lasted for a period of twelve months, after which time limitations on Jewish migration were increased. One such example was the limitation of the number of Jewish migrants per ship arriving in Australia to 25% of the total number of people travelling on the ship. The Liberal party policy under the Opposition leader Robert Menzies followed along the same lines as the pre-war policy in that Jewish migration should be kept at a minimum due to the potential for extreme anti-Semitism to develop in Australia and the impact that the migrants may have on Australian standards of living. Under the direction of Calwell, migrants were accepted through the Displaced Persons Scheme. Under this scheme there were 34,890 arrivals into Australia in 1946, of which only 187 were Jews. Of these 187 Jewish arrivals, only 156 were permanent migrants. This is an incredibly low number given the large number of Jewish people that would have been seeking respite after the end of the Holocaust in Europe. A statement regarding the migrant intake in 1946 by Calwell expressed his feelings that the Australian Government had done all that it could at the present time to assist with the post-war refugee problem. He also expressed that the Government was only able to accept refugees that already had family living in Australia with whom they could settle with due to the housing shortage being experienced at the time. The post war attitude of the Australian public towards Jewish migration attitude was also reminiscent of the 1930s period. Australians had developed a fear of foreigners after their close encounter with the Japanese during the second half of World War II. This insecurity led them to believe that Jewish migrants would smuggle opium into the country. The Jews were also criticised for their preference to establish communities within the city as opposed to rural areas where Australians thought migrants would make a more significant contribution to the development of the nation. There were numerous newspapers and magazines which circulated negative opinions towards the post-war migration of Jewish persons to Australia. For example an excerpt from the Bulletin in August 1946 detailed the feelings of many Australians at this time that Jewish migrants should be some of the last ethnic groups considered due to the tendency for them to form ghettoes and compete with Australians for jobs. One public attitude that did change was that of the Australian Jewish community. Instead of looking towards the Jewish refugees as a threat to their social status, after the horrors of the Holocaust, many people were keen to provide as much assistance as possible to the survivors. Therefore the Australian Jewish community were supportive of the Government’s family reunion programme and the seemingly humanitarian plight of Arthur Calwell at this time. Under increasing pressure from the public and other members of Government, Arthur Calwell’s humanitarian position on Jewish migration was changed to restrict Jewish immigration. From 1947 onwards the refugee immigration program ceased to exist and so the ability to migrate to Australia was determined by the suitability of the person for employment in Australia. This change in policy made it increasingly difficult for Jewish people to migrate to Australia as Peter Witting found when he and his family applied to leave Shanghai for Australia in 1947. It is also evident that the Australian Government made false claims that acceptance decisions were made without racial prejudice when the selection committee of the International Refugee Organisation in Australia were secretly told to select only migrants of Baltic background, thereby excluding Jews once again. Overall, it can be seen that Australia’s attitudes towards Jewish migration followed a similar pattern from the 1930s through to the immediate post-war years. The underlying feelings of Australians throughout this period were of anxiety, apprehension and hostility which ultimately impacted on the attitude of Australia towards migrants. The restrictions placed on migration in the 1930s via the quota system and high landing permit costs through to the opinions displayed at the Evian Conference portrayed an image that suggested an Australian fear of Jewish people. These feelings were motivated by the fear of the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia and threats to the security of Australian jobs and standard of living that the public and government believed Jewish migration would pose. These tensions remained during the war when the Government placed restrictions on the freedoms of Jewish people, who were considered a threat to the security of Australia. During the post-war period, despite the fact that there was some effort to increase the numbers of Jewish people entering Australia through Government policy and the support of the Jewish Welfare Society in Australia, the Australian public remained sceptical of the arrivals and the effects they would have on society. The further restrictions placed on Jewish migration after 1946 indicates that minimal changes to political and public opinion were evident over time and that racial prejudice against Jewish migrants still existed after the events of World War II.

The Romantic Movement Essay Example for Free

The Romantic Movement Essay The Romantic Movement was the beginning of a whole new form of poetry and was, in itself, a revolt against the very nature of the aristocracy and political agendas of the people in power. With that said, the Victorian Period was a shift away from Romanticism by its very literal focus on Queen Victoria and her whole reformation agenda, while the poets of the time kept the life of the Romantic Movement well within their writing. Moreover, some critics believe that poetry of the Victorian Period is a continuation into the third and fourth generation of poetry from the Romantic Movement which can be seen in the poetic writings of John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Browning, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. To begin with, John Keats’ â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† is perhaps one of the most romantic odes to an inanimate object ever seen. Near the end of the poem, in the final stanza, the speaker muses that â€Å"beauty is truth, truth beauty ,† which can be read as an obvious statement about love and beauty, or as a statement on the elusiveness that both true beauty and truth possess, which actually remarks on the ideals behind the foundation of the Romantic Movement. Either way, â€Å"Ode† is as purely romantic as poetry can get and proved to lay the groundwork for future poetry of the Romantic Movement. Samuel Taylor Coleridge took a different path and worked on the essence of beauty in nature as the speaker in â€Å"The Eolian Harp† goes on about â€Å"white flower’d Jasmin, and the broad-leav’d Myrtle,/(Meet emblems they of innocence and love! ) † and the harp’s â€Å"long sequacious notes/over delicious surges sink and rise/such a soft floating witchery of sound/as twilight Elfins make . † Rarely has a more romantic statement been uttered about a simple harp, but Coleridge is doing more than just personification, here. His poem is making a statement that the aristocracy cannot deny: political norms are out, and strong emotion for the beauty and sublimity of nature is in. Robert Browning takes a bite out of the Victorian aristocracy as well with his poem entitled â€Å"My Last Duchess. † In it, Browning, though well in the Victorian era, weaves a tale of a Duke who had his last wife, the Duchess, killed because of her trampy ways; which he ironically professes to admire as he looks upon her painting. But the Duke isn’t done with his line of many wives and hopes to marry the Count’s daughter with his â€Å"dowry†¦[for] his fair daughter’s self . † Browning is trite and dramatic, giving such personification to a painting, but he too speaks to the aristocracy with pure, delightful historical allusion. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s â€Å"Ulysses† strikes a completely different tune as he takes pure poetic license with his entirely enjambed lines and heroic to the point of transcendent verse. It is the tale of Ulysses (Odysseus) after he has finally returned from his twenty year voyage of hell on earth. It can be read as man’s struggle for existence now that his life has been returned, but strong romantic overtones fight their way to the forefront of this poem because life is not what it used to be for Ulysses. Ulysses is no longer the symbol of man vs. nature, as he has been transformed in this poem into man vs. himself. Perhaps the rise of Queen Victoria and her reign of politics and power had Tennyson parrying man vs. himself in an attempt to show the vain nature of the power players, but it can be seen from the striking emotional outpouring and powerful descriptions of nature that Tennyson remained influenced by the Romantic Movement. Overall, despite the rise of the Victorian Era, the powerful emotions and influence of the writings from the Romantic Movement refused to be replaced by odes to political figures because of the sheer amusement and pleasure poets like Browning and Tennyson found in their writings. Though they attempted to shield their emotional outpourings in allusions and aristocratic themes, their messages were not to be denied.

The Industry Of Portable Music Players Media Essay

The Industry Of Portable Music Players Media Essay Nowadays, most people in the world love to listen to the music. Some of them use it for relaxation, some for inspiration and energy, but regardless of the reasons, music became an important part of our lives. This is proved by the fact that now we can meet more and more people with earphones in their ears while walking, going in subway or even working. Portable audio players are now as popular as the Beatles were in the 1960s (Biersdorfer 2009). Each era has its musical carrier. The 60s and 70s were marked by ribbons in rolls and phonograph records; 80s were marked by the advent of cassettes. Time passed and the carries changed; audio players became more portable, tech. The romance has gone away, and only practical issues remained the music moved into digital format (GreenFacts 2008). Just now we have ipod, Iriver and many more brands under which the players are produced. But thirty years ago such a thing as a portable music player, did not exist at all. There were weighty reel and cassette recorders, record players. There was no opportunity of spending time listening to favorite tracks. But the idea was hovering somewhere in the air and waited for its genius. The Japanese were the first who started to develop the idea of portable music players (Krakow 2005). Even now, not everything is known about the exact creation of the first portable music player. There are two major and quite implausible versions: according to the first one, an engineer Nobutoshi Kihara created it for the head of Sony, so he could listen to music during long trips through the ocean. According to the second the idea of a portable cassette recorder was created by Akio Morita himself (founder of Sony). Watching his children all days long listening to the stereos of their favorite the Beatles and Elvis, he need the device for listening to music, which he could take everywhere with him. He insisted player not to have recording function. And it was a bold move, considering that most of desktop cassette recorders were very popular thanks to their ability to record music (Clements 1994). Sony guessed the desire of the public. The result was an absolute bestseller. In 1979, a small cassette player Walkman TPS-L2 was released. Although it was the first of its kind, it cost not so much $ 200. The first Walkman players used magnetic audio cassettes and looked bulky a little bit. Sony first advertised that series in Japan, in 1979. Walkmans where almost always powered by two AA batteries and provided rather good quality music if the cassette was of good quality (Hart-Davis 2004). Over time, Walkman TPS-L2 was recognized as one of the greatest inventions of the company. Or even the best in history in general. According to rating of the 50 best devices created by mankind made by the magazine PC World, the first place was awarded L2, seized the gold medal even from iPod. After that Sony decided not to stop: and in 1980 gave the world the first prototype of CD. And four years later the first portable model Sony Discman D50 appeared. It cost accordingly $ 500 (Glenn 2006). The capacity of the first CD was 640 MB, and that number was not occasional. Morita made a research, which provided a very interesting data. It was found that potential buyers of CDs are the people who preferred to listen to classical music. Taking the most popular in Japan, Ninth Symphony by Beethoven, which lasts almost 74 minutes, the engineers transferred 74 minutes of 16th-bit sound into bytes, and received 640 MB (Grey 2010). While many people still think that such a size of a disc is just a technical limitation, it is not so. Some time later the discs with 700 and even 800 MB were created, although the laser parameters were not changed. One way or another, Sony has always focused on the needs of the buyer. And it was the main secret of success of the company during the period from 70s to 90s, when the vendor has acquired an impeccable reputation and tremendous respect among consumers (Lungu 2008). Bit in the 1990s the Japanese did a mistake, creating its own ATRAC audio format and new carriers Mini Disc. Work in those areas could easily turn into a success. Mini Disc was significantly less than the conventional CD, consequently, as the players for them. The first player with new carrier, Sony Walkman MD MZ1, was compact in comparison with the first CD-models. But cost too much $ 750 (Martin 2009). In general a good venture suffered from fiasco. In Japan, the new invention was greeted very warmly, but the unyielding American market categorically rejected the creation of a new Sony. Sales of mini-discs in Russia were more very poor. The market had plenty of cheap CD-players, which were much easier to use than the new Mini Disc with the new format ATRAC. The failure of the ATRAC was because of the need to transcode music from CDs to digital format individual files. That dubious necessity took away five minutes of time on the transcoding of each record. On the one hand, it was a breakthrough the recordings could be kept not on the compacts, but in the computer. But that fact also gave a big disadvantage: those days there were not so many computers and they were very slow and space on hard drive was not enough for music collections (Gross 2007). In addition, music in ATRAC was protected by a system of copy protection OpenMG the invention of Sony. Such records could not be listened to on another computer or player. The users were not satisfied by that fact. If the failure of MD-players on the ATRAC was assumed, the refusal to support released in 1995 MP3 was a colossal folly. Many companies, including Sony, underestimated the prospects for MP3. The people understood the beauty of the new format. By 1998 hard drives were already able to accommodate a small audio collection, and the computers coped with encoding audio CDs to MP3. In addition, relatively small files could be easily sent over the Internet. So, none then needed that problematic ATRAC (Ruckert 2003). So, in 1998, a rather unknown Korean company Saehan Information Systems released its first MP3-player called MPman F10. No discs were used; there was used a flash memory of 32MB. A low price and ease of filling the music through an LPT port showed that in the very near future, such players would have to become megapopular. The first MP3-player on the hard drive HanGo PJB-100 appeared a year later. It was huge as a brick (150h80h26 mm), incredibly expensive ($ 800), but with the memory of 4.8 GB. About 4500 minutes of music at a bitrate of 128 kbps (Dixon 2006). The first player with hard drive was developed by Compaq, but has begun to be made in late 1999 under license by Hango and was called Personal JukeBox. PJB-100 had anti-shock buffer and could accommodate about a hundred of CDs to the hard disk with the capacity of 4.8 GB. It was chubby black player with a screen to navigate directly to albums and songs. Player Creative Nomad Jukebox with 6 GB of capacity released in September 2000, it still weighed a lot (about 450 g), but looked like a portable CD-player. Player Creative provided an opportunity to play WAV-files and the firmware update also allowed to listen to files in Microsoft WMA (Shamoon 2009). In 2000, Kenwood has developed a portable CD-player DPC-MP727, which could play a CD with WMA-file, and in 2001 it introduced the Rio Volt combined portable CD-player capable to play both audio CD, and CDs with MP3-files. It was possible to use a simple list of songs in M3U, but players with hard drives and flash memory worked on battery power longer (Humphries 2009). The high price and smaller convenience led to the fact that removable media did not become popular in the MP3-players. That time, the company I2Go released player based on a miniature hard drive IBM MicroDrive. In the MP3-player with a small size it was possible even to insert two hard drives of 1 GB MicroDrive, but it cost $ 2000 (Keppler 2010). I2Go ceased to exist after giving its promotional samples to all the nominees at the Oscar awards ceremony in 2000. Iomega applied the same approach in players HipZip, which used much less expensive carriers Click on the 40 MB (PocketZip); cost $ 10 each. Players HipZip reproduced audio format WMA, AAC and MP3. The problem was in this: despite the fact that it was technically possible to support a capacity of 60 or 80 MB, Iomega preferred 40 MB in order more discs were bought. Alas, but to record 60 minutes of CD quality music on a disk with the capacity of 40 MB with no appreciable loss of quality is impossible (Green 2007). Sony has developed its first digital music player in 2000, but it was not named Walkman and could not play MP3-files. Player MC-P10 Music Clip MP3 encoded files to ATRAC3, used by MiniDisc (and all music devices until the production of Sony phones Sony Ericsson Walkman). Then the player was renamed to Memory Stick Walkman and got a slot for flash cards Memory Stick, but it still played only ATRAC-files. In 2001, Nike introduced its first sport player Nike PSA Play, lightweight flash-player with large buttons, wrist holder and a neoprene case. In the same year Intel released the first MP3-player with a 128 MB Pocket Concert, but it wasnt very popular. And in October 2001, Apple announced the first 5 GB iPod (Khan, Joshua 2010). So, the year of 2001 was a turning point, and certainly a landmark for the entire industry of portable players. That year, changed not only the way of listening to music, but the entire music industry changed. Instead of strange Japanese and gloomy Korean players there appeared a legendary iPod. Known for its thought-out products, Apple approached the creation of the player thoroughly: great headphones were added to iPods, also there was attached a mechanical scroll wheel and provided excellent audio chip. Later, wheel became a touch and it remains the same till today. In addition, Apple was the first that equipped the player with 1.8-inch hard disk drive of 5 GB that previously used only in subnotebooks (Sturm 2010). There were also players with the capacious hard drives, but they cost a lot, were hefty, and the volume of 20 GB was simply not needed. IPod has become the golden mean between the storage capacity, size, and adequate price. Plus, the design made by Apple couldnt remain anyone indifferent. And Sony, having lost all credibility and respect of the public, went into hibernation for almost five years during which we have not seen a single item product. Awareness of errors came rather late: only last year it was decided to abandon the format ATRAC and SonicStage. So, during the last eight years the market of portable players grew much faster than in the ` 90s. The demand for MP3 players appeared. The company Archos, was the first that established in the PMP a full color screen. Since 2004, there was the fashion on video every player then was not only to play music but movies also. Players got new functions in the Rio Karma there was a support of an alternative format OGG, which was popular in 2003. Then, Archos has done absolutely useless trick, folding player and a simple digital camera AV300. The idea, however, completely failed (Zimmer 2009). The attempt of Creative to make a smart player, also failed. UMPC ZEN PMC looked cool in 2004, but it was absolutely useless: firstly, because of the size, and secondly, because of Windows CE. The little player Diva GEM has introduced Bluetooth, but in 2004 it was unclaimed. But the year of 2005 gave us the iPod nano that is after all, the best of our days. Attractive appearance, small size, good price, quality of Apple thats the whole secret of success (AsanWay 2010). Then music players were modified with different touch-screens and other implementations. The development of media players in general is very interesting to watch you never know how things will turn will there be a new trend maker or a new, unknown function will become standard? It is difficult to guess even a year ahead, because Portable Music Players are popular now and the technology is developing very quickly.

Technology and Music †Baroque, Boole, Binary, Beams, and Bach :: Technological Musical Music Essays

Technology and Music – Baroque, Boole, Binary, Beams, and Bach Is this merely a clever alliteration or a deep connection between science, mathematics, and western culture entirely overlooked? The following seeks to join these five B's in an intimate manner, bringing to light this seemingly complex connection. Part I: Baroque and Bach Chromaticism and elaborate forms of ornamentation characterize the Baroque period of music. In fact, this period, lasting from the late sixteenth century through the early eighteenth century, marked the first period in which composers truly used harmony in music. In addition, this period brought to fame many composers whose music is still enjoyed today including Pachelbel, Handel, Haydn, Vivaldi, and Bach. Born in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach (hereafter Bach) made himself one of the most renowned western composers of all time. Johann Ambrosia Bach, Bach's father, and Johann Christoph Bach, Bach's brother, trained Bach in music at a very young age. In 1703 at the age of 18, Bach began a series of jobs as organist in Arstadt. Twenty years later, Bach became cantor and choral director at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He held this distinguished position until his death. Before his death in 1750, though, Bach had had two wives (the first died in 1720) and 20 children some of whom became musicians as well. He had written such notable pieces as the Brandenburg concertos, "The Art of the Fugue," various religious compositions including the "Mass in B minor" and the "St. John Passion," numerous fugues, preludes and overtures, and more than 300 cantatas. Bach's "Overture Number 3: Air" is a composition often played at weddings, graduations and the like. Though it is only about four and one half minutes in length, it is one of my personal favorites, and will be noted later as this odd connection continues. Part II: Boole and Binary George Boole, a self-taught mathematician and logician, was born in England in 1815 (approximately 65 years after Bach's death). In 1854, he published "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities." Therein can be found the basis for substituting symbols for the words in the language of logic, thus Boolean algebra is born. Today, computer scientists often use Boolean to relate sets of data. Using the words AND, OR, NOT, IF, and EXCEPT, a Boolean algebraist can determine the truth of a statement as well as rewrite the statement in a more understandable form. Technology and Music – Baroque, Boole, Binary, Beams, and Bach :: Technological Musical Music Essays Technology and Music – Baroque, Boole, Binary, Beams, and Bach Is this merely a clever alliteration or a deep connection between science, mathematics, and western culture entirely overlooked? The following seeks to join these five B's in an intimate manner, bringing to light this seemingly complex connection. Part I: Baroque and Bach Chromaticism and elaborate forms of ornamentation characterize the Baroque period of music. In fact, this period, lasting from the late sixteenth century through the early eighteenth century, marked the first period in which composers truly used harmony in music. In addition, this period brought to fame many composers whose music is still enjoyed today including Pachelbel, Handel, Haydn, Vivaldi, and Bach. Born in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach (hereafter Bach) made himself one of the most renowned western composers of all time. Johann Ambrosia Bach, Bach's father, and Johann Christoph Bach, Bach's brother, trained Bach in music at a very young age. In 1703 at the age of 18, Bach began a series of jobs as organist in Arstadt. Twenty years later, Bach became cantor and choral director at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He held this distinguished position until his death. Before his death in 1750, though, Bach had had two wives (the first died in 1720) and 20 children some of whom became musicians as well. He had written such notable pieces as the Brandenburg concertos, "The Art of the Fugue," various religious compositions including the "Mass in B minor" and the "St. John Passion," numerous fugues, preludes and overtures, and more than 300 cantatas. Bach's "Overture Number 3: Air" is a composition often played at weddings, graduations and the like. Though it is only about four and one half minutes in length, it is one of my personal favorites, and will be noted later as this odd connection continues. Part II: Boole and Binary George Boole, a self-taught mathematician and logician, was born in England in 1815 (approximately 65 years after Bach's death). In 1854, he published "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities." Therein can be found the basis for substituting symbols for the words in the language of logic, thus Boolean algebra is born. Today, computer scientists often use Boolean to relate sets of data. Using the words AND, OR, NOT, IF, and EXCEPT, a Boolean algebraist can determine the truth of a statement as well as rewrite the statement in a more understandable form.

Florida’s Literacy Problem Essay -- Teaching Education Essays

Florida’s Literacy Problem Despite numerous literacy-promoting programs all over the state of Florida, literacy still remains a problem for this state. People just don’t seem to want to waste their precious free time staring at words on a piece of paper, but would rather stare at moving pictures on a screen. Obviously this is a problem, as Florida’s FCAT scores are less then perfect when compared to the scores of the rest of the nation. Something needs to be done to get Florida reading. It may be unfair to attribute all of Florida’s reading problems to television. Not everyone in Florida has cable or even owns a TV. Many poor children have no permanent home and therefore do not have the necessary conditions to learn to read as well as their middle-class counterparts. There are also...

Respect, Coercion and Religious Belief :: Religion Argumentative Argument Papers

Respect, Coercion and Religious Belief In this paper, I articulate and evaluate an important argument in support of the claim that citizens of a liberal democracy should not support coercive policies on the basis of a rationale they know other citizens reasonably reject. I conclude that that argument is unsuccessful. In particular, I argue that religious believers who support coercive public policies on the basis of religious convictions do not disrespect citizens who reasonably regard such religious convictions as false. I Somewhere near the heart of much contemporary liberal political theory is the claim that if the state restricts an agent's liberty, its restrictions should have some rationale that is defensible to each of those whose liberty is constrained. Liberals are committed to the "requirement that all aspects of the social order should either be made acceptable or be capable of being made acceptable to every last individual." But there are many kinds of claim which are particularly controversial, many about which we expect reasonable disagreement. Coercive policies should not be justified on the basis of such controversial grounds; rather, they should enjoy public justification. That coercive policy should enjoy public justification implies that political actors are subject to various principles of restraint, that is, that they should restrain themselves from supporting policies solely on the basis of excessively controversial grounds. The point of advocating restraint is to achieve a minimal moral conception, a core morality, which is rationally acceptable to all and which provides the ground rules for political association. In what follows, I evaluate what I take to be the most compelling argument in support of restraint. For ease of exposition, I shall refer to this argument as the argument from respect. What is that argument? First an informal formulation. Suppose that John supports some policy which has important consequences for the welfare of a certain type of animal, say, the spotted owl. Since spotted owls can suffer, and since they are conscious of their suffering, John should take into consideration the interests of the spotted owl; when determining whether or not to support logging in old growth forests, John should include in his moral calculus the suffering generated by the devastation of the spotted owl's natural habitat. John's position regarding the propriety of logging in old growth forests doesn't just affect owls, of course; it also affects loggers like Mary. Mary, like John, must come to grips with the issues raised by the destruction of old growth forests.

Macau Pension Fund Essay

According to the Act 84/89/M, Social Security fund would provide subsidies or assistance for unemployed, sick and retired people. This was the so-call â€Å"the first tier of social security†. At the same time, SSF was positioned as a financially independent fund under the local government. In Macau, Pension fund is included in the SSF, and there is no separation between the management of pension fund and SSF. Instead, pension fund is considered as an expense from the aspect of financial management. All the working people, including non-permanent and permanent residents, are required to contribute to SSF in each month. If they have contributed enough amounts, they can get part of or all the pension fund payment after retirement. Since 1993, the government was gradually enlarging the coverage of pension fund beneficiary. So far, most unemployed or workless people, such as housewife, could join the voluntary contributions program. After certain periods of contribution, those people are also entitled to the pension fund payment from SSF once they are over 60. 2. 0 Current Problems As a financially independent fund, SSF is supposed to maintain the operation with the contribution as its major income. However, government funding has already become the most important income of SSF in recent years. In 2010, government budget and funding from gaming tax accounted for 92% of the total income of SSF (see figure 1). For the pension fund, many people stated that the pension fund payment, maximum MOP 2,000, is not enough under the high-inflation economy. Some academies also claim that the contribution is not enough to maintain the budget balance of SSF. After all, government announced the predictable deficit of SSF since 2014 and bankruptcy in 2020 without government funding, which cause the heated discussion in Macau. 3. 1 Insufficient Contribution According to the SSF regulation, a resident who have contributed to SSF for 30 years is qualified to get MOP 2,000 per month after retirement at 65. Actually the monthly contribution to SSF has been fixed at MOP 45 per person since 1998, which means the total contribution in 30 years would be returned in 9 months after retirement. Figure 1: Income of SSF in 2010 The contribution in 2010 only accounted for 5. 35% of the annual income of SSF and 24. 4% of the pension fund payment. In other words, the contribution is obviously insufficient to support the pension fund payment. The pension fund payment has been increased from MOP 800 in 1995 to MOP 2,000 recently, so as other subsidies and assistances. Therefore, the government kept increasing funding for SSF to prepare for the increasing outcome. Millions (MOP) Figure 3: Social security expenditures by SSF 3. 2 Insufficient Pension Fund Payment According to the poverty line set up by Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the people with an income level lower than half of median income should be considered as poor people. Referring to 2011 median income published by Macau Statistics and Census Service, people have income lower than MOP 5,000 per month should be classified as needy. However, the maximum amount of pension fund payment is MOP 2,000, only 40% of the poverty line. The payment is even lower than the minimum subsistence index for one-person family, which is MOP 3,000 after the adjustment by Macau government on 1 Apr 2012. In view of this, some communities and organizations have called for further raise of pension fund payment. 3. 3 Inefficient Management Rate of Return Percentage Inflation Rate Figure 2: Investment return of SSF balance and Macau inflation rate Given the enlarging funding from government, the balance of SSF have increased from MOP 1. 5 billion in 2006 to MOP 6. 2 billion in 2010. However, it has been shown in Figure 2 that the investments return of SSF balance is just a bit higher than the inflation. During the financial crisis, there was even a negative return recorded in 2008. By ignoring year 2008, there is still a downward trend of the return. According to the 2010 annual report of SSF, 72. 43% of SSF balance was deposited into local bank, the remaining proportion was entrusted to fund managing company for only low-risk investments. Under the fix-rate hedging between MOP and HKD, the interest rate of Macau is close to interest rate in Hong Kong, which is similar to US interest rate. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Fed has applied the ultra low interest rate and the interest rate is believed to be maintained until 2014. So, a 72. 43% of deposit in an investment portfolio is reasonably considered as inefficient. 3. 4 Irregular government subsidies In 2008 Macau government introduced the â€Å"Wealth Partaking Scheme†. Each permanent resident will receive the cash check issue by government and each non-permanent residents would received 60% of the partaking amount to permanent resident. The aim of the scheme is to share the result of economic development under the high-inflation economy. However, in some people’s view, the scheme has been considered as supplement of social security and thus expected to transfer the scheme into regular subsidies. Beside the partaking scheme, Macau government established the â€Å"Central Saving Plan† – to inject certain capital into individual account of all the permanent attained the age of 22 in the year. The government claimed that the plan is â€Å"the second tier of social security† and the plan will enhance the living security of retired people. Under the government regulation, people could withdraw the saving fund only when they are over 65 or in urgent needs.

Research Study on Organizational Commitment Essay

IntroductionOrganizational commitment is an organizational member’s psychological connection or feeling of belongingness to the organization CITATION Edu15 l 1033 (Educational Portal). This commitment to an organization creates a feeling of passionate affection within a stakeholder of an organization, creating a desire for that / those individual(s) to do anything necessary for the organization to succeed. Organizational commitment is an indispensably huge role that determines whether a stakeholder will remain at the organization willingly, if given a choice. This is a determinant as to whether this individual will produce at the top of his skill index to ensure that the organization moves much closer, or in the direction of its goals. According to the three- component model (TCM), the organizational commitment is made up of three unique components. These are affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Affective commitment encompasses the love for your career or job. This happens when one has a strong feeling of emotional attachment to their organization or company, and zealously works to promote the interests of that organization. These people have internalized the organization’s values, vision and goals, and have a sincere feeling of wanting to work for the organization for a longer period CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This happens when the employee is happy at their workplace. There are factors that will normally contribute to this affection. Some of the reasons include freedom of thought and innovation, appreciably good salary, better employee terms among other things that could make employees feel that they are important and are valued by their employer. Whatever these reasons are, this affection is imperative to the organizational success. Hypothesis: Employees who are treated in a respectful manner in an ethics based organization are more likely to be happier than employees that belong to a profit oriented organization. Continuous commitment is an express fear of loss. This kind of commitment comes by when employees measures up the advantages and disadvantages of being at the organization compared to their exit CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This comes as a result of a realization that staying at your current position in your company has better terms or benefits than leaving the company. For instance, if one wanted to move from one company or organization, they will not only consider monetary benefits, but a number of other parameters. These parameters include employee terms of welfare, available position of responsibility within the new organization, among other benefits one stands to lose or gain. Another reason could be completely unrelated to profession; one could be attached to their friends at the organization, that moving from the organization is a risk of breaking these bonds. The relentlessness of the continuance commitment increases with advancement of age and professional responsibi lity. Those who are so advanced in both of these factors will feel a certain kind of inertial force that hardly allows them to leave. Hypothesis: People who have successively progressed up the ladder within an organization, and / or age feel the severity of continuance commitment the most. Normative Commitment is the sense of obligation that one feels for an organization. Some people feel that it is the right thing to do, for them to belong to the organization they do belong to. This sense of belongingness occurs even when one is not happy with their position. They are often held back from pursuing even better opportunities CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This feeling could arise from an array of reasons. A great example is a son working at their father’s firm, He will get a kind of virtual family pressure to weigh the burdens of the organization in order to make it successful. Even if there existed better opportunities, this son will turn them down for the sake of keeping their parents happy. Another scenario that could occur is when a wife works for an organization within a region. The job she does could only be offered by only her current company within the whole region or even country. Due to her domestic responsibilities, she cannot leave to pursue her career interests in another region of the country. This sense of obligation could drain the company of energy because normally, there is no zeal to work, but one will only perform at an average. Hypothesis: more married people will tend to work for a certain firm on a normative commitment basis than the single professionals. All the above forms of commitment are segments of organizational employee response due to certain organizational behaviors. The underlying fact is that employees have their personal needs, and will tend to place these interests first. When these interests are well provided for, the employees will automatically feel appreciated and will tend to happily offer service to the organization. As it has been stressed before, happy employees make more productive and successful companies CITATION And14 l 1033 (Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi, 2014). On a practical scale, companies like Google have benefited from employee first approach. The company has invested a lot in employee support and satisfaction while allowing for imagination, creativity and innovation CITATION Kel14 l 1033 (Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, 2014). Some companies have got it right while others are yet to get it right. We carried a research into the various aspects that contribute to this phenomenon of organizational commitment. We use different techniques to measure or research into different Organizational behavior, including self-reporting scales, behavioral observation and organizational records analysis such as performance appraisal forms, time card data, absenteeism rates, productivity indices In this research, we use the self-reporting scales. Self-report study involves use of questionnaires, surveys or polls that let respondents respond to questions in a manner the respondents choose. This kind of survey is focused on extracting information from participants about their attitudes, feelings and beliefs on certain topics. It could be a form of interview, provision of answers to open and closed questions, rating scales, fixed choice questions among others. Reliability on these methods is dependent upon their consistence in providing similar results if used repeatedly in similar circumstances. Validity of the response is also a matter of concern. Especially for questionnaires, respondents may or may not give accurate or sincere answers to certain questions depending on the parameters provided. For example, Anonymous questionnaires or response forms are more likely to produce valid answers. In this survey, we carried a survey in which we asked various questions related to the hypotheses stated in within this document. We adopted the anonymous response questionnaire system to enhance validity of our research. We asked them to rate different departments, work conditions and parameters. The respondents were to respond to questions regarding the hypotheses. They were requested to rate the questions on four guided answers: Strongly agree, Agree, strongly disagree, and agree. Our respondents were 30 employees of different organizations. Results             We set ourselves to find out the validity of three hypotheses regarding the tenets of organizational commitment. These hypotheses stated as follow: Hypothesis 1: Employees who feel appreciated are happy and are more likely to be affectively committed to an organization Hypothesis 2: older employees and those who get promoted are likely to stay within an organization out of continuance commitment Hypothesis 3: most married people are normatively committed to organizations. The validity of our hypotheses had some concurrence with our respondents. However, what the survey disqualified is the sense of promotion as a determining factor to employee continuance commitment. Instead, the people who got promoted in organizations were the productive cream of the organization. This means that they felt a conviction to work for the organization. Such people were comfortably placed within the category of affective commitment. Conclusion             The survey conducted was successfully concluded and in our finding, hypothesis 1 was completely valid as most people agreed with it. Hypothesis 2 produced mixed reactions. Most agreed that older people were committed to the organization due to continuance commitment. Hypothesis 3 was completely valid as most people agreed with this hypothesis. All respondents had their reasons, as evident on their additional comments, including fear of family strain and divorce for the third hypothesis. References BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Educational Portal. (n.d.). Organizational Commitment: Definition, Theory & Types. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Educational Portal: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/organizational-commitment-definition-theory-types.html Mind Tools. (n.d.). The Three Component Model of Commitment. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/three-component-model-commitment.htm Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, a. D. (2014, february 10). Happiness and Productivity. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, K. (2014, March 21). Google is right: We work better when we’re happy. Retrieved jaanuary 28, 2015, from futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org/work-better-happy/ Source document