Agriculture of CA and the Pacific Northwest

Since the dawn of civilization, man has always been searching for techniques to have a system of food channeling. Agriculture provided the requisite respite from hunting and gave mankind the necessary support. The United States of America, had agriculture as an integral part of the system and certain states have more affinity towards farming than others.Agriculture in California and Pacific Northwest has had its share ups and downs and both the regions have seen newer developments in agriculture due to newer laws and advances.â€Å"Agriculture of CA and the Pacific Northwest†One of the most intriguing occupation, that has not only been age old but also the most satisfying, has been ‘agriculture’.   California’s agriculture has a very unique history to it. The amount of changes that have taken place over a course of 200 years is enormous, and the agricultural industry has gone through a good and bad tenure during this phase.The changes have been intricate and precise due to a no. of factors.   The alterations in the industry has taken place in the choice of mix of crops; The kind of technology that has been altered from horse driven ploughs to high tech tractors embedded with powerful global positioning satellite guides.;The directional sources of water has been changed along with changes in ownership arrangement.   The face of the industry has completely been changed due to the growing demands of the urban population.But there are some factors of the Californian agriculture that remain the same. These core values have been with agriculture field from the start and have never been part of any change in the system.On a primary level, majority of the farming done in California has always been market eccentric and had never revolved around sustenance of famer’s family which was the basic concept of farming in the pre years of the country.The Farming community of California has always been adaptive and the entrepreneur mentali ty has always been an integral part of them.   Californian agriculture has always catered to newer markets demands and has always been part of a unique economic agricultural philosophy. Agriculture in CA has provided opportunities of fulfilling local and international market needs.From supplying wheat to Europe to vegetable in Asia, California’s agriculture has been a pioneer for varied markets.   Wine production was also fulfilled by California’s agriculture.Another factor that has been instilled in agriculture in CA is its resource dependency which has been laid out from the olden ages.   The agriculture carried out in California has always been ridden with antagonistic searching of newer lands and water resources.   Lands and water have been exploited before and the case is no different even in the latest times.This factor has been rampant in the agricultural society of California.   An additional factor that has always been with California’s agricu lture is how the absence of water has brought a shape to it. Due to the excess demand of California’s agricultural supplies, it has always been in need of apt water resources.This is exactly why California’s agriculture has always been an active participant of water wars both on an internal and external front.Like each industry, the success of production is dependent on the quality of skills and the quantity of labors that one has for effective working of the operation.   California’s agriculture was no different when it came to labor management and problems that were holed up due to the deficiency of requisite manpower.Due to the varied farming and harvesting techniques in California, the dependency on agricultural labor was a crucial factor in the olden times. Today dependency of agricultural labors is still a crucial part of the Californian agriculture, but with lenient immigration laws, the void has been filled by immigrants from Latin America and Asia.The se immigrant agricultural labors have been actively operating large scale operations on the land and have been instrumental for specialty crop farms. One of the prime decisive factors that have not changed over the course of history is the California’s agriculture’s susceptibility. Farming is one such industry that has always been affected by calamities caused by natural reasons.Agriculture which is wholly dependent on nature’s mercy gets completely dissuaded when natural fury likes floods or droughts occur. Financial crashes also affect agriculture, and California’s agricultural needs have been greatly disturbed by recessions and economic depressions.   It still is at risk when financial market around the world crash, destroying the scope of increasing market needs.California’s agriculture always driven by market needs has always opened up opportunities for functioning of large scale operations. Due to the diversity of operations, agriculture in California has always required specialized management to handle the complexity of such operations and also to monitor the success of these operations.The historic â€Å"Gold rush â€Å", was one of the front running elements that embedded the need for higher technical management in California. With passing of time and advancements in technology, the management that overlooks high end technical operations has been critical for effectuating success.California’s need for higher technologies in agriculture has always been a dominant factor amongst its community. The fact that the entire agriculture has been market oriented, the need to create a niche always existed in the agricultural sector of California.There have always been heavy investments in better technologies and irrigation equipments, large scale operational technologies, pest control are key examples of such technologies.   California agriculture also ventured into food processing and wine making to gratify the ma rket with high end.The capitalist philosophy of California’s agricultural community has been a key element in driving the state towards a technology dependent farming and production.The following will best describe the qualities of a famer, which is best felt by California’s agricultural community:â€Å"The farmer in California, to be successful, must be a skilled agronomist, a careful manager of labor, an astute businessman, a speculator, and certainly an optimist. In recent decades California agriculture has been characterized by a high degree of specialization, seasonality, and reliance (Clarke Chambers. Page 1.1952).

Discussing Hamlet Essay

At various times, Shakespeare has been seen by critics as presenting Hamlet as a sensitive poet, unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world, a man driven by sexual desire for his mother, and a representative to a corrupt political regime. Which would be your interpretation and why? The character of Hamlet can simply be described as he who â€Å"embodies all that man represents in earth†- as ‘Toril Moi’ so eloquently points out. My interpretation, like Toril’s, is that simplicity is an element that lacks in tremendous proportions in Hamlet; he is a complex and three-dimensional character to an infinite extent. So much so, his complexity allows him to assume an ‘antic-disposition’ and also appear truly insane at the same time. It is evident that Shakespeare adopted the ‘Senecan’ classical revenge tragedy style of plot, which clearly sets out the characteristics of Hamlet: As the son of the dead king/father, it was obligatory to avenge his father’s death, however hindering this act is the hero’s hesitation, which one could describe as Hamlet’s cowardice. Eventually, Hamlet killing Claudius fulfils the revenge tragedy. Hamlet is therefore a revenge tragedy in plot, but not in central character. In my opinion, it is more intriguing to use the vengeance theme as a carrier to express the unimaginable depth of emotion contained in Hamlet. This emotion is caused by human experience of dealing with death, pursuing revenge, inaction, action, failure in love, and finally the oppressive affect on man (Hamlet) by a nation of corrupt power. Hamlet is a dexterous courtier and scholar, yet in times of extreme pressure he averts from his calm-courtier ways and behaves erratically, leading to fatal ends, such as the unnecessary killing of Polonius. The genuine despair of Hamlet limits his capacity for action and increases his self-abasement and self-disgust, constantly questioning the value and purpose of his life- hence being unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world. Hamlet thinks too precisely under the weight of thought, which as he says himself â€Å"makes cowards of us all†- This hesitation eventually leads to the downfall of Hamlet! I would define the ‘sensitivity’ in Hamlet as a deep philosophical nature wherein is contained a boundless range of emotion, which is depicted more so in the seven soliloquies in the play. We see Hamlet’s first soliloquy in act 1, scene 2, and expect to see a true sensitivity of Hamlet, as Shakespeare intended soliloquies to reveal a character’s true feelings, void of lies and deception. The opening lines of the soliloquy immediately introduce poetic antithesis: ‘O, that this too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew†. It is evident here that Hamlet is plagued with melancholy, wanting his ‘solid’ pain to dissolve, in other words he is suicidal. This suicidal behaviour implies that he is unable to endure the cruel pressures of the world, as he welcomes death to terminate all his problems. The reason he gives for not committing suicide is religious, that God condemned it in his sixth commandment, however he wishes that the â€Å"Everlasting had not fix’d His Canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! â€Å". Some critics say that he used religion here to serve as an excuse for avoiding the action of â€Å"self-slaughter†, however I believe in Hamlet’s belief and faith in religion, as he swears upon the language of the church, â€Å"Hic et Ubique† when promising his purpose to his father’s ghost, which I believe Hamlet would have taken very seriously. The bleak, grim words of the soliloquy, such as â€Å"stale†¦ Unprofitable† express of his depression and distaste of life. Hamlet in my opinion is also very unhappy with the state of Denmark, metaphorically representing it as an â€Å"unweeded garden†, that is a diseased and corrupted pit: â€Å"rank and gross†. After the internal insight of depression and woe in Hamlet, we see the reason behind his piteous state- that cannot be due to Claudius killing his father because he doesn’t yet know that! It is in equal measure the death of his beloved father, and the revulsion of Claudius’ and Gertrude’s hasty marriage into â€Å"incestuous sheets†. Hamlet absolutely abhors Claudius, describing him as a â€Å"bloat-king† and a â€Å"Satyr†- simply a beast in modern terms, which is in contrast to the vast admiration for his deceased father, the â€Å"Hyperion†- the beautiful sun God. The fact that Hamlet’s true father was a â€Å"hyperion†, that he was â€Å"so loving to my mother† and that â€Å"she would hang onto him† with great happiness, implies that Hamlet idealised his parents’ marriage. However, the betrayal of his mother to the ideal of marriage at an insincere instant, â€Å"unrighteous tears† at an â€Å"O most wicked speed†, badly bruised Hamlet’s opinion of women, degrading their honour and purity. The poet Hamlet uses personification to express his disgust to womankind in general: â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman! â€Å". This disgust in women is what I believe caused Hamlet’s bitter rejection for Ophelia, not because Hamlet is insensitive, but because his fragile sensitivity was taken advantage of and bruised. Hamlet later continues to express his disgust in women by using similes referring to women in a negative way to describe a bad situation: â€Å"Like a Whore unpacked†¦ â€Å"

Business Process Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Business Process Management - Assignment Example Excellent performance is a key for business success and Companies that are highly competent, set themselves apart from other firms by focusing on constant performance improvement. Some frameworks that are proposed by business project management for performance measurement are (Kellen, 2003): The Balanced Scored Card: This is the most utilized framework and had greater adaption. Balanced scored card is used to measure the things that are related to the organization’s strategy and important for logistic company. It is broken in four sections that are as follow (DHL, 2008): Activity Based Costing: Through activity-based cost, the allocation of overhead is done according to an individual customer or product instead of the allocation of overhead on overall products. Activity based costing link the cost to the sources that are being used to provide a particular service within an organization. In such ways, the flow of expenses run from resources to activities and leads to the most demanded services. In this way organization, become able to have detailed analysis of activities that are profitable and providing excess revenue to the organization as compare to their cost. This strategy is the part of the company from 1988 (BJH, n.d.). Economic Value Added: Economic value added is a measure of financial performance. The EVA is linked with the formulation of overtime and the value of shareholders. The usage of this method is done as the motivation plane of managers because the purpose of this approach is to server management with the information that can motivate them to create maximum wealth for shareholders. In DHL, EVA model is deployed to maximize the wealth of shareholders (Camerinelli, 2009). Quality Management: Quality improvement programs just not improve the performance of the organization but also enhance the level of customer satisfaction and for the improvement of

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Human Resource Management - Essay Example Also, a conclusion will be provided in the last section of the paper. 2. The Report Free Malaysia Today’s news report last March 4, 2013 by one of its staff James Pereira has delineated that Malaysian businesses are devoted to stipulate customers with a great service. However, Pereira inscribes that these employees are notably in minority clusters. He insists that for a firm to be recognized internationally, it must be inculcated with employees who are haunted with customer satisfaction. There is indeed a right approach to having an exceptional divergent type of employees, and for this panorama to be feasible, a scientific facet must be on hand. As such, a business to be dubbed as a predominant venture and become a successful world-class firm, it must be infused with a top-flight reputation, which can only be achieved through employees. The top-flight reputation runs the profitable aspects of a firm and the formula to attain this is: â€Å"Right Employee x Right Training x Ri ght Performance x Right Reward = Right Profits† (Pereira, 2013). Notably, having been depicted as a formula of accumulating right profits, the latter is deemed as a paragon that becoming successful is infused with a scientific aspect. 3. Performance Management Right profits are quantified by four aspects, which include right performance (Pereira, 2013); therefore, performance should be managed well leading it to become right. Performance management can be perceived in a broad or narrow context. In the broader context, the administration will be viewed in the conduct of assessing the organizational performance--the measurement and evaluation of the administration of a firm (Pantouvakis, 2011, p.13) --while in the narrow context, the assessment will be held in the performance of every employee. The first step to managing the performance is through role profiling--where employees can be coming from external staffing and internal passages, and thereby synergy must also be instille d (Storey, 2007, pp.274-276). Integrating these employees to work together and establishing the right culture of the organization can help sustain an effective synergy. The concept of integration is very significant because only in integration will rise the dominant aspect of synergy (Moulesong, 2013). Employees will perceive parity of value and unity of direction. They will somehow fathom that every entity in the organization has his or her certain role, and it matches a huge fraction or part of the measures that can assist in achieving the organizational goals effectively. In the light of synergy, employees can become more effective as they integrate them as they work individually (Tanriverdi, 2006, p. 59). The next salient thing the firm must do is to decide the measures, which should be perceived as a succinct set of information that measures the future standards or targets of the firm. Furthermore, setting the standards does not just depict expecting of what has to be done, but implementing what must be done. Diversification is a dominant aspect here since achieving one target cannot be attained with a one-sized-fits-all aspect of business. Otherwise stated, employee diversification can also assist effectiveness and efficiency of operations because one of the competitive advantages of a firm is to have a diversified personnel (Ravichandran, et al., 2009, p.233). Reviewing the performance

WE 1 CRJ 545 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

WE 1 CRJ 545 - Research Paper Example Investigation of death is a crucial component in American criminal justice system, which is based on the concept that no innocent person should be punished. Especially in the case of homicides, it is imperative to determine the cause of death so as to rule out natural or accidental death and to confirm the mode of death in order to conduct further investigations. Cause of death can be defined as a disease or an injury that has triggered the â€Å"train of morbid events† that have led directly to the demise or the circumstances or actions that directly contributed to the injury, leading to the death (Medical Examiners’ and Coroners’ Handbook, 2003, p.11). Usually, the medical examiner or coroner is the official who owes the responsibility to determine the â€Å"cause, circumstances and manner† of an individual’s death so as confirm whether the event has occurred as the result of an accident, injury or any foul play (The Office of the Coroner, 2007, p .1). Coroners function as independent investigators but often they will have to work with the â€Å"law enforcement† officers, medical professionals and other service providers (p.1). The determination of the precise cause of death plays a critical role in all homicide investigations as well in the allocation of public funds, insurance etc and, therefore, the persons responsible for the medical examination need to determine it accurately. Conducting of an autopsy is a significant process involved in the determination of the cause of death in all cases. The procedure of autopsy encompasses the medical examination of a dead individual’s body, which is usually carried out by a medical practitioner who is specially trained for the purpose. Autopsies are normally conducted for both â€Å"clinical† and â€Å"medico-legal† purposes (Kotabagi, Charati & Jayachandar, 2004, p.258). The main objective of clinical autopsy

International Research Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Research Practices - Essay Example Considering budget, it would be more practical to just select a local firm that can be the company's partner who will be able to make the company's goal of expanding internationally possible. Finding the right partner, though, is an additional task to the company as it is not that easy to find the right partner to do business with. This paper tries to answer particular questions raised with regard to expanding business internationally and business research practices for the coffee brewing systems company, JavaJoy. Since it is too tasking to conduct the research as an employee of the company, a third-party company is contracted to conduct the research on potential international markets. As mentioned above, expanding business globally is a big decision to make and before making the decision, there is lots of work needed to be done. It is not easy to find a country that can be a potential market, more so, find a business partner to represent the company. Extensive research should be done in order to make a sound decision. The research to be conducted is not as simple as it sounds. The tasks can be daunting and time consuming for an inexperienced company. Thus, it is better to just designate the work to a third-party research firm to be the company's partner in making the right decision. With the nature of the tasks to be done, this research firm partner should be well-experienced when it comes to conducting international business researches. They should have a proven track record in terms of making businesses going international successful. The company can seek referrals from other companies who have worked with research firms. One other thing to consider is the services the research firm offers. It is best to have one specific point person who is in-charge of all the transactions of the company and who will be able to answer all queries by the company. It is also best if the research firm can provide different options and suggestions in order to come up with the right decision. The research firm should indeed act as a partner or an ally of the company in making its goals of going global come true. What would you expect of them The partner in conducting the research should be able to understand how the entire business works. It may not be able to determine the right type of market or find the right local company to work with if it does not fully understand the missions and visions of the company. The first thing that I would expect them to do is to take time in understanding and learning the processes of the company, JavaJoy, what types of market does it cater to and what are the goals of the company. They should be able to show an effort that they need to know these things. One other thing that I would be expecting of them is a regular progress report of their research findings as the company, being the customer, should be well informed all the time. They should also be able to provide the company with a detailed breakdown of all the expenses made in order to gather all the information and research data needed. Overall, I would say that these would all sum up to professionalism. The partner to conduct inte rnational market research should be professional enough in the services they render. How would you go in finding such a partner and what would your selection criteria be Before starting to look for the right partner, there should be

Early civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Early civilization - Essay Example Today, people try hard to adopt the civilized ways some knowingly and others take part in it without the knowledge; largely, this is because of the different cultures and environmental settings that come with the ‘new generation’ where people inherit behavior and traits as part of culture. During civilization, nomadic writing was about how dissimilar aspects interact and change affecting people to become prospectus writers; this involved people using text to communicate about things and situations of their lives. Today, people are involved more in nomadic writing than oral as facilitated by the vast technology advancements; typically, people communicate more through messaging and other facets of the social media. Nonetheless, today’s relations do not necessarily fit the utter definition and characteristics of nomadic writing but the relations and mode of communication adds it all up. During civilization, the male gender dominated the women as they all significant and respected roles in the society; moreover, women felt unmindful and helpless before their suppression to men. The key aspect here was that the men were the head and most substantial in the community. Over the years, there have been changes in the male and female statuses with women making remarkable contributions to the growth of the society by working harder in all aspects and dominating some of the men i.e. education, careers etc. Nonetheless, despite the effort, men are still representing in high-level situations; for instance, the presidency and prime ministers seats in most of the nations have men sitting on them. Reflectively, before development, people used to clothe in a very different way based on the gender; assertively, men used to wear shorts or briefs alone, and women tops and under-garments too (all of the clothes made from animal skin). This mode of clothing was there to ensure that people covered the essential parts of the body, and during

Nursing research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nursing - Research Paper Example The city of California made evaluations based on its public policies and formulated a strategic goal aimed at improving the economic condition of the city. The timeline for the strategy included the period between 2002 and 2007. The most evident goals of the city’s public policies included efforts of improving the overall services offered to the community, attracting more businesses to Irvine and improving revenue collection for the city. This is a case study analysis on the feasibility test study on the establishment of an electricity utility project in the city of Irvine. The case study involves the identification of the issue at relating to the distribution of electricity around Irvine, making assessment on the initial recommendations and finally making suggestions on alternative policies on the establishment of an electricity utility project in Irvine. Problem/Issue Statement The city of Irvine is searching for the best policy option that will ensure that residents access reliable and cost effective electricity utility (Forsyth, 2005). There are two available policies including private and public power. Private power involves the continuation of the provision of electricity by SCE that will include the expansion of electricity supply from the other areas of California to the ‘study areas.’ Under the policy, the project has no timeline but remains to be a continuation of the supply of electricity by SCE. The policy is based on the experience of SCE in supplying California City with electricity. Public power will involve establishing of a municipal electricity utility in a timeline of 20 years and will only concentrate on the ‘study areas’ only. There is need to adopt a policy that will ensure customers get reliable electricity utility at effective costs. The policy is based on the assumption that the city will collect a lot of revenue from the project. Stakeholders City of Irvine The city if Irvine plays a significant role in the formulation of public policies concerning the establishment of the municipal electricity utility project. The city of Irvine is in California and not all its parts have electricity. This has necessitated the municipality within the city to start a project that would ensure that businesses and residents have adequate supply of electricity at their disposal. The city of Irvine had various interests that applied across all the other stakeholders. However, not all the interests of the city applied to all the other stakeholders. As noted earlier all the stakeholders reached an agreement to establish the municipal electricity utility project. The city has developed strategic business goals that influence the interests of the city in the project. According to the public policy statement prepared by the city, the main interests of the city in the project include the provision of the highest services in the city in terms of costs. The city aims at providing electric utility at cost effe ctive rates. The cit also aims at increasing its revenue base because it is expecting to collect a lot of money in terms of electricity utility revenue. This will ensure that the city has a strong revenue base that will enable it to run its operations effectively and efficiently. The city has developed a public policy based on public power that will see the community owning majority of the electricity utilities. The concept of pursuing a public power policy is supported by the fact that the United States has a large number of electricity utilities owned by the community or the public. This city’s public policy notes that â€Å"There are over 2,000 community-owned or public electric utilities in the United States, including 39 in California, which provide 25% of electric requirements in the State. Fifty percent of these US utilities are comparable by number of customers and 83% by revenues to the City’s proposed utility† (Demirkan, 2011). The main reason for the city to pursue the public power poli

Self Assessment (Final Portfolio) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Self Assessment (Final Portfolio) - Essay Example To put it simply, I must say that I lacked a direct human relationship with the language. However, after joining this class, in the course of time I have developed a genuine love and appreciation for the English language. My approach towards learning English language is no more, dry, but is marked by lot of emotion, enthusiasm and interest. One other important thing that I learned in this class is the importance of making mistakes, as far as the task of learning a language is concerned. In the initial stages I mostly got disheartened by the number of mistakes I made. Sometimes I strongly felt that I will never be able to have a good grip over the English language. However, later on I realized that every time I made mistakes, I learned many new things, which improved my English a lot. So slowly I got over the fear of making mistakes. With the passage of time my writing skills began to improve. On the basis of the things I learned by making mistakes, I began correcting and improving my previous drafts. No wonder, these corrections made my drafts more grammatically correct and meaningful. I realized that I could express my views and emotions in a much better way than before. I know I still have a lot to learn. But, now I take this challenge with much enthusiasm and hope. The most important thing that this class did for me was to allow for a direct exposure to the concepts of culture and identity by making us read the stories written by famous writers. This class also allowed me a chance to watch three international films. Both these experiences of reading stories and watching films helped me improve my communication skills and made me better at expressing and conveying my views and feelings. Out of the three international films I watched, the film that impacted me most was the Iranian film The Color of Paradise. This film was about the story of a blind boy Mohammed, who is disliked and rejected by his father because of him being blind. His father felt that his bli nd son Mohammed would spoil his plans of getting a new wife and leading a happy and prosperous life. What particularly impressed me in this film was Muhammad’s ability to enjoy the beauties of nature, despite his being blind. I was touched by his sadness and his belief in himself and God. I believe that all of us have a little Muhammad inside us. All of us may be not be blind. Still, many a times many of us are unable to convey to others what we think and feel due to many problems like not knowing a language or not knowing how to phrase what we intend to say. In that sense I identified with Muhammad. Watching this film encouraged me to improve my communication skills and my ability to interact with others. Out of the stories that we read, the one that interested me most was Bloomington, Fall 1971. Though I found the story to be very interesting, the one thing that impressed me most was the mastery of the writer over the art of writing. This story showed to me how language can be used to communicate and convey the most deep seated emotions and feelings. This story made me respect the power of writing. It motivated me to work hard to improve my writing skills and to be able to communicate with others in a much better way. Overall, I must say that this class has led me on to a journey towards improvement and ambition. Whatever I have learned in this class will surely make a good foundation for further improving my writing and communication ski

Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas california. Steinbecks novels can be classified as social novels, dealing with the economic problems of rural labour in America in the 1920s and 30s. Of Mice and Men is set in the farmlands of the Salinas valley, the country side described in the opening chapter of the novel and the ranch itself, may have been familiar to Steinbeck as he grew up in the area where his father owned a farm. The two main themes in Of Mice and Men are loneliness and dreams. These themes are interwoven in that, people who are lonely have the most need of dreams to help them through life. The lonliness theme is evident in many of the characters, Candys long time companion is his dog , Had him since a pup. He said proudly. (pg 47) He cannot bring himself to shoot the old cripped dog, even though he knows its for the best, Whynt you shot him candy asks Carlson. No, I couldnt do that, I had im too long (pg 47) With his dog gone candy will have lost his long time companion. Crooks the nigger ranch hand lives in enforced solitude away from the other men. Here Steinbeck introduces the predudice black people encountered around the time in which the novel is set. I aint wanted in the bunk-house, and you aint wanted in my room Crooks tells Lennie. Although at first crooks is upset by Lennies apperance, he invites him into his room. [long as you wont get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down ] His lonliness is evident when he tells Lennie A guy needs somebody to be near him this is also evident when Candy enters the room Come on in if everybodys coming in you might as well it was difficult for Crooks to hide his pleasure. (pg 79) The theme continues when we meet Curlys wife. She is the only women on the ranch. She tries to befriend the men by hanging around the bunkhouse. When she talks with Lennie in the barn she tells Lennie I never get to talk to nobody, I gets awful lonely She has married a man she doesnt raelly love. We know this when again talking with Lennie she tells him Well I aint told this to nobody before, I dont like curly he aint a nice fella. George and Lennie are not lonely during the novel as they have each other. George will be lonely afterwards as he will not have Lennie by his side. Lennie, because his character has a childlike innocence about him he may not fear lonileness like the others. The only evidence we have to show Lennie has some concept of being alone is when he is with crooks and Crooks teases him that George is hurt and may not come back. George gonna come back Lennie reassured himself in a frightened voice (pg 77) The other theme the novel focuses on is the American dream Where many aspired to obtaining a better and more properous life. Many of the farm labourers during this time would have dreamt of buying their own land to work themseleves. The symbol throughout the novel for the dream is rabbits. 2 George and Lennie share a dream to own a little place of their own and live on it. We are introduced to this very early on in the novel when Lennie asks George tell me like you done before about the rabbits (pg 14) George tells Lennie some day we gonna have a little house and a couple of acres and lennie will have his rabbits. Throughtout the book whenever Lennie talks about their dream he always talks about the rabits george will get him. Candy joins them in the dream and could help make it a reality when he offer his savings as downpayment in return for being included. Crooks dreams of being equal to the others. He is skeptical at first you guys is just kiddin yourself. He tells Lennie and Candy But you wont get no land he tells them (pg 80) He rembers his childhood when his father owned a arm and he played with the white children and longs for a similar relashonship with white people again He is drawn into the dream when he hears Candy candy has some money to help buy the land. He asks if the guys would want a hand to work for nothing just his keep, why id come a lend a hand ( pg 81) Curlys wifes continues the theme, all be it a different dream. She has draems of leaving the farm and being in the movies She tells Lennie she met a guy that was gonna put her in the pitchers. The novel focuses on many contrasts. George and Lennie are contrastec on the way they look and behave. Lennie is decribed as a huge man, shapeless of face, with wide sloping shoulders walking heavily, we percieve him to be slow ( in mind and body). George in contrast is small and quick with sharpe features. The more able of the two. Lennie can also be compared to several animals a bear , immensly strong, he is innocent and helpless like the mouse and puppy. Candy can be compared to his dog, both of them old, both of them good workers in their youth, but now worn out and past their usefulness. The people on the ranch with power can also be contrasted. Slim who is respected for his wisdom and competence and Curly who only has power because he is the farm owners son not from respect. The Title of the book OF MICE AND MEN comes from a poem by Robert Burns. The best laid shem Jayne Stupple Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE John Steinbeck section.

Olympus Strategic Management Research Commerce Essay

Olympus Strategic Management Research Commerce Essay Olympus Corporation is a Japan-based manufacturer of reprography and optics products, founded on 12 October 1919 by Takeshi Yamashita with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of precision machineries and instruments for the imaging, medical, life sciences, information and communication and other markets. The companys imaging system business, though Olympus Imaging Corp., markets compact and lightweight digital cameras, optical lenses and voice recorders. The medical systems business, though Olympus Medical Systems Corp., offers medical endoscopes, surgical endoscopes, endotherapy products, ultrasound endoscopes and surgical treatment devices. The life science segments products include molecular imaging systems, such as chemistry analyzers, immunoassay systems and blood analyzers, diagnostic systems and biological and industrial microscopes. Olympus also operates several research facilities, such as the Olympus Bio Imaging Laboratory and the RIKEN BSI-Olympus Collaboration Centre, connected to the operations of their segment. The companys information and communication offerings, through ITX Corp., include investment and business incubation, IT services and equipment sales, such as the sale of mobile terminals. The company operates across six continents and more than 50 countries throu gh 219 subsidiaries and 19 affiliated companies. Altogether, Olympus is comprised of four business segments: Imaging Systems, Life Sciences and Industrial Systems, Medical Systems and Information and Communication. Olympus President and Representative Director is Hiroyuki Sasa, who took this office in April, 2012. PESTEL Analysis Political factors. The political environment is considered as one of the most influential factors that affect the operations of a business. Since all political forces are a part of the macro-environment and are associated with the situation of government, this directly influences the possibility of maintaining a business in a particular economy. Better government would always strive to create the most favorable conditions for a business, developing good policies and making business thrive. Governments also choose the way of taxation and can influence export and import abilities of a particular country (e.g. artificial limitation of an amount of particular good that can be imported in the country, changing taxation for local and foreign producers, stimulating export or import, special license conditions etc.). In our particular case, the most important thing of a political environment Olympus operates in is fiscal policies of the governments of the countries Olympuss stores and its distribution chain are situated in. Pursuing their objectives, governments can levy taxes that make conducting a business unprofitable in this political system, or, for example, cancel taxation of some firms at all to improve the situation of a company on the market. Overall political situation in particular countries also affects Olympus business. Since some countries have unstable political situation (e. g. Somali, Iraq, many African countries), Olympus is reluctant to maintain their business there because of unpredictable business conditions and unreliability of partnerships with local retailers. Economic factors. Economic environment of an organization are all economic factors that effect on the working of a business. This point includes distribution of income and wealth in the economy, trade cycles, economic policies and nature of an economy. Scientists distinguish five main components of a firms economic environment. They are: economic conditions, economic system, economic policies, international economic environment and economic legislations. Since Olympuss initial purpose is bringing profits to stockholders, all these factors should be carefully considered while acting in a particular economy in order to bring the highest profits possible. Size of market, demand and supply trends, inflation rate in the economy, national income, per capita income, efficiency of public and private sectors and many other factors influence Olympus performance in a particular economy and directly influence its profitability. Moreover, since an economic system of a country determines rules, goals and incentives that controls economic relations among people in a society, this factor influences Olympus desire or even ability to perform in a particular economy. Separated word should be said about global economic downturn as a result of the global financial crisis of 2008. The worst economic debacle the humankind has faced since the Great Depression left millions of people without jobs and trillions of dollars in market value evaporated. The global consumption and demand felt dramatically, including the demand for reprography and optics products Olympus manufactures. Although Asian countries did not experience such a striking shock as Europe and Northern America did, overseas sales account for approximately 80% of Olympus sales. Interest rates became higher in practically all countries, somehow influenced by the crisis. National income growth in majority of countries slowed down. Hence, the downturn of the global economy is one of the most prominent economic factors which influence Olympus operations. Furthermore, current economic problems in Europe, which accounts for 26% of Olympus sales, also adversely influence the company scrutinized. Social factors. One of the most important social factors, which influence operations of Olympus is ageing of population in its target markets and constantly growing of health consciousness of those individuals. Since Medical Systems Life Sciences are the largest business segments of Olympus Corporation, these trends can positively influence Olympus because of the demand growth expectations and need for improvement of patient quality of life. However, population growth rates in these countries are not that positive and for the last decade we have observed shrinkage of population in developed countries and constant growth of population in developing countries as India, China and many countries of the Muslim world. Therefore, in the nearest future the trend will reverse and exactly those growing countries will became major importers of hi-tech products as Olympus manufactures. Thus, Olympus should be ready to such changes and pay attention to the development of its distribution chain i n all prospective markets. Technological factors. Any changes in technology have a major impact on the business. New technologies change the business prospects and profits, work culture and methods of production that are used in the industry. Technological changes force management to change the course of how the business is maintained in order to boost the productivity and profitability of the production process. Talking about the industry of hi-tech medical, imaging and information communication products Olympus operates in and technological environment there, it can be said that this industry is probably one of the most technologically-advanced industries of contemporary world. Because of the nature pace of the human progress and constantly growing demand for better medical apparatuses and other hi-tech products Olympus produces, technological changes and breakthroughs in this industry happen extremely often. Technology incentives of many companies are striking, constantly increasing the rate of technological change. All these factors determine the technological environment for Olympus, simultaneously affecting its minimum efficient production level, level of financing its research facilities, cost and quality of products manufactured and ultimately strive for innovation, which will determine the share of the company on the market in the nearest future. Environmental factors. Environmental factors are those factors of any companys external environment, which include weather and climate concerns, directly influencing operations of a business. Environmental factors are not of the highest importance for Olympus Corporation and do not shape its or its competitors products or production chain as they do, for example, for agriculture companies. However, constantly growing concern of the environmental sustainability, greenhouse effect and nature protection define certain environmental standards Olympus should comply with. Legal environment. As any business, Olympus operates within a strict framework of law which influences different aspects of the company. Governmental laws regulate the status of the organization, its relationship with customers and suppliers and certain internal procedures and activities, influencing the behavior of Olympus on the market and specific market conditions. Consumer laws, discrimination laws, employment laws, antitrust laws and health and safety laws of different countries affect how Olympus operates on local markets and also determines cost and demand for its products. Porters Diamond Model The Diamond model of Michael Porter was contrived to evaluate and assess competitive advantages of a firm in national and global competition. Let us construct Porters Diamond model for Olympus Corporation. 400px-The_Porter_Diamond Graph 1. The Porter diamond Source: Factor conditions Skilled workforce High intellectual potential and strive towards innovations New innovations and new methods of corporate governance Developed technological base and infrastructure Demand conditions Sophisticated local and overseas market High pressure and demand for innovations Related and supporting industries Local and international competition creates innovations and cost-effectiveness Participation of suppliers in upgrading process High incentives for innovations in whole production chain Firm strategy, structure and rivalry New corporate governance strategy Focus on core business domains New corporate management policies: Back to Basics, One Olympus, and Profitable Growth Four new basic strategies: Rebuilding of business portfolio/Optimal allocation of management resources, Restructuring of governance, Review of cost structures and Restoration of financial health Fierce domestic competition, which stimulates innovations High standards of corporate culture Government Significant efforts paid to the development of infrastructure and attraction of new businesses Educational incentives and creation of skilled labor Encouragement of BPO/KPO (business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing) Chance Changes in global economic trends All factors, which create discontinuities and are outside of a control of a firm Market Analysis and Industry Life Cycle Nowadays the industry of reprography and optics products Olympus operates in is the subject for constant growth and development. The Medical Business, which is the main business segment of Olympus, has experienced steady growth over the years and is expected to grow even further in view of the social environment. At a time of fast aging of population in the developed countries, early detection and diagnosis of treatment have become urgent priorities for patients, physicians and societies overall. Minimally invasive treatment methods as endoscopic surgery are expected to play a key role in satisfying these requirements. The surgical devices field annual sales are expected to grow 14% annually, creating major business opportunities for Olympus because it is the only company in the world, which possesses the technologies for manufacturing of apparatus that meet the full range of needs from early detection of illnesses to minimally invasive treatment. Therefore, we can conclude that Medi cal Business of Olympus operates in the growth stage of the industry life cycle. Regarding the Imaging Business of Olympus, it operates in the industry, which slowly proceeds from the growth into the mature stage of its life cycle. Although hundreds of innovations are still made in this field, the market in developed countries is close to be saturated. However, there is still an enormous market and place for development in developing countries. Furthermore, it should be recognized that Imaging Business is simultaneously a brand and imaging technology driver for Olympus. Thus, it is an inherent part of the companys marketing strategy and will be paid an utmost attention in the nearest future. Life Science Industrial business of Olympus is also in its growth stage. The driving factor for this is that the industries, where reprography and optics products have not been used before, begin to adapt innovations from this field to develop and increase the efficiency and productivity of their business. Hence, sales expansion by entering untapped industries is of the highest interest for Olympus, since this market is undeveloped yet, contains a lot of opportunities, place for innovations and growth. Porters Five Forces Framework Porters five forces framework is a tool for industry and company analysis, aimed to derive those five forces, which determine the intensity of competition and therefore attractiveness of a particular market and overall industry profitability. Three of the aforementioned five forces concern competition threats from external sources. The remaining two are related to the companys internal threats. Graph 2. Porters Five Forces Framework Source: Bargaining power of suppliers. The concentration of suppliers of Olympuss three key business segments is comparatively high. The number of suppliers and availability of substitute inputs differs from the product or inventory supplied. Availability of lenses Olympus uses, for example, for its Medical Business segment is limited because of the complicated process of their production and various patents. Input of suppliers of hi-tech components is extremely important for companies in the industry Olympus operates in and an ability to substitute suppliers of such unique products is low. Hence, suppliers of technologically advanced inventory have a significant influence on the industry scrutinized and are able to drive up prices with little resistance from their buyers. Firms which produce less unique products, however, have dramatically less power. The number of suppliers in this category is big as well as the availability of substitutes. The competition among these suppliers is severe and therefore their ability to artificially deviate prices is low. Bargaining power of consumers. Bargaining power of Olympuss consumers, similarly to bargaining power of its suppliers, differs greatly from one business segment of a company to another. Imaging Business, for example, has a great number of customers. The size of each order, however, is low in comparison with other businesses of the firm. Buyers of this segment possess a credible backward integration threat, since they can choose to buy products of a rival firm as Canon or Nikon. Buyer power is also strong because switching costs are low, is usually well-educated about the product and lots of substitutes are available on the market. In case of Medical and Life Science Industrial businesses of Olympus, consumer bargaining power is different and is believed to be lower. To the great extent this is because of little number of substitutes available on the market and their lower technical characteristics. Threat of backward integration in these businesses is low and majority of buyers purchase products in low volume. Threat of new entrants. Threat of new entrants on the market of hi-tech products Olympus manufactures is low because of several factors. First, in order to enter this market, extremely high capital investments are required. Second, patents and rights of already established firms make it hardly possible for new entrants to produce products, similar to existing ones. Hence, prohibitive for new firms amount of financial and human resources should be put into research and development to introduce technologies and products unavailable yet on the market. Furthermore, in Olympus business lots of attention is paid to consumer loyalty and it may be very hard for new entrants to entice clientele of well-known already established brands. Threat of substitute products. Feasible threat of substitute products Olympus experiences in all its businesses other than the Medical. This can be observed because of consumers propensity to substitute and comparatively low switching costs. Number of substitute products, which can compete with the products of Olympuss Life Science Industrial and Imaging businesses is high. So is the ease of substitution. There is, however, less threat of substitute products from Medical business of Olympus because products in the Medical business have significantly longer lifecycles and development cycles. For example, Evis Exera III a core endoscopy system, which was introduced by Olympus in spring 2012 and has no substitutes on the market, had the development period of seven years. Since Olympus has a competitive edge in research and development, it is unlikely that products able to substitute Olympus Medical businesses apparatuses will emerge on the market in the nearest time. Competitive rivalry within an industry. Competition within Olympuss industry is fierce. All companies which compete for leadership in this industry have powerful competitive strategies and high levels of advertising expense. Each of the companies tries to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through implementing innovations and investments in research and development. Number of competitors is limited; however, their financial and human resources are huge. Costs of leaving market are high. Olympus Current Strategy Corporate Strategies. Basing on the corporate management policies and aiming to address pressing issues of the company, Olympuss management has set forth four basic corporate strategies. First, three business domains have been chosen as those, in which the company should invest first and foremost. These are: the Medical Business, Life Science Industrial Business and Imaging Business. Medical Business should become a growth driver for the company, which will later transform into a medical-field oriented firm. Second, Olympus will revise its cost structures and aims for profitable growth. Third strategy is to improve the companys shaken financial position and performance. Last but not least corporate strategy of Olympus is to restructure the firms governance after the recent unprecedented turbulence of the Olympus scandal period. Business Strategies. Medical Business. Under the current medium-term vision of Olympus management, the Medical Business of the company should become a profit and growth driver for the firm. The strategy of Medical Business is to achieve further expansion of the business by capitalizing on the highly strategically advantageous position of being capable of simultaneously developing devices necessary for new minimally invasive treatments as well as new diagnostic methods closely related to those new treatments (Olympus Corporation, 2012). The company also plans to replace existing devices with new once and create a new market by applying highly innovative technologies unavailable to its competitors. Life Science Industrial Business. Life Science Industrial Business of Olympus are aimed at growth of the corporation. There are two business strategies for this segment. First strategy is product portfolio expansion. Basing on the customer industry categories and technologies and product categories, Olympus will strive to open up new customers and open up new business fields. Moreover, this strategy also involves focus on emerging and developing countries, where the market and consequently demand for Olympus products is growing. Second strategy is implementation of reform of the income and profit structure of the Life Science field, which will involve reduction of cost of goods sold and improvement of operating efficiency. Imaging Business. For today, two strategies have been devised to address the proclaimed objective of restructuring the Imaging Business. The first strategy is to concentrate on mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras and high-end compact cameras. The second strategy is to restructure the manufacturing process and carry out reform of the cost structure of devises. Functional Strategies. Functional strategies of Olympus include the following: rigorous cost reductions, profitability improvements, increased investment in technology development, restructuration of subsidiaries and production sites worldwide. Olympus Current Business Policies The new management of Olympus, who took their office on April 2012, have set out three major corporate management policies of the company: Back to Basics, One Olympus and Profitable Growth. Back to Basics. Back to Basic policy was devised to deal with the aftermath of recent Olympus scandals, the cause of which was the pursuit of income from investments in non-core business domains of the firm, namely equity. Thus, the Back to Basics policy was developed to bring Olympus back to its initial mission contribution to the development of society through new solutions and products. One Olympus. The idea behind One Olympus policy lies in uniting all Olympuss employees and staff worldwide under a common business strategy and encouraging teamwork and cooperation. Profitable Growth. This policy simply proclaims Olympus intention to grow while earning profits. Olympus Current Performance Performance Indices Results (FY ended March 2012) Net sales  ¥ 848.5 billion Operating income  ¥ 35.5 billion Ordinary income  ¥17.9 billion Net income  ¥49.0 billion EBITDA  ¥80.3 billion Operating margin 4% Ordinary income ratio 2% Net income ratio -6% Net sales ratio 9% Free cash flows  ¥4.8 billion Balance of interest-bearing debt  ¥642.4 billion Equity ratio 4.6% Operating margin 4.2% Return on invested capital (ROIC) 2.7% Table 1. Olympus current performance indices Source: Olympus Corporation. Annual Report 2012 Table 1. Olympus current performance indices Source: Olympus Corporation. Annual Report 2012 Research Question 2. Strategic Recommendations Basing on the analysis above, several strategic recommendations are reasonable for Olympus to overcome its temporary crisis period and achieve financial superiority and growth of stockholders value in long-term period. First, it is pertinent that Medical Business should become the main segment of Olympus production chain. Olympus possesses a competitive advantage over its closest rivals in this sector and holds the largest market share. Its medical devices contain the newest innovations and technologies available on the market and hardly any company can compete in this sector with Olympus. However, for the last several years the company has been deviating from this segment, investing in non-core business segments of the firm. This turned into the debacle for Olympus. Therefore, total reconstruction of the firms operations should be conducted with the aim to bring an emphasis on Medical Business of the firm, which should become profit and growth generator. Life Science Industrial Bus iness, in its turn, will become an accompanying business, specializing in expansion of the product portfolio in the industrial field and hence another source of growth. The task of the Imaging Business, as one of the three core business of the firm, should be development of new technologies and innovations and becoming a brand driver for the company. Research Question 3. Mr. Michael Woodford, a Hero or a Traitor? Recent Olympus scandal has been one of the biggest and longestrunning lost-hiding arrangements in global corporate history since accounting and corporate scandals including Enron, Parmalat, Peregrine Systems, Tyco International, Adelphia and WorldCom. One of the main Olympus insiders, involved in the scandal and who actually was the one who exposed doubtful acquisitions of Olympus dated several years earlier, was British-born top-executive Michael Woodford, former CEO of Olympus. This lead to missing of $6.25 in assets, overall downturn of the company and great concerns regarding corporate governance in Japan. Although some people would aver that Mr. Michael Woodford acted as a traitor, I assert that his actions were extremely ethical and complied with the highest standards of corporate governance and information disclosure. Hereinafter I will provide some cogent arguments to support my point of view. To start with, I would like to mention that ultimate aim of management of any company is growth of value for stockholders. In order to keep an eye on management actions, each publicly traded company has a board of directors, which defines strategy of the company, supervises management and ensures the protection of stockholders interests. Management, as an operational branch of corporate governance, is obliged to deliver truthful information regarding companys performance. From accounting and corporate scandals in the U.S. and Europe which involved Enron, Parmalat, Peregrine Systems, Tyco International and several other big companies we have learned how distortion and hiding of information may make the companies concerned collapse and shook local and international securities markets. In order to avoid such shocks in future, many countries have adopted various standards and laws which regulate corporate governance, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US and UK Corporate Governance Code. Japan, however, has not adopted any similar documents and this is one of the major reasons why Olympus scandal emerged in 2011. According to internationally-accepted standards of corporate standards and information disclosure, the behaviour of the former Olympuss CEO Michael Woodford was the only acceptable in the situation he faced with. Obviously, local peculiarities of Japanese corporate governance should be taken into account, however, from my point of view, Woodford acted in according to international business ethics standards. Olympus is an international publicly-traded company and therefore should comply with internationally-accepted ways of doing business. Furthermore, Olympus is responsible to its stockholders, who are interested in transparency of the business. Hence, Woodfords behaviour was ethical in all senses and was aimed to bring transparency to the company and protect Olympus stakeholders. Since Woodford did what all members of Olympus board could not do, I think that he is a hero for the company and should be brought back. The behaviour of top management of Olympus, however, was not ethical and, as said by Lindsay Whipp and Jonathan Soble, the management by itself was rotten at the core (Yasu, 2011). A twodecade scheme to hide losses from investment was maintained by the companys top executives. The Olympus scandal tells us that despite accounting and corporate scandals of the last decade, the tensions still remain in some countries, which have not adapted strict standards and codes of corporate governance. Japan is not an exception. The conflict between management and stockholders will probably last forever, however compliance with such laws as Sarbanes-Oxley Act, for example, will bring transparency to the activities of publicly traded companies. Management will have less space for financial machinations and distortion of information. This, undoubtedly, will create a more reliable system of corporate governance and management. Hence, adoption of strict laws which contain enhanced standards for all public company boards, management and auditors should be conducted in all countries where this has not been done yet. If I were in the position to make a decision, I would definitely employ Woodford as a new CEO of Olympus because he has demonstrated himself as a responsible top-executive who has extremely high ethical standards. Although corporate culture in Japan is very peculiar, he managed to uncover one of the biggest and longestrunning lost-hiding arrangements in Japanese history. Despite this created great financial troubles for the company, loss of reputation and urgent need of restructuration, I believe that disclosure of this crime was essential for Olympuss further growth and development. Ultimately, to solve the issues of the Olympus scandal several vital steps should be undertaken. First, and this has already been done, new management structure should be introduced. Second, Olympus should be restructured and the foremost attention should be paid to the core businesses of the firm. Third, thorough re-branding of the company should be conducted to renew the reputation of the firm in the eyes of its suppliers and consumers.

Conventional Plastic Films vs Sustainable Films Essay -- Environment,

Sustainability has become and important issue in the world as the Green Movement continues to gain popularity. One area where research is being conducted to find a more sustainable production process is plastic films. Plastic films are defined as a packaging material, usually less than ten mils (a mil is 0.001 inch) in thickness, with an average of 0.7–1.5 mils, that can be used as a bag or wrapper. They are composed of a broad range of materials, which can be simple or complex depending on what a particular product or package demands (Osborn & Jenkins, 1992). There are two main categories of films used in packaging, conventional films and sustainable films. Conventional plastic films are much more widely used and have a larger market than sustainable films. The film can be made with different resins, each of which have unique structures and are ideal for specific applications. The films can be clear or colored, printed or plain, single- or multilayered and are often combined with other materials such as aluminum and paper. Examples of plastic films usages include Ziploc bags, trash bags, grocery sacks, drycleaner bags, and plastic wrap. The only common characteristic of all plastic conventional film is that it is flexible in nature. The most common resin used to create these plastic film packages is low-density polyethylene (LDPE). As a film LDPE has decent clarity, is a good moisture and gas barrier, and it can be heat sealed while retaining its strength and flexibility. Polypropylene (PP) is also a common resin used to create plastic film. It has an excellent moisture barrier, good transparency, gloss, and tensile strength. The PP resin also has a high melting point, which makes it appropriate for packages that need to be st... ...petroleum, which has been around for significantly longer and has a strong hold on the market. As sustainability continues to become an emerging concern for consumers bio-plastics will grow in importance in the packaging industry. Similar to auto companies who are searching for alternative sources of energy for automobiles, chemical companies are searching for alternatives to manufacture of plastic materials (Perkins & Lindsay, 2011). We have a limited supply of fossil fuels and ate the rate plastic products such as film are being produced and consumed each year, it is hard to say how long they will last. Bio-plastics currently represent only a small fraction of the emerging area of sustainable development, but their usage is growing. There is great potential for bio-plastics as replacements for the less-sustainable fossil fuel based plastics used in plastic film.

Sterility Drug Progesterex Urban Legend :: Urban Legends

Sterility Drug Progesterex Urban Legend The source for this urban legend is a 19 year old male of Palestinian descent who is currently studying engineering at Montgomery College. His father owns a heating and air conditioning company and his mother is manager for a high school cafeteria. This source first heard the story on the Internet when he received the story on an online Web group. He then spread the warning to all of his contacts. You should tell all the girls you know to be careful because there have been cases in Boston where girls who have been slipped â€Å"roofies† [rohypnol, a common date rape drug used to incapacitate the victim] for date rape were also slipped a horse sterilizer. This new drug is becoming popular because when it is used the woman that is raped can’t have a child and later identify the suspect through DNA testing. Apparently one girl was slipped these two drugs and was found the next morning by police and was taken to the hospital. There the doctors say that at least five men had raped her. The girl had no knowledge of the events because of the roofy she was slipped. Doctors also informed the police and the patient that upon blood testing that a low grade horse sterilizer was used on the victim and that she would never be able to have children due to the effects of the drug. The horse sterilizer is readily available to veterinarians and farmers, so it is easy to find. This new drug will sterilize someone forever, so tell them to be careful. This harrowing story was told quite compellingly with strong body language. What was most effective about this performance was that the source never hesitated when he spoke and was very clear on details. During the entire course of this performance, it seemed that the performer was fully convinced of the validity of this story. During the entire performance the word which he emphasized the most was "forever," when mentioning the effects of the horse sterilizer on women. He was very insistent that the drug affects women permanently and that is why it is so dangerous. Upon further research of horse sterilizers and rape, the name that came up most often was Progesterex. A site search of Progesterex on www.webmd.com (a health service page) resulted in zero finds, with suggestions for progesterone, which is a naturally occurring hormone in women that prepares the uterus for pregnancy.

Fact Verses Fiction in OBriens The Things They Carried Essay

Fact Verses Fiction in O'Brien's The Things They Carried "The difference between fairy tales and war stories is that fairy tales begin with 'Once upon a time,' while war stories begin with 'Shit, I was there!'" (Lomperis 41). How does one tell a good war story? Is it important to be accurate to the events that took place? Does the reader need to trust the narrator? In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien examines what it takes to tell a good war story. He uses his own experiences in Vietnam in conjunction with his imagination to weave together a series of short stories into a novel. First, the reader must understand just what makes a good "war story". The protagonist of the novel, Tim O'Brien, gives us his interpretation of it in the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story". A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit if rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil (O'Brien 68-69). With this concept, we can assess and place value on the stories presented in The Things They Carried. Yet, it is still not that simple. The reader is continually challenged to question what is real and what is imagined. The evaluation of each narrator is constant. While the protagonist continues to remind the ... ...y matter if they're true stories (Lomperis 54). Works Cited Bonn, Maria S. "Can Stories Save Us? Tim O'Brien and the efficacy of the text (The Vietnam War)." CRITIQUE: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 36.1 (Fall 1994); 2-16. Calloway, Catherine. "How to tell a true war story: Metafiction in 'The Things They Carried'." CRITIQUE: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 36.4 (Summer 1995); 249-258. Kaplan, Steven. "The Undying Uncertainty of the Narrator in Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried'." CRITIQUE: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 35.1 (Fall 1993); 43-53. Lomperis, Timothy J. "Reading the Wind" The Literature of the Vietnam War . Durham: Duke UP, 1987. Neilson, Jim. Warring Fictions: American Literary Culture and the Vietnam War Narrative. Jackson: Mississippi UP, 1998 O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried . New York: Broadway, 1990.

I need help with the book called warriors dont cry Essay

Oluwatemi Kukoyi December 3. 2013 English Period 7 Gang Violence: Death of a Friend In the united States, there are over 1. 4 million gang members. With such small percentage of the U. S, their the reason why most kids such as Isaac Johnson, 17 years old killed by the crossfire; are fearing for their life every day. They say don’t blame the streets, blame the people in it. I look back, and see all the â€Å"Hard work† America have done to change the life styles of Gang Bangers. Based on the results, on the streets. d what the Media have been embracing, it seems that America have been doing absolutely nothing. His name was Mike. I usually wouldnt say not â€Å"Like Mike† as of In the movie, but, in this case, he was Like Mike†¦ All he wanted to do was play Basketball, There was never a time when he was bored, because basketball is what hell be playing. He was smart on the streets but, not too bright when it came down to books. He was my best friend, my right hand man, every time I looked at his face, I see a wallet full of enJamln bills, because I knew with his talent, and he would make It to the real court (NBA). The court raised him, but, the streets changed him. Mike hated school. He would accept graduating with D’s down his report card, and be proud of It. He didn’t care. He was only in it, to Just get out of his life. I use to see mike outside around the corner sometimes, smoking weed, and with gang affiliates. remember It like It was yesterday, or 5 minutes ago. I was home, waking up from a nap from school. I went in the kitchen to get a nice cold bowl cereal. The phone rang. One of my good friends whispered through the phone in a dreadful tone that mike was died. And when heard that, it felt like I have died also. walked in my bed with a limp of sorrow, and just cried. I swallowed my â€Å"Machoness† and swallowed my pride. I felt as If I was handicap. That my right hand man was killed, that the pain will never go away. skipped school for weeks. My mind was full of questions. At that point, I really didnt care, but for only to get my friend back. I need help with the book called warriors dont cry by melba beals By Jamesthegreatl 2 Oluwafemi Kukoyi December 3,2013 In the United States, there are over 1. million gang members. With such small streets, and what the Media have been embracing, it seems that America have been His name was Mike. I usually wouldn’t say not â€Å"Like Mike† as of in the movie, but, in this case, he was Like Mike†¦ All he wanted to do was play Basketball. There was never a time when he was bored, because basketball is what he’ll be playing. He was benJamin bills, because I knew with his talent, and he would make it to the real court ccept graduating with D’s down his report card, and be proud of it. He didn’t care. I remember it like it was yesterday, or 5 minutes ago. I was home, waking up from mike was died. And when I heard that, it felt like I have died also. I walked in my bed with a limp of sorrow, and Just cried. I swallowed my â€Å"Machoness† and swallowed my pride. I felt as if I was handicap. That my right hand I skipped school for weeks. My mind was full of questions. At that point, I really didn’t care, but for only to get my friend back.

Introduction to Duty of Care in Health and Social Care Settings

CU235P/CT235 Introduction to Duty of Care in Health and Social Care or Children's and Young People's Settings 1. Undestand the implications of Duty of Care. 1. 1 Define the term â€Å"duty of care'. Duty of care is an obligation that a person/healthcare worker acts towards others and public with watchfulness, attention and caution in a reasonable and civilized way. SU needs to know that his welfare, safety and interest are put in the centre of attention of any healthcare organisation. 1. 2 Describe how duty of care affects own work role.Every healthcare worker has a duty to act accordingly not just towards the clients but also their co-workers, other healthcare professionals and themselves. – following GCSS Code of Practise – keeping knowledge and skills up to date – not undertaking procedures outside own competences – acting in the best interest of clients – ensuring health, safety, welfare of clients – adhere to companies policies and proc edures 2. Understand support available for addressing dilemmas that may arise about duty of care. 2. 1 Describe dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an Individuals rights.Despite all the efforts of healthcare providers to ensure an Individual recieves the best possible care there might arise conflicts and dilemmas between healthcare worker and SU. Those conflicts may include: refusing a meal, type of activity, refusing medication or a treatment. Arising conflicts should be resolved as quickly as possible in a most satisfactory matter for both sides. The Human Rights Acts states that every person has the right to decide about own life, they can refuse the treatments and medication they recieve.It is essential to explain why they need that particular care and make them aware of pros and cons. 2. 2 Explain where to get additional support and advice about how to resolve such dilemmas. The Line Manager is the first person to turn to in any doubt. Family and friends of an Individual may be able to help. Other healthcare providers involved in care of an Individual. 3. Know how to respond to complaints. 3. 1 Describe how to respond to complaints. If an Individual is dissatisfied with provided care, he has the right to complain.Every company should have easy to access complaints procedure. When dealing with a complain on one to one basic healthcare worker should take the individual to a quiet and safe place, listen to an Individual carefully, be serious and polite, try to calm down the situation and apologise if necessary, inform an Individual about complains procedure. After the conversation with an Individual the healthcare worker should inform the manager. 3. 2 Identify the main points of agreed procedures for handling complaints.Every complain should be taken seriously and all the actions following a complain should be as quick as possible. If it's not possible to solve the problem straight after a complain, the manager should be informed. The conta ct with an Individual complaining should be polite and symphatetic. After talking the problem through the management should come up with a path of actions to solve the problem and arrange another meeting with the Individual to make sure the solution is satisfactory. All complains should be documented.

History of Indian Constitution Essay

THE CABINET MISSION PLAN In 1946, at the initiative of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, a cabinet mission to India was formulated to discuss and finalize plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership and providing India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations. The Mission discussed the framework of the constitution and laid down in some detail the procedure to be followed by the constitution drafting body. Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed by August 1946. With the independence of India on August 15, 1947, the Constituent Assembly became a fully sovereign body and began work on 9 December 1947. THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies. Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi and R. K. Sidhwa. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, B. R. Ambedkar, Benegal Narasingh Rao and K. M. Munshi Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur were important women members. The first president of the Constituent Assembly was Sachidanand Sinha later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly. The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time in the year 1946 on December 9. DRAFTING In the August 14, 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented. Such committees include Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution  Committee. On August 29, 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman along with six other members. A Draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on November 4, 1947. The Assembly met, in sessions open to public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution. After many deliberations and some modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on the January 24, 1950. Two days later, the Constitution of India became the law of all the Indian lands. STRUCTURE OF THE UNION GOVERNMENT The basic form of the Union Government envisaged in the Constitution was introduced by Dr. Ambedkar as follows, â€Å"A democractic executive must satisfy two conditions: 1. It must be a stable executive, and 2. It must be a responsible executive. Unfortunately, it has not been possible so far to devise a system which can ensure both conditions in equal degree. †¦.. The daily assessment of responsibility, which is not available in the American system is, it is felt, far more effective than the periodic assessment and far more necessary in a country like India. The Draft Constitution in recommending the parliamentary system of Executive has preferred more responsibility to stability.† India, thus adopted a Parliamentary form of government, with the President as the nominal head of the Executive and the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers wielding actual power.

Legal and Ethical Tensions Between Maintaining Confidentiality and Sharing Information Essay

Criteria: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3-Review the groups and individuals whose communication needs you must address in your work role. Explain how you support effective communication within your work role. Analyse the barriers and challenges to communication within your work role. Being able to communicate is a major feature of being human. Throughout the working day we absorb information and pass this on to other people. Communication is vitally important if a team is to work effectively. Almost everything I do at work relies on communication. Communication is the basis of interaction and skills in speaking, writing and specially, listening are essential when working with children and adults in my setting. The interaction and communication I carry out within my setting are with children, colleagues, deputy, manager, parents and other agencies and professionals. As I am interacting with diverse group of people each day, I need to use a variety of communication skills depending on the position of th e person/children and the context in which the communication take place. I have to be aware of the fact that I need to use appropriate language and terminology for my message to be understood. For example, talking to a child who is hurt -my approach to him/her will be empathic while talking to a medical staff might require just a delivery of impersonal information. When talking to children I must get down to their level, observe and listen carefully to what they are saying/asking, keeping eye contact during the conversation, asking short questions and wait patiently for their answer. When I communicate with adults, an important point to remember always is the fact that sometimes the person in front of me might go through personal crisis or is feeling upset in some way so this requires excellent skills to make sure I’m making the person in front of me(colleague, parent) felling supported and valued. Read more:Â  Maintaining an Individual’s Confidentiality and Disclosing Concerns Essay To support an effective communication with my team we have regularly meetings (weekly meetings when we talk about planning the week, a new topic, activities, about children and their development, concerns are raised from the team members), appraisals are in plan, delegation of work, checking of the reports, setting of objectives that are SMART involving all members of my team and also motivating my team by supporting, trusting and encouraging them to get the job done. For me to be able to support others to become good communicators, it is necessary that I will be an effective role model and to reflect effectively on how I am delivering the messages. If I support all my communication accepting and valuing the people with whom I interact in the expression of warmth and non-judgemental attitude, I will improve my communication skills no end. An effective communication can be supported by me as a leader by ensuring that my staff are all aware of the need to be flexible in the way in which they communicate within varied contexts and to engage in communication which is empathic (to ‘put yourself in the shoes of others’) and values the people with whom they interact. Sometimes often, however, the communication is challenged and breaks down. Communication can sometimes be not effective because of difference in culture, difficulties in own life (making it difficult to concentrate), negative feelings about the person I am speaking to or getting upset about what they are saying-leading to conflict, not listening effectively, tiredness, feeling unwell, noise, inappropriate environment. Some of my colleagues with whom I work are perfectionists, who like to see that everything is completed in a precise way while others feels that, as long as the job is done, the end result does not have to be perfect. An example in my setting is about displaying the children work: some of us believe that children’s work should be displayed attractively but does not have to be perfect but some of us consider differently. A very important aspect of the communication is body-language and non-verbal communication. This is one of things that we often do not pay enough attention-our body language. Argyle (1978) pointed out that non-verbal communication can have as much as five times the impact on a person’s understanding compare to the words spoken. Therefore, it is vital I ensure that my body actions match my speech in order to get my message across. My ability to respect and accept diversity it is very important as we live in a multi-cultural society and there are also differences in the values that people hold. Each colleague have a different type of character, just like myself, others have their own feelings, values and attitudes and sometimes these may clash with how we see the world. I may not share their views but, as a leader in my setting I do have to show tolerance of these views. There are four important key steps that can be identifying when dealing with any conflict: 1. describe the actual conflict and define it well; 2. listen actively to all parties to fully understand the issues 3. emphasise the benefit of finding a way forward 4. reaching an agreement According to Craine (2007) ‘people facing change often go through a cycle of emotions similar to those experienced when faced with the death of a loved one’. If I want to understand and communicate well with my team members I must listen to each one of them to what they are saying. Active listening shows that the staff members have been heard. Communication and encouraging the people to share their thoughts and concerns are always better than allowing situations to fester. Regularly team meetings is a way to decrease potential conflict.

Systems Project Management Approach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Systems Project Management Approach - Essay Example It happens separate from business as usual and the management of projects is normally separate. Project management therefore requires the managers and their teams to develop distinct technical skills and management strategies (Project management institute, 2000). Some of the main challenges include scope, time, quality and budget. While other ones that can come in secondary include optimizing the allocation of necessary inputs and integrates them to meet the objectives (Wheeler, 2000). Organizational Situation The project in question is called Versace. It involves 9 Customer requests. The project is for a global brand management company which has customers located all over the world. Flow of work in the company is illustrated in Figure 3. Customer contacts Administrator by email or phone requesting label design to be created. Then Administrator summarizes Customer request and then passes over to an Artist. After Artist created label design he then passes over the design to Quality Co ntrol Department who evaluates the label design and checks if Customer brief been followed. If Artist made a mistake then QD (Quality Department) sends label back to an Artist to get it amended and if label is correct then it is being transferred back to Administrator. Administrator then checks the design to make sure it is correct and if it is wrong she then sends it back to Artist and if it is correct then she adds costs and sends design over to Customer. After Customer received the design he then evaluates and checks if brief been followed. For this project as many other projects within the company Right First Time (RFT) is very low as customer majority of times adds additional request and workflow is being repeated as many times as customer sends additional changes. It is important to note that each project for each action has set timelines as per below Figure 1 however customer demands for designs to be delivered quicker then set deadlines. Figure 1 - Set Action Timelines 1st A ction (A) 3 Days 2nd Action (B) 2 Days 3rd Action (C) 2 Days 4th Action (D) 2 Days 5th Action (E) 2 Days Figure 2 reflects actual times each action taken for specific number of label designs- Versace. Figure 2 Action Number of Labels Days taken to complete Right First Time % A 1 3 11.1% B 2 4 22.2% C 4 5 44.4% D 1 6 11.1% E 1 7 11.1% Figure 3 - Flow of Work - Versace Systems Project Management Approach The lean systems management approach was chosen due to the fact that lean system methodology regards to project management that all tasks need to serve the purpose of the customer as efficiently as possible (Atkinson, 2006). As outlined above all tasks for the project are in place to serve customer request. Critical discussion on why lean system project management was used Versace project can be described as dynamic and unpredictable as customer requested for extra changes to be done and demanded for timelines to be reduced for actions B/C/D/E. This was not foreseen prior project star ting (Leach, 2005). This therefore increased the duration of the project which affects interaction between activities and resources in ways that are not considered in the traditional methods of project management (Koskela, 2002). The reduction of time for the project actions therefore

Hazardous waste sites Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Hazardous waste sites - Assignment Example The paper will provide an in-depth analysis of the background of incidents at Ambler Asbestos Piles site, the extent of asbestos contamination, the number of people harmed by the asbestos-related diseases, the studies conducted at the site, and what the EPA cleanup project entailed. For a long time, asbestos has been a prevalent mineral in Ambler, and its impact on human health as well as on environmental nature has raised serious health alarms such as causing asbestosis and mesothelioma; the impact of these diseases causes decline in mortality rates. In order to protect human health and conserve the environment from pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency implemented a cleanup project in Ambler, Pennsylvania through systematic remedy actions to curb the asbestos menace at the Ambler Asbestos Piles site. Burke reports that Asbestos has accumulated at Ambler Asbestos Piles site, especially the Wissahickon Creek towards the end of the 19th century. The accumulation of asbestos was as a result of disposal of asbestos-contaminated wastes by Keasbey and Mattison Co. Later on, Nicolet Inc acquired a part of Keasbey and Mattison Co and continues using the dump site to dispose of asbestos products. The company dealt in manufacturing asbestos building materials, for example, millboard and insulating boilers. Burke asserts that the federal Environmental Protection Company gave orders to the Nicolet Company to stop disposing of the wastes on the site, but the orders had little impact. The Environmental Protection Company fined the Nicolet Company with a $1.4 million lien in expenses to conduct a cleanup program. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), mesothelioma related deaths due to asbestos in Pennsylvania were high between 1999 and 2010. Asbestos.com report that there were 1996 reported deaths due to

Family Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Family - Research Paper Example As stated above, Sami suffers from chronic bronchial asthma, which was discovered at birth.Mohammed used to suffer from asthma;however, it disappeared many years ago.Besides following their family doctor's orders in Saudi Arabia, the parents were treating their child with a well-known type of herb, called Magr in Arabic, which is believed to improve asthma.When they travelled to Australia, they had to change their doctor and stop using the traditional treatment.Sami's case intensified when they arrived in Australia, which worried his parents very much.However, their doctor told them that this was a result of the change of environment.He advised them to live in a house without trees around which were found to increase the severity of Sami's asthma.They also took great care of their child during winter, when he gets more affected.In addition, they deal carefully with fumes and odours such as perfumes.Above all, they were assured by their doctor that Sami's case will improve as he gets older. According to Wright and Leahey (2005), the proper way in which the family will be evaluated is to use the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM). The CFAM categorizes the family assessment into three main sections, namely, structural, developmental, and functional assessments, each of which are addressed separately below. IV.STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT. The sub-dimensions of internal structure, external structure, and context are explicated by the following categories (Wright & Leahey, 2005). Internal Structure: The internal structure covers the categories of the composition of the family, the gender of the people in the family, the parents' sexual orientations, the rank order, the family's sub-systems, and the personal boundaries of the family members. Family Composition. Mohammed's family is a nuclear family consisting of the father, the mother, and two offspring. They are married under Shari'a, or Islamic law. They still kep in contact with their respective families. When they were in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed's parents were living in the same house as his family. Gender. The fact that Mohammed is a man and

David Bowie and Performativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

David Bowie and Performativity - Essay Example This argument will serve as a lens in analysing David Bowie’s song, â€Å"Queen Bitch.† The song revolves around a hustler prostitute seducing a gay man’s boyfriend. Using stereotyped language and images and an upbeat tone and guitar melody, Bowie challenges the narratives of authentic identity by undermining sexual gender roles and asserting his own lack of performance in contrast to the aggressive nature of the Queen Bitch, although he realises that his gay performative acts include sexual liberation from an unfaithful relationship that is doomed because of heterosexual desires. Butler believes that gender is not biologically-based, but created in the past, and Bowie uses stereotyped language to support that feminine gender is subjected to socially-produced heteronormativity, which society designed for male desires. Butler asserts that gender is â€Å"tenuously constituted in time† (901). The tenuous part can be ascribed to gender norms and roles that ar e passed on from one generation to another, particularly in patriarchal societies that men design and control. Bowie specifically questions the gender norm of the female bitch. In describing her clothing, he demeans the clothing that women wear to attract the male gender: â€Å"She's so swishy in her satin and tat/In her frock coat/and bipperty-bopperty hat† (lines 13-15). The satin and tat are an odd mix because satin can be related to sophistication, while tat is a form of laced clothing. The combination suggests a cheap imitation of the ideal virginal woman. â€Å"Bipperty-bopperty† seems to be onomatopoeic, like something is being conjured out of magic. The effect is that the hat is as â€Å"fake† or as â€Å"contrived† as the woman. To stress the poor choice of clothing of the prostitute, Bowie says; â€Å"Oh God, I could do better than that† (16). He curses and calls the name of God, as if saying that even if God made her a woman, he is a bet ter woman, even if he is a man. Society defines manhood and womanhood, so gender is â€Å"tenuously constituted in time,† a time that Bowie finds hard to oppose (Butler 901). Furthermore, heteronormativity is present in the song because the man, who can be inferred as the boyfriend of the singer, is not loyal to the latter, and instead, acts like a stereotyped womaniser. Bowie notes that though the woman is a â€Å"bitch,† the man is a male version of a bitch: â€Å"And he's trying hard/to pull sister Flo† (4-5). The man is not exactly resisting the charms of the woman, whom Bowie calls sister Flo, probably because she goes with the flow, the flow of men with money or looks or both. Bowie shows that society produces slutty women and men within the context of heteronormativity, where male desires shape social norms. Present gender roles and interactions are products of heteronormative desires. Aside from the tenacity of the past in influencing gender norms, Butle r argues that gender is performed. She maintains that gender is â€Å"an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts† (901). The stylised repetition of actions pertains to bodily movements that are socially approved for men and women. Bowie notes the social production of queens: â€Å"She's an old-time ambassador/Of sweet talking, night walking games/And she's known in the darkest clubs/For pushing ahead of the dames†