Thursday, October 31, 2019

Innovation and change - open innovation and strategy Essay - 4

Innovation and change - open innovation and strategy - Essay Example More importantly, it is realized that innovation is normally a very expensive process for most organizations hence it really requires that its success be effectively determined in order to justify the financial allocation on the process. Most importantly, the present business environment mostly relies on innovation as the engine through which success and positive change can be realized in the organization. Any innovation process in the organization is normally intended to achieve the basic goals of the organization which include revenue growth, customer satisfaction and profit maximization. These fundamental metrics are therefore the core factors that any model for the measurement of innovation performance should focus upon. However, it must be realized that these success metrics can normally be influenced by other factors other than innovation. In this regard, it is much important to draw the line between the successes realized as a result of innovation from other influencing factors. Like in the overall business growth, measuring innovation performance is never limited to the tangible goals realized in the organization. Quite a number of intangible factors normally indicate the success or failure of a given innovation process in the organization. In measuring the performance or success of innovation in the organization, the success metrics are weighed against the inputs towards the innovation process. Inputs in this regard are normally both tangible and intangible. Tangible inputs include the financial resources needed in the process and the quantifiable adjustments done in the organization as a result of the innovation process. On the other hand, intangible inputs include staff-behavior adjustments and increased attention in the organization in order to successfully enhance the innovation process (Shehabuddeen, 2007). The simplest generic model in the measurement of innovation can focus on the opportunity costs of the innovation process. In this process,

Monday, October 28, 2019

The invisible white privilege Essay Example for Free

The invisible white privilege Essay White people, from birth, automatically benefit from their light skin color, enjoying the privileges relating to child care, education, hygiene, careers, politics, etc. Compared to white people, people of color are at a distinct disadvantage. They are treated differently than white people, and they are the ones that suffer, not having this same privilege. In Peggy McIntosh’s article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, McIntosh describes how whites carry the invisible privilege. In society, white people are treated better than non-white people since segregation, beauty trends, political power, social connections, and street crime seem to be better for them. According to McIntosh, White Privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets granted to white people (McIntosh 1). They can enjoy special advantages that are beyond common advantages of people of color. White privilege is a social constructed phenomenon. Besides physical appearance, there is no biological difference between white people and the non-white people. It is society that distinguishes whites from people of color, and it tends to recognize all races besides those who are white. Living in a society of white dominance, whites are carefully taught to ignore the fact that white privilege puts them at an advantage. This is because, according to McIntosh, deconstruction of white privilege threatens the myths and ideas about this nation, and it challenges the notion of equal opportunity and meritocracy (McIntosh 2). There are many ways that white privilege still exists today. Here are five examples of white privilege I find out in my life. 1. White parents do not have to be worried about their kids being scared at school. I learned from the news that at Delavan-Darien High School, the American Diversity class divides students into whites and non-whites, and tell non-whites students, â€Å"you have been oppressed and you are still being oppressed†. 2. White women represent beauty and lead the trends. Speaking of this, why don’t we take a look at the proportion of white models in the 2013 New York Fashion Week? An official statistic shows that out of the 5,000 styles in last New York Fashion Week, around 80 percent were modeled by white women. Fewer than 1,000 styles were given to women of color (Dries 1). 3. White people occupy Congress. In Congress the total is 87 percent whites, which is divided into 85 percent in the House and 96 percent in the Senate (Portero 3). The voices of politicians of color are often drowned out in the politic sea of white dominance. 4. White people are able to achieve success more easily by using their connections. Because of belonging to the dominant group, white people have more connection than people of color do. Based on this, they are more likely to succeed. 5. Whites do not have to be worried about being shot one day on the street. A well-known example can be the Shooting of Trayvon Martin. Making a run to the store to get some refreshments for his brother and himself, Martin was shot and killed by the neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman because, according to Zimmerman, â€Å"he was very suspicious. † I think if Martin were a white guy, Zimmerman would not have seen him as a â€Å"real suspicious looking guy†. In society, people regard whites’ lives as morally neutral, normative, and ideal. Whites are elevated above people of color. Although I believe all racial groups are harmed in the long run by racism, white privilege still exists as a daily reality throughout every part of the structure in the United States. Work Cited Dries, Kate. New York Fashion Week Was Chock-Full of White Models. Again. Jezebel. N. p. , 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Welsey, MA: Wesley College Center for Research on Woman, 1988. Print. Portero, Ashley. Congress Still a White Male Lawyers Domain; Members More Religious Than Most Americans. International Business Times. N. p. , 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Tim Hortons Design of Goods Services

Tim Hortons Design of Goods Services Tim Hortons Inc. is a fast food giant operating in North America and Canada. The Companys offerings includes premium coffee, flavored cappuccinos, specialty teas, home-style soups, fresh sandwiches, wraps, hot breakfast sandwiches and fresh baked goods. While the company is expanding it is challenged by the concerns of design of goods and just in time concepts of operations management. II. Literature Review Operations Management is the science and art of ensuring that goods and services are created and delivered successfully to customers. Applying the principles of OM entails a solid understanding of people, processes, and technology, and how they are integrated within business systems to create value. The way in which goods and services, and the processes that create and support them, are designed and managed can make the difference between a delightful or unhappy customer experiences. Operations management is the only function by which managers can directly affect the value provided to all stakeholders customers, employees, investors, and society. Effective operations management is essential to providing high-quality goods and services that customers demand, motivating, and developing the skills of the people who actually do the work, maintaining efficient operations to ensure an adequate return on investment, and protecting the environment. Operations management focuses on carefully managing the processes to produce and distribute products and services. Major, overall activities often include product creation, development, production and distribution. Related activities include managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluations of processes. A great deal of focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, operations management often includes substantial measurement and analysis of internal processes. Ultimately, the nature of how operations management is carried out in an organization depends very much on the nature of the products or services in the organization, for example, on retail, manufacturing or wholesale (1). Understanding Design of Goods and Services A good is a physical product that one can see, touch, or possibly consume. Examples of goods include oranges, flowers, televisions, soap, airplanes, fish, furniture, coal, coffee, lumber, and personal computers. A durable good is a product that typically lasts at least three years. Vehicles, dishwashers, and furniture are some examples of durable goods. A nondurable good is perishable and generally lasts for less than three years. Examples are toothpaste, software, shoes, and fruit. A service is any primary or complementary activity that does not directly produce a physical product. Services represent the nongoods part of a transaction between a buyer (customer) and seller (supplier).1 Common examples of services are hotels, legal and financial firms, airlines, health care organizations, museums, and consulting firms. Product (or service) management includes a wide range of management activities, ranging from the time that theres a new idea for a product to eventually providing ongoing support to customers who have purchased the new product. Every organization conducts product development, whether its done intentionally or unintentionally (2). Goods and services have many similarities. They are driven by customers and provide value and satisfaction to customers. They can be standardized for mass market or customized to individual needs. Just in Time Just-in-time (JIT) is a management philosophy that originated in the 1970s. Taiichi Ohno is credited with developing JIT and perfected it for Toyotas manufacturing plants in Japan. The main goal of JIT is to eliminate anything that does not add value from the customers perspective. Non-value-added activities are referred to as waste in JIT (4). Examples of waste include: overproduction beyond what is needed to satisfy immediate demand waiting time (work-in-process, customer waiting) unnecessary transportation (material handling, customer travel through a facility, etc.) processing waste (yield rates, start-up costs) inventory storage waste (space, deterioration, obsolescence, etc.) unnecessary motion and activity (waste in work techniques, etc.) waste from product and service defects (rework, scrap, warranty, etc.) Just-in-time (JIT) refers to a collection of practices that is designed to eliminate waste. These organizational practices encompass the entire logistics flow of materials from purchasing through production and distribution. The elements of JIT may include shared product design with suppliers and customers, movement toward single sourcing, proximate suppliers and customers, reduced set-up times, preventive maintenance, reliance on analytic tools to identify sources of defects and plant optimization layout (re)configurations, among others. The benefits are pervasive and can include lower total system costs and improved product quality when managed at optimum levels. A fair amount of evidence is available to support the claim of improved performance derived from the adoption of JIT or some of its components. Companies have reduced in-process inventory more than 50% and lead times by more than 80%. An inventory system managed to the extreme with JIT principles correlates inversely with the level of labor efficiency. Outsourcing is an essential tool for every business executive. JIT Inventory Modeling brings a unique perspective that can help clients make and implement the best decisions even in these unprecedented times (5). The use of JIT in services A review of the major academic research journals found most articles focused on JIT in manufacturing firms. Non-manufacturing environments have been given little emphasis in the research literature. However, a review of recent applied journals revealed articles describing JIT precepts migrating to non-manufacturing environments. These non-manufacturing environments include typical service businesses such as insurance firms, retailers and mail-order firms. Continuous improvement of the process As part of JIT implementation, organizations must instill the habit of expecting continuous small improvements in the process. The operators must never be satisfied with the current environment, but always be moving closer to the ideal situation. Service operations are ripe for significant productivity gains that can be achieved through process improvements. However, recognizing processes that can be improved through the implementation of JIT techniques has been difficult. Holistic approach to elimination of waste The JIT philosophy must be adopted throughout all levels and in all functions of the organization. Chase (1991) provides an excellent argument for and examples of the need to consider the service aspects of the manufacturing firm as potential areas for competitive advantage. He argues further that service innovations typically cut across departmental boundaries and cross-functional support is required for a successful implementation. From a non-manufacturing perspective, inventory and purchasing are the most obvious areas for implementing JIT techniques because of the common vocabulary, of which many examples can be found. According to Schonberger and Gilbert (1983), the just-in-time concept as applied to purchasing translates into frequent releases and deliveries. They developed a list of characteristics describing a JIT purchasing environment. As can be seen from the items listed below, these characteristics could be descriptive of almost any purchasing operation, be it in a manufa cturing or service environment: (1) Suppliers: few suppliers; nearby suppliers; repeat business with same suppliers; active use of analysis to enable desirable suppliers to become/stay price-competitive; clusters of remote suppliers, competitive bidding mostly limited to new part numbers; buyer plant resists vertical integration and subsequent wipeout of supplier business; suppliers are encouraged to extend JIT buying to their suppliers; (2) Quantities: steady output rate (a desirable prerequisite); frequent delivery in small quantities; long-term contract agreements; minimal release paperwork; delivery quantities variable from release to release, but fixed for whole contract term; little or no permissible overage or underage of receipts; suppliers encouraged to package in exact quantities; suppliers encouraged to reduce their production lot sizes (or store unreleased material); (3) Quality: minimal product specifications imposed on supplier; help suppliers to meet quality requirements; close relationships between buyers and suppliers quality assurance people; suppliers encouraged to use process control charts instead of lot sampling inspection; Inman and Mehra (1991) examined the potential for JIT in service industries through three purchasing-oriented case studies. These cases highlight the application of JIT to three areas identified as: the purchase of sub-components/ services; maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods; and quasi-MRO goods. They concluded that the utilization of JIT in a service industry is more than justifiable. They also offered suggestions for implementing JIT in service industries that strongly resembled those offered to manufacturing firms contemplating adoption of JIT. Flexibility in the use of resources Firms should have the ability to change processes rapidly to meet customer demands without wasting resources. Because the output from service processes is often highly customized, flexibility is a key element for many successful service organizations. Improving the timing and quantity of resource allocations for performing a process to avoid employing human and material resources when they are not needed is another facet of JIT. Decreasing the cost of maintaining patient accounts was the purpose of applying JIT techniques in a hospital as reported by Groenevelt (1990). While this implementation also could have fallen under the improving work flow emphasis, many of the JIT techniques discussed in this article reflect employee centred techniques increasing the flexibility of the workforce. Workers were involved in decisions; training and education programmes were established to create a pool of multi-skilled workers; standardized procedures were established; performance standards were created and monitored; and a special emphasis was placed on fostering co-operation and commitment to the JIT philosophy. Another mathematical model is offered by Ramasesh (1990) for the implementation of JIT techniques in purchasing systems that have not yet advanced to the ultimate level of JIT purchasing (lot size of one). He treated the fixed costs associated with the adoption of JIT as investment, and justified it based on the savings generated using any of the techniques of investment analysis. He modified the traditional economic order quantity model to include explicitly the costs of small-lot shipments. He also provided guidelines and formulae for determining the order quantity and the optimal number of shipments. Respect for people Because customers are directly involved in the service delivery process, service employees play a crucial role in affecting the customers perception of the quality and value of the service. Employees must respect customer requirements and provide service in a timely and efficient manner. Those same employees deserve the respect of the companys management. This means helping employees work smarter, not harder, through training and supervisory assistance, and involving all employees in problem solving and process improvements. Many of the articles discussed in other categories mentioned the need to implement various techniques for helping employees work smarter, not harder (Billesbach and Schneiderjans, 1989; Carlson, 1989; Groenevelt, 1990; Savage-Moore, 1988; to name a few). Most of these articles focused primarily on operational changes. However, they also recognized the vital role employees have in service industries and emphasized methods for improving their performance. Service firms working for JIT manufacturing firms must be aware of the impact of the customers JIT emphasis on their own companies. Bagchi et al. (1987) investigated the importance of various service factors considered by both JIT and non-JIT firms when selecting a transportation carrier. They concluded that executives in JIT firms regard customer service-related factors as more important than others. JIT firms place significantly more emphasis on service-related determinants, such as frequency of service, delivery predictability, transit time, service schedule changes and service flexibility. Carriers and other service providers must design effective service offerings which include the customer service requirements of their JIT customers. III. Company Analysis Company Profile Tim Hortons has been founded in 1964 as a coffee and donut shop and opened its first outlet in Hamilton, Canada. As of today, they have more than 2600 stores in Canada. There is one outlet for every 8,707 people in Ontario, compared with one outlet for every 18,906 people in the western provinces of Canada. Also, Tim Hortons has more than 250 outlets in USA. Tim Hortons has generated revenue of US $1.2 billion for its corporate parent, Wendys International, in 2005. Tim Hortons is committed to offer always fresh, fast, convenient, and wide varieties of the products. One of the specialities of Tim Hortons is they want to make sure that their menu is being embellished by adding a new taste. Hot Smoothee is one of their new tastes, and it was launched in October 2005. Goods and Services Selection Tim Hortons Inc. is a quick service restaurant operating in North America and Canada. The Companys offerings includes premium coffee, flavored cappuccinos, specialty teas, home-style soups, fresh sandwiches, wraps, hot breakfast sandwiches and fresh baked goods. It directly owns and operates small number of company restaurants in Canada and the United States. The Company also has warehouse and distribution operations, which supplies paper and dry goods to the Canada-based restaurants, and supply frozen baked goods and some refrigerated products to the Ontario-based restaurants. In the United States, the Company supplies similar products to system restaurants through third-party distributors. The operations also include coffee roasting plants in Rochester, New York and Hamilton, Ontario, a joint-venture bakery, and a fondant and fills manufacturing facility. In July 2009, the Company began serving its signature coffee in New York City. Competitive Advantage Tim Hortons is a dominant player in Canada, and the chain has a 75 per cent market share in Canadian coffee-doughnut industry. Starting March 2006, Tim Hortons Inc. started trading publicly on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges and made itself more valuable. The company is now one of the strongest franchises in Canada, with annual sales of $1.6 billion, 1700 outlets, and an aggressive expansion plan into the United States. One in three cups of coffee sold in Canada comes from Tim Hortons, and Canada-a country with more donut shops per capita than any other country-seems to be a country in love with coffee and donuts. Canadian soldiers even take tins of Tim Hortons coffee with them on overseas deployment, and one of the competitors, Country Style Donuts, recognizes the dominance and sets its sights on becoming number two in the market-they are not even considering challenging the companys dominant position. Even the purchase of the company by U.S.-based Wendys International doesnt seem to have slowed the company down or tainted its image as a Canadian icon. Customers are able to find Tim Hortons outlets more than competitor cafà ©-shops across country. This is the one of the advantages Tim Hortons has. They have more than 2600 stores in Canada. There is one outlet for every 8,707 people in Ontario. This advantage makes Tim Hortons more competitive, but just only in the caffeine product. Hot Smoothee has shown their banner all around Tim Horton store, but they couldnt catch consumers. Whereas Starbucks has about 600 outlets in Canada, Second Cup operates more than 370 outlets across country. Issues Encountered with the Design of Goods Obesity levels are reaching unprecedented levels and the rates of diabetes are skyrocketing. Canadians, and North Americans in general, are becoming increasingly health conscious. With almost a quarter of Canadians obese, obesity is- no pun intended-at epic proportions, and that could affect Tim Hortons in terms of lawsuits, regulation, and complaints from public interest groups. For example, a group of obese U.S. teenagers sued McDonalds, claiming its food had made them fat. While a judge threw the case out, any fast-food restaurant could be a target and the cost of defending the company could easily exceed several million dollars per case, and thats only if you win. The concern about fat and carbohydrates pretty much focuses on what a donut is-fat and carbohydrates. If the growing interest in eating health food wasnt worrying enough, an aggressive new U.S. competitor is entering your market-Krispy Kreme. Although Krispy Kreme has only about a third of the sales (all U.S.) of Tim Hortons, its growth rate has been phenomenal. It has doubled its sales and stores over the last five years, including an incredible 40 percent increase in sales in the last year alone. Even Hollywood has jumped on the Krispy Kreme bandwagon, with Nicole Kidman declaring them Gods gift to donut lovers, and the product has been seen on over 80 TV shows. It now has plans to aggressively enter the Canadian market and take Tim Hortons head on. In the meantime, Tim Hortonss U.S. expansion plans havent gone well, with the company losing millions of dollars. New Product Opportunity The latest taste of Tim Hortons is non-caffeinated hot beverage: Hot Smoothee. It was introduced in October 2005 with four flavors: butter caramel, raspberry, hazelnut, and orange. Tim Hortons Hot Smoothee is served either in cartoon or ceramic cup. Specially, ceramic cups made customers feel like at home. Hot Smoothee has no special design for their cups. In addition, they organized the label together with the description for the flavor which might lead to confusion. At Tim Hortons, customers dont expect the ambience and quality of service that Starbucks and Second Cup provide. Customers expectations are not high as much as when they go to Tim Hortons. They only expect to have hot drink, fast service and convenient place. This factor makes Tim Hortons and competitors target audience different. Product-by-Value Analysis In terms of place design/atmosphere, Tim Hortons is more about convenience and saving time. Starbucks is more than that drinking coffee; it has been about sitting in the cafe and enjoying the ambience. Meanwhile, Second Cup provides their customers cozy environment as Starbucks does. But also, starting from 2005, customers are able to bring their laptops or handheld devices and surf the Internet over coffee. This factor makes Second Cup more competitive comparing to Starbucks. At Tim Hortons, customers dont expect the ambience and quality of service that Starbucks and Second Cup provide. Customers expectations are not high as much as when they go to Tim Hortons. They only expect to have hot drink, fast service and convenient place. This factor makes Tim Hortons and competitors target audience different. A Starbucks experience is-each cup is made to a customers personal order. Especially that baby boomers are looking for quality, individual choice and personalized service. They have the money and they are willing to pay for it. They are looking for more than having coffee. Tim Hortons also serves to baby boomers for more than 40 years in Canada, but they are falling behind competitors like Starbucks when it comes to quality, unique choices and excellent service. IV. Executive Summary Tim Hortons, as a fast-food company giant is challenged by issues concerning operations managements concepts of design of goods and just in time. North America is beset with alarming rate of obesity, and Tim Hortons whose products involves doughnuts, which main ingredients are fat and sugar. Due to this, Tim Hortons is besieged by a challenge to come up with products that are keener to the health of its customer. Just-In-Time touches on all operations in a firm including design, accounting, finance, marketing, distribution among other. The application of the concept of Just-In-Time to a service and product company like Tim Horton will further enhance customer experience and allow the company to eliminate waste and make true their statement to always serve fresh, fast, convenient, and wide varieties of the products.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

college essay :: essays research papers

Not everything I learned, I learned in kindergarten nor in the classroom for that matter. As a senior in high school I’m not only 1ft taller but hopefully a more enlightened person. It is necessary to understand that I am not the same person who began as a freshman four short years ago. Although I learned a great deal inside the classroom, I have also garnered a wealth of knowledge far from the hallowed halls of my high school. My involvement in academics, school related clubs and work experience have instilled unique abilities and characteristics in me that have transformed me from a naà ¯ve freshman into a well rounded motivated young man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout my four years at Westwood High, I have taken advantage of the many clubs and organizations offered. My participation in these groups has allowed me to form new friendships with fellow students, teachers and people from the community. Starting in my sophomore year I joined the school newspaper, (Westwood Wire) and was able to showcase myself as a journalist. Although the stories were simplistic (â€Å"Food Fight results in Major Brawl†) they gave me a chance to play the role of a reporter and be a source of information and news for many of my peers. Another club that has been a big part of my high school career is the â€Å"Teen Mentors† group. On Friday nights I would act as a chaperone at the middle school dances. I had a responsibility to watch over younger students, provide them with an enjoyable and safe experience and most of all show them that I could be seen as a positive role model in their lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the initial summer of my freshman year to this very day I have had a job. Beginning in my fourteenth year I started working at Roche Bros supermarket as a bag boy, cashier, grocery clerk and as a source of new ideas for management. I learned the basics of running the grocery business, having seen first hand how each department of the store had to stay below a budget and at the same time provide an unparalleled service to the customer. I was to see the challenges that my manager faced of creating a schedule by which every employee was happy with their hours. I also was able to see various forms of marketing and examples of how Roche Bros sold itself.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Benito Cereno and American Characteristic

19th Century Literature Prof. Bland Typical American Character â€Å"Benito Cereno† is a work that exceedingly depicts how ideological self-delusion of an American character is one of the most dangerous capacities of mankind. Captain Delano a Yankee from â€Å"Duxbury Massachusetts† exemplifies these two American cultures of concerning nature and confidence. As Americans we have concerned and helped other less fortunate (i. e. the amount we donate to help third world countries), we are also confident and fearless in nature that we can accomplish anything (i. e. American dream).These traditional American characteristics I believe forms the American arrogance that we are stereotyped to have. We maybe helping others we have no business helping. Just like the American culture Delano truly believes he is doing the right thing, by showing concern and having confidence in being able to help the San Dominick slave-ship and he is incapable of seeing the horrifying consequences o f his actions both with respect to his â€Å"friendly racism† and his fantasy of â€Å"superiority†. He spends a day on the  San Dominick  following a slave mutiny, never quite aware that anything is wrong until the truth all but bites his head off.Delano subscribes to a typical â€Å"Northern† view of African slaves: he considers them to be naturally good-natured, submissive servants. He spends much of his time aboard the  San Dominick  condescendingly admiring Babo's performance. Melville critiques this naivete arrogance of superiority and friendly racism to which although these characteristic are positive if not careful, can be a barrier that blinds a person from seeing the actual situation. â€Å"None wore fetters, because the owner, his friend Aranda, told him that they were all tractable† (BC 224) As Delano first boards Benito's ship, the slaves are still unfettered. The ship seems unreal; these strange costumes, gestures, and faces, but a s hadowy tableau just emerged from the deep, which directly must receive back what it gave† (BC). This â€Å"shadowy tableau,† on the ship inhabited mostly by unregulated African slaves, roaming around freely is there for Captain Delano to develop his own understanding as to why this ship culture is the way it is. Having the traditional American character of concern, Delano in nature is concerned about the ship and his intention of genuinely helping the troubled captain Benito Cereno becomes a curtain that prevents him from seeing the real intentions of the slaves.Symbols that have previously been formed and encoded by the American culture and upbringing in the back of his mind; Delano's â€Å"trustful good nature† makes him accept the image of the faithful slaves in his understanding of the unknown Africans slaves on the ship. With this idea of faithful slaves, confronted with a genuine signs and warning; the frail captain Benito Cereno, the vigilant Babo, chained Atufal, the oakum-pickers and hatchet-polishers, the flaring moments of violence and unease—he is not capable of understanding and arranging them accurately or truthfully.This trustful and concerned nature of Americans is one of the characters Captain Delano represents. That an American upbringing create a perception even today that we, as a country, had a right to go around the world helping other struggling nations who were beset by tyrants or internal fighting with the attendant killing and raping of the populace. This trusting and concerned nature makes us delusional preventing us from seeing the facts that maybe these country America is helping does not want our help.The same goes for captain Delano his trustful nature creates a delusion of â€Å"faithful and harmless slaves† that helping this slave ship and its current condition of unfettered slaves is a result of the poor management of Captain Delano’s lesser Hispanic counter Captain Benito Cereno theref ore his is obliged to help to get it under control. This concerning nature blinds Captain Delano from seeing the truth. Before even making contact with the blacks on the ship, Delano readily stresses their good-natured and pristine qualities.These â€Å"unsophisticated Africans,† with their â€Å"self-content† and â€Å"peculiar love . . . of uniting industry with pastime,† (BC) bring out Delano's â€Å"weakness for negroes. † In his understanding of them, they are a mixture of docility and nobility. Delano feels confident as he sees â€Å"the affectionate zeal† and â€Å"good conduct† (BC) As this book reveals, Delano alternates between his images of the Africans as an innocent faithful slaves, he completely misinterprets the slave revolt and totally neglects the blacks' inner motivations.While revealing how Delano adapts these ideological images of the black man to fit his own understanding. This confidence from his own American upbringing and staying in his own paradigm of slaves being kind in nature, and are submissive servants make Captain Delano a benign racist. He does not express hate for the black people; he likes them. But his fondness of them shows in a characteristic of overconfidence or arrogance, in which that he is confident in his own knowledge that the slaves are obedient creatures, incapable of harm and completely demeaning the black slaves.He considers Babo, for instance, to be a childish slave of limited intelligence. In Delano's understanding, the faithful blacks are closer to animal nature than the white man is. Delano's dialogue continuously dehumanizes the slaves by attaching animal imagery to them. First, as the narrator mentions, â€Å"Delano took to negroes, not philanthropically, but genially, just as other men to Newfoundland dogs† (BC).When Babo looks up at Don Benito, he is â€Å"like a shepherd's dog,† (BC) whose grins denote â€Å"mere animal humor† (BC). These refe rences and comparison to animals of the slaves becomes not to decline them as human, but instead to acknowledge them within the white community in their position as docile servants, the image of the dog, domesticated animal, is significant in this context. At the same time, their animal reference accounts for their inability for being totally free.This show of confidence and trust completely blinds Captain Delano from the truth and maybe be seen by the majority as a weakness but this ignorance ultimately helped him from the slave revolt. Delano's trustfulness and perception that all the blacks are docile and faithful slaves and are good nature saves their lives. Delano's ignorance prevents him from discovering the truth, which would almost certainly lead him to a untimely demise.Cereno conveys his surprise that Babo refrained from murdering Delano,   Cereno conveys his surprise that Babo refrains from murdering Delano, â€Å"to think of some things you did – those smilings and chattings,  rash  pointings and gesturings. For less than these, they slew my mate† (BC) This reinforces the fact that if Delano makes any indication of recognizing the truth, he would have been killed on the spot. Delano’s confident, arrogant and absolutely insulting demeanor and perception of slaves being too stupid to be able to formulate a revolt ultimately saves him and Benito Cereno.If Delano is not so unaware of the events encircling him and exhibits a little more suspicion, Babo would certainly have him executed. This confidence that conveys a typical American characteristic is also part of Captain Delano’s. This confidence created a barrier that prevented him from once again seeing the truth in the situation. An arrogant demeanor that he underestimates his adversary, in which nine out of ten will completely destroy you but in this particular story turned out to be an advantage.Captain Delano’s overconfidence in his own â€Å"limited† knowledge and upbringing and from his own experiences growing up, and perhaps his interaction with the black community, he views them as a lesser being forming an idea of himself as a superior or idea of white supremacy that completely limits his understanding and cannot read the gravity of the situation. This overconfidence in his understanding became ignorance and although I believed it helped him from getting killed on the ship by Babo and the slaves, is the same overconfidence that can potentially be deadly.With the revelation of the slave revolt, we should realize that one of the main reasons Delano has been incapable of seeing through the masquerade has been his benign racism, in which that he see’s the slaves as harmless and too stupid to come up with such an idea. Delano’s racism can be understood most directly it seems to be a reflection of his upbringing in a somewhat liberal Northern racism that practice anti-slavery views (it’s important to rememb er Delano is from Massachusetts, a hotbed of anti-slavery activity during the period).The story suggests that Delano, like others who viewed slaves sympathetically, may have a weak recognition of the horrors of slavery and may consider himself the slaves’ friend, but such feelings depend on viewing himself as superior to the slaves and to the slaves staying in their appointed position of submission. In conclusion while Delano finds blacks utterly charming and â€Å"fun-loving,† fond of bright colors and of â€Å"uniting industry with pastime,† this â€Å"admiration† masks his deep-seated conviction that blacks are not entirely human.In fact, when in the midst of trying to understand the odd occurrences on the San Dominick, it briefly occurs to Delano that Cereno might be in league with the blacks, he dismisses the thought with a shudder: â€Å"who ever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost, by leaguing in agains t it with Negroes? † (BC). This proves once again his overconfidence in his understanding limiting him from seeing the big picture that the slaves are controlling the situation. He can never imagine that the slaves are the one who thought up the grandiose plan, that he thinks Captain Cereno is orchestrating something gainst his kin. He fails to discern that the Spanish vessel is in fact in the hold of a complex, meticulously plotted mutiny, that the slaves have successfully revolted, and that the dutiful Babo is in fact the revolutionary in command. Delano's trusting and overconfidence in this regard is very nearly fatal, and in a way that the text explains, and that critics have frequently described, it is his concerning, unselfconscious, absolutely stubborn ideology of slaves and creates a benign racism—his offhand white supremacism—that drives and sustains this ignorance.Despite his several moments of deep suspicion, is his unmoved confidence that a slave like Babo, so naturally docile, so ideally suited to those watchful and pleasant â€Å"avocations about one's person,† could never surpass the â€Å"unaspiring contentment of a limited mind† common to all Africans (BC). The blacks in league with a piratical Cereno? â€Å"But they were too stupid,† Delano reminds himself (BC).Believing this, he cannot see what's before him, because of his paradigm and views of the slaves in a northern upbringing of being sympathetically to the slaves, He is incapable of imagining the black slaves in any but a passive role of devoted and faithful servants, docile and incapable of harming their white superiors, This overconfidence is ultimately ignorance that Delano cannot perceive the true situation on the San Dominick. Works Cited Page Melville, Herman, and Herman Melville. Bartleby ; And, Benito Cereno. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Lithosphere Essays - Bodies Of Water, Oceans, Physical Oceanography

Lithosphere Essays - Bodies Of Water, Oceans, Physical Oceanography Lithosphere Notes on the lithosphere- (rock sphere) Upper most part is crust of earth. Compiled of rocks of outer crust. Outermost shell. Upper part- rocks we see at and near the earths surface. Crust is 5 to 10 km thick under most oceans and 24 to 60 km thick under the continents. The lithosphere under the crust is solid, dense material. (more dense than surface materials). Lithosphere 100-200 km. Notes on the aesthenosphere- zone beneath the lithosphere. Thick like tar. Weak because of high teperatures at that depth. Density- 2.7-3.4 to about 12. Notes on the hydrosphere- (Water-bearing) Too small due to the irregularity of upward projection. Density-1.1 Notes on the Atmosphere- only 10 km thick layer of gas which is the basis of human life. Dens. 0.0. Reactions within- litho to hydro, none besides movement of sand and other free floating particles, absorbtion. Hydro to atmo, evaporation, precipitation, mater, energy, gases, salt, oxygen, carbon dioxide. Litho to atmo, none besides precipitation. Silicon tetrahedron- tetrahedron, a shape of a crystal. If a quartz crystal, (SiO) is broken, then it would shatter. A feldspar (Al,Si,O,Ca,Na) is split, it would evenly cleave. Of all rocks- O=46% Si=28%. Basic structure- 4 oxygen, one Si, i n the shape of a pyramid. Such a foundation is a Si tetrahedron. Silicates are the most common family of minerals. Tetrahedrons- Si + O2= 75% of all. Rocks are classified- by how they are formed. Igneous rocks- are usually not porous. They solidify from a molten state. Are further classified as plutonic (intrusive) and volcanic (extrusive). Volcanic solidify on the earth?s surface. Plutonic solidify below the earth?s surface. Metamorphic rocks solidify (changed form) are se! dimentary or igneous rocks in which the minerals or texture or both have been changed by high pressures and temperatures without melting. Sedimentary Rockss include, granite, sandstone. Air masses- Cold Fronts- The Interface at which cold air replaces warm air. Cold Fronts usually come after the warm fronts in such a system. In fact, it is usually followed by rain. Formed by air flowing over the land and ocean that situates in the tropics, continents, oceans. CT, CP, MT, MP Warm fronts- the interface where warm air replaces cold air. Signified by semicircles. salinity- The number of grams of dissolved material in 1000 grams of seawater. Salinity is usually relative to salt. In the ocean, there is approx. 35 grams of salt per thousand. It is developed by the movement of dissolved particles towards a basin of! water. Sodium and chlorine atoms make up about 85% of all. Ions of just 6 elements make up more than 99% of the ions. Relative amounts: Chlor 55.2%; Sod 30.5; Sulfate 7.7; Magnes 3.7; Calc 1.2; Pot 1.1; All others .7 percent of all ions. Exe. 100 grams seawater, 965 grams water, 35 grams salts. Na + Cl -. Trace elements are extremely small in the development of water. They make up the other one percent of the ions in seawater. Winds are the cheif cause of waves and ocean movements of that type. Each wave has a top, or crest. Each has a bnottom, or trough. Height equals crest minus trough. Crest to crest legnth is wavelegnth. Time between crests is called the period. Period equals wavelegnth divided by period. Over deep water, waves with long wavelegnths travel faster than those with short wavelegnths. Long waves crashing on a beach are usually a sign of an upcoming storm. When the water is deeper than one-half the wave legnth, the water particles move around! in circles. The diameter equals the wave height. Deeper and deeper, diameters decrease. One half legnth of wave, no detectable motion. Waves break because bottom particles are dragged on floor as upper particles race ahead. The result is a breaking wave. Waves bend at beaches to become parallel because when water is shallower, the waves slow down, thus giving the oblique angled waves a chance to catch up. Currents are caused by winds at the ocean?s surface. The sun is the basic source of energy for ocean currents.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Education of Little Tree essays

Education of Little Tree essays Modern America could benefit from the Indian philosophy that nature is a living soul. In the book Education of Little Tree, the author explores the Indian belief in The Way. It maintains that nature is a living entity that must be treated with respect. One must be conscious of what one takes from it and how one can give back to the land. America strives on romance and material possessions, where as Indians truly try to co-exist with nature. Indians take time to understand nature and have their own beliefs on how to treat the world. The author tries to depict the life of a Cherokee Indian boy in a struggle of growing up in America. The boy Little Tree goes through many encounters with other people and learns to deal with many situations. When Little Tree and his grandfather first stepped on to the bus, grandpa held firm and tall. He was trying to show the white folk that he was not a week man. He paid the bus driver and looked straight at him. He then turned down the isle and guided little tree to an empty seat. Many of the people stared at them and began to laugh. Little Tree didnt feel to confident about this. He did not understand why the white man could hate the Indians so much. For he didnt have any negative feelings toward them, grandpa on the other had known exactly why. Grandpa and Grandma were raised to respect the earth and its entire people, but when Americans try to push there way across the land claiming everything, the respect had been lost. Grandpa had not believed that any American was smart. He told little tree that most of them were angry people that walked the planet already dead, only living for one thing, greed. Little Tree, still open to his own beliefs, believed most of what grandpa said. He found out at an early age how American civilization was nothing like his own. If only Americans could learn how to respect the land how the India ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Governments role in planning essays

Governments role in planning essays A century before the Golden Age of Athens, a Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said the problem of human society is to combine that degree of liberty without which law is tyranny with that degree of law without which liberty becomes license. Planning is also about a group of laws, a set of rules to guide people and governments in decision making. Considerable differences in detail exist between planning processes in various nations. Many nations of Europe and the Orient follow the British method. In many countries there is a strong national input in planning. In the United States, variation is subject only to constitutional limitations. In general however, planning can be divided into two major categories, that of the private sector and government regulatory agencies. The right of the government to regulate the private sector is under constant challenge by those who feel that ownership of land includes the right to do with it what one wishes, provided the rights of others are not violated. As cities have grown in size and complexity and land has changed hands frequently, however, regulation is often needed. Some sense of order has to be established and accepted. Planning takes place at all levels of government. Local communities, cities and counties enact laws and ordinances which, under state laws or local charters, define the areas of planning that they are constitutionally allowed to carry out. In some instances, federal laws require specific planning to be done if a given community seeks financial assistance through one of the many programs under Federal control. In passing the laws and ordinances dealing with local planning, the cities and counties are supposed to prepare comprehensive plans, for land use, circulation, health, housing, energy, safety, education, recreation, conservation and the other elements that relate to the social, economic and physical structure of the community. The legislative bodies in most cases create p...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Research Methods (new research methods and paradigms) Essay

Research Methods (new research methods and paradigms) - Essay Example econometrics), laboratory experiments and several numerical methods (e.g. mathematical modelling) (Myers, 1997). Quantitative stance offers a variety of tools including standardized questionnaires and survey, experiments, etc (Wainer and Braun, 1998). The concepts of reliability and validity have traditionally been considered the cornerstones of quantitative approach. On the other hand, poor applicability to examination of poorly quantifiable issues is a serious shortcoming of quantitative methods and techniques. This effect is known as 'decontextualization' of study results: models built on the basis of quantitative results fail to cover certain essential variables that come into play in the real world context (Patton, 2002). By contrast, qualitative methodology seeks to explore phenomena in the "real world setting [where] the researcher does not attempt to manipulate the phenomenon of interest" (Patton, 2002: 39). Qualitative stance can be defined as follows: "any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification" (Strauss and Corbin, 1990: 17). Qualitative research reveals findings observed in the real world context where the phenomena being studied unfold naturally (Patton, 2002). As a result, qualitative perspective incorporates a different set of validation criteria than quantitative stance does (Kirk and Miller, 1986). For example, the replicability criterion can not be used to evaluate validity and legitimacy of a qualitative study. Instead, credibility, transferability and precision play very important role in determining validity of qualitative findings (Hoepfl, 1997). Some researchers argue that the concept of validity as it is defined within the quantitative paradigm is also not applicable to qualitative research (Creswell and Miller, 2000). Instead, they tend to develop their own concepts of validity or adopt other assessment criteria that depend upon each particular case. The examples of such criteria are quality, trustworthiness, rigor and some others (Dingwall et al, 1998). The distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are determined by the underlying philosophical principles. The choice of epistemology, which guides the research, is admittedly the most important of these principles (Hirschheim, 1992). Epistemology Over the last years many experts have expressed concerns regarding the use of positivist paradigm and methods associated with it in the area of business and organisational research. The underlying assumption of positivist perspective, which is existence of an objective world that can be measured and quantified through the use of traditional scientific methods of inquiry - has been vigorously attacked. A number of organisational theorists started to claim that the positivist approach "strips contexts from meanings in the process of developing quantified measures of phenomena" (Guba and Lincoln, 1994: 106). Other concerns about the applicability of quantitative methodologies to in-dept examination of complex social phenomena include taking the collected data out of the real-world setting, poor representativeness and generalisation of data, exclusion of discovery from the realm of scientific inquiry, etc The positivist perspe

Friday, October 18, 2019

Global Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 1

Global Marketing - Essay Example The brand awareness and the brand recollection for Dyson have been very high both in UK and Japan alike, and growing to a great extent in US as well. The company was started with an intension to find a solution for the issues faced by the owners of vacuum cleaners. Over the past 12 years the company has grown to become the world leader in innovative vacuum cleaners and the company believes the products to be ‘beautiful products that work in every case’. The company takes pride in what it does and the products that they produce. Each product of the company is innovative and has created a mark in the countries across the world. It is however essential to also explore other markets that the company can increase their marketing resources into. This is mainly to assist the company expand the business and to develop an equally good position in other markets as well. The company can concentrate on the South East Asian countries and work towards improving the marketing resources here in these countries. There are several reasons for this choice. However before entering into this it is essential to get a brief overview of an essential element that requires to be considered before taking any steps of marketing improvements. With the growing change of economies and the various technological developments, there has also been a clear change which has been required from the companies as well. The needs of humans change over time and taking the example of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, it is clear that there is a strong connection between the economic growth and the personal choice in the current economy. In the r ecent ages, with the use of the World Wide Web and the internet, there have been a few changes in terms of the desire for knowledge, which were earlier satisfied by the information economy which provided for answers to the cognitive

EDU 636 IP5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EDU 636 IP5 - Essay Example What is even more pivotal is how the online learning environment will foster growth and productivity for the people who are bringing out this environment as well as for the ones who are the recipients of the same. Hence, interaction is the buzzword within such a setting as it grows over a period of time. The online learning environment is termed as a conducive one when there are efforts to ease the navigation in an out and out fashion. What this means is how the users would be able to make their way through the different tasks that are being offered to them through the online learning environment. The user-friendliness therefore is deemed as a very significant entity within the incorporation of the online learning environment which shall foster growth and development across the board. This would mean that there are giant efforts to set things right and that too within the correct perspectives – the viewpoints that take into consideration the already conducted research into the online learning environments of the past, and of today. ... This will set the ball rolling as far as understanding the nuances of the online learning environment are concerned, as the users will feel that they are not only doing their own work within this environment but also being given a thing or two in terms of the aesthetics which remains a point to ponder in this day and age (Laughton, 2011). Since the times of today bank a great deal on the aesthetical angle, it is only natural to have its due incorporation within the thick of things. The usage of audio and video elements has also been seen as some of the more significant pointers within the comprehension of the online learning environments that have been developed in this day and age. What this has meant is the fact that these online learning environments become the tutorials for the audio and video modes and therefore represent success in the long term if the users connect with them in the most basic sense. Any other shortcoming that comes about in the wake of the technical glitches i s something that one must get rid of because these can seriously hinder the smooth working domains of the online learning environments that have been developed today. Thus what one must take into perspective is how these online learning environments are designed and what kind of instructional quality elements are being incorporated so as to receive the best possible interaction that is the sole purpose of having the online learning environments in the first place. There is a dire need to set things right and this is something that poses as a huge problem which must be corrected so as to have proper linkage mechanisms in place. In essence, the principles of design are seen as being quintessential

Marketing, ( The All Seasons Hotel) - Assignment.4 Essay

Marketing, ( The All Seasons Hotel) - Assignment.4 - Essay Example All the above mentioned sectors use overseas travel as incentives to their employees as well as non-employee sales agents. Product: A new package with some complimentary offers is designed. It is a 2 nights, 3 days package along with banquet hall as a conference package. It also includes welcome drink, buffet breakfast and bed tea as complimentary offers. These compliments will be subject to the condition that the booking will be made for a minimum of 10 pax or rooms. Promotion: The All Seasons Hotel will be positioned as a business convention hotel for small groups. Promotion would be carried out on-line with relations to contextual advertising with popular search engines like Google and others. Also the associations to which the target segments would belong would also be roped in for publicity. B. As industries like fuel, glass, china, ceramics, armaments, ferrous metallurgy, machinery and equipment and coal are prevalent in Czech Republic and also being strong in engineering, the country can expect lot of business travelers coming from different places. In order to target this segment of consumer business, All Seasons Hotel needs to establish good industrial relations with the industries existing in their country, so that they would recommend their Hotel as a preferred place of stay to their business partners coming from other places. Intangibility is the major difference between a product and a service. For example, when a consumer decides to buy a television or a music system, he can actually see the product, touch it and can turn it on to listen or watch the quality of the picture or music. However, a service is intangible and it is impossible to experience unless it is consumed. The quality of the service is not so easy to establish as clearly as it is done in the case of a product. Let us consider the case of a customer approaching a bank to avail a bank loan. Though the customer has a prior idea about the services

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Equality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Equality - Essay Example Moreover, at a larger dimension, wealth equality also addresses the inequalities between different countries around the globe. The predominance of wealth inequality affects different socioeconomic and cultural development among various societies globally. The paper will also look at the genesis of the quest for economic equality, the state of the whole matter and the effects of the same in the attainment of equitable economic growth. This is done in line with an in-depth analysis of the Virginia Declaration, the UN universal human rights and the Bill of rights among other related sources. Need for wealth equity The need to pursue economic equality among individuals and between different countries of the world arose upon the realization of the exploitative nature of humans by their fellow likes. This has been because of the ever-escalating gap between the bourgeoisies and lower class people in the society (Wilkinson and Pickett). In a bid to minimize this gap, there arose a quest for wealth harmonization between individuals and countries hence the origin of the appeal for equitable distribution of wealth for attaining a uniform economic growth across the globe. Much effort has been invested in this quest although always met with a lot of resistance from the high class property owners. In some instances, the appeal has minimally succeeded, for instance, in Russia and Switzerland. Global trends in wealth inequality The recent state of equality with regard to wealth distribution and ownership between different parties in the world has raised eyebrows as the gap between the poor and the rich continue to widen across the board. The rich still continue to earn more as the poor continue receiving diminishing wages in the world economic market. This is the state of the matter in most European countries with the exception of France, Japan and Spain with Israel, Turkey and United States mostly trapped within the vicious circle of an increasing gap between the poor and the rich. On a broader dimension, economic inequality has been majorly experienced in the less developed regions of the world such as the Indian subcontinent as well as in the sub-Saharan Africa. Factors promoting wealth inequality Taxation policies According to UniversityWorldNet, one of the most contributing factors to economic inequality and unequal wealth distribution around the globe is the trend and the nature of taxation in many countries that has not favored development in these regions. A progressive tax system has been adopted by most countries whereby the tax rates progressively increase as the tax base increases in amount i.e. as more money circulates in a country. A sharp economic growth often leads into an equal spread of resources within the entire population. Economists have reasoned that the tax trends in the world after the Second World War has been the major contributing factor for the increasing inequality gap between the rich and the poor countries around the globe as well as between the individual members of a state. Labor market systems Another factor that has hindered the

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade Literature review

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade - Literature review Example International monetary affairs and trade are interlinked due to the fact that monetary and fiscal areas are also associated with exports and productivity growths. Integration of evolving economies into the international economy facilitates competition for capital and aid. It is evident from capital flow from expanding markets by commercial banks, private investors and multinational enterprises. The recent financial crisis has highlighted the risks involved in this process. Therefore, IMF and World Bank actively play their roles as financer or as a watchdog.WTO plays a critical role in drawing funds through trade and foreign investment liberalization. International trade is imperative for economic growth; therefore, it is essential for emerging economies to accelerate economic reforms (Hoogmartens, 2004, p.9). The fundamental objectives of WTO as well as its predecessor GATT, as Hoogmartens (2004) observes are to serve as a forum to negotiate trade liberalization, to monitor and develop better measures for transparency and to work for resolve issues between trade participants. In addition to that, the fundamental objective includes raising living standards, working towards providing full employment, production and trade expansion, and ultimately, optimal utilization of the world’s resources. In order to achieve these objectives, WTO/GATT work towards fixing or limiting the impact of trade barriers, for instance, quotas, customs process, tariffs, state trading and subsidies in addition to paving the way for trade liberalization(p.10). Hoogmartens (2004) further states, â€Å"Tariffs are generally believed to distort competition and to attribute monopoly rents to producers in countries that uphold them. Quotas are also believed to distort competition, but usually, do not yield more p rofit for domestic producers. Furthermore, their administration may yield corruption, just as discriminatory licensing may†. (p.10)  

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Marketing, ( The All Seasons Hotel) - Assignment.4 Essay

Marketing, ( The All Seasons Hotel) - Assignment.4 - Essay Example All the above mentioned sectors use overseas travel as incentives to their employees as well as non-employee sales agents. Product: A new package with some complimentary offers is designed. It is a 2 nights, 3 days package along with banquet hall as a conference package. It also includes welcome drink, buffet breakfast and bed tea as complimentary offers. These compliments will be subject to the condition that the booking will be made for a minimum of 10 pax or rooms. Promotion: The All Seasons Hotel will be positioned as a business convention hotel for small groups. Promotion would be carried out on-line with relations to contextual advertising with popular search engines like Google and others. Also the associations to which the target segments would belong would also be roped in for publicity. B. As industries like fuel, glass, china, ceramics, armaments, ferrous metallurgy, machinery and equipment and coal are prevalent in Czech Republic and also being strong in engineering, the country can expect lot of business travelers coming from different places. In order to target this segment of consumer business, All Seasons Hotel needs to establish good industrial relations with the industries existing in their country, so that they would recommend their Hotel as a preferred place of stay to their business partners coming from other places. Intangibility is the major difference between a product and a service. For example, when a consumer decides to buy a television or a music system, he can actually see the product, touch it and can turn it on to listen or watch the quality of the picture or music. However, a service is intangible and it is impossible to experience unless it is consumed. The quality of the service is not so easy to establish as clearly as it is done in the case of a product. Let us consider the case of a customer approaching a bank to avail a bank loan. Though the customer has a prior idea about the services

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade Literature review

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade - Literature review Example International monetary affairs and trade are interlinked due to the fact that monetary and fiscal areas are also associated with exports and productivity growths. Integration of evolving economies into the international economy facilitates competition for capital and aid. It is evident from capital flow from expanding markets by commercial banks, private investors and multinational enterprises. The recent financial crisis has highlighted the risks involved in this process. Therefore, IMF and World Bank actively play their roles as financer or as a watchdog.WTO plays a critical role in drawing funds through trade and foreign investment liberalization. International trade is imperative for economic growth; therefore, it is essential for emerging economies to accelerate economic reforms (Hoogmartens, 2004, p.9). The fundamental objectives of WTO as well as its predecessor GATT, as Hoogmartens (2004) observes are to serve as a forum to negotiate trade liberalization, to monitor and develop better measures for transparency and to work for resolve issues between trade participants. In addition to that, the fundamental objective includes raising living standards, working towards providing full employment, production and trade expansion, and ultimately, optimal utilization of the world’s resources. In order to achieve these objectives, WTO/GATT work towards fixing or limiting the impact of trade barriers, for instance, quotas, customs process, tariffs, state trading and subsidies in addition to paving the way for trade liberalization(p.10). Hoogmartens (2004) further states, â€Å"Tariffs are generally believed to distort competition and to attribute monopoly rents to producers in countries that uphold them. Quotas are also believed to distort competition, but usually, do not yield more p rofit for domestic producers. Furthermore, their administration may yield corruption, just as discriminatory licensing may†. (p.10)  

Literary Analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Example for Free

Literary Analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener Essay Bartleby the Scrivener could be described as a story about getting rid of its title character, about the narrators attempt to get rid of Bartleby, and Bartlebys tenacious capacity to be always there. It is the story of an unnamed lawyer and his employee, Bartleby, a copyist of law documents. Confronted not only with Bartlebys refusal to do work (first to read copies against the original, then to copy altogether), but also with the contagious nature of the particular words of his refusal (Bartlebys peculiar I would prefer not to), the narrator concludes that, before Bartleby turns the tongues any further of those with whom he comes into contact, he must get rid of Bartleby. At the same time Bartleby feels mobbed in his privacy (27) when the other office workers crowd him behind his screen, they in turn are invaded by his idiosyncrasy his private idiom prefer. Bartlebys presence breaks down the clear distinctions between public and private, professional and domestic, between privacy and the mob. By pinpointing Bartleby as the cause of infectious language (language turned bad), the narrator wants to stop the course of a process (the turning of tongues) already in progress. But getting rid of Bartleby is as tricky as getting rid of a chronic condition; the narrator emphasizes a phrase which appears textually in italics: he was always there (20). Bartleby is, as the narrator calls him, a nuisance (40), an intolerable incubus. As a character in the story with a body, he moves very little, but the few words he speaks break out at unexpected moments in the office. Every attempt the narrator makes to control the passive Bartleby and his infectious language fails hilariously (Schehr 97). The narrator experiences a curious tension between the impossible imperative (on the level of the story) to get rid of the subject, and the impossibility (on the level of the narration) to write his complete biography (Bartlebys history). Thus, Bartleby is also a fable about writing history or biography. In attempting to write what he thinks of as Bartlebys biography, the narrator merely misnames his writing project, or he emphasizes it from the wrong point of view. In search of Bartlebys origins, the narrator does not simply narrate (as he thinks) the history of Bartleby the Scrivener; he relates rather the story of his own anxiety vis-a-vis Bartleby. In particular, he relates his anxiety over the scriveners silence and modes of breaking that silence; for we could say that, rather than speaking very little or in particular ways, Bartleby has particular ways of occasionally breaking silence. It is this violence in speech, this unexpected eruption, which the narrator fears. The narrator, whose acquaintances describe him as an eminently safe man, who likes nothing better than the cool tranquility of a snug retreat (4), is thrown decidedly off kilter when faced with what he terms Bartlebys passive resistance (17). Bartlebys weapon is his total indifference to truth, whereas the narrator seeks a second opinion on truth from the other office mates. Bartleby could be seen as the one solid block around which the narrator writes his own story about truth rather than the truth about the Bartleby story. Bartlebys passive resistance actually generates the story confronted with it, the narrator creates theories (his doctrine of assumptions, for instance), carries on debates with himself, and seeks the counsel of others all with the opaque Bartleby as the core. In reconstructing Bartlebys story, the narrator follows an implicit logic which he never directly states. It is the logic of cause and effect. (He is not deliberately hiding this logic, but because he takes its validity for granted, he never comments on it critically. ) Believing in the possibility of finding a specific, locatable, and nameable cause to Bartlebys condition (as he is able to do with the other office workers, Nippers and Turkey, whose moods vary according to their diets and the time of day), the narrator thinks that by eradicating the cause of the problem, he can alter the effects, the effects of Bartlebys speaking condition in the office space. McCall follows the same logic as the narrator in seeking causes of Bartlebys behavior. He mentions remark that when the narrator asks Bartleby to run an errand for him at the post office, that is probably the last place, if the rumor is correct, that Bartleby would ever want to go. (McCall 129). The narrator never considers that his line of reasoning might be faulty — that Bartlebys condition may not be linked to a specific, locatable, nameable cause. We as readers may be placed in the same position as the narrator in that we never know either the origin of Bartlebys condition; we witness primarily its effects, or symptoms, in the story. These symptoms reside not only in Bartleby as individual character, but in the very way the narrator tells the story about that character. Rather than speaking about the cause of Bartlebys condition, one could more aptly speak about the ways in which its effects are spread to other characters within the text. When the narrator impatiently summons Bartleby to join and help the others in the scenario of group reading, Bartleby responds, I would prefer not to (14). Hearing this response the narrator turns into a pillar of salt (14). (Faced with Bartlebys responses and sheer presence, the narrator oftentimes evokes images of his losing, then waking to, consciousness. ) When he recovers his senses, he tries to reason with Bartleby, who in the meantime has retreated behind his screen. The narrator says: These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you, because one examination will answer for your four papers. It is common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it not so? Will you not speak? Answer! (15) The narrator is exasperated when Bartleby does not respond immediately to the logic behind his work ethic. These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you. Examining or reading copy is a money saving activity, from which every member of the office profits (four documents for the price of one reading! ). Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. To the contract the lawyer emphatically demands from his employee, a bond based on an exchange of reading, Bartleby replies three times, gently, in a flutelike tone, I (would) prefer not to (15). By refusing to read copy, Bartleby refuses to consent to the economy of the office. It is perhaps only to another type of reading, one not based on a system of exchange and profit, which Bartleby consents. Although the narrator says he has never seen Bartleby reading — not even a newspaper (24) — he does often notice him staring outside the window of the office onto a brick wall. Staring at the dead brick wall (in what the narrator calls Bartlebys dead-wall reveries) may be Bartlebys only form of reading, taking the place of the economy-based reading demanded of him in the process of verifying copies. About halfway through the story, the lawyer/narrator visits his office on a Sunday morning and, discovering a blanket, soap and towel, a few crumbs of ginger nuts and a morsel of cheese, deduces that the scrivener never leaves the office. Realizing the full impact of Bartlebys condition, he states, What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. (25) The narrator clearly locates the disorder in Bartleby. Seeing himself in the role of diagnostician and healer, he himself is faced with the hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill (24). The narrators concern about an individual medical cure should more aptly be a concern about an obsessively private rhetorical debate or a dangerously idiomatic group contagion (Perry 409). Despite his assumption that Bartleby is incurable, or perhaps precisely because he can effect no cure, the narrator beleaguers himself throughout the story with questions or commands to do something about Bartleby (McCall 9). If the private mans disorder can be passed on to another (one) person, what happens when the condition is let loose out of close quarantine into the public space of the office? Bartleby walks a precarious tightrope between comedy and tragedy (Inge 25). The tragic dimension often resides in the narrators turning inward on himself (a sort of tragic compression), then putting himself on trial, an interior moment of accusation which eventually results in the collapse of the narrative in a single sigh or exclamation (Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity! 46). The comic effects are often related to the authoritarian attempt (and failure) to contain the spread of idiom as contagion (Perry 412). If Bartleby has been a figure for tragedy in the lone meditation of the narrator, he becomes a figure for comedy in his contact with his office mates Nippers and Turkey. The more the narrator tries to regulate the contact between the three, the more hilarious — and significantly out of control — is Bartlebys influence. The effort to contain or control tends actually to promote the epidemic proportions of the narrative. It is the narrator himself who uses a vocabulary of contagion in relation to Bartleby. He says he has had more than ordinary contact (3) with other scriveners he has known. Bartleby exceeds this already extraordinary contact he has been touched by handling dead letters (Schehr 99). Some critics reproduce the narrators language of contagion in talking about Bartleby. McCall, in his study on The Silence of Bartleby, describes our response, the collective readers response, to reading the tale: As we go through the story, we watch with a certain delight how Bartleby is catching. We root for the spread of the bug. (145) In a somewhat less delighted vein, Borges says, Bartlebys frank nihilism contaminates his companions and even the stolid man who tells Bartlebys story. (Borges 8) In the office scenes where the employees and boss come inevitably together, the bug word is Bartlebys prefer. Nippers uses it mockingly against the narrator as a transitive action verb when he overhears Bartlebys words of refusal to the narrators plea to be a little reasonable. Bartleby echoes, At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable (26). If Nippers is suffering from his own peculiar and chronic condition of indigestion, he takes on the symptoms of Bartlebys condition when he exclaims to the narrator, Prefer not, eh? – Id prefer him, if I were you sir, Id prefer him; Id give him preferences, the stubborn mule! What is it, sir, pray, that he prefers not to do now? (26) Whereas later in the story the narrator totally loses his critical skill to catch himself in his speech, in this exchange he is still able to articulate the effect Bartlebys word is having on him. He notes anxiously, Somehow, of late, I had got into the way of involuntarily using the word prefer upon all sorts of not exactly suitable occasions. (27) It is this qualifier not exactly which is of particular interest. Bartlebys use of words is not exactly wrong. Prefer is so insidious because it is only slightly askew, dislocated, idiosyncratic. As McCall accurately notes about the power of Bartlebys I prefer not to, one must hear, in the little silence that follows it, how the line delivers two contradictory meanings, obstinacy and politeness. (152) The line calls just enough attention to itself so as to attract others to its profoundly mixed message (its perfect yes and no) in an imitative way (McCall 152). Prefer is as inobtrusive, as contagious, and as revolutionary as a sneeze. The narrator lets it out of his mouth involuntarily. When Turkey enters the scene and uses the bug word without realizing it (without Nippers italicized parody or the narrators critical comments), the narrator says to him, in a slightly excited tone, So you have got the word, too (27). In this pivotal sentence, the verb get implies to receive (as in to receive a word or message), but more strikingly for our discussion here, it implies the verb to catch one catches the word as one would catch a cold. The narrator attempts to monitor the contagion by naming the bug and pointing it out to the others. But the word mocks everyones will to control it prefer pops up six times in the next half a page — four times unconsciously in the speech of one of the employees, and twice consciously (modified by word) in the narration of the lawyer. Bartleby could be described as a story of the intimacy or anxiety a lawyer feels for the law-copyist he employs. The narrator arranges a screen in the corner of his office behind which Bartleby may work. Pleased with the arrangement of placing Bartleby behind the screen in near proximity to his own desk, the narrator states, Thus, in a manner, privacy and society were conjoined (12). The narrator idealizes the possibility of a perfect harmony between privacy and community in the work environment, but it is precisely the conflict between these two spatial conditions which generates the story, defining not only Bartlebys idiocy, but the narrators as well. The narrator most characteristically encounters Bartleby emerging from his retreat (13) or retiring into his hermitage (26). The screen isolates Bartleby from the view of the narrator, but not from his voice. Works Cited Borges, Jorge Luis. Prologue to Herman Melvilles Bartleby in Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales, ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987 Inge, Thomas M. , ed. Bartleby the Inscrutable. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1979. McCall, Dan. The Silence of Bartleby. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Perry, Dennis R. Ah, Humanity: Compulsion Neuroses in Melvilles Bartleby. Studies in Short Fiction 23. 4 (fall 1987): 407-415. Schehr, Lawrence R. Dead Letters: Theories of Writing in Bartleby the Scrivener Enclitic vii. l (spring 1983): 96-103.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Investigating Human trafficking types causes and effects

Investigating Human trafficking types causes and effects Human trafficking is considered as one of the most problematic issues in today worlds society. Since this problem happens throughout the world, it is necessary to deal with it globally. For ASEAN level, human trafficking is one of the transnational crimes that take place across national borders or take place within one country but their consequences significantly affect another country. Likewise, Cambodia also faces with this kind of serious crime as a transit, origin, and recipient nation. I.1 Types of human trafficking 1. Forced Labor According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), forced labor is a work or service exacted from a person under threat or penalty, which includes penal sanctions and the loss of rights and privileges, where the person has not offered him/herself voluntarily. 2. Sexual Exploitation In term of recruitment, traffickers resort to deception, in particular through false promises of well-paid jobs or opportunities to study abroad. In many cases, victims find themselves abroad, locked in apartments, with their passports confiscated by traffickers who coerce them to work in prostitution through threats, use of force, abuse and rape. Very often, the victims are promised their freedom only after earning their purchase price, as well as their travel and visa costs, through prostitution. 3. Organ removal After sexual exploitation, the most visible form of exploitation of human trafficking is organ removal. The victims of this kind of exploitation mostly are children. The children were removed their organ for the purpose of begging and peddling (selling small equipment, flowers and cigarettes). 4. Forced marriage Forced marriage is a practice with deep historical roots in which at least one of the party is married against his/her will and consent. Today, forced marriage can also be linked to human trafficking. Despite being recognized as a human rights violation and being condemned by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the practice of forced marriage occurs on a significant scale today. In Cambodian society, especially in rural areas we can see that parents always forced their daughter to marry to foreigner on the hope of improving their living condition. Unfortunately, their daughter somehow exploited by foreigner as domestic workers or sex slaves. 5. Illicit adoption Illegal adoption of children is also another form of human trafficking since it involves the selling and buying children or baby illegally between parents and buyers. Due to unclear familys plan or unwanted pregnancy, parents often sell their kids to buyers for the purpose of adoption. In some case, unlucky children were sold to cruel families which force them to serve as domestic servants or slaves. I.2 Trafficker and the Trafficked 1. Who are the traffickers? Traffickers can be involved in various functions (as recruiters, transporters or exploiters) and in various activities during the different stages of the process (Traffickers can be men or women of any age. Women play a role during the recruitment and exploitation phases. Male traffickers with varying degrees of seniority within the trafficking network act as recruiters, transporters and managers during the exploitation phase. Increasingly, females may also perform these roles. 2. Who are the victims? Adult women are most frequently reported to be trafficked, followed by children. Plus, men are victims of human trafficking as well. II. Current situation Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. Cambodian men, women, and children are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in Thailand, Malaysia, Macao, and Taiwan.  Ã‚   Men are trafficked for forced labor in the agriculture, fishing, and construction industries. Women are trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor in factories or as domestic servants.  Children are trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor in organized begging rings, soliciting, street vending, and flower selling. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Youth Rehabilitations found that 76 percent of trafficked persons returned from Thailand had come from families who owned land, 93 percent owned their own house and had no debt on the land or house, and 47 percent stated that their mother was the facilitator of their trafficking. As the transition, Cambodia is a transit country for victims trafficked from Vietnam to Thailand. Cambodia is a destination country for women and children who are trafficked from Vietnam and China for sexual exploitation. Common destinations for trafficking victims are Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanouk Ville. A 2005 report estimated that 2,000 victims in Cambodia have been trafficked into sexual exploitation, approximately 80 percent of whom were Vietnamese women and girls. Internal trafficking in Cambodia is thought to be predominantly for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking for sexual exploitation is mainly to urban and tourist areas, including to Phnom Penh and to Sihanouk Ville. Increasingly, young women are being deceptively recruited to work in karaoke bars. These women are employed under the pretence of a job in a restaurant or as a waitress in an entertainment complex, and while they are often not physically forced to have sex with clients, the women face constant harassment in a sexually exploitative environment. Trafficking in children, particularly very young children and children with a disability are also recruited to sell sweets and flowers on the streets. A small number are recruited for work in other sectors, such as domestic work or in restaurants. Trafficking from Cambodia also takes place for the purpose of labor exploitation in a number of industries, including construction, logging, factory work and agriculture. There is an emerging body of research that is concerned about Cambodian men being trafficked to work in Thailands fishing industry and in construction and factory work in Malaysia.15 Cambodian men who are lured into working on Thai fishing boats report appalling conditions, trapped and isolated, they suffer from long working hours, dangerous working conditions and physical abuse. III. Causes and Effects of human trafficking in Cambodia There are many causes of human trafficking in Cambodia. Poverty is an important factor which has increased women and childrens vulnerability to human traffickers particularly the poor and unemployed due to their willingness to join or their low level of awareness on the dangers associated with human trafficking. Poverty again is considered as the main driver behind their decisions to migrate over sea for work. In addition to poverty, the lack of education and unemployment there are also significant social and culture factors that contribute to human trafficking. For instance, culture norms that perpetuate a lack of respect women increase the likelihood of them being exploited. Similarly, the perception of children as wage earners also increases the likelihood of them being trafficked. Moreover, the low level of education, family debt, agriculture failure, lack of land and off-season work were pushing people to the big cities or other countries as the men go into construction, women i nto services and prostitution. Last but definitely not least, broken families, disaster, uneven economic development, lack of border controls, socio-economic imbalance between the rural and urban areas, increased tourism, unsafe migration are also significant contributing factors to human trafficking. After getting to know the roots of human trafficking, it is also important to understand its effects. In fact, human trafficking has many consequences. First, the spread of HIV/AIDS is one of the consequences of human trafficking. For instance, many victims of human trafficking are physically and sexually abused. Trafficked women are often not in a position of negotiate safe sex, or lack access to education about HIV/AIDS. Therefore, they can transmit the disease to the next customers. That is the reason that HIV/AIDS can spread from one person to another person easily. The victims not only suffer from HIV/AIDS, but also often suffer from stigmatization by their communities. Moreover, many are treated as criminals by officials in countries of transit and destination due to their irregular status in the country, and their status as illegal workers or sex workers. What is more, human trafficking is generating the violation of human right. As we know that the victims are forced to do th e prostitute and other kind of exploitations. IV. Solutions of Cambodian Government Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. Therefore, The Royal Government of Cambodia does not stand still without taking any actions. The first mechanism is the prosecution. It is making some many significant efforts; for example, the government created a national anti-trafficking task force to improve the interagency response to trafficking and coordination with civil society, increased law enforcement action against traffickers and complicit officials, and undertook prevention activities. Besides these, in February 2008, Cambodias new Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation was declared wisely and went into effect immediately. This law provides enforcement authorities, the power of investigate all forms of trafficking, and it is also a powerful tool in efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers and have them face strict punishments. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) reported 53 trafficking cases from April 2 007 to March 2008, thirty-five cases were sex trafficking involving 60 victims and 11 were labor trafficking cases involving 106 victims. The MOI reported that 65 traffickers were arrested during the reporting period. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted 52 trafficking offenders. The MOI Department of Anti-Trafficking and Juvenile Protection reported 52 cases, involving 65 trafficking offenders. There is also a figure that we get from non-state actors such as NGOs. For instance, NGOs reported 19 labor trafficking cases. In February 2008, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the Ministry of Commerce to annul business licenses for marriage agencies, calling that kind of business is also a form of human trafficking. Another mechanism of combating human trafficking in Cambodia is the protection. The Royal Government of Cambodia improved its efforts to provide protection to victims of trafficking, while continuing to rely on NGOs and international organizations. Victims are not treated as criminals. Law enforcement and immigration officials implemented formal procedures to identify victims among vulnerable groups and refer them to provincial and municipal Departments of Social Affairs. For instance, the victims are provided with education or skill in order to make them have jobs to support their living. For foreign victims, they are provided temporary residence in shelters providing legal, educational, and counseling services while awaiting repatriation. Last but definitely not least mechanism is the prevention. The Royal Government of Cambodia demonstrated solid efforts to prevent trafficking. In April 2007, the government established a National Task Force (NTF) comprising 11 government ministries, three government agencies, and more than 200 international and local NGOs. The NTF has an oversight mechanism known as the High Level Working Group, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. This indicates the first time has coordinated anti-trafficki ng efforts across government ministries and agencies, and also formally includes civil society. In collaboration with civil society, the NTF launched a nationwide anti-trafficking campaign using positive messages incorporating Khmer values and cultural traditions to inspire Cambodians to take action against human trafficking. The campaign emphasized trafficking as a national priority and launched a national dialogue on trafficking via public forums across Cambodia. More interestingly, Cambodia also has international cooperation in combating human trafficking. For instance, On May 6, 2005  the government and the other five member states of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT)  met in Phnom Penh and agreed to approve the plan of action developed in March 2005 in Hanoi. V. Conclusion Recommendations for Cambodia I would recommend Cambodian government continue implementation of the comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation and provide training for law enforcement and government officials on the new law. Moreover, significantly improve the number of prosecutions, convictions, and punishments of trafficking offenders, particularly in areas outside the capital are also should be taking into considerations. Besides these, Cambodia should and must try to make greater efforts to prosecute, convict, and criminally punish public officials complicit in trafficking; hold labor recruiting agencies criminally responsible for labor trafficking by means of fraudulent recruitment. What is more, the government should continue to enhance interagency cooperation and collaboration with civil society; create concrete benchmarks for the provincial working groups under the direction of the National Task Force. Last but definitely not least, government of Cambodia should increase efforts to prosecute sex tourists and those facilitating commercial sexual exploitation of children. There is also some recommendation from the U.S. Department of State recommends that the Cambodia Government should pass and enact comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation and make greater efforts to prosecute and convict public officials who profit from or are involved in trafficking. In addition to that, here is also another general recommendation such as protect the rights of victims. According to the UN principle on Human Rights which states that the human rights of trafficked persons shall be at the center of all efforts to prevent and combat trafficking and to protect, assist and provide redress to victims. In other words, the needs and rights of victims should be considered at every stage in proceedings. Furthermore, in order to prevent and protect successfully, the demand should be reduced since the demand reduction must be linked to the prevention and protection. Another recommendation is the establishing c omprehensive policies. The complexities of the trafficking problem require efforts by relevant entities at the local, national, regional, and international levels. It is vitally to form partnership with intergovernmental organizations, governments, NGOs, international organizations, communities and families confronted with trafficking.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Genetic Engineering: There is No Genetic Definition of Humanity Essay

With advances in genetics and the decryption of the human genome, many people are taking the time to sit back and ponder the questions of what humanity is and where it comes from.1 Will techniques such as gene therapy eventually create people who aren't quite human? If humanity is a flexible and ever-changing concept, then how do people know if they are human? Does some standard measure of humanity seem likely in our future, and is it even ethically proper to impose such a standard? Philosophy offers the most satisfying definition of humanity: a human person is a conscious individual who interacts with an outside world. The details of the various philosophical debates on the exact nature of personhood would be enough to fill a library, but the main ideas can be summarized as follows: a person is self-aware, having the ability to think about thinking. Nothing in this definition of humanity involves matters of genetics or quantitative analyses of specific traits, which makes this definition applicable to people who may not be human in the way science tries to define the term. Defining humanity in a scientific sense, however, is a nettled endeavor. Many "strictly human" traits can be found in animals. Wolves have a complex social structure. Bonobos, a subspecies of chimpanzee, can learn an abstract symbol-language and show the ability to understand grammar and syntax.2 In other experiments dolphins-who are genetically more distant from humans than bonobos-learned a type of sign language showing that they, too, are able to grasp complex rules of language.3 One only has to yell at the family dog to see that animals can express emotion and empathy. What, then, is left to humans? Many point to our advanced technology as proof... ... 1. This paper was originally written for the course, "Human Genetics, Society, and Ethics," held at Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland. 2. Robert A. Baron, Psychology 5th ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000). 3. Baron. 4. N. A. Campbell, J. B. Reece, and L. G. Mitchell, Biology 5th ed., (New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999). 5. Matt Ridley, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999) 24. 6. Ibid. 7. Baron. 8. Ridley, 24. 9. Ibid. 10. Campbell et al., 446. Bibliography Baron, Robert. A. Psychology. 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Campbell, N. A., J. B. Reece, and L. G. Mitchell. Biology. 5th ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999. Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.