About McLaughlin v. State of Florida in 1964

The Education Of The Welfare System - 1729 Words

Even though it is easy to be added into the welfare system, there is a fine line for eligibility; the government considered numerous factors in determining your ability to work, household to provide for, and social problems. In order to acquire welfare, a person’s income, family size, medical situations such as emergencies or pregnancies, and personal situations including being homeless or unemployed must first be taken into consideration (US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens). Requirements are held to an applicant when applying, however, some states are looser than others. Each individual state is given the authority to direct their own welfare program. It is their duty to establish an appropriate amount of money needed to keep citizens functioning below the Federal Poverty Line (FPL). This authority is granted by the government from a national plan known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TAFT (US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens). The TAFT program is us ed for the sole purpose of rescuing people from poverty. Given this extraordinary approach, states are required to provide certain options for their citizens at the minimum. Types of services included are: basic welfare aid, child protection and child care assistance, financial aid for those unemployment, and housing assistance. In the state of Connecticut alone, there are approximately over 44,000 forms of welfare aid that are currently being issued statewide. (US Welfare System - Help for USShow MoreRelatedThe Education Of The Welfare System2144 Words   |  9 PagesEven though it is easy to be added into the welfare system, there is a fine line for eligibility; the government considered numerous factors in determining your ability to work, household to provide for, and social problems. In order to acquire welfare, a person’s income, family size, medical situations such as emergencies or pregnancies, and personal situations including being homeless or unemployed must first be taken into consideration (US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens). Requirements areRead MoreEssay on Frances Welfare System 954 Words   |  4 Pages The welfare system in France is founded on the principle of solidarity. Solidarity is sense of the responsibility of the individuals in the society to help each other out. This is all for the common good (Spicker). In order to promote solidarity, France has a welfare system that includes universal entitlements, social insurance, means-tested public assistance, and tax expenditures programs. One aspect of the French welfare system is universal entitlements. One universal entitlement under the FrenchRead MoreEffects Of Australias Welfare System807 Words   |  4 PagesAustralia’s Welfare System and Its Hidden Risks Jiayi Liu Generous welfare system has always been a main characteristic of Australia, which has been attracted a large number of overseas immigrants in recent years. The government provides citizens with a series of cradle-to-grave social benefits, for instance, education allowance, free health care program, a variety of relief fund. However, the long-time welfare packages also have brought a few social problems to Australia such as welfare dependencyRead MoreThe Social Welfare And Import Trade Of Britain And China1322 Words   |  6 PagesTitle analysis: This essay will compare the social welfare and import export trade of Britain and China, and will evaluate the causes and consequences of the differences. In recent years, the import and export trade has been one of the factors of the rapid economic development of many countries, by increasing the production inputs, labour inputs and technology investment, and promoting economic development. At the same time, with the continuous development of economy, countries ensure the harmoniousRead MoreThe Effects Of Single Mothers On The Welfare System Essay1715 Words   |  7 PagesMany researchers have been studying welfare to work, but not until recently has the focus resurfaced on the increase number of single mothers who left welfare for work and went back to the welfare system. According to the 2012 U.S. National Census Bureau,† Single mothers are heading more family households and living in poverty. Almost 31% of households headed by a single woman were living below the poverty line—nearly five times the 6.3% poverty rate for families headed by a married couple† ( URead MoreThe Influence Of Ideologies In The Formulati on Of Social Policies1489 Words   |  6 Pagesfor almost equivalent service? All in all, they are bare citizens living on the same island, with similar culture, speaking the same language and having much the same living standards. It is hardly the case that tens of thousands of euros paid for education in US pay off significantly more than an equivalent degree in Switzerland where the tuition is several times less. So why is there such a difference? The answer, as argued in present essay, is ‘politics’. The following work is tries to demonstrateRead MoreWhat Circumstances Force Individuals Into Certain Classes?1261 Words   |  6 PagesStates is placed into class systems which cause problems of welfare, unequal education, and unequal job opportunity. Welfare is an aspect that has caused a huge barrier between the rich and the poor. Welfare is given to the poor because the gap has grown so widely and it is more difficult for the unfortunate to get back on their feet without it. But the problem with welfare is that it is given to the low class like it is nothing. Due to this, the whole purpose of welfare is being violated and theRead MoreChild Welfare Services Technology : An Area Of Much Needed Improvement1421 Words   |  6 Pages Child Welfare Services Technology INTRODUCTION Reform of child welfare services and their accessibility is an area of much needed improvement. Some of the many aspects of care that can be improved with advanced technological resources are referrals, intake, coverage, and placement. Case management, delivery of services, finance, organizational forms, education, and outcomes are also areas for enhancement. Due to a lack of consistency within states and state to state programs along withRead MorePoverty Inequality : The United States1040 Words   |  5 Pagesthe main reasons why African Americans are the poorest in the country, economic inequality also has a part to play in this. It is commonly believed that people s negligence make them go into poverty. 2The roles that social, economic and political systems play in affecting people s standards of living are often overlooked.3 Although the equal rights act was passed in 1964, African Americans still do not get the opportunities that white Americans get.4 In the country today, Afri can Americans get lowerRead MoreThe Child Welfare System That Could Benefit From Technological Advancements1135 Words   |  5 PagesSOCIETAL CONCERNS There are so many aspects of the child welfare system that could benefit from technological advancements the societal concerns revolve around priorities. Between educational consistency, funding, caseloads, connectedness and training society needs to consider which aspect should be addressed first that will most significantly impact the best interests of the child. If case workers are tasked with providing additional services, this may increase turnover and decrease the quality

First World War Poetry Essay Example For Students

First World War Poetry Essay How do the poets you have studied explore the suffering of war through their choice of language? The poems that I will analyse are: Dulce Et Decorum Est and Exposure, both written by Wilfred Owen. Dulce Et Decorum Est describes what it was like on the battlefield. Wilfred Owen had wrote this in conjunction of the poem, Whos for the Game, by Jessie Pope. Jessie Pope emphasised in her poem that war is a good, patriotic thing. Wilfred Owen begged to differ as he wrote what was really happening in the war, as he was a soldier himself. In Exposure, which is once again written by Wilfred, it is about what happens in the trenches and how it was really like during the First World War. In the Great War, soldiers suffered intense physical pain. In Dulce Et Decorum Est the poem describes the suffering of the soldiers in more detail, this is because Wilfred Owen was a soldier and he had the experience in the war. In his poem, it seems to be an anecdote of what happened in a certain event in the war. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind Drunk with fatigue Dulce Et Decorum Est It shows that war wasnt all about glory, but it was about the suffering of the soldiers. I think that in this poem he has done well to emphasise his point in argument to Jessie Pope. Although Wilfred Owen died two days before the war ended, his poem will be talked about for a long time. Another poem, which demonstrates the physical suffering of the First World War, is Exposure which is also by Wilfred Owen. In this poem there are similes and metaphors that conveys the message of physical pain. Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces Exposure As you can see, this type of metaphor is used throughout the poem and it demonstrates the physical pain of the First World War. The quote is mentioned in the fifth stanza in poem. Also in each stanza there is a metaphor, which relates to the physical pain in World War One. Wilfred Owen uses very vivid language to describe the physical suffering of the First World War in both Exposure and Dulce Et Decorum Est. As you can see that Wilfred Owen has used his experience in the war and he has expressed his feelings on the mass murder during 1914-1918. The soldiers suffering were not just physical; it was mental too. In the two poems by Wilfred Owen, there is evidence, which shows the soldiers mental suffering during the First World War. As a poet who was involved in the war his choice of language in Dulce Et Decorum Est, shows that the soldiers were not fit mentally and this led to many soldiers being killed in the World War One. Men marched asleep Dulce Et Decorum Est As you can see, the writer, Wilfred Owen had used a metaphor to convey his message that shows the soldiers were not mentally fit and they were dead in their hearts. The writer has used his experience to his advantage and put his message out. Although during the time he was writing his poems he did not intentionally do this for the public in Britain or the Generals at the battles, but he did this for himself. Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, Exposure The writer has used another metaphor and this quote means that the soldiers think about their homes and how far away it really is. The quote is mentioned in the sixth stanza in the poem. In this poem there is a lot of metaphors and similes, which relates to the metal suffering in the First World War. .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .postImageUrl , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:hover , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:visited , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:active { border:0!important; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:active , .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u94220cb689dcc59e636fe828b9bd93ce:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Robert Frost as a Modern Poet EssayThe writer uses vague language to describe the mental suffering in the First World War. In both of the poems they describe the mental suffering of the war and this is on behalf of Wilfred Owen. Conditions on the battlefield played a large part in the soldiers suffering. During the war soldiers were given vague orders to march over no mans land. No mans land was really where neither the enemy nor the allies have control of the land, this is where the killings to place. Also the conditions in the trenches also led to the suffering of soldiers, this is because the conditions were awful and many soldiers committed suicide. Dim, through the misty and thick green light As under a green sea Dulce Et Decorum Est The poet refers to what happened in the First World War, as he describes an event in his war life. From the quote it seems that Wilfred Owen is describing a gas attack on the battlefields. This shows the threat of chemical weapons used in the First World War. The writer uses his own choice of language and in the second poem he shows that many soldiers would commit suicide. We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed, Exposure This quote mentions that many soldiers had enough of the war and they knew that their life was over when they became soldiers. Wilfred Owen shows that the condition during the war was atrocious. Feelings of guilt, loss and anger increased the soldiers suffering this was because of the carelessness of the Generals battle plan. He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in Dulce Et Decorum Est The writer uses this language to convey an important message, which is that he felt guilty of letting him die even though he could not do anything to help. This also meant at the same time he was feeling angry as this type if situation could have been avoided if the generals were more careful. The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow Exposure This quote was taken from the third stanza and it is meant that the feeling of sadness is growing, and the hope of surviving was fading away. Also the two poems both convey a message, which sends out to the public in Britain saying that life in the trenches was not all about glory and pride, but instead it was about survival and memories.

Population Essays (1309 words) - Ocean Pollution,

Automobiles like these are around the world everyday, and their exhaust destroys our air everyday. Our environment is a major aspect of our life today. Many of us don't take our Earth seriously and think that as long as pollution doesn't hurt them they can go ahead and throw garbage on the ground or spill oil down the drain. Well to many people have that theory and they are killing off our Earth and also physically harming themselves from the air they breath and the water they swim in. Our Earth is fragile like a human and people don't know. There are many different types of environmental pollution (e.g. Water, air, atmospheric.) Scientists believe that all cities with populations exceeding 50,000 have some degree of air pollution. Burning garbage in open dumps causes air pollution, and also it smells pretty bad. Air pollution comes from many different sources. One of the major sources is carbon monoxide which manly comes from automobiles, but also burning of fossil fuels, CFCs etc. Air pollution does not leave the Earth it all gets trapped up in the atmosphere. This doesn't bother most people, and they think that it will not harm them. People burn down forests and people burn fossil fuels, and CFCs from aerosols. Every bit of this harms our atmosphere. Factories and transportation depend on huge amounts of fuel billions of tons of coal and oil are consumed around the world every year. When these fuels burn they introduce smoke and other, less visible, by-products into the atmosphere. Although wind and rain occasionally wash away the smoke given off by power plants and automobiles, the cumulative effect of ai r pollution poses a grave threat to humans and the environment. A big example of smog is LA you can see the smog just hovering above the city. I don't think any human alive should be subject to that kind of environment. Scientists believe that all cities with populations exceeding 50,000 have some degree of air pollution. Burning garbage in open dumps causes air pollution Scientist have discovered that over the South Pole the ozone has a high level of ozone depletion. A computer-enhanced map, taken from satellite observations of ozone levels in the atmosphere over the South Pole, shows the region of ozone depletion that has begun to appear each spring over Antarctica. When you look at this picture you can see the big red spot right above the South Pole. If this depletion opens up dangerous and deadly UV Rays from the sun will come into Earth. Air pollution causes global warming which scientist believe is making the Earth warmer and melting ice up in the South and North Pole. The country Holland has had water from the ocean got too high for them and flooded into towns. Holland spent millions of dollars to put up "dikes" which are big barriers in the water to prevent their town to be completely submerged. With the ocean getting deeper coastal cites all around the world could flood, billions of dollars would be spent to try to prevent it, but in a while it could not be stopped. Instead of waiting and having to spend all this money why don't we put it together today and try different ways of preventing air pollution, it would be much easier than all the trouble of stopping flooding. Water pollution is another major aspect of environmental pollution. Water pollution is scary because over 75% of our Earth is covered by the ocean. Water pollution comes from many different sources around the world. One major pollutant that destroys the ocean is oil spills. The oil from an oil spill kills hundreds of sea animals from fish, to whales, to birds. Below is a small list of just some of the major oil spills. Notice how many tons were spilled into our ocean... Notable Oil Spills Date Location Description Tons spilled Jan.-June, 1942 East coast of U.S. German U-boat attacks on tankers after 590,000 March 18, 1967 Land's End, Cornwall, England Grounding of 'Torrey Canyon' 119,000 June 13, 1968 South Africa Hull failure of 'World Glory' 46,000 Nov. 5, 1969 Massachusetts Hull failure of 'Keo' 30,000 March 20, 1970 Tralhavet Bay,

ESL Beginning Level Writing Projects

ESL Beginning Level Writing Projects These short writing  assignments  are designed for  lower level classes  and give students an opportunity to write about a number of basic subjects including: studies, hobbies, travel, likes and dislikes, application forms, and work emails. Feel free to use the writing exercises in class or expand with further topics. Improve Descriptive Writing Students need to improve  sentence-level writing skills in order to expand into paragraphs. One problem students often face is a lack of descriptive language. Provide a list of descriptive adjectives, prepositional phrases, descriptive verbs, and adverbs and ask students to expand simple sentences into more descriptive language.   Descriptive Writing Exercise Use the following phrases to expand the simple sentences by adding  details with adjectives, prepositional phrases, and adverbs:   in the morning, slowly,  twice a week, down the street, at the moment, sweetly, fun-loving, a quick game of, quickly, difficult, long hot The children played soccer.I take classes.The man is singing a song.I get up early and take a shower. Application Forms Help students become fluent in understanding and filling in forms. If students are preparing for job interviews, create an extended application form using a standard job application template. Heres a less ambitious exercise to get students started. English Studies You want to go to a language school to study English. Fill in the application form. Finish the application form with a short paragraph about why you want to learn English. English Learners Plus Last NameMr./Mrs./Ms.First Name(s)OccupationAddressZip codeDate of birthAgeNationality Why do you want to learn English? Home Stay Program You want to stay with a family while you study English. Fill in the application form. In order to find the right family to stay with, write about your interests and hobbies. Family Exchange Last NameMr./Mrs./Ms.First Name(s)OccupationAddressZip codeDate of birthAgeNationality What are your hobbies and interests? Emails and Posts Students should also feel comfortable making short posts online and writing emails or informal letters.  Here are a few prompts to help them practice: You are on vacation at the beach. Write an email to your friend about your vacation.Write an email to a close friend with some new information about another friend.Post a comment on social media about a topic you are interested in.Write a short blog post to let your online friends know about your latest hobby. Short Emails to a Colleague Many students also need to use English for work. Provide prompts for students to help them practice writing work-related emails. Here are a few suggestions: Email a colleague to arrange a meeting for next week. Remember to arrange the time and meeting place.Reply to a colleagues email about a problem at work. Be sure to provide a solution or some advice about the problem.  Contact a business to ask some questions about one of their products. Use product and technical information found on the internet to ask more precise questions.   Continuing the Discussion Students should also practice carrying on a conversation via email. Use short prompts loaded with questions that demand a response: Read this email from your friend and respond to the questions: So, the weather has been great and we are having a fun time here in Switzerland. Ill be back at the end of July. Lets get together! When would you like to see me? Also, have you found a place to live yet? Finally, did you buy that car last week? Send me a pic and tell me about it! Comparing and Contrasting Help students become familiar with comparative language by asking them to use specific language such as subordinate conjunctions or connective adverbs. Here are a few suggestions: coffee/tea - even though, however, butshopping / hanging with friends - while, on the other hand, yetplaying soccer / watching TV - although, similarly, andcooking/eating - though, also, so,  studying English / studying math - like, even though, and The key to helping lower level students with writing is to keep the task very structured. Teachers sometimes ask students to produce longer writings such as essays before students have control of sentence-level writing skills. Make sure to help them build the skills before they move on to more ambitious writing tasks.

The Strange Fate of Indias Peacock Throne

The Strange Fate of India's Peacock Throne The Peacock Throne was a wonder to behold - a gilded platform, canopied in silk and encrusted in precious jewels. Built in the 17th century for the  Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who also commissioned the Taj Mahal, the throne served as yet another reminder of the extravagance of this mid-century ruler of India. Although the piece only lasted for a short while, its legacy lives on as one of the most ornate and highly sought after pieces of royal property in the regions history. A relic of the Mughal Golden Age, the piece was originally lost and recommissioned before being destroyed forever by rival dynasties and empires. Like Solomon When Shah Jahan ruled the Mughal Empire, it was at the height of its Golden Age, a period of great prosperity and civil accord amongst the Empires people - covering most of India. Recently, the capital had been re-established in Shahjahanabad in the ornately decorated Red Fort, where Jahan held many decadent feasts and religious festivals. However, the young emperor  knew that in order to be, as Solomon had been, the Shadow of God - or the arbiter of Gods will on earth - he needed to have a throne like his. A Jewel-Encrusted Gold Throne Shah Jahan commissioned a jewel-encrusted  gold throne to be built on a pedestal in the courtroom, where he could then be seated above the crowd, closer to God. Among the hundreds of rubies, emeralds, pearls, and other jewels embedded in the Peacock Throne was the famed 186-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was later taken by the British. Shah Jahan, his son Aurangzeb, and later Mughal rulers of India sat on the glorious seat until 1739, when Nader Shah of Persia sacked Delhi and stole the Peacock Throne. Destruction In 1747, Nader Shahs bodyguards assassinated him, and Persia descended into chaos. The Peacock Throne ended up being chopped to pieces for its gold and jewels. Although the original was lost to history, some antiquities experts believe that the legs of the 1836 Qajar Throne, which was also called the Peacock Throne, might have been taken from the Mughal original. The 20th century Pahlavi dynasty in Iran also called their ceremonial seat the Peacock Throne, continuing this pillaged tradition. Several other ornate thrones may have also been inspired by this extravagant  piece, most notably the overexaggerated version King Ludwig II of Bavaria had made some time before 1870 for his Moorish Kiosk in Linderhof Palace.   The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is said to also have potentially discovered a marble leg from the pedestal of the original throne. Similarly, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London said to have discovered the same years later.   However, neither of these have been confirmed. Indeed, the glorious Peacock Throne may have been lost to all of history forever - all for the want of power and control of India at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

A French Bakery Chain Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A French Bakery Chain - Case Study Example They strongly believed that acquisition would help them maintain steady advantage without incurring extra cost on the expansion of business on a stand-alone basis. The LPB stores had decentralized working and functioned as stand-alone stores which it easy for the Fields to amalgamate the administration within its core functioning process. It was for this reason that merely after a month of acquiring LPB, Fields reduced the subsidiary administrative staff from 53 to three. Many of their functions like accounting, finance, human resource, training etc. were merged with that of the Fields’ company that resulted in redundancy of jobs in LPB. The main reason for the action was that Mrs. fields Cookies followed mechanistic approach and heavily used technology within its administrative process to streamline sales and production. While Fields appreciated empowerment of its managers and workforce, they also used technology extensively in their production processes to predict and improve sales. The huge hierarchy of employees in LPB was therefore not suitable for the efficient delivery of Fields’ goals and daily targets. Hence, they could o nly retain two persons in operations and one from their R&D section. As LPB Manager, I believe that the strategy of Fields is not right. LPB has gained considerable credibility in the area of baked products, coffee, and sandwich. The huge size of LPB was a significant factor that had prompted Fields to acquire it. The LPB products and services could offer the huge scope of expansion of interests of Fields as they had already created a niche market for their cookies. The acquisition had provided them with the opportunity to introduce their specialty cookies in the European market. The combination outlet could serve as a major facilitating platform for their business with a wide scope of opportunities for improved revenues. In such a scenario of a win-win situation, the redundancy was neither necessary nor morally correct decision.  

To what extent is the incorporation of state owned commercial banks Essay

To what extent is the incorporation of state owned commercial banks improved the efficiency of the Chinese banking system - Essay Example Since China gets more structured with the globe, because of these measures banking system of China now has turn out to be high-ranking in the global financial markets, corroborated by the rapid development of economy of China. The banking system of China is viewed as successful during the situation of financial crisis in 2008. Now, 3 drifted banks of China namely Bank of China (BOC), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Construction Bank (CCB) are the biggest banks in terms of market value following the financial crisis which ruined many European and American banks. During 1990, many experimental and theoretical studies have analysed the chances and challenges that banking sector of China face (Chapman & Marshall, 2012). An important study regarding the Chinese Banking industry in the broader perspective of agreement of China with World Trade Organization (WTO) and economic transformation is extremely important (Chapman & Marshall, 2012). Discussion In 1980s, vari ous banks of Latin American countries face crises. Lots of nations carry out a many steps to restructuring their misfunctioned banking industry, including fiscal relaxation and strengthened dictatorial regimes. Mostly these transformations were productive in strengthening banking industry and avoiding banking crisis. Transparent and imprudent authoritarian and administrative models played a significant role in the successful states (Wang, 2009). In 1978, in Chinese banking system the process of reformation was began with the establishment of the BOC and CCB. During last 3 decades, different measures of restructuring have been beginning piecemeal in order to strengthen the competitiveness and effectiveness of the domestic banks in China, particularly the state-owned commercial banks. Even so, the steps that have been carried out don’t give the required results. In 2004, official figures shows that the ratio of non-performing loans in the Chinese big four state-owned commercial banks that remained at 2.5 trillion Yuan (equal to three trillion US dollars at recent rate of exchange), was fifteen percent of the entire bank loans (Wang, 2009). This official estimation is viewed as to be undervaluing due to the oblique system of rating system. The ineffective operational mechanism, distribution system, and personnel management system result in failure of several significant restructuring steps. Therefore Chinese banking system requires a complete shakeup. Size and Structure of the Chinese Banking System During the last decade, the banking sector of China is greater in size comparative to the economy of China and has expanded drastically. Entire assets of Chinese banking system (as well as assets that are present in the international subsidiaries and branches of Chinese banks) were approximately equal to two hundred and forty percent of GDP at the end of 2011 which increase from two hundred percent that were in early period of 2000, however, from GDP domestic c redit is estimated to be equal to one hundred and forty five percent (Chapman & Marshall, 2012). This ratio of credit-to- GDP is high comparative to states in which the per capita income is at equal levels. Intermediated credits are much developed

Miss Essay Example for Free

Miss Essay You will also evaluate who the target audience is, and analyse the effectiveness of the advertiser’s use of language, imagery and colours (advertising techniques) in achieving their intentions. Students must also discuss and evidence their understanding of the social, historical and cultural features which they feel are explicit and implicit within the poster. For this task, all students must demonstrate that they are taking an active and contributory role within the discussion and annotation process and that you have met the assessment criteria for this element of the task. Photographs of each group’s annotated ‘War Child’ poster will be taken. (1. 1 – 4. 2) ii. Compare and contrast the two advertisements by holiday companies to inform and persuade their target audience For this part of Task 3, you must compare and contrast the two holiday advertisements for Ibiza and Blackpool. Use the writing frame and assessment task criteria to help you structure your writing. Paragraph 1 Introduction (1. 2) Introduce the two adverts, what they are for? Are they predominantly trying to persuade or inform? Mention the fact that you are going to compare and contrast them, and will be evaluating who the target audience is, evaluating what style and form the advertiser’s use, analysing the language used in the advertisements, and evaluating the imagery and colours that the advertisers have used. You will also mention that you will be analysing the social, historical and cultural features in the advertisements which are explicit and implicit. You must also comment on how you will be evaluating what all of the above (advertising techniques) has with regard to the overall effectiveness of the advertisements in targeting the audience. |In this media essay, I’m going to compare two adverts – which are adverting on holidays. The first advert is for the ‘IBIZA’ (I will call this advert A) The | |second is for ‘BLACKPOOL’ (I will call this advert B) Although they are both adverting on holiday, the advert holiday is totally on a different ways. This is| |because they are aimed at different group of people. | | | | Paragraph 2 – Target Audience (3. 1) Compare and contrast the two advertisements with regard to the target audience. Here you must evaluate who you think the advertisements are aimed at. You need to give at least two main points of evidence here. You also need to summarise how effective you think the advertisements are with regard to the targeting of the audience. The adver t A is persuading the young people and also giving information to what they are presenting for them during the time spent on their holiday. The | |advert B is also persuading people by giving them a free ticket to come to the Blackpool tower a place for holiday also informing them for is best to receive| |like the Tower complex houses have many attractions in all kind of entertainments that you can think of. | |In this two Adverts A and B I am going to have a closer look on both of them by comparing and contrasting them and evaluates who the target audience is. Both| |adverts are aimed at adults. However, advert A is aiming to the young people whereas advert B is aimed to mature adult’s men and women. The denotation of | |advert A IBIZA the style of the advert is girly colours like bright pink, blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. | | | | | |Poster A is aiming to the young people whereas poster B is aiming to adult’s men and women. In the advert A IBIZA the uses is girly colours like bright pink,| |blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. The imagery is about grouping pictures of young boys and girls at the | |beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; and some are travelling on large vehicle and they are of different code of dressing which is mainly for the young | |people and the language uses on it, it is an attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s planning for their holiday. The both adverts are very | |effective because of different colours uses to design the posters they are of different effects, the form of the languages uses is to call an attraction of | |people and persuade them to come spent the holiday and the words uses are of upper and lower case which explain the thing to expect like going around visit | |the city, to the beaches, clubbing, dancing in the hall while spending their holiday. | | |These adverts are aiming at two different groups of people for the young boys and girls the styles uses and the languages uses know exactly the mind of young| |people of kind of thing they want like the social life style a young person would like to receive to be a history something they should look back on. | Paragraph 3 – Style and Form (3. 2) Here you need to compare and contrast the style and form of the two advertisements. Evaluate the overall style and form of the advertisements (the layout). Things to consider might be the position of the writing and the pictures. Which dominate and why? How does that link to the target audience? What font styles are used? What words are made to stand out? Again, summarise how does this link to how the advertisers are trying to inform or persuade the target audience? You must provide evidence. | | |The advert A which is the IBIZA has more effect on the poster and more colours also more photos of groups of people. The poster is displaying different | |people on different types of dressing. On the poster the written languages were uses upper and lower case some are bold and italics. The word used to stand | |out the advert is IBIZA written in a capital form with a large form of Alphabets. | |The position of the advert characters was at the right which displayed things to do at the beach, nights on the town, what’s are the costs prices, also the | |photos of groups of people was at the right side, they advertise the club beats with upper and lower case. |The advert B BLACK POOL the denotation of advert uses are less in colours and one photo of people dancing in the tower hall, photo of two people sited at the| |beach, the front photo of the tower hall and map show the travel direction which displayed the address and the direction to Blackpool town hall. The | |languages uses were upper and lower case some of the written words are highlighted bold and the position were at the left and the word Blackpool was written | |bold with a red colour and a written note from Deca Maggie to Jacquie were at the middle of the poster. The word used to stand the adverts is Blackpool | |written with a red colour and with large Alphabets. The two adverts A and B are trying to persuade the target audience to come and experience a good holiday. | | | Paragraph 4 – Language and slogans (4. 2) Here you must compare and contrast the language and slogans used in the two advertisements. What do you notice about the language choices? Is it formal or informal? Does it contain any dialect? Are there any slogans? Can you analyse how the language in the advertisements is used in different social contexts? Again, summarise how effective you think the language used in the advertisements is, in targeting the audience. You must provide evidence. |The language uses is to draw the attention of people who’s want or planning for holiday uses persuading word , writing on different form of colours, make | |use of italic, bold, upper case and case to call attraction. The imagery showing the adult’s men and women dancing at the tower all these are form of drawing| |an attention of the people to come and spent their holiday at the Blackpool tower. | |The language used was a clear and understand English languages there were nothing contain dialect and is wasn’t formal or informal. The language was use | |effectively because on the poster you can see that the written word was design attractively on lower and upper case has different attracting colour and the | |languages was targeting the people planning on holiday. Paragraph 5 – Imagery and colours (3. 2) Compare and contrast the imagery and colours used in the advertisements. Here you must evaluate the imagery (pictures and graphics) contained in the two advertisements. Compare the imagery of the two advertisements and comment on the differences. You could discuss how you think the use of imagery and colours is perhaps more effective than the other in targeting the audience. Wh at does the imagery and colours suggest about the two holiday destinations? Evaluate how the colours in the advertisements create a mood? Are they vibrant and exciting, or plain and reassuring? As before, summarise how effective you think the imagery and colours used in the advertisements is in targeting the audience. Give evidence. |The imagery is displaying group pictures of young boys and girls at the beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; travelling on large vehicle also the code of | |dressing which is mostly for the young people and the language uses on it. This advert is to call attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s | |planning for holiday by persuading them to come and spent holiday. On the other hand, the denotation of advert B is a Tower hall Blackpool the style of the | |adverts uses in the background is blue with yellow and red and dim warm colour and the written words are of red, blue, yellow and black. | |The image and the pictures contained in the two adverts are very different; the IBIZA has more features images of young people than the Blackpool. The colour| |used for both image is more effective because it is attractive poster whose ever see is would like to have a closer look what the advertisement for and these| |adverts is targeting many adults willing to go on holiday. The evidence used to compare to be a poster magazine contrast. | Paragraph 6 – Social, historical and cultural features – explicit and implicit (4. 1) Compare and contrast the social, historical and cultural features which are explicit and implicit in the two advertisements. For instance, in the Blackpool advertisement why do you think the advertisers show a prominent image of a postcard? Is this a social, historical or social feature? You must provide evidence. |The imagery of the social life styles these days are totally different from the time of 1990. This present time we are now has different kind of dressing | |compare to the time of 1990, like the young boys and girls at this present time we are now put on tight clothes like jeans, short sleeve wearing of boots, | |different kind of hair styles but some people still like the old hair style of 1960, but the hair styles this time is different compare to the time of 1990 | |when people use to have afro hair styles and the code of dressing now also different. The code has built in rules or signals indicating the message being | |given by a persons clothing and how it is worn. This message may include indications of the persons gender,  income, occupation and  social class, political,| |ethnic and religious affiliation,  attitude  and attitude towards comfort, fashion, traditions, gender expression, marital status, sexual availability and | |sexual orientation, etc. Clothes convey other social messages including the stating or claiming  personal  or  cultural identity, the establishing, maintaining,| |or defying social group  norms, and appreciating comfort and functionality and the technology this time has developed more and experience han the time of | |1990 the both young’s and adults people are now civilise, mature in every areas of their social life styles with now bring effect on cultures and tradition. | Paragraph 7 – Conclusion (1. 1, 1. 2, 2. 1, 2. 2, 3. 1) For your conclusion, you must compare and contrast the two advertisements, evaluating how effective you think the advertising techniques used are with regard to th e audience the advertisers are targeting. I am going to compare adverts of IBIZA and Blackpool for the conclusion of the advertisement. The IBIZA was very effective because it draw the attention of | |young people to take part of the holiday programme it to make the young people to have interest on what they were adverting that why it was design with so | |many effective colour that can create an attraction. The techniques used to advertise the poster was aiming to the young’s people who are planning for a | |holiday. The Blackpool is aiming to the adults men and women and the techniques used for the advert was targeting the adults people planning on holiday. The | |effect of the advert written was clear and clean easy to read and understand the colour use are so bright and the photograph show on the advert is a sign to | |encourage people whose has not have the chance to dance for a period of time, if you love dancing and meeting new people this is your chance to dance. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer :: Wealth Poverty

"The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer" Living in the United States of America allows for many freedoms and opportunities to its citizens. Growing up, children learn that in the United States means that everyone is treated equally, and fairly. In addition, one is made to believe that a prejudiced outlook on minorities is a problem of the past. Jeffrey Reiman's article, "The Rich get Richer and the Poor get poorer," displays the truth of how the real world is. The article shows a clearer picture as to how destitute and African American people are treated extremely different then Caucasians do. The idea of underprivileged citizens having a greater chance of being arrested, more likely to be sentenced, and punished for a longer amount of time is not how one would think the criminal justice system works. Nobody wants to acknowledge the fact that hate does still exist in the United States. Most still wants to believe that all people will be treated equally, no matter who they are. Not always what people think is happening in this society is correct. Also, there is a huge difference in poor people being arrested compared to upper and middle-class. Does this mean that poor people cannot slip out of punishment, but rich people can? Some believe this clearly shows that impoverished people are looked down upon in society. Although it is a hard concept to believe, statistics show that it is true. In 1978, fifty three percent African Americans jail inmates had pre-arrest incomes below three thousand dollars compared with forty four percent of Caucasian inmates. In 1983 the median pre-arrest income of African Americans was four thousand sixty-seven dollars and that of Caucasian inmates was six thousand three hundred and twelve dollars. These statistics provide evidence that both African-American and poor people are more likely to be in jail. (Reiman, 97) There is a better financial outlook though; the poverty rate for African Americans in 2000, is the lowest measured since 1959-the earliest year for which poverty data are available. The 2000 rate was down from twenty-three percent in 1999. About half-million fewer African Americans were poor in 2000 than in 1999, seven million compared to eight million. In 1998 African American men were making more money then Caucasian women. Now African American women are catching up in the higher pay roll. In 1998 African American women were only one thousand dollars behind Caucasian women.

Interpersonal Communication Essay

There are many ways that my culture influences my self-concept. First let’s take a look at the many kinds of cultures there are. Culture is defined as the relatively specialized lifestyle of a group of people that is passed on from one generation to the next through communication, not through genes. Culture is transmitted from one generation to another through enculturation, the process by which you learn the culture into which you’re born (your native culture). Parents, peer groups, schools, religious institutions, and government agencies are the main teachers of culture. Through enculturation you develop an ethnic identity, a commitment to the beliefs and philosophy of your culture that, not surprisingly, can act as a protective shield against discrimination. A different process of learning culture is acculturation, the process by which you learn the rules and norms of a culture different from your native culture. In acculturation your original or native culture is modified through direct contact with or exposure to a new and different culture. Cultures, of course, differ in a wide variety of ways; and for purposes of communication, the difference that probably comes to mind first is that of languages. Certainly, cultures do differ in language spoken and understood. Masculine cultures emphasize success and socialize their people to be assertive, ambitious and competitive. Members of masculine cultures are thus more likely to confront conflicts directly and to competitively fight out any differences; they are more likely to emphasize win or lose strategies. Feminine cultures emphasize the quality of life and socialize their people to be modest and to emphasize close interpersonal relationships. Members of feminine cultures are thus more likely to emphasize compromise and negotiation in resolving conflicts; they are more likely to seek win – win solutions. Members of cultures with high ambiguity tolerance do not feel threatened by unknown situations; uncertainty is normal part of life and people accept it as it comes. Members of cultures with low ambiguity tolerance do much to avoid uncertainty and have a great deal of anxiety by not knowing what will happen next; they see uncertainty as threatening and as something that must be counteracted. In an individualist culture members are responsible for themselves and perhaps their immediate family. In a collectivist culture members are responsible for the entire group. In a high context culture much of the information in communication is in the context or in the person. In a low context culture most of the information is explicitly stated in the verbal message. In my every day life I use more of the intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is communication between persons who have different cultural beliefs, values, or ways of behaving. Being that I am African-American and my fiancà ©e is Caucasian my culture changes my self-concept. Being a male you assume that that’s the dominant one in a relationship or what not. I believe that being a male you should set the example for the household. It’s not my way or the highway is the wrong approach. It’s more of a compromise or we agree to disagree. I think that shows masculine. I can say race plays a lot but I would be lying. That would go back to a stereotype. A stereotype is a fixed impression of a group of people. From the outside looking in age would be a stereotype as well. I’ve recently turned twenty-five so that plays into another stereotype. Half way to fifty; what are you doing with your life. Or the stereotype of a black guy with a white woman. You hear it all but its all about your self-concept. I’m comfortable in my own skin. There were more important things of listening that I didn’t realize. One purpose of listening is to learn, something you do regularly as you listen to lectures in college. One of the communication skills most important to healthy relationships is the ability to listen to friends, romantic partners, family members, colleagues, and just about anyone with whom you come into contact with. You also listen to influence other people’s attitudes, beliefs, values, opinions and behaviors. Listening to play music or the rustle of leaves often serves a play purpose. Listening to help is something we experience growing up when our parents listen or, sometimes, don’t listen to our concerns and help us solve our problems. I used the five-stage model of listening as a reference guide. The barrier I noticed I have is receiving the information. By receiving the information wrong I didn’t understand what the other person was trying to get at. On the occasions when I used all five stages of listening correctly; my strong points were evaluating and responding. Which comes back to having good intercultural communication. I noticed how other people listened as well. I think if people would follow the five step process to listening they would have no problem. There would be less confusion as well. Week 5 Journal I have witnessed stages of conflict in one of my relationships by being the one directly involved in the conflict and by being the mediator and actually sitting back and observing. I experienced verbal aggressiveness on a first hand ba sis. It tears a person down from the inside out. I’ve experienced physical aggressiveness. Un like verbal aggressiveness this tears your down from the outside in. I show non verbal power just by the way I carry myself and display my athourity. Im not really sure how I would increase my personal power†¦its more a over time thing than changing it overnight. Nonverbal communication is communication without words. You communicate nonverbally when you gesture, smile or frown, widen your eyes, move your chair closer to someone, wear jewelry, touch someone, or raise your vocal volume, or even when you say nothing. The crucial aspect of nonverbal communication is that the message you send is in some way received by one or more other people. If you gesture while alone in your room and no one is there to see you, then, most theorists would argue, communication has not taken place. The same, of course, is true of verbal messages: If you recite a speech and no one hears it, then communication has not taken place. Body gestures are an especially useful classification in kinesics, or the study of communication through body movement, identifies five types: emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators, and adaptors. Illustrators make your communications more vivid and help to maintain your listener’s attention. They also help to clarify and intensify your verbal messages. In saying, â€Å"Let’s go up,† for example, you probably move your head and perhaps your finger in an upward direction. In describing a circle or a square, you more than likely make circular or square movements with your hands. Research points to another advantage of illustrators: that they increase your ability to remember. People who illustrated their verbal messages with gestures remembered some 20 percent more than those who didn’t gesture. Affect displays are the movements of the face that convey emotional meaning are the expressions that show anger and fear, happiness and surprise, eagerness and fatigue. Regulators monitor, maintain, or control the speaking of another individual. When you listen to another, you’re not passive; you nod your head, purse your lips, adjust your eye focus, and make various paralinguistic sounds such as â€Å"mm-mm†or â€Å"tsk.†Regulators are culture-bound: Each culture develops its own rules for the regulation of conversation. Adaptors satisfy some need and usually occur without conscious awareness; they’re unintentional movements that usually go unnoticed. Nonverbal researchers identify three types of adaptors based on their focus, direction, or target: self-adaptors, alter-adaptors, and object-adaptors. Self- adaptors usually satisfy a physical need, generally serving to make you more comfortable; examples include scratching your head to relieve an itch, moistening your lips because they feel dry, or pushing your hair out of your eyes.

Characteristics of the Market Essay

a. National market Processing the small specialty foods with a broad product line and sales of $300 million per year which a food brokers represent the company to the retail food chains by the network. This company more focused on ethnic food specialties which including salad dressings, sauces for Italian pasta and condiments such as specialties pickles. b. Two plants produced product One in the Central Valley of California at Fresno and the other in Illinois south of Chicago which they buy the ingredients from other foods suppliers to avoid the peak seasonal characteristics encountered by food packers. The company production has take place in large quantities to maintain low production costs and assure consistent product quality. c. Generally order on small quantity Company has ordered from supplier amounting to five to six cases per order only or about 150 to 200 pounds at a time. d. Poor delivery However, customers have commented that the company have a poor delivery services because of many of ingredients are shipped over long distances and it has depending on the season. e. Two major department management This is include the Marketing and Sales and also has Production department and several staff units for personnel, purchasing and finance. Both of departments are responsible for marketing the product lines such promotion, product inventory at the public warehouses, providing sales support and also merchandising. There is also a national sales manager who responsibility for maintaining contact with food brokers, coordinating public warehouses and arrange for delivery 1) Case Summary (What’s the issue?) Horizon Foods Corporation (hereafter â€Å"Horizon†) is a still-growing, nationwide foods organization that is widely known for its high quality products. With $300 million sales each year, the firm has been relatively successful so far, gaining good reputation and arousing much interest of the public through its brokers and local retailers. However, as the company prospers and customers demand more, Horizon foresees a coming crisis. The distribution issue, which the company has faced for a while, is now causing stock-outs, and increasing competition in the market is threatening the company’s market share. Authorities involved fail to scrutinize the issue and its cause, and they are eager to blame each other for the problems. The division of labor between two major departments – Marketing and Sales, and Production – seems to need a complete rearrangement for a more efficient process. Horizon should also analyze its current brand positioning in the market and rework its strategies if needed. 2) Q1. What are the characteristics of the market served by the Horizon Foods Corporation? Horizon is a specialty foods processor. It has served a national market composed of food brokers who represent retail store chains. The food brokers make orders to Horizon. Generally, the orders are small. The production is done in two different plants thanks to the ingredients from some food suppliers. The plants are located in agricultural areas to reduce the cost of transportation. Moreover, Horizon produces in large quantities, and the food produced is very good in quality. The production is dispatched to several public warehouses. Then, these warehouses use contract carriers to deliver the products to the customers. Because of the small orders, the transportation cost to retail stores can be high. The market is very competitive since many of Horizon’s food competitors also offer a complete production line

Tradition Hinders Progress Essays

Tradition Hinders Progress Essays Tradition Hinders Progress Paper Tradition Hinders Progress Paper Tradition is the enemy of progress Weather its religious traditions preventing the study of the dead for better understanding of the living to the churches traditions stopping the progress into the realization that the Earth is not the center of the universe or to take something recent Umbilical cord debates over weather to use them for life saving stem cell research. Tradition is the common enemy among Progress into the future people want the results of science we live our lives due to science but often many of our general populous does not agree with the means we use to get the radical discoveries of science. I can see how traditions can hinder progress:if you subscribe to past ideals it can deter from advancement. If we are going to look back at what Mary and John did in the past to solve a problem every time, then how are we going to move forward? What am saying is that look back once or twice get the formula then learn and apply that knowledge, improve on it then build but we keep going back and back and back and back!! It is in fact the enemy for progress. I think that traditions do prevent progess. The best example of this can be seen rulal areas where knowledge is just passed over from one generation to another and children are not allowed to study more they are just used as a labour. Another example is of early marriage of girls who are married at an age of 10 or 11 which ruin their lives. in the end i would like to conclude that these tradions r blocking our way to new things. First, what is tradition? And also what is progress? Tradition is a natural enemy to progress because progress is the antithesis to tradition. The words are antonyms. However, if you mean, for example, the belief in God being an obstacle to progress, or anything along that line, that is beyond a question of tradition and progress. I hope we are speaking just of scientific inquiry. Otherwise, this topic doesnt work well as an argument because the natural and supernatural are different, and thus cannot be easily compared. in many ways it is. hings like religion, and marriage stand in the way. religion is telling people how to think and what to do rather than have people think for themselves and adjust to the times and environment appropriately. yes tradition is an obstacle to progress. TRADITIONS ARE UNWRITTEN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS THAT ARE HANDED DOWN FROM GENERATIONS TO GENERATIONS .. PROGRESS MEANS TO ADVANCE FROM ONE STAGE TO ANOTHER WE HAVE NEVER BEEN DEVELOPED FROM OUR ANCESTORS RATHER WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS DESTRUCTION BY BREAKING T HE TRADITIONAL VALUES. TRADITION INVOKES THE PRINCIPLE THAT OLD WAYS OF DOING THINGS ARE MORE SAFER, MORE RELIABLE AND HENCE BETTER THAN THE NEW ONES , WHICH ARE BASED ON UNTESTED WAYS . IN SHORT OLD IS GOLD . IN TRADITION OLD PRACTICES HAVE VALUES SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE OLD OR AT LEAST THEY GIVES US A SENSE OF CONTINUITY WITH THE PAST . IN CONTRAST MODERN CONCEPT OF PROGRESS DISCARDS TRADITION AS OBSOLETE AND DISPROVEN . THE MODERN CONCEPT SAYS IF IF THE OLDER TRADITIONAL IDEAS ARE SUPPOSEDLY THE BETTER ONES THEN THE MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL IDEAS ARE EVEN SUPERRIOR think that traditions are just what we believe in blindly. take an example of superstitions we say if we sneeze once then it is a bad omen but if we sneeze twice it becomes our lucky charm. how many of us in this busy life pay attention n count their sneezes. we have often beliefs that if we wear this ring our future will be fruitful and also we see many now if that would be the case then there would be no need to study well wear a ring and not s tudy hard and get a gud result. hat we need is good judging of things taking place in our society. we say we come across a badluck when a black cat cuts our way. if it is so then if a student is studious n he is going to give interview n he is well deserved but when he is on his way a cat cuts off his path it means no need to go to give interview u r failed. we should change our mentality as we emerge into new time being or else well lag behind still following old and useless customs which have no value and no profit in this time.

Marketing Assignment Sample

Marketing Assignment Sample Marketing Assignment Sample A marketing assignment is an exercise which is widely used in the various educational programs. Simulating a marketing plan of an imaginary company gives students the opportunity to test their skills in practice with no real risk of loss. The marketing assignment sample provides an example of a marketing plan of an imaginary logistic company: it fully describes the structure of the enterprise and the basic principles of its functioning. Goals Creating freight forwarding company with the formation of the regional offices (branches, separate subdivisions) of the cargo delivery; Organization of the complex service for the small-lot shipments of the potential customers, including freight forwarding, insurance, warehousing, and door-to-door delivery; Increasing the market share of freight forwarding and warehousing services. Departments The sales department is responsible for customer service, acceptance of applications and documents on transportation, registration of waybills, the regional carriers, and attraction of the new customers. The legal department is working on the claims, interaction with the regional representatives on legal issues as well as the preparation and management of contracts both with the clients and the transport companies. Regional development department works with the opening of the new branches, the search for warehouses, offices and regional carriers, the regional cargo marketing research, and the advertising campaigns. Freight forwarding department is responsible for rolling stock and ensuring the implementation of applications for the delivery of cargo. The maintenance of its own vehicle park, including the passage of inspection and obtaining permits, also belongs to its expertise. The provision of the additional services for the carriage of goods by other types of transport (railways, planes, container transportation) as well as the organization and control of the international expedition of goods are also common here. Planning Budget The beginning of the procedure of formation of the budget is the notification sent by email to all heads of the financial responsibility centers for 5 days prior to the deadline for the submission of the budget requests. After that, the responsibility center managers present their budget requests within the monthly budget not later than on the 10th day of the month preceding the beginning of the budget period. For the effective control over the expenditure of cash, it is needed to introduce the additional operational planning, which should be complementary to the budget. Operational financial planning includes the preparation and execution of the payment schedule, the cash plan, and the credit plan. Setting the Price The value of services in the eyes of the customers can significantly vary. Hence, the lack of the account in the pricing leads to the fact that a considerable amount of money remains in someone else’s pocket. It is not always easy to adapt to the scale of price fluctuations in the value of the buyer but it is the only way to prevent the failure of missing the major opportunities for profit. It is also necessary to consider the interests of the loyal customers. For it, it is proposed to introduce a discount card system. The essence of the introduction of a discount card is supposed to ensure that clients are provided with continuous constant or cumulative discount rates in all areas of the company, which is expressed in the percentage of the fare or the specific numerical terms. Start When choosing a freight forwarding company, which is engaged in cargo transporting, the customer is always focused on the urgency of the delivery as well as the price-quality ratio. This is one of the most important criteria by which the client makes his or her choice. Even if the company offers the low price to the customer but does not comply with the stated schedule for shipping, the customer goes to the company with the higher prices but with a regular frequency of shipments projected in the terms of delivery. Many new companies make this mistake that leads to their bankruptcy at the only beginning of the working period. Therefore, to avoid such mistakes, it is important to show the projected shipments frequency to the client that will be available to view online at any time of a day. Likewise, to reach the proper speed of delivery and quality at the opening of the company, it is necessary to use the services of the other logistic companies. Based on this scheme, the initial operations would give no profit or even give some loss. In any case, such step is inevitable, as without it, the development of freight forwarding activity would be impossible. At you can get a high-quality custom assignment on any Marketing topic you need.

The Human Rights Act and life sentence prisoners Essay

The Human Rights Act and life sentence prisoners - Essay Example There was a powerful presumption against the retrospective application of the Act, and in relation to transactions that had taken place prior to the coming into force of the Act; there could be no question of interpretation under s 3 and accordingly no power to grant a declaration under s 4. 1 (Human Rights, Article 7) Three decisions of the House can be cited to illustrate the strength of the interpretative obligation under section 3(1). The first is R v A (No. 2) [2002] 1 AC 45 which concerned the so-called rape shield legislation. The problem was the blanket exclusion of prior sexual history between the complainant and an accused in section 41(1) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, subject to narrow specific categories in the remainder of section 41. In subsequent decisions, and in academic literature, there has been discussion about differences of emphasis in the various opinions in A. What has been largely overlooked is the unanimous conclusion of the House. The House unanimously agreed on an interpretation under section 3 which would ensure that section 41 would be compatible with the ECHR. The formulation was by agreement set out in paragraph 46 of Lord Steyn's opinion in that case as follows: "The effect of the decision today is that ... o the importance of seeking to protect the complainant from indignity and from humiliating questions, the test of admissibility is whether the evidence (and questioning in relation to it) is nevertheless so relevant to the issue of consent that to exclude it would endanger the fairness of the trial under article 6 of the Convention. If this test is satisfied the evidence should not be excluded." (Lord Steyn, 2006a) Case: Re S Care plan 2002 UKHL 10 House of Lords and Starred Care Plans Re S (Minors) 3 The House of Lords did not uphold the Court of Appeals creation of starred care plans, a bold attempt to devise a way for care plans which were not being implemented coming back to court; instead they stressed the need for the government to urgently review this - power of section 3 HRA limited, court must be mindful of outer limit. Interpretation up to courts but enactment and amendment matter for Parliament - starred milestones departed substantially from Parliamentary intentions so far as it is possible to do so, primary legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with convention rights . (Child adoption) Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead 4 The Torbay case: The appeals concern four children, two in the Torbay case and two in the Bedfordshire case. The cases are factually unrelated. In the Torbay case the mother had three children: P, who is a boy born in August 1987, M, a boy born in January 1991, and J, a girl born in January 1992. The children are now 14, 11 and 10 years old. The appeal concerns the two younger children. The father of P, the eldest child, played no part in these proceedings. The mother met the father of M and J in 1987. They started to cohabit in 1989. Serious problems emerged in May 1999 when P ran away from home and

Financial planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial planning - Essay Example The purchase of own residence would require one time down payment for the property. The salaries and the income of the household are mostly spent in the expenses for livelihood and therefore the source of funds is an issue for the couple to purchase the property. The couple is also worried about Vincent’s health as he is prone to heart attack as a hereditary symptom for which the family needs idle funds during emergency. The third on the priority list is to plan for a holiday tour in Europe which is desired by the client. Educational Planning Vincent and Linda are concerned about the high school education of their child Julie who is about 3 years old at present. The couple want to save for their child’s education in about 9 years time for which they wanted to start saving. The issues related to the education planning of their child is that Vincent may lose his job of an accountant due to strategic take-over of his employer by another bigger player in the industry. Also Vincent and Linda are not expecting any further increase in their salaries in the recent years. Thus the financial constraints in financing their child’s education could be serious issue for Vincent and Linda. Investment planning The investment planning of Linda is the next issue that is being faced. While Linda and Vincent are concerned about streamlining her investments, they also have the obligation to meet their monthly instalments payments of various liabilities. This requires sorting out of Linda’s superannuation funds which is currently distributed into three different schemes into one scheme so that the payments and receipts could be properly tracked. Risk Management Vincent and Linda should take into account the risk of repayment of new credit card debt that they have acquired recently. This requires a payment of $5000 on a monthly basis while the actual surplus of the family is $3000 after meeting all expenditures. Thus the client faces the issue of defaultin g on the payment of credit card debt. Financial planner’s assistance to the client The various ways in which the client could be assisted through financial planning in order to address the identified needs are given as follows. Assistance: Home and Health needs In order to address the first three needs against which specific issues have been identified as above, the client should be advised to undertake loans from the banks as well as undertake investment strategies to increase their wealth in order to meet the needs within a period of five years. In order to buy the home, the client could be advised to undertake a loan from the bank for purchase of property. By showing their employment proofs, the client would be able to get the loans. The savings of rental payments which were happening before could be used to accumulate funds for meeting medical emergencies like heart attacks. The accumulated savings could also be used to finance holiday plans as per the priority of the cli ent (Cordell, 1999, p.57). Assistance: Educational needs The educational need of their child is ranked fourth in the priority list of Vincent and Linda’

Freud and Neuroses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Freud and Neuroses - Essay Example According to psychodynamic theory, neurosis, are the manifestations of one's attempts to ignore unconscious conflicts (Ricker 2006). Prior to Freud doctors and analysts believed that neuroses - metal disorders like depression, excessive anxiety were due to heredity. However, detailed investigations led Freud to believe that it was the malfunction of sexual instincts of childhood or adulthood that was at the bottom of neuroses, "there are grounds for regarding the neurosis as an acquired one, careful enquiry directed to that end reveals that a set of noxae and influences from sexual life are the operative aetiological factors" (Standard Edition, 1905 3: 99). Though some causes like emotional imbalances, physical tiredness, and stressful mishaps, other acute illnesses were more prominent, they were only secondary reasons for neurosis. According to Fine (1962) "Freud's thought in the 1890's centers around one major clinical observation: Neurosis involves a defense against unbearable ide as." (p.12) Using the concept of inner conflict, which is central to all psychoanalysis, Freud observed two distinct processes, the dominant one that propelled towards immediate release, and the other secondary one that tried to keep things under check and control; these he later named as 'ego and id' (Fine, 1962:13). Freud states that, "The tension between the harsh super-ego and the ego that is subjected to it, is called by us the sense of guilt; it expresses itself as a need for punishment" (Civilization and Its Discontents, 1962: 70). Fine observes the accuracy of Freud's analyses as "the primary and secondary processes, the main trend and the compromise trend of the nervous system, the two biological rules of attention and defense, the indications of quality, reality, and thought, the state of the psycho-sexual group, the sexual determination of repression, and, finally, the factors determining consciousness as a perceptual function" (Fine, 1962:10). The essay titled "Sexual Aberrations" in the three essays that explicate Freud's The Theory of Sexuality (1905) states that "the tension" created by the conflict, was "to be relieved the libido needs an object" and the object may be anything, including "male and female genitals" (Fordham, 1992:11-12). The ego is introduced through the introduction of an inner conflict - which sets in motion the 'anxiety'. In neurotics however, when the vision of the object is lost, it is perceived as the loss of the object itself, the imaginary sense of loss is thus, slightly more exaggerated. Which loss becomes 'unbearable'; ego is able to keep alive this perceived loss in short, he explored the conflict as two sides with the defense idea on one side and the 'unbearable' idea on the other. And from his investigations he understood that the 'unbearable' idea mostly involved the past of the neurotic patient, rather than a happening of the present (Fine, 1962:10). Repression and Hysteria Fordham observes that, "Freud had extensive evidence from the psychoanalysis of the neuroses, especially hysteria and the obsessional neuroses, in which he discovered the so-called perversions that had become repressed." (1998:12). Furthermore, for Freud, the concept of "repression," was very important to his

Can People Choose their Identity?

Can People Choose their Identity? Can People Choose their Identity? Discuss in Relation to the Media This question raises two issues that are currently at the forefront of political and social debate – namely those of publicly displaying a belonging to a particular culture or society, and the ideological notion of choice. In addressing the question of choosing our cultural identity we have to establish what we understand by the term ‘cultural identity’ and, secondly, if we (as individuals) are able to freely choose an identity. For the purpose of this discussion I will attempt to unpack what is meant by the catch-all term ‘cultural identity; and also if it is something that can be ascribed to a person or if, indeed, a cultural identity is indelibly inscribed. Of course the idea that an individual is born to a certain set of social and cultural values has not been taken seriously since the advent of cognitive and behavioural theories of human socialisation. In fact use to the term national identity had been appropriated to cover these reductive descriptions. The debate surrounding cultural identity is often conflated with that of the construction of national identity, and in some cases a cultural identity comes from an association with a specific national identity, for example Irishness with a rigid set of conventions that determine the individual as different from being English, or even British. The words culture and nation can have wide ranging definitions depending on the context in which they are used. They are complex terms in their own right, and Raymond Williams has written a definition of what culture is, he states ‘the complexity, †¦, is not finally in the word but in the problems which its variations of use significantly indicate’ (Williams 1976:92). In order to set the terms of reference for this discussion a cultural identity is more fluid than a national identity. Anderson has stated in his definition of a nation, ‘it [a nation] is an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign’ (Anderson 1991:6). The nation state is imagined by its population as it is not possible for individuals to know all the members of that state, it therefore only exists as an imaginary construct within the individual. The human individual is a complex mixture of social and behavioural experiences and these factors are often obtained through socialisation within the family; social influences gained through friends and school; gender; and influence from various forms of mass media. First and foremost it is familial and social influences that determine our sense of identity. It is through the primary socialisation from our parents that a person develops a sense of the self and with it a consciousness of who and what they are. An individual begins to position her/himself in relation to other people who they know and have contact with. This environment is similar to that observed by Bourdieu who used the term ‘habitus’. He wrote ‘the habitus is both the generative principle of objectively classifiable judgements and the,system of classification†¦of these practices’ (Bourdieu 1984:170). This definition returns to the relationship between class and capital in the construction of a sense of the self, and the spaces occupied by that individual. The habitus can describe a place or space that a person feels comfortable inhabiting on a regular basis. For instance as a student I feel that my habitus is the university. This is a place where I feel that I belong to a wider community (of students) who have common interests and goals in their lives. The habitus may also be a location in which social conformity is necessary in order to be a part of that community. I am thinking here of dressing and talking in a certain way, acting or behaving. The habitus applies equally to gang culture. These are sub-cultures that have their own hierarchies and rules that must be followed in order for a member to remain a part of it. The fact that many of these rules are dysfunctional, for example initiation into that gang through violent or anti-social behaviour, is irrelevant. Bike gangs such as Hells Angels display these rigid rules whereby the identity of a member is determined by the wearing of group’s name along with the Hells Angels logo. Such has been the spread of this culture it is globally recognised as indicative of a particular cultural identity enjoyed by its members. This type of culture is typified by an association with certain objects, and in the case of Hells Angels motorcycles are the outward unifying signifiers. Members of this sub-culture have chosen this as their cultural identity – their machines, clothes, tattoos define who they are. And as with many sub-cultures membership is an act of public opposi tion to the dominant culture from which they emerged. Gang culture provides us with some easy to spot visual indicators of belonging to a particular culture. Other forms of cultural identity can be harder to unravel without providing a reductive account of that culture, for instance one based on race or religion. The most important factor that affects cultural identity is the mass media (film and television). The visual media have become an intrinsic part of the way we live our lives – mainly through the consumption of goods and services. Tomlinson (1989) has referred to a diachronic and synchronic way in which culture has developed over time. The former refers to a linear, historical form of evolution whereby one thing follows another. However in the contemporary image saturated world synchronic cultural development has taken place. Images are used in order to make meaning. One image relates to another but not necessarily in a linear and consequential manner. Styles can then be forged that are based on samples from other styles, resulting in meaning being derived from pure simulacra (Baudrillard 1982). This notion of the image breaks the linkage between sign and signifier and consequently changes the way in which we make meaning from images. The argument states that in a world dominated by signifiers (images) the concept of truth becomes meaningless as there is no such thing as a single truth or reality, a person can take what they want from images and that becomes a truth personal to the individual. In this way rap culture has taken this direction. It has taken other forms of representation in popular culture (such as soul music, rapping, reggae/dance hall) and produced something that has been socially radical for African Americans but has now become a global cultural identity for many people; an identity disseminated through television and film. In some ways the music has been appropriated by social groups to provide a cement for their identity. This has been evidenced by the use of jewellery, clothing, and speech. However although this is more of a general presence in social settings it is not true to say that rap is a cultural identity – it forms a part in the construction of a cultural identity, an identity that is also in opposition to mainstream white, male dominated culture. But can a white, Anglo-Saxon person be a part of this identity? Performers have tried, for example Vanilla Ice and Eminem, but they are active in the production and consumption of a good to be bought and sold. It is not the culture of rap, but the image (or rather the sound) that is being sold. The distinction between a cultural identity and a marketable product becomes strained at this point. The role of television and film in promoting products (music, clothes, cosmetics) and something that has a cultural resonance to an audience reduces an identity to a mere commodity. Gender roles are also affected by the adoption of certain forms of cultural identity. The rap/hip-hop culture has been criticised for the way in which women are portrayed. In quite vulgar ways women are portrayed as chattels and appendages to be worn like jewellery. This can be seen in music videos, lyrics in songs, and the language used by people who adopt this kind of life-style. But this is not only about representation, this kind of behaviour from women, as sex objects, is expected and it is a role that some women are expected to play out. So if females are to be a part of this identity they have to conform to a set of conventions that are regressive in their treatment as individuals and further compounds their status as secondary to men. In areas where particular cultural activities are dominant, then there is not necessarily the option of choice. If one lives in that community then one must behave in the way expected or be shunned by your contemporaries. The mass media are implicit in a process of ‘cultural imperialism’ (Tomlinson 1989) and promoting forms of street culture is a further extension of this process. Tomlinson put forward the argument that the global proliferation of television through satellite broadcasting and the selling of programme output at below cost has resulted in a homogenisation of culture throughout the world. Television can be accessed anywhere in the world and the social and moral values contained within this programming are spread to areas of the world where it previously did not have any influence. Not only does cultural imperialism pose a threat to indigenous cultures but selling programming cheaply makes it difficult for national broadcasters to make their own material, produced and performed by local people. The idea, then, of choosing your cultural identity is obscured by the influence of international mass media through the promotion of music, clothes, video games, and popular cultural f orms like film. Sport is one example of how cultural identity can be promoted and displayed in public, but it too raises some anomalies. During the recent cricket matches between England and Pakistan a reporter from BBC Radio 4 interviewed a group of British Asians and asked them who they were supporting. All of them supported Pakistan in the cricket, but then qualified it by saying they would support the England football team. Maybe this kind of poll shows more of people wishing to support favourites than any kind of partisan interest. However it does reveal that children of people from other countries who were born and educated in their adopted country show some ambivalence towards so called cultural identity. This identity can then be forged through the influence of mass media. In the time since Tomlinson wrote about cultural imperialism the volume and choice of television output has risen. There are many more niche channels catering for specific interests; international channels can be received such as those on the Asian Star satellite network. Access to this variety of material gives opportunity to sample images from different parts of the world, and children who have never left their adopted country experience sights and language vicariously and not just from their parents. In a sense there is some element of choice in selecting a cultural identity, but that is also contingent upon one’s own social and ethnic origins. However the definitions of the terms culture and nation dictate the complexity of the subsequent debate. The sociological study performed by Bourdieu (1984) comes closest within the limitations of this discussion. Cultural identity can also be seen as a particular life-style, one that is fuelled by the influences of the mass media, but also one that is influenced by social class, ethnicity, and the interests of capital. Indeed there are elements of choice to be made within particular life-styles but cultural identity cannot be selected and commodified as if it exists in a catalogue. Bibliography Adorno, Theodor.W (1972), The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception, in The Dialectic of Enlightenment (U.K: Herder and Herder). Anderson, Benedict (1991) Imagined Communities (London: Verso) Baudrillard, Jean (1983), Simulations, translated by Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman (New York: Semiotext (e)). Bourdieu, Pierre (1984) Distinction – social critique of the judgement of taste (London: Routledge) Tomlinson, John (1991) Cultural Imperialism (London: Pinter) Williams, Raymond (1976) Keywords (London: Fontana Press) American Civil War: Effects Of Industrialization American Civil War: Effects Of Industrialization The American Civil War is widely regarded as the first great war of the industrial age. The impact of industrialization is most obviously seen in the introduction of new types of weapons, particularly at sea: the first battle between ironclads; the first ship sunk by a submarine; the use of mines (then called torpedoes). Except for the ironclads, however, these maritime innovations were too primitive or experimental to have much impact on the outcome. The impact of industrialization upon the Civil War, it has been argued, was far more crucial on the logistic and strategic levels than in weapons deployed on the field of battle. Put in brief, the Civil War has been widely understood as a war between an industrial powerthe Northand a largely pre-industrial society, that of the South. The contrast in their industrial capabilities showed most directly in the scale and conditions of their respective railroad networks. We are interested in two aspects of this familiar analysis. First, was it true? Second, and more subtly, to what degree were contemporaries aware of it? To the first point we must return at the end of this essay; we will only pause here to note that the Unions industrial superiority has become, along with the Confederacys structural internal weaknesses, the standard explanation for the outcome of the war. The second question is an interesting and important one in its own right; moreover, it bears upon the first. We have become accustomed to what may broadly be called an economic interpretation of war, and it is a modern commonplace that an industrial power has an overwhelming military advantage over a nonindustrial society. The more industrialized power can call upon both superior technology (e.g., advanced jet fighters) and upon a much greater and more reliable supply of materiel of all sorts. However, in the mid-nineteenth century, industrialization and modern technology were too new to have yet made a deep psychological impact. The British army, for example, issued until 1840 a little-modified version of the Brown Bess musket that had first been introduced before 1700. Until about the same time, Britannia ruled the waves with ships that were essentially only refined versions of those that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. Long before the industrial revolution, Western armies were routinely defeating non-Western opponents; the did so not through superior weapons or resources, but by an exceptionally formidible military tradition, ultimately perhaps the heritage of Rome. The Civil War, however, pitted two sides that shared the Western military heritage, but differed greatly in their industrial capacity. Robert E. Lee was most certainly not outclassed by any Union general in his understanding of the principles of modern (by 1860 standards) warfare. The generals of the two sides had learned their trade side by side, at West Point, in Indian wars, and in the Mexican War. In their understanding of the battle field arts there was no significant difference between the two sidessave, perhaps, that Southern generals were on the whole better at it. In Lee, the Confederacy had from the outset a field commander and strategist of the first class; Lincolns struggle to find an adequate field commander is famous. The South was, moreover, the most martial part of the United States (itself a cause of its advantage in generals). In fighting qualities, Confederate soldiers of every rank were certainly the equal of their Union counterparts, yet in the end the South lost. We argue that it lost largely because of the Unions industrial superiority, but to what degree was anyone, on either side, aware of this fact? Moreover, if the leaders (and people) of one or the other, or both, of the warring sides were not fully aware of these factors, to what degree could they make use of them? Let us begin the industrial comparison with the industry and technology that had the most direct impact, not on the battlefield but behind it. The North had a very much more extensive rail network, with not quite two and a half times as much rail mileage as the South. The Union could employ this network to move troops and materials to where they were needed; moreover, it had the basic industrial capacity to sustain and enlarge its rail network under the stress of war. In contrast, the railroad network of the South, limited to begin with, could not sustain itself in the face of either destruction at the hands of Union raiders, ormore important in the long runthe daily wear and tear of wartime operation. By the later years of the war, the Souths railroads were essentially useless, while the North was able to extend its railheads at need to meet the requirements of its forces. Even before the Souths railroads were worn down, this difference of degree was sufficient to be also a difference of kind; the Norths rail system was a true network, offering multiple routes between any given destinations. This both increased effective capacity, since troops and supplies could be sent along two or more routes, but also allowed the system to function even if a particular link were cut, by accident, a Confederate raid, or even a major Confederate advance. In contrast, the Souths railroads were more isolated; if a line was lost, there often was no other that could be used. Now, the Civil War was not the only major war of its era in which industrial powers were ranged on one or both sides. The decade and a half bracketing the Civil War saw a series of European wars, from the Crimean War to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Although the first of these saw the introduction of ironclads for shore bombardment, it was essentially a pre-industrial war. By contrast, the War of 1870 was thoroughly industrial: both sides deployed new types of long-range battlefield weapons, while the Prussians won their decisive victory largely through their use of their railroads for mobilization and troop deployment. This use of railroads was an innovation by the Prussian General Staff, and was far more systematic than any use of railroads during the Civil War. Moreover, there is no reason to think that the Prussian planners were inspired by the Civil War railroad experience, or even that they were particularly aware of it. European military thinkers, indeed, tended in general to ignore the Civil War. It has been suggested that they did so to their great cost; the Civil War foreshadowed the First World War in that it showed what might happen in the industrial age if neither side in a war succeeded in delivering a swift knockout blow Therein lay the difference between the experience of railroads in warfare during the Civil War and during the War of 1870. No one on either side in the Civil War had neatly drawn-up timetables of the Prussian sort; in the nature of the case they could not. The use of railroads in the Civil War was discovered by improvization and experience. As we will see, the readiness to improvise and learn from experience was perhaps the subtlest, but mist profound, advantage that the Unions commanders had over their Confederate counterparts. The duration of the Civil War also expanded the strategic scope of railroads. In the War of 1870, the Prussian railroads had essentially done their work by the time the major military encounters began. In the Civil War, generals on both side found occasion to employ railroads in strategic movement. Here the advantage lay with the Confederacy, simply because it operated along interior lines; as early as the Shiloh campaign of 1862, they were able to move forces over hundreds of miles in order to concentrate them against Grant. Returning for now to the purely material aspect of industrialization, behind railroads lay a difference in overall industrial capacity. This industrial capacity not only underlay the sustenance of the rail network itself, but determined the degree to which supplies of all sorts, from artillery pieces to provisions to boots, could be provided. Items that sound trivial to the modern civilian were crucial to the soldier in the field; in one letter, a Confederate army nurse begs desperately for shoes, and her brothers in the ranks must have felt the lack even more urgently. At the most fundamental level of all, industrial capacity determined the degree to which manpower could be released for military service. At the beginning of the Civil War, the North was already a relatively urban society, in which a minority of the population (primarily the farmers of the West) were able to provide the necessities of life to the rest. A great deal of manpower could therefore be mobilized, year-round, without cutting critically into the Norths ability to survive. In contrast, the South was an agrarian society. It is true that much of the Souths prewar agriculture was cash-cropping, not subsistance, but this did not alter the fundamental issue. Once the Souths cash-crop market was denied it, it was thrown back upon its own resources to feed itself, and a substantial fraction of the healthy male population was required, at least at some times of the year, to be available to work the land. Desertions, particularly around harvest and planting times, were a perennial problem for the South. Above all, the industrial capacity of the North allowed the Union to put a much larger army in the field, ultimately tw ice the size of the Confederate army, approximately 600,000 as against 300,000. Finally, in speaking of the Souths wartime economic crisis, we are brought around in a sense to our starting pointthe maritime dimension of the war. The wars naval innovations were, in and of themselves, inconsequential. Had neither side had ironclads, or had there been no experiments with mines, torpedoes, or submarines, the outcome would not have been significantly different. The one exception is only partial, because it applies to a technology that was no longer innovative by 1861: steam propulsion. On the open sea, even steam changed nothing fundamentally; the Union could have blockade the South as well with sailing frigates as it did with steamers; the British had done so quite effectively during the War of 1812. On the Mississippi and other rivers, however, the situation was different. Sailing ships cannot operate effectively in the confined and shallow waters of a river, while oared galley gunboats are limited in size, and therefore the number and power of guns they can carry. They are in any case very costly in manpower, and cannot row upstream save on a very slow-flowing river. The Unions river operations, which eventually succeeded in cutting the Confederacy in two, were therefore distinctly a feature of the steam age. Moreover, on the rivers, as everywhere else, the Norths industrial might showed to effect. The South might have lacked a significant oceangoing merchant marine or blue-water shipbuilding capacity, but river steamers had long been a major feature of Southern life. Here, if anywhere, the South might have been able to compete on equal terms. But the North had the capacity to build and man large numbers of armed river steamers, including ironclads and tinclads. In the event, the South lost control of the Mississippi well before its armies on either bank were defeated, but once it lost the river, those armies were cut off and could no longer support one another. But we must now return to seapower, as opposed to river power, and thus to perhaps the most fundamental of all the consequences of the Norths industrial superiority. The industrial North had the shipbuilding capacity (and, perhaps equally important, the maritime community) to establish and maintain dominance at sea. The Union blockade could be run, but it could not be broken, so the South was never able to re-open the vital trade link by which it might have been able to export its cotton and thereby purchase and import munitions and other sinews of war. For the ordinary Southernereven for a Confederate generalthe economic strangulation of the South did not appear in a strategic light, but simply as a difficult fact of life. Inflation and shortages eventually rendered Confederate money more or less worthless, but in the memory of Confederate General Basil Duke, the money itself became almost irrelevant, having only a symbolic meaning. The South was thrown back effectively on a subsist ance economy, and there is a heroic quality in the ability of the Confederacy to supply its armies at all, even if badly. The fact of the blockade, and the Souths inability to break it by a decisive victory at sea, had a more more immediate military impact, however, than that of the eventual threat of starvation. It forced upon the South a fundamental inequality of objectives on the battlefield. Other things being equal, the Confederacy was doomed to be sooner or later strangled by the blockade. The only way it could escape this fate was by winning decisively on the field of battle. It had either to smash the Union armies so thoroughly that the North lay open to invasion, or at the least deal so crushing a blow that the Norths population lost the will to fight. In fact, thanks to its excellent generals, the Confederacy came close to doing so, but never quite close enough. In contrast, the Union had only to hold on, and avoid the defeat or demoralization that the Confederate generals sought so desperately to inflict. Its ultimate strategic victory was in effect certain, if only it could avoid defeat in the meantime. On occasions it barely did so, but the point remains that the fundamental objectives of the two sides were not equivalent, but rather complementary, and in a way that favored the North. The Confederacy had to win its battles. The Union had only to avoid losing them. Lee could not afford to go on winning and retreating, whereas Grant could afford to go on losing and advancing. We may now turn back to the matter of perception. Confederate generals, as noted earlier, were on the whole superior to their Union counterparts; this is one of the most familiar facts of the war, and has entered deeply into what may be called the legend of the war, particularly on the Southern side. Had Lincoln and Jefferson Davis begun the war with one anothers generals, we may suspect that it would have been ended very much earlier. But there is some evidence that many Southern commanders had a persistant blind spot in understanding that one aspect of industrializationrailroadsthat impinged directly upon their military tasks. Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, for example, was distrustful if not scornful of the new technology of mechanized rail transport. He eventually gained some awareness of how railroads could be used in the movement of troops and material, but he was slow to do so. This blind spot was not universal, as the Shiloh concentration showed, but it may have been characteristic. The martial culture of the South was broadly backward-looking. To many Southerners, the railroad may have appeared not exactly as a Yankee innovation, but as part of that alien, urban, smokestack culture, foreign to their experience and values. Railroads hardly appeared in the Union soldiers vision either, however; Harvey Reid, who had the advantage of being a headquarters staffer with Shermans army, mentions railroads only in the context of the destruction of railroad facilities at Atlanta. This might well be a consequence simply of the of the fact that the Union forces were on the offensive; in the railroad age, unless enemy railroads were captured intactand the enemy was seldom so carelessthe railheads were left behind as soon as an army began to advance. In general, the industrial inequality of the two sides in the Civil War seems to have been little-recognized by contemporaries, at least in the general and conceptual sense. The importance of railroads was acknowledged, at least in a negative sense; destruction of enemy railroads was always a prime goal of raiders on both sides. But of the broader industrial disparity we find little acknowledgement. From the perspective of both sides, this is perhaps inevitable. Considering the Northern view first, the advantages of their superior capacity was something they probably took for granted. Soldiers do not write home to their wives to delight in the fact that ammunition, food, and shoes are available. So long as they remain available, they are largely taken for granted. More generally, if at the outset of the war many Northerners had the perception that their industrial superiority would assure victory, they were quickly disabused of it by the early and continued successes of Confederate armies. In the case of the South, something of a mirror image applies. If Southerners at the start of the war had held the perception that the Unions superior industrial base ensured its ultimate victory, they would scarcely have succeeded from the Union and marched to war with the confidence that they did. And, again, their victories long gave them reason to think they might prevail. As the effects of the disparity gradually made themselves felt, they appeared in the form of perennial shortages; a generals remark on high prices and the worthlessness of money, a nurses plea for shoes. On the ground, the fact was that Confederate armies fought well, and with determination, almost to the very end. We must come around again, then, to the first of the questions posed early in this discussion. Did the industrial superiority of the North lead to its victory. The consensus of historians is that it did. But as Gabor Boritt trenchantly points out, in much of the recent scholarly study of the Civil War and its outcome, the fact of the war itself seems almost to drop out of the equation. In response, he argues that the outcome was, in fact, ultimately contingent. In spite of all the material advantage accruing to the North, the Confederate armies won many of their battles; had they won a few moreGettysburg comes to mindthe Union war effort might have begun to disintegrate, and the war would then have had to be settled upon terms. A comparison may be made to the First World War; Germany was economically overwhelmed in much the way that the South was, but German offensives still came close to breaking the Allied armies as late as the summer of 1918. Had they done so, then (regardless of the specific terms of settlement), the war would have gone down as a German victory. Where the disparity of industrial power made itself felt, as was suggested earlier, was in the unequal victory conditions forced upon the two warring sides. To bring the war to a satisfactory close, the Confederacy had to win a strategically decisive victory, while the Union had only to avoid a strategically decisive defeat. Particularly in the earlier part of the warbefore the consequences of the industrial factors made themselves directly feltthe difference was critical. Had Jefferson Davis had as much difficulty finding a good general as Abraham Lincoln did, the outcome of the war might have been very different. The South had to win in the field, and it very nearly did. The North had to avoid defeat in the field, and it just managed to do so. That is the ultimate measure of the disparate industrial capacities of the two sides.