Civil Disobedience to Black Power Essay

Up until the 1960’s the civil rights movement was practiced through peaceful protests established from the idea that equal recognition amongst all peoples was only acquired through non-violent acts. In the late 60’s these techniques transformed into fast and more efficient methods with different value sets. The changes within the Civil Rights movement occurred because African Americans were sick of the painfully slow progress accomplished through the civil rights movement, didn’t agree with the idea that being mistreated, disrespected, and stomped over (figuratively and literally) was the only resolution to overcome racism and segregation, and decided that violence and bloodshed (stemming from the theory that asking for deserved rights was to slow a process, when they could just take them) was aggressive enough to catch the eyes of many and gain Black Dominance or at least equal rights. Even with the Civil Rights Act in place, African American’s were tired of being neglected and disregarded. Peaceful protesting was only doing so much, the alternative of Black Power had begun to flourish in the late 60’s because it demanded respect through violent, attention-grabbing approaches that were created to actually change segregation and equality. The 1950’s and early 60’s were eras driven by the consumer culture, the US was extremely wealthy, the automobile industry was booming, suburban lifestyle had grown, television became extremely popular, and the general view of America was good (to say the least). The only ‘bad’ aspect of the US was inequality and the unrecognized rights (Blacks deserved). The US originally opted for saving justice and peace amongst Black communities in civil and non-violent ways, but there was limited execution. In 1954, for example, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. This landmark case began a series of significant Civil Rights movements with regards to desegregation and equal rights. The early 60’s brought upon new perspectives and the idea of peaceful resolution was one of them. Due to the fact that American culture was thriving in material goods and prosperity African Americans figured the best way to go about change was to do it in calm, civil, non-brutal manners. Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began to emerge. Doc A, B, and C convey the goals pertaining to African Americans (in the early 0’s) and their hope for equal rights, legal citizenship, voting rights, and equal economic/labor opportunities. Doc A showcases the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s perspective that love transforms hate and nonviolence is the best way to bring about integration. The early 60’s held so much potential and optimism. African American’s were seeking equal privileges so contently because they experienced Americans’ positive response to America’s success and didn’t want to harm the culture or destroy the peace. One attempt for Civil Rights included a peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama. The response of the police was outrageous. As seen in Doc B, the photograph (from 1963) shows racist and corrupt police attacking African Americans after a peaceful protest (to allow Blacks into church). Rather than defend himself, the black man depicted in the photo is responding with no resentment or anger. Many African Americans were beaten and sent to jail; including Martin Luther King, Jr. Doc C (1963) is a letter written by MLK from the Birmingham Jail promoting peace and arguing that â€Å"injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. † MLK desired peace rather than violence because of his educational background and upbringing-his father was the minister of the Ebenezer Baptist Church and he passed on his understanding, tolerance, and religious views (inspired by peace) to his son. MLK could be peaceful, even after going to jail for no reason. After the Birmingham incident, John F. Kennedy announced his promise to end racial discrimination on radio and television. The speech served as motivation to civil right leaders, a wake-up call to Congress, and the inspiration for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 (unfortunately JFK never lived to see these passed). Although these rights were legally authorized, African Americans were not fully protected. Just because they were laws in place, didn’t mean they were implemented with major concern or emphasis. Race riots, racial profiling, and illegal discrimination were still occurring. African Americans realized that in order to truly get what they wanted, they needed prompt uncivil protests. Stokely Carmichael, a violent-protest-supporter, coined the phrase â€Å"black power† and stated â€Å"I am not going to beg the white man for anything I deserve; I’m going to take it. † We see the change in strategy for Black Nationalism. Carmichael’s speech, entitled, â€Å"what we want† from 1966 (Doc E) implies the only way to get money, property, respect, and in general civil rights for African American’s is to demand it, whether it was by strike, boycott, riot, or any other possible means of violent rebellion. The reasons why there was such a focus on gaining equality through violence was because peaceful protests were not developing equality quick enough, African American’s needed each other in order to attain enough votes for one collective ballot, and violent acts needed the most attention because they needed to be stopped the fastest. Take, for example the scenario of when a child throws a fit, the parent will do whatever it takes to stop the child’s interrupting objection and annoying whines, the same initiative for Black Power. Some philosophers even argue that Black Power was an act of revenge, Blacks felt obligated to torture Whites and act in violent ways to get even with them for their previous treatment of African slaves. At this point African Americans had to fight for things Whites got easily, like jobs, money, respect, social status, religion, privacy and the general right to be able to go to common-day-places (like the grocery store or local restaurant) and not have to worry about discrimination. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (Doc F in 1967) preached that black people must resort to violence because they have not made any gains through peace. Malcolm X, a Black Power activist and violent-protesting-leader supported this idea and said, â€Å"Stand on your own feet and solve our problems ourselves instead of depending on white people to solve them for us. † This quote shows the foundation for Black Power-fast, unexpected, memorable recognition. Malcolm X ridiculed Martin Luther King’s attempt at Birmingham saying it showed the uselessness of nonviolent-protest. The increasing amount of African Americans promoting violence concerned American citizens. Whites believed that if the government didn’t take action, mass riots and destruction would erupt everywhere, and they were somewhat on track. By 1968, (according to Doc G) 62% of African Americans were registered to vote, that’s 33% more than in 1960. This evidence suggests that the violent acts did make an impact and shape the Civil Rights movement into what we view it as today.

Diversity of People in United States: A Threat to U. S. Security?

I. IntroductionAs the globalization become rampant, people are migrating to and from different parts of the world. The United States (U.S.), being a well developed country in the world, apparently, different citizens from different countries and continents are trying to migrate and build their lives in the U.S.This could not only be seen in the modern days but also in the past era of the America wherein French people and African ethnics, from their migrant ancestors, are able to live now as American citizens. Being a divert country; different people are living within one geographical area. Considering that U.S. is a very politicking and powerful country, cold war and gaps with other nations are unavoidable.Along with this study, the main objective of this research is to know whether the culture of diversity in U.S. could be a threat to the national security of the country. Further, the study also aims to provide information regarding the different race and nationality of the people l iving in the U.S. Also, the purpose of the study is also to determine the implications of having U.S. citizens who are born in different places and nationalities.The study is conducted for the advantage of formulation of mitigating measures if there are negative implications showcased by the study.In addition, the study only encompasses people who are living within the geographic area of the country. It will be conducted in a specified (and short) period of time since the resources of the researchers are also limited.II. MethodologyThe research study will be using secondary data from the civil registrar and primary data through personal interviews with different professionals (e.g. demographers and sociologists) for thorough analysis of the study.The research design that the researcher will be using is the Experimental design with the combination of the Quasi – experimental design. First, the Experimental design because the study will still follow the scientific method in per forming data gathering. Second, the Quasi – experimental design will also be used because of the use of the statistics data and the adherence to lesser random research.The study will also be using cluster random sampling. This sampling method could be more appropriate with the study since subunits of the population that will be gathered will becoming from all states in the U.S. Thus, the study could have an equal representation from each cluster.The method of analysis that will be used in the study is the deductive approach or analysis. From the general information that can be gathered, each thread of details that could contribute significantly to the result of the study.Those data that are planned to collect are data of the migrants since after World War II. The numbers of the natural American citizensThe numbers of the natural American citizens will also be counted, meaning, these people are whose parents are both American citizens and born in the U.S. Also, the statistics of the different ethnic, races, and nationalities in different states will also be collected. From the national defense, some security measures will also be searched in addition to the recommendation of the study.III. Results and Discussion (Possible Implication of the Study)There could be many trends from the result and discussions of the study, if it will be conducted completely. There are numbers of implications of the study that could be shown like despite the fact that people in the U.S. are born in different places and nationality, it is not a threat to the national security of the country since the country, itself, has its own tight measure against the terrorism and any violent act to the state. Also, the study could also implies that a tighter security measure should still be implemented within for a safer lives of the U.S. citizens.ReferenceRetrieved on January 15, 2008 on Embassy of the United States database.

Activity Based Management Essay

Activity based management (ABM) is an approach to management that aims to maximize the value adding activities to the customers while minimizing or eliminating non-value adding activities. The objective of ABM is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization in securing its markets. It draws on activity based-costing (ABC) as its major source of information and focuses on managing activities to (1) reduce costs, (2) create performance measures, (3) improve cash flow and quality and, (4) produce enhanced value products in order to improve customer value (Business Dictionary.com). This ABM system’s top priority is in eliminating or improving those activities to increase profitability by seeking out areas where a business is losing money such as the factors which cause activities to be performed or activity cost to change. Undeniably, in order to improve an organization’s work processes and activities to effectively and efficiently meet the rapidly changing environment in this globalisation world, management practices and methods have changed over the last decade and will continue to change in future. THE TRADITIONAL ABSORPTION COSTING is the first system implemented to keep track of the true cost of a product or service. It assigns indirect cost to cost object and uses unsophisticated methods to assign indirect costs. It allocates overheads to production and service departments and uses small number of 2nd stage cost drivers to allocate costs from cost centres or pools to productions or cost objects. This system will only be appropriate when the (i)direct costs were the dominant costs, (ii)indirect costs were relatively small, (iii)information costs are high, (iv)there is a lack of intense global competition and (v)a limited range of products is produced, it might be difficult for every organization to use it. For instance, this system might not be appropriate for companies with complex processes and manufacturing practices. The large increase of indirect and overhead expenses will make the traditional costing method less efficient. Therefore, in 1980s, ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING (ABC) was introduced to overcome these  problems. ABC is a system for managing the organization better. It is a one-off exercise that measures the activities’ cost and performance, resources and the objects which consume them so as to generate more accurate and meaningful information for decision-making. It uses sophisticated or modern methods to assign the indirect costs. This ABC system allocates overheads to each major activity but not to departments and allocates costs to products or cost objects. However, it limits the company to have advantage of the ABC technique. It cannot be used for official record keeping as the IRS and stockholders require the use of traditional methods to create necessary reports for taxes. In another words, companies need to use two different costing methods in order to get the benefit. The system is costly to build, complex to sustain and to modify. Therefore, the emphasis has shifted from ABC to ACTIVITY-BASED MANAGEMENT (ABM) which is also known as ACTIVITY-BASED COST MANAGEMENT (ABCM) later on. ABC is a subset of ABM as the application of ABC evolved from a manufacturing product costing orientation to a management philosophy of activity management applied in industries and organizations (Business Dictionary.com). ABM has grown largely out of the work of the Texas-based Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing-International (CAM-I) (Investopedia). The CAM-I has initiated the development of a comprehensive glossary on ABCM terms by clarifying the significant confusion regarding the semantic and acronym associated with the activity based information (Investopedia). This ABM system makes the cost and operating information useful to improve decision making. Through the ABM analysis process, the management will gain a thorough understanding of its business processes and cost behaviour and management team in the company. In addition, the results of an ABM analysis can help a company generate more accurate budgets and financial forecasts (Investopedia). It gives management insight into the cost structures for making and selling diverse products. In a simplified term, ABC is used to answer the question, â€Å"what do things cost?† and for ABM, a process view is taken to understand factors which cause the costs to occur. This system focuses on the ways to redirect and improve the use of resources, by using  ABC data, to enhance the value created for customers and other stakeholders (Investopedia). These two systems (ABC and ABM) have attracted high levels of interest from both academics and practitioners since its emergence in the late 1980’s. It is mainly due to the significant change in cost management systems they have brought. Due to the lack of pertinence and relevancy of traditional costing that leads to mutual subsidy between products and cost, ABC and ABM are used to enhance or replace the traditional cost calculation methods. For example, ABM approach reports by activities while traditional analysis is by departments; ABM reporting is by sub-activities but traditional is by expense categories and ABM reporting can reports information on activities that are cross departmental boundaries whereas traditional is not allowed(Drury C, 2008). Thus, ABM is concluded to have more meaningful information as it gives more visibility to the cost of undertaking the activities that make up the organization and may raise the issues that are not highlighted in traditional analysis. Most forward-thinking companies have implemented them, or are in the process of doing so as it can be applied to different types of companies, including manufacturers, service providers, non-profits, schools and government agencies (Business Dictionary.com). CONTENTS 1. Features of ABM system _A. STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION_ In order to implement ABM system, the companies are required to carry out the three out of the four stages in ABC (Drury C, 2008). The steps are listed as below: (i) Identify major activities that result in costs being incurred, The activities are the aggregation of units of work or tasks such as machine  set-up cost, purchasing cost and warehousing cost that use up resources. In order to identify all the activities within the company, activity analysis has to be carried out. The activities chosen must be at a reasonable level of aggregation based on the cost verses benefit criteria. In addition, the activities have to be either influenced by the total cost of activity centre or the ability of a single cost driver to provide a satisfactory determinant of the cost of the activity. (ii) Assign cost centers to each activity, and The companies should not use the arbitrary allocations in assigning the significant proportion of costs to activities as it will reduce the reliability of cost. They have to identify and assign the direct costs to specific activity and assign the indirect costs on cause-and-effect cost drivers. By doing so, the cost incurred on each activity can be determined. (iii) Determine the cost driver for each major activity In this stage, the drivers are called as activity cost drivers. In selecting the cost driver, there are two factors which the companies need to consider. Firstly, the cost driver should provide a good explanation of costs of each activity cost pool. Additionally, the cost driver should be measurable easily, and the data should be easily obtained and be identifiable with products. (The cost driver can be production or service oriented). _B. TWO CATEGORIES OF ABM APPLICATION_ Based on the source adapted by Kaplan & Cooper (1998), this system accomplishes its objectives through two complemetary applications which are the operational ABM (â€Å"Doing things right†) and strategic ABM (â€Å"Doing the right things†). Operational ABM enhances efficiency of operation and asset utilization and lowers costs. Its focus are mainly on doing things right and performing activities more efficiently. Management techniques such as activity  management, business process reengineering, total quality management, and performance measurement are used in the ABM application. As for strategic ABM, it attempts to change the activities demands and boost proï ¬ tability by improving activity efficiency. It focuses on choosing proper activities for the operation, eliminating non-essential activities and selecting the most proï ¬ table customers. Strategic ABM applications use management techniques such as process design, customer proï ¬ tability analysis, and value chain analysis. 2. Comparison between Activity-based management system (ABM) and traditional system ABM focuses on activity performed by business and hence, it views business as a set of linked activity that ultimately adding value to customers. Its goal is to satisfy customer needs while making fewer demands on organizational resources. Hence, ABM could have information of activities such as why activities to be performed, how to perform the activities and how well they are performed. In contrast, traditional system focuses on types of cost from departments. It gives less information to manager for the needs in decision making. ABM is better than traditional system as ABM could provide wider information and information could go deeply and more detailed as needed by the management in decision making. Besides, the ABM system only seeks to use cause-and-effect cost driver which is different than the traditional system. It does not rely on arbitrary allocation bases. As we can see from table 1, the information provided by both systems is about customer order processing. However, these two systems take into account different information while preparing the customer order processing. ABM focuses on information that is relevant in the process of customer ordering while traditional analysis focuses on the types of cost incurred in the customer order processing. ABM ANALYSIS RM Preparing Quotations 100 Receiving Customer Order 280 Expediting 120 Total 500 TRADITIONAL ANALYSIS RM Salaries 110 Telephone bill 170 Depreciation of Asset 120 Total 500 Table 1 In addition, ABM is different from traditional system in terms of the report approach. ABM report is determined by activities while traditional system is determined by departments. It can include crossing departmental boundaries. For instance, material purchasing process might involve not only one department but it includes inventory control department, purchasing department and account payable department. The manager will be able to know how the amount spent (e.g: RM 2000) to be used in purchasing material under ABM system. It may show the relevant information such as inventory reviewing, sending purchase requisition and sending purchase order. The manager will be able to know how purchasing of material works on and what are the reasons of purchase delay as well as how to minimize the cost of purchase. It focuses on information based on activity. As for traditional system, manager can get the information on material purchase which costs for RM2000 only. However, this RM2000 does not comply with the amount of goods order. By looking at one information itself, the reasons of non-compliance cannot be tracked as there is lack of information. Therefore, ABM system is better since it did not focus on information based on cost but it assigns  cost of activities to products according to product’s demand for activities and relies on cost centres and cost drivers that cause activity resource consumption. Other than that, it assigns activity costs to cost objects on basis of cost driver usage and measures resources consumed by cost objects more accurately. In addition, ABM system provides both information from value and non value added activities. As for traditional system, it provides information on value added activity only. Value added activity is an activity that supports primary objective of producing outputs. For instance, activity like colouring adds value to a book. Under value added activity, traditional report will show the amount spent in colouring since it adds usefulness to customers. Customers would likely to buy books with some colouring or some pictures rather than books with only words as it might help them in memorizing and understanding the information stated in the book better. However, if the profit does not increase like what the company expected, manager will be able to trace back the cost incurred by looking at amount spent in colouring – non-value added activity. Hence, non value added activity is important as it may affect the company’s profit. Non value added activity is an activity where an opportunity is available for cost reduction without decreasing product’s service potential to customer such as storing and moving raw materials. Under ABM system, manager will be able to draw attention on this issue and trace back the reasons such as waste in the production. Manager will be able to track the cost which has been wasted in the production by reducing material movement and improving production flow without reducing the value added to customer. In other words, customer can have same quality of products-same kind of books while management could reduce the cost of production. 3. Benefits and Limitations of ABM system One of the benefits of the system is to help the management in decision making. It provides better decision making as the information provided by the ABM system is more useful and reliable. The management can make informed decision about product mix, lines of business, process, product design,  services, capital investment and pricing. For instance, manager will able to make decision on how much capital to invest in new product and what kind of new product to be launched based on information that manager obtains in ABM system. Furthermore, ABM is a system for continuous improvements. The system is not just an accounting tool but it also provides many tools that can enhance organizational performance management. In other words, ABM system provides other information as well (the product mix, customer services, line of business and capital investment) that would be able to help an organization in its future development and improvement. For instance, an organization knows how to serve customer better by looking into information provided in customer services activity. ABM also provides a better understanding of cost driver. It is a factor that affects the costs associated with an activity. Managers apply activity- based management system to the operational activity in order to determine the cost to perform an activity and the cost associated with not performing the activity. Through this activity cost drivers, it seeks to provide an extensive view on the actual costs of an activity. For instances, we can see in the Mason & Cox. In Mason & Cox, they feel that it is expensive to implement the activity-based costing system because it is more complex and expensive to maintain. Nevertheless, ABM seems to be more helpful to them in term of improving the company profitability. For example, saving had been achieved by targeting non-value-added activities. Their real cost driver had been identified so that manager may know what to eliminate. The drop in the price of the high-volume lines had met with customer approval. Furthermore, ABM enables company to monitor and improve quality and delivery customer value by tracking cost driver. The new approach provided timely information about factors that were important to customers and factors that employees could control. There was no doubt that ABM had helped Mason & Cox to improve both profitability and customer value. Besides that, in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) needs more sophisticated cost information to make better decision in order to compete in the nature of the health care insurance industry and the need to manage the cost of operation like ways to  allocate administrative cost to the products and services. Hence, BCBSF decided to implement ABM system. ABM helps manager to examine the analysis of value added cost and non-value added costs. A value added cost is the cost of an activity that cannot be eliminated without affecting a product’s value to the customer. Some value added costs are always necessary, as long as the activities that drive such cost are performed efficiently and effectively. For instances, we can truly understand this concept in the Carpenter Company. The senior vice president of sales and marketing said that pillow fall into two distinct segments, the â€Å"commodity† part of the business and value-added line. For the â€Å"commodity† part of the business- consists of polyester-filled pillows which are a normal pillow. Besides that, the â€Å"value-added line†, which features technology-driven fibers and fabrics designed to enhance sleep. As we can see, Carpenter Company had produced variety function of pillow like muscle stress and pain relieve pillow as well as pillow which reduce unnatural awakenings. Today, consumers are better educated about the benefits of various sleep surfaces and they recognize that the role of pillow can play in quality sleep. Although the price for a pillow which features technology-driven fibers and fabrics designed will be expensive but it can help consumer to have a quality sleep. Thus, consumers will not mind to pay more to improve a quality sleep. As a result, we can see that the â€Å"value-added line† may help company to gain profit. In contrast, a non-value added cost is the cost of an activity that cannot be eliminated without diminishing the value. Non-value added cost activities are assumed to be unnecessary as a result it always be minimized like storing and handling inventories; transportation of raw material or partly finished products. If this non-value added costs happened, company may reduce or eliminate it by careful redesign of the operational process. As we can see how Taipei Fubon Bank deals with those non-value added costs in this mature and complex market. Taipei Fubon Bank needs to accurately determine profit and loss data by customer and customer group so that it could help bank to reduce operating costs and increase profit while maintaining it quality of service. Hence, the bank had developed a customer profitability  management (CPM) system that provide thorough information regarding cardholder spending pattern and profitability to build highly targeted marketing and retention program. This system did helped bank to reduce cost by updating timely management report, thus speeding marketing strategy adjustment decision. However, they wanted more information regarding a detailed analysis such as the profitability by card type at the individual customer level. As a result, they entered into the new CPM system by performing an in-depth analysis at the transaction level. The new CPM system contributes to division-wide productivity through the delivery of as-needed reporting to the user custom portal. The reporting may include customer spending habits, customer ranking by demographic criteria or the profitability of co-branded card by service channel. After using this system, Taipei Fubon Bank has significantly improving division profitability and now they can make more faster and accurate decision. In Dow Chemical Company (DCC) which produces chemicals and plastics implement ABM to identify the activities they perform, eliminate non-value-added activities, determine cost drivers, set activity price to charge users and benchmark these price to ensure that they are competitive. While ABM has brought benefits to DCC but also brought many challenges to them. For instances, DCC feels that it is difficult to capture cost driver information without creating additional work. As the activity analysis became more and more detailed, DCC had to justify the complexities in obtaining and processing activity information. Ultimately the company decided that should not break activities down to task level, otherwise the resultant activities were too small and numerous. By comparing with the traditional system, ABM system is more costly. Implementation of ABM system requires many resources such as human resources and time consuming. Different activities require different resources. Data that concerns on major activities must be measured, collected and entered into system. As we can see that Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) feels that ABM system is a timely and costly system. By using ABM system, they need to implement a thorough mapping of all processes, drill down and filtering of all â€Å"relevant† activities, the identification of cost  driver and others are enormous challenges. Thus, this may cause the company to take up much time and resources because this company consists of over 1100 staffs. Furthermore, everyone may have different point of view and searching for different data therefore they need times to eliminate and collect the right data into the right activities. Incorrect data collection and allocation may result to setbacks during the implementation stages and may jeopardize the whole project. Misinterpretation might also happen in ABM system. This is because most of the information is interrelated and ambiguous. For instance, cost assigned to material, products and customer may be relevant and cause the manager to overlook some information. This causes misinterpretation happen and link to the wrong decision making. Wrong decision making may cause some issues happen in the operation such as production delay, over-production and wrong shipping. Reports by using ABM system are suitable for internal users only and cannot report to external users. This is because ABM system has limitations since it does not conform to generally accepted accounting principles (G.A.A.P). Stakeholder might not be able to understand the reports on ABM system and therefore, ABM system is only restricted for internal use. CONCLUSION Previously, company usually apply traditional accounting system to manage the company’s operational activity but this system does not provide more detailed information that needed in this competitive environment. Therefore, managers require better information by developing activity-based management. This approach allow everyone in the organization understand where costs are being incurred, why are they being incurred and how these activities contribute to a higher value added to customers. Moreover, ABC explores to identify activities that can be eliminated or improved. In additional to that, communications will improve and changes are easier to make if company conducts the activity-based approach. In addition to the above purpose, we feel that ABM system may be useful for a company. This is because it not only focuses on the product of a company but also the services and customers of a company. Besides that, it also help company to find out the cause of a problem, action plan for future development as well as evaluation of managers’ or departments’ present performance. In addition to that, it also helps company utilize true cost data which generated through ABC for further improvement in business profitability in the long run. ABM in best practice firm lies at the heart of the decision-support process. Integrating ABM within the total information and management control system of the organization can lead to quantum improvements. Therefore, an organization needs to understand and address the common pitfalls and barriers to success at every stage of implementation. Besides, the ABM system should include and draw on the insights of the people who use it no matter during planning, activity analysis or other so that the implementation will success when the people use the system. Organization should tailor to the unique strategy, structure, capabilities, and needs of the firm so that the implementation will be succeeded. This is because ABM will not look the same in every organization although it is a universally useful concept. Finally, we have an in-depth understanding of ABM during the process of working out this assignment and we found out that activity-based approach has more advantages than disadvantages. We have learned many things like time management and how to get along with our group members. Although we spent much time for discussing the lessons and recommendations, we didn’t have any argument during our discussion and everything went on smoothly. BIBLIOGRAPHY _Advantages, Disadvantages and Limitations of Accounting Based Costing (ABC) System_. (n.d.). Accounting For Management. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://accounting4management.com/limitations_of_activity_based_costing.htm Business Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/activity-based-management- ABM.html Cardos,I.R., & Pete,S. 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An activity based management methodology for evaluating business processes for environmental sustainability. Business Process Management Journal, 12(6),751. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from Business Sources Complete, Pro Quest, http://search.proquest.com SAS. (n.d.). Activity-based management. Driving profitable growth through activity- based management. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.sas.com/solutions/abm/#section=2 Sharman, P.A. (1993). Activity-based management: A growing practice. CMA Magazine, 67(2), 17-22. Retrieved from Business Source Complete, Pro Quest. Retrieved February 30, from http://search.proquest.com

History of economic thought Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

History of economic thought - Essay Example Agricultural production also required the bigger number of workers if pursued in a highly organized manner, on a countrywide scale. Adam Smith (1776) in his The Wealth of Nations noted that it was this misconceived plan for economic development in Europe, which could have been initiated by private interests, that gave rise to widely divergent theories and schools of economic thought. Questions on the validity of an old development strategy became parent to new economic ideas and theories. Over time, these divergent ideas clashed on the multiple facets and problems of economic activity - labor, employment, capital, wages, production. But these conflicting views remarkably coincide on one bottomline: the need to distribute wealth equitably. Such is the case with the theses of Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes, three intellectuals who tinkered with economic law and sought to bring it into accord with the rapidly changing workplace. The three lived and worked a full century apart from each other but all three saw the same ineffectuality of economic systems everywhere to let the proceeds of industry and the land flow to the working class. Smith published his The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Marx came up with his Capital: A Critique of the Political Economy in 1867 which appeared to have been undertaken to refute Smith's views. Keynes followed with his The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936 which drew its own conclusions based on the two theories set forth by Smith and Marx.Smith represented the classical economist who looked up to the precept of laissez-faire, which believes that the economy works best when you leave it alone and just let the market forces work out solutions to such problems as uneven distribution of wealth. Marx stood at the opposite pole, the chief proponent of the classless society which calls for state interventions in the marketplace. Keynes was somewhere in between, moderating the two extreme views on how to ameliorate the conditions of the laboring class. Incidentally, both Marx and Keynes agreed that prolonged and persistent failure to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor is likely to cause social upheavals, even armed revolutions. Their views differed on everything else. In their times, Smith, Marx and Keynes saw and described the disfranchisement of the lowly workers and peasants in almost the same manner. Smith, quoting someone else, observed that "150 landlords own half of England while 12 controlled half of Scotland's soil." Marx: "The wealth of nation flows into a few people's pockets." Keynes shared that sentiment and added that this income disparity is especially pronounced in prosperous countries. He said: "This is the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty - the richer the community, the wider the gap between its potential and actual production, thus the more obvious and outrageous the effects of the economic system (on the poor)." Smith Economics The whole purpose of Smith's thesis was to improve the conditions of the lower ranks of people - the servants, workmen, laborers. Said he: "No society can flourish and be happy if the greater part

Mental Illnesses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mental Illnesses - Essay Example The result of this is that there been a decrease in the statistics of mental health cases in this nation and statistics show that lower figures are expected in future. The changes that have occurred in service provision for, and societal attitudes towards the mentally ill in Australia have been positive developments. These advances are reflected in the improved statistics for mental health in the country. Â  According to the statistics provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013), about 20% of the Australian citizens between the age of 16 and 85 were suffering from some form of mental illness. This great proportion of the population having mental illness sent an alarm to the government triggering them to invest in strategies to react to this problem. Since 1990, the Australian government has consistently increased its budget allocation for mental related problems. As stated by the Medibank (2013) the government spends about $28.6 billion per year on mental health, which is much higher than amount spent on any other form of illness. This was the government strategy to ensure that all mental health cases were treated well in the public service hospitals. It also ensured that these services are available for all the citizens in the remote locations. Another strategy was the use of government policies to regulate the discrimination and stigmatization of people with health disorders. For instance, the government required that any person who suffers from mental illness while in employment should not be isolated.

Conflict Managment and Resolution Research Paper

Conflict Managment and Resolution - Research Paper Example In order to achieve this aim, the paper will conduct a literature review of the researches conducted till date that have explored the transactional leadership and manager’s approaches to resolving and mitigating conflicts in a workplace. A manager is a person who has to manage the workforce and to make them achieve organizational objectives. A manager has to plan, organize, lead and control. Leading is the core function of management. However, a manager is always a leader but a leader is not always a manager. The transactional leadership is a type of leadership style in which the leader perceives that people can be motivated through rewards and punishments only. This is the most common type of leadership style and widely adopted in contrast to charismatic and transformational leadership style. Every manager has to face conflict issues that takes place while they are performing their roles. In this regard, they have to undertake steps to handle these conflicts and to resolve th em in a manner that is beneficial to the organization. Nevertheless, there are various approaches to conflict management and resolution that varies according to their outcomes and nature. For instance, Hendel, Fish and Galon (2012) conducted a research study of Israeli nurse managers in general hospitals to analyze their choice of strategy whilst managing conflict and their leadership style. The primary reason for undertaking the research was the fact that nurse managers encounter conflict. The conflict management style determines the degree of effectiveness of the managers. Increasingly, the organizations are realizing the importance of adopting effective... This paper approves that Korabik, Baril and Watson found that the men adopt transactional leadership style while managing conflicts at their workplace. Like, they consider the elements of reward and punishment as important factors in managing and resolving conflicts. The study also found that the leadership styles adopted and their subsequent outcomes were the same between both genders. This study shows that the approaches to conflict management from the managers and transactional leaders point of view are gender biased. The females are more towards transformational leadership roles than the transactional ones as the latter involves definite rules and guidelines to follow. The study also shows that male managers are more focused on adopting leadership style that can help them achieve multiple benefits and no loss. The employees are also informed about the incentives of achieving the required standards and the subsequent penalties for failure. Thus, making it easier for the leaders to identify the potential causes of conflict, develop methods to avoid future disputes and resolve the existing problems effectively. This esssay amkes a conclusion that the nature of conflict and its diversity has demanded a uniform set of process to resolve disputes that arise in a workplace and in legal cases. For instance, the large number of intellectual property right cases and their sensitive nature has required a speedy, cost-effective and mutually binding solution to the intellectual property rights stakeholders.

In the UK, ethical businesses are not as successful as less ethical Essay - 2

In the UK, ethical businesses are not as successful as less ethical businesses. Discuss - Essay Example The reason for lesser success among ethical businesses in the market is that there is a lack of awareness among potential customers concerning origins of most products. This ignorance has made it extremely difficult for ethical businesses to not only promote themselves, but also to achieve the sales margins that less ethical businesses achieve (Anand and Rosen, 2008). Furthermore, the most popular brands available for customers tend to be those that are owned by less ethical companies and this situation makes it harder for ethical businesses to compete with them at the same level. Therefore, while most ethical businesses spend much money in advertising their products, less ethical ones, which have been in the market longer, do not need to spend as much since they have established firm customer bases. Further, less ethical businesses take advantage of all favourable market conditions available to ensure that they reduce their costs of production as well as distribution and this is done in such a way that they do not necessarily have to observe ethical values. They take advantage of cheaper labour, greater means of production as well as favourable government policies to ensure that their products are not only cheaper, but also abundant in the market. This is an aspect of current business environment, which many ethical businesses cannot compete with because they are based on achieving ethical observances such as fairer prices for producers as well as fair wages for those who provide labour. In the end, it is difficult for these companies to keep their prices low because they have to recover their costs; a major disadvantage when compared to less ethical companies. In recent years, less ethical businesses have had an edge over ethical businesses based on their having been firmly established in the market for much longer than their counterparts have. This has made it quite difficult for ethical businesses

19th foreign policy of 'partnership' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

19th foreign policy of 'partnership' - Essay Example USA sought to have superior authority and did what was best in its own interest. This is best manifested in Roosevelt’s aggressive policies as he was looking to impose its dominant supremacy in a world filled with danger. Roosevelt’s attitude and aptitude was the manifestation of the American philosophy itself at that time. Roosevelt firmly believed in progressivism, a concise change that Americans must embrace in order to be supreme. However, this was contradictory as the US picked Salvador Allende, only because they wanted a leader that was handpicked by them. This was due to the fact that picking a Democratic leader could have been risky for the United States in its conquest to keep fighting communism. The reason Castro was always deemed as more of an enemy than a friend for United States is because of his close ties with communism. It was no surprise that Castro was well-aware of his authority, power, and his close ties with Russia. The American policy of containment continued to extend in local premises, which meant to remove Castro at any cost.   From Kennan’s perspective, an ideologist and a propagator of Democracy- it was a dangerous policy as it flared tensions between two superpowers. It also initiated the ruthless intention of the USA to build up arms and support dictatorships to fight anti-communism. The ultimate goal went from containment to overthrowing a regime. However, policy was a success as it did halt Soviet expansionism as democracy prevailed.   The risks that were implemented with this policy were too high compared to the benefits and could have been potentially

Market failure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Market failure - Research Paper Example Experts opine that there are multiple reasons that have worked behind the extinction of the cod. The most noteworthy reason that worked to this outcome is that the market could not allocate the resource efficiently and the federal government did not have any comprehensive policy for developing the fishing industry in a sustainable manner. This made the fishing zones vulnerable to over fishing and it led to over exploitation of the resource. This creates a negative externality since the ecological balance is lost due to depletion of the natural resources beyond normal replenishing capability of nature. Once faced with the depleting fish reserve, the Government of Canada took reconstructive steps to allow the population of the extinct species to grow and launched a process of strict monitoring of fishing activities in the zone. Background By the first decade of the 16th century, the news spread like fire that the fishing ports along the northern coast of Europe were a rich reserve of d ifferent species of marine fish (Emery). By the beginning of the 1990s, the cod fisheries were exploited ravenously. The once-plentiful stock of cod along with several other species had dwindled and reached the brink of becoming extinction. After the stories of cod fisheries spread, foreign fishermen started to catch cod from this zone. They made use of efficient technology highly efficient technology that helped fishermen to locate the position of fishes and harvest exceptionally large amounts of the fish, particularly cod. Stronger vessels, such as technologically advanced trawlers allowed big fishing fleets to visit this zone and from distant places and work on these shores for several months at a stretch. Fishing became an important economic activity and it was left to the market for demand to be supplied with adequate quantities. Hence this led to maximization of the individual private fishermen’s profit objective. This led to catching of fish following the commercial ob jectives of increasing production efficiency. Overestimation of the magnitude of stock of cod fish in these fisheries by the government officials in the countries of Europe and by some international bodies allowed the harvesting of fish, which crossed the limit of sustainable harvest (â€Å"Cod Moratorium†). Quotas were assigned sometimes by these organizations, but, these conformed to the economic requirements of these countries and did not comply with the ecological requirements. The outcome of this phenomenon was a situation of overexploitation of the northern cod. In 1991, the catch rate reduced significantly and also the concentration of large fish reduced (Emery). This led to reduction of fishing activity in the region. The total allowable catch was reduced by the Canadian government in 1991. A two-year moratorium was put on the harvest of northern cod in July in the same year. One year later, in July 1992, the Canadian government shut down the industry for an infinite period of time. Issue: Market failure in Canadian fisheries Economic incentives for overfishing The tragedy of commons A classic example of the tragedy of commons is the case of depleting northern cod stock. High sea fisheries in the pacific are a common resource and do not have any specific owner. Therefore these resources are exploited with the profit motive of the

Air Pollution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Air Pollution - Research Paper Example Some developed countries have taken measures against the air pollution by making laws and policies and introducing green technologies. However, the rapid increase in industrialization has minimized the effect of these measures and millions of people are at risk by inhaling air containing harmful substances. Air pollution is a major problem in big industrial urban areas as compared to rural areas. Industrial, Vehicle and other types of smoke, CFCs and the greenhouse gasses are mixing up into the air that we inhale and the toxic substances in them act like slow poisons within our bodies (Gujrar, Molina and Ojha 1-14; Agarwal 1-6). We are focusing on the air pollution in general in first part of the paper and then specifically in United States. The top three greenest states and why are they called the green states will be discussed. Also the top three most polluted states and what are they doing to overcome the high level of pollutants in air will be discussed finally. Air pollution Acc ording to World Health Organization air pollution is â€Å"the contamination of the ecological system by any toxic chemical, physical or biological agent that alters the natural environment† (World Health Organization). ... Most common types of air pollutants are car emissions, chemical wastage from factories, dust, pollen, and mold spores. Pollutants can be classified into types: Primary pollutants and secondary pollutants. Primary Pollutants – are emissions discharged directly from a source. For example, volcanic eruptions or factory discharges (Gray). Secondary Pollutants- are formed as a consequence of reactions between primary pollutants and other substances found in the atmosphere for example Ozone that makes up smog (Gray). One of the most distinguishable characteristics of air pollutants is their transboundary nature that is they can travel to far and wide places away from their origins. The six major pollutants described by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are briefly discussed below (EPA; Gray): AIR POLLUTION IN UNITED STATES A study reports that more than 500,000 Americans die annually due to cardiopulmonary diseases caused by air pollution. In a recent economic study in Los Angel es Basin and San Joaquin valley of southern California it is shown that more than 3800 people face premature deaths annually (approx. 14 years earlier) because of the illegal amount of pollutants in the air. In 1948, Donora, Pennsylvania 20 died and more than 7000 were injured due to the worst ever smog disaster reported in U.S history (Peterman). The 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the conventional air toxics such as: Ozone, Particulate matter, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur dioxide and Lead. Out of which Ozone and Particulates are the biggest and primary threats. The act also enables EPA to restrict the emissions from chemical plants, utilities and steel mills. Through this act, the

European Politics Essay Example for Free

European Politics Essay Not long after taking office as President, Nicolas Sarkozy initiated a bold agenda of sweeping governmental and economic reform which enflamed controversy and engendered violent confrontation within the French government and among the French population regarding both the state of economic parity within French society, and Frances role in a swiftly changing global-political climate. Sarkozy, a former member of the National Assembly, a two-time appointee as Minister of the Interior, and a past President of the UMP, rose to prominence as a widely popular (and also widely unpopular) figure in the conservative wing of French politics. Although Sarkozys personal and romantic life as well as his financial dealings and his public image have all fallen under the intense scrutiny of the French and International media, the most controversial issues associated with President Sarkozy have generally been and continue to be issue and policy oriented. Prior to being elected President, Sarkozy made International news headlines when, as Minister of the Interior, Sarkozy, insisted that Muslim women pose bare-headed for official identity photographs (Scott, 2005), a move which provoked a storm of opposition within France and throughout the globe. However, Sarkozys intentions were even much wider than revealed by his policy regarding identity photos; Sarkozys main recommendation, accepted by Chirac in January 2004, was for a law prohibiting the wearing of ostentatious signs of religious affiliation in public schools. This is now the law of the land (Scott, 2005). Sarkozys record prior to becoming President indicated that he was a man unafraid to pursue a controversial course of action. As president, one of Sarkozys first publically criticized actions was his handling of a Libyan hostage crisis which involved the retrieval of Belgian health-care workers who had been held in Libya. In return for releasing the Belgians, the Libyan dictator Gaddafi was able to gain President Sarkozys signature on a treaty which transferred hundreds of millions of euros, along with important military equipment to Libya. This move was met not only with criticism but with a call for an investigation at the parlimentary level which was requested by the head of the French Socialist Party. Although this single example may seem slight in light of the forthcoming discussion regarding governmental reform and the EU policy on climate change which will form the heart of the present study of Sarkozys administration, the incident is illustrative of the odd duality which seems to stamp itself on many of Sarkozys policies, programs, and initiatives. The duality is one rooted on one side in what many might consider a superficial, yet effective, understanding of public image and political theater; on the other side, it is rooted in what many might call brutally pragmatic economics. Critics of Sarkozy go further than to call the President an economic pragmatist. Many members of Sarkozys own conservative party, the UMP, have criticized the President for being a strong advocate of free-trade while simultaneously backing sweeping reforms in the working-class sector including his â€Å"loi de modernisation de leconomie† (Lawday, 2007), or Modernization of the Economy Law which in addition to relaxing federal restrictions on retail prices and work-regulations, allowed workers who worked over thirty-five hours a week to collect their overtime pay tax-free. If, basically, Sarkozys economic policies reflect a free-market, self-responsibility venture that he claims every advanced country in Europe, from Britain to those in Scandinavia, and lately Germany, has adopted to its advantage (Lawday, 2007) they also reflect an essentially conservative philosophy which stands in odd contrast to Sarkozys iconoclastic image as an agent of change. As one observer phrased it, Sarkozys economic philosophy and national economic program represents not so much novelty as catch-up politics with a conservative twist (Lawday, 2007) and, as such, Sarkozys economic programs include the curbing of labor unions and their power. These aspects of Sarkozys approach to government and economic matters leaves little room for doubt that at least in relation to financial matters the President is a true conservative, although his vision may be, overall, a bit more modern than that which is commonly associated with conservatism, the end-result is the same. Sarkozys economic philosophies are important not only because they impact one of the most crucial sectors of public policy and governmental influence in France the economy but also because they indicate the aforementioned duality of purpose and bearing which seems to stand as part and parcel of Sarkozys political career. If on e the one hand, Sarkozy wanted to amend the 35-hour working week so that it is no longer the reposeful regulation it implies (Lawday, 2007), he also sought to simultaneously force strikers to maintain a minimum service for trains, buses and other public services (Lawday, 2007) and to slice into the bloated state bureaucracy, where the unions are strongest, by permitting one replacement for every two retiring government office workers (Lawday, 2007) while at the same time admitting in the face of the recent global economic crisis that laissez faire capitalism is dead. The economic platform and policies which Sarkozy has advocated indicate that above all else Sarkozy is a pragmatist. This fact is s very useful fact because, by keeping it firmly in mind, a more complete understanding of Sarkozy the politician can be gained. In point of fact, most of what passes for populism in Sarkozys public image is precisely due to his pragmatic approach. His populist reputation as a French nationalist who is for robust immigration reform may collide somewhat uncomfortably with his status as the (rotating) President of the European Union, just as his stand on unions collides with his recent, public statements regarding socialism where Sarkozy responded to the question: have you become a socialist? with the answer Maybe (Lawday, 2007). Sarkozys radicalism which stands in sharp contrasts to his fiscal conservatism and his conservatism on issues such as immigration and unions manifests itself not in ideology, necessarily, but within the framework of his aforementioned pragmatism. In other words, Sarkozy may be a populist to the extent that he adopts positions which will curry favor with French Nationalists, such as the headscarf legislation mentioned at the opening of this paper, he may be a fiscal conservative bent on busting the unions and generating a productive working class base for French society, but in each case his convictions, while arguably difficult to pin down under a single umbrella of ideology, are always enacted by way of robust action. Sarkozy may be many things, but one thing he certainly is not is a dawdler. One of the most illustrative examples of Sarkozys style and substance as a leader, and specifically as the President of France, is his massive reform of French government and the displacement of governmental power. Although as will be demonstrated shorty Sarkozys controversial reforms to French government have the design and purpose of bringing the government into the modern era of global-politics and allowing for a more efficiently run government within France itself, the same reforms have been assailed by Sarkozy;s critics, primarily by the French Socialist party, as being tantamount to instating a dictatorship in France with Sarkozy himself enthroned as dictator. Although the specificities and complexities of Sarkozys reforming of French government pose much too vast a too vast to exhaust within the confines of this short discussion, the overall impact and intention of his reform policies offer profound insight into not Sarkozys ambitions as President but into the potentially radical reshaping of French government as well as Frances relationship to the EU. Before delving into the specifics of the reform legislation, it is useful to remember just how the French Constitution regarded the separation of governmental powers and more importantly what role the President of France was accorded by the Fifth Republics Constitution. Because Sarkozys program of governmental reform offers, as a centerpiece, the apparent expansion of Presidential power and authority, while simultaneously strengthening the role and power of parliament, sorting out the specific angles by which Sarkozy enabled the expansion of Presidential power can be quite difficult to achieve. However, the role of the French President, according to the Fifth Republics Constitution was limited: Article 5 [ ] states that the President ‘Provides by their arbitration for the regular functioning of the public authorities and the continuity of the State’ (Bell, 2000, p. 15), with nothing mentioned about the Presidents own power to legislate. This aspect of the Constitution is the key area by which Sarkozy sought to expand, in the eyes of the anti-reformers, Presidential power. Specifically, the most controversial aspect of the reform-laws was Sarkozys plan to allow the president to address parliament, opening up the possibility of a US State of the Union-style address. That has not been permitted since 1875, in an attempt to keep the executive and legislative branches separate (BBC News), and it is by this seemingly simple move that Sarkozy expanded Presidential authority while simultaneously seeming to limit that same authority. Because the Fifth Republics Constitution calls for the President to function as an arbitrator the American-style Presidency of the President as the leader of the legislature, addressing parliament, becomes a specter of dread to those who view this as an incursion on the Constitutional separation of powers. While it is true that Article 5, which implicitly restricts the Presidency, has been a subject of controversy (Bell, 2000, p. 15), Sarkozys expansion of Presidential authority has proven to be even more divisive. Sarkozys plan to rewrite the Fifth Republics Constitution represents the two primary aspects of his governing style which have formed the roots of the current discussion; these aspects are his inherent conservatism and his obvious pragmatism. The reform legislation introduced radical, pragmatic steps toward affecting sweeping change in France and rewrote the French Constitution, but while Sarkozy verbalized his assurances that the reforms represented Movement, change, modernity,' (BBC News) as well as a victory for French democracy, the same reforms also contributed to the strengthening of Presidential authority and resulted in a divided parliament with Sarkozys reform bill passing by 539 votes to 357 one vote more than the three-fifths majority of the combined Assembly and Senate required to pass the reforms BBC News), so if strengthening democracy was Sarkozys intention, his initial result was to divide the parliament and pass a sweeping reform to the French Constitution with next-to-no consensus. This fact in itself would seem to confirm the trepidation regarding his proposed reforms (now law) which engulfed his detractors in parliament. One of these detractors, Socialist senator Bernard Frimat told lawmakers before t he vote at a special session at the Chateau of Versailles (BBC News) that Sarkozy had offered a consolidation of monocracy, (BBC News) but Sarkozy, always careful to play to populist ideas and ideals, counter-weighted the expansion of Presidential authority with corresponding limits and restrictions on the French Presidency. The reform laws while strengthening the Presidents role in the legislature also limit the President to two five year terms, gives parliament a veto over some presidential appointments, ends government control over parliaments committee system, allows parliament to set its own agenda, and ends the presidents right of collective pardon (BBC News). Seemingly, by these latter reforms, Sarkozy was interested in limiting not expanding the powers of the French President; however the telling point of the reform laws as they relate to the French Presidency lies within the mere expansion of the Presidents role as a lawmaker rather than, as the Fifth Republics Constitution advocated, a a neutral ‘umpire’ who has three principal tasks: i) to see that the Constitution is respected; ii) to ‘arbitrate’ to ensure the continuity of the state; iii) to be vigilant on the issues of national independence, territorial integrity and the respect for treaties (Bell, 2000, p. 16). Sarkozys vision of the President and the reform legislation he was able to enact to realize this vision stands in direct opposition to Article 5 of the French Constitution. Sarkozys radical pragmatism extends beyond the parameters and confines of French domestic issues into the realm of International affairs. As the acting President of the European Union, Sarkozy has applied a similarly hands on approach to issues of international importance such as climate change. As illustrated by Sarkozys reform legislation and the somewhat concealed agenda therein which provided for the expansion of Presidential authority, Sarkozy seems to have adopted a similar approach to his position as EU President. On the topic of global warming and climate change, Sarkozy has proven to be as pragmatic and as forceful as he was on the issues of crime, immigration, and government reform in France. At the thirty-third summit of the G8, Sarkozy offered a plan to reduce French CO2 emissions by half and what followed was the adoption of this concept by the G8 nations as a whole. Although the agreement which was reached at the summit was non-binding, Sarkozys lead enabled the G8 nations to put forth a collective plan to cut in half the global emissions of greenhouse gasses. Sarkozy continued to push for a binding agreement, but his efforts proved futile. Nevertheless, his approach to the issue of climate change represented, as his approach to governmental reform. a pragmatic and comprehensive approach to a hard problem. Of interest is the fact that the binding agreement regarding greenhouse gas emissions was apparently blocked by the United States with its President, George W, Bush, citing the refusal of third-world nations to also enter into the agreement. Responding tot his obstacle, Sarkozy turned his efforts not toward America or the Third World, but to China, utilizing his status as EU President to put forward a comprehensive and progressive energy policy which included a collaborative effort with the Chinese. Sarkozys successful brokering of a deal on energy adn climate change between the EU adn China marks one of the most important accomplishments of his pragmatic and often radical approach to governing. It is due to this combination of tenacity and creativity that Sarkozy has evolved from a controversial cabinet member in the French government known mostly for being a strong conservative to an actor on the world stage who seems to be equal parts populist and conservative. It is, perhaps, not necessary, to understand which of the aspects, conservative or populist is dominant in Sarkozy, it is possibly not even that important to understand, at a personal, human level, which aspect represents more honestly Sarkozys own world-view. While some observers may claim that Sarkozys populism is merely a smokescreen to conceal his ambitious moves toward a consolidation of personal power, others may claim, with good reason, that Sarkozys populism represents a genuine attempt to represent the global sea-change which has currently cast global economics and world-affairs into an ambiguous and dangerous place. No matter which of these perspectives lies closer to the objective truth of Sarkozy the man, the result of Sarkozys actions as a world-leader will involve much more than a consideration of President Sarkozys motives. One of the most compelling aspects of Sarkozy as a world leader is his simultaneous insistence of modernity while maintaining an acute, almost reverential, respect for the past. Like the other dualities apparent in Sarkozys governing style adn thinking style, this duality of past vs. future manifest, in Sarkozy, not as an abstract idealogy but in pragmatic application. In addition to his highly controversial reforms in regard to economics, government, unions, immigration, and climate change, Sarkozy has also generated a great deal of controversy regarding his position of cultural subjects and education in France. While seeming to be a strong nationalist with a true conservatives reverence for tradition, Sarkozy has readily admitted that France has failed to democratize its culture and that in doing so, accomplished one of the chief failures of the past 50 years of French government (Sarkozy out to Democratize, 2007, p. B01). As always, his suggested course of action revealed a blend of populism and conservatism and fused the cultural concerns of France with the power of the French government: Sarkozy defined democratisation de la culture as providing the means for the largest number of people to understand and appreciate Sophocles, Shakespeare and Racine. He added that the purpose of education is to teach you how to tell the difference between Madame Bovary and a police blotter, or between Antigone and Harry Potter. Later, you can read what you like. (Sarkozy out to Democratize, 2007, p. B01) In conclusion, Sarkozys style of governing offers a curious and sometimes uncomfortable blend of populism and conservatism. In the area of domestic policy, he has proven to be both radical in his approach and keenly aware of the political impact of his pragmatic reforms, on international issues he has proven to be creative, opportunistic, and decisive. While Sarkozys bold embracing of modernity may be authenticated by his actions in some cases, many of his policies and programs reveal an essentially conservative politician who seeks, not merely reform, but the type of reform which ensures the continuation of his carefully crafted ideological beliefs.

Escalation and Practice Essay Example for Free

Escalation and Practice Essay A holographic fabric printer has been developed by AIC(Advanced International Corporation) and is considering the option of exporting it to India. The research paper is aimed at performing an analysis of the situation to determine whether such an idea will bear fruits or not. The social situation, the political situation, the location, scenario, the future business prospects and the general textile industry statistics are performed to assist in the implementation of the idea. It is on the basis of this information that a hypothesis has been made. AIC is basically concerned with the manufacture and development of machinery and parts for industries such as printing firms, toy manufacturering not excluding the fabric industry. The printing part includes; posters, large wallpapers, and large billboards for companies advertisement. The company has developed a new tool that enables the printing of holographic images on fabrics. The new tool is not only meant for commercial advertising purposes but also could be utilized in the modern clothing industry. AIC is looking to export the printing tool to India and some of the Asians countries because the Central and Eastern Asian countries are the biggest exporters of raw and ready made fabric. It is therefore the aim of this research paper to make a thorough analysis of the situation and come up with a suggestion or conclusion on whether the project will be viable and whether it will be profitable for AIC to go ahead and export the tool to textile industries in India. From previous statistics carried out by India itself and other interested bodies it is clear that Indias exports are slightly lower than what they expect. If this tool is introduced to India, it might be a success in increasing the market for Indias textile exports. It is therefore important to find out this fact with the aim of giving the relevant conclusion. The research will look at the percentage of textile products exported by India to various countries of the world, Indias annual industrial production and also the demand of various textile products by the mentioned counties. This will help in giving out a rough idea of what to expect by the year 2010 and whether the project should be put in place. Recommendations and conclusions will be made and leave it at the discretion of AIC. Basing on the studies performed and the data collected, it will be a good idea to export the holographic fabric printer to India as she is a growing market with sufficient demand , opportunities of trade as well as a potential future region in terms of textile production and exportation. This trade agreement between India and AIC would be one of the opportunities aimed at boosting the profits and business relations for both of them.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The viability of the project will be tested using the Simple Correlation method. This method will be used as it compares the relationship between two variable in a much simpler way as compared to other methods. When using this method, the study will be statistically significant if the outcome is either; higher than or equal to 0.7 (0.8) to 1.0; or lower than or equal to -0.7 (-0.8) to -1.0. The AICs project manager requires an analysis of the situation on the exportation of the new holographic printers to India. The paper therefore aims at determining whether such an endeavor will be beneficial or not in the long run. India on the other hand, is looking forward to boosting its textile exports all over the world and has a target of about 8% by the year 2010. India has a current share of approximately 4% to 5% of the total world textile export. After agriculture, textile is the second largest sector in India and it provides a lot of   export revenue and a substantial GDP of the country. Technological breakthroughs as a tool will help in the improvement of this sector and thus give India the edge to improve on its trade standing internationally. Advanced International Corporation therefore, is aiming for a fruitful result from the move and is looking for its new development which is the holographic fabric printer.

Facial Trauma Among Patients With Head Injuries

Facial Trauma Among Patients With Head Injuries Facial Trauma among patients with head injuries Dr. Shazia Yasir*, Dr. Faisal Moin, Dr. Muneer Sadiq ABSTRACT Introduction: Facial trauma is without a doubt a most challenging area for any emergency physician. Despite many researches and advances in the understanding of multiple techniques; initial assessment and management of facial injuries in emergency and early stages remained a complex area for patient care. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of facial trauma among patients with head injuries that may help emergency department physicians to deliver accurate and quick diagnosis and decision. Trauma to this region is often associated with mortality and morbidity and varying degree of physical and functional damage. Study Design: Prospective Cross-sectional Descriptive Study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi from four months from Feb 2014 to May 2014. Methodology: This study was conducted at Ziauddin university hospital emergence medicine department. It is a prospective cross sectional descriptive hospital based study. 115 patients who were diagnosed of having head injuries were included in this study. Information on age, sex and cause of injury was taken for each case. Each patient was then examined for the presence of facial trauma using the CT 3D face. Data was analyzed using the SPSS program. Result: Out of 115 patients, 85 (74%) were males and 30 (26%) were females. A total of 59 (51%) patients were between 15 – 30 years of age; 26 (23%) were aged between 31 – 50; and 30 (26%) were above 51 years of age. 76% patients had facial trauma where head injuries were evident. 63% female and 80% male had facial trauma where head injuries were found in patients. Out of these 115 patients majority were involved in road traffic accidents and are from the age group 15 – 30 and predominantly male. Conclusion: Based on the study conducted; it is safe to conclude that patients who have facial trauma associate with head injuries are young males and is mainly caused by road traffic accident. The result might vary by governmental, culture or social differences. Key words: Facial Trauma; Head Injuries; emergency department _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Trauma is a type of injury where external force is being applied suddenly and violently at the body which causes a serious injury [1]. A head injury in human body is any trauma that can cause injury of scalps, brain or skull. The injury could be a minor bruise or serious injury on the head and brain injury [2]. Some injuries can result in prolonged or unrecoverable brain damage. The injury can cause bleeding inside the brain or forces that damages the brain directly. The most common cause of head injuries are road traffic accidents, fall, physical assault or others. These accidents can occur at home, work, outdoors, sports or many other places. Head injuries are commonly associated with facial trauma; often result from high energy blunt force injury to facial skeleton. Typical mechanisms of trauma include motor vehicle accidents, altercation and fall [3]. - PG Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, North Campus, Karachi * Correspondence Email: [emailprotected] The face is vital to human appearance and function. Facial injuries can impair a patients ability to eat, speak, interact with others, and perform other important functions. Facial injuries may be caused by a direct blow, penetrating injury, or fall. Pain may be sudden and severe. Bruising and swelling may develop soon after the injury [11]. METHODOLOGY This study was carried out at the department of emergency medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Patients of either gender with more than 15 years of age presenting to Ziauddin Hospital Karachi who were diagnosed of having head injuries were selected. Patients who gave the history of previous head trauma were not included in this study, this aimed at avoiding some ambiguity during examination as to whether the encountered trauma was the result of the recent head injury or previous underlying trauma. Each patient was then examined for the presence of facial trauma, using 3D CT scan. A 3D CT scan, or a three-dimensional computerized tomography scan, is a type of x-ray that allows high quality images of organs, blood vessels, and bones to be recorded in a very short amount of time. The individual CT images are then layered together to form a virtual model of the body. It is able to reveal the functionality of many of the anatomical structures in the body, in addition to structural defects, tumors, and lesions [12]. The obtained data was checked for completeness and clarity then entered into the computer and analysis was performed using Statistical package for social sciences program (SPSS). Chi –square test (X2) will be carried out and significant level p RESULT A Total of 115 patients with head trauma were included in the study. The gender distribution of the study population is as shown in Table 1 below. Table 1:- There were 85 (74%) males and 30 (26%) females. The age distribution of the study population is as shown in Table 2 below. Table 2:- There were 59 (51%) cases between ages 15 – 30, 26 (23%) cases with ages from 31 – 50 years males and 30 (26%) with age over 51 years old. The presence of facial trauma according to gender is shows in table 3. Out of 115 patients monitored, 19 female have facial trauma out of 30 which consist of 63% female, while 68 male patients have facial trauma with head injuries out of 85 which make 80% of male population. The total of 76% patients has facial injuries where head injuries were evident. Table 3:- Presence of facial trauma according to gender The presence of facial trauma according to age is shows in table 4 along with graphical representation. Out of 115 patients monitored, 59 patients were between ages 15 – 30. From these 59 patients 51 have facial trauma where head injuries were evident, this make 86% of the population. The patients between 31 – 50 years of ages were 26, where only 14 were found to have facial trauma which makes 54% of the population. The patients over 51 years of age were 30 where 22 were found to have facial trauma which makes 73% of the population. Table 4:- Presence of facial trauma according to age Table 5 shows prevalence of facial trauma by gender according to the causes of injuries. Out of 87 patients where facial trauma was also observed 11% female had it because of road traffic accident comparing to 39% male. Fall in female was 9% comparing to 17% male; no assault in female was observed while 14% male had facial trauma during assault. Table 6 below shows the details of prevalence of facial trauma by age according to cause of injury. The detail shows higher number of road traffic accident, followed by fall, assault and other causes of injuries. DISCUSSION Head injuries causes hospitalization of 200 – 300 patients per 100,000 population per year worldwide. A head injury associated with facial trauma comprises a number of complications, such as sequestrum formation, sinusitis, nasolacrimal duct injuries, facial deformity and injury to or entrapment of the globe. Trauma is very well known to be the main cause of death in first forty years of life. Facial trauma can be very dangerous as this could impact the essential parts of the body like speech, respiration, vision or smell so special attentions and importance should be given to facial trauma patients [13]. An international study was done in France to determine the types of facial injuries; 25.4% of the injuries were aged between 21 – 30 years. Sex ratio was 2.7M/1F. The most frequent cause was sports injuries (25.8%); followed in decreased order by traffic injuries (23.1%); home injuries (17.6%); fight injuries (3.4%); work injuries (3.4%) and dog bite (3.2%) [4]. Multiple studies conducted that amongst facial trauma the most common sites are nose (50%) [6] and maxillofacial trauma (5%) [5]. In this study 115 patients with head trauma were included with sex ration of 2.8M / 1F which seems to be consistent with previous studies done in different part of the globe [8, 10, 7]. The findings in this study also revealed the most common involving age group was 15 – 30 years of age; which constituted 51% as compared to other age groups. This finding is the same as that done in Nigeria and others in 2010 [42]. The reason for high prevalence of head and facial trauma to this age group (15 – 30 years) as compared to other age group could be related to activities of this age group in economic and social activities which lead to increase in accidents and violence. In this study it was also found that male are slightly more involved as compared to females where by 74% were male patients and 26% were female patients. The most common cause of facial trauma is to be road traffic accidents which involve motor cycle; car and pedestrian while the second most is fall from height. This was similar to previous findings in other studies which shows most common etiologies of injuries were car crash (39%); followed by assaults (28%) with majority are male with age group 15 – 30 years [9]. Observations from multiple studies of different part of the world shows that leading cause of facial trauma associated with head injuries is road traffic accident followed by fall and assault. Based on the study design and area; each study has its precise section of dominance. CONCLUSION This study concludes the prevalence of facial trauma associated with head injuries was 76% and higher age group is 15 – 30 years with 51% than other age group and prevalence of male 59% than female 16% had facial trauma where head injuries were eminent. The common cause is road traffic accident 50% followed by fall 26%, assault 13.7% and others were 9%. CONSENT FOR THE STUDY All patients or relatives were given a necessary explanation about the study before they asked to participate. For those patients who were unconscious, consents were obtained from their relatives. For patients under ages 18 years, informed consents were obtained from their parents/ guardians. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to acknowledge faculty of Ziauddin Hospital, North Campus for helping us during the study, staff for helping in data collection and all others who have given their input. The study was self funded. REFERENCE Anderson T ,Heitger M, and Macleod AD (2006). Concussion and Mild Head Injury. Practical Neurology : 342–357. Heegaard WG, Biros MH. Head. In: Marx J. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2009:chap. 38 Aksoy E, Unlu E, Sensoz O. A retrospective study on epidemiology and treatment of maxillofacial fractures. J Craniofac Surg. 2002:772-5 Lebeau J, Kanku V, Duroure F, Morand B, Sadek H, Raphaà «l B. Facial injuries treated in the Grenoble University Hospital. 2006;107:23-9 Goodisson, D, MacFarlane, M, Snape, L. Darwish, B, Head injury and associated maxillofacial injuries New Zealand Med J 2004,vol.117 Khan, A. R.,Arif, S., ,J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2005 Vol.17 Hashim H, Iqbal S. Motorcycle accident is the main cause of maxillofacial injuries in the Penang Mainland, Malaysia. 2011;27:19-22. Madubueze CC, Chukwu CO, Omoke NI, Oyakhilome OP. Head and neck injuries as seen in a Nigerian teaching hospital. Ozo CInt Orthop. 2010. Bouguila J, Zairi I, Khonsari RH, Jablaoui Y, Hellali M, Adouani A.Epidemiology of maxillofacial traumatology in Tunis. Rev Stomatol Chir Maxillofac. 2008 Khan AA. A retrospective study of injuries to the maxillofacial skeleton in Harare, Zimbabwe. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1988; 26:435-439. Rankin M, Borah GL. Perceived functional impact of abnormal facial appearance. Plast Reconstr Surg 2003; 111:2140. Saigal K, Winokur RS, Finden S, et al. Use of three-dimensional computerized tomography reconstruction in complex facial trauma. Facial Plast Surg 2005; 21:214. Motamedi MH: An assessment of maxillofacial fractures: a 5-year study of 237 patients. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2003, 61(1):61–64

Indecision, Hesitation and Delay in Shakespeares Hamlet - Excessive H

Hamlet – the Hesitation and Indecision      Ã‚  Ã‚   William Shakespeare’s Hamlet presents a hero who hesitates to avenge his dead father when given the opportunity – what should be his judgment? This paper examines the decision from various points of view.    Mark Rose, in â€Å"Reforming the Role,† comments on how the hero’s hesitation to kill at the propitious moment, coupled with his later hasty decision to kill, have left the protagonist a changed man:    [. . .] the prince who returns from sea is a changed man, resigned, detached, perhaps â€Å"tragically illuminated.† Having refused to kill the king when the time was every way propitious – that is, when he found Claudius kneeling in empty not genuine prayer – and then, having chosen his own moment to act only to find   that instead of the king he has murdered Polonius, Hamlet seems to have allowed his sinews to relax. He has let himself be thrust aboard ship, let himself in effect be cast onto the sea of fortune that is so common an image in Shakespeare and the Elizabethan poets, an image recalling that â€Å"sea of troubles† against which he had earlier taken arms. When the opportunity to escape the king’s trap arises, Hamlet seizes it, leaping aboard the pirate ship, but what he is doing now is reacting to circumstances rather than trying to dominate them wholly. (126-27)    Is there a connection between verbal hesitation and hesitation in action and decisions? Lawrence Danson in the essay â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† discusses the hesitation in action by the hero; this is related to his hesitation in speech:    To speak or act in a world where all speech and action are equivocal seeming is, for Hamlet, both perilous and demeaning, a kind of whoring. The whole vexed qu... ...g.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Form in Shakespeare. N.p.: Princeton University Press, 1972.    Rose, Mark. â€Å"Reforming the Role.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Homer to Brecht: The European Epic and Dramatic Traditions. Ed. Michael Seidel and Edward Mendelson. N.p.: Yale University Press, 1977.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html    West, Rebecca. â€Å"A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957. Indecision, Hesitation and Delay in Shakespeare's Hamlet - Excessive H Hamlet – the Hesitation and Indecision      Ã‚  Ã‚   William Shakespeare’s Hamlet presents a hero who hesitates to avenge his dead father when given the opportunity – what should be his judgment? This paper examines the decision from various points of view.    Mark Rose, in â€Å"Reforming the Role,† comments on how the hero’s hesitation to kill at the propitious moment, coupled with his later hasty decision to kill, have left the protagonist a changed man:    [. . .] the prince who returns from sea is a changed man, resigned, detached, perhaps â€Å"tragically illuminated.† Having refused to kill the king when the time was every way propitious – that is, when he found Claudius kneeling in empty not genuine prayer – and then, having chosen his own moment to act only to find   that instead of the king he has murdered Polonius, Hamlet seems to have allowed his sinews to relax. He has let himself be thrust aboard ship, let himself in effect be cast onto the sea of fortune that is so common an image in Shakespeare and the Elizabethan poets, an image recalling that â€Å"sea of troubles† against which he had earlier taken arms. When the opportunity to escape the king’s trap arises, Hamlet seizes it, leaping aboard the pirate ship, but what he is doing now is reacting to circumstances rather than trying to dominate them wholly. (126-27)    Is there a connection between verbal hesitation and hesitation in action and decisions? Lawrence Danson in the essay â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† discusses the hesitation in action by the hero; this is related to his hesitation in speech:    To speak or act in a world where all speech and action are equivocal seeming is, for Hamlet, both perilous and demeaning, a kind of whoring. The whole vexed qu... ...g.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Form in Shakespeare. N.p.: Princeton University Press, 1972.    Rose, Mark. â€Å"Reforming the Role.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Homer to Brecht: The European Epic and Dramatic Traditions. Ed. Michael Seidel and Edward Mendelson. N.p.: Yale University Press, 1977.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html    West, Rebecca. â€Å"A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.

Hydromaint Year Essay -- Essays Papers

Hydromaint Year During Hydromaint's audit, you and Pam had a number of discussions. You, Pam, and Mike Johnson are generally satisfied that the accounts are in accordance with GAAP and are supported by underlying facts. Pam tested Jerry's pension accounting (which she found to be correct) by preparing a pension worksheet based on data contained in the actuary's report: Current service cost $1,064,043 ABO at 12/31/X7 2,840,000 Interest on the PBO 8% Interest on plan assets 8 Jerry has agreed to adjust his accounts and note disclosures for all corrections proposed by C & L. Pam raised a number of questions that may require adjustment. No other matters were found to be questionable. Pam's questions are as follows: 1. Accounting for R&D does not appear to be in compliance with SFAS No. 2. The work is of the nature described in SFAS No. 2, para. 9, and is not being conducted for others under contract. 2. Pam also noted that warranty contracts are given on all sales of pumps and valves. LS-Pump/Valve and now Hydromaint, have accounted for warranties only on the costs to "make good" when warranty claims were actually filed by customers. If warranty costs had been recognized as sales were made, the liability at January 1, 20X7, would have been $500,000. Pam noted, however, that Nick Riley and Ray Ballard were aware of the warranty contracts and took these into account in valuing the acquisition of LS-Pump/Valve. Nick and Ray did ...

The Characters of Molières The Misanthrope Essay -- Molières Misanth

The Characters of Molià ¨re's The Misanthrope The characters in Molià ¨re's The Misanthrope inhabit a world different from that of many of the playwright's other works: we are viewing the actions of people at the very top of the social ladder of 17th-century France. For example, the foppish Acaste and Clitandre, who come into Cà ©limà ¨ne's house in the second act, are marquesses, the second-highest rank one can hold in the country. They can spend most of the day with Cà ©limà ¨ne, if they so choose, for their only remaining duty at court is to attend the coucher of Louis XIV, the formal going-to-bed ceremony of the king, to which only the highest members of the court were invited to attend. The characters of The Misanthrope own estates, hold power, and are immensely wealthy. They are not the bourgeois household of Tartuffe, they are not members of the upper-middle class--they are the court. Through Alceste, the misanthrope of the title, Molià ¨re mocks and attacks the behavior of the highest level of his society. But Alceste is no Tartuffe, censuring those about him, while giving the appearance of a puritan, set apart from society. No, Alceste, himself an owner of estates, yearns to be accepted by the very society he condemns, and that was seen from the first in the costume which Molià ¨re wore when he played Alceste, a costume that represents the latest fashion--expensive, tasteful, and stylish. We do not know much about this costume from the script, other than it is adorned with green ribbons. We know what Alceste wore--at least in the first productions--from an inventory of Molià ¨re's effects, made after his death: Item, another box where one finds the costumes for the presentation of Le misanthrope consisting of breeches an... ... wearing a curved-brimmed hat, fashionable shoes, and richly embroidered, highly fashionable justaucorps. It was (and is) an Alceste as hypocritical as the society he condemns for hypocrisy, a "supremely paradoxical creature," as David Whitton has called Alceste: "a fish which cannot abide water, nor live out of water." Works Cited Dock, Stephen V. "Authentic Costuming for Tartuffe and Le misanthrope." Approaches to Teaching Molià ¨re's Tartuffe and Other Plays. Ed. James F. Gaines and Michael S. Koppisch. New York: MLA, 1995. 117-36. Lawrenson, Tom. "The Wearing o' the Green: Yet Another Look at Ôl'Homme aux Rubans Verts.'" Molià ¨re: Stage and Study. Essays in Honour of W. G. Moore. Ed. W. D. Howarth and Merlin Thomas. Oxford; Clarendon, 1973. 163-69. Whitton, David. Molià ¨re: Le Misanthrope. Glasgow: U of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. The Characters of Molià ¨re's The Misanthrope Essay -- Molià ¨re's Misanth The Characters of Molià ¨re's The Misanthrope The characters in Molià ¨re's The Misanthrope inhabit a world different from that of many of the playwright's other works: we are viewing the actions of people at the very top of the social ladder of 17th-century France. For example, the foppish Acaste and Clitandre, who come into Cà ©limà ¨ne's house in the second act, are marquesses, the second-highest rank one can hold in the country. They can spend most of the day with Cà ©limà ¨ne, if they so choose, for their only remaining duty at court is to attend the coucher of Louis XIV, the formal going-to-bed ceremony of the king, to which only the highest members of the court were invited to attend. The characters of The Misanthrope own estates, hold power, and are immensely wealthy. They are not the bourgeois household of Tartuffe, they are not members of the upper-middle class--they are the court. Through Alceste, the misanthrope of the title, Molià ¨re mocks and attacks the behavior of the highest level of his society. But Alceste is no Tartuffe, censuring those about him, while giving the appearance of a puritan, set apart from society. No, Alceste, himself an owner of estates, yearns to be accepted by the very society he condemns, and that was seen from the first in the costume which Molià ¨re wore when he played Alceste, a costume that represents the latest fashion--expensive, tasteful, and stylish. We do not know much about this costume from the script, other than it is adorned with green ribbons. We know what Alceste wore--at least in the first productions--from an inventory of Molià ¨re's effects, made after his death: Item, another box where one finds the costumes for the presentation of Le misanthrope consisting of breeches an... ... wearing a curved-brimmed hat, fashionable shoes, and richly embroidered, highly fashionable justaucorps. It was (and is) an Alceste as hypocritical as the society he condemns for hypocrisy, a "supremely paradoxical creature," as David Whitton has called Alceste: "a fish which cannot abide water, nor live out of water." Works Cited Dock, Stephen V. "Authentic Costuming for Tartuffe and Le misanthrope." Approaches to Teaching Molià ¨re's Tartuffe and Other Plays. Ed. James F. Gaines and Michael S. Koppisch. New York: MLA, 1995. 117-36. Lawrenson, Tom. "The Wearing o' the Green: Yet Another Look at Ôl'Homme aux Rubans Verts.'" Molià ¨re: Stage and Study. Essays in Honour of W. G. Moore. Ed. W. D. Howarth and Merlin Thomas. Oxford; Clarendon, 1973. 163-69. Whitton, David. Molià ¨re: Le Misanthrope. Glasgow: U of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991.