Organizational Profile Using Secondary Research Assignment Paper

Organizational Profile Using Secondary Assignment - Research Paper Example In 1871, the company was known as Nokia Ab. Nokia entered the telecommunication industry in 1981, with its very first mobile service named Nordic Mobile Telephone service (NMT). Nokia was the pioneer in introducing the first car phone to the telecommunication network. Mobira 450 car phones were introduced in 1982 and portable phone in 1986. To meet with the changing need of the customers in the era of innovation, Nokia came up with 3G (third generation) mobile in 2002. In 2007, the company was recognized as 5th most valued brand worldwide. This enhanced the goodwill of the company and its brand recognition to a large extent (Nokia, 2011). The very recognition provides the company with the stronger grip into the market. The mission of the company is simply â€Å"connecting people†. The company deals with mobiles and cell phones and enjoys market share of 31% internationally. The company also has an excellent team of skilful manpower. The HRD department of Nokia is very well dev eloped (Nokia, 2011). 2.0. Industry Analysis The frequent changes experienced in the wireless telecommunication market have resulted in both challenges and opportunities for the companies operating in this sector. After an exceptional growth for over a decade, the telecom sector has witnessed many ups and downs. The innovation of technology in this industry makes the competition fiercer in which the initiator accumulates maximum benefits (Jayashree & Et. Al., 2010). Currently, the global telecommunication industry has expanded itself to nearly double since its commencement in the early 1980s. Competition experienced in this industry is intense in nature and emergence of several factors is enabling certain drastic changes within the organisational management trends executed by telecommunication companies. Internet and wireless technologies have been bringing in dramatic changes in the preferences of customers, disrupting traditional communication systems despite decreasing the prices . Telecommunication industry includes several technology related business segments such as wireless communications, internet, local and long distance telephone services among others (Ingres insight, 2008). 3.0. Organizational Analysis In order to gain competency, Nokia tends to inculcate the cultural social aspects that in turn is effective in rewarding the company with greater brand equity in its market (de Wit B & Meyer, 2004). Nokia is enhancing its competency in emerging markets through the adoption of latest technology. Nokia had experienced losses in terms of its market share due to the ineffective strategies implemented by the company in relation to market trends and customer demands of the targeted market. But the market also offers huge prospective opportunities to Nokia such as operation in developing countries like China and Japan. Telecommunication market is increasing vigorously providing more opportunity for Nokia to operate in the market. Planning and developing appro aches are both of use. Resource based strategies and market strategies both played quite important roles in the development of Nokia (BBC New, 2007). 4.0. Prominent characteristics of Nokia 4.1. Strengths Largely varied product range User friendly and update technology usage in the products The resale values of Nokia mobiles are comparatively high attracting price concerned customers Continuous product innovation Considerable percentage of market share internationally Has a persuasive branding image towards its customers as well as

Australian Aboriginal Dot Art Essay Example for Free

Australian Aboriginal Dot Art Essay Aboriginal art has been overshadowed by the idea that it is primarily presented in dots. It has got to the point where people believe that certain Aboriginal people own the dot and artists both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal are hesitant to use consecutive dots within artwork. Explain how the above has evolved and where dot art has come from Dot paintings today are recognised globally as unique and integral to Australian Aboriginal art. On the surface the dot is simply a style of Aboriginal painting, like the use of cross-hatching or stencil art. Exploring deeper into the history of the Aboriginal dot painting a world of camouflage, secrecy and ritual is discovered. The term ‘dot painting’ stems from what the Western eye sees when faced with contemporary Aboriginal acrylic paintings. This painting style arose from the Papunya art movement in the 1970s. Papunya Tula artists used a process which originally mirrored traditional spiritual ceremonies. In such rituals the soil would be cleared and smoothed over as a canvas (much like the dark, earthy boards used by the Papunya Tala) for the inscription of sacred designs, replicating movements of ancestral beings upon earth. These Dreaming designs were outlined with dancing circles and often surrounded with a mass of dots. Afterward the imprinted earth would be smoothed over, painted bodies rubbed away, masking the sacred-secrets which had taken place. This ritual was shifted from ground to canvas by the Papunya Tula who eventually added an array of naturally produced colours to the restricted palette of red, yellow, black and white produced from ochre, charcoal and pipe clay. Such pieces reveal a map of circles, spirals, lines, dashes and dots, the traditional visual language of the Western Desert Aboriginal People. However these marks were permanent and due to arising interest made public, creating internal political uproar. Consequently representations of sacred objects were forbidden or concealed through the dotting technique. Now that the collecting of pieces of Aboriginal art has become so popular world-wide, a common, mistaken belief is that the Dot Painting Style of Central Australia is a recent development. This belief arises because it was in the 1960s that a Central Australian school teacher encouraged the old men of the tribe to record their art on European sheets of board, using acrylic paints. This use of acrylic paints on flat board dates from that time. However, the art style itself, with geometric designs, is seen in the petroglyphs (rock engravings) dating back thousands of years. Ancient petroglyphs showing concentric circles (non-naturalistic art style), inland South Australia The use of dots was once Australia-wide, particularly seen on body decoration when people are painted for ceremonies, and paintings in the remote Kimberley region where dots are clearly seen on the body decoration of some of the earliest human figures, likely to be older than 20,000 years. See accompanying photo. ) Dot decoration on the body of an ancient human figure, Kimberley Aboriginal Art: Traditional to Contemporary The resurgence of Australian Indigenous art has become one of the most brilliant and exciting new eras of modern art. It has grown with such amazing diversity and enthusiasm that art critic, Robert Hughes, has described it as the last great art movement. For indigenous Austr alians art has been a part of their culture and tradition for thousands of years and is recognised as one of the oldest living art traditions. Though, over the past 30 years it has progressed from being confined primarily to the tourist industry, to become a richly, evolving international art movement. Since the Renaissance of Aboriginal art during the early 1970s, Aboriginal artists have been encouraged to find new, innovative ways of incorporating cultural traditions into their imagery. This encouragement first began through an art teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, who became the catalyst for contemporary Aboriginal art. Fascinated by the traditional sand designs created by Indigenous children in Papunya, Bardon encouraged the Aboriginal community to re-create their Dreamtime stories through paintings. He introduced them to acrylic paint and from there Aboriginal art gained a more permanent form and the style, popularly known as dot art, emerged as the most recognisable form of Aboriginal art. It was a new form of art which also allowed Aborigines to, for the first time, express to the rest of Australia and the world, the ancient traditions of their culture. Many Aboriginal artists have chosen to continue practicing traditional art as a means of conserving the conventional method of creating, inherited from their tribal ancestors. Their content, which is explicitly aboriginal, is usually derived from their history and culture, as a continuation of the spiritual link they possess with their country. Research When The emergence of dot paintings by Indigenous men from the western deserts of Central Australia in the early 1970s has been called the greatest art movement of the twentieth century. Prior to this, most cultural material by Indigenous Australians was collected by anthropologists. Consequently, collections were found in university departments or natural history museums worldwide, not art galleries. Where That all changed at a place called Papunya. Papunya was a sit-down place established in the early 1960s, 240 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (NT). The settlement brought together people from several western desert language groups: the Pintupi, Warlpiri, Arrernte (Aranda), Luritja, and the Anmatyerr, who were unaccustomed to living in close proximity to each other. Dot Painting or Aboriginal Dot Art originated in the desert using natural substances on the ground in the sand. Those pictures in the sand are not unlike the paintings we see today produced using acrylic paints. The acrylic paintings are usually done using acrylic paint and it is applied to canvas or art board with various diameter sticks dipped into paint and then applied one dot at a time. The Australian Aborigine of the western desert constructed their stories using ochre, sand, blood, coal from their fires and plant material placed together on the ground clump by clump for various ceremonial occasions. If you look at the desert landscape from the height of any small bluff or hill what you see looking down are clumps of growth scattered about a red landscape. The spinifix grass, desert hardwood bush and occasional rocks or rock outcrops make up the myriad of dots that seem to cover the landscape. Because everything in the desert has meaning to the Australian Aborigine these seemingly unimportant arrays of pattern in the desert have special meaning to the Dot painters of the western desert. If you were to ever fly over the desert low enough to see what was on the ground you would see what he dot painting has replicated for you to see. These dots are a myriad of clumps of natural splendour which might go unnoticed had you not seen a dot painting and looked to see what it was about. The arrangement of the plants, rocks and water are all part of the spirit of creation and it is because of this placement that Aboriginal people have traversed the deserts safely without printed maps for th ousands of years. The placement and arrangement of all of these natural things are in songs and these songs are often sung while the painting is being created. Nearly every painting has a song and the songs often disclose important ceremonial facts about a particular region or area. These important ceremonial places are often in the paintings but because they are sacred to Aboriginal people they are camouflaged in some way, visible to the initiated person but invisible to others who do not know what to look for. Many paintings contain these special hidden meanings and the new owners of these paintings will never know what the whole story of their purchased painting is about. Only over time may some insight be gained from looking at the painting. This is a point of pride among the Australian Aboriginal artists because they see the purchase of their art or for them the sale of their art, as a validation of their race and culture by others. This is because a value has been placed on the art. Since the Australian Aboriginal culture is depicted in all traditional paintings they are passing down their knowledge in the only way they are able, to those who have yet to understand it. The Aboriginal people do not have a written language so these painting of their stories and ceremonies are all they have to save this culture for future generations. The colour and the placement of the dots are important to depicting the visible message and camouflaging the hidden message in Aboriginal dot art. Even the over painting of an area of the work has special significance and may convey different messages. Some people gifted with a since of tactile feeling are able to feel a special vibrancy emanating from their painting. Who Many of the significant early artists at Papunya were senior men who had vivid memories of their first contact with white people. Typically, they came out of the desert as adults during the 1950s drought and their connection to ritual law was strong. The first artists collective, Papunya Tula Artists, was set up in 1972 by men from this settlement. Papunya Tula Artists was the inspiration and model for many other Indigenous artists collectives. In 2009 there are 42 desert Indigenous art communities represented by Desert. The artwork was seen as a way to keep the culture alive, and carry Indigenous stories to the world. The movement was seen as being about recollection and cultural memories linked to Dreaming’s or story types. Why the modern aboriginal â€Å"dot art† movement started? Geoffrey Bardon AM (1940–2003) Geoffrey Bardon began working as an art teacher at Papunya Special School in 1971. Concerned that the schools curriculum, appearance and ethos seemed out of step with Aboriginal culture, Bardon attempted unsuccessfully to involve his class in painting a series of murals on the school walls. Thereupon Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri and others created the Honey Ant Mural, which inspired many senior men to ask Bardon for painting materials and eventually begin painting in the Mens Painting Room. The Mens Painting Room, Papunya Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula can be seen in the middle ground painting a Kalinypa Water Dreaming. His two boomerangs are placed in front of the board as percussion instruments, ready to be used to accompany the verses of the Water Dreaming, sung at intervals during the painting process, June-August 1971 Photo: Michael Jensen Convinced of the groundbreaking importance of what he was witnessing, Bardon made comprehensive photographic, moving film and written records of the artists and the paintings that they produced while he was at Papunya. From his primary research, Bardon wrote three books and made three films that initiated public interest in Western Desert art. In 1988 Bardon was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his unique contribution to the Western Desert art movement. The Honey Ant Mural, July 1971 Geoffrey Bardon and his Arerrnte assistant, Obed Raggett, had noticed people drawing designs in the sand at Papunya. Following this precedent, they drew circles and spirals on the blackboard in an unsuccessful attempt to encourage their class of adolescent boys to paint a series of murals on a whitewashed, cement-rendered wall of the Papunya Special School. In late July 1971, after painting a series of smaller practice murals, seven painters collaborated in the painting of a monumental mural representing the Honey Ant Dreaming specific to the site of Papunya. Working under the direction of custodians Mick Wallangkarri Tjakamarra and Tom Onion Tjapangati, the artists included Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Don Ellis Tjapanangka. The Honey Ant Mural, a bold expression of Aboriginal culture in a government settlement, occasioned great rejoicing at Papunya and inspired immense pride in the community. Geoffrey Bardon in front of the Honey Ant Mural, Papunya, August 1971 Photo: Robert Bardon  © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd Pintupi people from the Western Desert Pintupi is the name of a Western Desert language spoken by Aboriginal people who belong to a large stretch of country in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia and the western edge of the Northern Territory. When the Pintupi arrived in the government settlements east of their traditional lands between the 1930s and the 1950s, they adopted the term Pintupi to distinguish themselves from the surrounding Aboriginal inhabitants as the people from the west. They were among the last Aboriginal people in Australia to abandon their nomadic lifestyle, the last family arriving into the newly established community of Kiwirrkura in 1984. In Papunya, the Pintupi, bound to each other by their dominant loyalties of relatedness and kinship, were ostracised due to their lack of conversance with kartiya (non-Aboriginal) customs and their perceived lack of sophistication. Diversity within â€Å"dot art† showing two different artists works. Uta Uta Tjangala Traditional Artist Uta Uta Tjangala, who is an exemplar of the historical cultural tradition, Uta Uta’s painting career and reputation is closely aligned to the artistic renaissance that began at Papunya in 1971. He was a founding member of the mens painting group, inspired other Pintupi tribesmen, and becoming one of the most senior and influential painters amongst the group. Born in Western Australia in Drovers Hills, he made the epic journey to Haasts Bluff with his family during the severe drought of the mid to late 1950’s in the company of Charlie Tarawa. Two years later, after returning to his homelands, he made the journey once more with Timmy Payungka, Pinta Pinta and their families. Uta Uta Tjangala (early years) Employed as a gardener at the Papunya school Uta Uta, then in his 40’s, became one of the original group drawing and painting on composition board with encouragement from art teacher Geoff Bardon. When supplying paints to Uta Uta and his gathering group of enthusiastic friends, Bardon suggested the men use their existing cultural symbols to depict their Dreamings and links to the land. The Pintupi men, having been pushed from their traditional homelands by government policy and European development, painted under a bough shelter behind the camp pouring into their work their acute longing for the places depicted †¦ and chanting the song cycles that told the stories of the designs as they worked . These early works aroused strong protest within Aboriginal communities when first exhibited in Alice Springs in 1974 because of the disclosure of secret and sacred knowledge. A period of experimentation followed, resulting in the development of a symbolic language of classic ideograms and the characteristic dot covered areas that veil sacred elements from the uninitiated. The large, tribally mixed population of Papunya intensified the interaction, but under the influence of artists like Uta Uta, the painting group was able to break through the political and cultural constraints toward a safer stylistic conformity, and prepare the way for personal and distinctive styles to emerge. Uta Uta in particular, with his exciting and charismatic personality as well as his bold and dynamic style, played a vital role in these developments. Bardon recalled many years later, everything that came from him was genuine . Uta Uta’s 1971 and 1972 paintings generally featured major story elements with only the barest dotted in-fill within the iconography and small sections of the background. The aesthetic balance and harmony of these works is derived through colour and weight rather than by a geometric division of the painted surface. The rather crude dotting and line work of these early paintings on board embues them with an energy and power that is less apparent in his later more technically proficient works. His paintings are far stronger and more powerful when the clean unadorned background remains, unlike paintings by his contemporary Kaapa, whose early works became more aesthetically appealing as he began to in-fill the background. In developing a style that censored the more secret and sacred content in his painting, Uta Uta added more dot-work as the years went by. He painted more Tingari sites completely surrounded by neat dots that became less and less detailed. Despite his advancing age during the late 1970’s he continued to paint as he spent increasing time at outstations west of Papunya and, at the beginning of the 1980’s, he completed what was to become one of the most important and revered works of the entire Western Desert art movement. Yumari 1981, possibly his largest and most significant painting, reveals the mythical Tingari ancestors traveling across vast stretches of country as they create sites and institute rituals. Yumari is a rocky outcrop in his home country and the key ceremonial site of the area. Story elements and natural features blend seamlessly into a beautifully balanced geometry of concentric circles and connecting lines that enclose a central, abstracted figure. This body continues rather than interrupts the intense, minutely dotted background configurations, yet still holds the central focus. The work is characterised by the sinuous movement of converging regular and irregular shapes, accentuated by outlining white dots. The predominant use of an earthy red alongside vivid yellow ochre, further emphasizes the assertive quality in this cohesive and powerful statement of Aboriginal tradition. The work was exhibited at the XVIII Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1983 and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. While painting Yumari, important discussions were taking place at Papunya concerning the move back to the Pintupi homelands at Kintore. Land rights legislation during the 1970’s returned ownership of the land to its traditional owners and Uta Uta was a strong advocate for resettlement.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Theater :: Personal Narrative Acting Papers

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Theater September 5, 2000: First Audition Less than a week ago, I had never auditioned for anything. Tonight, I was on stage with forty or so actors, most of whom had several plays to their credit. As I had neither a major, nor past plays to back me up, I was nervous. I survived it all anyway, and had fun despite the scary scary evaluative process. September 7, 2000: Callbacks The hyper-talkative freshman girl in my French class looked at the callback list before I had a chance to. She wouldn’t tell me if my name was on it, she only wanted to whine that hers wasn’t. After our classes were done, Kaitlin and I checked the list, and were both called back for both possible plays. (yeah!) The second round of auditions began at 7PM, so I had just enough time to get there after standard Thursday night wine tasting. My sister said it would bring me luck, â€Å"I would cast a cute pink-cheeked girl over a regular girl any day!† September 8, 2000: Cast List I’m in a play! Yeah for me! Yeah for me! I’m in a play and I have never been in one before! I have a character name and everything. I am Myrrhina in Plautus’ Roman farce â€Å"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Wedding.† My character is a drunk. Perhaps those pink cheeks gave me the edge I needed. Rehearsals start Monday, preliminary costume fitting after work today. Oh my. September 11, 2000: First Rehearsal I was the first one to arrive; Askanase auditorium was dark as I stepped tentatively onto the stage. A conference table sat with roughly 20 chairs guarding the periphery. My role prior to this point was that of an audience member; tonight, I entered a new world. Sitting in the glare of the harsh work lights, the chairs of the auditorium were hardly visible. I took a spot at the center of the table, not wanting to be too close to either end. I faced the door so that I could see the others as they filed in. Several of the cast members knew each other, I know them only as staples of the NDSU theater community. The group dynamic is a little intimidating; I hardly spoke at all tonight.

Angelo’s Pizza

ANGELO’S PIZZA ANSWER #1. The expansion of stores and eventually franchising while focusing on serving only high quality fresh ingredients should include the following three resource management implications: (1) BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS – This implication represents the importance of the company’s general and competitive environment. Angelo needs a good business strategy. A strategic plan is the company’s plan for how it will match its internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats in order to maintain a competitive advantage (Dessler, 2012).Angelo’s early attempts showed the pitfalls in rushing and making assumptions about replicating a viable business unit. Fortunately, Angelo has realized his lack of proper planning and the necessity to correct his errors before attempting to branch out into more stores and possibly franchising. The locations of the proposed new stores are paramount. These locations must be in area s where high quality ingredients are readily available. The supply of fresh ingredients does not meet all the needs for successful stores. The medium that serves the customer pays a vital role. 2) JOB ANALYSIS – All businesses want to attract and maintain good people. A job analysis is the procedure through which you determine the duties of the positions and the characteristics of the people to hire for them (Dessler, 2012). All of Angelo’s locations must have competent employees who are able to provide good customer service. Angelo has to develop a plan that identifies the characteristics and skills that applicants need to possess before he can develop his staff. Once he knows the type/kind of person he needs to recruit for his business, he needs a comprehensive plan for hiring them.A screening process for applicants that include hiring guidelines, previous work experience, and reference and background checks would be useful. A logical, structured interview session wh ere the job duties and responsibilities as well as the required job qualifications are explained would be the next step. Once Angelo has job candidates that he is satisfied with, he then has to develop human resource strategies that will ensure their success. (3) TRAINING – Angelo should develop a training program for both new and existing employees. The implementation of a training program is beneficial for both the company and the employees.Training programs helps each employee to understand their various role/job expectations. Unskilled workers are counterproductive to the work environment. It can jeopardize a business reputation. Angelo’s newly hired waiter/waitress should be trained on how to correctly take orders and how to serve the customers efficiently. Angelo’s ideas regarding customer service has to be shared throughout all stores. If sufficient time is devoted with the training program, all employees become an asset for the organization with the incr ease of their knowledge.After completion of the training, all of Angelo’s Pizza employees should know where they stand and that their performance can lead to a management position. ` ANSWER #3. By asking the following questions, I feel Angelo will be able to attain qualified candidates. The questions are based on situational and behavioral judgments. STRUCTURED INTERVIEW FORM Name of Applicant: Position applied for: Date of the Interview: (1) Why did you choose our organization? (2) Employees interact with a wide variety of customers. Sometimes customers may become angry/frustrated.Describe a time when you dealt with a customers who was demanding. Impatient or angry. How did you respond to the customer’s request or demands? What was the outcome of your actions? (3) Sometimes employees must communicate unpleasant information to customers. Describe a time when you had to communicate unfavorable information to a customer. What did you have to tell the customer? What was t he outcome? (4) If a customer is dissatisfied and wants to return a ordered food item/dish, how would you respond? BIBLIOGRAPHY/WORK SITED Dessler, G. (2012). Human Resource Managemnet, Thirteenth Edition. Pearson.

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The biggest reason is the fact that direct democracy is the fairest and purest way of making decisions as it is entirely up to the people to decide. Whilst you would not regularly use referendums to deal with every issue that parliament would have to deal with, they are a very good way of dealing with a single, Important Issue.Referendums are also good for the electorate. Many people believe that voting In mineral elections is pointless, largely because they believe that their vote doesn't really count In the grand scheme of things, especially If you live In an area where your party Is always voted In second. However with referendums, every vote counts, and the electorate recognize this and as a result turn out In massive numbers. This also strengthens the support of the political system In the people.It encourages people to become better educated In politics, whilst providing politicians with an insight into the electorate's opinions. However there are also a large amount of disadva ntages when it comes to referendums. The most obvious is that it blatantly undermines the representative democracy system used in this country, which generally works quite well. Many of the disadvantages with regards to referendums are evident in the current Scottish independence referendum. For example, if the result Is close, countries will often feel divided over the issue.This is the case in Scotland, where the polls indicate that the result is going to be very close, and there re definite tensions on the streets between the supporters of the two campaigns, with many no voters saying that they get abuse in the street if they biblically show their choice. There are problems with letting the public make such large decisions, as they will often be the wrong ones. People in this country tend to have ignorance towards politics, and so when these people are allowed to make such big decisions, they will often vote using their emotions, rather than choosing what is best. Ethan Mullet

okonkwo-a tragic hero essays

okonkwo-a tragic hero essays The novel Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe introduces an interesting character named Okonkwo. Okonkwo lived a life full of contradiction. His main goal in life was to never give up until he was successful and achieved everything he wanted, but then he ended up committing suicide in the end. Okonkwo can be thought of as a tragic hero. He has quality characteristics about him that everyone admires, such as his bravery, strength, and his desire to succeed. His fear of becoming like his father gave him this desire to succeed, and consistently motivated him to progress through life. However, he was always held back by his tragic flaw, being his inability to accept change. Okonkwos motivation to succeed was driven by fear. When his father, Unoka, died, he left Okonkwo with nothing. Unoka was thought of as a coward, and Okonkwo also feared that he would be thought of the same way. So in turn, having a failure as a father was just the thing Okonkwo needed to become successful in his own life. Achebe says, He was possessed by the fear of his fathers contemptible life and shameful death (18; ch. 3) Okonkwos success was based on his material acquisition and growth, and his power. When Okonkwo was still just a boy, he began his hard work of farming at a desperate attempt to earn respect. "I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers breasts. If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you." (21; ch. 3). Here we can see that Okonkwo started adulthood, in fact supporting his family, at a very early age. He began to cultivate his farm before many of the other townspeople. This unfortunately lead to disaster the f irst year since the rains came early and much of his crop was destroyed. Okonkwo persisted. Okonkwo was a man possessed with succeeding. " Since I survived that year, he always said, I shall survive anything. He put...

Affermative Action essays

Affermative Action essays Affirmative Action? A major controversy encompassing the country is the issue of affirmative action. Many believe that the abolition, or at least restructure, of affirmative action in the United States will benefit the nation for many logical reasons. Originally, affirmative action began as an attempt to eliminate discrimination and provide a source of opportunity; affirmative action did not begin as an attempt to support just minorities and women. In addition, affirmative action naturally creates resentment when the less qualified are preferred instead of the people actually deserve the admission or job. Another reason that has existed since the abolition of slavery is the myth that women and 'minorities? cannot compete against white males without receiving special preference or treatment. Money used for the support and continuance of affirmative action cost in excess of 125 million dollars annually. Important programs in the country may benefit from the money received by affirmativ e action bureaucrats. Most importantly, the fundamentals of democracy rest on the equality of all people, whereas affirmative action is actually trying to give minorities and women higher status of importance than Caucasians. If the policies of affirmative action end, then the nation can return to its original equal opportunity policies. The original founders of the Civil Rights Act intended for all people, including majorities and minorities, to receive equal opportunities for education and job positions. Presently, in today's economic system, companies and businesses offering job positions have to meet quotas and statistics proving that they are not discriminating against one race or gender for another. For example, a software company is hiring a new graphics designer to assist in drawing and the creation of graphics. This type of job requires experience and expertise to succeed. There are three applicants for the job offering. One applicant is a white ma...

Battle of New Orleans in the American Civil War

Battle of New Orleans in the American Civil War The capture of New Orleans by Union forces occurred during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and saw Flag Officer David G. Farragut run his fleet past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on April 24, 1862 before capturing New Orleans the following day. Early in the Civil War, Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott devised the Anaconda Plan for defeating the Confederacy. A hero of the Mexican-American War, Scott called for the blockade of the Southern coast as well as the capture of the Mississippi River. This latter move was designed to split the Confederacy in two and prevent supplies from moving east and west. To New Orleans The first step to securing the Mississippi was the capture of New Orleans. The Confederacys largest city and busiest port, New Orleans was defended by two large forts, Jackson and St. Philip, situated on the river below the city (Map). While forts had historically held an advantage over naval vessels, successes in 1861 at Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal led Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox to believe that an attack up the Mississippi would be feasible. In his view, the forts could be reduced by naval gunfire and then assaulted by a relatively small landing force. Foxs plan was initially opposed by US Army general-in-chief George B. McClellan who believed that such an operation would require 30,000 to 50,000 men. Viewing a prospective expedition against New Orleans as a diversion, he was unwilling to release large numbers of troops as he was planning what would become the Peninsula Campaign. To obtain the needed landing force, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles approached  Major General Benjamin Butler. A political appointee, Butler was able to use his connections to secure 18,000 men and received command of the force on February 23, 1862. Fast Facts: Capture of New Orleans Conflict: American Civil War (1861-1865)Dates: April 24, 1862Armies Commanders:UnionFlag Officer David G. Farragut17 warships19 mortar boatsConfederateMajor General Mansfield LovellForts Jackson St. Philip2 ironclads, 10 gunboats Farragut The task of eliminating the forts and taking the city fell to Flag Officer David G. Farragut. A long-serving officer who had taken part in the War of 1812 and Mexican-American War, he had been raised by Commodore David Porter following the death of his mother. Given command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in January 1862, Farragut arrived at his new post the following month and established a base of operations on Ship Island off the coast of Mississippi. In addition to his squadron, he was provided with a fleet of mortar boats led by his foster brother, Commander David D. Porter, who had the ear of Fox. Assessing the Confederate defenses, Farragut initially planned to reduce the forts with mortar fire before advancing his fleet up the river. Rear Admiral David G. Farragut. US Naval History and Heritage Command   Preparations Moving to the Mississippi River in mid-March, Farragut began moving his ships over the bar at its mouth. Here complications were encountered as the water proved three feet shallower than expected.  As a result, the steam frigate USS Colorado (52 guns) had to be left behind. Rendezvousing at Head of Passes, Farraguts ships and Porters mortar boats moved up the river towards the forts. Arriving, Farragut was confronted by Forts Jackson and St. Philip, as well as a chain barricade and four smaller batteries. Sending forward a detachment from the US Coast Survey, Farragut made determinations on where to place the mortar fleet. Confederate Preparations From the outset of the war, plans for the defense of New Orleans were hampered by the fact that the Confederate leadership in Richmond believed that the greatest threats to the city would come from the north. As such, military equipment and manpower were shifted up the Mississippi to defensive points such as Island Number 10.  In southern Louisiana, the defenses were commanded by Major General Mansfield Lovell who had his headquarters in New Orleans. Immediate oversight of the forts fell to Brigadier General Johnson K. Duncan. Supporting the static defenses were the River Defense Fleet consisting of six gunboats, two gunboats from the Louisiana Provisional Navy, as well as two gunboats from the Confederate Navy and the ironclads CSS Louisiana (12) and CSS Manassas (1). The former, while a powerful ship, was not complete and was used as a floating battery during the battle. Though numerous, the Confederates forces on the water lacked a unified command structure. Reducing the Forts Though skeptical about their effectiveness in reducing the forts, Farragut advanced Porters mortar boats on April 18.  Firing non-stop for five days and nights, the mortars pounded the forts, but were unable to completely disable their batteries. As the shells rained down, sailors from USS Kineo (5), USS Itasca (5), and USS Pinola (5) rowed forward and opened a gap in the chain barricade on April 20. On April 23, Farragut, impatient with the bombardments results, began planning to run his fleet past the forts. Ordering his captains to drape their vessels in chain, iron plate, and other protective materials, Farragut divided the fleet into three sections for the coming action (Map). There were led by Farragut and Captains Theodorus Bailey and Henry H. Bell. Running the Gauntlet At 2:00 AM on April 24, the Union fleet began moving upstream, with the first division, led by Bailey, coming under fire an hour and fifteen minutes later. Racing ahead, the first division was soon clear of the forts, however Farraguts second division encountered more difficulty. As his flagship, USS Hartford (22) cleared the forts, it was forced to turn to avoid a Confederate fire raft and ran aground. Seeing the Union ship in trouble, the Confederates redirected the fire raft towards Hartford causing a fire to break out on the vessel. Moving quickly, the crew extinguished the flames and was able to back the ship out of the mud. USS Hartford (1858). US Naval History Heritage Command Above the forts, the Union ships encountered the River Defense Fleet and Manassas. While the gunboats were easily dealt with, Manassas attempted to ram USS Pensacola (17) but missed. Moving downstream, it was accidentally fired upon by the forts before moving to strike USS Brooklyn (21). Ramming the Union ship, Manassas failed to strike a fatal blow as it hit Brooklyns full coal bunkers. By the time the fighting ended, Manassas was downstream of the Union fleet and unable to make enough speed against the current to ram effectively. As a result, its captain ran it aground where it was destroyed by Union gun fire. The City Surrenders Having successfully cleared the forts with minimal losses, Farragut began steaming upstream to New Orleans. Arriving off the city on April 25, he immediately demanded its surrender. Sending a force ashore, Farragut was told by the mayor that only Major General Lovell could surrender the city. This was countered when Lovell informed the mayor that he was retreating and that the city was not his to surrender. After four days of this, Farragut ordered his men to hoist the US flag over the customs house and city hall. During this time, the garrisons of the Forts Jackson and St. Philip, now cut off from the city, surrendered. On May 1, Union troops under Butler arrived to take official custody of the city. Aftermath The battle to capture New Orleans cost Farragut a mere 37 killed and 149 wounded. Though he was initially unable to get all of his fleet past the forts, he succeeded in getting 13 ships upstream which enabled him to capture the Confederacys greatest port and center of trade. For Lovell, the fighting along the river cost him around 782 killed and wounded, as well as approximately 6,000 captured. The loss of the city effectively ended Lovells career. After the fall of New Orleans, Farragut was able to take control of much of the lower Mississippi and succeeded in capturing Baton Rouge and Natchez. Pressing upstream, his ships reached as far as Vicksburg, MS before being halted by Confederate batteries. After attempting a brief siege, Farragut withdrew back down the river to prevent being trapped by falling water levels.

SPORTS MARKETING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SPORTS MARKETING - Essay Example Website is a vital tool for Nike because it helps in increased appeal to the customers shopping online and be a leading international marketer of the sport shoes, apparels and equipments (Johnson, E. & Et. Al, n,d.). Nike pays out a considerable amount on advertising in order to reach the customers in a better way and to garner support as well as curiosity in its goods. When rivalry is sturdy, products differentiation along with loyalty establishment and product interest are factors which position one company apart from its opponents and Nike is capable to endlessly generate customer awareness as well as foster interest in Nike’s products by efficient marketing and advertising. Moreover, when consumer enters in Foot Locker there is great supply of the Nike footwear compared to the other branded products. It is a good opportunity for the company to sell their whole lot of product offerings in various price ranges. The products of Nikes propose strong consumer interest as well as support for its products. NIKE wants to carry out the lowered-priced hybrid shoes to retain their old customer as well as to attract the new customers too (St. John’s University, April, 2004.). Nike realised quite early that internet could be used as a vital promotional tool for positioning. In comparison to other products of Nike, footwear has earned great value from the customers. It also gets top priority on the website of Nike. Nike positions their footwear as low range products and tries to capture the market. The eminent basketball player, Michael Jordon is the brand ambassador of Nike shoes. There is no denial to the fact that Michael Jordon has tremendous contribution to wards the success of the company. Nike mainly concentrates into the domain of sports and athletics. So, the company always focus to improve the quality of sports equipments. Nike targets

Psychology-Personality Assessment and Theories Essay - 1

Psychology-Personality Assessment and Theories - Essay Example tors include upbringing, environmental factors, physiological factors and various cognitive processes that are responsible for giving rise to a certain behaviour or trait of an individual. In order to further define personalities they are divided into psychological classifications of different people. (Engler, 2008) Personality types actually originated from different sets of personality traits and these types also signify the degree or intensity of the set of traits that characterize the personality type. The notion of personality types emerged from the theoretical works and researches of a renowned psychologist named Carl Jung. According to the Jungian theory of personality, the unconscious plays a great role in the molding and shaping the characteristics of an individual and it is the unconscious thought processes that give rise t various conscious thoughts and cognitions. (Wilde, 2011) Is theories had strong concurrences with the Freudian theory of personality, but the schism between the two theorists was their beliefs regarding the factors that constituted an individual’s unconscious and as Freud was largely focused on sexual desires and interactions between humans, whereas Jung just deemed it another component of the unconscious and not the most fundamental one as Freud thought it to be. Therefore, to illustrate this aspect of his theory, and people can easily find the class that their personality falls into by taking a simple test. There have been a number of speculations regarding the validity and reliability of these tests but they d serve their purpose in providing ample amount of insight into an individual’s personality. (Wilde, 2011 & Plante, 2010, p. 115) Jung classified various types of personalities and this theory was further developed by Katherine Myers and her daughter Isabella Briggs, and drafted out a test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator that consisted of 72 questions that enabled an individual to describe the degree of intensity

Managing Diversity and Equality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Managing Diversity and Equality - Assignment Example While conflicts and tensions may occur that managers must deal with, cultural differences may also be a strength if dealt with correctly. Diversity may be seen as an active policy rather than the passive acceptance inculcated by equality. A PESTLE Analysis, which considers the external factors working on an organization, will be useful in examining how managers can overcome cultural problems and promote diversity. . PESTLE stands for the following: While superficially it might seem the first three elements of the analysis, (Political, Economic and Sociological), might seem to be the most applicable to a discussion of culture within the workplace, the others are as well. PESTLE has been used by many companies to examine both the internal and external factors that will influence both present and future business. It is a way of viewing complex situations through the prism of a strong model that can both provide a rational framework for the examination of complex issues and also provide a foundation for possible alleviation of the problems discovered. Thus the problem of "culture" is one that is posed for nearly all managers in all businesses, but especially within increasingly diverse environments such as are found in Europe. First of all, what does "culture" mean The dictionary defines it in the following manner: What does such an esoteric subject have to do with the or... Culture. 1. The behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought, especially as expressed in a particular time or community. (American, 2004) What does such an esoteric subject have to do with the ordinary business environment one might ask Basically, culture is all the beliefs, biases, likes, dislikes and general attitude towards life that an employee brings into the workplace. If all these were homogenous within each company then culture could be ignored as it would be shared and unified. Problems arise when a culture is not shared, specifically when a particular manner, way of speaking or belief conflicts with another. On a most basic level one might deal with the problem with hand gestures. In England the gesture of putting the second and third fingers up to someone is regarded as an insult, whereas in the United States this is just a way of simply stating "two". An American who is not aware of the meaning of this sign in Britain will be surely at a disadvantage if she starts negotiating by saying that she will pay 2,000,000 for something with what she regarded as a harmless gesture. Similarly, an English businessman visiting America who does not know that this gesture is quite harmless in that country will be at a disadvantage. This is an extreme, but actually quite common example of how cultural problems can stem from communication problems. The manager dealing with this situation needs to communicate the differences in culture between the two parties involved, and hopefully resolve it in an amicable manner. Best of all would be to communicate the various cultural differences that might arise before they occur. Pre-warned is

Christianity and Hinduism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Christianity and Hinduism - Essay Example According to the essay findings  Christianity is one of the oldest religions in the world. It dates backs thousands of years. The beginning f the Christianity is the 1st century A.D. in the Roman Empire. Christianity is also monotheistic religions. It focuses on the teaching and life of Jesus Christ. Nowadays Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Their early history is of one origin. Christianity is subdivided into Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism. Christian views are still considered to be the most widespread in the world.   These are views about the one God in the Universe, which are represented in three forms: God the father, God the son and God the holy spirit. The God created the Earth and people, he was working for six days and had rest on the seventh. Adam and Eve were the first people and they lost the heaven. Christians tend to believe that their religion explains the origin of the world in a best way. Thus, many people have been sharing the Christian v iews.  This paper highlights that  the principles of Hinduism are often criticized for the lack of an exact system of beliefs and ideas. Paganism and metaphysics are believed to be the basis of Hinduism. People, who believe in this religion, are pacified and calm people. They do not look like Westerners. Still, this is not an unquestionable advantage of Hinduism. Hindus follow different rituals and they have to oblige to the principles of Hinduism from birth to death.  

Compare and contrast the difference between a psychotherapy threatment Literature review

Compare and contrast the difference between a psychotherapy threatment and religion - Literature review Example However, the psychotherapy treatment intervention is highly based on the psychologist’s dealing with the clients by stating them their level of independent competencies required for coping. Moreover, psychotherapy treatment involves various theoretical methods as well as the behavioural assessments of the patients. Nevertheless, in religious therapy, intervention plan is highly dependent upon the patient’s willingness to cope with health disparities, difficulties, and sacrifice (DeRubeis & et. al., 2008). Correspondingly, the approach of psychotherapy treatment mechanism is regarded as the process, which works on developing interpersonal interventions to mitigate the mental health problems of the patient. Besides, the approach of the treatment helps to develop the social well-being of the client in the most effective and rapid manner and reduce the discomfort that they face. Moreover, during the course of treatment, practitioners utilise various techniques, which is based on enriching the relationship as well as the communication and changing the behaviour that will likely contribute to improve the mental state of the patient. Similarly, intervention of the therapy is highly based on the problem of the patient, as some of the therapy highly focuses on changing their current behaviour whereas, other mechanisms emphasise over determining the previous issues and resolving the existing problems. Nevertheless, the approach of psychotherapy treatment undertakes mental health issues includi ng bulimia, depression, anger management, anxiety, phobias and chronic pain among others (Ritchey & et. al., 2011; Combs & Romm, n.d.). Apparently, the means of religion therapy treatment also plays an integral role to eradicate the issue of patient conditions and prove to be effective as a form of therapy. It is in this context that the means of

Failure of Financial Regulation in the UK Essay

Failure of Financial Regulation in the UK - Essay Example This essay evaluates the failures of financial policies in United Kingdom and the move made by policy makers to cushion the country from falling into financial crisis. Financial crisis witnessed towards end of this decade had similar effects to crisis witnessed in 1970s. Many people grappled in unemployment, devaluation of wealth and other related issues that come when economic depression occurs1. G 20 meeting realized that policy tools made to cushion the world from economic slump had failed to discharge their role. It was also apparent from that meeting that the banking policies of United Kingdom and related market players had stains to the crisis. Growth in a country or in the world depends on sound policies, which balances the financial market and enhances economic stability. Economists and analysts in the economic sector believe that fiscal tools, which guide the economic growth of the country, must meet a certain threshold if the country is to remain stable. Deliberation of the meeting indicated that credit securitization is a factor that policy makers in the financial sector ignored2. Many banks offered credit loans to investors without collaterals that could support financial stability. The banks could not raise the minimum threshold required to make them remain in businesses after the investors had defaulted. The result was as worst as the financial depression of 1970s. Critics have contributed to this situation by making different argument about the country should do to avoid similar misfortune. The argument has rested on the effects of policy, which influence banking system. Some critics noted that policies instituted to correct the dangers of economic depression failed because of poor implementation strategy, which aimed at making the country more economically sound. Many economists believe that policy tools adopted in the banking sector created a window, which led to the economic meltdown. Evidently, a weakness of a policy can create instability as observed during the financial crisis. The major question that the society is trying to answer is not what caused the depression but how it can avoid the depression in future. Analysts have settled on the fact that failure of UK financial system is the contributor of the economic crisis. Economists have stated three reasons, which support the argument that policy failure led to financial meltdown. First, the role of financial market is to regulate market economy3. This regulation occurs through relationship that exists between the financial system and the market players. Economists believe that financial relationships influence market structures by creating stability and instability in the market. This means that financial system is the key driver to propel market structures towards making balance payment in the market. A failure of the system spells doom to the society since it creates imperfect operation in the market. Evidently, a slight mess bin the market would contribute to a collapse of other systems in the financial sector. Financial analysts have sited burst and boom factors as factors that directly influence market stability. Financial system usually look at credit supply and credit pricing as factors that control speculation in the burst and boom factors. Studies indicate that internet burst and boom witnessed in 1998-2001 increased the liquidity index in the country4.

Compare and contrast the difference between a psychotherapy threatment Literature review

Compare and contrast the difference between a psychotherapy threatment and religion - Literature review Example However, the psychotherapy treatment intervention is highly based on the psychologist’s dealing with the clients by stating them their level of independent competencies required for coping. Moreover, psychotherapy treatment involves various theoretical methods as well as the behavioural assessments of the patients. Nevertheless, in religious therapy, intervention plan is highly dependent upon the patient’s willingness to cope with health disparities, difficulties, and sacrifice (DeRubeis & et. al., 2008). Correspondingly, the approach of psychotherapy treatment mechanism is regarded as the process, which works on developing interpersonal interventions to mitigate the mental health problems of the patient. Besides, the approach of the treatment helps to develop the social well-being of the client in the most effective and rapid manner and reduce the discomfort that they face. Moreover, during the course of treatment, practitioners utilise various techniques, which is based on enriching the relationship as well as the communication and changing the behaviour that will likely contribute to improve the mental state of the patient. Similarly, intervention of the therapy is highly based on the problem of the patient, as some of the therapy highly focuses on changing their current behaviour whereas, other mechanisms emphasise over determining the previous issues and resolving the existing problems. Nevertheless, the approach of psychotherapy treatment undertakes mental health issues includi ng bulimia, depression, anger management, anxiety, phobias and chronic pain among others (Ritchey & et. al., 2011; Combs & Romm, n.d.). Apparently, the means of religion therapy treatment also plays an integral role to eradicate the issue of patient conditions and prove to be effective as a form of therapy. It is in this context that the means of

Organizational Commitment and Organizational Effectiveness Term Paper

Organizational Commitment and Organizational Effectiveness - Term Paper Example Organizational change is primarily structural in character and it is designed to bring about alterations in organizational structure, methods, and processes. (Nilanjan, S et al,3 2006) Change is endemic to all organizations operating in business markets which involve improvements on current ways of doing things, of fine-tuning operations and implementing incremental changes on standard operating procedures. (Patrick D, and Constantine A, 2009)4 According to Whybrow (2007,p.5)5 it is necessary to act in times of immediate change, no matter how nasty it may seem or how much it impacts on staff or colleagues. In view of the changing nature of business and risks involved in it which is evident through the recession and economic depression occurring time and again challenging the business policies of the top leaders, change is necessary to face new challenges of every facet like accounting, technology, management, etc. There are certain factors that contribute to the change process in an organization like internal forces which include financial constraints, the need to do more with less, cross-functional teams, mergers and acquisitions, and empowered workers, etc. and external forces like new workforce demographics, changing expectations about quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction along with new technologies (APQC, 1999).6 The transformation of the bankrupt organization like Chrysler in 1970s to profitability which was possible due to the effective leadership of Iacocca, who revamped the internal politics and systems, changed the management structure, trimmed tens of thousands of employees, won concessions from UAW and transforming the company loser stigma of government bailout into positive cultural shift. It is pertinent to mention here that organizational change is triggered by an event which indicates the need for change like bankruptcy, in the case of Chrysler. However, it is assumed that change is followed by mixed reactions which provide positive i mpetus for change along with negative resistance from individuals and the organizations like technical systems, political systems and cultural systems (Pagan, 20087 and Rashid, Sambasivan & Rahman, 2003)8 The present paper discusses the role of culture and commitment to organizational change and provides some recommendation to maintain the commitment in the change process. Culture is often defined as that which is shared by and unique to a given organization or group and is an integrating mechanism, the social or normative glue that holds together a potentially diverse group of organizational members. (Warwick Organizational Behavior Staff, 2001, p.322)9 Smircich (cited in Iivari, n.d)10 analyzed different conceptions of organizational culture in relation to anthropological schools which have been conceived either as a variable or as a root metaphor for conceptualizing organization which is further divided into two areas: organizations have been regarded as cultures or having a cult ure. It is further mentioned that culture contributes to the overall balance and effectiveness of an organization.

How the area of a wire affects the resistance in a circuit Essay Example for Free

How the area of a wire affects the resistance in a circuit Essay Electricity is conducted through a conductor. Resistance is the word used to describe the opposition between forces. The more free electrons there are, the better the conduction and the worse the resistance is. The more atoms vibrate, the more resistance there is. The free electrons are given energy, as a result they move and collide with the surrounding electrons. This happen throughout the whole wire. This is how the electricity is conducted. Resistance is the result of energy loss in form of heat. How do we measure it? V=I/R V=Voltage I =Current R=Resistance Ohms Law. This law states that the current through a metallic conductor (wire) at a constant temperature is proportional to the potential difference (Voltage). Therefore the Voltage and Current is constant. If the resistance increases the temperature increases, so it stays constant. At higher temperatures the particles move more quickly, increasing the collision of the free electrons. Possible Input Variables Wire area Wire thickness Wire length Applied voltage Material Taught connections Cross-sectional shape Insulated Density of wire Coiled or not Temperature Preliminary Experiments. Easy to measure? Easy to change Wire area V V Wire thickness X X Wire length V V Applied voltage V V Material X V Taught connections X X Cross-sectional shape X X Insulated X V Density of wire V X Coiled or not V V Temperature V V Applied I or V by a double cell which is measured by digital volt and ammeter. I will find out the Resistance by the formula using R=V/I. Wire area. It is difficult to change the area. A possible solution would be to add wires and twist them together. Coiled or not? It has not got an obvious affect. The Voltage and Current didnt increase or decrease. Temperature. My idea was to set up a water bath to keep the wire at a same temperature at every point. I would experiment with temperatures from 20? C-100 (room temperature to the boiling point of water) Wire length. Is very easy to set up. There is a very large range of results. Chosen Input variable I chose wire area as my variable because it is has a better variety of results. I will have 8 wires with the same cross sectional area. It would be to expensive using different cross sectional sizes of wire. I will put the wire parallel to each other an twist them add the end to increase the area of the wire. My chosen output variable is resistance because that is what I am looking for in the wire. Fair Test In the experiment I am not going to change anything ( wire length and applied voltage). The only thing I will change is the area of the wire (input variable). I will use the same equipment throughout the test, to make sure it is a fair test. If I would use different equipment it may give me different readings. I am using a safety resistor, so that the current is the same and that the wire will not overheat. It would not be a fair test if the wire would heat because it would give my different sets of results at different temperatures. It could also be a safety hazard if the wire overheats. Method Cut eight wires of the same cross sectional area in 35cm length (only 30cm of wire measured because I have to attach crocodile clips on each side   The equipment is as following: 2 cell Battery Ammeter+ Voltmeter Safety Resistor 8 wires (35cm) 2 crocodile clips   My circuit will look as following:   Let electricity pass through the circuit and note down the readings of the ammeter and voltmeter. Add more wires to the circuit and continue as planned   Make three sets of results through an accurate experiment Prediction I will expect that if the area of the wire increases the resistance will decrease. This can be proven by background physics of the past. Observation Test Results Nr. of wires   This graph shows the voltages I measured Nr. of wires This graph shows the Current I measured Nr. of wires R1 R2 R3 Rave Area m^2 1/Area   This graph shows me the resistance and resistance average I have worked out. It also includes the formulas for the Area and 1/Area My Graphs are on a separate sheet of graph paper. Analysis My graph shows me that if I increase the area the resistance decreases. I have plotted two graphs to give me a wider range of results and averages in different areas (1/Area and Area m^2). My Area graph looks like a y =1/X graph X Y 1 1 2 0. 5 3 0. 333 4 0. 25 To reassure this I have plotted an average 1/Area. If it is correct then I should get a straight line. When I plotted the graph I had a straight line. This tells me that the average is proportional to 1/Area i. e. Rave ? 1/Area. The slope is: y/x= 10. 5/16= 0. 66 ? /mi I am ignoring the offset on my 1/Area graph This experiment shows me that resistance is definitely affected by the area of the wire. Looking at my background physics it has worked out like resistors on a parallel circuit. When attaching another wire to the experiment it acts like adding another parallel resistor in a parallel circuit. So if the area of the wire increases the resistance decreases. Also I have learned if the voltage goes down the resistance goes up Evaluation I found this experiment easy to do. I had no anomalies on my graph. This means that the points I have plotted are all in a acceptable arrangement. There were no experimental caused by a faulty connection. There were no safety hazards and the experiment was safe to do.

Sub Saharan Africa Ssa Politics Essay

Sub Saharan Africa Ssa Politics Essay Sub-Saharan Africa is the largest current aid recipient region of the world since 2001 having overtaken Asia as the largest aid-receiving region. Since more than five decades ago, over $1 trillion has been disbursed to the region to spur development and integration into the global economy (Moyo, 2009; Dessai and Porter, 2009; and Handley et al. 2009). Despite the huge amount of aid flow to sub-Saharan Africa, widespread poverty, chronic hunger and prevalence of life-threatening diseases are unprecedented in the region. Institutions and scholars are now referring to food-malnutrition-hunger problems in the developing countries as the third crises' (Chibba, 2011:76-77).There are also increasing dependency on aid, foreign technologies, institutions and value system, (Todaro and Smith, 2011; Collier, 2008; Kelsall, 2008). The World Bank (2008) on the monitoring of the progress of MDG reported that the first goal of halving absolute poverty has been disappointing in sub-Saharan Africa. The failure of aid has generated debate among scholars and policy practitioner alike. This is because of the failure of fifty years of challenging aid interventions. Poor political leadership and weak state institution of recipient countries, and the agenda and conditionality imposed by donor countries and governments are attributed for the failure of aid politics and economics of aid. However, the availability of abundant natural resources in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries have not affected their fortune so-called resource curse (Ushie, 2012:1; TI, 2012; Handley et al 2009). The aid-growth debate, multilateral and bilateral institutions and prominent scholars like Jeffrey Sachs and Arndt et al. in Chibba (2011) support the view that aid has a key role to play in achieving poverty reduction and development. There are increasing demand for focussed aid to developing countries, especially small states, low-income countries and post-conflict states (Chibba 2011, Paulo and Reisen, 2010). Critics of Sachs work on aids role in development such as William Easterly (2006), Dambisa Moyo (2009) among others argued that poverty could be solved more by income redistribution than by growth and that aid is destructive to the economy of developing countries. However, the most important thing is finding workable and real-world solutions to address both poverty and development challenges. The role of institutional quality of a country is more significant and not closely related to the volume of development assistance to the country. It is also more important than the geographical location and integration of the country into world trade (Booth, 2011). He said this could be an argument for lack of strong positive link between aid and development outcome in sub-Saharan Africa. Kofi Annan in UNDP 2006 noted that governance issues remain crucial elements of all strategies towards poverty eradication and human development governance matters for development. Institutions, rules and political processes have major roles to play in whether children have access to quality education, whether people have access to basic things of life, and whether there is development or retrogression. Promoting human development is beyond overcoming economic, social and technological challenges: it includes political and institutional challenges, which causes poverty and insulation to developmen t (UNDP, 2002; Abdellatif, 2003). The governance crisis in sub-Saharan Africa is obvious in prevalent corruption, public services that are inefficient and inability of citizens to exercise their basic rights to choose their leaders court without justice, public officials demanding bribe and hospital without doctors and drugs. Good governance is crucial in eradicating poverty and promotes development through effective institutions and rules. These can be achieved through accountability, transparency, empowerment, participation and rule of law. Failures of social policies often occur because the beneficiaries lack political power and adequate representation in the decisions that affects their lives. Developing countries will promote human development for all with governance systems that are fully accountable to the citizens. People can be better off when they can participate in the debates and decisions that affect their lives (UNDP 2002). For aid to achieve its aims, the people that aid target must be empowered. Aung San Suu Kyi cited by UNDP (2002:52) argued, Development as growth, advancement and the realisation of potential depends on available resources and no resources are more effective than people being empowered are. Governance for human developments must protect human rights; promote wider participation of the people in the institutions and rules that affects their lives. It is not just about efficient, equitable economic and social outcomes, but must embrace fair process. Succinctly, it must be democratic in substance and in form by the people and for the people (p, 52). Todaro and Smith (2011) noted that development needs improved functioning of the public, private and citizens sector. Each of these actors has their weaknesses accountability. These weaknesses must be addressed to achieve balanced, shared and sustainable development. Civil society organisations have the capacity to reduce accountability gap in global governance. Scholars and policy-makers have come to accept the fact that active involvement of civil society organisations in governance will provide solution to accountability deficit in global governance (Scholte, 2011). Civil society should be a major player to achieve that goals by mobilising communities, delivering services and shaping policies (Ibrahim and Hulme, 2010; Bank and Hulme 2012; and Collins 2012). To critics, civil society might aggravate the problem because they themselves are poorly accountable to their constituency even if they have one (Scholte 2011; Steffeks et al, 2008, Kaldor 2002). The recent studies and international commitments reiterate the necessity of increasing research on poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development. Official monitoring of the impact of Paris Declaration where developed and developing countries make commitment to make aid effective by 2011 showed that only one of the thirteen targets has been met(OECD, 2011). Making aid effective and achieve its goal remains a crucial goal of development. Democratic governance is the answer good governance or good enough governance is democratic governance from human development perspective (UNDP 2002; Grindle, 2007). 1.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE This research intends to study how to overcome constraints to poverty reduction and achieving sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa. The research intends to answer these questions: What are the obstacles to poverty reduction and development in sub-Saharan Africa? What are the role of NGOs and civil society in promoting democracy in global and national governance institutions? What are the roles of civil society and NGOs in shaping governance policies and as alternative provider of social services? 1.2 METHODOLOGY There is an extensive literature on the role of state and non-state actors in governance of aid and capacities of different actors in governance institution towards poverty eradication and achieving human development in developing countries. This research will provide answers to the above questions by reviewing literature as a secondary data source. This method is selected considering the timescale of the study. It is possible to carry out this type of research by evaluation of secondary data source in assessing the core issues and approaches in providing solution to the research questions. This allows the critical appraisal of different literature source. Ethically, there is no research participant, hence no implication on any. This research is limited to the review of relevant literature on role of CSOs in poverty reduction, development and aid in developing countries and no field research This research work is structured in five chapters. The first chapter contains introduction of the issues in aid governance, the rationality for this research and research objectives methodology. Second chapter captures the rationality for aid in the development of sub-Saharan Africa. Its shed light on the challenges facing sub- Saharan Africa, and why aid has not been effective in reducing extreme poverty and promote human development. The concluding part of the chapter discusses global governance challenges and previous roles of NGOs and civil society in global governance and development. The third chapter discuss the centrality of democracy in governance and achieving sustainable human development. The focus of chapter four is the roles of NGOs and civil society in promoting democracy and addressing economic and development policy challenges. The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this research CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. RATIONALE BEHIND AID, AID DEBATE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Attainment of development by any nation depends on combination of factors. These include the countrys resources endowment and population; its governments policies and objectives; the availability of external capital and technology international flow of financial resources; and the international trade environment (Todaro and Smith, 2011). External capital comes in three main forms. The first of these involves private foreign direct and portfolio investment by large transnational corporations and purchase of bonds, stocks and notes in the developing countries credit and equity markets by private institutions and individuals. The second involves remittances of earnings by international migrants; and the third involves public and private development assistance foreign aid. In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, there are factors that make it unattractive for private foreign direct and portfolio investment. Political instability and incessant military take-over; economic factors and poor bu siness environment; geographical factors majority of the countries in the region are landlocked nations; and insecurity of life and property and poor infrastructure makes it unattractive as a place for foreign investment (Sachs, 2005:63). In addition, remittances of earnings by international migrants are small. According to United Nation report cited by Todaro and Smith (2011), only Nigeria and Egypt have remittance of 4.7 and 5.8 percent of their GDP. The above situation makes the role of aid in the development of sub-Saharan Africa significant. Aid aims to fill the gap limiting development by supplementing savings to boost investment for improving productive capacity and needed infrastructures that facilitate development (Burnell, 2008; TI, 2011 and Todaro and Smith, 2011:702). The argument is that developing countries lacks adequate domestic savings required for investment opportunities. Coupled with this, African countries have low foreign-exchange earnings to finance imports. Lack of physical and human capital to attract private investment does not also help matter. Despite the increasing flow of aid, government policies and objectives are militating against its effectiveness. Defining foreign aid is conceptually problematic. To Dambisa Moyo (2009), aid is simply the sum total of both concessional loan and grants. Concessional loans are funds to be repaid, but with a more favourable repayment conditions to the borrower than what can be obtained through standard financial markets. It is sometimes at the expense of the lending countries. Grants are money given for nothing in return. She mentioned three types of aid. The first is humanitarian aid. That is, aid in response to catastrophe and calamities. The second is charity-based aid. These are aid disbursed by charitable organisations (NGOs and other voluntary sectors) to institutions or people on ground (p7). The third form of aid is systemic aid. This is aid payments made directly to governments which could be either through government-to- government transfer( bilateral aid) or transfer through institution such as World Bank(multilateral aid). The widely used concept of aid is the combination of all official grants and concessional loans. It may be in kind or currency. Peter Burnell(2008), viewed aid as including transfer of finance, commodities and other goods, technical cooperation and debt relief and grants is the common form of bilateral aid to least developed countries because of their inability in the past to service concessional loans acquired,(p.503). The intention is transfer of resources from developed countries to developing countries to reduce poverty and facilitate development the common target of aid now (Todaro and Smith, 2011; TI 2011). The focus of aid on the human development, poverty reduction and good governance is a recent development in aid governance. The reason for the new focus of aid is the increasing high profile of other non-state actors in governance, particularly, civil society organisations (TI, 2011, UNDP 2007). This weakened the monopoly of the state in promoting development and the role o f these non-state actors are increasing as the power of the state declines and global economic activities intensifies (Dessai and Porter, 2008: 499). They defined the state as the network of government, quasi-government and non-governmental institutions (traditional institutions) that coordinates, regulates and monitors economic and social activities (p. 499). The US Marshall Plan (1948-51) of post-war reconstructions in Western Europe success set spur the use of aid vehicle in promoting development, but the failure of aid to achieve same in least developed nations is a case for concerns. The contemporary experiences generated heated debate on the relevance of aid to national development and spurred the queries of rationalities behind aid (Moyo, 2009; Burnell, 2008 and 1997; Collier, 2008 and Todaro and Smith, 2011). In the first decade of twenty-first century, the common reason given by donor nations for giving aid are moral and humanitarian interest in helping the less privileged. Some development assistance has been in the form of emergency food relief and medical program currently in Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti, Southern Sudan and Syria. As true as that may be, there are historical evidences that support the claim that no donor nation give aid without expecting something in return. Some of the reasons are political and economic gain, counterterrorism especially after September 11, antinarcotics in Mexico and Latin America, and prevention of HIV and AIDS. Common motivation by donor countries is political benefits. Burnell (2008) argued that even US aid for post-war reconstruction in Western Europe was motivated by political and concerns for national security and superpower competition with USSR (Todaro and Smith, 2011). The hidden rationale of the US Marshall Plan was mainly to contain the spread of communism. The success achieved in bringing Western Europe back on sound economic footing was clear, but it also gave US the advantage of influencing foreign policy with that part of Europe becoming its allies. It enhanced the emergence of US-led multilateralism (Moyo 2009:12). The focus shifted in 1950s from Europe to developing nations while the agenda of containment embodied in the US aid programme dictated a shift in emphasis toward political, economic, and military support for friendly less developed nations especially those considered geographically strategic (Todaro and Smith, 2011:701). The Cold War marked the political contest between USSR and US. African countries were used as battleground to make the newly independent nations either communist or capitalist. The protracted disaster in Syria reflects the hegemony between Russia, China and US. In the Latin America, Alliance for Progress in 1960s was established to promote economic development of the region, but underlying that is the motivation to counter rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba and the fear of communism in other Latin America nations. The doomed fate of the Alliance for Progress showed its irrelevance to US scheme of affairs. Dated back to 1940s, Britain government gives aid for infrastructural projects to poorer nations, majorly to commonwealth member countries and British Colonial Development and Welfare Act was established to fund social services (Moyo, 2009). In sum, Western donors give aid as a political instrument to prop up friendly political regimes in developing nations based on their own national security interest. Critics of aid argued that the fight against AIDS is to prevent it from spreading to the West and likely state collapse that might be a haven for terrorist (Moyo, 2009; Maathai, 2009). There is strong economic rationale for foreign aid from developed countries. Chief among them are Japan and Germany. Japan gave aid to less developed Asian neighbours to promote its private investments and expanding trade. Chinas aid in Africa currently have same motive. The aim of Marshall Plan was for Europe to regain their social, political and economic stability and to regain their level of development. US injected about $100bilion (current value of the aid package) as rescue package under George C. Marshal, the then US Secretary of State in 1947, for post- Second World War reconstruction in Europe. The birth of Breton Wood institutions (IMF, World Bank and WTO) in 1940s with the agenda of restructuring international finance, establishing a multilateral trading system and formation of framework for economic cooperation to avoid the experience of the Great Depression of 1930s reinforce aid system. They were to enhance capital investment for reconstruction and manage global financi al system purposely to share investment risk between countries where all member nation bankroll the risk involved (Moyo, 2009; Todaro and Smith, 2011 and Dessai and Porter, 2008). Economic benefits also accrues to the donor countries especially from tied aid loans or grants that requires the recipient countries to use the fund to purchase goods and services from the donor countries. According to Todaro and Smith (2011:705), a large fraction of US aid has been spent on American Consultants and other US businesses. The recipient countries accept aid based on their belief on the economic tenets of developed nations as a requirement for the achievement of their own development and in some cases and lack of domestic resources. To some corrupt leaders aid is attractive because they hardly account for it and sometimes used to suppress opposition and retain power military assistance. Moral obligation, some argued, compel the donor countries to assist the less developed nation on humanitarian ground. They believe that the rich countries, especially former colonial masters such as Britain, US, France, Italy, Spain Portugal to mention a few, owe the poor countries reparation for their past exploitations. Aid and aid governance has generated hot debate and political disagreement among scholars, policy-makers and the public (Collier, 2008:99). The first argument is on aid effectiveness in promoting development. Proponents of aid believe that it has engendered economic growth and transformed many developing countries. The Nobel Laureate, Maathai (2009), in her book The Challenge for Africa observed that Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) alone has provided over $650 billion in development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. She noted the flows have not reversed the increasing death of poor African because of malaria, HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases. However, the impact of foreign media and development experts concern on Africa issues especially on preventable diseases has been helpful, but that is not the concerns of sub-Saharan Africa public officials. Collier (2008) noted that aid tends to speed up growth. In Africa, he pointed out that aid has added about 1 percent to the countries annual economic growth rate of the bottom billion. Though not encouraging, but according to him, the growth rate in those countries has been less than 1 percent or even zero. The aid addition to the growth rate is the difference between economic stagnation and severe cumulative decline and without aid, cumulatively the countries of the bottom billion over would have become poorer than they are today: aid has been a holding operation preventing things from falling apart (Collier, 2008:100). The renewed commitment of the world leaders and international organisation involved in the governance of aid reinforced the position that aid is relevant to the development of sub-Saharan Africa. They agreed that properly administered aid would meet its development objectives (Paris Declaration, 2005). Critics of aid argue that aid does not promote growth and develop ment, but contrarily may even be destructive to development of developing nations. Moyo (2009) vigorously criticised aid in Africa. She argued: the notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty and has done so is a myth. Millions in Africa are poorer today because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended but have increased. Aid has been and continue to be, an unmitigated political, economic, and humanitarian disaster for the most part of the developing world (p.xix). In the same vein, Peter Baueras cited by Moyo (2009), noted that aid distort development as the fund ended in the hand of a selected few. He said aid is a form of taxing the poor in the developed countries to enrich the new elites in their former colonies. Baueras concluded that aid-based theories and policies are inconsistent with sound economic management and with reality of the situation in developing nations. The argument that aid had had little or no impact on the development of sub-Saharan Africa is strong. However, one can be curious to ask what befell the income from the countries earnings from natural resources and other revenues. In reality, those resources also have not been of any impact on the development of the region (Ushie, 2012; Handley et al. 2009; and Chibba 2011, TI 2012). Moyo (2009) agreed on this and admitted that the problem of Africa is beyond aid because domestic earnings also seem to be a curse. Collier argued that the growth rate in countries with natural resources (oil windfall) such as Nigeria that earned over $280 billion from crude oil were not different from those other countries without such resources and with even negative effect of oil windfall on their economies. He lamented that more aid without changes in approach to governance is doomed to fail: but as a general instruments (aid) for developing the bottom billion they would be more reassuring had oil and other natural resources revenues been more successful in achieving development(2008:102). Maathai supported this claim: Unfortunately, too many African governments have used their budgets, and their natural resources, not to invest in their people, but in precisely the opposite manner(Maathai, 2009:75). Another dimension of aid debate is aid-conditionality. Formal president of South Africa, Dr Nelson Mandela, at the United Nation Summit in 1995 said it is to perpetuate difficulties of the South for the North to relate to us as hapless victims to dictate to regarding loans and the employment of aid (cited by Todaro and Smith,2011:684). Argument against conditionality is popular among civil society, governments and the international institutions involving in the governance of aid. Conditionality-based lending started in 1980s with recommendation for economic policy and institutional reform with Structural Adjustment Programme taken central stage. It incurred resentment because people viewed it as coercive and offensive to sovereignty (Burnell, 2008:505). Based on Dollar and Burnsides (1998) recommendation, selectivity was introduced to aid favouring countries that show commitment to sound development policy and good governance. Critics view this as depriving assistance to countries that desperately need the help. Nevertheless, Collier noted that aid agencies have little incentives to enforce conditionality because people get promotion by disbursing fund, not by withholding it. He advocated for a shift in the focus of governments to the welfare of their citizens. He argued that the internal process by which citizens force government to be accountable to them is weak in developing nations and must be strengthened. To achieve this, external pressure is needed and legitimate: Why should we give aid to governments that are not willing to let their citizens see how they spend it (2008:110). The focus of all stakeholders in aid governance now must be how to make it effective in meeting its development goals, because aid is at the heart of governance today and it is unlikely to disappear, (Moyo, 2009:66). Aid effectiveness can be viewed as efforts gear toward ensuring the maximum impact of development aid for getting the most possible lives improved. Elliot Stern et al (2008:20) based on the principle of Paris Declaration (PD) defined aid effectiveness as arrangement for the planning, management and deployment of aid that is efficient, reduces transaction costs and targeted towards development outcomes including poverty reduction. The theme of PD is how to improve the way aid is delivered and it was to supplement PRSP. It demands from donors to harmonise their assistance with the policies and systems of recipient countries to support country-owned development (Booth 2011). Development effectiveness of aid is conceived as the effectiveness of aid in promoting development. Human development requires more than achieving economic growth in GDP and raising income. The focus of development must shift from national income accounting to people-centred policies. Development is defined as the process of improving the quality of all human lives and capabilities by raising peoples levels of living, self-esteem, and freedom (Todaro and Smith, 2011:5). Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (2003) viewed development as the elimination of obstacles to what a person can do in life. Obstacles such as illiteracy, ill health, lack of access to resources or lack of civil and political freedoms. Amartya Sen (2001) noted that development should be viewed as a process of expanding the real freedom that people enjoyed. UNDP (2001) supported this by saying that the fundamental capabilities for human development are to live healthy and long lives, to be educated, to have access to resources for good standard of living and ability to participate in the life of the community. THE CHALLENGES TO DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa are multi-dimensional, most importantly, the prevalence of extreme poverty and chronic diseases across the region. They form one-sixth of the world population, described by Paul Collier (2008) as the bottom billion. Sachs (2005:18) described them as too ill, hungry, or destitute to step the ladder of development. The webs of poverty make it extremely difficult to escape it on their own. Extreme poverty, according to him, means that households are unable to meet their basic physiological or biological needs for survival. Education is unaffordable for the children and there is no proper shelter for the household. Sachs (2005) reported that 93 percent of the world poor population lives in three regions: East Asia, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. While it has reduced substantially in Asia, the percentage of extremely poor people has risen in sub-Saharan Africa (Handley et al. 2009; Moyo 2009; and Collier 2008). National Bureau of Economic Research (NGO) as quoted by Maathai (2009) reported that the economic growth of the world grew at 2 percent between 1960 and 2001, but the reverse was the case in Africa. She noted, GDP growth was negative from 1974 to mid-1990s and by 2003, sub-Saharan Africa GDP lowered by 11 percent than thirty previous years (p.48). In early 1960s, only 10 percent of the world poor were African, but in year 2000, African population formed 50 percent of the world poor. The growth rate of sub-Saharan Africa countries did not exceed 0.5 since 1960 when the population was 277million. With a population of over 900million, the growth rate remains unchanged. Such economic performance cannot guarantee meeting the basic needs of the people. Moyo (2009) also noted that sub-Saharan Africa remain the poorest region in the world with per capital income of $1 a day, lower than what it was in 1970s. The number of people from that region living in abject poverty doubled between 1981 and 2002. UNDP(2007) cited by Moyo(2009) predicted that by 2015, one-third of third of the world poor would be African contrary to one fifth in 1990. Life expectancy stands at 50year, the lowest in the world. And still, across important indicator life expectancy, literacy rate, maternal- infant mortality and income inequality the trend in Africa is not just downwards: Africa is (negatively) decoupling from the progress being made across the rest of the world(Moyo 2009:6). Collins (2012) described poverty as one of the greatest challenges to human security and basic human needs. In Nigerian newspaper, the Punch of 27th February 2013, former president of US, Bill Clinton said the cause of Boko Haram (Western Education is bad) insurgency in the Nige ria and other sub-Saharan countries are rooted in prevalence of extreme poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa is now a theatre of terrorism. Some of the factors adduced for these challenges in sub-Saharan Africa are classified as geographical, historical, cultural, tribal and institutional. Collier (2008) argued that geographical environment and topography of a country determines its wealth and success. Some environments are easier to manipulate than others are. This gives some society opportunity to tend plants and animal better than others do. The climatic condition, location, topography, species of plants and animals influences peoples ability to provide food for consumption and export. These have positive impact on the economic and development (Moyo 2009). Jeffrey Sachs (2005) gave example of how the climate and location of Britain helped in its economic and social development. He said, Geographical location of Britain enabled it to benefit from trade, productive agriculture and energy resources in vast stock of coal (p.35). He revealed that Britain has favourable climatic condition for agriculture and extensive navig able river ways for internal and external trade. The reverse is the case in sub-Saharan Africa. Historical factors particularly, colonialism was given as one of the reasons for poverty and underdevelopment in Africa. Sachs (2005) opined that Europe superior powers coax weaker societies to take action favourable to their advantage. They commandeered natural resources including natural wealth of Africa, and private army were raised to ensure compliance (p.41). Maathai (2009) also noted that the legacy of colonial master the territories they established was meant to serve their interest. They had no genuine interest in the development of the local population, but in raw materials to their various countries. She noted that outcasts of the traditional society that cooperated with the colonial authority were elevated to positions that they would never have held in traditional societal institutions. This cultivated a system that de-emphasised merit and competence that still endures today. It perpetuates underdevelopment because merit and competence is not a condition in filling offi cial positions against sound governance and justice. Even after independence, the new leader faile

Technology :: essays research papers

Technology Recently while having a get together with some friends we were relating some experiences that seem quite pertinent to the subject of how communication is or will change. David the son of my friend Jackie was at a loss when told to call home. It seems our young guest had never had to use a rotary telephone. Confronted with this icon of past technology, David went away with a new experience to tell his friend about. Another guest, upon hearing of David's story told of a similar experience she'd had. It seems that Loretta had given her son a watch for Christmas. This wristwatch, complete with hands and a face was foreign to her son Tommy who has had the time electronically flashed at him in numeric form for all of his life without the need to know how to tell time conventionally. So it seems in this day and age, that the old continues to be replaced by the newer and faster technology. We in turn have a need to learn newer and faster ways of dealing with these new technologies. Technology grows and the more it grows the faster it grows. Yet with this technology we can learn how to decrease our work time while increasing our productivity. We have definitely come a long way from the pony express and telegraph. With current technological advancements it is now possible to communicate across the planet instantaneously, thanks to things like fiber optics, e-mail, and satellites all of which make this possible. With the invention of the printing press and the first book in print came the birth of the information age. Accompanying the birth of the information age was an explosion of new technological advances designed to improve how we communicate. With the birth of the twentieth century we've seen a drastic growth in the way we communicate with each other. With cellular telephones, personal computers, palm pilots, and online shopping. These advancements have all been designed to save us time, and help us communicate with one another. These are the tools of the "wired world", which in turn encourages our interaction and participation. And in fact make our lives much easier. While the next generation will without a doubt, find themselves lost without these technological wonders, we at the other end find it a little unsettling.