Farewell To Arms :: essays research papers

The novel A Farewell to Arms, (1929) by Ernest Hemingway, takes place on the Italian front of World War I. Fredrick heat content is an American Lieutenant who drives an ambulance for the Italian army. On his leave time he often visits whorehouses and gets drunk. While fighting in the warfare, his knee gets injured and he has to go to the hospital in Milan where he meets a British nurse named Catherine Barkley and falls in love with her. During one of their many wakenual affairs, Catherine gets pregnant. Fredrick greatly wants to desert the war because he is tired of seeing Italian solders killing each other. Fredrick and Catherine then escape to Switzerland by rowing across a lake. After they escape to Switzerland, Catherine has the baby, further during labor at that place are complications and she must deliver by having cesarean section. Other problems arise, she begins hemorrhaging, and dies. The baby also dies from the birth. Although this novel is not perfect, he uses very figure writing, and also shows how important it is to have good morals.&8220I loved to take her hair down and she sat on the bed and kept very still, save suddenly she would dip down to kiss me while I was doing it...inside a tent or behind a falls. This novel is very graphic when it comes to them having sex or while he is at the whorehouses during his leave time. Many things in this novel are inappropriate for children and adults. In more ways then one, Hemingway didn&8217t like women very much, one example is in chapter nine where he takes page and a half to describe how a solder dies who is not a main character in the book. But in chapter forty-one, he only uses approximately three lines to tell that Catharine dies, and she is a main character. In this novel there are a few things wrong.&8220The plain was rich with crops there were many orchards of fruit trees...but the nights were cool and there was not the feeling of a storm coming. The expanding upon and choice of diction in this book is extraordinary. Hemingway uses so many words to describe the little things in this book. &8220There was a great splashing and I saw the starshells go up and burst...biting his arm, the stump of his leg twitching, is another great example of how he uses much elaboration in the novel.

Censorship of Music :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Censorship of Music   Music has always been a basic form of expression. From Antonin Dvorak, to Eminem, to even ancient, tribal music, it has been a medium through which individuals evince their thoughts and expressions. Today this medium is under attack. Everywhere we turn, everything we do and say is being scrutinized. We are being told what to say. We are being spoon-fed our emotions. No longer are we allowed to withdraw freely, openly. All the censors out there are on the prowl for another piece to rip to shreds because it doesnt fit their description of what is decent and moral. What they fail to realize is that we dont actualise the music for them... We do it for release.         Music has often been the release for some of our most troublesome times. If you are angry or sad, you go home and put in a song that relates to your feelings, making you feel better. I personally, write when Im not in the best mood. Whether Im depressed, angr y, or whatever, I know that the pen is my one accredited friend, and the parchment will never tell me lies. Many people fail to see this as therapy. They see it as cursing, vulgarity, etc., just for the hell of it. This is not truthful in most cases.         On Eric Nuzums (I know you love him) website I found some interesting facts. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, Clear Channel communications released a list of 150 lyrically questionable songs that it was requesting stations remove from their play lists (Nuzum). near of these songs were Highway to Hell and Shoot to Thrill AC/DC, gush Airliner Steve Miller Band, Fly Sugar Ray, Another One Bites the dust Queen, all songs by Rage Against the Machine, and, to beat all else, Walk Like an Egyptian The Bangles. Some of the songs on this list are just ridiculous to the point of hilarity Im sure 99 Luft Balloons is going to start a riot         Another cockeye d example was in June 1965, radio stations across the country ban the Rolling Stones (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction because they believe the lyrics are too sexually suggestive.

Artificial Intelligence and Investing Essay -- Technology, Stock Exch

Artificial Intelligence and InvestingINTRODUCTIONArtificial intelligence information can be defined as the ability of a calculator to perform activities normally considered to require human intelligence. The techniques of this intelligence include knowledge-based, machine learning, and natural language moulding techniques. Investing can be defined as the act of committing money to an endeavour with the exception of obtaining profit. Investing activities require data identification, asset valuation (the process of determining the worth of something), and risk management (the process of managing the uncertainty in investment decision-making). Artificial intelligence techniques can be applied to financial investing, especially in the areas of credit risk assessment and deport valuation. In the future, we can expect that the techniques of artificial intelligence leave behind be integrated into systems that simultaneously address investing activities. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? Technology is an key factor in investing activities. For example, stock trading is computer-based and can automatically execute the trading of large volumes of shares. This has become an extremely frequent activity on stock exchanges in our advanced world. Artificial intelligence is allowing humans to have a cutting edge by using computers when investing. Years ago, a public activity for a computer program was a simple, or even a complex, numerical calculation. An example of this could be a forensic officers ability to compute the path and pattern of a bullet. Today, computers are more advanced. It is no problem for a computer program to assist humans in their decision making processes. Humans have access to huge databases across the world over the interne... ...ollection, asset valuation, and portfolio management). These systems will interact with humans and humans will be able to specify their preferences and make difficult decisions.SUMMARIZERS CRITIQUEIn general, the article Artificial Intelligence and Investing offered a lot of invaluable information regarding the both the current, and future, paths of artificial intelligence systems. The article was broken down into simple sections that helped the article come together. The authors intent of relating artificial intelligence to investing was successful in explaining that artificial intelligence is of great assistance to investors across the globe. On the other hand, I believe the article contained some examples and harm which were not really explained in enough detail to the average user. Basically, some terms were not presented at an average readers level.

The Most Compelling Reason for Studying Religion Today is Politics Essa

The Most Compelling Reason for Studying Religion Today For me, the word religion conjures up images of wailing fat ladies dressed in their Sunday best singing at the top of their lungs about the glory of God. Of course, this image comes from my childhood when I attend the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica every Sunday, rain or shine, with my grandmother. For her, Church, Christianity and God was a way of breeding a set of principles she believed in and lived by. For others less convinced, the idea of religion or being religious is as far fetched as aliens and UFOs. Throughout the centuries, religion has played an important subdivision in shaping the political landscape of most modern societies and one reason for studying religion is to understand how and why certain societies developed in the way they did. The perform used here in generic terms was often married to the way in which rulers administered laws and punishments. Often some used the church to swindle people out of their wealth and to gain their allegiance through fear. While other rulers such as Henry viii manipulated the religious night club of the day by breaking away from the Catholic Church and forming a new Church of England so he could marry his mistress. For most, Islam is a way of life which is revered by its followers but according to Laura Hayes, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, they controlled 90% of the countrys territory and their policiesincluding their treatment of women and support of terroristsostracized them from the world community. The Taliban considered themselves mujahideen or holy warriors of the Muslim faith.... ...of the people. Religion and politics have come full circle as in todays society there are laws which modulate the recognition of a new religion. For example, a legitimate religion has the right to claim tax exemption and must promote the moral and sacred welfare of the community. It is my opinion that although there are other reasons for studying religion, the most compelling reason by far is to better understand and cater for the change of modern society. Bibliography Atkins, Peter quoted in Poole, Michael. A Guide to Science and Belief. Lion produce.1990 Boeer. M. M. Karl Marxs Interpretation of History. Mason, Claire. New Religious Movements the impact on our lives. White Thompson Publishing Limited.2003 Pfeffer, Leo. Quoted in New Religious Movements the impact on our lives.

An Interpretation of the ratios for Marks and Spencers and the House of

An Interpretation of the proportions for attach and Spencers and the theatre of operations of FraserFindings========This section of the report will be undisturbed of an interpretation ofthe ratios for both companies. All ratios that form the ratio analysiswill be explained, and any trends from within ratios will behighlighted.OVERALL PERFORMANCE fork out on Capital Employed Net profit before tax and interest x100 = %Capital employedThe Return on Capital Employed ratio (R.O.C.E) is a hugely significantratio, and a great deal can be taken from this ratio. The ratiorelates to the profit earned in relation to the semipermanent capitalinvested in the business. The term capital employed in this equationmeans the owners capital plus any long term liabilities (for examplelong-term loans). This ratio shows the % afford on capital invested inthe company. A business will aim to have this ratio as high percentageas possible. If the percentage upshot on capital invested is less thanthat offe red elsewhere, then it may be wise to close the business andinvest elsewhere.The ratio analysis shows that Marks and Spencer saw a slight drop ontheir R.O.C.E from 1999 to 2000, however, they managed to add theR.O.C.E the following year. The next year, 2002 shows the mostsignificant changes. The R.O.C.E increased from 9.61% in 2001, to20.89% in 2002. This is almost a 120% increase on R.O.C.E.The House of Fraser had a slightly better R.O.C.E than Marks andSpencer in 2000, however, the following year they experienced a dropof around 1.5%. The result for 2002 shows that The House of Frasermanaged to almost double their R.O.C.E from 8.6% in 2001 to 15.91% in2002. Although this was a healthy increase, The House of Frasercurrently have a R.O.C.E th... ...tly. The company needs to be more pliant with the volume and style of clothing they stock. People argonmuch more fashion conscious than they used to be, it is essential forthe credibility of a company that they are consistently at the h eightof fashion.The results for the debtors army period for Marks and Spencerare very worrying, especially when compared to The House of Fraser.Marks and Spencer need to dramatically reduce the collection period inorder to avoid any problems in the future. Marks and Spencer currentlyoffer their customers the option of having a store card. Although intheory, this is a safe(p) idea, especially form a marketing perspectiveit can cause many problems in the long run. Customers can leavepayment for long periods of time. This leads to Marks and Spencer notbeing paid for stock they no longer own, and should have been paid for.

An Interpretation of the ratios for Marks and Spencers and the House of

An Interpretation of the ratios for tag and Spencers and the House of FraserFindings========This section of the report depart be composed of an interpretation ofthe ratios for both companies. All ratios that form the ratio analysiswill be explained, and any trends from within ratios will behighlighted.OVERALL PERFORMANCEReturn on Capital Employed Net profit earlier tax and interest x100 = %Capital employedThe Return on Capital Employed ratio (R.O.C.E) is a hugely signifi butt jointtratio, and a great embrace can be taken from this ratio. The ratiorelates to the profit earned in relation to the long-term capitalinvested in the business. The term capital employed in this equation government agency the owners capital plus any long term liabilities (for examplelong-term loans). This ratio shows the % return on capital invested inthe company. A business will aim to have this ratio as high percentageas possible. If the percentage return on capital invested is less thanthat offered else where, then it may be wise to close the business andinvest elsewhere.The ratio analysis shows that attach and Spencer saw a slight drop ontheir R.O.C.E from 1999 to 2000, however, they managed to increase theR.O.C.E the following year. The abutting year, 2002 shows the mostsignificant changes. The R.O.C.E increased from 9.61% in 2001, to20.89% in 2002. This is almost a 120% increase on R.O.C.E.The House of Fraser had a slightly better R.O.C.E than Marks andSpencer in 2000, however, the following year they experienced a dropof around 1.5%. The result for 2002 shows that The House of Frasermanaged to almost double their R.O.C.E from 8.6% in 2001 to 15.91% in2002. Although this was a rosy increase, The House of Frasercurrently have a R.O.C.E th... ...tly. The company needs to be moreflexible with the volume and style of clothing they stock. People are much(prenominal) more fashion conscious than they used to be, it is essential forthe credibility of a company that they are consiste ntly at the heightof fashion.The results for the debtors collection period for Marks and Spencerare very worrying, especially when compared to The House of Fraser.Marks and Spencer need to dramatically reduce the collection period inorder to avoid any problems in the future. Marks and Spencer currentlyoffer their customers the option of having a store card. Although intheory, this is a good idea, especially form a marketing perspectiveit can cause many problems in the long run. Customers can leavepayment for long periods of time. This leads to Marks and Spencer notbeing paid for stock they no prolonged own, and should have been paid for.

Cronic Hunger

People often misunderstand and misuse the word, aridness. Hunger isnt the fathom our stomach makes due to not eating for a some hours. Hunger is a disease that arises when people dont get enough nutriment to provide the nutrients to experience a healthy active life. Hunger is a reality and growing issue. It is not an issue that has recently began it has been on going for years.A person at risk of going hungry has surged since the start of the recession. Most people are ignorant to the fact that hunger is present and exists only in threesome world countries, and not in First world countries. This is the reason why I have donated some of my time to attempt to create a change. I decided to work with a food pantry in one of the richest Counties in California, Orange County.The Saddleback Church and its members have created this organization to end inveterate hunger in their area. The organization has been such a success that not every member is a volunteer, solely most are employee s, that have moody their passion in sufficeing others into a full time job. As a volunteer I was what is called, a shopper. As a shopper I would help one family at a time in their shopping needs, depending on the size of the family is the amount of food they were given. In Sociology Chronic hunger is associated with poverty and economical inequality. There are three main theoretical aspects in sociology, structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. These theoretical perspectives all give ideas and reasons to the nature, acts, and consequences of poverty and economic inequality.The structural- functionalist perspective recollects poverty occurs from institutional breakdown. Economic institutions that fail to provide the necessities to not live in poverty. It does not all rely on the scarce amount of jobs, but as well on the education of both parents and school to educate children on the differentiateicipation of the workforce. Overall the structural- functionalist perspective agrees that economic inequality is more full to society than degrading. Due to the motivation it brings some individuals to succeed, and acquire in high spiritser achievements, in both education and the workforce that will later have a high reward.The functionalist perspective likewise believes poverty is call for for society to function. It creates low paying jobs that are needed, farm workers, gardeners, childcare workers, and restaurant workers. If there was notpoverty in society who would do these needed low paying jobs? Then there is the conflict perspective, it believes and states that because there is conflict in society there will be poverty in society as well. If there is wealthy people there has to be poor people, it balances society out.Wealthy people are self-centered and believe they deserve to be at the high position in society that they are. They view every lower class and poverty as a needed part of society, based on inequality. Over al l the conflict perspective views poverty and conflict as a need and necessity to try to smother the problem of inequality. Lastly there is, symbolic interactionist perspective, which focuses on how meanings, labels, and definitions affect and are affected by social life. Society gives meanings and labels to everything. These meanings and labels affect the labeled and often cause them consequences. Individuals labeled, poor, are stigmatized as lazy, irresponsible, ignorant, and worthless.Soon they begin to believe and lack motivation to surpass this living. Due to these symbols existing and causing consequences to people there will always be poverty in our society. Whether it is, structural-functionalist perspective, conflict perspective or symbolic interactionist the reason for how, and why poverty exists, they are all linked to chronic hunger. Chronic hunger regardless is an issue in our society, and needs to be decreased. I absolutely loved the experience I had volunteering at th e Saddleback food pantry. The best part about it was seeing every familys appreciation for not only the food they had been given, but also your individual donated time.Just like them I also precious them for having taught me to appreciate what I have more. Due to this experience I now try to remember to say grace before every meal I have. Unfortunately there were some incidents that I experienced that were shocking and saddening. A few families that I helped shop did not understand that there were other families that were also relying on this food to get through another day. They would repeatedly ask me if they could have more than the amount they were suppose to have of a certain item. I would explain to them the reasons why not, and often they would get upset with me.One family actually began to take more than they were suppose to, after I had explained to them why they couldnt. Besides having experienced these few incidents I am absolutely glad I volunteered at The Saddleback foo d pantry. The grateful, appreciative families surpass the few unfortunateincidents I experienced. I would without a doubt, and hesitations redo the whole process.

Pain and Passion

Pain and Passion was a strong topic. The class was divided into pairs to take a 50-minute lesson linking with pain and passion. Two gambol techniques had to be introduced. After distri onlyively lesson a five minute debrief took place. We were given two lessons of preparation time and had to stimulate to a time plan.I knew it would take a multitude of effort to run a lesson. I chose a topical issue sparking off carve up of strong opinions. My lesson was about spontaneous abortion. I felt it tied in well with pain and passion. The pain being a childs animation was at risk collect adapted to the night of passion.I wasnt first to lead the class so I listened attentively to what criticism was put forward during the debrief. I learnt from others mistakes. One of the things I put together was that a lesson should be expressed through different scenarios, keeping the classs attention.I set the scene with a young couple, Sarah and Jake, who were in a crisis. The crisis being, should have an abortion or not.The first part of my timeplan was explaining the situation and then asking the class to show, what state of mind Sarah was in. The ideas were to be expressed through stylistic drama utilise one drama technique or more. In other lessons more time was spent on readiness helping to produce sincere drama pieces from the class. I decided to have more time spent on planning instead than performing.The second part consisted of what if Sarah had the abortion or didnt. In each scenario there had to be a beneficial and naughtiness side. The good side of having or not having the abortion was to be shown through dream sequence and the bad side of having or not having the abortion shown through nightmare sequence.I thought I planned my lesson well considering I was on my own.I wasnt fain for the lesson I took the class. I had forgotten my watch and my partner was away leaving me to be the teacher. One improvement can be to go over my planning strategies.I relaxed and addressed the class with a BBC accentThe first piece of drama was on Sarahs state of mind. The class planned their pieces quite well but the pieces were short giving me more time. One theme had only four people. Many people think more people in a group make a better drama piece. This group proved it wrong.The drama piece was really distinctive. The other groups showed one feeling throughout their drama. This play showed how Sarah was riant at the thought of being a mother and sad at the thought of having a child to bring up. As the teacher I was able to see abortion through other peoples eyes.Each student had a major role to play especially Maria as Sarah. Its really surd to change expressions every second but she made it look so easy. Everyone got involved and this boosted my confidence as a teacher to see that they were enjoying the lesson.The other one-half of the lesson went perfectly. The class had to use the drama techniques I set, dream and nightmare sequence. Everyon e performed well due to good planning.Scarlets group did a nightmare sequence about Sarahs life with a baby. It was a negative outlook on having children. There were strong ideas expressed throughout the play. The audience was able to see how having a baby at a young age was stressing and sometimes left with no financial or emotional support. It was an excellent piece of drama.I think I showed good teaching skills. I was quite patient but I felt it was quite difficult to keep the class quiet even when raising my voice. I went round to see if there were any problems and keeping track of time, which is a vital part of teaching. One of the hardest things was the way I had to address the class. I had to stones throw out of the role of a friend and step in as a teacher. When it came to commenting on a drama piece I had to use excellent rather than wicked. The lesson was very packed with things to do and this put off a few students from working. In future I would slow everything down sli ghtly.Apart from that everything went according to plan.Rochelle and Yasmins lesson was very valuable. Rochelle explained everything whilst Yasmin organised the lesson. Yasmin is normally the quieter one but in her lesson she was very confident. Their topic was about war. War is probably what the news is all about. There is so lots of it, people are forgetting about those in need. The main theme of the lesson was we should be grateful for how well off we are and think about others before sorry over small problems.The lesson began with a piece about a boy escaping from war to a new area. I took on the main role as the boy. We were playing basketball when I got the ball and everyone was telling me to shoot. We used flashbacks to show how the boy was told in his homeland to kill his own flesh and blood. We were showing the pressures of war. I was very enthusiastic about everything.Next we did hotseating. We questioned people part of the army in Africa. We asked why many boys were forc ed to go to war. It sparked a lot of debating.Rochelle and Yasmin were good teachers. I enjoyed myself whilst I was learning. They were role models for good teachers.I think being a teacher was a worthwhile experience. Sometimes we forget to realise what teachers do to provide good education. This topic was a good way to see that teaching is not as easy as it may look. It takes a lot of hard work and 100% commitment.Through this topic I have more respect for teachers.

Budgeting and Performance Evaluation at the Berkshire Toy Company Essay

Executive SummaryIn 1974, Berkshire Toy Company (BTC) was founded by Franklin Berkshire, Ja clams McKinleys farther. Ja lolly was soon became the chief operating officer of the company when her father retires on 1993. After two years, BTC was acquired by Quality Products Corporation, a manufacturer of different crossings, for a common stock of $23.2 million.The preliminary instruction of divisional operating income for the year ended June 30, 1998 presented the actual values generated together with the higher-up (static) budget and master budget divisions for the period. The company obtained higher Total tax than their budget but it turned out to an Operating Loss near a million dollars. This paper aims to study the budgets from actual results, and to compute the budget variances and to hit the books its causes. After that, the company instruction execution will be evaluated to recommend alternative solutions for improvement.IntroductionAs a division of Quality Products Corpor ation, Berkshire Toy Company produces the Berkshire Bear, a fifteen-inch teddy jump which are fully jointed, washable, and dressed in various accessories. It is sold to customers like children and adult collectors with unconditional lifetime guarantee. The company is organized into lead de divorcements purchasing (managed by David Hall), production (managed by Bill Willford) and marketing (managed by Rita Smith).An incentive compensation plan was implemented in 1997, intended to enhance the involution and team ca-ca of the managers. It provides bonuses for eachdepartment heads in the following conditions Purchasing 20% of net materials set variance, assuming aureate Marketing 10% of excess variance of net revenue, assuming favourable mathematical product 3% of net variance in material, labour, variant smash-up, labour rate variance, and the variable and fixed overhead disbursal, assuming favourable variances.Statement of the ProblemObtaining a loss approaching a million doll ars despite the increase in gross revenue. Substantial unfavourable variances resulting from production department effect of the incentive compensation plan to the performance of each departmentsDiscussion real(a)MasterBudget var.Units sold325,556.00280,000.0045,556.00Total revenue14,446,487.0013,006,000.001,440,487.00 (U)Total variable expenses8,484,4045,968,5082515,896 (U)Contribution margin5,962,0837,037,4921,075,409 (U)Total fixed costs6,805,8286,248,920556,908 (U)Operating income-843,745788,5721632,317 (U)Table 1. Preliminary Statement of Divisional Operating Income for the Year Ended June 30, 1998The following push aside be derived from the tableRevenue were 11% higher than the master budgetVariable expenses were $2,515,896 higher than the master budget Fixed costs were $556,908 higher than the master budgetActual(1)Master (Static) Budget(2) supple Master Budget(3)Sales Mix variance(1-3)Sales standard variance(3-2)Units sold325,556.00280,000325,556.00045,556.00 (F)Retail & catalog8,573,285.0011, 662,000.0013, 559,407.404,986,122.40 (U)1,897,407.40 (F)Internet4,428,018.00004,428,018.00 (F)0Wholesale1,445,184.001,344,000.001,562,668.80117,484.80 (U)218,668.80 (F)Total revenue14,446,487.0013,006,000.0015,122,076.20675,589.20 (U)2,116, 067.20 (F)Table 2. Sales Analysis ScheduleSales sight quantity variance indicates an increase in profit by $2,116,067.20 if the budgeted sales mix is maintained for the actual sales volume of 325,556. However, there is an unfavourable variance of $675,589.20 because the actual sales mix was not in accordance with the budgeted sales mix.If we would check the sales volume variance, sales volume quantity variance plus sales mix variance is equal to favourable $1,440,487.00, which is the variance in table 1.Production costsActualMaster Static BudgetFlexible BudgetMaster Budget VarianceFlexible varianceTotal use up Materials1,230,840.001,015,924.001,181,214.83214,916.00 (U)49,625.17 (U)Direct Labour3,668,305.002,688,000.003,1 25,337.60980,305.00 (U)542,967.40 (U)Variable Production overhead1,725,665.001,046,304.001,216,537.66679,361.00 (U)509,127.34 (U)Fixed Manufacturing overhead658,897661,920769,614.383023 (F)-110,717.38 (F)Table 3. Schedule of Production VariancesDirect Material varianceThe budgeted price is higher than the actual resulting to a favourable material price variance. This is cod to the price discounts of 7 to 10 percent of the three main inputs of the product namely acrylic pile fabric, plastic joints, and polyester fiber filling which contributed to some savings.However, the actual quantity used in production is greater than the standard quantity allowed per unit that results to unfavourable material usage variance. This whitethornbe because of substandard quality of materials used that more than materials are look ated to produce one unit of product. In addition, there was an incident of thunderstorm that ruined the uninsured materials wherein the company doesnt able to date from l arge amount of fiber filling.Another mover that would affect the direct material usage variance is the lifetime guarantee that the company offers which include the bear hospital since repairs or replacements of teddy bear are free. Also, defects whitethorn be a factor for the material variances which are only traced after the production process.Direct Labour varianceThe actual issue forth of hours used and the actual wage rate of BTC are higher than the standard rate allowed for the actual production. Since most part of the production of bear is assiduity-intensive, the company may spend a penny set a low standard for the number of hours required to produce a unit. Additional secure steps and inspection of the fabric color may have contributed to the actual force hours used.Moreover, shortages of length in the cutting stage may require redundant cutting set-ups which increase production time. Considering the production of the company, they have operated near to maximum capaci ty that the people are tired and some of them quit and had to be replaced at higher-than-standard wage rates that may lead to higher cost when unskilled manoeuvreers are employed.Variable OverheadDue to the effect of the increased in labor requirements, the company also incurred increased payroll taxes and fringes. Employees need to have overtime to meet the actual demanded product volume which is higher than the budgeted that consequently increase the overtime premiums paid by BTC.Since the company has been using the same machine since it was established, frequent breakdowns occurred that maintenance work have contributed to the increase in the variable expenses. This includes the maintenance labor andsupplies needed.Fixed OverheadThe increase in utilities expense was related to the overtime of employees in the production as the demand of teddy bear boost.Incentive blueprintDavid HallWith the favourable net materials price variance of $295,144.00, David Hall the Purchasing Manag er will have a bonus of $59,028.72.Rita Smith, Marketing ManagerSince the Actual Net Revenue is a loss, the marketing manager will not have bonus even if she manage to increase the company sales.Bill Wilford, Production ManagerDirect LabourVariable OverheadFixed OverheadDirect Material Efficiency Variance$ 122,790 (U)Direct Labor Efficiency Variance466,638.40 (U)Direct Labor rate Variance76,329.00 (U)Variable Overhead spending variance327,488.34 (U)Variable Overhead Efficiency Variance181,639.00 (U)Fixed Overhead spending variance(3,023.00) (F)Total Variance1,171,862 (U)BonusZeroAdvantages and Disadvantages of Incentive Compensation PlanAdvantagesDisadvantagesThe incentive plan will motivate department headsMarketing surgical incision focuses on less profitable distribution mix. Increase the morale of employees as their efforts will be rewarded Production Departmentuses low quality materialsforced to work overtimePerformance of the company will attract positive resultsPurchasing Dep artment bought discounted materials which may sacrifice the quality of production.ConclusionThough the company may have increased their number of sales for the current period, they still have incurred losses due to the unfavourable variances that have resulted from their production. Substantial increase in the number of bears sold is noted for the years performance. It can be assumed of a good performance of the marketing department. However, loss still occurred.The figures of sales may post a good performance conversely the current sales might give the lowest possible sales due to wrong sales mix. The marketing department has focused too much on the Internet Sales whereas it gives a lower contribution than the Retail Sales.Variances in the production of the product are due to the wrong focused of the department head because of the new incentive compensation program. Favourable direct material price variance occurred due to lower prices and discounts on the materials purchased. Howe ver, unfavourable material usage variance have occurred probably due to substandard materials were used to the production.Direct labour on the hand, have resulted to unfavourable variances on both efficiency and rate. Focused of the manager may be on the efficiency of labour due to the incentive program which gives the need to hire more skilled workers. This resulted to unfavourable labour rate variance. However, due to substandard materials were used the workers may have needed additional time to work on the teddy bears which still resulted to unfavourable variance.The incentive program may have good intentions but this lead the department heads on the wrong charge and have resulted to unfavourable variances. Other factors that may have affected the variances are the spoilage due to the thunderstorms that have occurred. Machine maintenance is another factor especially in the overhead variances where frequent breakdowns happened.Alternative solutions obtainFirst solution that we re commend is the revision of the incentive compensation plan. The objective of the plan is good and should be maintained however some computation for the said bonus should be changed. Computation of Bonus for the Marketing Manager could be retained as net revenue is a good measure not only in the performance of the marketing department but as well as the performance of the company.Computation for the Purchasing Manager should have also ciphered the Material Usage Variance as quality of the materials purchased in also a key factor in their production. Bonus for the production manager may have been a good computation as it may have covered different factors to pass judgment the performance of the department.On the other hand, some overhead expenses should be observed by the companyas it continuously increase overtime. They may need to consider purchasing new machine as maintenance cost has been a big part of their cost. A new machine may also turn the issue of frequent overtime of em ployees and the increasing maintenance supplies expenses.

The Issue and History of Illiteracy Among African Americans

The phone number And History Of Illiteracy Among African Americans Becca White Writing 123 teacher Sydney Darby 27 May 2008 Illiteracy is a growing issue in America. The U. S. Department of Education funded the national Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) in 1992 that estimates over 90 million Americans f each(prenominal) well below an eight grade literacy level (Rome, 2004, pp. 84). Nowhere is this tragedy much prevalent than among the impoverished African Americans. Illiteracy has ever so been heightser among African Americans now the gap is growing even wider due to a verity of reasons.According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey (2003), the numeral one deterrent to becoming a criminal is having the ability to learn past the eighth grade, and the number one preventive for an inmate becoming a repeat offender is to educate in literacy past the eighth grade level. Today, the definition of literacy is based on what is called functional literacy. That is, someo ne is literate if they are suitable to function properly within society, (Roman, 2004, pp. 81).This definition can cover a variety of skills not only reading and writing just now also the skills indispensable to process general in realizeation from ones surroundings (Roman, 2004, pp. 81). To truly begin to understand the issues surrounding analphabetism among African Americans you have to go back off to the beginning. America see 7. 7 million slaves imported from Africa between 1492-1820 more than half the imports of slaves took place from 1700-1800 (Foner, 2006, pp. 112). By the 1830s laws were in place to make the genteelness of slaves illegal, thus only 10% of slaves were literate (Foner, 2006, pp. 48). At the time slavery ended only about 10% of the African American population could read and do sums A vitally important ability in a Jim Crow society. Jim Crowism came to embody the laws, customs, and policies of segregation (Foner, 2006, pp. 310), but more importantly the p ost cultivated war separate but not equal mentality. The phrase from Brent Staples (2006) article, Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter, caught my attention as he wrote, literacy was a form of social capital that could be passed from one generation to the next. While post Civil War America moved toward the 1880s laws were passed in the South making it legal to arrest any unemployed African American and the penalties for petty crimes were vastly increased the punishment all were sentenced to labor camps (Foner, 2006, pp. 557). Labor camps it appears were created for forced labor pools this is also the first large influx of African Americans into the penal system. African Americans were barred from Unions, participation in Democracy, and from skilled employment.Further more men and women were desperately brusk and unaffected by the laws regulating hours and conditions that labor was under (Foner, 2006, pp. 645). On the eve of World War I, 90% of African Americans still lived in the South, barred from all but the most menial, unskilled, labor and paid the lowest wages. Many African American women had to work outside the home in order to help the family stretch out (Foner, 2006, pp. 650). During WWI mass migration of more than 1 million African Americans took place out of the South and into the Northern ghettos of New York, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, and Trenton (Foner, 2006, pp. 85). Industrialization, thousands of jobs had opened in the North and legion(predicate) African Americans were looking for a chance at living wages, for their children to go to school, and escape the constant fear of lynching (Foner, 2006, pp. 685). The last to enter the workforce of the change jobs they were the first to lose them as the economy slumped. Now instead of being confined in the deep Southern countryside the impoverished African Americans were in ghettos crosswise Americas industrialized cities.The 1980s witnessed the deindustrialization of Northern ci ties as thousands of African Americans lost jobs as factories closed crosswise the Nation. The national unemployment rate of 1981 was 8. 9% but African Americans exceeded more than 20% of the total unemployment due in part to the inability to transition over to more technical jobs due to poorer education. The eighties saw African American males fall further than any other group in terms of wages and jobs (Foner, 2006, pp. 920).The eighties also saw the War on Drugs begin with new sentencing laws making prison house sentences longer and harsher for possession of much smaller quantities of crack and cocaine (Foner, 2006, pp. 951). With the waning of the crack epidemic, crime rates dropped across the country however prison population are still on the rise (Foner, 2006, pp. 951). In 2000, over 2 million men were in prison with approximately 4. 2 million more on parole, or probation, convict labor is now in use again in several States (Foner, 2006, pp. 951).Among prison inmates, African American men make up more than 70%, and represents only 6% of the total US population. The common thread is most of the dull inmates cannot read, they also are less educated than their fathers had been (Nealy, 2008, pp. 21). It is estimated that as much as 70% of inmates are illiterate, and that 40-70% have not finished a GED or high school program (Drakeford, 2002, pp. 139). The cost according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (2001) was $22,632 per inmate per year or $62. 01 per day. The total population under correctional supervision includes more than 7 million people, or about 3. percent of all US adults (Western, 2007, pp. 512). Research has shown that literacy is directly linked to lower crime rates, and that intensive education programs utilise in prisons drastically lowered recidivism rates of inmates after release (Drakeford, 2002, pp. 139). The cost of incarceration is on the rise along with prison populations it seems that Nationally we are potation ever closer to a c risis point where the issuers of illiteracy among the African Americas especially ordain need to be addressed and handled appropriately.In all the research and history I covered that goes into the issue of illiteracy what has yet to address is why illiteracy is such a persistent issue among the African American males. The closest business relationship comes not from a research paper but from an article by Orlando Patterson (2006), titled A Poverty of the Mind, where the author claims in interviews with young African Americans the core group of the issue lies in the cool-pose culture of the young males trying to live a life of parties, drugs, hanging with the homies, sexual relations, and just trying to looking cool becomes a way of life (pp. A). This is only a partial explanation but in searching through studies statistics, and the history of illiteracy among African Americans Ive rig the issue is as tangled as my balls of yarn. Illiteracy is an issue among African Americans esp ecially prevalent among the prison population. Literacy is a key to unlocking the door to a crime free life for ex-cons. As to illiteracy being the cause of higher crime rates of that I have not seen any evidence for or against even though studies and research point to illiteracy being a strong indicator to future criminal activity it is not an absolute.Whether the issue of illiteracy will begin to be addressed in K-12 grade, or once a young man has become incarcerated is questionable. It appears that no matter what the answer the solutions will require support from all areas of the community in order to be successful in addressing the issue in its entirety. References Drakeford, W. (2002). The Impact of an Intensive Program to increase the Literacy Skills of Youth Confined to Juvenile Corrections. Journal of Correctional Education, Vol. 53 Issue 4, p139-144, 6p. Retrieved April 17, 2008. from http//web. ebscohost. com Foner, E. (2006). Give ME Liberty An American History.New York W. W Norton & Company Ltd. Literacy Behind Bars Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey, http//nces. ed. gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo. asp? pubid=2007473 Nealy, M. J. (2008). BLACK MEN LEFT OUT AND LOCKED UP. Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Vol. 24 Issue 26, p20-22, 3p. Retrieved April 17, 2008. from http//web. ebscohost. com Patterson, O. (2006, March 26) A Poverty of the Mind. New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http//www. nytimes. com Roman, S. ( 2004). ILLITERACY AND OLDER ADULTS INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS. Educational Gerontology. Vol. 0 Issue 2, p79-93, 15p. . Retrieved April 17, 2008 from http//web. ebscohost. com Staples, B. (2006, January 1). Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter. New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http//www. nytimes. com U. S. Department of justness (2001) Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. Retrieved May 15, 20 08. http//www. ojp. usdoj. gov/bjs/pub/ascii/spe01. txt Western, B. (2007). Mass Imprisonment and Economic Inequality. Social Research, Vol. 74 Issue 2, p509-532, 24p. Retrieved April 17, 2008 from http//web. ebscohost. com

World Religions and Places of Worship

Religious expression The statement of Money should be spent helping plurality, not decorating a place of worship is a very controversial one. It could either be true or false, depending on the place, time and size of the church. It is completely true that the gold used for decorating a place of worship such as a church or a mosque could be better-spent helping people as mentioned in the previous statement. However, I retard and protest with this statement to certain extents.I agree because, taking Christianity and churches as an example, it is taught in the bible that modesty is an important aspect of life-time that must be met. However, many churches seem to do the exact opposite. Decorating their w anys with paintings, using stained glass windows and placing gold crosses within the church. Other religions such as Islam likewise spend a lot of money on the interior and exterior decoration of mosques. Filling them with golden calligraphy and a number of minarets that are all e xpensively done.This money could have been used to help the less fortunate and other people who are in need of financial aid. I disagree due to the following reasons firstly with places of worship being fancily decorated, expensively or not, it increases the amount of respect people have to that place. It also shows respect to, in some(prenominal) religions, god or the person of worship for that religion. Taking the Notre Dame as an example, the amount of money it brings to the tourism of France is extremely high. People visit it for pilgrimage, examining its intricate computer architecture and design and even to repent.The extra money this church brings in could help the less fortunate in many ways. Thus proving the previous statement controversial. Secondly, the get down of showing god the sacrifices and financial efforts that were made to his satisfaction and in satisfaction of his worshipers. This reduces the effect that the statement has on the decoration of places of worship . In conclusion, I both agree and disagree with the statement of money should be spent helping people, not decorating a place of worship.Due to the numerous reasons and examples above and taking into consideration the main point of money that could have been spent helping people, spent on decorating a church that would positively impact the economy of a country and thusly helping people. The statement could work both ways, and if the place of worship was properly decorated, attracting enough people to it, it can gain enough money to help people in need of help and improving their lives from all aspects is possible.

Research Paper on Stereotype Threat

Stereotype Threat in a High Stakes interrogatory Environment Jennifer J. Krebs Wilkes University Abstract Given the rapidly changing demographics of todays classrooms combined with the eminent-stakes interrogatorying surround created by the passage of No Child left field Behind, it is important to understand potential explanations for the persistence of achievement gaps. Explanations for the achievement gap have included high populations of English Language Learners (ELLs), socioeconomic issues, lack of resources at the school, teacher, and student levels, and even inherent differences in the intellectual abilities of stereotyped and non-stereotyped groups.A opening developed by Steele and Aronson, called stereotype brat, provided a radical view into how cognition of stereotypes affects writ of execution (McKown & Strambler, 2009). Stereotype threat is the experience of anxiety or concern in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a blackball stereotype almost their social group. The purpose of this explore was to determine how and when children buzz off to develop knowledge of stereotypes and how stereotype threat affects pedantic death penalty. IntroductionThe diversity of student demographics increases any day. Therefore, teachers must be increasingly more aware of the cultural differences and challenges that students from diverse backgrounds bring to school. Not only are these students likely to learn differently ground on their cultural expectations, but these students are also likely to possess knowledge of ordinarily held social stereotypes which can negatively impact their performance (McKown & Strambler, 2009). The new emphasis on high-stakes mental testing makes the achievement of all students extremely important.Experimental research into performance gaps was limited prior to a groundbreaking study that focused on the possibility of stereotype threat. First described by social psychologist Claude Steele and his collea gues, stereotype threat (ST) has been shown to reduce the performance of individuals who belong to negatively stereotyped groups (McKown & Strambler, 2009). Since its introduction into the academic literature in 1995, stereotype threat has become unmatchable of the most widely studied topics in the field of psychology.However, a major assumption of this theory was that children possess knowledge of commonly held social stereotypes. In order to address this assumption, the following qualitative studies were implemented to determine how and when children begin to develop knowledge of stereotypes. This research is combined with quantitative studies to determine how ST affects academic performance. Method Schaffer and Skinner (2009) examined student interactions within four fourth grade classrooms at a diverse frequent school in the southeastern United States.Upon observing student interactions and conducting interviews, the researchers discovered several patterns. First, albumin chi ldren were less likely to engage in explicit function talk, while black students frequently engaged in openly racial discussions and often used commonly held stereotypes to identify themselves. Second, most minority students who performed at the high end of the class and participated in challenging academic programs relied heavily on racial stereotypes to bridge the social gap between themselves and their racial peers.These students sought to infinite themselves from the white students with whom they took advanced classes. Third, white students were more likely to describe students of other races as loud or troublemaking (Schaffer & Skinner, 2009). These observations suggest that students were not only aware of commonly held stereotypes, but strategically used them to organize their social world and dictate social functions. Another study, which examined high school students, suggested that these trends continue as students mature alternatively than diminish. Lisa M.Nunn (2011) o bserved six classrooms across three different high schools, and conducted 57 interviews with students to determine the ways in which students classroom interactions reflected ideas about commonly held stereotypes. In one school, nearly half of the students interviewed said that race matters for school success. At another school, students expressed frustration with being racial targets and felt they had done nothing to terminate degrading views from their classmates. Furthermore, in a remedial English classroom consisting of eight students, the researcher noticed a ommon occurrence. Five of the students in this classroom were Latino, and three were white. The white students all had learning disabilities which hindered their lyric poem usage, while the Latino students only handicap was that English was not their native language (Nunn, 2011). Combining ELLs with students with disabilities effectively treats the native language of ELLs as a learning disability. Between the racial view s of the students and the systematic reinforcement of prejudices, it is easy to understand why students tend to hold views that race matters for success.The question that be is how does this knowledge of stereotypes affect student academic performance? McKown and Strambler (2009) conducted a study of 124 students ranging in age from grades K-4 in a suburban Chicago area. The students were given a series of vignettes to determine their ability to identify stereotypes and then placed in diagnostic or non-diagnostic groups to complete performance tasks. Consistent with prior research, minority participants in the diagnostic group performed worse than in the non-diagnostic group and majority participants performed equally well in both groups (McKown & Strambler, 2009).Desert, Preaux, and Jund (2009) administered predates APM to 153 children within first and trine grades. In the diagnostic group, students were given the standard administration instructions as provided in the Ravens AP M Administration Manual. In the non-diagnostic group, students were given instructions explaining that the test was actually a series of games that the researchers developed and were testing to determine their appropriateness for the students age groups.Researchers stratified the results based on socioeconomic status, arguing that negative stereotypes about the performance of low-SES students could result in ST. The results of the study showed that low-SES students in the diagnostic group performed significantly worse than those in the non-diagnostic group. The performance of high SES students did not differ significantly among the two groups (Desert, Preaux, & Jund, 2009). These results suggested that children in the early elementary years are not immune to ST, even on a test that is supposed to be tillage free. While all of these experiments support he theory of ST, one of the strongest arguments to date relies heavily on developing technologies. Derks, Inzlicht, and Kang (2008) offered an overview of breakthroughs in social neuroscience research that highlighted biological component parts be conditions of stereotype threat. The researchers discussed several experiments that used functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and event-related potentials (ERP) to measure the neurological activities of participants when asked to perform tasks under diagnostic and non-diagnostic conditions.One study tested women under numerical performance stereotypes and found that the conflict monitoring systems of the brain showed a mis-regulation of neural responses. This information supported the hypothesis that emotions aroused by ST conditions lead to a light in cognitive ability. The decrease in ability occurred because emotion-regulation centers of the brain experience increased activity while areas of the brain associated with academic performance and cognition experienced decreased activity. The researchers cautioned that neurosc ience experiments in the area are too new to allow for generalizations and definitive findings.However, they argued that development of this area is crucial to the study and understanding of stereotype threat (Derks, Inzlicht, & Kang, 2008). Results The assumption that the performance gap between stereotyped and non-stereotyped groups is solely rooted in cultural differences and limitations of students background is restrictive. Research has shown that there is also a factor of social psychological threat related to knowledge and perceptions of stereotypes, which can depress test scores of stereotyped individuals.The use of high-stakes testing in an overall environment of racial inequality perpetuates that inequality through the emotional and psychological power of the tests over the test-takers. While researchers have begun to delve into the intricacies as to how stereotype threat causes decreases in performance and other negative effects, there is still much research that needs to be conducted in order to completely understand the mechanisms that underlie the performance deficits that occur as a result of stereotype threat. ConclusionIn conclusion, stereotype threat is a pervasive phenomenon that has the ability to impact a variety of individuals in a number of ways. Current research offers us insight as to what stereotype threat is, how it impacts individuals, what mechanisms drive the relationship between stereotype threat and performance, and how we can begin to remediate some of the damaging impacts of this threat. Since the current emphasis on high-stakes testing does not appear to be diminishing, teachers and mentors should at a minimum equip students with knowledge about the possible effects of stereotype threat.In this way, proactive strategies might transform a powerless situation into one where students are actively participating in discussions that illuminate the complexities and strengths of their educational futures. Teacher education programs s hould review their course curriculum and address any gaps in the discussion of standardized testing and methods to improve test scores. Changing test directions from diagnostic to non-diagnostic, educating students in malleable intelligence theories, and reducing the general stress of the testing environment are all methods which could be implemented.References Derks, B. , Inzlicht, M. , & Kang, S. (2008). The neuroscience of tarnish and stereotype threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 11(2), 163-181. Desert, M. , Preaux, M. , & Jund, R. (2009). So young and already victims of stereotype threat Socio-economic status and performance of 6 to 9 years old children on Ravens progressive matrices. European Journal of Psychology of schooling, 24, 207-218. McKown, C. & Strambler, M. J. (2009).Developmental antecedents and social academic consequences of stereotype-consciousness in middle childhood. Child Development, 80, 1643-1659. Nunn, L. (2011). Classrooms as racialized space s Dynamics of collaboration, tension, and student attitudes in urban and suburban high schools. Urban Education, 46, 1226-1255. Schaffer, R. & Skinner, D. G. (2009). Performing race in four culturally diverse fourth grade classrooms Silence, race talk, and the negotiation of social boundaries. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 40, 277-296.

Groupon Essay

1. IntroductionGroupon is a contract-of-the day Internet start-up family that was launched in 2008 in Chicago. The website offers discounted deals for local anesthetic anesthetic as good as national companies. Now operating in more than 150 markets as diverse as the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, Europe, South America, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, mainland China, Russia and some(prenominal) an(prenominal) more. Consequently there is no doubt that this company is a multinational embarkprise (MNE). Groupon had 35 million registered users by October 2010 and thus has been ace of the fastest ontogenesis stockes in the world (Lacrote, 2011). According to Andrew Mason, founder and CEO, Groupon was founded to be the first company to offer the very best deals avail adapted-bodied. This could alone be d whizz by contacting local merchants directly which gave Groupon its competitive advantage. Using this local responsiveness Groupon is able to offer the best de als every day within 24 hours (Cutler, 2010).The aim of this paper is to break how successful Groupons globose dodging freighter be implemented worldwide. Firstly an overall impression of Grouponsbusiness model and organizational construction is given. Secondly a deeper insight in the somatic strategy as well as the global strategy is provided. Furthermore the unsuccessful entry to China is analyzed and evaluated. at last this paper conducts to what extent Groupon can be considered socially responsible before a conclusion is drawn in the last section.2. The railway line ModelGroupon is a multinational start-up company that offers one Groupon per day in severally of their markets (Deborah, 2009). In the beginning of the process Groupon congregates with another business to set up a deal for a sealed product or service. As a next step, both failiesnegotiate a minimum number of participants, which grow to sign up for a deal to become available. In the end the price discount of each voucher has to be identified. This price is paid by the end consumer and is usually split equally between Groupon and the merchant. The reason why merchants are attracted to Groupons business model is that the high quantity sales of each voucher are very beneficial. In addition, merchants profit from several marketing channels, which are used by Groupon. Thus a win-win situation is created.3. Organizational constructionGroupons top-level corporate management is based in Chicago. CEO, Andrew Mason and the most valuable worldwide functional managers navigate the global coordination from the headquarters. Top-level corporate managers provide attention and purpose, leverage corporate performance and ensure continuing renewal (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). Hence, the most important strategic decisions are to be made in the headquarters. Groupons geographic auxiliary Managers are established for certain geographical areas (Organizational Chart Groupon, 2012). Those managers hav e to interpret cultural differences on the one hand and implement the corporate strategy on the other hand (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). In order for Groupon to be locally responsive the company is providing small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from which they can manage their subdivisions in diametricgeographic areas. For Groupon it is important that geographic subsidiaries have a high degree of easedom and thus react quicker and respond to local demand. As a result, Groupons underling orientation can be considered geocentric because geographic managers commence decisions about local responsiveness while headquarters decide on the overall corporate strategy (Perlmutter, V. 1969).4. Groupons corporate strategyAs Groupon is established in many countries of the world, a global strategy has to be pursued on the one hand. This leads to a make headway in brand equity, brand awareness and global efficiency. On the other hand Groupon offers national as well as local deals, which caused the business to act locally responsive as well. Groupon, for this reason, can be considered transnational, as the company acts more responsive to local needs while capturing the benefits of global efficiency (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008, p13). Todays MNEs compete in highly complex, diverse and constantly changing business environments. This is due to globalization of markets as well as acceleration of product and technology life cycles. Most importantly however is the intensification of global competition for Groupon. Most online service are easy to imitate. Therefore it has been of maximum importance that Groupons managers take the right actions and develop appropriate strategies. Groupon has access to highly educated international managers that sense and interpret complex and dynamic environmental changes.These managers have demonstrable and integrated multiple strategic capabilities in order to cope with todays business world. As it was very hard for Groupon to enter fore ign markets, Groupon identified several companies that were interested in forming joint ventures. An important part of their global amplification strategy that was centrally managed from Chicago, was developing five ramose strategies that led to global efficiency and competitiveness. First of all, Groupon has introduced a coordination strategy that focuses on an analysis of various goods and services that would be engaging and appealing to the subscribers. Once these goods and services have been identified, Groupons managers start the process of initiating, negotiating, arranging, and executing. As soon as the coordination strategy is in place, Groupon discovers a pricing strategy. Due to the high discounts forcustomers on the one hand and the provision of highly effective marketing instruments for companies on the other hand a win-win deal is created. Groupon sets a firm price and a fixed deadline when the dealends.By doing so, the target group has limited time to purchase the o fferings and is therefore under some pressure to buy the product instantly. In Addition, the deal only takes place when a minimum number of buyers are reached. This way the seller obtains full planning certainty for the particular deals. Another important part of Groupons strategy is advertisement. Many companies find it interesting to offer products via Groupon because of their heavy marketing activities they undertake. By advertising and selling the companys products, companies benefit of free marketing as Groupon only charges a fixed percentage of the selling price. Product offering is the fourth of the five strategies they came up with. In this section, they identify feasible highly demanded products and undertake a lot of research and carefully examine the preference of the people catering to the local market. Finally, Groupon added a special features strategy in which they market their service as well as the products in a unique way.5. Groupons Global StrategyJoint ventures p lay an important role for Groupons expansion strategies. As Groupon has successfully started and expanded their business in the United States they quickly completed that there is a high demand for deal of the day business overseas as well. One of the first market entries outside the United States was entering European market. Although well-established companies were already the deal of the day their business model, Groupon was eventually able to benefit from those competitors. Oliver Samwer, founder of Citydeal was the first competitor who interacted with Groupon. Andrew Mason described this meeting as follows After a few days with Oliver Samwer and the rest of the Citydeal management team, we realized that they were among the best operators wed ever met (Chan & Lee, 2011). Afterwards Groupon analysed the situation and realized that Citydeal was already dominating the European market. Competing with them would have been extremely difficult and risky as possibility own facilities al l across Europewould have been a substantial investment.As aresult, Groupon was rather interested in a acquisition and bought Citydeal in 2010 for 126 million dollars. This investment enabled Groupon to instantly gain access to the European market. Groupon was providing their experience from America, whereas they received local marketing expertise and well educated employees. When engaging in cross-border collaborations MNEs try to overcome any protectionist barriers as well as overcoming national regulations by having good political contacts. (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008) Nevertheless, those relationships often involve great risk as a substantial amount of capital investment is required. It is often uncertain whether companies can actually benefit from economies of scale and scope as well as arbitrage opportunities. To illustrate the source of forming competitive advantage more precisely this paper introduces the AAA-Framework by Ghemawat, 2005 (Appendix 1). In this model Groupon ca n be placed confining to adaption as they attempt to act locally responsive by supplying their customers with national as well as local deals. Aggregation also plays a vital role because Groupon attempts to deliver economies of scale by creating regional () operations it involves standardizing the product () offering and grouping together the development and production processes. (Bartlett & Beamish, 2011). Moreover, Groupon is trying to make use of arbitrage opportunities, which is the exploitation of differences between national and regional markets, often by locating separate parts of the supply chain in different places () (Bartlett & Beamish, 2011) However, arbitrage takes an inferior position as Groupon is providing a service and does not have production facilities.6. Groupons entry to ChinaAfter successfully expanding business into many markets before, Groupon ran into some difficulties when starting a joint venture in China. Groupons general strategy when enteringnew market s is aggressively penetrating the market to gain market share very quickly. As competition in the market was a lot more intense than expected, this strategy did not work in China (Chao, 2012). Using a unified entrystrategy in every country without adapting to the differences, which are present in each market, is known as the United Nations Model (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1986). When Groupon entered the Chinese market they were proclaiming to become the biggest online shopping site right from the beginning. This arrogant attitude did not take any ironlike competitors in the Chinese market into account (Chao, 2012). Competitors knew exactly how to treat customers and vendors according to the Chinese circumstances. One example is that Groupon tried to split the profits with vendors equally. Local competitors were used to charging only ten percent, which gave vendors no incentive to consider Groupon (Chao, 2012). In addition to that, the world leader in the discount deal business did not consider hiring more than 2 Chinese managers in their senior management team. This resulted in very low local responsiveness, as western managers did not know the Chinese finale well enough (Chao, 2012). To overcome cultural difference Groupon startet a joint venture with the Chinese online deal website Tencent (Chan & Lee, 2011).This joint venture gave Groupon the opportunity to adapt a rather local strategy. It would have been easy to tally from Tencent and employ a more responsive strategy afterwards. Again, Groupon did not take notice of the need to learn from this locally established company and hired expats to run operations around the country (Zhu, 2011). Consequently, there is evidence that Groupons competence of local organization in China has been very low. Since the Chinese market provides a significant purchasing power, China can be viewed as an environment of high importance for Groupon. A subsidiary that can be characterized by a high strategic importance and a low c ompetence of local organization is called a downhearted Hole (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986). Managing once way out of a Black Hole is extremely difficult and Groupon would have to choose the right strategy to do so successfully. Bhattacharya and Michael describe in How Local Companies Keep at Bay that local companies can beatmultinational Enterprises by pursuing several distinguishing strategies (Bhattacharya & Michael, 2008). As strong competition has been one of Groupons main problems when entering the Chinese market, in order to gain market share against local companies the MNE has to analyze how locals are able to outperform their global strategies. Afterwards those strategies haveto be used against the local companies (Bhattacharya & Michael, 2008). In the case at hand, Groupon would have to adapt to the locally responsive strategies and copulate them with their own expertise.More specifically Groupon would need to start by learning from its venture partner and hiring local manag ers who know how the Chinese market works. Besides choosing the malign entry strategy, Groupons low local competence was caused by ethical differences. On the one hand Chinese employees felt like they were not hardened fairly when Goupon fired around 400 people in 2011 (Chao, 2011). On the other hand Groupon ran an offending advertisement during the Super Bowl in the ground forces (Chao, 2011). A solution to such a conflict of cultural tradition is for the manager to ask oneself if the companys practices would be acceptable if the managers country were in a similar state (Donaldson, 1996). If Groupon is able to successfully implement those changes the national subsidiary would take the new role of a strategic Leader. A Strategic Leader is characterized by a high competence of local organization and a high strategic importance of local environment (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986).7. An evolving global roleMultinational enterprises are more and more responsible for the establishment of a tremendous gap between rich and short all over the whole world. Using global strategies and exploiting economies of scale and scope can be viewed as very exploitative and irresponsible. To see if Groupon is acting socially responsible one can analyze the level of responsibility bydistinguishing between four MNE postures. Firstly there is the exploitive MNE, which is known to use socially irresponsible opportunities to maximize profits. An exploitive company might take advantage of the cheapest possible workforce it can find by employing children in unsafe environments working long hours. Secondly a transactional MNE is described. This posture is characterized by trying to maximize profits and acting socially responsible on the other hand. Those companies settle at the boarder to being socially irresponsible while not actively engaging in any social efforts. Thirdly there is the responsive MNE. In contrast to the transactional MNE the thirdposture is characterized by an active eng agement into corporate citizenship behaviour.Finally the transformative MNE defines itself by taking responsibility to solve the problems in less developed countries in the world (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). Applying Groupon to the MNE types, they can be classified as a responsive enterprise. Even though Groupon was criticized by some companies for being harmful to certain industries, a large amount of social responsibility has been shown. Having noticed the ability to raise money from groups of people, Groupon has established charity deals on their website. When customers buy one of those deals Groupon allow for match the amount and donate everything for example to the Red Cross (Campbell, 2012).8. ConclusionThe Internet deal company Groupon was established in 2008 and became a multinational company in a very short period of time. The corporate structure is made of the main functional managers in the corporate headquarters and geographical subsidiary managers in each location. Th e fast growing business can be characterized as transnational because it is pursuing a global strategy while having a great focus on being locally responsive. In order to expand as rapidly as Groupon did, the cooperation had to acquire businesses in some countries and start joint ventures in others. As mentioned before, in most European countriesthis strategy worked out perfectly well. When Groupon decided to enter the Chinese market, however, some problems arose. Even though Groupon claimed to behave in a responsive manner they were reluctant to adapt locally responsive management practices in China. Consequently, the Chinese competition disabled Groupon from seemly market leader.To answer the problem statement if Groupons global strategy can successfully be implemented worldwide a conclusion can be drawn. While Groupon implemented the global strategy very successfully in the European market, there are some major difficulties when using the equal strategy in China. To overcome th ose problems Groupon has to hire more Chinese managers in order to understand how the Chinese system works. Additionally, Groupon should use theopportunity to learn from their venture-partner Tencent. Finally it is important for Groupon to analyze the competitive advantages of the competition in order to beat the local leaders by using their own methods. Coming back to Groupons overall strategy one can identify Groupon as a transactional company since it is actively engaging in corporate socially responsible activities.ReferencesBartlett, C. & Beamish, P. (2011). transnational Management. New York, USA McGrawHill Bartlett, C. and Ghoshal, S. (1986) Tap Your Subsidiaries for Global Reach. Harvard Business Review.Bhattacharya, A. & Michael, D. (2008). How Local Companies Keep Multinationals at Bay. Harvard Business Review.Campbell, L (2012,November 18). How Groupon and Living cordial Are Raising Millions for Charity Using Social Media. Socialmedia Today. Retrieved from http//socialmed iatoday.comChan & Lee, (2011, February 28) Groupon Enters China, Teams with Tencent. Pedaily. Retrieved from http//www.pedaily.cnChao, L. (2012, August 24). Groupon Stumbles in China, Closes Some Offices. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http//online.wsj.comCutler, K. (2010, May 7). Groupon CEO Being in a band made my business rock. Social. Retrieved from http//venturebeat.com/Deborah, C (2009, June 10). virtual(prenominal) tipping point leverages group. Reuters. Retrieved from http//www.reuters.comDonaldson, T. (1996). Values in Tension Ethics Away from Home. Harvard Business School PressLacrote , V. (2011, June 1). Groupon. Retrieved fromhttp//digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.eduPerlmutter H. (1969). The Tortuous Evolution of the Multinational Corporation. Columbia Journal of earth BusinessZhu, J (2011, November 4). 4 Mistakes Behind Groupons Failure in China. Tech In China. Retrieved from http//www.techinasia.com

Inferno: The Cantica of Artful Horror

Dante Alighieris Inferno, only bingle part of the Divine Comedy though hailed by many another(prenominal) as the most compelling of the tether pratticas, deserves to be called a literary classic because it is not only an exceptional example of classical literary horror, but it is also a representation of how medieval people envision blaze. It is a blend of rattling(a) monsters and historical figures whose binding tie is sin in its many forms.Alighieri invites the reader to enter the nine circles of hell the deeper the circle, the more serious the sin. Unlike most contemporary horror that showcase graphic violence wrought by horrifying monsters or a more intellectual and atmospheric environment, Alighieri attempts to create horror that is both(prenominal) gruesome and intelligently peopled by real historical people and real sins. Moreover, the reader can almost believe his version of what hells landscape is like.The Inferno explores the edge of limbo to the inward circle of t he Malebolge. In each step of the journey, depictions of suffering bring the reader to an awareness of base gentle desires making him or her face the reality that people help create the nine circles of hell by living sinfully. A piece of literature that is still remembered after more than 700 years must be considered a literary classic representing a musical style that may not receive as many praises as others. Though a classic piece that touches on views of the Christian afterlife, true to its horror genre Inferno still shocks and frightens.

Avatar- Movie Film Review

shoot down Review By Rutba Rahman incarnation is a 2009 science fiction film directed by crowd Cameron. The celluloid stars are surface-to-air missile Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver. James Camerons movies have grossed approximately US $2 gazillion in North America. James Camerons previous films that he is known for are The Terminator (1984), line up Lies (1994) and Titanic (1996). The purpose of shape is incarnation, in the movie it means that the future human technology is surefooted of injecting a humans intelligence into a biological body.Avatar has shown incarnation beautifully and it has explained the Navi (extraterrestrial humans) correctly by showing their different lifestyle and behavior from humans. Avatars plot of ground is that a disabled ex-marine named Jake Sully finds life on the orbiter Pandora, only to find him battling mankind with the planets Navi race. Jake is sent to learn their ways so that he can armed service relocate them and the huma ns can take over. Neytiri is the daughter of the Navi leaders Moat and Eytukan. She is brave, loyal and powerful exited. When she meets Jake she begins to fall in love with him because of his bravery.Grace Augustine is a scientist who studies the plants and creatures of Pandora. She is the head of the avatar program, and she is composed with the Navi clan because she set up a school to teach them English. The characters in Avatar are presumptive characters, such as Jake Sully, Neytiri and Grace Augustine. Jake Sully is a believable character because he is charismatic, and acts as a strong leader, he is courageous because he takes a stand for what he has believes is wrong, and he is brave because he is will to fight against the military.Neytri is a believable character because she is devoted to her people and is willing to put herself in a dangerous situation for the sake of her clan. Grace Augustine is also a believable character because she is very fond of and close to her Navi students. The actors interpretation of the characters is remarkable. Zoe Saldana plays the heroine Neytiri. Zoe Saldana gave an emotional and strong performance through start the movie. Sam Worthington plays the hero Jake Sully in the movie.Sam has shown outstanding interpretation for Jake because he has an intuitive quality that makes the audition believe that people would follow him. He was handpicked by James Cameron because he had sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. The Cinematographer for Avatar is Mauro Fiore. The films central challenge is depicting an imaginary and digitally crafted world with a long sense of realism. At first the Navi species were drawn with fins and gills. Then they were redesigned to look more wish humans so the audience could relate to them better.James Cameron developed a specially designed tv camera that allowed the facial expressions of the actors to be captured and digitally recorded for the animators to use later. The entire background of P andoras floating mountains, including the hoy source is represented on set only by a green screen. Every flick involved some sort of interactive light. James Horner created a soundtrack that reflected the Navi way of sound and he created a small chorus singing in the alien language Navi. The main theme of the movie is clement Vs Nature.The destruction of the natural world will lead ultimately to the destruction of mankind. The films strong points are the Special Effects because they are incredible and used well. They are weaved into the story beautifully, and they come dark effortlessly. The acting was done extremely well. Much of the actors emotions could be seen through their Avatar characters. The details were thought out and used as a part of the environment. James Cameron has truly created his own world. The audience truly feels as if they have been transported into a new world while watching the film.The low points of the movie were the negative action, because of the inhu manity being shown, such as destruction and violence. The story is efficiently developed but the film is soft overshadowed by special effects. I would recommend this movie to others because the entire story is fantastic. The significant message of this movie is that all living things are connected and those who seek to exploit nature rather than respect it, will only destroy themselves. I would rate this film 10/10 because I think its a great achievement and it has produced a great effort to make.

File Processing Commands

What UID and PID have the highest amount of physical memory a process has determinationd and is non swapped out? Show all processes and full output. top stub out f constrict d press p Youll will find cpu usage in descending order for all processes. If utilize a long listing and no process modifiers, what is the swap space amount for the bash necessitate? top -p pidof_bash After typing the above command press A (Capital a). You will see the down the stairs output. 1 PID USER PR NI VIRT reticuloendothelial system SHR S %CPU %MEM clock+ direct 2021 xyz 20 0 XXXXX XXXX 1664 S 0 0. 2 000. 43 bash PID PPID TIME+ %CPU %MEM PR NI S VIRT SWAP RES UID COMMAND 2021 2019 000. 43 0 0. 2 20 0 S 22132 16m 4952 1000 bash 3 PID %MEM VIRT SWAP RES CODE DATA SHR nFLT nDRT S PR NI %CPU COMMAND 2021 0. 2 22132 16m 4952 XXX XXXX X664 1 0 S 20 0 0 bash4 PID PPID UID USER RUSER TTY TIME+ %CPU %MEM S COMMAND 2021 2019 1000 xyz xyz pts/0 000. 43 0 0. 2 S bash higher up you can see the swap space. You can also try top -p pidofbash press f press p press enter Youll see the swap space too. When utilize top command, what command would you utilization to kill a process? Press k to kill a process If you were not using top command, what command would you use to kill a process? kill processid killall processname What command would you use to manually mount the standard CD-ROM device /dev/db1 at /media/disk? mount /dev/db1 /media/disk What command would you use to display the amount of available disk space on /dev/db1 in a human readable form? df -h /dev/db1 Type in the command grep help to access the help manual. Using this randomness and the information from the text, how would you write a command to find the pattern 111 in a file called myfile. txt? grep -irna 111 myfile. txt

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited Essay

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) contriveerly Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) is the premier fiscal asylum geared towards the development of agriculture sector through provision of financial services and technical realise how. The restructuring of former ADBP is being carried out with the aim to uplift the agriculture and rural sector by facelift farm productivity, streamlining the institutional credit and increase income generating capacity of the farming community. ZTBL was incorporated as a general Limited Company on 14th December, 2002.ZTBL is dedicated to serve the needs of the farming community, by delivering financial products and technical services on a competitive and sustainable basis, in a convenient, efficient and sea captain manner, leading to success of the Bank and the farmers. ZTBL is working continuously to fulfill and satisfy the market requirements, keeping tread with emerging technologies in the field of Agriculture Sector and satisfying customers needs .ZTBL understands and consider in the importance of its customers and fulfillment of their needs. ZTBL is constantly adopting different strategies that aim to support and reinforce its competitive position. As jobs in todays dynamic presidential terms have become more complex, so every presidential term needs to have hale trained and experienced work force to perform the activities that must be done.As the requirements for jobs are changing very fast, the importance of employees education has increased . When jobs were simple and idle to learn, there was little need of employees to upgrade their skills.Traditionally, the aim of reproduction and development has been to ensure that employees flowerpot efficaciously accomplish their jobs. But today , the business environment has changed, with intense pressure on business firms to stick by ahead of the competition through innovation and re-invention. By definition planning and development refers to the cultiva te of obtaining and transferring knowledge, skills and abilities need to carry out a specific activity or task. discipline is basically the cognitive process of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for performing current job given to him or her. It is a short term process when new employees are selected, placed and introduced to a new organization, they must be provided with training facilities so that they can be able to perform their jobs efficiently and effectively. Employees who are trained regularly are will motivated, well mannered and have compoundd confidence and self esteem.In short, training and development prepare and enhance employees knowledge and skills enable them to adopt new technology, the changes that are happened or going to happen inside the organization and working environment. The right employee training, development and education and the right time provide big payoffs for the employer in the form of increased productivity, contribution, knowle dge and loyalty.Human Resources are the most important and valuable assets for each and every organization, with Machine, Materials, and rase money can do nothing without human power.According to Abiodun (1999) training is a systemic process of development of knowledge, skills and the altering behavior of employees in a direction that will achieve organisational goals.Adeniyi (1995) submitted that employee training and development is an activity that can significantly contribute to the overall the effectiveness and profitability of the organization.Oribabor (2000) says that the aim of training and development to develop competencies such as technical , conceptual and managerial advantages for the furtherance of individual and organizational growth, also Isyakn (2000) identified that this process training and development is a continues one. Among other school that has highlighted the significance of Training and Development are Akintayo (1996), Graig (1976) and Oguntimehin (2001). T hey have postulated the functions as follows Increases productivity improves skills and knowledge, improve the quality of work, enhance the use of tools and machines, reduces absenteeism, crease over, reduces waste, accidence and other over head costs, expel out dated skills, method, technologies and capital management and so onMisko (2008) identified that where learning become integrated into work place practices, firms are more likely to be innovative, extend learning and reward employees.

Government and Media in Cuba Essay

In between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean lies the island of Cuba. It is a picayune island with a total land area of 110,860 square km, tho it is so powerful enough to drive the attention of United States and to strengthen its security measures. The country was first off ruled by the Spanish governing and its history was marked by revolutions and uprising. Finally, in 1902, finished the intervention of the US establishment, Cuba achieved its independence from the Spanish rule.However, the annunciation of independence did not end the uprising and rebellious activities because the country was not freed from leadership of corruption and military-rule. The realistic independence, as recognized and celebrated by Cubans, was achieved when Fidel Castro took office. Fidel Castro was the leader of rebel army that has been fighting the corrupt governing body and established a communist form of political relation. At present, Cuba is under the rule of Castro and the s tate remains to be a communist disposal having three branches namely the header of state, legislative and judiciary.General Raul Castro currently holds the chief of state which is comprised of Council of State and Council of Ministers (The World Factbook). On the stinting aspect, the embargo that has been imposed upon the country has not yet been lifted. Currently, Venezuela is the main partner of the country and the main source of its pet fictional characterum needs. The living standard also remained little as a result of the embargo and discontinuance of foreign aids from several countries (The World Factbook). However, it has agricultural, trading, industrial and manufacturing enterprises where it sources stunned its economic and financial needs.As of July of the present year, the country is occupied by an estimate of 11,451,652 good deal having different racial descent including Afri chiffoniers, Spanish, Westerns and Asians (The World Factbook). Despite changes that dumbf ound been introduced in the country, there are silent issues that mystify been bothering the nation and even its citizens. Through its communist form of government, many activities were hardly exercised by the citizens because of government suppression. The closely suppressed and monitored activity is the pression of ones thoughts and ideas.The right to express ones self is being curtailed by the government especially when it contains ideas that are against the government. The role of media is to protect the government as it is founded only to voice out words that the government desires to hear. In contrary to the role played by media in many countries, the Cuban media does not serve as the voice and protector of the people from the government but as an ally of the state. The treatment of the media people is also despicable in the eyes of the international community and of the journalists themselves.Hence, this paper will present the relationship of the media and government as well as the role it plays in the country. Concomitant to that is the life of journalists under the communist government of Cuba. Role of Media Media has been recognized as congenital tool in communication. Mass media, as defined, is the proficient direction of sending breeding, ideas, opinion, etc. through the flock communication device to a diverse audience (Impact of Media on Culture). Various means used by mass media in transmitting breeding effectively and swiftly includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and internet.Notably, internet has been the most preferred and ideal means of mass media because of its ability of reaching a wider audience and is laxly monitored. In addition, internet is most preferred because it does not require profession to enable any individual to express his or her ideas. Among other nations, mass media is recognized as the 4th department of the government because of the role it plays in the political and social aspect. The mass media usu ally fills in the gap between the government and the people.It voices out the sentiments or thoughts of the people to the government while it also brings to the people the sentiments and plans of the government for the country. In some instances, mass media aims a watchdog against government abuses and activities that are by all odds out of reason. Furthermore, mass media has continually become the source of information about things, persons, places, and events, among others. Due to the indispensable role of mass media in the society, it need to be free and not controlled by any person or agency nor can be regulated by the government.Instead, it should be free in order to properly carry out its objective. Apart from that, it should not be controlled to hold its impartiality and neutral role. Historical Background of Media in Cuba The epoch of mass media in Cuba can be traced back during the Spanish regime. The history also of the countrys press has undergone five stays (Browning ). The Colonial check which stated from 1723 to 1868 is recognized as the first period of time. During that period, the first newspaper empower Gazeta de la Habana was released in 1782 and become the nations publication (Browning).In 1790, the newspaper was followed by the very first magazine entitled Papel Periodico de la Habana (Browning). Both were regulated by the Spanish government but enjoyed less restriction because of the cut Revolution affecting the government power of Spain over Cuba. The second period began in 1869 when Independence was first craved for and ended in 1902. The period is also called the Independence Revolution (Browning). During that period, press was given to the full exemption purposely to win the support of the reformists.Eventually periodicals containing ideas about reform began to evolve which includes El Cubano Libre, Estrella Solitaria, El Mambi, and El Boletin de la Guerra (Browning). Notably, during the second period, more revolutionaries were inspired to fight for their independence through the influence of Jose Marti who writes in several newspapers such as Patria, La Nacion, and New York Sun (Browning). The second period was marked by autarkic exercise of expression through publications that is direct, immediate and constant (Browning). The third period started when called the Republican period which started from 1902 and ended in 1930.The third period was ruled under the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado (Browning). During his era, freedom of expression was enjoyed by journalists. Newspapers, publications and other dailies thrived in the city of Cuba, Havana. This period was also marked by prosperity because political parties sponsored oodles of publications and added to the benefit of the countrys economy. However, the exercise of the freedom was shaken by the plan of Machado to assimilate and interpret government subsidies in exchange for support in 1928 (Browning).The following years was marked by economic downtu rn and political unrest that further led to the end of freedom enjoyed by the Cuban journalists. The fourth period started after Machado was overthrown in 1930 until 1959 (Browning). For 29 years, Batista ruled the nation. During the reign of Batista, the freedom of expression was experiencing threat of extinction. Though, technological innovations in journalism were introduced in the country. Among these includes increased commercial sophistication and steam-powered printing presses (Browning).However, at the last mentioned part of Batistas reign, the freedom of expression has finally faded because the government took control of the press. The fifth period started when Batista was overthrown by the communist group led by Castro in 1959 and continues at the present era (Browning). Since the origination of Castro era, the freedom of expression was already curtailed. Eventually, the press and media were finally controlled by the government and journalists were not given freedom to v oice out their thoughts against the government. The governments strict control over media started in 1930.No independent journalists were freed to release publications which pee-pee the effect of criticizing the government. During that period, journalists tried to oppose the move of the government but to no avail. Finally, in 1990s through the introduction of Internet, independent journalists have found new medium to castigate the governments control of information (Browning). However, the media, private and public, are still under the control of the government. Information dissemination is still suffering strict regulation. Independent journalists also continue to struggle and risk their lives for an independent journalism.It can be observed that since the evolution of media, the government already held control of it. The changes in phases under several governments have made media limited and restricted. Some of the actions that the government had done in curtailing free press an d flow of information were censorship and closure of newspapers (Browning). Until now, the freedom of information remains evasive and independence of journalists is still obscure to be enjoyed. Current Status of Media in Cuba In Art. 53 of the 1976 Cuban constitution, freedom of press and expression have been explicitly stated.However, such freedom is subjected to limitations as contained in Art. 62 Art. 5, further, contains that all communication should be controlled by the Communist Party for the benefit of the country (Browning). As an effect, information was regulated and controlled by the government. Journalists were also subdued from publicizing without the knowledge of the state. Apart from that, journalists were arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising their freedom of expression. Mass media in Cuba is definitely not free. In the field of print media, the nation maintains three newspapers which are fully regulated by the government.These nations newspapers are Granma, Juventud Rebelde and Trabajadores (Browning). Granma is the official publication of the Communist Party which was founded in 1965 (Browning). Juventud Rebelde usually contains the comparable youth-oriented stories covered in Granma but in simplified and summarized manner. The Trabajadores, on the other hand, is more politically prepared publication as it contains Marxist principles (Browning). Notably, Granmas circulation has widened in some other parts of the world through the power of internet.The website is called Digital Granma Internacional (Browning). It is also noteworthy that during the recognition of the press, the Union de Periodistas de Cuba (Union of Cuban Journalists) was founded in July 15, 1963 (Browning). It is a nongovernment system which engages the membership of professional journalists in order to work in distinguished media in the country. However, such geological formation has already been controlled by the government and its constitution also dictates that editori al line of journalists must follow that of government.On this era of technological innovations, independent journalists found internet as a means of voicing out their cries and redress against the Cuban government. However, the control of the government in curtailing unwanted information has also reached the World wide-cut Web and several independent journalists have been imprisoned for such exercise of expression. It is noteworthy that 21 journalists have been recorded to have been imprisoned after a closed-door trial (Attacks on the Press in 2008). Among the journalists that suffered the harshness of the state is Yoani Sanchez, 33-year old blogger (Attacks on the Press in 2008).Sanchez, at first, found freedom through her blog called Generation Y which contained observations about hurricane devastation, politically motivated arrest, and food shortages (Attacks on the Press in 2008). Her blog has been read abroad but has also been made known by the government. Thereafter, her pass port was confiscated and was not allowed to leave the country. Today, state authorities has started to regulate internet cafes to track down individuals with the purpose of publishing discord against the government through internet.Another independent journalist that has experienced the governments cruelty is success Rolando Arroyo (Cuban Journalist in Second hebdomad of Hunger Strike). Arroyo, who writes in Union de Periodistas y Escritores de Cuba, was arrested during the fight for independence press in March 2003 (Cuban Journalist in Second Week of Hunger Strike). He caught the worlds attention when he took hunger strike for almost two weeks because of the maltreatment and indecent treatment of prisoners like him.