The Incredibly Usable Cattail :: Botany

The Incredibly Usable Cattail Is it possible that cattails were the reeds in which baby Moses was hidden? Their range does include nearly all the continents. And even though cattails are wide ranging, commonly known plants, few know of their versatility. Nearly the entire plant can be eaten, excluding the leaves. Cattails were used many different ways medicinally, from a topical ointment to an internal remedy. The plants have also been used in a wide variety of miscellaneous purposes. Mostly, they have been used for weaving, but they also have been used for filling and more (Coon 1960). Although taxonomists have historically had trouble defining a couple species, North American cattail nomenclature is fairly straightforward. Cattails are monocots of the order Typhales, subdivided into two families: Sparganiaceae or the bur-reed family and Typhaceae. Typhaceae, the cattail family, is comprised only of the genus Typha. Four species of Typha occur in North America. The four North American cattails are: T. latifolia, T. angustifolia, T. glauca, and T. domengensis. T. latifolia has a range including Europe and Asia (Mohlenbrock 1970). In North America, it ranges widely from Alaska, through Canada, throughout the U.S. and into Mexico (Hotchkiss & Dozier 1949). It is common in every county in Illinois (Mohlenbrock 1970). T. angustifolia grows in Africa, Europe, and Asia (Mohlenbrock 1970). In North America, it ranges from the Northeast to the Midwest and also California (Hotchkiss & Dozier 1949). In Illinois it occurs throughout most of the state (Mohlenbrock 1970). Besides North America, T. qlauca and T. domengensis are also found in Europe. These two however, do not occur in Illinois. In the U.S., T. glauca ranges from the upper Midwest and Northeast down the Altantic coast to Florida and into Alabama. It also occurs in California. T. domengensis, being well adapted to brackish waters, grows along the coast from Delaware to Mexico and also occurs in the Southwest. Many common names are used for cattails. T. latifolia goes by the name broadleaf cattail, common cattail and soft flag. T. angustifolia has been called narrow leaf cattail and nail rod. Blue cattail and blue flag describe T. glauca. T. domengensis is commonly known as southern cattail. Other names include flagtail, marsh beetle, blackcap, water torch and candlewick, cat-of-nine tails and reed mace (Coon 1960). Some Native American names have been translated as prairie chicken feathers, eye itch, and roof grass. Typha's wide range can be accounted for by several features both physiologically and anatomically.

Private Security after 9/11 Essay

The Transportation Security Administration   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Two months after the 9/11 attacks, the Congress ratified the Aviation and Transportation Security Act or what is known as the ATSA, creating what is known as the Transportation Security Administration (The Heritage†¦ 2006). According to the assumptions to the federalization of airport security, all passengers are uniformly suspicious and should have similar analysis, and the principal aim of the airport security is to observe and confiscate hazardous objects such as knives, bombs and guns, resulting to the creation of TSA which cause an extensive cost without making Americans perceptively safer (The Heritage†¦, 2006). Transportation Security Administration or the TSA which is a part of the Aviation and transportation Security Act ratified by the US Congress and signed by George W. Bush on November 19, 2001 is a United States government agency that was formed immediately after the tragedies at the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001 (TSA 2007). The TSA was originally structured in the U.S. Department of Transportation but on March 01, 2003 was reassigned to the US Department of Homeland Security with the responsibility for the safety of the country’s system of transportations. With the regional, local, and state partners, the Transportation Security Agency with approximately 50,000 employees, watches over and administer the security and safety of railroads, buses, ports, transit systems, highways, and 450 United States Airports (TSA 2007). Among the airports includes the Sioux Falls Regional Airport and the San Francisco International Airport, which uses private security under contract with the Transportation and Security Administration in inspecting passengers and bag gages. The TSA is responsible in the safety and protection of all types of transportation such as rail, pipelines & highways, and aviation in which the huge majority of its employees can be found. Before the creation of TSA the security screening is managed by the private companies who had contracts with either, a terminal, an airline or an airport operator. Private security agencies have been authorized by the Transportation and Security Administration in providing security but these agencies are under the permission or approval of the TSA. TSA was assigned in the development of policies in ensuring the security and safety of any forms of transportation especially the US air traffic. The Transportation and Security Administration supervise the Federal Air Marshall Service until it was shifted to the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 1, 2003, and in the US Government’s fiscal year in 2006, the Federal Air Marshall Program was shifted back again to the TSA. The TSA is accountable for operation in screening passengers’ items and luggage in all US Commercial airports, and combating baggage theft in many airports. TSA has also receives many criticisms concerning airport operations and this includes, complaints mistreatment of invasion privacy, engaging I security theater, theft of airline passenger possessions, sales of items collected from passengers, skipping security checks, failure on the use of common sense and judgment, and failure to screen and detect fake bombs brought by an undercover TSA agent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Intense implementation deadlines required by the US Congress, limited terminal space, high investment on baggage screening equipments, and limited number of screeners, combined to generate huge inefficiencies and because of this $2.5 billion dollars have been spent just for the baggage screening equipments as of September 2004 in spite of high error rate and low performance of the expensive explosive detection system or EDS. Transportation Security Today   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Before September 11, 2001, transportation safety within the United States was restricted in purpose and in degree. Total federal spending for all transportation security was less than $200 million a year, with most of that devoted to passenger aviation. Subway surveillance cameras and transit police sought detect or stop criminal activity, and customs agents at ports look for smugglers. The only division that had received essential resources and security policy awareness from the US Federal Government, the importance was tremendously shifted overseas (William Johnstone, 2006, p. 1). Many have explained the success of the 9/11 attacks as mainly the result of imperfect intelligence, but the available evidence indicates the primary negligence was that of the aviation security system. The whole history of the system, as well as the testimony received by the 9/11 Commission indicates that its defenses could only respond effectively with the kind of actionable and specific intelligence that all agree is always in short supply (William Johnstone, 2006, p. 2). The federal government responded to the 9/11 with a flurry of Congressional and Executive Branch initiatives, including: the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 (ATSA), which created the Transportation Security Administration to be responsible for the security of all modes of transportation and established the deadlines for the implementation of the a number of specific aviation security measures, the Marine Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) which set the security guidelines for ports and ships, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) which established new department of homeland Security (DHS) by combining twenty two separate federal agencies, including TSA, the Coast Guard, the Customs Ser vice, and the Federal Management Agency (FEMA) The 2002 legislation creating the 9/11 Commission which was to examine and report upon the facts and causes relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and investigate and report to the President and Congress on its findings, conclusions and recommendations for corrective measures that can be taken to prevent acts of terrorism, a series of Homeland Security Presidential directives (HSPDS), including the December 2003 HSPD-& which called for DHAS to produce a comprehensive integrated National Plan for Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Protection, and lastly, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention act of 2004 which turned many of the 9/11 commission’s recommendation including those relating to transportation security into statutory mandates (William Johnstone, 2006). The increased federal policy attention was accompanied by a substantial rise in federal funding for the Transportation Security, which rose from less than $150 million in Fiscal years (FY) 2001 to more than $7.7 billion in FY2005, but four years after 9/11, after a several, a series of federal laws, reorganization, and executive directives, after more than $25 billion in few federal security investments, major questions remain about the effectiveness of all the elements of the new system. Aviation Security With the layers of aviation security the intelligence security sector of the TSA is more pertinent to decision and leadership of its agency doing procedure than its forerunner in the FAA, but even if it is two times as large as its forerunner, it stays considerably understaffed and its agents are now distributed much fewer with duties for the modes of transportation not just in aviation (William Johnstone, 2006). Development has been recounted in perimeter security of airports through a lowering in the access points of airports, an rise in vehicles entering airports and in, surveillance of individuals and some enhancements in background checks of airport employee, though, small has varied in the divided responsibilities of the old systems for â€Å"access control†, with US Federal Government, and to a lesser degree the airlines all having a function (p. 6).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   General aviation security has not been substantially has not been substantially upgraded, with neighbor pilots, passengers, baggage, nor cargo subjected to security screening, and threat and vulnerability has assessment have yet to be undertaken for most general aviation airports. A December 2004 Congressional report, criticized TSA for failing to understand the risk from small private planes, provide useful threat information to general aviation airports, and enforce security compliance by charter airlines and flight schools (p. 6). Similar weaknesses persist to continue in air cargo security, and reportedly only 5% of all cargo is presently screened, and the GAO has stated that carrying cargo aircraft persist to be highly susceptible to sabotage of terrorist. TSA has stated sets of regulation for security of air cargo but usual for rule making, the procedure is progressing very slowly, and even if concluded, the new rules would give fewer features on how freight industry, which is anticipated to execute the security program, is to perform this groundless mandates (p. 6).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Four years of going through have educated us that the United States government can’t do the work better compared to the private sector and this should not come as unexpected because absolutely every nation that has utilized government screeners has reached similar conclusion (The Heritage†¦, 2006). When nations first attempt to prevent airline hijacking in the 1970’s, most countries originally used government staffs to enhance security at airports through justice agency or government transportation, and in the start of the 1980’s the European airports starts developing a â€Å"performance contracting model† with which the government impose and establish high performance standard with which airports did by employing security companies. Belgium was the 1st to do this mode in 1982, in 1983 this was emulated by the Netherlands, in 1987 by the United Kingdom, and a new wave of conversions to the â€Å"public private partnership model in 1990’s, in 1992 with Germany, 1993 in France, 1994 in Austria and Denmark, 1998 in Ireland and Poland, and 1999 in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland (The Heritage†¦, 2006). The GAO examined the security inspection methods of Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom reporting the excellent performance of airports in Europe using the performance contracting model. The GAO state the four parts of the important differences between European and US screening practices at the time, and these are, better overall security system design, higher training and qualifications prerequisite for screeners, better pay and benefits resulting in much lower turnover rates, and screening task given with the national government or the airport and not with airlines (The Heritage†¦, 2006). Reactive System   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the 1990 the Presidential Commission on Aviation and terrorism, which itself had been established only after the Pan AM 103 disaster, reported to the nation that the FAA was a reactive agency preoccupied with responses to events to the exclusion of adequate contingency planning in anticipation of future threats (William Johnstone, 2006). The main features of the pre 9/11 security system can be summarized as anti-hijacking measures (including checkpoint screening, profiling, and air marshals, the anti-sabotage measures including X-ray screening and positive passenger bag match at high risk airports, and additional measure such as explosive detection equipment, canine teams, and CAPPS (William Johnstone, 2006). Unpromising Future The hope for any important improvement in baggage and passenger security are depressing because instead of tasking each airport with securing its operations under the National Regulatory Supervision† as is ordinary in most other countries, Congress tackle the 9/11 failure of security by instructing in the Transportation Security Administration not only the regulatory responsibility but also the â€Å"service provision duties of the airport screening (The Heritage†¦, 2006). The TSA served as both an operator and passenger screener while the perimeter patrols, access control and law enforcement duties were to be done by the airports themselves under the FSD administration, creating a serious conflict of interest. The Need for Legislation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Primarily, the fault cannot be attributed alone with the TSA, but with the Congress which directed how the US government must tackle the problem, the Congress selected in concentrating on how the US government could make the pre 9/11 security check better rather than directing the vital issue of searching for the most effective and efficient method to stop terrorist off the plane. The Congress formed the problem and solving it will make Congress’ law to reshape the US government on the duties of stopping terrorist more willingly than focusing on the passengers’ luggage. The congress can begin by shifting the TSA into a much more different Aviation security Agency, and the Congress should push the US Government to get out of the screening business and transfer screening to airports, obliging only that they authorize contracts, set performance standards, and observe compliance (The Heritage†¦, 2006). The new ASA should enforce and set standards focusing on, certification of security companies with which an agency of the US Government evaluates the backgrounds of its directors and officers and financial stability of each firms, licensing of individual workers, initially as skilled security officers and then as specialized aviation agents, standards for benefits and salary to guarantee that people of highly skilled employees are hired and that they are motivated to stay with the company, and lastly, training of operating personnel and managers (The Heritage†¦, 2006). A New Model for Aviation Security The DHS should focus its attention to the development of the 21st century cargo system and international passenger security system that doesn’t waste resources by considering every package and person as an equal risk that needs screening and checks. A new â€Å"model system should distribute resources of security in comparison with the risk or danger, counting on what is called as â€Å"focused security† that place the most resources alongside with the highest risks. An enhanced â€Å"risk based approach† to recognize dangerous persons would make separation of passengers within the checkpoints of terminals into at least three distinct groups according to the quality and quantity of information known about each, such low risk passengers with which great deal is known, ordinary passengers or persons who are mostly infrequent flyers and leisure travelers, and high risk passengers or people whom nothing is known or having negative information about them. Also, different actions for bag and passenger screening should be done with each group to have an efficient system resources and passenger time allotment on methods that give little to the security of airport. The â€Å"risk based approach† would give noteworthy cost savings to both operating cost and capital while aiming funds of the airport security toward the passengers who are expected to pose threats to property and people, and those savings could be utilized to develop security in other areas and lower the passenger, airline, airport, and taxpayer’s cost (The Heritage†¦, 2006). The â€Å"risk based model would also lower the cost and size of   â€Å"checked baggage screening†, and the bags of RT members could be screened through X ray machines, lowering the EDS machines’ demand. Conclusion The US Congress can assist to tackle the country’s airport security requirement more effectively by insisting the 3 essential changes such as, reconstructing the TSA’s mission from giving airport security to being a policymaker of the aviation security, devolving screening responsibility to the airport level under the authorization of a director of the federal security, and lastly, requiring that the DHS labor to construct a new cargo and passenger security system that utilize a â€Å"risk based model† for the security of airports (The Heritage†¦, 2006). References Burns, V., Peterson, D. (2005).   Terrorism: A Documentary and Reference Guide.   New York: Greenwood Press. TSA – Transportation Security Administration. (2007). What Is TSA?. Retrieved December 23 2007, from http://www.tsa.gov/who_we_are/what_is_tsa.shtm The Heritage Foundation. (2006). Time to Rethink Airport Security. Retrieved December 23 2007, from http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandSecurity/bg1955.cfm Williams C. (2004).   Aircrew Security.   New York: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. William Johnstone, R. (2006).   9/11 and the Future of Transportation Security.   New York: Greenwood Press.            

A Research Paper on Estee Lauder

Much can be said for the company that gave us an array of fragrances, cosmetics, and apparel along the years. Esteà © Lauder Companies along with the its affiliates have come a long way from starting out as a small counter on Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City in the late forties.The company grew out to become a market leader in the cosmetics market in the United States. With sales amounting up to $ 6 billion in 2006, the â€Å"quite small† company that Joseph Lauder and his wife started is a typical success story emulated the world over.However, intrigues and controversies abound as the company that is still dominated by the Lauder family at present faces a dilemma whether to directly face the conflicts head on or just hold on and do business the usual way.SituationIn February of 2001, a pro-Palestinian group led a boycott on all Estee Lauder Companies products after allegations of pro-Israel activities that were done by Ronald Lauder, the current CEO of Estee Lauder Compani es. The boycott cost a decrease in the profits of the entire group of companies while at the same time affecting the image of the company as a whole because of the incident. Steps of remarketing strategies were done by the company so as to offset the negative effects of the boycott on the image of the entire company.This was preceded by a long standing legal battle of Ronald Lauder with Vladimir Zelezny and the Czech Republic in 1999 which has resulted to a pay out to the Estee Lauder chief executive by the Czech businessman which incidentally was elected as senator of Czech Republic.In addition, Estee lauder is facing the pressures of answering claims that the ingredients in some of its cosmetics offerings are cancerous and should not be sold in the market. Likewise, the company also has to address the growing number of natural alternative cosmetics in the market that is slowly eating up its market shares.ConflictThe boycott was received by the public with mixed reactions. Most of the Muslim population adhered to the group that started the boycott and saw Ronald Lauder as an alleged Zionist who, though a businessman, is really supportive of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The argument here is the legality and intent of Mr. Lauder to make such statements without considering the fact that he represents a large multinational company and anything that comes out of his mouth could affect the image and impression on the company that he leads.On the other hand, the actions that the head executive made towards political issues are viewed by some groups, particularly by Pro-Israeli groups as an exercise if his right of free speech and free actions. This was even answered by an anti-boycott which is geared to contradict the allegations that the chief executive of Estee Lauder did was the appropriate thing to do.The primary conflict here not exactly the question of whether Ronald Lauder did something that would please a certain group of people or not but the negati ve effects that the incident entailed on the image of the company, as well as Mr. Lauder himself. The effects can be exemplified by a significant decrease in the stock prices of Estee Lauder in the stock markets in 2001 which amounted to a continuous bearish descent and cost the company losses along the way.Estee Lauder’s marketing efforts have also been significantly affected by the perception towards Ronald Lauder. As a matter of fact, telecommunication ventures of the company in Europe, RSL Communications went bankrupt the same year after the incident. The operations of the telecoms company are mainly based in Europe and the United States.Furthermore, what happened in the media venture between Ronald Lauder and his Czech partner, Vladimir Zelezny resulted to a legal suit after the latter failed to release the license for the local network Nova which was under Lauder’s Central European Media Enterprises (CME). This further affected the image of the CEO and led to the bankruptcy of CME in 2000. This however was compensated by the damage fees that were awarded in favor of Ronald Lauder in 2003.Furthermore, the issue of Estee Lauder fooling customers over synthetic and toxic ingredients over their cosmetics is one serious conflict that the company is trying hard to face. For instance, a report by Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., chair of the Cancer Prevention Coalition in Chicago, indicated in one of his reports that most of the products that Estee Lauder sells in the market today contain certain carcinogens which could cause cancer through continuous use.He furthered that the products in particular that Origins released recently which claims to â€Å"optimize skin defense against skin age accelerators† have been deemed confusing and that the marketing strategy used here by Estee Lauder clearly hides the truth to its clients.In the same study that was published by Dr. Epstein, he claims that ingredients such as Limonene, PEG-100, among others a re known carcinogens all of which are present in the current product lines that the cosmetics company sells in the market. Also, the study includes the presence of Parabens and Bisabolol, both of which are known to disrupt endocrine functions of the body and penetrate skin respectively.With the growing market for more natural and animal-friendly cosmetics slowly eating up the market, Estee Lauder has to rethink its current marketing strategy and invest more on the product development of its cosmetic product lines in order to cope up with the high growth in demand in the market.

Surname Essays

Surname Essays Surname Essay Surname Essay Essay Topic: Mythologies In Ways of Seeing, John Berger focuses on the power of visuals. To demonstrate this, he uses the example of the oil painting of a woman, made entirely with a male viewer in mind. The intended purpose was to stir up the desire for a woman. The woman is aware, though subconsciously, that she is being watched; and so she acts in such a manner as to be watched. In today’s world, this same principle is applied to advertising. Instead of highlighting on what the consumer has now, the advertiser presents what the consumer lacks. By doing this, he leads the consumer into believing that he needs the product to have a better lifestyle. My assumption has been that people are fully aware of what they need. In the actual sense, advertisers use the element of visuals to suggest to us our need for the product; we are led to acquiring things we do not really need just because we do not have them. In his book titled Mythologies, Roland Barthes seeks to explain human behavior and in particular, the correlation between childhood and adulthood. He stipulates that the toys given to children prepare them for adult life; dolls prepare girls for motherhood, while videogames enable boys to take on challenges in life. At first glance, the society would be against the view of creating more dolls and video games. As a member of society, I am of the opinion to limit our young ones’ exposure to toys and give them educational material instead, books for example. However, looking deeper into this, stopping the production of toys would translate into children growing up without knowledge of their expected roles. The result would be a generation of people with theoretical knowledge unable to fulfill practical roles. Both Berger and Barthes employ Oulipo as a style in writing their work. It uses unique techniques aimed at inspiring deep thought among its readers. The technique used is known as constrained writing whereby the writer is limited to the use of certain patterns to create an aesthetic effect. The writers have used ordinary items in their stories and leave the reader with the task of deciphering the deeper meaning intended. In the film They Live, the caution given to the society is that things are not always, what they appear to be. When he puts on the special sunglasses, Nada experiences a completely new world; what were previously assumed ordinary men were seen for the aliens they really were. He also discovers other writings in a billboard that previously seemed to advertise only ordinary products. The movie is a reflection of the different viewpoints we may have of the same things. The movie could be a representation of two sides to the same coin. Applying this in real life means that sometimes it is necessary to change our point of view to see things in a different light. In the movie, it is not that the aliens were not visible to the naked human eye. They could be seen, but only as humans. The special sunglasses acquired by Nada are a symbol of a change in perspective that uncovered the guise of the aliens. We are surrounded by common features around us, but until we change our perspective, we will never realize the true beauty or even ugliness of those things. Society is of the view that it is possible to have lasting relationships. In her book, Lispector holds an opposite view. Through the failed relationships she includes in her book, she proposes that relationships are bound to break upon the discovery of some truths. She examines the imperfection of humans as the leading cause of failure and sadness in relationships. Society often chooses to blind itself to others’ faults, and in this, live a phony life. According to her, the only ways to maintain relationships is by recognizing the faults in each other and learn to live with them. Flarf is a type of style use to write poetry, achieved by putting together phrases from different websites. It does not take into account any of the styles applied to poetry, for instance alliteration, rhyming, repetition and others. The meanings of the poems may sometimes be disturbing or funny, depending on the content. However random the poems may appear to be, the writer always has an intention in writing them. It is more of an experimental type of writing than it is formal. In the beginning, it was considered as a poor form of poetry. However, with time, it is gaining recognition as a creative work of art. From Berger’s description of the oil paintings, one of the ways of seeing is through visuals. I have seen people judging the things around them at first sight, proving the power of the visual eye. For example, when I see a man in tattered clothes; my immediate assumption is that he is poor, even though that may not necessarily be the case. The next view held by Barthes is the subconscious mind. He proposes the relationship between now and the future. His idea is that whatever we do now has some correlation to the future. My example in this is when someone is kind to someone; he subconsciously expects the same treatment in return sometime in the future. Lastly, Lispector urges us to open our eyes to the faults of others and ours too. Blinding ourselves to reality will lead to bruising, as she puts it in her book. In today’s society, a good example is alcoholism. Alcoholics more often than not deny that they have a problem, presenting a hindrance to the solution. The biggest step in treating alcoholism is by seeing the problem for what it really is. Denial is not only on the part of the alcoholics but also on their immediate family. Once accepted the problem is treated and in the process, salvaging the relationships that would otherwise be damaged. In summary, the three ways of seeing thins are through the visual eye, the subconscious mind and by acceptance of reality. These views seem independent but ultimately, one view leads to another. Naturally, we first judge things by what we see with our eyes, like the paintings as demonstrated by Berger. What we have seen is then assimilated by the subconscious mind. Our habits, even the most insignificant ones, are driven by what we store in our minds. The final stage is acknowledgement of things, not just for what they appear to be but also for what they really are. Many times, we stop at the second stage if the situation is too grave for us to deal with. However, denying reality will not change a thing. Soulstorm is a book by Clarice Lispector, a Brazilian writer, which was initially written in Portuguese, but later translated into English in 1989. The stories in the book ascertain a world in which women and men are indulged in certain unexpected processes and events that are perfectly natural, but seem to be totally illogical to those who experience them. Though there is nothing special about the characters in the stories, their souls exhibit the turmoil culminating from the awareness of the immutable life truths of solitude, passion, mortality, fear and passion, which cause the constant turbulence in the lives of different human beings (Lispector 150). What the author means by the fact that all the stories in the book are bruising is the fact that all the characters in the stories encounter some sort of turmoil in their souls due to life’s truths that cannot be ignored. Most of the characters in the Soulstorm’s stories are women in their late seventies and eighties. This means that they have gone through life and are aware of the main aspects that make the human life in the world. The individual characters are obsessed with life rather than death but the life they live in is full of bruising experiences that leave them trying to understand the meaning of life. Dona Candida Raposo is the eight-year-old protagonist in the story â€Å"Footsteps†. She is so full of the desire for pleasure such that she decides to go to visit the gynecologist with the aim of identifying the solutions to her pleasure. The gynecologist suggested she finds a young man to meet her desire and when she does that, she experiences â€Å"silent fireworks† (Lispector 48). In the same manner, Maria Angelica de Andrade, the sixty-year-old protagonist of â€Å"But It’s Going to Rain,† decides to take a lover of nineteen years to cater for her desire for pleasure (Lispector 66). In the two cases, Lispector explores the growing pleasures of aging women who should be happy with the fact that even in the eighty and sixty years, they can find happiness in younger lovers. These stories however are not happy but have a bruising effect because the two protagonists view themselves as women mocked by life because to them love and desire at their advanced age is both shameful and ridiculous. Bruising can be reflected through characters that are running from one problem or the other. Sona Maria Rita, the seventy year old protagonist in â€Å"The Departure of the Train,† Sits on the train opposite to thirty year old Angela Pralina. While Sona Maria Rita is running away from her ambitious and cold daughter, Angela is running away from a hyper-rational and intellectual lover. The two form an unspoken relationship on their quest for a sense of self as well as dignity. Their lives might look fulfilled but they are bruising owing to the fact that they cannot find happiness with the people they love. Beautiful Carla the protagonist in â€Å"Plaza Maua,† loses her sense of self through the words of a trusted friend with whom she had built a strong friendship that turned sour. The friend shouts to her, â€Å"You are no woman at all! You do not even know how to fry an egg! And I do!† (Lispector 56) From a reflection on all the stories Soulstorm, Lispector views life and relationships as things that can never bring happiness to different people owing to the fact that the truths of life will never enable a person to have a happy life but it will always bring strife in the way of happiness. Most of the relationships forged in the book do not succeed, which reflects on the fact that Lispector believes that relationships cannot exist as long as the immutable life truths are in existence (Lispector 103). Her worldview is mostly bleak and it does not show some sense of light to hold on to because not all the relationships and lives of her characters succeed but they come to a sad ending. Soulstorm is a book by Clarice Lispector, which contains 29 stories. The first thirteen stories are identified as bruising stories because in all of them, the souls of the characters exhibit the turmoil culminating from the awareness of the immutable life truths of solitude, passion, mortality, fear and passion that cause the constant turbulence in the lives of different human beings. Most of the characters cannot find happiness in the new discoveries they make about life because these new discoveries only bring short-lived happiness while the consequences reflect on the bruising nature of life (Lispector 165). The relationships in the stories do not succeed as they are hindered by certain life truths. In conclusion, though the stories start at a happy and positive mood, they end with a sad and bleak mood owing to the discontentment felt by the characters, hence bringing out the bruising effect identified by Lispector. : Lispector, Clarice. Soulstorm: Stories. New York, NY: New Directions Pub, 1989. Print.

Marketing Management Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing Management Plan - Essay Example The beauty of competition in technology is beneficial to consumers, since superb products will be developed, that are efficient and effective in usage. Marketing of Samsung products is guided by the philosophy â€Å"At Samsung, we follow a simple business philosophy: to devote our talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society† ("Values & Philosophy†, n,p). Samsung objective is to sell to its consumers quality products that will satisfy their need. Delivering quality products to their customers is a form of marketing that will attract other consumers to Samsung products. Samsung is a renowned brand as far as electronics is concerned. Its products get a warm reception from different clients across the globe. It can be evidenced by its numerous branches in various countries. Being a technological company it has to ensure it meets the expectation of different segment of its clients. The older generation (generation X) may not be interested in the rate at which technology is being advanced, but they will appreciate it later. This generation is totally different with the generation Y and Z. The two generations are techno-driven and will be willing to pay more for any advancement in technology. (Mullins, and Orville, 2013, pg, 89), argued that members of these generations like sophisticated technology. Samsung over the years since its inception in 1969 has invested heavily in the research and development department. Credit has to be given to the Research and Development team for the current position of Samsung in the market. The core marketing objective o f Samsung is to try and entice the Y generation to embrace new technologies. It is because the rate of obsolescence in technology is higher than any other industry. Therefore, it will be a waste of resources producing â€Å"dead† technologies for a small market segment. Samsung headquarter is in Seoul, South Korea, therefore, its immediate customers are

Rising Oil Prices and the Scottish business Essay - 7

Rising Oil Prices and the Scottish business - Essay Example Scotland has a very rich history, and it has played a significant role in bringing in enlightenment to the United Kingdom as modern economics was born from the lush green meadows of Scotland. Over the period of time, Scottish businesses have developed their core competencies and reached to a point where they are significantly contributing towards the economy of the country. An analysis of the Scottish business industry would suggest that it is dominated by heavy industry such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steel industries. This stratification of the industry within the Scottish economy suggest that it is heavily reliant on much larger industries involved mostly into Business 2 Business kind of business transactions therefore key economic variables such as rising prices hardly have the impact on them.  A recent history of oil prices suggests that they are on increasing constantly due to various factors. Many analysts believed that rising demand from China and other emerging marke ts such as Brazil, Russia, and India created a strong increase in prices of oil all over the world. Besides, there are different seasonal patterns in production as well as consumption of oil, therefore, the oil prices tend to increase due to these seasonal patterns as well as strong demand from emerging markets. (IMF).  Further, there is a growing increase into the production of alternative energy sources such as ethanol which is selling at high prices, therefore, the oil prices in the market are also going to replicate that process because alternative products are selling at higher prices. Further, the depreciation of the dollar against major currencies such as the Euro is also considered as one of the major factors behind the increase in oil prices.  These rising oil prices, however, are being considered as a good omen for the Scottish business due to different reasons. The following section will discuss whether rising oil prices are good for Scottish businesses.

Management Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Management Finance - Essay Example In the following parts of this paper, first features of ABC have been provided in which entire ABC process has been included. Subsequently, comparison relating to selling price and selling volume with absorption costing has been included. After this step, budgeting and planning, budgeting and control, budgeting and performance evaluation and budgeting and motivation parts have been given before the conclusion. Activity-Based Costing (ABC) refers to as â€Å"It is a technique which involves identification of cost with each cost-driving activity and making it the basis for apportionment/assignment of costs over different cost objects/jobs/products/customers/services† (Pandikumar, 2009, p. 414). The analysis of this definition further highlights that ABC is mainly based on three fundamental activities: cost identification, activities and apportionment basis. Fundamentally, ABC is based on a sequence of activities in which costing process is carried out. In the first step, the process of identifying the activities is carried out in which organizational activities are properly pointed out; in the second step, computation of the cost of each activity is conducted; in the last step, the process of identifying the activity cost driver takes place which concludes the entire sequence of ABC (Ryan, 2014). And the typical examples of cost activities are schedule production jobs, machine set up costs, number of orders and number of batches (Ryan, 2014). In addition, cost pool and cost activities are two different activities. In the cost pool, total attached costs are combined and the combined costs are further allocated to cost activities. However, before allocating costs to cost activities, identification of drivers is of paramount importance. In the Berry Ltd, the company has budgeted machine set up costs $280,000, material ordering costs ($316,000), machine running