Duties and responsibilities of a US sailor Essay

Duties and responsibilities of a US sailor - Essay Example No other branch of the forces can beat the fury of these sailors’ binge drinking. However, their hard work and commitment to achieve their goals is well established. Responsibilities are given to a US sailor as early as in a boot camp. He is expected to learn to stand guard watch, and be responsible of any event that occurs within his area. There are Eleven General Orders that are Sentry-shaped to give an understanding of what being a U.S sailor means, responsible for equipment worth millions of dollars and many lives. The General Orders are the guiding principles of the responsibilities of a sailor, whether he is in boot camp, on the very first sail or finishing a 30-year career (Cutler, 2005). A U.S navy sailor must be always ready to come forward and take leadership roles, as an efficient concept of accomplishing his or her most basic responsibility of defending the State. When a certain task is given to a sailor, it is upon him to see that the task is accomplished precisely, rather than assuming that some other sailor will do it. In addition, a sailor should not drift through his time while in the navy. Each one of them must pay attention to all details no matter how small the matter may be. According to their guiding principles, attention to any detail may signify the difference between failure or success of a given task, and between life and death. A sailor is not expected to play favorites or put into effect the rules without considering honesty and neutrality. Permitting some sailors to ignore other rules will bring challenges in the field. Integrity in the Navy also requires that a sailor hold on to his or her responsibility no matter what comes on his or her way. This is the reason why their regulations provide that no sailor should quit in simple tasks. With this in mind, a sailor can never give up, even when he sees a likelihood of death, while carrying on his duties. In the Navy, a team is much greater than any individual sailor is. Given

Life Resource Center Scavenger Hunt Essay Example for Free

Life Resource Center Scavenger Hunt Essay Questions 1. What are the three ways that students may receive counseling services through the LRC? 2. What heading are the Health Tools and Health Challenges found under? 3. Where is the Assess Your Health tool located? 4. What are the five categories on the Live Healthy Page? 5. Where can resources and articles about good nutrition be found on the LRC? 6. What are three of the health topics that can be found on the LRC? 7. What are two categories found under the Medical Care heading? 8. Where on the LRC would a person find information on addiction and recovery? 9. Where on the LRC would a person find information about health issues related to aging? 10. What are three psychosocial health topics that are available on the LRC? Answers 1. Three ways that students can receive counseling services through the LRC is free and confidential resources of your Life Resource Center. If someone would like to speak to a Counselor over the phone or meet with a local counselor in-person, please call 866-320-2817 or use the online Request Appointment section located on the right side of this page. 2. The heading that the health tools and health challenges is found under the thriving heading 3. The asses your health tool is located under the thriving health tools category 4. The five categories that are listed on the live healthy page is How Healthy Are You, Lifestyle Change, Physical Fitness, Prevention and Screening, and Tips for Healthy Living. 5. The resources and articles about good nutrition can be found under the thriving tab under the good nutrition guidelines. 6. Three of the health topics that can be found on the LRC are Aging, Balancing, and Thriving. 7. Two categories that are found under the Medical Care heading are Dental care and Recuperation. 8. A person would find information on addiction and recovery under the Balancing Tab. 9. A person would find information about health issues related to aging under the Balancing tab/ Personal Growth 10. Three psychosocial health topics that are available on the LRC is Mental Health, Grief and Loss, and Addiction and Recovery.

All American Tragedy :: essays papers

All American Tragedy Without a doubt, most Americans can distinctly draw a picture in their minds of John Wilkes Booth†¦ The Civil War had ended five days previously with the surrender of General Lee. President Lincoln and the first lady had decided to take a night off and see a stage play at the Ford’s Theatre. An obviously enraged young actor preceded into the stage box a kills Lincoln, and then exits the theatre by jumping on to the stage and escaping through the back where a horse had been waiting. Booth tried to escape for good, but within two weeks he was killed in a violent ordeal near Bowling Green, VA. From the moment the shot rang out in that theatre, the American people knew who Booth was. An interesting note was that if Lincoln had seen the men who avenged the South, he would have recognized Booth immediately. This would have not came as a surprise to many, since John Wilkes was one of the most recognizable men in the country, according to the National Preservation Society, or NPS. Lincoln was an avid theatregoer, and on Nov. 9, 1863, after Booth had preformed The Marble Heart, the President asked around back stage if he could meet with the star. Booth, being the outspoken supporter of the South that he was, declined the offer. This was the first major clue of Booth’s strong dislike of Lincoln. Booth was surely not in need of attention. â€Å"Thought the Civil War, the Northern newspapers fell over each other as they showered the young actor with praise.† (NPS 2) Chris Mynk 71567 How then is it possible to reconcile the two conflicting impressions of John Wilkes Booth? The best answer would probably be that one must understand the environments in which produced him- the world of theater and the struggle between the North and the South. Booth was raised in a theatrical family, where Shakespearean works were recited as often as the bible. â€Å"As the struggle between the States wore on, the battlefields at Gettysburg and Antietam must not have seemed very different than the battlefield of Richard III.† (Williams 578) In his career, Booth died a dramatic death hundreds of times. Many scholars have voiced the opinion that the assassination was, perhaps, Booth’s greatest "performance". In 1899, Joel Chandler Harris, a contemporary of Booth's who would become famous for his Uncle Remus folk tales, wrote that Booth "had all the elements of genius but seemed powerless to focus them.

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - A Sane Man :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Hamlet: A Sane Man Hamlet was indeed a very sane man. He was only feigning madness to further his own plans for revenge. His words were so cleverly constructed that others will perceive him as mad. It is this consistent cleverness that is the ultimate evidence of his complete sanity. Can a mad person be so clever? No, a mad person cannot. Hamlet is sane and brilliant. After Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus see the ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to "feign madness". If Horatio is to notice Hamlet acting strange it is because he is putting on an act. "How strange or odd some'er I bear myself/(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on)/That you, at such times seeing, never shall,/With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake ,/Or by pronouncing of some doutful phrase,/As "Well,well,we know," or "We could an if we/would,"/Or "If we list to speak," or "There be an if they/might,"/Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note/That you know of me-this do swear,/(I,v,190-201).Hamlet states that from this point forward I may act weird but to ignore my acts of madness for they are just that, acts, and are in no way a sign of true madness. Only a sane and rational person could devise such a plan as to act insane to convince others that he is insane when he actually has complete control over his psyche. Hamlet only acts mad when he is in the presence of certain characters. When he is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern he acts completely irrational. When Hamlet is around Horatio, Bernardo, Fransico, the players, and the gravediggers Hamlet acts completely sane. When Hamlet and Polonius meet in II,ii Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger and makes strange conversation with him. In IV,iii Hamlet refuses to tell Claudius were he has hidden the body of Polonius and goes on about how Polonius is at supper. When Hamlet encounters Gertrude in her closet, an unusual place, in III,iv. He yells at his own mother. In II,i Hamlet enters Ophelia's closet, a highly unusual act, he is dressed badly, and acts very strange towards her. Claudius and Polonius set up a clandestine meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia in III,i. Ophelia then tries to return some gifts that Hamlet gave to her and Hamlet claims that he did not give her any gifts and that he never loved her at all. During the play in III,ii Hamlet sexually harasses Ophelia in front of the entire audience of the play. In IV,ii Hamlet refuses to tell Rosencratz

Organization and Management Analysis Essay

Organizational and management analysis are an essential part of organizational environment. In the modern world, working environment characteristics are team work, delegation, information technology interfaces, which have an impact on the effectiveness of organization and management. This helps in cost reduction, decrease in environmental waste, improved employee satisfaction and an increase in overall productivity. To have an organizational and management analysis review of organizational charts, meeting with department managers, executives or board members, and an organizational survey is necessary (Jones, 2006). A multi-dimensional examination of organizational and management analysis gives a complete picture of the actual situation which can be a starting point. This paper is to describe various organizational theories, compares management theories and styles, and explains which organizational theory and management style resembles our organization. Also, this paper explains what could be changed to make our organization better. Organizational Theories Organizational theory is to identify how they solve problems and how they maximize efficiency and productivity. These theories mostly derived from the activities of successful organizations. All of these theories contributes to the overall understanding of management. As in any other theories organizational theories provide the basis for ongoing research and application of human behavior in organizational settings. Classical Organizational Theory Focus on the theories of efficiency. The components include scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory. Scientific management focus on getting the best from the people, equipment, and business. So that productivity can be increased. In this, the workers got scientifically selected, trained and taught for the work. On the other hand, bureaucratic theory focus on establishing a hierarchy, division of labor, rules, and regulations. In the current world, many of the managers think that bureaucratic theory is a hindrance to employees’ creativity. Administrative theory establishes a set of management principles and functions that applied to the organizations. This serves as a centralized  decision making approach (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Neoclassical Organization Theory This theory emphasizes effective and sociopsychological aspects of human behaviors in an organization. As we see in many of the current organizations many of the managers motivate, lead, build trust, work with the team, manage conflicts is all based on the organizational performance approach. The way manager design jobs, work with the employees, the method of communication is general in the behavioral approach. Productivity increases in an environment with coherence of values and purpose. The key is to maintain equilibrium where subordinates respect and believe managerial authority (Chron, 2014). Contingency Theory This is a management approach that recognizes each organization as different, which means that each organization faces different situations and requires different ways of managing. This helps the management to understand that there are no universal rules for managers to follow. Instead of looking into the universal rules, the manager must look on to the individual situation and determine the best and efficient way to manage the situation ideally. Different changing circumstances require managers to use different approaches and techniques. There are no simple or complex rules to follow. Managers are able to take decisions based on the conditions (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Systems Theory The system theory approach explains that organizations take information form the environment and transforms these resources into outputs into the environment. This theory explains the interrelatedness of all parts of an organization and how one change in one area can affect multiple other parts. In this, all the units work together to achieve the organizational goals. Organization depends upon inputs form capital, government regulations, suppliers, information technology, human resources, to receive the output of financial results, products, services and information (Liebler & McConnel, 2012). Organizational theory suits our Organization The organizational theory that closely resembles our organization is the  Contingency Theory. Adapting to the new changes in the environment is the basis for Contingency theory. This theory is important for managerial and organizational success. We have recently adopted Electronic Medical Records, and we are in the adaptation stage of information technology. Manager takes decision based on the current circumstances, which is logical because the units within our organization differ in size, structure, capacity, work activities, and goals. So a universally acceptable theory will not work in all situations. Different situations require different theories of management. Some situation the division of labor and bureaucracy is desirable which supports the classic theory. Other situations structural design becomes effective. Depends on the situation the manager takes the stand. Contingency theory claims that there is no best way to design an organization. There is no written rule on what is the best or the universal solution for the problems in our organization. There is no best way to organize a corporation or to lead a company. Also, the theory that works in our organization may not work for other organizations (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Compares Management Theories and Styles Managers communication with the subordinates reflects a cluster of styles which the management styles. Managers use different style in different situations. Generally, we can see one style generally emerges as the predominant mode of interaction. Autocratic manager makes independent decisions without much input from subordinates. The manager clearly dictates what, how, when and where things for the employees there is no room for employee initiatives. An autocratic style is least effective and desirable for motivating employees. Another management style is the bureaucratic management style in which the manager follows the rule and ensures that the employees follow the rules â€Å"as well â€Å". They go by the book and the rules and enforced strictly. In this, the employees enjoy less freedom. No exceptions permitted. Participative management is which the manager makes the final decisions, but the employees are involved in this process. Both the manager and the employees involved in the decision making process. Decision made as a cohesive group interaction. Everyone might not accept managers decision. Another type is the Laissez-faire style in which the manager allows employees to manage their own work. No supervision provided. In this, the  individuals should be self-motivated. This can result in disorganization, chaos and lack of direction. Finally, in Paternalistic style the manager makes the decision to benefit the employees. Manager treats employees like children. In this style, the employees become dependent on their manager (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). Management Theory and Style suits our Organization In our organization, there is no one management style that fits to all situations. In my observation, the manager’s shifts form one style to another when they face different groups and situations. When it comes to the policies and procedures, in my observation it is bureaucratic style, top level managers are following autocratic management style, and my immediate manager has a participative style who consults with the employees for decision making. So far I have not encountered any Laissez-faire management style in our place. In the new hire orientation managers follow paternalistic style. For a successful manager, the management style depends on the given situation. If a work environment does not require any close supervision, the managers may select any styles. When employees are unskilled, autocratic style is most efficient. In the current world, changes impacts the manager’s task. It includes economic and political uncertainty, ethical issues, security threats, and changing technology. All these call for different management styles depends on the manager’s involvement. Changes towards Organizational Advancement Organizations deal with challenges in this worldwide economic climate, changing technology and increased globalization. A manager should understand the critical issues and use skills and abilities during challenging times in an organization. A great manager can change your life, encourage employees professionally and personally, energize people to overcome challenges and instill team spirit. Such a manager can make job enjoyable and productive. Manager should create an environment in which the organization members can work to the best of their abilities and think creatively. In order to make the organization better people should support, coach, and find meaning and fulfilment in work. Also have up-to-date information about the new innovative ideas. It is important to be competitive and sustain in the  business world. Develop the networking ability, communicate effectively and be sincere and genuine with others (Coutler & Robbins, 2012). Conclusion In conclusion as we have seen in any organizational performance, managerial ability is very important in creating organizational values. Different management theories and styles range from prohibiting staff from making any decisions to fully delegating the decision-making power. No management style is consistently effective. Situational factors should be taken into consideration in the selection of an effective and efficient management style. The study of organizational theories and management styles is essential in this modern organizational, working environment. References: Chron. (2014). Organizational Theory. Retrieved from http://http:www.smallbusiness.chron/organizational-theory. Coulter, M. & Robbins, S.P. (2012). Management. (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Jones, J. (2006). How to Analyze an Organizational Structure. Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com/analyze-organizational-structure-11818.html. Liebler, J.G. & McConnell C.R. (2012). Management Principles for Health Professionals. (6th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Use Fake Facts on Explorers to Teach Internet Research

Use Fake Facts on Explorers to Teach Internet Research If you Google the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, one of the top results youll get is a web page from the website  All About Explorers  that states: In 1519, at the age of only 27, he was supported by  several wealthy businessmen, including Marco Polo, Bill Gates, and Sam Walton, to finance an expedition to the Spice  Islands. While some facts in this information are accurate -namely the year of Magellans expedition to the Spice Islands- there are others that might set off alarms. Educators would know that Microsofts Bill Gates or Wal-Marts Sam Walton would not be around for another 500 years, but would students? There is recent research that suggests that many students in our middle schools, high schools, or  college would not question the information given about the life of this 15th Century explorer. After all, this website  looks  like a credible source! That is exactly the problem that the  Stanford History Education Group  (SHEG) discovered in a report titled  Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning. This report released November 2016 tracked the research skills of students in middle, high school or college using a series of prompts. The study prototyped, field tested, and validated a bank of assessments that tap civic online reasoning. (see 6 Ways to Help Students Spot Fake News) The results of SHEGs study indicated that many students are  not prepared to distinguish accurate from inaccurate accounts  or  decide when a statement is relevant or irrelevant to a given point. SHEG suggested that  when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, they are easily duped  pronouncing  our  nations  students ability to research in one word: bleak.    But that   AllAboutExplorers website  is one bogus website that  should not be shut down. Use The AllAboutExplorers Website  for Internet Research Practice Yes, there is plenty of misinformation on site. For example, on the webpage dedicated to Juan Ponce de Leon, there is the reference to  an  American multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company that was founded in 1932:   In 1513 he was hired by Revlon, a cosmetic company, to search for the Fountain of Youth (a body of water that would enable you to look young forever). In truth, the  misinformation on the  AllAboutExplorers  website is intentional, and all of the misinformation on the site was created to serve  an important educational purpose-to better prepare students in intermediate and middle schools to understand how to research accurately and completely using evidence that is valid, timely, and relevant. The about page  on the site states: AllAboutExplorers  was developed by a group of teachers as a means of teaching students about the Internet. Although the Internet can be a tremendous resource for gathering information about a topic, we found that students often did not have the skills to discern useful information from worthless  data. The AllAboutExplorers  site was created in 2006 by educator Gerald Aungst,(  Supervisor of Gifted and Elementary Mathematics in the Cheltenham School District in Elkins Park, PA) and Lauren Zucker,(Library Media Specialist in Centennial School District). Their collaboration 10 years earlier confirms what the SHEG research has recently concluded, that most students cannot tell  good information from bad. Aungst and Zucker explain on the website that they created  AllAboutExplorers in order to develop a series of lessons for students in which we would demonstrate that just because it is out there for the searching does not mean it is  worthwhile. These educators wanted to make a point  about  finding useless information on a site that was designed to look believable. They note that  all of the Explorer biographies here are fictional and that they purposefully mixed facts with  inaccuracies, lies, and even downright absurdities. Some of the absurdities that have been mixed with facts on famous explorers on this website include: Lewis Clark:...in 1795, they became the charter subscribers to the National Geographic Magazine. Both were so mesmerized by the stunning color photographs in the glossy publication that they determined–completely separately–to become world-famous  explorers. It wasn’t until 1803, when Thomas Jefferson saw an intriguingly brief posting by Napoleon Bonaparte on Craig’s List for a large tract of  land:  For Sale:  Louisiane, a tract of land in the middle of the North America. Acreage unknown. Contains the fourth longest river in the world. â‚ ¬60,000,000 OBO, local shipping included. Serious inquiries  only.Christopher Columbus: He  knew he had to make this idea of sailing, using a western route, more popular. So,  he produced and appeared on infomercials  which aired four times daily. Finally,  the King and Queen of Spain called his toll-free number  and agreed to help  Columbus. The authors have provided readers the cautions not to  use this site as a source of reference for research. There is even a satiric  update on the site that mentions a lawsuit settlement on a   (fake) claim that the information unfairly caused failing grades for students who used the information via the website.   The authors can be followed on  Twitter: aaexplorers.  Their website confirms SHEG reports that states there  are scores of websites pretending to be something they are not. In addition to the elaborate hoaxes on explorers there are more serious and credible  lesson plans designed to introduce students to the skills and concepts of good Internet researching: Just Because Its Out There Doesnt Mean Its GoodSo How Do You Find the Good Stuff?Google, What?Where Exactly Am I?How Could They Be So Wrong? Research Standards for Social Studies Research is not exclusive to any discipline, but the  National Council for the Social Studies has outlined specific standards for research in their  College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History   There is the standard:  Dimension 4, Communicating Conclusions  for grades 5-12,   the intermediate and  middle school grades levels (5-9) that could benefit from the lessons on the  AllAboutExplorers: D4.2.3-5. Construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.D4.2.6-8. Construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data, while acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of the explanations.D4.1.9-12. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.   The European explorers are generally studied in grades 5 as part of American Colonial History; in grade 6 7 as part of European exploration of Latin and Central America; and in grades 9 or 10 in the study of colonialism in global studies classes.   The website AllAboutExplorers provides educators an opportunity  to help students  learn how to negotiate the Internet in research. Teaching students to better explore the web can be improved by introducing students to this website on famous explorers.

Sister City Program Dalian and Oakland Cities

Sister City Program Dalian and Oakland Cities Introduction In the international system, the idea of sister city program was established in 1958, even though little emphasis was placed on international trade and economic cooperation. In the mid 1960s to early 1970s, the focus shifted on economic, trade, and cultural cooperation.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Sister City Program: Dalian and Oakland Cities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This was attributed to the increased participation in the plan by Chinese and Japanese cities, which were considered some of the best places to conduct business in the world owing to the massive business opportunities and expansive markets. Chinese cities, including the Dalian city, are taking part in the program due to China’s official entry into the World Trade Organization in 20011. China’s decision to join the sister city program is motivated by the special features, which are relevant to the American- Chinese relations. The main aim Dalian and Oakland cities is to engage in economic cooperation, which in their context means an obligation to augment financial and commercial interests in the two cities on a reciprocally beneficial terms. The two cities perceive the sister program as a centre or preliminary level for the establishment of a wider system of joint engagements (memoranda of understanding). The cooperation of the two cities is a prove that business and cultural and business practices in China are gradually changing in a way consistent to the western practices. However, the cultural practice of guangxi, popularly referred to as the personal networks, is one of the major impediments that are usually considered when designing policies that would govern the relations between the two cities2.Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the United States, the idea of sister cities was brought into light by the former president, Dwight Eisenhower. His statement signified that the major objective of the sister city program was to encourage durable developmental networks in terms of communication, which would automatically reduce conflicts and misunderstandings. This paper analyzes the cooperation between Oakland city situated in California and Dalian city in China. Major Negotiations The major negotiations between the two cities entail education and culture, which have led to the establishment of additional negotiations related to business connections. The city of Oakland have established negotiations aiming at strengthening ties between universities, which is one way of strengthening cultural ties3. The Liaoning Normal University in China is one of the institutions of high learning cooperating with the Oakland city to strengthen cultural ties between the Oakland city and Dalian city. Furthermore, the chambers of commerce of both citi es are under negotiations to strengthen business connections, which would definitely strengthen economic development between China and the United States.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Sister City Program: Dalian and Oakland Cities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In 2004, the chamber of commerce in Oakland city and the chamber of commerce in Dalian city signed an agreement that would enable them cooperate in matters related to conducting exchange programs in business, which was meant to generate business development in the two cities. The companies in Oakland city would move to China in partnership with the Dalian entrepreneurs to open up joint business that would open up Dalian city to the global investors. The role of the Oakland companies was to stimulate trade by leading as an example to the local companies. A delegation of Oakland city’s professionals have been visiting the Dalian city each ye ar to evaluate the effectiveness of the trade agreement signed in 2004. Through the cooperation of the two cities, string links have been established in the field of food processing, monetary services, and automotive trade. Culturally, the two cities have negotiated a deal that would allow American trade mission participants to return home with massive knowledge of the Chinese market and vice versa. American firms have been performing dismally in China due to the differences in culture between the two countries. Understanding the behavior of the market is one of the strategies that would help a company or an organization to outdo others in the market. Therefore, the city of Oakland came up with a plan that would enable American investors to participate in cultural shows and programs in China to help them understand the Chinese market. The American investors have come to the realization that it would take them time to learn and understand the Chinese culture. In this regard, the city of Oakland came up with a program to facilitate easy flow of trade, without considering cultural differences4. In the Dalian city, students from Oakland have an opportunity of interacting with their follow students at the Missouri State University branch.Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This implies that the two cities have allowed their universities to negotiate over the possibility of establishing branches in the two cities. The interactions are vibrant because they promote future business connections. Liaoning Normal University and Missouri State University operate jointly a business program at the Missouri University in Dalian city5. Chinese students are encouraged to pursue a course in business with supervision from the Missouri State University. It is established that the corporate culture of Chinese and Americans is very different. The combination of the two corporate cultures would be beneficial to students and business executives. In 2005, the two cities negotiated a deal that would see Chinese students learning English language, a program referred to as the English Corner. Similarities between Dalian City and the Oakland City Dalian city was given full authority to operate as an independent city given its potential and ability to expand. It was to serve a s a coastal open-up city, with a separate economic plan introduced in 1985, whose decision-making authority would come from the provincial headquarters. The urban population of the city is over fifty-seven percent implying that it has a good market for the finished products, given the fact that urban people spend differently from those living in rural areas. The city has favorable environment for investment, with an average temperature of less than 11 decrees. It has one of the reliable airports in the region, which serves both local and international citizens. Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport is situated at northwest of the town center6. It has direct flights to the mainland Chinese towns, as well as flights to other major international cities, including Seoul, Hong Kong, and Osaka. In the recent past, the economic strength of the two has gone up, with an approximated GDP growth of 257 billion Yuan. Since 1996, the city has experienced a growth in the growth domestic product. Industrial g rowth is approximated to b 21 billion Yuan. In other words, the growth of the city is ever growing as indicated by the GDP indicators. The city has experienced massive growth in agriculture, trade, tourism, and processing. In sports, the city has attracted various investors and sportsmen, which has boosted the economic growth of the city. The city has one of the greatest natural harbors, which has helped it in attracting investors and tourists. The harbor does not slit. It does not freeze either. Investors in the northern China region, as well as other investors from various parts of Asia rely on the harbor. The city is also rich in culture given the fact that Chinese paper cuts considered rich in content. People from the region believe that auspicious designs are the sign of luck. The designs are also known to keep the devil at bay. Other designs, such as the child, lotus, and bottle gourd are believed to represent the presence large families. The city engages in various economic a ctivities, including domestication of birds, rearing of livestock, and fish keeping. These activities have boosted the growth of the city. Oakland city shares a lot with the Dalian city in China. Just the way Dalian city is depended upon on many things, Oakland city is also valued in the US because it is considered the seventh developed city in the country7. A report released by Forbes Magazine placed Oakland city at number ten as the best city to invest. The population of Oakland is favorable to business because the average age of population in the city is 25 percent. The temperature of the city can be compared to that of Dalian because it is also favorable to business and tourism. Many investors and tourists prefer the city because it has cool weather for business. Oakland International Airport is similar to Dalian Airport because it serves very many people from domestically and internationally. For instance, the Oakland Airport served 13.5 million passengers and 0.6 million tons of cargo in 2003 alone. The 2003 airport passenger data shows that the city is a major hub for international businesses and tourists. Oakland boosts of a bay area while Dalian is well known for its harbor. This implies that the two cities have been able to grow due to their proximity to the sea. The bay area is usually relied upon in terms of information technology, biotechnology, and investment. In fact, other cities are fighting so hard to be like Oakland city meaning that it serves as an example to other cities in the US. The city is endowed with young talented labor force, developed real estate business, strong administration, and developed infrastructure. This has attracted investment and tourism. The port of Oakland is among the largest in North America in the world. The port serves many states in the US and other neighboring countries. The city is compared to Dalian city because they both influence transport in their respective regions. Just as Dalian city boosts of rich work s of art and design, the city of Oakland is also known for its internationally acclaimed Museum, which has an excellent Babylonian style roof. The museum is dedicated to promoting natural sciences and history. Any information regarding the city of California can easily be retrieved from the museum’s database. One of the publishing firms, Prentice Hall, rated the museum the best in the country. This has strengthened the ties between the city and other cities in the world. International Trades International refers to the exchange of goods and services between or among investors from different countries. The Oakland city and the Dalian city are involved in various international trades, including inter-firm trade, intra-industry trade, and intra-industry trade. It should be understood that all forms of international trades entail importation and exportation of goods and services. The two cities are seriously engaged in importation and exportation of finished goods and human labor . However, the modes of importation and exportation of goods are different since entry of goods and exit of goods in a country is controlled by the state due to security reasons. The two cities engage in intra-industry trade because goods produced exported to the city are similar to those produced in the same city. Intra-industry trade means that an investor orders goods from another country, which are similar to what are produced locally. This has been advocated to boost the production and quality standards of goods produced in the two cities. In the United States, goods produced locally are usually expensive due to the costs involved in producing them. For instance, food produced locally is extremely expensive because of the costs related to labor and importation of raw materials. Similar goods are cheaper when imported from China because the cost of producing them there is very low. The city of Oakland imports automobiles from China because they are cheaper when compared to those produced in the country. Similarly, the city of Oakland exports food to China because the production of food in the US is cheaper8. Regarding intra-firm trade, the city of Oakland has entered into trade agreements with Chinese firms to produce goods with similar standards as those produced in the city. The same case applies to the Dalian city, which has various outlets in Oakland producing goods that are similar to those manufactured in Dalian city. The Oakland city exports materials to the Dalian city while investors in the Dalian city import unfinished products from Oakland city. This is inspired by the fact that the two cities differ in terms of technology9. A product manufactured in Oakland may demand that a certain special skill or machine is imported from Dalian city. Instead of importing labor and machinery, it would be cheaper to export the raw material. It is the role of the commerce chambers of the two cities to agree on the modalities of importing and exporting goods. Ma intaining Relationships The existing economic and cultural cooperation between the two cities can only flourish if a strong conflict resolution mechanism is established. The main conflicts that would probably derail the cooperation between the two cities are related to trade, such as unfavorable balance of trade whereby one of the cities would perceive that it is not reaping maximally from the relationship. In this regard, it is the responsibility of the cities’ managements to ensure that conflicts are resolved before they escalates into something complex that would impede the relationship of the two cities. In the current international system, the major challenges include the security problem, which has been complicated by the terrorist organizations and Islamic extremism. The 9/11 incident showed that terrorism and extremism are the major threats to world business and cooperation. The two cities cannot coexist in case they do not come up with ways of stemming out terrorism because they are all affected. Terrorism is one of the challenges referred to as the global common because no state is safe as far as the activities of terrorism are concerned. Cooperation between the two cities could be brought to a halt in case they do not address the issue of terrorism. In this case, they should consider formulating policies that would be applied in the two cities. This is mainly because terrorists can take advantage of the free movement of goods and people to exercise their heinous acts of terrorism. If security prevails, the two countries will continue cooperating, but if something related terrorism occurs, they will have no option, but to cut their cooperation. Another issue that the two cities need to address in order to further their relations is the issue of trust, understanding, and civilization. They have to come up with clear policies that would govern their relations as regards to investment because Chinese investors have always complained that their Am erican counterparts are given undue advantage because they are favored by the organization in charge of trade in the world (WTO)10. Lastly, the two states can do well economically if they realize that global financial crisis is a threat to their cooperation. Future International Business Projects Through research, it is established that the two cities have great future in case they maintain their cooperation. However, they have to do more in order to boost their cooperation in the future. They have to come up with joint business projects to facilitate their growth. The two cities should come up with a taxation system that would be applied uniformly within the borders of the two cities because it would encourage investors to shift freely from one city to the other. Moreover, they should enact business laws that favor investors in the two cities. Investors from the two cities should be involved in the designing of laws to prevent any complaints in the future. Bibliography Bagwell, Bet h. Oakland: The Story of a City. Novato: Presidio Press, 1982. Eltschinger, Cyrill. Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT Outsourcing. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Haft, Jeremy. All the Tea in China: How to Buy, Sell, and Make Money on the Mainland. New York: Penguin, 2007. Jessen, Gene. The Powder Puff Derby of 1929. New York: Sourcebooks, 2009. Lippincott, Jonathan. The World is flat. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006. McKnight, Tom. Geographica: the Complete Illustrated Atlas of the World, 3rd revision. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2001. Perrins, Robert. Great connections: The creation of a city, Dalian, 1905–1931. Quebec: York University, 2005. Siegelman, Stephen. Trader Vics Tiki Party! Oakland: Ten Speed Press, 2005. Tramble, Thomas, and Wilma Tramble. The Pullman Porters and West Oakland. New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2007. Ulrich, Allan. â€Å"Oakland Ballet Company review: Witty and eclectic.† San Francisco Chronicle 3.1 (2011): 29- 65. Footnotes 1Jonathan Lippincott, The World is flat (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006), 37. 2Tom McKnight, Geographica: the Complete Illustrated Atlas of the World, 3rd revision (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2001), 19. 3Stephen, Siegelman, Trader Vics Tiki Party! (Oakland: Ten Speed Press, 2005), 78. 4Allan Ulrich, â€Å"Oakland Ballet Company review: Witty and eclectic,† San Francisco Chronicle 3.1 (2011): 35. 5Robert Perrins, Great connections: The creation of a city, Dalian, 1905–1931 (Quebec: York University, 2005), 15. 6Cyrill Eltschinger, Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT Outsourcing (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2007), 39. 7 Gene Jessen, The Powder Puff Derby of 1929 (New York: Sourcebooks, 2009), 78. 8 Thomas Tramble and Tramble Wilma. The Pullman Porters and West Oakland (New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 24-57. 9Beth Bagwell, Oakland: The Story of a City (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1982), 48. 10Jeremy Haft, All the Tea in Chin a: How to Buy, Sell, and Make Money on the Mainland (New York: Penguin, 2007), 88.

The United States Economy in World War I

The United States Economy in World War I When war broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, a sense of dread rippled through the American business community. So great was the fear of contagion from tumbling European markets that the New York Stock Exchange was closed for more than three months, the longest suspension of trade in its history. At the same time, businesses could see the enormous potential the war might bring to their bottom lines. The economy was mired in recession in 1914, and the war quickly opened up new markets for American manufacturers. In the end, World War I set off a 44-month period of growth for the United States and solidified its power in the world economy. A War of Production  Ã‚   World War I was the first modern mechanized war, requiring vast amounts of resources to equip and provision massive armies and provide them with the tools of combat. The shooting war was dependent on what historians have termed a parallel â€Å"war of production† that kept the military machine running. During the first two and a half years of combat, the United States was a neutral party and the economic boom came primarily from exports. The total value of U.S. exports grew from $2.4 billion in 1913 to $6.2 billion in 1917. Most of that went to major Allied powers like Great Britain, France, and Russia, which scrambled to secure American cotton, wheat, brass, rubber, automobiles, machinery, wheat, and thousands of other raw and finished goods. According to a 1917 study, exports of metals, machines, and automobiles rose from $480 million in 1913 to $1.6 billion in 1916; food exports climbed from $190 million to $510 million in that same period. Gunpowder sold for 33 cents a pound in 1914; by 1916, it was up to 83 cents a pound. America Joins the Fight   Neutrality came to an end when Congress declared war on Germany on April 4, 1917, and the United States began a rapid expansion and mobilization of more than 3 million men. Economic historian Hugh Rockoff writes: â€Å"The long period of U.S neutrality made the ultimate conversion of the economy to a wartime basis easier than it otherwise would have. Real plant and equipment were added, and because they were added in response to demands from other countries already at war, they were added in precisely those sectors where they would be needed once the U.S. entered the war.† By the end of 1918, American factories had produced 3.5 million rifles, 20 million artillery rounds, 633 million pounds of smokeless gunpowder, 376 million pounds of high explosives, 21,000 airplane engines, and large amounts of poison gas.  Ã‚   The flood of money into the manufacturing sector from both home and abroad led to a welcome rise in employment for American workers. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped from 16.4% in 1914 to 6.3% in 1916. This fall in unemployment reflected not only an increase in available jobs but a shrinking labor pool. Immigration dropped from 1.2 million in 1914 to 300,000 in 1916 and bottomed out at 140,000 in 1919. Once America entered the war, around 3 million working-age men joined the military. About 1 million women ended up joining the workforce to compensate for the loss of so many men. Manufacturing wages increased dramatically, doubling from an average $11 a week in 1914 up to $22 a week in 1919. This increased consumer buying power helped stimulate the national economy in the later stages of the war. Funding the Fight   The total cost of America’s 19 months of combat was $32 billion. Economist Hugh Rockoff estimates that 22 percent was raised through taxes on corporate profits and high-income earners, 20 percent was raised through the creation of new money, and 58% was raised through borrowing from the public, mainly through the sale of â€Å"Liberty† Bonds. The government also made its first foray into price controls with the establishment of the War Industries Board (WIB), which attempted to create a priority system for the fulfillment of government contracts, set quotas and efficiency standards, and allocated raw materials based on needs. American involvement in the war was so short that the impact of the WIB was limited, but the lessons learned in the process would have an impact on future military planning. A World Power   The war ended on November 11, 1918, and America’s economic boom quickly faded. Factories began to ramp down production lines in the summer of 1918, leading to job losses and fewer opportunities for returning soldiers. This led to a short recession in 1918–19, followed by a stronger one in 1920–21. In the long term, World War I was a net positive for the American economy. No longer was the United States a nation on the periphery of the world stage; it was a cash-rich nation that could transition from a debtor to a global creditor. America had proved it could fight the war of production and finance and field a modern volunteer military force. All of these factors would come into play at the start of the next global conflict less than a quarter-century later. Test your knowledge of the homefront during WWI. Sources The Economics of World War Iï » ¿Federal Reserve Bulletinï » ¿. p. 952. Oct. 1, 1919, Washington, D.C.Fraser. â€Å"War and Postwar Wages, Prices, and Hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 852.†Ã‚  FRASER.Jefferson, Mark. Our Trade in The Great War. Geographical Review. American Geographical Society, 1917, New York.â€Å"Legal Immigration to the United States, 1820-Present.†Ã‚  Migrationpolicy.org.Perspectives, Advisor. â€Å"100 Years Ago, The New York Stock Exchange Experienced A 4-Month Long Circuit Breaker.†Ã‚  Business Insider. 29 July 2014.â€Å"Social Security.† Social Security History.Sutch, Richard. â€Å"Liberty Bonds.†Ã‚  Federal Reserve History.â€Å"World War I Centenary: 100 Legacies of the Great War.†Ã‚  The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Company.

Image of nursing speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Image of nursing speech - Essay Example This question can be answered by arguing that, despite these other professions being portrayed inaccurately with stereotypes; they do not possess the same â€Å"baggage† as nursing. For example, despite the mockery, medicine and law are respected professions whose practitioners are usually assumed as well educated and competent. It should be understood that the work of a nurse is equally demanding, and most of the nurses have advanced in their career education, yet for several reasons the public take us for granted. There are several antecedents of nursing image, most of the antecedents have painted negatively nursing image, they include: media; the media have fuelled majority of the stereotypes, in that it usually portrays nurses as naive as compared to other health care professionals. For example, several movies and advertisements have portrayed the negative image of nurses during their shows, like making the acting nurse to behave like a doctor’s puppet who is helple ss when the doctor is not there. This makes the public view nursing profession as a lesser profession in the health care. Gender and poor communication: Gender role is one aspect that children learn during their developmental milestone, and it usually leads to gender role stereotypes. Nursing is linked to female profession because it is much dominated by female gender as compared to the male gender. This has been perceived by several journalists as a barrier to communication, since nurses are not able to speak to various media houses to air their concerns to the public and other stakeholders. This has made nurses and the nursing profession to be like a land locked nation that is not known by majority of the public. Moreover, several scholars argue that, the public view male dominant profession like medicine as more powerful than female dominant professions such as nursing. Clothing style: the main aim of introduction of the uniform in

How The Animal Experimenting Contribute to OurUnderstanding of Human Essay

How The Animal Experimenting Contribute to OurUnderstanding of Human Brains - Essay Example Animal experiments (also known as vivisection) are defined in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 as any scientific procedures performed on a living animal likely to cause them "pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm." At present, the Act defines an animal as any animal with a backbone; plus the octopus. The approximated number of animals used for experimenting is almost 180 million every year worldwide. Though not every country keeps an estimate; in the USA, for example, 80% of animals like birds, rats, and mice used for research purposes are not included in official figures at all (Dr. Hadwen Trust, 2009). There are two things for which scientists use animals; one is for medical research and the other type. Clinical research is also an important type of research which is basically conducted on humans but it always requires preliminary test result after the completion of animal research studies. Researchers use animals for extensive purposes which involve poisoning; disease infection; wound infliction; use of skin or eye irritants; food, water or sleep deprivation; subjection to mental stress; brain injury; paralysis; surgical disfigurement; induced organ malfunction; genetic modification and associated physical deformity; burning; and electric shocks.  

Critical Analysis for Surveyor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Critical Analysis for Surveyor - Essay Example Below is a small account of what nominated sub-contract is and why employers increasingly prefer domestic subcontract to nominated sub-contract. . Of late the preference to nominated sub-contractors has been on the decline because of the main contractor’s reduced liability. In JCT 98 form of contract, clause 25 provides for an extension of time owing to delay on the part of the sub-contractor. The architect is required to substitute the existing defaulting nominated sub-contractor by a new nominated sub-contractor. Main contractor is not liable for the failure of the design supplied by the nominated sub-contractor under clause 35. Delay is usually caused by the nominated sub-contractor’s late information. Generally, before appointment of the main contractor, nomination of sub-contractor is necessary to enable the architect to prepare full working drawings and other matters connected to building design. This facilitates cost savings at the tender stage since the specialist would prepare one tender on a standard set of conditions. JCT 80 introduced main documentation for nomination of the subcontractor. NSC/1: JCT Standard Form of Nominated Sub-Contract Tender and Agreement is used to call for tenders from potential nominated sub-contractors. This form actually gives sub-contractor specifications and terms and condition to facilitate submission of his tender and later agree with main contractor as regards programme and attendance details. NSC/2: This form called JCT Standard Form of Employer/Nominated Sub-contractor Agreement detailing the obligations of the Sub-Contractor so as to bind him to work with skill and care while under contract with the main contractor. However, the main contractor and the architect are not parties to this contract used as a warranty to protect client’s interests. On the other hand, the client is

TEAM COMMUNICATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

TEAM COMMUNICATION - Essay Example Team communication represents the message from the team and not from the whole team in disjointed fashion. Team communication is also dependent upon who does most of the talking and when. This is essential since there should be harmony and accord in the message that is delivered by the team and everyone needs to be on-board with what is being said and delivered by the team. There should be no misunderstandings in a team. Team communication demonstrates that the team is a whole rather than a disjointed unit. This gives the essence of a single core group that is talking to the general public. It also manifests that the team is committed and dedicated to its respective work ethics and it would not compromise on those principles however difficult the circumstances. There is also a need to appoint a leader who will do all the talking so that the fundamental message that goes out of the team is solitary. Leadership qualities require that the leader gets the best out of the group members no matter how hard and trying the circumstances are. However the role of a team leader cannot be denied its due place. Team communication guarantees that the whole team looks after each other and provides incentives to the working bases of each other. Team communication favors working as a single entity rather than working in different sub-groups which means there are problems within the team itself. The team leader is an essential part of the team – he decides who needs to do what and how things will shape up in the future. Team communication can only succeed if each and every team member knows his role and tries to justify his position within the team keeping in mind the assigned task and role. Responsibility thus have to be taken by the team members so that communication becomes easy. In the end, one must realize that team communication plays a central role towards the better functioning of team affairs and matters and it is best to have a

Short Run and Long Run Strategies in Business Essay

Short Run and Long Run Strategies in Business - Essay Example The short run is a period usually in which factors of capital other than labor are all fixed and cannot be changed, the short run for the shipping industry may be 3 years and the short run for a smaller business like handicrafts may be 6 months but generally the short run is considered to be one year. The ultimate goal for any company other than not for profit is to earn a considerable profit for its stakeholders but at times market conditions are such that this objective has to be kept behind and other strategies have to be pursued in order to meet the long-term objective of making a profit for all the people who are concerned with the business. Some of these environmental situations are explained below. At times in the face of strong competition that might threaten the business in the long run and the short run as well businesses tend to forget the objective of making a profit until they drive the competition out of the market, there are several strategies that a business could use for this. One of the most popular strategy that businesses use to drive out competition from the market is dumping, since the company which is just entering the market have higher production costs because of lower efficiency due to a variety of reasons such as not knowing the best suppliers and not having a reputation and a rapport would mean that costs for the company automatically are higher than a company which is already existent in the market. Hence established firms take advantage of this and start selling their products at well below their marginal costs, the new entrant into the market can ill afford that and is forced to move out of the market. When a firm deploys this strategy to drive competit ion out of the market, is it earning a profit on the products that it is selling? No, it is not, in fact, it is selling at a price lower than what it cost to produce one extra unit.

TEAM COMMUNICATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

TEAM COMMUNICATION - Essay Example Team communication represents the message from the team and not from the whole team in disjointed fashion. Team communication is also dependent upon who does most of the talking and when. This is essential since there should be harmony and accord in the message that is delivered by the team and everyone needs to be on-board with what is being said and delivered by the team. There should be no misunderstandings in a team. Team communication demonstrates that the team is a whole rather than a disjointed unit. This gives the essence of a single core group that is talking to the general public. It also manifests that the team is committed and dedicated to its respective work ethics and it would not compromise on those principles however difficult the circumstances. There is also a need to appoint a leader who will do all the talking so that the fundamental message that goes out of the team is solitary. Leadership qualities require that the leader gets the best out of the group members no matter how hard and trying the circumstances are. However the role of a team leader cannot be denied its due place. Team communication guarantees that the whole team looks after each other and provides incentives to the working bases of each other. Team communication favors working as a single entity rather than working in different sub-groups which means there are problems within the team itself. The team leader is an essential part of the team – he decides who needs to do what and how things will shape up in the future. Team communication can only succeed if each and every team member knows his role and tries to justify his position within the team keeping in mind the assigned task and role. Responsibility thus have to be taken by the team members so that communication becomes easy. In the end, one must realize that team communication plays a central role towards the better functioning of team affairs and matters and it is best to have a

Your main task is to formulate an Information Systems (IS) strategy Essay

Your main task is to formulate an Information Systems (IS) strategy for an organisation of your choice. You then need to compile a concise report detailing your IS strategy - Essay Example It offers consumers great values by guaranteeing business a minimum number of customers, if a certain number of people sign up, then everyone gets the Groupon offer. If that minimum isn’t reached then no one gets the offer. The business process starts with the business owner or the retailer. The business owner will agree to provide his primary products or services at a set discounted price compared to retail value. Then the local daily deal is displayed at Groupon website. Then buyers will pay for the deal. If a certain number of people sign up for the offer, then the deal becomes available to all, if predetermined minimum is not met no one gets the deal that day. Goupon then collects the payment if the deal is valid and splits the revenue with the seller. Because groupon model encourages first time customers to partitioned business by offering services at 50 percent less than retail prices, the business owner will experience low or negative profit margins when they offer discounted products and services. They then have to set a ceiling on the amount of vouchers issued to limit their loses. Goupon gives half the payment to the seller and remains with the other half. This is how Goupon earns its revenue from the sales it acquires daily and the payment to the seller is broken down into instalments over life cycle of a deal loading Groupon with negative working capital. The Groupons mission is to become the operating system for local commerce. The business strategy has been discovering a business model that brings the power of the internet to local commerce .the business model has allowed the company to connect with millions of consumers and hundreds of people. Groupon has a number of contributions by facilitating trade and benefiting its seller and buyers. First by facilitating trade it brings together small sellers and individual

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey Essay Example for Free

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey Essay If you visit Qinling Mountain and walk through the forests, you may see some golden figure swinging from trees to trees. They are golden snub-nosed monkeys, which I think are the most beautiful kind of primates in the world. Golden snub-nosed monkeys are famous for their golden hair and pale blue faces. Another obvious characteristic of this kind of monkeys is that there are no bones in their noses. With these features, you can easily recognize them. Golden snub-nosed monkeys are about 66-76cm in length, but their long tails are 56-72cm long. Male monkeys are 16. 4kg, while female monkeys are 9. 4kg. (Chinese golden monkey – interesting fact) They are usually founded in groups in temperate places such as conifer and broadleaf deciduous, so their mainly food is leaves. However, they eat different food in different seasons, such as fruits, seeds and buds. (G. S. M Taxonomy, Morphology, Ecology online) Golden snub-nosed monkeys are kind of vulnerable animals because they have many natural enemies like goshawks, wolves, leopards and foxes. Voice and actions are two main ways they use in communication. (G. S. M Behavior online) If you hear high screams, probably there are predators approaching monkeys. Golden snub-nosed monkeys are rare and endangered and have already been listed in IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). According to the research, they have three main threats, which are lumbering, residential areas and hunting. (Yongcheng, L. Richardson, M. 2008) What’s more, it is believed by some people that golden snub-nosed monkeys’ fur can cure rheumatism, an illness that makes joints or muscles stiff and painful. These years, many nature reserves have been set up to protect them. But because golden snub-nosed monkeys can only produce one baby each time, the amount of them is increasing slowly. They need more care and love and we humans are deserved to do that.

Analysis Of Zipcar Strategy

Analysis Of Zipcar Strategy Executive Summary An assessment of the strategic value of expanding Zipcar business was performed by identifying its resources and core competencies. Through its resources and core competencies, a S.W.O.T. analysis and external environmental analysis were performed to identify its strategic advantage and business model where it should strongly focus on its product differentiation and product cost (efficiency). Based on its strategic advantage and business model, strategic value and expansion into smaller US cities, other segments of the market and other countries were analysed and identified with clear implementation direction and recommendation. Introduction Zipcar was founded in 2000 by two Cambridge (Massachusetts) residents. Today, it is the worlds leader in car-sharing. It provides cars by the hour or by the day to more than 325,000 members and 6500 vehicles in 50 cities in the U.S., Vancouver, Toronto and London [1]. It has redefined the way the present generation perceives alternate transportation and strong focus on the need for environment conversation. Since 2004, it has doubled its membership base with current 10,000 new members joining Zipcar each month. This means that members on an average save about US$7200 per year by using Zipcar services instead of owning a car. Furthermore, it can be a suitable platform for electric vehicles due to the demographic and driving habits of its user base where the average trip in a Zipcar is less than 25 miles and lasts about four hours thus making as much as 95% of all Zipcar trips short enough for 1st generation electric vehicles with limited range. This could further enforce its goal on green initiatives. The company focused on three main customers: Individuals Personal usage by young professional who did not own a car but needed one occasionally for errands and short trips, and families who sometimes needed a second car Companies There are more than 10,000 organisations using its facilities and services for business programmes. Universities There are more than 140 colleges using its campus car-sharing services in U.S. It rents cars by the hour and day to members in Boston, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Chicago and several smaller markets. It aimed to become a billion dollar company. Resources and Core Competencies Its fleet was predominately made up of Volkswagen Golf and Beetle but has expanded to make it more attractive to drivers who first concern was style and not gas mileage. For example, mini-coopers, scion vans, and SUVs such as the Toyota Highlander and Ford Escape were introduced [2]. Since majority of its fleet were idle or unused in the day, it was able to create a sales force to market them to corporation. As such about 25% of its revenue comes from â€Å"Z2B† offering. In other words, it was able to utilise its resources to generate sustainable revenue. Service innovation As mentioned, Zipcar is a young company that has created an alternative to automobile ownership for urban dwellers in several cities across the U.S. Its mission is to offer members affordable 24/7 accesses to private vehicles for short-term round trips. It has been able to build such distinct competitive advantage and succeed in a crowded and established market like the rental car business through wireless technology and the Internet that major competitors like Avis, Hertz, and National have chosen to ignore. It was one the very first few organisations to utilise wireless technology to its advantage. The distinctive competence it developed around this technology meant the company had to create several new technological processes. By investing in RFID, it was able to streamline car rental process and tracks the location of the cars in real-time that helped to improve fleet yield management and mitigate the risk of double-booking and phantom vehicles. The online web portal was fundamental and critical aspects of its business model. For business to function effectively, the hourly rental reservation and payment portal had to be user-friendly and trivial (highly effective human-computer interface) for members to transact online. At the same time, it should virtually be costing zero or very minimal cost to the company for each transaction. This in contract to a typical human agent would have cost the car rental company about 4% to 10% for each transaction. By eliminating complex user interface from within the car, it effectively deploys a simple and effective proximity keycard that is held to the windshield of each car that allows car users to locate and gain access to the cars. With further enhancement, it has been able to effective adapt and used mobile phone like iPhone or Blackberry to locate and gain access to those cars. In other words, it contemplates car sharing through Zipcar to be as easy as drawing cash from any ATM. Zipcar attempts to satisfy driving needs of its customer at a fraction of the cost of car ownership by contemplating to replace twenty private cars for each Zipcar service. Traditional rental companies like Avis, Hertz or Enterprise have adopted a similar business approach but the rental processes is time consuming and entail its representatives handling over car keys at specify rental locations. Thus, the appeal of Zipcar is its flexibility and efficiency where one can pick up a car at any time from any available unmanned location with the car keys waiting in the car for the driver to zoom off on a journey. As mentioned, the company knows that its buyer like â€Å"cool cars†. Thus the fleet includes mini coopers and Volkswagen beetles. However, unlike traditional rental cars, each has a Zipcar logon and web address making the actual car a communication tool that help curious observers learn more about the company. Many of the cars are painted in the signature Zipcar light green that also signals environmental friendly or green initiative aspect of the product experience. By partnership with city governments, landlords, colleges, and business owners, it has formed a dedicated team of customers who evangelise the company to potential renters that produce resonance with drivers or customers. Additionally, it has a strong, focus and effective management team that was capable of stirring the organisation into one of the largest car sharing leader in the industry by exploiting and maintaining core competencies and developing human capital to effectively execute it goals and strategic direction [9][10]. S.W.O.T. Analysis Strength: Ease of use (utilise proximity keycard, Blackberry or iPhone) in term of identifying car make/model, location and rates as well as ease of driving off. Style of its service (cool car) Technological sophistication (Wireless RFID technology) Clean and user-friendly interface within the web portal makes navigation very easy like car browsing, check and compare prices and view membership plans. Effective branding through its website and fleets by using signature Zipcar light green that symbolises environmental friendly. No usual hassles attributed to traditional car rental like reservation after joining as a member. For example, lost time for tedious paperwork, prohibitive car prices and petrol prices, limited certainty about vehicles make and model etc. Avoidance of double-booking or phantom vehicles through effective real-time fleet yield management. Strong partnership or collaboration with governments, landlords, colleges, and business owners. Weakness: High dependency on technology for its seamless operation like online reservation, payment and fleet management. Any failure of its integrated system can be catastrophe. Thus, business contingency plan is critical and needs to be in placed. There is certain weakness in its marketing tactics as it is largely unknown to urban masses. This can result in lost sales if potential customers are looking to rent a car in Chicago may look for traditional rental agencies as opposed to car-sharing. Furthermore its website failed to be search engine optimised. Opportunities By been environmental friendly and adopting the use of electric cars, it is in a very strong position to entice customers who have strong view about environmental and social concern. This is critical to Zipcar in building up its brand and equity apart from attracting more customers. Such trigger in term of economics and social interruption help to create more awareness about car-sharing that can only benefit Zipcar. Increase weekday car usage. Its fleet are only utilised at night and weekend while majority are idling during the day. Besides attracting more private business organisation to use it fleets on employees as opposed to using employee own cars, it can also look into convincing municipal agencies or government workers like social workers or nurse to utilise its services. Furthermore, as pressures mount for reduced fuel consumption and car-usage, its concept can provide a unique and viable long term solution. By establishing its presence on college, it has created a strong awareness and foothold of fans in term of the ease of car sharing as well as marking its environmental and social concern among the new generation. The students are part of the new generation of self-service economy that fits nicely to Zipcar self-service model. By experiencing with Zipcar concept and car sharing service, there is a high chance that those students would continue to use car-sharing as an alternative to car ownerships instead of buying one. Transit connection can provide growth opportunity for Zipcar where it fleet can be strategically parked near train or subway stations to provide members easy access to cars so they can continue their journeys to areas where public transport is not available. By parking at subway station, it can further create awareness of its brand and services Threats With its merger with Flexcar, it is competing in 50 cities in the U.S market including Canada. In another words, it is competing directly with larger operator like PhillyCarShare [5] and I-Go [6] that bring unique set of competitive forces in relation to their tide niche at the city and communities. Furthermore, their grassroots operation, low rental rates and non-profit status may inadvertently make them the preferred choice for business seeking car sharing services. Big car rental companies like Hertz, Enterprise or Avis [8] may make entries into car sharing market. Hertz has 40,000 cars in New York alone while Zipcar has about 6500 vehicles in total. In other words, big car rental companies have better economies of scale to take advantage of existing facilities, expertise and financial support if they chose to enter car sharing market. Rising petrol can be an economic burden to Zipcar since its rate is inclusive of petrol. It may have to increase its rate to cover such increased expense. This may lead to lower car usage by members and more may use cheaper public transport or share their rides. This could hinder membership growth. External Environmental Analysis Economies of scale Zipcar and Flexcar are the two largest and nationwide car sharing companies in the state. With their merger, there is a greater economy of scale as the new company will operate under the Zipcar brand and use its technology. Moreover, the move could help expand the practice of car sharing. By merging, Zipcar effectively operates in 50 cities in U.S., in Vancouver, Toronto and London that brings more members and more benefits in term of access to more fleets in more location and neighbourhoods. With more fleets in more location, it can consider lowering its membership fee to entice more membership enrolments to enjoy greater economies of scale. Barriers to market entry This can be unattractive for Zipcar as large rental companies may enter this market after they have a better understanding of such business model. In addition, there is no government regulation or restriction to prevent anyone from going into car sharing business. In addition, the cost can be low as anyone can start the business with a few vehicles. Diversification Apart from providing car sharing to individual, companies and colleges, it can expand into taxi business, emergency business or ambulances services or health caring services that required vehicles on ad-hoc or certain regular basis. Furthermore, it can also provide vehicles to courier services or mover services. Alternatively, it can provide fleet management services to those organisations as well. In this case, it is restricted to related-constraint diversification for better performance of the company. Product differentiation Zipcar provides unique experience by utilising wireless technology to ease car sharing. By eliminating complex user interface from within the car and deploying a simple proximity keycard that is held to the windshield of each car, it has allowed drivers to locate and gain access to the cars with ease. By integrating iPhone or Blackberry device, it has further improved such experience. Furthermore, it provides a fleet of â€Å"cool cars† that cater to each individual lifestyle and needs. Degree of concentration of firm in the industry There are several car sharing operators within U.S. [7] that operates as a non-profit organisation. However, in term of coverage, they are no as comprehensive as Zipcar that operates in 50 cities and outside of U.S. Thus, it can value add its service like more access to many cities and locations for its members which is inline with Zipcar objective of providing wheels when you want them. Positioning and Business Model Zipcar operates in a model of car sharing business that makes it difficult for competitors to imitate. For example, it utilised wireless technology like 3G, GPRS, GPS and RFID to manage and streamline its operation to maintain lean and low overhead. Traditional car rental companies or non-profit car-sharing would find it difficult to model after it due to their existing infrastructure and model. This is similar to Wal-Mart efficient supply chain management practices that competitors find it difficult to intimate. No doubt, customers can utilise other rental companies or car sharing operators but they would lose the convenience and ease of use offered by Zipcar model of hourly rental agreements and convenient access to 50 cities and locations. Moreover, it has a strong focus on customer needs and lifestyle by providing fleet of hip vehicles like mini cooper, Volkswagen Beetle, BMW Bottella, Mazda and environmental friendly vehicles like Toyota Prius [2] and using cool gadget like iPho ne or Blackberry to locate and gain access to the cars. Zipcar does not need to concern about car manufacturers or other suppliers since it does not use proprietary goods. Been a IT savvy organisation, Zipcar should ride on its existing memberships by using social networking tool so members can exchange and shares ideas and more importantly provide feedback to Zipcar who can them improve on its services and offering. In other word, it should keep listening to customers and continuing to innovate through IT. Based on strategic directive and advantage, Zipcar should continue to focus on product differentiation and product cost (efficiency) through greater economies of scale and product differentiation by offering unique fleet of vehicles coupled with excellence service and ease of usage. Expanding its presence in smaller US cities Zipcar has great appeal to a number of buyer personas like city dwellers that occasionally need to use a car for a few hours where cars ownership are expensive coupled with high parking fee in cities. According to U.S. census back in 1990, there were about one-third of U.S. residents living in cities. Those clustered suburban neighbourhoods would be suitable for car sharing, particularly if they have good transit service, pedestrian-friendly streets and local commercial centres. Assuming that 30% of American drivers live in higher-density, multi-modal neighbourhoods and 20% of these have low annual mileage vehicles; this could mean that about 6% of current privately owned vehicles could shift to car sharing. Of course, potential demand for car sharing will be much higher in urban areas and lower in rural areas. Zipcar can look into merging or buying over smaller operators that operate or have presence in those smaller US cities if viable. Alternatively, it can consider deploying its fleet in those cities since it uses wireless technology to streamline most of its operation and the cost of expanding in those cities would be relatively low. Nevertheless, there should be sufficient number of users within convenient walking or cycling distance where vehicles are parked with good travel alternatives. For example, to have 3 car share vehicles stationed in a neighbourhood with 10 members per vehicle would requires at least 30 member households within one square mile. Therefore, as long as there is high density urban neighbourhoods with good walking or cycling distance and good public transit services as mentioned, it should continue to expand its presence in those area to enjoy greater scale of economies with minimum risks. Expanding to other segments As highlighted, Zipcar should expand into taxi business, courier business, mover business, emergency business, ambulances services or health caring services by not just offering vehicles but also its fleet yield management services to help those companies to better managed and streamline their operations. This can be done in a form of strategic alliance or partnership. In addition, its services could be bundled with public transit passes, taxis service and ride share matching to give customers an integrated package of mobility options. It can also extend those services by collaborating with state mayors, city councillors, or police force who deals with parking constraints in major cities. Expanding to other countries and cities (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo) Countries like Hong Kong, Singapore or major cities like Taipei or Tokyo are suitable target for Zipcar services as they are typically high density metropolitan areas where walking, cycling and public transit are viable transportation option. Moreover high cost of car ownership coupled with high parking pressure in term of cost and space made these cities suitable market for Zipcar to expand its overseas business similar to those in London. Residents in those cities usually do not require cars to go to work or go about their daily activities. Thus, low vehicle ownership rates are one of the best predictors of the economic viability of car sharing programs. It can consider co-operative strategies by forming a joint local partner to operate fleet of vehicles that utilise it fleet management systems for car sharing. Alliance formation would avoid high cost of investment since resources are shared including risk. By forming synergistic alliance, it can create joint economies of scope between partner firms. For example, by exploring ways to work with car manufacturers like Toyota, its members can test electric cars to designing vehicles specifically for the sharing market. Similarly by working with closely with various authorities and companies, it can bundled public transit passes, taxis service and ride share matching to provide customers a fully integrated package of mobility options just like in its home country. Recommendation Zipcar should continue to focus on product differentiation and product cost (efficiency) through greater economies of scale and product differentiation through its unique fleet of vehicles that comes with excellence service and ease of usage. It should consider lowering it membership fees to attract more memberships to further utilise its fleet. It should continue to collaborate with various authorities and companies to use its fleet management system to enjoy greater economies of scale. It should look out for opportunities to perform consolidation through mergers and acquisition at the same time form strategic alliances with overseas local partners, car manufacturers and IT vendor to further develop its competitive edge. It should continue to adapt to customer needs by using an effective customer relationship management (CRM) system to obtain and to enhance its relationships with customers, retain customers and provide better customer service that leads to competitive advantage for the business. It should institute a more vocal marketing campaign to educate the target demographic about the benefits of car sharing. This could include aggressive print advertising on all urban and public transportation vehicles in addition to its own fleet of vehicles. It should further invest in improving the search engine optimisation of its web portal to attract traditional car renters. This would improve zipcar.com ranking on organic searches and increase the conversion rate. Through integrated marketing strategy this would increase awareness about Zipcar and its car sharing benefits that further reinforcing the firms hip and green identity. Reference: [1] Team: home office. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://w.zipcar.com/ [2] Four Leaders You Need To Know. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://stage.fastcompany.com/magazine/91/4-leaders.html [3] Zipcar is shifting into higher gear as market widens. Accessed on, 17-01-2010, http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2008/01/13/zipcar_is_shifting_into_higher_gear_as_market_widens/ [4] Zipcar The best new idea in business. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/26/news/companies/zipcar_car_rentals.fortune [5] Philly Car share. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://www.phillycarshare.org/ [6] IGo Car share. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://www.igocars.org/ [7] List of carsharing operators. Accessed on 17-01-2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carsharing_operators [8] Avis: For more on the history of Avis, see www.avis.com/AvisWeb/JSP/global/en/aboutavis/corp_info/historical_chronology.jsp. [9] Zipcar: We interviewed Robin Chase in November 2007. Other useful information came from ‘‘Part-Time Wheels: City Dwellers Share Cars through New Service by Heidi B. Perlman, Associated Press, http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/072000/new_0720000010.shtml; and from ‘‘Scott Griffith: Zipping Ahead by Lisa van der Pool, Boston Business Journal, August 24, 2007; [10] Zipcar is shifting into high gear as market widens by Yoon S. Byun, The Boston Globe, January 13, 2008. http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2008/01/13/zipcar_is_shifting_into_higher_gear_as_market_widens/.

Hiding From The Truth :: essays research papers

Hiding From The Truth! In the reading, "The Story of an Hour," many things weren’t as they seemed. This is called symbolism. Where one write something and it symbolizes another thing. For example, someone’s blood gets warmer. That wouldn’t symbolize them getting hot, it symbolizes them having a warm and happy feeling about something. This shows that things aren’t thought of as they are supposed to be. Symbolism also leads to hidden truths. Things that also don’t mean what they seem. Just as symbolism, hidden truths need to be thought out, and thoroughly processed in one’s head. In the reading, "The Story of an Hour," many things aren’t as they seem, leading to hidden truths, symbolism, and an unusual ending. There were many things that could be considered to be hidden truths in the reading. There were just a few that stuck out with ease. One of the hidden truths would be when the wife Louise Mallard is thinking about the news she was just told, she is sitting in a "comfortable roomy chair," comfort and roominess are relaxing and fun. The reason the writer uses comfortable and roomy is to show that the wife, Louise, was happy and relaxed when she heard the news and thought about it. She was pretty much happy with the result. Another easy hidden truth was when Louise was saying, "free, free, free" and "free, body and soul free." These phrases would, in reality, show that she was happy and felt like her own self now. She wasn’t restricted by her husband, he was gone and she was her own woman. She was finally "free" as she would say. And finally, Louise’s pulse beats harder. That is just like the blood warming. Her pulse beatin g hides that she is full of joy. She is happy of what happened, and that she is "free." There are many truths that are hidden in this story, that just leads to making the readers get into the story. Not only were there hidden truths, but a lot of symbolism came up in the reading. The symbolism starts with an open window. That is what Louise was staring at and looking through when she was told about the death of her husband Brently. The open window symbolizes freedom. Louise was now free of her husbands rein. She was unhappy with the marriage and liked finally being free and her own person.

War and Terror - It’s Time to Stop the Killing :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

War and Terror - It’s Time to Stop the Killing Somewhere within the last 120,000 thousand years, our ancestors began migrations quite different from any that appear in the archeological record preceding that time and somewhere between forty and fifty thousand years ago those migrations accelerated to the point that Cro Magnon hominids, our forebears, settled every nook and cranny on the planet. The last major migration occurred when the land bridge opened up in Siberia, as the glacier receded ten thousand years ago, and Homo Sapiens, who our species had become by then, trudged all the way to Tierra del Fuego within a thousand years or so. Jared Diamond (â€Å"The Third Chimpanzee† & â€Å"Guns, Germs, and Steel†) makes a case for some biological change, probably related to speech, as the variable making such migrations possible. He also makes the observation that these human migrations were coincident with the extinction of large mammals. The archeological evidence seems to bear this out. All over the planet there is fossil evidence of the extinction of one large mammal after another at approximately the same time the human migrations happened in that part of the world. Some scientists speculate that the cause of these extinctions is more complicated than the fact that they are coincident with the expansion of the number of humans and they are probably right; but something of major proportions in the evolution of our species definitely changed to allow humans to sweep across all but the most uninhabitable places on earth in a relatively short period of time. Dr. Diamond is careful to temper his speculation with the caution that all the facts are not yet in, and probably never will be, I might add. As a biology-oriented scientist, he continues to look to some physical/anatomical change to account for the advances made by humans resulting in our capacity to take on the unknown dangers lying beyond the next range of mountains or across the next river. For a couple of million years humans had evolved fairly slowly toward that point when a â€Å"great leap† occurred in the pace of our development. Anatomically we are about the same now as we have been for the last 125,000 years, so the guess is that some language advancement made the difference. Linguists have traced the capacity to speak back through a few proto languages to a point where the development of the ability to speak gets lost War and Terror - It’s Time to Stop the Killing :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays War and Terror - It’s Time to Stop the Killing Somewhere within the last 120,000 thousand years, our ancestors began migrations quite different from any that appear in the archeological record preceding that time and somewhere between forty and fifty thousand years ago those migrations accelerated to the point that Cro Magnon hominids, our forebears, settled every nook and cranny on the planet. The last major migration occurred when the land bridge opened up in Siberia, as the glacier receded ten thousand years ago, and Homo Sapiens, who our species had become by then, trudged all the way to Tierra del Fuego within a thousand years or so. Jared Diamond (â€Å"The Third Chimpanzee† & â€Å"Guns, Germs, and Steel†) makes a case for some biological change, probably related to speech, as the variable making such migrations possible. He also makes the observation that these human migrations were coincident with the extinction of large mammals. The archeological evidence seems to bear this out. All over the planet there is fossil evidence of the extinction of one large mammal after another at approximately the same time the human migrations happened in that part of the world. Some scientists speculate that the cause of these extinctions is more complicated than the fact that they are coincident with the expansion of the number of humans and they are probably right; but something of major proportions in the evolution of our species definitely changed to allow humans to sweep across all but the most uninhabitable places on earth in a relatively short period of time. Dr. Diamond is careful to temper his speculation with the caution that all the facts are not yet in, and probably never will be, I might add. As a biology-oriented scientist, he continues to look to some physical/anatomical change to account for the advances made by humans resulting in our capacity to take on the unknown dangers lying beyond the next range of mountains or across the next river. For a couple of million years humans had evolved fairly slowly toward that point when a â€Å"great leap† occurred in the pace of our development. Anatomically we are about the same now as we have been for the last 125,000 years, so the guess is that some language advancement made the difference. Linguists have traced the capacity to speak back through a few proto languages to a point where the development of the ability to speak gets lost

Critical Summary of When God Was a Woman Essay

In chapter nine of When God Was A Woman, Merlin Stone sought to explain the laws introduced by the Levite priests in Canaan that were put in place to prevent the worship of the Goddess. Members of the Hebrew religion were commanded to kill their own children if they worshipped any deity other than God. Stone argues that the laws put the men of the society in power, as it was not stated that the husband should be killed for worshiping the Goddess. The Levites demanded that every woman belong to a man, due to their distaste for any woman who was not a virgin or married, so they established the concept of sexual morality to restrict the females. Stone states that given the sexual freedom in the religion of the Goddess, the women had to be taught that sexual relations to multiple men was pure evil. Any sexually free women, or women who still worshipped the Goddess, were referred to as whores and harlots. Stone elaborates on the new laws of sexual morality, stating that a woman must only have sex with one man, her husband, while he could have sexual relations with numerous women. A woman could be stoned to death for losing her virginity or even for being raped, if she was already married. Stone says that only the husband could divorce his wife, and if so, she would be left with no material possessions. The divorce laws probably led to fearful women, forcing them to become submissive servants to men. I found this chapter of When God Was A Woman particularly interesting in comparison to the rest of the book. The more information I learned about the religion of the Goddess prior to this chapter, the more I wanted to know about the laws that governed women with the initial introduction of the male-dominated culture. Chapter nine kept my attention due to the fact that I was already curious about the sexual morality laws. The realization that I could have been killed back then for the beliefs I have today also kept my interest. Stone did an impeccable job with her organization of ideas. The chapter was easy to follow and to understand, and each idea seemed to flow with ease to the next. Looking back through the chapter, the only constant source I see her use is the Bible. Although this is a reliable source for the Hebrew laws placed upon women, I think that using other sources other than just the Bible would have helped in her overall objective of this chapter. Finding a source with the actual morality laws stated would have helped to further confirm the harsh reality of these laws. Other than this fact, I believe that Stone was very thorough in her description of the laws and the details she examined pertaining to the laws. I do think that Stone made reasonable assertions pertaining to the morality laws. Her use of bible verses seems to confirm her arguments about the laws. However, I can see partial bias in her writing. I can see how this can easily happen, seeing as she relates to the laws as she is a woman. I can sometimes feel the anger and disgust for the laws come through in her writing as certain tones are used. Despite her small amount of bias, I think Stone satisfactorily represents and defends all of her points about the morality laws. Most of what Stone exhibits in this chapter was new material for me. Although I learned a lot of information, what stands out to me is that fact that women could actually be stoned to death just for having sexual relations with men. This really grabbed my attention as I thought about how our society is today. Even though we still see sex and pregnancy before marriage as taboo, we have a certain level of toleration for it. It is crazy to think that years ago, many women in today’s society would be killed for their actions just because men wanted control over them.