Arbitrtion, mediation, litigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Arbitrtion, mediation, litigation - Essay Example Litigation is a legal procedure in front of a judge such as lawsuit to solve a conflict (Freeadvice, 2011). The decision of the judge or the jury is the final resolution to the conflict. Litigation was used by the company to protect its best interest in several areas. The firm has several patents for products. The company once used litigation to protect its intellectual property when a competitor violated patent laws and created a clone of a patented product produced by the company. Litigation was also used by the company to protect itself against employees that filed wrongful lawsuits against the firm. A few years age an employee claimed he was fired due to discrimination since he was from India. I believe his claim was bogus; this employee came to work late or was absent several times every month. I worked with him sometimes, he was completely incompetent. A second technique to manage conflicts is mediation. â€Å"Mediation is a process in which a third-party neutral assists in re solving a dispute between two or more other parties† (Honeyman & Yawanarajah, 2003). The company used mediation to deal with problems with the union and issues associated with the collective bargaining agreement. A third technique that can be used to manage issues is arbitration. Arbitration has been used by the company in the past to settle salary disputes during the negotiation of key employees such as executive management positions. The use of litigation could have been more effective by eliminating the legal staff and paying a retainer to a law firm. The company spent too much money on payroll to its legal staff. The legal department should be dissolved. The company would replace a fixed cost with a variable cost by switching from a legal staff to the services of a lawyer firm on retainer. The use of mediation should be extended on a limited basis to deal with controversial customer complaints. For instance if a customer

United Colors of Benetton Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United Colors of Benetton - Case Study Example These are special skills on product design and manufacturing procedures related to cutting and dying. Still, their networking or outsourcing activities remain in the confines of their territory in Italy. Contrary to the prevailing business models in their industry at the given period, even their retail shops are outsourced in the form of informal licensing. By informal it means that most of their transactions whether in manufacturing or retailing are based on handshakes mostly with no written or formal agreements. Conversely, their major competitors Gap and Zara own and control their retail shops. It is estimated that about 85% of business operations are outsourced. Their vast networking strategy paved the way for their tremendous growth not only in Italy but in other countries as well. These licensees played a significant role through financing other aspects of Benetton operations hence allowing the latter to focus their hard work and resources to their core competencies. The embodiment of its strategic outsourcing initiative is evidently shown in its five-stage process for its international expansion. The gauge of their successful expansion must result to buy out of their licensee or subsidiary and integrating it under Benetton management.

Action Plan for Diabetes Care and Management

Action Plan for Diabetes Care and Management Template for Action plan for Case Study – MM What is the goal/aspect of diabetes care/management patient would like you to help them with? MM does not want to go onto to Insulin therapy as she’s heard bad stories of insulin and losing limbs. She is willing to try anything else to see if it controls her diabetes. She feels a lot of her negative aspects in her life have been addressed she is working through them and she wants to lose weight and try to get her diabetes under control What action (s) will the patient take and when? The patient will currently try and relook at her eating habits in relation to her diet. She is considering batch cooking, portion meals and freezing them. She saw a leaflet in the waiting room about healthy helpings and asked if I knew anything about it. Advise her it was a group session meeting over 8 weeks looking at healthy eating, lifestyle and ways to put it into practice. It was also occurred no cost so she indicated she would look into this and let me know the next time we met. She will look at ways to increase exercise. We discussed this in more detail activities like swimming would take pressure off feet – she never learnt to swim. I gave her a leaflet for her to make contact with technogym in the area. A form of exercise with different equipment whilst body is mostly sitting on a machine similar to exercise club called Curves. She also indicated she was happy to consider more medication to control her diabetes and so to reduce her HbA1c and hopefully her weight. When will the action take place? The pt was away to go on holiday so not appropriate to implement any new medication change until she returns. She advised me she would keep an eye on what she ate while away and try to keep as active as possible till she returned to see me. On a confidence rating of 0-10 how confident is the patient of achieving their goal? (0=not confident 10 =very confident) 7 – she does want to change and move on with her life. She wants to be able to play more with her grandchildren. Who/what will help them achieve this goal? If MM can see and feel the changes she is about to undertake this will her motivated to keep going. Her Grandchildren are at the active phase and want her to join in with them – she also wants to join them and have fun. Support from her family as they want her to be more an active role member for the grandchildren. Who /what may stop them achieving this goal? Patient falls back to her old ways. If the family due to their busy lives overlook her and she feels she hasn’t got the support, if she doesn’t have weight loss this will deflate her confidence in achieving the goals. If she is not able to exercise because the planter fasciitis reoccurs this will disengage her motivation and could affect her diabetic control. As their healthcare professional what is your role? To provide ongoing support so to help the patient loose weight and try and bring her HbA1c back in line. Continue to be up to date with the information I give her in relation to external support to the diabetic clinic for example healthy helpings. Be able to discuss this with the patient so she is able to make an informed choice. Work along with the patient in the treatment options available to her. Be able to explain how the medication works to try and improve glycaemic control address the medication side effects and any other requirements she may have to perform with appropriate medication choices. I will work along with the patient so to enhance good rapport in order to alleviate any fears together try and achieve the required goals. Review Date 3 weeks Rationale for intervention(s) Nice (2009) guidelines when to consider medication options for diabetic control. Diet measures/ exercise education reinforced each time, essential part in the diabetic management. Triple therapy GLP1agonist receptor improves gylcaemic control. Works well with metformin and SU. MM’s BMI was greater than 35Kg. Its action to stimulate insulin secretion and delay gastric emptying therefore appetite reduction and weight loss. 59 Brief outline the intervention(s) considered with the patient and the evidence base supporting this intervention(s) provide references when appropriate Waddington (2011) like others comments on the weight battle in relation to diabetes suggesting to improve patients confidence in weight loss patients have to play a active role in the decision making process. Importance of getting this right is huge the current cost of obesity alone to the NHS estimated at 1 billion/ year Diley (2008) The ever growing problem which was made a priority by the DOH in 2004 is now a serious concern of the UK. That was 10 years ago how true was there prediction. It’s reckoned to surpass smoking as biggest cause of premature loss of life Diley (2008). Our aim to try and achieve weight loss Haslam (2005) goes onto to highlight this as a mainstream treatment. If there is a 10% reduction it improves diabetes control all round. Waddington (2013) compares the commercial weight industry organisations, similarly examining energy input versus output combined with exercise the aim – weight loss. Not a quick fix nor easy and can be very misleading. MM hereby commencing a free healthy dietary course similar to this via the NHS non biased. MM’s exercise limited but aware of the government’s recommendation of 30 minutes of exercise a day. Robertson (2009) and Mayor (2012) comment 70% of the population don’t do enough exercise yet a cornerstone of diabetes management. It in- expensive method use a pedometer to achieved 10,000 steps a day provides a visual encouragement tool Waddington (2009). Nice (2009) looked at randomised controlled studies and found that GLP-1 had a greater effect in reducing glycaemic control and weight loss over DPP4 or insulin. 265 Reflection of the consultation What? Description of the event Recent review with MM increased HbA1c readings a number of reasons. MM wants help to control her diabetes better and loose weight. Diet and Exercise discussed which treatment options. Liaglutide chosen as once daily injection. Prescription given to patient and return. Self home monitoring of blood sugars Reinforced due to increased risk of hypo with this additional treatment. So What? Analysis of the event Outside agencies discussed to assist with diet and exercise measures. Open discussion of treatment options MM decided to go with GLP-1 receptor agonist, Liraglutide was decided as good HbA1c reduction and weight loss and more suited for MM. Reiterated to patient the recommendation on the use of GLP1 for diabetic treatment. A requirement of HbA1c reduction by 1%, weight reduction by 3% in 6 months if not met then to remove treatment choice is advised by Nice (2009) Now What? Proposed action following the event Teach MM administration of liraglutide injection, site rotation, disposal of products, and storage of medication. Guidance liraglutides initial dose 0.6mgs to max 1.2 mgs. Greater risk of hypo’s due to additional therapy additional Blood sugar readings required monitor to be check set properly working. 194 References HARVARD DILEY A. (2008). HELPING PATIENTS TO LOSE WEIGHT: BEST PRACTICE FOR PRIMARY CARE. primary care nursing. 5 (1), 31-34 HASLAM D. (2005). THE IMPORTANCE OF MANAGING INSULIN RESISTANCE AND WEIGHT. Independent Nurse. 16-17 NICE GUIDELINES (2009)The Management of Type 2 Diabetes www.nice.org MAYOR S. (2012).PHYSICAL ACTIVITY : GETTING PEOPLE MOVING TO PREVENT CVD. primary care nursing. 9 (2), 59 61 ROBERTSON C. (2009). WALKING YOUR WAY TO GOOD HEALTH. primary care nursing. 6 (1), 33-35 WADDINGHAM F. (2013). WEIGHT LOSS: WHICH METHODS REALLY WORK FOR PATIENTS?. primary care nursing. 10 (2), 59-62 WADDINGHAM S. (2009). HELPING PATIENTS WITH DIABETES TO WIN THE BATTLE TO CONTROL THEIR WEIGHT. primary care nursing. 6 (3), 115-117 WADDINGHAM S. (2011). NINE PROCESSES OF CARE FOR DIABETES. primary care nursing. 8 (4), 170- 173 Detailed case study 2 Consultation Review 1 MM Review Date 30/09/2013 Patient seen 08/09/2013 (3 weeks ago) What was the intervention Commencement of Liraglutide injections 0.6mgs for the next week and increased home blood sugar readings Patients assessment of intervention MM felt it was daunting at 1st at the thought of giving herself an injection. She was pleased that she managed to self administer her injections and thought it was that bad after all. We discussed aspects that we previously discussed before starting the treatment. She found she forgot to rotate injection sites, but remembered by the end of the week. She undertook regular blood sugar readings and they were starting to show 5 mmol/lit before bed and on waken 10mmol/lit. No side effects noted and patient dose of liraglutide was increased to 1.2mgs. Reflection of the consultation What? Description of the event A review on how the patient felt with her new choice of treatment and to assess if there were any problems experienced either the injection site, or increase in hypoglycaemia So What? Analysis of event On assessment MM was coping well with injecting liraglutide, no side effects were experienced. Increase dose of liraglutide to 1.2 mgs and reassess how effective treatment was in relation to the measurements of home blood monitoring. Reminded her to be aware of possible increase in hypoglycaemia to continue performing measurements as she had done previously. What now?Propsed action following the event Next review appointment was made for 1month asked her to bring in her blood sugar readings to assess effectiveness of treatment and no signs of hypoglycaemia. Also advised if there were any problems for her to telephone and ensured she had a note of the number. 130 Consultation Review 2 Detailed Case Study 2 MM Review Date 30/10/2013 Patient seen 30/09/2013 (4 weeks ago) What was the intervention Increased dose of liraglutide to 1.2mgs daily Patient’s assessment of intervention MM was feeling good within her. She had noticed a reduction in her blood sugar reading they were down and ranged between 5-7 mmol/lit for fasting levels and range 6-8 mmol/lit for day time. She had done well with site rotation. Experienced no hypo’s and generally felt well. Has reduced appetite and aware there has been some with loss. Along with the medication change she has completed healthy helpings programme and now actively addressed exercise regime and working towards achieving her 10,000 steps not managing that every day as yet. Reflection of the consultation What? Description of the event A review of MM’s progress of new medication choice. She is now taking maximum dose of Liraglutadie of 1.2 mgs daily. No adverse effects had been experienced by patient in relation to side effects or hypo’s. She showed good evidence of regular monitoring. She herself was more upbeat, more positive in terms of her diet, new exercise regime and new 3rd line therapy that was commenced. So What? Analysis of event Encouraged to see patient doing so well not experiencing hypo’s this is a particular area to be vigilant as she was already on a SU. If hypo’s were experienced then SU would be reduced and regular monitoring continued till blood sugar readings were stable and no hypo’s were experienced. A reduction in home blood sugar readings and wt loss of 2 kgs were noted. MM praised for efforts so far. What now? Proposed action following the event To continue with current treatment regime, to be vigilant of possible hypo’s to cont with regular monitoring or at any time she didn’t feel right. Telephone me if any concerns. Continue with her good diet and exercise regime. To return to practice for repeat HbA1c and weigh in 2 months to see how treatment choice was going. 193

Baron Haussmann and the redesign of Paris :: Essays Papers

Baron Haussmann and the redesign of Paris During the last half of the 1800’s and the early part of the 1900’s urban population in western Europe made enormous increases. During this period France’s overall population living in cities increased twenty percent, and in Germany the increase was almost thirty percent. This great flow of people into cities created many problems in resource demands and patterns of urban life. These demands created a revolution in sanitation and medicine. Part of this revolution was the redesigning of cities. G.E. Baron Von Haussmann was the genius behind the new plans for the city of Paris. The redesign of Paris was one of the greatest ambitions for Napoleon III. He wanted to create another London, with large parks and open spaces. It also came out of the need for more efficient housing, wider streets to prevent riots and the building of a sewer system to stop the spread of diseases. The master behind Napoleon’s visions was Baron Von Haussmann, prefect of the Seine. He created the Paris we know today with spacious boulevards and beautiful sights. The redevelopment by Napoleon III and Haussmann consisted of three major parts: streets and buildings, parks, and services. The first major problem with the city before reconstruction was that the streets were very narrow and wound endlessly around the city. These narrow streets had been a problem in that for many years they had been the battlegrounds for strikes against the French government. Haussmann and Napoleon sought to change this by widening the streets and give more structure to their flow. Haussmann saw streets as having two main purposes. The first was for a place to simply live, shop, and a place to socialize for the growing middle class. The second was a way to connect main points of the city. The streets provided rapid access from the railway stations, government buildings, central markets, hospitals and entertainment districts. It also linked the central organs of administration and businesses such as fire department riot police, ambulances, and depa rtment store deliveries. This reconstruction of streets could not be done without great demolition of many private buildings. Baron Haussmann and the redesign of Paris :: Essays Papers Baron Haussmann and the redesign of Paris During the last half of the 1800’s and the early part of the 1900’s urban population in western Europe made enormous increases. During this period France’s overall population living in cities increased twenty percent, and in Germany the increase was almost thirty percent. This great flow of people into cities created many problems in resource demands and patterns of urban life. These demands created a revolution in sanitation and medicine. Part of this revolution was the redesigning of cities. G.E. Baron Von Haussmann was the genius behind the new plans for the city of Paris. The redesign of Paris was one of the greatest ambitions for Napoleon III. He wanted to create another London, with large parks and open spaces. It also came out of the need for more efficient housing, wider streets to prevent riots and the building of a sewer system to stop the spread of diseases. The master behind Napoleon’s visions was Baron Von Haussmann, prefect of the Seine. He created the Paris we know today with spacious boulevards and beautiful sights. The redevelopment by Napoleon III and Haussmann consisted of three major parts: streets and buildings, parks, and services. The first major problem with the city before reconstruction was that the streets were very narrow and wound endlessly around the city. These narrow streets had been a problem in that for many years they had been the battlegrounds for strikes against the French government. Haussmann and Napoleon sought to change this by widening the streets and give more structure to their flow. Haussmann saw streets as having two main purposes. The first was for a place to simply live, shop, and a place to socialize for the growing middle class. The second was a way to connect main points of the city. The streets provided rapid access from the railway stations, government buildings, central markets, hospitals and entertainment districts. It also linked the central organs of administration and businesses such as fire department riot police, ambulances, and depa rtment store deliveries. This reconstruction of streets could not be done without great demolition of many private buildings.

Auttitude Towards Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus’s Attitude toward and use of Knowledge and Learning Doctor Faustus shows great knowledge and learning but the way he describes and uses the knowledge he knows is different from how others would take it. Doctor Faustus’s knowledge is vast and great but certain goals cannot be obtain because reality refuses to let it happen. Because of that, Doctor Faustus’s character development throughout the story goes up and down, and Faustus would choose his decisions by only the present and not the future results it would occur to him.Doctor Faustus reveals a lot about himself as the story progresses. Faustus doesn’t like the boundaries created in many of the subjects he studies for: law, medicine and religion. The black arts come to Faustus and soon studies to become a magician, and summons Mephastophilis, the devil, to ask him to talk to Lucifer to make an offer. Faustus will sell his soul in exchange of 24 years of service by Mephastophilis. Mephastop hilis has explained the dangers of this but Faustus doesn’t care for it and continues the offer.Faustus portrays that he doesn’t care for the circumstances for himself. The commitment he made to the dark arts shows how Faustus cares for knowledge in a way because he wants riches and supremacy of Germany. Faustus images this before the deal he made, and the choice was that he wants it. Doctor Faustus had a great want for knowledge but many hurdles came in the way on how to use that knowledge. Faustus wanted to obtain more, and summoning Mephastophilis open a door for him to explore in ways. Faustus offering his soul to the devil is a choice he made.Faustus had no care for how he would get knowledge, he wanted some type of power greater than god or something unobtainable people can’t obtain. By asking for eternal life, Faustus was making decisions for certain goals. Once decisions are made, Faustus would regret the choice towards the end of his life. Faustus knew what problems would come at him because Mephastophilis acknowledged the problems before Faustus ordered to sell his soul. Faustus had no care in way; he just wanted what he wanted.Faustus didn’t know how to use the knowledge he has in his brain. Faustus knew a great deal of information, he’s a scholar. What Faustus doesn’t know is what is okay and what is not okay. Faustus wanted fun, so he got fun. Using women as toys and playing jokes on the minority and people Faustus thought was under him. Making decisions that didn’t help Faustus in any way until it was too late for him to go back. Doctor Faustus understood the knowledge he was given but he didn’t have the wisdom or the smarts to use the knowledge given to him.The tragedy is that because of the decisions Faustus chose with the knowledge, nothing work for him in the end. The only end Faustus has is Hell with Mephastophilis and Lucifer eternally. In a way, Faustus has obtained eternal life, but he wasn’t expecting the way he wanted. All decisions created by Faustus led to a tragedy, with the great knowledge he obtain, he didn’t know how to use it properly. Faustus looks at knowledge as a great aide in everything but the one who uses that knowledge depends on the person.

Why Did William Win The Battle of Hastings? Essay

William won the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He won because of his planning and leadership as well luck and having a big and strong army. Planning helped William a lot because he knew that if he made Harold Godwinson and his Saxon army travelled from the north of England to the south of England, where the Normans had set their camp up, then the Saxons would be very tired whilst the Normans would be rested. He also knew that once the bad winds had stopped, his army could cross safely without the Saxons to stop them for they were in the north of England fighting Harold Hadrada. This was also to do with luck. Whilst the battle was going on, William thought up a plan. He ordered his men to pretend to retreat down the hill and used the rumor of him being dead to help him as well. William’s leadership and skill helped him a lot because he commanded his men very well and had an army eager to fight. William kept control all through the battle by speaking to his troops and fighting at the front. He had also gotten the pope, Alexander II to support him. William was given a banner from the pope saying that William’s attack on England was a holy crusade, which is another word for battle. Harold Godwinson had also shown great skill because he had positioned his men on Senlac hill, which made it harder for the Normans to get to them, and commanded his me to form a large shield wall that protected them from the Normans. Although he had made some mistakes. When Harold had heard that William had landed on the other side of England, he had decided to go straight to him and gather some troops instead of waiting for a bigger army and getting a short rest. He had also not thought about the Normans’ arrows, as they were long range, so they could pick off Saxons at a long distance Preparation played a part in Williams’s victory because he had set up a camp for his army and made sure his men trained for the battle. They also had time to rest and gather food in preparation. Harold Godwinson and his army had less time to prepare and were extremely tired as they had to walk to the south of England. They had less time to prepare food and spent the night without sleep or rest. Luck helped William a little bit because the bad weather stopped while Harold Godwilson was fighting Harold Hadrada. Harold Godwinson was lucky as well because if the bad winds had stopped earlier then he would have to have fought two battles. Luck also helped William because there was a rumor going around that he was killed in battle and his  men started retreating, but then William lifted his visor and the Norman army charged back up Senlac Hill. William kept using that on all sides of the hill. William won because of his planning and leadership. If William had not planned then he might not have won the battle and his men would have gone charging straight into the battle and the Saxons would have killed them all. If William did not have good leadership either, then his troops will not of been well disciplined and well trained and it is likely that he would not of fought in the front and his men would’ve lost concentration. A lot of people thought that luck was one of the main things that cause William to win the battle of Hastings but I don’t because if William had gone into battle with bad leadership and no planning then it would be possible that the rumor never happened because the Normans would have been defeated for they were not ready. Luck did help though because the bad wind stopped so that William could land whilst Harold Godwilson was fighting.

How to Find the Best Firewood for Burning

How to Find the Best Firewood for Burning Finding Firewood If you are looking for firewood to cut, you need a wood source that is relatively close to your storage area and easily accessible by your vehicle. If you have a place to store and season the cut wood, inexpensive wood can be found nearly anywhere trees are being removed because of storms, right-of-way clearing, or logging. Places to look for wood include sawmill yards, national forests, logging and arboricultural operations and even your own property. The old saying, the best firewood is free firewood has some merit if you have the desire and equipment to process it and a place to store it. Many urban firewood users purchase processed wood because of its convenience, availability, and deliverability. It takes a lot less room to store the wood and is usually processed to fit the fireplace or stove. Processed firewood comes at a premium cost associated with its preparation, handling, and transportation. You should acquaint yourself with the value of firewood in your area and pay a fair price. You can find plenty of great dealers online and in the phone book. The Easiest Wood to Split Various woods have different splitting characteristics which are important to consider. Some woods split with little effort while others can be tough, stringy, and difficult to split. Splitting enables the wood to dry out faster and reduces the size of the sticks to stove or fireplace size. Some wood has to be split to use in a stove. Tree species to avoid because of splitting difficulties are elm, sycamore, and gum. Tree species especially easy to split are most conifers, oaks, ash and hard maple. Woods with interlocking grain like elm, gum or sycamore are to be avoided and are difficult to split even with a mechanical log splitter. A couple  rules of thumb should also be remembered: green wood will split more easily than dry wood and softwoods will generally split more easily than hardwoods. How Wood Burns Every species of wood provides different quantities (BTUs) of usable heat when burnedwe will discuss this, further in the next section. Heating efficiency of firewood depends on how that wood progresses through the three stages of burning.   In the first stage, wood is heated to the point where moisture within the wood cells is driven off and the cells are drying out. As the wood is losing moisture, it is chemically changing into charcoal, which is famous for its volatile gasses and liquids. Stopping the process at this point is where the charcoal industry packages their products. In the second stage, actual flames burn off the volatile gasses and  liquids to the point at which the charcoal has lost most of these volatile fuels. Much of the woods fuel energy is lost during this stage and premium wood burning systems can improve their efficiency. The third and final stage occurs when the charcoal burns and produce visible, glowing embers. This is called coaling. At this point, heat is radiated from the burning bed of coals. Different species of wood burn and expend energy differently throughout these three stages. Good firewood species should be dry, should burn through the second stage without sparks with a minimum of smoke production, and should spend a long time burning in the third coaling phase. Wood That Burns Best The heating potential of wood depends upon the increased density of that wood. A woods density is genetically determined by the tree species. Dense or heavy wood contains higher heating values, in British thermal units per unit volume, than lighter wood. A British thermal unit (BTU) measures the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. Most of us dont realize that air dried wood will produce about 7,000 BTU’s per pound. Regardless of the species, all wood burns with the same value. The complication here is in the density variation between different species, which can be significant. As an example, one unit of heavy oak wood will produce roughly as much heat as two units of cottonwood when measuring BTU output. Therefore,  lighter woods like cottonwood and willow will produce the same heat per pound as the heavier oak and hickory woods. This means that a greater volume of cottonwood is needed than oak to produce the same amount of heat. Also consider that some species of wood start easier than others but give off more smoke and more sparks than others. Easy starting wood is not necessarily the best wood to use for heating. Remember that different species of wood will last longer and have better coaling qualities than others. It is important to consider these factors when selecting firewood. The Needle and the Leaf Debate Then comes the  issue of burning needled conifers and softer wood species. Harder wood species that are very dense, and typically called hardwoods, are the firewood of choice in North America. However, not everyone has access to wood from the Eastern hardwood forest. Conifers and softwoods have served well in those regions with limited hardwoods but the limitations are overcome with proper preparation and appropriate wood burning systems. On the positive side, conifers are easier to ignite because they are resinous. Still, these softwoods tend to burn rapidly with a high, hot flame and burn out quickly, requiring frequent attention. Finding a wood heating unit that can store this quick heat and distribute it through time is critical. Red cedar and other trees with high-resin will often hold moisture pockets which can be both irritating and dangerous without the proper burning hardware. When heated these trapped gasses will pop and cause sparks. This can present a significant fire risk, especially when burned in open fireplaces without screens. Hardwoods will burn longer but less vigorously when compared to softwoods. The wood is harder to start and conifers are often used to kindle the wood burning process. Hardwoods make the best fuel because they tend to produce more coals, a process called coaling, that lasts longer than softwoods. A well-seasoned oak makes an excellent fuel because it produces a uniformly short flame and provides heat preserving coals.

Primary and secondary standard solutions Essays

Primary and secondary standard solutions Essays Primary and secondary standard solutions Paper Primary and secondary standard solutions Paper Primary standards, such as potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP) (C8H5KO4), display unique characteristics such as high purity, maintain stability during storage within a long period of time whether in solid or liquid form, large molar mass as calculated to be 204 (RMM), low reactivity with the surrounding air, high stoichiometry and low hygroscopicity (property of absorbing water from its surroundings), which makes them ideal in making precise assessments of the unknown concentration of a known chemical. Secondary standards such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) do not have the properties listed above, therefore it is low in purity, it is highly liable in absorbing the water molecules (H2O) from the atmosphere, it has high reactivity, it’s concentration changes over time, has lower molar mass known to be 40 (RMM). They are used in standardisations by comparing against primary standards. Primary standards are high in purity; whereas secondary standards have a low purity. Primary standards such as potassium hydrogen phthalate (C8H5KO4) remain stable when stored and the concentration does not alter over time whether it is in solid form or liquid form; however, secondary standards, for e. g. sodium hydroxide (NaOH), does not remain stable and the concentration changes rapidly over time. The primary standard, potassium hydrogen phthalate for example, has a higher molar mass (204 RMM) than the secondary standard, sodium hydroxide (40 RMM) for e. g. Primary standards’ reactivity with the surrounding is low in oppose to secondary standards where it is high and react with the water molecules in the atmosphere. The function of the both standards is to provide as a reference to be used when standardising a solution. Initially, a primary standard is used to standardise a secondary standard. Titration is the quantitative technique used to identify the concentration of an unknown solution by using a solution of which its concentration is known. The known solution, named titrant, is added into the analyte (unknown solution) from a burette until the reaction between the two is identified as complete by the colour change of the indicator. Colorimetry is also used to identify the concentration of an unknown sample, however it is typically used for the identification of concentration of coloured solutions. The colorimeter enables to pass different wavelengths of light through the sample, hence measures the amount of light absorbed by the sample. Titration Errors * Using diluted titrant and analyte: Once the burette is rinsed with distilled water, if it is not rinsed with the titrant, which was the sodium hydroxide (NaOH); it will become slightly diluted. This error will lead onto introducing a little more of sodium hydroxide with the vinegar, which means that the calculated mass for vinegar will be a little higher than usual and that will increase the percentage of the concentration of the vinegar. The same goes with the pipette when filling it with analyte, which was the acetic acid (vinegar-CH3COOH); if the pipette is not rinsed with the analyte after being rinsed with distilled water, the analyte will become slightly diluted and it will mean that a little more sodium hydroxide will be introduced and it will increase the percentage of the vinegar concentration more than it was supposed to be.   Preparation of the standard solution: A standard solution has to be mixed well in order to become a homogenous solution. This is necessary in order to estimate the percentage of the concentration of the analyte, in this case it was the potassium hydrogen phthalate. If it is not mixed properly, it may lead on to introducing more or less titrant, sodium hydroxide, into the standard solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate, to reach the end point. Therefore, the calculations for the estimation of sodium hydroxide concentration will be inaccurate, which means that the concentration could be higher or lower than it is in actuality. Colorimeter Errors 1. The absorption-concentration graph for the calibration curve of identifying manganese in manganin wire could have been drawn inaccurately. Hence, this will directly give an inaccurate result as to what the concentration of manganese will be in manganin wire. 1. If the calibration of the colorimeter is not done before making any measurements, it will give the wrong result of the wavelength of the rose wine samples. Hence, the absorbance cannot be measured accurately and an inaccurate result for the actual concentration of the rose wine will occur. 1. If the serial dilutions for rose wine are performed incorrectly, meaning excess water remained in the test tubes and burette initially, before even beginning the serial dilutions, due to washing them with distilled water, the rose wine samples added into the test tubes will be extra diluted. Therefore, the absorbance of the coloured compounds will be slightly reduced and when drawing out the calibration curve, it will correspond to the inaccurate rose wine concentration. Improvements for Colorimetry:Instead of using a hand-drawn calibration curve, it could have been drawn on a computer program â€Å"Excel† to ensure the accuracy of the graph and hence the calibration curve. Therefore, the absorbance measured can correspond to the accurate concentration of the solution being identified. Using equipment such as a â€Å"spectrophotometer† (difference between) which has 3-4 decimal places instead of a 2 decimal placed would give a much ‘precise’ result when measuring the absorbance of the samples such as the manganese in manganin wire. Also, to prevent inaccurate absorbance results, the calibration of the colorimeter must be done each time before measuring the wavelength of rose wine samples. It is done by putting deionised water into the cuvettes previously from measuring the absorbance of the actual wine being which is being identified, by pressing the ‘R’ button as reference. Finally, â€Å"automatic pipettes† could be used for the serial dilutions. Using automatic pipettes will increase the accuracy of the amount of manganese sample being measured to form the serial dilutions. Improvements for Titration: In order to prevent the sodium hydroxide (titrant) from becoming slightly dilute in the burette, the burettes must be washed with the sodium hydroxide, right after they are rinsed with the deionised water. This way, an accurate amount of titrant will be introduced with the analyte (potassium hydrogen phthalate). Consequently, this reduces the possibility of calculating a higher mass, therefore a higher concentration percentage for vinegar than its actual concentration. When preparing the standard solution (for e. g. the potassium hydrogen phthalate), it is important to shake the solution in order to have a homogenous solution. This is to ensure that there are no solid particles left in the solution that may interfere with the calculation of the concentration percentage of sodium hydroxide (titrant). The solution must be shaken in order to introduce an accurate amount of titrant with the analyte (potassium hydrogen phthalate) to reach the end point and therefore gain a more accurate concentration percentage of sodium hydroxide (titrant). Conclusion: The concentration percentage for vinegar was obtained as 7%, which is close to the actual range of concentration which had to be 5-6%. It could be said that it is fairly accurate. In order to ensure the accuracy of the titrations, they were performed several times until three consecutive results were obtained. Therefore, the volume measurements of the solution in the burette is quite reliable, due to being repeated. The preparation of Potassium Hydrogen Phthalate as a standard solution was carried out accurately (it was shaken until the potassium hydrogen phthalate dissolved properly) and therefore this allowed to gain an accurate result in the concentration of Sodium Hydroxide, which was 1. 11627 molar. The results obtained for the rose wine concentration percentage was 4% for sample A, 46% for sample B, and 84% for sample C. All the absorbance values found for each of the samples -A, B and C- were within the range of the serial dilutions absorbance. Preparing a serial dilution allowed the results of concentration to be more reliable and therefore more accurate, as when forming a graph of calibration curve for the rose wine samples, the line of best fit was drawn much more accurately. The manganese concentration in manganin wire was identified as 9%, however it was to be about 12%. This could be due to the calibration curve being drawn inaccurately for the manganese sample. Using a computer program such as ‘Excel’ in drawing the calibration curve could have improved the result of concentration for the manganese sample, as it would make the line of best fit for the calibration curve graph much more accurate. Overall, the results gained were not ‘entirely’ accurate, however by repeating certain parts of the techniques, the reliability of the technique was increased as well as the accuracy.

Word Families to Support Decoding Skills in Children with Disabilities

Word Families to Support Decoding Skills in Children with Disabilities Spelling with word families and rhyming words helps young children connections in both reading and writing. Seeing the relationships between these words helps students with disabilities predict new words by using known word patterns.   It supports their future success in literacy. Word families help support word recognition and generalizing decoding skills.   The following word families include word cards that you can reproduce and use in:    Word Sorts Print the pdfs for a couple of the word families:   start with the same rather than different vowel sounds, so the children will recognize them.   You can either create a two column page with the family at the top and then have the children do the sort individually, or you can print them and have students sort them in small groups on a piece of chart paper.   Learning centers: Print the word family cards on card stock, and put them in resealable sandwich or quart bags with a sorting template.   Have students at the learning center sort them.    Additive activities:   Continue to add word families: Have students take turns pulling cards in the sort and placing them on the chart paper.   Or add magnetic strips on the back of the cards and have groups of students sort the words on to a magnetic white board. Sort Games:    Sort War:   Print two word families on card stock.   Assign each child a word family.   When they snap the cards the one who puts on on the top gets to keep the pair.    Sort hearts.   Run several word families and shuffle them together.   Deal the cards to groups of three or four, 5 or 6 to each.   Leave the remainder in a stack.   Students can create sets to lay down when they have three words in a word family.   Play till all the cards are laid down.   All word families. ack back, black, crack, pack, quack, rack, sack, snack, stack, tack, track, whack. ad ad, dad, fad, glad, grad, had, lad, mad, pad, rad, sad, tad. ail fail, hail, jail, mail, nail, pail, rail, sail, snail, tail. ain brain, chain, drain, gain, grain, main, pain, plain rain, stain, strain, train. ake bake, cake, flake, make, rake, take. ale bale, male, pale, scale, tale, whale. all ball, call, fall, hall, mall, small, tall, wall. am am, ham, jam, slam, spam, yam. ame blame, came, flame, frame, game, lame, name, same, tame. an an, ban, can, fan, man, pan, plan, ran, tan, van. ank bank, blank, crank, drank, plan, sank, spank, tank, thank, yank. ap cap, clap, flap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, slap, scrap, tap. ar are, bar, char, car, far, jar, par, scar, cigar, guitar. ash ash, bash, cash, crash, dash, flash, gash, hash, mash, rash, sash, slash, smash, splash, trash. at at, bat, brat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, spat, tat, that, vat. aw claw, draw, flaw, jaw, law, paw, straw, thaw. ay away, bay, clay, day, gay, gray, hay, lay, may, okay, pay, play, way, spray, stay, tray, way. o generalize decoding skills.

On the City of Tulsa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

On the City of Tulsa - Essay Example Despite the economic potential further development brings in, we must recognize the ill-effects that come with it. A study on population dynamics has questioned the sustainability of our natural resources amidst the current population boom and the influx of illegal immigrants in the country not to mention the legal immigrants. The law of supply and demand may create an imbalance if the natural resource is scarce. No matter how we try to accommodate improvement but nature refuses to provide the demands due to over-population and over-usage will thereby result in a tangible scarcity of resources. Man’s basic needs for food and water can no longer be met and that is an ill-effect of too much economic improvement. The issue of illegal immigration has been placed in the background in favor of several more pressing issues. However, we cannot ignore that our country is approaching a population 280 million of which illegal immigrants are not even accounted for. If we continue and allo w the influx of illegal immigrants, food and water scarcity will be experienced in the later years to come. Compassion should start within us all and consider these illegal immigrants have a home country to return to when dire consequences would hit us, but we only have this country to return to, therefore it is our sole responsibility to make our country sustainable and viable for us all. All Americans must be educated on the effects of the current population boom. Education creates consciousness for every American to focus on his responsibility towards his country and work on acceptable jobs to help reduce the influx of â€Å"aliens†. The aim is not to discriminate anybody in particular, but to work towards the common goal of having jobs for everyone. Americans are complaining about â€Å"fewer jobs† available to them.  

Country Case Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Country Case Report - Research Paper Example With the support of the named institutions, governments can collectively come up with a balance in there social programs competition so as to encourage social innovation and confidence. Globalization does not need plain trade-offs between social protection and competition. The ability of the respective governments as well as global institutions to take on collective actions has so far been underestimated to the extent that politics of globalization has to be reviewed and refurbished. This applies to the North Korean politics of globalization which has been experiencing both ups and downs (Carlin and Joel 102). Considering the domestic political economy of North Korea, the leadership of the country has in the past been the greatest worry to its economic reforms. Its foreign policy has in many ways ended up on the wrong side of the international bodies and other countries. A good example is the nuclear issue that created a hostile international environment working against its internal reforms. However, this should not be an excuse for the country not to have better reforms in relation to globalization. The domestic dynamics have a bigger role to play. The politics and leaders of North Korea have openly returned to an approach that is more controlled to economic policy. The changes in these policies have had significant implications on the North Korean strategies and intentions of economic commitment. Economic inducements like the joining the international financial institutions, sanctions lifting or engaging in regional cooperation that are more –formalized have not really worked out as most stakeholders wished it could. The current regime is in favor of targeted transfers that are to the advantage of the leaders. The transfers involve; heavy shipments of oil, direct cash payments and food aids (Noland and Gordon 90). This form of globalization can be considered as being hyperglobalists. As the economy of North

To what extent, Salford University lecturers & under graduate students Essay

To what extent, Salford University lecturers & under graduate students adopt the idea of social network communication - Essay Example The important key factors of communication are accuracy, time consuming and readable content. â€Å"Most impotent factors when transferring data from one computer to another or telephone call are time – consuming, quality and connection † (Jordon & Churhill 1987). Digital communication is defined according to the free dictionary by Farlex â€Å"electronic transmission of information that has been encoded digitally† (www.thefreedictionary.com). Education organisation uses communications to build a strong relation between lectures and students. Student can gain maximum level of knowledge, improving their skills and get the kind of support they need from their lectures using the gate of communication. In the UK, Salford University the main communicate between students and lectures are Salford University website (Black Board) or university email account. However, as individual effort some lectures at Salford University are recently trying to use social network to com municate with student. â€Å"Social network defined as a â€Å"users can send messages to public or particular group in different form as text, media etc. In this case social network can communicate with one or multi members† (Price at al, 2009). For the last three years studying at Salford University I found many students checking their social network first before they start their main work. Also in my first academic year in business school I learned from emerging technology lectures the use of social network for the benefits of education. This observation gives me an idea of the research topic. Some education staff at different level of education round the word use social network for the benefit of education with a limitation due to the risk and lack of awareness. In the other hand social network in not used in Salford University by all lectures this is my main reason for my research which I will try to cover to what extend Salford University will adopt the idea by student s and lectures. 2. Aims My intention is to find out to what extend Lectures and under graduate students at Salford University are interested in social network communication during their academic year. 3. Objective 3.1. Primary objective a) Discussing the topic with my supervisor. b) Finding previous research reports, article, and books. The research framework c) Develop and run questionnaire d) Get in contact with lecturers using social network within Salford University for more knowledge. e) Data analysis with the help of math scope at Salford University. f) Final report. 3.2. Secondary objective a) Finding and study the method of an education organisation adopting the idea. b) Get in touch with lecturers using social network outside Salford University and discuss the concept. 4. Literature Review How social net work is used? â€Å"Today there is a lot of thematic social networks that are trying to get the attention of new visitors and members every day†. â€Å" Education i s an evolutionary realm; it has been changing and including new practices since its beginnings in order to support changes in society, from the most recent technologies one of the most popular are society networks especially among youngsters† (A. Mora-Soto, 2009). Many people use social network for different purposes. Table 1 below shows how many people use social network spicily above the age of 15 years. In table 2 shows a statistic figure of important cities in UK like Manchester using social netw

A paper about a short story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

A paper about a short story - Essay Example the story where he points out that Matman happens to be a voodoo practitioner, he then described some of the rituals that she sometimes performs that cause her to sometimes fall down to the ground and commence rolling about under the glowing moon (DeSanto 2013). After conducting these bizarre ritual, Matman would then proceed to walk back to the house to eat. An analysis of this incidence seems to suggest to the reader that to Matman and her family, that the occurrence of such an event is a normal everyday event, this is despite of the fact that such actions would generally be regarded by the larger society as being quite bizarre. DeSanto also undertakes to try and normalize some gruesome incidents in the story and describes how after Lord Invader had attacked and mauled the ear of one of the neighborhood boys while he was busy playing a game of basketball, Dà ©dà © had proceeded to beat him out there in the street before leading the dog home. When the boy’s father had turned up at the house, he had insisted on having the dog killed and on his threatening the Dà ©dà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s family, Dà ©dà © had agreed to kill the dog. Dà ©dà © had then slit the dog’s throat during a brief ceremony that had commenced with Matman whispering a Haitian death song that quickly turned into howls. After slitting the dog’s throat Dà ©dà © had proceeded to give it a brief eulogy by whispering â€Å"Lawd Invadar. I lahved you† (DeSanto 2012). By the delivery of the somewhat ordinary eulogy after Dà ©dà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s character had conducted a bizarre ceremony in which he killed his dog, DeSanto is seen to engage in an attempt where he tries to normalize a gruesome event in which a dog is butchered in a bizarre ceremony. The normalization of the bizarre is also seen to be employed by DeSanto in his narration of how John took off all his clothes and ran around the neighborhood while only wearing a bone necklace and then proceeded to dig up the remain of Lord Invader in the rain (DeSanto 2012). The humming of

Neptun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Neptun - Essay Example This picture of Neptune was taken on August 20, 1989 by Voyager 2. In the center of the image, the Great Dark Spot can be seen. The latitude of the planet Neptune is 22 degrees south and circuits every 18.3 hours. The east and the south of the Great Dark Spot change their appearances constantly in four hours. The internal structure of Neptune can be inferred from the planet's radius, period of rotation, mass, and shape of its gravitational field and the behavior of hydrogen, helium, and water at high pressure. The picture shows a cut-away view of Neptune composed of an outer envelope of molecular hydrogen, helium and methane. Below this region Neptune is composed of a layer rich in water, methane, ammonia, and other elements with high temperatures and pressures. Ice and rock constitutes the core of Neptune. This picture gives a nearly true picture of Neptune taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera (WFPC), with a picture of Triton taken with the HST's Faint Object Camera. Even though, the image of Triton is faint but it clearly shows a bright equatorial region. In the lower left, the south pole is clearly visible. Near the bottom of the image a bright cloud feature can also be seen. It can be seen at 30S and 60S latitude. Another bright cloud can also be seen at 30N latitude in the northern hemisphere. The dynamic nature of Neptune is clearly visible from the fact that the second smaller ... In One feature that is conspicuous by its absence is the storm system known as the Great Dark Spot. HST Observes High Altitude Clouds These three pictures were taken on October 10, October 18 and November 2, 1994 when Neptune was only 4.5 billion kilometers from Earth. The pictures further proved the dynamic nature of the planet as the difference in the temperature between Neptune's Building on Voyager's initial discoveries, Hubble has revealed that Neptune has a remarkably dynamic atmosphere that changes over just a few days. Only in few days, the temperature difference between Neptune's strong internal heat source and its frigid cloud tops were-162 Celcius or -260 Fahrenheit which might be the causes that trigger instabilities in the atmosphere and result in large-scale weather changes. The high altitude methane ice-crystals can be seen in pink. New Dark Spot After the images in June 1994, which showed the disappearance of the Great Dark Spot, on November 2 a new spot, appeared near the limb of the planet. The new spot has high altitude clouds along its edge, resultant of gasses that have been pushed to higher altitudes where they cool to form methane ice crystal clouds. The dark spot may be a zone of clear gas that is a porthole to a cloud deck lower in the atmosphere. Cirrus-like Clouds Bands of sunlit cirrus-like clouds can be seen in this image of Neptune's northern hemisphere. 35 miles mellow, shadows are cast on the blue cloud deck. The width of the white streaky clouds ranges from 48 to 160 kilometers (30 to 100 miles) and extend over thousands of miles. True-color Image The picture taken by Voyager 2 has been edited

Intellectual Skills in Males and Females Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intellectual Skills in Males and Females - Essay Example Past and current research confirms that male and female intellectual skill differences are best explained and caused by socialization, not genetics. In fact, the intellectual and Behavioural differences between the genders are not instilled at birth but are the result of society's expectations (Bates, 2007). In spite of the behavioural differences between boys and girls in their childhood, the differences become starker as they grow older. The reason for this increase in intellectual difference is exaggerated intellectual bias by society and the gendered culture. It is also worth noting that children do not inherit intellectual differences; rather, they learn these differences from society, depending on what society, community or family expects children of each gender to do or to be. Consequently, male children are observed to develop spatial skills faster than girls do. This occurrence is not innate superiority by males but arises from expectations and encouragement by society (Niki ta et al., 2010). For instance, many communities encourage boys to be strong while girls are expected to be overtly emotional and talkative. Hence, girls acquire verbal skills because of emphasis by teachers and parents. Although neuroscientists concur that girls begin speaking at an earlier age than boys do, the gap is quite tiny at childhood, contrary to the notion adopted by supporters of gender-based intellectual differences, which exaggerates this intellectual skill difference across the sexes.

Neptun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Neptun - Essay Example This picture of Neptune was taken on August 20, 1989 by Voyager 2. In the center of the image, the Great Dark Spot can be seen. The latitude of the planet Neptune is 22 degrees south and circuits every 18.3 hours. The east and the south of the Great Dark Spot change their appearances constantly in four hours. The internal structure of Neptune can be inferred from the planet's radius, period of rotation, mass, and shape of its gravitational field and the behavior of hydrogen, helium, and water at high pressure. The picture shows a cut-away view of Neptune composed of an outer envelope of molecular hydrogen, helium and methane. Below this region Neptune is composed of a layer rich in water, methane, ammonia, and other elements with high temperatures and pressures. Ice and rock constitutes the core of Neptune. This picture gives a nearly true picture of Neptune taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera (WFPC), with a picture of Triton taken with the HST's Faint Object Camera. Even though, the image of Triton is faint but it clearly shows a bright equatorial region. In the lower left, the south pole is clearly visible. Near the bottom of the image a bright cloud feature can also be seen. It can be seen at 30S and 60S latitude. Another bright cloud can also be seen at 30N latitude in the northern hemisphere. The dynamic nature of Neptune is clearly visible from the fact that the second smaller ... In One feature that is conspicuous by its absence is the storm system known as the Great Dark Spot. HST Observes High Altitude Clouds These three pictures were taken on October 10, October 18 and November 2, 1994 when Neptune was only 4.5 billion kilometers from Earth. The pictures further proved the dynamic nature of the planet as the difference in the temperature between Neptune's Building on Voyager's initial discoveries, Hubble has revealed that Neptune has a remarkably dynamic atmosphere that changes over just a few days. Only in few days, the temperature difference between Neptune's strong internal heat source and its frigid cloud tops were-162 Celcius or -260 Fahrenheit which might be the causes that trigger instabilities in the atmosphere and result in large-scale weather changes. The high altitude methane ice-crystals can be seen in pink. New Dark Spot After the images in June 1994, which showed the disappearance of the Great Dark Spot, on November 2 a new spot, appeared near the limb of the planet. The new spot has high altitude clouds along its edge, resultant of gasses that have been pushed to higher altitudes where they cool to form methane ice crystal clouds. The dark spot may be a zone of clear gas that is a porthole to a cloud deck lower in the atmosphere. Cirrus-like Clouds Bands of sunlit cirrus-like clouds can be seen in this image of Neptune's northern hemisphere. 35 miles mellow, shadows are cast on the blue cloud deck. The width of the white streaky clouds ranges from 48 to 160 kilometers (30 to 100 miles) and extend over thousands of miles. True-color Image The picture taken by Voyager 2 has been edited

Multinational Enterprises Essay Example for Free

Multinational Enterprises Essay The needs to fulfill market demands and find new revenue well have driven many corporations in the world to conduct their expansion strategy. One famous way out is to expand into foreign markets while enhancing the brand value in local market. The situation refers to internationalization or globalization in which many companies take the ways in order to boost sales. The situation occurs since nowadays a business operational coverage does not restricted by national boundaries since they can sell their services over the internet under B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumers) schemes. Many factors encourage companies to conduct internationalization; they include the belief that their products are unique and distinctive by any measures, have recognized brands; and possess worldwide distribution channels, technological leadership, and better product value. However, the corporations, often called Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) or Multinational Companies (MNCs), may overlook several considerations when performing internationalization, which in turn prevent the companies to reap the benefits of their foreign market presences. This situation suggests that amidst the attractiveness of providing services or selling products in foreign markets due to their well-recognized brands, companies need to pay attention to external and internal forces in the market since they determine the success of the companies’ international operation. The forces do not only include the technical issue or market knowledge but also supporting issues such as human resources management, cultural issues, and financial issues, to name a few. Concerning business expansion into foreign countries, this paper will discuss several issues relating to marketing Chinese electric bicycle to Perth (Australia). Several issues include economy, technology, legal and political, human resource strategy, and cultural assessment and negotiation, to name a few. 2. Background The background is about the Electric Bicycles that we take from China, import them, and sell the products in Perth (Australia). We also have our own website that we can sell online to people and ship our bicycles to any where in Australia. 3. Economy In CIA Factbook, Australia is regarded as an example of a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Since Australia has many natural resources, the country becomes a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels. Commodities account for 57% of the value of total exports, so that a downturn in world commodity prices can have a big impact on the country’s economy. In addition, the report from CIA also notes that Australian government is pushing for increased exports of manufactured goods, but competition in international markets continues to be severe. While Australia has suffered from the low growth and high unemployment characterizing the OECD countries in the early 1990s and during the recent financial problems in East Asia, the economy has expanded at a solid 4% annual growth pace in the last five years. Below is economy figure of Australia.

Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism

Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism Eagelton’s essay, Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism, was first published in the New Left Review in 1983 in which his post Marxist analysis of literature is exposed. He accounts for capitalism influence on art and its role. The capitalist and late capitalist areas have seen two new forms of literature appear: modern and postmodern. The modern, Eagleton explains, â€Å"In bracketing off the real social world, establish[es] a critical, negating distance between itself and the ruling social order†[1], while postmodern works accepts the fact that it is a commodity and thus conflicts between its material reality and its aesthetic structure. Capitalism has turned art into a commodity, and after analysing this claim, the characteristics of modern and postmodern genres will be analysed, so as to understand literature’s role. Eagleton explains how â€Å"High modernity [†¦] was born at a stroke with mass commodity culture.†[2] Capitalism, as defined by Marx is the bourgeois doctrine by which they are in possession of the modes of production and manufacture goods, sold for a profit. According to most Marxist thinkers, including Eagleton, art became one of the goods that the bourgeoisie wants to monopolise, produce and sell. Art has become a commodity, dissolved into social life. Eagleton denounces the effects of late capitalism on art: â€Å"if the artefact is a commodity, the commodity can always be an artefact. Art and life indeed interbreed†[3]. Eagleton points out that that the â€Å"performative principle†, which he redefines as the deliverance of goods, also applies to the capitalist conception of art. The use of â€Å"best seller† as criteria of advertisement for literature proves that literature has become a mass commodity good. Art and literature have been influenced by some characteristics of late capitalism, such as virtual reality based on mass consumerism. Our society focuses on commodities sold to and ideologically integrated by the consumer: â€Å"The commodity is less an image in the sense of a â€Å"reflection† than an image of itself, its entire material being devoted to its own self-presentation†[4]. Art has become centred on its own image, role and place within society, because it has somehow lost its utopian role of mirroring the world, as if capitalism has perverted its function: â€Å"If the unreality of the artistic image mirrors the unreality of its society as a whole, then it is to say that it mirrors nothing real and so does not really mirror at all.†[5] Modernism and postmodernism are genres that emerged in the capitalist and late capitalist stages. They seem to have a common point: to focus on their role and concentrate on self identity. Eagleton uses de Man’s deconstructivist theory to define modernism: â€Å"Literature defines and pre-empts its own cultural institutionalisation by textually introjecting it, hugging the very chains which bind it, discovering its own negative form of transcendence in its power of literally naming, and thus partially distancing, its own failure to engage in the real.†[6] Modernism attempts at representing the real, but cannot do so and raises a paradox: it â€Å"resists commodification†[7] but is nonetheless part of it, thus part of the social and cultural superstructure of society, which it denies. Denying being part of the capitalist mass commodity is the very core of modern failure to represent the real. Postmodernism appears as a more cynical genre. Some of its features are the blurring of boundaries, pastiche and grotesque. It does not attempt to represent the world, since it is virtual, and would thus fail to describe it. Postmodernism seems to be very different from modernism on the ground that: â€Å"If the work of art really is a commodity, it might as well admit it†[8] and â€Å"become aesthetically what it is economically†[9]. Eagleton also suggests that postmodersism aims at parodying the commodity production, without adding any meaning in it; if meaning was added in the pastiche, making it parody, it would serve to alienate the self from reality, and according to postmodern thought, there is no reality it can be alienated from. All these features aim at empting the social content of art. Eagleton assessed the features of literature genres characteristic of capitalist stages, in order to draw a critical and theoretical approach of literature. He seems to focus on its ideological role, which is, more than its representational value, its only role left. Modernism deconstructs the â€Å"unified subject of bourgeois humanism, draws upon key negative aspects of the actual experience of such subject in late bourgeois society, which often enough does not at all correspond to the official ideological version.†[10] Indeed, literature acts as an ideology denouncing ideology. Capitalist ideology professes that mass consumption finally fulfils libidinal desires, when in fact, as modernism exposes, takes us away from our self and reality, from the â€Å"unified subject†Ã¢â‚¬â€a harmonious society—that late bourgeoisie claims to have reached. Postmodernism, despite not embracing the reality of society, draws upon ideological inconsistencies of the bourgeois di scourse, thus rendering itself ideological. It shows the incapacity of complying with the capitalist ideology: â€Å"the subject of late capitalism is neither simply the self-regulating synthetic agent posited by classical humanist ideology, nor merely a decentred network of desire, but a contrary amalgam of the two.†[11] The impossibility for the self to comply with all its obligations—familial, consumering, working—in the late capitalist society is denounced by postmodernism. It seems that Eagleton places literature at the centre of ideology, as a resistance to bourgeois ideology. De man explains that â€Å"the bases for historical knowledge are not empirical facts but written texts, even if these texts masquerade in the guise of wars and revolution†[12]; literature is at the heart of our knowledge, ideologically built, and seems to remain so, decades after the end of ideology was proclaimed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Modern Criticism and Theory, a Reader. Ed. D. Lodge. Eagleton, â€Å"Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism†. Longman: London and New York, 1988. 1 Footnotes [1]Modern Criticism and Theory, a Reader. Ed. D. Lodge. Eagleton, â€Å"Capitalsim, Modernism and Postmodernism†. Longman: London and New York, 1988. p 392. [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. p386-387. [4] Ibid. p.387. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. p.391. [7] Ibid. p.392. [8] Ibid. [9] Ibid. p.393. [10] Ibid. p.395. [11] Ibid. p.396. [12] Ibid. p.390.

How Art Relates to Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay

How Art Relates to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel about a young, handsome, and vain man who has his portrait painted, and impulsively wishes that he could forever remain just as handsome as he is in the painting -- that the painting would age instead of him. He gets his wish in a most eerie way; as, with passing years, he becomes increasingly dissolute and evil, while the changes that one would expect to appear on his face are reflected in the portrait instead. What this book is about, clearly, is feelings and appearances becoming real. This motif is echoed and re-echoed throughout the book. Early in the novel, Sir Henry Wotten -- a cynical hedonist -- gives Dorian a book about people who tried to experience everything, both good and evil, and Dorian decides to try it; in other words, he models his life after a work of art. The fact that Dorian's one female love is an actress -- a person who wears masks and pretends to be someone she is not -- reinforces this motif. When she reveals herself to be real, his repugnance for her is so overwhelming that it reaches out like an evil spirit and kills her; Dorian therefore murdered Sybil as surely as he would murder Basil later on. We tell small children that their feelings are not actions and therefore have no repercussions of their own, but deep in our psyches we know this is not so. The reason tribal...

Iron Increases Heart Disease :: essays research papers

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) has afflicted man throughout history. Diet and hereditary factors obviously are the key components in developing this condition. Foods high in cholesterol and saturated fats are often implicated in hastening or aggravating heart disease. Many disease states such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension have also been shown to increase a persons chances for CAD. Heart disease usually affects persons over age 60, but can be seen in people who are much younger for various reasons. This disease remains the number one cause of hospitalization and death in the adult population in western society (McCance and Huether, 1994). The purpose of this literature review is to investigate research dealing with the subject of increased serum iron levels and the prevalence of CAD. Medical journals were primarily used for research data due to the nature of the subject and the need for in-depth analysis. While it has the highest prevalence of any disease, women experience only 30-50% of the coronary artery disease incidence and mortality of age-matched men (Meyers, 1996). Many feel that this may be due to the protective effect that estrogen has on the blood vessels of females. There may actually be a direct correlation to reduced serum iron levels due to menses. Whereas men " build-up" iron in the blood, women cleanse themselves of iron buildup on the monthly basis. Meyers (1996) also states that oxidation, the process in which an atom increases its positive charges (Miller and Keane, 1992), of low density lipoprotein cholesterol is important in atherosclerosis, and since oxidation is catalyzed by iron, it has been hypothesized that the lower iron stores of women reduce their risk of CAD through lessened lipid peroxide, a by-product of oxidation. Numerous studies have been conducted to actually see if a relationship between serum iron or serum transferrin, (serum iron concentration divided by total iron-binding capacity), and heart disease or myocardial infarction, (heart attacks) exists. Sempos and Looker, (1994) used a total of 4518 men and women to conduct the first study of its kind on the subject of iron and CAD. Frequent serum iron levels, collected from 1971-74, and followed up through 1987, showed the risk of CAD was not related to serum transferrin levels in white men or women. Indeed, an inverse association of total body iron stores and overall mortality was shown, that is moderate to high serum transferrin associated with lower mortality.

Headstart Teacher: The Challenges and opportunities Essay

â€Å"Headstart is usually a 40+-year-old program that has assisted children from lower income families to cope academically as well as socially with their counterparts.†(Blake) As someone who just got an appointment as a headstart teacher, I expect several challenges and open doors of opportunities which I will explore in this essay. Challenges The challenge of Societal Discrimination Once an individual takes up an appointment as a headstart teacher, the level of respect that society accord to them is usually low. The society believe that taking up work with low income families and single parents implies that the headstart teacher is also poor, being in the same category. Take for instance if I tell another fellow that I just took up head start job, the fellow is likely to ask me why? Family challenge The job involves at-home visits that will enable to explore siblings and homelife.The family may think that picking up their children at home is a special request and not a responsibility or compulsion. As these families are usually low income earners, as a headstart teacher, I cannot punish them for late fees. Some parents may also see the time spent with their children as a token of friendship or free hour child care rather than as a job. Difficulties may also arise from uncooperative families especially single parents or divorced families as teachers and parents are both very important for a headstart program to succeed (Sitemaker).Such siblings of uncooperative parents have been shown to lag behind in terms of cognitive development in most cases (Sitemaker). There is also the possibility of having to face court charges from parents of siblings. For example, a teacher in Miami was reported in the past and was charged with hitting 3 kids in his care and was also accused of kicking one of them in the face. The parents testified in court that their kids were treated as such and the headstart teacher was charged with battery and child abuse (Mabin&Lebovick). The challenge of Low compensation Headstart teachers’ salaries are generally low especially when compared with that of the K-12 teachers. They earn half of what public school teachers earn.   The challenge of physical needs Younger head start teachers (18-30) are better able to cope with physical requirement, that this, job demands. As an older head start teacher, I may not be able to move up and down or expend as much energy as younger ones will do. The opportunities ahead Possibility of better compensation with time If the wages of headstart teachers is increased with time as proposed, this will afford me as headstart teacher, scholarship opportunities for furtherance in my study to obtain a college degree. Possibility of gaining international recognition As a headstart teacher, I have made up my mind to put in my best to my work as behind every challenge, there is a promotion. For instance, Kansas Headstart association gave an award to a headstart teacher, Teri Aldrich for the Helene Marks award in 2007 and this is the foundation top honor. The total amount of the award was $2000. He was given this following a project design titled: â€Å"MARVEL with moment,† a program designed to help children with special needs meet higher academic achievement. He received a standing ovation which according to him was the first time in his entire life. In conclusion, indeed the gift of a man makes way for him and I see myself achieving these kinds of feat also one day in the course of my headstart career. I am not afraid of challenges for behind every cloud, there is a silver lining.

Portugal Exploration Essay

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Portuguese Exploration highlighted the country’s ascendancy to economic growth and power. Explorations are never easy endeavors. New lands will be discovered, wherein achieving success is indeed very uncertain. Moreover, the mere fact that the country needs to supply all the materials—from food to ship repairs, are too expensive. However, although explorations are masked by doubt and hopeless skies, its outcome can lead to enormous wealth and benefits that will enable the nation to experience abundance in succeeding years to come. When Portugal never gave up its hopes and dreams regarding land discoveries, such big decision resulted to positive results. At the onset of the 16th century, Portugal pioneered explorations in the whole course of Europe, thus, discovering more and new routes to Africa, the Atlantic, Asia and even South America (â€Å"Portugal† n.d).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the beginning, nobody has expected Portugal to literally conquer the world. The nation was then torn with poverty and to a certain extent, economic deterioration (Arnold 2002, p. 22). Given this situation at hand, domination is totally taken out of the picture. If Portugal cannot even feed its own people, then it would be readily impossible for it to support the demands of land explorations and discoveries. However, this did not prevent the nation from pursuing its dreams—from materializing the aim to make its name within the torn pages of history books. It turned out that Portugal’s seemingly hopeless case is one of its greatest blessings. Since the country was in its severe state, it has no other choice but to continue with the explorations. If success seems to be impossible within the domain of land-based expansion, then there is still hope when such is done overseas (Arnold 2002, p.22). As Arnold (2002) explained, Portugal’s navigation success basically replaced the land-based orientation of wealth and power that was established by the evolving Spanish (empire) (p. 22). Factors determining Portugal’s exploration success   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are different factors that are attributed to Portugal’s exploration successes. These three are highly characterized by maritime development as well as the undying support given by the Portuguese government. The first factor has something to do with Portugal’s geographic position (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Portugal can be seen along the west side of the Iberian Peninsula (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Livingstone implied (1993) that the nation is readily blessed with its strategic location (p. 41). It possesses rivers that are long enough to be navigated (Livingstone 1993, p. 41). It has â€Å"favorable winds (Livingstone 1993, p. 41)† that can take ships into their planned journeys or destination. The last but not the least is the existence of raw and organic harbors which creates a perfect and highly suitable setting for maritime development (Livingstone 1993, p. 41).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If one has to take a closer look, this aspect alone puts Portugal into a great advantage over its rivals or competitors. Once and for all, circumnavigating the world requires not only human skills, nature also plays an important role. Although, exceptional navigation talents are expected to arise, there is no doubt that if nature decides to intervene, the course would be more difficult and complicated as expected. It can be also implied that Portugal’s geographical design enabled the latter to discover more efficient routes from any angle. The crew can easily explore more unknown areas since they have good reference points that are essential in establishing maps.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, the second factor can be traced to Portugal’s developing â€Å"maritime economy (â€Å"Portugal, n.d).† The ports of Lisbon and Oporto became the cente of commerce and trade for the country (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Mostly of the financial means that were used to support the voyages came from these trade districts (â€Å"Portugal,† n.d). However, aside from financing the navigation plans, Maddision (2006) also mentioned that the bays and coast cities of Portugal is abundant enough to supply the needs and demands of the local residents (p.22). Aside from trading per se, it can be seen that Portugal has other ways of gaining incomes, profits and revenues. But then again, perhaps the greatest contributions of the maritime industry are the vast knowledge and information that Portuguese fisherman has learned due to their constant and continuous immersion with the Atlantic seas (Maddison 2006, p.22). Their mastery of sea winds, tides and weather (Maddison 2006, p.22). It allowed Portuguese explorers and navigators to conduct more research on navigation. Yet, more than anything else, they were able to build ships that can withstand the pressures and hardships brought forth by unfathomable oceans (Maddison 2006, p.22). They created â€Å"lateen sails† and in the long run, they combined it with â€Å"square sails† which allowed them to sail through the South Atlantic and further discover more ways or routes in the Cape area (Maddison 2006, p.22).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lastly, the third determinant of the Portuguese exploration’s success stems from the fact that its monarchy readily showed support and encouragement for these plans (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). The government ensured that â€Å"tax privileges† and insurances are available for both the ship owners and navigators (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). As a matter of fact, it is not only the king that readily lent a helping hand to make these undertakings possible. Even members of the aristocracy assured that they can be pillars of strength and encouragement (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Obviously, without the system’s support and permission, the voyages would not happen. As previously mentioned, even if there are enough materials and supplies if the monarchy is not open to the idea, then Portugal’s domination may not come into place. The essential role of the Portuguese government, in this aspect can be briefly understood in several points. Once and for all, the tax regulations enabled the nation to satisfy the prerogatives of exploration and at the same time ensure a healthy lifestyle for its local citizens. Second, the monarchy served as a strong influence for both the explorers and local residents. If the king refused such plans, then the public would not be able to recognize its value and importance. Since local residents are the ones who are chiefly involved in production works, the explorers would have a hard and difficult time convincing these people about their dreams and visions, if the king per se, would show doubts regarding the matter. Moreover, the monarchy is in charge of making decisions on how they can possible benefit from the discoveries that they made—to be more specific, the Portuguese government is in charge of devising strategies on how they can possible gain profits and revenues on new routes and land areas. This is important for unless the people know that they benefit from it, they would continue to support such plan. A Brief History of Portugal Exploration   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to further reasons behind the success ad failure of the Portuguese exploration, it is best to have a brief discussion or outline of the nation’s navigation history. As mentioned earlier, the contributions of Portugal in the world can neither be questioned not taken for granted. Even though it has eventually declined in the long years to come, it cannot be discounted that Portugal is one of the few nations that have managed to maintain and still control its colonies by the end of the 19th century (Diffie & Winius 1977, p. 4). The mere fact that it was able to sustain such set-up exemplifies its power and strength.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Diffie and winius (1977) explained that Portugal was inspired by the accomplishments of the Han and Roman Empires (p.4). However, since it cannot fully embarked on land-based conquests and imperialism, discovering other lands became the last recourse, and as discussed, nature’s blessings made a way for the nation embarked on long journeys and voyages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The foundations of the Portuguese exploration can be traced to as far as 1415 (Wiarda 200, p. 21). In those times, Ceuta was then considered as the center of spice trade in the west (Wiarda 2000, p.21). Portugal has managed to put Ceuta under its control and thus the urge to control more lands became irresistible. While Ceuta was then an important investment for Portugal, Wiarda (2000), however noted that Portugal’s main goal by that time was to spread Christianity to Morrocco (p.4). Within the aspect of colonialism, religion is an indespensbale tool. The Portuguese readily used the matter to interact with the natives. Due to language barriers, it would be hard for both the colonizers and the colony to understand or communicate with each other. Thus, the concept of having a Supreme Being bridged the gap between the two races.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But on a closer examination, the downfall of Morocco, inspired many of Portuguese warriors and soldiers to bring more honor, glory and prestige to their very own mother country (Wiarda 200, p.187). In addition to that, Prince Henry who happened to be the very first supporter of Portuguese explorations have heard stories from prisoners about lands and areas that were still undiscovered (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). The capture of Morocco allowed Prince Henry to have his first taste of the African cost (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Having said this, indeed, his curiosity was further heightened. The excitement and passion to conquer more lands became stronger than ever. Prince Henry â€Å" The Navigator†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The success in Ceuta encouraged Prince Henry to show his undying support to explorations. Prince Henry can be best described as someone who knew how to transform his visions and ideals into realistic issues and concerns. The prince knows that explorations may not necessarily yield to positive results. But this did not discourage him. Despite of the fact that there is a strong enthusiasm and excitement on Prince Henry’s part, Wiarda (2000) stated that this does not mean that that the young leader was already aware of explorations’ benefits and advantages (p.21). According to Wiarda (2000) Prince Henry’s primary concern by then was the budding market for exotic and wild animals (p.21). But in the long run, explorations’ commercial benefit was slowly embedded into the prince’s young mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, the materialization of Prince Henry’s dreams came into the picture during the reign of Joao II (Wiarda 2000, p. 21). The foundations of an exploration plan have been successfully laid out. Gallagher (2003) noted that the first move was to discover a route from Africa that can easily lead to India (p.5). With all these endeavors, the monarchy assured that they will handle all the transactions and see to it that it profiteering activities would be efficiently managed (Gallagher 2003, p. 80). The competition against Spain led Portugal to keep its navigation development in extreme secrecy (Gallagher 2003, p.5). Even the voyages per se were kept confidential (Gallagher 2003, p5).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During those times, Cape Bojador was seen as the end of the world (Wiarda 2000, p.187). Since there is already a signal pr permission from the monarchy to explore more, Prince Henry in return, challenged his men to go beyond the limits of Cape Bojardor (Wiarda 2000, p. 187). The whole crew landed in Madeira in 1420 and seven years after, the Portuguese explorers made their first step in Azores (Keefee et. al 1977, p.60). This was also the time when Portugal finally confirmed that Cape Bojador was not the world’s end point (Keefe et.al 1977, p.60). This is simply the start of Portugal’s domination. Even though the so-called Navigator died in 1460 (â€Å"Portugal,† n.d), his legacies was continued and still promoted by the succeeding Portugal rulers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Historians and members of the academe outlined several distinct reasons regarding Prince Henry’s obsessions. One of this is the urge to know more lands beyond Cape Bojador (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). In an era wherein bigger colonies equate to more economic successes, going beyond Cape Bojador’s geographical limitations is an outright advantage. Another reason is Portugal’s aim to develop trade relations to other areas or counties (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). There is also the aim to study the strength of their rivals and at the same time, ensure that battles will be waged against those who opposed Christianity and therefore ensure that the religion would proliferate (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Reasons for Exploration   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In general and not only for Portugal, there are three determinants of why explorations happen or occur. The first one has something to do with the spice trade (Roupp 2001, p. 236). Spices such as nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon and paper are pretty popular in the European regions trade (Roupp 2001, p. 236). The Ottomans were able to take control of the Eastern Mediterranean barter trade (Roupp 2001, p. 236) Because of this, European envoys had no other choice but to look for alternative routes. Since spices are very much in demand, there is no doubt that to become a spice supplier would indeed result to an increase in profits and revenues. The supply is low and the demands are high. Therefore, those who are able to satisfy the demand can also ask for a higher price. This argument are also supported by Kiple and Omelas (2000, p.436).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kiple and Omelas (2000) mentioned that many European countries, most especially those which are engaged in exploration are also seeking for a new route to get a steady supply of spices (p. 436). This according to the two, prompted competing nations to further improve their navigation tactics and skills. The competition is stiff and they cannot remain calm. However, as for this case, since Portugal has already explored the areas beyond Cape Bojador, the challenge became an easy feat for the country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the initial steps, it was the Arabs that has total control over the matter (Wolpert 1999, p.45). However, a small fleet, headed by Vasco de Gama made the Arabs surrender (Wolpert 1999, p.45). According to Wolpert (1999), although De Gama’s success enabled Portugal to establish a monopoly over spice trade (p.45). His triumph and glory is more than enough to pay from all the expenses that were spent during his journey (Wolpert 1999, p.45).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Roupp (2001) also noted that technology can be also considered as one of Portugal’s motivating force for explorations (p. 236). The technological aspect means that as man continue to develop materials and tools to satisfy their needs, this brought them other opportunities. As for the case of Portugal, since they are able to build ships and sails that are highly capable or navigating the earth, soon they found it that if they can further enhance these materials and incorporate several functions such as incorporating military weapons like the cannons, for example, they can easily defeat their enemies and those who are creating conflicts and hindrances (Roupp 2001, p. 236).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lastly, Roupp (2001) stressed that curiosity levels were readily high during the Renaissance period and thus, it became a motivational force for many nations to explore more of the unknown world (p.236).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the meantime, if one has to critically assess it, it is apparent that the goal for profit and revenues best explains the intensity of Portuguese explorations. As readily discussed, the passing years allowed Portugal to diversify its economic hold and control. Prince Henry’s focus on the exotic animal market shifted into another realm since the monarchy has also recognized the other benefits of voyages and expeditions. It can be also remembered that Portugal is also one of the pioneers of the slave trade in Africa. Since they have discovered more lands in the said continent, colonization was reshaped. From goods that are bartered, human trade became popular too. The cheap labor rendered by captured slaves and prisoners were seen as a good source of profit and income. Moreover, there is also the spice trade which further strengthened Portugal’s domination. Since they basically spearheaded the exploration quests and technology, they have readily capitalized on it. The return of investments was more than what they have expected. Portugal’s Failure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although Portugal was basically at the apex of its exploration successes the country failed to see certain events that would eventually lead to its bitter downfall.   Perhaps this can be best explained by the country’s inability to manage all its colonies (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). It has been carefully discussed in this paper that Portugal was able to discover more lands. This readily means that once they have settled in those areas, they have to efficiently supervise all the activities that occur in it. This situation should not come as a surprise or it is rather expected.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First of all, it is pretty impossible for Portugal to directly manage its colonies since they are miles away from each other. The empire has to send its people to those areas in order to ensure that everything falls in their proper places. But distant lands prohibit simultaneous coordination and interaction among the leaders. For the monarchy, it is pretty hard for it to establish appropriate solutions and regulations for their colonies unless they have actual experience of the problem that is being manifested in a particular area. It would take months and years before updates and reports can be handed to the King. The moment that actions are ratified and certain laws are promulgated, there is a strong tendency that the problem has already become worse or the approaches used are no longer applicable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to that, viceroys and appointed leaders have to be financially supported by the monarchy. This is done to ensure that area rulers have enough supply of food and other materials to sustain their everyday lives and activities. But of course, the financial support came from the local residents’ taxes and hard-earned money. In the long run, there are also instances wherein the monarchy can no longer back-up and support these needs. This is most especially true if Portuguese leaders have already built their families in their respective colonies. As a result, the profits and revenues that they have collected from their colonies are barely enough for them to extend their stays and manage their specific domains.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is also important to note that distance issues are also prone to illegal activities. Appointed leaders could be tempted by the seemingly lucrative activities that are present in their colonies. When monitoring, coordinating and interacting are rarely practiced, then there is no doubt that Portuguese found itself on the losing end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The last but definitely not the least is the death of King Sebastian (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). This sad event proved to be a golden opportunity for Spain. King Philip II, who was the Spain’s rulers and King Sebastian’s uncle took over the latter’s position. What happened to Portugal then was that, it became Spain’s province (â€Å"Portugal† n.d). Relatively, the techniques and strategies that Portugal created and developed were exploited by Spain. Thus all the forthcoming success was now done in the name of Spain instead of Portugal. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Portugal is basically engulfed with the sweet promises of explorations and land discoveries. Although Roupp (2001) suggested that curiosity plays an important role, this aspect is outlasted by the need for profit and revenues (p.236). Once and for all, since Portugal has captured Ceuta, they have already recognized that if they can discover more lands, they can use the domain’s working force to their own advantage. They can ask the natives to produce goods that are widely popular in the European market. Moreover, it is pretty impossible to conclude that Portugal simply tried to know new routes for curiosity’s sake alone. The spice trade for example and the country’s domination and supremacy on the said area are manifestations of the unrelenting drive for both economic and geographic expansion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, since offshore management was not efficiently executed, such led to the downfall of what was once considered as the globe’s superpower. References Arnold, D. 2002. The Age of Discovery, 1400-1600. Routledge: USA Diffie, B   and Winius, D. (1977).  Ã‚   Foundations of the Portuguese Empire. Minnesota, USA:   Ã‚  Ã‚   University of Minnesota Press Gallagher, A. (2003). Prince Henry the Navigator: Pioneer of Modern Exploration. New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   York:    Rosen Publishing Group Inc Keefe, E. et. al (1977). Area Handbook for Portugal. Washington, DC: U.S. Government   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Printing Office Kiple, K and Omelas, K. 2000. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   University Press: Edinburgh Livingstone, D. 1993. The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the History of A Contested   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Enterprise. Blackwell Publishing: USA Maddisson, A. 2006. The World Economy. OECD: France â€Å"Portugal† n.d. University of Calgary. Retrieved 18 March 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/portuguese.html Roupp, H. 2001. How to Prepare for SAT II. Barron’s: New York Wiarda, I. (2000). Handbook of Portuguese Studies. USA: Xlibris Corporation Wolpert, S. 1999. India. University of California Press: Berkeley