“Is the technology accelerating to collapse the society?” Essay

I There was a time when people used to live a very miserable life and had to work hard in the fields to produce food for themselves. But for the last hundred years or so our quality of life has been gradually improving and today we have sophisticated machines that can do all that hard work for us and make our existence relatively easy and comfortable. Without a doubt, we owe this all to the fast development of our technology. However, the growth of technology has been made possible due to cheap energy which started to be available a little less than three hundred years ago when fossil fuels came into use. Thanks to this abundant and relatively cheap energy provided by fossil fuels humans have been able to exploit a rich variety of resources which created favorable conditions for the development of technology and improved their quality of life. Fossil-driven technology has particularly contributed to â€Å"the development of mechanized agriculture† which has allowed an insignificant number of farmers to â€Å"work vast tracts of land† and produce food in abundance. Sufficient amounts of food have led to â€Å"a wild growth of population†: around 1800 world population was one billion; by 1930 it reached two billion; by the beginning of the 1960s it was three billion; in 1975 – four billion; in 1986 – five billion; and the world’s present population is approaching six billion. In other words, the progress of our society has been based on the development of fossil-driven technology. But the exhaustion of fossil fuels is not far off and there is no other energy source which would be abundant and cheap enough to replace them. It means that our society as we know it today is likely to collapse. (Price, David. Energy and Human Evolution) â€Å"The Age of Exuberance is over, population has already overshot carrying capacity, and prodigal Homo sapiens has drawn down the world’s savings deposits. † (Catton, William. Industrialization: Prelude to Collapse) II Throughout human history many societies have prospered and collapsed; their collapses have direct relevance to the problems we face today. The ancient Maya, for example, were one of the most powerful and advanced societies of the past. Eighty percent of Maya society consisted of peasants who practised intensive slash and burn agriculture, growing mostly corn. (Heinberg, Richard. Meditations on Collapse) During the Classic period of Maya history which arose around A. D. 250 the Maya population â€Å"increased almost exponentially† and reached the highest numbers in â€Å"Page # 2† the eighth century A. D. (Diamond, Jared. The Last Americans. Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization) One reason why the ancient Maya collapsed was population growth which outstripped available resources. While Maya population was steadily increasing, the area of farmland was decreasing as a result of â€Å"deforestation and hillside erosion†. Another reason was constant warfare which peaked before the collapse as more and more Maya people had to fight over fewer resources. These problems were also exacerbated by a series of droughts. And the final reason for the Classic Maya collapse was political. The coming crisis was not recognized and responded to by the kings and nobles. It can be explained by the fact that the Maya elite remained fixated â€Å"on the short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments, competing with one another, and extracting enough food from the peasants to support all those activities†, and did not focused on long-term problems. (Diamond, Jared) they did not â€Å"have the leisure to focus on long-term problems, insofar as they perceived them† Today there are many signs of the above-mentioned strands in the United States, the world’s leading power, which is also at the peak of its power and is suffering from numerous environmental problems. Many parts of the United States, for example, â€Å"face locally severe problems of water restriction† (southern California, Arizona, the Everglades, the Northeast), forest fires which result from â€Å"logging and forest-management practices† (intermontane West), losses of farmlands because of salinization, drought, and climate change (northern Great Plains). It is a fact that the environmental problems which exist nowadays in the United States are still modest compared with those of the rest of the world. But the problems of environmentally devastated and overpopulated distant countries are now American problems as well. (Diamond, Jared) Globalization means nothing more than improved worldwide communications and transport systems and at present America is tightly connected to many overseas countries. Intentionally or unintentionally, such things as terrorists, diseases (AIDS, SARS, cholera, West Nile fever), unstoppable numbers of legal and illegal immigrants can easily travel or be sent from the Third â€Å"Page # 3† World to the United States. Modern America depends considerably on the rest of the world and â€Å"political stability anywhere in the world† now affects the USA and its trade routes, overseas markets and suppliers. The ancient Maya were globalized only within the Yucata? n because of their transportation which was slow, short-distance and had low cargo capacity. We live today in a globalized world because our transport is much more rapid and â€Å"has much higher cargo capacity†. (Diamond, Jared) The reasons why past societies failed to anticipate and solve problems before they developed, â€Å"still can be seen operating today†. On the one hand, it is obvious that the possibility of collapse is not taken seriously by our political elite and society. And even when this problem is recognized, â€Å"those in power may not attempt to solve it because of a clash between their short-term interests and the interests of the rest of us†. Pumping oil, cutting down trees, and catching fish which is dying out bring the elite money and prestige but it is â€Å"bad for society as a whole† in the long run. On the other hand, when the problem is recognized and action is being taken it may be difficult for us â€Å"to acknowledge the wisdom of policies† that clash with some of our current benefits. (Diamond, Jared) III The scientific conclusion of many respected geologists, physicists, and investment bankers around the world as to the future of the present society is not encouraging at all: â€Å"civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon†. (Life After the Oil Crash) Our technology-driven economic system is characterized by a high consumption of renewable and non renewable resources – from food to forests, from fresh water to soil – which are disappearing quickly. (Ehrenfeld, David. The Coming Collapse of the Age of Technology) Modern societies depend on technological development and every part of our technology depends on the energy which comes from fossil fuels; and they supply nearly 75% of the world’s energy. At the rate of consumption that we have today known reserves of petroleum will be gone in about 35 years; natural gas in 52 years; and coal in some 200 years. And the demand for energy is â€Å"expected to grow at an ever-quickening pace†. (Price, David) Modern food production is fossil fuel â€Å"Page # 4† and petrochemical powered; commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which in turn is made from natural gas; farming machines such as tractors and trailers are constructed and powered using oil. Goods are manufactured in oil-powered plants and factories and then distributed across oil-powered transportation networks. Apart from transportation and agriculture which are dependent on oil, â€Å"modern medicine, water distribution, and national defense are each entirely powered by oil and petroleum derived chemicals†. Oil is required for all plastics, all computers and all high-tech devices. Tin, iron, gold, silver, copper, platinum, etc are each â€Å"discovered, extracted, transported, and fashioned using oil-powered machinery†. We have no way of producing even alternative systems of energy without an abundant and reliable supply of oil as well as of scaling them to â€Å"the degree necessary to power the modern world†. (Life After the Oil Crash) As we can see from these examples, oil plays the most important part among other fossil fuels in modern technology. However, a rapid decline of oil production capacity can be observed in nearly two dozen countries and more than half of the world’s supply has already been used. The global oil peak is likely to occur before 2010 and it is expected to be â€Å"a trigger for global economic crisis†. (Heinberg, Richard) IV All this points out that our present society is indeed heading towards a certain form of collapse. Starvation, social strife, and disease are likely to be â€Å"operative mechanisms† in the collapse of the human society. They are all consequences of scarce resources and dense population and interact in complex ways. (Price, David) Starvation will be a direct result of the depletion of energy resources. Today’s dense population depends for its food supply â€Å"on mechanized agriculture and efficient transportation†. Energy is used in the production and operation of farm equipment and as well as in the transportation of food to market. With the decrease of efficient energy resources food will be bound to grow more expensive and â€Å"the circle of privileged consumers to whom an adequate supply is available will continue to shrink†. Social strife will be another important consequence of the rising â€Å"Page # 5† cost of commercial energy. When goods are plentiful and â€Å"per-capita access to goods is increasing†, social tensions are usually muted. But when goods become more and more scarce and â€Å"per-capita access to goods is decreasing†, ethnic tensions surface, governments often become authoritarian and goods are usually acquired by criminal means. (Price, David) Public health systems will be crippled by a shortage of resources, too. In the meantime, a dense population will encourage the spread of contagious diseases. Throughout human history there have been many examples of large and dense populations leading to the â€Å"appearance of contagious diseases that evolved to exploit them† (smallpox, measles, the Black death). Today, our population is extremely dense and all parts of the world are tightly linked by air travel. All of this facilitates for new diseases such as AIDS to spread rapidly throughout the world. Moreover, a virus as deadly as AIDS but â€Å"more easily transmissible could appear at any time†. (Price, David) We could go even further to state that environmental problems, depletion of energy resources and increased population growth prove that collapse has already begun and all we can do is to make the best of it. It can occur slowly or quickly, be complete or partial, and controlled or chaotic. What we still can and should do is to make a concerted effort to manage this collapse. It would require changes that must be implemented by political leaders and the whole society: large-scale national and international cooperation is necessary in order to allocate essential resources to prevent deadly competition for them as they become scarce. (Heinberg, Richard) These changes are â€Å"well within our human and technological capacity†. First and foremost, the rate at which resources are being consumed and waste is being generated must be gradually decreased. Our resource use and the rate we are polluting the environment can be considerably reduced if we shift to â€Å"proven more-efficient technologies†. It is crucial that our modern society start making these changes now while fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources still exist. They could be invested â€Å"into building a society and economy based on renewable energy, the careful recycling of materials, and the equitable economic institutions required for a sustainable society†. (Gilman, Robert. Reclaiming â€Å"Page # 6†.Politics) We should also give up striving for â€Å"continuous economic growth† and adopt â€Å"lifestyles of voluntary simplicity†. (Heinberg, Richard) BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Diamond, Jared. The Last Americans. Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization, http://www. mindfully. org/Heritage/2003/Civilization-Collapse-EndJun03. htm (November, 16 2005) 2. Ehrenfeld, David. The Coming Collapse of the Age of Technology, http://garnet. acns. fsu. edu/~jstallin/complex/readings/Ehrenfeld. htm (November, 17 2005) 3. Gilman, Robert. Reclaiming Politics, http://www. context. org/ICLIB/IC30/Gilman. htm (November, 30 2005) 4. Heinberg, Richard. Meditations on Collapse, http://www. museletter. com/archive/154. html (November, 16 2005) 5. Life After the Oil Crash, http://www. lifeaftertheoilcrash. net/ (November, 17 2005) 6. Price, David. Energy and Human Evolution, http://www. energybulletin. net/3917. html (November, 16 2005) 7. Catton, William. Industrialization: Prelude to Collapse, http://www. energybulletin. net/4632. html (November, 17 2005).

Aggressive Behavior of Marine Fishes

The notion of â€Å"survival of the fittest† of Charles Darwin denotes competition in the available life resources among living organisms. Biologists typically classify competition as exploitative or scramble competition and interference or defense competition (Reebs, 2008). In exploitative competition, the species explore every nook in the environment to search for the best niche, ample food supply or even the best mate.On the other hand, defense competition results when a particular species defend their niche, food stuffs, offspring, and mate against invading animals (Reebs, 2008). With these, animals show aggressive behaviors to warn other species or to defend themselves.Hierarchical Social Structure Among FishesChasing and biting are commonly observed among fishes especially when a new one was placed in the group of fishes in a tank or an aquarium. Aggressive behaviors are shown by dominant fishes in the group until such time that a certain order was attained within the gr oup where specific place for every fish has been defined (Reebs, 2008).This is called as hierarchy among fishes for a single fish dominates other fishes in the group. Since fishes not only spend high energy in fighting but also suffer injuries (Reebs, 2008), the attainment of harmony within their group through hierarchical social structure benefits them all.This phenomenon is observed among the school of salmonids, eels, centrarchids, catfishes, poeciliids, and other species (Reebs, 2008).In the hierarchy, the dominant fish tends to limit the access of subordinate fishes to available life resources such as food. As commonly observed in brown bullhead, salmon, cichlids, and medaka, the dominant fish chases subordinate fishes away from food resources (Reebs, 2008).Thus, they are forced to occupy the barren part of the habitat. As a consequence, fishes in the lower ranks are prone to stress due to annoyance and bullies of dominant fishes.This stress induces them to release metabolic ho rmones, as revealed by blood analysis of subordinate fishes (Reebs, 2008), that may affect then their physiological processes including growth and reproduction.The stability of the dominant status depends on the type of fish species. For instance, rainbow trout can remember their hierarchical place. Even if there will be a reduction in the physical strength of the dominant fish, lower rank fished would not attempt to take advantage and stage a coup (Reebs, 2008).On the contrary, catfishes in lower rank often look for an opportunity to dethrone the dominant fish as it shows weakness (Reebs, 2008). In the same manner, as the dominant males of cichlid guard the breeding areas, subordinate males always look for an opportunity of entreating females. These experimental observations proved the social dynamics among fishes.Territorial Defense and Aggressive BehaviorsIt was observed among Cottus bairdii and Rhinichthysvcataractae that adults used to occupy the deeper part of their habitat wh ile the young forages on the shallow part (Reebs, 2008). This condition not only exposes the young to the threat of predation but also limits their food access.Meanwhile, in Betta splendens, the nest-holding males tend to display more aggressive behavior during the female laying of eggs and even more after the hatching of eggs (Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2003). Also, black-belt cichlids, Cichlasoma maculicauda, assault egg predators more ferociously than non-egg predators (Reebs, 2008). They usually fry the enemy at a particular distance before launching an attack.This territoriality in terms of food resources defense is effectively done over fairly small habitat. If food resources are in a vast area, the dominant fish can hardly provide efficient protection, hence, leading to non-display of aggressive behaviour (Reebs, 2008).Trout and salmon have been observed to occupy and protect vast areas when food resources are limited. This means that territorial defense is absent i f the ecological needs are distributed in vast areas and if the number of intruders is great as compared with the inhabitant fishes (Reebs, 2008).Mating and Aggressive BehaviorsFish may acquire aggressive behavior by merely just observing aggression between conspecifics (Clotfelter and Paolino, 2003). The presence of audience during fish fight may reason out for the increased behavioral display between fighting fishes (Doutrelant and McGregor, 2000).In B. splendens, male-fight losers used gill cover to attract non-witness female while the winner displayed to both witness and non-witness females (Herb, Biron, and Kidd, 20030). After witnessing the two-male wrestle, the female fighting fish, B. splendens, spent time more often with the winner while failure to witness the event, the female visited more often the loser (Doutrelant and McGregor, 2000).Conversely, although size-advantage males of B. splendens species have more chance of winning male-fight but the winning does not affect f emale preferences of mate (Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2001).Dominant males of swordtails and guppies delve on the larger part of their habitat including the dwelling place of the females (Reebs, 2008). Due to dominant exclusion, the sexual activities of subordinate fishes tend to be suppressed.This process of exclusion paves the ways for the subordinate male guppies to spontaneously develop a more robust body color that is more attractive for female guppies, thus, regaining the chance for mating (Reebs, 2008).Biological Bases of AggressionAggressive behaviors among animals are typically attributed to the biochemical function of the androgens. Researches revealed that by androgen decrease in a number of animal male species through castration lessened aggression while injection of hormones to castrated males caused regained aggressions (Desjardins, Hazelden, Van der Kraak, and Balshinea, 2005).Based on the findings of the group of John Wingfield, aggression can also be ascri bed to physiological causes. They postulated through Challenge Hypothesis that aggressive encounters among males of the same species lead to production of androgens (Desjardins, Hazelden, Van der Kraak, and Balshinea, 2005).Their notion resulted to the emersion of several studies relating aggressive behaviors with increase in androgen, urinary, plasma, and fecal level.

Discrimination in Virtual Organizations

The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Convention 111 (Employment and Occupation) prohibits â€Å"any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation†. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted to eliminate discriminations on the following protected classes: (1) Race , (2) Color, (3) Religion, (4) Sex, or (5) National Origin (Henry R. Cheeseman, 2004, p. 802).A firm like Riordan Manufacturing, which is a virtual organization with multiple locations in different countries, has to grapple with issues related to discrimination constantly. Henry R. Cheeseman (2004) explains the categories that constitute the various types of employment discrimination, Race refers to broad categories with common characteristics such as Black, Caucasian, Asian, and Nati ve American. Color refers to the color of a person's skin like light-skinned, dark-skinned, etc. National origin refers to the country of a person's ancestors or cultural characteristics like Hispanic, Italian, etc (p.803). In addition to these, discrimination is possible on the basis of gender (sex) and religion. Gender Discrimination Though the prohibition against sex discrimination is applicable to both men and women, a majority of the sex discrimination cases are brought by women (Henry R. Cheeseman, 2004, p. 805). Discrimination 2 Religious Discrimination Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on traditional religions, other religions that recognize a supreme being and religions based on ethical or spiritual tenets (Henry R.Cheeseman, 2004, p. 810). Riordan’s employee demographics reveal a healthy mix of race, color, origin, sex and religion. In such a demographic diversity, there is always a possibility of biased employee treatment. The different forms of discriminatory treatment are: 1. Disparate Treatment Discrimination: This occurs when a specific individual is subjected to discriminatory treatment based on his race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 2. Disparate Impact Discrimination: This occurs when the employer discriminates against an entire protected class. (Henry R.Cheeseman, 2004, p. 803) For a company operating out of multiple locations with diverse work cultures and societal practices, the occurrence of these two forms of discrimination cannot be ruled out. Riordan Manufacturing has prime work locations in the US and China. â€Å"Many racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and others, have historically faced severe discrimination- pervasive and open denial of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. economic opportunities† (Rebecca M. Blank, Constance Forbes Citro Discrimination 3 & Marilyn Dabady, 2004, p.1). In China, there has been an ob servation of marked gender discrimination, with women being disadvantaged quite often (Zhu Jingde, 2005, n. p). Discrimination based on national origin, race and color is also rife in China. Discriminatory practices in employment are not limited to a few countries. With multiple operation centers in all parts of the globe, Virtual Organizations need to be prepared to face issues of discrimination that might crop up. The role of a manager is critical in ensuring that there is no discrimination occurring inside the organization.His legal and ethical duties pertaining to discrimination start with personal abstinence from acts of harassment and biased behavior. The manager needs to follow a moral code of conduct and act ethically while promoting people since ‘merit’ can be offered as a defense to a charge of discrimination (Henry R. Cheeseman, 2004, p. 810). He has to ensure that there is no occurrence of disparate treatment in the team he is handling. He might come across instances of members of the staff indulging in verbal slurs against other members of a different race, religion, origin, sex or color.In such instances, he should abide by Business Ethics to safeguard the feelings and interests of a protected class. Over the years, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of lawsuits against discrimination on various grounds. Legal action can be detrimental to the reputation and growth of an organization. It is, therefore, the duty of a manager to prevent discriminatory acts to make sure that the company is not at the wrong end of the law. He has to ensure that the staff is aware of the laws against discrimination and instruct them toDiscrimination 4 refrain from harassment of fellow workers on the basis of their race, color, sex, religion or origin. Cultural practices play a huge role in discriminatory issues. For example, in most of the countries in the Middle East, it is not a common practice to employ women. And in a few countries in Asia, r eligion is a major criterion for the recruitment of a candidate. Unlike a democratic set-up, where people have the right to speak-up against discrimination, these countries do not encourage legal action for discrimination.In such cases, Business Ethics play a crucial role in preventing acts of discrimination. Since a virtual organization does not operate out of a single location, it is but natural that its workforce is a mix of different races, colors, religions and origins. A company’s strength is its workforce and when it is diverse like in the case of a Virtual Organization like Riordan Manufacturing, it is all the more important to focus on treating employees equally. This would ensure a healthy work-environment. References Henry R. Cheeseman, Business Law: Legal, E-Commerce, Ethical and International Environments, Fifth Edition, 2004, Ch.41 Rebecca M. Blank, Constance Forbes Citro & Marilyn Dabady, Measuring Racial Discrimination, 2004 Zhu Jingde (2005), The Discrimination against Women in Employment in Contemporary China, Retrieved June 7, 2007, from http://www.womenofchina.cn/research/papers/3026.jsp

Fundamentals And Applications Of Programmable Logic Controllers Research Paper

Fundamentals And Applications Of Programmable Logic Controllers - Research Paper Example The vast number of advantages offered by Programmable logic controllers in industrial automation has ensured their predominance over the last decades and some years to come. Programmable logic controllers are cost effective for the control of complex systems, flexible and can be easily reapplied to control other systems, simplified programming and reduced downtime given their troubleshooting aid, sophisticated control owing to their computational abilities and long-term operation capability without failure given their reliable components. (Evans, 2006) The central processing unit (CPU) is involved with the performance of logic and arithmetic functions of a PLC. It utilizes the program stored in memory to process the accepted input signal from the input modules into the desired output. It sends the desired output signal to the output modules which converts it into an appropriate actuator signal. In general, the CPU performs the functions of updating the input and output, logic and arithmetic functions and memory communication. The CPU is further divided into three major subsystems; Control Unit (CU), Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) and the Registers. Instructions are fetched from a specified location and loaded into the registers then decoded by the Control Unit. The arithmetic and logic operations such as the subtraction, addition and basic logic operations such as OR/AND are done by the ALU. Control Unit directs the results into a special memory location for storage. Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) is a logic gate collection with outputs, inputs and control bits for determining operation type.

Tate Modern topic proposal 200-300 words Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tate Modern topic proposal 200-300 words - Essay Example As it goes with the character of a building intended to house Modern Art, Herzog & de Meuron decided in favour of retaining the quintessentially urban and industrial character of the original building. However, they extended full expression to their creative genius by delicately emphasizing it through the usage of renovations like light paintwork, polished concrete, excellent lighting and unpretentious wooden floors. The result was the creation of an architectural ambience that relied for its originality on the pleasing contrast of the industrial boldness of the original building with the tasteful temperament of the new additions. It would not be wrong to say that the approach of Herzog and de Meuron in the case of Tate Modern was primarily conceptual and not design oriented. In that context, Tate Modern suggests an entire new approach towards architecture that is innovative, believing in extending new meanings and forms to the old through the incorporation of novel trends and creati vity and no doubt pragmatically aspiring for cost effectiveness. Preliminary Bibliography Miles, Malcolm & Hall, Tim (eds.) 2003, Urban Futures, Routledge, London.

Multinational buainess Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Multinational buainess - Essay Example At the present economic environment such theories and models are considered to be very important as the importance of multinational organizations to the global economy has increased significantly. Dunning’s eclectic paradigm theory is one of the most widely discussed theories in the world of international production. This paper attempts to present a clear description of this theory and several of its dimensions. The paper also includes a proper analysis of the criticisms that the Dunning’s model has faced over the years. There are several other theories on the similar subject and Dunning’s theory can be compared with those to analysis the effectiveness of it. This paper includes such a comparative analysis that is likely to help an individual to have a clear conception regarding the entire picture of such theories. Academic Literature John H Dunning is famous in the international business arena for his ‘Eclectic Paradigm’ theory. It is actually the i ntegration of several theories on internationalization. It covers many mainstream theories such as Ohlin and Heckscher’s ‘factor endowment theory’, Coase’s ‘trasaction cost theory’, Hymer’s ‘monopolistic advantage theory’ and ‘internalization theory’ of Casson and Buckley. In 1976, Dunning presented the core concept of eclectic paradigm at Nobel Symposium which is located in Stockholm. The theory explains precisely why a firm should go global. Dunning attempted to provide a clear and complete explanation regarding international production. He has consistently supplemented and improved his theory in accordance to various developments in the global economic environment and also in accordance to several constructive criticisms. Dunning opined that there are three conditions that have significant influence over the firm’s decision regarding transnational production. In other words, a firm will involve in â⠂¬Ëœinternational production’ if these three conditions are met. The three conditions are 1) ‘ownership-specific advantages’, 2) ‘internalization advantages’ and 3) ‘location specific advantages’ (Dicken, 2007). Each of them is properly described below. Ownership-Specific Advantages According to Dunning, an organization must have some ownership specific advantages which are not possessed by the rival organizations of other countries. The basis of this theory of Dunning lies in the ‘Monopolistic Advantage Theory’ that was developed by Hymer. According to Dunning, ownership specific advantages â€Å"must be sufficient to compensate for the costs of setting up and operating a foreign value-adding operation in addition to those faced by indigenous producers or potential producers† (Dunning, 1981). These advantages are like ‘internal assets’ of a firm which is the sole owner of them. Ownership specific advanta ges can be gained from the factors like technology, knowledge, internal brands, human resources etc. (Dicken, 2007). In the words of Dunning, ownership specific advantages â€Å"need not arise from multinationality† (Perry, 1992). These advantages

Case Analysis Report Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Analysis Report - Case Study Example With reference to the case, it is observed that GMCR has established a business venture with Starbucks for K-Cup portion package of their coffee for use in ‘Keurig Single cup brewing technology’. The key players or officers as mentioned in the case study are Howards Schultz, the President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of Starbucks Corporation, Jeff Hansberry, President of Starbucks Global Consumer Products Group, the then CEO and President of GMCR Lawrence J. Blanford and Nigel Travis, the CEO of Dunkin Brands and President of Dunkin’ Donuts among others (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, 2009). The current CEO and President of GMCR is Brian Kelly. The company’s total sales for the year 2012 were USD 3,859,198 and the total profit was USD 1,269,399 (Yahoo! Inc., 2013). One of the major events in the GMCR’s history was in the year 2006 when GMCR made acquisition of Keurig, a maker of single-cup brewing machines. Moreover, in the year 2010, the company’s stock rose to an all time highest figure, placing it in the number one position in the Best Corporate Citizen criteria. In 2011, GMCR’s decision to enter into a venture with Starbucks was another important phase of the company (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, 2009). ... It has a wider reach to the customers created through joint venture with the top most coffee houses in the coffee industry. It is the only manufacturer of single brewer machine (Wile, 2013). Weaknesses The main factor which may be weakness for the company is its financial performance is dependent primarily on the sales of K-Cups. Increased cost and decreased of raw materials may have keen impact on the future production of the company (Wile, 2013). Opportunities Owing to the reason that GMCR is the only manufacturer which provides single serve brewing machines and K-Cup, its brand name is getting promoted with joint ventures formed with well known companies such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts resulting in attraction of more companies to form a venture with them (Wile, 2013). Threats With the new trend of globalization, the world has become a much smaller place and GMCR is facing significant competition from companies manufacturing similar products (Wile, 2013). SWOT Matrix An alysis Via Porter’s Five Forces Model Porter’s five force model is a business strategy tool used to analyze the value of an industrial structure, capturing the vital rudiments of competition. Threat of new entrants GMCR is the only company which provides a wide selection of coffee products, the number of competitors competing for the same section of customers and resources is limited. Thus, threat of new entry can be deemed to be low as the company possesses exclusive offerings which can be quite hard for new competitors to imitate (Vitalsource.com, 2013). Bargaining power of buyers GMCR, being the only manufacturer of K-Cup, has a large number of buyers resulting in quite limited bargaining influence by the customers having a positive impact on the company (Vitalsource.com, 2013).

Criminal Justice in the Movie Gridiron Gang Review

Criminal Justice in the Gridiron Gang - Movie Review Example The Camp Kilpatrick serves as the "last stop" for juvenile offenders before they are finally transferred to jail with the adults. The essence of retribution is encapsulated in the statement: "Let the punishment fit the crime" which is actually reflected in Gridiron Gang. Under this context, the degree of the harshness of the crime committed should be proportionate to the seriousness of the crime that was committed. Simply put, retribution is somewhat a backward-looking type of theory which looks to the past in order to know what to do in the present. In the context of the film, this is manifested through the number of years that a convicted person should spend inside the jail. Meanwhile, deterrence is usually classified into two categories: general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence basically uses the individual who is sentenced for a crime as means of inducing the public not to commit any forms of crime. On the other hand, specific deterrence means punishing the offender to prevent the offender himself from committing other crimes in the future. Their detention itself is actually a means to convey to the other people that these offenders must not be emulated; meanwhile, the offenders themselves would be discouraged to commit another crime given the stigma that they could get from the society. Meanwhile, rehabilitation asserts for changing the offender through correctional means like the football team that is initiated by Sean. It is a good way of motivating the teenagers to turn a new leaf and also serves as a good way of diverting their attention into worthwhile activities. Instead of thinking about the punishment that they are given, they would be more focused on forging camaraderie and sportsmanship among their teammates, as well as opponents in the game. Rehabilitation is considered more effective among first time and non-violent offenders. Â  

Self-reflective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Self-reflective - Essay Example Otherwise, it is termed as plagiarism. There are numerous styles of writing suited to the individualistic needs and requirements of the forum where the writing is published. Basically, there is a formal and an informal way of writing. The formal way of writing requires the writer to make use of complex words and be very particular about the selection of words, sentence construction and grammar. The informal way of writing provides the writer with more leverage. The writer is free to express his/her emotions in the writing. The informal way of writing is very much like the real life communication we make in the daily life. Full words may be replaced with slangs and there is frequent use of such expressive words as â€Å"hurrah, alas, and wow.† I personally like writing in the informal way more than in the formal way because the former provides me with more room to enrich my argument with emotions as compared to the latter. Every style of writing has a certain way to be organized with. For a paper to be properly organized, it is imperative that there is an introduction with a thesis statement that is the crux of the whole discussion that is to follow. The thesis statement should be short and precise and fully reflective of all aspects of the discussion. Each body paragraph starts with a topic sentence that represents the ideas to be discussed in the respective paragraphs. Ideally, there are three body paragraphs in addition to the introduction and conclusion. The conclusion sums up the argument made in the paper and provides a brief summary of the whole essay. This course helped me polish my writing skills a lot. Before taking this course, I used to be very confused and could not even start. Having taken this course, I have done sufficient practice and learnt enough to write a piece of writing independently. Before, I did not know how to start the paper. I have learnt that when an individual has to write, he/she should

Cango Analysis Essay Example for Free

Cango Analysis Essay Like Liz mentions in the video (speech); CanGo acts as a personal shopper for their customers. Customers don’t have go to different store to buy their merchandise when they can buy online at the same place and for affordable prices. Weaknesses: When Liz was asked to prepare a speech of how their company developed over time, she had no clue of where to start. She didn’t plan anything ahead, for example; she mentions in the resolution video that if she had done some planning for her company, her company would have gone much far from where they are at now. CanGo didn’t have a strategic plan for online gaming. Liz and her employees just had a small meeting and without giving a notice ahead of time, she just announced that they are entering into a new market of online gaming. All her employees were surprised at first. She didn’t ask any of her employees before that if they liked the idea of online gaming or not. She just went ahead and asked for preliminary marketing plan. The employees seemed hesitant as to asking questions. The employees at CanGo don’t work together and are not working in a team setting as should be implemented. Furthermore, the company doesn’t determine what this online gaming includes. Further, the company didn’t speak to determine what would be the various levels of support it would provide to its customers. CanGo didn’t develop a strategy explaining how it will conduct its business. Opportunities: As one of the employee mentions what about online â€Å"football† game ? I think it would be great idea for the company to go ahead and implement an online football game, since a lot of customers like to play football or sports. It could be that during the football season they can get a huge rush. Secondly online gaming also allows people from different countries to play at the same time which is a huge plus. Threats: CanGo doesn’t have a huge capital to invest. If they waste it on the idea of online gaming without knowing if they have any future with it, CanGo will be in a huge debt. If they are going to train their staff to do the operations, their customers are going to be unhappy because they have few people and there is a lot of work to do. They would have to increase wages of their employees because they will be handling more work than they are supposed to. Recommendation: CanGo company needs to have a mission and vision statement. Mission statement is going to describe what their company does and vision statement is where management wants to see their company in future. First step is, to have these two statements ready, which this company is missing. I don’t think CanGo should expand on their idea of online gaming without having a strategic plan. They were missing all the elements of strategic planning which are implementation, evaluation and formation. There were no questions about the future of online gaming nor there do any report to see how much success other companies had so far with online gaming. No one discussed about the equipment they are going to need to build this huge project. Liz has put the whole burden on one employee. There is no teamwork; what if that person gets lazy and comes up a lazy marketing plan. Then everyone would have to agree to it because no other member knows anything about marketing. Liz should have told her employees that everyone needs to come up with marketing plan and then in the next meeting they will choose the best one by consensus. I don’t think company is in its best financial condition. If they go ahead with their idea of online gaming, operational costs of buying equipment and software are going to cost a lot by itself. I also think they need new personnel; training old employees about the new technology is going to be a tough job. Hiring the new staff will be cheaper. May be they should wait for the financial times to get better or they should outsource. The company can outsource the implementation of equipment which would save them a lot of money and keeping the customer service here in America. CanGo’s customers will be very happy because they will be able to talk to their own people in their language comfortably. Customer Service should be the priority in any decision they make or any service they provide. References: Devry. (n. d. ). CanGo videos. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from devry: www. devry. edu/ec/crs

The Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Technology Essay

The Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Technology Essay Research green computing and projects that have been done or are being done by large organizations such as IBM, Dell, HP, and Google. See www.greenercomputing.com and similar sites provided on the companion web site or that you find yourself. Include your definition of green computing to including all of the topics listed in the background scenario. Describe each of these areas of green computing, including a detailed example of how at least one organization has implemented each one, and investigate the return on investment. Summarize your results in a two- to three-page paper, citing at least three references. What companies are currently implementing projects that involve green computing? Find a few website and discuss what they are implementing and if they include: Green computing, also referred to as Green IT, is the scientific study of efficient and effective designing, manufacturing, using, disposing, and recycling of computers and computer related products like servers, network systems, communication systems, monitors, USBs, printers, etc. (Kocherps, 2010). http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/62742.aspx. Kocherps describes the four paths to green computing that would help preserve natural resources and reduce the impact on the environment: Reducing energy consumption of computers and other related products as well a using them in an efficient manner. Refurbishing and reusing old computers as well as properly disposing and recycling unwanted computers and other equipment. Designing energy efficient and environmentally sound computers and accessories. Manufacturing computers and components with minimal effect on the evnrionrment (2010). There are several applications of Green computing available, which are explained below: Data Center Energy Efficiency Data center and overall energy efficiency refers to the energy consumption. According to a survey conducted in 2009, 44% of survey respondents have seen an increase in their power bills for their data centers, which is up from 36% the previous year who did not pay much attention (Stansberry, 2009). Fontecchio (2010) wrote that the Federal Government and other major industry groups are on developing widely accepted stands for measuring a data centers energy efficiency. Fontecchio also mentions that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working with six data center industry groups to standardize data center efficiency metrics (2010). Electronic Waste and Recycling The disposal of electronic waste and recycling refers to proper disposal of used computer equipment and other electronics devices. Many government sponsored programs and manufacturers have extensive online information that details how their recycling is handled (Holcombe, 2007). Hewlett- Packard (HP) is one of many companies that takes environmental issues seriously and provides solutions where businesses and consumers can donate, trade-in, recycle, or return for cash their used computer equipment (HP, 2010). Telecommuting Telecommuting is a popular benefit wherein employees perform work for a company but not physically be in the business location. This is one way that businesses are becoming more greener and lowering their office space expense (Sanchez, 2008). Office space expense can include heating, air conditioning, electricity http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/06/26/ciscos-telecommuting-program-boosts-productivity-cuts-costs-and-emissions Virtual Server Resources Virtualization of server resources http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2008/07/08/virtualization-servers-new-green-platform-it Thin Client Solutions Thin client solutions http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/08/24/new-fujitsu-thin-client-uses-just-29-watts-full-utilization Open Source Software Use of opens source software, and http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2005/10/02/closing-knowledge-gap-open-source Software Development Development of new software to address green computing for internal use and potential sale to other organizations. http://www.dellenterprise.com/goto/client/business-pc-solutions.aspx?tab=lifecycleST=green%20computing%20phrasedgc=STcid=53849lid=1383155acd=78394,8,0,95093168,762624170,1271850709,,21878626,4381927447 Weighted Decision Matrix Prepare a weighted decision matrix using the template from the companion web site (wtd_decision_matrix.xls) for Ben to use to evaluate people applying to be the project manager for this important project. Develop at least five criteria, assign weights to each criterion, assign scores, and then calculate the weighted scores for four fictitious people. Print the spreadsheet and bar chart with the results. Write a one-page paper describing this weighted decision matrix and summarize the results. This Weighted Decision Matrix (Exhibit A) was designed to assist in selecting the appropriate candidate for the Project (or Project) Manager position. Different projects require different skills. As such, Ive created a matrix that lists seven of the most important skills required for successful completion of this project: Analytical Skills Microsoft Access Visual Basic Programming Written and Oral Communication Microsoft Office Excel Attendance Productivity Each criteria is given a weight percentage based on importance, the highest being 25% and the lowest being 10%. The combination of these weights equal 100%. After reviewing all of the resumes and past employee evaluations, the next four columns contained applicants best qualified for the Project Manager position. Ann and Danielle are existing employees within the company, and Stanley and Lisa are outside applicants applying for the position. On a scale from 1 to 100 (100 being the highest and best qualified), each application was given a rating based on their past or current experiences and skills. As you can see from the results, Ann is clearly the better of all candidates scoring 90 points in five of the 7 criteria, and 70 in the remaining two criteria, bring her average criteria score to 85. It is my recommendation that you consider Ann for the position of Project Manager. Business Case and Financial Prepare the financial section of a business case for the Green Computing Research Project. Assume this project will take six months to complete (done in Year 0) and cost $500,000, and costs to implement some of the technologies would be $2,000,000 for year one and $600,000 for years two and three. Estimated benefits are $500,000 the first year after implementing and $2.5 million the following two years. Use the business case spreadsheet template from the companion web site (business_case_financials.xls) to help calculate the NPV, ROI, and year in which payback occurs. Assume a 7 percent discount rate, but make sure it is an input that is easy to change. Project Charter Prepare a project charter for the Green Computing Research Project. Assume the project will take six months to complete and the budget is $500,000. Use the project charter template (charter.doc) and examples of project charters in Chapters 3 and 4 as guidelines. Assume that part of the approach is to select a project team as quickly as possible. Change Request Since people will request changes to the project, you want to make sure you have a good integrated change control process in place. You will also want to address change requests as quickly as possible. Review the template for a change request form provided on the companion Website (change_request.doc.) Write a two-page paper describing how you plan to manage changes on this project in a timely manner. Address who will be involved in making change control decisions, what paperwork or electronic systems will be used to collect and respond to changes, and other related issues. Appendix __ is an example of the Change Request Form which will be submitted by each individual associated with the project who wishes to make changes thereof. The process for submission, evaluating, and executing such request will be explained below. The Change Request (CR) form is a web form that needs to be submitted in order to make any change to the project that is not listed in the Project Charter, the Project Business Case, or the Work Breakdown Structure. The requestor must fill out section 1 in its entirety. Below is a description of the fields that must be completed: Requestor Name This field will be automatically filled in using the username of the individual logged into the Active Directory. Project Name and Number This field is required to identify the correct project and to electronically notify the correct Project Manager. Type of CR Indicate whether this change is an enhancement or defect. Brief Description of Change Briefly describe the nature of the change, such as the correct data is not being abstracted. Date Submitted date of submission. Date Required date that the change should be completed by. Priority Level -Select either Low, Medium, High, or Mandatory level. All request levels will be reviewed within 5 business days, however, all request marked Mandatory or high will be analyze before all others regardless of date of submission. Reason for Change: Attachments or References: Approval Signature and Date digital signature of the requestor will be captured with the current date. After all required sections are complete, a submit button will electronically be submitted to the program manager assigned to the project name and number entered on the form. An acknowledgement will be sent to the requestor when the form is submitted successfully. The Program Manager assigned to the project will be notified via email that a change request was submitted and will receive a link to the form. The Program Manager will then complete Section 2 Initial Analysis. The Project Manager will determine the impact of the change regarding hours, duration, schedule, and cost. The Project Managers recommendation will be entered and the request will be forwarded to the Change Control Board for their final decision. Electronic notification will be submitted to the Requestor indicating that the request has been submitted to the Board for final review. The Board will notify all parties regarding their final decision within 48 hours. The Boards final decision will now become a part of the projects history. 2. PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT Define Project Scope Management here. 2.1 Requirements Matrix Document requirements for your project so far, including a requirements traceability matrix. Use the template provided (reqs_matrix.xls). Also include a list of questions you would like to ask the sponsor about the scope. Develop a scope statement for the project using the templates provided (scope_statement.doc). Be a specific as possible in describing product characteristics and deliverables. Make assumptions as needed, assuming you got answers to the questions you had in Task 1. Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. Break down the work to level 3 or level 4, as appropriate. Use the template on the companion Web site (wbs.doc) and sam0ples in the text as guides. Print the WBS in list form as a Word file. Be sure to base your WBS on the project scope statement, stake holder requirements, and other relevant information. Remember to include the work involved in selecting the rest of your project team and outside resources as well as coordinating with the Environmental Technologies Program. Use the project management process groups as level 2 WBS items or include project management as a level 2 WBS item to make sure you include work related to managing the project. Use the WBS you developed in Task 3 above to create a Gantt chart for the project in Microsoft Project 2007. Use the outline numbering feature to display the outline numbers (click Tools on the menu bar, click Options, and then click Show outline number). Do not enter any durations or dependencies. Print the resulting Gantt chart on one page, being sure to display the entire Task Name column. 3. PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT Define Project Time Management here. 3.1 Schedule Review the WBS and Gantt chart you created for Tasks 3 and 4 in Part 2. Propose three t five additional activities you think should be added to help you estimate resources and durations. Write a one-page paper describing these new activities. Identify at least four milestones for this project. Write a one-page paper describing each milestone using the SMART criteria. Using the Gantt chart created for Task 4 in Part 2, and the new activities and milestones you proposed in Tasks 1 and 2 above, estimate the task durations and enter dependencies as appropriate. Remember that your schedule goal for the project is six months. Print the Gantt chart and network diagram. Write a one-page paper summarizing how you would assign people to each activity. Include a table or matrix listing how many hours ea h person would work on each task. These resource assignments should make sense given the duration estimates made in Task 3 above. Assume that your project team starts falling behind schedule. In several cases, it is difficult to find detailed information on some of the green computing technologies, especially financial data. You know that it is important to meet or beat the six-month schedule goal, but quality is most important. Describe contingency strategies for making up lost time and avoiding schedule slips in the future. 4. PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT Define Project Cost Management here. . 5. PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT Define project Quality Management here.

Essay --

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Hemigrapsus sanguineus Hemigrapsus sanguineus (de Haan, 1835), commonly known as the Asian shore crab, is a brachyuran crab, and is a native species along the western North Pacific coast (Brousseau et al., 2001). Its square and broad carapace has three spines on each side and there finely striated ridge exist under the eye and lateral margin. Its usual size is 30 mm wide but maximum size reported can reach up to 43.9 mm carapace width (CW) (McDermott, 1998). Its color varies from purple, red, green, orange-brown, with the presence of bands along its legs and red spots on the cheliped claws (Poore,2004). Males are characterized by the presence of distinctive fleshy, bulb-like structure at the cheliped base of the dactylus the shape of the flap on the underbelly in males is quite phallic, triangular and pointed. The females are recognized thru the roundness, wider and more oval flap of abdomen morphology. Easily opened flap of female crabs only implies that they are capable of mating. (Poore,2004). The local scope of this crab species is the region of Asia-Pacific (McDermott, 1998). It was observed that this species has penetrated parts of the Europe and North America, specifically France, Netherlands, and Croatia and is now classified to be an invasive species (McDermott, 1991). It is considered invasive because it is capable of reaching high densities and can initiate negative impacts on several small juveniles of native species (Lohrer and Whitlatch, 2002a,b). Asian shore crabs are considered as opportunistic omnivores (McDermott, 1998). They consume a varied kind of plant and animal resources in the field and also when they are in captivity. These resources would include algae, salt marsh grass, a... ...rtional relationship, which implies that the wet weight could give a length estimate of the species’ carapace. Several physico-chemical factors affect the growth and development of crustaceans. Environmental stress in coastline waters is usually caused by organic waste disposal which then results in low amount of important crustaceans harvested in fisheries and can also influence the biodiversity of decapod crabs. The physico-chemical parameters are crucial ecological factors, as they directly affect oxygen consumption, metabolism, growth, moulting, hormones and survival of crustaceans (Varadharajan D et al., 2013). The salinity is one of the main factors that alter the distribution of organisms, and this is likely to affect the decapods crab distribution and production as well. The alkaline pH was observed to be related with increased number of crab species.

Filter of History :: essays research papers

History is told through a filter. Whether it is the filter of a persons mind or of a writer’s pen. Events such as the assassination of JFK, or for my generation the explosion of the Challenger have a way of burning themselves in our minds. We remember where we were, what we were doing, even what we were wearing. One would think that the details of such an event would remain fairly accurate from person to person, however this is untrue. As in the example given in the reading selection after the Civil War ended some people only chose to remember the bravery of the white soldiers, not the reason brother was against brother. Some in the South tried to pretend that nothing had changed with the Lynch laws forcing slaves back onto the plantations. It seems that region as well as human thought was the influence of these ideals. A person can chose to remember an event as something that is painful or concentrate on the good of the event. As with a persons memory of history being a filter so is that of a historian’s pen, even though the reasons vary. This can be traced back nearly to the beginning of written history, though most examples are taken from the early Catholic Church. Furthermore, factors of politics, region, and public opinion almost always have an effect on what becomes written history. â€Å"History came to play a major role in propagating this modern orthodoxy, particularly in the United States. And just because their national history was so integral to Americans’ identity, the new orthodoxy became part of the political conflicts generated by industrialization† (Appleby et al.,132). In contrast to remembering and writing what is more pleasant comes the historian who wants to tear down the pedestals that some of our great figures have been placed on. Charles Beard, a preeminent progressive historian set out to do just this to our

Waiting for the Sun :: Essays Paper

Waiting for the Sun 1 The theme of "Sweat" [Titles] is that in a fight between good and evil, good wins out eventually, because any evil done will come back to the source in time. There are three concepts that support this theme. They are conflict, irony and symbolism. 2 The conflict of the story is good vs. evil. Delia is good. She goes to church on a regular basis, sometimes more often than regularly. She continues to stay and fulfill her marital responsibilities, regardless of the fact that her husband is cruel. [She also kills Sykes, or at least lets him die.] 3 [Combine with previous paragraph.] Sykes is evil. He cheats on his wife and abuses her mentally, physically and verbally. The most evil thing Sykes does is let the snake loose in Delia’s hamper. His intent is that the snake will attack and bite Delia. Delia would die from the snake’s venom, and then she would be out of his life. 4 Irony supports the theme of this story. Sykes puts the snake into the hamper so that it will bite Delia when she goes to do the laundry. Instead, Delia gets away from the snake, and Sykes gets bit. This is ironic because Delia said, â€Å"What goes over the devils back, is got to come over his belly,†(762) earlier in the story. [What Delia says undercuts the irony.] 5 [Combine with previous paragraph.] Another irony of the story is when Delia notices there is only one match left. She curses Sykes for never getting any, and then she lights her lantern. When Sykes goes to get one, the match safe is empty. He is left in the dark because he never bought any matches. [Wouldn't one expect no matches if no one bought any? I don't see the irony.] 6 The most important concept of this story is symbolism. Sykes kicks a pile of white laundry, which symbolizes ["is"?] an evil act. The laundry is white which symbolizes good. Sykes â€Å"stepped roughly on the whitest pile† (761). A snake symbolizes evil or death. In the story the snake delivers the death.

Prayer in School

Monique Holmes Argumentative Writing Final Paper Dr. George Pullman Introduction School prayer is a major controversy of this society. Public schools are supported with taxpayer money and you have a lot of believers who want his or her taxes to support an institution that prohibits children from praying in school, but at the same time, you have a loot of believers that don’t want to support an institution that prohibits their children from prayer in schools. The First Amendment of the United States protects both believers’ ands non believers from this situation by mandating government neutrality between belief and non belief.All children have the right to pray voluntary just not through the public school system. Prayer Should be Allowed in the Public School System School prayer is a very controversial issue in our society today. The question that people are having issues with is whether or not school prayer should be allowed in the public school system. The main issue i s if students should be allowed to pray as a class at the start of the day. Prayer in school has been a major conflict between people therefore there have been a lot of court cases.There were a number of cases that has changed the policy of prayer in the public school system. Thomas Jefferson had spoken of public education ands said, â€Å"One goal of democracy is the recognition, solution, and tolerance of controversy; public education should prepare citizens for this reality†. People do need to be prepared because religion is a very Holmes common controversy. If religion is removed from the public education system then one must know that the system is then defective to the school because how are children to know how to deal with the controversy that comes with religion?Prayer should be slowed in school. One must remember the Equal Access Act of 1984, which says that prayer is an important part of America’s spiritual heritage and the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech ). If prayer in schools is so bad like people like to say or think than how come there are so many people who are for prayer in school? School prayer shouldn’t be removed from the public school system because of the Equal Access Act of 1984. This Act states that a federally funded public high is required to permit religious meetings if clubs that are not related to the curriculum is allowed.There are a number of religious groups in some schools, but of course they don’t get the same privileges as the clubs that are non-religious related. The Equal Access Act of 1984 was formed to change this fact. At some schools, students are allowed to organize a bible study group as well as other religious clubs (www. religioustolerance. org). These particular clubs are allowed to meet on school grounds and they are able to advertise on school property just like the other non-religious clubs (www. religioustolerance. org).Students who want to have a religious club should not be infl uenced by the board, teachers, principals, or any staff of the school. They should not be ridiculed because of this. The Equal Access Act of 1984 is good because these students will now be able to form a religious group if they want. If athletes, musicians and artists can show and do what they believe than religious groups should be able to do the same. Prayer should be a part of our school systems because it is an important part of America’s spiritual heritage.All throughout America’s history there have been many important documents written with references to â€Å"Almighty God,† â€Å"Thy Blessings,† â€Å"Our dependence upon Thee,† and â€Å"In God We Trust. † These documents are Holmes the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, the National Anthem, the Presidential Oath and even U. S. Currency. In school children starts the day with pledge which states â€Å"one Nation under God. † A prayer says that students just wa nt to ask for a good day and guidance throughout the day. Prayer and religion is an important part of the American tradition. It has been said that the children benefit from people turning to God on their behalf and they benefit even more when they turn to God for help† (Christian Science Monitor 2). If prayer is kept out of the school system, they are teaching students that traditions are not important and that what this country was founded upon doesn’t matter. Our forefathers wanted us to have religious freedom, so what would you want children to disrespect that. People don’t want to see out nation fall but it will if we don’t show children the value of prayer.School prayer is important because it shows and teaches what this nation stands for and it helps create better morals. By allowing children to pray at the beginning of school it gives them a chance to learn better and focus on school because their mind will be cleared. It is known that students who pray before school do better in school than those who don’t. So if we want our children to do better we must let them pray in school. We have lost if we eliminate prayer from school. Our nation will definitely fall. Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religionfree zones or requires all religious expression to be left at the schoolhouse door† (Bill Clinton on prayer in school). If what Clinton say is true then why do people want to eliminate prayer in school? The issue is that they don’t want to deal with controversy but by doing this they are not teaching children how to handle controversy they are teaching them to ignore it. They should let the children decide if they want to pray or not. If the students don’t want to pray than they don’t have to pray then they shouldn’t.They have the right to pray in school and should not be looked Holmes down at if they choose to do so. No one is being hurt by prayer being in t he public school system. The First Amendment gives people the right to express their religion openly and not be questioned about their beliefs. The former president, Harry Truman once stated that prayer â€Å"never hurt anybody and made good citizens out of them. † The First Amendment states that people can express their beliefs freely and openly anywhere that they want and that should include school as well.School prayer should be in the public school systems because of the Equal Access Act of 1984, prayer is an important part of America’s spiritual heritage and the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech). Even with all of the court cases in which judges have ruled that prayer in school is unconstitutional, students still form prayer groups. One of the reasons why prayer is removed from school is because people think that they will have to partake in that religion and it will dominate over all. But this is simply not true.No one is asking for people to change their belief s. Why is it a big issue for prayer to be in class when it is said in a number of school functions? Prayers are said at athletic games, to ensure safety and protection and at graduation ceremonies. How come this isn’t an issue? There a re a number of arguments that are for prayer in school: The Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals stated, â€Å"The belief and trust in a creator has always been regarded as an integral and inseparable part of the fabric of our fundamental institutions. Harry Truman said that prayer â€Å"never hurt anybody and made good citizens out of them. † Rep. James Traficant said, â€Å"A Congress that allows God to be banned from our schools while our schools can teach about cults, Hitler and even devil worship is wrong, out of touch and need some commonsense. † Prayer in school will increase tolerance in schools because children will be able to learn of different religions and how they are practiced. It will also bring to surface questio ns that Holmes children have about God and religion and allow them to search for their own belief system.Bringing prayer into schools will allow them to search for their own belief system. Bringing prayer into schools will also help reverse the moral degradation of this country. Prayer should be allowed in the public school system so that our children can start their day off in the right direction. Prayer Should Not be Allowed in the Public School System The public school system should not allow prayer into the public school system because it is against the idea of separation of church and state.The public schools are for education it is not a place where religion should be taught, that is what church is for. â€Å"Public schools can neither foster religion nor preclude it. Our public schools must treat religion with fairness and respect and vigorously protect religious expression as well as the freedom of conscience of all other students. In so doing our public schools reaffirm th e First Amendment and enrich the lives of their students† ( Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley June 1998 ).One must remember that in a public school system, these children are from all religion backgrounds, such as Baptist, Catholic, Quaker, Jewish, Muslim and atheist. â€Å"School sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community † (U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Santa Fe v. Doe, (2000). Public schools are supported by taxpayers and even they are of different beliefs, so therefore, the schools should be free from religious coercion. In the bible, it says that Jesus didn’t approve of outward prayer, â€Å"Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites ate: for they love to Holmes pray standing in synagogues an d in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret† (Matthew 6:5-6). By allowing prayer into public schools violates the First Amendment which states that â€Å"congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances† (First Amendment of the Constitution).The Establishment Clause renders the government from endorsing or favoring religion or any form of religions expression and The Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses requires that the government doesn’t trample on one’s opportunities to engage in expressive conduct. No one should be required to participate in prayer. The government does not have the right to make peo ple pray in school. Annie Laurie Gaylor quoted Thomas Jefferson in her article, The Case against School Prayer â€Å"No citizen shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever. People should not be subject to do anything they don’t believe in. Prayer should not be allowed in school because of church and state and the First Amendment. â€Å"To secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: Neither the United States nor any State shall establish any official religion, but the people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed.The United States and the States shall not compose school prayers, not require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity† (Congressperson Ernest Istook Proposed amendment to the U. S. Constitution). To have prayer in school is against the idea of sep aration of church and state. Holmes Public schools are for education not religion. â€Å"I'm a Catholic and I hope a devout one, but I think that the public school classroom is no place for me to try and impose my world formula for prayer on children who on't share it, and for that very reason, I don't want my children in a public school classroom to be exposed to someone else's religion or formula† (Senator Phillip A. Hart :Michigan). Every child should not have to say prayer in the classroom because not everyone believes in the same thing. Students that choose to pray are already given the ability to do so because they are given a moment of silence where the student can do anything he or she wants as long as the entire class is not involved.Students have a voluntary right to pray but people want it to be where a group can pray and that should not be allowed. By establishing prayer in the public school system, it will only cause more turmoil for our society. Ulysses Grant st arted in the President’s Speech at Des Moines â€Å"to leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate. School prayer should not be allowed in the schools because of the idea of separation of church and state and the First Amendment. Religion is private and these schools are neither private, which shows that they do nor mix. To bring the public schools builds walls between children who may have not been aware of some religious beliefs. The practice of prayer in school will create unnecessary divisions among children by making them aware of religious differences. Public schools are for everyone, no matter their religion.The practice if organized prayer in schools will invade the children’s right to an education that is free of the discrimination that organized prayer would encourage. When schools have prayer in class, it singles out the theolog y being taught. Forbidding prayer in schools does not discourage religion but instead it prevents offensive alienation of students who have viewpoints which conflict with the established religion. By allowing prayer in school, Holmes it will threaten what parents have already taught their children.It will be undermining what we teach our children about religion. We must protect ourselves against organized prayer by keeping coercive prayer out of our children’s schools. Work Cited Bill Jager, â€Å"Public School Prayer Creates Violence,† at: Holmes http://www. mindspring. com/~wjager/ Gaylor, Annie Laurie. The Case Aainst School Prayer. â€Å"Keep the Church and State Forever Separate. † Madison, Wisconsin: Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. 1995 Matt Pyeatt. â€Å"Congressman Urges School Prayer Constitutional Amendment,† CNSNews. om, at: http://www. botcw. com/talk/ Religion and Prayer in U. S. Public Schools : www. religioustolerance. org The Holy B ible â€Å"New Tesatment† St. Matthew 6:5-6 The resolution was passed on 2001-NOV-7. The vote was 5 to 4. See: Gene Garman, â€Å"Lafayette School Board resolution on public prayer,† at: http:// www. sunnetworks. net/~ggarman/ The web site contains a point-by-point rebuttal. â€Å"Topic: Prayer in School,† AmarilloNet. com bulletin board at: http://www. amarillonet. com/ubb/Forum34/ Holmes

Investment Analysis and Lockheed Tri Star

Investment Analysis and Lockheed Tri Star Group effort Total points: 100 (Course grade 25%) This case comprises four serially numbered stand-alone problems and the fifth one appears with the title of Lockheed Tri-Star. You are required to offer your calculations of values as indicated below. In addition to the calculations, write a brief summary of your findings in about 100 words for each problem. 1) Rainbow Products20 points | Machine Purchase| Machine plus service contract| Enhanced Machine| Payback period| 7 Years| 7. 78 Years| 7. 65 Years| NPV| ($945. 8)| $2,500. 00| $15,000. 00| IRR| 11. 49%| 12. 86%| 15. 43%| Decision (Yes/No)| NO| YES| YES| We would advise Rainbow Products to not purchase the paint-mixing equipment unless they decided take on the additional $500 per year expenditure to service the machine, or decided to reinvest 20% of the yearly cost savings back into new machine parts. Either of the last two options would benefit the company, unlike the first option, as the y provide both a positive Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) greater than the Cost of Capital.Although the last two options have longer Payback Periods than the first option, using Payback Period to make a determination in this example is not suitable because of the shortcomings of the method. 2) Concession Stand20 points Criteria| Add a new window| Update Equipment| New Stand| Rent| Any other option? – Wildcard – Add a New Window AND Update Existing Equipment| NPV ($)| $25,461. 91| $2,514. 18| $34,825. 76| $28,469. 88| $27,976. 08| NPV Rank – No WildcardNPV Rank – Wildcard| 34| 45| 11| 22| 3| IRR (%)| 34. 2%| 18. 01%| 31. 21%| 1207. 61%| 28. 10%| IRR Rank – No WildcardIRR Rank – Wildcard| 22| 45| 33| 11| 4| MIRR (%)| 26 . 77%| 16. 90%| 24. 82%| 255. 21%| 23. 01%| MIRR Rank – No WildcardMIRR Rank – Wildcard| 22| 45| 33| 11| 4| It would be in the best interest of the Concession Stand to either Build a New Stand, or Rent a Larger Stand. Under the NPV method, Building a New Stand would be the most beneficial option, with the Rent choice being the second best option.Under the IRR and MIRR methods, the Rent choice would be a clear favorite while the Building a New Stand choice would be the third most beneficial option. Their choice in which action to take would depend upon which methodology best aligned with their operational goals, although NPV is a more commonly used and trusted approach than IRR because of several issues that can derail IRR calculations. 3) MBATech, Inc. 20 points Alternative| Cost to the city ($)| Increase IRR to 25%| $122,103|Give 2-year payback| $256,522| NPV of $75,000 (at 20% discount)| $112,666| ARR of 40%| $173,913| Although the cost to the city could vary depending upon the timing of the subsidy payments due to the time value of money, our calculated costs reflect immediate payment of the subsidy during the initial investment period. With that said, the city w ould be wise in pursuing the NPV of $75,000 method as the cost of this method would be the least expensive of the four alternatives.An upfront payment to MBA Tech, Inc. , from the city, for $112,666 would be sufficient in pushing the NPV of the project to the $75,000 limit. The city should avoid the 2-year payback method if at all possible as this would have the greatest cost by a substantial margin. 4) Valu-Added Industries, Inc. 10 points NPV of the project| $100,000| Number of shares to be issued| 1,000| Price per share| $110. 00| By issuing 1,000 shares to the public at $10. 0 per share, Valu-Added Industries will be financing the entire project through investors. This action will also indicate to current stockholders that the future market value of the shares of stock of the company should be higher in value. With no further information, it would appear that both Valu-Added Industries, and their stockholders, would benefit from the organization taking on this opportunity, and t hat the value of the company would only increase by doing so. ) Lockheed Tri Star30 points At planned production levels of 210 units, what was the true value of the Tri star program? | ($584,048,126)| At planned production levels of 300 units, what was the true value of the Tri star program? | ($274,381,683)| At planned production levels of 323 units, what was the true value of the Tri star program? | ($206,205,933)| At what sales volume would the program reach true break even? | About 388|

Recession in economics Essay

Recession in economics is generally used to refer to a situation at which a nation’s gross domestic product has sustained a negative growth. The use of generally is due to the fact that different economists can describe recession in different ways. The agency responsible for declaring a nation’s economy is at a state of recession is mainly the NBER other wise the National Bureau of Economic Research. It has been argued that the normal recession occurs when the natural growth rate of is less than two percent in average and it lasts virtually over one year. There have emerged various debates concerning the causes of recessions however, the generally agreed cause of recession is mainly by the actions taken with an aim at controlling the supply of money in the economy. The Federal Reserve is mandated with the responsibility to maintain the balance between money supply, inflation and interest rates. The moment the balance is lost in this equation,the economy can run out of control forcing itself to balance. This is exactly was experienced by many nations in the year 2007. The Federal Reserve monetary policy injected significant amount of money supply in the money market. This kept the interest rate low while at the same time the rate of inflation continued to rise. This together with relaxed policies that govern the lending practices made borrowing of money easy thus the economic activities became unsustainable and consequently leading to the economy coming to a stand still. Other minor factors that cause the economic recessions could be the presence of wars or the increase of oil prices. They are however, short term and correct themselves in a faster way. A recession can always be spotted before it occurs. It is possible to oversee an economic scale changing especially in quarters coming before the actual onset. Some these signs may include,high levels of unemployment, decline in stock market, decline in housing prices and lack of foreign investment among many other factors. A global recession is generally a significant fall of economic activity that is spread across the world’s economy. It should last more than three months and is usually more visible in a nation’s gross domestic product, industrial production, real income in addition to wholesale and retail sales among others. Recessions normally starts immediately after the economy has reached a peak of activities and comes to an end as the economy reaches its trough. It is involved with simultaneous declines and falling of commodity prices otherwise called deflation. Alternatively, it may be a sharp rise of commodity prices also called inflation mostly in a process called stagflation. A severe recession may be referred to as economic depression. Global recession usually is estimated to occur over a cycle that may last between eight to ten years. It has been said that during the last three decades, the world per capita output growth has been either none or negative. Most of the global nations have been affected by the recession both the developed and the developing nations. If nations like the US, UK and Australia among other nations can feel the pinch,what about the poor countries in the developing world? The recession of the early year 2000 was mostly felt in western nations. It affected the European Union during the year 2000 and 2001 as well as the US in the year 2002 and year 2003. Countries like Australia and Canada avoided the recession for the better part of the time. Russia began to prosper while Japan continued with its 1990s recession. This recession did not meet the economists by by surprise. They had predicted it following the 1990s boom which had the experiences of both low unemployment and low inflation. In the United States of America, the recession was took the form of large layoffs and outsourcing in addition to formally highly paid employees who are being coerced into less paid service positions. In answering the Alan Greenspan question, it is actually becoming clear that Europe is not an exception of the global recession. The previous confidence enjoyed by the UK housing market has fallen especially in march to the lowest point in the last three decades. Other countries like Ireland and Spain have housing markets that have fallen over the last decade to the earth. There is a prediction that these and other nations might possibly experience a wholesale collapse. Once the housing markets more so in eastern Europe as well as Baltic estates are experiencing a significant cooling,the western European have now stopped buying properties places like Estonia, Warsaw and other places. In southern China and in India,the prices are no more surging. The stock markets have experienced sharp down fall after reaching high levels thus people do not have money to buy what they want vivid example is the slowing down of sale of apartments in Hong Kong which is usually a very hyper active market. Britain have had one of the most robust housing markets in Europe with little of an oversupply than in Spain. According to Alan Greenspan who was the former chairman of Federal Reserve said that global recession might create backlashes that might force nations to retreat from the worldwide markets. This decade’s early years global recession have had little effects on the Eastern and Central Europe’s export markets. The first phase of the financial gloom spared this region which affected the initial public offerings, acquisitions and mergers. It also experienced a few multinationals scrapping projects and cancelling of planned investments in addition to scaling back the oversees expansion. A study conducted by Vienna Institute of Economic studies in year 2003 showed that the FDI flows to the nations of central Europe were halved in the first three months of year 2002 in spite of their well grounded and looming European Union membership. During the years 1999 to 2003,there were frequent delays in export transactions. Privatization also attracted little interest. It is of no doubt that Europe is headed for a recession.

Chevron Oil Industry Analysis

http://factsanddetails. com/world. php? itemid=1541&catid=51&subcatid=326 Chevron: Industry Analysis Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrants is extremely low due to several factors. First, the oil industry which consists of thousands of oil and oil service companies throughout the world is an extremely large market. â€Å"According to the Department of Energy (DOE), Fossil fuels which include coal, oil, and natural gas make up more than 85% of the energy consumed in the U. S. as of 2008† (investopia). The fact that it is such a large market, make it very competitive for new entrants.Also, the oil industry is already in the mature stage, dominated by many major players including Chevron that has been around for a long period of time with various locations worldwide. This shows that they have an established reputation that is hard to compete with. Also, there are several barriers to entry which make it a very competitive market. These challenges include high capital co st, economies of scale, distribution channels, technology, environmental and governmental regulation as well as high levels of industry expertise.According to the Turnkey Analyst, â€Å"it is very difficult to build sustainable competitive advantages in the energy industry where oil’s commodity nature inhibits pricing power within the industry. Market participants are constantly required to invest capital to maintain cash flows and market share. † Therefore, these barriers to entry make it hard for new players to enter the market. http://turnkeyanalyst. com/2012/06/turnkey-research-note-chevron-corporation-nyse-cvx/ Rivalry among Existing Firms The oil industry is different from other due to the high demand for oil.Despite being a national company, Chevron has many competitors including regional as well as independent companies. Chevron is among the second largest oil companies in the world. Its competitors are Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. (chevron). Since oil is a commodity, the rivalry among existing firms is low. This is because there is not much of a differentiation. Threat of Substitute Products The threat of substitute is low. Substitutes for the oil industry would be alternative energy such as solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity or perhaps nuclear energy.However, due to factors such as â€Å"government regulations and environmental issues, nuclear and hydroelectric energy sources are not a threat within the next. Further, photovoltaic sources are limited by technological issues and geothermal sources are limited by geographic availability† (Miller). These might be a potential threat in the future due to emerging technologies and innovation that may lead to less consumption of oil-based fuel. An example would be hybrid cars that will result in less dependency on oil services.However, this shift in a more sustainable supply chain seems to be in the long term due to certain barriers such as high costs such as investments in n ew facilities. According to Chevron, â€Å"fossil fuels will continue to have a prominent role in the world’s economy for decades to come in both transportation and electricity generation. According to the International Energy Agency, renewable energy will account for less than 20 percent of the energy mix in 2035. † They believe that there will always be a demand for their products due to growth of the global economy and alternative energy sources do not seem to be a serious threat.Another factor that shows that alternative energy is not a serious threat is the fact that there is not enough support from the government. â€Å"Even though governments throughout the world are vowing to expand to green energy, they continue to give far more subsidies to fossil fuel than renewable – 10 to 12 times more, according to recent reports† (Wood). http://www. chevron. com/documents/pdf/ChevronApproachtoAssessingClimateRegulationImpacts. pdf http://www. renewableenerg yworld. com/rea/news/article/2010/12/oil-and-renewables-slicing-up-the-subsidy-pie Bargaining Power of SuppliersWithin the global industry exist many companies but is dominated by a few major players. Due to large capital investment in these companies, they â€Å"Supplier power is high because OPEC controls 40% of world’s supply of oil and, thus, has a strong influence on the price of oil† (Miller). Inspite of its size and scope, the oil industry is one of the most powerful in the world. Large companies such as Chevron control each aspect of the supply chain such as producing, refining, and drilling. Due to capital investments, it allow for these oil companies to acquire and own each part of their supply chain.The fact that they are their own customers give them more power allowing them to be more efficient. With all the their capital assets, they are able to obtain the resources such as operating their own macturing facilities, distribution channel giving them more co ntrol in this aspect. This shows that they have a high bargaining power. Their only supplier would be the oil reserves from oil producing countries. Bargaining Power of Buyers The bargaining power of buyers (individual) is low because oil is a commodity. Despite rise in prices, people will continue to buy it in order to fulfill their needs such as driving.With the lack of substitutes for oil, it gives little power to buyers who rely heavily on this resource. The cost of switching to another energy source is too high. Therefore, there is a high demand for oil which determines the market price. Industrial buyer power is also low because their supply can be limited by upstream suppliers. (Miller) To conclude, the overall attractiveness of the oil industry is high because there is low threat of new entry as well as buyer power and threat of substitutes. Also, the fact that supplier power is high is a favorable since the few major players in the industry are both suppliers and buyers.

Causes of the Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Causes of the Civil War - Essay Example The North and the South regions of the country were very different from each other in economic sphere. While the northern regions were industrial developed and people living there "earned their living producing iron, steel, machinery, and cloth in factories" (American History - Overview), the southern part of the USA was oriented to agricultural goods production. Since Missouri Compromise of 1820 the territory of the country had been divided into two parts: industrialised North and agricultural South. The Northern states used paid workers labor who worked in different branches of industry while Southern states used slaves' labor; slaves worked in plantations growing cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar. Such differences between the two parts of the country are the main cause of the Civil War. This development disproportion goes back to the early 1800s when "the Northern states were rapidly becoming industrialized. The population of Northern cities increased" (American History - Overview). Such disproportion resulted in irreconcilable contradictions between the North and the South, and these contradictions in turn resulted in the Civil War between the North and the South. There are also two indirect causes of the Civil War. These are slavery and states' rights. ... Slavery adherents argued that slavery was economically profitable and not wrong. But many slaves didn't want to suffer from their masters' exploitation and fought against it. Some of them came to the North where people had possibility to be paid for their work. Against those who ran away from their masters strict measures were initiated1. But in the same time many slaves took their position for granted considering that it is their destiny and they would be awarded after death. In the 1800s some states of the Southern part of the United States "argued that it was the right of the state to decide whether or not to allow slavery. This right and others are sometimes referred to as 'states' rights.'" (American History - Overview). From this point of view the following documents are especially interesting: these are William H. Seward's Irrepressible Conflict Speech and "Houses Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln. William H. Seward, democrat, convicted slavery asserting that "The slave system is one of constant danger, distrust, suspicion, and watchfulness. It debases those whose toil alone can produce wealth and resources for defense, to the lowest degree of which human nature is capable..." (William H. Seward, 1858). He gives examples of slavery in different countries and epochs, such as in Russia, Turkey and some others. He underlines that slavery cannot exist in democratic countries: "In states where the free-labor system prevails, universal suffrage necessari ly obtains, and the state inevitably becomes, sooner or later, a republic or democracy" (William H. Seward, 1858). Abraham Lincoln, republican, was more decisive. He appealed to refuse from slavery and points out that it is impossible for one country

Theology paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Theology paper - Essay Example The four noble truths are; The Nature of Suffering, Sufferings Origin, Sufferings Cessation, and The Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering. The path leading to cessation is an eight fold path set out by Buddha. These are related to faith, morality and meditation. The Heart Sutra emphasizes wisdom and emptiness. This sutra teaches us that the thing which looks like something much is nothing much. Form outside; it appears to be a lot, but there is really nothing behind. A swelled head as we know is an empty head (Conze, p.85). Heart Sutra reveals that most of the big things in this world are just like inflated balloons. From outside, the balloon may look like big, but we know that only air is inside the balloon. In other words, this sutra tries to educate us that whatever we perceive as big in this world are noting really meaningful. For example, many people may think that earning wealth and fame is a good achievement in this world. But according to Heart Sutra teachings, such things are just like inflated balloons. When we die, we cannot take anything with us and hence the physical achievements in this world are meaningless. According to Christian belief, salvation can be obtained only through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the son of God who has sacrificed his life for saving the life of sinners. All the people in the world are sinners according to Christian belief. As per the rules of God, death is the punishment for sinners. But the sin has arrived in this world because of Adam’s sin. In other words, we, the children of Adam, are sinners traditionally because of the sins committed by Adam. God has given the verdict that in order to wipe off the punishment of sin from the world, person without free from sins should sacrifice his life. But in this world no saints are there. So God has sent his only son Jesus to the world in order to sacrifice his life to save our lives. Jesus’ sacrifice enabled him to attain full control or authority over the human