Aeneas Character Review free essay sample

An analysis of the character of Aeneas in The Aeneid and a comparison with the Greek heroes, Odysseus and Achilles. This paper takes a look at the legendary story of the hero Aeneas who survives the fall of Troy and follows the will of the gods and fate to build a nation that will eventually become Rome. The paper includes an analysis of The Aeneid, written in Homeric style and gives a comparison of Aeneas character with Greek heroes, Odysseus and Achilles. The son of Anchises and Venus, a prince of Troy and leader of the expedition to Italy, Aeneas is the main character in the book The Aeneid. The most admired and valued characteristics in Augustan Rome are marked on his personality. He is true to his word devout, a courageous and skillful soldier and a pious. The heroism of Aeneas is his ability, to place his belief in Rome in all times and the Roman ideal before his own selfish interests, which was unlike Achilles and Odysseus. We will write a custom essay sample on Aeneas Character Review or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

Reasons for a Revolution essays

Reasons for a Revolution essays With the famous rallying cry, No taxation without representation, many believe the American Revolutionary War was fought for strictly political reasons. However, the incentive for independence might have been the avoidance of the British regulation of colonial trade. The colonies were protected against foreign invasion by the British military. They received this protection with very little taxation compared to taxes in Great Britain. They engaged in homeland economic activities with very little interference from England. Basically, the only point they were asked to adhere to were the regulations concerning foreign trade. Now, Im not saying that the colonists werent justified in the revolt, only that their reasons differed from their rallying cries. The first change in taxation came with the Sugar Act of 1764. The act lowered tariff rates on non-British products from the West Indies, and the hope was to reduce smuggling in order to increase their tariff revenue. The problem the colonists had was not with the lowered tariffs, because that actually made it cheaper, but that it was taking their business away from them. The colonists were the smugglers. The British werent allowing them to conduct business the way they wanted, which was free from government meddling. They saw this interference as a form of theft. Simple boycotts of all English imports proved enough for the repeal of the Sugar, Stamp, and Townshend Acts, along with the non-renewal of the Quartering Act. Three year later, the British East India Company fell on hard times. In order to lift the financial burden, the English Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. Many believe this was a hefty tax placed on a much loved beverage, but this is a common misconception. This act allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to the Americas, where they once were required to go through Great Britain and typically a Colonial middle...

Advocacy organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Advocacy organization - Essay Example The new judges have given the award new look, improved the credibility, and exhilarated it from blames and perceived as bias. Innovation in reading price is one of their best programs where prize where outstanding individuals or organizations whose literature inspires readers and new audiences receive awards. The Pulitzer Prize website awards outstanding newspaper and online journalism, musical composition and literature in the United States. Established in 1917, Prizes gives annual awards to twenty-one categories where the overall winner in public service journalism receives a gold medal. This site advocates for the award journalists based on excellence therefore promoting originality and quality work amongst journalists. The PEN American site has given the every member of the society freedom of literature where people can convey information, ideas, and other forms of literature without fear. By extension, it has broadened freedom of speech and expression in an accessible platform for everybody. By targeting mainly the international writers, PEN America has expanded its boundary of ideas to defend writers restricted by culture, traditions or political situations of their countries. These websites serve a great role in recognition and appreciation of the literature, its value and importance to an individual and the society as a whole. PEN supports and gives confidence to the downtrodden writers with suppressed freedom of expression by political obligations while Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Foundation awards outstanding journalists and writers for their sterling

Environmental Audit Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environmental Audit - Term Paper Example Environmental auditing is systematic process conducted at regular interval by responsible authority in order to identify operations and practices related to meet environmental requirement. When conducting the environmental auditing, the firm should frame certain criteria for conducting the audit. Effective criteria would enable the firm to assess the performance of auditing entity. If these criteria are inappropriate it will bring certain problems in making the auditing. The framed criteria should be measurable, acceptable, and should be reliable. The organization should make good planning regarding the conduct of environmental audit. This planning would help the firm to know the required time to complete the auditing procedures and to identify potential problems in the audit etc. â€Å"For planning for successful audit assignments, the auditor needs to understand the auditees’ commitments in terms of financial norms, compliance requirements, and performance expectations. Thi s would determine what procedure is to be followed† (Guidance on Conducting Environmental Audit 9). If a firm proposed to conduct environmental audit, it should have clear objective about the auditing, and the firm should determine the steps to be undertaken by the firm to achieve the desired result. The firm should determine the audit scope, areas of auditing etc. The audit objectives includes the following†¢Ã‚  To recognize improvement opportunities.†¢Ã‚  To assess the internal policies for conducting environmental audit.... Environmental audit generally conduct in the following areas Material management and savings of material. Waste management and effective disposal of waste. Economy use of water resources. Effective utilization of energy resources. Performance pertaining with the environmental management system. Air pollution and preparedness to prevent air pollution. Noise pollutions control and preparedness. Conducting environmental auditing is the responsibility of companies, and it is their duty to keep environment free from the pollutions. The companies should evaluate their commitment toward society and they should not make any harm to the environment. Companies should utilize the natural resources in right manner and it should not exploit. Today government has imposed many regulations on the companies to protect the environment from the pollutions. â€Å"Through adoption of clean technologies and improvement in management practices for prevention and control of pollution is not only mandatory but also has got wide acceptance among the industrial community. Charter on corporate responsibility for environmental protection (CREP) also calls for commitment and voluntary initiatives of industry for responsible care of the environment† (Environmental Auditing 1). Environmental auditing reviews company’s operations and process in order to assess company’s compliance with environmental rules and regulations. Environmental auditing cover broad areas of business including building and building site. Many companies are using environmental auditing as a valuable tool of business resources. The auditing helps the company to bring many advantageous such as to know the problems relating to air, water, and land and to gain

AET ETO reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

AET ETO reflection - Essay Example Drag racing is a sport that anyone can partake in with comparative ease. Grassroots racing created a desire for contest among youthful adults. By associating with the local drag strip, readers are able to encounter drag racing individually. Slingshot provides the magic blend of sounds, the blazing rubber, the howling exhaust, the grit, the nitro and the flames. Turn on the Slingshot video loud and lose oneself in the excitement of drag racing history. The start of the film is a clear indication that drag history is the focus of the film. This is so because it starts by showing that the origins of drag racing is back dated 1930’s in Southern California as youthful gentlemen took to the streets to compete.   Other men prepared this rich bisque of hot riders and generated a land pace cluster that made the long trek along dirt roads into the desiccated lakes of the Mojave Desert so as to race their cars.  This is a fascinating picture to analyze how the world acknowledged motorsport events started from humble settings. Some people state that drag racing is dated together with the domestication of the horse and that people have always disputed others to acts of speed.  This video is approximately 30 minutes long and provides the chronological events of drag racing, employing interviews with a number of the most memorable men to have ever officiated or participated in drag racing.  Slingshot  is an astounding brief doc umentary and at a half hour will glue individual’s attention. In fact, I watched the movie two times and felt that I desired that it could have spent more time.   Since the movie is a sequence of work, part two will almost certainly continue the narrative.   The old video clips and photography are as spectaculars as one could get anywhere.   The backdrop chatter and music is occasionally a bit irritating, but there has to be some sound or the

Different Perspectives Of Organisation Structure Commerce Essay

Different Perspectives Of Organisation Structure Commerce Essay There are many different perspectives on how an organisation should be structure but there is no particular way of structuring an organization. According to Contingency Theory so many factors such as size, Technology, Market etc, determine the structure of an organisation. Anon (2008). There is need for a design of an effective structure to reflect the objectives of the organisation and the context in which it operates (Fincham and Rhodes 1999: 355). This paper work considers the organisational structure of United Bank for Africa Plc and addresses the way in which the organisation is structure. Identify the organisational goals of United Bank for Africa Plc as expressed in the organisation mission and vision statement of the bank. Identify and examine the organizational contingencies of United Bank for Africa Plc. Assess the fit between the organisational structure of United Bank for Africa plc and its organisational goals. Suggest possible recommendation for improvement. OVERVIEW OF UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC. United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) is a full service financial institution operating in the banking industry. It is a product of the merger of Nigerias third (3rd) and fifth (5th) largest banks, namely the old UBA and the erstwhile Standard Trust Bank Plc (STB) respectively, and a subsequent acquisition of the erstwhile Continental Trust Bank Limited (CTB). (Anon 2010)) United Bank for Africa Plc is the biggest of all the 24 Banks operating in Nigeria. It has the highest number of branches of over 600 branches across the country and over 7 million customers. The Head office of the Bank is located at 57, Marina, Lagos Nigeria. UBAs history dates back to 1948 when the British and French Bank Limited (BFB) commenced business in Nigeria and the erstwhile STB and CTB both in 1990. Following Nigerias independence from Britain, UBA was incorporated in 1961 to take over the business of BFB.   Todays UBA emerged at a time of industry consolidation induced by regulation in year 2005. (Anon 2010) ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC Organizational structure according to Mintzberg (cited in Cole G: 184) is the sum total of the way in which it divides its labour into distinct task and then achieves coordination between them United Bank for Africa Plc operates a tall hierarchical flexible structure with some elements of Bureaucracy. United Bank for Africa Plc operating structure consists of six strategic business units: North Bank, South Bank, International Bank, Retail Financial Services, UBA Capital, Products and Segment Market and four strategic support unit: Finance, Risk Management, Operations and Internal Audit. At the very top of the firm is the Board of directors, reporting to them is the GMD/CEO. Reporting to him are the Heads of the strategic business and supporting units, who are Deputy Managing Director UBA Nigeria North, Deputy Managing Director UBA Nigeria South, CEO UBA Intl, CEO UBA Capital, Executive Director Product segment, Group Chief Finance Officer, Group Risk Officer, Group Chief Operating Officer and General Manager, Group Internal Audit. The largest of these business strategic units, is UBA Nigeria South bank which is broken down into Regional Banks and further broken down into branches. The branches are located in different areas of the country. The Regional banks are being managed by Regional Bank Heads, reporting to them are the Regional Directors, and next are the Business Manager, followed by Profit Centre Manager and beneath are the Relationship Managers and operatives. Due to the size of the Bank, Head office is the strategic centre and has overall control of strategic planning, major policy decision, special project, product development, capital Budgeting and financial control. While the Regional Bank Heads, through the Regional Directors and Business Managers run the day to day operations of the branches. Each branch is given a yearly financial target and the performance of the branch is judged based on profitability. It will be noted that this is a divisionalized structured based on location (Cole 2004:) There are two major departments in the branch these are; the marketing department and the operation department. Various units operate under each of the department; these are customer service unit, cash and teller unit, funder transfer unit, admin unit(operation department) Local business unit, small business unit and mass market unit (Marketing department). While other departments like, Treasury, Corporate services, Credit, Trade operations etc, are centralised in head office. Tasks are assigned to unit and individuals. This can be likened to the principle of There is division of labour ( Linstead, Fulop and Lilley 2004:129) Job specialisation is deemphasised. Although there is written Job descriptions, stating the task attached to jobs and the person to whom the job holder is accountable for performance but a staff can be move from one unit to the other if a need arise. For example if there are many customers to be service at the cash and teller unit, some staff in fund transfer unit or customer service unit can be move to urgently assist in cash and teller unit. There is also departmental control function checklist, to monitor task done. Span of control, there are many authority level and close supervision of task, although there is no specify number of positions that can be coordinated by one supervisor, but the minimum number of staff that report to a supervisor is three. The diagram below shows the level of supervision in a Regional Bank. GMD/CEO Deputy Managing Director Regional Bank Head Regional Director Business manager Profit centre Manger Relationship Managers Operatives There are four levels of staff in the bank, they are, Top Management staff, Middle Management staff, Senior staff and the Junior staff. Staffs receive order directly from their immediate supervisors. Directives flow down from senior management (GMD/CEO, DMD), through middle management (Regional Bank Head, Regional Director), to senior staff who are the first line managers (Business manager, Profit centre manager) and subordinates (junior staff), and reporting relationship flow upward through same channel. This can be likened to Henry Fayols principle of scalar chain or chain of command. Anon (2008) The marketing staff .performs task functions that are directed towards specific and definable end results while the Operation staff performs functions that are designed to drive the system to achieve the set goals (Robin and Rodes 1999:357) Authority is widely diffused throughout every managerial level to senior staff level of the Bank. Cole G. (2004). Authority is decentralised but strictly Control. For example a Head Teller as the authority to recommend a Teller that is not performing to be move to another unit. The major policy decisions are centralized while operational responsibility is delegated (decentralized). For example, Senior management make Strategic decisions such as; technology or software to be employed by the organization; a major market or product change, mergers and acquisitions, capital budget and investments. Such decisions do have very great and latent effect on the future of the Bank. Regional Bank Heads are empowered to make tactical decisions which are product and market related decisions and are usually being made to outweigh competition and win more market share for the bank. Business managers are empowered to make operational decisions that affect the day to day running of the branch. The decisions at this level are usually on short and intermediate basis and they are usually being influenced by the unfolding realities in the market place. Business managers as the responsibility to manage their branches, but within an approved budget outside which their powers are strictly limited (Robin and Rhodes: 368). For instance, the business manager handle the capital expenditure and operating expenditure of the branch but there is a maximum amount a business manager can approve for a single expense and total amount that can be spent on operating and capital expenditure in a period. Any amount of expenditure that is above the business manger limit must be approved by the next line supervisor. There are specified laid down operational procedures, policies and manuals that specify standard of performance. These are: operation policy and control manual, staff hand book, expense empowerment policy, operational risk management policy, code of professional conduct and ethics, email policy, whistle blower protection policy, etc. These policies are to guide and bring uniformity in processing. For instance the expense empowerment policy is the rule guiding expenditure. It specify amount of money that can the approve by specified authorised person. There is a performance monitoring system named INFO POOL, which is driven by the principles of the Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard Approach is a strategic planning and management system that uses financial and non financial metrics as a business planning and performance measurement mechanism. Performance measurement is viewed from four perspectives: Financial, Internal process, Customer Service, and Learning and Growth. In order to assess employees performances, financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) was developed along the Balanced Scorecard dimensions. To drive this new performance management system, management introduced performance incentive pay to boost employee morale and increase productivity. High performers are objectively identified and rewarded appropriately in line with predetermined percentages of their pay. ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL: The goals of United Bank for Arica plc are highlighted below: To be the reference point for service, quality and innovation in the financial services industry and to achieve significant difference between UBA and other banks on all key parameters. Anon(2010) It desires to occupy the foremost position amongst its peers in the industry along key metrics: market share, profitability, balance sheet size etc. Anon(2010) It desires to achieve a clear and significant lead over peers along all key measures and significantly influence financial services industry policy and direction. Anon(2010) It desires to provide a broad range of financial services products and services offerings to meet the needs of its chosen market segments. Anon(2010) It primary focus shall be on the African region where it intends to deploy its array of financial services products and service offerings. To also maintain a selective presence in key locations worldwide on an opportunistic basis. Anon(2010) Business decisions shall be driven by the desire to achieve significant value-added for all stakeholders. Anon(2010) Putting in place governance and strategic management practices that ensure that this organization will successfully anticipate and respond to environmental discontinuities and effectively manage leadership transitions at all levels. Anon(2010) ORGANIZATIONAL CONTINGENCIES United Bank for Africa Plc is faced with various numbers of organisational contingencies and these contingencies have equally affected the manner in which the organisation is structure. The organisational contingencies are; Size Technology Environment Government Regulator Risk and control environment Size United Bank for Africa Plc is a big bank broken down into Regional Banks with over 600 branches in Nigeria and over 13,000 employees. The branches are classified into four different categorises according to their location, operational size and environment. These are large branches, medium branches, basic branches and macro branches. The size of the bank has led to Standardisation of procedures, processing methods and employment practices, specialisation of function and role, and formalisation of documentation(Cole 2004:186) to enhance process uniformity across the Bank. This can be likened to Lawrence and Lorsch concepts of differentiation and integration Anon (2008:28). Differentiation approach because the bank is broken into Regional Banks and Branches and each of these branches operates in different locations and environments. This is also similar to Integration approach because there is standardize roles and regulation, operational policy manual guiding the operation of the branc hes and enhancing uniformity in processing and service method. It can also be argued that the structure has the six primary variable of structure as identified by the Aston Studies Anon (2008) Technology: Technology plays a vital role in the financial sector. In response to the demand for quick efficient and reliable services, The Bank as deployed technology- driven products and services as means of influencing and redefining customers behavioural pattern and life style. Well developed outsourcing support functions are increasingly used to provide services and manage cost. For example; ATM networks, cards processing, bill presentment and payment, software development, call centre operations and network management. According to Wood wards studies UBA PLC can be refer to as process industry authority and power are decentralized and responsibilities are delegated by line supervisors, employee receive order from one superior only Cole(2004: 86.) The span of control is high at the senior management level, for example ten strategic unit heads report directly to the group managing director and this decreases at the middle management. For example at the branch level the business manager is the managing director of the branch and reporting to whom is the branch operation manager and the three profit centre manger. Employees are knowledgeable of the banks products and processing methods. Employees are committed to organisation task as defined in their job descriptions. Environment: UBA Plc Operate in competitive and an uncertain environment where market keeps changing for example Customers are now becoming more knowledgeable and financially savvy. Their benchmark for service quality has also risen aided by the intense competition among financial services providers to attract new customers. Customers now set the agenda and influence decisions. Be slow or inflexible the business moves over to the competition. In order to achieve the banks aspiration or goals, it resolves to remain customer centric and bring decision making closer to the frontline. With this, the business units respond flexibly and promptly to the different requirements of the bank targeted customers. It this can be likened to organic structure which emphasize decentralization to achieve flexibility and adaptability Government Regulator The central Bank of Nigeria is the main regulator in the financial sector in Nigeria, they play a vital role in the structure of a bank and they also control and monitor the operation of the bank through various policies, rules and regulations, for example there must be a CBN approval and license for a bank to operate, CBN must approve the appointment of board of directors of the bank and the managing director of a bank. In year 2009 CBN came out with a policy that state an individual person can only spend maximum of ten years as the managing director of the bank and also do give approval for the opening and closing of banks branches. The bank has a both Compliance and Statutory Audit Committee Units. The Compliance unit is headed by the Chief Compliance Officer who then reports to the Group Chief Risk Officer. A major role of the unit is to ensure that the bank does not infract any regulatory rules and /or regulations. Similarly, the Statutory Audit committee whose primary function is to monitor the process design to ensure compliance by the group in all respect with regulatory requirements, including disclosure, controls and procedures (Anon: 2010). Risk and control environment Risk management is integral to the Banks strategy setting process, it is an essential tool for achieving the Banks objectives. This is achieved by keeping risk management at the centre of all executive agenda and building a culture in which risk management is embedded and integrated in all banking activities (Anon 2010). Towards this end, UBA Plc has in place robust risk management policies and mechanism to ensure identification of risk and effective control. The bank (UBA PLC) has defined and established appropriate governance arrangements with clear roles and reporting lines for risk management in the Bank. The Board of directors is the highest risk management policy approval body and has the ultimate responsibility for the Banks credit, market, operational, and other risk. The Bank has Risk management group these include Credit Risk management Group, Market Risk Management Group, Operational and IT Risk Management Group. Each Risk Management Group has direct responsibility for the development of its risk management frame work and they report directly to the Group chief Risk officer who in turn report to the General managing director, who also report to the Board of directors. FIT BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND GOALS: There is little fit between United Bank For Africa plc structure and its organisational goals. The structure supports some of the organisational goals. Delegation of decision making to the frontline where the work is performed is targeted towards the goal to occupy the foremost position amongst its peers in the industry along key metrics: market share, profitability, balance sheet size. Delegation of decision making has enable business unit to respond flexibly and promptly to different requirement of customer and has resulted in the achievement of some of its goals for example The Bank gross earnings increase by 45.6 % to N246.7 billion in the last financial year ended December 2009 as against N169 billion in year 2008. This was achieved as a result of the bank expansion to other African country, its lending activities and other activities in the African country. UBA current operation in 19 African countries, New York London and Paris this an evidence that the bank has set its foot p rints across Africa and other continent. The bank has a strict regulatory and compliance framework by ensuring that there a zero tolerance to fraud and other policy infractions. This culture is greatly supported by its compliance and audit check committee and strict internal control system which are entrenched across every strata and operational levels in the bank and targeted towards the goal of abiding by the utmost and ethical standard and It desires to achieve a clear and significant lead over peers along all key measures and significantly influence financial services industry policy and direction. The usage of outsourcing support functions to provide services such as; ATM networks, card processing, bill presentment and payment, software development, call centre operation and net work management etc, is targeted towards It desires to provide a broad range of financial services products and services offerings to meet the needs of its chosen market segments. The bank is currently providing various ranges of products and services to its customers. The bank has introduced a lot of technological driven product such as, mobile banking, automated teller machine (ATM), Udirect or internet banking, etc. With these product customers do not need to get to the bank to consummate their financial transaction. With internet banking and mobile banking customer can transfer fund from one account to the other, customer receive notification of consummated transaction on their account on their mobile phone, and customer can make cash withdrawal from the ATM. There are also different types of loan product a customer can access in the bank depending on the customer type of business, income level, place of work etc. For example the bank has loan facility structured strictly for customers that are under pay employment such loans are NO wahala loan, executive loan, assets finance loan etc. While customers that are not under pay employment can access Temporary overdraft and commercial loan. The structure at the same time is not supporting some goals of the organisation because of some element of bureaucracy in its structure. There are so many operational and procedural bottlenecks, unnecessary paper work that slow down transaction, time consuming procedure, and internal control of maker/checker/verifier. This defeats the organisational goal of being the reference point for service, quality and innovation, the bank is more control focused than being customer centric. For example, the newly introduced account reactivation procedures which is encumbered with a lot of rework and not cost and time effective in the sense that an address verification and Know Your Customer procedure would need to be carried out again before an existing customer of the bank can re- activate his/her account and this negates the banks service quality drive. There is also a mismatch in between the organisational structure and the organisational goal in the area of branch management. The branches are profit centres. The branch managers are expected to generate income and pay all operating bills including salaries. The business managers focus more on cost optimization in other to generate profit as against being customer centric. The business managers compromise a lot of things like availability of working resources and maintenance of office equipments. All these equipments frequently break down because they are not service as at when due and has also resulted in service failure and customer dissatisfaction. Customers spend more time in the banking hall because of the limited number of staff available to attend to their requests. Another major mismatch is the limitation and control of the empowerment policy. For instance, Business Managers cannot approve certain level of expenditure which are very vital to their daily operations. Such include the purchase of fuel, stationeries, amongst others. Conclusion: Having examined the various theoretical approaches to organisational structure design, it can be concluded that there is no best way of structuring an organisation; so many factors such as size, environment and technology contribute to the way in which an organisation is structured. The goal of an organization is also a factor to consider when structuring an organisation. Considering the structure of United Bank for Africa plc some elements of Bureaucracy in its structure is creating operational and procedural bottlenecks and will be required to be check. Although, the structure is flexible and respond quickly to environmental changes. Anon 2008). The following is recommended for improvement. Job holder should be empowered and be held fully accountable for job done. According to Cole G. (2004:200) Authority should be commensurate with responsibility That is job holder should have the authority to take decision on their job. The bank should adopt a lean structure which will help to reduce the number of levels and unnecessary administrative over head. Fincham and Rhodes(2003) Purchasing of office equipment, materials and maintenance of equipment should be centralized in order to take advantage of bulk purchase and manage cost effectively. The bank can also adopt a Radical Decentralization Anon (2008) structure by decentralizing corporate functions to operational division. This will strengthen the branches, improve communication, human cooperation, encourage team work and eradicate staff/line conflict. Linstead, Fulop and Lilley (2004)

Essay --

In the world of philosophy there are many theory’s that talk about the nature of reality and substance. Right now in the world there are four theories that out show the other ones. These theories are materialism/ physicalism, idealism, transcendental idealism, and dualism. Each one of these theories have good arguments that support their believes, but at the same time they also have their weakness. That is why none of these four theories can be taken off the list of the top 4. Because even though they have their own weakness they have their strong points that make u in a sense think about why that theory is the right one when it comes to the nature of reality and substance. Materialism has many meaning but in philosophy it does not mean that is a person that has many things and that only cares about the material things. In the philosophical world this has a more deep meaning to it. In philosophy this is one of the four theories of the nature of reality and substance. And the theory is that physical matter is the only reality and that all the things like feelings, mind and will can be explained as physical matter. This is basically the believe that everything known to men in this world is physical matter that all the things in imaginations do not exist because they have no physical property’s. The next theory is the theory of idealism. In a regular day basis idealism in basically the ideas that a person follows and believes in in his or hers entire life time. But in the philosophical world it has another meaning to it. In philosophy the meaning of this theory is that all the things in the world and everything that we believe in are part of our consciousness. That all the things even the physical parts are in a way formed from ... ...explained or can be proven that they do exist. Like for instance you cannot prove that there is such thing as a good because that is something like an image that the people have implanted on their mind. There is no proof that shows that there was a god that created the world and the universe that we live in. now why do I say this because according to the theory of materialism everything in this reality has to somehow have some kind of matter substance in it in order to be real. But a god is just a part of our imagination because it is something that we can’t touch and it is something we cannot see. That is why this theory is stronger than its counterpart idealism. Because it is more realistic and it is more logical as to how it can relate to how we live. It is also a theory that can be explained and also it is easier to prove. And it is also better that the other 2.

Good, But Not Good Enough Essay

There are times when we feel we must be perfect in order to please others. No matter if we did the best we could do, if it wasn’t perfect we felt like a failure. We want the approval that comes with perfect ness. Every day we see a new commercial or magazine showing an image of a hunky, greased up muscle man or an anorexic model with tons of make up air brushed on her body and society compares you with that image. We as a people tend to use those false images of beauty as a scale to rate the rest of the population by and if you do not fit in that category you are not beautiful. So we strive to be accepted to be approved by the rest of society. In Janice Mirikitani’s poem â€Å"Suicide Note† a young Asian American college student apologizes to her parents for not being perfect. Perfect in school and perfect in life. Even though the girl worked very hard and did very well it wasn’t good enough in her mind and maybe in her parents’ mind to be worthy of her parents’ love or life itself, and so her only option was death to atone for her sin of imperfectness. The poem begins: How many notes written†¦/ ink smeared like bird prints in snow./ not good enough not pretty enough not smart enough / dear mother and father ./ I apologize/ for disappointing you / I’ve worked hard, / not good enough / harder, perhaps to please you.(373.1-9) Clearly the girl in this poem the girl is apologizing for much more than  grades. She has set unrealistic standards for herself and has a lack of self worth all because she cannot achieve these standards. She cannot change the way she looks, yet she is apologizing for not being â€Å"pretty enough†. She also goes on to talk about how life may have been better for her if she were a son instead of a daughter. She would be worthy of love because she associates strength, confidence, beauty and smarts with being male. â€Å"I would swagger through life / muscled and bold and assured,†(373.17-18). Who do we blame for this young girl’s negative self-image? Is it society’s fault that she values being a male more than her own life or is it her parent’s fault for not making her feel the love that she so desperately needs right now? Obviously she was never appreciated for her work because she’s constantly apologizing for not being â€Å"good enough† throughout the whole note and talks about how failure, disappointment and disapproval drive her closer to committing suicide. Maybe if her parent’s voiced how they felt about her this tragedy could have been prevented. Further into the poem she talks about how she will atone for her sin of imperfectness. â€Å"My sacrifice I will drop / bone by bone, perched / on the ledge of my womanhood,/ fragile as wings†(373-374.31-34). She is toying with the idea of jumping from a ledge knowing that death will be the out come of her actions. Who will be there to stop her since she doesn’t matter? † Not strong enough†(374.35) she utters next. She doesn’t yet have the courage to fly like a baby bird from a nest off of her window ledge. She pictures herself as a sparrow â€Å"sillied and dizzied by the wind†(374.39). The reason she pictures herself as a sparrow because a sparrow is a little bird that is not considered to be a really important creature. Compared to a hawk or an eagle, a sparrow is a peasant bird, or an everyday bird. People have noticed sparrows before, but never pointed them out like they would if they were a hawk or an eagle. They would praise a hawk or an eagle, not a sparrow. Each line in the poem is building the young girl up to that state of mind where only death is the escape. She’s thinking of all the things that have led her up to this point. â€Å"not good enough not strong enough / not smart enough†(374.48-49) Maybe this way someone will finally notice her. She hopes that † they will bury / my bird bones beneath / a sturdy pine†(374.57-59). The pine refers back to the beginning where she pictures herself as a male child. The pine represents what would have happened if she turned out to be a boy. This could also mean, that in the afterlife she wants to be as strong as a pine, hoping that she would be brought back in the afterlife as a boy. The suicide was a way for the college student to be noticed. It was very unfortunate that she had to take her own life just to get attention, and to get appreciation for all the things that she had done and still it wouldn’t be good enough for her parents.

Critically account for the fact that nobody is yet to create a single definition of war.

Critically account for the fact that nobody is yet to create a single definition of war. Free Online Research Papers For centauries man has tried to define and refine the concept of war. Yet from all the greatest philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to the best military minds like Clausewitz and Bonepart not one has been able to answer that most fundamental question. What is war? There are a number of factors that contribute to man’s inability to find one definition that can cover the broad usage of such a word. One of the most important is context, when and by whom a definition was written will often affect the content. There is also the broad variety of human conflict to consider, is a massively asymmetric action a war or is it simply peace keeping? Perspective also plays a role in what is decided as a war; globally there are a mass of cultural differences that affect what each nation would call a war. Finally The changing nature of war and development of new and more powerful ways for man to kill each other has actually had an impact on the very definition of the word. All of these t hings make it hard to pin down an exact definition, however, there have been many attempts and using these I hope to come closer to explaining the definition of war. The style in which something is written tends to reflect the public opinion (and therefore context) of the day, granted that some pieces of literature are radical, but for the most part things are written for an audience. Following this line of thought you can draw some inferences about the context of a source simply from the way it is written. Looking at most Post–Vietnam war sources there is a very anti-war theme running through them. Personally I believe that this is due to the introduction of the media to the battlefield. â€Å"Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.† This is much different to the ancient world’s attitude to war. In Homer’s Iliad Hector, the hero of Troy, said â€Å"one bird omen is best, to fight for the fatherland†. Although the Iliad is partly fiction it does give some insight to the political thought of the day. Firstly the ancient Greeks were prepared to go to war simply on a â€Å"sign† or â€Å"omen†. This must demonstrate a stratified society where respect for the life of a common man is minimal. This is in direct contrast to the 21st Century where we mourn, as a nation, the loss of every life in Afghanistan. Secondly it talks of the â€Å"fatherland†, this nationalistic idea is something that we seem to have forgotten, especially in modern Britain and would perhaps give rise to the glorification of combat in older definitions. This must affect the way that different societies throughout history viewed both the loss of life and War, therefore having an impact on the way those societies tried to define it. This could definitely be an argument as to why some sources do become dated and no longer relevant to modern day issues. Clausewitz, one of the most aclaimed military thinkers wrote â€Å"Victory is purchased by blood†. This would not be an acceptable to a modern reader when even the smallest loss of life gives the civilian public a sense of dread. Yet contrary to this, Rousseau wrote much earlier: Force is a means of achieving the external ends of a state because there exists no consistent, reliable process of reconciling the conflicts of interest that inevitably arise among similar units This implies that diplomacy and negotiation are preferable to violence. Contextually I believe that the more empowered the common-man is the worse war is viewed in society. This is probably due to the education of the masses and also because â€Å"the people† are not being sent to war, they are choosing and it is this aspect of choice that effects definitions. The variety of conflicts that could be described as wars also has an impact on the difficulty finding one definition. In 1999 a NATO force intervened in Kosovo as part of a peace keeping mission. For the most part they took part in bombing of civilian infrastructure to put pressure on the government to stop the internal unrest. With this level of asymmetricy it is very possible to argue that this was in actual fact not a war at all. Simply, due to the fact that the conflict was only one sided, the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of â€Å"state of armed conflict between different nations, states, or armed groups† cannot apply. When this is compared to WW1 however it soon becomes apparent that these two military actions are far from similar. This further links back to context; perhaps the modern aspects of war suffer from a exclusion from definitions of warfare, simply because no-body has given serious thought to the meaning post 1990 and the development of â€Å" Ultra-modern† conflicts. However both Hobbes and Thucydides speak about the â€Å"necessity of nature†. This concept centres around the need for retaliation and escalation during war. Perhaps it links into Clausewitz’s argument that â€Å"war is an act of force which theocratically has no limits.†. The variation we see between the 21st Century Warfare and older conflicts may lie with the fact that we are trying to limit ourselves, and not follow Clausewitz’s theory that inevitably leads people to either a war of attrition (from which nobody benefits) or a nuclear holocost. This is in actual fact why the United Nations was formed in 1949 to prevent another world war. This modern restriction of force may lead some of the older definitions of war to become outdated due to the evolution of diplomacy and its role in international affairs. Perspective is also key to the understanding of war. European attitudes to war tend to stem from Augustine principles and are based on the idea of a â€Å"Just War†. Christianity started of with a very strong bias towards pacifism but due to invasion by the Moors and the Huns attack on Europe. Christianity was obliged to take arms. However they did so by laying down a moral idea of how a war should be fought with the idea of Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello. The UN follows these principles to this day and Kofi Anan’s 2004 speech was based on these ideas. Yet because our culture defines a just war, there must be such thing as an un-just war. Looking at Rwanda for an example. The Hutu’s thought that by executing 800,000 thousand civilians they were fighting a war. This is where the line between genocide and war becomes a very fine one, all based on perspective. This was a direct retaliation against the invasion of a previous ruling race. â€Å"And one [calleth] crue lty what another justice†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . In many ways it was a lot like the French Revolution, and the use of the guilloteen. It is not for Europe to judge a different culture’s attitude to war. They were fighting a war based upon their own moral values, not ours. Even if it is found by both European values and African values to be an â€Å"un-just† war it is a war nonetheless, it need to fit into the standard definitions of war. And most of these one sided genocides do not. Even looking at more recent events in Iraq we have taken to calling the suicide bombers â€Å"insurgents†. This is inaccurate, NATO forces are in their country, NATO are the insurgents. Arguably the Iraqi â€Å"insurgents† are fighting a guerilla war and not committing acts of terrorism on their own soil. Which in turn means they need to be factored into any definition of war. Post nuclear is a key event in defining global conflict. Since the advent of the nuclear bomb Clausewitz’s definition that â€Å"war is a dual on an extensive scale† can no longer be held true. In the event of nuclear war millions of civilians that never held a weapon would be killed and ultimately the planet could be destroyed. The â€Å"Cold War† does not fit many of the definitions of a war yet arguably it is the single most significant conflict in the history of humanity. At no other time has the lives of almost everyone on the planet been in jeopardy. This surely must be a major issue with the pre-nuclear definitions, they fail to factor in this colossal increase in technology. One of the most poinient quotations on this subject comes from Einstein, the father of thermonuclear weapons. â€Å"I do not know what weapons WW3 will be fought with, but WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones† This implies he thought war is something to end mankind and destroy all of society. This sentiment was echoed by President Kennedy at the height of the cold war â€Å"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind†. Personally I believe that this provides a definition of war in itself. Since the start of time war has plagued mankind. It has been described as â€Å"man’s essential illness†. Yet we for some reason retain our fascination with it. Personally I think this comes from the fact that â€Å"War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.†. However there is another aspect, Dawkins suggests it is in man’s DNA to be selfish and warlike with each other. Walzer says of war, â€Å"people are killed with every conceivable brutality, and all sorts of people, without distinction of age sex or moral condition, are killed.†. Given the enormous variety of war I think that this is the only constant that presents itself across the whole world. In these modern times, with such a variety of ways to kill and maim and such a vast array of motives and justifications to do so I believe the only way to define war would be to regard it as something that should be absolutely avoided wherever practical. Research Papers on Critically account for the fact that nobody is yet to create a single definition of war.Comparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionResearch Process Part OnePETSTEL analysis of IndiaCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay

Conjugating Spanish Indicative Imperfect Verbs

Conjugating Spanish Indicative Imperfect Verbs As one of Spanishs two simple past tenses, the imperfect indicative has a conjugation that is essential to learn. It is the verb form used most often to describe conditions as they existed in the past, to provide background to events, and to describe habitual actions. Using Estudiar as an Example Conjugation As with some other conjugation forms, the imperfect indicative forms are made by removing the infinitive ending of the verb (-ar, -er or -ir) and replacing it with an ending that indicates who is performing the action of the verb. For example, the infinitive form of the verb that means to study is estudiar. Its infinitive ending is -ar, leaving the stem of estudi-. To say I was studying, add -aba to the stem, forming estudiaba. To say you were studying (singular informal), add -abas to the stem, forming estudiabas. Other forms exist for other persons. (Note: In this lesson, the forms was studying, was learning and so on are used to translate the imperfect indicative. Other translations also could be used, such as used to study or even studied. The translation used depends on the context.) The endings are quite different for verbs that end in -er and -ir, but the principle is the same. Remove the infinitive ending, then add the appropriate ending to the remaining stem. List of Conjugations for the Imperfect Tense The following chart shows the conjugations for each of the three infinitive types. The added endings for each verb are indicated in boldface. The pronouns, often not needed in sentences, are included here for clarity. -Ar verbs using lavar  (to clean) as an example: yo lavaba (I was cleaning)tà º lavabas (you were cleaning)à ©l/ella/usted lavaba (he was cleaning, she was cleaning, you were cleaning)nosotros/nosotras lavbamos (we were cleaning)vosotros/vosotras lavabais (you were cleaning)ellos/ellas/ustedes lavaban (they were cleaning, you were cleaning) -Er verbs using aprender (to learn) as an example: yo aprendà ­a (I was learning)tà º aprendà ­as (you were learning)à ©l/ella/usted aprendà ­a (he was learning, she was learning, you were learning)nosotros/nosotras aprendà ­amos (we were learning)vosotros/vosotras aprendà ­ais (you were learning)ellos/ellas/ustedes aprendà ­an (they were learning, you were learning) -Ir verbs using escribir (to write) as an example: yo escribà ­a (I was writing)tà º escribà ­as (you were writing)à ©l/ella/usted escribà ­a (he was writing, she was writing, you were writing)nosotros/nosotras escribà ­amos (we were writing)vosotros/vosotras escribà ­ais (you were writing)ellos/ellas/ustedes escribà ­an (they were writing, you were writing) As you may notice, the -er and -ir verbs follow the same pattern in the imperfect indicative. Also, the first- and third-person singular forms (the I and he/she/it/you forms) are the same. Thus estudiaba could mean I was studying, he was studying, she was studying or you were studying. If the context doesnt otherwise indicate, a pronoun or subject noun is used before the verb in such cases to indicate who is performing the action. Irregular Verbs Only three verbs (and the verbs derived from them, such as prever) are irregular in the imperfect tense: Ir (to go): yo iba (I was going)tà º ibas (you were going)à ©l/ella/usted iba (he was going, she was going, you were going)nosotros/nosotras à ­bamos (we were going)vosotros/vosotras ibis (you were going)ellos/ellas/ustedes iban (they were going, you were going) Ser (to be): yo era (I was)tà º eras (you were)à ©l/ella/usted era (he was, she was, you were)nosotros/nosotras à ©ramos (we were)vosotros/vosotras erais (you were)ellos/ellas/ustedes eran (they were, you were) Ver (to see): yo veà ­a (I was seeing)tà º veà ­as (you were seeing)à ©l/ella/usted veà ­a (he was seeing, she was seeing, you were seeing)nosotros/nosotras veà ­amos (we were seeing)vosotros/vosotras veà ­ais (you were seeing)ellos/ellas/ustedes veà ­an (they were seeing, you were seeing) Sample Sentences: Llamà ³ a la policà ­a mientras yo compraba drogas. (She called the police while I was buying drugs.)Asà ­ vestà ­amos hace 100 aà ±os. (This is how we dressed 100 years ago.)Se saturaba el aire con olores. (The air was saturated with odors.) ¿Quà © hacà ­an los famosos antes de convertirse en estrellas? (What did the famous people do before they became stars?)Estaba claro que no querà ­ais otra cosa. (It was clear you didnt want another thing.)  Creo que todos eran inocentes. (I believe all were innocent.)En Buenos Aires comprbamos los regalos de Navidad. (We bought Christmas gifts in Buenos Aires.)Los indà ­genas vivà ­amos en un estado de infrahumanidad. (We indigenous people lived a state of subhumanity.)

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Marketing - Essay Example Here several different aspects of the company like, marketing tools used by the company, the issues faced in terms of the customers, control system issues faced by the company and several other elements will be discussed. Overview of Company The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) group is one of the most global banks and the company has been able to reach out to a wide range of markets. Most of the principal companies of the group opened over a century ago and the companies have had a wide range of achievements and also provide excellent variety. The company has differentiated its brand name and image and is recognised by the slogan of ‘The World’s Local Bank’ (HSBC, 2011). The bank is headquartered in London and is among the largest banking and financial services organisation. The company has over 8000 offices across 87 different countries and is listed on the London, Hong Kong, Paris, Bermuda and New York stock exchanges. The company cater s to a wide range of customers and serves as many as 100 million customers across the globe based on four of its main services, i.e. Performance financial services, commercial banking, Private banking and also the global banking (HSBC, 2011). Reasons for Choice The main reason to choose this bank is the international nature of the bank. Also, HSBC is among the very few banks equally famous in Europe, America as well as Africa and Asia. The company’s brand name and image that it has created allows it to become a name for every home. Also, HSBC has been extremely successful in marketing itself over the years and the bank has developed a strong brand image across the globe. Hence this is worth studying. SWOT Analysis of HSBC The table below provides a gist of the SWOT of HSBC. A detailed analysis has been included below the table Strengths Weaknesses * Strong Brand Image * Well Capitalized * Strong Market Presence * Global Presence * Excellent Marketing Strategies * Strong Perfo rmance During the economic slowdown as well * Strong use of Information Systems * Excellent Online Systems * Strong ability to stay in track with market need * Focus on different target markets * Strong and well developed marketing strategies at a global level * Although the company has performed well during the economic slowdown, higher risks and compromise of activities has been present * Large losses due to the Sub Prime Crisis * High Mortgage rates, without considering the external fall in rates * Employee Issues * Lacking strong customer care * Brand Image * Loss of the global marketing director Peter Stringham led to various confusions and chaos Opportunities Threats * The strong capitalization of the company opens various options to acquire better assets * Available capital for take over * HSBC has a strong position in the market and this can be used effectively to outperform other banks * Trusted Bank across the globe thereby giving it higher chances for better recognition w orld wide * Issues like the Sub Prime *Falling property rates leads to higher defaults from the home owners there by leaving the bank with high bad debts * Recent financial losses has impacted the customers as well as the stakeholders thereby leading to reduced trust in the bank HSBC has created a business and brand image which has been constant across the world. The company has been able to make a number of acquisitions across the globe and HSBC has been gained great success in terms of the corporate

Cosmetic Composition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cosmetic Composition - Essay Example A brief introduction of some of the frequently used chemicals is given below and their effects on the skin are also discussed. Tretinoin also commonly known as Retin-A is a chemical derived form vitamins and is usually used for the treatment of acne. Later it was discovered that it can also be used for the elimination of small wrinkles. After this discovery, cosmetic companies ritually started including vitamin A in their cosmetics claiming it to be highly beneficial, others disagreed and stated that Retin A actually irritates and puffs up the skin which gives it a smooth wrinkle free look. Secondly fruit acids generally popular as Alpha Hyroxy Acids (AHA) claimed to gently remove the dead skin cells revealing softer and smoother inner layer. Later on studies revealed that AHA’s should not be used very frequently since they can serve to be drugs rather than cosmetic and it was also prohibited since it is very frequently used by non trained beauticians which can bring about ver y serious damages to the skin. The very popularly used exfoliants can also be very damaging and hazardous to the skin since they serve to remove the dead and mature skin cells revealing and exposing the premature skin cells to dust and ultraviolet rays. In the absence of the adult skin cells, the premature ones have a tendency to age and dry out rapidly. (Leslie, 100) Use of Masks and Serums and its Impact on the Beauty Industry The basic concerns of individuals, as far as skin is concerned is aging spots and areas affected by the ultraviolet rays. Skin specialists have been focusing their concentration on these problems so that they can be easily tackled and taken care of. The extract of Magnolia Sieboldii is used to address the problem of photoaging and also for the prevention of wrinkles. Its extract has the ability to protect the skin cells from the sun rays and ensures minimum skin damage by suppressing the damage of the skin cells and DNA. It also contains within itself the pr operty of reducing the wrinkles that appear on the skin with time, it does so by providing growth to the synthesis of collagen simultaneously retarding the growth of collagenases. Hence it is widely used in sunblocks, and also in anti ageing masks and serums. Other natural active ingredients used in cosmetics are alcohol, aloe vera, amino acids, avocado oil, beeswax, cucumber extract etc. Their useful affects on skin cells and body are as discussed. Alcohol is used in a lot of cosmetics for the purpose of skin firming and disinfecting it. Aloe vera is considered to be very effective in treating damaged and dry skin, providing it moisture and a soothing effect. It regenerates the dead and mature skin cells. Beeswax is simply the wax produced by the bees and is known to be effective for the protection and moisture locking in the cells. Avocado is a multipurpose fruit which is used for eating as well as in the cosmetic industry. Its extracts are immediately absorbed by the skin making it supple without a fatty appearance to it. It maintains and revitalizes the working of the lipid barrier making lamellar coverings which give the skin a unitone complexion along with flexibility. (Valerie, 219) Benefits of Cosmetic Composition Cosmetics may have hazardous effects on the skin but if used wisely and in the right proportion can make the skin