Afshar tribe of Iran Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Afshar tribe of Iran - Essay Example The exact ethnic breakdown of Iran is unknown as there are no official numbers; however some international organizations have made estimates. The estimates are as following: Persians (65%), Azerbaijani (16Â  %), Kurds (7%), Lurs (6%), Arabs (2%), Baluchi (2%), Turkmens (1%), Turkic tribal groups such as the Qashqai (1%), and non-Iranian, non-Turkic groups such as Armenians, Assyrians, and Georgians (less than 1%). According to them Persian is spoken as a mother tongue by at least 65% of the population and as a second language by a large proportion of the remaining 35%. Afshars, also called Avshar are a branch of the Turkic Oghuz groups. These originally nomadic Oghuz tribes moved from Central Asia through Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and finally most of them s ettled in Anatolia. Beginning from the 9th century, they started migrating towards west. Avshars are believed to have entered Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. They settled in various places in Anatolia. During the Mongol invasion in the following period, some Avshar tribes migrated to Syria and later formed what was called Halep Turkmens, which eventually migrated back to Anatolia and settled there. The Afshar tribes of Iran are two distinct Turkic-speaking ethnic groups. The larger group is concentrated in the north of the country, and the smaller in the south. Afshar or Afshari, is a Turkic language spoken in Turkey, Syria, parts of Afghanistan and Iran. It is considered by many to be a dialect of Turkish. Living in the northeastern Azarbaijan province, Shahsevans (renamed II Sevan after the victory of Islamic Revolution) were organized by Shah Abbas I in the 17th century as a militia from tribes of diverse origin. Mainly Turkish speaking, they were used to put down rebellions of other tribes. They were divided between Iranian Azarbaijan and the Russian or former Soviet Azarbaijan after the occupation of part of our country by the aggressive Russian

Reaction Paper on “Matilda” Essay Example for Free

Reaction Paper on â€Å"Matilda† Essay Dr. Seuss once said; â€Å"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places youll go.† This is the way on how I can describe Matilda as a reader. Matilda’s life as a kid has not been easy for her. By the age of three, she started to take good care of herself without any assistance made by her parents. I can say that Matilda’s parents are somewhat mean; they don’t know the real essence of education. They are always thinking of ways (bad) on how to have a life with full of money. Harry believes that education is not the key to success; it’s by doing bad and making big money. Zinnia agrees to the belief of her husband. I find the movie very interesting, inspiring, and unforgettable. The most interesting part is when Matilda was finally brought to school by her dad, I felt really happy for her. I also did felt the eagerness of Matilda in going to school. She always pleased her parents for her schooling. I find inspiring because at her young age, she was able to appreciate the essence of reading books. And even though without school, she was able to learn many things by her own. The part where I witnessed her willingness to learn is the unforgettable part. It’s true that her parents offer her an easy life where she will not do anything but only to watch TV. But she didn’t accept this offer, instead she wants to prove to her parents that learning through books is much interesting than anyone else. She even got to the point that she disrespectfully answered her dad after saying that Matilda was a cheater (in the part that Harry is asking Michael to solve their income that day). There is also a part when Matilda plays trick to his dad whenever he will do something bad like dyeing Harry’s hair and putting glue unto his cap. Matilda is a booklover. She is willing to do anything and everything for reading and learning. She doesn’t want to be like her parents who grew being a cheater. She is a kind of reader who was able to finish reading all the children books in the library, and was almost finish reading all the references found there. She doesn’t choose books to read, but she wants it all to read. She has a fast level of understanding, she has a retentive memory. And this was proven when Ms. Honey formulates a joke quantity problem; and Matilda was able to answer the question. They were amazed and they thought that Matilda doesn’t know anything yet. Matilda proves them wrong. I am so far to the life of Matilda as a reader, we really are so different. Ever since I was child, reading will be the least and last thing that I would want to do; which proves our differences with each other. She likes to read a lot, and I don’t want to read. She is fond of reading a large number of pages of book, while I’m fond of reading a number of pages. She wants to read books with full of pints, fill of words; while I want to read books which contain a large, colorful pictures, and prints. She appreciates reading, while I’m not. In some way, we also have similarities. I read fast and can comprehend it. I can also feel the emotions present in the texts I’m reading. I also imagine myself into that environment which the writer explains. I can also memorize two to three pages of paper full of prints. And knowing this makes me feel so proud and happy. My family allocate budget for reading materials. My father is very supportive and gallant in giving money for educational materials; you won’t even hear a word from him. He will do everything just to execute his responsibility being a father to us. No questions can be asked for him in our budget for education, he will and he can give to us for it. We have sets of almanac, number of English and Chinese dictionaries, encyclopedia, magazines, short story books, recipe books, volumes of Chicken Soup books, and many more. Almost 10% of our house is books. And it only proves that we really have budget for it. Indeed â€Å"Matilda† is one of a kind movie. It’s very inspiring and educational. It will help you appreciate and somewhat to like and to love reading books. Watching this movie can help you develop likeness in reading. After watching this movie, you will able to define what reading is all about, and what reading can bring in to your life. Developing my reading skills is not easy, nor not an easy job. I’ve been trying hard put reading into my passion, but I guess it wouldn’t be ever. Yes I feel nervous, because my profession needs and requires a lot of reading. I want to be successful teacher to my students. I want them to have a good life because of my teachings. And because of this reason, I’ll not stop pursuing myself to read and read. Reading will not be my passion at all. I will not do reading because of myself. I will do reading for my future students, and I will make the movie Matilda an inspiration and a vision while I’m developing reading.

Hawthornes The Artist of the Beautiful, Pollacks Stitches in Time, an

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Artist of the Beautiful, Barbara Pollack's Stitches in Time, and Car Jung's The Spirit Man, Art and Literature The artist has been a mystery to many of us: unexplainably driven in his work; seemingly unconcerned with any other aspects of his life; often oblivious to the world around him. The artists in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Artist of the Beautiful," Barbara Pollack's "Stitches in time," and Carl Jung's "The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature" represent some or all of these characteristics. I decided to base this paper on these readings because I found the ideas presented in them interesting and worth exploring. Jung writes a very interesting piece that examines the artist's source of creativity. He dismisses Freud's claims that art stems from the personal experience of the artist. Jung believes that the true essence of art grows from the "rising above the personal and speaking from the mind and heart of the artist to the mind and heart of mankind (para 156)." Hawthorne also expresses this idea through his protagonist Owen Warland. Warland overcomes his feelings of frustration and rejection from society to complete his creation and express his ideas. Through his "beautiful" (his creation) he is finally able to show what occupies his mind and heart. Warland's audience - Robert Danforth, Danforth's wife Annie, their little son and Annie's father Peter Hovenden - is amazed Warland has finally completed his "beautiful." The reader experiences similar amazement with "Stitches in Time:" it is amazing how women who have little or no formal education, who spend most of their day farming, toiling and caring for families, can create such magnificent quilts from scrap material. Quilting fo... ...sts and the "artsy" types, which aligns with the views of many people, has generally been persons who have some sort of problem with themselves, their family and/or their sexuality. Jung notes that the artist cannot have time to develop his human side for he must focus on his artistic side for "these are nothing but the regrettable results of his being an artist, a man upon whom a heavier burden is laid than ordinary mortals. A special ability demands a greater expenditure of energy, which must necessarily leave a deficit on some other side of life (paral 58)." All three pieces portray artists who are driven to create, be it to fulfill their destinies or simply for pleasure. I believe the artist, like the women of Gee's Bend, should not separate himself from the world around him but immerse himself in the wonder that is life and draw from it the energy to create.

A Comparison of My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover Essays -- Robert

"My Last Duchess" is a poem about an arrogant and extremely powerful Duke who is describing his deceased Duchess. From the word "last" in the title it is implied that the duke has had more than one duchess. In this poem, the Duke is extremely egotistic. He says, "I choose never to stoop." The duchess would look at everyone in the world as being equal no matter what class they are. The duke however cannot do this. He is too worried about his appearance. "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem in which a man describes an evening in which his lover, Porphyria, visits him and he unexpectedly murders her. In this it is unlike "My Last Duchess" because Porphyria 'worships' her lover unlike the Duke From the title "My Last Duchess", we immediately learn that this is a personal poem to the duke. It is a love and murder poem. It is a dramatic monologue and is written as a single stanza. Both poems also have a silent listener. In 'My Last Duchess' the silent listener is the Ambassador for the Count, who is the father of the Duke's next bride whereas in 'Porphyria's Lover' the silent listener could be a number of people it could be a police officer, or he could just be telling the story to a friend. There is no evidence in the poem, which tells the reader who he is talking to. The tone in these poems is important as it acts as a contrast to the content of the poem. In "My Last Duchess", Browning uses a soft tone and describes the Duke having the Duchess killed subtly, " This grew; I gave commands;/ Then all smiles stopped together." Browning describes this without changing the tone. However in "Porphyria's Lover" the tone is normal and soft throughout the poem until the point in which the Lover murders Porphyria, "I... ...both of the characters kill their lovers. "She was mine, mine, fair,/ Perfectly pure and good". This is what the lover said before he killed Porphyria. He kills her because at that precise moment in time he has complete power and control over Porphyria and wants to preserve this. Browning uses a simile extremely effectively in "Porphyria's Lover" to describe the body of Porphyria. He says "As a shut bud that holds a bee". This gives the reader the image that her soul is still alive but her body is dead. The bud is shut and the bee is still alive inside of it. Overall, I found these poems both quite enjoyable to read. I enjoyed "My Last Duchess" less than I enjoyed "Porphyria's Lover". This is because the murder in "Porphyria's Lover" was so unexpected and a shock whereas in "My Last Duchess", it was written more subtly giving it less excitement.

Islam and the Muslims Essay

In September 2005 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons including a caricature of Muhammad in a bomb-shaped turban with an ignited fuse. This sparked a huge controversy that affected Muslims and Non-Muslims parts of the world. For the Muslims it was a portrayal of the prophet, Islam and the Muslims as terrorists. They feared that the cartoons might create an anti-Muslim attitude. The Jyllands-Posten apologized and the cartoonist explained that the cartoon was a protest of fundamentalist interpretations of Islam that terrorists use to base their acts on. In citing Free Speech, Jyllands-Posten had crossed the bounds of sensitivity to and respect for other people’s faith or religion. The issue should not be solely taken in the confines of the Danish system. Religion is universal and is held sacred by the believers. A bomb on Mohammad’s head is blasphemous. Given that a number of extremists and fundamentalists have used the teachings of Islam as shield of their terrorist acts, it would be most unfair to say that all Muslims behave and believe as they do. The Organization of the Islamic Conference refused to heed the clamor for death for the cartoonist even if Muslims felt that the cartoon was an insult to Muhammad. Those who thought the cartoons are non-issue as far as discrimination of Muslims is concerned is totally disgusting. Does making fun of all religious’ icons and symbolisms, exempting no one, a legal and moral excuse? Of course it does not. Doing it to all makes it all the more wrong. To the Muslims, Muhammad is revered. He is infallible. To treat him like a cartoon character to elicit fun or humor is not acceptable, it is contemptible. The Danish government’s response to the request for redress by certain Muslim sectors was passive. The courts of law where the prime minister, thru letter, referred them to were likewise evasive. Citing the wide scope of Freedom of Expression in Denmark, they refused to sanction Jyllands-Posten. The courts found no criminal act in the cartoons, for as long as the interpretation of Free Speech included public interest and respect for human rights. The courts were unilaterally in favor of the journalists and cartoonists. What justice left out and disregarded is the Muslim minority’s interest in particular and the Muslim’s human right to their religious beliefs, in general. The reaction or non-reaction of the Danish people and government in the controversy is uncharacteristic of a nation that has been ranked by the Reporters Without Borders as Top in Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2005. There should be a certain degree of self-restraint in any freedom. It should seek to create, not to destroy. A subject like Religion must be treated with respect and tolerance. It should not be open to debates, opinions and critiques. World reaction to the controversy was predictable. The Muslim countries would be indignant. Denmark would suffer the backlash. Egypt helped diffused the situation in the Middle East. America looked the other way by accusing Syria and Iran of organizing protests and of buying Danish goods after a Muslim boycott. Judging by these reactions, the cartoon controversy was just the tip of the iceberg. Deep-seated political emotions are in the issue. The Muslim terrorists’ politically-motivated acts became religious issues in the cartoon controversy. That the terrorists were Muslims, Islam and Muhammad became the targets of caricaturing. Free Speech has taken a new form. It goes without limit, and anything and everything is fair game. What holds true for Denmark is made to be accepted by the Muslim minority in Denmark and the Muslim majority in the world. Religious figures, beliefs and practices must be left alone. They must not be used as side or main issues in any controversy. The only way to handle differences in religious beliefs is tolerance and respect. One must not be ridiculed and persecuted for his religious convictions. We must learn from the lessons of history. Terrorism must be dealt with a different but civilized option. Reference: Jyllands-Posten Muhhammad Cartoons Controvery, Wikipedia (20 February 2007), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jylalnds_posten_cartoon_controversy, date accessed: 23. Februrary 2007.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism Essays

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism Essays Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism Essay Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism Essay Advantages and disadvantages of tourism Nowadays many people travel around the world. They get new experience, emotions, relaxation†¦ But is it that good? In some cases a trip can be even dangerous. If it is, is the new experience worth going for a trip? One major disadvantage of tourism is that it is dangerous. There are many animals and deceases which are not common for our country, and we do not know about their existence and symptoms. When people get back they don’t pay attention to the strange symptoms until it becomes really bad. Culture difference can also cause getting into trouble. Sometimes peoples are so different that it can cost a person his life. Secondly, a trip can be very tiring, even more than work! All these flights, jet-lags, worries and losses of documents (God forbid! ) get the traveler fed up. Last but not the least fact is the expensiveness of trips. A family can buy something useful for the money it spends on a trip. Nevertheless, the experience a person gets from a trip is always unforgettable! To travel is a good way to put into practice language knowledge and to improve it. Besides, exploring a new culture makes people be more intelligent and broad-minded. Knowledge which is got from a trip is incomparable with watching TV or reading books. A very important advantage of tourism is that one can relax. Some people like active rest, some prefer lying on the beach, some like to communicate, some dislike. One can choose a trip which fits his taste. It helps to escape daily routine and bright impressions will be left for the whole life. All in all, everybody should choose for himself whether or not to go for a trip but one should remember about both advantages and disadvantages.

mediation essays

mediation essays A profession is an occupation requiring of the arts of sciences and advanced study in a specialized field, such as the law. It most cases it requires a specific standard of mandated field of study. In todays standard of a paralegal is defined as: A person sufficiently trained or experienced in the law and legal procedures to assist, under an attorneys supervision, in the performance of substantive legal work that would otherwise be performed by any attorney. This definition is however lacks a certain accuracy, because in addition to all those things a paralegal is also a professional. This status however controversial, has not been granted because of the lack of mandatory statutes requiring a license. The time has long since passed when a paralegal could enter the profession without formal education. Currently many employers prefer paralegal candidates with the following background: (1) a bachelor degree from a four-year institution; (2) paralegal training, preferable from an ABA approved paralegal program; and (3) hands-on practical and work related training such as that obtained through an internship or externship. However, many are contemplating the further requirement of a license. By their very nature, licensure mechanisms are designed to protect the health, safety, and well being of citizens. Licensure mechanisms are, for the most part, established by governments through their legislative bodies to serve the public interest. In New Jersey, for example, the legislature has established 33 boards which regulate the activities of 60 professions and occupations; 600,000 New Jersey citizens are regulated by these boards which range from medicine, dentistry and nursing to plumbing, psychological counseling and engineering. It is critical that any licensing or professional certification program must relate to and reflect real-world situations. However, there is a difference. Certification is the formal recogni...

The Effects of the Speeches of Brutus and Anthony

The Effects of the Speeches of Brutus and Anthony The Effects of the Speeches of Brutus and AntonyJulius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. It's about a group of conspirators who kill their king, Julius, in order to be free. Antony, opposed to the assassination, felt that he should avenge Julius's death. He delivered a speech that convinced the Romans that the murder was unjust, invoking their rebellion. Brutus, head of the conspiracy, also gave a good speech, but the Romans didn't react to it. A battle erupted, and most of the conspirators committed suicide. The styles of the two speeches were very different from each other.Brutus's speech was logical. It contained facts about Caesar's ambition. He reminded the people that Caesar would have become a tyrant and would have enslaved everyone. Brutus also explained that he didn't hate Caesar, but that he loved Rome more. The people didn't understand, however. At one point, they wanted to crown Brutus, who intended for everyone to be free.Bust of Gaius Julius Caesar in the N ational Archae...Antony's speech was long and it evoked pity and other strong emotions. He gave reasons that proved Brutus's points to be incorrect. Antony had the people surround Julius's body so that he could point out the wounds. As Antony identified each slice, he named the man who did it. In a sarcastic tone, Antony repeatedly referred to these 'honorable men.' The Romans became enraged and attacked Cinna, a man who they thought was a conspirator, who was actually just a poet.Brutus made a big mistake by letting Antony speak at Caesar's funeral. Antony's dramatic speech won the crowd over and ultimately resulted in the downfall of the conspiracy. The emotional style of Antony's speech was much more effective than the rational approach used by Brutus.

Intellectual property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Intellectual property - Essay Example The main purpose of having copyright is to provide authors and artists a chance to produce new works. (Aplin & Davies, 2010) Intellectual property law ensures that authors and artists are given their earnings through official distributors (record companies, for example; Economists refer to these as â€Å"property stewards†) for recordings of this creative and intellectual work, which eventually give money to the authors and artists. Digital technology developers make peer-to-peer networks, which enable people to obtain the same works without paying. Acquiring the works with this method is similar to stealing, as per copyright law, hence it is must to reaffirm, and even extend, copyright law to criminalise the use of networkers who copy others’ work.Hence, what Kenneth performed should be seen as breaching copyright law. The expression of Intellectual Property provides a logical scrutiny of why the music, TV and movie industries’ arguments to develope copyright an d control certain technologies are more persuasive—to judges, justices, university administrators, college students, and the general public—than those of copyright activists who seek to keep peer-to-peer networks free and legal; to restrict the extension of copyright time limits and copy-protection tools; to guarantee a plentiful, continually replenished public domain of content; and to preserve fair use rights for content currently under copyright. By doing research about this topic, one can have a more solid perceptive of the descriptions of â€Å"piracy† and â€Å"sharing,† and can know precisely why so few of the students in University are capable of presenting an argument in favour of file sharing. According to some experts, peer-to-peer network technology can take our society towards a positive direction, but some argue that the same thing is bad for the society. British Government has a plan of introducing a right of information requiring disclosur e of names and addresses of individuals that are involved in the creation and distribution of the infringing goods and services or both with quantities and prices charged. Remedies will be strengthened to permit eternal removal or demolition of the infringing material together with the everlasting injunctions, compensation and damages. Differential attitudes toward theft of physical versus intellectual property (IP) become an increasingly serious problem as the latter become an ever-greater share of the total economic value of production. "Intellectual capital's rising value in the production of wealth has been mirrored by its increasing vulnerability to crime" (Snyder & Crescenzi, 2009). The cost of intellectual property theft in 2004 was estimated to be $250 billion and climbing (Wright, 2004). Losses due to all sorts of piracy in the music and film industries alone are currently estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars (Szuskin, et al., 2009). Hence, Intellectual proper ty theft has become a very serious problem as the result of computers' increasing role in the everyday life of the public (Picard, 2004). Traditional approaches to the prevention of theft are mainly to protect the goods and to catch and punish perpetrators, but these are increasingly difficult to accomplish in this digital age (Peace & Thong, 2003). The facility with which digital information can be stored, communicated, and disseminated makes it exceedingly difficult to contain and protect. When physical property is stolen, its absence makes the theft far more readily noticed than when digital property is copied while the original data remains intact and appears untouched. Thus, detection of the crime and capture of the thief are no easy matter. Despite these limitations, producers of digital property are striving to develop and improve protective measures (Im & Koen, 1990; Waterman, et al., 2007; Wright, 2004). If you learned that a friend had gone into an acquaintance's home and

The advantages of the nursing profession to any society Essay

The advantages of the nursing profession to any society - Essay Example Healthcare is a priority for any society that appreciates the welfare of her citizens,and the role of the professional nurse in the quality of healthcare is crucial.However,not all societies appreciate the important role that the nurse plays in qualitative and effective healthcare delivery system.The purpose of this research is to document the cost implications of the absence of solid and working professional nursing community in any society,using community nursing as a yardstick.The research study will make use of a survey questionnaire to collect data from consenting subjects that shall include the elderly with frailty or other patients with special needs and long term admission in hospital settings,and professional nurses that have had several years of experience with special need patients.The consent of the subjects shall be sought before the questionnaire is administered on them and the confidentiality of the subjects maintained.Human subject approval will also be obtained from the School of Nursing.Descriptive statistics and correlational statistics will be used to analyse the data collected to determine the perception of nursing in the community and the perceived cost of long term hospital admission.It is hoped that the results of this study would make the government and healthcare professional redesign the healthcare system around a professional nursing community as is obtained in several developed countries where the roles of the nurse in qualitative healthcare delivery have been appreciated.... As if that is not enough, nurses are known to advocate for health promotion, educate patients and the public on the prevention of illness and injury, provide care and assist in cure, participate in rehabilitation, and provide support. No other healthcare professional can reasonable make claims to such a complex and far reaching role in healthcare delivery (Lenburg, 1999; Importance of Nursing, 2006). Nurses do more than care for individuals. They have always have been at the forefront of change in health care and public health, they provide ongoing assessment of people's health. Their round-the-clock presence, observation skills, and vigilance allow doctors to make better diagnoses and propose better treatments. Many lives have been saved because an attentive nurse picked upon early warning signs of an upcoming crisis like cardiac arrest or respiratory failure. According to Thomson (1997), the role of the professional nurse goes beyond the carrying out of tasks usually associated with the profession, especially in countries where the role of the nurse has not been fully appreciated, neither is the nurse restricted to just 'caring' for the patient. She argued that every professional nurse is taught and mandated to act always in such a manner as to: safeguard and promote the interests of individual patients and clients; serve the interests of society, justify public trust and confidence and uphold and enhance the good standing and reputation of the professions One important aspect of nursing that greatly affects the quality of life of any society is community nursing, also referred to as visiting homecare nursing.

Books Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Books - Essay Example Books define the character of the child. Research indicates that children who were introduced to reading at tender age are well mannered because books use different characters to define the implications of being ill mannered (Whitehead 38). During adolescent age, books are very important in informing the child about all changes that may occur during this period. Many children tend to be influenced by the peer pressure but books have been cited as one source of information on how such children can control their changes and feelings. This helps them to define their character and enable them to control the changes (Whitehead 18). In addition books helps the group spend their time wisely an aspect that prevents the group avoid vices such as drug abuse and early pregnancies. This ensures that they are able to achieve their dream careers. Morrow, Lesley M, Elizabeth Freitag, Linda B. Gambrell, and Lesley M. Morrow. Using Childrens Literature in Preschool to Develop Comprehension: Understanding and Enjoying Books. Newark, Del: International Reading Association,  2009.

Adolescent Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Adolescent Literature - Essay Example However, since the mid 19th century, adolescent literature has come under sharp criticism where the critics are saying that the adolescent literature is using sex, violence, romance, melodrama and conflicts to attract more attention and hence are creating a bad picture of life in front of the adolescents. Trites has quoted Perry Nodelman, a critic of adolescent literature, when he describes â€Å"the characters in the adolescent fiction as people who live ordinary lives, but see them in terms of melodrama† (Trites 1985. p.3). However, let us understand that sex, violence, romance and power issues are part of life and the aim of the adolescent literature is to help children grow and understand the life as it is and not make false promises. Hence, when adolescent literature uses fantasy characters, melodrama, superheroes, kings, queens, fairies and demons in their stories, they are doing nothing but helping the children grow and learn everything about life through the world they understand the best, and that is the fantasy world. People think that the children should be introduced to something different from the life in the adolescent literature. Parents say that children have seen enough of violence, hatred and anger in their real lines and hence they don’t want their children to read the same things again in the books (Weiner and Stein 1985. p.6). However, the fact remains that even if the fantasy characters enter the fantasy world, the issues remain the same as they are in the real world. There is a good and the bad side of life and there are situations in the stories a where the character is made to take a stance. Because

Analyze the impact of globalization, technology, and the quest for Essay

Analyze the impact of globalization, technology, and the quest for democracy in the Middle East today - Essay Example But in this short essay I will analyze in more detail another existential problem touched upon by both of the authors in their stories, namely, the treatment of the protagonists by the society and their attitude toward the communities they live in. What makes both books similar is a wide, yet quite resembling, range of metaphysical and existential problems the supernatural events of the sci-fi storyboard are covering. The dark side of the protagonists in either Shelleys or Stevensons stories is revealed contrary to their expectations. The depth of the spiritual abyss, which protagonists of both stories found themselves in against their own will as a result of actions made in good faith, led to dire consequences and death of innocent people. Once anyone in a community takes on responsibility for breaking the worlds backbone and defying the laws of nature, the way either Victor Frankenstein in Shelleys novel or Dr. Jekyll in Stevensons novella have done, the payback comes inevitably. Mary Shelley gave her book a title that contains the name of a hero from the ancient Greek mythology as an implication to the bitter end of her story. The legend about Prometheus becomes the key note of the whole book not by chance. According to the Greek mythology, Prometheus was the divine being responsible for creation of humankind. Complying with the desire of the supreme God named Zeus Prometheus made a human being in the image of god and taught men everything he knew. But then Prometheus got corrupted by humans and betrayed Zeus who had punished mankind for their wrong-doings. Zeus took the fire away from humans as a punishment, but Prometheus defied the odds and stole the fire from Zeus to give back to the people. In turn, Zeus decided to punish Prometheus for such impudence and tied him to the mountain to make suffer eternally. Just like in the legend about Prometheus, whose ambitions

Adolescent Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Adolescent Literature - Essay Example However, since the mid 19th century, adolescent literature has come under sharp criticism where the critics are saying that the adolescent literature is using sex, violence, romance, melodrama and conflicts to attract more attention and hence are creating a bad picture of life in front of the adolescents. Trites has quoted Perry Nodelman, a critic of adolescent literature, when he describes â€Å"the characters in the adolescent fiction as people who live ordinary lives, but see them in terms of melodrama† (Trites 1985. p.3). However, let us understand that sex, violence, romance and power issues are part of life and the aim of the adolescent literature is to help children grow and understand the life as it is and not make false promises. Hence, when adolescent literature uses fantasy characters, melodrama, superheroes, kings, queens, fairies and demons in their stories, they are doing nothing but helping the children grow and learn everything about life through the world they understand the best, and that is the fantasy world. People think that the children should be introduced to something different from the life in the adolescent literature. Parents say that children have seen enough of violence, hatred and anger in their real lines and hence they don’t want their children to read the same things again in the books (Weiner and Stein 1985. p.6). However, the fact remains that even if the fantasy characters enter the fantasy world, the issues remain the same as they are in the real world. There is a good and the bad side of life and there are situations in the stories a where the character is made to take a stance. Because

Management action plan for enhancing pedagogical outcomes on a Essay

Management action plan for enhancing pedagogical outcomes on a selected institution (educational report) - Essay Example With the constant endeavor of the thinkers/intelligentsia, ‘Pedagogy’, the science of teaching evolved as a separate and distinct discipline wherein emphasis was given on improvising the teaching methods to make the teaching-learning process more productive and result oriented. The teacher, students and the teaching methods combined make the skeleton of the education system and a good education policy focuses on all of them taking them as interrelated factors. â€Å"Education should develop pupils and students as independent individuals by promoting such qualities as initiative, courage, enthusiasm and the desire to learn something new. Education should make it possible for the individual to cope on his or her own, to develop his or her potential and make his or her contribution to the civil society. In this way, education sustains the community and the common cultural identity.† (http://pub.uvm.dk/2002/better1/01.htm ) Including all above, action plans for pedagogical development is prepared. Learning outcomes are very much dependant on pedagogy. These refer, to what a student will be able to know or do at the end of the instruction. Likewise a plan for actively doing something is called an action plan. When students are taught in classes, they are supposed to learn according to the learning outcomes. But, in many cases, it is seen teaching is done in a very traditional method where neither any goal is fixed nor is achieved. Parti cularly, taking the case of china, the pedagogical structure is based on decades of practice and according to the instruction of Ministry of Education of Chinese Communist Party. (Lang & Zha 2004). So, the challenge here is to remove bureaucratic hurdle and also placing realistically achievable goals.( Andrews et al 2002) Where there is a need to combat a problem or to introduce a new pedagogical approach, a plan is made for achieving some specific kind of learning outcomes. So, it is very much required to have a

A Beautiful Mind and Disability Essay Example for Free

A Beautiful Mind and Disability Essay A Beautiful Mind is a good movie by Ron Howard, about a man that has lost his grip on what is real and what is fiction. This started when he was in graduate school and no one really noticed until his wife had him committed to the hospital. John Nash, the main character of the film portrayed by Russell Crowe, is a great mathematician that became a victim to paranoid schizophrenia. At first he does not notice the problems, and being that we are seeing everything from his prospective we do not notice them either. Only after he is admitted to the hospital by his wife do we see that some of the main people in his life are just products of his mind. As was said in the movie, â€Å"What must it be like to realize not that those you treasure and hold dear are not lost or dead but have never been? What kind of hell would that be? † This is a true tragedy that is common with paranoid schizophrenia. I guess that in reality John Nash is a man that truly exemplifies the statement that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. This is probably why his problems were not addressed for as long as they were, people overlooked them because they would lose the benefit of that genius if they were to try and fix the erratic behaviors that he showed. John Nash suffered from many of the classic symptoms of this illness. He was paranoid that people were after him, which was healthy in his classified work. He had different friends and co-workers who did not exist anywhere but in his own mind. See more: Unemployment problems and solutions essay   He started showing progressive erratic behavior towards his friends and family. In the end, right before the hospital, the fantasy realm was what was real to him and the real world just the work of fiction. I agree with the movie that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. However, if he was forced to continue the treatments of the times I believe that he would have fallen even further. While on the medications you noticed that he was becoming depressed which ould have lead him to Manic Depression, and I can only imagine what continued insulin shock would have done to his mind and body. None of good I am sure. There were some major people in his life. The first was Charles Herman his Princeton roommate, William Parcher his boss with the Department of Defense, Alicia Nash his wife and Martin Hansen his main rival at school. He was close to Charles his best friend since college and worked well with William his boss at the Department of Defense, the only problem neither of them existed. Alicia became estranged from him because of his illness, but his brilliance was also what she loved about him as well. After his diagnoses his main true friend was the Dean at Princeton, his old rival Martin. When John stopped taking his medication and was looking to return to society he allowed him to use the library everyday to work on his problems and math in peace. Then once he thought he wanted to teach again he had the faith to talk the board into letting him teach. The two most helpful people to John Nash were his wife, Alicia and his old rival Martin. They believed in him when no one else would or thought they should. John was able to cope with his illness in the end because he had a break thru that his friend, Charles’ niece never aged; therefore she and they could not exist. This allowed him to start ignoring them and start functioning again in the real world without his medication. After dealing with my husband’s mother I believe that Russell Crowe should have won the Oscar, the SAG, and the Golden Globe for his realistic performance of a man that has lost his grip on the world around him. He not only showed you the ups and downs of this illness but he showed you that there is hope for everyone that has to deal with these problems daily. I also believed that this film helped bring to light how outdated some thoughts on mental illness can be and what is possible when you look beyond the surface and see the person underneath.

The Global Container Shipping Industry

The Global Container Shipping Industry The global container shipping industry can be characterized as an oligopoly. Moreover, there are few sellers and the provided services or products are quite similar. It is important to examine the market structure in three levels: the industry, the alliances and the trade level. The market is characterized by globalization. As a result, there is a need to meet customers demands and invest in resources as well as technology. So we can say mention the expansion of the world economy and the world trade. Shipping companies have two choices, form an alliance or the other one is mergers and acquisitions. I will also use a graphic explanation to present the trends and how the industry has evolved over the past years. Lastly, this assignment mentions the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry. THE INDUSTRY In the global container shipping industry we could meet collusions which are more commonly known as shipping conferences. We all know that their principal activity is to fix freight rates in certain routes and set barriers in the entry of new firms. Conferences are cartels acting like monopolists, because there were substantial scale economies in the industry that led to a small number of firms (Marshall,1921). After the abolishment of the anti-monopoly immunity of freight conferences (18 October 2008, Regulation 4056/86) and given the trend of growing consolidation the market evolves into a more collusive market where operational agreements are more important. The market has become more concentrated and the smallest operators have a market share of less than 1% each. As we can observe from table 1 above top 10 carriers have a market share of 63.5%. Comparing to the market share of top ten carriers in 2000 which was 49.3% (alphaliner) there is a remarkable increase in market share as well as in total TEUs. Moreover, few firms hold most of the market power and probably can influence in a high grade the market. They can set entry barriers and also make agreements on the freight rates. It is very important for firms to cooperate and acting like monopolists. As a result, each firm must be aware of the other players actions. Due to, this oligopolistic characteristic the industry is more complex and needs to face many factors. Moreover, the rapidly changing customer requirements, the deployment of ever larger container vessels, advances in information technology, increasing competition and intense consolidation.( ) Leading to few firms controlling the high trade routes and to the phenomenon of multi-trade strategic alliances. ALLIANCES We can also measure the degree of concentration by analyzing the alliances that have been created over the past years. This is a common implication in oligopolistic markets and of great importance. An alliance helps to obtain greater market shares and control more effectively the trade routes as well as the capacity. We can notice almost five advantages in the trend of alliances in the global container shipping industry. Furthermore, it can serve more efficient wider geographically routes. Secondly, they can plan their vessels in a more global scope. Of course, there is less risk, because risks are shared. They can offer more frequent services to their customers, meaning more frequent schedules. Lastly, economies of scale become more visible and there is also an increase in the size of the ships. (Ryoo, 2000) It is noteworthy to analyze three of the most important alliances over the past years. Furthermore, these three alliances started with an agreement on collaboration for east-west trades and then extended to north-south services. The first alliance we will examine is New World Alliance. It includes mainly APL, MOL and HMM. Its overall capacity in TEUs is 1.161.468 and owns 282 vessels. Imagine that in 2000 the capacity of this alliance was 325.487 and the number of vessels 90. As we can see it highly increased its market share and this is very important in oligopolistic markets, because you can influence the market as well as manage more properly the capacity. Another noteworthy alliance is the Grand Alliance. In February 2006, after PO withdrawal the new Grand Alliance formed by Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL, and NYK Line. Its overall capacity in TEUs is 1.187.607 and owns 288 vessels. In 1996 it owned only 255.705 TEUs and 72 vessels. Grand alliance manages twelve services in the transpacific trade. Lastly, this alliance has showed the most stable formation comparing to the other two alliances. The greatest alliance is CKYH with main partners Hanjin, Yang Ming, K Line and COSCO. It counts 1.548.508 TEUs and 400 vessels. It manages eight services on the Europe Asia route which has the largest capacity in TEUs. Surely, this alliance has a great market share and also is highly competitive. Of course, alliances have a great impact in the market share, but it is difficult to cooperate as the size of the group increases. They act like monopolists, because they can influence the price. Competition makes difficult to other firms to compete or enter in the market. This characteristic is of highly importance in order to survive in this tough market where overcapacity and decreasing demand exists nowadays. Firms may find many reasons why to join an alliance: strategic reasons, operational reasons, in order to increase or decrease connectivity to increase or decrease capacity, to introduce a new service, to suspend a service, to merge services, to demerge services, to offer slots for charter and to offer slots. (Panayides, 2011) TRADE LEVEL We will examine the trade level of two routes, Black Sea Far East and US trade. Moreover, we will focus on the trade lane with port ranges at either end. (Brooks, 2000) In the route Black Sea Far East the top seven firms have a market share of total 89%, so the other firms have only the rest 11%. Surely, there is a very high percent of concentration in this trade route. Moreover, MSC holds 23,15%, Maersk Line 20,33%, CMA-CGM 13,81%, Zim 13,55%, CSAV Norasia 11,64%, Hapag Lloyd 4,99% and K Line 1,53%. (www.dynamar.com) We can conclude that a tight oligopoly exists in the trade line of Black Sea Far East. Meaning that the production rises but there is a decrease in price, because the firms possess large shares and acting more like monopolists. Furthermore, it is difficult for new firms to enter this lane. The other trade line that we will examine is US which is more complicated than the previous one. Moreover, the top ten firms hold almost a 65% of the total market share. So we can say again that in trade line exists an oligopoly, but the firms are much more and hold less market shares. Maersk Line market share is 15,27%, Evergreen 7,67%, Mediterranean Shg Co 7,20%, Hanjin 6,54%, APL 6,18%, Hapag Lloyd 6,05%, COSCO Container Lines 4,28%, OOCL 4,26%, NYK 4,04% and China Shg C.L 3,90%. A close exam of this market shows us that competition is greater, but the market is larger and very attractive to new firms. As a result, if we use efficiently the oligopolistic characteristics firms will increase their market shares and it will be more difficult for new firms to enter. Of course it is difficult to cooperate efficiently when the size of the group increases, but you can handle more adequate the capacity and the competition something that is very important nowadays. After analyzing these two different trade lines we understood the meaning of the existence of the oligopolistic characteristics. Moreover, capacity can be handled more efficiently and minimize competition by increasing your shares. GRAPHIC EXPLANATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF OLIGOPOLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS IN THE GLOBAL CONTAINER SHIPPING INDUSTRY I believe a better explanation can be given by using a graphic explanation to mention the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry. Moreover, we know from theory that in perfect competition demand curve intersects Marginal Cost curve at the market price P* and it supplies quantity Q*. The firms in this graph are price takers, because there are no entry barriers. Now let see what an oligopolistic firm will do. It will reduce quantity to Q0 and at the same time will increase the price P0 until Marginal Cost equals Marginal Revenue. However, a deadweight loss (consumer and producer) will be created, meaning that the welfare losses to the economy. Lastly, we can observe a surplus to the firm as an oligopoly profit. This result can be represented in the global container shipping industry by selling at greater prices and offering lower services. Furthermore, smaller containers, slower service etc as the market becomes more oligopolistic. Secondly, firms may try to increase their market power or setting entry barriers. Of course these two result to collusion practices. Moreover, greater concentration can create collusions and reduce coordination costs. However, there are also benefits from the increase in concentration. A firm may increase its profits by taking market power from its rivals. This action can motivate the firm to offer a better product or service. In shipping industry a better product or service means offering larger containers than other firms or by investing in research and development. Moreover, a firm may invest in order to keep consumers loyal. So the firms can behave more competitively. As the market is acting like an oligopoly, it has resulted in two major trends. First, there has been an increase in container ship sizes. Secondly, there has been an important growth in container throughput. For example, seventeen of the top twenty five routes are served with ships exceeding 9000 TEUs. On the other hand, using larger ships you need to make enormous investments in port infrastructure. Lastly, it has reduced the costs of transportation and local economies have been transformed to global economies. Conclusion The global container shipping industry is mainly an oligopoly (few players and mainly provide similar services). I tried to mention the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in this market. Moreover, I noticed that big alliances control the majority of the total market share and also high concentration exists even in the trade routes. Highly concentrated markets lead in many occasions to collusions or cartels. It is very dangerous due to anti-trust laws, especially after the abolishment of the anti-monopoly immunity. However, such agreements are very beneficial for the participating firms. It is best off to cooperate, but it is very difficult especially when the size of the group increases. From the graphic explanation we concluded that it is better to produce small quantity and charge prices above marginal cost. Nevertheless, it is up to firms if they are going to have negative or positive results. In my opinion, the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container sh ipping industry lead the market to evolve and become capable to handle the phenomenon of overcapacity and increasing fuel costs.

Comparison of Macbeth and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All people have probably considered that immortality would be an extremely joyous experience. William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, tells of the quality of life and how man exerts it; this is in direct comparison with Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, written by Kurt Vaunnegut. Where as he also writes of the quality of life with the implication of immortality by drinking the miracle drink, Anti-Geresone. The insignificance of man from Shakespeare along with the concept of living forever from Vaunegut, draws the question of why would someone not want to die if life was so worthless. Both authors question the quality of life and as a result they express their concern in their writing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In their work, each express different concepts on the same common scenario; Life not being very pleasant, â€Å" Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time.† Which explains how all the days keep on coming and coming and yet man already is looking ahead to the next. In T&T&T (Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow); Everything has been experienced over a Quadrillion times, which has in turn lead to life being predictable and somewhat pointless; just as in Shakespeare. Merely waiting for the next thing to happen as if it already has. The people want to live forever, but why, if Shakespeare’s analysis is correct in saying life is so insignificant, â€Å"Out, out brief candle.† Suggesting that this life is useless and should end. When in contrast in Vaunegut’s story death is the insignificance. Why die if one could live on? Truly William Shakespeare feels that the way man i s living is unacceptable and the man should feel the same or die; â€Å"It’s a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.† Rather in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the nothing William is speaking of is everything to them. Furniture, possessions, and such are important, but the lack of these provides space, which, in turn is their most precious commodity.

Symbolism in Lord of the Flies :: William Golding

Symbolism in Lord Of The Flies In Lord Of The Flies, by William Golding, there is an immense amount of symbolism. A major symbol mentioned multiple times was the pig's head and the beast. There were some other symbols including Piggy's Specs, human brutality, and death. Golding shows that when people are taken away from society they become more like animals and much less civilized. The first symbol, the pig's head, is depicted as "dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between the teeth," and the "obscene thing" is covered with a "black blob of flies" that "tickled under his nostrils." As the image is further depicted the reader gains a sense of brutality shown through this one human action. Simon begins talking to the head and even though the conversation may have been a hallucination, Simon learns that the beast isn't an "external force" and the pig's head tells him, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! O You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" The gruesomeness of this symbol is once again shown at the end of the conversation when Simon faints after he sees the "blackness within, a blackness that spread." Another of the most important symbols used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. In the imaginations of the boys, the beast is a source of evil on the island. However, in reality, it represents the evil naturally present within everyone, which is causing life on the island to deteriorate. Simon begins to realize this even before his encounter with the Lord of the Flies, and during one argument over the existence of a beast, he attempts to share his insight with the others. Simon tells them, ?Maybe, O maybe there is a beast O What I mean is O maybe it's only us.? In response to Simon's statement, the other boys, who had once conducted their meetings with some sense of order, immediately begin to argue more fiercely. The crowd gives a ?wild whoop? when Jack rebukes Ralph, saying ?Bollocks to the rules! We're strong o we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat!? The boys fear of the beast and their desire to kill it shows that s ociety's rules once had power over them and has been loosened during the time they have spent without supervision on the island. The evil within the boys has more effect on their existence as they spend more time on the island, isolated from the rest of society, and this decline is portrayed by Piggy's Specs.

Causes and the Course of the US Civil War Essay

The American Civil War created the nation of the United States as we know it today. The bloodiest war in the history of the nation, the victory was a combination of many factors and many battles that finally resulted in a Union victory. But why would a nation engage in combat so fiercely that more Americans were lost in the one war than in the American Revolution, WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam War combined? The main cause of the American Civil War was slavery. According to historian David Goldfield, â€Å"Both Northerners and Southerners recognized slavery as the immediate cause of the Civil War† and even Abraham Lincoln acknowledged this fact in his second inaugural address by saying, â€Å"An eighth of the whole population were coloured slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest – all knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.† The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between two sides – the anti-slavery, northern Union and the pro-slavery, southern Confederate States of America. The southern states’ economies and social structures were built entirely on the concept of slavery – slavery was fundamental to the entire economic and social existence. The upper class’s riches were all earned from the cotton plantati ons that provided two-thirds of the world’s cotton crop, all worked by slave labour. When the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 eventually freed the slaves, the southern states’ economies and social structures were literally turned upside down – the South lost half its capital wealth in an instant. Aside from slavery, there were several minor causes of the Civil War, including the concept of agriculture versus industry and the states’ rights to freedom from the tyranny of an overarching federal government, but these cannot be argued as the main cause of the war. If so, the war would have erupted in the 1830s with the Nullification Crisis, when President Andrew Jackson stated that South Carolina could not declare a federal tax null in their state. In reality, the Confederate government was quite demanding of its citizens, through passing the first conscription Act in the Americas, implementing national taxes, creating a national currency and having a national bureaucracy of 70 000 or more. But governmental reasons for going  to war differed from those of the soldiers. Each soldier likely had a prosaic reason for enlisting, for example, one Alabamian only enlisted after his girlfriend sent him a dress and told him that he should start wearing it if he was not willing to fight for his country. Religion also paid a main role in the Civil War – the Protestant North was high motivated to support combat if it preserved their states, ended slavery and promoted their religious denomination. Throughout the Civil War, there were numerous battles fought all across the nation, bringing the death toll to a total of 680 000. Unknown to most modern-day Americans, for the first year of the war, it seemed that the Confederates had secured a definitive victory. South Carolina had begun the war by attacking Fort Sumter. Three months later, the South then shockingly arose triumphant at the First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. Robert E. Lee (the commander of the Southern military) had highly energized, disciplined and trained soldiers who were fighting on home turf in Virginia on the Eastern front. The North, on the other hand, still believed that the war would be over quickly, and therefore, their soldiers were not so motivated to fight. The next major event of the war was the huge Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh near Pittsburg Landing. This area was key as it was the crossroads of the Confederates’ two main railroads. 44 000 of General Ulysses S. Grant†™s command were amassed in camps around this area and were attacked at night by the Southern soldiers. Schermann, one of Grant’s underlings, heard a noise and went out to investigate, only to realise that the entire Union force in the area was under attack. Lasting all day, and beginning the next at daybreak, the leaders had only a small Methodist chapel in which to convene to discuss potential rapid strategizing. Due to the Southerners’ element of surprise and the Northerners’ superior force, it became the most costly battle of the war to date with 23 000 dead, injured or captured, and with around equal numbers on both sides. It was then the South were to suffer a great defeat at the Battle of Antietum – Lee marched a force of 40 000 strong to Maryland on 4th September, 1862, only to be met with huge numbers of General George McClellan’s troops. 23 000 were killed in a single day, and General Lee was forced to retreat back to Virginia. After these major humiliations, it was  months before the first real turning point of the war when the tide began to turn towards a Union success. Although politically the Union made some impact with the release of the Emancipation Proclamation on 1st January, 1863, in reali ty, there was little change in the secessionist states and the war dragged onwards. An excellent execution of division tactics by Lee resulted in a Confederate victory over the new Union commander Hooker at the Battle of the Wilderness, but at a cost of 24 000 casualties. From May to July 1863, Grant laid siege to the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, starving the population and firing shots at any soldiers who appeared on the walls of the town. After a naval landing, commander Pemberton’s force of 23 000 met Grant’s force, encircling and overrunning the city, and surprising the Southerners. The ensuing siege resulted in the Union’s control of the lower Mississippi river, after the trapped Confederates surrendered unconditionally. This blocked any avenues for shipping supplies and soldiers for the South, which was extremely important. It also split the Confederacy down the centre, disrupting order and the transfer of information and supplies from east to west. During the same month, General Lee led a force into northern territory and met with Union forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After a three day battle, 50 000 men had died, a stunning blow to the South. The second important turning point of the war was over a year later in August 1864, when the Union general Sherman took Atlanta, a manufacturing and railroad centre. This capture was important politically, rather than militarily, as it was close to the elections of 1864. Lincoln had to re-run for presidency and at the time, was very unpopular with the Northern population because the war was dragging on, and families were losing their sons and fathers. A difficult win, in Atlanta, Sherman besieged the city and when the citizens did not surrender, his troops began the famous March to the Sea, a night time march of terror involving all of Sherman’s command in which the soldiers marched from inland to the city, tearing up railway tracks and destroying all things of value along the way. The March ended in Savannah, where the inhabitants surrendered. With the fall of Atlanta, the public’s view of Lincoln changed putting him in a position of superiority over his democratic opp onent, former top general George McClellan. Lincoln’s  election was an extremely important determinant of the course of the war as Lincoln was determined to have a Union victory, while McClellan did not seem to care which side was victorious, wanting only a settlement with the South. After Lincoln’s electoral victory, both the Union and the Confederates decided to wage total war, rather than the limited war that had been occurring for the last three years. In the mean time, the South was spiralling into despair, suffering under the Union naval blockade, Sherman’s campaign in Georgia, lack of international assistance, class conflicts, and a lack of money. The army began to disband, and as the Confederate leaders realized that all hope was lost, Jefferson Davis proposed peace negotiations. Delegations from the South and the North met at the Hampton Roads Conference in February 1865. Still there was no resolution to the conflict – Lincoln demanded that the South surrender unconditionally, while Davis wanted to be granted full independence. In April 1865, however, the conflict was resolved at the Battle of Appomattox when Grant’s forces broke through Confederate lines headed by Lee, forcing the Southerners into a shameful retreat. Days lat er, Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. With this, the Civil War had finally come to an end. The American Civil War involved four gruelling years of conflict in which approximately 680 000 lost their lives. With the northern and southern states completely divided on the issue of slavery and the existence of slavery so intrinsic to the South’s entire economic and social structures, there was much fuel for battle – a battle largely about the right to human freedom and which ultimately lead to the demise of slavery in the United States. The Civil War was a critical part of American history, a defining moment in the future of the nation, and a defining moment in the freedom of all American people henceforth.

Ict Procurement Trends in the Uk Essay

This report presents the findings from a survey of 136 UK enterprises regarding their approach to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) procurement. The survey investigates the way that UK enterprises like to purchase technology, as well as the major IT and business objectives influencing their IT investment strategies. Introduction and Landscape Why was the report written? To highlight the criteria on which UK enterprises select their IT providers as well as the roles which have influence while making IT purchasing decisions. What is the current market landscape and what is changing? UK enterprises are set to increase their IT spending in 2013. Kable’s survey shows that ICT spending in the UK is being driven by investments in core technology areas such as security, enterprise applications, IT systems management, and content management. What are the key drivers behind recent market changes? With enterprises being continuously exposed to malicious attacks on their business critical information, the demand for security solutions is growing. What makes this report unique and essential to read? Kable Global ICT Intelligence has invested significant resources in order to interview CIOs and IT managers about their IT Procurement. Very few IT analyst houses will have interviewed 130+ ICT decision makers in the UK market in H2 2012. Key Features and Benefits Provides insights into UK enterprises’ preferred buying approaches. Comprehend the business objectives that UK enterprises are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy. Appreciate the IT objectives that UK enterprises are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy. Understand the factors that are influencing UK enterprises’ decision to select an ICT provider. Understand which organisational roles influence IT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets. Key Market Issues Despite the uncertain economic conditions across Europe and the UK government’s large scale austerity measures which have impacted public sector ICT spend, the vast majority of respondents from Kable’s survey indicate that their IT budgets will remain at the same level or will increase in 2013. With regards to the authority over signing off budgets, UK enterprises surprisingly give an equal rating to CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs. UK enterprises rate ‘Improve supplier relationships’ with an average rating of X, indicating that enterprises’ focus is weighted more to their own operations, followed by their customers, amidst the difficult global economic outlook. Investments in cloud computing are expected to grow with the penetration of this technology increasing from the current level of X% to Y% in the next twenty-four months, driven by factors such as lowering cost and complexity, and ease of use. According to Kable’s survey, X% of enterprises have a somewhat complex ICT infrastructure with several hardware manufacturers, operating systems, databases, applications, and other elements. Key Highlights Although on-premise deployment is favoured, the demand for hosted applications is also gaining traction, as enterprises are continuously focused on reducing costs in the current economic climate. Raising efficiency is a primary business objective influencing IT investment strategy amongst UK enterprises with the highest rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4. The recent survey reveals X% of enterprises have rated the objective of meeting internal service level agreements as a highest priority. With an average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4, UK enterprises consider ‘Financial stability’ and ‘Price’ to be the most important criteria in choosing an IT solutions provider. UK enterprises rate the CIO/IT department as the most influential authority when making IT purchasing decisions, with the highest average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4.

ICD-10 Implementation in the United States Essay

ICD-10 Implementation in the United States - Essay Example According to Sanders (2012), implementation of the ICD-10 will help healthcare providers to document medical complications, catalog diseases, thus making healthcare more effective. The implementation of the clinical adaptation will precisely illustrate the types of medical conditions met by healthcare organizations, and it will reduce medical errors and improve patient health outcomes. It will also help in the reduction of fraud and abuse in the healthcare institution. The transition to ICD-10 dives United States the opportunity to propagate public health disease and surveillance data globally. The healthcare industry in this country continues to advance medically and technologically, and incorporating a more modern coding system will be a major boost in the industry. The coding system offers many advantages that will cause an improvement in hospitals, medical device manufacturers and many more institutions. Enhanced quality care is one of the major benefits since it will lead to improving eminence carefor certain health conditions such as chronic illnesses. With each challenge, there are obstacles that lay ahead. The implementation of ICD-10 has encountered a number of challenges including implementation cost and planning, but in the push for healthcare reforms, it has seen its implementation which has more benefits in improving the healthcare industry. Sanders, TB. (2012). The Road to ICD-10-CM/PCS Implementation: Forecasting the Transition for Providers, Players, and other Healthcare Organizations. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 22 May 2015, from

Soil Mechanics Exercises Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Soil Mechanics Exercises - Math Problem Example From the chart we have D10 = 0.2 D30 = 0.45 D60 = 1.20 So Coefficient of uniformity is = D60/D30 Cu = 1.20/0.2 = 6.0 And Coefficient of curvature of the soil is = D302/(D10 x D60) Cc = 0.452/(0.2 x 1.2) = 0.84375 (iv) From the particle size distribution chart we can see that the particles are distributed over a wide range. So, this is a well graded soil. ... 3 (a) At 0 m Total stress= ?= ?d hw +q = 16 (0) + 10 =10 Kpa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 (0)=0 Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 10 – 0 =10 Kpa At 1 m Total stress= ?= ?d hw +q = 16 (1) + 10 = 26 Kpa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 (0) = 0 Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 26 – 0 = 26 Kpa At 3 m Total stress= ?= ?d hw +q + ?sat (h – hw) = 16 + 10 + 20 (2) = 66 KPa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 x (2) = 19.62 Kpa Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 66 – 19.62 = 46.38 Kpa At 7 m Total stress= ?= ?d hw +q + ?sat (h – hw) = 16 + 10 + 20 (6) = 146 KPa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 x (6) = 58.86 Kpa Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 146 – 58.86 = 87.14 Kpa (b) Unit weight of silty sand = ?s= porosity * specific gravity * 9.81 = 0.54 x 2.61 x 9.81 = 14 kN/m3 Saturated weight of clay =?c= = = 17.82 kN/m3 At 0 m Total stress= ?= ?s h = 14 ( 0) = 0 Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 (0) =0 Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 0 At 2.5 m Total stress= ?= ?s h = 14 (2.5) = 35 KPa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 x (0) = 0 Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 35 - 0 = 35 Kpa At 5 m Total stress= ?= ?s h = 14 x 5 = 70 Kpa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 x (2.5) = 24.5 kPa Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 70 – 24.5 = 45.5 Kpa At 9 m Total stress= ?= ?s h +?c (h – 5) = 14 x 9 + 17.82 (4) = 197.3 KPa Pore pressure = u = ?w x (h – hw) = 9.81 x (6.5) = 63.76 Kpa Effective stress = ?’= ? – u = 197.3 – 63.76 = 133.54 Kpa Question No. 4 (a) Shear box apparatus The soil is contained in a box which has a separate top half and bottom half. A normal stress is

CaseStudy Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CaseStudy Paper - Case Study Example Effective supply chain management strategies are essential for providing any organization a competitive edge over its peers. Excellence in the supply chain can be achieved if the organizational leaders attend to the particular details in the market infrastructure that make their organization more efficient and the transactions in the market fluid effective. Taking into account the complexity of supply chains more so those with global and regional scope, one must recognize that the magnitude of complexity in the task is immense (Jacobs and Chase & Chase, 2011). Therefore, it takes highly qualified and experienced managers to identify the correct issues to be prioritized and addressed as well as mark out new strategies and opportunities. In the long term, effective supply chain management is bound to deliver considerable benefits to any firm that recognizes and respects its necessity. To extrapolate on the importance of effective supply chain management this paper will dwell on several case studies in different industries where supply chains have been successfully or otherwise managed. The fashion industry is one where competition is ubiquitous despite the fact that most of the customers have very unique needs. However, given the low entry barriers, the stiffness in competition is understandable since many of the new entrants will offer customers and specialized products for customers forcing the firms already in the market to be constantly on their toes (Masson, MacKerron & Fernie, 2007). In this section, Zara, Adidas HM and Luis Vuitton and other firms are examined in respect to their specific supply chain management strategies. H&M has listed among its objective the intentions to be the price leader in the fashion industry, to this end they have restricted their supply chain such that it primarily targets the street trends which

Understanding training and coaching in the workplace Coursework - 1

Understanding training and coaching in the workplace - Coursework Example This can be done by: analysing the current skills of the employees; emerging organisational changes, for example new computer systems and/or production methods, identifying skills that can help the business and then consider training options accordingly (nibusinessinfo.co.uk, n.d.). TNA can also help management to distinguish the type of training needed to bridge the gap between workers present expertise level and the ability level that organisations need. TNA breaks down information around a particular occupation or a gathering of occupations to focus the learning, abilities, disposition and capacities expected to accomplish ideal execution in that employment or occupation gathering (Reyes, 2014). The workforce at McDonald’s can be trained through a number of training techniques which allow sufficient interactions and exposure for the employees to grasp knowledge and develop the relative skills. Since most of the staff is usually involved in servicing customers, taking order and making food orders, methods like on the job training, cross training, shadow training and interactive training methods, which involve constant employee participation and focus, can be utilised (Hr.com, 2001). These may include: quizzes, group discussions, practical demonstrations and role playing. Intuitive training sessions help to keep trainees occupied with the training, which makes reciprocate to the new data and they can also give in-session criticism to mentors on how well trainees are learning (Hr.com, 2001). Blended learning approach: involves recognising that one training method will not suit every employee. More or less, blended learning means utilising more than one training technique to prepare employees on one subject. This methodology can be best suited to the organisation as the organisation has mixed range of activities, like: production, service and management. Mixed adapting essentially bodes well (Trainingtoday.blr.com,

Chapter 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chapter 5 - Essay Example 1. Why do some employers ban tattoos while others don’t mind them? Employers have different stance or position with regards to employees donning tattoos because some corporate environment require stakeholders to maintain a level of professionalism, which is instrumental in projecting a level of quality in their corporate image on a more traditional sphere. 2. Is it fair for employers to reject applicants who have tattoos? Based on the foregoing, one firmly believes that it is actually fair for employers to reject applicants who have tattoos, especially when these applicants would be future employees who are expected to project the same image of professionalism that the organization aims to adhere to and embody in their transactions. Is it fair to require employees, if hired, to conceal their tattoos? Actually, one believes that at the onset, a corporate philosophy of being true to the applicants in terms of signifying policies regarding tattoos should immediately be relayed. Therefore, if the organization condones tattoos and prefers employees without them, then they should be honest enough to state this requirement to the applicants to avoid conflicts in the future. 3. Should it be illegal to allow tattoos to be a factor at all in the hiring process. Personally, as disclosed in the case facts, tattoos are actually a person’s choice according to preferences and what was aimed to represent by donning them. As such, since these are matters of choices and preferences, organizations have also the prerogative to determine the hiring criteria which would place potential applicants for the right positions. If tattoos are seen as not in any way detrimental to the organization’s operations and to the corporate image being projected, then, the organization has the prerogative not specify restrictions in their hiring policies. It is therefore deemed not

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay Example for Free

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in healthcare has become one of the main lifelines in the industry. The CIO is the most important person within an organization in regards to the collecting, organization, monitoring and securing of data. The CIO is a critical member of the executive leadership team. Charged with developing the organization’s strategy, he or she is responsible for leading the IT staff and ensuring overall compliance with all regulatory requirements. The CIO is also responsible for keeping up-to-date with the latest technology trends as well as threats and being able to adapt the organization’s strategy to mitigate those threats. The CIO also facilities and drives change within the organization (Glaser Williams, 2010). The CIO is responsible for establishing and maintaining many key relationships within an organization’s leadership team. They work to provide valuable input that helps shape the entire organization’s vision and path to success. The CIO reports consistently on the progress and development of all information technology (IT) projects, issues, and tasks. â€Å"They are the brain of the business-body, monitoring and regulating all the data that passes through. Without CIOs, a healthcare company would collapse under the weight of unprocessed information.† (Becoming a Healthcare CIO (Chief Information Officer), 2012) The CIO focuses on updating and optimizing existing systems while utilizing new systems effectively and efficiently. They are also responsible for updating and maintaining capabilities, strengthening policies and reworking procedures on a daily basis. The CIO is the front line of defense for protecting the organization against fraud and abuse, as well as securing all electronic patient health information (ePHI). The role of the CIO has evolved as the health care industry has faced changes with the dependency on  information technology. Figure 1. Chief Information Officer’s responsibilities within a health care organization. As shown in Figure 1, a health care CIO faces many challenges on a day-to-day basis. These challenges are in the form of maintaining existing systems, optimizing new systems, and protecting PHI. The role of the CIO will continue to evolve as the health care system changes and the dependency and regulations surrounding the role of information technology increase. References Becoming a Healthcare CIO (Chief Information Officer). (2012). Retrieved from HealthcareAdministration.com: http://www.healthcareadministration.com/becoming-a-healthcare-cio-chief-information-officer/ Glaser, J. P., Williams, R. B. (2010). The Definitive Evolution of the Role of the CIO. Journal of Healthcare Information management, 21(1), 9-11. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/files/HIMSSorg/content/files/03_column_Leadership.pdf

How Do Financially Distressed Companies Overcome Decline Economics Essay

How Do Financially Distressed Companies Overcome Decline Economics Essay The present paper analyzes the recovery process of 526 US firms facing an initial financial distress situation in order to determine the variables of influence on their final survival status. The proposed model of this recovery process implies that severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in the selection of strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process. We found that these variables have an impact on i) the ability of a company to overcome decline; ii) the efficiency of the selected strategies and iii) the results of these strategies on post-distress fit position. Keywords: Recovery process, financial distress, severity, Data Envelopment Analysis Introduction Every organization is inevitably exposed to ups and downs during its lifecycle (Krueger and Willard, 1991; Burbank, 2005) and failure is not a sudden event (Agarwal and Taffler, 2008). The ecological theory of organizations states that in a continuous process of firms, those who survive are better capable to compete. Kahl (2001) defines fittest firms as the ones that have greater chance to survive. In this way, the financial distress process should be understood as a selection mechanism by means of which good performers survive and bad performers do not. In this same line, Sheppard and Chowdhury (2005) consider that failure is a firms misalignment with its environment. Failure is a reversible process and not necessarily degenerative if the company is able to detect signs of underperformance and to achieve an effort in its economic performance. Firms facing a distressed financial situation usually share a series of common patterns which make it difficult to estimate a possible outcome of this situation (Barniv et al., 2002). Among the distressed firms, there are little divergences in the financial weakness indicators in the different failure processes (Ooghe and Prijcker, 2008). The dissimilarities between the failure stages and the turnaround effectiveness as well, become evident on the how quickly the indicators evolve and on the ability of the management to react when distress signals are detected. Ignoring these alert signals may lead to a continuous decline process which may end up in failure without even trying any recovery strategy (Burbank, 2005). Managing a crisis situation is a fundamental issue as it is not a spontaneous process. Moulton and Thomas (1993) affirm that the reorganizations during a financial distress situation are not a simple matter and the probability of a successful exit is very low. However, the percentage of firms that succeed in getting through decline cannot be disregarded. Barniv et al. (2002) found that 50% of the sample firms which filed bankruptcy from the Office of the General Council of SEC resolved their situation as emerged firms. One third of the financially distressed firms in Kahls (2001) study survived as independent companies. Moreover, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) found that 22.5% of sample firms presenting a strong crisis situation were still active in the market 10 years later. Yet, we should consider that the exit from a difficult condition, as Moulton and Thomas (1993) sustain, is only the beginning of the story. Not all the successfully exiting firms manage to keep the new situa tion stable. For some firms, operating in a crisis situation constitutes their normal state of environment with crisis periods that can attenuate or loose up. Anyway, being able to maintain this kind of condition is also a manner to survive. In this sense, Kahl (2002) states that the financial distress should be considered a long term process that makes firms end up debilitated even after having recovered from decline. This weakness is observed in poor performance that inevitably may again drag the firms to a new financial distress situation. Hotchkiss (1995) attested that during the first five years after exiting a bankruptcy, 35 to 40% of firms show negative operating income and up to one third of the firms that manage to ease their distress through debt restructuring re-enter a financial distress situation a few years later. Several studies have shown that different factors may determine the exit from a crisis situation. These factors may have a direct influence on the recovery process or on the capacity of the company to develop appropriate redirection strategies. The initial severity degree is considered an important hurdle in implementing successful actions. In this line, Smith and Graves (2005) found that, among all variables of the study, severity and firm size were the only variables significantly important during a turnaround process. Other authors (Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robins, 1993; Harker and Harker, 1998) state that strategies oriented towards cost reduction and efficiency improvement were safe bets for a favorable outcome. However, Castrogiovani and Bruton (2000), Sudarsanam and Lai (2001) or Smith and Graves (2005) affirm that no positive relation could be found between certain strategies and successful outcome. These results indicate that severity, through its influence on th e selected strategy, could be an indirect factor in the turnaround process (Robbins and Pearce, 1992). More consensual results were obtained when stating that the performance in-distress is fundamental for the outcome of the difficult situation. In particular, it is observed that successful companies show better returns when compared to unsuccessful firms (Routledge and Gadene, 2000; Pearce and Doh, 2002; Kahl, 2001). The present paper analyzes the recovery process of 526 US firms facing an initial financial distress situation in order to determine the variables of influence on their final survival status. The proposed model of this recovery process states that severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in the selection of strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process. These variables have an impact on i) the ability of a company to overcome the difficult situation; ii) the efficiency of the selected strategies and iii) the results of these strategies on post-distress healthy position. The proposed model considers that final survival status measures the welfare quality of a firm based on its risk to re-enter in distress, so it discriminates well performers and best performers during the management of a crisis process. Overcoming a financial distress: Determinant factors Even though some weak crisis situations tend to show a natural evolution throughout the exit and may be solved by simply making routine decisions (Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj, 2011), recovery process is not a spontaneous event. The distressed firms will face a long term scenario involving a continuous effort of adaptation to the diverse situations through which a firm passes during the upturn. The effort invested in this process will allow the reestablishment of stakeholders trust, while the variables related to solvency and profitability gain stability (Burbank, 2005). Companies that do not have a long term orientation and just adopt patch strategies do not usually reach successful exits (Pretorius, 2008). However, certain initial conditions may affect the reaction capacity as well as the effectiveness of the measures taken by managers. Severity Similar to a disease process, the gravity of the initial crisis position not only conditions the measures to take but also their success possibilities. Firms that face worse starting situation need to make greater efforts. In this sense, Robbins and Pearce (1992) affirm that there exists a relationship between retrenchment strategies and performance in firms having a severe starting situation while this relationship is not observed in firms facing a weak crisis state. Although Smith and Graves (2005) indicate that the gravity of the starting situation is strongly associated with the probability of recovery, Kahl (2002) sustains that the financial distress diagnosis is an imperfect indicator of the economic feasibility of a firm. In the same line, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) affirm that the severity of the initial situation, observed in widely accepted indicators, does not have to be a crucial factor in the outcome of the crisis. Perhaps, following Moulton and Thomas (1993), th e initial gravity status has an influence over the process of recovery more than on the final resolution. Thus, severity determines the rate of recuperation, so that the harder the severity, the greater the effort to react and the slower the process of healing the levels of solvency and profitability. This effort during the process, and not the starting situation, may be the main determinant of the final outcome. Moreover, solvency and profitability indicators such as continuous negative results, inability to generate income by means of operating activity, continuous solvency and/or liquidity problems or incapacity to generate cash flow which reflect problems in the health of the company, are widely accepted as measures of severity degree (Mutchler and Williams, 1990; Gilbert, Menon and Schwarz, 1990; Ponemon and Shick, 1991; Poston, Harmon and Gramlich, 1994; Geiger, Raghunandan and Rama, 1995; Raghunandan and Rama, 1995; Davydenko, 2007). Reaction capability The possible effect of severity on the initial state may be mitigated if the firm counts on appropriate resources which increase the probability of a successful recovery. The structural reaction capability may ease the recovery process to a safe position cushioning the possible actions to implement. The capacity to obtain additional funds or generate additional incomes to implement treatment strategies can soothe the prior pressure imposed by a deteriorated financial distress position. In this sense, Barker and Duhaime (1997) associate successful turnaround processes with increases in sales that make companies have more options to undertake change strategies. Similarly, Pearce and Doh (2002) affirm that firms in distress that used debt and supported their sales to improve profitability successfully solved their difficult situation. They also state that changes in activity and in leverage level are associated with different phases of a turnaround process. In turn, Jostarndt (2006) ide ntifies three factors which could be helpful to measure the risk of becoming financially troubled. An excessive leverage level, a poor firm performance, and an industry downturn may inhibit firms from obtaining the right amount of cash flow to operate normally. Firm operating performance trend dominates as the reason causing financial distress showing that a firm may fail but not only for financial reasons. This allows the author to consider an association between financial distress and economic distress. These results are comparable to the patterns evidenced by Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) when distressed firms with remarkable financial reaction capacity and/or a solid financial structure evolve mainly toward a healthy zone. However, concerning debt structure Kahl (2001) did not find evidence on if the debt level or the debt structure of a firm influences the final outcome of a crisis situation. Severity Status and Reaction Capability, as initial restrictions, could be moderated by firm size when considering the exit from a crisis situation (Moulton and Thomas, 1993; Barniv et al., 2002; Schutjens, 2002). Altman and Hotchkiss (2006) found that one of the most obvious factor that discriminates between firms that successfully restructure and those that liquidate, after being classified inside Chapter 11, was the firms size. Nevertheless, other works observe that this variable did not present any clear relation with the survival chance (Kahl, 2001; Ooghe and Prijcker, 2008). Possibly, firms size does not determine the final resolution of a distress situation but it influences the reaction capability to confront it, moderating /strengthening the drawbacks when additional support should be guaranteed and restructuring decision must be made. Performance in-distress Regardless of the initial state restrictions, the adopted strategies and the behavior of companies during a financial crisis are crucial for the exit process (Sun and Li, 2007). An inappropriate diagnosis of the firms weaknesses in order to act and react quickly may lead to a fast deterioration of the financial indicators (Barker and Duhaime, 1997). Beaver (1966) already stated that if a difficult situation was properly detected, measures that lead to an improved position could be taken, avoiding so a state of ultimate failure. A series of strategies and action plans should be implemented aiming to reduce the detected weaknesses of the company (Smith and Graves, 2005; Krueger and Willard, 1991, Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robbins, 1993; Arogyaswamy et al., 1995; Castrogiovanni and Bruton, 2000, Pearce and Doh, 2002 and Pretorius, 2008). The operating performance during the recovery process drives a successful evolutionary route towards a new healthy scenario (Kahl, 2001; Routledge and Gadenne, 2000). Improving efficiency through some actions like cost cutting and/or asset reduction is crucial in this sense, having a positive impact on firms performance despite the underlying weaknesses (Robbins and Pearce, 1992; Pearce and Robbins, 1993; Harker and Harker, 1998). Firms facing a distress situation and carrying out a retrenchment strategy are more likely to survive, even though the performance was statistically not greater than that of not retrenched firms (Castrogiovanni and Bruton, 2000). In this sense, Sudarsanam and Lai (2001) showed that the strategies applied by firms successfully recovering were not that different from the strategies applied by firms that did not recover. So, the implementation efficacy was the cause of these differences, even though more intensive restructuration was done by firms that could n ot redirect their situation. The effectiveness of efficiency oriented strategies is supported by the results showing that firms resolving a situation of financial distress are statistically more profitable than those who did not settle (Campbell, 1996; Routledge and Gadenne, 2000; Pearce and Doh, 2002). These authors found that operating efficiency was the only variable used in distinguishing successful turnarounds from unsuccessful ones that significantly persisted during the recovery process. Kahl (2001) also stated that, in-distress, operating performance has a strong positive relation with the survival prospect. In particular, the author shows that an improvement in the standard deviation of ROA during a crisis period can increase the survival probability up to 0.62. In the same line, Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011) found evidence that the companies positioned in a safety zone, starting from a situation of failure status, are characterized by a strong managerial action measured by ROA ratio, generating fu rthermore higher operating cash flow. However, other authors such as Barniv et al. (2002) or Laitinen (1993) found that the ROA coefficients were statistically not significant in predicting the outcome of a crisis situation. The post-distress status The main objective of a firm facing a distress situation is to heal the crisis state. Some researches, oriented to modeling the variables that influence a recovery process, identify the final stage of this process when a firm objectively exits a failure situation emerging as an independent firm, leaving Chapter 11 classification or keeping a defined period of positive income (Smith and Graves, 2006; Barniv et al., 2002; Altman and Hotchkiss, 2006; Kahl, 2001). However, the accomplishment of this objective should have one necessary quality condition. The new post-failure position should be achieved in suitable conditions that would permit an appropriate and continuous growth and performance rate. A financial distress process could place a firm in a weak position, even if it had managed to solve its difficulties, inciting a poor performance that inevitably makes it enter again in an emergency situation (Kahl, 2002). If a firm does not emerge profitably in the restructuring phase, in order to achieve a long term success, the probability of a successful exit process is very low (Burbank, 2005). In this sense, Hotchkiss (1995) showed that up to one third of the firms that relieve their conditions by means of debt restructuring tend to go into a financial distress situation few years afterwards. With regard to post-distress position, Robbins and Pearce (1992) affirm that industry indicator variations should be considered in order to better identify the good performers or the exceptional good performers during turnaround. Despite of the assessment of Altman and Hotchkiss (2006) stating that the firms overcoming a Chapter 11 situation perform below firms of the same industry that di d not pass through that same situation, Kahl (2001) found that the post-distress operating performance of firms getting through a crisis situation is similar to the industry performance. The model of recovery When a firm is facing a distress situation and considering all the above analyzed dimensions, severity and reaction capability should be understood as initial conditions that will impose restrictions in selecting the strategies which will drive the performance during recovery, thus, determining the final resolution of long term financial distress process as shown in Figure 1. (Figure 1 here) The left side of the diagram gathers the initial determining factors to initiate the recovery process, outlining the firms ability to improve its future and overcome the difficult situation. Severity Status offers valuable information about the initial degree of gravity of a firms situation. This degree will condition the actions to be taken in a deteriorated situation and the possible outcome as well. Reaction Capability measures the firms capacity to apply such actions through: i) the possibility to obtain further resources without worsening its position, ii) the capacity of debt negotiation or iii) the ability to generate additional incomes which may facilitate the application of strategy changes. The right side of the above Figure 1 defines the final subsequent status of firms, once specific actions have been taken. Post-distress Status shows the effectiveness of the management effort in a crisis situation, not only because the firm solves the initial state, but also since the new position is reached evidencing a well performance to set a suitable continuity in the new balanced situation. Accordingly, Post-distress status assesses the quality of firms welfare accounting for the risk to re-entry into distress discriminating well performers and best performers in a crisis management process. In a distress context, a well-performer just achieves the objective (i.e. exiting the crisis situation) while best-performers are located in a new healthy scenario minimizing the likelihood to reenter in distress. Hence, considering the above model, the following hypotheses will be tested: H1: Severity degree of financially distressed firms is likely associated with the post distress status. H2: Reaction Capability of distressed firms is positively related to a fit final position after recovery process. H3: Performance in-distress is positively related with the welfare of the post distress status. H4: Retrenchment strategies have a positive influence on the outcome of a distressed situation. H5: Size of financially distressed companies is associated with the final position after recovery process. Methodology, sample and variables To test the hypothesis we use the financial data of US firms derived from the Compustat Database in an eight year period: 1993-2000 which is considered to be economically appropriate for the analysis. Smith and Graves (2005) affirm that in an economic expansion context distressed firms could easily perform a successful turnaround. Particularly, the US economy experienced an economic expansion during the analyzed period. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (2001), a peak in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in March 2001. A peak marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession  [1]  . So, the year 2001 was marked by events like the Dot-Com Bubble, Stock Market Crash, the loss of investors confidence in the Stock Market or the emergence of corporate fraud and corporate governance. The September 11, 2001 attacks also, may have been an important factor in turning this decline in the economy into a recession. The financial data for the year s after 2000 would be, to a greater or lesser extent, influenced by all these external factors. From a total of 1721 companies that offer complete data in their financial statements during all years, only the ones that presented a crisis situation in the first year of analysis, 1993, were selected. We consider a crisis status as a variety of enterprise adversity situations that threaten the future viability of the company (Turetsky and Mcwewn, 2001; Graveline and Kikalari, 2008), which show some incapacity to generate resources and/or to fulfill the payment of debts in time. This incapacity can be transitory and of a major or minor gravity and it can be observed through a series of symptoms alerting that the health and the future of the company are at risk. Considering this general approach and following Gonzà ¡lez-Bravo and Mecaj (2011), we classify a firm as financially distressed if, in the first year of our analysis, it presented one or more of the following criteria: Negative Net Income, Negative Operating Income, Negative Retained Earnings, Negative Working Capital, Negative Cash Flow, Negative Operating Cash Flow and Negative Shareholders Equity. In agreement with Gilbert, Menon and Schwartz (1990), to prevent the selection of firms that only had a poor performance in t he starting year firms presenting merely a Negative Net Income for the year 1993 were not selected. This criterion made possible that poor performers were selected only when they also showed a continued instable situation such as losses in previous years or solvency problems. As a result, our study is performed on a total of 526 companies that satisfied all the previous conditions. Table 1 shows the principal features of the analyzed sample. (Table 1 here) The number of observed symptoms permits an objective a priori classification based on the gravity of the starting situation. A firm would experience a weak crisis if it presents three or less criteria and, on the contrary, a strong crisis if it shows 4 or more. Following this further, in the first year of the analysis 77.38% of the firms encounter a weak crisis while 22.62% are facing a situation of strong crisis. Variables Severity Status, Reaction Capability and Fitness Status, as representative indicators of post-distress position, in the above proposed model (Figure 1) are built by gathering information given by some individual variable-indicators according to the features evaluated. The complete picture integrating the model and variables is showed in Figure 2. (Figure 2 here) Severity status (SEV_STAT) should be understood as an index assessing the degree of severity distress by seven financial ratios. These ratios correspond to the 7 symptom-indicators used to classify a firm as being in financial distress previously described, all divided by Total Assets in order to eliminate the size effect. Ratios such as: Net Income/Total Assets, EBIT/Total Assets and Retained Earnings/Total assets, representatives of the economic performance, are also commonly used to determine the existence of a decline phase in turnaround and recovery research (Pearce and Robins, 1993; Arogyaswamy et al., 1995; Smith and Graves, 2005). Negative Operating Cash Flow is also an indicator of liquidity deterioration and of financial distress probability (Anandarajan et al. 2001; Bell and Tabor, 1991; John, 1993). These seven indicators should be considered in a negative direction with respect to financial distress. That is, the lower value of the indicators, the worse the starting situ ation of the firm. In the same way, the more the number of negative indicators in a firm, the higher the crisis severity degree will be. Reaction capability is evaluated through three indicators: Sales/Total Assets (TURNOV), Shareholders Equity/Total Liabilities (FIN_AUT) and Current Assets/Current Liabilities (SOLV). The first one reflects the capacity of the company to enhance profitability while the other two indicators are linked to the financial structure of a firm and enable us to value its self-sufficiency and solvency. Together, these three variables measure the capacity of a firm to obtain external and additional funds or to reorganize its debts, the short term response capacity and the ability to generate resources. Fitness status (FIT_STAT) is defined as an index measuring the final health position on an objective and on a quality base as well, by means of 4 variables. Final Position is a categorical variable which indicates the existence or not of a crisis situation, when the firm still presents any symptom of distress. This variable takes value 0 if the firm exits successfully and doesnt present distress signals or value 1 otherwise. Additionally, to measure the health quality of this position, we follow the approach of Jostarndt (2006) when he identifies three factors that could cause financial distress: excessive leverage, a poor firm-specific operating performance and an industry downturn. These factors could be interpreted as indicators of the incapacity of a firm to generate cash flow which may influence a continuous economic and financial deterioration. The variables are defined as follows: (For further details on all variables calculation refer to Appendix B): Debt payment level: it permits the evaluation of the effects that a higher debt level of a firm has on cash flow generation, with respect to the industry where it operates. It indicates the level of interest payment the firm is paying compared to the median of the sector. If the level is above the median, the firm is paying more than other firms, so it should reduce it. Firm Performance: It measures the effects that a poor performance, lower than the median of the industry, has on cash flow generation. It measures the operating income of a firm compared to the median of the sector. It indicates if the firm is performing above or below the median of the sector. Sector performance: it allows analyzing to what extent the trend of the performance of the sector where the firm operates influences its capacity to generate cash flow if it behaved as the industry average. This item measures the improvement or the deterioration of a sectors performance, compared to its performance the year before. These three variables measure the risk of distress which could be the consequence of leverage problems or economic issues, including the downturn of the industry. The former three defined ratio-indicators should be understood in a negative sense, thus, the higher the three ratios are, the worse the quality position of the firm and the greater the probability of financial distress. Therefore, Fitness Status variable measures the position of a firm t years after the financial distress has been detected, allowing to evaluate the performance in managing a difficult situation. Severity Status and Fitness Status indexes could be interpreted as two composite indicators gathering the information of 7 and 3 individual ratios, respectively. To overcome some of the drawbacks of aggregated indexes, such as the degree of subjectivity in attribution of weights to each individual component (Munda, 2005; Messer et al., 2006; Munda and Nardo, 2009; Ramzan et al., 2008), we decided to use Data Envelopment analysis to summarize the complex information in just one index (Nardo et al., 2005a; Cherchye et al. 2008; Dyckhoff and Allen, 2001). DEA is a non-parametric performance measurement technique, based on a productivity approach, widely used to evaluate the relative efficiency of Decision Making Units (Cooper et al., 1999; Seiford, 1997; Gattoufi et al. 2004; Sherman and Zhu, 2006). However, this methodology has also been used to create indexes combining different components by means of an optimization process, when the structure of weights of these components is not kn own, and without making any assumption concerning the internal operations of a DMU (Cherchye et al., 2006; Zhu, 2000 and 2001; Puig-Junoy, 1998; Sexton and Lewis, 2003). Thus, both Severity Status and Fitness Status scores are obtained applying a DEA model without explicit inputs, called DEA-WEI models by Liu et al. (2011). This formulation, discussed by Lovell and Pastor (1999), considering a model with only outputs and a single constant input, has been used by Chen (2002) and Cooper et al. (2009), and it is similar to other approaches as DEA-R (Despic et al., 2007) or DEA-Index composite (Cherchye et al. 2008). Fitness Status use as DEA variables a series of indicators that measure negative features of a firm and they are also linked to the possibility of presenting a marked financial distress situation. This consideration is in agreement with the called pessimistic DEA approach, where the efficiency frontier contains, using Azizi and Ajirlu (2011) terminology, the worst-practisers as efficient in being poor-performers. In this way, DMUs scoring unity or close to unity levels will be the ones with higher degree of severity in their financial distressed situation. Furthermore, Fitness Score DEA manages a categorical variable Final Status indicating the existence or not of distress symptoms. In this sense we follow the approach of Banker and Morey (1986) concerning the treatment of exogenously fixed data. To measure the strategies and the behavior of firms during distress, profitability and downsizing actions have been included in the analysis. With regard to profitability, we use ROA in the last year of the analysis (ROA) and the average of its variations in the previous years (ROA_AVG) to measure the impact of efficiency oriented strategies to the final post-distress position. Concerning downsizing actions, variations in total assets during previous year are included to measure the impact of retrenchment strategies (RET_STG) Finally, to control the size effect (SIZE), natural logarithm of sales [ln(sales)] is included in the analysis in order to assess the influence of size on the possibility to return on a healthy scenario. Methodology The DEA score Fitness Status will be treated as a dependent variable in order to analyze to what extent post-failure position could be explained by issues such as severity, reaction capability or certain strategies implemented by the firms. Many different approaches can be found in the literature when a DEA score is used as a dependent variable of a regression to relate efficiency to the factors and study their influence on the former. The consideration of the DEA score as a censored variable (showing values between zero and unity) has been the argument for using regression censored models such as Tobit. On the other hand, Mancebà ³n and Molinero (2000) do not share this opinion and affirm that efficiency takes natural limits of zero and one and they estimate a model of the log type to explain inefficiency. In the same line, Puig-Junoy (1998) considers that DEA scores do not fit the theory of sampling censoring for Tobit models explaining inefficiency by a multiplicativ