Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Developing Tyrrells Potato Chips Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Developing Tyrrells Potato Chips - Essay Example For this purpose it may resort to more advertising, other promotions, offering discounts and better customer service. It can also try to compete by making its operations more efficient and thus bring down its costs. Alternatively, it can try to increase its economies of scale by more investment. Sometimes existing market may become so saturated or uneconomical that companies may enter new markets with existing products. Such a strategy falls under the category of market development. The obvious example is the entry of multinational companies into new markets with existing products they were selling in the home country or other markets. This entry could help the company to transfer loyalties of customers to buy its own products. This is very effective if the product is a well-known brand in the world and is being made available for the first time or in large quantities. If a new product is manufactured by a company and it tries to sell it in the same market it operates, then it is classified under product development. The company is confident that its new product will be attractive in the existing market itself. Companies try to market the new product to existing customers or even get new customers to buy them. The product could be completely new or can be used as accessories or add-ons to its existing products. â€Å"Sell new products or services in current markets. These strategies often try to sell other products to (regular) clients. These can be accessories, add-ons, or completely new products. Cross Selling. Often, existing communication channels are used.† (Product/Market Grid (Ansoff) 2008). Product diversification is an instance where a company develops or acquires a new product and market in an entirely new place. There are four ways of diversification that can be used by a company.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Observation of a Toddler (Lifespan) Essay Example for Free

Observation of a Toddler (Lifespan) Essay Abstract I observed Harper, a 23 month old little girl that is full of energy. Also participating in the interaction with Harper was her mother and five year old sister, Mya. Harper is very friendly and outgoing. She is very interested â€Å"reading books† and loves to be read to. She enjoys helping her mother clean and do simple tasks. She seems to be very confident with and without her mother in her sight. Harper’s father is not actively involved in her life because he lives in another state. Observation of a Toddler 1. Harper is a 23 month old little girl. She is 34 inches tall and weighs approximately 27 pounds. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and a very pretty smile. 2. Harper’s gross motor skills are normative. She is able to walk, squat and run with ease. She can go up and down stairs one at a time all by herself and according to her mother she is â€Å"reasonably bowel trained† although she has nighttime accidents. Harper’s fine motor skills are also normative. She can throw a ball overhand, handle a spoon well, turns pages in her book and washes her hands. The skills Harper has are normative because they are in sync with other toddlers her age. Our book states â€Å"By 18-24 months, toddlers can walk quickly or run stiffly for short distance, walk backward without losing their balance, stand and kick a ball without falling, stand and throw a ball and jump in place†(Santrock, 2011, p. 129). a. Harper ZPD was in the upper limit. She had to be told to pull down her pants when she went to potty; but didn’t need to be told to wipe and pull her pants up. Her mother scaffolded by telling her what to do initially and letting her figure the rest out for herself. 3. Harper has mastered five substages. She is currently in Piaget’s sixth substage of sensorimotor development, Internalization of schemes. She loves to play with her kitchen and pretends to do dishes. She has learned this from watching her mother. She also engages in imaginative play with her sister. 4. Harper is very vocal and expresses herself very well. She has trouble with the L phenome and pronounces the letter L as a W. Example: She says wap instead of lap. She likes to listen to stories and responds with â€Å"what’s that?† and â€Å"Why†. She uses syntax. She understands the meaning of most words. Example: Her mother said â€Å"do you love mommy† and Haper replied â€Å"yes† the mother asked â€Å"how much† and Harper replied â€Å"sixty dollars†. 5. Harper had an easy temperament. She was very happy and easy to please. She was also easily redirected when her sister took her toy. 6. Harper was gender type was supported because she loves to wear dresses, play with dolls, loves the color pink, and loves princesses. While Harper is quite the girly girl she also likes to get dirty and kick the ball with her neighbor. 7. I would describe Harper as a securely attached child. When her mother left to run to the store to give me some alone time with her she seemed a little scared and wanted to go with her mother. Her mother was gone for approximately 15 minutes and Harper was fine after her mother was out of sight and didn’t seem to notice much when her mother returned. She continued to play with her toys and barely looked up. 8. When Harper hit her sister Harper’s mother used negative punishment to discipline her. She made her sit in a time out for two minutes and she was unable to play with her sister or her toys. She was also told if she hit her sister again she would have to go to bed immediately and would not be able to play with her sister for the rest of the night. Harper’s mother also used positive punishment by telling Harper that only mean girls hit and that she was being bad. At first, Harper responded by crying. However, she displayed compliance by sitting her in time out chair by herself and staying there until her mother told her that is was okay for her to get up. This combination of negative and positive punishment seemed to work as there no more episodes of bad behavior during my observation. 9. Harper is currently in the stage of Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. In this stage â€Å"The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of one and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc†(McLeod, 2008, para. 4). Harper likes to pick out her own clothes and expresses that she likes dolls and the color pink and that she does not like to eat beans. She is on her way to achieving the virtue of will by expressing her likes and dislikes. Harper has mastered the previous stage of Trust vs. Mistrust and has achieved the virtue of hope. She is very comfortable with her surroundings and a very easy child. She does not appear to have a heightened anxiety or agitation even when her mother in out of her sight. She easily warms up to others and has a very sunny disposition. References McLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosocial stages. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html Santrock, J. W. (2011). Life-Span development (13th ed.). Ny, Ny: McGraw-Hill.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? :: Poetry Poem Poet Metaphor Papers

Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? The poet Willis Barnstone begins a poem with this line: "Why must I always see the death in things?" My poem would begin, "Why must I always see the metaphor in things?" If I have any intellectual strength it is in seeing connections between unlikely ideas, theories, and concepts. I sit in classes, in front of the television, in front of books and my brain constantly tries to see how what I donà ­t understand relates to, is like, compares to things I already know about. Part of the poetic process is to be on the lookout constantly for these metaphors, these comparisons between unlike things constantly, as (in a metaphorical sense) a mechanic might hear a car coming down the street and from the noise of the engine discern a kind of secret knowledge, an awareness, that is lost on other hearers. The strong arm of metaphor has led to statements like, "Thatà ­s why schema theory is a kind of Swiss army knife" or "using consultation is like deciding whether to fix your own transmission". Also: good teaching is very often about finding metaphors that give students another way of relating new material to what they have already more or less experienced. The other day I was trying to explain how I expected a paper to be structured, and I found myself saying, "Remember when you came home late from a date and you built an argument to show your parents that coming home late was a perfectly reasonable, even inevitable occurrence given the circumstances?" Even telling stories about my teaching is a kind of metaphor: that is, Ià ­m saying that my experience as a white male teaching in a small high school will be like the experience of my students. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) spend much of their book talking about where metaphors come from, how they function in conversation, what their tie to underlying social structures might be. However, I read the book hungrily looking for some information about why metaphors serve a purpose that nothing else seems to for me. Finally, near the end I found this statement: The reason we have focused so much on metaphor is that it unites reason and imagination. Reason, at the very least, involves categorization, entailment, and inference. Imagination, in one of its many aspects, involves seeing one kind of thing in terms of another kind of thing ­Ã‚ ­what we have called metaphorical thought. Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? :: Poetry Poem Poet Metaphor Papers Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? The poet Willis Barnstone begins a poem with this line: "Why must I always see the death in things?" My poem would begin, "Why must I always see the metaphor in things?" If I have any intellectual strength it is in seeing connections between unlikely ideas, theories, and concepts. I sit in classes, in front of the television, in front of books and my brain constantly tries to see how what I donà ­t understand relates to, is like, compares to things I already know about. Part of the poetic process is to be on the lookout constantly for these metaphors, these comparisons between unlike things constantly, as (in a metaphorical sense) a mechanic might hear a car coming down the street and from the noise of the engine discern a kind of secret knowledge, an awareness, that is lost on other hearers. The strong arm of metaphor has led to statements like, "Thatà ­s why schema theory is a kind of Swiss army knife" or "using consultation is like deciding whether to fix your own transmission". Also: good teaching is very often about finding metaphors that give students another way of relating new material to what they have already more or less experienced. The other day I was trying to explain how I expected a paper to be structured, and I found myself saying, "Remember when you came home late from a date and you built an argument to show your parents that coming home late was a perfectly reasonable, even inevitable occurrence given the circumstances?" Even telling stories about my teaching is a kind of metaphor: that is, Ià ­m saying that my experience as a white male teaching in a small high school will be like the experience of my students. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) spend much of their book talking about where metaphors come from, how they function in conversation, what their tie to underlying social structures might be. However, I read the book hungrily looking for some information about why metaphors serve a purpose that nothing else seems to for me. Finally, near the end I found this statement: The reason we have focused so much on metaphor is that it unites reason and imagination. Reason, at the very least, involves categorization, entailment, and inference. Imagination, in one of its many aspects, involves seeing one kind of thing in terms of another kind of thing ­Ã‚ ­what we have called metaphorical thought.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Essay --

You all know the Chocolate Company: Hershey's; but where did it all begin? As with Walt Disney, it started with a dream. A dream that a certain person could rule the candy market. This certain person is Milton Snavely Hershey. Milton Hershey founded Hershey’s Chocolate Company in 1900. Did you know that his first product wasn't chocolate? No, he created and sold many other confections; his greatest being caramel. His highest achievement of all was creating the world's largest candy manufacturing company today. Milton S. Hershey learned most of his work from Joe Royer, the owner of an Ice Cream Parlor and Garden. Joe Royer taught Milton for four years until he quit. Milton didn't quit because he didn't like the apprenticeship. No, he quit to start his own confectionary business. Milton S. Hershey gave this world a company that changed the way we see chocolate today. Milton Snavely Hershey was born on September 13th, 1857. Hershey didn’t start off with candy right away. Young Milton was sometimes very clumsy and made mistakes. Sam Ernst, a person who started Milton off with an appren...

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Porter’s 5 Forces Essay

Webjet is Australia and New Zealand’s largest online travel agency. Leading the way in online travel tools and technologies, Webjet enables customers to easily search and book the best domestic and international travel flight deals, travel insurance, car hire and hotel accommodation worldwide. Webjet sites are simple to navigate, engaging and informative, giving customers confidence when managing their own travel arrangements. Webjet offers a 24/7 customer support service to cater to our customers’ needs. On 21 August 2013, Webjet announced a profit of $11. 4 million and NBAT of $6. 5 million. During the year the company experienced a growth in total transaction values of $110 million from $768 million to $884 million. About service Webjet. com has created our site around the belief that saving time and money is the key to opening up a world of travel opportunities. Operating as a completely independent flight booking engine, Webjet. com shows the absolute economical fares available, displaying the lowest total travel price. With the use of leading proprietary search technology, Webjet. com sifts through millions of published airfares from over 150 different airlines and 69,000 hotels to choose from. In addition to discounted fares offered through our consolidator network we provide the most affordable travel options available. We are fully committed to providing better access to savings on both international and domestic airfare as well as top deals for hotels, travel packages, cruise, car rentals and more! Unlike most of our competitors, we display the TOTAL price, including taxes and fees, up front to allow customers to compare prices and know what to expect at point of purchase. â€Å"We help U. S. world travelers navigate through the jungle of international airfares to find the best deals,† says Mathias Friess, Webjet. com’s CEO. With that said who wouldn’t want to easily find flights that will save them money? Also, not only does Webjet. com promise convenient and affordable flights but we also promise privacy. Booking online, no matter what site used, requires users to provide personal information. Webjet. com promises to not only protect this information but also to only share it after receiving the travelers’ consent. So why choose Webjet. com? Because our team works to provide affordable fares and put customers’ needs first. Marketing and IT team We’re more than such social media junkies and computer geeks. Our marketing team works to make a connection with our customers and let them know about the exciting updates with our site. We figure out what you want and need so that we can get it to you. From making you smile with our #TravelProblems tumble to providing travel tips with our blog and updating you on deals with our newsletters we enjoy reaching out to each customer. We’re constantly using our creativity to give travelers what they’d want from sweepstakes to our hangout videos that provide tips for traveling abroad. Feel free to connect with us on our Facebook, Twitter and Google+. History Established in 1998, Webjet was founded by former Jetset Travel Chief Executive David Clarke. Management WEB’s senior management has a mix of backgrounds, with a core group of directors and managers having been with the company for several years. In the early 2000’s this group pursued the development of an integrated booking platform to streamline its website activities Since then they have expanded Webjets services into complimentary fields that can be managed via their existing website. Webjet’s ROE over the last several years attests to the success of these decisions and management’s ability to provide good returns on investor capital. Internal ownership is substantial, with over 12% of outstanding shares owned by the directors and senior managers alone. Bonuses are typically 20% or less of total remuneration across the management group. Risks †¢Stiff competition in online accommodation service with the likes of Wotif (WTF) and lastminute. com †¢Competition from existing brand-name competitors like Flight Centre (FLT), who are also developing their online accommodation presence †¢Reliance on indebted Australian and new Zealand consumers for the vast majority of revenue †¢Sensitivity to the AUD, as a lower dollar will discourage Australian’s from holidaying overseas Opportunities †¢One of the few companies in Australia that is currently benefitting from the high AUD, as Aussies head overseas for their holidays to take advantage of increased purchasing power †¢The web-based business model is unencumbered by physical store fronts like its rival Flight Centre, making Webjet suited to the on-line shift for flight and accommodation bookings †¢Good brand name recognition within Australia †¢An easily-scalable business for overseas operations Webjet is a great business with good brand name recognition in Australia and a business model suited for the online future. Their financials look great, with a stable ROE of approximately 20-25% and a robust balance sheet that has no debt. Management have successfully grown the Webjet business by increasing the services it offers and maintaining a low cost structure. Unfortunately Webjet has no durable competitive advantage and is sensitive to movements in the AUD. Further, the online world has low barriers to entry and consumers can be fickle. In addition, Webjet must also compete with established travel groups like Flight Centre and dedicated booking agents like Wotif. As such, Empire Investing considers Webjet a Good Company with no competitive advantage – one we’d like to own, but only at a big discount to compensate.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Media and Politics essays

Media and Politics essays American politics have been quite a spectacle because of the influence of mass media and the way that American politics are run. Ideally, mass media is supposed to make it easier for people to participate in political decisions, understand how the government works, and hold government officials accountable. But in this day and age, the media is often used to manipulate and obscure the true form of political issues. Transparency in politics means to be seen through. People want to be able to see through what is going on in the head of the politician, so they turn to the media to give it to them. But instead, the people are like sheep. They see someone on the television and automatically assume that whatever they say is the truth because they said it on television. One strategy that politicians use is the diversion of attention. The attention of a group of people can be diverted by meaningless facts and words. With their minds somewhere else, it is harder for the public to recognize the real issues and separate the truth from fiction, thereby consuming time and attention. Another strategy used is the supplementation of reality. The politician seeks not to address the real issues, but instead to shift the ground of battle to issues of information management and technical questions of procedure. This insures that he/she will know what they are getting into before it actually happens. Th ese new issues can easily divert the attention of a large amount of people and the new issues often replace the old ones, now making the speaker a hero. Transparency can be a tricky tactic, but it is highly effective for the politician and can be beneficial to the election results. Transparency can easily change the thought process of a lot of a mass audience and is one way that the media has changed American politics. The television is an amazing medium for transferring and receiving information. Many differen ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Pros and Cons of a Closed Shop in the Workplace

Pros and Cons of a Closed Shop in the Workplace If you decide to go to work for a company that tells you it operates under a â€Å"closed shop† arrangement, what does that mean to you and how might it affect your future employment? The term closed shop refers to a business that requires all workers to join a particular labor union as a precondition of being hired and to remain a member of that union during the entire term of their employment. The purpose of a closed shop agreement is to guarantee that all workers observe the union rules, such as paying monthly dues, taking part in strikes and work-stoppages, and accepting the terms of wage and working conditions approved by the union leaders in collective bargaining agreements with company management. Key Takeaways: Closed Shop â€Å"Closed shops† are businesses that require all of their workers to join a labor union as a precondition of employment and to remain members of the union in order to keep their jobs. The opposite of a closed shop is an â€Å"open shop.†Closed shops are allowed under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, intended to prevent businesses from engaging in labor practices that harm workers.  While union membership offers workers advantages, such as the power to negotiate for higher wages and better working conditions, it also has potential  drawbacks. Similar to a closed shop, a â€Å"union shop,† refers to a business that requires all workers to join the union within a specified length of time after they are hired as a condition of their continued employment. At the other end of the labor spectrum is the â€Å"open shop,† which does not require its workers to join or financially support a union as a condition of hiring or continued employment. History of the Closed Shop Arrangement The ability of companies to enter into closed shop arrangements was one of the many workers’ rights provided by the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) - popularly called the Wagner Act - signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. The NLRA protects the rights of workers to organize, bargain collectively, and prevent management from taking part in labor practices that might interfere with those rights. To the benefit of businesses, the NLRA prohibits certain private sector labor and management practices, which could harm workers, businesses, and ultimately the U.S. economy. Immediately after enactment of the NLRA, the practice of collective bargaining was not viewed favorably  by businesses or the courts, which considered the practice to be illegal and anti-competitive. As courts began to accept the legality of labor unions, the unions began to assert greater influence over hiring practices, including the requirement for closed shop union membership.   The surging economy and growth of new businesses following World War II spurred a backlash against union practices. In reaction, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which banned closed and union shop arrangements unless authorized by a majority of the workers in a secret vote. In 1951, however, this provision of Taft-Hartley was amended to allow union shops without a vote of the majority of the workers.   Today, 28 states have enacted so-called â€Å"Right to Work† laws, under which employees in unionized workplaces may not be required to either join the union or pay union dues in order to receive the same benefits as dues-paying union members. However, state-level Right to Work laws do not apply to industries that operate in interstate commerce such as trucking, railroads and airlines. Pros and Cons of Closed Shop Arrangements Justification of the closed shop arrangement is built on the unions’ belief that only through unanimous participation and â€Å"united we stand† solidarity can they ensure the fair treatment of workers by company management. Despite its promised benefits to workers, union membership has decreased notably since the late 1990s. This is largely attributable to the fact that while closed shop union membership offers workers several advantages such as higher wages and better benefits, the unavoidably complex nature of the unionized employer-employee relationship means that those advantages can be largely wiped out by their potential negative impact. Wages, Benefits, and Working Conditions Pros: The process of collective bargaining empowers unions to negotiate higher wages, improved benefits and better working conditions for their members. Cons: The higher wages and enhanced benefits that often won in union collective bargaining negations can drive a business’s costs to dangerously high levels. Companies that become unable to pay the costs associated with union labor are left with options that can harm both consumers and workers. They may raise the prices of their goods or services to consumers. They may also outsource jobs to lower-paid contract workers or stop hiring new union employees, resulting in a workforce that is unable to handle the workload.   By forcing even unwilling workers to pay union dues, leaving their only option being to work somewhere else, the closed shop requirement can be viewed as an infringement of their rights. When a union’s initiation fees become so high that they effectively bar new members from joining, employers lose their privilege of hiring competent new workers or firing incompetent ones. Job Security Pros: Union employees are guaranteed a voice - and a vote - in the affairs of their workplace. The union represents and advocates for the employee in disciplinary actions, including terminations. Unions typically fight to prevent worker layoffs, hiring freezes, and permanent staff reductions, thus resulting in greater job security. Cons: The protection of union intervention often makes it hard for companies to discipline, terminate or even promote employees. Union membership can be influenced by cronyism, or a â€Å"good-old-boy† mentality. Unions ultimately decide who does and who does not become a member. Particularly in unions that accept new members only through union-approved apprenticeship programs, gaining membership can become more about â€Å"who† you know and less about ​â€Å"what† you know. Power In the Workplace Pros: Drawing from the old adage of â€Å"power in numbers,† union employees have a collective voice. In order to remain productive and profitable, companies are compelled to negotiate with employees on workplace-related issues. Of course, the ultimate example of the power of union workers is their right to halt all production through strikes. Cons: The potentially adversarial relationship between the union and management - us vs. them - creates a counterproductive environment. The combative nature of the relationship, spiked by constant threats of strikes or work slowdowns, promotes hostility and disloyalty in the workplace rather than cooperation and collaboration. Unlike their non-union counterparts, all union workers are forced to take part in strikes called by a majority vote of the membership. The result is lost income for the workers and lost profit for the company. In addition, strikes rarely enjoy public support. Especially if striking union members are already better paid than non-union workers, striking can make them appear to the public as greedy and self-serving. Finally, strikes in critical public sector agencies such as law enforcement, emergency services, and sanitation can create dangerous threats to public health and safety.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How to Create the Perfect Administrative Assistant Resume

How to Create the Perfect Administrative Assistant Resume If you’re already an administrative assistant (or you know much about the field), you know that the admin is often the person who keeps the trains running in a busy office. You’re the keeper of schedules and files, as well as providing support in any number of administrative duties. Administrative assistants have a very special career path in that they’re found in just about every industry. Skills you learn as an assistant in one industry can carry you through to another field altogether, which means you have tons of career flexibility. And you’re in good company: in 2014, there were nearly four million administrative assistant jobs in the country, per the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. But how do you break into this field- or if you’re already in it, how do you start moving up to your advantage?As with most career advancement questions, the answer lies in a document we all know and love: the resume. Your resume is your foot in the door, so you need to make sure it accomplishes three things:It should represent the best of who you are, career-wise.It should show how qualified you are for the specific job opening at hand.It should be formatted in a way that’s clear and easy to read.For more on the overall job search for administrative assistants (current or future), TheJobNetwork has tons of great resources on the hunt and the career path. For now, let’s  focus specifically on the resume.1.  What type of resume should you use?2.  How to format the resume3.  Combination resume4.  How to wrap up the resumeWhat type of resume should you use?The reverse-chronological resume (the kind where you start with your basic information like contact information, objective, and education, then work backwards through your job history and related skills) has been the gold standard for a long time. Now, however, with recruiters and hiring managers getting resumes in all sorts of formats, your options have gotten a little more diverse. That means you can pick a format that works best for your career and your status as a job applicant.Entry-level applicantsIf you’re just getting started (after graduating or starting over as a career change), you might want to consider a skills-based resume. This means that instead of launching into your work history, you have a bulleted list of professional skills. This kind of resume takes the spotlight off of your experience (which you might not have tons of yet) and puts it on the skills you bring to the new job. A skills-based resume might be the best option for you if you have any of these going for you:You have very few relevant jobs (and don’t want to list that table-waiting gig that got you through summers, or the internship that ended up having nothing to do with your eventual goals).Your previous jobs are so similar that the detailed bullets about each job would be virtually the same.The Muse has more on the skills-based resume format , if you’re still on the fence about whether this is the right format for you.If you go with the skills-based resume, it’s extra important to customize your resume for each job application. before applying, do your research:Which tasks/skills are specifically outlined in the job description?What background information can you find about the company’s values? (company websites often have mission statements, or brief summaries of the company’s values and goals.)Does anyone in your network work at this company? If so, the benefits are twofold: this person could help get your resume in the right inbox, but he or she could also give you some insight into what the company’s culture is like, and what qualities would be most welcomed.Once you have as much info as you can find, create your â€Å"skills† showcase to reflect what the company is seeking for this particular position. For the work history that follows, you can keep the individual job hist ory bullets very basic (company name, job title, dates).Mid-career or job change applicantsEven if you’ve had administrative assistant job(s) before, it’s still a good idea to rebuild your resume from scratch for new opportunities. You want it to be the snapshot of your career at this moment, not some cut-and-paste throwback to one or two jobs ago.If you have great experience, then the traditional reverse-chronological format is totally fine. But you might also want to consider a hybrid of the two, a combination resume. In this kind of format, you lead with an overview of your most relevant skills, followed by detailed bullets walking back through your work history.How to format the resumeIf you want to use an existing template, there are lots of good sites that do the heavy lifting for you- all you need to do is cut and paste your info into the template. Some great resources for resume templates include myPerfectresume and Best-Job-Interview.If you’re more into DIY, and want more control over how the information is presented, you can also use these guidelines to help you build your best administrative assistant resume.For a traditional reverse-chronological resume, we’ve got your back. ResumeGenius also has some straightforward examples of how to format the standard resume. If you’d like to branch out from that established format, let’s look at the skills-based resume and the combination resume for someone applying for an administrative position.  Skills-based resumeLet’s say this candidate has only been out of college for about a year, but wants to emphasize the skills s/he’s amassed through work, internship, and volunteer experiences. The skills-based resume would be the way to go. Here’s an example of how that would look:Terry Robinson14 West Street, Apt. 2bHartfordrd, CT, 45454  · (000) 999-9999 trobinson@emailclient.com  · LinkedIn: www.linked.in.com/trobinsonObjectiveAdministrative pro fessional seeking to leverage skills and experience into a senior office manager position.Skills summaryOffice management skills:Scheduling and coordinating meetings for senior managersMaking travel arrangements for team membersManaging travel and expense reports for team membersWorking independently with minimal trainingProject management skills:Spearheading the transition from a paper filing system to digitalManaging intern training programsCommunication skills:Managing correspondence for executives and senior managersCreating and distributing a company-wide newsletter to generate awareness of team accomplishmentsLiaising with a variety of clients, in-house teams, and vendorsMultilingual: english, french, spanishSocial program planningComputer skills:Expert in the microsoft office suiteCertified in quickbooksProficient in social media and corporate communicationsExperience Administrative Assistant, The Forrest Group (Hartford, CT) – May 2015 – PresentIntern, Ogilve Groves (New Haven, CT) – June 2014 – August 2014After School Program Coordinator, Gene Autry Elementary School (West Hartford, CT) – April 2012 – Present (volunteer basis)Education University of New Haven, New Haven, CT – Bachelor’s Degree in Education, 2015. 3.7 GPA.Combination resumeNow let’s say, a few years later,  this  candidate  is further along in his or her career as an administrative professional. S/he still wants to emphasize skills, because the job description for which he’s applying at educorp calls for someone with strong office management and communication skills.Terry Robinson14 West Street, Apt. 2b, Hartford, CT, 45454  · (000) 999-9999 trobinson@emailclient.com  · Linkedin: www.linked.in.com/trobinsonProfessional experience The Forrest Group, Hartford, CT – Administrative Assistant,   February 2011 – PresentServed as primary administrative assistant and office manager for the sales gr oup, including direct secretarial support for the executive vice president.Ogilve Groves, New Haven, CT – Receptionist, May 2006 – January 2011As the front-office representative for a top advertising firm, handled correspondence and incoming phone calls, filing, training interns and junior staff, and coordinating schedules with clients and vendors.Skills summaryOffice management skills:Scheduling and coordinating meetings for senior managersMaking travel arrangements for team membersManaging travel and expense reports for team membersWorking independently with minimal trainingProject management skills:Spearheading the transition from a paper filing system to digitalManaging intern training programsCommunication skills:Managing correspondence for executives and senior managersCreating and distributing a company-wide newsletter to generate awareness of team accomplishmentsLiaising with a variety of clients, in-house teams, and vendorsMultilingual: English, French, Spani shComputer skills:Expert in the Microsoft office suiteCertified in QuickBooksProficient in social media and corporate communicationsEducation University of New Haven, New Haven, CT – Associate’s degree in business, 2006Both formats are similar, but allow the applicant to use more discretion in what he or she presents. You may have been taught that resumes should have a rigid format, but it’s not true- your experience isn’t one-size-fits-all, so why should your resume be?How to wrap up the resumeRegardless of what format you choose, there are important elements to make sure you’ve hit in your resume:Contact informationObjective (optional)Skills/certificationsWork historyEducationHow you structure those is largely up to you- you want your strongest points to show clearly and concisely, so that the reader can identify those qualities up front. If you wait until the interview to show off your skills, for example, you might never get to that stage. The best way to figure out what’s best for you is to look at lots of examples, to see what feels right for your level of experience.It’s important to find a balance between showing a stable work history (or volunteer, internship, or educational history) and emphasizing the skills you’ve learned along the way that will make you a great candidate for this job.And as always, proofread the heck out of your resume. Have someone else read it after you’ve come up with a draft, so that their fresh eyes might pick up on a typo or weak point that you didn’t see because you’re so familiar with the material.Go forth and revise, and good luck, current and aspiring administrative assistants!Interested?   apply here

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Internal and External Accountabilities for Organizational Governance Research Paper

Internal and External Accountabilities for Organizational Governance - Research Paper Example Internal accountability in the not-for-profit organizations refers to the internal stakeholders such as employees, managers, directors etc, their quality of work and the coordination between them which leads to the welfare of the public or any other organization whom they are responsible to benefit. Profit is not their motto, their main aim is to provide services to others, therefore, the needs of others and their fulfilment by the staff and the financial resources of an organization are all a part of the internal accountability of a not-for-profit organization. Internal accountability in a for-profit organization similar to the internal accountability of a not-for-profit organization refers to the internal stakeholders such as employees, directors, managers, shareholders etc and the coordination between them. But, the difference between both of them is that, the internal accountability of a for-profit organization deals with the profits and loss made by the company, Such organizatio ns don’t work for the profit of others, instead they work for their own profit, therefore, they are basically concerned how well the internal stakeholders work in order to make more and more money for the organization. External accountability of a not-for-profit organization is concerned with all the external factors that affect a not-for-profit organization. Charities, donations, sponsors etc are some of the external stakeholders of not-for-profit organizations. External accountability of a for-profit organization includes external stakeholders such as customers, clients etc which affect or make up either profit or loss for a for-profit organization.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Marketing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing - Coursework Example Typically at this point you would have to order the tendering documents and have them filled out (This section may require the supply of samples and/or references). Moreover one would have to demonstrate that you would be able to securely and consistently supply the good/service and demonstrate the cost that you would charge. After the documents are submitted then the tender gets reviewed and should your bid be deemed as the best overall value to the government buyer then you would be awarded the contract. Give your opinion on whether the process seems worth the effort. The process would absolutely be worth my effort if the actual tender would be of any substantial value. If for example I was a supplier of high visibility clothing for municipal departments and the state highway commission was looking to procure garments for every state highway worker then the overall value of the contract (If I were to be awarded it) could be huge. However if a government contract would only be for a few protective garments and I would have to spend dozens of hours on the tender then the value of the contract may not be worth my time.

Should the courts see the original meaning of the constitution Research Paper

Should the courts see the original meaning of the constitution - Research Paper Example urt Justice Antonin Scalia did not agreed with the idea of changing the interpretation, while Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer wants it to change. The constitution should not be interfered with because it is the founding document of the United States. The Founding Fathers originally made the document for government and believed over time that the world will change, also the nation was built on and the foundation the U.S stands strong on. This paper will argue that Justice Breyer is correct. The Founding Fathers wrote a flexible document that would grow over the centuries. The U.S constitution was put together by several men—framers such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and John Adams. However, James Madison was known to be the father of the constitution because he wrote the constitution in 1778. Madison believed that a consitution should have a fixed and stable meaning. He believed that the time in which this constitution was created was special and that in the future people should reference it when interpreting the laws (Sunstein, 1). In todays world thinking about the constitution has changed in some respects (although there are still people who agree with Madison). According to the Supreme Court Justice Stephen, â€Å"in finding the meaning of the constitution, judges cannot neglect to consider the probable consequences of different interpretations.† (Breyer, 74) Scientifically we do not have the technology go back in time and ask our Founding Fathers what exactly they meant word for word about the constitution. We do understand why they wrote it that way, so that people in our society can have a better life. Breyer makes his case very intelligently. He says, "The court should reject approaches to interpreting the Constitution that consider the documents scope and application as fixed at the moment of framing . . . Rather, the court should regard the Constitution as containing unwavering values that must be applied flexibly to ever-changing

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Final Exam for Organization Research and Theory Term Paper

Final Exam for Organization Research and Theory - Term Paper Example A computer technology firm has experienced tremendous growth owing to the effective leadership of an efficient top management team. However, it has also witnessed a huge turnover of scientists as well as researchers. The company can be stated to be in maturity stage of the organizational life cycle which signifies that it is functioning in an effective manner which enables it to generate higher profits. At this stage, the management of the firm generally remains the same and there is less delegation of authority or power. The firm at this stage is more focused on developing the efficiency in its business operations. This stage exists as long as the firm is generating profit. The firm is mainly concerned about analyzing as well as managing the costs of the products. The management structure of the firm tends to be more bureaucratic and there is less emphasis on brining in new innovations in the organizational process. In this stage, profit is maximized for its growth as well as the se rvices which are provided by the firm. The growth of the firm is for the result of better collaboration as well as team work along with enhanced leadership by the top management (Daft, Murphy & Willmott, 2010). The firm after gaining drastic growth in the maturity stage may tend to proceed towards the decline stage for inefficient performance as well as bureaucratic nature of the management. These factors primarily result in crisis for delayed decision making process as well as slow performance. The performance of the firm can decrease or decline and there can also be a lack of innovativeness. The firm also suffered a huge number of turnovers of employees which declined its performance. The workforce of the firm has decreased which results in reduced market share as well as it reduces the competency of the firm. The management at this stage needs to take up certain measures immediately in order to recover from the crisis (Practical Management, 2012). The crisis which is suffered by the firm may be recovered at the revival stage of the organizational life cycle. The revival stage may occur at the maturity or decline stage for recovering the firm from the crisis which is hampering its growth. The firm should take innovative decisions and the bureaucratic nature of management should be minimized for retaining the growth of the firm. The workforce of the firm should be engaged in the decision making process. The management should devise methods for encouraging as well as developing trust among the employees for enhanced performance of the firm. The issues should be analyzed and steps or measures should be taken for lowering turnover of key employees of the organization such as scientists and researchers as they significantly contribute towards ensuring innovativeness in the products and services of the firm. The employees should be provided with better working atmosphere as well as culture for effective performance of employees with reduced turnover. The aspect of providing rewards and recognitions to deserving employees including the scientists as well as researchers can be started by the organization to ascertain that they are motivated to remain in the organization and provide their best. All these measures will assist the firm to resolve the prevailing crisis and to retain its best workforce which in turn would facilitate the company to ensure long-term profitability and sustainability (Products Arts, 2012). Question 6 a) A Mechanistic Structure A mechanistic

DOES AUDIT REGULATION ENSURE AUDITOR INDEPENDANCE Essay

DOES AUDIT REGULATION ENSURE AUDITOR INDEPENDANCE - Essay Example The objective of the present research is to define the UK auditor’s independence in the regulation of audit, the scope of competences and responsibilities of various professionals, and to evaluate who and what can be the best practice in auditor independence. The writer will define and analyse the concept of auditor independence in the audit regulation and will investigate effectiveness of audit regulation in the current state of UK auditors’ independence. Specialized accounting corporations and various government authoritarian organizations throughout the globe have accentuated that auditor autonomy is both an ethical and a professional matter, essential to auditors. Independence has been examined as â€Å"an intensely felt professional philosophy†. It is supposed that part of the solution in deciphering ethical impasses regarding potential and identified risks to assessor independence is to put more stress on professional beliefs (Mednick, 1990). The Ethics Committee of the International Federation of Accountants has also highlighted the notion of independence as an ethical subject in its principles on assessor independence covenanting with veracity, neutrality, and secrecy. Many writers have turn up with behavioural, theoretical, sociological and officially authorized definitions of independence and what makes up a mutilation to auditor’s independence. Elijah Watts Sells (1908) emphasized the significance of the auditor’s independence in relation to the auditor: The place of the public accountant in regard to corporations and their management is at all times an independent one. Unlike the legal representatives, he is not projected to make out a case. The nature of the service he provides is impersonal (Sells, 1908). Near the beginning of 1928, a perspective in the Paper of Accountancy emphasized the subsistence of a clash of interest when an auditor is a stockowner, executive,

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Final Exam for Organization Research and Theory Term Paper

Final Exam for Organization Research and Theory - Term Paper Example A computer technology firm has experienced tremendous growth owing to the effective leadership of an efficient top management team. However, it has also witnessed a huge turnover of scientists as well as researchers. The company can be stated to be in maturity stage of the organizational life cycle which signifies that it is functioning in an effective manner which enables it to generate higher profits. At this stage, the management of the firm generally remains the same and there is less delegation of authority or power. The firm at this stage is more focused on developing the efficiency in its business operations. This stage exists as long as the firm is generating profit. The firm is mainly concerned about analyzing as well as managing the costs of the products. The management structure of the firm tends to be more bureaucratic and there is less emphasis on brining in new innovations in the organizational process. In this stage, profit is maximized for its growth as well as the se rvices which are provided by the firm. The growth of the firm is for the result of better collaboration as well as team work along with enhanced leadership by the top management (Daft, Murphy & Willmott, 2010). The firm after gaining drastic growth in the maturity stage may tend to proceed towards the decline stage for inefficient performance as well as bureaucratic nature of the management. These factors primarily result in crisis for delayed decision making process as well as slow performance. The performance of the firm can decrease or decline and there can also be a lack of innovativeness. The firm also suffered a huge number of turnovers of employees which declined its performance. The workforce of the firm has decreased which results in reduced market share as well as it reduces the competency of the firm. The management at this stage needs to take up certain measures immediately in order to recover from the crisis (Practical Management, 2012). The crisis which is suffered by the firm may be recovered at the revival stage of the organizational life cycle. The revival stage may occur at the maturity or decline stage for recovering the firm from the crisis which is hampering its growth. The firm should take innovative decisions and the bureaucratic nature of management should be minimized for retaining the growth of the firm. The workforce of the firm should be engaged in the decision making process. The management should devise methods for encouraging as well as developing trust among the employees for enhanced performance of the firm. The issues should be analyzed and steps or measures should be taken for lowering turnover of key employees of the organization such as scientists and researchers as they significantly contribute towards ensuring innovativeness in the products and services of the firm. The employees should be provided with better working atmosphere as well as culture for effective performance of employees with reduced turnover. The aspect of providing rewards and recognitions to deserving employees including the scientists as well as researchers can be started by the organization to ascertain that they are motivated to remain in the organization and provide their best. All these measures will assist the firm to resolve the prevailing crisis and to retain its best workforce which in turn would facilitate the company to ensure long-term profitability and sustainability (Products Arts, 2012). Question 6 a) A Mechanistic Structure A mechanistic

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Auto Ownership Affected by Automated Vehicles Essay

Auto Ownership Affected by Automated Vehicles - Essay Example Automation will also help safer transit-3 vehicle operation, potentially resulting in high cost savings because to reduced self-insured losses. In addition, partial automation in bus vehicles may lead to highly reduced headways and thus increased people-moving capacities in environments where capacity is a constraining factor. Impacts and independent future speculations This part consists an analysis of the possible effects of the implementation of autonomous vehicles on the society. Modern transportation has a very significant role in the world. Transportation is a very fast growing sector, which is greatly associated with new technologies. In this time, the technology is evolving so fast that it is hard for people to get used to it. Making educated speculations concerning the future developments and determining their possible findings helps people understand and prepare for these variations. This is why it is significant to determine possible results of the implementation of autono mous vehicle technologies. This part will elaborate on the socio-economic effects of autonomous vehicles. Safety Safety matters have the most critical impact on daily life of all the transportation problems. Accidents from the traffic sector have colossal negative impacts on economy. For instance, in the European Union, there are over 40,000 accidents with about 1.3 million accidents annually. Every life lost through traffic accident results to a very high financial cost to the community as well as its appalling social impacts on people. Community’s intelligence, work-force together with social values is lost with the people dying in traffic accidents. Injuries too have huge financial effects, because treatment expenses are very high and the injured individuals are unable to work for a given of time. The most efficient solution to these accidents is the implementation of much better intelligent vehicle safety systems which will gradually evolve into fully autonomous vehicles. In the long run the implementation of autonomous vehicles seems to be a very profitable investment. An economical analysis carried out on a recent European project called â€Å"eCall† depicts how intelligent systems can save the economy. The eCall project aims at implementing a special emergency system on every car Impacts on traffic, economy and society Introduction of a fully autonomous vehicle in the transport system, traffic flow would immediately change. Traffic is presently a nuisance to drivers almost all over the world. The average person in the United States waited for 26 hours in traffic during the whole year in 2001. This is a very great amount of total time spent doing nothing but waiting by a myriad of individuals. During the early stages of implementation to the highway system there would be a combination of both autonomously driven vehicles and human controlled vehicles. This could result to confusion and problems pertaining the reaction of motorists to the dr iverless vehicles and how efficient the autonomous vehicles can integrate into flow of traffic. The autonomous vehicles would be following all directions of the traffic while human drivers have the choice to go against the law. As period goes on and the autonomous car becomes a more familiar vehicle on the road, traffic

Case Pneumonia Essay Example for Free

Case Pneumonia Essay Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection. It is also called Pneumonitis or Bronchopneumonia. Pneumonia can be a serious threat to our health. Although pneumonia is a special concern for older adults and those with chronic illnesses, it can also strike young, healthy people as well. It is a common illness that affects thousands of people each year in the Philippines, thus, it remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the country. There are many kinds of pneumonia that range in seriousness from mild to life-threatening. In infectious pneumonia, bacteria, viruses, fungi or other organisms attack your lungs, leading to inflammation that makes it hard to breathe. Pneumonia can affect one or both lungs. In the young and healthy, early treatment with antibiotics can cure bacterial pneumonia. The drugs used to fight pneumonia are determined by the germ causing the pneumonia and the judgment of the doctor. It’s best to do everything we can to prevent pneumonia, but if one do get sick, recognizing and treating the disease early offers the best chance for a full recovery. A case with a diagnosis of Pneumonia may catch one’s attention, though the disease is just like an ordinary cough and fever, it can lead to death especially when no intervention or care is done. Since the case is a toddler, an appropriate care has to be done to make the patient’s recovery faster. Treating patients with pneumonia is necessary to prevent its spread to others and make them as another victim of this illness. The lungs constitute the largest organ in the respiratory system. They play an important role in respiration, or the process of providing the body with oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. The lungs expand and contract up to 20 times per minute taking in and disposing of those gases. Air that is breathed in is filled with oxygen and goes to the trachea, which branches off into one of two bronchi. Each bronchus enters a lung. There are two lungs, one on each side of the breastbone and protected by the ribs. Each lung is made up of lobes, or sections. There are three lobes in the right lung and two lobes in the left one. The lungs are cone shaped and made of elastic, spongy tissue. Within the lungs, the bronchi branch out into minute pathways that go through the lung tissue. The pathways are called bronchioles, and they end at microscopic air sacs called alveoli. The alveoli are surrounded by capillaries and provide oxygen for the blood in these vessels. The oxygenated blood is then pumped by the heart throughout the body. The alveoli also take in carbon dioxide, which is then exhaled from the body. Inhaling is due to contractions of the diaphragm and of muscles between the ribs. Exhaling results from relaxation of those muscles. Each lung is surrounded by a two-layered membrane, or the pleura, that under normal circumstances has a very, very small amount of fluid between the layers. The fluid allows the membranes to easily slide over each other during breathing. PATHOPHYSIOLOGY Pneumonia is a serious infection or inflammation of your lungs. The air sacs in the lungs fill with pus and other liquid. Oxygen has trouble reaching your blood. If there is too little oxygen in your blood, your body cells can’t work properly. Because of this and spreading infection through the body pneumonia can cause death. Pneumonia affects your lungs in two ways. Lobar pneumonia affects a section (lobe) of a lung. Bronchial pneumonia (or bronchopneumonia) affects patches throughout both lungs. Bacteria are the most common cause of pneumonia. Of these, Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common. Other pathogens include anaerobic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, C. psittaci, C. trachomatis, Moraxella (Branhamella) catarrhalis, Legionella pneumophila, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and other gram-negative bacilli. Major pulmonary pathogens in infants and children are viruses: respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, and influenza A and B viruses. Among other agents are higher bacteria including Nocardia and Actinomyces sp; mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and atypical strains; fungi, including Histoplasma capsulatum, Coccidioides immitis, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Pneumocystis carinii; and rickettsiae, primarily Coxiella burnetii (Q fever). The usual mechanisms of spread are inhaling droplets small enough to reach the alveoli and aspirating secretions from the upper airways. Other means include hematogenous or lymphatic dissemination and direct spread from contiguous infections. Predisposing factors include upper respiratory viral infections, alcoholism, institutionalization, cigarette smoking, heart failure, chronic obstructive airway disease, age extremes, debility, immunocompromise (as in diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure), compromised consciousness, dysphagia, and exposure to transmissible agents. Typical symptoms include cough, fever, and sputum production, usually developing over days and sometimes accompanied by pleurisy. Physical examination may detect tachypnea and signs of consolidation, such as crackles with bronchial breath sounds. This syndrome is commonly caused by bacteria, such as S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. NURSING PROFILE a. Patient’s Profile Name: R. C. S. B. Age: 1 yr,1 mo. Weight:10 kgs Religion: Roman Catholic Mother: C. B. Address: Valenzuela City b. Chief Complaint: Fever Date of Admission: 1st admission

Monday, October 14, 2019

The Role Of Media In Peace Building

The Role Of Media In Peace Building History has shown that the media can incite people toward violence. Hitler used the media to create an entire worldview of hatred for Jews, homosexuals, and other minority groups. Rwandas radio RTLM urged listeners to pick up machetes and take to the streets to kill what they called the cockroaches. Broadcasters in the Balkans polarized local communities to the point where violence became an acceptable tool for addressing grievances. The medias impact on the escalation of conflict is more widely recognized than the medias impact on peace-building. Yet it is not uncommon to hear experts pronounce that the medias impact on peace-building must be significant given its powerful impact on conflict. However, this simple relationship must not be taken for granted and should be critically examined in order to most effectively use the media for conflict prevention and peace-building (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p.15) In the last six decades, the influence of the media in the global arena has increasingly been recognized, especially its power to either exacerbate or contain potential conflicts. Indeed it is worth noting that among the defendants during the Nuremburg trials which were constituted by the allied forces following the defeat of the Germany and her allies immediately after the second world war was one Julius Streicher who although never held any official position within the Nazi party hierarchy, was considered to be among the top individuals who bore the greatest responsibility for the holocaust that killed more than six million Jews (Nuremburg trial papers). For close to twenty five years, Streicher had educated the Germany people in hatred and incited them to the persecution and the extermination of the Jewish race. The propaganda which Streicher carried for close to twenty five years was chiefly done through the medium of his newspaper as the editor of the Der Stuemer and later sever al other provincial journals (May 24 1934 issue). As early as the 17th century, Edmund Burke had coined the term the fourth estate, to demonstrate the growing power of the media in periods when power and influence was concentrated in hands of only three classes of society (Calyle, p 392).). Although it is still debatable as who was the first to use the word, Burke is said to have remarked that there were estates in Parliament, but in the reporters gallery yonder, there sat the fourth estate more important than four than they all. He was making reference to the traditional three estates of Parliament: The Lords spiritual, the Lords temporal and the Commons (Schultz, p.4). In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet. Many people are today fully dependent on the information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and their daily activities like work, entertainment, healthcare, education, personal relationships, traveling are greatly controlled by what they read, hear and see. New communications technologies such as mobile/video phones and laptop computers are allowing journalists to gather and disseminate information with ease from many parts of the world. The digitization of the news industry, which has led to a compression of time and space, means we see news images of demonstrations, riots or coups within minutes of these occurring in the streets. These images not only inform global audiences, but may instigate further campaigns of violence at home. Commercial realities of news gathering have also affected the reporting of conflicts. The higher cost of news gathering in remote regions, coupled with the geopolitical and economic priorities of the West, mean that conflicts occurring at close proximity to the metropolitan centers receive coverage at the expense of those occurring further away in less developed regions of the world. A study of conflict reporting in the worlds major news outlets in 2000 shows that the Israel Palestine conflict was by far the most covered five times greater than the next most covered conflict (Hawkins, 2002) . Virgil Hawkins, the researcher who conducted the study, notes: By contrast, conflict in Africa, which has been, in the post-Cold-War world, is responsible for up to 90 percent of the worlds total war dead suffered an almost complete media blackout. Coverage of the massive war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which caused in excess of one million deaths in the year 2000, was almost insignificant (p. 231). With the international news agenda controlled by the worlds major media giants, it has become crucial to develop and strengthen media at the local level to maintain diversity of opinion. As media in many developing nations, such as Kenya, move away from state control towards private enterprise, it is essential for local media to find their own voice and professional codes. A well developed media system with professionally trained journalists usually benefits both global and local audiences and provides a vital link to the outside world during conflict situations. The media is a double-edged sword. It can be a frightful weapon of violence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment; but there is another aspect to the media, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it can be an instrument of conflict resolution, when the information it presents is reliable, respects human rights, and represents diverse views. It is the kind of media that enables a society to mak e well-informed choices, which is the precursor of democratic governance. It is a media that reduces conflict and fosters human security (BBC policy briefing). Today, in every part of the world reliable, accurate and objective media, whether be it mainstream, alternative or traditional/non-conventional, can both help to prevent and resolve conflict through the automatic functions of responsibly disseminating information, furthering awareness and knowledge, promoting participatory and transparent governance, and addressing perceived grievances. In the same vein, inadvertently or overtly propagandistic media may equally fuel tensions and exacerbate conflicts, which in extreme cases like in Rwanda may directly result in genocide (Thomson, 1998). 1.1 Background of the Study To argue that media does make a difference means rejecting the view that media are no more than mirrors of something else -consumer choices; elite interests, or reality itself (as in the positivist assertions by some journalists that they simply report the way it is). It is a commonplace to suggest that media provide their audiences with a map of the social and political world beyond their own immediate experience. From this observation about contemporary complex society, flow other notions of media power: agenda setting (media capacity to focus public attention on some events and issues, and away from others); the spiral of silence (the withering of issues and perspectives ignored by media); priming (media ability to influence citizens criteria of political evaluation); cultivation (the gradual adoption of beliefs about the social world that correspond to televisions selective picture of the world), framing, and the ideological effect (the production of meaning in the service of dom ination) (Hackett Carroll, 2006, p.30-31). A less frequently considered but equally pertinent dimension of media influence is their relationship with anti-war movements. Within reasonably democratic states, and in the absence of elite discord, such movements may be the most important buffer within civil society against war. The movement/media relationship is asymmetrical: movements need media (to mobilize support, validate their political existence, and attract new supporters) far more than vice versa (Gamson Wolfsfeld 1993). Media play contradictory but important roles at every stage of their trajectory; their emergence, organizational self-maintenance, and success; when political and foreign policy elites are united around a war policy, dominant media are likely to trivialize or demonize anti-war dissent (Gitlin 1980; Hackett 1991). In the context specifically of war, some scholars see an intensification of media agenda-setting with the advent of real-time, 24-hour, globally distributed television news -most iconically Ber nard Shaws and Peter Arnetts reporting for Cable News Network (CNN) from Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War. The so-called CNN effect allegedly highlights political uncertainty and incompetence, accelerates the pace at which politicians must respond to crises, and creates expectations and emotions that may force governments, against their initial inclinations, to intervene (or disengage) in conflict situations. The American humanitarian intervention in Somalia is often cited as an example (Spencer, 2005, p.24-38). According to Arnold (2005), the mass media contributed immensely to the propagation of US foreign policy agenda, couching imperial military actions in terms of humanitarian interventions undertaken to promote global freedom and democracy. This gave the US foreign policy the media attention cycle as there was competition among worldwide television and radio networks such as BBC, CNN, FOX TV and Channel 4 as who gets the right information first. This therefore, created huge demand for Western media even in non-western countries. In Africa, several efforts have been made to use the mass media to promote peace. For example, Radio for Peace-Building Africa (RFPA) is a program founded in 2003 by the international non-profit organization Search for Common Ground. The following are the countries in which RFPA is operated: Burundi, Central African Republic, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Working on the assumption that radio is the most accessible form of mass communication in Africa, RFPA trains journalists in peace-building, conflict resolution, and acting on commonalities. As stated in their achievements, 2010, RFPA has more than 3,000 members representing 100 countries, across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. They have carried out over 90 workshops and trained local radio station personnel (Radio for Peace-Building Africa, 2011). If the media have played an important role in breeding violence, it seems reasonable to examine the prospects of the reverse perspective-positive media contributions to ending violence and peace building in Kenya as a whole. Furthermore, if the media are usually found to support forces that lead to violent conflict, it can also be said that the media have the power to influence the activities that promote peace in the society. While media have been prominent contributors to every post-Cold War conflict (Prince and Thompson, 2002, Allen and Seaton, 1999), their role in post conflict peace-building and social development has not been apparent. Elsewhere however, recently there have been enough proves to accept the idea regarding the use of role that the media have played in peace-building. For instance, in Bosnia, Burundi, Cambodia, Croatia, Israel/Palestine, Macedonia, and Rwanda there are documented positive accomplishment of initiated projects of post-conflict recovery through the r ole of the media (McGoldrick, 2006). Also, over the past seven years, RFPA promoted peace in its areas of operation through levels of collaboration that it established between the government, media (TV stations and news papers) and civil society, increased the ability of radio stations to identify the underlying causes of war and conflict, increased the publics access to policy information, and used media to foster communication between policy makers and the civil society within that state, among other achievement (Radio for Peace-Building Africa: Achievements, 2012). 1.2 Problem Statement Literature on conflict and peace-building reveals a dismal focus on the role of the media in peace processes. Existing theory only tends to portray the media as essential in reporting and generating discourses on conflicts (Wolfsfeld, 2004; Watson, 2006; Bratic, 2006). Scholars of the post-election phenomenon in Kenya quickly conclude that, the crisis was a deeply rooted political and ethnic problem. Yet, the role of the media in the conflict, as well as its ability to mediate peace is not adequately tackled. In the East African region, Kenyan media like that in Rwanda has been scrutinized at the level of international law as a perpetrator of political violence. The post-2007 crisis serves as a good case to exemplify the process from conflict to peace-building. First, it illustrates the double role of the media as a constructive and destructive agent, and provides a link between media freedom and human rights. Secondly, this research explores challenges of media freedom within fragile democracies, where politics, poverty and ethnic differences can influence the media agenda. While the use of hate speech in the media is not discounted, this project will not focus on the subject as a whole, but draw examples to examine arguments. This project does not discuss ethnicity as a theory, but rather uses the term ethnic violence, a theme applied to describe political and ethnic tensions in Kenya (Hagg Kagwanja, 2007). The concept of ethnic violence has also been characterised as an element of civil or degenerate wars by several authors in recent years (Hanssen, 2000; Shaw, 2003; Kaldor, 2006). In recent times the effect of the mass media in shaping and forming the view of people especially the radio due to its accessibility, affordability and availability as compared to TV and computers (social networks e.g. Face book, Twitter, and YouTube) has contributed immensely to the development of a country. In the area of sport the mass media is promoting all kinds of sports especially football through constant publicity. As an emerging buoyant economic industry, the various media houses have established front desk for sports. Besides, they also have sports journalist who monitor, research and analyze sports related issues in the world, Africa and Kenya in particular. This has brought sports to the limelight of the media and given it a place in the media cycle. Inferring to the above and many achievements and contributions of the mass media in Kenya, it can be concluded that the mass media actually do assist in social improvements and building the ideals of the society. By systematically monitoring the performance of state institutions and reporting progress activities of the government, by guiding and dispensing of socialization, and by entertaining its audiences through interesting programmes. Against this background, many media houses have capacity building programmes to enhance public participation through phoning-in sessions. These programmes are also inspired by the need to improve and deepen governance and democracy. Notwithstanding, none or little concern has been given to programmes that are geared towards peace-building. It is for this reason that this study seeks to find out the role of the mass media in peace-building in Kenya. 1.3 Objectives of the Study The general objective of this research will be to explore the role the media has played in peace building among selected media houses in Kenya. The specific objectives of the research will be: To examine the activities of the media in peace-building. To establish the measures that government, stakeholders and media houses have put in place towards peace-building. To find out whether the media has been successfully used to promote peace in Kenya. To assess the effects of the media on peace-building. To make recommendations towards the use of the media in promoting and enhancing peace-building in Kenya. 1.4 Research Questions The following questions will serve as research questions to guide this research. What are the activities of the media in peace-building? What measures has the government, stakeholders and media houses put in place towards peace-building? How has the media been successfully used to promote peace in Kenya?. What are the effects of the media on peace-building? 1.5 Rationale for the Study The media is a double-edged sword. It can be a frightful weapon of violence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment. But there is another aspect to the media. It can be an instrument of conflict resolution, when the information it presents is reliable, respects human rights, and represents diverse views. It is the kind of media that enables a society to make well-informed choices, which is the precursor of democratic governance. It is a media that reduces conflict and fosters human security. Today, in every part of the world, reliable, accurate and objective media, whether mainstream, alternative or non-conventional, can both help to prevent and resolve conflict through the automatic functions of responsibly disseminating information, furthering awareness and knowledge, promoting participatory and transparent governance, and addressing perceived grievances. In the same vein, inadvertently or overtly propagandistic media may equall y fuel tensions and exacerbate conflicts. This study aims at establishing the role of media in peace-building in Kenya. 1.6 Assumptions of the Study This study will be guided by the following assumptions: The media houses in Kenya have adopted acceptable practices in relation to peace-building reporting in their operations. The target audience from the population that will be selected will give a fair representation of the whole population under study. 1.7 Limitation of the Study Unexpected negative response from respondents due to the fact that they will be unwilling to give out sensitive organizational information. This will be delimited through counter-checking on secondary literature as well as desk-reviews. 1.8 Definition of Key Terms Capacity Building Capacity development is the process whereby individuals, groups, and organisations enhance their abilities to mobilize and use resources in order to achieve their objectives on a sustainable basis. Efforts to strengthen abilities of individuals, groups, and organisations can comprise a combination of (i) human skills development; (ii) changes in organisations and networks; and (iii) changes in governance/institutional context (ADB, 2004). Capacity building is a complex notion it involves individual and organisational learning which builds social capital and trust, develops knowledge, skills and attitudes and when successful creates an organisational culture which enables organisations to set objectives, achieve results, solve problems and create adaptive procedures which enable it to survive in the long term Ethnic violence In this study the term ethnic violence will be defined as a theme applied to describe political and ethnic tensions in Kenya (Hagg Kagwanja, 2007). Media The media refers to several mediums or channels used in an organized fashion to communicate information to groups of people, as a service to the public (Howard, 2002). In regard to this project, media is mainstream or independent (print, radio, television) in general. Peace Journalism According to Lynch and McGoldrick (2005) peace journalism is when editors and reporters make choices of what stories to report, and how to report them which create opportunities for society at large to consider and to value non-violent responses to conflict. Peace Journalism entails: Uses the insights of conflict analysis and transformation to update the concepts of balance, fairness and accuracy in reporting Provides a new route map tracing the connections between journalists, their sources, the stories they cover and the consequences of their journalism the ethics of journalistic intervention Builds an awareness of non-violence and creativity into the practical job of everyday editing and reporting (Lynch and McGoldrick 2005 p. 5). Peace Building The Carnegie Endowments Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict (1997) defined peace-building as structural prevention which consists of the strategies to address the root causes of deadly conflict. Likewise, the Joint Utstein study of peace-building concludes that peace-building attempts to encourage the development of the structural conditions, attitudes, and modes of political behavior that may permit peaceful, stable and ultimately prosperous social and economic development. It states that there are four main headings related to peace-building: to provide security, to establish the socioeconomic foundations of long-term peace, to establish the political framework of long-term peace, and to generate reconciliation, a healing of the wounds of war and justice (Smith, 2003). These terms will be adopted in this study based but not limited to the above definitions. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The Kenyan Media: An Overview Kenya has a plural, sophisticated and robust mass media and communication sector that serve the various competing political, social, economic, cultural and technological needs of diverse interest groups. The sector has grown rapidly in the past 15 years because of a combination of factors including political and economic liberalization; and Kenyas strategic location as a regional and international economic and communication hub. Before 1992, the media scene was small, urban based and less independent owing to repressive media laws and regulation. Today, the media especially radio and television, reaches all urban centers and almost all rural communities. The broadcasting sub-sector is diverse, dynamic and competitive with substantial reach. There are about 14 TV and 113 radio stations in Kenya (Steadman Group, 2008). Radio is the number one source of information reaching almost 90 percent of the entire population followed by television reaching about 40 percent and newspapers (30 per cent). There are about 7.5 million radio sets (1.9 million in urban and 5.6 in rural areas) and 3.2 million TV sets in Kenya (1.4 million in urban and 1.8 in rural areas) in the country. There are about 16.7 radio listeners across the country with 12.4 million in rural and 4.4 million in towns (Steadman Group, 2008). Interesting developments in the broadcasting sector include the proliferation of FM stations broadcasting in over 21 ethnic languages out of 42 (CCK, 2008). The FM stations broadcasting in ethnic languages command about 30 percent of the market share today. Unfortunately, low professionalism characterizes most of these FM stations because they employ untrained and less experienced journalists. Satellite broadcasting is also thriving particularly among the upper and middle class in urban areas (Howard, 2008). Although the print media has a history of relative independence, it remains an urban phenomenon in Kenya. Kenya has 5 daily newspapers and over 10 weekly newspapers. The dominant newspapers are the Standard with a daily circulation of 80,000 -110,000; and Nation newspapers with a circulation of 100,000 120,000 (Mbeke Mshindi, 2008). The new media is also catching up in Kenya which boasts of 17.6 million mobile phone owners and 3.2 million internet users. There are over 1000 act ive blogs in Kenya. Safaricom, Kenyas number one mobile operator commands 70 percent of the market share and has over 16 million subscribers. Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), the oldest and only public broadcaster, has the largest network of TV and radio stations across the country. KBC radio service, broadcasting in over 21 ethnic languages, is the only network in Kenya with the capacity to reach all audiences across the country. It also operates KBC TV. Royal Media Services, owned by media magnate S.K. Macharia, is the second largest media house in Kenya. It operates Citizen TV which has a national reach and several radio stations broadcasting in ethnic languages including Kikuyu (Inooro), Luo (Ramogi), Kamba (Musyi), Luhya (Mulembe) among others The Nation Media Group (NMG) is the largest media network in Kenya with interests in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. It operates the Daily Nation, Sunday Nation, the Business Daily, the East African newspapers as well as the Tourist Guide, the Business Directory among other magazines (BBC Media Monitoring, 2007). NMG runs the NTV and QTV as well as Easy FM and QFM radi o stations both with a national reach. NMG is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) with the Aga Khan as the key shareholder. The Standard Group (SG) owns the KTN Network, Kenyas first private TV station (1989) and the East African Standard Newspapers, the oldest newspapers having started in 1902. The SG is listed on the NSE with Baraza Limited, a company closely associated with the former President Daniel arap Moi and his close aide Joshua Kulei as the key shareholders. The people media group owns the People Daily several ethnic radio stations. It is associated with the Kenyatta family having bought it from Kenneth Matiba and the radio component from Rose Kimotho. Patrick Quarcco owns Kiss FM and several other FM station together Kiss TV and the Nairobi Star, a daily newspaper. Industrialist Chris Kirubi owns Capital Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that runs CBC TV and Capital FM. Other media include STV formerly owned by professional journalist Hilary Ngweno. Kenya also has a strong faith-based broadcasting media including Hope FM, Radio Waumini owned by the Catholic Church; and Family TV and radio FM owne d by Leo Slingerland. A number of international news agencies and organizations operate from Nairobi, Kenya. These include the BBC, VOA, Duetsche Welle, Radio France, Radio China, Al Jazeera and CNN. While the press covers mainly politics and economic issues, the broadcasting stations in Kenya are characterized by heavy music and light entertainment programming lazed with interactive talk shows on politics and current affairs. Kenyans have continuously voted the media as the most trusted and influential institution even as they continue to express their reservations over other government institutions like the legislature and the executive. According to BBC, the Kenyan media is one of the most respected, thriving, sophisticated and innovative in Africa. Compared to other African countries, Kenya has in the recent past enjoyed a robust economic growth which in turn has supported one of the most dynamic advertising markets on the continent and a population which consumes news and information voraciously. In turn, this market has supported an explosion in media over recent years. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. While an independent media tradition in Kenya is a long one, it was only in 1992 that the media bloomed to become the thriving industry it is today. Until then, the suppression of media freedom by the then KANU government, a stagnant economy and the continued monopolization of the airwaves by the governments Voice of Kenya (now Kenya Broadcasting Corporation), meant that independent media outlets were few and confined mostly to elites. Over a period of 15 years, this increasingly assertive and self-confident media has played a substantial role in mediating relationships between citizens and state, in shaping the democratic dispensation in the country, and has transformed utterly how some of the most marginalized in society access information on issues that shape their lives. Kenyan citizens have become increasingly reliant on the media for such information, investing in it with greater credibility than almost any other source of information. For most of this period, the media has been seen nationally and internationally as a principal indicator of the democratic vitality of Kenya. Media has been at the forefront of moves to transform Kenya from one party state to multiparty democracy; it has gained a reputation for exposing corruption and acting as a vigorous forum for public debate; it is seen as a guardian of the public interest against an overbearing state power. 2.2 The Activities of the Media in Peace-Building While large scale or world war has been avoided, continual civil conflicts have not been avoided i.e., the conflicts in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Somalia. At the same time, peaceful resolution of conflicts that have major potential for civil conflicts: the transitions in South Africa, in Central and Eastern Africa have been witnessed. Therefore, peaceful resolution of national-civil conflicts is in a great part a communication process. That is; a concept of communication that channels civil conflict away from open war in to what is called cultural negotiation (White, 1990, p.22-23). The media can provide information directly to citizens regarding major events of importance for decision -making so that citizens can take action and influence the structure of decision-making. What is expected is a narrative reconstruction of events which reveals the source of the problem, the persons who are responsible and why, and what emerge finally as the solution. The media are the forum for the expression of public opinion and enable the public and public officials to chart the general public opinion regarding the state of public affairs. The mirroring of public opinion enables the public to know what people are expecting and whether representative governments are serving the public or not. A totalitarian state is one in which civil society is totally absorbed by the state, a state without a public opinion. Boutros Boutros-Gali (1992) gave clarity and coherence to the concept of peace building when he defined it as Action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid relapse into conflict and, rebuilding institutions and infrastructures of nations torn by civil war and strife (and tackling the deepest causes of) economic despair, social injustice and oppression. Inscribed in Willshers comment about his role as a journalist is an assumption about media influence which has also come to be known as the CNN effect -so called after the first Gulf War when the UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said: We say we have 16 members in the Security Council: the 15 members plus CNN (Boutros Ghali, 1995). The proposition is that todays global media have grown so mighty as to be able to raise issues to the political agenda by their own efforts; issues which would otherwise hold little or no interest for the powers-that-be. In summary, the influence of the media on society has attracted international agencies closely involved in peace-building since the early 1990s (Ross, 2002). The media can contribute to peace, by engaging in credible reporting, representing balanced opinions in its editorial content, and opening up communication channels among parties in a conflict. It can also identify and articulate without bias the underlying interests of warring factions. By doing so, the media is capable of disseminating information that builds on the confidence of stakeholders in a conflict. 2.2.1 The CNN Effect The Harvard University Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy has been instrumental in examining media effects. Steven Livingston, a leading CNN Effect researcher and associate professor of communication and international affairs at The George Washington University, along with his colleagues at Harvard, identified three conceptual variations surrounding the CNN Effect: the notion that media serves as an agenda-setting agency, that the media serves as an impediment in some cases and that the media facilitates a more accelerated publi

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Ultimate Frisbee :: sports

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before you hear about Ultimate Frisbee, you should first know the history of the Frisbee. The Frisbie Pie Company sold their pies all over the East Coast, and it just happened that the pie tins were easy to throw around. At Yale, students began to make up games to play with the tins, and started to call them â€Å"Frisbees†. The name stuck and tossing the tins around became popular at many East Coast colleges. Several years later, an inventor decided to recreate the Frisbee tin. He wanted to make it out of plastic, which was one of the new post-war materials. He shaped his new disk like a U.F.O., complete with little windows. This was the first real Frisbee, and since then, the design hasn’t changed much. People had been tossing Frisbees around for years, but had yet to create a sport using the Frisbee disk. At Columbia High School in New Jersey, students from the school newspaper created a new sport, combining different aspects of soccer, football, basketball, team handball, and hockey, they called it Ultimate Frisbee. These students decided to write an official set of rules for Ultimate Frisbee. At first, it was only played by a few students at Columbia. The sport soon caught on at other colleges and high schools in the area. From then on, Ultimate spread rapidly throughout the United States, and was at first played only in schools. Since then many non-scholastic leagues have formed and many countries have started national teams. Not much has changed since the rules were first published, and since then, Ultimate has spread all over the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Spirit of the Game is the most important part of Ultimate Frisbee. In most sports, players purposefully foul their opponents. In Ultimate, the philosophy is that no one would ever foul an opposing player on purpose, and if a foul is to occur, it is assumed that the perpetrator fouled by accident. Players call their own fouls, and if the opposing team feels that the call was incorrect, they can contest it. Not having a referee involved means less time wasted. Another part of The Spirit of the Game is showing respect for your teammates and opponents. This â€Å"philosophy† is what makes Ultimate Frisbee different from all other sports.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once you figure out how to throw the disk, Ultimate’s a pretty easy game to learn. The game starts with both teams lining up on opposite end zones, the home team throws off to the opposing team; that starts the point.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Water Imagery in the Works of Eudora Welty, Teresa de la Parra, Kate Ch

Water Imagery in the Works of Eudora Welty, Teresa de la Parra, Kate Chopin, and Marà ­a Luisa Bombal â€Å"’The pouring-down rain, the pouring down rain’ –was that what she was saying over and over, like a song?†. Eudora Welty, â€Å"A Piece of News† â€Å" Usually I prefer to stay at the pool because there the river holds a serene and mysterious charm for me†. (Por regla general yo prefiero quedarme en la toma, porque es alla en donde el rio tiene para mi aquel encanto sereno y misterioso). Teresa de la Parra, Iphigenia (The Diary of a Young Lady Who Wrote Because She Was Bored) (Ifigenia (Diario de una seà ±orita que se escribà ³ porque se fastidiaba)) â€Å" The voice of the sea speaks to the soul†. Kate Chopin, The Awakening â€Å" And like this, naked and golden, I dive into the water† (Y asi, desnuda y dorada, me sumerjo en el estanque). Marà ­a Luisa Bombal, The Final Mist (La à ºltima niebla) Water imagery occurs repeatedly in the works of Eudora Welty, Teresa de la Parra, Kate Chopin, and Marà ­a Luisa Bombal suggesting that it is intimately connected with the inner worlds of the female protagonists in these stories. The storm dramatizes Ruby’s death fantasy in â€Å"A Piece of News† by Eudora Welty. The river provides a place for Marà ­a Eugenia to express herself in Iphigenia (The Diary of a Young Lady Who Wrote Because She Was Bored) (Ifigenia (Diario de una senorita que se escribo porque se fastidiaba)) by Teresa de la Parra. The sea elicits Edna’s deepest desires in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and the mist triumphs over the nameless narrator’s attempt to escape death in The Final Mist (La à ºltima niebla) by Marà ­a Luisa Bombal. According to Carl Gustav Jung, water is the commonest symbol for the unco... ...h. Furthermore, Jung’s explanation of water as â€Å"carnality heavy with passion† is linked with life, or the conception of children. However passion is also linked with death, because extreme passion is traditionally linked with sinfulness, which leads us to death rather than to eternal life in the Christian tradition (Archetypes 19). Jung also writes of â€Å"the longing to attain rebirth through the return to the mother’s womb† and the idea that the mother’s womb is described using water imagery (207). Water thus links death, passion, birth, and life. But for the protagonists in these stories, these forces are somewhat out of sync. Failures of individuation, and the completion of transformational journeys which lead to madness, resignation, and death point to an inability of the characters to reconcile their wants and needs with their actual lives.