Featured Post
King Arthur Essay examples -- Essays Papers
Lord Arthur Character Analysis In spite of the fact that King Arthur is one of the most notable figures on the planet, his actual char...
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Stephen Lewis, A Canadian Politician And Humanitarian
ââ¬Å"I have spent the last four years watching people die.â⬠In his 2005 Massey Lectures, Stephen Lewis, a Canadian politician and humanitarian, caught the attention of millions with these words. Within these lectures, he shared his experiences of watching Africans suffer through the AIDS pandemic, and critically examined how the neglect of global communities and their discrimination contributed to its failure to resolve. While the rest of the world seemed to be unresponsive to an AIDS-ravaged continent, Mr. Lewis found himself passionately involved in the crisis and began to take action. Since his involvement with the United Nations in 1984, Stephen Lewis has tirelessly advocated for African citizens affected by HIV and AIDS, ensured that health care and treatment is provided to victims, and reached out to African citizens with education and counseling through his organizations. Through all of this, Stephen Lewis has proven to be one of Canadaââ¬â¢s most influential hum anitarian advocates for impacting the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Africa. Through his political power and relentless advocacy, Stephen Lewis changed the situation for African victims affected by AIDS. Firstly, as the United Nationââ¬â¢s first special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis was in a position of political power to inform those on the issue of the African pandemic and lead solution driven projects. While Mr. Lewis was in this role, he worked with the UN on the Millennium Development Goals for AfricaShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words à |à 656 PagesE SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and CultureRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words à |à 1573 PagesOrganizational Behavior This page intentionally left blank Organizational Behavior EDITION 15 Stephen P. Robbins ââ¬âSan Diego State University Timothy A. Judge ââ¬âUniversity of Notre Dame i3iEi35Bj! Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Director of Editorial Services:Read MoreStrategic Human Resource Management View.Pdf Uploaded Successfully133347 Words à |à 534 Pagesthe law provides additional incentives. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for such workers. In addition to preserving the companyââ¬â¢s investment in the employee, there are obvious humanitarian benefits as well. Unfortunately, many companies are not aware of the support Page 58 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Section One services that rehabilitation organizations provide or the devices that enable a disabled employee to performRead MoreInnovators Dna84615 Words à |à 339 PagesBenioff decided it was time to think more deeply about the changing technological landscapeââ¬âand his own career. So he took a sabbatical that started with a trip to India where he met a variety of diverse people, including spiritual leader and humanitarian, Mata Amritanandamayi (who helped strengthen his commitment to doing well and doing good in business). Benioff ââ¬â¢s next stop on this global journey was Hawaii, where he discussed various ideas for new businesses with an assortment of entrepreneursRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words à |à 702 PagesA320 150-seat workhorse with a fuselage 7 1/2 inches wider than Boeingââ¬â¢s, thus adding an inch to every seat in a typical six-across configuration. In the first four months of 1999, Airbus won an amazing 78 percent of orders. US Airways Chairman Stephen Wolf, whose airline had ordered 430 Airbus planes since 1996, said, ââ¬Å"Airbus aircraft offer greater flexibility for wider seats, more overhead bin space, and more aisle spaceââ¬âall important in a consumerconscious business.â⬠10 A Donnybrook An interestingRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words à |à 1617 Pagesand goal setting STUDY â RESPONDENTS â⬠¢ FOCUS â Luthans, Rosenkrantz, and Hennessey (1985) â⬠¢ 52 managers in 3 organizations â⬠¢ Participant observation of skills demonstrated by most effective versus least effective managers â Curtis, Winsor, and Stephens (1989) â⬠¢ 428 members of the American Society of Personnel Administrators in the United States â⬠¢ (1) Skills needed to obtain employment â⬠¢ (2) Skills important for successful job performance â⬠¢ (3) Skills needed to move up in the organization Employment
Monday, December 16, 2019
Analysis Of The Poem Achievement Of Desire By Richard...
No matter what circumstances you face with the hard work and with the high education you can improve your life standards and can achieve your dreams. Dreams can be achieve through education, and Education is the only way to stand strong against all the adversities you face. To prove my thesis statement Iââ¬â¢m going to use ââ¬Å"Importance of pursuing your dreamsâ⬠by Spike Lee hammers UWIRE Text 10 Feb. 2012. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. Where the author stressed ââ¬Å"the importance of staying in school and the fact that students must pursue their dreams no matter who stands in the wayâ⬠which is true to achieve your dreams education is must and to get that you need to fight with every adversities you face no matter who stand against you. In an essay ââ¬Å"Achievement of Desireâ⬠by Richard Rodriguez describes the difficulties of balancing school life and the life of a working class family. As a child Rodriguez was the exception to the stereotypical st udent coming from a working class family, who was barely able to speak English but he was always top of his class, and rather than spending time out with friends or with family he spent his time with books and notes. He has parents who are uneducated but they know the importance of education and they supported him in a place where he can ensure his future by getting a good education and stay away from the life they are going through. In another work of literature ââ¬Å"An Angle of Vision by Castro, A women who had gone through a lot, in aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Achievement Of Desire By Richard Rodriguez1330 Words à |à 6 PagesProfessor Mary Morley Composition 110 September 6, 2014 In the essay, ââ¬Å"Achievement of Desireâ⬠, author Richard Rodriguez, recalls the difficulties of balancing life as a thriving student and the life in a working class family. Growing up, Rodriguez was the exception to the stereotypical student coming from an immigrant/working class family. From an early age, he prospered in academics. He made school his top priority. Rodriguez spent time with his books rather than with family or friends. InitiallyRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words à |à 1573 PagesIII, University of Arizona Jacqui Bergman, Appalachian State University Anne Berthelot, University of Texas at El Paso David Bess, Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii Bruce Bikle, California State University, Sacramento xxx Richard Blackburn, University of North Carolinaââ¬âChapel Hill Weldon Blake, Bethune-Cookman College Carl Blencke, University of Central Florida Michael Bochenek, Elmhurst College Alicia Boisnier, State University of New York William H. Bommer, Cleveland StateRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words à |à 760 PagesSimon Fraser University v Acknowledgments For the 1993 edition: The following friends and colleagues deserve thanks for their help and encouragement with this project: Clifford Anderson, Hellan Roth Dowden, Louise Dowden, Robert Foreman, Richard Gould, Kenneth King, Marjorie Lee, Elizabeth Perry, Heidi Wackerli, Perry Weddle, Tiffany Whetstone, and the following reviewers: David Adams, California State Polytechnic University; Stanley Baronett, Jr., University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Shirley
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Li-Young Lee - a Story free essay sample
A Story by Li-Young Lee presents an affectionate relationship between a father and his son, both of them searching for the right words to say to one another. The father worries that he has exhausted his supply of interesting stories and frantically pines for something, anything that will keep his son interested. He realizes that his son will eventually grow up and lose the cheerful admiration with which he looks at his father now. Through the use of literary techniques, Lee builds up the internal conflict of the father and his desperation to be his sonââ¬â¢s hero while the position is still available. The point of view switches intermittently throughout the poem between an omniscient narrator, the father, and his son. The narrator provides a comprehensive outlook on the scene, and tells most of the plot in a detached and observant manner. As the viewpoint switches to the father, the depth of his despondency is ed. We will write a custom essay sample on Li-Young Lee a Story or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When he anticipates what the future will hold for himself and his son, he cannot think of any other stories but the ones he has already told, and cries ââ¬Å"Donââ¬â¢t go! Let me tell it,â⬠hopelessly searching for a reason his son should not leave him. Lines 16-18 exhibit the anguish he feels because he cannot live up to the standards he believes his son holds for him. The sonââ¬â¢s perspective is only shown twice, both times with a plea for a new story. At a young age, the child looks to his father as a provider of endless knowledge and joy, but will his attention still last when he grows older and finds new sources of entertainment? Both characters are in distress, and the fatherââ¬â¢s pain is a result of his sonââ¬â¢s constant search for happiness. Each stanza of the poem presents a separate topic, but all correspond to the theme of distress. The first two lines present the thesis, and are supported by the details of each following stanza. The fatherââ¬â¢s slight consternation, shown by his nervous movements in line 5, evolves into a panic of agony by the 4th stanza as he becomes increasingly distraught. Lee shows the irony in that the father is surrounded by a world of stories of all kinds, and yet he cannot recall a single one when he most needs it. The content of the poem moves from the present to the future, and then back again, giving a brief insight into what the father believes will come to pass if he fails to satisfy his sonââ¬â¢s expectations. The final lines demonstrate the ââ¬Å"emotional equationâ⬠of the father and sonââ¬â¢s relationship in which the need to give and the desire to provide add up to nothing. Lee organizes his poem in a manner that introduces a problem, and then moves beyond the present to the final conclusion if a suitable solution is not found in time. He switches viewpoints between the father and son to enhance the absoluteness of the problem they create for one another. Woe and uncertainty plague the minds of both individuals, and the only way to fill the void is to create something out of nothing.
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Quinton Richards Essays (243 words) - Health,
Quinton Richards Professor Jenkins Social Service Policies 25 September 2017 Family Policies Medicaid is a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources. The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as a government insurance program for individuals of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care. Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health related services for people with low income in the United States providing free hea lth insurance to million s or maybe even billions of low income and disabled people. Medicaid provide a broad level of health insurance coverage, including doctor visits, hospital expenses, nursing home care, home health care. Medicaid also covers long-term care costs, both in a nursing home and at-home care. Prescription drugs are not covered by Medicaid but some people are eligible for Medicaid part D and what is Medicaid Part D you may ask well it is actually a separate policy you buy from a private insurer and it provides prescript ion drug coverage. How to sign up for Medicaid you can go down to your local welfare office or social security office or you can sign up online at Medicaid.gov where they give you more information on the policies and basic health care program, states resources, information on the affordable care act they have a variety of information and programs.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Cloning, Good or Bad essays
Cloning, Good or Bad essays Can we and should we clone humans? Cloning humans has recently become a possibility that seems much more feasible in today's society than it was twenty years ago. It is a method that involves the production of a group of identical cells or organisms that all derive from a single individual. Changes in science and technology have never been so advancing. The study of genetics has made discoveries about humans that were by no means thought possible. Asexual, a trait humans never dreamed of acquiring has begun to become true. Cloning is a working progress, and even though it is not perfect, it is on it way to revolutionize the world. Unfortunately the movement of cloning has been brought to a halt, caused from the controversy between whether cloning is ethical or not. The discovery of cloning has not only become an issue of science evolution but an issue of whether humans are doing the right thing by continuing the research on human cloning. Cloning began with the discovery and advancement in genetic research. Genetics research began around the mid 19th century. Gregor Mendel, called the Father of Genetics, surrounded his research with plants. He understood how the genes affected the plants when going through reproduction. (Life, The Science of Biology) Later scientist used the technique developed by Mendel to find discoveries of human genes. Recently in the year 2003 the 13 year long Human Genome Project was completed. It contained information of all 25,000 genes in the human DNA. This discovery of the Human Genome Project encouraged the advancements in cloning. (Human Genome Project) Although the issue of human cloning has received the most attention within the last couple of years, cloning techniques have existed since the late 1970s. Scientist began with mice and farm animals, and then gradually worked their way towards humans. By the 1980s and early 1990s, while Ronald Reagan and George Bush were president, r...
Friday, November 22, 2019
10 Tips for Website Organization and Flow â⬠updated from 2009!
10 Tips for Website Organization and Flow ââ¬â updated from 2009! I am almost ready to launch a new website for The Essay Expert, and I have learned a LOT along the way. I decided to write my blog on the topic, and, as a reference, went back to an article I wrote almost seven years ago about website organization and flow. I knew very little then, but did share a few important tips. While some things have changed, some things have stayed the same. Here is my updated list, and a preview of The Essay Expertââ¬â¢s new website! 1. Donââ¬â¢t have more than eight (8) top menu items in addition to the Home tab. With new menu formats, Iââ¬â¢ve increased this number from six (6) in my original recommendation to eight (8). The menu items on my new site will be About, Testimonials, Services, DIY/eBooks, Media, Blog, FAQs, and Contact. They fit nicely and simply across the top menu. 2. You donââ¬â¢t have to make the top menu items clickable. This is a change in my opinion from years ago. I think people used to expect the menu items to be clickable. Now all you need is clickable dropdown items. 3. Make your logo (generally the top left corner of every page) a link to your home page. This is still a best practice. Do it! And donââ¬â¢t assume people know to click the logo to get to the home page. Put a Home tab on the top navigation too ââ¬â you can use an icon of a house to save space. 4. Use creative solutions to help people navigate longer pages. While anchor links are an established option for helping users navigate, there are a lot more solutions available now. For instance, use tabs on a page to allow users to choose the category of information that interests them. I will be using this option on my Testimonials page, where users can click on tabs labeled Executive, Mid-Level, Entry-Level and Admissions to see testimonials relevant to that category of service. Another option is a pop-up window that provides information without lengthening the page. I will be using this option for items like ââ¬Å"Where our clients have been admitted.â⬠If you do choose anchor links, these links can look like buttons. Design them to be congruent with your site design! 5. Review your site regularly for broken links and fix or delete them. And for any broken links within your own site, create a unique 404 page. This advice will never change. Constantly check for broken links! For 404, I have created a page with a Mark Twain quotation! Here are some famously creative 404 pages for your reading pleasure. 6. Give your website viewers information about how the service or product works so they are educated before they buy, and before they call you. Hereââ¬â¢s how Iââ¬â¢m doing it on my new site: Iââ¬â¢m also improving the descriptions of each of my services so site visitors understand what they will be getting when they make a purchase. 7. Donââ¬â¢t send people away from a page if you want them to purchase something on that page. On my new website, I offer a complete ââ¬Å"Resume and LinkedIn Success Packageâ⬠(see above) that I expect to be the most common product people purchase. I also so have ââ¬Å"a la carteâ⬠options available. But I will not mention those items until the bottom of the page. Any buttons at the top of my executive services page will keep people on the page, either with a pop-up or a link to a service on the page itself. They will have to read through my most popular items before they find other options. 8. Whenever possible, offer a main product with optional add-ons. On my ââ¬Å"oldâ⬠(current) site, I have learned, there are way too many options to choose from and people get confused as to which service is best for them. In my effort to accommodate everyone, I went a bit overboard. The new site will offer one main package with add-ons. Iââ¬â¢m excited to have created a streamlined experience for new customers! 9. Scatter testimonials throughout your website. People want to know what other people are saying about you. Personally, even if I donââ¬â¢t read the testimonials on a site, I want to know they are there. Make sure if you offer different products that the ones most relevant to each product are on that product page. Also offer the opportunity for people to write reviews directly on your site! On my new site, I will have testimonials on each page as well as a full page of testimonials for anyone who wants to read more. 10. Highlight certifications, awards, and media appearances. What qualifies you to do what you do? Put it up front and center to gain credibility and trust! There are many more recommendations and best practices for websites that I havenââ¬â¢t covered here. Iââ¬â¢d love to hear your comments and suggestions. And stay tuned for the launch of The Essay Expertââ¬â¢s new websiteâ⬠¦ coming soon! Category:Web Site TipsBy Brenda BernsteinMay 23, 2016
Thursday, November 21, 2019
English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 20
English - Essay Example The event was also held to thank the Wampanoag Indian tribe because they were the ones who taught the pilgrims of Plymouth survival and hunting skills. Luckily for the pilgrims, it was the Wampanoagââ¬â¢sââ¬â¢ tradition to offer whatever food they have to their visitors that is why the event became sort of a feast. This custom then spread throughout the colonies (ââ¬Å"Thanksgiving Dayâ⬠). Before the formal date for Thanksgiving was established, each region chose their date for the celebration. It was in 1789 when first President George Washington officially declared November 26 as a day of Thanksgiving. In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed that the fourth Thursday of November be the day for thanksgiving. Since then, every American president made a proclamation on the celebration of Thanksgiving Day (ââ¬Å"Thanksgiving Dayâ⬠). People in America celebrate Thanksgiving Day with their families. The event is usually accompanied with sumptuous meals that include cranberry juice, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin or apple pie. Of course, the day would not be complete without turkey. However, some people would rather serve roast prime rib than turkey. Before the family shared the meal, a special thank you prayer will be said. Also, most of the families ask their family members to say anything that they are thankful for (ââ¬Å"Thanksgiving
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Global Water Shortage (Sudan) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Global Water Shortage (Sudan) - Research Paper Example Water being the fundamental of life, it is ironical to see some people taking a whole day searching for it. Instead, it was supposed to be adequate for everyone, equally. In places like the Sub-Saharan Africa, people take too much of time looking for this precious water, thus reducing their potential (Fiona, 2013). Many people lose their lives, livestock, education and their economic development just because of this water shortage. The biggest question we are left asking is that; if water is fundamental to life, what causes its shortage? Global water shortage is caused by a number of reasons. Some are direct, while others are profound. Some of the causes of water shortage include global warming, drought, flooding, and climatic change (Srinivasan, Lambin, Gorelick, Thompson, & Rozelle, 2012). The mother of all these cases is said to be global warming. This is where manââ¬â¢s activities such as industrialization leads to the emission of ozone gases which causes change adverse change s to the worldââ¬â¢s climatic pattern. This leaves many affected areas with inadequate rainfall yet; rainfall is the mother of water (CSM, 2012). Harsh climatic conditions, caused by the effects of global warming, bring about drought and drying up of the ground underground water sources. In case nothing is done to control this problem of global warming, serious water crisis problem is yet to face the entire world by 2030. This is where the global water requirement may outstrip its sustainable use by 40%, as predicted by the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD). Case Study of Sudan In Sudan, most people do not have access to clean drinking water even though River Nile is known to be the closest river around. Most parts of this country are dry and not everyone lives near the Nile River to even access the unsafe river water. In addition, it is very difficult to access the Nile River has given its terrain that has poisonous and dangerous creatures which scares people away. People living along the Nile River are much affected by HIV/AIDS given that they solicit for sexual favors in exchange for water. Sources state that only 40% of the entire Sudan has access to clean drinking water, while the rest die in the water crisis. Being listed as one of the major countries in the world whose citizens seek refuge from other countries, the major reason behind the alarming rate of refugees from this country become that of water shortage. Sudanese flees to the neighboring countries like Kenya in East Africa, in order to stay at a place with plentiful of water. According to Jason (2012), more than 35,000 people had fled Sudan in 2012 to Kenya, in search of water. Water shortages in Sudan have led to several other problems so he people including health problems, where waterborne diseases attack the people as they use dirty water for drinking and others dehydrate to death due to water scarcity. Children do not go to school since they need to walk severa l thousands of miles to find water; this takes almost a whole day or sometimes, several days, hence they have no time to go to school. Economic activities such as livestock keeping and farming cannot take place in some parts of the country since there is no easy water access to those parts. Solution to the Problem The only remedy to global water shortage is that; we should control the emission of the dangerous gases to the atmosphere so as to reduce global warming. In this way, we can reverse the harsh climatic conditions, hence avoiding droughts and drying up of our wells, lakes and rivers, (Cook & Bakker, 2011). People should also be trained in better water management programs so that when it rains, they are able to harvest the
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Environmental Science Notes Essay Example for Free
Environmental Science Notes Essay 1. Green revolution: intro of scientifically bred or selected varieties of grain that can greatly increase crop yields. 2. Things that cause seasons on earth: earth tilted on axis, sun distribution 3. Large scale hydroelectric projects around the world: 3 gorges dam, dams going on in india 4. Age distribution diagrams: ZPG=looks like a building that doesnââ¬â¢t change, bottom same as top. Slow growth=base a bit longer than top but not quite a pyramid. Rapid growth=WIDE base, narrow top, like a pyramid 5. Waste water treatment process: get water, drain out sludge, have sludge area, water goes through process to get more sludge out, water gets aerated, water gets filtered with Cl to remove bacteria. 6. Human pop on earth: 6.8 billion. US pop: 300 million. Most populated countries: china, india, US 7. Soil horizons: O,A,B,C. O is organic material and leaf litter and such. A is top soil and humus. B is parent material. C is bedrock, solid rock 8. Rule of 70: 70/percent=time it will take to double population 9. Replacement level fertility: reproducing enough babies to replace yourself(in developed countries, itââ¬â¢s 2.1, but in developing, itââ¬â¢s 2.5 because of infant mortality) 10. Waste created by nuclear power plants: radioactive waste in solid liquid or gas state 11. Biggest threats to biodiversity: HIPPO, habitat loss, invasive species, population growth, pollution, and overexploitation 12. Integrated pest management: people come in and solve your pest problem without using harmful chemicals or pesticides. Situations are situation specific and take a longer time to solve. 13. Aquaculture: trapping fish in a coast, or netted fenced area of water to use for produce and food or commercial use 14. Demographic transition model: preindustrial, transitional, industrial, postindustrial. Pre- high birth and death rates. Trans- high birth rates and low death rates. Ind- lower birth rates, and same death rates. Post- birth and death rates equal 15. Photosynthesis: CO2+H2OO2+C6H12O6. Needs solar energy 16. Half life: radioactive decay of how long it takes for half of material to decay 17. Tragedy of the commons: when a renewable available to everyone resource is depleted 18. Population growth rate equation: (births-deaths)/10 19. Genetic engineering: getting genes from one organism and putting them in other organisms to get desired trait 20. 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics: 1st states that energy is neither created nor destroyed. 2nd states that as energy is changed and moves up trophic levels, it decreases 21. Where is coal located around world: US in mountainous areas, Russia, china, and Australia 22. Denitrification: ammonium to N gas. Assimilation: when plants and animals turn nitrates into amino acids and proteins. Ammonification: nitrates to ammonium. Nitrification: N gas to nitrates and nitrites. Nitrogen fixation: Nitrogen to nitrogen gas that is ready to go to nitrites 23. Montreal protocol: when they noticed that ozone was disappearing, they banned chlorofluorocarbons in industries and anything else in 1987 24. Antarctic treaty of 1961: countries could only use Antarctica for peaceful matters 25. Pop growth curves: irruptive- overshootdieback. Cyclic: predator and preyââ¬â¢s pop patterns change together. Logistic: exponential to carrying capacity then moves around the carrying patterns a little. 26. Carrying capacity: biotic potential + environmental resistance, what population the environment can withstand What I kind of know 1. Cons of mining: removes 90% of nonfuel mineral and rock recourses, 60% of coal used in US destroys forests, contaminates streams and groundwater, leaves highly erodible hills of rubble, susceptible to chemical weathering, slow vegetation regrowth, damages and buries streams below, toxic wastewater, produces air pollution 2. Ways to reduce soil erosion: terracing (growing food on slopes), no till farming, windbreaks of trees, strip cropping, contour farming 3. Cause of fluctuation of CO2 levels during a year: amount of trees, photosynthetic activity, burning fossil fuels, trash, power generation and transport 4. Surface mining: to remove mineral deposits found fairly close to the earthââ¬â¢s surface, removing soil, subsoil and other strata. 5. Types of irrigation: drip-delivers small amts of water onto crop roots (best). Flood-delivers more water than needed for a crop to grow. Centro pivotal- spray attachments water crops 6. Consequences of global temperature increase: melting ice and snow, less sunlight reflected back into space, rising sea levels, changing ocean currents, more acidic seas, change in precipitation and weather extremes, and disrupting ecosystems, more radiation 7. Pros and cons of dams: pros-cheap electricity, reduces downstream flooding, provide year round water for irrigation. Cons: displace people, disrupt aquatic systems, and prevent fish to swim upstream and get caught in it and die 8. Ozone layer function: filter out most of sunââ¬â¢s harmful ultraviolet radiation 9. Cause of stratospheric ozone loss: chlorofluorocarbons use, ODCs, halons, hydrobromofluorocarbons, methyl bromide, HCl, carbochluorides, methyl chloroform, n-propyl bromide, hexachlorobutadicine. 10. Ways to reduce atmospheric CO2: cut fossil fuel use, shift from coal to natural gas, improve energy efficiency, shift to renewable energy resources, transfer energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to developing contries, reduce deforestation, use sustainable agriculture and forestry, reduce poverty, slow population growth 11. Season when ozone hole is most noticeable: October, Antarctic spring (winter) 12. DDT, mercury: pesticides that are toxic to humans and are very persistent and a lot of the time they go to the wrong species and they disrupt the ecosystem. They are broad spectrum pesticides. 13. P cycle: P circulates through water, earthââ¬â¢s crust, and living things, it is the most limiting because it does not become gaseous. C cycle: C circulated through earthââ¬â¢s air, water, soil, and living things and it depends on photosynthesis and respiration. N cycle: bacteria helps recycle N through the earthââ¬â¢s air, water, soil and living organisms (N fixationnitrificationassimilationammonificationdenitrificationN fixation). Water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, percolation 14. Importance of genetic diversity: resistance to mass extinctions, monocultures, and inbreeding 15. Biomes, locations, reasons for why they are located in certain areas: 1. Gasification: agricultural wastes, including wood wastes any of various processes by which coal is turned into low, medium or high BTU gases 2. Cogeneration: production of 2 useful forms of energy, such as high temp heat or steam and electricity, from the same fuel source 3. Cultural eutrophication: human activities that greatly accelerate the input of plant nutrients to a lake (mostly NO3 and phosphate). 4. Sand: low porosity and high permeability. Clay: low permeability and high porosity. Porosity is the volume of pore space. Silt has low to average porosity and average permeability. Permeability is the ability of water to flow through the soil 5. Incinerating trash: burning trash, boiling water to make steam for heating water of space for producing electricity. Cons: expensive to build, costs more than short distance hauling to landfills, difficult to site because of citizen opposition, some air pollution, older poorly managed facilities can release large amts of air pollution, output approach that encourages waste production, competes with recycling for burnable materials like newspaper. Pros: reduces trash volumes, less need for landfills, low water pollution, concentrates hazardous substances into ash for burial or use as landfill cover, sale of energy reduces cost, modern controls reduce air pollution, some facilities recover and sell metals. 6. Sun angle, fewer daylight hours, tropospheric length has not enough solar radiation to reach the surface, high Albeao and less water vapor causes polar areas to get really cold. 7. Integrated waste management: variety of strategies for waste reduction and management to deal with our produced solid wasted reduce, reuse and recycle 8. Layers of atmosphere: troposphere is closest to earthââ¬â¢s surface and contains 90% of mass of entire atmosphere. Stratosphere has the ozone layer that absorbs UV rays from sun and protects life on earth. Mesosphere is the coldest layer of the atmosphere. The mesopause is the boundary between mesosphere and thermosphere. Thermosphere is the last layer of atmosphere and it is warmer than mesosphere and has a little O2 and has a layer of ionized gases 9. Waste created by coal power plants: heat to troposphere, CO2 and air pollution 10. Pros and cons of coal power: pros- ample supply, high net energy, low cost, well developed mining and combustion technology, air pollution can be reduced with improved technologies. Cons: severe land disturbance, air pollution, water pollution, high land use, severe threats to human health, high CO2 emissions, radioactive particles and toxi mercury into air 11. Pros and cons of nuclear power: pros- large fuel supply, low envir. Impact, emits 1/6 as much CO2 as coal, moderate land use and disruption and water pollution, and Low risk of accidents. Cons- expensive, low net energy yield, catastrophic accidents, no solution for radioactive waste storage, terrorist attacks, weapons 12. Source of radon: some soil and rock 13. Tropospheric ozone: air pollutant, bad ozone because it can damage living tissue and break down certain materials 14. Acid rain: caused by coal burning power plants, ore smelters and industrial plants that use tall smokestacks to emit SO2 and NO2 into troposphere. Consequences: 2-14 day persistence, ruins sensitive soil, worsens respiratory disease, attacks metallic and stone, decreases atmospheric visibility, kills fish, depletes soil of vital plant nutrients and harms crops and plants. Solutions: improving energy efficiency, reduce coal use, increase natural gas use and renewable energy resourcs, burn low sulfur coal, remove SO2 and NO2 from smokestack gases, remove NO2 from motor vehicular exhaust, tax emissions of SO2, add lime to neutralize acidified lakes and add phosphate fertilizer to neutralize acidified lakes. pH of rain: 5.6 or less. Problem in eastern US. 15. Greenhouse gases and their sources: water vapor, CO2, CH4, NO2, O3. Sources are burning fossil fuels, electricity production, transportation, industry, commercial and residential, agriculture, land use and forestry. 16. LD-50: median lethal dose of a toxin, radiation or pathogen is dose required to kill à ½ the members of a tested pop after specified test duration 17. Radon: Rn-222 is a natural occurring gas that is colorless and odorless and radioactive found in some soil and rock, seeps into homes and buildings and can cause lung cancer. Lichen can indicate it 18. Clean water act: attempt to control efforts of pollution of countryââ¬â¢s surface waters. Standards for allowed levels of key water pollutants and requires polluters to get permits limiting how much of various pollutants can discharge into aquatic systems 19. Clean air act: causes lakes to be acidic. Made to prevent smog and prevent more air pollution disasters, air pollutant regulations for key pollutants 20. How carbon is removed from the atmosphere: remove from smokestack and vehicle emissions, store by planting trees, sequester deep underground, sequester in soil by using no till conservation and taking cropland out of production, sequester CO2 deep in ocean, repair leaky gas pipelines and facilities, use animal feeds that reduce methane emissions by belching cows. 21. UN conference of the human environment: expanding understanding of envir. Issues, gathering and evaluation envir. Data, develop and monitor international envir. Treaties, provide grants and loans for sustainable econ. Devel. And reducing poverty, help more than 1ââ¬ânations develop envir. Laws and institutions 22. Reclamation of disturbed lands: process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds or lake. Stabilized against the hazards of water and wind erosion 23. RCRA: resource conservation and recovery act regulates hazardous waste produced in the US passed in 1976 amended in 1984. Goal to prevent unsafe and il legal disposal of hazardous wastes on the land. 24. Uranium-235: isotope of uranium making up about .72% of the natural uranium sustains fission chain reaction 25. Biomagnifications: increase in concentration of DDT, PCBs, and other slowly degradable far soluble chemicals in organisms at successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web. 26. Efficiency of an incandescent lightbulb (5%), photosynthesis (1%), coal power (33%) 27. Fecal coliform bacteria: various strains of E. Coli to detect the presence of infectious agents in water 28. Consequences of SO2, lead, O3 in troposphere, and particulates: SO2- breathing problems, visibility reduction and aggravation of asthma, damages crops, trees, soils, and lake aquatic life, corrodes metals and damages paint, paper, and leather and stone on buildings. O3- coughing, breathing problems, reduces resistance to colds and pneumonia, irritates eyes, nose, and throat, aggravates asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and heart disease and damages plants, rubber in tires, fabrics and paints. Particulates- irritate the nose and throat, damage lungs, aggravate asthma and bronchitis, shortens life. Lead- mutations, reproductive problems, cancer, nervous system damage, mental retardation and digestive and other health problems, reduce visibility and corrode metals and discolor clothes and paints. 29. CERCLA: requires parties responsible for creating a hazardous waste site to be responsible for its cleanup 30. NAFTA: goal to eliminate barriers to trade and investment between US, Canada and Mexico to eliminate tariffs on more than à ½ of Mexicoââ¬â¢s exports to the US. Try to pressure countries to improve envir. Protection mechanism 31. Electrostatic precipitators: to remove particulates, after they are in smokestack gas, it gives them a negative charge, they are attracted to a positively charged precipitator wall and fall off the wall into a collector, they maintain and remove 99% of particulate, but use a lot of electricity and do not remove hazardous ultrafine particles and produce a toxic dust that must be disposed of safely. 32. Alternatives to chlorine in waste water treatment: microfiltration, ultrafiltration, ion exchange
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Emma Bovary - searching for oranges on apple trees? :: essays research papers
To state that Emma Bovary, the heroine of Flaubertââ¬â¢s epic Madame Bovary, looks for oranges on apple trees and refuses to eat apples is a gross over-simplification. Emma would be no happier with oranges than she would be with apples. In fact, if her taste in fruit is anything like her taste in men, she would probably insist on a fruit with all of her desired qualities - perhaps a cross between the consistency of an apple, the fibre of an orange, the vitamins of a blackcurrant and the taste of a strawberry. In saying this, however, the statement is entirely accurate in that Emma is searching for the wrong things in the wrong places and is bitterly disappointed in not finding them as she desires. To analyse Emma Bovary is a difficult assignment, due to the very complex and often contradictory nature of her character, and the many opposing critical theories that have been written since her ââ¬Ëdeathââ¬â¢ over 150 years ago. Flaubertââ¬â¢s determination to ââ¬Å"remain outside of his book and to assume the role of a manipulator of marionettesâ⬠adds to this sense of mystery surrounding Emma Bovary, who is essentially a confused young woman, trapped in a stifling society who tries so desperately to be something she is not. She is a woman so fixated on creating the life she dreams of that she eventually self-destructs, a broken and dejected victim. Before discussing in detail the various elements of her personality, it is necessary to highlight the social position she is involuntarily placed in. This will in turn give rise to, and in many cases explanation for, the way in which she responds to various events in her life, and therein revealing her true colours. Emma is born a woman in France during the early 19th Century, and as such is doomed from the start to be a victim of the misogynistic bourgeoisie. As was the case for all women at the time, Emma was completely reliant on Charles to provide the quality of life she desired ââ¬â and indeed her very identity ââ¬â as she was not in a position that she could exercise such control herself. In marrying Charles, she ceased to exist as Mademoiselle Emma Rouault, and simply became Madame Charles Bovary, the doctorââ¬â¢s wife. Emma realised that she had blown her only chance to pursue the life she felt she deserved. ââ¬Å"Pourquoi, mon Dieu! me suis-je marià ©e?
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Advanced Microeconomics Essay
Question 1: Consumer Theory 1.1: In both the Marshallian and Hicksian consumer optimisation problems, it is assumed that consumers are supposed to be rational. The main focus of these problems are cost minimisation and utility maximisation, which play a huge part in consumer demand, but in real life, these are not the only problems that are considered. Also, it is assumed that every consumerââ¬â¢s indifference curve for two goods would be the same ââ¬â they are very generalised models, and do not take into account other factors. For example, not many consumers would spend their entire budget on said goods ââ¬â one thing to consider would be a consumerââ¬â¢s marginal propensity to consume and save. Though both of the problems provide a framework and model of consumer decisions, they are not plausible when applying them to real-life terms, because we have imperfect knowledge. 1.2: The expression given in the question, is the rearranged derivative of the Hicksian demand being equal to the Marshallian demand, when income from the budget constraint is equal to minimised expenditure, whereby m=ep, à ¼. This is given by: dDdp= dHdp- dDdm . dedp using m = e. Shephardââ¬â¢s Lemma provides us an alternative way of deriving Hicksian demand functions, using e. It is given by: dedp= x* It is important to note that e is strictly increasing in p, due to Shephardââ¬â¢s Lemma, and x* >0,by assumption. Substituting this into the above expression gives: dDdp= dHdp- dDdm x*à This expression now represents a complete law of demand, as it has combined both Marshallian and Hicksian demand, whereby income from the budget constraint of Marshallian demand, is equal to minimised expenditure of Hicksian demand. Therefore, it has maximised utility and minimised cost simultaneously, to create an optimal quantity of demand in x*. The first term, dDdp, means that Marshallian demand (maximising utility) increases, relative to the price of the good. dHdp represents the Hicksian part of the expression, whereby expenditure is minimised, relative to the price of the good. Question 3: Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard and Insurance 3.1: Insurance markets are needed when risk is present. Risk occurs when there is uncertainty about the state of the world. For example, car drivers do not know if they will crash their car in future, and suffer a loss of wealth ââ¬â so they would purchase insurance to eliminate this risk of loss, and protect them if they were to ever crash their car. Agents (buyers of insurance) will use insurance markets to transfer their income between different states of the world. This allows insurance markets to trade risk between high-risk and low-risk agents/states. These can be described as Pareto movements. A Pareto improvement is the allocation, or reallocation of resources to make one individual better off, without making another individual worse off. Another term for this is multi-criteria optimisation, where variables and parameters are manipulated to result in an optimal situation, where no further improvements can be made. When the situation occurs that no more improvements can be made , it is Pareto efficient. A condition for efficiency is the least risk-averse agent bears all the risk in an insurance market. If a risk-averse agent bears risk, they would be willing to pay to remove it. A risk-averse agent has a diminishing marginal utility of income; whereby his marginal utility is different across states, if his income is different across states. The agent would give up income in high-income states, in which his marginal utility is low, to have more income in low-income states (e.g. bad state of the world causing a loss of wealth), where his marginal utility would be high. If the insurance market is risk neutral, they will sell insurance to the customer, as long as the payment received is higher than the expected value of pay-outs that the insurer is contracted to give to the customer in different states of the world. Whenever the agent bears some risk, unexploited gains from trade exist. Absence of unexploited gains from trade is a requirement in an efficient insurance market, therefore the situation must arise, whereby the agentââ¬â¢s income is equalised across the states of the world. A risk neutral insurance company can charge a premium to equalise the agentââ¬â¢s income across states of the world, in the best interests of the risk-averse agent. Also, for an insurance market to beà efficient, a tangency condition is implied. The tangency of the indifference curves of a risk-averse agent, and a risk-neutral agent, is where efficiency occurs. At this point, one cannot be made better off, without the other being made worse off (Pareto efficiency). However, an insurance company will never be completely efficient in real life, as information asymmetry exists. The first type of information asymmetry to arise in an insurance market is moral hazard, whereby the actions that an agent may take after signing the contract cannot be observed. This gives the company a trade-off decision between giving full insurance or offering incentives for the agent. Full insurance is first-best in the absence of asymmetric information, when the insurance company is risk-neutral and the agent is risk-averse. However, if the agent is fully insured by the company, they have no reason to prevent a bad state of the world from happening. To solve this problem, the insurance company will not offer full insurance, in order to provide the agent with an incentive to avoid losses. The second type of information asymmetry to occur in an insurance market, is adverse selection. This is when the agent has private information about his risk type and characteristics, and agents in the market are heterogenous. As the insurer doesnââ¬â¢t know which agents are high-risk or low risk, the company will not offer different types of full insurance to match risk-types, as high-risk agents will prefer contracts that are designed for low-risk agents. To solve this, the insurer will offer low-risk agents less insurance ââ¬â this ensures that high-risk types do not have the incentive to choose a contract for low-risk customers, as they will want more insurance, because they know they will need to claim more. This ensures that the insurance company maintains non-negative profit, as high-risk individuals cost more to insure. However, these solutions carry agency costs, because the result is less efficient than if symmetric information was present. I believe that risk neutrality of an insurance company is a sufficient condition for insurance to take place. Insurance companies are risk-neutral to maximise expected profits, therefore as the principal, will design contracts to achieve this, as well as making certain that the agent picks the desired effort (i.e to prevent a bad state of the world) for that contract, and to make sure that the agent even picks theà contract in the first place. Making sure incentives are compatible, and ensuring participation by the correct risk types, are constraints on maximising expected profits. If an insurance company was risk-averse, without the availability of symmetric information, they cannot differentiate between different risk-types, and therefore would not want to take on the risk of possible high-risk agents buying low-risk contracts. They would charge a higher premium to offset this, which would discourage low-risk customers to sign a contract with the company, as it would not be maximising their own utility. This would lead to a missing market, where trade would be prevented, because other risk-neutral companies would offer better contracts, and they would be able to steal all the low-risk customers. The magnitude of this would depend on the number of low- and high-risk people in the population. This leads me to believe that risk neutrality is also a necessary condition for insurance to take place. 3.2: An insurance company will sell a policy, c, r, if it makes non-negative profits, then:à ââ â r-pic âⰠ¥0,à where c = payout, pi = probability of the loss state, r = premium. Competition in the market drives profit down to zero, therefore r-pic = 0 in equilibrium. For the contract to be at equilibrium, it must satisfy two conditions: the break-even condition, whereby no contract makes negative profits; and absence of unexploited opportunities for profit, because if there was a contract outside of the offered set, with non-negative profit, would mean the offered set is not in equilibrium. If all agents are homogenous, if all agents face the same probability of loss, pi=p, insurance companies would know each buyerââ¬â¢s pi. The firm must maximise each agentââ¬â¢s utility subject to the firm breaking even. This would be at the point of tangency of the agentââ¬â¢s indifference curve and zero-profit constraint. This would be in equilibrium as another profit-making polic y could not be offered. Therefore, as they can observe agentââ¬â¢s risk types, they can offer different policies, to different types: à ¸i= ri, ci. It follows that each is offered full and fair insurance. In real life, heterogeneity is usually the case. This is when pi varies with all individuals. Assuming that there are two types: high-risk types, H, and low-risk types, L, where the probabilityà of loss for H is higher than for L. Individuals know their own probability of loss i=H, L, but insurance companies are unable to observe this. In this case, there are two different kinds of equilibria that insurance companies could opt with: the candidate pooling equilibrium and the candidate separating equilibrium. The pooling equilibrium is where all risk types buy the same policy. In contrary, the separating equilibrium is based on each risk type buying a different policy. In the pooling equilibrium, if both H and L risk-types choose the same policy, the probability of loss is p and the probability of no l oss is 1- p. Therefore, the slope of the ââ¬Ëaggregate fair-odds line is -1-pp. The pooling contract must lie on this line to be in equilibrium, to ensure the firm breaks even exactly. The contract must also ensure both types want to buy it ââ¬â it must take both L and H to higher indifference curve than the indifference curve they would be on if they stayed uninsured. Agent L ends up below his fair odds line, and H above his, which means L pays more than expected costs, and H pays less ââ¬â both pay the fair pooled premium, but H claims on the policy more. So if L prefers to buy the contract, so will H. This leads me to believe both L and H will be able to get full insurance, though itââ¬â¢s not completely fair, as the firm does not need H to choose a different policy to remain breaking even. However, this brings to mind the notion that if full insurance is offered, the agent will not have the incentive to prevent a loss state. Therefore, less insurance will probably be offered, and as both risk types are paying the same premium of the same policy, neither will receive full insurance, as it impossible to differentiate between the two ââ¬â they will both choose the same policy offered. In the separating equilibrium, one contract would be offered to L, and another to H. Each risk type must prefer the contract designed for that type (i.e. the incentives must be compatible). The contracts offered should give each type the highest possible utility, subject to the firm breaking even. If full insurance contracts were offered to both L and H, where their respective indifference curves are tangent with their respective zero-profit constraints/fair-odds lines, low risk customers would prefer the policy designed for them, but high-risk customers would also prefer the same policy, not the policy designed for them. So they would not both be offered full insurance, as this gives rise to the problem of preventing H from imitating L ââ¬â low-risk agents are cheaper to insure for the firm (claim lessà often) so they get a better rate. Therefore, instead of offering L full insurance, they are offered C, which is still on their fair odds line, but on a lower indifference curve, still ensuring the zero-profit constraint. Now, if the high-risk agents were to choose between the policy designed for them, and C, they will choose the policy designed for them, because they prefer to have more insurance for less money. So, in conclusion, in the separating equilibrium, high-risk (H) customers receive full insurance, and low-risk (L) customers only receive partial insurance ââ¬â they pay the price to prevent H from imitating them. L is worse off than if there was symmetric information in the market, but no difference to H.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
The Analysis of the Uk Supermarket and Tesco
The analysis of the UK supermarket and Tesco Introduction: The role of supermarket is becoming far more significantly in daily life. Consumers could see different kind of brands and variable goods. The role of the supermarket is tried to satisfy the consumersââ¬â¢ demands. Since the supermarket came out, the advantages such as low price and cost, much convenience made the supermarket develop quickly. As a consequence of the rapid development, the supermarket plays an important role in the retail industry. It not only saves large amounts of labor capital and operating cost, but improves the shopping environment.In this essay I will make a specific analysis of the UK supermarket system through economic theories. Firstly, I will analyse the situation of the UK supermarket via Five Forces Model (Michael Porter 1979). And then, I will select the largest supermarket in UK, Tesco, to analyse the strategy of this firm by using the value chain (Michael Porter 1985). Tesco is the largest Br itish retailer both by global and domestic market share. And it is the third largest retailer in the world followed the Wal-Mart and Carrefour.Tesco opens around 2,440 stores and employing more than 400,000 people. Tesco has entered into areas such as clothes, electronics, financial services, internet services and gas stations. Currently, the market share of the retailer in UK is more than 30 percent. As of March 2008, Tesco could be found in every postcode of the UK. Five forces analysis The aim of the five forces model illustrated by Michael Porter (1979) is to analyze an industry to determine that which forces can influence the industry strongly so that the firm could make the best position in this industry.And the five forces include: the threat of new entrants; the power of buyers; the power of suppliers; the threat of substitute products and the competitive rivalry among the existing companies. Threat of new entrants Firstly, the threat of new entrants is rather low. It is pre tty difficult for new entrants to enter the UK supermarket because of many barriers such as economies of scale, capital requirements of entry, cost advantages, differentiation, etc. There are many supermarkets in UK and the four largest Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrison account for 75. percent of the UK supermarket in the 12 weeks ending 1 November 2009 (Wikipedia). For new entrants, it is difficult to occupy the market share of the UK supermarket in current structure. The first barrier is that small scale of supermarket could not create high margin. It is necessary for the entrants to consider the capital requirement according to the large scale of the operation. Many supermarket firms like Tesco and Asda have the cost advantages in supplication factor and other economic factors.It makes a large barrier for new firms to enter the market because of the disadvantages in cost requirement. Comparing the existing firms, the new enters need more cost and capital to establish the new brand and the access to marketing channels in order to attract the consumers. The existing supermarkets have built the famous brands, stable consumer groups and distribution channels. The strength of the brand name and channels could be a very powerful mean to build a barrier to entry. In order to keep the market stable, government also has the ability to establish a barrier.For instance, if the government can make a determination that how many supermarkets could be established in one region, as a result, the entrants will not be limited to build new facilities. And the new entrants may require many licenses from the government of other legal branches in order to operate. That is also a type of barrier for entry. The existing companies will make a specific analysis aim at the threat of the new entrants and then publish relevant measures to prevent the entrants to enter the supermarket system. There are so many barriers for new entrants to enter the supermarket system that the threat of them is rather low.Power of the buyer Secondly, the power of the buyer is not strong as well. People need their daily life products, so they must do shopping. For the large supermarkets, there are many factures influence the buyersââ¬â¢ selection such as the comfortable shopping environment, convenient transportation, free parking, etc. However, because of the homogeneity of these factors, what the consumers concern more is the price of the products. Different company makes different price strategy based on the respective position. Clubcard of Tesco is the companyââ¬â¢s customer loyalty programme ââ¬â the way of saying ââ¬Ëthank you' to consumers.It is pretty popular that the number of active member increased over 15 million from 13 million at the start of 2008/9. Clubcard is a main reason for consumers who prefer the Tesco rather than other competitors. Power of the supplier Thirdly, the power of the supplier is also low. The majority of the products in different s upermarket are homogeneity. Many large firms like Tesco and Asda have the unified operating style and advanced purchase measures. So, there are many suppliers for the supermarkets to choose and purchase products.And because of the small retailersââ¬â¢ purchasing power is much lower than the supermarkets. At last, most of the products will be sent to the large supermarkets. Threat of the substitute Fourthly, the threat of the substitute is not high. As the substitute of the supermarkets, the small single retailers are pretty convenient for consumers. People could buy fresh seafood, vegetable and fruit from the respective markets instead of the supermarkets. And there are many advantages about the retailers, for instance, many small retailers are built near the residential areas, the range of products is pretty full.However, since the operating cost is high, if the retailers want to obtain margin, they have to make the price higher than the supermarket. But as the industry leader, there is no doubt that the Tesco Group would not give up the share of small retailer market. So the Tesco Express and One Stop came out. The Tesco Express stores are neighborhood convenience stores whose average size are about 200à m2, stocking mainly food with an emphasis on higher-margin products and everyday essentials. They are established in busy city centre districts, small shopping precincts in residential areas, small towns and illages. And the size of One Stop is much smaller than the Express. At the end of its 2010-2011 financial years, the number of the Tesco Express and One Stop were 1285 and 599(Wikipedia). Because of the famous brand of the Tesco, most people prefer to buy the daily products in the Express or One Stop. According to Datamonitor (2010), there are 960 Express stores which sell approximately 7,000 products and 170 Metro stores which sell a range of food products in villages and city centres.As a consequence of the brand and more types of products of the supermarket, the threat of the substitute is rather low for the supermarket. Competitive rivalry among the existing firms The last one is the competitive rivalry among the existing firms. And the threat of competitive rivalry is considered very high in the UK supermarket industry. The four largest supermarkets Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's and Morrisons account for 30. 5%, 16. 9%, 16. 3% and 12. 3% of the UK supermarket in the 12 weeks to 27 December 2009. (Wikipedia) And the market share of ASDA increases from to 16. % during the year 2010/ 09, meanwhile, Sainsburyââ¬â¢s share rises to 16. 3% and Morrisonââ¬â¢s reaches 12. 3% from 11. 3%(Euromonitor, 2010). The competition of these firms is pretty strong in this industry in order to win the market share and the competition could make the market develop much faster. It is very significant for these firms to create many innovative measures to obtain more market share. Most products are homogeneity for consumers so that the seller sh ould pay more attention to the piece and quality of the products.Hence, based on the quality guarantee of the goods, firms try to occupy more market through the lower price and better services. By the analysis above, the threat of the competitive rivalry among the different firms is highly strong but other threats are not strong enough. So, the supermarkets in UK should figure out more effective measures to attract consumers in order to occupy the market. Value chain analysis The value chain was developed by Porter (1985) in order to analyze a firm to state the sources of competitive advantage. There are two activities including primary activities and support activities. The primary activities are those that concerned about physically creating the product or service and transferring it to the buyer, together with any necessary after sales service. The support activities are those activities that are necessary to ensure that the primary activities can be completed. The support activi ties can affect any one or more of the primary activities. â⬠The primary includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales and service and the support activities includes firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology development and procurement.The first primary activity is the inbound logistics. It is considered that the inbound logistics includes receiving goods from suppliers, storing goods, transporting goods and taking goods to the shelves. Tesco uses the leading position as the key power to reduce the costs from the suppliers and keep the stable of consumersââ¬â¢ selection. Meanwhile, it also improves the efficiency and the distribution system. As well, the company provides more effective way to control and reduce the costs of damaged goods. As a result, it could avoid the extra costs be transferred to the consumers.It needs to think about its operation active. The firm could do many operations such as providing products and service and keeping the shelves full as the daily task. In order to gain more competitive advantages, it is necessary for the company to take a consideration about reducing the operating costs. Tesco makes full use of the intelligence technology (IT) system in order to make the company control the operative cost effectively. This firm has spent more than 76 million pounds on narrowing the operation time by the digital program by the 2010. And during the 2009, the profit of the Tesco was reached 550 million pounds.The measure of Tesco provides much convenience for staff to operate the service. Accompanied by the operation, they will have outbound logistics problems. It is concentrating on delivering the goods to the customer. Currently, Tesco adds the home delivery service. However, there are many methods need to be improved such as parking facilities, handcarts, staff and systems to get competitive advantage. If it could be implemented more effectively than other firms, it would mak e their consumers save more time. And the staff could make the facilities available and convenient for consumers to get quickly.Tesco has the leadership and effective outland logistics. The company has invented many measures to satisfy consumersââ¬â¢ demands like the small Express and one-step stores and fast door-to-door delivery service. It is very important to considering the marketing and sales. The next one is the marketing and sales. As the leading company, Tesco has its strategy to attach to consumers. The Tesco Clubcard is invented to attract more people to go shopping to Tesco instead of other competitors. Consumers who keep the cards can get much discounts and integration. Actually, advertisement is necessary as well.Tesco could attract more consumers by the advertisement via the television, radio and local newspaper. And they could get much information about the products and discounts. After selling, service becomes the most significant active. As the principle of fast and easy, when the consumers enter into the supermarket, the warm shopping environment may make them relaxed. Various sectors are responsible for their respective responsibilities; staffs provide the best personal service to consumers so that consumers can go shopping easily and comfortably. All of these reflect the intimate service for consumers. Here are the support activities.The procurement is the procedure of obtaining the various contributions to the primary activities. The key point of the firm infrastructure is planning, finance and controlling the system to improve the firmââ¬â¢s strategic ability. The company should focus on improving the establishment of the infrastructure so that consumers could go shopping more convenient. The human resource management includes recruitment management and staff development. The aim of the Tesco is to add differert types of schemes and develop the recruitment plan, then train more excellent staff to provide the best service for consum ers.The development of technology is a significant competitive advantage for a company. The advanced technological level could add higher brand value. Tesco is the first supermarket that invented the self-checkout in UK. And it provides great convenience to consumers. Conclusion: In this essay, I analyse the UK supermarket industry by using Five Forces (Michael Porter 1979) firstly. Through the analysis, it is clearly that the threat of new entrants, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products are pretty low for UK supermarket industry.The firms in UK do not pay much attention to those threats above. The power of competitive rivalry among the existing companies is very strong. The competition among the existing supermarkets is rather drastic. All companies need to figure out effective strategies in order to prevent their consumers changing their brand selections. And secondly, I analyse the value chain (Michael Porter 1985) of Tesco. As the largest retailer in UK, Tesco has an excellent industrial chain for supply and demand. The primary activities could ensure the firm can gain more margins by perfect supply chain management, operation, sales and service. Read also: Reed Supermarkets: a New Wave of CompetitorsThe support activities like great human resource management, advanced IT system provide support to ensure the primary activities could be operated. With the excellent primary activities and support activities, Tesco obtains more than 30 percent market share in UK. Reference Porter, M E (1980) Competitive Strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors (Free Press) Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2007) Exploring Corporate Strategy (Prentice Hall) Besanko, D Dranove, D Shanley, M and Scharfer, S (2007), Eonomics of Strategy (Wiley) Porter M E (1985) Competitive Advantage (Free Press) Tesco available at ttp://www. slideshare. net/j4g2r/tesco-presentation Growing the UK core available at http://ar2011. tescoplc. com/business-review/growing-the-uk-core. html ââ¬Å"Tesco share turnaround (plus an update on grocery price inflationâ⬠available at TNS Global http://www. tnsglobal. com/news/news56F59E8A99C8428989E9BE66187D57 92. aspx Euromonitor (2010), ââ¬ËIndustry Profile ââ¬â Food retailingââ¬â¢, Euromonitor International, 2010 Tesco available at http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Tesco Tesco (2010), ââ¬ËAnnual Report and Review 2010ââ¬â¢, Tesco. Available at http://ar2010. tescoplc. com/en/downloads. aspx
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Comparison and differences between Conan Doyle Essays
Comparison and differences between Conan Doyle Essays Comparison and differences between Conan Doyle Essay Comparison and differences between Conan Doyle Essay Explore the points of comparison and differences between Conan Doyles The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Rendells Bloodlines Wider Readingà The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bloodlines by Ruth Rendell diverge in a number of ways. These two stories were written at different times during history. The Adventure of the Speckled Band was written in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, where as Bloodlines was written in the mid to late nineteenth century. These two stories are set about one hundred years apart. The differences in the stories can be compared in the following ways: The character and method of the detectives in each short story are not the same. In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes is the detective and Dr. Watson is his accomplice. Holmes has appeared in many of Conan Doyles previous works of literature. He comes across to the reader as mysterious and clever. He is regarded as mysterious due to his alleged brown cape and hat. This vision of him makes the reader think that he likes to keep things to himself (which he does). He is quiet when he is not absorbed in a case, and he is calm and collected for the majority of the time. He rarely loses his temper throughout the whole of the story. Sherlock Holmes is also delineated as extremely clever in the way he thinks and acts. He has meritorious analytical and observatory skills. One can perceive these skills very early on in the story. I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left glove you had a good drive in a dogcart, along heavy roads, before you reached the station. From the quote, one can see that Holmes uses ratiocinative skills to come to that conclusion. Holmes works alone and does not share the information he has achieved until he is sure that it is true. From this, one can see that Holmes has pride in his work. This can be seen from the following, located at the very end of the story. I had come to these conclusions before I had entered this room The fact that Watson is telling the story keeps the reader in suspense. Due to the fact that Holmes doesnt share his clues with anyone else, not even Watson causes tension and suspense and it makes the reader become even more submersed into the story. Sherlock Holmes comes across as quite a strong character. From the following taken from the narrative, Holmes demonstrates his strength: he picked up the steel poker and, with sudden effort, straightened it out again. One can also tell that Holmes is a very placid and collected character because when Dr. Roylott confronted him, he remained composed and dignified in front of the erratic Dr. Roylott. Holmes showed that Dr. Roylott did not intimidate him by perplexing him. The following demonstrates this: But I have heard that the crocuses promise wellà Ha! You put me off, do you?à Here, Holmes is demonstrating his superiority, to the reader. He shows no remorse in doing so. When Holmes straightens out the poker, he is effectively insinuating that he is just as good as Dr. Roylott, possibly even more so. He is also proving that he has equal physical strength.à Holmes tells Watson after his interlude with Dr. Roylott that he does not wish to be associated with the police. Fancy his [Dr. Roylotts] insolence to confound me with the official detective force! Again, this shows that he thinks he is better than the police as he is implicitly rude to them here. We can see that Holmes enjoys working independently from the following (at the beginning of the story): As to reward, my profession is its own reward This shows the reader that Holmes is only a detective because he enjoys the occupation. It is also saying that Holmes is not concerned about money. On the other hand, Bloodlines by Ruth Rendell is dissimilar in terms of the character and method of the detectives. In Bloodlines, there are two detectives involved. Only one main detective features in the story and that is Wexford, but the other detective, Burden, has his own place in the story as well. Wexford comes across to the reader as very persistent. He is very qualified in his job and gets on with it. One can see that he does so right at the beginning of the play when he is interviewing Arlene Heddon. You wont mind if I come back in a day or two and well have another talk. It is Wexford that takes charge throughout the story, and he voices his opinion the most. Wexford does have a personality, but Rendell doesnt show it to the readers. He does not reveal much information about himself throughout the duration of the story. One can also see that Wexford is very competent. He realises from the clues in the facts that it was Carol Fox that had killed Tom. The following is taken from the narrative towards the end of the story. From those pictures he suddenly knew who had killed Tom Peterlee and why. This is the only time in the story in which the narrative withholds information about what Wexford thinks. It is Wexford that puts all the clues together to solve the crime. Burden, the other detective, is not really involved in the murder of Tom Peterlee, but he helps Wexford out. This act shows the reader that Wexford and Burden are quite close acquaintances. Burden is a very busy man and he has other things to do. The reason why Burden does not appear to be on the same level as Wexford is because he is working on a different case to Wexford. He is very judgemental when he meets Arlene, he comments about her and he says that: Intelligent girls dont live in caravans with married welders. This quote shows that although Burdens views are very set and prejudiced, he is still observant enough to see Arlenes intelligence.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
10 Words Often Misspelled in Business Correspondence
10 Words Often Misspelled in Business Correspondence 10 Words Often Misspelled in Business Correspondence 10 Words Often Misspelled in Business Correspondence By Maeve Maddox Most word processing programs have a built-in spell checker, but business correspondence still goes out with misspelled words that a checker would have caught. Iââ¬â¢m not talking about words like bare and bear, which are both English words acceptable to an automatic spelling program, but words like definite and separate, which have no homophones, and typos like standarad for standard (one of my own recent embarrassments). Writers need to keep two things in mind about spell checkers: 1. They cannot catch any misspellings if a writer doesnââ¬â¢t let the application run. 2. They cannot be entirely trusted to catch every spelling error. For whatever reasonoverconfidence or sloththe same misspellings continue to appear in business emails, advertising copy, resumes, and on blog sites. The writerââ¬â¢s best defense is to take a good look at the most frequent misspellings and zero in on every letter in the word. Mastering a few at a time is a better way to approach the task than scanning long lists. Here are ten of the most frequent misspellings, their correct forms, and tips that may help you remember the differences. 1. Misspelled: seperate Correct: separate Tip: Thereââ¬â¢s a rat in sep-a-rate. 2. Misspelled: definate Correct: definite Tip: Take a close look at the final syllable: nite. 3. Misspelled: calender Correct: calendar Tip: You probably pronounce the last syllable as [er], so you have to think [ar] as you write it: cal-en-dar. 4. Misspelled: mispell Correct: misspell Tip: You know how to spell spell; add the prefix mis- to it: mis-spell. 5. Misspelled: privlege Correct: privilege Tip: You may pronounce this three-syllable word with only two syllables. Notice the second i: priv-i-lege. Another common misspelling is privilige. Note the e in the final syllable: priv-i-lege. 6. Misspelled: arguement Correct: argument Tip: The verb argue ends in e, but you must drop the e for ar-gu-ment. 7. Misspelled: concensus Correct: consensus Tip: The sensus in consensus has nothing to do with the word census. Our word census comes from Latin censare, ââ¬Å"to rate, assess.â⬠Consensus comes from Latin consensus, ââ¬Å"agreement, accord, sympathy, common feeling.â⬠Think SSS: Con-Sen-SuS. 8. Misspelled: pronounciation Correct: pronunciation Tip: Thereââ¬â¢s no ââ¬Å"ounceâ⬠in pronunciation, but there is a ââ¬Å"nun.â⬠The verb is pronounce; the noun is pro-nun-ci-a-tion. 9. Misspelled: accomodate Correct: accommodate Tip: Two sets of double letters, cc and mm: accommodate 10. Misspelled: dependant Correct: dependent Tip: People who misspell this one may be thinking of defendant, which does end in ââ¬âant (although the ââ¬âant in defendant is also pronounced [ent].) Note the final syllable in dependent: de-pen-dENT. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Has vs. HadFor Sale vs. On Sale10 Functions of the Comma
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Website Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1
Website Analysis - Assignment Example For this reason, MEC involves its operations on a socially and environmentally sustainable manner, promote corporate social responsibility and support community groups with member value alignment. MEC brand involves in a lot of community events which are diverse. They promote gear swapping, brand ambassadors and involve in community contributions. Moreover, they also hold festivals for biking, snowboarding and paddling to invoke community involvement. The design of the website is consistent with a simple white and black theme and green elements. At some places on their website however, the black overpowers the white, which could be improved to a better consistency. With their current theme, there is an expectation of similar colors in other communication channels. The product pages are impressive as every product covers little details from sizes and materials to more in-depth analysis such as waterproofness and antimicrobial treatment. The only detail which is missing from the information is the payment methods, shipping information and additional costs, which are covered on a separate page. The navigation on the MEC website is smooth, but it could do with a better job. For example, the category of jackets is further divided into categories like waterproof breathable, soft shells, insulated synthetic etc. These terms are not understood by everyone, and it would be more feasible if a one-line description was added to these technical categories so that the buyer understands what he is looking for. MEC respects the customerââ¬â¢s security information which is why they have a special privacy policy, anti-spam policy and a special MEC privacy code document which highlights their commitment to customer security. They make use of SSL protocol to ensure maximum security online. The purchasing method is smooth and flawless. All you have to do is add an item to the cart and then checkout and
Thursday, October 31, 2019
ORGANISATIONS AND BEHAVIOUR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
ORGANISATIONS AND BEHAVIOUR - Essay Example It explains why human needs change with time but not how. These theories help the managers to understand the specific factors that would motivate the employee to perform better. Content Theories includes: This theory indicates a hierarchy of human needs where satisfaction of lower level need motivates individual to achieve higher-level need (Thompson, 1996, pp.10). The hierarchy includes following needs: This theory state that managers believe in either ââ¬Å"Theory Xâ⬠that employees dislike work and tend to avoid it or in ââ¬Å"Theory Yâ⬠that employees appreciate work and are self motivated (Goldsmith School of Business, n.d). Herzberg, in his two-factor theory described hygiene factors as the factors which do not motivate employees for better performance at work; however, their absence can lead to dissatisfaction from the work. In the hygiene factor, he placed factors like pay, job satisfaction, work environment and company policies (Thompson, 1996, p.13-14). It would be correct to consider pay as the most important of hygiene factor. An individual works to earn a living and finance his needs so money is the main aim behind an individual job. Among the entire hygiene factors, all are negotiable for an individual besides his pay. Usually, an individual in need of money would not mind working in an unstable work environment without any job satisfaction if the money is right for him. However, it varies with the individual, as an individual who works with the perspective to learn like an internee would place more importance to job satisfaction then pay. Therefore, importance of factors is variable with the individual concerned but generally, pay is the most important hygiene factor. Pay is definitely an important tool for managers to increase motivation however; it is a very short-term tool and does not guarantee long-term motivation. This is because with
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Technical trading analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words
Technical trading analysis - Essay Example s assumed that the fund would definitely be interested in riding a wave but not to the peak but obtain gains much before the peak and go short somewhere between the bottom and the peak. Similarly the fund would not wait for the market to bottom out before taking a decision on going long and that it would go long once market moves down somewhere between the peak and the bottom. Either strategies would imply that the fund is not looking for excessive and speculative gains; nevertheless it does maintain inherent profit booking targets. The trading system explained below is based on trading rules that were tested for profits results based on this risk philosophy. Financial theory, taught in finance textbooks the globe over, normally exposes a student of finance to the concepts like the efficient market hypothesis and the economically rational individual. Bubbles and crashes seem to defy these two seminal concepts with an awkwardness equivalent to the awkwardness one would attach to those things on earth that defy gravity. Nevertheless such extreme stock market movements are a reality. Bubbles make investing decisions arduous as stock prices tend to deviate by substantial margins from their fundamental valuations. Investors relying on past company results and technical analysis are equally defeated in such situations as is the EMH.In fact, investors always act on the basis that they have an applicable construct to explain stock price movements and tend to input all available information collected under such constructs in their investment decisions (Poole 2000). Finance research has also held varying opinions on this issue. For instance, Bierm ann (1995) supports the idea that market prices are determined from backward looking investors than by those that indulge in predictions of all sorts. Others have, for example elaborated on the use of price to earnings ratios to determine excess market valuations. Some technical work has set to rest in a convincing manner the
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Realism Relations Political
Realism Relations Political How is classical realism different to neo-realism? Neo-realism is a school of thought in international relations, which has its origins in classical realism which was advanced by writers such as Hans Morgenthau. He believed that states acted only in the pursuit of their self-interests to promote survival. Kenneth Waltz introduced a new approach, through his book, ââ¬ËTheory of International Politics, claiming that neo-realism can strengthen the previous paradigm of realism by looking at international relations in a more structural and methodological perspective and as a result, enhanced conclusions can be obtained. Therefore, in order to assess the differences between realism and neo-realism and whether Waltzs neo-realism is an improvement on classical realism, it is firstly important to define both neo-realism and classical realism. It is also important to consider Waltzs perspective in detail and analyse the elements which could be deemed as improvements. Thus, it will be argued that neo-realism is an improvement on classical realism due to its more rigorous scientific approach to international relations. Morgenthau was an international theorist who advocated the paradigm of realism. His theory consists of many principles which he believed gave a more pragmatic approach to international relations compared to the earlier paradigm of idealism. He considers states to be aggressive and power-seeking and that these specific characteristics stem from the imperfect humans from which they are constructed. Additionally, he deems that states are the key actors in international relations and stresses that national interests dominate state behaviour. This poses the question whether states can have interests, but realists like Morgenthau argue that states not only have interests but also behave in accordance with these interests. He further personifies states adding they will continually pursue their self-interests even though it may be detrimental to others. Central to Morgenthaus theory was the concept of power as the dominant goal in international politics and the definition of national interes t in terms of power. He called for recognition of the nature and limits of power and for the use of traditional methods of diplomacy, including compromise. In, ââ¬ËPolitics Among Nations, Morgenthau outlines his six principles in international relations, with the first of these being that, ââ¬Ëpolitics is governed by objective laws which have their root in human nature. These objective laws cannot be changed nor affected over time and human preferences. Therefore, the laws of human nature, tied with an assumption that actors are rational, provide a good framework for the explanation of international relations. His second principle regards the understanding of international politics through the, ââ¬Ëconcept of interest defined as power, and so sets the realm of international politics as autonomous to other spheres of action such as ethics and religion. The third principle in his doctrine focuses on the premise that state power can change but the concept of interest remains constant. The political and cultural situation determines that state power and this objectivity of interest can provide a general starting point in the analysis of international politics. His fourth and fifth principles centre on the need to differentiate between the morality of the state and the individual. He believes that universal moral principles do not guide state behaviour even though that behaviour may have moral and ethical consequences. States are not moral agents, and their actions should be judged solely on the principle of national interest and survival. His final principle concerns the autonomy of the political sphere and its separation from the other spheres of human concern. Morganthau sees man as being pluralistic in nature and the political nature of man must be abstracted from all other aspects of human nature. He says, ââ¬ËA man who has nothing but ââ¬Ëpolitical man would be a beast, and as he considers the concept of interest defined in terms of power this ââ¬Ëpolitical man, ââ¬Ëwould be completely lacking moral constraints. The realist interpretation of the political man gives primacy to political considerations by defining interest in terms of power in contrast to the ââ¬Ëeconomic man who thinks of interest defined as wealth. In the international structure, Morgenthau characterises states acting in a rational fashion because they carry out a cost-benefit analysis before proceeding with any action. In hypothetical terms country ââ¬ËA would only invade country ââ¬ËB if the benefits were far superior to the costs. He says ââ¬Ëâ⬠¦a rational foreign policy to be good foreign policy; for only rational foreign policy minimizes risks and maximises benefits. Therefore this emphasises states as being unified and rational actors, with respect to the implementation of foreign policy. Furthermore, an additional concept of the classical realist paradigm is the balance of power between states in the international system. States align themselves with other states to form alliances and to feel more secure against the threat of a superpower. This reiterates the need for states to promote, their pre-eminent goal of survival and forming alliances and thus balancing of power ensures this. Alliances are seen by re alists as the paramount method of gaining power as the likelihood of invasion is reduced. Thus, the potential aggressor will have to attack more than one state, thereby in undertaking a cost-benefit analysis; the cost of an attack would outweigh the benefits. Morgenthau argues that states are the real actors in international politics and there is no supreme power or sovereign authority above them. The lack of governance consequently leads to an anarchic structure to the international system, thus creating the rise of insecurity. Initially, states begin with a defensive motive, but are forced to think and somewhat act inherently offensive because of the anarchic structure of the international system. As states are motivated by power and the pursuit of national interest, normally defined in security or military terms, to ensure their own survival the principle of self-help becomes more significant. It emphasises the need to differentiate between the international and domestic political structure. It surmises the domestic political system to be hierarchical, with the central government superior to local and district governments. In contrast, this clearly defined structure is absent in international politics, and therefore anarchy is dominant . In 1979, Kenneth Waltz published, ââ¬ËTheory of International Politics, and from this the neo-realist approach to international relations emerged. He sought to develop a more rigorous theory of international politics than earlier realists, like Morgenthau. Waltzs paradigm argues that, ââ¬Ëclassical realism understood the constraints inherent in anarchy but failed to develop a serious account of its structure. He believes the theory had to be defined precisely and in terms drawn from the thinking of the scientific method. Furthermore, he demonstrated how one can distinguish between the unit level and structural elements and then make connections between them. Waltz not only restricted the kind of theory he was producing but also its scope. He argued that there were patterns in the international system which recurs over time and these were products of the system itself, and not of its subsystems. He used this approach to show that the interdependence theory overstated the relianc e of great powers on other states, military power was extremely useful in preserving stability and that great hegemonic powers had a role in overseeing world affairs. Waltz judged there to be two types of system which were possible, hierarchical and anarchical. In the hierarchical system, different kinds of units are organised under a clear line of authority, whereas, ââ¬ËInternational systems are decentralized and anarchic, leading to units being similar in nature even though they may have different capabilities. The scientific approach by neo-realists is a specific aspect of the theory which distinguishes itself from classical realism. Waltz believes in a more methodological approach to the international system as the path to knowledge must originate from observable data from which an effective hypothesis can be made. Also by producing large data, regularities can be found and therefore hypotheses can be tested against further data. Furthermore no prior assumptions can be made, especially in regards to human nature, which opposes Morgenthaus realist paradigm. The data must also be open and explicit, about how it was gathered allowing modern theories to be rejected. Indeed, Waltz was able to produce three criteria to distinguish between the domestic political system and international system, and the first of these is the ordering principle. In agreement with the classical realist paradigm, the anarchic system has lead to a lack of authority and a self-help system. He says, ââ¬Ëeach unit se eks its own good: the result of a number of units simultaneously doing so transcends the motives and aims of the separate units. States are only able to survive if they increase their military capabilities and therefore enhancing the security of it. It is the ordering principle that Waltz believes, leads to states performing identical primary tasks. This very doctrine assumes that states have to defend themselves but in conjunction to this preparation, a ââ¬Ëspiral of insecurity gives rise to a security dilemma, in the system. When states increase military spending and build up arms, other neighbouring states may feel undermined and threatened, even though the build up was entirely defensive. In believing that states perform the same primary functions, the neighbouring states start to build up their arms. This leads to an arms race as states continually act to restore the balance of power, a race which Waltz argues stops when equilibrium is reached. This corrective mechanism is seen as part of the nature of the system allowing the removal of human nature when describing the power struggle between states. In Waltzs second principle, he emphasises the anarchic structure of the international system which leads to states being independent, separate yet formally still being equal units in the system. Waltz writes, ââ¬Ëstatesâ⬠¦are not formally differentiated by the functions they perform, therefore due to the anarchical structure of the system, states remain like units. Since each state performs the same tasks, ââ¬Ëâ⬠¦the ends they aspire to are similar. Furthermore, the states recognise its interests must only count on its own resources as they, ââ¬Ëall do more business at home than abroad. He stresses that it is their ability to accomplish these tasks, which distinguishes states not the actual functions they accomplish. Indeed, due to states performing the same important primary tasks it signifies the inability to differentiate them from on another, yet it is their actual distribution of capabilities which does distinguish them. Waltz states, ââ¬ËThe structure of a system changes with changes in the distribution of capabilities across the systems units. The distribution, allows the prediction of the balance of power and the comparative power of the states in the system. Waltz argues that states in anarchy prefer the balance of power, as the power of other states is interpreted as aggressive. Neo-realists see the balance of power between great powers always occurring as it is a natural phenomenon in the anarchic system. The actual balance of power implementation of this balance is not done by diplomats, declare neo-realists, rather it is a spontaneous and corrective mechanism. All forms of realism therefore have a number of characteristics that are in common such as emphasis on the importance of the state and political groups, especially the military, and not the individual. They also advocate the continuity of human condition, for Morgenthaus realism this is embodied within human nature, whereas for neo-realism this is centred on anarchy as the ordering principle. In both approaches, anarchy is paramount in the international system and this creates powerful incentives for aggression. Therefore, due to the lack of constraints on states implies that conflict is the natural state of the system. The role of diplomats in both paradigms is to act competitively, but Morgenthau stresses the personification of states with respect to human nature and the pursuit of self-interest, while Waltzs theory is that policies arise in the need to compete for security to be maintained in the system. ââ¬ËNeo-realism stresses continuities but it does not deny the existence o f change, as Waltz concedes that militarily change has occurred in the international system yet the fundamental organising principle has not. Despite their differences over the question of co-operation in the international system, both neo-realists and realists both construct upon assumptions that the main units in the international system, explicitly states, are assumed to be self-interested and rational. Furthermore, both theorists have contrary views on stability of the international system. Morgenthau argues that the balance of power in a system is governed by policies of states. However, Waltz contends that, ââ¬Ëthese balances tend to form whether some or all states consciously aim to establish and maintain balance, or whether some or all states aim for universal domination, therefore, he is more interested in the impact of power on state behaviour rather than the opposite. Neo-realism advocates that whether states consciously pursue a balancing policy or not is irrelevant for explaining the probability of peace or war. Furthermore, another debate in system stability is concentrated up polarity, the number of power centres in the system, on the probability of war. Morgenthau advocated the system stability was achievable only through the effects of a multipolar balance of power. This is more stable international order because of, ââ¬Ëthe plenitude of interacting partners mean s that there is a greatly reduced danger of mutually reinforcing antagonism between both states. Individual states will have associations with a great variety of others; their cross-cutting loyalties will tend to reduce hostility expressed toward one particular state or against one particular cause. However, Waltz dismisses this supposition and develops a theory of bipolar stability in which he argues is more stable because, ââ¬Ëcompetition in multipolar systems is more complicated than competition in bipolar ones, and as a result, ââ¬Ëuncertainties about the comparative capabilities of states multiply as numbers grow. The inclusion of only two leading powers allows fewer grey areas in the system, as interests are clearly defined and produce less opportunity for misperceptions. Furthermore, Waltz deems the bipolar system easier to manage, as change can be monitored closely and therefore, the chance of conflict is significantly reduced. This is in contrast to a multipolar syste m where, ââ¬Ëthere is a highly probability in an increase in the number of international conflicts. A bipolar system can have but one antagonism; multipolarity, on the other hand, may have virtually numberless frictions. However, both theories have defects when applying them to the present international system. They both ignore other important actors which are not states, such as multinational companies. Liberal pluralists highlighted the understanding of non-state actors, undermining the state-centric world of realism. Keohane and Nye claimed that world politics was no longer the exclusive preserve of states and that, ââ¬Ëthe growth of transnational organizations has lead to the state-centric paradigm becoming progressively inadequate, therefore a new theory called complex interdependence was introduced to run as an alternative to realism. Additionally, with both theories overemphasising power being defined as having strength in the military, this therefore, dismisses other means of being powerful such as economic and territorial strengths. It is arguable therefore, that neo-realism as propagated by Waltz, is a doctrine that adds and improves on Morgenthaus realist theory. His ability to apply a more scientific and methodological approach allows the theory to be clearly defined and tested. In addition, it responds more accurately to the question of economic theory as Waltz argues that while the growth of wealth maybe infinite, states must stress security to promote its survival. However, Morgenthaus doctrine should not be completely dismissed as Waltz still agrees that states as pursuing self-interests to promote their own survival. Though, to a greater extent it is arguable that Waltzs obligation to include the concept of a corrective mechanism, when portraying the balance of power and the fact that no prior assumptions are made on human nature, underlines a more rigorous and precise approach to international relations. BIBLIOGRAPHY Burchill, Scott Theories of International Relations (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001) pp. 70-99 Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S. Transnational relations and World Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973) pp. ix-xxix Linklater, Andrew, ââ¬ËNeo-Realism in Theory and Practice, in Booth, Ken and Smith, Steve International Relations Theory Today (Cambridge: Polity, 1995) pp. 241-262 Mearsheimer, John ââ¬ËBack to the Future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War, International Security, Vol. 15, No. 1, (Summer, 1990) pp. 5-56 Mearsheimer, John ââ¬ËThe False Promise of International Institutions, International Security, Vol. 19, No. 3, (Winter, 1994-1995) pp. 5-49 Morgenthau, Hans J. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1955) pp. 3-13, 320-340 Rosecrance, Richard ââ¬ËBipolarity, Multipolarity, and the Future, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 10, No. 3, (Autumn, 1996) pp. 314-327 Waltz, Kenneth Theory of International Politics (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1979) pp. 48-57, 110-120 Waltz, Kenneth ââ¬ËStructural Realism after the Cold War, International Security, Vol. 25, No. 1, (Summer, 2000) pp. 5-41
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)