Monday, December 23, 2019

Humanitarian Intervention with Respect to R2P - 3241 Words

AGENDA- HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION WITH RESPECT TO R2P INTRODUCTION The objective of humanitarian intervention is to prevent mass violation of human rights and human dignity. It has remained a compelling issue in international affairs because of its controversial character. Although sovereignty has formed the basis of international relations since the Treaty of Westphalia, events in the 1990s raised the impetus of the international community to place the protection of civilians before state autonomy. However, given the complexity of international law and international relations, the threshold for triggering interventions continues to be debated. Definition Humanitarian intervention is the threat or use†¦show more content†¦The Secretariat General has strengthened capacity of mediation and control. It also proposed that the established of so called a Peace building Commission backed by supporting fund will effectively transform a country from war to peace. Murphy, Sean D.(1996) The United Nations in an Evolving World Order, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania press, 1996. Pg. 75-82 (b) Responsibility to Protect When peaceful means of a nation’s government fails to put a halt to genocide, ethnic cleansing, and mass violation or has been proven inadequate, the UN Security Council has the right to collectively take action. (c) Human rights, Democracy, and Rule of Law Decisive act must be taken to strengthen the UN human right machinery and to increase related funding. The 2005 World Summit also heavily favours for the idea of the foundation of Human Rights Council over the coming years. In addition to emphasizing the essentiality of a human right institution, the World Summit also reaffirmed democracy as a universal value. THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT – CORE PRINCIPLES (1) Basic Principles A. State sovereignty implies responsibility, and the primary responsibility for the protection of its people lies with the state itself. B. Where a population isShow MoreRelatedChinas Tenure on the United Nations Security Council2869 Words   |  12 Pageson respect for state sovereignty, an issue that was crucial to the survival of the PRC. Ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union, coupled with domestic concerns, also contributed to China’s inactive role on the SC. China had suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and lacked both the financial stability and personnel to contribute to UNPKO. However, even in this state, China never utilized its veto power to block efforts of humanitarian interventionRead MoreA Brief Note On The United Nations Charter1575 Words   |  7 Pagesto establish an international trusteeship which would place Syria under a provisional control of another nation. A trusteeship would assist the Syrian government in creating a peaceful order, foster social and economic growth, and pressure them to respect human rights. Powerful natio ns like Russia or the United States or another state mutually agreed upon could be shortlisted to help the Syrian government, moderate rebels, and the international community halt the vicious and ruthless threat that theRead MoreHumanitarian Intervention Essay1869 Words   |  8 PagesThe key objections to humanitarian intervention include the conflict of interests with the self-interested state and sovereignty, the difficulty of internal legitimacy, the problematical Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and the debate over legality of intervention. The issue of morality stands as an overarching issue which touches on all of these. Overall, one finds that despite a moral imperative to intervene, humanitarian intervention should not occur but is perhaps the lesser of a seriesRead MoreThe Issue Of International Politics1846 Words   |  8 PagesAfter the end of the cold war, this became a lingering issue in international politics. During this period, there have been many cries for intervention - some of them being answered and some being ignored. But there continues to be a difference of opinion in the international community as to whether there is an imperative requirement of the right to intervention. If so, when should this right be exercised and who should be responsible for carrying out such an important task? These are just some ofRead MoreHumanitarian Intervention : Legality And Effect On Sovereignty2298 Words   |  10 Pages Humanitarian Intervention:Legality and Effect on Sovereignty Annel Veloz POLI110A David Foley 25 Nov 2014 Humanitarian Intervention: Legality and Effect on Sovereignty Humanitarian Intervention has been a topic of controversy especially in the last 100 years where the need for intervention has grown. The debate primarily being about whether or not humanitarian intervention is legal and what effect it has on a country’s sovereignty.After much research on this topic a conclusion was drawn thatRead MoreHumanitarian Intervention, NATO and International Law Essay3286 Words   |  14 PagesMuch recent discourse surrounding humanitarian intervention has focused on the responsibility to protect (R2P). Prevention is a key component for good international relations and few would say it is not important, but as evidence to date would show prevention is very ineffective, the legality of military intervention still needs to be debated, as to date there is no consensus. For any intervention to be legitimate, whether unilateral or multilateral, it must comply with international law. So asRead MoreThe State Centric Construction Of The International Poli tics3219 Words   |  13 Pagespolitics has forever made forceful interventions a contentious issue. In defining forceful intervention, Pattison states that â€Å" the conceptual condition of a forceful intervention requires the intervention to occur against someone’s wishes, particularly those who are responsible for the humanitarian crisis for the sole purpose of preventing, reducing or halting actual or impending loss of life and human suffering. It is crucial to note that this ‘humanitarian crisis’ is politically induced andRead MoreEssay about Legitimacy of the Canadian Intervention in Libya1527 Words   |  7 Pagesconflict differed from the conflicts in Tunisia and Egypt because it was not based on economic stresses. It was solely based on political stresses as Libyans aspired for the removal of Gaddafi and a legitimate democracy. The legitimacy of the Canadian intervention in the Libyan conflict will be analyzed by three criteria, which include, the threat of massacre, the support from nations, and the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. First, the threat of extreme terror and massacre loomed over Libya. AlthoughRead MoreThe Role of Responsibility to Protect in Syria3055 Words   |  13 Pages With the realization that the doctrine of humanitarian intervention was in dire need of change, the United Nations General Assembly met. According to the principles of Responsibility to Protect established at the United Nations World Summit in 2005, the recent events that have unfolded throughout the past year in Syria warrant a concerted international intervention. In this paper, I will examine the role of Responsibility to Protect and intervention in Syria. A LOOK BACK AT SYRIA: SYRIA’SRead MoreEssay on Humanitarian Intervention2064 Words   |  9 PagesThe debate of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect have been discussed in international relations discourse more seriously within the last 60 years. The major historical developments which have led to an increase in the intensity of these debates have had beneficial and detrimental effects on Earth within the last 20 years. Several factors have contributed to this including; globalization, the rise in international accountability, an increase humanitarian consciousness to prevent

Sunday, December 15, 2019

The Evaluation And Possible Solutions Of Egypt’s Current Energy Crisis Free Essays

Egypt, one of the cradles of civilization, is distinguished by its tourist industry due to its mysterious cultural attributes and long history. Its abundant touristic resources and attractions made Egypt an admiration of travelers all over the world. Consequently, the tourist industry has become an essential role of Egypt’s economic foundation. We will write a custom essay sample on The Evaluation And Possible Solutions Of Egypt’s Current Energy Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Moreover, Egypt is also regarded as the largest non-OPEC (organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) country in the continent of Africa (Payne, 2012). According to Payne (2012), Egypt’s daily yield of crude oil is approximately 700,000 barrels, and since the year of 2008, Egypt has discovered 7 crude oil and natural gas deposits. Among them, the largest detection produces around 58000 barrels of crude oil and 2. 8 million cubic feet of natural gas every day. (Graeber, 2013). Norton Rose Fulbright, an international business organization, has also indicated that Egypt possesses a total capacity of 4. 4 billion barrels of crude oil and 78 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its deposits. Ironically, even with such unique financial advantages and bountiful domestic natural resources, Egypt is now undergoing the most severe energy crisis in its history. This tremendous energy scarcity has already resulted in a soaring of food prices, and regular blackouts of household electricity, if this deficiency continues it could further threaten the livelihood of Egyptian citizens or even lead to serious social security issues. Kirkpatick (2013) pointed out in his report that because diesel machineries are the most common apparatus Egyptian use to irrigating and harvesting their crops, the insufficiency of fossil fuel has disabled numerous famers from yielding crops in the harvest season. It is not only the farmers who are despairing, the employees who need to commute a long distance for work also feel miserable due to the fact that the scarcity of gasoline has doubled the fuel price and caused a long queue in every gas station. Furthermore, the electricity blackouts have made the electricity in vital public facilities such as schools and hospitals unstable, thus tremendously impaired the quality of medical and educational affairs. More seriously, an evaluation of International Crisis Group has revealed that the fragile political stability accompanied with the growing public panic (concern) toward the inflating of fuel price could ultimately result in the withering of Egypt’s hard-earned democracy (Kirkpatrick, 2013). Before the government can take any action to appropriately resolve this severe energy scarcity, it is extremely crucial for them to be acquainted with the principal causes of this problem. Although several speculations have been made toward the root of this devastating energy crisis through different perspectives, it is generally believed by experts that Egypt’s energy insufficiency is the ultimate result of its incompetent refining technologies, inappropriate subsidizing policies, leaky energy allocating systems, and teetering social security. First of all, the initial element that put Egypt in this vulnerable circumstance is its inadequate refining technology. According to Kirkpatrick (2013) and Payne (2012), Egypt has very restricted capability in refining crude oil into petroleum products such as diesel fuel. Therefore, despite the fact that Egypt holds a considerable amount of domestic energy, they have to rely heavily on the import of petroleum products, and export their crude oil at a much cheaper price. The other primary preexisting factor that contributes to the energy crisis is Egypt’s burdensome subsidizing policy of energy. According to Ragui, an official of Egypt’s Economic Research Forum, nearly 30% of Egypt’s governmental expense can be attributed to the energy subsidy. Moreover, Ragui also pointed out that subsidized fuel cost less than one fifth of its original price (Kirkpatrick, 2013). Although this program is very beneficial to civilians especially in the condition when 40% of Egyptians are below the poverty line, the economists in Egypt have already doubted the practicability of this policy even before the crisis, according to Kirkpatrick’s report (2012), many experts considered this policy untenable. Even though, Egyptian government expended a great effort on subsidizing energies, the leaky distributing system has played a major role that not only negated the benefit of subsidizing policy, but also indirectly resulted in the present energy scarcity. As pinpointed by Hakim’s report (2013), only 20% of subsidized fuels were allocated to those who deserve it, and the other 80% of them did not go to where they were supposed to. Since the Egypt government has difficulty on tracking their fuels, many tanker trucks sell subsidized fossil fuels to black markets for better profit. In addition, because this leaky distributing system made illegal access of fuel more effortless, once the rumor of impending fuel shortage spread out, the inappropriate hoarding of fuel from panicked citizens has increased tremendously, and that, according to Kirkpatrick’s report, is the other significant factor that worsened this energy crisis. The trigger that linked every preexisting factor together and ultimately resulted in Egypt’s energy crisis is the instability of Egypt’s social security. Before the â€Å"2011 Egyptian revolution†, with its thriving touristic industry and expanding foreign investments, Egypt was prosperous. As the growing of the energy demand for their rapidly developing economy and fast expanding population, they put more budgets on importing fuels and subsidizing energy. However, according to Kirkpatrick (2013), after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, who has been the president of Egypt for more than 30 years, violent protests and mayhem from his advocates have collapsed Egypt’s tourism and unnerved its foreign investors. Without those two essential sources, the economy of Egypt soon contracted and withered to almost one third of its annual income in 2010. Nevertheless, with such a severe economic contraction, Egypt’s energy expenses remained the same. Consequently, the new government was incapable of affording the heavy subsidization, and energy import, therefore, triggered the national wide energy crisis. According to the different perspective, there are various opinions concerning the possible solutions of this energy crisis, however, only few of them are considered as realistic and practical regarding the urgent circumstance of Egypt. Among them, the most practicable solution of Egypt’s energy crisis is to reform the government policy, to improve the distribution system, to accept the loan from the I. M. F. (International Monetary Fund), and to advance the next democratic election date. Although it has been mentioned by several organizations that improving Egypt’s refining technology may be a long-term solution that could terminate Egypt’s demand of importing petroleum products, it is not a preferable solution base on the current circumstances. According to Payne (2012), if Egypt can refine its domestic crude oil, it would produce adequate petroleum products to sustain Egypt’s own energy consumption in a much lower cost. However, the advancing of refinery requires years of development and the investment of foreign technology: the two elements that Egypt is lack of. The turbulent social security of Egypt has unnerved most of its foreign investors (Graeber, 2013), and the deterioration of economy and political stability has urged government to  take immediate action. The other controversial solution is the development of renewable energy. It is highly recommended and encouraged by many energy experts that Egypt should allocate funds to invest in renewable energy technology instead of subsidizing the fossil fuel. Due to its geographical distinction, Egypt possesses massive potential for sustainable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, or geothermal energy. (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2013). The advocates of renewable energy claimed that due to the flawed allocation system, the subsidization policy is an extremely inefficient way to spend funds. They further affirmed that through a specific solar energy project, which can generate about 3-giga watts within 18 months, Egypt’s energy insufficiency will be resolved easily. (Hakim, 2013) However, many economists considered this method unrealistic due to its time consumption and expensive initial expense. They pointed out that it would take at least 3 to 5 years of transition time to invest on the new energy including building new supply chains, setting up generators, and establishing new infrastructures. (Watson, 2012). Moreover, due to Egypt’s abundant crude oil deposits, it is not advisable to invest more currency on developing the other alternative energies, especially in this vital period when the government is already in deep deficit. It is crucial for Egyptian administration to reform their heavy energy subsidization policy in order to alleviate the unbearable burden on their economy. As indicated by Kirkpatrick (2013), by implementing a reduction on energy subsidy, it will not only give the government sufficient funding to import energy, but it will also restore Egypt’s credibility for more international loans and finish this energy crisis even faster. However, reform in policy can be very problematic, especially when subsidy is involved. The teetering political stability of Egypt could be too vulnerable to afford any big change in society. According to the reports of Kirkpatrick (2012,2013), the administration of this reform could be extremely challenging due to the fact that 40% of Egyptians are under the poverty line and most of them possess resentments against the government already because of the existing energy scarcity and the soaring price of food. Kirkpatrick further indicated the difficulty of this reform by stating: â€Å"any potential increase in fuel prices or the price of other basic necessities could spur renewed unrest. † Moreover, even if the government can successfully implement the reform on  its subsidization policy, it is possible for the positive effects to be nullified if the leaky energy distribution system, which is currently preventing Egyptian citizens from purchasing fuel at its original price, stays the same. In order to monitor the allocation of subsidized energy more effectively and make it more accessible to the people who deserve it, the Egyptian government has developed a smart card system that can effectively track the gas trucks and ensure that they reach their destination with whole shipments (Kirkpatrick, 2013). Although this new technology is not nation wide it has received a great success in the villages that adopted it. Moreover, according to Kirkpatrick’s report (2013), Egyptian civilians possess a great hope in this new system. The other factor that could contribute to the solution of Egypt’s energy insufficiency is a $4. 8 billion loan offered by the I. M. F. (International Monetary Fund). This international loan could enable Egypt to import sufficient fuel to temporarily settle the energy crisis in this urgent period. However, although it can effectively secure Egypt from the damage of this energy crisis for awhile, it is not a long-term solution. Moreover, this loan is offered with a condition of the commitment to increase taxes and cut subsidies. Therefore, accepting this loan could stimulate more civil unrest and worsen an already shaky social security. Under the fear of public reaction, despite the advice of the UN, the Egyptian administration refused this offer repeatedly (Kirkpatrick, 2013). Finally, in order to ultimately resolve this problem, find a way to stabilize the political unrest is inevitable. According to the report of Watson (2012), the whole energy crisis occurred initially after the ouster of the former present Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and climaxed after the first democratic president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Evidently, the Egypt’s energy crisis is closely related to its political stability. Watson also reported that the core factor of Egypt’s social unrest can be attributed to citizens’ resentment against the military regime. Therefore, in order to change this phenomenon appropriately, it is highly recommended to advance the election date from 2014 to as soon as possible. That way Egypt will not only revitalize its tourism but also gain back most of the foreign investment, thus solve the energy crisis once for all. In conclusion, Egypt’s energy scarcity is mainly leaded by its flawed subsidizing policies, deficient energy distribution system, and shaky social security. Therefore,  in order to resolve this energy crisis appropriately, it is crucial for Egyptian administration to focus and reform these problems one by one. According to the research, the most practicable way to result these problems is to first promote the smart card system, which will help government to allocate subsidized energy more effectively to people who need them. After increase the accessibility of subsidized energy, the government can subsequently implement a reduction on energy subsidy. Due to the teetering social security, it is highly advisable to execute this reduction subtly and appropriately. This reform of Egypt’s subsidy policy will not only largely alleviate the burden of its economy, but will also make Egypt eligible to take the international loan offered by the I. M. F. ; therefore, provide Egypt more funds to import fossil fuel for the sake of its energy crisis. Subsequent to the reform of governmental policy, it is advisable for Egypt to advance the date of democratic election due to the purpose of stabilizing its social security. Once the social security is stabilized, Egypt will be able to revitalize its touristic industry and regain its foreign investment, which will resolve the energy crisis once for all. How to cite The Evaluation And Possible Solutions Of Egypt’s Current Energy Crisis, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Business Research Methodology for Social Media - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Research Methodology for Social Media. Answer: Social media and social network are beneficial for the business to create brand awareness and to promote a business in an organization (Zhang et al. 2017). However, the social network establishes a strong communication with the customers in the context of any business. This current assignment deals with the learning process of the individuals to based on the application of social media in business sectors. The learning experience is a process through which an individual is able to gain knowledge from the theoretical evaluation or practical evaluation (Heymann-Reder 2012). According to me, learning experience gives practical knowledge to an individual besides the theoretical knowledge. Based on the assessment 1 and assessment the individual gets a clear idea of the advantage and disadvantage of social media application in the context of business. This learning experience allows me to get a clear idea about the application of social media in the business industry. A learning experience has a great value to improve the individual's skill. Regarding me learning experience regarding the pros and cons of the application of social media in business, sectors allow the individual to get a preliminary idea about its impact on the work of an employee (Grabher and Knig 2017). Therefore, a learning experience also enables the individuals to make them personally and professionally active in the near future. From the discussion of the use of social media network in the business sectors, I am able to understand that social media network has been increasing rapidly in the business sector to promote a business. However, there is some negative impact of social media in the business that also defined by me through such learning experience. This learning process is beneficial for me as it helps me to make my career as a management student with proper business skill. However, for a business student, it is important to understand all marketing tools that will enhance the sale as well as the customer engagement (Clark et al. 2017). According to me, such learning process will allow me to understand the various aspects that are both the benefits and drawbacks of the use of social media network in the business industry. However, it will help me to make my future as professional in the near future. This learning practice is beneficial for me to pursue my management study, as marketing is a big part of the management study. Therefore, this learning will help me to make me as the business professional in the marketing team of a business by using the social media network in the proper way for business promotion. As per my viewpoint, this learning process will enable me to transfer my knowledge in my professional sector in future. However, I will be able to share my learning experience regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the social media network in the context of a business. This will enable me to apply the social media network in the proper way that will not affect the growth of a business. However, I will also insist my co-worker utilize the social media properly in the context of business in the near future. Learning process includes a theoretical knowledge and a practical knowledge (Kasemsap 2017). However, in the learning process, different phases occur that lead me to improve my knowledge and my existing skills. According to me, this learning process enables me to observe that social media and business performance have a relationship. However, corporate social performance, financial performance, and operational performance can be enhanced through the application of social media. It was understood by me through the learning outcomes that a massive research is needed to develop a study. Therefore, it was seen by me that in this learning process I have to carry out more research about the application of the social media in the business context. It was read by me that social media has both positive and negative effect on the business performance. Hence, it was heard by me that valid information is required to develop a project properly. During the learning process, I took more time to und erstand the concept of social media network in the context of business. Therefore, I have evaluated information based on assignment 1 and 2 to get a clear idea of such studies and to enhance my knowledge. Assessment 1 gives a preliminary idea about the application of social media in business performance. As per my viewpoint, evaluation of the learning is vital to analyze the knowledge of an individual (Sonnenschein et al. 2017). Based on the assessment 1 and 2 I got a brief idea about the benefits and drawbacks of the social media network in business performance. However, in assessment 2 it has found that time consumption is a big disadvantage of the use of social media network. Therefore, it is difficult for the business organization to take control over the feedbacks of the customers regarding a product or service. However, often the customers show negative feedbacks regarding the product and service that affect the business. Therefore, the competitors may affect the business by using social media platform and breach of confidentiality is another drawback of social media application in business. Despite such drawbacks, I believe that social media has an important role in developing communication with a large population from different geographical regions. This business research is useful for my research learning process as a management student I am able to get a clear concept about the application of digital marketing via social media application. This current learning process is helpful for me to analyze the strength of my existing skill. I felt that this learning practice enables me to enrich my knowledge regarding the business. This learning experience can be connected with cognitive learning as it improves my knowledge regarding a business project. According to the popular viewpoints learning process leads an individual to gather knowledge from their learning experience (Velez et al. 2017). I believe that assessment 1 and assessment 2 is based on the advantages and disadvantages of social media network in the business context, which leads me to enhance my knowledge regarding the digital marketing. However, the digital marketing is a modern marketing tool in the recent years. Hence, as a management student, it is important for me to develop a clear concept of digital marketing via social media to enhance the marketing knowledge. According to me, present learning process enables an individual to apply it in future to get significant outcomes (Sonnenschein et al. 2017). From the assessment 1 and assessment 2, I have acquired a brief knowledge about the application of social media marketing in the business. This knowledge will help to develop a plan for my future career. To be a professional in the near future a preliminary knowledge is required for a person. Hence, such assessments will be helpful for me to develop my future plan as a professional. In order to be a marketing professional, it is important for me to understand the modern marketing tool. Hence, digital marketing is very popular in the recent years. For this reason, it is vital for me to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the social marketing media in the context of business. It will allow me to use the social marketing media for the business promotion. Hence, this learning experience will be beneficial for me to enhance my professional skills and develop me personally in a working sector in near future. The entire reflective study reveals the benefits of the learning experience regarding the impact of social media application in business performance. This current learning experience is relevant to my course as well as the research subject. This allows me to understand the various aspects of digital marketing. However, my existing skill will be developed regarding the marketing through such learning while it will also help me to develop me professionally in my near future. Therefore, the positive and negative aspect of social media application to advertise the product or service is also evaluated in this assignment that is essential for a marketing professional in their working place. References Clark, M., Clark, M., Black, H.G., Black, H.G., Judson, K. and Judson, K., 2017. Brand community integration and satisfaction with social media sites: a comparative study.Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing,11(1), pp.39-55. Grabher, G. and Knig, J., 2017. Performing network theory? Reflexive relationship management on social network sites. InNetworked Governance(pp. 121-140). Springer International Publishing. Heymann-Reder, D., 2012.Social Media Marketing. Addison-Wesley Verlag. Kasemsap, K., 2017. Professional and business applications of social media platforms. InAnalyzing the strategic role of social networking in firm growth and productivity(pp. 427-450). IGI Global. Sonnenschein, K., Barker, M., Hibbins, R. and Cain, M., 2017. Practical Experience Is Really Important: Perceptions of Chinese International Students About the Benefits of Work Integrated Learning in Their Australian Tourism and Hospitality Degrees. InProfessional Learning in the Work Place for International Students(pp. 259-275). Springer, Cham. Velez, C.M., Nicolaidis, C., Korthuis, P.T. and Englander, H., 2017. Its been an Experience, a Life Learning Experience: A Qualitative Study of Hospitalized Patients with Substance Use Disorders.Journal of general internal medicine,32(3), pp.296-303. Zhang, M., Guo, L., Hu, M. and Liu, W., 2017. Influence of customer engagement with company social networks on stickiness: Mediating effect of customer value creation.International Journal of Information Management,37(3), pp.229-240.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Senseless by David Archuleta free essay sample

On January 6, 2011, a song that didn’t make it on David’s debut album leaked. The song is called â€Å"Senseless†, written by James Fauntleroy, who helped pen another one of David’s songs, â€Å"My Hands†. And this song is a little bit like it. With an RB vibe, showing David’s rougher voice and his sensitive side. The song is about a girl breaking up with him, and how he can’t handle it. It’s making him senseless. This song seems a bit extreme for David, considering he’s said he would never act this way over a girl. It seems like that’s why this song didn’t make the album. It’s a lot like â€Å"She’s Not You†, another reject off of the debut which was leaked last year. Both songs show a more vulnerable David, going crazy over a girl, and that’s not the way David is. We will write a custom essay sample on Senseless by David Archuleta or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Though he puts a lot of emotion into this song when singing it, it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t connect to it as well as others. So if the question is whether this song should have made the album, I’d say no. It’s a great song, and David sings it amazingly as usual, putting the right emotion where it’s needed, but it’s not â€Å"him†. It’s a lot more believable to hear David sing about touching fans’ hands rather than things like this. Fans would much rather want to hear the real â€Å"David† in his songs rather than him singing a good song just for the sake of a good song.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Andrei Tarkovskys Andrei Rublev

Andrei Tarkovskys Andrei Rublev Free Online Research Papers Andrei Tarkovskys Andrei Rublev Creativity is one of the most important motifs in Andrei Tarkovsky’s critically acclaimed Russian film, â€Å"Andrei Rublev.† Although Tarkovsky never comes right out and explains his views on creativity, he expresses them to us through the vehicle of three of his characters: Andrei Rublev, The Jester, and a young bell-maker. Each of these characters is a creator who struggles in some way with the creative process. Andrei Rublev is a talented and successful Russian icon painter who is known throughout Russia for the quality of his religious depictions. At one point in the movie, however, after he has done a lot of thinking about the value of his work in the modern world, he decides to give up painting forever. When he decides to do this, he is under the impression that his art is worthless, that it is no longer appreciated by the people because the people are no longer good Christian followers. After all, the value of his art lies in its ability to move its viewers, to make them feel the love of their Lord; if the majority of the people in the world have strayed from their Christian beliefs, then his art can no longer have this effect on them. They cannot feel the love of the Lord if they have forgotten him. There is one scene, in particular, in which Andrei realizes how immoral and Godless the people of his country have become. In this scene, he is captured by a group of reveling pagans and ti ed upside down to a cross, an evil symbol meant to mock the crucifixion of Jesus. Eventually, Andrei decides to start painting again. But why? Although the movie never gives you a definite answer in regard to this question, I have a theory. Because Andrei had seen what a bad state the world was in, he decided to paint again because he believed that if he could create something great enough, he might be able to reverse (or at least slow) the world’s descent into evil. It dawned on him that the Lord had given him the ability to paint for a reason – to enlighten and inspire the masses – and it would be a sin to waste that ability. The Jester is another creator in this movie. Instead of painting religious icons like Andrei, he composes songs and verses which are designed to both entertain his friends as well as ridicule and poke fun at his oppressors. At one point in the movie, he is punished for one of these songs – a comically scathing song about a tartar. His punishment shows how it is dangerous for someone to create something that criticizes the ruling powers in a country. Tarkovsky probably meant this scene to act as a mirror for the situation in his own country, where a great deal of art and creativity was censored by the Communist government. Aside from this, the Jester is also meant to symbolize how creativity can exist in any level of the social caste system. After all, the Jester was a poor and impoverished peasant. Most people during that time would have had trouble believing that someone from such a low socio-economic background could be skilled at anything beyond manual labor, but Tarkovsky is reminding everyone that they can be. In his opinion, creativity can exist anywhere. The third and final creator in â€Å"Andre Rublev† is the young boy, who is commissioned by the prince to fashion a bell for the cathedral. He is warned that if he fails at this task and the bell does not ring, he will be executed. In my opinion, this aspect of the movie is meant to symbolize the desire to create. Many artists are so passionate about their work, that failure to them is like death (just as failure to caste a working bell would be death for the boy). Research Papers on Andrei Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev"Where Wild and West MeetHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionCapital PunishmentAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeQuebec and CanadaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationHip-Hop is Art

Friday, November 22, 2019

Aerodynamic Development Of Land Speed Record Car Engineering Essay

Aerodynamic Development Of Land Speed Record Car Engineering Essay This project is focused on the baseline aerodynamic analyses and optimisation of a Land Speed Record vehicle in terms of performance of drag and aerodynamic stability, and thereby, speed the vehicle can attain. The vehicle `Stay Gold’ shown below belongs to the David Tremayne, a Formula One journalist. It is his plan to break the current British Land Speed Record by achieving a speed of about 350 m/s. A photograph of the vehicle in its current form can be seen below. C:UsersCecilDesktopDSC07489.JPG Figure 1, (20)- Photograph of the Land Speed Record vehicle in its current form. In aerodynamic analyses, the prohibitive costs of conventional wind testing along with the advent of computing power, characterised by its decreasing cost has brought the applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to the fore front of research and industrial applications, (2). The complications of actual wind tunnel testing ranging from differences in boundary conditions to the scale and mounti ng of the object is covered well in existing literature, (1). CFD is a method for analysing complex fluid flow problems using numerical methods to solve the Navier-Stokes governing equations. This report begins with the study of high speed vehicle aerodynamics to understand the important physical phenomena taking place, i.e. Air flows linked with different parts of the vehicle. CFD has been established as a proven tool used to perform baseline simulations with different turbulence models, boundary conditions and grids. Consequently, the influence of compressibility by running cases with progressively faster operating speeds up to Mach 0.5 and the effects of varying the geometry of nose and body of the vehicle using low-drag fairings are studied. Literature Review: High Speed Vehicle Aerodynamics: Aerodynamics is the study of various forces when a body is in motion. As we know, any vehicle moving through a fluid experiences forces induced by the fluid on it. When a vehicle moves forw ard it displaces the static air in front of it and hence disrupts the air flow around the body. These induced fluid forces can be characterised into three main forces which can be represented on a Cartesian coordinate system as shown in the figure below, (19). Figure 2, (19)- Forces acting on a vehicle represented on Cartesian coordinate system The vertical force along the Z axis is called lift. In this context, the vertical force is usually pushing the car towards the ground. Lift force then would be negative. Instead, the term downforce will be used, which is the positive vertical force towards the ground. The horizontal force moving in the opposite direction as the vehicle along the X axis is called drag force. Drag force is created by the vehicle’s resistance to motion moving through the air. . Drag will always be negative with this axis system, although in the results it will be displayed as positive, (19). The horizontal lateral force along the Y axis is called side for ce which occurs due to strong cross winds or by vehicles being in proximity to each other. The magnitude of these forces depends on various factors like the geometry & speed of the vehicle, mass of the fluid, viscosity & compressibility. These three forces are the basic aerodynamic forces that act on a moving solid body. We concentrate on the reducing the drag force alone to achieve higher speeds.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Relegation System in Major League Soccer Term Paper

Relegation System in Major League Soccer - Term Paper Example Major League Soccer or what is popularly known as MLS is the official soccer league of United States of America. The tournament is endorsed by United States Soccer Federation and Don Garber is its present commissioner. Major League Soccer (MLS) was started in the year of 1993; however, the first session of competition was staged in the year 1996 with just10 teams. The teams were owned by the franchisees and are operated and functioned by its stakeholders. The present format of MLS has 19 teams who play with each other on a home-away basis. Among the 19 teams, 16 are from the US and the other 3 teams are from Canada. Some of the noticeable teams of the tournament include LA Galaxy, Montreal Impact, Toronto FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake among many others. The first season of the tournament witnessed record attendance however it felt below the expected level from the next season onwards. People started to lose interest in soccer as other sports such as baseball, basketball took the elite positions. The condition revived when players such as David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco joined the league as players of respective teams. The primary rationale behind the commencement of MLS was to strengthen the national football team of US. The quality of the league was in doubt when the USA was eliminated from the opening stages in the 1998 soccer world cup. Apart from that, 1994 Soccer world cup that was staged in the US was also another reason. The professional league helped the country to bid for the tournament.  ... The first season of the tournament witnessed record attendance however it felt below the expected level from the next season onwards. People started to lose interest on soccer as other sports such as baseball, basketball took the elite positions. The condition revived when players such as David Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco joined the league as players of respective teams (Dure, 2010, p.xvi). The primary rational behind the commencement of MLS was to strengthen the national football team of US. Nonetheless the quality of the league was on doubt, when USA was eliminated from the opening stages in the 1998 soccer world cup. Apart from that, 1994 Soccer world cup that was staged in US was also another reason. The professional league helped the country to bid for the tournament. Formulation of Mission and Vision statements Mission and vision statements are important for running a venture. Also in case of MLS mission and vision statements, holds an important position. MLS was started in the year 1993 for the purpose of establishing a particular objective. Moreover in order to achieve the objective one needs to have clear vision of the future. While on the other hand a mission statement is being used to describe the purposes or aims of the new association. Hence it can be justified that mission and vision statement plays an indispensable role. The newly developed mission and vision statement for MLS are formulated below. Mission Statement To offer the country with new talents in football and also to encourage upcoming talents in the field of soccer. To enthuse the world of sports lovers by showcasing highest quality of entertainment. Vision Statement ‘We

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Final paper - Essay Example A market is said to be in perfect competition when there are a large number of buyers and sellers perfectly aware of the market prices, and no firm is large enough to have any economic power over the industry (Amacher & Pate, 2013). The two main characteristics of a perfect market are low barriers to entry and exit, i.e. any new firm can enter the market because of no restrictions such as high setup cost, legal barriers or any other. All the firms are earning normal profit as there is strong competition within the industry. Secondly, homogenous products are produced, i.e. all products are identical or standardized and are substitutes of each other, thus sharing the same price as well (Amacher & Pate, 2013). An imperfect competition is where there are not many producers in the market and there is less competition as buyers and sellers are not fully aware of the prices so different prices exist for same product in the market (Amacher & Pate, 2013). There are three forms of an imperfect market: Under this structure, there are few sellers as compared with perfect competition and the products produced are differentiated due to branding, which gives the producer a way to have his own pricing policy and thus can earn more than normal profits (Amacher & Pate, 2013). There are a few suppliers in the market in this structure, and every supplier has a substantial control over the prices, and output produced because few suppliers control the entire supply in the market. There is strong rival consciousness because of the interdependence of suppliers. There is a possibility of product differentiation as well as substitute products, and the price-output policy of each supplier depends upon the degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity (Amacher& Pate, 2013). There is a single seller or producer who controls the entire market. As he

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Heat combustion of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

Heat combustion of Alcohol Essay Background Information Alcohols are used as a source of fuel in many countries. For it to turn into fuel, alcohol must be burnt. Alcohol is also a good clean source of energy and heat. In this experiment I will be trying to find out the amount of energy produced when different alcohols are burned. In this experiment, the type of alcohol will be tested is Ethanol. Ethanol is a colourless liquid and is sometimes referred simply as alcohol or spirits. Carbon chains with a hydroxide molecule at the end of the chain make up an alcohol. Ethanol is a straight-chain alcohol and its molecular formula is C2H5OH. Its empirical formula however is C2H6O The heat of combustion of any substance is the amount of heat energy given out when 1 mole of that substance burns completely in air. Every covalent bond existing in the molecule has a bond energy. This bond energy is the amount of energy needed to break the bond or the amount of energy given out as a bond is formed. Concentration of an alcohol is related to the number of moles per decimetre cubed of the substance. The more concentrated the substance the more the substance will burn thus more heat energy is given out. Research Question Will increasing the concentration of ethanol affect the heat of combustion of the alcohol? Hypothesis It is hypothesised that increasing the concentration of ethanol will increase the heat of combustion of the alcohol. Variables Independent The concentration of ethanol (Molar) * 0.5 Molar ethanol * 1.0 Molar ethanol * 1.5 Molar ethanol * 2.0 Molar ethanol * 2.5 Molar ethanol Dependent * Heat combustion of the alcohol (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Controlled What will be controlled How it will be controlled Method of taking the temperature of water The thermometer will be placed in the middle of the conical flask and the tip of the thermometer will be touching the bottom of the flask. The conditions of the surrounding area The experiment will be carried out in standard lab conditions. Avoid contamination and residue to the next experiment when using the thermometer Distilled water will be used to thoroughly clean out the equipments before experiment. Equipments will not be reused for the next experiments. Method Drawing up data tables Molar of Ethanol Trials Initial temp (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Final temp (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Temp change (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Initial mass (g) Final mass (g) Mass used (g) Qualitative Data Getting apparatus ready 1. Set up the electronic scale and attach the metal clamp to the retort stand 2. Using the label stickers and permanent pen, label the beakers that contain the different molar concentration of ethanol accordingly 0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0; 2.5 3. Label the beaker containing water 4. Using the distilled water, thoroughly clean out the conical flasks and measuring cylinders Carrying out experiment 1. During the experiment, record any smell or colour of alcohol and any observation in the Qualitative Data table 2. Fill the conical flask with 100mL of water. 3. Place the thermometer inside the conical flask and record the initial temperature of the water 4. Keep the thermometer inside the conical flask 5. Clamp the flask at a height approximately 2cm from where the spirit burner will be placed below 6. Fill the spirit burner with just enough 0.5 Molar of ethanol so that the wick is half soaked in alcohol 7. Weigh the spirit burner attached with the lid containing the alcohol and record the initial mass 8. Place the spirit burner under the conical flask and use the matched to light the wick 9. When the water temperature reaches approximately 40à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C, blow out and extinguish the flame 10. Record the exact temperature reached when flames were extinguished 11. Using the tongs, move the spirit burner and lid to the electronic scale and weigh the final mass 12. Dispose the water and alcohol inside the spirit burner 13. Repeat steps 1 11, but change the type of ethanol in respect to independent variables 1.0 Molar, 1.5 Molar, 2.0 Molar and 2.5 Molar of ethanol 14. When repeating steps 1 11, make sure a new conical flask and water is used and also a new spirit burner is used 15. When all five experiments of the different molar concentration of ethanol is completed, repeat the experiment another two times for each molar concentration of ethanol in reference to the data table Calculations 1. Final temp Initial temp = Temp change (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) 2. Final mass Initial mass = Mass used (g)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Sir John A. Macdonald Essay -- Canadian History

Sir John A. Macdonald Sir John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 10, 1815. His fathers name was Hugh Macdonald and his mothers name was Helen Shaw. His father had migrated to Glasgow from the town of Dornach. His father was a very pleasant and easy going guy and he alwasys wanted to make everyhting better but he usually made things worst. He was a man that had lots of friends, he would talk a lot and drink too. His mother came from Spey Vally. His mother was a very smart girl, she was like the opposite of his father. His mother and father got married on 1811, and after 8 years they had 5 children, the eldest child died and after John was the eldest. In Glasgow his fathers business wansn't doing that good and he thought that if they would move to upper Canada they would have a better life there. So finally in 1820 they sailed to upper Canada. They arrived at Kingston in mid July, and John was only five years old. When he arrived his thought about Scotland just disapeard. The M acdonald family decided to stay in Kingston. Sir John A. only went to school untill 1829, when he was only 15. His parents couldn't afford to send him to University. He says that if had went to University he wouldn't have went into politics. When he turned 15 Sir John A. articled to a Kingston lawyer, George Mackenzie, so he was learining Law. In 1832 Mackenzie opened a branch office where he put Macdonald in charge of it. Later on he had taken over another law practice i...

Monday, November 11, 2019

Research Bank Sohar

Research Project Contents Table ContentsPage number Acknowledgement Abstract Action Plan Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1Introduction 1. 2Rationale of the Study 1. 3Objectives of the Study Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2. 1 Introduction to the company 2. 2 Meaning of the topic 2. 3 Objectives and research of the topic 2. Different types of employee motivation Chapter 3 METHOD OF RESEARCH 3. 1 Design of the study 3. 2 Methods of collected data 3. 3 Types of research 3. 4 Sample size used in interview 3. 5 Limitation 3. 6 Analyzing the data Chapter 4 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS 4. 1 Findings 4. 2 Recommendations Conclusion Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the outset, I would like to thank my Guide who explained to me about this Research Project in a very clear manner and assisted me at every step in completing it successfully, and my thanks are especially due to ———————————–for all his cooperation, in spite of his heavy schedules of work, and ———————– the Trainer who was very helpful in providing me with accurate information to use in this Research, and I convey my thanks to all the colleagues who cooperated with me by participating in the research by way of responding to my interviews and to the questionnaires which helped to lead me to findings and conclusions. Finally I thank all the people whoever helped me and stood by me to provide all the needful assistance to my requirement. ABSTRACT The productivity of the staff depends upon many factors for the bank. Humans are complex beings which ne ed continuous motivation to work without being burdened. Therefore, the Human Resources Department should not only impart motivational triggers but also should encourage the various groups of the staff to maintain a healthy competition; these ensure a continuous boosting of the staff’s energy levels. Dedication and loyalty to the company can also be cultured by providing staff with encouraging means to develop themselves as well as the company. The staff which feels comfortable with the bank will unlikely shift to other banks. Dedicated employees willingly work for the bank. By comparing with other banks, the bank should modify its policy’s and plans so as to not only attract more customers but also attract more staff from the other banks. Motivation thus plays an important role thus in maintaining a productive staff. A dedicated staff will anticipate not only customers’ needs but also try to develop bank through innovative ideas. This research is conducted to study the motivational aspects of Bank Sohar. The findings of the study demonstrate that proper strategies and right procedures are followed in this Bank Sohar. ACTION PLAN ID Task Name Start Finish Duration 1 Introduction: †¢Discussion with the guide about the topic. †¢Determine the requirement and objective. †¢Prepare questionnaires. †¢Planning for interview and making interview. †¢Determine and justify the research methodology. 2 Literature Review: 3 Data collection: †¢Determine and justify the research methodology. †¢Collection of both primary and secondary dates by appropriate methods. †¢Selection and preparing detailed and relevant objectives. 4 Analysis of the research project: †¢Analysis and interpretation of data and carry the research into specified areas. Making reviews with the guide regarding the project. 5 Documentation: †¢Prepare the full project in one accept format. †¢Present and evaluate findings and recommendations. 6 Presentation: Chapter 1: 1. 1 Introduc tion Bank Sohar was established on 9 April 2007. Although it is a very short time since it started its operations, it has been an extraordinary time as this new bank changed the ground rules for banking in Oman. Dr Mohammed Abdul Aziz Kalmoor, the CEO of the bank declared this year that their income of operating profit showed up a 31. 3% increase in 2010 from that of 2009. The bank’s net loans and advances grew by 14% in the last year. Customer deposits have augmented by 20% in 2010. Bank Sohar has introduced friendly financial solutions for everything from the purchase of cars to higher education. Their increased network has given it an added presence and opportunity to reach out their customers. Their new branches in prime locations of the county have given the bank an edge in the market and strengthened its position in the banking sector of the economy. Bank Sohar has developed a tradition of meeting the customers from different parts of the country at informal gatherings and road shows. This has turned out to be a model for modern marketing. Bank Sohar believes that customer satisfaction is the critical measure for bank’s success. All the decision-making processes at Bank Sohar are taken up by its finance team which assists the executive management and the board in planning and provides information and critical analysis of the Bank’s performance on a continuous basis. It is committed to providing quality banking solutions to help customers achieve their financial goals. A small example is that it is the Bank Sohar which introduced for the first time the cash deposit facility through their ATMs. All other banks in Oman emulated this bank soon. By adopting a lifecycle approach to the household sector they have created value-added services such as various savings deposits options, mortgages, consumer lending, insurances and wealth management products etc. In addition, they keep their clientele of small and medium entrepreneurs well informed of the market developments that may affect their enterprises. Bank Sohar always tries to tailor its services to suit the requirements of not only individual customers but also potential customer groups like the business communities. Thus they adopt sector-specific approach to corporate banking. As the network of the bank has increased through opening of several new branches, staff strength has automatically increased to over 500 by the end of 2010. Bank’s Omanisation ratio has steadily improved to 88% year after year. These achievements are due to the efficient management of human resources at the bank. The Human Resource Management (HRM) of Bank Sohar has been strengthening the profile of the bank by implementing its strategic goals through best international practices in human resource management. The bank encourages its staff to expose to the new and rapidly changing areas of banking industry. Facilities for learning and developing professional experience are regularly arranged by the staff at different levels. In short, Bank Sohar can be described as a bank, deeply committed to delivering excellent services with convenience and integrity to their customers. In no time it is sure to achieve their vision statement: â€Å"One stop financial super mall having boutiques of products and services across various segments, each with a unique set of propositions† 1. 2 Study the rationale As an employee in the Bank Sohar, I have the personal knowledge and understanding of the bank’s organization and its activities. Bank Sohar is he fastest upcoming bank in our country. It follows its own strategy to deal with the customers directly. Everybody working in this bank like me is treated respectfully and cordially. Their treatment can be said to be the main key for the progress of our bank during this short span of five years. 1. 3 Goals of the study –The main goal of this study is to recognize the methods of motivating and encouraging the staff at Bank Sohar. –Also it is to identify what makes the Bank Sohar achieve success in all branches in general and in Ruwi Branch in particular. Chapter 2: 2. 1 Introduction to the company: At Bank Sohar, banking is made easy. All the employees in the bank are committed to making the banking experience much smooth and efficient. Bank Sohar is well-reputed for its open and communicative relationship with the customers. They know that you are the best possible source to inform them the best way to cater your needs. Here you get specialized divisions ready to serve you. Customer’s requirement and queries are met by specialized Relationship Manager of the concerned division. They also try to solve all your banking issues with a click. With their e-Channels, your bank has become portable. Accessing your bank account has been made easy as you can access through the ATMs, Internet. Customers can also have online connectivity to their account through mobile phones. They offer a wide range of treasury services to large corporate clients, small and medium enterprises and various government departments and fund managers. †¢RO clearing and settlement †¢ RO payments to Bank Sohar accounts as well as to accounts at other banks having a presence in Oman †¢ Treasury and Foreign Exchange related services †¢ Local cheque collection †¢ Prompt query handling †¢ High degree of automation and straight-through processing †¢ On-line view only access to your account 2. 2 The meaning of the topic: Employee motivation plays vital role in the development of the company in many ways. ttp://www. managementstudyguide. com/importance_of_motivation. htm 2. 3Objectives and research of the topic: Bank Sohar provides the opportunities improvement to the productive staff. It’s in general trying to recognize the achievements and to earn more profitab le results which depends on the on the quality of staff performance, that’s why it always tries to provide their employees a good environment in order to promote personal growth. Bank Sohar gives importance to the group interest which is placed above the individual level. The officials at the bank always treat their customers, suppliers and even their colleagues very fairly and objectively. Behind all of the mentioned above, the following points are the main objectives of Bank Sohar which they are always trying to keep specific principles to help in improving their performance: †¢Provide healthy and safe workplace. †¢Make sure that the work environment is preventing the disabled people work practices and don’t present the prejudices and unreasonable barriers for which they are qualified within the bank. †¢Decrease the number of contribution for employees which can be made to the organization. †¢Recruit and return the right staff at the right time to the right place to work. †¢Promote the qualified and skilled staff based on there performance very fairly, which will gain their trust of fair treatments. 2. Different types of employee motivation: 1. Thanks award letter: Bank Sohar awards their staff monthwise by choosing the employee of the month, quarter and end of the year ,so that it provides them a voucher and including a Shukran (Thank You) Award Letter. Example: Mr / Ms†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Bank Sohar, Danq Branch NSC Department ,Oman 20 February 2010 Dear,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Shukran (Thank You) for your initiative and good support. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work. We hope that your willingness and initiative serve as an example to your colleagues. We appreciate your commitment and dedication in cooperating the department in the absence of two staff who have resigned. You demonstrated that you were willing to shoulder additional responsibility and support the smooth running of the department. In token of our appreciation, this Bank Sohar awards you a Shukran Certificate, Smiley Badge and a Gift voucher. Yours Sincerely, HEAD HUMAN RESOURCE DEPT. 2. Long Term Services Award Upon the completion of 10, 20 and 30 years, staff will be given the following awards: 30 Years: Certificate signed by the Group Chairman, a gift of the employees choice (Approximately cost USD 1,000) and one month’s basic salary. 20 Years: Printed Certificate signed by the Deputy Chairman & CEO, Bank Sohar. 10 Years: Printed Certificate signed by the Area CEO. 3. Training: Overall Aim: To establish and maintain a key competitive advantage, Bank Sohar is committed to investing in human resources development through relevant ,planned and systematic training and other activities, which will contribute directly to the achievements of Banks business objectives, as well as meeting the demands of the Omanisation process. The basic training will be conducted by the Learning and Development Manager. Where necessary, regional training centre trainers at Muscat will conduct courses throughout Oman depending on the training needs. In addition, staff may be nominated to attend various training course held in Muscat and the group training at the Management Development Centre, Liverpool ,UK. External training may also be provided mainly through College of Banking and Financial Studies and other local institutes in Muscat, Salalah etc. On the job training may also be arranged, if line managers identify any such needs. Details of the training courses are available on the intranet or may be obtained from the Learning and Development Manager. 4. Career Development: †¢Employees retiring within two years from the date of drawing up or reviewing the rotation plan will be exempt from further job rotation unless it is deemed necessary to permit the rotation of others. †¢Should line managers be unable to rotate any of their staff in accordance with these guidelines he or she must justify the exceptions ensuring that the department head supports the exceptions made. In small or specialist departments such as HR,TSY, Legal, IT or for translators ,job rotation may have to be less frequent than the guideline suggested above. 5. Retirement: Staff will retire from Bank’ s employment on attaining 60 years (for male staff) and 55 years (for female staff). This is not applicable to temporary employees. Your age is the number of years elapsed since the date of your birth as stated in your identify cards, birth certificate or passport. The bank will write to you not less than one month in advance confirming the date on which you will retire. End of services benefits will be handled in accordance with the laws regulations of Public Authority for Social Insurance. 6. End of services benefits: For the Omanis Pension Scheme: Bank will pay 10% of the monthly deducted salary and contributes to the pension scheme of the retired Omani employees who will be receiving their monthly pension as per the rules and regulations of PASI. For the Expatriate employees Terminal Benefit: Bank will pay the expatriate employee a gratuity at the of half a month’s basic salary for the first five years of service, which will be granted at the time of quitting the job. 7. Occupational Health & Safety at Work: Making sure that they protect there staff health and safety at work is essential . We make the same commitment to our customers and any other visitors who come into our branches or offices. It’s the Bank’s objective is to promote a healthy working environment and a high level of safety management and fire prevention. As an employee of the bank, you have a major responsibility for maintaining health ,safety and fire precaution guidelines of the work place. These are essentially to: †¢Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and those who may be affected by your action. †¢To follow any laid down procedures and guidelines communicated to you. †¢To bring to the attention of management any defects in the building, electrical system and machinery. Chapter 3: 3. 1 Design of the study: Primary Data: This is the data acquired through the distribution of questionnaires and from the personal interviews. The personal interviews are always not possible and require more time. Therefore, Primary data is the un-analysed data obtained from research methods. Secondary Data: The data which on analysis gives perception and information to the grounds of research is called Secondary data. This data is classified into qualitative and quantitative; therefore the Secondary data is important for the formation of new grounds in the research. 3. 2 Methods of the collecting data: Primary Data: 1. Questionnaire: It is a list of questions containing all the possible parameters that the researcher wants to consider. It is the easiest and fastest way to do a research. The advantage is that only desired fields are considered and hence the data obtained is more focused. 2. Interview: In this type, the researcher communicates with the employee or customer for their opinions and thus researcher can obtain personal opinions of the fields that the researcher wants consider. But the data is not focused. 3. Observation: Observation is the method in which the researcher observes the fields without interfering with the process. The researcher deduces the data from his observation. This does not require searching for contacts. 4. Experimentation: It’s a technique used to do the investigations, which will observe the changing and find out where the influences are including the regards. Secondary Data: †¢Magazines: -Business Today Magazine (April 2011) –Times of Oman (dated 23 April 2011) †¢Internet websites: –www. banksohar. com –www. zawya. com –www. ameinfo. com – (http://www. humanresources. hrvinet. com/ questionnaire-method/) †¢Books: – Booklet of summery review of Bank Sohar’s Brand and Values in 2009 (Provided by the HR) 3. 3 Types of research: Questionnaires: In Bank Sohar, the service quality is of utmost importance. To achieve this many strategies are used. The Human Resources Department of Bank Sohar mostly uses questionnaires to collect the data from both the employees and customers. This method, as mentioned above, is easy and efficient. The data thus collected is then further analysed. Such method helps the bank to review its performance and also to know of the popularity of its various services. 1. In comparison with other banks does Bank Sohar provide you best way to get staff motivation: A. Yes B. Some times C. No D. At all 2. What do you think Bank Sohar should focus to achieve more staff motivation? A. Promotions B. Rewarding system C. Salary review D. All above 3. Is Bank Sohar providing the following selections to their employees fairly? A. Yearly bonus B. Promotions C. Increment of allowances D. Pension 4. Compared with other local banks, Bank Sohar provides good conditions to ts staff? A. Yes B. No C. No comments D. No answer 5. What makes you feel proud to work for Bank Sohar? A. Work environment B. Policies and conditions C. Team Work D. Rewards system 6. Does your current position satisfy your motivation level using the specific conditions? A. Yes B. No C. Sometimes D. No comments 7. Which of the followi ng banks would you like to apply in future? A. Current bank (Bank Sohar) B. Bank Muscat C. HSBC D. Nothing from the above. 1. Do you think that the bank is providing you a very fair performance appraisal? †¢Yes they are discussing with us before confirming Human Resources about the final performance results. They are using a very fair system where you can load what you have done during the year including the extra improvements, so it will be very clear for them to apprise each one among the bank. 2. Is Bank Sohar setting a fair targets for each staff? †¢Actually there are some people in the management departments dividing the work not in order to be covered by all staff, so in this some of the staff will feel demotivated as he will be pressurized in compare with others. 3. Does you line manager update you about your performance from time to time? †¢Yes, whenever any mistake is done he will keep me updated and insure that it won’t happen again. 4. Does Bank Soha r provide you a chance to develop your skills? †¢Actually, they are always promoting an online courses which you can go through it any time, but before the due dates. †¢They are sending their staff for external courses in the College of Banking and Finance. In addition they also provide us chances to graduate with higher diploma certificates for such specialized subjects. †¢They are rewarding their staff annually one person from one department by sending them for an attachment to one of the Europe branches, in order to learn more and gain more knowledge. 4. What are the returns which you can provide to the bank if you are satisfied with them? †¢I will do my best to increase the number of quality customers which will help in increasing the profit of the bank. Also I will be proud in front of my family and friends to work for the bank in order to keep a good view for people who are thinking to apply for the same bank specially qualified and experienced people. 3. 4 Sample size used in interview method as follows: Sl NoOrganisationDesignationName of the Employee 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Loan Department Salary & Deposit Cards Department Corporate Department Remittance Assistant Officer Manager Officer Manager Ibrahim Issa Ibrahim Al Zidjali Yusuf Suleiman Salem Al Wahibi Anas Hamad Seif Al Wahibi Juma Ra’shid Juma Al Saadri Fahma Al Mugheini Sl. noLocationCustomer/StaffName of the Employee 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Main Branch Main Branch Main Branch Qurum Branch Qurum Branch Main Branch Al Sarooj Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Khuwair Branch Main Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Seeb Branch Al Khuwair Branch Al Khuwair Branch MQ Branch Main Branch Al Khuwair Branch Qurum Branch Qurum Branch Main Branch MQ Branch MQ Branch MQ Branch Main Branch Al Seeb Branch Al Seeb Branch Main Branch Main Branch Main Branch Qurum Branch Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Eyas Sayid Saud Al Mashri Sara Teasdale Iman Seif Al Lamki Tariq Mohd. Al Balushi Assim Ahmed Ali Al Wahibi Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Wahibi Abdullah Ahmed Al Wahibi Abdullah Siddik Al Balushi Narjees Sa’ad Al Harthy Abdullah Mohd. Al Balushi Amina Seif Al Mussallum Majd Salem Saleem Al Wahibi Mohd. Salem Khamis Al Saithani Mohd. Salem Mohd. Al Wahibi Mohd. Mubarak Sayid Al Oufi Mohd. Mousa Yahya Al Harbi Mohd Nasser Humeid Al Badaae Masoud Salem Al Harthy Frhat Ali Al Zidjali Nadia Issam Al Balushi Dawood Ibrahim A’Salmi Ali Salem Al Shammaqi Salem Manal Al Tourqi Juma Ra’shid Juma Al Saadri Hussain Sayid Al Lawati Saad Salem Al Balushi Sayid Ra’shid Mohd Al Oufi Saifuddin Hisham Aziz Diwidaar Seif Sayid Nasser Al Wahibi Yusuf Yaqub Al Alaawi 3. 5 Limitation: No matter what method the researcher uses, there are always certain disadvantages. And moreover, in most cases the time is limited and therefore it becomes hard to manage the collection and analysis of data. Other limitations that I faced are: Some information about the bank is not accessible and is difficult to find As I chose the method of interview I got mixed up answers. As the level of knowledge and skill differ from one person to another, the responses varied greatly. In order to trace the trend in my data, I had to use large numbers of samples or interviewees. 3. 6 Analyzing the data: 1. In comparison with other banks does Bank Sohar provide you best way to get staff motivation? Conclusion : In the above chart it shows that most of the staff was satisfied with the motivational level which is been provided by Bank Sohar, as the negative answers are least chosen by the employees question (represented by C and D series in graph) are not very satisfied with motivation. 2. What do you think Bank Sohar should focus more in order to achieve staff motivation: Conclusion: Bank Sohar, staff are not happy with their salary as it wasn’t a good review for their salaries, but at least the rewarding system was playing a good part in their emotions. This can be easily understood by looking at the number who was happy with their salaries. 3. Is Bank Sohar providing the following selections to their employees fairly? Conclusion : Bank Sohar staff are not happy at all with the pension policies,where the level of satisfaction in the yearly bonuses was covering that percentage of motivation level which follows the promotion level, then it decreased again in the allowances increments. 4. Compared with other local banks, Bank Sohar provides good conditions to its staff? Conclusion: Bank Sohar staff is happy with the conditions which are provided to them as the calculation was very high in that level. Where some of them only are not satisfied at all, and at the lowest level was calculating in no nswers as most of them didn’t answer the question. 5. What makes you feel proud to work for Bank Sohar? Conclusion: The level of team work satisfaction was very high between Bank Sohar staff as one of the bank’s aim’s is to create a good environment and a strong team work, as it shown in the results that they are ha ppy with that strategy. 6. Does your current position satisfy your motivation level using the conditions? Conclusion: Bank Sohar staff are very happy with the conditions provided to them in their current passion where it was fluctuating between no answers and no comments, but in general they are happy with the conditions provided to them. 7. Which of the following banks would you like to apply in future? Conclusion: The staff are mostly satisfied and wish to continue working in the same environment in Bank Sohar. They are not satisfied to work with other banks in comparison. The highest result was calculating for Bank Sohar, so in general they are satisfied with the future chances which are provided to them. Chapter 4: 4. 1 Findings: On referring the observation depicted in the graphs, the human resources department of Bank Sohar is taking appropriate steps for maintaining the motivational levels of the employees. It closely monitors the employees and then relates their levels to their performances. The staff is happy with the policies and conditions provided to them and the staff satisfaction is in high levels. Highest levels of staff satisfaction in the bank can be achieved through continuous comparison the facilities which are provided to their staff with those of other banks, thus the bank will be able to identify the positive triggers which attract employees and consumers. The bank through this can identify its weak areas. Therefore the bank should look after other bank’s issues seriously and try to learn to not commit same mistakes and plan wisely to leap in the market. Some other measures to ensure staff motivation include: †¢The bank should do salary review from time to time. By improving the level of motivational facilities such as; increase the level of allowances, promotions, more development skills programs and rewarding system show positive levels of motivation. †¢Throughout the year, the staff is to be updated regularly about their performance. â⠂¬ ¢The bank needs to do more comparison with its competitor banks in term of motivating their staff. In general Bank is doing a very good job and they are always trying to motivate their staff and try to keep them for ever specially the experienced and skilled people. 4. 2 Recommendation : 1. Regular surveying is necessary to measure the motivational levels of the staff. This enables management to update various hindrances which cause de-motivation. 2. Personal opinion gatherings are essential to make the bonds between the management and employees which is essential for long term performance development. 3. By increasing the factors that cause the motivation, the company can instill motivation. For example vouchers limit can be enhanced. 4. By involving various levels of employees in the meetings to induce motivation into the lower levels of employees and help in overall staff development. 5. By sending the staff to other institutions for development and other educational programs, the motivation levels can be increased. Conclusion: Motivation level can be developed easily in Bank, as the management should keep in their minds that they are dealing with humans who need a special and very respective standard level. Generally management should follow a proper strategy in treating their staff by following the right procedures so as to intensify motivation and competition. Bank Sohar prioritizes the motivation of the employees as an important aspect in the whole bank’s functioning. The Human Resources Department of the bank regularly surveys and finds various ways to ensure the continuity of the motivational levels among the staff. The bank well understands that healthy competition and motivational are vital for dedicated performance. Bibliography: –www. banksohar. com –www. zawya. com –www. ameinfo. com –http://www. humanresources. hrvinet. com/questionnaire-method/ –Business Today Magazine (April 2011) –Times of Oman (dated 23 April 2011)

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Education and Richard Wright

During last week, I read 2 excerpts from Richard Wright and Malcolm X’ autobiographical writing. The interesting part is the authors both got self- educated by reading books while they were in tough situations because of racism. Although the way they accessed to education was different, they had a strong feeling that word could lift them up, and fight for their people after reading books. Ralph Ellison once said â€Å"If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to blind, imprison, and destroy. The similar quote is also right from Bel Kaufman, he said â€Å"Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money in that order; it is a process, a never ending one. † Words are the symbol human beings use to express what they want to say. It can be used in speaking and writing. Using words are the only thing people can do in order to communicate. Therefore when it comes to those who don’t have chance to learn in school, words will open the new whole world to them. That makes people escape from their ignorance, and enter to the world of education. Moreover, if people can use words fluently, it will be effective. Words do not have any physical power to kill, but mental power which can last in a long period of time. The quote of Ralph Elision is right, and it can apply in Richard Wright and Malcolm X’ situation. The criticism of people to Mencken makes Richard Wright curious, and brings him to books. The desire in writing letters, and the competition with his inmates bring Malcolm X to prison’s library to get dictionary and book. They both are brought to the new world, and find out their true feelings in reading books. With Richard, he thinks words can use as weapon to fight against unequal events in the world, reveal the truth of history, especially racism. On the other hand, Malcolm X tries to learn as many words as he can in order to fully understand the book, and gain more knowledge, which can help him gain respect of people around him. In the other quote, human come to education is not only for making money, it also helps people get the ideas how things work. Knowledge itself is the most important thing to make people realize the value of things, not just for making profit. Furthermore, knowledge is like the endless ocean, once people get into it, a lot of new things open to them. Thus, with Richard Wright and Malcolm X, whom dropped out of school, education is not a process to make money; it is the one that helps them understand what they lack of. As a writer, Richard Wright would think a lot about what needs to write. His mind would never end thinking to make more ideas, and give all he had into his books. Malcolm X was the same, he spent almost 15 hours per day to read, even though he was pretty successful at the time. Those two quotes are great philosophies. I learn a lot more from the quotes and through Richard Wright and Malcolm X’ self- educations. That’s good for me when I read them, and my mind opens wider.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Native American Names in schools essays

Native American Names in schools essays The Oxford Concise Dictionary defines mascot as a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular event or organization. I find it incomprehensible why Native Americans would not find their names being used as good luck charms honoring. I would find it personally honoring to be used as a good luck charm. I see it being sort of like the rally monkeys at the last World Series. They were seen as good luck, so a little boy dressed up as a monkey and was brought back to every game. Do you think that little boy was ever offended by being a good luck charm? No, he was proud to be thought of as good luck. Schools have pride in their mascots; they are their good luck charms. It is very hard to throw away your mascot for a new one. Pride is not something that can just be thrown away. Some schools have changed their mascots altogether like Potomac High School in Oxon Hill Maryland who changed their name from the Braves to the Wolverines. While other schools have altered their names like a school in New York that changed their name from the Redskins to the Red hawks. Name-calling could be associated with the use of Native American names and mascots. But name-calling will occur regardless of team names, its a part of childhood. Maybe my lack of contact with people of Native American decent have led me to be rather ignorant about native American issues. I do, however, have a friend of Native American decent who cleared up some issues for me. He gave me some insight into the offensiveness and mean spiritedness of some Native American names or mascots. He said that names like the Kansas City Chiefs with their mascot of an arrowhead is very flattering and honoring. A chief is a name that is associated with great honor and respect. An arrowhead is not an actual person and has negative feelings associated with it. The Washington Redskins are found to be highly of ...

Monday, November 4, 2019

'Australian banks have remained very sound by international Research Paper

'Australian banks have remained very sound by international standards,despite the global financial turmoil' observed the IMF, and impact on Australian Bank - Research Paper Example It is apparent that if a residential mortgage shock is joined with corporate losses, it will definitely harm banks. Local reports on Australian banks performance indicated that a stress test is based on a worse case scenario that would categorize other banks in the world in the same position (IMF 2010). In fact, it is argued that although such observations from the IMF stand to be correct, Australian banks were believed to obtain considerable aid from taxpayers and the Reserve Bank. Besides, it is argued that Australian federal government helps banks in events of crisis. Overall, reports have indicated that the Australian banking system was resilient during global financial crisis due to intensive supervision and regulation. Although, the four major Australian banks capital ratios are place below global average for large banks, their conservative approaches in implementing Base II framework indicates that their headline capital rations underestimate their capital strength. The major financial soundness indicators that these banks concentrated on include profitability, capital adequacy, asset quality and provisioning, and liquidity. On particular, the Australian banks’ loss given default rates are arguably higher than those of several other countries. Additionally, higher risk weights were endorsed for certain residential mortgages. Moreover, reduced risk weights, which are allowed in the Basel II framework’s standardized approach, were introduced for retail lending (IMF 2010). Nevertheless, the risk weighted assets numbers can not be comparable across nations. All in all, due to APRA’s conservative eligibility and deduction rules, Australian banks have a propensity of holding higher quality capital. According to RBA, in regard to Basel III requirements, banks will need to hold more and higher quality capital. In light with this, the Australian banks can be argued

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Walden Civil Disobedience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Walden Civil Disobedience - Essay Example (Whicher, 1945, 33-40) Walden was first published as Life in the Woods (Thoreau, 2004, iv) and the title itself is an accurate reflection of Thoreau’s setting for this non-fiction narrative on Transcendentalism. Thoreau’s work Walden focuses on his hiatus from mainstream society in which he took up residence on a plot of land just outside of Concord, Massachusetts. The land was owned by Thoreau’s mentor and friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau resided on the plot, near Walden Pond for just over two years and during that time he constructed a cabin and while he buys food, he supplements his budget by growing some of his food. Thoreau explains the setting for Walden in his opening chapter as follows: â€Å"When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had build myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I live there two years and two months.† (Thoreau, 2004, 1) The setting is not more than a prelude to simplicity. It is within this setting that Thoreau’s rhetoric thrives. The quasi-isolationist background and the simple lifestyle is thought provoking. Not only is Thoreau driven to contemplate, his reader is as well. Bickman puts Walden’s setting in its proper rhetorical perspective: â€Å"It embeds itself in the Western philosophical and religious tradition only to undermine its basic assumptions. And it engages all these complexities in the context of a plea for simplicity, simplicity. Its final wisdom is that there is no final wisdom, that all truths are mediate, volatile, and that what can be conveyed to a reader is not a teaching but an intensity of response to life.† (Bickman,1992, 121) This rhetoric is exposed in the manner in which Thoreau spends his time in his rustic setting. His mornings are consumed with

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Iraq Power Company Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Iraq Power Company Business Plan - Assignment Example We will provide electricity to all the localities including industries, hospitals, parks, houses etc. Our distribution would be as follows Our mission is to provide customers highest quality electrical services; our focus is on personalized services by offering convenient and rapid services. We have strong vendor relationship with most service conscious vendors, capable of shipping major parts rapidly (overnight too) minimizing the system downtime for the premiere electric customers. Iraq is an oil producing country situated in the Middle East, with the population of 28,945,657 (July 2009.est).the population growth rate is 2.507%. Its economy is mainly dominated by the oil sector, which provides 90% of foreign exchange earnings. Total government revenues have benefited from high oil prices in recent years; however, revenues have declined significantly since the oil price drop in fall 2008. Iraq is making some progress in building the institutions needed to implement economic policy. In March 2009 Iraq concluded a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the IMF that details economic reforms. Its GDP per capita is $4000. Its composition by sector is Nowadays the electric shortage in Iraq has become a problem and there are frequent blackouts. Due to the war there is much loss done and many of the power generation cables have been cut down posing a problem for the people. It needs new industries to be set up in various areas to solve the problem. At present electricity is provided only 8 hours a day at free of charge. The energy needs of Kurdish region have been ignored; it is working independently to electrical energy output through foreign assistance and private investment projects. The minister expects that by 2009 the region will produce enough energy to keep the lights on 24 hours a day. Vision Statement In 5 years it will become the major company generating electrical power to the country and establish its name in the whole of Middle East Mission Statement Earn people trust, be honest and lighten up Iraq. Engineering plan We will deal with generation, transmission and distribution of electric power as well as electrical devices connected to the system including generator, motors and transformers. Different forms of energies are converted to electrical energy. The transmission subsystem transmits the electricity to the load centers. The distribution subsystem continues to transmit the power

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Intercontinental Railway System - Amrak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Intercontinental Railway System - Amrak - Essay Example As an intercontinental railway system, it serves New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Sacramento, Baltimore, Albany-Rensselaer, San Diego, New Haven, Wilmington, Nelwark, Seattle, Portland, Irvine, BWI Airport, Providence, Milwaukee, Emeryville, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Boston, and Bakersfield. Thus, it caters the needs of 30.2 million people in America. Owing the expediency and high demand of its services, the company invested for projects to enhance their services and sustain the railway network (Vromans, Dekker, & Kroon, 2006). With the magnitude of services accorded to the public, it facilitated the interconnection of cities populated with diverse and multicultural communities. Amrak became instrumental too in cultural exchanges, in bridging people-to-people relations and intercultural immersion via travels, tourism, migration, and opportunities in other states which drive the influx of people from one place to another point of destination (Gapinski & T uckman, 1978). Experts opined that the contribution of this railway in shaping socio-cultural development and economic expansion in North America is more appreciable than in Europe. The railway was partly author of industrialization as this was the major transportation of business sector to-and-fro the mainland. This compelled the company to coordinate with all states served for its security as a matter of policy and as measures for public welfare. Legal coordination and networking to all states was an indispensable corporate strategy to accord passenger’s security. As a business, the railway is also one of the leading companies that are dependent on the consumption of energy and thus, also confront the challenges in the utilization of oil and gas amid call for ecological protection and regulation of pollution emission. Although it contributed much for economic advancement because it raked high revenue but there is a need to reevaluate and optimize the company’s expend itures because it has oddly spent $ 3.95 billion in 2011 when it only earned $ 2.71 billion in its operation (Dunn et, al., 1997). Cash flows need to be regulated in such measure that will not devalue the services and sacrifice its operations amid escalating cost in the market. With these stark realities, the company remained subject to the corporation, transportation, insurance, and security policies of the states served and by United States of America. If the policies are not liberally construed to also assist the condition of the company, then unsupportive policies will negatively impact to Amtrak’s operational activities, thus, may constrain its business relations with its passengers and cargo customers. Perl and Dunn (1997) pointed that Amtrak, as a quasi-public and profit –oriented corporation had some internal flaws since it dissociated itself from America's private railroads and from trust-fund financial scheme that could subsidize public transport. Perl and Du nn (1997) criticized its over dependency on political patrons and labor union for protection against executive budget cuts, thus, bleeding its operational cost too much by running the railway system with expensive contracts and services against its revenue. Although the company has undertaken serious

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Effect of Parents with PTSD on Children

Effect of Parents with PTSD on Children Dushica Djurovic Does Transmission of Trauma Influence Children of Parents with PTSD? War veterans may experience traumatic events that may influence their lives after the military; moreover, such traumatic experiences may affect lives of the veterans’ family members. One of these people who experience a trauma during military service is my uncle who went to the army when he was very young. There is not anything that can be the same again for my uncle. Although he was a smiling and pretty talkative person before he went to the army, six months after he became reticent and aloof. Family members who have known him since he was born were worried about his mood and behavior, and they wondered what happened to him. When his parents and a sister heard that his best friend, Mark, was shot right in front of my uncle while Mark and he were running into a bunker, they have realized the cause of his depressive behavior. The bloody picture of his friend shot in the back of head has been flowing in my uncle’s mind for a long time, and that picture became both his dai ly struggle and a night mere. He was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which is caused by the traumatic event he has experienced during the military combat. There are many ex-combatants who have experienced traumas during wars like my uncle, and such traumas may affect veterans’ family relationships (Bathory, page 71). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder may affect both a relationship with combat veterans’ children and relationships with their partners. According to Medscape Medical News that published the article about the high rate of PTSD in returning Iraq war veterans, the estimate rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans returning from Iraq embraces the range from 12% to 20% (Roehr). Individuals with PTSD tend to have a high level of anxiety and arousal, which manifests itself as difficult sleeping, impaired concentration, and the fear of being easily startled (Price). My uncle had difficulties such as sleeplessness and anxiety. Even though he had psychotherapy treatment for a few years after he returned home from the military service, his recovery was slow because of specific PTSD symptoms such as apathy and insomnia. As a result, his five-year-old son was not able to understand why his father was often pensive when he asked him for something. PTSD symptoms may be frightening for both parents and their kids. Children may also worry that their parent cannot properly care for them (Price). That is why children may be afraid of having a close relationship with their parents who are depressed or anxious, dealing with PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, such children may even become unhappy or reluctant to trust others, including their parents, because they do not feel loved and cared for their family members. Combat veterans may struggle trying to maintain relationships with their partners because people with PTSD may feel anxious talking with their wives and husbands about their traumatic experience. According to the American National Center for PTSD, the partners of the Vietnam Veterans with PTSD reported some effects of the veterans’ mental health problems such as lower levels of happiness, less satisfaction in their lives, and more demoralization that is manifested as the lack of hope, courage, and confidence (Stevens). If people who experience traumatic events do not use psychotherapy treatments, their intense emotions of guilt, grief, or fear may escalate. That may happen because they may not be able to handle their burden of war. As a result, war veterans may become physically and verbally aggressive to their partners, which may lead to divorce. The rates of divorce for Veterans with PTSD were about twice as great as for Veterans without PTSD (Kulka). Suffering from the effe cts of PTSD such as aggression, irritability, or anger, people may deal with certain relationship problems. Both parts, Maus I and Maus II emphasize two stories in which PTSD was transmitted from parents to their child. While one story is focused on Vladek Spiegelman’s survival of the Holocaust, another is focused on the relationship between Vladek and his son Artie. There is a strong bond that connects both stories. The clue lies in the different kinds of guilt that both of them feel, and such kind of guilty triggered PTSD in them. While Vladek, as a Holocaust victim, struggles when he realizes his luck by surviving from Nazi terror during the war, Artie struggles because he was lucky to be born after the war and avoid the suffering in Auschwitz that his family experienced. Furthermore, both of them have an open wound in their hearts: Vladek lost his wife and Artie his mother when she had a breakdown after the many hardships she endured through. Not only Holocaust survivors, but also their children suffer from their families experience. The main question that echoes in Vladek’s head is, â€Å"Why did he survive the Holocaust and not somebody else.† He feels guilty because he was lucky to survive the war which was responsible for millions of deaths. Vladek thinks that instead of him, somebody more worthy deserves to be alive. In order to avoid that feeling, he wants to turn his back on the painful past. He always avoids talking about it with Artie who becomes angry every time he tries to get information about his family. During my reading, I figured out that Vladek even pretends that he does not realize his son’s frustration and gets angry when Artie insists on getting the information. Instead of that, he behaves like everything between them is fine, ignoring any tension. Vladek’s experience at Auschwitz is a burden that flows in his mind, however, he desperately wants to live in the present and so he avoids talking about it. On the other hand, Artie constantly insists on hearing more info rmation about what his family experienced during the war. While he is irritated and often angry with Vladek’s behavior and cannot even imagine living with him under the same roof, his father wants to fix their relationship by spending time together. Vladek misses his wife, Anja, who had cared for him and for this reason he needs his son even more. For instance, he calls his son early in the morning to tell him that he needs his help fixing the drainpipe. Vladek tells him that he needs help by emphasizing the fact that he is an old, vulnerable man but actually it is about more than a drainpipe. He desperately needs his son’s love and attention. While he wants to enjoy spending time with his son and talking about the present, Artie wants to hear everything about the past. The more Vladek struggles with PTSD symptoms and wants to turn his back on the past, the more Artie insists on talking about it in order to get more information. That is why their relationship is broken and full of tension and misunderstanding. Every time Vladek talks about such a brutal experience that his family had, he digs deep into his heart, and becomes upset and more depressed. Not only people who experienced the Holocaust are its victims, but also their children who are born after the war as Artie was. Although he was born after the war, Artie also suffers from his parents painful memories. That memories caused PTSD and both parents as well as his son suffered from the same traumatic disorders. As the only member of his family who does not have a traumatic past, Artie struggles because he feels less worthy as somebody who did not suffer at Auschwitz. Moreover, he feels a burden because he did not do anything to deserve the comfortable life that he has. On the contrary, his family had to survive terrible suffering during the war to be still alive. Unfortunately, the majority of their relatives were not as a lucky as Vladek and Anja. Artie’s brother Richie did not survive the war. When the Germans started to take children from Srodula, Anja and Vladek, were living in the ghetto and in order to save their son’s life they sent Richie to Zawiercie with his aunt Tosha and her children, Bibi and Lonia. Unexpectedly, the Germans came a few months later to evacuate Zawiercie a nd send the rest of the Jewish population to Auschwitz. In order to avoid being sent with the children to Nazi gas chambers, Tosha decided to kill not just herself but also her children and Richie with poison. She chose the lesser of two evils. That tragedy left a deep scar on Anja and Vladek’s hearts. That scar even intensified their PTSDs. Richie was still their beautiful and intelligent baby. Even though they had Artie after the war, they are desperately trying to see their first baby in Artie’s eyes. This causes Artie to feel neglected. He would have never been able to be replaced with his brother, and that is why he feels less worthy than Richie. He feels guilty because of his inability to replace his brother for their parents, and the parents’ sorrow was transmitted to their sun making him a new PTSD sufferer. As we see from this story, Artie becomes a new Holocaust victim even though the event itself was in the past, before he was born. Another thread that connects both stories, Vladek’s escape from the Holocaust and the relationship between his son and him, is Anja’s death. Vladek, as her husband, blames himself for not having been able to save her. Artie blames his father because he destroyed Anja’s diaries which were his only reminder of his mother. After the war, Vladek did not pay enough attention to her and was not as kind as he had been before they were forced to go to the concentration camp, for this reason she became even more depressed and committed suicide. After her death, he wanted to destroy everything which reminded him of her. Furthermore, he became very depressed and cried when he read the comic called â€Å"The prisoner on the hell planet† that Artie published about his mother years ago. This is the only time readers of †Maus† are faced with Anja’s personality as a Holocaust victim. She felt alone and became more depressed after her son answered by say ing just â€Å"sure† and did not even looked at her when she asked him if he still loved her. From Artie’s comic strip about his mother, I realized that Artie’s cold reaction was not just one more thing for an already very depressed woman, a small step which pushed her over the edge. She already felt unloved and Vladek did not support and care about her. Artie called his father a murder when Vladek told him that he had destroyed her diaries. In my opinion, Vladek destroyed them in order to hide not just from his conscience but also from Artie the fact that he, as her husband, was guilty for the suicide his wife committed. Once again, the past influences Artie’s life and he is suffering because of the PTSD consequences his father and mother experienced after being in Auschwitz. Both stories, Vladek’s survival of the Holocaust and the broken relationship between Artie and him, are interlinked with the guilt they feel. Vladek feels survivor’s guilt, and although his son insists on it, he avoids talking about the past. Although he was not a victim of Auschwitz, Artie indirectly suffers from his parents PTSD and feels inadequate for having an easy life, while his parent’s had been put under so much thread. Moreover, Anja’s death forever left a deep scar on their souls, which intensified painful memories in Vladek and triggered PTSD in Artie. For this reason both, the father and son would have never been able to step completely into the present. Part of both of them would have always been in the past. This book teaches us that the more people tend to ignore their past, the more it holds onto them and their past experience, good and bad, can be passed from one generation to the next, and that is how PTSD transmission becomes intergener ational illness. Analyzing the literature, researchers found that in most studies, the children whose father were diagnosed with PTSD participating in combat, were more likely to suffer from distress than those children whose fathers did not participate in combat but experienced PTSD. However, there were a few clinical cases in which the number of fathers with PTSD but who did not participated in military was larger than the number of those fathers with PTSD but who experienced their traumas in military. Additionally, there is not clear definition of traumatic status that is still an ambiguous and inconsistent term (Kallerman, 2007). Davidson, Smith, and Kundler analyzed 108 outpatient veterans with PTSD, including 24 major depressives and 15 alcoholics, and reported the higher rate of psychiatric treatment among children of PTSD sufferers (Davidson, Smith, Kundler, 1989). Furthermore, PTSD were found in 6 families of PTSD, but none in the control group. Similarly, Parsons, Kehle, and Owen observed cases that were consisted 45 children of veterans, and 47 children of nonveterans, when they found that PTSD sufferers perceived children as having more dysfunctional social and emotional behavior, and difficulties in establishing and maintaining friendships. In these cases the types of behaviors were function of child’s gender and age (Persons, Kehle, Owen, 1990). In both of described studies, the fathers had status of those who were diagnosed with PTSD but the second study also included those fathers who were without PTSD. The target groups in both studies were consisted of Americans who participated in the Vietnam War or the World War II. Furthermore, Jordan et al. reported that veterans with PTSD showed markedly elevated levels of severe and diffuse problems in marital and family adjustment, parenting skills, and violent behavior. In his research the author was focused on 1,200 Vietnam veterans and 376 spouses or coresident partners of the veterans. Ruscio, Weathers, and King found that emotional numbing was the only aspects of PTSD uniquely associated with veterans’ perceived relationships with their children. The group included 66 male Vietnam veterans, and all of them had one or more children (Ruscio, Weathers, King, 2002). There is another research, done by Westerink and Giarratano, and such study consisted 22 children of veterans over the age of 15 years, and their fathers had the status of veterans with PTSD. The findings show that children of veterans reported higher levels of conflict in their families; there were no significant differences on measures of psychological distress and self-esteem from control groups (Westerink, Giarratano, 1999). In the case of my uncle who was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which is caused by the traumatic event he has experienced during the military combat, I realized that his son is more likely to become a new PTSD sufferer. That is because of the bloody picture of my uncle’s friend who was shot in the back of head, and such a bloody picture has been flowing in my uncle’s mind for a long time affecting even the behavior of his son. According to Maus, the book about the lives of Holocaust survivors after the Auschwitz, I realized that they transmitted their PTSDs to their son Artie. That caused many struggles in their relationships. I got sense that the clue lies in the different kinds of guilt that both of them feel. While Vladek, as a Holocaust victim and PTSD sufferer, struggles when he realizes his luck by surviving from Nazi terror during the war. On the other hand, Artie struggles because he was lucky to be born after the war and avoid the suffering in Aus chwitz that his family experienced. However, their parents’ PTSDs made him a new PTSD sufferer. According to studies I was reading, the results about transmission of PTSD from father to child show a various range of different findings. While some researchers reported that the children of fathers with PTSDs that were caused by military traumas, are more likely to suffer from the same, numerous others think that military traumas of ex-combatants cannot directly affect their children. To conclude, there are many researchers who are trying to narrow the scope of findings about PTSD transmission from father to child, however, a large range of multiple different results show that this area is much deeper and ambiguous than scholars expected. Works Cited Dekel, Rachel, and Hadass Goldblatt. Is There Intergenerational Transmission Of Trauma? The Case Of Combat Veterans Children. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 May 2015. Kellerman, N. (2007). Ha’avara shel traumat hasho’ah [Transmission of the Holocaust trauma]. In Z. Solomon J. Chaitin (Eds.), Yaldut betzel hasho’ah: Yeladim nitzolim ve’dor sheni [Childhood in the shadow of the Holocaust–survived children and second generation] (pp. 286 –303). Davidson, J., Smith, R., Kudler, H. (1989). Familial psychiatric illness in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 30, 339 –345. Parsons, J., Kehle, T. J., Owen, S. V. (1990). Incidence of behavior problems among children of Vietnam veterans. School Psychology International, 11, 253–259. Ruscio, A. M., Weathers, F. W., King, L. A., King, D. W. (2002). Male war-zone veterans’ perceived relationships with their children: The importance of emotional numbing. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 351–357. Westerink, J., Giarratano, L. (1999). The impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on partners and children of Australian Vietnam veterans. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 33, 841– 847. Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986 Kulka, Richard A. Partners Of Veterans With PTSD: Research Findings PTSD: National Center For PTSD. Ptsd.va.gov. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. Bathory, Dalia. History Of Communism In Europe: Vol. 4 / 2013. Google Books. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. Roehr, Bob. High Rate Of PTSD In Returning Iraq War Veterans. Medscape.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. Price, Jennifer L. Children Of Veterans And Adults With PTSD. Aaets.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. Stevens, Susan P. Partners Of Veterans With PTSD: Common Problems PTSD: National Center For PTSD. Ptsd.va.gov. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.