The Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The - Research Proposal Example 337). The style further requires no tangible initiatives (Ledlow and Coppola 2013, p. 73). Transformational leadership however identifies simulations, could be suitable for industries with technical applications, and associated change target not only followers but also the organizations (Ricketson 2008, p. 18; Lussier and Achua 2009, p. 354). Transactional leaders are however go getters who inspire followers towards set targets (Bertocci 2009, p. 48). The approach has such factors as rewards and punishment and may not be suitable for sensitive industries that also focus on quality rather than quantity (Daenzer 2009, p. 40). The health care industry is an example in which the style may leads to mistakes that may threaten lives from resultant services. The research is organized into five sections. The first section offers background information into the study, rationale, and objectives. The second section reviews literature on the subject and identifies knowledge gap while the third section discusses the study’s methodology. The forth section will offer results while the fifth section will discuss the results and offer its implications. Situational Leadership II model offers the basis for the proposed study. According to the model, ability to manage a relationship between a leaders and a follower determines leadership success and identifies the role of the environment to dictate leadership styles. Difference in environments, based on industries and associated scopes of work, then suggests a situational approach to leadership based on industries (Pitman 2009, p. 207; Blanchard 2009, p. 182). According to the model, need for support and direction, that may vary by both industry and organization develops the need for situational leadership. â€Å"Delegating leadership style† and self-reliance are for example suitable for

The foreign exchange market Essay Example for Free

The foreign exchange market Essay The analysis of this paper highlights the importance on the factors that determines the foreign exchange rates at which one country purchases the one unit of the another country’s currency. The foreign exchange market provides a link between the countries through which all countries are working under the umbrella of global trade which works more efficiently than barter. The foreign exchange market provides a hub under which one country exchanges the other country’s currency because every nation uses its own monetary unit. In this particular case, the firm is willing to make a business deal with the Japanese supplier. In order to accomplish the business deal the management of the Blades Inc has two choices one is to purchase two call options contracts and the second is to purchase one futures contract. The tendency of futures price on yen has historically tilted towards discount with respect to the existing spot rate and the firm is willing to use currency options in order to hedge payables in Japanese yen. They prefer currency option because of the uncomfortable leaving the position and also the historical volatility in the yen. But the CFO prefers the options offer over forward contracts or futures contracts due to its flexibility and wants to use the exercise price of 5 percent above the existing spot rate. In general, options on Yen required a premium of 1. 5 percent of the total transaction amount that would be paid if the option is exercised. Moreover, if the firm uses the future yen spot rate, then the decision is purely based on a cost. The optimal hedging strategy is not the lowest-cost alternative because the firm is the in the position of assessing the risk. The firm is working upon hedging because of prevailing unsure market condition. So the perfect hedge reduces the risk associated with the currency. B Answers of the Questions 1. The table shows the option choices for Blades Inc. If they are not willing to pay more than 5% (above spot rate) then the exercise price of $0. 00756 should be considered while on the respective side the premium on that particular option is 2% (more expensive) of exercise price. The option premium is higher is that respective which the firm normally willing to pay. The firm also pays a lower premium by purchasing and considering another option whose exercise price of $0. 00792 but that exercise price is 10% higher than the spot rate. This particular alternative is not feasible for the company because the firm is not willing to pay moire than 5% on the prevailing spot rate. So if the firm wants continue to use option the management of the company either prefers a higher premium than it would prefer, or a higher exercise price that limits the effectiveness of the hedge. If the firm is willing to use an option then the tradeoff is paying a premium of $1,417. 50 to limit the payables amount to $99,000 or paying a premium of $1,890 to limit the payables amount to $94,500. The preference of the option is based upon the assessment of the analyst regarding the Yen (Gerald I. White, Ashwinpaul C Sondhi, and Dov Fried ,2001). 2. Blades Inc also remains unhedged but its preference is towards hedge because of the volatile and fickle movements happen before the events. They are more desirable towards hedge because of the disruption and uncertainty associated with the yen’s future value. Since future prices are not influenced with the doubtful and uncertain events. The management of the company should prefer the futures contracts as an alternative to options. Thus, the firm is willing to purchase future contracts which enable the management to lock its future payments with any undue disruption (Steinherr, 1998). 3. In the market speculators who want to capitalize their expectation and anticipation towards the yen’s future movement, then the anticipation towards future spot rate would be equal to the futures rate. For example, if the speculator wants that Yen should appreciate they should eyeing to buy the Yen. If the Yen appreciates, the speculator buys the Yen’s future rate in two months and sells them at the prevailing sport rate at that particular time. Thus, if the market expectation and sentiments are high towards Yen then the Yen will appreciate and the all the speculators will engage in the similar action. This action enforces towards upward pressure on the future rates and downwards pressure on the expected future spot rate. This ongoing process continues until the future rate is equal to the expected future spot rate. Therefore, the expected spot rate at the point of delivery is equal to the future rate, $0. 006912 (Tsetsekos Varangis, 1997, and, van der Bijl, 1996). 4. The best possible choice at the given future spot rate is described in the question 3 but the decision is solely made on the basis of cost because acquisition of one future contract makes an impact on the actual cost of $86,400 on the delivery date. The actual cost on the delivery dates in the form of purchase of Yen my deviate from this value. It is depending upon moment of Yen between the order and delivery date. Therefore, the firm probably prefers to use future contract over the remaining unhedged time. 5. No as disclose in the case the Yen is very volatile so due to that fact the actual costs might be tilting towards lower side either the firm uses an option to hedge the yen payable or remained unhedged. By applying a future contract to hedge it also locks the price of the firm which they are willing to buy Yen at the given time frame. Moreover, firm forgoes the cost advantage that effects the depreciation of Yen at the given point of time. In that particular scenario, the firm is flexible enough to buy yen at the spot rate but this flexibility is not available with the future contracts (Hunt, Philip and Kennedy, Joanne, 2004).

Conflict in All My Sons Essays -- All My Sons Parent Child Relationshi

Conflict in All My Sons The conflict in the play â€Å"All My Sons† in embodied by two different sets of values. The older generation represented by Joe and Kate strongly believed in family values and Pursue of the American dream at any cost. In contradiction, Joe and Anne express the younger generation’s ethics and ideals clearly shown in the thoughts of idealism that money is not the most important thing in life. Even though the younger generation’s ideals are sometimes thought of as being irrational and in conflict with reality, all throughout the play their validity is greater. Many times in parents-child relationships the parents have a very different view on things than the child they had raised. Most of these gaps are produced as a consequence of the different times they have grown in. In the play â€Å"All My Sons† the diversity between the two generations with two sets of ideals are mostly not a result of generation gap but a result of greediness and age. Many people when they are young see the world from a more optimistic point of view and that is true for Chris and Anne. As people get old and have their own kids they are thought of to be more rational in their actions in order to protect their children. Joe Keller worked his whole life trying to create a better future for his sons, but at what cost? Arthur Miller’s main point in the play is that people should look beyond their inner circle of society. Joe chose to ignore whatever does not concern his little circle. Although optimism is clearly shown in Chris’ words his ideals are not to be mixed with dreams for they could be a reality. All throughout the play Chris is convincing people to believe in his reality. Some of them, the Doctor for example, believe that Chris is right and a life that is not so money centered is possible. Others, the Doctor’s wife for example, on the other hand, do no take Chris seriously because of his young age and poor experience in carrying out his own ideas. She expresses that by saying that Chris should go and work on his own before he preaches others. Her disagreement about her husband working in research is excused with a money issue. This shows the reader once again that the parent generation in this play, who are supposed to be representing the American Dream, chose to give up happiness for money. Do American ideals not include â€Å"pursuit of happiness†? Chri... ...Even though her words express understanding more than agreement for Joe, she expresses no morals or any opinions for that matter. The reader would expect her to have her own tragic ending as well for through out the play she consists on the fact that her life would come to an end if she finds out that Larry did in fact die. Different generation gaps may result in different ideas of curfew or bedtime but should not result in diverse ideas on humanity and morality, for these are universal issues that had always been in effect all through time. That is why Keller’s ideals are no more than an excuse to do bad things and then feel that what he has done was the right thing to do for it was â€Å"all for his sons†. The end of the play and the climax of finding out Keller was guilty in delivering the broken cylinder heads are a push for Chris to practice his ideals and live on his own as appose to with his parents using his parents money. After this tragic moment for Chris when he finds out that everything he had believe in and protected were lies he started doubting his morals but the readers and the audience knows that he knows where the line of morality is and he would never cross it.

How Thomas presents war in As the Teamâs Head-Brass Essay

In the poem, Thomas makes quite a few references and allusions to war. He uses the nature and weather described in the poems as metaphors for various aspects of the war. The blizzard that is mentioned in the poem could be interpreted as a metaphor for either death or war. â€Å"In France they killed him; it was back in march, the very night of the blizzard, too.† He chose blizzard due to the nature of them, violent, and hard to see through, possibly a reference to the â€Å"Fog of war†. The elm tree can be interpreted as an allusion to the dead soldiers, which have been killed by the metaphorical blizzard, the fact that Thomas mentions that the friend was killed on the night of the blizzard reinforces this allusion, and he uses words that are normally associated with dead combatants, such as â€Å"fallen† to reinforce this idea. â€Å"By a woodpeckers round hole† this could be interpreted as a bullet wound adding to the interpretation that the elm tree represents a dead soldier, also the way he specifically mentions that it’s a woodpecker hole, instead of just a normal hole could be a reference to machine guns, which were said to sound like woodpeckers. The way he has described the way the elm tree has fallen also brings images of dead soldiers, he describes it â€Å"strewed† which gives the image of the tree being messily felled and destroyed, almost like it’s a corpse in the field that’s just been left there, like the way bodies were just left to rot in No Man’s Land. He alliteratively likens the war and weather â€Å"about the weather, next about the war† which are common themes in his poems, normally using weather as a metaphor for things such as war, rather than directly stating it. Another allusion to the war is what the plough is doing; it’s making trenches in the field, and these were everywhere in mainland Europe during the First World War, another trench allusion â€Å"screwed along the furrow till the brass flashed; once more† the flash could be a reference to the muzzle flash that was made by the occasional rifle that was shot over no man’s land. The way the â€Å"once more† was placed in its own line instead of the end of the sentence could be to reinforce the repetitiveness of it, which continues day in and day out. This poem has many things that are related to his other poems. His use of nature is one. However, the poem can be interpreted alternatively as a commentary on the effects of the war on the English countryside, and in general the destruction of the English countryside, which is a recurring theme throughout most of his poems. The effects of the war can be seen in the poem. The lone ploughman who has been left to tend to the fields by himself because his friend has been killed in the war, and can also be a comment by Thomas on how the ploughman is becoming rarer and rarer as the mechanization of agriculture is becoming much more widespread as time passes, especially during a time of war where all able bodied people were wanted to fight in the trenches. He uses black humour as a coping device â€Å"If I could spare an arm, I shouldn’t want to lose a leg, If I should lose my head, why, so, I should want nothing more† He doesn’t mind if he loses a limb because he still has to endure the pain of it all, but if he loses his head, which can be interpreted as either going insane (this was the first war in which psychological disorders caused by the war were widespread) or literally losing his head, he would not mind because he would not have to suffer the problems of the world any longer. His specific use of a plough, instead of the countless other farming tools that he could have used in the poem could be a biblical reference â€Å"they shall beat their swords into ploughshares† – Isaiah 2:4 he references this bible passage because it shows the connection that weapons of war have with tools that are meant to be used to cultivate the means to sustain life. In the poem there is a theme of continuity, the poem bookended with the lovers going into the forest, and ends with them coming back out. The whole theme of ploughs also contributes to this theme of continuity, as they are constantly just going round and round in the field. The way the poem is structured also plays with the theme of the plough, with most sentences ending mid line instead of at the end of the line, giving it a plough like shape. Another bit of continuity seen in the poem is the amount of syllables in a line, more or less every line in the poem has 10 syllables, and it also written in iambic pentameter.

Jainism vs. Sikhism Essay

Read the assigned chapters for the week and complete the following table. Be as specific as possible when identifying practices, beliefs, rituals, and historical elements. Cite sources in APA formatting. Core Beliefs Jainism Sikhism 1. Ahimsa – principle of noninjury 1. Naam Japna – remembering god through meditation 2. Sathya – truth 2. Kirat Karo – earning a honest living 3. Asteya – non stealing 3. Vand chakko – sharing income & resources. Selflessly serving others. 4. Brahmacharya – celibacy 5. Apigraha – non acquisition Part 2 Respond to the following questions in 150 to 200 words: 1 What do you think is the most important similarity and which is the most important difference? Use specifics to support your answer. Both faiths originated from the same part of the world. They are expected to be tolerant of all faiths and don’t believe that one path has the monopoly on the truth. Janism Sikhism – vegetarian because they belive believe it brings them closer to spirituality. – they have and order of monks and nuns – they practice the Caste system – polythetic religion – are not vegetarians they believe that eating meat doesn’t block your spirituality. – is bound to truth at all times and practices god conscience. – rejects the caste system and believes in gender equality. – monotheistic religion. Consider the following statement: Sallekhana (â€Å"holy death†) violates the Jain principle of ahimsa because it is an act of violence against oneself. Using examples from Ch. 5 of your text, what points might a follower of Jainism make to argue against this statement? Jains will prepare themselves after they have reached their virtue. They will walk into rivers, lakes, and oceans as well as starve themselves when they become elderly with the help of their families.

Time and Place Professor Ramos Blog

Time and Place In â€Å"There was a Man, There Was a Woman†, Sandra Cisneros tells a short story about a man and a woman whose schedules are different but still have a chance in interacting. Every second and fourth Friday of the month, the man would get paid and the first and third Friday of every month, the woman would get paid. On their Friday’s, they would go to a Friendly Spot Bar to drink with their friends. The man would drink and drink in hopes of saying everything he was feeling, but that never happened. He simply just drank. The same exact thing happened with the woman. They would both laugh loudly in the bar. At night when they both went to their homes, they had different reactions while looking and thinking of the same moon. When the woman looked up at the moon with her pale eyes, she cried. When the man was observing the moon, he saw and thought of â€Å"those who had worshiped or loved died before that same moon, mute and lovely. The lives of these two people were the sa me but different timing. Assumptions are made and things are put into perspective for the reader. Will they ever meet? Are they soulmates? Do they already know each other but purposely have different schedules for a reason? A friend of the woman knew every side and expression the woman made. It was impossible to never figure out what the woman had been going through. The friend could read the woman so easily because of all the years of friendship they shared. The friend knew the woman better than her own self. The friend and woman met in high school because they had biology class together and didn’t know anyone else. They shared lots of personal information and happened to be neighbors so they spent a lot of time at each others houses. â€Å"You coming over?† â€Å"Yeah, I’m already on my way† were the lines they said everyday. When they graduated high school, the friend went to a university and the woman went to the army. They tried to stay in contact because the friendship they had was like no other. They always had topics to talk about because one story would lead to another and so on. When they met, their souls danced together and time went by so fast. When the moon would shine through the windows they knew it was time to go home. After six months in the army, the woman had come home but the friend did not recognize her. â€Å"What happened?† the friend would ask her. â€Å"Nothing, I’m fine† said the woman all serious. The woman was there but not entirely. The friend knew that she had seen horrible things because her eyes didn’t shine like they used to, she was quiet and she always came up with excuses to be alone. The friend helped her cope with the woman’s depression and after a couple of years, she was recovering. She got a new job, they moved to a different city, and went to a friendly bar twice a month with other friends just to have a break from everything going on. â€Å"I’m tired of not feeling like myself and I want to get back out there.† said the woman to her friends. They went to the bar for months and the woman still felt a little empty on the inside and wanted to let go of everything that was eating up her mind. She would drink in hopes of the wor ds being easier to come out but everytime she had the thoughts and images in her head all at once, she would swallow the words away. The woman hid that for the longest time that her friend didn’t even notice. When the woman would go home, she would stare up at the moon and think about all the things that she has gone through. Of course her friend always stuck by her side but the one thing that hit home was the intimate feeling she shared with the moon. The same moon every night, her whole life. She would vented to the moon because her secrets were safe and she liked the idea of the moon not judging, just listening. It would stay until she fell asleep so she found comfort knowing there was a form of good energy still with her. She would cry to the moon after coming home from the bar because those were the nights where she wants to say what she was feeling but couldn’t. A year later, the bar was having its tenth anniversary and to celebrate they were going to host a karaoke night along with the alcohol being at half price so you already know lots of people were going to show up. The woman and her friends got to the bar around nine at night. The man and his friends went as well and got to the bar around ten at night. The owner of the bar loved to bring people together to have a good time agnd to creative precious memories. Her bar was a break from reality to everyone. The bar was a whole different environment because of all the exotic culture and neon lights. The bar was underground so it was alive all night. The owner was always happy and said â€Å"Welcome darlings! Join and feel free!† The music moved everyone even if you didn’t consuming anything. The power of the atmosphere was real. On the night of karaoke, lots of people arrived and you could feel the energy flow throughout your body. The woman was feeling bliss and with her friends by her side, it was such a bittersweet moment because she was sad the moment was going to end but happy that it was happening. The man was not feeling very excited even with his friends by his side. He would drink until he thought he had the courage to express himself but sadly, that feeling of expression never came out. He had been feeling empty and alone for a while now. After ending a relationship of three years, he didn’t think he could find real love again. His significant other started to show some red flags and the man knew better to end the relationship although it was going to hurt. The man walked around the bar with his friends and when the man turned around to go back for another drink, there she was†¦ the woman. They locked eyes the moment they saw each other and everything was slow motion and the background suddenly appeared brighter like in the movies. They were like magnets because they were slowly walking towards each other without even knowing it. When they both snapped out of it they immediately started to converse. Of course they were a little shy at first and they even choked on their words. The man started off with â€Å"Sorry to creep on you like that† and the woman disagreed because she felt the same way. â€Å"No worries, are you from around here?† the woman said with a big smile on her face. The conversation took flight from here as you could imagine. They explained to each other their schedule and were moved because they had been going to the same places but different times for a long time. Already off to a good start, the man kindly said â€Å"You wanna go dance?† and the woman happily agreed.   After a long night of dancing and laughing, they both went home and without even knowing it, they were looking at the moon. Quietly speaking into existence and giving thanks for the day. The woman felt peace thinking maybe he’s the one. The man felt peace thinking maybe she’s the one.

Nathaniel Bacon and Bacons Rebellion

Nathaniel Bacon and Bacons Rebellion Bacon’s Rebellion occurred in the Virginia Colony in 1676. In the 1670’s, escalating violence between Native Americans and farmers was occurring in Virginia due to the increasing pressure of land exploration, settlement, and cultivation. In addition, farmers wanted to expand towards the Western frontier, but were being denied their requests by the royal governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley. Already unhappy with this decision, they became incensed when Berkeley refused to act against the Native Americans after several raids on settlements along the frontier. In response to Berkeleys inaction, farmers led by Nathaniel Bacon organized a militia to attack the Native Americans. Bacon was a Cambridge educated man who had been sent to the Virginia Colony in exile. He bought plantations on the James River and served on the Governors Council. However, he grew disenchanted with the governor. Bacons militia ended up destroying an Occaneechi village including all its inhabitants. Berkeley responded by naming Bacon a traitor. However, many colonists, especially servants, small farmers, and even some slaves, backed Bacon and marched with him to Jamestown, forcing the governor to respond to the Native American threat by granting Bacon  a commission to be able to fight against them. The militia led by Bacon continued to raid numerous villages, not discriminating between belligerent and friendly Indian tribes.   Once Bacon left Jamestown, Berkeley ordered the arrest of Bacon and his followers. After months of fighting and delivering the Declaration of the People of Virginia, which criticized Berkeley and the House of Burgesses for their taxes and policies. Bacon turned back and attacked Jamestown. On September 16, 1676, the group were able to completely destroy Jamestown, burning all the buildings. They then were able to seize control of the government. Berkeley was forced to flee the capital, taking refuge across the Jamestown River. Bacon did not have control of the government for long, as he died on October 26, 1676 of dysentery. Even though a man named John Ingram arose to take over the leadership of Virginia after Bacons death, many of the original followers left. In the meantime, an English squadron arrived to help out the besieged Berkeley. He led a successful attack and was able to dispel the remaining rebels. Additional actions by the English were able to remove the remaining armed garrisons.   Governor Berkeley returned to power in Jamestown in January, 1677. He arrested numerous individuals and had 20 of them hanged. In addition, he was able to seize the property of a number of the rebels. However, when King Charles II heard of Governor Berkeleys harsh measures against the colonists, he removed him from his governorship. Measures were introduced to lower taxes in the colony and deal more aggressively with Native American attacks along the frontier. An additional result of the rebellion was the Treaty of 1677 which made peace with the Native Americans and set up reservations that are still in existence today.

Joseph E. Johnston in the American Civil War

Joseph E. Johnston in the American Civil War Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born February 3, 1807, near Farmville, VA. The son of Judge Peter Johnston and his wife Mary, he was named for Major Joseph Eggleston, his fathers commanding officer during the American Revolution. Johnston was also related to Governor Patrick Henry through his mothers family. In 1811, he moved with his family to Abingdon near the Tennessee border in southwestern Virginia.   Educated locally, Johnston was accepted to West Point in 1825 after being nominated by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. A member of the same class as Robert E. Lee, he was a good student and graduated in 1829 ranked 13 of 46. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Johnston received an assignment to the 4th US Artillery. In March 1837, he left the army to begin studying civil engineering. Antebellum Career Later that year, Johnston joined a surveying expedition to Florida as a civilian topographical engineer. Led by Lieutenant William Pope McArthur, the group arrived during the Second Seminole War. On January 18, 1838, they were attacked by the Seminoles while ashore at Jupiter, FL. In the fighting, Johnston was grazed in the scalp and McArthur wounded in the legs. He later claimed that there were no less than 30 bullet holes in his clothing. Following the incident, Johnston decided to rejoin the US Army and traveled to Washington, DC that April. Appointed a first lieutenant of topographical engineers on July 7, he was immediately brevetted to captain for his actions at Jupiter. In 1841, Johnston moved south to take part in surveying the Texas-Mexico border. Four years later, he married Lydia Mulligan Sims McLane, the daughter of Louis McLane, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and prominent former politician. Though married until her death in 1887, the couple never had children. A year after Johnstons wedding, he was called into action with the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. Serving with Major General Winfield Scotts army in 1847, Johnston took part in the campaign against Mexico City. Initially part of Scotts staff, he later served as second in command of a regiment of light infantry. While in this role, he earned praise for his performance during the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco. During the campaign, Johnston was twice brevetted for bravery, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel, as well as was severely wounded by grape shot at the Battle of Cerro Gordo and was hit again at Chapultepec. Interwar Years Returning to Texas after the conflict, Johnston served as the chief topographical engineer of the Department of Texas from 1848 to 1853. During this time, he commenced writing Secretary of War Jefferson Davis a series of letters requesting a transfer back to an active regiment and arguing over his brevet ranks from war. These requests were largely declined though Davis did have Johnston appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly-formed 1st US Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, KS in 1855. Serving under Colonel Edwin V. Sumner, he took part in campaigns against the Sioux and helped to quell the Bleeding Kansas crisis. Ordered to Jefferson Barracks, MO in 1856, Johnston took part in expeditions to survey the borders of Kansas.    The Civil War After service in California, Johnston was promoted to brigadier general and made Quartermaster General of the US Army on June 28, 1860. With the beginning of the Civil War in April 1861 and secession of his native Virginia, Johnston resigned from the US Army. The highest ranking officer to leave the US Army for the Confederacy, Johnston initially was appointed a major general in the Virginia militia before accepting a commission as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on May 14. Dispatched to Harpers Ferry, he took command of troops that had been gathering under the command of Colonel Thomas Jackson. Dubbed the Army of the Shenandoah, Johnstons command rushed east that July to aid Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregards Army of the Potomac during the First Battle of Bull Run. Arriving on the field, Johnstons men helped turn the tide of the fighting and secured a Confederate victory. In the weeks after the battle he aided in designing the famed Confederate battle flag before receiving a promotion to general in August. Though his promotion was backdated to July 4, Johnston was angered that he was junior to Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Lee. The Peninsula As the highest ranking officer to leave the US Army, Johnston firmly believed he should have been the senior officer in the Confederate Army. Arguments with now Confederate President Jefferson Davis over this point further soured their relationship and the two men effectively became enemies for the remainder of the conflict. Placed in command of the Army of the Potomac (later Army of Northern Virginia), Johnston moved south in the spring of 1862 to deal with Major General George McClellans Peninsula Campaign. Initially blocking Union forces at Yorktown and fighting at Williamsburg, Johnston began a slow withdrawal west. Nearing Richmond, he was forced to make a stand and attacked the Union army at Seven Pines on May 31. Though he halted McClellans advance, Johnston was badly wounded in the shoulder and chest. Taken to the rear to recover, command of the army was given to Lee. Criticized for giving ground before Richmond, Johnston was one of a few who had immediately recognized that the Confederacy lacked the material and manpower of the Union and he worked to protect these limited assets. As a result, his frequently surrendered ground while seeking to protect his army and find advantageous positions from which to fight. In the West Recovering from his wounds, Johnston was given command of the Department of the West. From this position, he oversaw the actions of General Braxton Braggs Army of Tennessee and Lieutenant General John Pembertons command at Vicksburg. With Major General Ulysses S. Grant campaigning against Vicksburg, Johnston desired Pemberton to unite with him so that their combined force could defeat the Union army. This was blocked by Davis who desired Pemberton to stay within the Vicksburg defenses. Lacking the men to challenge Grant, Johnston was forced to evacuate Jackson, MS allowing the city to be taken and burned. With Grant besieging Vicksburg, Johnston returned to Jackson and worked to build a relief force. Departing for Vicksburg in early July, he learned that the city had capitulated on the Fourth of July. Falling back to Jackson, he was driven from the city later that month by Major General William T. Sherman. That fall, following his defeat at the Battle of Chattanooga, Bragg asked to be relieved. Reluctantly, Davis appointed Johnston to command the Army of Tennessee in December. Assuming command, Johnston came under pressure from Davis to attack Chattanooga, but was unable to so because of a lack of supplies. The Atlanta Campaign Anticipating that Shermans Union forces at Chattanooga would move against Atlanta in the spring, Johnston built a strong defensive position at Dalton, GA. When Sherman began advancing in May, he avoided direct assaults on the Confederate defenses and instead began a series of turning maneuvers which forced Johnston to abandon position after position. Giving up space for time, Johnston fought a series of small battles at places such as Resaca and New Hope Church. On June 27, he succeeded in halting a major Union assault at Kennesaw Mountain, but again saw Sherman move around his flank. Angered by a perceived lack of aggression, Davis controversially replaced Johnston on July 17 with General John Bell Hood. Hyper-aggressive, Hood repeatedly attacked Sherman but lost Atlanta that September. Final Campaigns With Confederate fortunes flagging in early 1865, Davis was pressured to give the popular Johnston a new command. Appointed to lead the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and also the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, he possessed few troops with which to block Shermans advance north from Savannah. In late March, Johnston surprised part of Shermans army at the Battle of Bentonville, but was ultimately forced to withdraw. Learning of Lees surrender at Appomattox on April 9, Johnston began surrender talks with Sherman at Bennett Place, NC. After extensive negotiations, Johnston surrendered the nearly 90,000 troops in his departments on April 26. After the surrender, Sherman gave Johnstons starving men ten days rations, a gesture that the Confederate commander never forgot. Later Years Following the war, Johnston settled in Savannah, GA and pursued a variety of business interests. Returning to Virginia in 1877, he served one term in Congress (1879-1881) and was later commissioner of railroads in the Cleveland Administration. Critical of his fellow Confederate generals, he served as a pallbearer at Shermans funeral on February 19, 1891. Despite cold and rainy weather, he refused to wear a hat as a sign of respect for his fallen adversary and caught pneumonia. After several weeks of battling the sickness, he died on March 21. Johnston was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, MD.

The role of controlled drug release in cancer therapeutics Dissertation

The role of controlled drug release in cancer therapeutics - Dissertation Example These technologies are also responsible for the control of drug release in therapeutics because it protects therapeutic agents structurally from the physiological barriers that they could be facing. These technologies also create the development of bioactive macromolecules that are of a novel class such as the DNA. The other reason that nanoparticle technology is used for this purpose of controlled levels of drug use is that these technologies can be used to make the practitioners and the patients monitor delivery of the drugs besides the in vivo efficiency that is accredited with therapeutic agents. The nanotechnology was given a boost when its products were approved for clinical use by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) based in the United States. Many of these technologies are still under pre-clinic and clinic development to make them more efficient and effective for the purpose in therapy for cancer patients who need this kind of updated technologies. The nanotechnology compo nents that have been clinically approved are majorly the first generation and primarily comprised of polymer-drug conjugates and liposomal drugs that are simplistic in nature. They lack the active-controlled or targeting the drug release components. Novel nanoparticles platforms that function in various aspects of the therapy have been designed by researchers to make the nanoparticles more effective and safer for the patients to whom these kinds of treatment are applied for improved results for the patients.

Coco Fusco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coco Fusco - Essay Example An established research literature finds that there are substantial labor market payoffs for foreign workers who speak English; yet, there is no research on the payoff for workers with abilities in English and another language. Even if English remains the dominant language of the U.S. populace, there are good a priori reasons to expect multiple language skills to provide an earnings advantage for workers and a competitive advantage for employers who hire those workers. In an increasingly global economy, multinational corporations and import/export businesses need those rare workers--about 7% of the U.S. work force, by Coco's estimate--who can speak both English and another language. Decades of growing immigration have created diverse communities of non-native-English-speakers across the country, from Spanish speakers throughout the Southwest to Vietnamese in enclaves of major West and East coast cities. Workers often need to speak languages other than English in supervisory and middl eman/professional service-provider occupations. Moreover, research finds that bilinguals tend to perform better in school, suggesting that bilingualism improves academic ability and, probably, productivity. At least one analyst, however, has cast doubt on the supposition that bilingualism confers an earnings advantage.

Contract law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contract law - Assignment Example 150, 000. Mr. Robbins sought the services of an accountant who estimated his total estate to be in the region of ? 165, 000. He then advised him to forego the remainder of the debt owed and instead accept ? 10 in full settlement of the debt. It later turned out that Mr. Zute, who was known for his practical jokes had played one on the Plaintiff and had not even included him in his will. The Plaintiff then decided to reactivate the loan agreement. Mr. King after being asked to only pay ? 10 in full settlement of the debt had gone on to renounce material wealth and donated all his wealth. The court held that according to the principle of estoppel, the debt had been extinguished and therefore the Plaintiff had been estopped from claiming further payment. It is our view that the ruling of the Court of Appeal represents a gross injustice to our client who is denied his right to claim further payment. We hereby invite the court to overule this decision and decide in our favour. In analysin g this case, it is important to keep in mind the facts of this case. We shall look at several case laws while analysing this case. This case is more similar to Foakes v Beer (1884) 9 App Cas 605 where the court raised the question as to the sufficiency of consideration. In deciding this case, the court relied on the principles of  Pinnel's Case  [1602] 5 Co. Rep. 117a: i. ... Robbins than fulifllment of the whole debt. ii. However, it should be noted that payment of a lesser sum cannot be satisfaction of the whole debt simply because it is impossible for a lesser sum to satisfy a greater sum. But Mr. Robbins also received payment in a lesser sum and therefore this cannot be said to have settled the whole debt. It should be noted that the law merely requires that consideration be sufficient and note necessarily adequate. This means that consideration must be something of value (Ollek). The same was reiterated by Jim Riley (2012) in his article Elements of Contract- he stated that parties in a contract must receive something of value to act as consideration. It is of paramount importance to make a mental note of the essential elements of a contract which includes consideration inter alia. For a contract to be valid all these elements must be present. In Robbins vs King, the subsequent agreement did not meet this criteria. Not all the essential elements of a contract were there and therefore it cannot be said that an agreement had been made. There lacked consideration. The debate concerning substitute agreements was put to rest by Lord Denning in D & C Builders v Rees [1966] 2 QB 617. In this case, the Plaintiffs entered into a contract with Rees who was a shop owner. The work done in the shop amounted to ? 746. Rees paid ? 250 and received a ? 14 discount thus leaving his debt to amount to ? 482. The Plaintiffs experienced financial difficulties and became desperate for the money. Fully aware of their financial position, Rees offered to pay ? 300 in full settlement of the debt. The Plaintiffs stated that this would not satisfy the debt but since they were in dire need of the money they simply had to agree to take it. They signed an

Enviornmental law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enviornmental law - Coursework Example The Earth Day 1970 marked a turning point in the Americans’ awareness about the environmental problems. The Congressional enactment of the Clean Air Act that year, just a few months after the Earth Day was a great landmark. These amendments moved the environmental protection concerns to a prominent position on Capitol Hill where it remained to date (Paul, 1990). The fact that the Earth Day and the 1970 amendments took place almost at the same time was no accident. The amendments of this law actually took place as a result of Congress’s response to the long time public concern about the environmental pollution which was symbolized by the Earth Day demonstrations. Through the public pressure, the Congress then went through a rush to come up with the legislation that would ensure protection against pollution. The original version of this Act which was passed by the U.S Congress in 1970 was fairly straightforward. This placed the EPA in charge of monitoring and improving th e nation’s air quality. Under this Act, the EPA had the power to establish research programs, set clean air standards, enforce regulations, and provide technical and financial assistance to state and local government efforts towards reducing air pollution. This Act also directed the EPA to establish the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that could be useful in controlling emissions of a number of substances that threatened air quality. The NAAQS then divided pollutants into 2 categories, with the first category consisting of those that directly affect human health, and the second category included those that affected human welfare. This Act underwent significant changes and amendments in 1990. The revisions specifically targeted acid rain, with the aim of reducing emissions sulfur dioxide and Nitrogen Oxides by half. There were also new limits to ozone which is the main contributor to smog in urban areas. Some of the benefits associated with this Act include, but not limited to; 160,000 premature deaths avoided, 130,000 heart attack cases avoided, millions of acute respiratory cases avoided and also avoided 86,000 hospital admissions. It prevented 13 million lost workdays, kept kids healthy and in school avoiding 3.2 million lost school days. Between 1970 and 2011, the aggregate emissions of common air pollutants dropped by 68% while at the same time, the U.S gross domestic product grew by 212% (EPA, Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act, 2012). This Act has over the years, since it was passed, created a lot of economic impact in the Americans’ society. To begin with, there has been a dramatic reduction in air pollution rates that has protected the health of many American workers and their families. This is evident by fewer premature deaths and illness which shows that Americans experience longer lives, better quality of life, lower medical expenses, reduced school absences, and better work productivity. This means that the Act has been a good investment for Americans. It is evident that since 1970, cleaner air and growing of the economy has gone hand in hand. The pollution has since reduced by up to -72% while the economy has grown up to +219% as shown by the EPA. The data show the tremendous change that has resulted due to the implementation of the Act up to 2012 (EPA, 2012). The graphs were retrieved from the United States Environmental Protection Agency site at http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/ From the data above, one can easily deduce that the Act has greatly

Identify and analyse the skills and knowledge needed for effective Essay

Identify and analyse the skills and knowledge needed for effective management within the Cultural Sector - Essay Example Researchers have rightly pointed out that some forms of art take priority in every age and the objectives served by art will keep changing with the changed meanings and aspirations related with them. Given that the arts have been created, managed and distributed in varied ways in different times, it is logical to assume that the skills and management systems required for managing the sector also need to be changed and facilitated with the acquirement of new skills and competency levels. This paper will identify and analyze the skills and knowledge needed for effective management within the cultural sector. It is important to understand the main concerns of managers in the cultural sector in terms of the worth that is carried about cultural services and artistic goods. The issues arise whether these managers have to realize their own cultural or artistic aspirations, whether they are prepared to convert dreams into reality and whether they have the ability and competence levels and skills to make such achievements. It is considered by experts that in view of the nature of their work, managers and supervisors working in the cultural sector do have a genuine desire to create a better cultural experience in society. They are mostly committed to cultural work and the outcomes and to the effects and values of culture in society. Cultural leadership concerns doing the right things, but it is unfortunate that most managers in such establishments are unable to fulfill their aspirations in view of the shortcomings relative to having inadequate knowledge about the actual aspects of the productio n of art and cultural programs. There is a major misunderstanding amongst management leaders in the cultural sector as they focus their efforts mostly on marketing the cultural productions to create huge events, instead of organizing more accessible programs to allow

Family Health Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Family Health Assessment - Essay Example Investing in health will lead to increase in health stock beneficial to individuals. Health deteriorates through involvement in activities such as smoking and drinking and feeding on refined food which lack roughages. This refers to the tradition and spiritual beliefs that guide in decision making. The finding unearths that religious affiliations, value-belief conflicts linked to health, special religious practices and whatever an individual perceives as significance are the pillars upon which value-health pattern is embedded. Many respondents attached seeking of medication to their spiritual beliefs as some said that they could not take drugs based on their belief. This is the metabolic pattern employed by an individual or family which unearths fluid and food consumption with respect to metabolic requirement and benchmarks local nutrients distribution and supply. This focuses on the status of teeth, hair, mucus membrane, skin and also weight and height (Gordon, 1994, p. 125). The researcher earmarked children decayed teeth based on over-feeding on sugary and refined food. Skin infection was also attached to lack of dietary amongst this family. There was a problem of weight loss based on malnutrition due to frequent refined food consumptions. This highlights the patterns of sleep, relaxation and rest. It is based on quantity and quality of energy and sleep, sleep routines as well as sleep aids employed by an individual. Many respondents basically males had lesser time to sleep and rest based on lack of work-life balance. The inadequacy and inequality of leisure hours and sleep was seen to affect males explaining massive weight loss. To females, quality and quantity sleep made them being healthier as they were not attached to more hours of work. This explains leisure, recreation and exercise patterns based on an individual hobbies and stretches to incorporate respiratory and

Identify and analyse the skills and knowledge needed for effective Essay

Identify and analyse the skills and knowledge needed for effective management within the Cultural Sector - Essay Example Researchers have rightly pointed out that some forms of art take priority in every age and the objectives served by art will keep changing with the changed meanings and aspirations related with them. Given that the arts have been created, managed and distributed in varied ways in different times, it is logical to assume that the skills and management systems required for managing the sector also need to be changed and facilitated with the acquirement of new skills and competency levels. This paper will identify and analyze the skills and knowledge needed for effective management within the cultural sector. It is important to understand the main concerns of managers in the cultural sector in terms of the worth that is carried about cultural services and artistic goods. The issues arise whether these managers have to realize their own cultural or artistic aspirations, whether they are prepared to convert dreams into reality and whether they have the ability and competence levels and skills to make such achievements. It is considered by experts that in view of the nature of their work, managers and supervisors working in the cultural sector do have a genuine desire to create a better cultural experience in society. They are mostly committed to cultural work and the outcomes and to the effects and values of culture in society. Cultural leadership concerns doing the right things, but it is unfortunate that most managers in such establishments are unable to fulfill their aspirations in view of the shortcomings relative to having inadequate knowledge about the actual aspects of the productio n of art and cultural programs. There is a major misunderstanding amongst management leaders in the cultural sector as they focus their efforts mostly on marketing the cultural productions to create huge events, instead of organizing more accessible programs to allow

Ethical Decision Making and Ethical Leadership Coursework

Ethical Decision Making and Ethical Leadership - Coursework Example I understand your current dilemma, and I am glad that you are seeking further insight into the issue. The Kohlberg Model is of critical importance in this situation as it can help you analyze the level of ethics you should exhibit. Although the issue at hand deals with accepting a small gift from a customer, my advice to you will be applicable in other situations in the future. As an employee who has worked for the company for a long time, it is important to begin appreciating the universal ethical principle that Kohlberg described in stage 6 of his model. There is a need for an individual to examine any action in a categorical manner before proceeding with it (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013). When acting in conformity to this stage, an individual will be displaying moral maturity because he or she will do what is right not because they are afraid of punishment, but because they realize that it is the right thing to do. In your current situation, accepting a gift from a customer even if it is of a small value is a contravention of the company’s code of ethics. In additio n, universal business ethics do not promote such behavior. Therefore, I hope you will reconsider the company’s code of ethics as well as the universal ethical principles in your effort to exhibit ethical behavior in the current situation. Notably, if you act in accordance in accordance with the sixth stage of Kohlberg Model, you will realize that it will be much easier to make ethical decisions in the future (Klikauer,

An analysis of Macbets struggle Essay Example for Free

An analysis of Macbets struggle Essay Violence, blood and death. The quintessential characteristics of war. Shakespeares Macbeth is based on a war, but not your typical one. The real war in the play and the underlining factor leading to Macbeths death, is not fought on a battlefield, there are no swords, and no soldiers to swing them. The real war is fought in Macbeths mind. Macbeths conscience and vaulting ambition alternate in controlling his actions throughout the play. Many critics of the play believe that from the first scene to the last, Macbeths character is unchanging, and that he is always governed by his greed, selfishness and evil. This is not so. Right from the outset of the story, Macbeths indecisiveness is evident. In act I, Macbeth struggles a great deal in deciding whether or not to murder the king and take his throne. When Macbeth is first given the prophecy that he will be king, he dreads the thought of killing a man that has been like a father to him. This shows that Macbeth has a conscience, and that deep down inside, he is a good person. When he arrives home to his kingdom though, he is greeted by Lady Macbeth who reveals her plan to make her husband King when she says: I will pour my spirits into thine ear, And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round. (Iv, 24 26) Macbeths conscience tries to fight the constant attacks by his wife who insists that he should kill the king. Finally, Macbeth decides his fate, listens to the poisoned words of his wife and kills Duncan. Immediately after the death of Duncan, Macbeth is completely overcome by guilt. For the moment, he forgets about the now empty throne, and cant comprehend what or why he has done what he has done. When Lady Macbeth realizes that in a state of confusion he has forgotten to remove the daggers from the Kings room, she tells him to go back and get them. He replies by  saying Ill go no more./ I am afraid to think what I have done. / Look ont again, I dare not (II ii, 50 52). This passage outlines the fact that once again, his conscience has taken over control of his mind. Macbeth feels horribly about what he has done to his King. When Macbeth tries to wash the blood from his hands he remarks: Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incardine, Making the green one red (II ii, 60 63) Macbeth believes that what he has done will never be washed away from his conscience. He will always have the death of King Duncan hanging over his head. Unfortunately, this is the last we see of Macbeths conscience. Tormented over the likelihood of being unmasked as Duncans murderer, Macbeth continues his evil ways in an attempt to stay on the throne. His vaulting ambition has surfaced once more to overthrow any spot of good left in him and he shows no more remorse for Duncans murder. Wanting to become safely king, Macbeth plots out the murder of one of his best friends Banquo, the only other person besides Macbeth and his wife, who is aware of the three witches and their prophecy. Again, this shows that his need to succeed in life is overshadowing his conscience. Macbeths last, and most evil deed is the slaying of Macduffs family. Macbeth puts innocent women and children to death in an attempt lure Macduff back to Scotland so he can have him murdered as well. At this point in the play, it seems as though Macbeth doesnt have a good bone in his body. The little voice of reason inside his head has been snuffed out, and he decides that the only way to be a good King is to make drastic and rash decisions. Macbeth unravels before our eyes and is finally beheaded by Macduff in revenge for the slaying of his family. The war between Macbeths conscience and his vaulting ambition is not fought  on a battle field but still had all the exemplary attributes of one that is. Violent acts were carried out, blood was shed, and people died. The struggle going on In Macbeths head was finally over, his ambition the victor, and Macbeth himself the defeated. When the hurly-burly was done, the war in Macbeths mind was both lost and won.

A Review On What Is Nationalism Cultural Studies Essay

A Review On What Is Nationalism Cultural Studies Essay Nationalism can be defined as a potential ideology that engenders a strong identification of a group of individuals with a nation. This ideology strives toward a common culture, including shared meanings, symbols and recognition of mutual rights and duties to each other as part of a shared membership of the nation. It therefore claims on behalf of the nation a right to constitute an independent autonomous political community based on a shared history and common identity. For many years, sociologists have argued that the identification of people or categorization into homeland cultures and origins is very complex. (Appaduarai 1990, said, 1986, Gifford 1998) and that the word identity is too ambiguous (Brubaker and Cooper 2000). They state that its meaning depends on the context of its use and the theoretical tradition from which the use in question derives. Nationalism can also be interpreted as the idea of sameness which manifests itself as solidarity in share dispositions and consci ousness or in collective action[from old essay] Throughout history and to this present day, sport has been frequently viewed as reinforcing national identification. For example the biggest championships are organised in ways to ensure that individuals represent their nation states. However with the effects of globalisation there has been a developing marked post-national dimension in national sport. For example, e.g. Englands premier league now includes a large and increasing proportion of foreign players. This has impacted domestic football and has ultimately led to a increase in foreign ownership in Englands Major clubs simultaneously affecting other sports too. In this essay, I will explore two contrasting theoretical models of nationalism: Ernest Gellners structuralist perspective and Andersons more culturalist theory of imagined communities and consider their applicability to modern sport. I will also attempt to demonstrate through several levels of sporte.g. national, transnational and local levelsthat nationalism plays an important role in each case. I then consider the effects of globalization on nationalism in sport. Ernest Gellner defines nationalism as primarily a principle that holds that the political and national unit should be congruent. (citation). He, thus, establishes nationalism as a political category, that is, the ideological agenda of delimiting the boundary of the polis to the ethnos, nation, or race. Gellner positions the rise of nationalism within the long-term shift from agricultural to industrial societies. Gellner suggests that industrialism has ultimately affected society, from basic social relationshow people interact with each otherto the overall political structure of communities. Gellner, like many scholars of nationalism, is a hard core modernist, his definition of modernity basically overlaps with industrialisation. Due to the changing structure of modern, industrial societies, a standardised high culture becomes necessary as work becomes more technical and impersonalised. Especially important in this process is the emerging system of mass education, which indoctrinates students as citizens of the nation. He makes the point that it is nationalism which engenders nations and not the other way round (citation) Among the contradictions nationalism generates, Gellner advances his characterisation of eastern nationalism: state enforced homogenisation, which he uses the metaphor to describe it as the empire of megalomania which provokes the reaction of those who have been excluded or opted out on their own choice in order to protect and preserve their own culture. [include a few other examples from text] As a society-focused structural functionalist, Gellner argued that ideology did not figure prominently in the development of nationalism. The LSE scholar Klie Kedourie on the other hand, a historian of ideas, maintains the opposite view (citation). Similarly, Benedict Anderson suggests that the idea of nationalism is vitally linked to when someones identity and persona are formed. Though a Marxist, and structuralist in this sense, Anderson argued that we were about to enter in a fundamental transformation in the history of Marxism and Marxist movements are upon us (citation). He claimed that the recent wars between Vietnam, Cambodia and China relax this and there are visible signs of cultural transformation. Connecting the emergence of nationalism with the structural transformations of print capitalism Anderson noted that England with the help of the printing press by Gutenberg made great strides to develop their own unique language to rival the invasion of Latin and French vocabular y. This constituted a development of power, which Britain extended into money with the help of colonialism, and the expansion of power into imperialism. Andersons core thesis is that nations are an imagined political community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign (citation). He argue that nations are imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each of them lives the image of their community. The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic, boundaries, beyond which lie other nations Like Gellner, Anderson notes that nations are a product of nationalism, noting nationalism is not the awakening of the nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist (citation). However, Andersons attention to ideological influences is less structuralist than Gellner. In relation to sport, Andersons conception of imagined communities seemed to be much more salient. The ideological coherence engendered with sport connects the symbolic and emotional effervescence of sport and nation in complex ways irreducible to the structural changes from agrarian to industrial societies. This is even more so the case during the recent changes in the context of globalisation. Nationalism is an important factor in sport as observable at several levels of analysis. Sport can be broken down into three levels: national, transnational and local levels. Much literature has been written on the connection between sport and globalization in particular soccer and globalization. In Un) bounded soccer demonstrates nationalism on a national level, Ben Porat discusses the interrelationship between football (soccer) and globalization in Israel. Globalization has, as many scholars would argue become a part of everyday life. The link between globalization and sport deserves attention and study because sport is big enough to not only reflect the process of globalization, but to also leave an imprint and affect the way globalization as an idea is thought about. Porat examines the development of soccer in Israel through several stages, adopting the view that globalization does not pound everything into the same mould (Mittleman, 2000) but instead its process is not even and the outcomes are affected by developments on a global and local scale. Porat believes Is raeli soccer, like the rest of society is affected and altered by the changing global context and key interactions between globalization and the local structure and dynamics. He(?) argue that soccer in Israel came about under certain boundaries within a state-centred economic and political context that outlined a political model for the organization of soccer. As Israel gradually became more capitalist and as globalization took place this lead to a transformation from a political model towards a economic model- as Israel went through the process of becoming capitalist this ultimately lead to it opening up to globalization The article ( When they studied the impact the globalization had on soccer they broke it down into three categories: the flows of capital, labour and culture. It is logical to initially assume that the impact of globalization probably is uneven and certain flows may occur first or be more dominating. The article is based on a general study of globalization in Israel (G. Ben Porat 2002) and the transformation of soccer from a game to a commodity (A. Ben Porat 2003), all of the information was gathered from the Israeli soccer association (IFA), the Wingate Institute, The soccer budget control authority and the sport sections of daily newspapers and finally interviews with IFA officials. They begin with a brief theoretical overview of globalization, then in the second part talk about Israeli soccer and its setting as an institution. In the final part they analyse the change or transformation of Israel soccer- the three global flows capital, labour and culture. Nationalism can also been found in sport at local levels and this is shown in the article Territory, Politics and Soccer Fandom in Northern Ireland and Sweden by Alan Bairner and Peter Shirlow- they compare two completely unconnected football clubs in two very different societies and show how in fact they are very similar in the way nationalism is observed and demonstrated at each club on a local level. It has been noted on several occasions that football fandom and identity politics are linked and widely interchangeable. How their linked more is more complex than it may initially seem. In this paper two sets of fans are analysed and they are complete polar opposites in terms of the societies them come from. The first group are Linfield supports who come from Northern Ireland and use their team as a means of expressing cultural resistance where the club and stadium is a safe haven for people with similar views due to the division of political and religious views in Northern Ireland- it has become their own (as Bairner and Shirlow put it) imagined community. The second group is a set of AIK supports from Sweden- they show than soccer fandom can turn a group of supports into a collective self which can turn in defiance against a perceived threat of the other. For a large number of people in the modern world, sport plays a vital role in the construction and reproduction of part of peoples identity and partially more in males. Two Australian sociologists Roy Jones and Phillip Moore argue that in a football stadium ethnic minorities can reinvent their identity to become part of the wider group. Even though players can detach themselves for the social and political aspects of the game, for the supporters Vic Duke and Liz Crolley (1996) believe that football matches never take place in isolation:The participants (the fans) do not cut themselves off from external matters. In a sense, football does not cut out external factors but acts more like a sieve that a solid wall, and the sieve is that only selecting but modifying what it filters (Duke and Crolley 1996) Linfield is supported to almost in its entirety working class protestant men. They use their football clubs as a means of expressing and vocalising there resistance. The Swedish club identity is equally tied up with its affection towards a particular stadium and its landscape or territory that it is suppose to represent. Just like the Northern Irish fans, fans of AIK- the black army have been involved, even if subconsciously with the creation of iconographies and an imagined community and there expressions of devotion to it. The article conveys a sense of the localised nature of politics of territorial control and resistance Fletcher explores nationalism in sport on a transnational scale. The article commentates on the events that took place in the historic cricket group of Lords in 2009 (citation). The article explores British Asians sense of nationhood, citizenship, ethnicity and how they manifest themselves in relation to sports fandom. Fletcher uses the example of Cricket and how it is used as a way of expressing British Identities. He looks to Norman Tebbits cricket test to help understand the intricacies of being a British Asian supporting the English national cricket team. The first section looks at Tebbits test and attempts to locate its place within the wider issue of multicultarism. Later the analysis focuses on the discourse of sports fandom and the idea of the home team advantage placing forward the concept that sports venues represent sites for the expression of nationalism and cultural expression due to their connection for national history. The article states that supporting anyone but England and therefore ultimately rejecting ethically exclusive notions of Englishness and brutishness continues to define British Asians cultural identity. The inspiration for the paper came on the 14th June 2009 when England played India at Lords the Home of English cricket. Despite of the fact England won comfortably the contest was overshadow by the days earlier events off the pitch. In the warm up match prior to the game it was revealed that the team had been jeered and booed by hundreds of British Asians who had come to support the Indian team (Indian Express). Following this event there was uproar within the cricket community as to British Asians sporting allegiances, their British citizenship. The data was collected during fieldwork undertaken between June 2007 and January 2010 with two amateur cricket clubs in south Yorkshire. One was mostly white in membership, the other British Asian. The predominately white club is known in the local area to be middle class and had been criticized by those within the game as failing to move with the times. Those from the British Asian club had either been born in Britain or had emigrated during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Research was based on semi-structured interviews, focus groups interviews and participant observation. Matchs training sessions and even social gatherings were attended (when possible). Yorkshire cricket had been known to be racist and suffer from racial inequality for a long time. The north of England on the whole had been plagued with a number of racially motivated civil disturbances such as the Bradford Riots (1995) and the Oldhan Riots (2001).As recently as August 2010 Bradford- known for its large south Asian communities, hosted English defence league demonstrations. This highlights the interaction between nationalism at the local level. Interestingly Scotlands whole sporting identity is formed around their hatred of England- We are the England Haters is a common chant which is sung about football and other sporting events. Whether this chanting is self-parodying or a genuine attempt to antagonise the English fans it is ironic that there whole identity is reliant on Englands existence. Perhaps more sinisterly the scots hatred of England runs deeper than just in football and is in fact a part of their national identity as a whole. It could be argued that Scotlands attempt in recent years to become a independent nation and be free from the crown represents this. To a large number of people in America sport plays a important role in creating a sense of what it means to be an American. It also represents a field where individuals can assert their dominance over their subordinates. Probably one of the clearest examples of this in American sport is in Ice Hockey, where its actually legal in the game if the gloves are thrown off to fight each other and the referees will often let them fight until one is tripped over. Hockey is a sport created by the Canadians. However it didnt gain the popularity it has now in the country overnight. It wasnt until the earlier 20th century that it really become recognised as an international sport. However it has become so popular in the country that in terms of its symbolic power it has been placed alongside other national institutions such as the federal government the public health care system and the Canadian broadcasting corporation. So it has encorporated what it means to be a candian Canada is hockey is a common slogan which can apparently be found on t-shirts being sold on many NFL games. In conclusion it can be seen that nationalism is prevalent in the world of sport, and it seems to be ever present regardless of how big the stage is. As I discussed earlier nationalism can be found at a local, national and transnational scale. Nationalism put simply is a ideology where individuals are linked by there strong identification with their home nation. Nationalism can be observed in many parts of society not only in sport but in many parts of culture. Out of the two perspectives which were discussed throughout this essay (gellners structuralist perspective) and Bendicts andersons imagined communities his more culturist argument seems to have more substance and is more of a solid argument. It was interesting to seem just have nationalism was engrained in the world of sport not just through Britain and the western world but seemingly throughout the whole world as well. Gellner diferiantes nationalism in the east as being state enforced homogenisation where he used his example of calling it a empire of megalomania.

Cisco Systems Essay -- essays research papers

Case Study: The Internet and the New Information Technology Infrastructure 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Describe the competitive business environment in which GM is operating General Motors, while they are the largest automobile maker, are currently going through a decline in sales. Their competition is extremely stiff. With competitors such as Ford, Chrysler, and other Japanese vehicles that have lower production costs and include better styling issues and quality in mind, this makes for a difficult struggle for GM. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GM remains a far-flung vertically integrated corporation †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Makes 70% of their own parts While GM makes their own parts, other companies, such as Daimer-Chrylser purchases their parts from other vendors with whom they can haggle over their prices. With such advances in the automobile industry, this brought about a race for companies surrounding GM to produce more vehicles quicker and allowed for faster sales. While some may say that GM still builds quality cars, they are by no means keeping up with the competition in production areas. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Describe the relationship between GM’s organization and its information technology infrastructure. What management, organization, and technology factors influenced this relationship? GM’s organization found that its system as a whole was falling behind in technology. Their design group could not relate with other sectors of the company, as each division of the company was on their own software and hardware database. No one particular system communicated with another. In the early 80’s GM tried to integrate their system by using EDS (Electronic Data Systems) and they were able to streamline their computers together. Their current CIO Ralph Szygenda has managed to bring the company to its feet once again by bringing in several new changes. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Replaced many systems with standardized software for all computers which in turn was networked to other systems †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Created programs that would correlate with one another and enabled data sharing †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consolidated legacy systems and databases Management realized that without sharing the data and having a system that could run smoothly they would soon fall to their knees. When they began reali... ...e problem is quickly finding the car that the customer wants, which is a strategy better known as Locate-to-Order. To reach this goal, GM must create a regional inventory of the vehicle pool that will be shown on the Internet so that regardless of the vehicles’ location, potential buyers can find â€Å"their† vehicle. There is one flaw in the system that manufacturers and dealers must deal with in the business. They must realize that customers will require varying styles, colors and other options and they (the company) must be ready at the drop of a hat to have the product readied. The inventory must be stocked and ready to be sold. Internet technology could be the catalyst for GM to reconstruct its entire value chain, transforming itself into a customer-focused business that provides many different electronic services to consumers, as well as cars. â€Å"Built-to-order† has been around the auto industry for a long time, but only for very expensive cars, and it required a waiting period of two to three months before delivery. This system would greatly reduce finished vehicle inventory costs as well as generate other production cost savings, potentially saving GM $20 billion per year.

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 37

Elena had been tied, like someone in a B-movie who will soon be released, standing upright against a pillar. Digging on the field was still going on in a dilatory way as the vampires who had put her up to this fetched an ash stick they had brought, and allowed Damon to inspect it. Damon himself was moving in slow motion. Trying to find points to kibitz about. Waiting for the rattling of coach wheels that would tell him the carriage was back. Acting brisk, but inside feeling as sluggish as half-cooled lead. I've never been a sadist, he thought. I've always tried to give pleasure – except in fights. But it should be me in that prison cell. Can't Elena see that? It's my turn beneath the lash now. He had changed into his â€Å"magician clothes,† taking as long as he dared without looking as if he wanted to put this off. And now there were somewhere between six and eight hundred creatures, waiting to see Elena's blood spill, to watch Elena's back cut and miraculously heal again. All right. I'm as ready as I'll ever be to do this. He came into his body, into the now of what was happening. Elena swallowed. â€Å"Share the pain† she'd said – without in the least knowing how to do it. But here she was, like a sacrifice tied to a pillar, staring at Bloddeuwedd's house and waiting for the blows to come. Damon was giving the crowd an introductory speech, talking gibberish and doing it very well. Elena found a particular window of the house to stare at. And then she realized that Damon was no longer speaking. A touch of the rod against her back. A telepathic whisper. Are you ready? Yes, she said immediately, knowing that she wasn't. And then hearing, against dead silence, a swish through the air. Bonnie's mind floating into hers. Meredith's mind flowing like a stream. The blow was a mere cuff, although Elena felt blood spill. She could feel Damon's bewilderment. What should have been a sword slash was a mere slap. Painful, but definitely bearable. And once again. The triumvirate portioned out the pain before Damon's mind could receive it. Keep the triangle moving. And a third. Two more to go. Elena allowed her gaze to wander over the house. Up to the third floor where Bloddeuwedd had to be enraged at what had become of her party. One more to go. The voice of a guest coming back to her. â€Å"That library. She has more orbs than most public libraries, and† – with his voice dropping for a moment – â€Å"they say she has all sorts of spheres up there. Forbidden ones. You know.† Elena hadn't known and still could still hardly imagine what might be forbidden here. In her library, Bloddeuwedd, a single, lonely figure, moved in the brilliantly lighted great sphere to find a new orb. Inside the house music would be playing, different music in each different room. Outside, Elena could hear nothing. The last blow. The triumvirate managed to handle it, allotting agonizing pain amongst four people. At least, Elena thought, my dress was already as red as it could be. And then it was over, and Bonnie and Meredith were quarrelling with some of the vampire ladies who wanted to help bathe the blood from Elena's back, showing it once again unblemished and perfect, glowing golden in the sunlight. Better keep them away, Elena thought rather drowsily to Damon; some of them may be compulsive nail-biters or finger-lickers. We can't afford for anyone to taste my blood and feel the life-force in it; not when I've gone through so much to conceal my aura. Although there was clapping and cheering everywhere, no one had thought to untie Elena's wrists. So she stood leaning against the pillar, gazing at the library. And then the world froze. All around her was music and motion. She was the still point in a turning universe. But she had to get moving, and fast. She yanked hard at her bonds, lacerating herself. â€Å"Meredith! Untie me! Cut these ropes, quick!† Meredith obeyed hastily. When Elena turned, she knew what she would see. The face – Damon's face, bewildered, half-resentful, half-humble. It was good enough for her, right then. Damon, we need to get to the – But then they were engulfed by a riot. Well-wishers, fans, skeptics, vampires begging for â€Å"a tiny taste,† gogglers who wanted to make sure that Elena's back was real and warm and unmarked. Elena felt too many hands on her body. â€Å"Get away from her, damn you!† It was the primal savage roar of a beast defending its mate. People backed away from Elena, only to close in†¦very slowly and timidly†¦on Damon. All right, Elena thought. I'll do it alone. I can do it alone. For Stefan, I can. She shouldered her way through the crowd, accepting bunches of hastily dug-up flowers from admirers – and feeling more hands on her body. â€Å"Hey, she really isn't marked!† At last, Meredith and Bonnie helped her to get out – without them she would never have made it. And then she was running, running into the house, not bothering to use the door that was near to Saber's barking place. She thought she knew what was there anyway. On the second floor she spent a minute being bewildered before seeing a thin red line in nothingness. Her blood! See how many things it was good for? Right now it highlighted the first of the glass steps for her, the one she had stumbled into before. And at that time, cradled in Damon's strong arms, she hadn't been able to imagine even crawling up these steps. Now she channeled all the Power she had into her eye nodes – and the stairs lit up. It was still terrifying. There were no handholds on either side, and she was woozy from excitement, fear, and loss of blood. But she forced herself up, and up, and up. â€Å"Elena! I love you! Elena!† She could hear the cry as if Stefan were beside her now. Up, up, up†¦ Her legs ached. Keep going. No excuses. If you can't walk, hobble. If you can't hobble, crawl. She was crawling as she finally reached the top, the edge of the nest of the owl Bloddeuwedd. At least it was still a pretty, if insipid-looking, maiden who greeted her. Elena realized at last what was wrong with Bloddeuwedd's looks. She had no animal vitality. She was, at heart, a vegetable. â€Å"I am going to kill you, you know.† No, she was a vegetable with no heart. Elena glanced around her. She could see outside from here, although in between was the dome that was made of shelves and shelves upon shelves of orbs, so everything was weirdly distorted. There were no hanging creepers here, no flagrant displays of exotic, tropical blooms. But she was already in the center of the room, in Bloddeuwedd's owl nest. Bloddeuwedd was nowhere near it; she was on the contraption that let her reach her star balls. The key could only be buried in that nest. â€Å"I don't want to steal from you,† Elena promised, breathing hard. Even as she spoke, she plunged two arms into the nest. â€Å"Those kitsune played a trick on both of us. They stole something of mine and put the key to it in your nest. I'm just taking back what they put in.† â€Å"Ha! You – human slave! Barbarian! You dared to violate my private library! People outside are digging up my beautiful ballroom, my precious flowers. You think you're going to get away again this time, but you're not! This time you're going to DIE!† It was an entirely different voice than the flat, nasal, but still maidenlike tones that had greeted Elena before. This was a powerful voice, a heavy voice†¦ †¦a voice to go with the size of the nest. Elena looked up. She couldn't make anything of what she saw. An enormous fur coat in a very exotic pattern? Some huge stuffed animal's back? The creature in the library turned toward her. Or rather, its head swiveled toward her, while its back remained perfectly still. It rotated its head sideways and Elena knew that what she was seeing was a face. The head was even more hideous and more indescribable than she could have imagined. It had a sort of single eyebrow which dipped from the edge of one side of its forehead down toward the nose (or where the nose should have been) and then went up again. The feature was like a gigantic V-shaped brow and below it were two huge round yellow eyes that often blinked. There was no nose or mouth like a human's, but instead there was a large, cruel, hooked black beak. The rest of the face was covered in feathers, mostly white, turning mottled gray at the bottom, where the neck seemed to be. It was also gray and white in two hornlike projections that shot up from the top of the head – like a demon's horns, Elena thought wildly. Then, with the head still staring at her, the body turned toward Elena. It was the body of a sturdy woman, covered in white and grizzled feathers, Elena saw. Talons peeked out from under the lowest feathers. â€Å"Hello,† the creature said in a grating voice, its beak opening and closing to bite off the words. â€Å"I'm Bloddeuwedd, and I never let anyone touch my library. I am your death.† The words Can't we at least talk about it first? were on Elena's lips. She didn't want to be a hero. She certainly didn't want to take on Bloddeuwedd while searching for the key that must be here – somewhere. Elena kept on trying to explain while frantically feeling inside the nest, when Bloddeuwedd extended wings that spanned the room and came at her. And then, like a streak of lightning, something zipped between them, giving out a raucous cry. It was Talon. Sage must have given the hawk orders when he left her. The owl seemed to shrink a little – the better to attack, thought Elena. â€Å"Please let me explain. I haven't found it yet, but there is something in your nest that doesn't belong to you. It's mine – and – and Stefan's. And the kitsune hid it the night you had to chase them off your estate. Do you remember that?† Bloddeuwedd didn't answer for a moment. Then she showed that she had a simple, one-size-fits-all-situations philosophy. â€Å"You set foot into my private quarters. You die,† she said and this time when she swooped by Elena, Elena could hear the clack of her beak coming together. Again something small and bright dove at Bloddeuwedd, aiming for her eyes. The great owl had to take her attention off Elena in order to deal with it. Elena gave up. Sometimes you just needed help. â€Å"Talon!† she cried, unsure of how much human speech Talon understood. â€Å"Try to keep her occupied – just for a minute!† As the two birds darted and wheeled and shrieked around her, Elena tried to search with her arms, while ducking when she needed to. But that great black beak was always too close. Once it sliced into her arm, but Elena was on an adrenaline high, and she hardly felt the pain. She kept searching without a pause. Finally, she realized what she should have done from the beginning. She snatched up an orb from its transparent rack. â€Å"Talon!† she called. â€Å"Here!† The falcon dove down toward her and there was a snap. But afterward Elena still had all her fingers and the hoshi no tama was gone. Now, now, Elena truly heard a shriek of rage from Bloddeuwedd. The giant owl went after the hawk, but it was like a human trying to slap a fly – an intelligent fly. â€Å"Give that orb back! It's priceless! Priceless!† â€Å"You'll get it back as soon as I find what I'm looking for.† Elena, mad with terror and soaked in hormones, climbed all the way inside the nest and began searching the marble bottom with her fingers. Twice Talon saved her by dropping orbs with a crash to the ground as the huge owl Bloddeuwedd was headed toward Elena. Each time, the noise of the crash caused the owl to forget about Elena and try to attack the hawk. Then Talon snatched another orb and swept at great speed right under the owl's nose. Elena was beginning to have a nightmare feeling that everything she had known just a half hour before was wrong. She had been leaning against the canopy pole, exhausted, staring up into the library and the maiden who inhabited it and the words had simply flowed into her mind. Bloddeuwedd's orb room†¦ Bloddeuwedd's globe room†¦ Bloddeuwedd's†¦star ball room†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Bloddeuwedd's ballroom. Two ways to take the same words. Two very different kinds of rooms. It was just as she was remembering this that her fingers touched metal.

Music in the Late 90s and 2000s

Compare and Contrast Music in the Late 90s and 2000s As all of us know, music is the universal language. It is the art of expressing and interpreting an opinion or expression through the creation of sound; and it certainly has histories of many centuries and periods since the existence of human. The question is- would you consider music as a necessity in your daily life? Well, I would easily agree to it; with more quotes popping up recently that are related to music, such as, ‘No Music, No Life’, and ‘Music is the Essence of Life’.These quotes never fail to prove how strongly music influences in all our daily lives. However, music is created very uniquely and differently in every century and here we are now, to compare and contrast between music in the late 90s and in the late 2000s, in terms of the style, the presentation, and the genres. From J. S. Bach, to W. A. Mozart, to Ludwig Van Beethoven, to Claude Debussy, to Scott Joplin, to Miles Davis, to The Be atles, and then to the current Justin Bieber; these people are to be said as the ‘icon’ of their century.Each of them showed progression of music along the century; portraying individualistic in music of the century. As for music in the late 90s and 2000s, contrasts in their musical style and elements have been clearly shown through their music. Judging by the music in the late 90s music, musical instruments used seemed to be more original in the sense of its sound and timbre produced compared to the more technology infused music in the 2000s.This creates a huge contrast in both musical style as the sources of the sound produced is very much differ from each other. Besides that, the song lyric in the late 90s music can be judged as more meaningful compared to the 2000s- more insightful lyrics were incorporated in the 90s with more decent vocabulary compared to the more trendy lyrics style in 2000s with more foulness and wildness usage of vocabulary in expressing a music .This clearly shows the influences of generation in the past and in the present that indirectly influence their musical style in music of the century. Next, how do we audience perceive a kind of music? This is a general question with a general answer; which is presentation of the music itself. A presentation of the music is affected mainly by its outlook- recording. In the 90s, the quality of the music recording seemed to be not as excellent as the ones in 2000s; due to the progression of technology at that period.However, music in the late 90s provides and instills good vibes and awareness of quality music into the society with its positively contented music compared to music in the 2000s which concentrated more on catchy and trendy music videos for publication to attract more audiences while neglecting the education of music towards the society’s mind- videos are recorded with more sexual and violent actions incorporated are indeed deluding and corrupting the generation of the century.This shows how a presentation of a music recording affects the perception of the audiences towards the music in the late 90s and the 2000s. Last but not least, technology does play a critical role in music. Evidence could be seen with the increment of music genre that is well equipped with technology influences, especially through the music progress from the 90s to the 2000s.In the 90s, the music produced are played with more authentic musical instruments, such as piano/keyboard, drums, guitars, and etc; while in the 2000s, the music are more technology based with frequent usage of synthesizer which is capable of switching to many types of instruments’ sounds and even have a function to play the drum beats in the background while you play the synthesizer, thus replacing the role of few musical instruments.The dominance of contrast between music in the 90s and the 2000s is clearly seen with the genre of music the century focused on, which is pop/rap/rock music in t he 90s and trance/techno/rock metal music in 2000s which obviously prove the influences of technology in music of 2000s. Music is deeply engaged in our daily lives without any doubts, whether we are in the 90s or the 2000s.There is no ‘better’ music through comparison of music from different era. It is purely based on one’s preferences and understanding towards it. Music from the late 90s and the 2000s has strongly showed the musical style of their own with the contrasts found in their music, as stated above. Let us just embrace and appreciate music as it is instead of holding grudges towards them! Reference http://www. thepeoplehistory. com/90smusic. html

Looking For Alibrandi Essay

At the start of â€Å"Looking for Alibrandi†, by Melina Marchetta we are introduced to a seventeen year old girl by the name of Josephine â€Å"Josie† Alibrandi, who is in her last year of high school. By the end of the book it is made obvious that Josephine has gone through many dramatic and important changes, including achieving her emancipation, discovering her family secret, accepting her culture, and meeting, and having a relationship with her father, Michael Andretti. All of these changes, and others, help to shape the character of Josephine Alibrandi. Throughout the year, Josephine talks of wanting to achieve her emancipation. ‘I’ll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself. Not as an Australian and not as an Italian and not as an in-between. I’ll run to be emancipated.† (pg40). Josie also wants to be free to make her own decisions, and she doesn’t want to care about what others are saying, like she does now. J osie Marco Andretti (left #26) and his father Michael A†¦ Andretti Autosport (then Andretti Green Racing) ow†¦ At the same time, she realises that she can’t escape everything. â€Å"If my society will let me.† (pg40). Josie thinks that part of her emancipation is to be free of her Italian background, which is not possible, because it will always be a part of her. She believes that it may stop her from achieving her emancipation. Soon Josie realised that the only thing that was stopping her emancipation was herself. â€Å"Relief because I was finally beginning to feel free. From whom? Myself, I think.† (pg221). Josie realises that she is holding herself back from what she really wants, but she isn’t sure whether she wants to fight for it or not. When John Barton died, she came to a decision. â€Å"I remembered when we spoke about achieving our emancipation. The horror is that he had to die to achieve his. The beauty is that I’m living to achieve mine.† (pg240). Josie believes in fighting for her emancipation. By the end of the year, Josie realises that she has already achieved her emancipation. â€Å"I just sat there thinking back over the year and I realised that I was emancipated long ago. It wasn’t at one particular point either, it was at several.† (pg258). At the Walk-a-thon, for example, Josie realised that leaving the walk-a-thon to go with her friends was wrong. â€Å"I was wrong, I thought to myself. I honestly believed it. Not because Sister Louise told me so or because she made me believe I was. I knew deep down that I was  wrong and I think that my emancipation began at that moment.† (pg185). Events such as these lead to her emancipation, letting Josie feel free. At the beginning of the year Josie doesn’t have a good relationship with her Nonna, Katia. As the year goes on, they get closer, and it is through this closeness that Jos ie learns of Katia’s secret, that her mother’s biological father is not her Nonno Francesco, but is in fact, Marcus Sandford, an Australian man that Katia was friends with. Josie first learns of Marcus after having a fight with her mother Christina. She later finds out that he was an Australian policeman who helped Katia during the war. Katia’s sister Patrizia was very thankful towards him for his help, but Josie could tell that Katia thought of him as more than another pair of hands. At Christina’s birthday party Josie realises that it was impossible for Francesco to be Christina’s father, because he was away for the holidays. Josie then has an argument with Katia about this, and runs out of the house. â€Å"I’m not quite sure why I hate Marcus Sandford and Nonna for what they did. I had thought their story was romantic. I had thought that nothing had happened. It was like he was a myth I could always dream about. My mother, though, is the reality. Her reality was living with a man who detested her for something her mother did.† (pg218). After realising that she was no longer angry at Katia, Josie goes to talk to her, and appreciates that staying with Francesco, instead of going with Marcus, was only for Christina’s benefit, not her own. â€Å"Those years without Christina or you when you were a baby were my punishment.† (pg226). Josie understands the pain Katia went through, and knows that Katia loves her, and Christina, more than anything else. Josie has always seen her Italian culture and heritage as a burden, but as the year progresses, she gains a greater understanding of it, and ultimately accepts that it’s part in her life. From the beginning of the year, and perhaps before then, Josie thinks of her culture as something that will hold her back from being what she wants to be, and doing what she wants to do. She also sees it as the thing that keeps her from being like the others at her school. â€Å"I think if it comes down to the bottom line, no matter how smart I am, or how much I achieve, I am always going to be a little ethnic from Glebe as far as these people are concerned.† (pg167). She later realises that she can never get away from it. â€Å"†¦simply because like religion, culture is nailed into you, so deep you can’t escape it. No matter  how far you run.† (pg175). Josie knows that her culture is a part of her being, it plays a part as to her appearance, and how she looks at life. As she spends more time learning and understanding her family, in particular Katia, she sees her culture not as a burden, but as a gift, something that sets her apart from everyone else. She gains an understanding that her culture is just one of Australia’s many. â€Å"Well, I’m not sure whether everyone in this country will ever understand multiculturalism and that saddens me, because it’s as much a part of Australian life as football an d meat pies.† (pg258). She knows that some people will never accept her, and she’s okay with that. â€Å"I didn’t care what they thought and I even began to doubt that anyone, give or take a few gossips like Sera, gave a damn either. I thought of Michael and my mother, who didn’t seem to worry about people’s opinions. And by the looks of things, Nonna didn’t have the right to. Jacob didn’t give a damn who I was either, John accepted me the way I was and Lee and Anna had never made me feel different. So that covered all the important people and I’d be a pretentious hypocrite if others were more important to me than those who loved me.† (pg220). Josie knows that culture will change people’s minds about her, but as long as it doesn’t matter to the people she loves, then it doesn’t matter to her either. Josie experiences an unusual thing in her year, meeting her father Michael Andretti for the first time, and having a relationship wit h him. She has known about him all of her life, and at first, when he moves to Sydney, she doesn’t want anything to do with him. When she finally meets him at Katia’s she becomes emotionally overwhelmed, and can’t face him. After a fight with Carly Bishop, resulting in a broken nose, Josie decided to call him. As much as Josie would like to keep on ignoring him, she needs his help. â€Å"‘My father is a barrister. I’ll call him,’ I said calmly†. (pg84). When he comes and helps her, she accepts him as her father. Soon after that, Michael decided that he would like to know Josie, and they begin a relationship. As time goes on, Josie and Michael get closer, and they go away together to Adelaide. During this time, the two get closer. â€Å"I’m still shocked by how fast things are going between us. Six months ago I hadn’t met my father and I didn’t want to. These days I see him three times a week and the days I don’t see him he rings me. Somehow we’ve developed a great relationship.† (pg156). Near the end of the year Josie finds out that Michael is staying in Sydney, and Josie is ecstatic,  and spends more and more time with him, even going as far as calling him â€Å"Dad† â€Å"But I love Michael Andretti more and more every day. I love him double to what I did maybe a month ago, yet I see his faults now too.† (pg259). Although Josie started the year not knowing her father, Michael Andretti easily moved into the role, providing Josie with a complete, loving family. Throughout the year Josie went through many changes and developments, caused by important events in her life. Some things happened that she expected, like her emancipation, and some things that happened that she didn’t really expect, like accepting her culture. Josie got something she didn’t want, her family secret, but got something better, her relationship with her dad. Josie finally realised exactly who she was, and understands where she fits into the lives around her. â€Å"I’ve figured out that it doesn’t matter whether I’m Josephine Andretti who was never an Alibrandi, who should have been a Sandford and who may never be a Coote. It matters who I feel like I am – and I feel like Michael and Christina’s daughter and Katia’s granddaughter; Sera, Anna and Lee’s friend and Robert’s cousin. You know, a wonderful thing happened to me when I reflected back on my year. ‘One day’ came. Because finally I understood.† (pg260).