PLEASE CHOOSE A TOPIC....ABOUT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA Essay

PLEASE CHOOSE A TOPIC....ABOUT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA - Essay Example Crude marijuana, as researchers have been able to extract possesses more than 400 chemicals as a combination. This however occurs during smoking when all of these 400 chemicals split up into thousands of other chemicals themselves. Notwithstanding the nearly 12,000 studies done on the medical utility of marijuana, a staggering common consent does exist in the scientific community of late which suggests that the smoked form of marijuana cannot be termed as a medicine. According to a number of public-opinion polls that were conducted in America sometime back, Americans do not support the idea of liberalizing marijuana, just for the sake of it. They are simply not in the harmony with it and thus they do not allow their government to do anything of such nature. Thus this gives the drug pressure groups some food for thought whereby they abstain themselves from using the word "legalization" in their trading with the government and hence the people in particular, in this matter. This term has been substituted with preferred ones like harm reduction, decriminalization and even ‘medicalization’. However they (drug lobby groups) are hell bent upon achieving their goals, which are to approve the bill of medicinal marijuana as legal and free for all and sundry to research openly and extract benefits from. All this while, the public has taken a sensible and mature stance in remaining opposed to recreational use of marijuana. The drug ‘legalizers’, by hook or by crook are still endeavoring their best to get marijuana legalized. For this, they use dishonorable and disgracing tactics like mingling with the deceptive ballot referendums, which is not a good sign for the ill and sick people whose lives are at stake. Ethics also plays a big role here and medical people should try their best not to cross this human boundary, at any cost whatsoever. Marijuana ‘legalizers’ are usually of the claim that Americas prisons have overflowed with young

Monopolistic vs Oligopolistic Essay Example for Free

Monopolistic vs Oligopolistic Essay Monopolistic and Oligopolistic are pretty much the same except for the size of the manufacturing companies. In simple terms, a monopoly is where there is a single seller in the marketing industry and an oligopoly is where there is small group of sellers in the same field in marketing industries. When it comes to a monopolistic competition, this is where a market structure has a large number of sellers, each of which is relatively small and posse a very small market share. An oligopoly market is where there are fewer large producers who are present in the industry world and account for most of the output in the industry, there are many small firms but these few large firms dominate and have concentrated market shares. Oligopoly also has more barriers to entry than a monopolistic. I would say that Comcast the cable company is a Monopolistic competition in the market right now. The reason I say this, is because there is not much options for entertainment when it comes to cable. Comcast has made their name around the country, providing what other companies are not. Making them a monopoly amounts other companies. I would consider breakfast cereal companies an oligopoly because there are four breakfast cereal manufactures that I know of, Kellogg, Post, Quaker and General Mills. Because there are only four companies competing to make breakfast cereal, they are called an oligopoly. Whereas, only one company competing to provide cable TV to the customers, they are called monopoly.

True Brand Loyalty :: essays research papers

Introduction A company’s main question in relation to selling their products or services use do be: ,,How do I get people to buy my product?† Nowadays companies still greatly appreciate the answer to this question but they have also realized that getting customers is not the only thing they need to do. In today’s rapidly moving world consumers don’t stick with products for life. Advertisements and an increased feeling of independence have created consumers that will switch brands or products as soon as the feel the need to do so. What company’s look for in this consumer environment is creating a so-called brand loyalty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This paper will explore the ways companies go about in creating this brand loyalty and it will investigate the circumstances and effects that come with it. It will start of by thoroughly explaining what brand loyalty exactly is. After that an overview of key success factors stimulating brand loyalty will be given and we will have a look at how these factors are influenced by different conditions. Examples will be provided. The relationships between brand loyalty and brand commitment and satisfaction will be explored. Finally a conclusion will be reached on how important brand loyalty is to companies and for what reasons. What is Brand Loyalty?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before one can give a definition of brand loyalty one first has to make the distinction between repeat purchasing behavior and brand loyalty. ‘Repeat purchasing behavior is the actual rebuying of a brand.’ So the behavioral aspect of this action. Brand loyalty also includes ‘that behavior’s antecedents’. This means the reason or fact occurring before the behavior. When talking about brand loyalty we can yet again make a distinction between two types: On the one hand we have spurious brand loyalty and on the other true brand loyalty. The former was defined by Bloemer and Kasper as the ‘(1) biased (2) behavioral response (3) expressed over time (4) by some decision-making unit (5) with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brand, (6) which is a function of inertia.’ The key word here is inertia meaning without commitment towards the brand. Their definition the latter, and the most important one i n this paper, is exactly the same on the first five points but differs for the sixth adding ‘is a function of psychological (decision making, evaluative) processes resulting in brand commitment.’ In this definition brand commitment is the key word.

Philosophy 101 Study Guide

* Socrates: Philosopher who believed in an absolute right or wrong; asked students pointed questions to make them use their reason, later became Socratic Method. Charged with introducing strange gods and corrupting the young, he committed suicide. * Rhetoric: Saying things in a convincing matter * Skepticism: The idea that nothing can ever be known for certain. * Sophists: A wise and informed person, critical of traditional mythology, rejected â€Å"fruitless† philosophical speculations.A member of a school of ancient Greek professional philosophers who were expert in and taught the skills of rhetoric, argument, and debate, but were criticized for specious reasoning. * Socratic Irony: Feign Ignorance, or pretend to be dumber than really are to expose the weaknesses of people's thinking * â€Å"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing† * â€Å"He knows what good is will do good† * Plato (428-347 B. C. Athens, Greece): Student of Socrates. Established ‘The Academy'. Wrote Dialogues. He was a Dualist. * Two parts to a human: Body ; Soul Plato regarded the body and soul as separate entities * A person may crave or have an appetite for something, yet resist the craving with willpower. A correctly operating soul requires the highest part, reason, to control the lowest part, appetite, with assistance from the will. * Plato believed that though the body dies and disintegrates, the soul continues to live forever. After the death of the body, the soul migrates to what Plato called the realm of the pure forms. There, it exists without a body, contemplating the forms.After a time, the soul is reincarnated in another body and returns to the world. But the reincarnated soul retains a dim recollection of the realm of forms and yearns for it * Theory of ideas/forms: the reality behind the material world, which contains the eternal and immutable â€Å"patterns† behind the various phenomena, we come across in nature. * Plato believ ed that everything tangible in nature flows. There are no substances that do not dissolve, and so everything is made of a timeless â€Å"mold† or â€Å"form† that is eternal and immutable. * Eternal: Lasting or existing orever; without end or beginning. * Immutable: Unable to be changed * Form (Ideas): A form is an abstract property or quality. Take any property of an object; separate it from that object and consider it by itself, and you are contemplating a form. For example, if you separate the roundness of a basketball from its color, its weight, etc. and consider just roundness by itself, you are thinking of the from of roundness. * The forms are transcendent. This means that they do not exist in space and time. A material object, a basketball, exists at a particular place at a particular time.A form, roundness, does not exist at any place or time. * Pure – the forms only exemplify one property. Material objects are impure; they combine a number of propertie s such as blackness, circularity, and hardness into one object. * Archetypes – The forms are archetypes; that is, they are perfect examples of the property that they exemplify. The forms are the perfect models upon which all material objects are based. The form of redness, for example, is red, and all red objects are simply imperfect * Ultimately Real – The forms are the ultimately real entities, not material objects.All material objects are copies or images of some collection of forms; their reality comes only from the forms. * Causes – The forms are the causes of all things. * They provide the explanation of why any thing is the way it is * They are the source or origin of the being of all things * Systematically Interconnected – The forms comprise a system leading down from the form of the Good moving from more general to more particular, from more objective to more subjective.This systematic structure is reflected in the structure of the dialectic pro cess by which we come to knowledge of the forms. * Realm of Forms (World of Ideas): The world that we perceive through the mind, using our concepts, seems to be permanent and unchanging. Humans have access to the realm of forms through the mind, through reason, given Plato's theory of the subdivisions of the human soul. This gives them access to an unchanging world, invulnerable to the pains and changes of the material world.By detaching ourselves from the material world and our bodies and developing our ability to concern ourselves with the forms, we find a value which is not open to change or disintegration. * Realm of the Illusory (World of the Senses): The world we perceive through the senses seems to be always changing. It seems that all the objects we perceive with the senses are simply images or experiences in our mind. They are only subjective points of views on the real objects. For example, the world appears radically differently to a color blind person than it does to us. The objects that we perceive as colored, then, must not be the real objects, but just our experience of these objects that is determined by my particular subjective point of view and perceptual apparatus. * True Knowledge * He believed that as result of the constant change within the material world we could never really have true knowledge. * Eros: Greek god of love; son of Aphrodite; often shown blindfolded * Rationalism: the belief that human reason is the primary source of our knowledge of the world * Three parts of the Soul Reason (Intellect) * In the Head * Provide Wisdom * Where our individual/ unique talents lie * If reason functions excellently (arete) then we are wise to that extent * If we exercise wisdom to the extent then that part of the soul is excellent * Responsible for love of learning, spirited, & animated * Passion [Appetite/Desire] * From Greek word â€Å"Pathe† meaning the irrational movements of the soul * In gut * Provides temperance If passion function s excellently then we are temperate * If we exercise temperance to the extent then that part of the soul is excellent * Responsible for Desire * Thymos * Means Spirit/Will * In Heart * Provides Courage * Can help reason master passion * If we exercise courage to the extent then that part of the soul is excellent * Responsible for anger * Views on Women: Plato believed that women had a right, or you might even call it a role to play in society. Their role was to be a significant part of society, different from men, but still play a part.Plato believed that women were necessary for society to run smoothly. * Women were not equals of men * Women lacked strength * Women are naturally maternal * In Plato’s time it was unheard of to view women as more than a piece of property. * Dualist: a sharp division between the reality of thought and extended reality. * Aristotle (384-322 B. C; Macedonia, Athens): Pupil of Plato's. Believed Plato's world of ideas did not exist but that the ete rnal idea was really a concept- the idea of a horse that we have after seeing many of them. Learn know through the senses. â€Å"20 questions†. Causes * What type of material it is made of? * Wood * What type of thing it is? * Table * What caused it to come into being? * How it was built; the task needed to be done to create the table * Purpose or Final Cause (Telos): The purpose, end, aim, or goal of something. The final cause is the cause why a thing exists. * Meant to be a dinner table or desk * Views on Women: Viewed them as â€Å"unfinished men†. * Golden Mean: One cannot be too much of one thing or too less, need to be balanced * Empiricism: Derive all knowledge from what the senses tell us.There are no innate ideas and cannot prove the existence of God, eternity or substance * Hellenism: The period of time and the Greek-dominated culture that prevailed in the three Hellenistic Kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt. The diffusion of Greek Culture throughout the Mediterranean world after the conquest of Alexander the Great. * The Cynics: True happiness doesn't come from external advantages, like power/good health. Once you have true happiness, it can't be lost. Their own/others health shouldn't disturb them. * The Stoics * Stoicism was founded by a man named Zeno, who lived from 335-263 BC. He used to lecture not in a classroom but outside, on the porch of a public building * The word for porch in Greek is STOA, and so people called his students Stoics * People should try to reach inner peacefulness * Moderate in everything * Be happy with what they had. This would lead to a happy life * The best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how he behaved * Destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment * Sage: person of â€Å"moral and intellectual perfection† * Would not suffer from such emotions The Epicureans: They believed pleasure is the greatest good, but to attain pleasure was to live modest ly, gain knowledge of the workings of the world, and limit to one's desires. * Neo-Platonism: Belief of two poles on Earth, one end is the dive light called the One (God). Other end is absolute darkness, no existence, the absence of light. * Syncretism: The combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. * Mysticism: One with God, merging with him. â€Å"I am God. † or â€Å"I am You. † * Two Cultures The Indo-Europeans: Related languages of Europe, India, and Iran, which are believed to have descended from a common tongue spoken roughly in the third millennium B. C. by an agricultural peoples originating in SE Europe * The Semites: A member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs- mostly Middle Easterners, they saw history as an on going line, world will end on judgment day * The Middle Ages: Period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century * St. Augustine: Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province. Influence of the Arabs: The Arabic-Latin translation movements in the Middle Ages, which paralleled that from Greek into Latin, led to the transformation of almost all philosophical disciplines in the medieval Latin world. * St. Thomas Aquinas: Tried to make Aristotle’s philosophy compatible with Christianity. Believed Christendom and philosophy were the same thing. Used bible as a source of reason. Created a synthesis between faith and knowledge. Said there are natural theological truths—truths that can be reached through both Christian faith and innate reason.Tried to prove god's existence of Aristotle’s philosophy. Everything has a formal cause. God has revealed himself to mankind through both reason and the bible. * The Renaissance: period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th throu gh the middle of the 17th centuries * Reformation: religious movement of 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches * Three Major Discoveries: The compass, Firearms, and printing press. The Baroque: Historic period from about 1600 until 1750 when the baroque style of art, architecture, and music flourished in Europe * Carpe Diem: Seize the day. * Memento Mori: â€Å"Remember your mortality†- meaning ‘Remember, you will die'. * Idealism: the philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality. * Materialism: the belief of material things (atoms and the void). All real things derive from concrete substances. Determinism: Laplace (french mathematician) said that everything that happens is predetermined- contradicting the belief of free will and suggests that the outcome of everything is written in the stars * Descartes: French philosopher and mathematician; developed dualistic theory of min d and matter. Father of modern Philosophy. * His main concern was what we can know – certain knowledge * â€Å"Je pense donc je suis†: â€Å"I think, therefore I am† * â€Å"Cogito ergo sum†: â€Å"I think, therefore I am† said by Rene Descartes. * Two Forms of Reality: Thought & Extention Agnostic: Unsure/Undecided/Needs more information. Unable to say categorically whether or not the gods/God exists; brought about by Sophist Protagoras * Atheist: Does not believe in God. * Spinoza: Baruch Spinoza-Jewish-Dutch rationalist (one of the great rationalists in 17th century); opposed Descartes' mind-body dualism; he laid groundwork for Enlightenment. Also wrote the book of Ethics * Historico-Critical Interpretation of the Bible: Spinoza applied the scientific method to the reading of Scripture, and this became what is now known as the â€Å"historical-critical method. His view was that religious conflict in Europe was a result of differing interpretati on on key biblical passages. He developed this method of reading Scripture in order to bring about universal agreement on its meaning. * Pantheist: God is infinite, he is present in everything. * Universal Law of Nature: the laws and rules of nature, according to which all things happen, and change from one form to another, are always and everywhere the same.So the way of understanding the nature of anything, of whatever kind, must also be the same, * One Substance: The claim that there is one and only one substance. This substance he identifies as God. * â€Å"Substance†: Does not need the conception of any other thing in order to be conceived * substance is its own cause * that it is infinite * that it is the only substance; for if there were two substances, they would limit each other and cease to be independent * Monist: reduces nature and the condition of all things to one single substance. Inner-Cause: Humans come to understand that their struggle follows by necessity f rom the struggle of Nature, and that it has an inner link with other parts of the environment through a common inner cause, Nature. * Determinist: Laplace (french mathematician) said that everything that happens is predetermined- contradicting the belief of free will and suggests that the outcome of everything is written in the stars * Free Will: Doctrine that conduct of the individual is the result of personal choice. not divine forces of fate) * Locke: English empiricist philosopher who believed that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience. * Empiricism: Derive all knowledge from what the senses tell us- came from Aristotle. There are no innate ideas and cannot prove the existence of God, eternity or substance) * Two questions about ideas? * Where do we get all of these ideas which are the content of our knowedge? * Whether things in the world fit our ideas, and not whether our ideas correspond to the nature of things in the world * Tabula Rasa: Clean slate. Primary Quali ties: Extension, weight, senses reproduce them objectively. * Secondary Qualities: Color, smell; reproduce the things that are inherent in the things themselves. * Natural Rights: Locke's political philosophy is his theory of natural rights privileges or claims to which an individual was entitled * Hume (1711-1776; English): Scottish philosopher whose sceptical philosophy restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses. He was an Empiricist. * Two types of Perception * Impression: how we experience the world Ideas: what we recall of our impressions * Faith v. Knowledge: Knowledge is divided into three Categories * Knowledge * Belief * Faith (this is of lower grade than belief and knowledge) * Laws of Nature or Cause & Effect: Emphasized that the expectation of one thing following another does not lie in the things themselves, but in our mind. Sophist Teaching compared to Socrates Teachings: Sophist's desired money in return for teaching young men various thin gs about political and social life, such as rhetoric. ? Socrates was a philosopher, whom spent his days wandering around the gym and the agora, talking to people. He developed a following of young Greeks, such as Plato and Xenephon. Socrates did not charge for his teachings. He also made a habit of proving just how little Sophist's actually knew. Many people did believe Socrates was a Sophist and this is a reasonable claim, because Sophist were know to be knowledgeable people that taught the same skills Socrates was.Although Socrates would not consider himself a Sophist and would be known to talk down about them about how little they actually knew. Plato’s Myth of the Cave: A few people were sitting underground in a cave, facing the wall. They cannot turn around, and all they have ever seen are shadows of objects projected onto the wall. One manages to turn around, and he sees the actual items that he has only ever seen shadows of. It is completely dazzling. Plato is trying t o demonstrate the relationship of the material world and the world of ideas.Compared to the world of ideas, the material world is dreary. When Aristotle disagreed with Plato’s Theory of Forms; What did Aristotle offer up as an alternative explanation for Reality? Aristotle argued that the theory of forms is seriously flawed: it is not supported by good arguments; it requires a form for each thing; and it is too mathematical. Worst of all, on Aristotle's view, the theory of forms cannot adequately explain the occurrence of change. By identifying the thing with its essence, the theory cannot account for the generation of new substances.Aristotle was the first philosopher to formalize the subject of Metaphysics. As Aristotle explains, Metaphysics is the study of the One Substance (and its Properties) which exists and causes / connects all things, and is therefore the necessary foundation for all human knowledge. Aristotle was correct to realize that One Substance must have Prope rties that cause matter's interconnected activity and motion. Hellenistic Period in Mediterranean World (300 BCE 0 400 BCE): Common themes that pervaded multiple cultures at this time? The time between the death of King Alexander the Great and the emergence of Ancient Greece * the term Hellenistic to define the period when Greek culture spread in the non-Greek world after Alexander’s conquest * The Greek language being established as the official language of the Hellenistic world * The art and literature of the era were transformed accordingly to more Greek styles * The Greek were the majority over the Mediterranean world, but they often outnumbered by natives in the land; sometime there would be little interaction in some places between the Greek and the natives * The development of the Alexander Romance (mainly in Egypt) owes much to Greek theater as well as other styles of story. * The spread of Greek culture throughout the Near East and Asia owed much to the development o f cities. * The identification of local gods with similar Greek deities facilitated the building of Greek-style temples, and the Greek culture in the cities also meant that buildings. How is Christianity a blending between the Indo-European & Semitic World views? The Greeks and Romans are a part of Indo-European culture, while the Jews belong to Semitic culture. He describes how Indo-European culture was characterized by a belief in many gods—pantheism.Similar ideas popped up in many different Indo-European languages, and were expressed by words that resembled each other greatly. The Semites, on the other hand, are characterized by monotheism, the belief in one god. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all Semitic religions. But Christianity complicates things, because it spread throughout Indo-European cultures and incorporated many features of those cultures. Semitic religions believe in one like Christianity, but also Indo-European culture believes in a messiah just like J esus in the Christianity religion; so technically both cultures played a part in shaping Christianity. What is Descartes first movement of what is referred to as modern philosophy?What was his main â€Å"project† & what type of conclusions did he arrive at? Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the Natural Sciences. It can be said his main goal was to find out truth to God's existence then human existence, as these were the main two subjects. Descartes was the first philosopher in a long time to attempt to bring all knowledge into a coherent philosophy. His concerns were with certain knowledge—that which we can know for sure—and the mind/body relationship. Because philosophers believed in a mechanistic view of nature, it was critical to figure out how the mind's thoughts became translated into actions of the body.Descartes doubted everything that was not certain and then realized that the very fact of his doub ting meant he must be thinking. From there, he decided that the existence of God is also certain, and went on to define the world in terms of thought and matter, which he called extension. The mind and body interact, but the goal is to get the mind to operate solely according to reason. What did Spinoza propose as a way for understanding the world? How does this compare to Descartes conclusions? How are they similar? How are they different? He rejected Descartes's dualism and believed that thought and extensions are simply two of God's features that we can perceive. He had a deterministic view of the world, believing that God controlled all through natural laws.Spinoza felt that only God was truly free but that people could attain happiness through seeing things â€Å"from the perspective of eternity. † They are similar, because they both believe in God, but they are very different from Descartes relying mostly on reason, and Spinoza thinking that God controls everything thro ugh Natural Laws. Hume’s ideas on morality & the source of morality: David Hume, an 18th century philosopher, stated that morality is based on sentiments rather than reason. He concluded this after he developed his â€Å"theory† of knowledge which stated that everything we could know was observable by the senses — he was a naturalistic philosopher. He then looked at situations in which he thought that there was an obvious â€Å"wrong† and he

Bus303 Final Paper

Human Resources Management Reflective Paper BUS 303 Human Resource Management Reflective Paper In analyzing the concepts discussed in Human Resource Management, I have found an interesting mix of education and forethought into the role of a human resource manager. Many of the aspect of human resource management such as HR planning, recruitment and selection, as well as, human resources development and labor relations all play a significant role in the success of any organization.There are many benefits to the learning that has taken place in this course that has helped me better understand HRM and its roll that will shape not only my position in business now but for future positions in the years to come. The primary function of human resource management is to increase the effectiveness and contribution of employees in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. For a human resource department to function correctly its many functions need to work together and it all starts with human resource planning.All businesses have a human resource planning process. Many times upper management teams work with human resource experts when it comes to human resource decisions. These HR decisions help to shape the overall strategic plan of an organization. Human Resource departments function at their best when they are viewed within an organization as a partner with upper management that will aid with the planning and administration of human resource decisions. The HR head is a centerpiece to the decision making process.HR managers often times evaluate the availability of talent, employee behavior and analyze current skills that are needed within the organization. Human resource planning is â€Å"the ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset – its human resources. † (http://www. investopedia. com) The main goal of human resource planning is to make sure there is a functional and working conne ction between employees and the jobs in which they do. There has to be a balanced pproached for human resource managers because there is a fine line trying to avoid deficiencies and surpluses of labor within the organization. For HR managers the balance is kept by analyzing current labor demand verses future labor demand and balancing the supply and demand between the two. Often times HR planning has to be flexible so that organizations can adapt and keep up with the changing business environments in the markets in which they serve. Human resource planning is an ongoing task that must look at the long term and short-term goals of an organization.Without the flexibility and the ability to adapt to a changing business environment, organizations could be left behind in the competitive marketplace. Planning needs to take into account many factors such as recruiting, training, outsourcing, employee development, job analysis and others just to name a few. Ultimately, it is human resources responsibility to make sure that the organization has the right people in the right place in order to successfully navigate the organization to fulfill its strategic plan. When it comes to HR planning there are six specific factors for the HR planning process.They are environmental scanning, labor market analysis and forecast, internal analysis and forecast, gap analysis, developing HR plans and strategies, and HR strategy implementation and assessment. â€Å"HR planning and organizational strategic planning should not be treated as separate activities: they must have a mutual relationship for their integration to be valuable. Similarly, HR planning should be guided by organizational goals and strategies and should inform each and every one of those processes; the various HRM processes can then be conducted effectively. (Youssef, C. 2012) I believe that the HR planning process is the absolute most important part of an HR management team’s work. The reason is that there is s o much that goes into the planning that shapes the overall strategic plan of an organization. The many other factors that HR deals with are important, yet without an overall plan and vision, the overall long-term goals of the organization could not be reached in an efficient manner. For example, I had worked at a small local company that had started up about a year prior to my arrival.At the time that I had started it was ran by a husband and wife both of which did not have any HR experience. They had goals on what they wanted to do both long term and short term yet the organization was unable to reach many of those goals primarily because of the lack of an HR professional. In order to recruit new people the owners relied on referrals from other business owners in the area and ads that were posted in the local newspaper. They had no online presence and they were not able to keep up with the competition for qualified candidates.They were losing quality potential employees to their co mpetition because of a lack of planning and non-flexibility. After about a year of continuous struggles, they brought in an HR consultant that brought many good ideas and the owners fortunately embraced many of them. They had decided to recruit and bring on board a professional HR manager with many years of experience that helped the owners in an area that was one of their weaknesses, HR management. The new HR manager brought plenty of changes to the processes within the organization while keeping in mind the overall long-term goals of the owners.Many of the changes were to the recruitment process. She did things such as adding an â€Å"apply now† link on the company’s website and got the organization more of an online presence in on-line job boards within the area. Along with that, the interview process was more formal with the changes that she made. More of the work was done electronically such as applications, and resume submitting. The owners of the company also in vested with an organization that provided services for companies to give personality and aptitude assessments so that they could better understand a potential employee.Of course, this all happened over time and the organization became better at understanding what type of labor force they needed. This is exactly why the planning process is so important. It helps to organize and execute the overall strategic plan of an organization and that is the exact reason that HR exists, to increase the effectiveness and contribution of employees in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Culture, it comes down to organizational and employee behavior and HRM plays the biggest role. â€Å"There is no one omnipotent culture.What works this year may not work in the next†. (www. sjsu. edu) The culture of an organization is not automatic. It takes time and hard work for an organization to build and cultivate its own identity and culture within the workplace. Many times HR manager s forget the importance they have in shaping the culture of an organization. I have seen it before in companies in which I have worked. For instance, the organization that I currently work for had sort of a laid-back culture one in which it was ok for sales people to work in business casual clothes such as slacks and a polo shirt.A couple of years ago the CEO was replaced and when the new CEO came in, change came to the culture. No longer, was the sales team allowed to wear business casual, it was professional dress only and it made a big difference in the professionalism with the organization. It also made a difference with new hires and made the biggest impact with our customers. This is just one example of the how the culture changed within my organization but the important thing to note was that the new CEO led this change by example as he did with everything else.He would only wear suits and ties and never did we see him or any other person on the management team in business ca sual. It was just one-step but a very important one in changing the culture of the organization. The best way for HRM to shape organizational and employee behavior is to lead by example. There are other control methods to make sure individual employee behavior is kept in check, such as utilizing a corporate code of conduct that must be signed and followed by all of the employees.For this to work, an organization must have meaningful penalties when the code of conduct is violated, and it must make sure that those policies are enforced and that enforcement is structured and consistent. Overall, HR managers need to lead by example to create or maintain a positive culture within their workplace. It is critical that all managers are aware of their roles and responsibilities in upholding positive workplace environments that can increase employee satisfaction and it all starts with HRM. In conclusion, HRM plays one of the biggest and most important roles in the success or failure of an org anization.Without the right planning and having the right people in the right place, it is very hard for an organization to meet the overall goals in which they have set out to succeed. Looking at the learning that has taken place in this course, it has opened my eyes to the importance of a competent and structured HR department. The course has helped me to look at past experiences and better appreciate the HR directors that I have worked with in the past and it has helped me better understand HRM and its roll that will shape not only my osition in business now but for future positions in the years to come. References Youssef, C. (2012). Human resource management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education http://www. investopedia. com/terms/h/human-resource-planning. asp#axzz2LJdsjswT (Retrieved from World Wide Web, February 16, 2013) http://www. sjsu. edu/people/phyllis. connolly/courses/c17/s1/kane_umanageroleorgcul200(Retrieved from the World Wide Web, February 18, 2013

An Eye for Eye Makes the Whole World Blind Essays

An Eye for Eye Makes the Whole World Blind Essays An Eye for Eye Makes the Whole World Blind Paper An Eye for Eye Makes the Whole World Blind Paper An eye for an eye revenge, believing doing something back to someone who has wronged you in some way as the way forward e. g if someone kicks you, its only fair you kick them back. If a country bombs you, you bomb them back. If a religion kills some of your people, you kill them back. If someone takes your eye, you take theirs Makes the whole world blind this is the important bit of the statement. You are left blind because you are so consumed in hatred and revenge for someone who has wronged you, you cannot SEE the only way out is to forgive/break away/etc so you are just left in a constant circle (as someone has to see there is no way forward, thats the play on words, no can SEE that, as they are BLINDED ) thats the metaphorical explanation for it B)An eye for an eye refers to vengence, and its reference is loosely taken from the Bible, you take my eye, Ill take your eye, you take my tooth, you get the picture. While people use this as justification for vengence, scripture teaches vengence is Mine referring to the Lord, but thats another question. When Ghandi said this he was living in a very vengeful, hate filled troubled time and he was trying to focus people in a different direction. One of the ways he did that was to point out the irony of the mentality that thinks first of vengence and not of forgiveness. If every body gets even, after a while there wont be any one. If we all take an eye for every eye we lose, pretty soon we cant see at all. Vengence makes losers of us all †¦. 2. First the meaning means if you think about it an eye for an eye in itself is a meaning for revenge. The last part Makes the whole world blind just helps elaborate that as revenge is so constant and happens so much it makes the world blind.

How computing has changed us essays

How computing has changed us essays Computing has changed the workplace dramatically over the last few years. Information technologies have taken over our infrastructure. It is now necessary to consider your organizational needs before you make any drastic changes. Managers must consider how these changes will affect different aspects such as human behavior. We need to see how the advent of telecommunications will affect peoples behavior. Will Email, database services, and teleconferencing affect our users? These are the questions we need to ask as managers of businesses considering organizational change. We need to assess any and all consequences of implementation of all the aspects mentioned before. Factors such as employee resistance are a big concern. For instance if an employee that hass a busy work load is expected to learn a lot of new procedures may become overwhelmed. This may result in less productivity and more job dissention, which is not good for anyone involved. Learning new ways of doing things can be an extra burden that some people may not have the time or the patience to deal with. As managers we need to find ways of easing organizational changes in to the work place. Another option is to provide training for the employees in need of it. Sometimes it is better to train everyone in the procedure rather than just training them on the equipment. They may be able to become efficient earlier with out knowing exactly how everything works but rather knowing how to accomplish the tasks they need to get done on a regular basis. We must discuss human behavior success factors. If technology is to be compatible with human, social, political, and economics patterns we need to recognize these factors. Not only recognize these factors but address them in a way that is conducive to the business. Human compatibility is obvious we already alluded to that. Social compatibility is another issue all together. Political compatibility is another factor that cannot be over...

What Should I Give to a Teacher Writing My Recommendation Letter

What Should I Give to a Teacher Writing My Recommendation Letter SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips A substantial bribe. Just kidding. You should give your teacher recommenders something much more valuablefor writingeffective letters ofrecommendation: your input. Sharing your ideas will assistyour teacher in writingyou an insightful and specific letter. This guide will discuss what materials you shouldproduce, and why your "recommender's packet" can go a long way toward making your final letter outstanding. To start, let’s review why recommendations are important to your application.If you understand what admissions officers look for, then you can make sure that your materials are useful and relevant. With this in mind, let's consider what purpose rec letters serve in the admission process. Why Do Colleges Require Recommendation Letters? Many four-year colleges require one or two recommendation letters from your teachers and school counselor. The main reason for this requirement is to get to know you better. Colleges aren’t just looking at your grades and SAT scores. They’re seeking to learn about you in a holistic sense - how you interact with your teachers and peers, how you approach the learning process, and what motivates and excites you, to give a few examples. Teachers can speak to both your intellectual and personal qualities, as well as to the role you play in the classroom on a day to day basis. Simply having an enthusiastic recommendation shows that you made a positive impression and maintained a good relationship with your teachers. If you made a splash at high school, you’re likely to work well with your peers and professors at college and contribute on campus too. Because of all the information and support they can communicate, recommendation letters play a very important role in the college application review process. Given their weight in the admissions decision, what makes some letters stand out while others blend into the background? What Goes Into a Good Letter of Recommendation? As I mentioned above, you should share your ideas and information with your teacher recommenders, who can refer to your packet when they sit down to write your letter. However, you want to make sure your materials are useful. Without knowing what makes some letters good and others bad, you’d have a hard time knowing what kind of info to share. So, in a nutshell, a good letter of rec is insightful, personal, and enthusiastic. While your teacher should talk about your intellectual abilities and attitude towards learning, she should also speak to personal qualities, like empathy, creativity, or leadership skills. Just as importantly, she should be specific and demonstrative. By this, I mean that she should describe particular instances where you demonstrated your strengths. In a sense, her anecdotes can prove that her descriptions ofyou areaccurate. On the flip side, a bad letter may sound lukewarm and generic. It may sidestep talking about your personal qualities and instead only list data, like grades and test scores. An ineffective letter would also be unspecific and lack examples, making it effectively impersonal, even vague. Based on theseelements of a good letter, you can put together a â€Å"recommender’s packet† that will be useful to your letter writers. You can provide the type of information - your academic interests and goals, your personal strengths and values, and memorable anecdotes from class - that your teacher can incorporate to make her letter stand out. Generally, this recommenders' packet will beprovided for you by your guidance office. If it’s not for some reason, you would still be well served to put it together yourself. Read on to learn more about what kind of info should go into this packet! What Information Should You Provide for Your Recommenders? Once you ask you teacher for a letter and she agrees, you should share the following materials: Practical information, like to what schools she should send her rec letter, how to submit, and your deadlines. What you plan to study at college (if you know). What strengths, passions, of qualities you would like her to highlight in her letter. Special projects or memories from class that were significant to you. Your resume. Your brag sheet (this document is especially important, which I’ll describe in more detail below). The first few points on this list shouldn’t take too long to record, but other components, like your resume and brag sheet, may require 15or more hours of work. Let’s break down each component in more detail so you know what it is, why it’s important, and how you can prepare. Share the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities... Practical Information - Where, What, and When Perhaps it goes without saying that you have to give your recommenders the bare necessities: a list of colleges to which she should send her letter, instructions on how to submit, and, of course, your deadlines. Some teachers may uploadtheir letters to your school'sonline application, others to the Common Application, and still others to the e-docs software, Naviance. Let your teacher know what method she'll be using. What You Need to Do Ideally, you have your list of colleges and deadlines on hand when you make your request. If you’re asking especially early - maybe you’re asking your beloved 10th grade English teacher at the end of the year - then you can follow up with this information later. Remember that your teacher may have many letters to write, along with everything else she’s up to - so write everything down. That way she can refer to this information when she sits down to write your letter. Share all your deadlines, and send a reminder about a week before if you see that she hasn’t submitted her letteryet. Once she does submit, make sure to send a thank you note for her help in getting into college. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Once you've shared the essential info, think about your special skills and interests. Also, please never try this at home. What Skills and Interests You’d Like Highlighted Maybe you’re asking your English teacher because you plan to study creative writing, and you’d love her to speak to your writing abilities. Perhaps you’re asking your Physics teacher so she can talk about your innovative contributions to the Robotics Club she supervises. Depending on your comfort level and relationship with your teacher, you wouldn’t be crossing a line if you explicitly stated what skills, qualities, or goals you’d like her to highlight in your letter. As mentioned above, the most effective recommendation letters speak to your intellectual and personal qualities. By sharing your ideas, you could ensure that your teacher includes your academic and personal strengths. What You Need to Do I’m not suggesting that you tell your recommender how to write her letter. You could keep what you say short and sweet, something like, â€Å"I’d really love if you could include my skill / interest / talent in (fill in the blank here).† Make sure that the skill, interest, or talent you mention is appropriate for a rec letter. Apassion for a subject, insightful comments in class, ora willingness to take on special projects would be worth mentioning.Your daredevil balancing stunts in tall places may be less relevant. This small amount of input could actually help provide your teacher with a theme around which to focus her letter. Let your teacher know what you learned from her class. What You Learned and Accomplished In Class Similarly, you might remind your teacher about a memorable project you worked on or lesson that was especially meaningful from class. If you had any notable achievements or important moments, you could describe them to your teacher. Since the best rec letters use specific examples, your input could be a useful reminder. Maybe you worked on a special research project or excelled in a debate. Perhaps reading A Brave New World changed your perspective on life. Maybe your teacher’s class helpedyou discover you want to be a World History major. Whatever you took away from her class, it could be useful to share. Your input could help make her letter even more specific. If nothing else, your teacher will appreciate hearing that her class made an impact on your thinking. What You Need to Do Before requesting your recommendation, list out your reasons for asking this teacher. Think about any stand out projects or instances where you went beyond requirements. Consider times that you contributed to a discussion, or perhaps had a thought-provoking conversation you had with your teacher. Write these moments down, and share them with your teacher when you make your request. As with above, you don't want to come off like you're writing the letter for your teacher. You could say something short and to the point, like, â€Å"I learned a ton from your class and was hoping you could provide me with a recommendation for college. One of my favorite projects was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Since teacher recommendation letters provide a micro-view of you as a student - they got to know you on a day to day basis - they should include specifics from your class performance. Your teacher should have examples in mind, but it shouldn’t hurt for you to share your own memories too! Your Resume All students should include a resume in their recommender’s packet. Your teacher will mainly write about you in the context she knew you - as a student in her class. However, it’s also helpful for her to know what otherresponsibilities you balanced and what other activities you’re interested in, especially if theyconnect to her subject. For instance, maybe your Physics teacher will see that you pursued your passion for mechanical engineering for three years inRobotics Club. As described above, your teacher shouldn’t repeat your whole resume and fill your letter with data. However, it is useful for them to have context and learn more about what you’ve been up to in high school. Your resume, therefore, is an essential document to give your recommenders to help them write your letter. What You Need to Do People style their resumes based on personal taste, but the best ones include certain key elements: a summary ofskills, a list of activities and work experiences with brief descriptions, and any awards or achievements. You want to include your dates of involvement, and you may state an objective at the top. You should check out some samples and choose the format that works best for your experiences. Apart from providing a resume, you should be prepared to talk about what you learned from your experiences, especially as any relate to your teacher’s class or your academic goals for college. Even if your teacher doesn’t sit down to speak with you about it, you may provide these reflections in written form in your brag sheet. That way you can communicate not just what you did in high school, but what each experience meant to you. Your Brag Sheet Finally, we get to thebrag sheet, perhaps the most significant part of your packet. Your guidance department should provide you with this document, and its questions may vary from school to school. Whatever version you use, it should include prompts that ask you to think about your experiences, identity, and goals. Rather than giving quick, cliche answers, you should try to dig deep. Even if it feels vulnerable, being honest and revealing is the best way to communicate something real, important, and authentic. Ideally, your recommender already knows you well, but your brag sheet should help her get to know you even better. Some prompts may include: Describe your family. How have your parents influenced you? What qualities of theirs do you admire? What three adjectives would you use to describe yourself? What adjectives would your teachers use? Your parents? Give specific examples or stories of a time you exemplified each one of these qualities. Discuss an academic interest or passion. Describe an involvement that’s had a significant impact on you. How do you spend your free time? What have you learned about yourself since the time you started high school? How have you changed or grown? Describe a significant challenge or obstacle you’ve had to overcome. How did you do so, and what did you learn from it? Describe an experience that changed your thinking or perspective on an issue. Depending on your school, your brag sheet may be more or less thorough (or may not exist at all). If you feel you have more to share, you could add your own questions and answers. Besides adding more info, what else can you do to make your brag sheet as useful and telling as it can be? What You Need to Do As you can see, the questions on a brag sheet are quite personal. They’re tough to answer immediately. Instead, they call for some serious introspection and self-awareness. Don’t worry if your first reaction is to go blank. It takes some time to reflect on these questions and come up with answers that feel genuine and meaningful. One way to dig deeper might be to sit with a question and jot down any ideas that come to mind. For instance, let’s say you’re trying to describe an involvement that’s important to you. You might write down your participation in track team. Then you should ask yourself a simple question: why? Maybe track team has enhanced your confidence. Again, ask yourself, Why? Maybe you’re continuously breaking your personal records and showing yourself that you can redefine your sense of limitations. You can keep asking yourself "why" to get to something that resonates with you - maybe your achievements in running have spread into other areas in your life by showing that if you endure discomfort in the moment, you can break through to a new level that you didn’t know waspossible. Then again, another studentmight value track team because of the friendships she made there. Maybe she felt a strong sense of belonging with hertrack team, and this connectedness showed her that she can adapt to any new social situation. If you keep asking yourself why and defining your reasons, then your answer may look very different - and much more revealing - than where you started. Two students may write about their involvement in track, but they may value the experience for very different reasons. And this says something different about who they are and what's important to them. Your brag sheet willhelp your teacher write an insightful letter that reveals your character, personality, and values. They may also include significant circumstances in your family or personal background, if you're comfortable sharing them. All of this insightwill help admissions officers get to know you on a deeper level. Your letters should give admissions committees a fullersense of who you are as a student and person. By giving this same well-rounded sense to your teachers, youwill give themall the materials they need - along with the relationship they’ve already established with you - to write a personal and effective letter of recommendation. Key Points: What to Prepare and Why The most important takeaway you shouldgain from this guide is that you can play an active and influential role in getting strong recommendation letters. Of course, the foundation of your letters is how you performed in class over the year and got to know your teachers. Beyond this, though, you can prepare thoughtful information that will help your teacher write a specific, personalized, and revealing letter. Thinking about and producing your materials should take a few weeks of planning. You should expect to spend about 15 hours or more on creating and proofreading your resume and brag sheet. You shouldn’t scribble off fast answers to your brag sheet prompts; instead, take the time to sit with these questions and dig deeply, continually challenging yourself to get to the root of your answers by asking, â€Å"Why?† as in the example above. Your responses will not only jog your teacher’s memory and teach her new things about you, but they will also show her how much effort and planning you’re putting into your college applications. Hopefully, you’ve asked a teacher who supports you and knows you well. By putting in the effort to share your ideas, resume, and brag sheet, you can be confident you’ve done everything in your power to acquire an excellent letter of recommendation. What's Next? In addition to teacher recommendations, most colleges want to see an evaluation from your school counselor. To learn about how your counselor rec differs from your teacher recs, check out these examples of strong letters. For letters you don't want from your counselor, read these four examples. You may be surprised to learn how much influence you can have on your recommendation letters. Along similar lines, you also want to be strategic about how you present your extracurricular activities on your college applications. Check out this full guide on how to write about extracurriculars in the most impressive way. For more on the ins and outs of applying to college, check out this full step by step guide! It goes over everything from choosing your high school classes to brainstorming personal ideas. It's also available in snazzy infographic form! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy Essay

Pick and art work that is influenced by astronomy - Essay Example He was a Post-Impressionist artist, and like the Impressionists he could make use of the newly available ready prepared paints in tubes which made it much easier to paint outdoors, perhaps painting in the grounds of the asylum, but in this case he is looking east through an open window. In April 1888 Van Gogh wrote: - Although the image of the sky is exaggerated and unrealistic, yet it remains one everybody can relate to, as we have all been outdoors at night at some point in our lives, and gazed up a the wonders of the heavens, swirls of clouds, stars pricking the darkness, and the beautiful moon in all its stages. We were not however experiencing Van Gogh’s particular state of mental illness, in which realities were so exaggerated that it caused him to paint the stars so large and producing what Naifah and Smith ( page 762) refer to as :- This was painted of course long before space exploration or modern telescopes. Van Gogh did not know that the moon is just a lump of dusty rock. He may not have known that the light we see from the stars is historical, in that it has taken considerable time to reach Earth because of the immense distances involved. In this case each star is surrounded by a lesser light, a halo. This may perhaps indicate a very cold night, or it could have some significance to Van Gogh. The many swirls and curves are part of the attraction of this work. They carry the viewer’s eyes around the painting from one point to the next and round again. It is a painting of the imagination. Even the village of St Remy doesn’t look exactly as it really was, perhaps because it is not visible from the asylum windows, but some things are factual, in this case the very bright star depicted immediately right of the cypresses is actually the planet Venus, the rising morning star ( Whitney, page 356, 1966). Soth ( page 305,1996) states that Van Gogh wrote to

Soft determinism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Soft determinism - Essay Example Freedom, in this case, can be defined as the ability to act without external impediments, which allows an individual to forbear and do as he wills (Trusted 24). In addition, it is also the power for an individual to act in the manner in which his will determines, meaning that if one chooses to rest, he could either rest or move as he wills. Therefore, one is free unless they are forced to take actions that are not according to their will. Soft determinism differentiates between external and internal causes. The internal causes are those actions that are as a result of one’s inner desires and wishes, as well as those that result from one’s freewill (Trusted 39). For instance, a person may leave the country because of their desire to travel overseas. External causes, on the other hand, are those that an individual is forced to undertake due to outside influences, such as being forced to leave the country because of government action. The distinction between external and internal causes explains the reason why a soft determinist needs freewill. Acting with freewill in soft determinism means that one is acting as per his/her nature, rather than according to external pressures exerted upon their situation. This is referred to as the liberty of spontaneity theory, which is a central theme in self-determinism (Trusted 39). While man’s nature is also determined by external factors, he also has freewill b ecause they possess spontaneity freedom. Although circumstance and nature determine man’s choices, the option taken is as a result of free will. With regards to moral responsibility, if internal causes like desires and wishes have a significant impact on actions taken, one is considered to be morally responsible (Trusted 41). For instance, choosing not to save a burning child because one does not feel like doing so means they are morally responsible for the death of that child, while failing to do so because one is crippled means they are

Formal Report Presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Formal Report Presentation - Essay Example Inspiration to be physical therapy assistant: The inspiration to be assistant physical therapists goes back to my younger years. My favorite uncle got a car accident, which made him almost immobile. With curiosity, I asked whether my uncle would ever walk again. I missed the many walks and trails he took me to almost every fortnight. My mother informed that my uncle would be better through physical therapy. As young as I was, I never forgot that name despite the fact that it was beyond my age knowledge. It was challenging to see my uncle go through physical therapy. From that time onwards, I decided that I learn physical therapy to assist people like my uncle. It was beyond my imagination, thinking just how many people suffer from such problems in the world. The need and demand for physical therapy assistant services: According to the Government of Canada (2013), the demand for physical therapy has increased over the years. The United States Department of Labor (2012) indicates there is high demand for physical therapists in the United States. The high number of accidents and violence has increased the demand for the physical therapy services. Why Physical therapy is important to me: the fact that my uncle walked eventually, even though he limbs was a revelation that many people in the society can get help and be better. In that regard, I focused on physical therapy because it could touch the lives of many people in the society significantly. My future: it is my desire to continue serving the society in my current role. In the future, I would like to assist in addressing the problems this medical field faces. Improvement in physical therapy field will affect even more people by improving their lives for the better. Doctor Stewart: Physical therapy is a solution to immobility. This medical field has made it possible for accident victims to be mobile again in the future. The kind of

Labour Turnover and Customer Service in Restaurants Essay

Labour Turnover and Customer Service in Restaurants - Essay Example As the discussion stresses restaurant, hotel and leisure industry is very much dependent on their employees for keeping their customer satisfied. This is a service industry where the intangibility, inseparability and heterogeneity of the service make it very challenging for the service provider to maintain consistency and increase the level of satisfaction received by the consumers.This discussion outlines that the labour turnover in the service industry is high. The high rate of turnover is result of various factors like lack of opportunities and growth, low income level and other reasons. The employees are the face of the service providing company. High employee turnover rate also indicates towards the management problems and internal issues of the organisation. Organisation is questioned for not able to retain its employees.  In this situation, it becomes very challenging for the human resource management professionals or business owner to ensure the stability of employees. Ther e are various strategies that a company adopts to attract and retain employees and maintain their image in the job market. Restaurant companies offer different types of monetary and non monetary benefits to its employees. The monetary benefits are incentives, bonus, stock options and others cash components.  The non monetary benefits include insurance, heath benefits, maternity and paternity leaves, education sponsorship, education assistance etc.

Discrimination Of The African Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Discrimination Of The African Americans - Essay Example However, the development in Southern part of America has been slow due to the presence of the ethnic group of African American. They are the people who faced dominance and low status in the nation due to their skin color. They have been deprived of various rights affecting their social and economic position1. The life of the people in this period has been was different and the amenities received depended a lot on their ethnicity and race. In this essay, the history and life of the African American are depicted who are facing challenges since 1877. In the year 1928, the life of the native people and the African Americans is dissimilar due to the presence of strong governance giving rise to inequality and a lack of self-esteem along with respect. In the current situation i.e. 1928, as an undergraduate student at Howard University, the perceived highs and lows of African Americans are being explored with the argument in between the period of 1877 to 1928. The African Americans live majo rly in the south and the prevailing challenging situation in the nation is affecting the lives of farmers. The jobs that are provided to the people of higher ranks are in the mines, tobacco, and ores. The blacks are deprived of every facility even if they have the potential than the whites. The educated blacks are positioned under the whites in order to suppress them. The position of the blacks although large in number is suppressed by the whites-only because of their color. Moreover, the women of the African American origin are forced to work for the whites as slaves. This is one of the low points faced by African Americans since 1877. This implies that according to the whites, the skin color is the only criteria for the people to get a job and status in the society irrespective of the fact the person has enormous potential2.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 139

Assignment Example In St. John, people hung out their clothes to dry as compared to Calgary where people use washers and dryers in their households (DeWolf , 2007). The use of clear examples and illustrations in the essay into drawing a conclusion about the topic makes it qualify as an inductive essay. According to the essay, the Christopher uses examples in different cities such as Calgary, St. John, Montreal, and St. Michael to demonstrate the significance of clotheslines. Apart from the aesthetic picture brought about by clothes hanging on the lines, there are a vast range of benefits associated with hanging clothes in the lines (DeWolf , 2007). According to La Presse, the sun is eradicates odours and removes stains from clothes in en effective manner as compared to dryers. There is a wide range of advantages of having clothesline apart from being fashionable, and aesthetic outstanding. The presence of clothesline in various regions brings out traditional aspect of hanging clothes in the open. According to research studies, the sun plays an imperative role in the elimination of odours and stains as compared to the use of dryer. Drying of clothes in the sun is sometimes associated with poverty and class. On this perspective, some governments have implemented legislations that ban individuals from hanging clothes in lines. On the contrary, Ontario environment minister has brought up the idea to eliminate clothesline ban in the region. Clotheslines have myriad benefits to people and the environment in general. According to Christopher, clotheslines have a beautiful and romantic outlook to the surrounding. During the author’s visit at different cities, he observed various aesthetic outlook of clothesline. Clotheslines have traditional and more fashionable way of drying clothes in the open sun. On the other hand, the sun has a crucial role in the elimination of bad smell and stains on clothes. There have been myriad legislations

Discrimination Of The African Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Discrimination Of The African Americans - Essay Example However, the development in Southern part of America has been slow due to the presence of the ethnic group of African American. They are the people who faced dominance and low status in the nation due to their skin color. They have been deprived of various rights affecting their social and economic position1. The life of the people in this period has been was different and the amenities received depended a lot on their ethnicity and race. In this essay, the history and life of the African American are depicted who are facing challenges since 1877. In the year 1928, the life of the native people and the African Americans is dissimilar due to the presence of strong governance giving rise to inequality and a lack of self-esteem along with respect. In the current situation i.e. 1928, as an undergraduate student at Howard University, the perceived highs and lows of African Americans are being explored with the argument in between the period of 1877 to 1928. The African Americans live majo rly in the south and the prevailing challenging situation in the nation is affecting the lives of farmers. The jobs that are provided to the people of higher ranks are in the mines, tobacco, and ores. The blacks are deprived of every facility even if they have the potential than the whites. The educated blacks are positioned under the whites in order to suppress them. The position of the blacks although large in number is suppressed by the whites-only because of their color. Moreover, the women of the African American origin are forced to work for the whites as slaves. This is one of the low points faced by African Americans since 1877. This implies that according to the whites, the skin color is the only criteria for the people to get a job and status in the society irrespective of the fact the person has enormous potential2.

Business Functions and Processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business Functions and Processes - Essay Example Primary activities are mainly associated with the creation of a particular product, whereas support activities involve assignments that support the primary activities and each other. Three of the support activities that include procurement, human resource management and technology development can be connected to primary activities, while the fourth activity (firm infrastructure) is responsible for supporting the entire value chain. The concept of value chain postulated by Porter (1985) explains that attaining competitive advantage begins with the effort to build organizational proficiency in conducting specific competitive value chain activities. The underlying aim behind performing such activity is to attempt harnessing those capabilities, which strengthen competitiveness and strategy of an organization. Given the fact that one or more of these abilities become the cornerstone of a company’s strategy and more resources are then allocated towards building greater expertise in performing these activities, the targeted abilities may ultimately become sustainable core competencies (Roper, Du and Love, 2008). In order to understand significance that Porter had attached to the value chain, it is imperative to recognize that there are two distinct and basic sources of competitive advantage. One source is a lower relative cost advantage and the other is a sort of differentiation. Although empirical research scholars have argued on the fact that many companies (specially Japanese) have been largely successful in combining the two sources mentioned above into one source, Porter continued to seek ways whereby both the sources could be developed separately (Hansen and Birkinshaw, 2007). Porter’s primary emphasis was on the argument that attaining low cost advantage or differentiation largely relies upon the disconnected activities performed by an organization. By disaggregating these activities in strategically pertinent groups, managers will be

South African Economic Racism Essay Example for Free

South African Economic Racism Essay Throughout the course of the 19th and 20th century, economic considerations played a significant role in shaping both racial discrimination and concepts of white supremacy in South Africa. When large deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered in the latter half of the 19th century, the economic structure of southern Africa was dramatically altered. The mining industry necessitated vast amounts of inexpensive labor in order to be profitable. In the post South African War period, the necessity to return the Boers to self-rule without harming the mining industry resulted in a series of legislation that legalized racial discrimination to ensure a large and cheap labor force consisting of Africans. South Africa’s industrial revolution and the legislation passed during the period immediately following the South African War provided the economic bases of racial discrimination and white supremacy in South Africa. In 1868, the Kimberly diamond strike propelled South Africa to a position as a world leader in diamond production. Similarly, the discovery of large gold deposits in the 18th and 19th century also attracted both foreign capital investment and immigration. The rapidly growing mining industries required massive amounts of inexpensive labor in order to be profitable. Hundreds of thousands of African workers sought employment in the developing mines and cities in industrializing cities. In the face of this increased competition, white workers benefitted from racial discrimination because it protected them economically from competition with African workers. White business owners sought a large and cheap African workforce; racial discriminatory practices ensured they were cheap and pliable. In order to limit the bargaining power of African workers seeking higher wages and to ensure that none could flee in the face of harsh labor conditions, the British conquered the remaining independent African states, confiscated land, and imposed severe cash taxations during the 1880s and 1890s. This forced African labor that had previously chosen employment in the mining industry voluntarily to now do so under conditions set solely by the employers. In addition, a series of discriminatory practices were first introduced during this period including pass laws and urban ghettos, further ensuring the enforced cooperation and steady supply of cheap African labor. The industrial revolution in South Africa introduced a pressing need for incredible amounts of cheap labor. The introduction of racially  discriminatory practices sought to meet this need by ensuring the In the aftermath of the South African War in 1902, the mining industry saw a depression in the face of a severe labor short age. In response, South African capitalists and mining industry leaders worked with British imperial authorities to import massive amounts of Chinese laborers. Between 1902 and 1907, over one hundred thousand Chinese immigrated to South Africa. However, Afrikaners opposed this vehemently arguing that it should be a white man’s country and that this influx of labor represented a new competitive threat for potential jobs. In 1906, the Liberals come to power in Great Britain. Many had opposed the South African War and were now calling for the return of self-rule to the Boers without endangering the mining industry. Afrikaners would take the place of skilled and semi-skilled English laborers at lower wages while newly enacted policies would force greater numbers of Africans to unskilled labor. The 1911 Mines and Works Act restricted African employment to menial and unskilled jobs, excluding them from most skilled categories of work. In effect, it legislated a racial hierarchy in the workplace and extended the practice throughout the South African economy beyond the mining industry. Furthermore, the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924 restricted African rights to organize or to negotiate their terms of employment. In 1913, the Natives’ Land Act was enacted, restricting African ownership of land to designated areas comprising roughly 7 percent of the South Africa’s total land area and restricting Africans from establishing any businesses outside of this allocated space. In addition, the land partitioned for Africans was often of poor quality and could not possibly support its population. Thus, the law effectively prevented Africans from leading self-sufficient lives in rural communities. They were increasingly forced to work on Afrikaner owned farms, factories, and mines. In addition, restrictions on their movement and the right to reside in urban areas combined with the inability for rural areas to support significant numbers of Africans resulted in an endless system of migrant unskilled labor. Economic interests and considerations significantly in fluenced the segregation policies adopted in South Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. The necessity of a cheap and controllable labor source resulted in harsh racially discriminatory policies and the rise of white supremacy. In 1944, the chairman of the Broederbond stressed the special role of  Afrikaners in a speech, â€Å"In every people in the world is embodied a Divine Idea and the task of each People is to build upon that Idea and to perfect it. So God created the Afrikaner People with a unique language, a unique philosophy of life, and their own history and tradition in order that they might fulfill a particular calling and destiny here in the southern corner of Africa. We must believe that God has called us to be servants of his righteousness in this place† (Clark and Worger, 32). Placing emphasis on divine support for their existence, their special place in the world, and righteous mission, this Afrikaner ideology can draw historical antecedents from the belief of Manifest Destiny in the United States in the 19th century and from the ethnic nationalist movement of Nazi Germany in the mid 20th century. This emphasis on the special Afrikaner identity heavily influenced Hendrik Verwoerd who se argument for apartheid centered on the inability for two cultures to achieve their ideal futures as each of their paths are unique. The intermingling of languages, traditions, and histories would be detrimental to both the Afrikaner and African peoples. These ideals of Afrikaner nationalism expressed in the quote draws historical antecedents back into the 19th century concept of Manifest Destiny. During the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the North American continent due to the special virtues of the American people and through a special destiny that was divinely ordained. Similarly, the Broederbond chairman asserts the special role of the Afrikaner people and their divinely ordained origin. In addition, he argues for their expansion throughout southern Africa as both a divine calling and righteous mission. The ideas expressed in the quote by the Broederbond chairman also draw numerous parallels with the 20th century German nationalism found in Nazi Germany. Following his ascension to power in Germany, Hitler’s movement and theories resonated considerably in South Africa, particularly with the Purified National Party and the Broederbond. The Broederbond established a â€Å"voortrekker† movement for Afrikaner youth, arguably seen as analogous to the Hitler Youth . In 1938, the Ossewabrandwag was established on the model of Hitler’s national socialist movement. By the end of 1939, over three hundred thousand Afrikaners had sworn loyalty to the volk, or Afrikaner people. It sought to establish an Afrikaner controlled republic in South  Africa, by violent means if necessary. Additionally, in 1938, a centenary celebration of the Great Trek was organized that placed emphasis on the heroic struggle of the Afrikaners against British oppression. The articulation of this â€Å"sacred history† and of a struggle for survival sought to memorialize and legitimize the special place of the Afrikaner people. These sentiments are again arguably analogous to those found in the ethnic nationalist movement of Nazi Germany that stressed the special place in history of the Aryan race. In both Afrikaner nationalism and German nationalism, the nation has a mystical and divine quality. In addition, the Afrikaner and German people are also considered to possess certain special and unique characteristics such as language, culture, and history that transcend the individual and contribute to a national unity. The emphasis of a special and unique Afrikaner identity expressed in the quote by the Broederbond chairman in 1944 can be seen in Hendrik Verwoerd’s argument for apartheid in 1950. As the minister of native affairs in the first National Party government, Verwoerd met with African members of the Native Representative Council to explain his theory and justification of apartheid. Basing his argument in the concept of ethnic nationalism, he asserts that Afrikaner and African communities must be divorced in order for both parties to prosper. It is impossible for two distinct and unique peoples to achieve their ideal futures while intermingled because each has their own particular path and calling. Verwoerd argues that tension and conflict are inevitable in mixed societies. The mixing of languages, traditions, and cultures in South Africa are only detrimental to the development of both the Afrikaner and African people. Appealing to African leaders for their cooperation in installing an apartheid policy, Verwoerd states that, â€Å"Instead of striving after vague chimeras and trying to equal the European in an intermingled community with confused ideals and inevitable conflict, he can be a national figure helping to lead his own people along the road of peace and prosperity. He can help give the educated men and women of his people an opportunity to†¦fully realize their ambitions within their own sphere† (Clark and Worger, 141). His explanation of apartheid places a significant emphasis on the purity of a people’s descent and the continuation of this line as the key to secure an ideal future. Both Afrikaners and Africans can only truly realize their full potential within their own cultural and ethnic sphere.

Purification of Fructosyl Transferase (FTase)

Purification of Fructosyl Transferase (FTase) Introduction Food products are formulated for taste, appearance, cost and convenience of the consumer. The composition of food products that confer a health benefit is a relatively new trend, and recognizes the growing acceptance of the role of diet in disease prevention, treatment and well-being. It is thus becoming increasingly clear that there is a strong relationship between the food we consume and our health. Scientific knowledge of the beneficial role of various food ingredients (nutrients) for the prevention of specific diseases is rapidly advancing. Functional foods, pharma foods and nutraceuticals are synonyms for foods that can prevent and treat diseases. Generally, a functional food can be defined as ‘any food that has a positive impact on an individual’s health, physical performance or state of mind in addition to its nutritional content’. Functional foods in addition to their basic nutritional content and natural being, will contain the proper balance of ingredients which will help to improve many aspects of human lives, including the prevention and treatment of illness and disease (Goldberg, 1994). So far, a large number of functional foods in various forms have already been introduced into the market. Many of them contain a number of characteristic functional ingredients. They include dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, sugar alcohols, peptides and proteins, prebiotics and probiotics, phytochemicals, antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids (Stark and Madar, 1994). Oligosaccharides are very well recognized as ‘functional food ingredients’ because of their positive effects on human health. This research work focuses on the microbial production and purification of Fructosyl Transferase (FTase) and the production of Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) by transfructosylation using this enzyme. Oligosaccharides Oligosaccharides are usually defined as carbohydrates with a low degree of polymerization (DP) and consequently low molecular weight. They are composed of 3-10 simple sugar units linked together.The main categories of nondigestible oligosaccharides include carbohydrates in which the monosaccharide unit is fructose, galactose, glucose and xylose. Chemical differences among commercially available oligosaccharides include chain length, monosaccharide composition, degree of branching and purity. They are found naturally (small amounts) in many plants.. Plants with large amounts of oligosaccharides include  chicory root, from which most commercial inulin is extracted, and so-called Jerusalem. They are also found in onions,  leeks, garlic, legumes, wheat, asparagus, jicama, and other plant foods. Oligosaccharides are functional food ingredients that have great potential to improve the quality of many foods. In addition to providing useful modifications to food flavor and physicochemical characteristics, they possess properties that are beneficial to the health of the consumers. In general, food grade oligosaccharides are not pure products, but are mixtures containing oligosaccharides of different degrees of polymerization, the parent polysaccharide or disaccharide and the monomer sugars (Roberfroid and Slavin, 2000). The production and application of food grade oligosaccharides are increasing and their major uses are in beverages, infant milk powders, confectioneries, bakery products, yoghurts and dairy desserts. FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES FOS are chain polymers of the sugar fructose that are found in a variety of foods. The sugar units can be linked in a single straight chain or can be branched. In many cases small amounts of glucose are also contained in the chain. Chemically, FOS is difficult to define, because the length of the fructose chains can vary from source to source. Therefore a FOS analysis of a food may report the total of several closely related compounds. Inulin is an example of a longer chained compound that is considered as FOS. The shorter (lower molecular weight) compounds tend to have a sweet taste. The size and complexity of the FOS molecule desirable characteristics. Although the simple sugars fructose and glucose are quickly absorbed into the body by the intestines, FOS for the most part is indigestible and therefore acts as a non-digestible fiber in the diet. This is because humans does not have the enzymes to break down FOS as it travels down the digestive tract. When the FOS reaches the large intestine and the colon, the bacteria that are found there start to break down the FOS. These bacteria have the enzymes needed to break down FOS. Bifidobacteria have been reported to use FOS. It is believed that foods that promote bifidobacterial growth are good for the health. Of all the oligosaccharides known so far, FOS has attracted special attention. FOS is a common name for fructose oligomers that are mainly composed of 1- Kestose (GF2), 1 Nystose (GF3) and 1F – Fructofuranosyl nystose (GF4) in which fructosyl units (F) are bound at the ÃŽ ² 2, 1 position of sucrose (GF). Structure of Fructooligosaccharides Occurrence FOS derived from sucrose occur in many higher plants as reserve carbohydrates. They are found in a variety of edible plants, including banana, barley, garlic, honey, onion, rye, brown sugar, tomato, asparagus root, Jerusalem artichoke, wheat and triticale (Fishbein et al, 1988). The concentration of FOS in these foods is diagrammatically represented in Figure 1.2 (derived using data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Dietary Risk Evaluation system EPA, 1984). FOS like 1- kestose, neokestose, 6- kestose and their derivatives have also been isolated from the plant Agave vera cruz (Satyanarayana, 1976). FTase producing organisms FTase by transfructosylation activity helps in the production of FOS. The enzyme source of FOS synthesis can be divided into two classes; one is plants such as asparagus, sugar beet, onion, Jerusalem artichoke etc; the other consists of bacteria and fungi such as Arthrobacter sp., Fusarium sp., Aspergillus sp., Aureobasidium sp. Functional properties of FOS Low calorific value The ÃŽ ²- configuration of the anomeric carbon, C2 in their fructose monomers make FOS nondigestible by human digestive enzymes which are mostly specific for ÃŽ ±-osidic linkages and hence they are not utilized as an energy source in the body. However, due to colonic fermentation, they have an energy contribution to food of about 1.5 kcal/ g. This property makes them suitable for use in sweet, low-calorie diet foods and safe for consumption by individuals with diabetes. In the case of very sweet foods, they may be used as bulking agents in conjunction with intense artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, phenylalanine or sucralose, thereby masking the aftertaste produced by some of these intense sweeteners (Crittenden and Playne, 1996). Non cariogenicity Unlike starch and simple sugars, FOSs are not utilized by oral microflora like Streptococcus mutans to form acids and insoluble ÃŽ ²-glucans, that serve as a matrix for plaque formation and are the main culprits in causing dental caries (Oku, 1994). Hence, FOSs are presently used as non – cariogenic sugar substitutes in confectionery, chewing gums, yoghurts and drinks. Dietary fibre effect ‘Dietary fibre is the edible part of plants or analogous carbohydrates that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestine’ (AACC Report, 2001). The nondigestible quality of FOS makes them act similar to dietary fibre, and thus prevent constipation. However, excessive consumption of FOS may cause flatulence or diarrhea, the minimum dose being 40-50 g/day. The advantages FOS has over dietary fibre are that they have a smaller daily requirement, do not cause diarrhea in recommended doses, are slightly sweet, have neither bad texture nor bad taste, are completely water soluble, do not build viscosity, do not bind minerals, are physically stable, and are easier to incorporate into processed foods and drinks (Tomomatsu H, 1994). Prebiotic effect In recent years, the ability of FOS to promote the proliferation of bifidobacteria in the colon has been recognized. These intestinal bacteria metabolize FOS readily and produce large amounts of short chain fatty acids resulting in an acidic pH in the lumen of the large intestine. The beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium sp. and Lactobacillus sp. are resistant to the acidic pH, whereas the harmful bacteria such as Clostridium sp. are sensitive to the acidic conditions. Therefore the proliferation of useful bacteria is stimulated and that of harmful bacteria is suppressed. Subsequently, FOS has been described as one of several prebiotics, which can be defined as ‘a nondigestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and / or the activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon and thus improves host health’ (Gibson and Roberfroid, 1995). FOS have been demonstrated to increase bifidobacteria numbers in the colon at doses of Lipid lowering effect FOS in diet has been found to decrease the levels of triglycerides, serum cholesterol and lipids. Hypotriglyceridemia is due to decrease in the hepatic synthesis of triglycerides and hypocholesterolemia is likely to result from the antagonistic effect of short chain fatty acids, especially propionate on cholesterol metabolism. Propionate has been found to be an inhibitor of HMG CoA reductase, an important enzyme in cholesterol synthesis (Roberfroid and Slavin, 2000). Effect on mineral absorption FOS have been found to enhance the absorption of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions and maintain balance of iron and Zn2+ ions. This has been found to be due to the osmotic effect, acidification of the colonic content due to fermentation and production of short chain carboxylic acids, formation of calcium and magnesium salts of these acids and hypertrophy of the colon wall (Roberfroid and Slavin, 2000). Anticancer effect FOS has an indirect effect on prevention of cancer in human beings due to its prebiotic properties. This is due to immunity enhancements by the cells, cell wall components and extracellular components of bifidobacteria (Tomomatsu H, 1994). Production of nutrients The presence of a good colonic environment with high bifidobacterial count leads to the production of Vitamins B-1, B-2, B-6, B-12, nicotinic acid and folic acid. Bifidobacteria – fermented dairy products also improve lactose tolerance, calcium absorbability and digestibility (Tomomatsu H, 1994). Antidiabetic effect FOS have been claimed to have no effect on blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, possibly due to effects of short chain fatty acids produced during fermentation. (Luo et al, 2000). PROBLEM STATEMENT Normally, pure sucrose is expensive and the cost to produce FTase by using sucrose is high. There are some by-product like cereal bran, corn-products, sugarcane molasses and by-products of coffee and tea processing industries were used as a substrate to produce FTase from microorganism (Sangeetha et al., 2003). This by-product can lower the cost of production of FTase. Before FOS can be produced, the enzyme FTase must be undergone a series of purification. The purification of FTase must be done in order to get high yield of FOS. Many researchers have reported the purification and characterization of FTase from various sources and FTase has been found to differ in their molecular weight and properties from one source to another (Lateef et al., 2006, Sangeetha et al., 2003). FTase exhibits hydrolytic activity which can dominate the process (Delphine et al., 2007). This fact will lead to lower production yields and to a contamination of the final product with glucose and fructose (Delphine et al., 2007). Purification of FTase is important for batch production of FOS. By doing so, the nature of its hydrolytic activity can be studied, improve the understanding its mode of operation and be able to classified which type of enzyme should it belong to (Là ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Hocine et al., 2000). RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main objective of this research is to purify FTase enzyme from microfungi Aspergillus oryzae isolated from CFTRI. To enhance the production of FOS as a food additive. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY In Malaysia, the FTase enzyme used to be imported from other country such as Japan, India and United States (Sangeetha et al., 2005). Normally, the cost for production of FOS from commercialized enzyme is high, so by producing and purifying the enzyme, we can reduce the cost. Normally, crude enzyme will produce lower yield of FOS than purified enzyme. In order to fulfill high customer demand on the functional food such as FOS, the production of FOS must be increased. In order to produce high yield of FOS, the enzyme need to be purified. By doing this, the activity of enzyme will be increased and so do the production of FOS. Purification and characterization of the enzyme (FTase) are necessary steps to obtain the product (FOS) rapidly, with high purity, to improve our understanding of its mode of action and the nature of activity. Efforts have been made to purify the FTase enzyme to get high specific activity and fold of purification but the reaction mechanism involved in FOS production does not lead to higher yields than the theoretical maxima of 56 – 58 % due to inhibition caused by accumulation of glucose. Nevertheless, the time involved in obtaining maximum FOS yield has been considerably reduced by using the purified FTase in comparison to the crude FTase. The product FOS formed has also been characterized for its physicochemical properties and structure using HPLC or LC-MS. Studies on the prebiotic effects of FOS are required to establish its functional properties and to demonstrate its use in product development. The present research work has also focused on the scaling up of both the produ ction of FTase as well as FOS.