Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Week 2 - Journal - Reflections on Education Policy Coursework

Week 2 - Journal - Reflections on Education Policy - Coursework Example Such observations arise from the high cost of education coupled with the pressure arising from their poor backgrounds. President George Bush’s administration introduced the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. The act remains the most recent and effective policy that seeks to address the problem by increasing funding to the education sector thereby supporting K-12 schooling in the country (Meier & Wood, 2004). The policy has made basic education affordable thus encouraging millions of American children from poor backgrounds to learn and develop careers. Following the formulation and implementation of the policy, the number of students has increased in numerous schools throughout the country. Prior to reading this week’s reading assignment, I believed the poverty was a major contributor to the rising cases of school dropouts. The week’s assignment proved my thoughts and showed that the government appreciated such social impediments to education thereby formulating and implementing laws that sought to provide every individual of a school going age with an opportunity to attend school and acquire appropriate grades capable of improving the quality of their

Monday, October 28, 2019

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel Essay Example for Free

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel Essay The Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman was praised by The Economist (2006) as â€Å"the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century†¦possibly of all of it. In 1970, he published an essay on the social responsibility of business in the New York Times Magazine. In his article, he explains in complex detail about the notion of â€Å"social responsibility† of businessmen within a corporate environment and their goal to increase profits. Indeed, at first glance, this quote seems to capture the mentality of many of the actors in the financial sector in our era. Banks and financial institutions are accused of acting unethically and only in their self-interest to increase profits along with brokers and investment bankers who are accused of primarily aiming high incentives and bonuses by selling unconscionably high-default assets. Scholars argued that corporate governance failings and lack of ethical behaviour were significant causes of the financial crisis of autumn 2008 (Skypala, 2008). This essay discusses the question whether the above statement made by famous economist Milton Friedman is still relevant in the context of business today and to what extent it is relating to the financial sector and in particular to the financial crisis of autumn 2008. In order to address this problem, it is important to discuss the fundamental view behind Friedman’s idea since it needs to be fully understood and interpreted. He stated that the social responsibility of business was to maximize profits and to create value for stockholders within the bounds of the law. Furthermore, he thought that using corporate resources for purely altruistic purposes would be socialism. Moreover, corporations had no social responsibility other than to spend its resources to increase the profits of its investors since only investors as individuals could decide to engage in social contributions. Thus, he believed that the corporate executives, who were appointed by investors to make profits on investments, could not engage in social contributions using the corporate money. As a result, they could only do so as a private individual on their own behalf. Friedman devoted â€Å"social responsibility† to violating the interest of the manager’s employers. In other words, if managers invest in â€Å"social responsible† projects, they will harm the business since these investments will result in inefficiency and lost production leading to a reduction in shareholder’s wealth. His idea and the logic behind it have proven unconvincing to many scholars (Mulligan, 1986; Feldman, 2007; Wilcke, 2004). Indeed, several arguments can be shown which offset his idea. Firstly, his theory does not allow for the possibility that profits and social responsibility can ever exist together. It is necessary to consider the constraint noted by Jensen (2002) who indicated that it is â€Å"logically impossible to maximize in more than one dimension at the same time unless the dimensions are monotone transformations of one another†. This constraint implies that profits and social performance cannot be maximized simultaneously. That is why there is a trade-off between profits and social performance. Still, it does not mean that profit maximization and social performance cannot be congruent. In reality, there are many examples which show that both can coexist. Several reasons are to be mentioned here. Nowadays, banks and financial institutions are more aware of their role towards the society since they realize that they are an integral part of it. Furthermore, they notice that they can contribute positively to the environment and society with a positive effect on their reputation, creating a higher firm value. Furthermore, since numerous scandals of firms violating morality and ethics in the late 1990s and early 2000s (e. g. WorldCom and Enron) the significance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasing tremendously and included in the business culture of most of the financial institutions today. The concept of CSR means that â€Å"corporations have ethical and moral responsibilities in addition to their responsibilities to earn a fair return for investors and comply with the law† (Munstermann, 2007). So, almost every large corporation is increasingly investing to improve its performance on sustainability assets. Banks and financial institutions know that society is always enlightened when it sees that a firm is engaged in charity and donating projects. While it is true that engagement in â€Å"social responsible† projects, for example donating for orphans of the developing countries means explicitly higher expenses and hence, reducing the profit, it has a long term profit as well. Engagement in donating projects has a positive effect on the reputation of firms, thus, affecting positively the consumer behavior of customers who will buy more products of firm, thus creating profit. Friedman also never considers the very real possibility that companies engaging in â€Å"social responsible† projects gain the support from the community and polity that might, otherwise, eventually turn against them. Nowadays, almost all companies working in the financial sector are in some kind of way socially engaged. Looking at websites of famous big banks like Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, one can find headings of Corporate Social Responsibility throughout the pages. Deutsche Bank has its own report on CSR for each year which reports engagement in AIDS projects in South Africa and support of education for children in India. JP Morgan reported an annual donation amount of $110 million for organization in 33 different countries and Goldman Sachs is actively involved in environmental projects. This shows that almost 4 decades after the famous essay of Friedman, companies do not follow his sole idea anymore but are or are forced to act socially responsible. On the other hand, a business should try to make profit since it is inherent in its nature and by definition (except for non-profit organization). According to the Business Dictionary, a business is an â€Å"economic system in which goods and services are exchanged for one another or money. Every business requires some form of investment and a sufficient number of customers to whom its output can be sold at profit on a consistent basis. † If a company does not make profit on a consistent and long-term basis, it will face financial distress and bankruptcy. Then, employees and workers will become unemployed which will affect the society negatively. For example, all the employees of banks going bankrupt in the financial crisis like Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae and Lehman Brothers were facing hardship. Hence, it is true that businesses are to a certain extent socially responsible to make profit in order to ensure job security and to create more jobs. This helps the society and improves the economy of the society. But Friedman does not consider the fact that if companies’ sole interest would be profit making, they can harm people and the surrounding environment. What if firms poison the water by disposing chemicals in rivers and sea disposing toxic that leads to illnesses and death of animals and human beings? Friedman also fails to argue whether profit-generating actions like selling nuclear bombs to terror organizations, or knowingly manufacturing and selling defective, health-threatening products count as social responsibility as long as the company makes profit. Evidently, in the financial sector there are not activities such as producing bombs or life-threatening drugs. Even though this sector cannot produce life-threatening products, it can create a value chain of unethical and careless activities that can damage the whole world as well. One example is the Asian financial crisis in 1997 where moral hazards were mentioned as a major cause. Moral hazards are â€Å"negligent and fraudulent insureds† (Baker, 2000). It also refers to situation that tempted otherwise good people. The problem with moral hazards in the Asian financial crisis was that Asian banks thought that they would receive implicit guarantees that they would be bailed out if they encountered financial distress. Hence, these banks and companies were much more speculative in their investments and kept investing increasingly. If the investments fail, they will not have to bear the cost since it will be picked up by the government. They were playing with people’s money and did not act in the social interest of their customers. Instead, they were only focussing on making as much profit as possible. The result is known to everybody: In 1997 the nations of East Asia experienced the worst economic crisis they have never seen before. Obviously, the latest and most discussed topic on morality in the two recent years has been the culpability of shareholders and banks along with board directors for failings that led to the financial crisis of 2008. On the one hand, the crisis can be blamed on mortgage brokers, investment bankers and banks’ executives. Skewed incentives and greed contributed too much of the crisis. For example, mortgage brokers generate sub-prime mortgages but were paid regardless of the outcome. That is why they were selling unscrupulously assets with high default risk to clueless customers in order to receive high commissions. Not to mention â€Å"Wall Street Executives† who were focusing solely on how to increase their bonuses and remuneration packages. Also, Banks who took on these mortgages were accused of shoddy risk management and unethical behaviour, since they knew from the beginning that these subprime mortgages would eventually be securitized and removed from the bank’s balance sheet. Again, the originating banks got paid up front for processing the mortgages without having to retain part of the risk. Another factor is the misleading ratings of financial instruments credit agencies that were by far from independent. Arrangers of the secured assets were allowed to manipulate the creation of secured assets by mixing good assets with high risk assets to the point of getting a triple A-rating. If they did not get this rating, the assets were withdrawn, reconfigured and resubmitted. Since agencies are owned by banks, they were subjected to give best ratings to these dangerous assets and mortgage brokers knowing the risky idea behind those assets sold them to unsuspecting investors. According to Friedman, every party involved in the actions mentioned above showed â€Å"social responsibility† since they did not care about their social responsibility to the world but only about maximizing their profits. Evidently, the aftermath of the American financial crisis has shown that the social responsibility of business is definitely not only to increase their profits. If banks, brokers and lenders, accountants, the government and important financial organization did not incorrectly assessed or even ignored the magnitude of the risks mentioned above, if managers and investment bankers were not greedy and showed herd investment behavior, it can be argued that the crisis could have been prevented. But the various parties acted immorally and socially irresponsible not caring about the social consequences of their actions. Consequently, the Asian crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008 are two memorable examples that offset Friedman’s idea. In conclusion, this paper has shown that Friedman’s request of being socially responsible by focusing solely on increasing profits is nowadays theoretically not accepted by banks and financial institutions. In contrast, in the 21st century social responsible corresponds to the alignment of business operations with social and ethical values. It is seen as the key to beat the competitor and to ensure sustainable growth. But the latest financial crisis has shown that even though CSR is part of the business culture of the large corporations, the key players in the large corporations do not practice social responsibility in a proper manner. It seems that CSR and corporate governance are a compilation of words and rules that adds only little value to the everyday businesses. Money has made everybody blind. Everybody wanted to have a piece of the big cake leading them to lower their inhibition threshold. The â€Å"social responsibility† of businesses should not be increasing profit but focusing on what it really means in practice to encourage stewardship. As a matter of fact, banks and financial institutions first need to show social and ethical manner in order to prevent another disaster like the financial crisis of 2008. All in all, businesses need to focus on environmental and social issues in the arena of corporate responsibility since the society expects and demands responsibility of organizations. In fact, the law expects it as well. Banks and financial institutions are challenged after the aftermath of the financial crisis they have to find a way how to act in the best interest of stakeholders, society, the government and the environment, still being able to make sustainable profit. It is now a request from the society. ? References Baker, T. (2000). Insuring Morality. Business Dictionary. Definition of business. Homepage: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/business. html [1. 2. 2010]. Feldman, G. (2007). Putting Uncle Milton Friedman To Bed: Reexamining Milton Friedmans Essay on the Social Responsibility of Business. Labor Studies Journal (32), 125-141. Jensen, M. C. (2002). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2002 (12), 404-437. Milton Friedman, a giant among economist. The Economist. Verfugbar unter: http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=8313925 [28. 1. 2010]. Mulligan, T. (1986). A Critique of Milton Friedmans Essay The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. Journal of Business Ethics (5), 265-269. Munstermann, T. (2007). Corporate Social Responsibility: Gabler. Skypala, P. (2008, 17. November). Time to reward good corporate governance. Financial Times, S. 6. [28. 1. 2010]. Wilcke, R. W. (2004). An Appropriate Ethical Model for Business and a Critique of Milton Friedmans Thesis. The Independent Review (2), 187-209. The Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman was praised by The Economist (2006) as â€Å"the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century†¦possibly of all of it. In 1970, he published an essay on the social responsibility of business in the New York Times Magazine. In his article, he explains in complex detail about the notion of â€Å"social responsibility† of businessmen within a corporate environment and their goal to increase profits. Indeed, at first glance, this quote seems to capture the mentality of many of the actors in the financial sector in our era. Banks and financial institutions are accused of acting unethically and only in their self-interest to increase profits along with brokers and investment bankers who are accused of primarily aiming high incentives and bonuses by selling unconscionably high-default assets. Scholars argued that corporate governance failings and lack of ethical behaviour were significant causes of the financial crisis of autumn 2008 (Skypala, 2008). This essay discusses the question whether the above statement made by famous economist Milton Friedman is still relevant in the context of business today and to what extent it is relating to the financial sector and in particular to the financial crisis of autumn 2008. In order to address this problem, it is important to discuss the fundamental view behind Friedman’s idea since it needs to be fully understood and interpreted. He stated that the social responsibility of business was to maximize profits and to create value for stockholders within the bounds of the law. Furthermore, he thought that using corporate resources for purely altruistic purposes would be socialism. Moreover, corporations had no social responsibility other than to spend its resources to increase the profits of its investors since only investors as individuals could decide to engage in social contributions. Thus, he believed that the corporate executives, who were appointed by investors to make profits on investments, could not engage in social contributions using the corporate money. As a result, they could only do so as a private individual on their own behalf. Friedman devoted â€Å"social responsibility† to violating the interest of the manager’s employers. In other words, if managers invest in â€Å"social responsible† projects, they will harm the business since these investments will result in inefficiency and lost production leading to a reduction in shareholder’s wealth. His idea and the logic behind it have proven unconvincing to many scholars (Mulligan, 1986; Feldman, 2007; Wilcke, 2004). Indeed, several arguments can be shown which offset his idea. Firstly, his theory does not allow for the possibility that profits and social responsibility can ever exist together. It is necessary to consider the constraint noted by Jensen (2002) who indicated that it is â€Å"logically impossible to maximize in more than one dimension at the same time unless the dimensions are monotone transformations of one another†. This constraint implies that profits and social performance cannot be maximized simultaneously. That is why there is a trade-off between profits and social performance. Still, it does not mean that profit maximization and social performance cannot be congruent. In reality, there are many examples which show that both can coexist. Several reasons are to be mentioned here. Nowadays, banks and financial institutions are more aware of their role towards the society since they realize that they are an integral part of it. Furthermore, they notice that they can contribute positively to the environment and society with a positive effect on their reputation, creating a higher firm value. Furthermore, since numerous scandals of firms violating morality and ethics in the late 1990s and early 2000s (e. g. WorldCom and Enron) the significance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasing tremendously and included in the business culture of most of the financial institutions today. The concept of CSR means that â€Å"corporations have ethical and moral responsibilities in addition to their responsibilities to earn a fair return for investors and comply with the law† (Munstermann, 2007). So, almost every large corporation is increasingly investing to improve its performance on sustainability assets. Banks and financial institutions know that society is always enlightened when it sees that a firm is engaged in charity and donating projects. While it is true that engagement in â€Å"social responsible† projects, for example donating for orphans of the developing countries means explicitly higher expenses and hence, reducing the profit, it has a long term profit as well. Engagement in donating projects has a positive effect on the reputation of firms, thus, affecting positively the consumer behavior of customers who will buy more products of firm, thus creating profit. Friedman also never considers the very real possibility that companies engaging in â€Å"social responsible† projects gain the support from the community and polity that might, otherwise, eventually turn against them. Nowadays, almost all companies working in the financial sector are in some kind of way socially engaged. Looking at websites of famous big banks like Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, one can find headings of Corporate Social Responsibility throughout the pages. Deutsche Bank has its own report on CSR for each year which reports engagement in AIDS projects in South Africa and support of education for children in India. JP Morgan reported an annual donation amount of $110 million for organization in 33 different countries and Goldman Sachs is actively involved in environmental projects. This shows that almost 4 decades after the famous essay of Friedman, companies do not follow his sole idea anymore but are or are forced to act socially responsible. On the other hand, a business should try to make profit since it is inherent in its nature and by definition (except for non-profit organization). According to the Business Dictionary, a business is an â€Å"economic system in which goods and services are exchanged for one another or money. Every business requires some form of investment and a sufficient number of customers to whom its output can be sold at profit on a consistent basis. † If a company does not make profit on a consistent and long-term basis, it will face financial distress and bankruptcy. Then, employees and workers will become unemployed which will affect the society negatively. For example, all the employees of banks going bankrupt in the financial crisis like Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae and Lehman Brothers were facing hardship. Hence, it is true that businesses are to a certain extent socially responsible to make profit in order to ensure job security and to create more jobs. This helps the society and improves the economy of the society. But Friedman does not consider the fact that if companies’ sole interest would be profit making, they can harm people and the surrounding environment. What if firms poison the water by disposing chemicals in rivers and sea disposing toxic that leads to illnesses and death of animals and human beings? Friedman also fails to argue whether profit-generating actions like selling nuclear bombs to terror organizations, or knowingly manufacturing and selling defective, health-threatening products count as social responsibility as long as the company makes profit. Evidently, in the financial sector there are not activities such as producing bombs or life-threatening drugs. Even though this sector cannot produce life-threatening products, it can create a value chain of unethical and careless activities that can damage the whole world as well. One example is the Asian financial crisis in 1997 where moral hazards were mentioned as a major cause. Moral hazards are â€Å"negligent and fraudulent insureds† (Baker, 2000). It also refers to situation that tempted otherwise good people. The problem with moral hazards in the Asian financial crisis was that Asian banks thought that they would receive implicit guarantees that they would be bailed out if they encountered financial distress. Hence, these banks and companies were much more speculative in their investments and kept investing increasingly. If the investments fail, they will not have to bear the cost since it will be picked up by the government. They were playing with people’s money and did not act in the social interest of their customers. Instead, they were only focussing on making as much profit as possible. The result is known to everybody: In 1997 the nations of East Asia experienced the worst economic crisis they have never seen before. Obviously, the latest and most discussed topic on morality in the two recent years has been the culpability of shareholders and banks along with board directors for failings that led to the financial crisis of 2008. On the one hand, the crisis can be blamed on mortgage brokers, investment bankers and banks’ executives. Skewed incentives and greed contributed too much of the crisis. For example, mortgage brokers generate sub-prime mortgages but were paid regardless of the outcome. That is why they were selling unscrupulously assets with high default risk to clueless customers in order to receive high commissions. Not to mention â€Å"Wall Street Executives† who were focusing solely on how to increase their bonuses and remuneration packages. Also, Banks who took on these mortgages were accused of shoddy risk management and unethical behaviour, since they knew from the beginning that these subprime mortgages would eventually be securitized and removed from the bank’s balance sheet. Again, the originating banks got paid up front for processing the mortgages without having to retain part of the risk. Another factor is the misleading ratings of financial instruments credit agencies that were by far from independent. Arrangers of the secured assets were allowed to manipulate the creation of secured assets by mixing good assets with high risk assets to the point of getting a triple A-rating. If they did not get this rating, the assets were withdrawn, reconfigured and resubmitted. Since agencies are owned by banks, they were subjected to give best ratings to these dangerous assets and mortgage brokers knowing the risky idea behind those assets sold them to unsuspecting investors. According to Friedman, every party involved in the actions mentioned above showed â€Å"social responsibility† since they did not care about their social responsibility to the world but only about maximizing their profits. Evidently, the aftermath of the American financial crisis has shown that the social responsibility of business is definitely not only to increase their profits. If banks, brokers and lenders, accountants, the government and important financial organization did not incorrectly assessed or even ignored the magnitude of the risks mentioned above, if managers and investment bankers were not greedy and showed herd investment behavior, it can be argued that the crisis could have been prevented. But the various parties acted immorally and socially irresponsible not caring about the social consequences of their actions. Consequently, the Asian crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008 are two memorable examples that offset Friedman’s idea. In conclusion, this paper has shown that Friedman’s request of being socially responsible by focusing solely on increasing profits is nowadays theoretically not accepted by banks and financial institutions. In contrast, in the 21st century social responsible corresponds to the alignment of business operations with social and ethical values. It is seen as the key to beat the competitor and to ensure sustainable growth. But the latest financial crisis has shown that even though CSR is part of the business culture of the large corporations, the key players in the large corporations do not practice social responsibility in a proper manner. It seems that CSR and corporate governance are a compilation of words and rules that adds only little value to the everyday businesses. Money has made everybody blind. Everybody wanted to have a piece of the big cake leading them to lower their inhibition threshold. The â€Å"social responsibility† of businesses should not be increasing profit but focusing on what it really means in practice to encourage stewardship. As a matter of fact, banks and financial institutions first need to show social and ethical manner in order to prevent another disaster like the financial crisis of 2008. All in all, businesses need to focus on environmental and social issues in the arena of corporate responsibility since the society expects and demands responsibility of organizations. In fact, the law expects it as well. Banks and financial institutions are challenged after the aftermath of the financial crisis they have to find a way how to act in the best interest of stakeholders, society, the government and the environment, still being able to make sustainable profit. It is now a request from the society. ? References Baker, T. (2000). Insuring Morality.Business Dictionary. Definition of business. Homepage: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/business. html [1. 2. 2010]. Feldman, G. (2007). Putting Uncle Milton Friedman To Bed: Reexamining Milton Friedmans Essay on the Social Responsibility of Business. Labor Studies Journal (32), 125-141. Jensen, M. C. (2002). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2002 (12), 404-437. Milton Friedman, a giant among economist. The Economist. Verfugbar unter: http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=8313925 [28. 1. 2010]. Mulligan, T. (1986). A Critique of Milton Friedmans Essay The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. Journal of Business Ethics (5), 265-269. Munstermann, T. (2007). Corporate Social Responsibility: Gabler. Skypala, P. (2008, 17. November). Time to reward good corporate governance. Financial Times, S. 6. [28. 1. 2010]. Wilcke, R. W. (2004). An Appropriate Ethical Model for Business and a Critique of Milton Friedmans Thesis. The Independent Review (2), 187-209.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Othello vs. Iago :: essays research papers

In this thesis I will explain the reasonings behind Iago . Iago is obviously the "bad apple" in this book and I will explain several reasons for this behavior. Iago is the whole reason there is any conflict in Othello. If he never had entered the play Othello would have married Desdemona and they would have lived happily ever after. Right from the beginning of the play to the very end he causes conflicts. He is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of: Othello Desdemona, Emilia, Cassio, and Roderigo. In the very beginning of Act 1 Iago displays his hatred for Othello. He is angry at him for making Cassio the lieutenant. He then tells Roderigo that Othello and Desdemona are getting married. The two of them then go tell Desdemona's father, Brabantio, that Othello and his daughter had gotten eloped. This infuriates Brabantio. Soon after Brabantio gets a gang after Othello. Iago's treachery is first displayed hear. Iago was the person who insighted the whole ordeal. As soon as everyone arrives in Cyprus, Iago puts his plan in effect. He gets Roderigo to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are in love. This is a very significant part in showing Iago's evil. He gets Roderigo to develop a hatred for Cassio who just happens to be a victim of circumstance. He gets Cassio drunk then has Roderigo provoke a fight. Soon after Cassio stabs a man named Montano. Othello comes out and dismisses Cassio from lieutenancy. Iago is still not satisfied with his treachery. He still wants to be lieutenant. He convinces Cassio to arrange a meeting to talk with Desdemona about re-instating him as lieutenant. Cassio doesn't really know why Iago wants him to meet with Desdemona. At the end of this act Cassio says: "I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest." This line shows Cassio is not in the wrong, Iago is masterminding all of it. Othello sees Cassio talk with Desdemona and Iago comments on how that is suspicious.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Black Death

Black Death refers to a bubonic and pneumonic plague believed to have come from rats and which spread throughout Western Europe during the 14th century resulting to the death of millions, drastically decreasing the overall population of Europe, and changing the economic and cultural landscape of the region. It came in periodic epidemics from 1300s to the 1700s in the various places where it struck. The plague is said to have originated in Central Asia when the Mongol army, in an attempt to take siege of the Caffa in the Crimea during the early 1300s, catapulted plague-infested corpses into the city. The fleeing traders carried the disease with them to Sicily. From Italy, it immediately spread into peopled towns and cities around neighboring France, Spain, Portugal, England, and other parts of Europe. It caused the total disappearance of villages as about one-third of the entire population of Europe died in the epidemic which ensued. It was most virulent in England where it claimed about half of its population. It spread quickly because doctors did not have enough knowledge then on how to cure the disease and any purpose of finding a cure was defeated by the fact that the plague claimed its victim within a week. Poor hygiene and sanitation practices among the crowded European cities also contributed to the outbreak. Aside from the dramatic decrease in Europe's population, the Black Death stopped on-going wars and caused a slump in trade. It decreased available labor in the farmlands. It even affected the Catholic Church as people turned to superstition to explain the cause of the plague when their faith could not do anything to cure it. There was mass slaughter and burning of Jews who were accused of spreading the plague. A good effect of the epidemic, however, is that the shortage of workers resulted to better remuneration for the peasants as farm owners tried to outdo each other in luring the peasantry to work for them. These resulted to social mobility which would eventually lessen the power of the nobility and clergy in succeeding centuries. The Black Death experience illustrates how disease could change the history of humankind especially if it affects multitudes of populations around the world. With the advanced technology in the field of medicine today however, and the presence of international organizations like the World Health Organization, it has become easier to contain epidemics before they could become as widespread as the Black Death experience. The Black Death â€Å"The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe† by Robert S. Gottfried is known as â€Å"A fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror — killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of medieval society and civilization. † The Black Death was an epidemic which spread across almost all of Europe in the years 1346 –1353; the plague killed over a third of the entire population. It has been described as the worst natural disaster in European history.The Black Death discusses the causes and r esults of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the culture of medieval Europe and the possibility that it expedited cultural change. Robert S. Gottfried argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of weather systems affect plague. He claimed that the devastation plague causes is partly due to its perpetual recurrences. Plague ravaged Europe in cycles, devastated the people when they were recuperating.As can be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in greater detail, was that the plagues expedited the process of cultural change. The plagues killed a large percentage of each generation, leaving room for change. Why the name, Black Death? â€Å"The traditional belief is that it was so called because the putrefying flesh of the victims blackened in the final hours before death supervened. The trouble about this otherwise plausible the ory is that no such phenomenon occurred.It is true that, in cases of septicemic plague, small black or purple blotches formed on the bodies of the sick and this symptom must have made a vivid impression on beholders† (Ziegler) Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the pestilence. The plague presented itself in three interrelated forms.The symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a gush of blood from the nose was the plain sign of inevitable death; but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or under the armpit. They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called tumors. In a short space of time these tumors spread from the two parts named all ov er the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appeared on the arms or thighs or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones.These spots were a certain sign of death, just as the original tumors had been and still remained. The bubonic variant (the most common) derives its name from the swellings or buboes that appeared on a victim's neck, armpits or groin. These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple. Although some survived the painful ordeal, the manifestation of these lesions usually signaled the victim had a life expectancy of up to a week. Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans spread this bubonic type of the plague.A second variation, pneumonic plague, attacked the respiratory system and was spread by merely breathing the exhaled air of a victim. It was much more virulent than its bubonic cousin – life expectancy was measured in one or two days. Fi nally, the septicemic version of the disease attacked the blood system. Having no defense and no understanding of the cause of the pestilence, the men, women and children caught in its onslaught were bewildered, panicked, and finally devastated. The Black Death covers the affects that numerous plagues had on the culture.There appear to have been several separate introductions into Europe. It reached Sicily in October 1347 carried by twelve Genoese galleys where it rapidly spread all over the island. Galleys from Caffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348 but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point to northern Italy. Towards the end of January one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseilles. From Italy the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread east through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350.It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askoy, then proceeded to spread to Bjorgvin but never reached Iceland. Finally it spread to north-western Russia in 1351; however, the plague largely spared some parts of Europe, including the Kingdom of Poland and isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. The cycle of the plagues struck each generation. After a plague ravaged Europe from 599-699, plague killed in 608, 618, 628, 640, 654, 684-686, 694-700, 718, and 740-750. In the early stages of the above series, intervals are apparent.These intervals demonstrate the cycles of the rodent and insect life. Robert S. Gottfried also argues, rightfully so, that plague may have hastened cultural change. Along with plagues came the need for a cure. Plague destroyed the existing medical systems, and was replaced by a modern heir. Previous to the plague, scientists based their knowledge on early scientists such as Hippocrates and Galen. Scientists knew little about what they were doing. The medical community was divided into five part s. These divisions were physicians, surgeons, barber-surgeons, apothecaries, and unlicensed practitioners.These divisions were adequate when Europe was without plague, but were obviously not prepared for plague. Doctors responded with a series of changes are to thank for the development of modern science. Although the government had medical workers try to prevent the plague, the plague persisted. Most medical workers quit and journeyed away because they feared getting the plague themselves. There were methods that did work. Cities were hardest hit and tried to take measures to control an epidemic no one understood.In Milan, to take one of the most successful examples, city officials immediately walled up houses found to have the plague, isolating the healthy in them along with the sick. Venice took sophisticated and stringent quarantine and health measures, including isolating all incoming ships on a separate island. But people died anyway, though fewer in Milan and Venice than in c ities that took no such measures. Pope Clement VI, living at Avignon, sat between two large fires to breath pure air. The plague bacillus actually is destroyed by heat, so this was one of the few truly effective measures taken.Gottfried succeeded in convincing me that his thesis was truth. The opening chapters gave me a solid background of plague, explaining why he believes it had such an impact on medieval population and culture. Next, it delves into the affect that changing weather had on the plagues, explaining the European environment during 1050-1347; the time of plagues greatest destruction. That complete, Gottfried describes the consequences immediately following the plague. It is said that the disease killed 25% to 40% of Eurasia and part of Africa. By this point, it is more than obvious hat plague had a tragic affect on Medieval Europe, The Consequences and effects of the Black Death plague were prices and wages rose, greater value was placed on labor, farming land was give n over to pasturing, which was much less labor-intensive, this change in farming led to a boost in the cloth and woolen industry, peasants moved from the country to the towns, the Black Death was therefore also responsible for the decline of the Feudal system, people became disillusioned with the church and its power and influence went into decline, this resulted in the English reformation.After giving a full background on plague and European culture and environment, Gottfried gives solid details to support his theses. According to Gottfried, the Medical structure of Medieval Europe, adopted from that of the Romans, was nearly eliminated in the search for ways to cure plague. The spread of plague, successfully stated by Gottfried, directly depends on climate. Plague can only spread under certain climate conditions. In order for Y. Pestis, a series of complex bacterial strains, to survive, it mustn’t be too hot nor too cold.Too cold can kill the bacteria, and too hot can slow its progress. During the plague’s most devastating times, the temperature was perfect for the spread of Y. Pestis. Gottfried also describes that spread of plague can also depend on the strength of animals. Humans are merely secondary hosts to the fleas carrying Y. Pestis. The fleas afflict their host with the plague when they regurgitate the bacteria. These fleas prefer an animal host, not humans. When their animal host dies, they move on to a secondary host, possibly humans, but not necessarily.When the generation of bacteria-carrying fleas dies, or the temperatures prevent the plague from spreading, the cycle continues until all the variables once again allow for the plague to spread. Gottfried successfully conveys his point. Robert S. Gottfried achieved in getting his two theses across. His methods were to educate the reader on the topic, giving only the facts necessary to convey his point. After giving the reader information on plague and Medieval Europe, he argued his th esis, making frequent references to points he had made earlier in the book.Gottfried also made it obvious that others supported his theories. At the end of each important point, he marked it with a number corresponding to the reference in the back of the book. â€Å"Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died.Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured. The symptoms were the following: a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk; or a small swelling under the armpit; sudden fever; spitting bloo d and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another. -Marchione di Coppo Stefani In conclusion, The Black Death successfully proves that a great deal of tragedy in the 13th century had much to do with animals in the environment. Death was a habitual visitor to fourteenth century Europe. Never before had humanity seen such widespread dying. Famines, wars, and a host of deadly diseases all took millions of lives during the 1300s. But the worst single calamity to wrack this troubled century was the Black Death—a plague that killed anywhere from 24-25 million Europeans between 1347 and 1351.As Frederick F. Cartwright and Michael D. Biddis, authors of Disease and History, observe, â€Å"The Black Death was not just another incident in the long list of epidemics which have smitten the world. It was probably the greatest European cat astrophe in history. † Anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of the total population of Europe died from this plague. Similar death rates took place in Asia, the Mideast, the Mediterranean, Africa, and as far away as Greenland and Iceland, thus making the Black Death the greatest ecological calamity in human history.It also conveyed that plague accelerated the progress of culture, bringing the need for modern medicine. Gottfried makes it apparent that man did not understand enough about the environment to prevent plague, maybe a message to the world today. Dense population, as Gottfried suggested, breeds plague. Early plague has educated us, and we should focus on this, plague seems to be inevitable with certain circumstances and lack of knowledge. Not only did Gottfried educate us on the past, but may have prepared us for the future.Works Citiedâ€Å"Efforts to Stop the Plague. † Insecta Inspecta World. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. . Gottfried, Robert Steven. The Black Death: Natural a nd Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York: Free, 1983. Print. â€Å"The Black Death, 1348. † EyeWitness to History – History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Environmental Decision Making Applied to Decommissioning Essay

There are three major risks that I worry about on a daily basis in my life. These risks are listed below in order of severity: 1. Depression – Six years ago I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Depression is a progressive and pathological disease that affects the hippocampus and other areas of the brain. There is no single cause of depression. Depression may be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, or biochemical causes. In my case, I believe my depression is partly hereditary and related to the traumatic childhood event of my father’s premature death. Depression has also been linked with changes to levels of chemicals in the brain such as serotonin and norephinephrine. There are two widely used treatments for depression that have varying degrees of success. Psychotherapy is one treatment that may help some people who suffer from depression. For many people psychotherapy is an ineffective treatment. Anti-depressant drugs are another treatment that is often used in conjunction with psychotherapy. Although there is no scientific evidence that psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression there is abundant scientific evidence that anti-depressants are an effective treatment for depression, but not necessarily a cure for depression. I currently take three different anti-depressants to control my depression. The risks associated with depression are great. The number one risk is suicide. A person suffering from depression is stricken with feelings of hopelessness and Environmental Decision Making Applied to Decommissioning Page 2 great emotional pain. Suicide is always in the back of a depressed person’s mind as a way to escape the world and depression. It has also been proven that men suffering depression have a 50% more likely chance of dying from cardiac disease than men who are not depressed. This is due to the overflow of stressor hormones that are released in a depressed person’s body. 2. Driving – Driving back and forth to work five days a week is an increasingly risky proposition as the highways become more and more congested with traffic. I have been in one serious accident over the last two years and have been in several near accidents. As more people use their cell phones while driving the risk for all drivers increases. Some states have outlawed the use of cell phones while driving and I believe all states should enact laws like this. Because my commute is fifty miles per day, my perceived sense of risk of having a fatal accident is high. 3. 401(k) Plan – With the economy in a deep recession and the stock markets at ten year lows, my 401(k) plan has suffered huge losses. If the economy and stock markets do not recover in the second half of 2009, then I will have to postpone my early retirement planned for the end of this November. This will definitely have an effect on my depression. Key Risk Without question the key risk for me is depression. As noted above this is a progressive disease and each year that goes by it is getting worse. In order to live a happy and Environmental Decision Making Applied to Decommissioning Page 3 fruitful life this is an unacceptable risk but there is not much I can do about it except continue to take my medications. There is no way to really quantify this risk in terms of numbers. Some factors that influence this risk are my job and my marriage. I have a very stressful job and my marriage is not a happy one. These two factors contribute greatly to my depression. If I can retire early this year, then I will feel much better without the daily grind of a stressful job. Perhaps then I can concentrate on improving my marriage and, thus, reducing my stress and depression further. Environmental Risk Environmental risks associated with driving will be reduced greatly if I can retire early this year. I estimate that without having to come to work each day my yearly mileage will be reduced to 4,000 miles per year from the current 11,000 miles. The risk of having a serious accident will be greatly reduced the less time I spend driving my car. Eliminating the working environment from my life will also reduce the stress in my life and could greatly improve my health by allowing me to spend more time exercising and doing other projects that I would like to do. This will, hopefully, have a profound positive affect on my depression.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Gfp Lab Report Essays

Gfp Lab Report Essays Gfp Lab Report Paper Gfp Lab Report Paper All four of the wells were condensed with I Pl of an enhancer and added too lipid-based transaction reagent Effected to allow the target DNA to be introduced into the Hell cells. The cells containing . 45 ml Of transaction complexes and complete growth medium were incubated for two days and then replaced With I ml Of HOBS and incubated for another hour. Approximately 14. 13 Pl of glorification documentation diluted in PBS was added to one of the two wells containing GAP DNA (Figure 1 B) and a second well containing GAP-KGB DNA (Figure 1 D). Figure 1 Shows the GAB-KGB DNA lacking documentation and figure 1 A displays the Hell cells with just GAP DNA The Hell cells with GAP DNA and documentation (Figure 1 B) fluoresced throughout the entire cell including the nucleus most likely caused by the small size of the fluorescent protein used. However, when GAP-KGB DNA that lacked the documentation was analyzed, the entire cell fluoresced similarly except for the nucleus (Figure 1 C), indicating that the protein does not contain a nuclear localization signal. The nucleus is fluoresced at a high intensity when documentation was added to the GAP-KGB DNA containing cells (Figure I D) because the protein was capable of passing through to the nucleus. When the glorification hormone documentation binds to KGB, a conformational change causes neighboring proteins to dissociate and reveal the nuclear localization signal, therefore fluorescing the nucleus These results conclude that the GIBE-KGB DNA was successfully transferred into the Hell cells and through the addition of documentation, the glorification receptor protein with an activated glorification-binding domain localized to the nucleus following a conformational change. :

Monday, October 21, 2019

Democracy In America Essays - Community Building, Free Essays

Democracy In America Essays - Community Building, Free Essays "Democracy in America" Alexis De Tocqueville?s Democracy in America delves deep into how the American States and the federal government would grow politically and socially under the umbrella of democracy. He sees the United States as a unique entity because of how and why it started as well as its geographical location. De Tocqueville explains that the foundations of the democratic process in America are completely different from anywhere else on the globe. The land was virginal and the colonies had almost complete sovereignty from England from the very beginning because they were separated by an ocean and financial troubles. The people who came to America were the oppressed and unhappy in England and all were trying to find a place where they could start anew and create a political structure that would facilitate an individual freedom unlike anything that they had previously experienced in Europe. De Tocqueville believed that the nature of democracy in the New World rested within the fact that all of the emigrants were basically from the same social strata, resulting in the first new country where there was no preliminary basis for an aristocracy. "Land is the basis of an aristocracy?and? [in America] when the ground was prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a proprietor and a farmer at the same t ime(41)." He saw that even the soil of America was opposed to the structure of an aristocracy. There were also outside influences lending unvoiced support for the creation of this new democracy. Being an ocean apart from its mother country, who at this time did not have the financial reserves to oversee its colonies, let the Americans govern themselves. If they had not had this sovereignty at the beginning America might have become something completely different than it is today, but that was not the case, so these emigrants now had a fertile place to plant their ideas of a country founded upon the many ideas of the Enlightenment. Another large influence was the lack of neighbors. America had no worries of guarding and protecting its borders because there was not anyone there who could pose a threat. They could put all of their energies toward the creation of their democracy. This democratic nation was to have no aristocracy and only one major division between its people: the North and the South. De Tocqueville saw two very different attitudes in these regions. The North and the South had conflicting views as to how they were going to advance themselves in the economic and political arenas. But the introduction of slavery into labor was the major conflict between the two. "Slavery?dishonors labor; it introduces idleness into a society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress?The influence of slavery, united to the English character, explains the manners and the social condition of the Southern States(42)." With the advent of slavery, the South was creating a class system amongst themselves that would not exist in the other regions of the States. The few Southern founders were granted huge amounts of land with which to work, and instead of diving into the land themselves like the northerners did with their smaller pieces of land. They instead bought slaves and would eventually divide the country in a nasty dispute over their handling of affairs. He realized that the majority of the influences over public policy were the men in the North. They created the first public school system that was to be readily accessible to the majority of the people. The enlightened idea that every man should have access to knowledge was given exercise in this new nation, creating a highly learned society, but one that is not very intellectual. Schools teach specialized skills so that American can enter the work force as soon as possible, but gloss over any areas that have no value in work. Whereas in England, the few who do go on towards a higher education are actually being challenged and forced to expand their minds, higher education in America is available to many, but it is more specialized and very basic. This unlimited quantity, limited quality relationship is seem by de Tocqueville as an inherent part of a democratic society. This is because, "?there is no class?in which the taste for intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure and [wherein] ?intellect [is] held in honor(53)." Democracy is a facilitator of a blended society. The masses will be very similar in their thinking as well as their actions. America is a social democracy because the citizens are united

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Canadian Governor General Michalle Jean Biography

Canadian Governor General Michalle Jean Biography A well-known journalist and broadcaster in Quebec, Michaà «lle Jean emigrated from Haiti with her family at an early age. Fluent in five languages- French, English, Italian, Spanish and Haitian Creole- Jean became the first black governor general of Canada in 2005. A social activist for women and children at risk, Jean planned to use the office of governor general to help disadvantaged young people. Jean is married to filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond and has a young daughter. Governor General of Canada Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin chose Jean to be the governor general of Canada, and in August 2005, it was announced Queen Elizabeth II approved the choice. After Jeans appointment, some questioned her loyalty, because of reports of her and her husbands support of Quebec independence, as well as her dual French and Canadian citizenship. She repeatedly denounced reports of her separatist sentiments, as well as denounced her French citizenship. Jean was sworn into office Sept. 27, 2005 and served as the 27th governor general of Canada until Oct. 1, 2010. Birth Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1957. At the age of 11 in 1968, Jean and her family fled the Papa Doc Duvalier dictatorship and settled in Montreal. Education Jean has a BA in Italian, Hispanic languages and literature from the University of Montreal. She earned her masters degree in comparative literature from the same institution. Jean also studied languages and literature at the University of Perouse, the University of Florence and the Catholic University of Milan. Early Professions Jean worked as a university lecturer while completing her masters degree. She also worked as a social activist, as well as a journalist and broadcaster. Michaà «lle Jean as Social Activist From 1979 to 1987, Jean worked with Quebec shelters for battered women and helped establish a network of emergency shelters in Quebec. She coordinated a study on women as victims in abusive relationships, which was published in 1987, and she has also worked with aid organizations for immigrant women and families. Jean also worked at Employment and Immigration Canada and at the Conseil des Communautà ©s culturelles du Quà ©bec. Background of Michaà «lle Jean in Arts and Communications Jean joined Radio-Canada in 1988. She worked as a reporter and then host on the public affairs proframs Actuel, Montrà ©al ce soir, Virages and Le Point. In 1995, she anchored Rà ©seau de lInformation Radio-Canada (RDI) programs such as Le Monde ce soir, LÉdition quà ©bà ©coise, Horizons francophones, Les Grands reportages, Le Journal RDI, and RDI là ©coute. Beginning in 1999, Jean hosted CBC Newsworlds The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts. In 2001, Jean became an anchor for the weekend edition of Le Tà ©là ©journal, Radio-Canadas major news show. In 2003 she took over as anchor of Le Midi, the daily edition of Le Tà ©là ©journal. In 2004, she started her own show Michaà «lle, which featured in-depth interviews with experts and enthusiasts. Addtionally, Jean has participated in a number of documentary films produced by her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond including La manià ¨re nà ¨gre ou Aimà © Cà ©saire chemin faisant, Tropique Nord, Haà ¯ti dans tous nos rà ªves, and Lheure de Cuba. After the Governor General Office Jean has remained publicly active after her service as the federal representative of the Canadian monarch. She served as a special envoy of the United Nations to Haiti to work on education and poverty issues in the country, and she was also the chancellor of the University of Ottawa from 2012 to 2015. Beginning on Jan. 5, 2015, Jean began a four-year mandate as the secretary general of the International Organization of La Francophonie, which represents countries and regions where French language and culture has a significant presence.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

How did Hurricane Katrina influence Homeland Security as it currently Research Paper

How did Hurricane Katrina influence Homeland Security as it currently operates in the U.S - Research Paper Example The research objective is focused on drawing a balance between homeland security measures before and after the Hurricane Katrina. Expressing the measures taken and the developments introduced to rule out the previous loopholes have been considered as the major areas of discussion in this essay. Hurricane Katrina turned out to be a catastrophe for the US, allegedly due to the inefficiency and delayed reaction of the homeland security, which was designed by the government to meet the national crisis within the boundaries of the country. However, the country’s dual system of government and their inefficiency in communication proved to be fatal for the crisis that they faced (Irons, 2005). The organisation faced problems in reacting at the right time in the right way. Failures to send supplies in the place of need were major challenges the government faced at the time of the hurricane. Due to the heavy bureaucratic system of the government, severe complications were found persisting in the issue of orders and its implementation. State-level, local-level and federal-level systems of government proved to be a backlog for the timely movement of assets and food supplies to the area of need (Moyniha, 2009). The government has all previous intimation of the natural calamity but due to the complexities in the mode of operations, it was difficult for the government to act accordingly. The relief measures were weak as well. The government also failed to do the aftermath as the veto powers to trigger the financial help was vested in different hands, which made the situation even worse (Leeson & Sobel, 2006). The homeland security was trained to be prepared for this type of calamities and was supposedly well acquainted with the measures that were to be taken. However, due to the unorganised governmental procedures and the lack

Friday, October 18, 2019

Analyzing Gender Differences in Spontaneous Speech Research Proposal

Analyzing Gender Differences in Spontaneous Speech - Research Proposal Example From the time they are born, baby girls are considered fragile and they are exposed to delicate language and handled very gently. Boys, on the other hand, are exposed to strong tones and power-filled language and are handled less gently as they are tossed in the air and held upright from a younger age to demonstrate their power and strength (Rasquinha & Mouly, 2005) This study attempts to investigate gender differences in choice of topics to talk about and linguistic differences in verbal expressions. Its significance lies in the fact that understanding gender differences and accepting them as natural to the person will help others understand where the speaker is coming from. To understand gender differences in communication better, it is important to actively analyze how men and women express themselves linguistically and explain the differences between the two if any. Background of the Research Problem Most miscommunication problems between men and women stem from the fact that they are wired differently. According to Rasquinha and Mouly (2005), women are more prone to communicating verbally with a language of connection and intimacy. This means that they use more of their emotions when speaking. On the other hand, men are more prone to communicating with a language of status and independence. This means they use more of their logical reasoning and less of their emotions. Sometimes, conflicts arise when issues pertaining to interpretations of certain topics and gender differences come into play.

Kipling's White Man's Burden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kipling's White Man's Burden - Essay Example Rudyard Kipling is trying to show the negative attitudes of Europeans towards imperialism. Africans were considered as savages and a burden by them. This is a racial point of view. Africans are considered as crazy, devilish, and dumb people. Africans are treated as a burden of the Europeans, but at the same time, they also think that it is their responsibility to help Africans out. Kipling is simply justifying American’s coming in Africa and taking over the African lives. This reflects that he does not believe in the concept of equality. For him, not every person holds equal rights and some have fewer rights than others, simply because they are less humane. He is encouraging the concept of imperialism. He believes that the Africans are simply ungrateful people. Help is being granted to them, yet they are retaliating against it. 2. Kipling addressed this poem to the Americans in relation to their recent colonization of Philippines. I believe that Kipling really thinks that it i s the responsibility of the civilized nations to those they have conquered. While using the term â€Å"white man’s burden†, he is trying to explain the fact that the European ancestry (or the American one, for that matter) has more opportunities and chances for better education and has more political influence than the natives had. Had Kipling written this poem earlier, he would have argued against colonial imperialism. He was born in the time when native people have already been conquered. It seems as if Kipling is trying to get across the message that no gratitude or corporation in return for the improvement of the lives should be expected. When Kipling uses the phrase â€Å"Take up the White man’s Burden†, it has two meanings. It is naturally considered a duty towards the primitive, impoverished people and that the do-gooder has to bear the resulting ingratitude. Kipling’s assumption regarding the laziness and backwardness of the Filipinos might be considered as racist and patronizing to many modern day readers. But it simply was not meant to offend the people. Kipling was simply trying to explain the difficulties which the Americans faced. The issues, which were then raised by Kipling, seem to be relevant in today’s world. The world is not made a better place without sacrifices and hard work. In addition, the welcome mat is not always rolled out for those who want to change the world for the better. 3. Kipling has offered defense throughout the poem. He thinks that imperialism can work out for the best if it is executed correctly. The poem was meant to discuss not only the American response to the Philippines but also towards the European countries – that they should share medicines and wealth to reduce the misfortunes, illnesses, and famines which are polluting Africa. At first, imperialism might seem to be very striking, but it can have various definitions, depending on the way it is being executed. So muc h emphasis on the execution is placed so that dual meaning is not derived out of Kipling’s prose. He strongly believes that if imperialism is implemented in the correct way, than it can preserve cultures. It is possible only if the wealth is shared and medicine is practiced properly. However, it was not seen the way Kipling had interpreted. The wealthy defined civilization. White men are considered wealthy and hence

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Individual Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Individual Rights - Essay Example One of those such rights would be the Miranda rights. In defining them, "Also known as the Miranda Rule or Miranda Warning, when you are arrested in the U.S.A., police officers must warn you that you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say could be used against you in a court of law, that you have a right to contact a lawyer and that if you cannot afford a lawyer, that one will be provided before any questioning if so desired," Adding that, "Failure to issue the Miranda warning renders evidence so obtained to not be admissible in the court. The warning became a national requirement when ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1966 case Miranda v. Arizona and that is how it got the name," (LawInfo.com, p.1). In the respect of this definition, the case involving Jane Smith would fall into direct violation in regards to the merits and meaning behind Miranda Rights. As the rights clearly state, a person has to be given the opportunity to posses legal counsel at the time of arrest and to have on one present during legal ques tioning. Another pertinent issue towards the legality of the case against a person in Jane Smith's position is the lack of parental consent towards the interrogation of their child who would have been a minor at the time. As common law states, when someone is a minor, they are to be approached with the knowledge and presence of their parents to consent to such approach. As the alleged perpetrator of the crime in question was a minor at the time, they would still be protected by the laws for interrogating minors despite whether or not the deciding authority wishes to charge the alleged as an adult. As there had been no written transferring of guardianship, the Uncle of Jane Smith would have no legal authority in regards to determining how, or even if his niece was to be questioned by the police. With the creation of laws, there is often times events and people that come as a way of facilitating such laws needing to be in place. In the case of the events leading up to case that which lead to the creation of the Miranda Rights law; A kidnapping and sexual assault occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 1963. On March 13 Ernesto Miranda, 23, was arrested in his home, taken to the police station, identified by the victim, and taken into the interrogation room. Miranda was not told of his rights to counsel prior to questioning. Two hours later, investigators emerged from the room with a written confession signed by Miranda. It included a typed disclaimer, also signed by Miranda, stating that he had "full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me," and that he had knowingly waived those rights (Miranda v. Arizona, p.1). Such case practices that would later become illegal with the creation of the Miranda rights at the conclusion of the trial of Ernesto Miranda. Years since, the issue of delivering Miranda rights to person's in custody has become a central issue to the implementation of the American Judicial system in the way in which it was intended. For reasons of prosecuting crimes, the information gathered from alleged perpetrators is placed under great scrutiny as it comes to the methods for which they were gathered in the first place. Such attention paid in that, if collected even with the slightest bit of a hint that something had

The Doctrines of Pythagoras- Doing in Ovids The Metamorphoses Essay

The Doctrines of Pythagoras- Doing in Ovids The Metamorphoses - Essay Example Overall the stories and connected by idea of transformation, starting with the physical changes which created the world, and in the manner in which the gods, in their longing to disrupt with life on the continent, are persistently changing their own presence and form. However, the most famous changes in the book are those remarkable time when a living being is transformed into something else. Many of the stories of transformation are concerned with severe suffering. This grants to practically all them a naturally dramatic superiority because they irregularly focus on a vulnerable and objecting character suffering from godly or human vindictiveness. Further, the main characters are frequently innocent females, trailed by celestial or human rapists. In more simple terms, Metamorphoses is a catalogue of famous Greek and Roma stories, most which deal with violence, phenomenal transformation of appearance and suffering, organized in a loose series. Ovid’s style so frequently change s the relatively simple details of famous legend into convincing, extremely dramatic, and multifaceted tale (Due 12-30). Befitting Ovid’s continual poem, interest in the precise meaning of the Pythagoras’s speech in â€Å"Metamorphoses† 15 has proved to ever be unceasing. ... Since it appears in the final book, we can presume that it has some kind of programmatic function or, as is always is the case with Ovid, numerous functions. With regard to the preceding 14 books, Ovid incredibly regales to us with an enormous assortment of style and genres. Further, it is absolutely clear that this multiplicity as opposed to the analysis in terms of generic restraints, is the actual importance of the function of genre in the† Metamorphoses.† However, there has been the lack of philosophical disquisition until the last book. One of the many reasons, therefore, for Ovid’s insertion of this philosophical boastful bluster is merely to round out his whole virtuoso collection with, yet still, another magnificent piece (Mandelbaum 20-50). Secondly, the selection of Pythagoras was agreeable for that function and numerous others. At his time, Pythagoreanism represented a syncretistic assortment of the teachings of various philosophical schools, pseudo-scie ntific assumption, spirituality, and spiritual and religious dispensations. Accordingly, Ovid’s Pythagoras provides an diverse cause of mixture indebted to all types of philosophical teachings, including his own, Empedocles’, Heraclitus’s, and the Stoics’, alongside irregular insinuation, mostly for the purpose of counterargument, to Epicureans and Lucretius. The process finds its appropriate analogue in Ovid’s consideration of the material for the masterpiece â€Å"Metamorphoses†, which in the same way varies, not dogma, and inconsistency. For this case, Ovid’s poem is amid other things a collection of themes and styles. Meanwhile, Pythagoras speech is a collection of philosophers (Brunauer 40-50). Hardie thus argues that through the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Individual Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Individual Rights - Essay Example One of those such rights would be the Miranda rights. In defining them, "Also known as the Miranda Rule or Miranda Warning, when you are arrested in the U.S.A., police officers must warn you that you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say could be used against you in a court of law, that you have a right to contact a lawyer and that if you cannot afford a lawyer, that one will be provided before any questioning if so desired," Adding that, "Failure to issue the Miranda warning renders evidence so obtained to not be admissible in the court. The warning became a national requirement when ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1966 case Miranda v. Arizona and that is how it got the name," (LawInfo.com, p.1). In the respect of this definition, the case involving Jane Smith would fall into direct violation in regards to the merits and meaning behind Miranda Rights. As the rights clearly state, a person has to be given the opportunity to posses legal counsel at the time of arrest and to have on one present during legal ques tioning. Another pertinent issue towards the legality of the case against a person in Jane Smith's position is the lack of parental consent towards the interrogation of their child who would have been a minor at the time. As common law states, when someone is a minor, they are to be approached with the knowledge and presence of their parents to consent to such approach. As the alleged perpetrator of the crime in question was a minor at the time, they would still be protected by the laws for interrogating minors despite whether or not the deciding authority wishes to charge the alleged as an adult. As there had been no written transferring of guardianship, the Uncle of Jane Smith would have no legal authority in regards to determining how, or even if his niece was to be questioned by the police. With the creation of laws, there is often times events and people that come as a way of facilitating such laws needing to be in place. In the case of the events leading up to case that which lead to the creation of the Miranda Rights law; A kidnapping and sexual assault occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 1963. On March 13 Ernesto Miranda, 23, was arrested in his home, taken to the police station, identified by the victim, and taken into the interrogation room. Miranda was not told of his rights to counsel prior to questioning. Two hours later, investigators emerged from the room with a written confession signed by Miranda. It included a typed disclaimer, also signed by Miranda, stating that he had "full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me," and that he had knowingly waived those rights (Miranda v. Arizona, p.1). Such case practices that would later become illegal with the creation of the Miranda rights at the conclusion of the trial of Ernesto Miranda. Years since, the issue of delivering Miranda rights to person's in custody has become a central issue to the implementation of the American Judicial system in the way in which it was intended. For reasons of prosecuting crimes, the information gathered from alleged perpetrators is placed under great scrutiny as it comes to the methods for which they were gathered in the first place. Such attention paid in that, if collected even with the slightest bit of a hint that something had

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The Killer Angels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Killer Angels - Essay Example This book is based on the three days of the Gettysburg war starting from June 29th 1863 and ending on 3rd July 1863. This war from a historical viewpoint is seen as the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. It caused a huge loss to the Confederates, from which they never recovered. The battle of Gettysburg, fought on the Unions own territory, was the bloodiest war in the history of the American civil war. It resulted in the deaths of many soldiers on both sides, in fact, as many as 50000 were dead or were injured or went missing while fighting, during those three days. Shaara through this historical fiction tries to take us through those three days and tries to conjure a picture that describes the emotional conflicts that the generals and other officers on each side of the warring faction had to face as they put up a brave front and fought against friends and relatives. The southern concept of the Gettysburg war is very important as this war proved to be the turning point in the outcomes of the American civil war and is often referred to as the high tide of the Confederacy. Before this particular battle the southern army was faring well in most of the battle outcomes. It was this war which brought the Confederacy very, very close to gaining independence. General Lee, the commander in chief, was the chief inspiration for the Confederates and widely respected amongst all the southerners, carried on the battle right into the enemys territory and attacked them with his entire strength, to finish off the battle once and for all. He knew that if he could destroy the Union forces in their own territory it would be their end. This was the main concept of the battle of Gettysburg from a southern perspective. To achieve this General Lee was completely intent on going ahead and directly attacking the Union army instead of paying heed to Longstreet

Monday, October 14, 2019

Standard Chatered Bank (Scb) Essay Example for Free

Standard Chatered Bank (Scb) Essay Standard Chartered Bank is a British bank headquartered in London with operations in more than seventy countries. It operates a network of over 1,700 branches and outlets (including subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures) and employs 73,000 people. Despite its British base, it has few customers in the United Kingdom and 90% of its profits come from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Because the banks history is entwined with the development of the British Empire its operations lie predominantly in former British colonies, though over the past two decades it has expanded into countries that have historically had little British influence. It aims to provide a safe regulatory bridge between these developing economies. It now focuses on consumer, corporate, and institutional banking, and on the provision of treasury services—areas in which the Group had particular strength and expertise. The new millennium had brought with it two of the largest acquisitions in the history of the bank with purchase of Grind lays Bank from the ANZ Group and the acquisition of the Chase Consumer Banking operations in Hong Kong in 2000. These acquisitions demonstrate Standard Chartered firm is committed to the emerging markets, where the Bank has a strong and established presence and where they see their future growth. Standard Chartered Bank Operation In Bangladesh Standard Chartered Bank started its business in Bangladesh in 1948, opening its first branch in the port city of Chittagong. The bank increasingly invested in people, technology and premises as its business grew in relation to the countrys thriving economy. At present the bank has 6 offices in Dhaka Chittagong and Sylhet, including the countrys only offshore banking unit inside the Dhaka Export Processing Zone at Savar. Extensive knowledge of the market and essential expertise in a wide range of financial services underline our strength to build business opportunities for corporate and institutional clients at home and abroad. Continuous upgrading of technology and control systems has enabled the bank of offer new services, which include unique ATMs and Phone banking. Adopting a pro-active approach, the bank is able to offer a flexible and comprehensive range of financial services in particular transactional banking products. The bank has also invested in its branches to ensure that their business is supported by high-tech operations using state-of-the-art technology. Dedicated customer services with solution-oriented cash specialists to provide customers with cost-effective solutions. Electronic delivery system has been put in place to give customers maximum control of their transactions. Standard Chartereds services in Bangladesh, ranges from Personal Corporate Banking to Institutional Banking, Treasury and Custodial services. Vision of Standard Chartered Bank: â€Å"Catalyst for change† Standard Chartered Bank has a key role to play in stimulating economic and social development through the services they provide and by being a force for good. The success of their business depends on this. Standard Chartered Bank has been committed to continually improving the quality and scope of the services they offer to clients. Mission of Standard Chartered Bank: The missions are: * To deliver excellent products and services in the emerging markets to Standard Chartereds clients. These products include trade finance services, cash management, foreign exchange and treasury products, commodity finance, and structured import and export finance services. * To be the trendsetter for innovative banking with excellence and perfection. * To be the best performing bank in the country and the region. * To exceed customer expectations through innovative financial products services and establish a strong presence to recognize shareholders expectations and  optimize their rewards through dedicated workforce. * Keeping ahead of other competitors in productivity and profitability. To attain budgetary targets fixed in each area of business Objective of Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank one of the world’s leading international banks and their goal is to lead the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They are dedicated to implementing the highest standards of corporate governance and gaining trust in each of the countries in which they conduct business. Like other business organization the core desire of Standard Chartered Bank is to maximize the profit through banking activities saving lending money to the life of the common people. The Objectives of the Standard Chartered Bank is given below: Broad Goal: As a commercial organization, Standard Chartered Bank implies that it stands for meeting the banking needs of the people of the society. Operating Goal: In compliance with the very nature of the organization, the objective in mind the bank aims at excelling quality and diversified services. To fulfill its mission Standard Chartered Bank has its main objectives as followings: * To provide banking services to people. * To earn profit. * Act as a media of exchange. * To contribute to gross domestic product (GDP). * Maintain a satisfactory deposit mix. * To help to grow entrepreneurship. * Increase loan portfolio diversification and geographical coverage. * To mitigate unemployment problem. * Provide finance specialized services to the export. * To help to boost economic development. Service Attitudes: * Standard Chartered Bank is a service organization. It lives and prospers on the quality of service it provides. So quality of service is maintained at all levels. * Banks image with people is identified on the quality and diversity of services that the people aspire to receive. * As a dynamic bank they always remain in search of new field of activity in line with people economic need. Suggestions by customers and other people are taken in to proper attention so as to help identify new activity or improve upon present activities. * The bank maintains healthy competition with other banks aiming at excelling services in meeting economic needs of the people. Organogram Organizational Structure: Organizing is the management function that involves the process of determining what task are to be done, who is to do them, how the task are to be grouped who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made. Organizing is the process of creating an organization’s structure. Organizational structure is the formal framework by which job task are divided, grouped and coordinated. Hierarchy of Standard Chartered Bank Administrations Loan Administration Department Loan Sanction Department Human Resource Department Operations Investment Treasury Internal Division Head Office Departmentalization Corporate Banking Department CEO Audit Inspection IT Finance Accounts Foreign Trade Administrations Finance IT Branch Departmentalization Corporate Banking Department Loan Sanction Department Foreign Trade Loan Administration Department Branch Manager Operations The policy direction and overall management of the Bank is vested upon the Board of Directors consisting of six members. The Chief Executive of the Bank is one of the members of the Board of Directors. Regional Manager and Divisional Head assist Chief Executive Officer. Head Office Divisions are headed by Departmental heads and controlled by designated General Managers. Branch Offices by Branch Managers, depending on size and importance of the Branch from the commercial point of view, Deputy General Managers or Assistant General Managers heads the Corporate Branches and AD Branches. The organizational structure is the way in which organizations activities  are divided, organized and co-organized. The design of the organizations structure can be traditional design like simple, functional and divisional or existing organizational designs like team-based, matrix etc. From the structure of the Standard Chartered Bank we see that it is mostly functional because some part are organized around the functions of operation, credit, international division, human resource etc. and these divisions are related with each other for conducting the activities. It can also be considered as partly regional because some management functions are divided on the basis of territory. Each regional circle conducts same activities generally that are decided but in some situation head of the regional office takes decisions. So we can perceive that it has traditional structural design. Moreover, it has clear chain of command where the level of authority goes from top to bottom and very much centralized. Performance Appraisal Of Standard Chartered Bank Since organization exist to achieve goals, the degree of success that individual employees have in reaching their individuals goals is important in determining organizational effectiveness. The assessment of how successful employees have been at meeting their individual goals, therefore, becomes a critical part of HRM. Here we provided how Standard Chartered appraised their employee’s performance. Why Standard Chartered evaluates the performance of its Employees? Standard Chartered Appraises the performances of its employees for three reasons they are: * First, it can be used promote their employees and to arrange for their various training programs if they require for enhancing their skills in their respective areas and in contribution enhancement. * Second, as a basis for reward allocations. Decisions to decide who gets  salary increases, and other rewards are determined by their performance evaluation. * Finally the performance appraisal can be used as a criterion against which selection devices and development programs are validated. It is one thing to say, for example, that their selection process is successful in differentiating satisfactory performers from unsatisfactory performers. Appraisal Method used by Standard Chartered Bank Employees are evaluated by how well they accomplish a specific set of objectives that have been determined to be critical in the successful completion of their job. This approach is frequently referred to as. Management by objectives. Management by objectives is a process that converts organization objectives into individual objectives. It can be thought of as consisting of four steps: goal setting, action planning, self- control, and periodic reviews. In goal setting, the organizations overall objectives are used as guidelines from which departmental and individual objectives are set. In action planning, the means are determined for achieving the ends established in goal setting. That is, realistic plans are developed to attain the objectives.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Analysis of Safeguarding Measures

Analysis of Safeguarding Measures CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF STUDY Machines are very dangerous to workers and are commonplace in many industries. The safety, health and welfare of workers are of utmost importance, especially where machine and moving parts of machines are involved. The employers have a legal duty to take reasonable care of the safety of the workers at while they are at work. One important way to protect workers from machines and the hazards associated is by using machine safeguarding methods. Broadly speaking, machine safeguarding has been defined by (Banner Engineering Corp., n.d) as being the requirements, methods and equipment which are used to protect workers while they are operating or when they come into contact with dangerous machines. Even if machine safeguarding is the key component for maintaining the safety of workers from machines, many facilities have fallen behind due to failure in upgrading and maintaining safety systems (Balbaa, n.d). This happens when the employers are of opinion that their systems are up-to-date and sufficient, while they are actually not. Other reasons might be due to a lack of liquid capital to invest in the systems. In addition, the fear that embarking on a project of upgrading systems might affect work and productivity, prevent them from improving. Whatever be the reason, standards concerning machine safeguarding, and the legal duty of the employer provided in the law to ensure the safety of employees as is reasonably practicable cannot be ignored. In this era of heightened standards, there exist many innovative ways in which machine safeguarding methods can be updated without affecting productivity. Safety standards usually come under the heading of regional, national and international standards and the application of one standard or a combination of standards depends on the goals of the employer and the size of the plant (Banner Engineering Corp., n.d). It has been provided by ILO (n.d) that more than 60 million of workers are employed in the textile, clothing and footwe ar TCF sectors worldwide, the TCF being one of the most globalised sectors. The textile industry is one where machines are involved at almost every stage of production and their safeguarding is necessary for the protection of workers. As stated by Max (2015), machines are used to execute functions at the different stages of production, which include yarn spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and sewing. Other machines are also used for special fabric effects, for instance embossing, bleaching, as well as mercerizing. Every machine that is used, its part, function or process that can cause harm to the worker should be safeguarded. Each machine can have different ways of being safeguarded depending on its construction and function. In Mauritius, the government recognizes workers as the most valuable assets and is concerned about their health and safety, being their fundamental rights. A national Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) policy has been therefore formulated in 2001 to encompa ss all the occupational safety and health issues of workers in all sectors of work (ILO, 2001). The policy is also periodically reviewed so as to respond according to alterations in work processes, machinery, new technologies, and new techniques of work. PROBLEM STATEMENT Improper machine safeguarding is a major problem that is prevalent worldwide as opined by (Soranno, 2012), considering reliable data and professional experiences. Employees are more and more vulnerable to injuries due to improper machine safeguarding. These injuries can range from a minor pain to severe injuries. Amputations are the most common, severe and crippling injuries that occur due to either improper machine safeguarding or violations of the guards. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that during the year 2009 nearly 6000 occupational amputations occurred in the U.S. due to these reasons (Allen, 2011). Very often, employees do not understand the importance of the safeguards and the dangers lurking in the machine itself and they bypass the safeguards, failing to realize that the latter are meant for their own safety and that it takes only a second for an injury to occur. Soranno (2012) is also of opinion that there are five machine guarding problems, the first one being a lack of understanding on the requirements of machine guarding because people limit their evaluation of the requirements of machine guarding to only OSHA standards and do not consider the numerous other standards that exist. Secondly, the guards are improperly designed or installed due to lack of understanding and lack knowledge of the designers and installers who might be inexperienced. Next, there is a failure to consider all the risks. An adequate risk assessment is very important to consider the requirements about design and performance of the safeguarding devices. In addition, there are very often inadequate controls for proper adjustment, inspection and maintenance of the well-designed guards for them to perform effectively. Finally, the employers believe that the manufacturer is responsible for machine guarding, while it is their own responsibility. In Mauritius, however, there are very few sections in the Occupational Safety and Health Act 2005 concerning machine safeguardin g as compared to the numerous standards that exist for other countries globally. Therefore there is more risk to occupational accidents due to machines. As far as the OSH policy of 2001 is concerned, its application is dependent upon the availability of financial, human and technical resources. AIM AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to find out how the workers in the textile industry perceive the use of the different methods of machine safeguarding that they deal with in their work. It is important to know the workers’ perception to know how comfortable they are with the safeguarding methods and whether the methods of safeguarding are accepted by them. The objectives set to achieve the aim are as follows: To analyse the machines that the workers are exposed to and the safeguarding methods that are present. Determine whether the safeguarding methods that exist are appropriate and without hazards. Find out the opinion of the workers towards the safeguards that are used, whether these safeguards affect the workers and their work. To recommend solutions to the problems of the workers concerning improper machine safeguarding. RESEARCH QUESTIONS To meet the research objectives the study will be centered on the following research questions: What are the methods of safeguarding that are used along with the machines in the textile industry? Are the safeguarding methods suitable for their purpose? Are the workers agreeable to the use of the machine safeguards? Do the machine safeguards affect the workers comfort and work? Do the workers violate/bypass the safeguards? What are the possible recommendations that can be formulated with regards to the problems that arise due to improper machine safeguarding? HYPOTHESIS Is machine safeguarding important for the security of the workers at the workplace? What is the relationship between inadequate machine safeguarding and occurrence of accidents? Does machine safeguarding affect workers’ comfort and work? FLOW OF THE REMAINING REPORT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter is an overview of machine safeguarding in general from a global perspective to a local perspective in the first section of background of study and then there is the problem statement, the aim of this study and the list of objective to achieve the aim, a list of research questions together with the hypothesis. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW The literature review will give an account of the studies that have been done on machine safeguarding, its importance, the different methods that exist, machine safeguarding in the textile industry and the various other ideas on this topic. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY The methodology chapter describes the different methods and instruments that were used for collection of data, it also contains a description of the targeted population, the tools and statistical techniques used for analysis of the data, how reliable and valid was the study and the limitations of the study. CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS In this chapter the data obtained from the previous chapter are analysed and results are drawn out and briefly described. CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION This chapter is about discussing the results obtained, in such a way so as to relate the findings to the literature review critically. This is where it is confirmed whether the objectives of the study were met or not. CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS It is a summary of the study, a number of recommendations are provided to the problems identified in the study and for future researches.