Is Macbeth a Tragedy?

A tragedy is often thought of as a sad, pitiful event. The factors used to label an event as tragic are the consequences and the lasting effects. For example, the consequences of one or more deaths can be seen as a tragedy. And tragedies are often remembered long after the event, clearly impacting the future for those involved. Many people interpret events such as a natural disaster, a death of a loved one, or a permanent disability as tragic. However, others say that this definition of a tragedy is incorrect and is misused in modern conversation. The people who think this way use the word tragedy to define literature.The literary definition of the word requires more careful consideration of the character and the overall effect of the play. In this literary sense, tragedy is defined by following four characteristics: first, the story must arouse pity and fear in the audience and/or reader; second, the story must call into question the man’s relationship with God; third, the tr agic figure must be capable of great suffering, be highly sensitive, and possess a tragic flaw which leads to his/her own destruction; and fourth, in the end, the character becomes aware that his own flaw has doomed him, but he is powerless to prevent his inevitable destruction.These characteristics have been used by many people to determine whether pieces of literature are considered a tragedy. For example, using these characteristics, the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare is considered a tragedy. Macbeth is a tragedy because the play has all the characteristics in the literary definition of a tragedy. Macbeth definitely arouses pity and fear in the audience/reader. The very first scene in the play instills fear in us audience members. The play opens in a wild and lonely place in medieval Scotland.Three witches enter, and in their cackling voices, they prophesize about the events that will happen in the future. For example, the witches predict that they will meet with the protago nist Macbeth â€Å"when the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won† (1. 1. 3-4). The witches are speaking of the civil war, which they say will end that day. They also say they will meet with Macbeth, one of the generals. These supernatural happenings start the play off with eeriness, stirring up fear in the audience. Additionally, pity is roused in the audience. The author creates sympathy for Macbeth by giving him a good quality: his courage.In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a brave and loyal soldier who fights for his king and his country. Macbeth has â€Å"unseamed [a traitor of the king] from the nave to the chops and fixed his head upon [the] battlements† (1. 2. 24-25). When the king, named Duncan, hears this news, he describes Macbeth as a â€Å"valiant cousin! [and] worthy gentleman! † (1. 2. 26). We start to pity Macbeth from the moment he meets the witches. Once the witches have prophesized that Macbeth will become Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland, Macbeth begins to have dark thoughts of killing the king.However, the thought of killing the king is abhorrent to him, and the â€Å"horrid image doth unfix [his] hair and make [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs† (1. 3. 156-157). This shows that Macbeth is very reluctant to take any action towards him becoming king. We audience members feel sorry for Macbeth as he is tempted by the prospect of becoming king but at the price of murdering a man that had been very good and generous to him. We pity Macbeth as he struggles with his morals and his conscience saying that â€Å"as [he] is [Duncan’s] kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then, as his host, [he] should†¦not bear the knife† (1. . 14-17). However, in the end, Macbeth’s â€Å"vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other† (1. 7. 28-29) wins and he gives in to his evil urges. So wi th Lady Macbeth’s urging, Macbeth murders Duncan. Before the murder, Macbeth has such a troubled conscience that he hallucinates. He sees â€Å"a dagger†¦before [him], the handle toward [his] hand† (2. 1. 42-43) leading him to Duncan. We audience members also pity Macbeth because after he does the deed, he thoroughly regrets it. He shows this by saying if he had â€Å"died and hour before this chance, [he would have] lived a blessed time† (2. . 103-104). Without a doubt, the play arouses fear and pity in the audience. In addition to arousing pity and fear in the audience, the play calls into question man’s relationship with God. At the start of the play, Macbeth’s relationship with God is good. Macbeth fought nobly and courageously for a good cause, defeating the traitor to the king. Similarly, at the end of the play, Young Siward also fights nobly and dies for a good cause, defeating Macbeth. For this reason, Young Siward is described as â₠¬Å"God’s soldier† (5. 8. 55). Therefore, Macbeth could also be described as â€Å"God’s soldier† (5. . 55) up until he murders Duncan. As the King of Scotland, Duncan can be viewed as God. By killing Duncan, Macbeth has killed God. As a result, Macbeth has become the opposite of God, the devil. From this point on, Macbeth’s relationship with God is bad. At the scene of the murder, Macbeth could not say â€Å"Amen. † After committing a terrible crime, he â€Å"had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ stuck in [his] throat† (2. 2. 47-48). These events show that Macbeth’s relationship with God is questionable, which is one of the characteristics of a tragedy in literature.Another characteristic of a literary tragedy is that the tragic figure must be capable of great suffering. The tragic figure in this play is Macbeth. Macbeth certainly suffers from his conscience and guilt throughout the play. After murdering Duncan, Mac beth is so remorseful that he states that if he were â€Å"to know [his] deed, ‘twere best not know [him]self† (2. 2. 95). This means that in order for Macbeth to come to terms with what he has done, he must forget about his conscience. However, Macbeth cannot forget about his conscience and suffers from it. For example, Macbeth believes that â€Å"to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus† (3. . 52-53). He feels that being king is worthless unless his position as king is safe. Macbeth is afraid that his position is not safe, but is endangered by Banquo, whose kingly qualities make him a threat. Thus, Macbeth murders Banquo. Nevertheless, Macbeth continues to suffer from his conscience. When he learns that Banquo’s son Fleance has escaped from the murderers, he now becomes â€Å"cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears† (3. 4. 31-32). This is because the witches predicted that Banquo’s son would be a king in the futur e, which would put Macbeth’s position as king at risk.Macbeth’s guilt prevents him from fully enjoying his ill-gotten position as king. For example, Macbeth is visited by the ghost of Banquo. Suffering from guilt, Macbeth nearly reveals the truth that he killed Duncan. Afraid her husband will reveal too much, Lady Macbeth tells the guests that Macbeth often has these fits. When the guests start to ask questions, Lady Macbeth tells them Macbeth â€Å"grows worse and worse; question enrages him. At once, good night†¦go at once† (3. 4. 146-150). These examples of Macbeth suffering from his conscience show that Macbeth is capable of great suffering.Besides being capable of great suffering, the tragic figure must be highly sensitive. Macbeth, as the tragic figure, is portrayed as a sensitive character. From the beginning of the play, Macbeth has been sensitive. Just the horrid notion of murdering Duncan â€Å"unfix[es] [Macbeth’s] hair and make[s] [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs† (1. 3. 156-157). Macbeth becomes even more sensitive after his terrible crime of killing the king. When Lady Macbeth orders Macbeth to take the bloodied daggers back to Duncan’s room, Macbeth replies, â€Å"I’ll go no more.I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not† (2. 2. 69-71). Also after the murder, Macbeth has become sensitive to every little sound. When someone is knocking at the gate, Macbeth wonders â€Å"whence is that knocking? † and realizes that â€Å"every noise appals [him]† (2. 2. 78-79). In addition to being frightened by sounds, Macbeth is also frightened by sights. For example, when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, he becomes so terrified that his â€Å"cheeks [are] blanched with fear† (3. 4. 143-144). Each of these occasions demonstrates the sensitivity of Macbeth.Macbeth, the tragic figure, also possesses a tragic flaw which leads to his own destruct ion. Macbeth’s fatal flaw is his trust and confidence in the words of the witches. After the witches tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland, Macbeth begins to lust for power. If he had not heard the witches’ prophesy, his â€Å"vaulting ambition† would not have â€Å"prick[ed] the sides of [his] intent† (1. 7. 27-28). Without his ambition, Macbeth would have had no reason to murder Duncan because Duncan â€Å"hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office† (1. . 18-19). Macbeth reminds himself that Duncan is such a good person and has never abused his royal powers so there is no possible reason for his murder except for Macbeth’s own driving ambition. Macbeth is ambitious and wants to become more powerful. Thus, he kills Duncan and takes the crown for himself. Next, Macbeth murders Banquo and attempts to murder Fleance because he trusts the witches’ words that Banquo â€Å"shalt get kings† (1. 3. 74), meaning that Banquo’s son Fleance will be the king in the future. The witches also tell Macbeth that â€Å"none of woman born shall harm [him]† (4. 1. 1-92) and he will never be vanquished â€Å"until Great Birnam Wood to high Dusinane Hill shall come against him† (4. 1. 107-108). Macbeth’s flaw in believing these words leads to his downfall. Macbeth, power-hungry and overconfident, considers himself invincible. However, the witches’ words have cause Macbeth to become too overconfident and he is taken by surprise when a man named Macduff, born by Caesarean section, leads soldiers disguised as â€Å"a moving grove† (5. 5. 42) to Dunsinane. Because Macbeth believed the witches in that he was invincible, he did not expect the words to have a double meaning.Consequently, Macbeth is killed by Macduff who was â€Å"from his mother’s womb untimely ripped† (5. 8. 19-20). Without a doubt, Macbeth’s trust in the words of the witches has led to his ambition and overconfidence, which, in turn, led to his own destruction. Macbeth definitely becomes aware that this flaw has doomed him, but he is powerless to prevent his inevitable destruction. He first becomes aware that his trust in witches’ words has doomed him when a messenger reports that a moving wood is coming to Dunsinane. Macbeth begins â€Å"to doubt the equivocation of the fiend† (5. . 48) and fears that the witches have tricked him. He also realizes that he is powerless to prevent his inevitable destruction. This is shown when Macbeth says â€Å"there is no flying hence nor tarrying here† (5. 5. 53) and decides to face death â€Å"with harness on [his] back† (5. 5. 57). Macbeth also become further aware of his doom when he comes across a man named Macduff who was â€Å"from his mother’s womb untimely ripped† (5. 8. 19-20) by a Caesarean section. He realizes that the â€Å"juggling fiends† have tricked him â€Å"in a double sense† (5. 8. 23-24).Macbeth’s trust in the witches leads him to believe that he is invincible, but when he discovers that the witches are not to be trusted, there is nothing he can do to prevent his destruction. Even though Macbeth knows all hope is gone, he decides to fight to the death and â€Å"will try the last† (5. 8. 37). In the end, Macbeth has been killed, and the rightful heir to the throne takes his place. These occurrences fulfill the last requirement for the play Macbeth to be a tragedy. As a result of all the characteristics being met, there is no question that Macbeth is a tragedy.The play arouses pity and fear in the audience and calls into question man’s relationship with God. The tragic figure Macbeth is capable of great suffering, is highly sensitive, and possesses a tragic flaw which leads to his destruction. And in the end, Macbeth becomes aware that his flaw has do omed him, but he is powerless to prevent his unavoidable destruction. Due to the characteristics described previously, Macbeth is definitely a tragedy. Even modern day conversationalists, who misuse the word tragedy, would have to agree that Macbeth is undeniably a literary tragedy!

How Has Healthy Living Culture Brought About Changes in Fast Food Industry

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Subway has even gone to the lengths of comparing the calorie count of there meals to that of McDonald’s and Burger King. Menus: Possibly one of the biggest things that fast food chains have had to change due to the emergence of this healthy living culture is the quite simple idea of their menus. Whereas when firms like McDonalds will have started out they were just selling burgers and chips, but that will now not suffice for the modern day healthy person.This is why you can now buy salads with your burgers, and instead of say an ice cream for your desert you can have a bag of chopped fruit, you are also able to have a healthy wrap as a posed to a full fat beef burger. Perhaps the biggest change of any of the fast food chains is the removal of the supersize option from the McDonald’s menu. The supersize option was simply the larger version of a large meal, giving you even more French fries (7 ounces) and a larger drink (42 ounces). McDonald’s removed this option from its menu in 2004 after the very public and now infamous documentary â€Å"Supersize me† by Morgan Spurlock.The documentary consisted of Spurlo ck eating a McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days, and if offered to take the supersize option he would have to accept it. As a result of the diet Spurlock became very ill, thus creating a lot of bad press for McDonalds as a brand. Before the emergence of the healthy living culture, the supersize option increased revenue a lot for McDonald’s as the employee would always ask the customer: â€Å"would you like to make that a supersize? †.So I think it is almost entirely down to the emergence of the healthy living culture and the growing concern over healthiness of certain foods that has caused McDonald’s to have to remove the supersize option from their menus. However, it may be argued that it was simply the â€Å"supersize me† documentary that caused McDonald’s to remove their supersize option from their menus and not in fact the emergence of the healthy living culture. This may be an option as Burger King, one of McDonaldâ⠂¬â„¢s biggest rivals in the fast food industry if not it’s biggest, still has a supersize option.So perhaps McDonald’s may not have removed the option from their menu had it not been for the documentary. Brands: The emergence of healthy living has also certainly had an impact on the branding of a lot of fast food chains, not necessarily all of them but certainly a few. As is shown in the healthy living section, the covers of magazines are littered with the so called â€Å"beautiful people† who are healthy and in good shape. Therefore if we are now in an age where most people are striving to have those kinds of bodies, but they can only get them by being nd eating healthy then fast food chains are surely going to struggle? However McDonald’s have simply changed their style of advertising and branding to help over come this problem. When McDonald’s first started in the 1940’s there original branding was a small fat chef with a hamburger for a head called â€Å"speedee†. Now this could simply not work for McDonald’s today with the emergence of the healthy living culture, as the name even suggests its just fast food, whereas now they concentrate on saying on all there boxes things such as 100% beef etc.It wouldn’t even just be the name that would be a problem for McDonald’s branding, it would also be the appearance of the mascot, he is small, fat and has a hamburger for a head. McDonald’s now have a host of celebrity spokespersons ranging from Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest sportsman in the world in the 90’s, the epitome of a healthy person, he and Larry Bird starred in a commercial for McDonald’s in the 90’s. More recently they had an advertising campaign fronted by Justin Timberlake, a pop star who is regarded as very attractive and again a very healthy person.So it is clear to see that the emergence of healthy living has certainly affected how McDonald†™s brands itself. However, it could once again be argued that the emergence of healthy living has not really affected the branding of fast food chains because other hugely successful fast food companies such as KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Burger King have not used healthy celebrities or sportsmen to brand their products. In fact KFC still have their original mascot of Colonel Sanders, a quite chubby older man, which would not be hugely associated with being the picture of health, say compared to someone like Michael Jordan or Justin Timberlake.

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Equity and Debt - Assignment Example The advantages of choosing equity financing reveal the compelling reasons why AMSC management felt the need to adopt floating shares in the market. Firstly, equity financing allowed the company to obtain a long-term relationship with investors ready to commit money in the company’s projects. Such an arrangement avoids short-term risks where the financial security offered by the funding party comes to an end after some time, such as in a loan agreement. Similarly, most investors in equity deals have preferences in the choice of projects to invest in, which attracts professional entrepreneurs. In this regard, equity relationships have safer business linkages by pulling passionate investors who add value in terms of business succession. Another advantage of equity financing relates to the overall reduction in outward cash-flow challenges that shrink liquidity. As opposed to debt financing, equity financing adds money to the business in the long-term, thereby reducing outflow challenges. Evans and Mellen (2010) noted a closely related advantage that touches on the long-term outcomes of additional investment without repayment obligations, which increases chances of growth. The long-term element of the equity relationship secures the growth prospects of a business as opposed to a debt that requires fixed repayment periods. Similarly, the investor bears the risk element of the investment made, which reduces the pressure of compulsory liability as seen in debt financing. The sharing outcomes of the partnership and shared ownership raises the confidence of the equity arrangement in facing risks. From these advantages, the management could have found grounds to make a decision to on engaging shareholders. As mentioned, equity financing also presents a fair share of disadvantages emanating from the opportunity cost against debt financing and other sources of capital. Firstly, equity financing implies

Web or Mobile System Essay Example for Free

Web or Mobile System Essay As a network engineer it is very important to keep the network available for users at all times. â€Å"A highly available network means that the network and the applications that are used on it are both operational and accessible at all times† (CiscoPress 2008 p. 124). Working as a network engineer I am always on call because there is someone always using the network. â€Å"An always on facility is needed to maintain the business-critical apps† (Volonino 2011). The network is monitored 24 hours 7 days a week even if no one is scheduled to be in the office we still have to monitor the network to make sure there are not outages are hiccups along the way. If there is a network outage are any bandwidth issues that come up, I need to be able to run diagnostics and be able to manage the switches and routers as needed 24 hours 7 days a week just in case, and if something does happen I need to be able to find out what is causing this issue before it becomes a major problem. We also have to monitor all of our network equipment to make sure there is no unusual behavior like a Denial Of Service (DoS) or security breaches. Each engineer on our team has a laptop that we take home with us so when we are on call it is easy to vpn into our corporate network to run diagnostics on the network equipment to make sure everything is functioning properly. The majority of devices we us on our network are Cisco devices. Cisco systems offer a software application called LMS (Cisco Works LAN Management Solution). LMS is a centralized system for sharing device information across all LAN management applications (Cisco 2012). We use the LMS software to monitor equipment, traffic, and users. I use this software to do the majority of my daily work. Recently cisco developed a mobile app for this software application for iPhone and Droid OS. This gives me a huge advantage because when I am on call I don’t have to lug my laptop around with me all the time and I can still monitor the equipment and run specific reports where ever I am. This application allows a highly secured connection to tunnel thru so I can connect to the web portal of the LMS software. Once the application is downloaded to my mobile device I have to configure the appropriate security settings and the network ip address and a few settings that are specific to our network to load the application on my iPhone and configure my network information and this allows me to check and monitor network traffic and connectivity over a secured port from the appliance. This mobile application does not allow me to have all of the flexibility of the actual software would if I was on my laptop but it lets me do the important task like monitoring and maintaining reports and statics from my mobile device. The good thing about this tool is it has to be enabled on the devices that I want to manage and an access list has to be created on the switch to allow the traffic from my mobile device. â€Å"The benefit of this application is that it increases productivity, because workers can be productive anywhere they go† (Cisco 2012). Applications like this one help companies to connect and to know what is going on at all times. The drawback to this is if the network goes down the application will not work. Because the applications software is house on an appliance on the network if the network connection drops then the software cannot operate. This tool like VPN allows you to access the application software through a specific port on the network that is set by the Network Administrator to allow specific users access to the application. If the network connection is not available then the application cannot be accessed. Even though this drawback exists it is still a huge benefit being able to work from a mobile device from any location verses my desk. I think as technology continues to grow Cisco will also expand on the number of features it offers through this mobile application as will.

The Paradox Of Omnipotence Philosophy Essay

The Paradox Of Omnipotence Philosophy Essay While tackling free will as a solution to the problem of evil, Mackie who holds that the problem adequately makes the existence of an omnipotent, wholly good God irrational, argues that God in his omnipotence could have made man with a free will to always choose the right thing. Gods failure to intervene in the evil application of free will can only be justified thus: that God gave man the highest liberty that He cannot control mans will. However, herein arises the paradox of omnipotence. If God created men so free that he cannot control their wills, then there is something he cannot do he cannot control mans will and would thus not be omnipotent, but if it be that God has the ability to have control over mans will, then He has failed at something creating a man whose will He has no control over and thus would not be omnipotent. When the query we are considering is phrased as a question: can God create a man who has such freedom that God cannot intervene in his actions, answering e ither yes or no leads to the implication that God fails at doing something and thus cannot be omnipotent. This paper will focus on the paradox of Omnipotence which would in and of itself prove the irrationality of the existence of a God who has a primary component of omnipotence. The mention of the sorounding content of Mackies paper Evil and Omnipotence only serves as background information on how he comes to encounter the paradox to be debated. I will define omnipotence, present the paradox in the common place example of the stone, then recount the paradox of omnipotence as Mackie describes it. The second part of my paper will attempt to solve the paradox of omnipotence by considering a restructured definition of the trouble presented by the paradox of omnipotence where I will categorize degrees of failure in levels. After observing that restrictions to omnipotence defeat the term itself, I will consider if the paradox can be solved rationally if the omnipotent being existed in timelessness. I will use the term omnipotence to mean all powerful. The paradox of omnipotence is commonly exemplified by the riddlelike question that one was told naughty children asked their pastors: whether God can create a stone he cannot lift where he answers in the affirmative, he would be admitting Gods inability to create a stone of certain characteristics, if he answered in the negative he would be admitting that there is something God cannot do lift the stone after creating it, thus each either answer would contradict omnipotence, a central tenement for the God of Western tradition. Mackie defines the God in question as omnipotent, discredits the coherence of omnipotence and therefore discredits the existence of a God defined with a primary characteristic of omnipotence. Like those who ask about the creation of the unliftable stone, Mackie asks whether God can create a being that he cannot control in the case of the man with free will. To the his objectors response (which he had anticipated earlier in the paper) that God creates casual laws or rules of logic which he chooses to follow, Mackie asks whether the omnipotent being can make rules which bind his power. This question plays out like that of creating of an omnipotent God creating man with free will: If God could create casual rules, despite choosing to follow them freely, His powers would be restricted by these rules and after their creation , He could do what these rules restrict Him from. Should the answer be negative, then there is something he cannot do he fails at the ability to create the causal laws. Mackie then says that one cannot respond by saying that his questions are not proper because if the a question of a similar nature was asked about man and machines: whether man can create a machine over which he has no control over, the question would be considered sound. He thus points to the notion of omnipotence as the source of the problem. He appreciates that theological determinists would argue that man in his assembly predisposed the machine to act in certain ways as did God in his creation of man and that being omniscient God was already aware of the specific actions man would take. However, Mackie highlights that the question is not on Gods original influence at creation but His continuos influence. Mackie compares the probability of Gods restriction by the laws of nature to a parliament that creates a law that liquidates its power. Can a parliament create a law that nullifies its power? If one answers yes, they would be considering a as a laws something set by a body that would no longer be valid as the item of governance. Yet if they say no, one would be denying the sovereignty of the body by saying there is a law it cant make. Contrasting actions arrive to the same denial of omnipotence. This implies that omnipotence as a concept is logically incoherent. Mackie solves this paradox by distinguishing between laws that govern the land (which he names first order laws) and laws that govern the law making body( which he calls second order laws). He says we can consider a parliament to have absolute power over the first order laws or a present parliament which has both absolute power over creation of laws for the land and laws governing itself but that we cannot conceive of a parli ament having control over laws that govern parliament yet guarantee that future parliaments will have absolute power over first order laws because the present parliament may remove a parliaments ability to create laws of the land. We can reconcile God and the laws of logic in the same way. If Gods powers were considered in the categories of power over creation and power to create the rules which creation shall follow. Then we can conceive of God always having omnipotence but none of his creation can have free will or that at one instance God could have both first and second order omnipotence in which he creates laws for creation to follow independently thereafter creation would determine its future in accordance with the laws assigned but that God would have relinquished his first order omnipotence of directly determining the actions of all of creation. Mackie reaches the conclusion that God can have omnipotence if it is categorized as above: one eternally or to have one and two at one instant but to forever relinquish 1 but not both powers continuously unless God were to exist outside time. I find Mackies attempt to reconcile omnipotence over eternity by creating orders compelling. It feels more natural to have an omnipotent being who cannot create a stone that he cant lift than it does to have him lack the ability to lift a stone. There is something to be said about that. Perhaps because the latter, yes, he can create a being that he cannot control seems self defeating and would in itself express a limit to his power in a positive sense. I say positive sense because something would exist of which he would not wield power over. That object in that sense would have power over him so to speak. However, in the first case of answering, no an omnipotent being cannot create something that he cannot control, it appears to be in accordance with his power that he does not create an object embedded with a limit to his power. Because no indicates that this object cannot be brought into existence, in its consideration it is an abstract limit to his power, not as real as that being he cannot control when we answer yes because that being already exists. This view would lead to levels of failure where in the first level of failure would be failing to create a stone he cannot lift is considered a comparatively more powerful state than the second level of there existing the being that cannot be controlled. Though the analogy is not exact to Mackies this is to say that I cannot equate my first level to his first order and my second level to his second order, it borrows from Mackie that we would have to put a restriction to explain or have omnipotence. Nevertheless I ran into the same point of the paradox that Mackie runs into: that the existence of the restriction contradicts the concept of omnipotence. Omnipotence is absolute and cannot have exception for this or the other ability. The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy defines omnipotence as maximal power so that the being possessing it only need to have a total power that beats every other beings, not the ability to do everything. This suggests a distinction between power and ability. Such omnipotent being is conceivable but is this really omnipotence? There is the suggestion of an essentially omnipotent being who cannot will Himself out of omnipotent, here again we run into the paradox. How can an all powerful being fail at something willing himself out of omnipotence. But if He could, He wouldnt be omnipotent, thus we would loose the eternity. If the discussion were to halt here, I would agree with Mackie that omnipotence is incoherent. However, there is the suggestion of God existing in timeless which Mackie touches on but immediately dismisses that might yet solve our paradox without proven irrational. Omnipotence as power in an absolute state would entail the ability to influence events which would appear to be beyond influence for being defined as past events. If God existed in time then, time would be his master and this would add to the unfeasibility of omnipotence. However, if we were to consider God to exist outside the frame of time, in timelessness, this would remove the confine of time. Suppose God could posses life all at once, as the Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy includes in the definition of timelessness. Imagine an instance that was eternal, so that events would not be a sequence within time but one unity as if they were simulteneous this would be the scope of this Gods life. Perhaps as all the time periods of the universe compressed as into one which He would experience as a whole. It is quite challenging to define timelessness without applying terms that refer to finite time because the words are all formed with reference to time and in defining timelessness w ould be negating ie. saying not time. Even the encyclopedias words life all at once use the word once which is itself takes from time. But this does not mean that the something like this supreme being cannot exist in timelessness. If one considers time as a frame, it suggests the possiblilty of factors outside time itself bringing this frame into existence. If we consider defining time in terms of change:We can observe the age of statue by observing it wear Sometimes we define time in terms of the change of the frame so that if we created a statue that did not wear out, we can observe (through the sense of sight) that it has existed for such and such a time by observing the change in its environment. Change around an object that isnt extended in space might be harder to quantify, but perhaps this would serve no purpose for if this being was experiencing all of life simultenously, there would be no change and thus no time. If it was the case that God experienced life all at once and there was happiness and sadness on earth, He would experience them both simulteneously. Perhaps contradiction is a term defined by the rules of our logic just the way there was a time when men laughed at the thought of flying but today we have planes. Ability and contradiction might defined in terms of the realm of possiblity perceived by that generation. Perhaps the contradiction even a frame of the human mind operating in a universe subject to natural laws and logic but just as the universe exists there could exists something other forms ( non universe forms) that follow different laws, perhaps even laws of contradiction if one can envision such a world, Gods form could be one such. The God of contradiction could create a stone that he cant lift, yet as all of life is in an instant, he would (at what would appear to us to be a different time) lift it as well. We can thus not rule out an omnipotent being in timelessness where omnipotence is conceivable. I agree with Mackie that a God who is eternally omnipotent, having absolute omnipotence to both influence events and create laws to govern how events are influenced is incoherent because he could at one instant create the rule that would restrict Himself from further influencing events. However, I disagree with Mackies dismissal of the concept of God in timelessness: if it is conceivable that God can experience life all at once: what to us would appear to be a sequence of events at different times within the frame of time would occur at one eternal instant so contradictions could occur. Perhaps if the definition of a thing is determined by the existence of its opposite, that we only notice red because other colors exist and perhaps if there were no other color we would just never conceive of any color altogether, if time exists, perhaps it is because we can imagine timelessness, or its possibility. Timelessness cannot be ruled out, consequently neither can an omnipotence that Mackie can grant if timelessness existed.

Ecodisc :: essays research papers

Ecodisc Ecodisc is a program which allows the user to take on the role of a Nature Reserve Manager. It was designed by a man named Peter Bratt, and Englishman in South Devon. Ecodisc is designed so that the user can see what effects certain changes can make on the environment with out actually making the changes. Ecodisc is a good educational tool showing new users the effects of certain decisions. It can also be used a map, because it lets you see various parts of the nature reserve without actually going there. Ecodisc allows the user to take on the role of a nature reserve manger, which is the person who basically decides what changes will be made to the nature reserve. With aid of the Ecodisc, the results of decisions can be shown without actually doing anything, or doing any harm to the environment. Ecodisc allows users to explore various parts of the nature reserve and view it from different positions. You can see the area from any direction (north, south, east or west), and even from a helicopter position. Ecodisc lets you see the areas of the reserve from any part of the year. For example, you could view the reserve in the middle of winter and see what it looks like in summer. Ecodisc is one of the first interactive programmes, and there are hopes of some day there being interactive broadcast television. This is a breakthrough in visual entertainment, because while television lets you see a place, interactive video will let you explore it. Interactive video is where the viewer decides the plot and characters of a movie, or show. The viewer will basically be able to write their own scripts and produce the movie at the same time. Ecodisc would be very good for showing students (or anyone) interested in managing nature reserves, working for national parks or just as an interest

Causes of the Great Depression Essay -- Papers History Wall Street Cra

Causes of the Great Depression The Great Depression also called Depression of 1929, or Slump of 1929, began in 1929 and lasted until 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized world. Though the United States economy had gone into depression six months earlier, the Great Depression may said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of the stock market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929 call the Stock Market Crash of 1929. During the next three years stock prices in the United States continued to fall, until by late 1932 the had dropped 20 percent of their value in 1929 (http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,38610+1,00.html). More than a half-century after the fact, there is no consensus on that caused the Great Depression. The one thing that is really known about the Great Depression is that it had many under lying causes (McElvaine 26). Speculation in the 1920's caused many people to buy stocks with loaned money and the used these stocks as collateral for buying more stocks. Broker's loans went under $5 million in mid 1928 to $850 million in September of 1929. The stock market boom was very unsteady, because it was based on borrowed money and false optimism. When investors lost confidence, the stock market collapsed, taking them along with it (http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/causes.html). It seemed to good to be true, and it was. The margin of leverage when prices were rising would act in reverse if prices fell. All of the margin buyers would be wiped out quickly. The whole market in 1929 compounded the leverage idea as "investment trust" proliferated. The investment trust existed for the sole purpose of owing stock.... ...lack Tuesday an unprecedented 16.4 million shares changed hands. Stocks fell so much, that at many times during the day no buyers were available at any price (McElvaine 48). This speculation and the resulting stock market crashes acted as a trigger to the already unstable U.S. economy. Due to the misdistribution of wealth, the economy of the 1920's was one very much dependent upon confidence. The market crashes undermined this confidence. The rich stopped spending on luxury items, and slowed investments. The middle-class and poor stopped buying things with installment credit for fear of loosing their jobs, and not being able to pay the interest. As a result industrial production fell by more than 9% between the market crashes in October and December 1929 (McElvaine 48.) Bibliography: McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression. New York: Times, 1984. Causes of the Great Depression Essay -- Papers History Wall Street Cra Causes of the Great Depression The Great Depression also called Depression of 1929, or Slump of 1929, began in 1929 and lasted until 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized world. Though the United States economy had gone into depression six months earlier, the Great Depression may said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of the stock market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929 call the Stock Market Crash of 1929. During the next three years stock prices in the United States continued to fall, until by late 1932 the had dropped 20 percent of their value in 1929 (http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,38610+1,00.html). More than a half-century after the fact, there is no consensus on that caused the Great Depression. The one thing that is really known about the Great Depression is that it had many under lying causes (McElvaine 26). Speculation in the 1920's caused many people to buy stocks with loaned money and the used these stocks as collateral for buying more stocks. Broker's loans went under $5 million in mid 1928 to $850 million in September of 1929. The stock market boom was very unsteady, because it was based on borrowed money and false optimism. When investors lost confidence, the stock market collapsed, taking them along with it (http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/causes.html). It seemed to good to be true, and it was. The margin of leverage when prices were rising would act in reverse if prices fell. All of the margin buyers would be wiped out quickly. The whole market in 1929 compounded the leverage idea as "investment trust" proliferated. The investment trust existed for the sole purpose of owing stock.... ...lack Tuesday an unprecedented 16.4 million shares changed hands. Stocks fell so much, that at many times during the day no buyers were available at any price (McElvaine 48). This speculation and the resulting stock market crashes acted as a trigger to the already unstable U.S. economy. Due to the misdistribution of wealth, the economy of the 1920's was one very much dependent upon confidence. The market crashes undermined this confidence. The rich stopped spending on luxury items, and slowed investments. The middle-class and poor stopped buying things with installment credit for fear of loosing their jobs, and not being able to pay the interest. As a result industrial production fell by more than 9% between the market crashes in October and December 1929 (McElvaine 48.) Bibliography: McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression. New York: Times, 1984.

Mcdonalds – Tnc

McDonald's – the 90th largest economy in the world – feeds about 1 percent of the world's population a day. That's 68 million people! It hires more than 1 million workers In the US per year and Is the world's largest toy distributed. McDonald's also created the Ronald McDonald House charity, which houses more than 6000 families a year in Australia alone. However, this Illinois-based company is undeniably threatening the ‘global village'. It is doing so in a lot of ways, including the damage it inflicts to the environment, its exploitation of foreign and domestic labor and its active impacts on traditional cultures.In this seminar, I will be analyzing different pictures that support my argument that McDonald's Is directly destroying the global village. I think that through the Impacts It has upon the environment In which we live, McDonald's is directly destroying the global village. As a large company, McDonald's needs a lot of resources to fuel its growth. For exa mple, Americans alone consume over 1 billion pounds of beef at McDonald's every year. A cow produces 250 ml of methane per day on average. Think of how much methane is created by the sows needed to produce 1 billion pounds of beef!McDonald's has also been accused by Greenback of feeding Its chickens with soybeans grown on farms In the Amazon rainforest's. These soybean farms are cleared Illegally. Leading to mass deforestation In the Amazon. By doing this, McDonald's not only encourages illegal traders in the Amazon, but also sends a worldwide message that deforestation is a viable option that can lead to contracts selling produce to McDonald's. Encouraging excessive methane production and deforestation are Just a few of the ways in which McDonald's helps to destroy the environment.McDonald's also negatively affects the global village by exploiting members of the workforce. This Is done through the misuse of domestic and foreign labor. McDonald's has always been the target of accusa tions that they exploit teenage labor, paying them wages that are too low to be readily lived upon. These reduced rates can be seen in this table. But most recently McDonald's has tried to tackle these accusations head on by releasing an example budget for someone who works for the company. From the start this budget was flawed, as you can see here, the employee would have to work two Jobs to survive.This fact shows that an employee could not be sustained on a McDonald's wage. Secondly, McDonald's cited that health cover costs $20. This is not the case, for that amount you would be likely only to get say, ambulance cover. Thirdly, try spending only $25 a day on Just food, let alone drinks, clothes and other necessities. This budget on its own, is certain evidence that you would not be able to live on a McDonald's wage. In extreme cases some people have had to choose between paying bills and eating food.This exploitation of cheap labor is another reason why I think McDonald's Is cont ributing too diminished global village. McDonald's Is also destroying the global village by abolishing various cultures from around the world. As seen in the picture here, McDonald's is intervening with traditional culture, replacing traditional pastimes, like food-preparation and consumption, with an internationalists product. Often in these traditional cultures, things like food can be tied up with rituals, so food is linked to their cultural heritage.By replacing chance to pass on their cultural stories through food. However some people in other parts of the world have realized that this tragic loss of culture is occurring. For example, the people of a small town east of Melbourne called Tacoma has recently protested against there being a McDonald's built in the town. 80 000 people thus far have signed a petition demanding that a McDonald's franchise not be installed in their town. The fact that the company destroys culture and that people are realizing it is another reason that McDonald's is destroying the global village.

The Government

Governments should spend more money on education than on recreation and sports. Do you agree or disagree? Do you believe that government should focus on education rather than recreation? Education is a learning process for every citizen composing a nation . Perhap, a nation cannot produce a good citizen for giving full attention to education without recreation. I believe the children is our future, the pride of our nation, teach them well and give the way they must possess inside.The amount of education can give us a good medium to the success of our land for they will be a better man in next generation. Furthermore, an educated man can properly lead the country with full dignity and confidence to himself, thereby he can be able to protect the nation and lifts up the lives of the people. On the other hand, we can’t be on education alone but to give way to all the stress and be physically fitted by all means , we also need recreation to be fully motivated in all the task . Itâ €™s one way of releasing all the tensions and burnouts in anyhow.A physically fitted man learned to be having a good sense of ego. Recreations helps the family bonding more closer to each other, thereby , energize our mind speed. In conclusion, In order for a nation to provide a better citizen, the government should focus on giving proper education , in such a way that it will be balance with recreation. A nation will not be nation if the citizen itself were dull and weak. Therefore , for a nation to be successful , citizen should be competent and will generates a well trusted individual .

Organizational Culture: the Case of Turkish Construction Industry Essay

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0969-9988.htm Organizational culture: the case of Turkish construction industry Ela Oney-YazÄ ±cÄ ±, Heyecan Giritli, Gulfer Topcu-Oraz and Emrah Acar Department of Architecture, Division of Project and Construction Management, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Abstract Purpose – The main stimulus of this study is to examine the cultural proï ¬ le of construction organizations within the context of Turkish construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – This study is a part of a cross-cultural research, initiated by CIB W112 (Working Commission W112 of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction), concurrently ongoing in 15 different countries. Data were collected from 107 contracting and 27 architectural ï ¬ rms, by means of a questionnaire based on OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument), a well-known and widely used measurement tool developed by Cameron and Quinn (1999). Findings – The ï ¬ ndings show that the Turkish construction industry has been dominated by ï ¬ rms with a mixture of clan and hierarchy cultures. In addition, the analysis reported here indicates cultural differences at organizational level in terms of ï ¬ rm type, size, and age. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the understanding of organizational culture in the construction industry by providing empirical evidence from the Turkish construction industry. As future research direction, it highlights the need of a cross-cultural comparison among different countries, and an investigation of the effects of cultural proï ¬ les of the organizational members on organizational culture. Keywords Organizational culture, Construction industry, Turkey Paper type Research paper Turkish construction industry 519 Introduction Understanding of organizational culture is fundamental to examine what goes on in organizations, how to run them and how to improve them (Schein, 1992). Organizational culture is deï ¬ ned as the shared assumptions, beliefs and â€Å"normal behaviors† (norms) present in an  organization. Most organizational scholars and observers recognize that organizational culture has a powerful effect on the performance and long-term effectiveness of organizations. Cameron and Quinn (1999) propose that what differentiates successful ï ¬ rms from others is their organizational culture. With the worldwide globalization trends, special attention has been given to the study of organizations and their cultures. Empirical studies of organizational culture have been carried out across various countries and industries (Hofstede, 1997; Trompenaars and Hampton-Turner, 1998; Cameron and Quinn, 1999; see among others). In comparison there seems to be a limited number of published studies related The funding for this study was provided by the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey and is gratefully acknowledged. After reviewing research on organizational culture, Ankrah and Langford (2005) have concluded that there is a need to become more aware of the importance of this phenomenon and its impact on organizational performance in the construction industry. The main reasons for the growing importance of the organizational culture can be explained by the internationalization of the construction markets (Low and Shi, 2001), and the fragmented nature of the industry (Hillebrant, 2000). It is a well-known fact that international construction ï ¬ rms have faced many problems due to conï ¬â€šicts, confrontations, misunderstandings, and the differences in ways of doing business with other cultures (Gould and Joyce, 2000). On the other hand, the adversarial relations between different project participants are assumed to be inï ¬â€šuenced by the cultural orientations of the stakeholders (Phua and Rowlinson, 2003). Thus, the study of cultural issues should be addressed when considering the globalization of construction markets. Additionally, it is a common belief that organizations that have developed within similar environments usually have similar cultures and related mindsets with regard to ways of doing business. For this reason, the research reported in this paper, aims to contribute to an understanding of organizational culture in the construction industry using data from a developing country, such as Turkey, where there is no study in this ï ¬ eld. Findings of the study may also have implications for other cultures with a similar make-up. Background study Despite different deï ¬ nitions of organizational culture, there is a consensus among organizational researchers that it refers to the shared meanings or assumptions, beliefs and understandings held by a group. More comprehensively, Schein (1992) deï ¬ ned organizational culture as: [. . .] a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.  ´ Similarly, Deshpande and Webster (1989, p. 4) proposed that organizational culture is: [. . .] the pattern of shared values and beliefs that help individuals understand organizational functioning and thus provide them with norms for behaviors in the organization. There is an extensive body of knowledge in the literature that deals with organizational culture. Many researchers have proposed a variety of dimensions and attributes of organizational culture. Among them, Hofstede has been very inï ¬â€šuential in studies of organizational culture. Drawing on a large sample of 116,000 employees of IBM in 72 countries, Hofstede identiï ¬ ed four dimensions of culture. These four dimensions used to differentiate between cultures are: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism. Beyond these, Hofstede (1997) also identiï ¬ ed the process/results oriented, employee/job oriented, parochial/professional, open/closed system, loose/tight control and normative/pragmatic dimensions of culture. These dimensions have been commonly adapted and applied in studies of organizational culture  (Sà ¸dergaard, 1996). Other comprehensive studies into organizational culture have been carried out, notably by Trompenaars and Hampton-Turner (1993), who conducted an extensive research into the attitudes of 15,000 managers over a ten-year period in 28 different countries. They proposed ï ¬ ve cultural dimensions: (1) universalism/particularism; (2) collectivism/individualism; (3) neutral/affective relationships; (4) diffuse/speciï ¬ c relationships; and (5) achievement/ascription. When dealing with a multitude of dimensions, typologies are usually considered as an alternative to provide a simpliï ¬ ed means of assessing cultures. In this regard, typologies are commonly used in the studies of organizational culture. Notable contributors to these typologies include Handy (1993, 1995) who identiï ¬ ed the club, role, task and person typologies, and Quinn (1988) who identiï ¬ ed the market, hierarchy, adhocracy and clan typologies of culture. Since the culture is regarded as a crucial factor in the long-term effectiveness of organizations, it becomes important to be able to measure organizational culture. Accordingly, a range of tools designed to measure organizational culture have been developed and applied in industrial, educational, and health care settings over the last two decades. All these tools examine employee perceptions and opinions about their working environment (the so-called â€Å"climate† of an organization) but only a few, such as the Competing Values Framework and the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI), try to examine the values and beliefs that inform those views (Scott et al., 2003). The majority of the existing studies in the Construction Management ï ¬ eld mostly attempt to appropriate the theoretical models and measurement tools of the management literature. For instance, Maloney and Federle (1991, 1993) introduced the competing values framework for analyzing the cultural elements in American engineering and construction organizations. Focusing on the relationship between the organizational culture and effectiveness, Zhang and Liu (2006) examined the organizational culture proï ¬ les of construction enterprises in China by means of OCI and Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), the measurement tool of the Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron and Quinn (1999). Rowlinson (2001), using Handy’s organizational culture and Hofstede’s national culture frameworks, investigated the cultural aspects of  organizational change in the construction industry. Ankrah and Langford (2005) proposed a new measurement tool after analyzing all cultural dimensions and typologies developed in the literature and highlighted the cultural variability between organizations in the project coalition. Literature review shows that despite the growing importance of organizational culture in construction research, there are few cross-cultural, empirical studies. This may be due to the difï ¬ culties of conducting research in several countries. The study reported in this paper forms a part of a cross-cultural research, initiated by CIB W112 on â€Å"Culture in Construction†, concurrently ongoing in 15 different countries. The aim of the research project is to develop an international â€Å"Inventory of Culture in Construction†. It continues to stimulate new participants from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. Research methodology Measurement of culture represents difï ¬ culties, particularly in respect of the identiï ¬ cation of cultural groups and boundaries. This is further complicated by the nature of the construction industry in which projects are temporary and participants are subject to the values and beliefs of their employing organization, professional groups and project organizations. There is an ongoing debate concerning the study of culture among construction management scholars. However, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the methodological aspects of studying culture in the construction industry. In order to be compatible with the studies conducted in other countries participating in the CIB W112 research, Cameron and Quinn’s (1999) â€Å"Competing Values Framework† (CVF) as well as their measurement tool named â€Å"Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument† (OCAI) are adopted as the conceptual paradigm for analysis in this study. The CVF was originally proposed by Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) to understand organizational effectiveness, and was later applied to explore different  issues relative to organizations (Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall, 2001). The CVF is based on two major dimensions. The ï ¬ rst dimension emphasizes the organizational focus (internal versus external), whereas the second one distinguishes between the stability and control and the ï ¬â€šexibility and discretion. These two dimensions form four quadrants (see Figure 1), each representing a major type of organizational culture: (1) clan; (2) adhocracy; (3) market; and (4) hierarchy. Figure 1. The competing values framework Theoretically, these four cultural typologies exist simultaneously in all organizations; therefore, archetypes may be used to describe the pattern of the organizational culture (Paperone, 2003). Sampling and data collection Unit of analysis for this study were the contracting and architectural ï ¬ rms operating in the Turkish Construction Industry. A number of 351 ï ¬ rms were contacted, and 134 of them participated in the study giving a response rate of 38.18 per cent. The ï ¬ rms were selected by judgmental sampling procedure. The judgment criteria used for selection were: . origin of nationality, with emphasis on local ï ¬ rms; . size based on number of employees, with emphasis placed on medium and large ï ¬ rms; and . industry position based on market share, with the focus on the 12 largest ï ¬ rms. Sample consisted of a total of 826 respondents (74.9 per cent male, 25.1 per cent female) including both managerial and non-managerial professionals. The questionnaire comprised two parts. Part I included questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the ï ¬ rms and respondents, which are presented in Table I. Although the analysis conducted in this study was at ï ¬ rm level, the characteristics of the respondents are also provided in Table I to reï ¬â€šect a better proï ¬ le Frequency Characteristics of the ï ¬ rms (N  ¼ 134) Number of ï ¬ rms: Contracting Architectural Firm age (years): ,15 16-25 .25 Size of ï ¬ rms (number of full-time employees): Small Medium Large Characteristics of the respondents (N  ¼ 826) Number of respondents: Contracting Architectural Gender: Female Male Age of respondents (years): 30 and under 31-40 41-50 51 and above Percentage  of the sample. As is seen in Table I, contracting ï ¬ rms are representing the 79.9 per cent of t he sampled organizations and 87.5 per cent of the respondents. For the purpose of this study, organizations with less than 50 employees were classiï ¬ ed as small (46 per cent), those with 51-150 as medium (28 per cent), and those with more than 150 as large (25 per cent). The contracting ï ¬ rms in the survey were generally medium and large-sized whereas the architectural ï ¬ rms were small in size. Searching for the cultural orientations of the ï ¬ rms, Part II was adopted from the â€Å"Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)† developed by Cameron and Quinn (1999). OCAI consists of six different questions which are relevant to the key dimensions of organizational culture: (1) dominant characteristics; (2) organizational leadership; (3) management of employees; (4) organizational glue; (5) strategic emphases; and (6) criteria for success. Each question has four alternative statements representing different cultural orientations making a total of 24 questions. All respondents were asked to rate their organizations’ culture on a ï ¬ ve-point Likert scale. In this scoring system, for each of the ï ¬ ve response categories (completely true, mostly true, partly true, slightly true, never true) a score of 1-5 was assigned, with the highest score of 5 being assigned to â€Å"completely true†. The overall cultural proï ¬ le of an organization was then derived by calculating the  average score of all respondents from the same ï ¬ rm. Reliability coefï ¬ cients (Cronbach alpha) were calculated for each of the different culture types being assessed by the instrument. Coefï ¬ cients were 0.89 for the clan and adhocracy cultures, and 0.86 for the market and hierarchy cultures, which indicate the fairness of all culture types. Results and discussion A cultural proï ¬ le score for each organization was obtained by averaging the respondent’s rating for each cultural type across the six dimensions. This provided an indication of the cultural orientation of sampled ï ¬ rms based on the four cultural types. The average scores for all the participating ï ¬ rms are shown in Table II. As is seen from the table, the dominant culture of the sample is clan culture. Respondents identiï ¬ ed hierarchy type as the next most dominant in their organizations. These predominant cultures were followed by adhocracy and market, respectively. The sampled ï ¬ rms tend to have values consistent with employee focus or clan culture and internal process or hierarchy culture. The values consistent with external orientation and results focus are emphasized to a lesser extent. This ï ¬ nding contributes to our understanding of the alignment between national and organizational cultures. According to Hofstede’s (1980, 2001) model of national culture, Turkey has been described as being high on the collectivism and power distance value dimensions. This suggests that organizational cultures in Turkish ï ¬ rms are characterized by both unequal (or hierarchical) and harmonious, family-like (clan) relationships.

Create Your Own School Essay

A public schools’ job is to create a standardized environment for students of the general population; however, public schools don’t always meet the needs of the students. Charter schools exist to meet the needs of the students and are more open to parental involvement and local control over state and bureaucracies’ control. However, â€Å"charter schools may deter some minority, poor, and working families from seeking enrollment by requiring them to complete volunteer hours and failing to provide transportation and free lunches to eligible students† (Schnaiberg 2000). My school I create will take the benefits of public schools and the benefits of charter schools to create an emphasis on individual learning and respect for cultural diversity. My school offers students in preschool through twelfth grade, an extended school day and longer school year, because most of December is off. My secular school is founded on respecting and encouraging other religions t hus the school works around religious holidays, creating all secular and religious holidays off days. School is in session September 3rd through June 20th. Students in early childhood education program and kindergarten are in class Monday-Friday 7:30am-12:30 pm. Students in first through fifth are in class Monday-Friday 7:00am-4:45 pm. Students in sixth through eighth are in class Monday-Friday 6:45am-4:45 pm. Students in ninth through twelfth are in class Monday-Friday 6am-12:30 pm. Students in ninth through twelfth grade are required to have a Monday-Friday work experience internship; students under sixteen have an on-campus internship (1-4pm), while students over sixteen have an off-campus internship (1:30-4:30pm). My school’s goals are to have students by the end of twelfth grade be able to understand and comprehend at or near college level. In addition, students will learn three languages (English, Spanish, and another), read music sheets, be able to play a musical instrument or sing, have life skills, and have a knowledge of the diverse world we live in. All students pre school through twelfth grade will learn English composition, math, science, grammar, social sciences, geography, reading, literature, foreign languages, visual/performing arts (music, art, theatre, and dance), cultural diversity, U.S. government/economy, and physical education. Middle school students will learn speech: interpersonal communication, small group communication, argumentation, intercultural communication, public speaking, and forensics/debate. Middle school and high school students will learn required electives: basic life skills, introduction to computers, cultures of the world, nutrition/health/safety/careers, life skills, philosophy/religions/cultural anthropology, and human sexuality/anatomy/physiology. My school’s goals are to have students prepared for college and/or having a job as well as serving in the community. In addition to a work experience internship, high school students are required to take personal electives, which are any additional high school electives taken through the local community college or 30 units of college units though AP, CLEP, Dantes, etc. Middle school students are required to take personal electives, which are any additional middle school electives that are high school level. All students sixth through twelfth are required to complete community service to graduate and achieve units (10 units=20 hrs). Middle school students are required to complete at least sixty hours of community service and high school students are required to complete at least eighty hours of community service to graduate. Middle school students are required 360 units to graduate including personal electives and community service; high school students are required 520 units to graduate including personal electives, work internship, and community service. Summer school is required for middle school and high school students. Students are required at least twenty units. Repertory and accelerated classes available. My school holds a high sta ndard for the teachers as well for the students. Students are expected to behave, strive for excellence, respect others, have a good character, and be willing to learn, while the faculty is expected to do the same. â€Å"Most charter schools do not require their teachers to be certified† (Borsa 1999). However, my school requires all teachers K-5th to hold a Teaching Credential and a Masters Degree and teachers 6th-12th are required to hold a Masters or Doctoral Degree in the area they teach. My school promotes a healthy life style, school uniforms, and parent involvement. Parents are required to pay one fee that covers all school material, lunches, schools uniforms, field trips, and other necessary items. The food at my school, which is free, and healthy, that means no soft drinks, cookies, candy, chips, or any other junk food; all birthdays at school will be celebrated without unhealthy food. Parents are encouraged to eat healthy and show students healthy life styles. Students are required to wear a school uniform, a short-sleeved tee shirt with school logo and black pants/shorts/dress/skirt or for formal attire is long-sleeved shirt and black pants/shorts /dress/skirt. The shirt will have a color to represent a grade: Pre-K: Pink, K: Purple 1st: Blue, 2nd: Turquoise, 3rd: Green, 4th: Light Green, 5th: Yellow, 6th: Orange, 7th: Red, 8th: Maroon, 9th: Brown, 10th: Black, 11th: Gray, and 12th: White. Like the school uniform, backpacks will be in the color of the school uniform and have the students name on it. My school has no state standardized tests, but the use of state standards. Instead students are required to test into each grade through a test that measures their cognitive and behavioral level. The complete cognitive test has twenty-seven essays and 2030 multiple choice/true-false questions, which is two essays and 140 or 150 questions per grade. The cognitive test measures what the student should know by the end of each grade. Students can challenge an exam if they feel the grade or class they are in doesn’t reflect their abilities. In addition, students are required to take a â€Å"test out exam â€Å"in each subject. It serves as a measure for student learning, and an evaluation for teachers and parents. This exam is compared to the â€Å"test in exam† and options for tutoring/after school help for struggling students. If student doesn’t score higher than 80 percent on an exam, they won’t be promoted to the next class or grade unless they successfully retake the exam. The exam can be retaken twice before the student must repeat a grade of class. My school doesn’t use the Standard Letter Grade, but gives students the option for it. Instead of standard letter grades, students in K-5 will have a grade of Pass (B- or higher in Standard Letter Grade) or No Pass (C+ or lower in Standard Letter Grade). Then 6-12th grade students will have the option of keeping their grades in Pass/No Pass or having standard letter grades. (Students will be put on Academic Probation if their GPA reaches 2.99 or below.) Behavior, class participation, in-class work for students K-12 will be graded in O=Outstanding, E=Exceeds Expectations, A=Acceptable, P=Passing, N=Needs Improvement. Each week behavior and participation reports are sent home so parents can see how their student’s behavior and participation improves or becomes a problem. Teachers and parents go over the child’s portfolio, which includes tests, papers, art, quizzes, and other in-class material each quarter. At the end of the year students evaluate their own work and other’s work in the portfolio. The student, the teacher, other studen ts, and the parent grade the portfolio like pieces of art are evaluated at an art gallery. My school gives students the option of independent study or regular classroom learning in middle school and high school. All preschool through twelfth grade students are put in their cognitive level and in small classrooms of twenty students of less; however, middle school and high school students have the option of regular class or packets. In regular class students participate in in-class assignments, quizzes, and tests; students must earn homework and extra credit. Students must have at least 240 points out of 300 to pass each quarter; otherwise the quarter will be repeated in packets. In a packets class or independent study students come to class participate and take in-class quizzes and tests; however, class work is done in packets. Students must have an A- or higher to move on to the next packet. Packets are allowed to be taken home and are equivalent to one week of regular class in-class work; only Physical Education, Speech, Science Lab, and Visual/Performing Arts are not allowed to be taken in packets. The packets are recommended for students who are ill, on religious holidays, etc., which prevent them from attending class. In addition, all students on holiday (December) have the option of completing packets for credit and completing quizzes and tests online with a proctor; the packet requires an A- or better to move on. Overall, my school focuses on creating an emphasis on individual learning and respect for cultural diversity; however, there are intuitional and individual barriers. Intuitional barriers will arise when parents who aren’t secular will try to implement their beliefs into the curriculum, but this school offers a well-rounded approach to learning not faith-based learning. In addition, problems may arise when parents try to control what the child learns and what they become; parents are encouraged to let their children be good at what they are good at. Small class sizes and indivualized learning can cause problems for students and parents who want a more mainstreamed education. Students may feel it is too hard for them, but this school is meant to be challenging in academics, but not in socializing. Since there will be intuitional and individual barriers, parents and teachers are encouraged to be open and discuss any problems and look for what is in the best interest of the child. My belief is that education should offer students prepare students for life outside of education. I provided a school that offers students an extended school day and longer school year and summer school to keep kids out of trouble and respect religious beliefs. My school has educated students prepared for college and/or having a job as well as serving in the community. In addition, I provided a school that promotes a healthy life style, school uniforms, individual learning, good behavior, options in learning, and parent involvement. The goal of my school is to prepare and educate students to learn and be the best they can be in whatever they are good at. This charter school will create an emphasis on individual learning and respect for cultural diversity and more. Although this charter school will have intuitional and individual barriers, the school will provide more positive learning than a negative one. References Borsa, J., Ahmed, M., & Perry, K. (August 1999). Charter School Goverence. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration, Jackson Hole, WY. ED 436 856. Schnaiberg, L. (2000). Charter schools: Choice, diversity may be at odds. Education Week, 19(35), 1, 18-20.

Cloud Services Go Mainstream

Case Study 3. 4 – Salesforce. Com: Cloud Services Go Mainstream 1. How does Salesforce. com use cloud computing? Salesforce. com provides customer relationship management and other software applications using the software-as-a-service business model over the Internet. Cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing, eliminates the need for a business to make large up-front hardware and software investments and reduces the time to implement new programs. Subscribers to Salesforce. om don’t have to purchase or maintain any hardware (albeit personal computing devices) nor do they have to install any special operating systems, database servers, or application servers. Other than the monthly user subscription fee, businesses reduce their licensing and maintenance fees. Users access the Salesforce. com cloud through a standard Web browser or a mobile handheld device. Businesses using the Salesforce. com’s cloud have an easier time scaling their system as they increa se or decrease their workforce – they adjust the number of subscriptions to the cloud.Salesforce. com offers some customization of its software so a business can adjust the software to unique business processes. It offers three types of clouds: Sales cloud, service cloud, and the custom cloud. The sales and service clouds help businesses improve sales and customer service. The custom cloud provides a venue for customers to develop their own applications for use within the broader Salesforce network. 2. What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth? How well will it be able to meet those challenges? Challenges include: Increased competition both from traditional industry leaders and new challengers hoping to replicate Salesforce’s success -Expanding its business model into other areas -Ensuring the system is available 24/7 with no outages -Defending the system against security breeches Salesforce is answering the first two challenges by pa rtnering with Google and combining its services with Gmail, GoogleDocs, Google Talk, and Google Calendar to allow its customers to accomplish more tasks via the Web . Salesforce. comand Google both hope that their Salesforce. com for Google Apps nitiative will galvanize further growth in on-demand software. By partnering with Apple, Salesforce. com can expand its applications to iPhone users who will have access to their data anywhere any time. Through its partnership with Amazon. com, Force customers can tap into Amazon. com’s cloud computing services that can handle â€Å"cloud burst computing† tasks that require extra processing power or storage capacity. Salesforce opened up its Custom Cloud (also known as Force. com) application development platform to other independent software developers and listed their programs on its AppExchange.The company introduced a development tool for integrating with Facebook’s social network that allows customers to build appli cations that call functions at the Facebook site. Small businesses can go online and download software applications, some add-ons to Salesforce. com and others that are unrelated. In order to grow its revenues to levels that industry observers and Wall Street eventually expects, Salesforce will need to change its focus from selling a suite of software applications to providing a broader cloud computing â€Å"platform† on which many software companies can deliver applications.To ensure system availability, Salesforce. com provides tools to assure customers about its system reliability and also offers PC applications that tie into their services so users can work offline. 3. What kinds of businesses could benefit from switching to Salesforce and why? Small to medium-size businesses are probably the most likely ones to switch to Salesforce. com because of cost factors and the lack of having in-house resources to provide the same level of computing capacity.Businesses that are tr ying to increase the sophistication of their computing capabilities could also benefit from switching to Salesforce as long as the two are compatible. Businesses that rely on smart customer management would benefit greatly from using the tools available at Salesforce. com. Also companies that have small sales and marketing teams can benefit from the software-as-a-service business model. 4. What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to use Saleforce. com for your business?Businesses should assess the costs and benefits of the service, weighing all people, organization, and technology issues. Does the software-as-a-service application integrate well with the existing systems? Does it deliver a level of service and performance that’s acceptable for the business? Does the SaaS fit with the business’ overall competitive strategy and allow the company to focus on core business issues instead of technology challenges? 5. Could a company run its entire busine ss using Salesforce. com, Force. com, and App Exchange?Explain your answer. Depending on the type of business, a company probably could run its entire operations using Salesforce. com, Force. com, and App Exchange. All four major functional areas of a business are supported: Sales and Marketing, Manufacturing and Production, Finance, and Human Resources. There are dozens of applications available to fully support all of these areas. It would be a matter of integrating the software from Salesforce. com and App Exchange with any existing legacy systems within the business.

The Beginnings of Race, Culture, and Sexuality in Colonialism Essay

The Beginnings of Race, Culture, and Sexuality in Colonialism - Essay Example In terms of Foucaults argument, we can see that as a modern society, we still consider certain topics such as discussions about sex, a taboo topic and therefore, should not be discussed in public. Pretty much like it was for most couples during the Victorian era. We still live by the mindset that children should not be allowed to hear sexual discussions simply because the children are not having sex. But these days, the children are exposed early on to the topic of sexuality and gender. Yet we refuse to let them partcipate in the discussion because we have managed to carry over the Victorian mindset throughout the generations, culminating in the taboo discussion of our modern era. It is however nice to see that just like in the Victorian era, there are quite a number of 21st century experts who are opting to help open the minds of people pertaining to the matters or gender, race, and sexuality as it applies to the 21st century generation. The link between the Victorian era beliefs pertaining to the morality and virtue of the society still exists in our era. However, we are slowly coming out of this recessive argument in order to create a deeper understanding of sexuality in terms of the sexual act and its relation to gender role acceptance. With over three centuries of social transformation, I will have to say that we have move quite slowly and as such, have a society whose beliefs about race, culture, and sexuality during colonial times can still find itself going strong. We are still held back by the Victorian era beliefs that any discussion pertaining to sexuality, race, and gender must be addressed within the relationship of the couple rather than openly discussing it in order to achieve an acceptable end result. The Victorian era represented a time of going back to the privacy and elegance of previous eras. Prior to this era, our society was openly crude and under educated, characteristics which, at the time proved to be beneficial to creating a more mature society where no topic was taboo and cultural sensitivity began to find its footing. By bringing the sense of privacy into the discussion and requiring society to become more respectable by setting ground rules for certain discussions, we unwittingly set the standards by which our modern day society works. In fact, the experiences of Victorian era society could be considered to be a throwback to the time of Christopher Colombus when women were seen as the mother of the planet. A cosmic breath from whom the infant males yearn to feed on her warmth and love. This era fed the imagination of the people with open images of men and women cavorting in sexual pleasure pretty much similar to the era before the Victorian dawn. This was the era of t he porno - tropic traditions that lay the basis and foundation for the pornographic minds and stories that now exist. With women of the era being portrayed as more sexually active and needy than men, we can see that very little has changed in our modern times when considering the story basis for most female sexual fantasies as worked out in various forms of modern