To Room Nineteen free essay sample

Reading the fifth chapter of Yi-Fu Tuan’s  Space and Place  alongside â€Å"To Room Nineteen† helps us to understand the counterintuitive notions of space and freedom Lessing describes in her story. In this way, Tuan’s insight helps us recognize Susan’s fear of responsibility and desire for freedom as they relate to the places in her life. From the outside, it seems as though Susan lives the ideal life with a big house and a beautiful garden for her children and loving husband. However, as the story progresses, we see that Susan becomes more and more â€Å"reluctant to enter her big beautiful home† (Lessing 530). This same attractive, picture-perfect house begins to push Susan away, for in it are the many responsibilities that come with adult-life and motherhood. The more these responsibilities weighed down on Susan, the more it felt â€Å"as if something was waiting for her there she did not wish to confront† (530). We will write a custom essay sample on To Room Nineteen or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This seems strange because, typically, â€Å"spaciousness is closely associated with [freedom]† as Tuan explains in  Space and Place  (52). By this logic, one would think that Susan would feel plenty free in her big home with the spacious, lush garden to wander through. However, although â€Å"freedom implies space,† space does not always imply freedom (52). What Susan truly needed was space from her family, and freedom from her responsibilities. This becomes evident when Susan takes her vacation to the mountains in Wales. Physically, she had all the space in the world, from huge mountains to tall skies and deep valleys. But with her family calling her multiple times a day, Susan felt like â€Å"the telephone wire [was] holding her to her duty like a leash† (Lessing 538). Tuan explains this phenomenon by stating that â€Å"solitude is broken not so much by the number of organisms in nature as by the sense of busy-ness—including busy-ness of the mind† (61). This is exactly what Susan felt, for although she was alone physically, her family weighed down on her mind constantly, ruining her sense of solitude. Though they tried to be helpful and supportive, Susan’s family couldn’t understand this critical concept. Had they been able to go a few days without calling her or without Mrs. Parkes nagging her with household business, perhaps Susan’s vacation would have appeased her craving for solitude. Alas, the opportunity was spoiled and Susan returned to her home feeling more exhausted than when she had left. For all of these reasons, Susan felt it necessary to seek out Room 19 in Fred’s Hotel. This was Susan’s escape, not because it was a vast, open land like the mountains were, but because no one knew she was there. It didn’t even matter that â€Å"the room was hideous† because â€Å"she was free† (Lessing 541). The room she was shown was small and dingy, with only one small window and cheap looking sheets on the sole bed that was there. All Susan needed was to be â€Å"alone and with no one knowing where [she was]† (Lessing 537). In this way Susan’s relationship with the dreary motel room allows us to understand the counterintuitive notion of freedom as relating to space. This was the only place she could get away from herself and be free. Here, â€Å"she was no longer Susan Rawlings†¦ she had no past, no future† and it had nothing to do at all with physical space (542). Instead, it was the cramped little motel room that gave Susan her freedom, giving us insight as to why she searched out Room 19. We also saw something interesting in the scene where Susan meets Mrs. Townsend. The presence of just one other person ruined Susan’s entire attempt at solitude. Here, we can compare Susan to the pianist Tuan discusses on page fifty-nine of his book. He explains that for a shy pianist practicing alone in a room, the presence of just one person shatters his world and forces him to stop his work immediately. Like the pianist, Susan’s solitude was obviously tarnished by the presence of others. Tuan touches on this idea as well when he says that â€Å"the company of human beings—even [one] other person—has the effect of curtailing space† (59). He explains that when we are alone, we can allow our thoughts to â€Å"wander freely over space,† but that â€Å"in the presence of others, [our thoughts] are pulled back by an awareness of other personalities who project their own world onto the same area† (59). Another crucial aspect of Susan’s solitude wasn’t just that no one was around, but that no one knew where she was. Tuan explains why Susan’s solitude is tarnished even with someone’s mere knowledge of her location, saying that â€Å"crowding is an awareness that one is observed† (60). Once Susan felt that her husband was keeping a close eye on her, the feeling she got from the room â€Å"was not the same, [for] her husband had searched her out† (544). Her husband’s suspicions were completely understandable, but at the same time, had he respected Susan’s need to be away, perhaps her hunger for solitude would have remained sated by the little motel room she had found. It also becomes clear throughout the story that Susan desperately needed to escape her household responsibilities in addition to her family. Between hiring a fulltime  au pair  girl and running off to London for the hotel, it is clear that Susan had no interest in being with her family at home. Even when she was home for supper, all she could think about was how desperate she was to be alone again. The association she made between her responsibilities and her house drove her away to be in Room 19 where she was completely alone and hidden from the outside world. There, she could let go of her life completely for the duration of the day and go back to pretending to love her home life at night. By understanding Susan’s relationships to her spaces, we can understand her need to escape the life she built for herself. Her detachment to her beautiful home signifies the way she let go of the perfect life she created with her family while her need for Room 19 highlights how much she wished to be completely alone. Once her husband found her out, the solitude that Susan had searched for so desperately was tarnished. After this, Susan felt cornered into escaping life altogether. No amount of space could satisfy her, because now it seemed that her family would find her even in the smallest and most hidden of places. The only way Susan could leave her life behind completely was by taking it herself, and she finds this permanent escape in Room 19, the only place that allowed her to be completely free.

Freedom Through Christianity Essays - African Slave Trade

Freedom Through Christianity Essays - African Slave Trade Freedom through Christianity What do people look for in religion? Do they look for guidance, beliefs, reason, or do they look for help? African-Americans have looked for all of these for many years. They found all of these in Christianity. Christians believe in one God who they worship, trust, and look up to. Since Christianity was first intorduced in the early Colonial Period, African-Americans have used their Christian beliefs to fight horrible things that have gone on in America such as slavery and segregation. As African-Americans were captured through the slave trade and brought to the colonies they possessed many different religious beliefs. Many people are extremely ignorant in history and believe that all African-Americans were once united together as a whole in Africa. This was not nearly the case. Africa was made up of many different states with many different people and with many different beliefs. These people were dark skinned, but aren't all white people light skinned. The white man has never agreed on one main language. As the African-Americans were brought to the colonies from Africa, they used Christianity to help bring them together. Some people use song and dance to express their Christian beliefs. This was all started by the slaves. African-American slaves used songs, dances, and often stories to show their feelings about God. These stories were called trickster stories. As African-American slaves became more involved in the Christian faith it gave them something to live and fight for. Instead of doing labor for their white owners, they did their work for themselves and most importantly, they did it for God. Slaves were treated as animals. They were forced to work in the fields, in the house, or on the farms for free. They were beaten, deprived of food and clothing, and even raped. If slaves tried to run away they were captured and beaten. Being beaten meant being stripped of their clothes and whipped severely with a leather strap. Some were whipped up to 300 times. As time passed, African-Americans were beginning to speak English. This helped significantly. Now they could preach and spread their beliefs. As Christianity spread through the country, slaves were beginning to worship the Lord out loud. They began to build churches and have marriages. Having Christian marriages provided a family for the slaves and this gave them a sense of brotherhood. The white man degraded the slaves so much that many had an extremely how self-esteem. Many slaves felt that their duty in life was to be the white man's slave. However, Christianity showed them that they were equal to everyone and this often raised the slaves self-esteem. Through churches and marriages the African-Americans were now creating a community for themselves. Slavery ended and blacks were finally free to some extent. Although they were now free, they would still remain under the white man's foot. This was a huge step for the African-Americans though. I believe that Christianity had a lot to do with the ending of slavery. The blacks already knew that slavery was wrong, and finally enough whites realized, through God that this was wrong and immoral. However, there will still be many whites who are ignorant in the preachings of God and still treat the blacks as though they are slaves. African-Americans will keep their heads high and fight for their freedom through the strength of God. Even though African-Americans were no longer slaves, they still do not have the freedom that everyone in America deserved. Slavery was now gone, but the main issue became segregation. Blacks still did not received the same rights as the whites did. They could not attend the same schools, use white bathroom facilities, eat in the same restaurants, ride on the front of buses, or even drink fro the same water fountains. This went against everything that God said and the blacks knew that. They knew that God created everyone equal and their are some African-Americans who will fight for this. Most blacks were scared to come public and fight for their rights. There was still a lof of violence and hostility toward blacks at this time. Blacks were being hung, beaten, and brutally murdered. This put a lot of fear into the eyes of African-Americans. Some tried

Week 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 4 - Assignment Example The simulator is best controlled by a good quality joystick (777 Studios, 2013). While one is using the combat flight simulator, he/she is presented with beautiful sceneries that have been well designed using the modern graphics. The scene simulates different environmental conditions including snow like conditions and rainfall simulation. One among the best features of the game is its ability to be adjusted extensively to accommodate a learning flyer. These include such things as enabling autopilot, not running out of fuel, and not running out of ammunition. The game is equipped with a variety of planes for the user to choose from. Furthermore, the game has been designed to support multiplayer community. And this enables the user to play against or with his/her colleagues. Lastly the planes in the game have been equipped with realistic features that simulates extreme and exact real world scenarios. Despite the above stated advantageous features of the combat simulator, there are several disadvantages associated with the game. Firstly, learning to play the game is hard. The game has got deep learning curve thus it discourages users. Also, the game is highly dependent on modern graphics that has enough memory, this implies some of the features of the game can’t be enjoyed on PC’s that have less graphics memory. For a software developer, there are various standards that he/she must work within. First, any software developer must work consistently with the interest of the public. Secondly, the work of any software engineer must be to the best interest of his/her employers and clients. The engineer while undertaking his task must make efforts to ensure all his products present the highest quality standard possible. Also, when carrying out judgement, engineers must ensure they are not biased in their judgement. The decision must be independent and maintain integrity. Lastly, the engineer must be supportive and show fairness to his/her workmates. The

Food and Drug Association Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Food and Drug Association - Assignment Example Restriction on the extensive use of the tobacco products, nutritional appendages, preparation and over-the-counter medications, vaccines, and different kinds of biopharmaceuticals products. In common words, one can define FDA as a â€Å"scientific, regulatory, and public health agency† (Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, 2013). The agency grew from a single chemist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862 to a staff of approximately 9,100 employees by 2001. The history of FDA is also an eventful one. It was initially known as Division of Chemistry and later on, after 1901 it was started to know as Bureau of Chemistry. The organization started to enjoy the power of regulating the operation of various companies after the implementation of Federal Food and Drugs Act by the US government in the year of 1906. The name was changed to the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration in July 1927 and from 1930 onwards the present name was incorporated (Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, 2013). The act of 1906 was replaced in the year of 1936 in the USA when Tennessee Drug Company brings together and marketed a form of the new sulfa wonder drug, Elixir Sulfanilamide- which was a medicine for pediatric patients. The product was launched in the US market untested and the result was horrible. The solvent of this medi cine was highly toxic in nature which was the main reason behind the death of over 100 people in the country. Most of them were children. To control the anger of the people and at the same time make the food and drug products more secured the US government under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act on 1938. This made the functioning of all different companies more systematic and there was more rigorous monitoring in place in terms of the standard and quality of the finished goods, the process associated with the production, quality, and standard of raw materials used etc.  

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 13

Personal statement - Essay Example I for my part was very interested in the area, so I enjoyed those times very much. The break in studies was mainly intended to find my strength and weaknesses and thereby, identify the field that best suited my aptitude. I had always wanted to work before going in for higher studies. The break has indeed been the most defining time of my life. The experiences in various areas of human interaction have significantly influenced my perspective towards issues and factors which were hitherto considered of low merit. In 2003, I first worked with Ymed Sysems Inc. which market medical equipment and provide medical services. Working with the company made me realize that being professional and being a salesman are two different things. To advance in life, I needed to acquire more knowledge. Though I started reading books on different areas of business, I realized that higher degree would equip me with better knowledge. After two years’ working with the company, I finally knew that economics is the field for me. I am interested in knowing how and what makes business succeed in the highly competitive global environment. Though I had made tentative decisions about my future, I enrolled for military service. The next two years in military had further strengthened my belief that America is the place to realize one’s dream. I knew that America is a land of opportunities and pursuing higher education from prestigious academia like this education would greatly facilitate in realizing my dreams of becoming a successful professional in the field business management. Since 2008, I have been studying in America. I have been attending English, economics, accounting, and mathematics classes, which will become the cornerstone for more profound study in Santa Barbara City College. The classroom sessions have taught me how theories are applied in real life situations. The two years in

Relationship Between Mind And Body

Relationship Between Mind And Body The relationship between the mind and body has been a preoccupation among philosophers since the Greek antiquity, with famous writers such as 5th Century philosopher Plato, and his student Aristotle. Ideas concerning the mind and body originate as far back as Platos and Aristotles time, whereby they questioned whether or not intelligence is connected with the body. In the 16th Century, Michel de Montaigne treated the same question again, and it was then continued in the 17th Century but by Renà © Descartes and Blaise Pascal. Their point of view is diverse and the conclusion that they reach upon at times is somewhat in a way satisfying to each other or plain rejects. Before embarking on the essay, a brief explanation on their works will be examined. Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential yet sceptical writers of the 16th Century, especially with his Essais being a compilation of various short topics describing man and human nature. His essays had direct influence on other classical thinkers such as Renà © Descartes and Blaise Pascal. Blaise Pascal was not only an influential French philosopher, but he was also a French mathematician and physicist. His unfinished most famous work in philosophy, Pensà ©es, is a series of philosophical sections and essays, whereby Pascal identifies and explores the contradictions of human nature with regards to psychology and sociology. Pascal used his personal thoughts and opinions concerning human suffering and religious beliefs to write this philosophy towards the close of his life. French philosopher, but also a mathematician and scientist Renà © Descartes, had published two well known philosophical works in history called Discours de la Mà ©thode and Mà ©ditations Mà ©taphysiques. Descartes main goal was to present us with a series of thoughts that he took into consideration, in order to shed light on his views on God and the existence. Rà ©ne Descartes was, by nature a dualist. In fact, he created the notion of Cartesian dualism and was the first person to clearly classify the mind with consciousness and to differentiate this from the brain, which held intelligence. Cartesian dualism viewed that ones intelligence cannot be touched and is non-physical. He was the first to create the mind and body problem, an issue which tried to question how the mind and body can interact, especially if the mind is based solely on thought and the body is purely an addition. This was the basic breadth of the mind-body debate which began during the times of Plato and Aristotle and extended long past Descartess death. Aristotle believed mind was connected to the soul. The mind is the soulss object, which becomes active only when it thinks. The soul, which is also known as the intellect, does not work unless it is thinking. Therefore, it is unlikely that it would be mixed with the body. Aristotle was therefore a thinker who was more concerned with the metaphysical concepts. Platos thought was more based on concrete principles of the natural world. While Aristotle described the levels of reality, Plato focused on subjects such as how one could be of a righteous character, and therefore a better person within themselves. Cartesian dualism permits both these theories to work together in order to be recognised as one. Descartes, like Montaigne and Pascal to some extent, were philosophers who all had different ways of going about their works. Descartes used more indirect means of philosophising. Meanwhile, Pascal would have been purposely direct and informative, as a mathematician who drew on his knowledge of the sciences in order to develop his conclusions. On the other hand, Montaigne studied himself with subjects such as religion, philosophy, humanism as he believed this was crucial in order to describe human nature. These three Frenchmen contrasted with their views regarding the mind and the body. While Descartes thought that the mind was separate from the body, Montaigne along with Pascal definitely would have argued that the mind was part of the physical body. Obviously, there are good arguments for and against these two very different views, which will be explained. Montaigne preferred to make his opinions clear by providing facts in order to attempt to uncover the truth, providing the readers a chance to analyse his thoughts personally. His aim was to describe man and human nature by using memory as a description to address his topic. This is what he did to highlight his view on the mind and body. He argued that the development of the mind is connected to the body and expressed how he believed the imagination is the drive for the downfall of the body. His philosophy regarding these two substances is one of which explains his view that a healthy mind comes from the studies of other great writers. Lame que loge la philosophie doit, par sa santà ©, render sain encores le corps. (Montaigne: 208: 1969) He argues that anyone who is taught by the philosophy of past great writers will have the perfect body, as he believes thinking for oneself is truly unhealthy for the body and mind. Therefore, according to him there is only one type of education whic h should be used, based purely on thoughts of the past to achieve both a healthy body and mind. In order to transform a child to becoming a well formed healthy man, there should be a connection between the mind and body. Throughout De Linstitution des enfants Montaigne proves his opinions for training both body and mind and therefore the tutor is responsible for this training as ce nest pas assez de luy roidir lame; il luy faut ausi roidir les muscles. (Montaigne: 201: 1969) When training the body, two advantages appear. Firstly, the mind is able to relax and secondly the body is able to build itself for the prevention of illnesses. Therefore, the mind cannot work unless the body has been trained. Furthermore, tout lieu retirà © requiert un proumenoir. Mes pensees dorment, si je les assis. Mon esprit ne va pas seul, comme si les jambes lagitent. Ceux qui estudient sans livre, en sont tous là  . (Montaigne: 76: 1993) Even though he was distracted by his books, he persists that one cannot achieve the pleasure of reading unless our mind and body are exercised in the correct manner. There is a healthy regime of the mind no less than of the body, and in fact the two are inseparable. An inquiring mind will be just as active as a healthy body in the pursuit of its interests. (ONeill: 101:2001) According to Montaigne, it is common for one to believe that the mind operates in a different manner to the body. But, even the active life of the body is inseparable from intelligence which itself is not exercised simply by closing ones eyes. (ONeill: 101: 2001) Thus, one should not separate these two elements. We can understand that Montaigne fully believes in this connection. Descartes was able to make complex philosophical concepts simple by breaking them down into manageable pieces. This is what he tried to do with the mind and body problem in order to insist that they are two unique substances, with the mind being regarded as a non-physical element, without connecting to the body. He therefore believed that he could live without the mind. Secondly, that the mind and the body may be dissimilar but they do interact. Nevertheless, he understands that this relationship is not ideal in that doà ¹ il est entià ¨rement manifeste que, nonobstant la souveraine bontà © de Dieu, la nature de lhomme, en tant quil est composà © de lesprit et du corps, ne peut quelle ne soit quelquefois fautive et trompeuse. (Descartes: 89:1992) The mind and body are surely two separate things in some senses of the word, but Descartes could have seamlessly made these two entities dualist aspects that can and must be separated. This is because intelligence comes from a place which cannot be defined. One cannot control the human mind and simply confine it to the body, because intelligence is completely separate from ones physical capabilities. For example, if one were to be paralysed from the neck down, Descartes would argue that the mind would still be unharmed. Similarly, someone could be unconscious but their brainwaves could still be functioning well. Since he believed in the power of the mind and intelligence, he was a deep thinker. Descartes argues, quil y a une grande diffà ©rence entre lesprit et le corps, en ce que le corps, de sa nature, est toujours divisible, et que lesprit est entià ¨rement indivisibleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. je considà ¨re mon esprit, cest-à  -dire moi-mà ªme en tant que je suis seulement une chose qui pense, je ny puis distinguer aucunes parties, mais je me conà §ois comme une chose seule et entià ¨reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.lesprit semble à ªtre uni à   tout le corps, toutefois un piedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ou quelque autre partie à ©tant sà ©parà ©e de mon corps, il est certain que pour cela il ny aura rien de retranchà © de mon esprit. (Descartes: 86: 1992) Descartes disputes that the mind and body are separable, and argues that the mind is different to the body and therefore one can exist without the use of the other. Furthermore, to clarify this argument, Descartes gives an explanation of the body. If man loses a limb or part of their body, they have not lost the mind. According to Descartes , the mind is the core element that makes him aware that he exists. His well known philosophical quotation je pense donc je suis (Descartes: 110: 2000) is connected to this theory of dualism as it forms the basis of it. According to him, we exist due to the fact that we think. He realises that he has a working mind, without being entirely sure that he has a body. The combination of mind and body presents Descartes views of a genuine human being (Cottingham: 7:1999). He realised that a problem could not simply be analysed on the common sense level. Moreover, his statement cest-a-dire lame par laquelle je suis ce que je suis, est entierement distincte du corps, (Descartes : 111 :2000) can assert that the soul is the fundamental self, in contrast to the Thomist thesis that a human being is essentially a composite of body and soul. (Moriarty : 142: 2003) It is possible for one to doubt everything from God to ones body, but it is not possible for one to deny the fact that there is a consciousness, which led him to this famous motto. He realised doubting t he truth would be the only manner in which he would find out what was essentially true regarding the mind and body. However, he managed to put this aside and found one true belief, cogito ergo sum. (Descartes: 110:2000. His belief in God is strong, as he believes God is all-powerful. This enables him to believe that anything he wishes to visualise is without a doubt possible. If he can prove Gods existence, then he will be able to confirm other truths in life. Since the mind and body can be considered clearly as separate, it means that it is possible for God to make it happen. Descartes is not exactly clear on the connection between mind and body, but we can deduce from his work that he did not think they were related. Even though this was the case, he still discusses at some length the nature of the union of the human mind with its body. (Wilson: 177: 1982) Most likely, Descartes would take a roundabout way at arriving at his conclusions. First, he would take an abstract concept, by using the mind and intelligence as a kind of springboard for talking about other subjects more liberally. Then, he would continue to use evidence to back up his theoretical reasoning, probably using more abstractions to support his theoretical concept. Finally, he would wrap up in summation by using some concrete examples of what he was talking about in abstract terms. He believed in what he thought made him who he was. Un autre est de penser; et je trouve ici que la pensà ©e est un attribut qui mappartient : elle seule ne peut à ªtre dà ©tachà ©e de moi. (Descartes : 2000 : 25) not so with Pascal, who could clearly distinguish between the thought processes and separate that out from himself. Pascal, who preferred making explanations about various aspects of reality difficult and layered it with complicated aspects of knowledge argued against the dualist, and easily made the reverse of the mind and body argument. According to him, doubt could only lead to more doubt. He believed that one could not explain ones existence through reasoning and that man is mostly guided by beliefs and feelings. Therefore, the only solution and help is faith. One can only gain certain knowledge through obedience to God. He also confirmed that one may not be able to use his mind due to a certain reason, but yet his body would be kept physically alive. Je puis bien concevoir un homme sans mains, pieds, tete, car ce nest que lexperience qui nous apprend que la tete est plus necessaire que les pieds. Mais je ne puis concevoir lhomme sans pensee. Ce serait une pierre ou une brute. (Pascal: 107:2000) Therefore, it would seem that the mind and body definitely would be connected. Pascal also believe d in the power of the mind, but his focus was more on the physical and the reality of the body. The body is a concrete substance, and empirical in the sense that its functions can be measured and regulated. In his implications, he will find religious yet ethnical views to explain the mind and body problem. For instance he quotes toute notre dignite consiste donc en la pensee. Cest de là   quil faut nous relever, et non de lespace et de la duree, que nous ne saurions remplir. Travaillons donc a bien penser. Voila le principe de la morale. (Pascal: 171: 2000) It is possible to note his stress on morality here as he wants to acknowledge the suffering of human existence that could be found from these two non-connecting substances. Pascal would have been much more of a mathematical thinker. He thought in a linear fashion, and his arguments were in relation to geometry theorems. First, Pascal would begin with one argument and then logically make sure the other arguments followed in a linear sequence. For example, he would take one statement which would be his main idea. Next, Pascal would most likely support this idea with relevant evidence and facts. He would clearly and succinctly make his case as for why the mind and the body were one and the same element. Pascal was primarily concerned with the differences between the intuitive mind and the mathematical mind. In some ways, this would have been the difference between Descartes, Pascal and Montaigne. The mind and the body are surely two separate things in some senses of the word, but Descartes could have seamlessly made these two entities dualist aspects that can and must be separated. Pascal and Montaigne would have no doubt argued in the contra, that the mind and body are ultimately one and the same. However, any philosopher would see that all three philosophers would have had equally valid arguments in trying to convince people of their view. Each philosopher had very valid points about their own positions that would lend relevance to each of their particular theories. Pascal saw himself as a defender of Christianity, whilst Descartes knew himself as purely a philosopher. Without question, Pascal did take into consideration Descartes belief on the mind and body, but he did not believe that Cartesian Dualism was between the soul and the body, but instead between the infinity of God and sin of men. Montaigne accepted that the mind and body were connected, but should be used in the correct manner in order to work efficiently. Yet, all three thinkers share opinions regarding the creation of human and with this we can discover how they both have certain views in common. They both consider human beings as having a body, mind and thought, and because of this, Pascal regard man as un Roseau pensant. (Pascal: 171: 2000) They also realise that the mind and consciousness can encompass the body. These philosophers were all thinkers who looked at the world from their own perspectives and tried to make sense of their worlds. They tried using reason in order to make deductions and educated guesses, making sure to try their hardest to come to logical conclusions. As we can see, the relationship between the mind and body as conceived by all three philosophers vary. Both Montaigne and Pascal believe in the connection of the mind and the body, but Descartes does not. Pascal was hugely influenced by Montaignes writings and this could be the reason why they shared more of the same thoughts. Descartes was also influenced by the works of Montaigne, but had more of an influence from Aristotle and Plato. Both Montaigne and Pascal were sceptics and therefore questioned and rejected ideas of their times, which resulted in doubt. But whilst Montaigne did not find this a problem, Pascal did as he was over whelmed with religious doubts. Alternatively, Montaigne and Descartes differed because Descartes strongly agreed with the dualist view that the mind and body are independent substances. But, all three philosophers argued in favour of Gods existence. For Montaigne, he argued religion and human values through sceptic philosophy and doubt, Descartes through doubt and Pascal through faith. Descartes chose to understand that the mind must be separate from the body and therefore, intelligence was a nonphysical entity. Pascal and Montaigne thought intelligence and the mind were part of the body and also the same. In that sense, all three men were classically trained philosophical thinkers who followed in the footsteps of their predecessors by rationally deducing logical and well-thought-out arguments. Each of these men should be revered for their great contributions to society. 2990 words

Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality :: English Literature:

Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality in the novel: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was deeply influenced by a number of diverse factors. Stevenson came from a family with a history of lawyers, doctors and other similar professions. His nanny was a very devoted Christian and from a young age used to teach him wrong from right. The novel was based on a nightmare he had and he constructed it from there. Another factor is Darwin’s theory of evolution; in â€Å"The origin of species† published in 1859 in it he states that men are descended from apes. Another factor which very much influenced Stevenson’s portrayal of the duality of man was Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. laws. According to Freud, we are all born with our own id, an important part of our personality because it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. A good example of this is a baby; the id is dominant in his personality, when he wants food, it cries. During the Victorian era however people found it very hard to believe these theories as they went against natural In the novel Dr. Jekyll is like an ego the outer part of you which everyone sees and Mr. Hyde is like the id the part of us we all try to suppress as it is unacceptable in society. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. The novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was published in 1886 during the Victorian times. It was originally intended as a frightening Christmas tale. The protagonist in this novel is a man who has a dual identity. The title "Jekyll and Hyde" sounds like seek and hide which might indicate what the story is about and why those characters have those names. Perhaps Stevenson advocates that throughout the book a game of hide and seek is being played this creates a feeling of mystery and suspense and the reader is continually captivated. Dr Jekyll created Mr. Hyde in his somewhat warped view that the soul is made up of two separate divisions: the good and the bad his mission was to find a drug that separates the two so that they two do not have to live in constant competition. We can tell that Stevenson used Freud’s ideas in when he says; â€Å"The man is Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality :: English Literature: Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality in the novel: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was deeply influenced by a number of diverse factors. Stevenson came from a family with a history of lawyers, doctors and other similar professions. His nanny was a very devoted Christian and from a young age used to teach him wrong from right. The novel was based on a nightmare he had and he constructed it from there. Another factor is Darwin’s theory of evolution; in â€Å"The origin of species† published in 1859 in it he states that men are descended from apes. Another factor which very much influenced Stevenson’s portrayal of the duality of man was Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. laws. According to Freud, we are all born with our own id, an important part of our personality because it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. A good example of this is a baby; the id is dominant in his personality, when he wants food, it cries. During the Victorian era however people found it very hard to believe these theories as they went against natural In the novel Dr. Jekyll is like an ego the outer part of you which everyone sees and Mr. Hyde is like the id the part of us we all try to suppress as it is unacceptable in society. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. The novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was published in 1886 during the Victorian times. It was originally intended as a frightening Christmas tale. The protagonist in this novel is a man who has a dual identity. The title "Jekyll and Hyde" sounds like seek and hide which might indicate what the story is about and why those characters have those names. Perhaps Stevenson advocates that throughout the book a game of hide and seek is being played this creates a feeling of mystery and suspense and the reader is continually captivated. Dr Jekyll created Mr. Hyde in his somewhat warped view that the soul is made up of two separate divisions: the good and the bad his mission was to find a drug that separates the two so that they two do not have to live in constant competition. We can tell that Stevenson used Freud’s ideas in when he says; â€Å"The man is

Advantages of Brands

A strong brand offers many advantages for marketers including: Brands provide multiple sensory stimuli to enhance customer recognition. For example, a brand can be visually recognizable from its packaging, logo, shape, etc. It can also be recognizable via sound, such as hearing the name on a radio advertisement or talking with someone who mentions the product. Customers who are frequent and enthusiastic purchasers of a particular brand are likely to become Brand Loyal. Cultivating brand loyalty among customers is the ultimate reward for successful marketers since these customers are far less likely to be enticed to switch to other brands compared to non-loyal customers. Well-developed and promoted brands make product positioning efforts more effective. The result is that upon exposure to a brand (e. g. , hearing it, seeing it) customers conjure up mental images or feelings of the benefits they receive from using that brand. The reverse is even better. When customers associate benefits with a particular brand, the brand may have attained a significant competitive advantage. In these situations the customer who recognizes he needs a solution to a problem (e. g. , needs to bleach clothes) may automatically think of one brand that offers the solution to the problem (e. g. , Clorox). This â€Å"benefit = brand† association provides a significant advantage for the brand that the customer associates with the benefit sought. Firms that establish a successful brand can extend the brand by adding new products under the same â€Å"family† brand. Such branding may allow companies to introduce new products more easily since the brand is already recognized within the market. Strong brands can lead to financial advantages through the concept of Brand Equity in which the brand itself becomes valuable. Such gains can be realized through the out-right sale of a brand or through licensing arrangements. For example, Company A may have a well-recognized brand (Brand X) within a market but for some reason they are looking to concentrate their efforts in other markets. Company B is looking to enter the same market as Brand X. If circumstances are right Company A could sell to Company B the rights to use the Brand X name without selling any other part of the company. That is, Company A simply sells the legal rights to the Brand X name but retains all other parts of Brand X, such as the production facilities and employees. In cases of well developed brands such a transaction may carry a very large price tag. Thus, through strong branding efforts Company A achieves a large financial gain by simply signing over the rights to the name. But why would Company B seek to purchase a brand for such a high price tag? Because by buying the brand Company B has already achieved an important marketing goal – building awareness within the target market. The fact the market is already be familiar with the brand allows the Company B to concentrate on other marketing decisions. We provide more detail on branding in the Managing Products tutorial with a special emphasis on the strategies marketers follow in order to build a strong brand.

Mikes Bikes Sample Final Report Essays

Mikes Bikes Sample Final Report Essays Mikes Bikes Sample Final Report Paper Mikes Bikes Sample Final Report Paper The report is intended to outline details of varying factors that have influenced each years decisions for Bikes Bikes Bikes, which have resulted in both negative and positive impacts. With continuous improvement , the business is increasing at a steady rate. The firms goal was not only to achieve the highest SHIP in comparison to our competitors, but was also to appeal to the maximum number of potential consumers and in result achieve the highest market share within the industry. Through our dedication, willpower, and ambition the company has successfully been able to achieve many of the goals that we had set out for ourselves. Bikes Bikes Bikes started out with a SHIP of $10. 82 and is at a current stance of $42. 37. It has also effectively acquired the highest market share of 28. 9%, surpassing he closest competitor by a significant 7%. As at the beginning of 2015, the strategy that our business had decided to implement was the specialization of producing high quality and high priced bicycles. This strategy came to be through the extensive research conducted by the firms management team in which they discovered that the first set of bikes mountain bikes, had a medium sensitivity to quality and price. As previously mentioned, our goal revolves around providing our consumers with a high quality bike. Moreover, Bikes Bikes Bikes management team also focused extensively on the firms brand awareness and advertising to induce ore value and provide incentive for future consumers. After the steady development of mountain bikes, a new line of road bikes were launched in 201 8, followed by the introduction to a second segment of the road bike in 2019, and lastly a line to appeal to the youth community in 2020. The team critically analyzed multiple strategies and made decisions over the course of the past six years with plans that looked upon maximizing aspects such as SHIP, market share, quality and efficiency indexes and minimizing aspects that could be of potential harm such as debt, wastage, and unnecessary expenses. Although the firm incurred challenges at times, he company was able to encounter an incline at a constant rate in which was a direct result of carefully planned meetings that occurred twice a week.. Moreover, Bikes Bikes Bikes management team created and maintained OF 26 strong relationships with the market by providing generous support distribution. A detailed elaboration on the various decisions made by my team and will be elaborated on in the following report. Sincerely, Wayne Hang president CEO of Bikes Bikes Bikes AFFIRMATION STATEMENT Please read the following items after the completion of your assignment Once you have verified these points, please complete the statement. All team members have referenced and footnoted all ideas, words or other intellectual property from sources, other than the data provided in the multi- player version of Mikes Bikes, used in the completion of this assignment. 2. A proper bibliography has been included, which includes acknowledgement of all sources used to complete this assignment other than data provided in the multi-player version of Mikes Bikes. 3. This is the first time that any member of the team has submitted this assignment (either partially or entirely) for academic evaluation. 4. Each member of the team has read the full content of the submission and is assured that the content is free of violations of academic integrity. Team discussions regarding the importance of academic integrity have taken place. . Each student has identified his or her individual contribution to the work submitted such that if violation of academic integrity are suspected, then the student primarily responsible for the violations may be identified. Note that in this case the remainder of the team may also be subject to disciplinary action. The listed team members listed below have participated in the preparation of this assignment and no other individuals have contributed to this assignment except as acknowledged. Name : Wayne Hang 20574871 Section contributed : Title Page, Letter to the Board of Directors, Introduction to 2018-2020, Strategies and Tactics, Every Years Summary Conclusion, Financing Template Name : Seems El-Bach 20583252 Section contributed : Table of Contents, Introduction to 2017, Strategies and Tactics, Key Performance Indicators, SOOT Analysis, Closing Recommendations, Accounting Template Name : Christina Aka Way Chain 20577525 Section contributed : Annual Performance Analysis for 2015-2020, Introduction to 2016 and 201 9, Marketing Template Name: Honoring Chin 20550322 Section contributed: Introduction to 201 5, Strategies and Tactics Date : Friday, November 28th, 2014 TA: Susan Wang World: S 002 croup 004 Team 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 2015 Marketing, Operational, and Financial Strategies Firm Results and Analysis Summary Conclusions Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 2016 6 Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 2017 11 Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 2018 15 Us Mary Conclusions Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 201 9 20 Marketing Operational, and Financial Strategies Strategies, Results, and Analysis: 2020 24 us Mary conclusions: 2015-2020 28 Performance Indicators SOOT Analysis Recommendations to Board Appendix 33 STRATEGIES, RESULTS AND ANALYSIS: 2015 In 201 5, the firm had introduced a brand new management team in hopes of approaching the business from a new and differentiated perspective. They constructed and proposed multiple strategies the firm could potentially implement to achieve outstanding results. At the point of entry, the firm had established a SHIP of $10. 82, on par with other competitors in the market. Many of the offered strategies revolved around the important central goal that involved maximizing SHIP. To do so, a consensus was reached to adopt a gig quality strategy for the firms existing mountain bikes. Reaching this goal involved steps such as setting the price of the bike, Dave, above market average. However, by natural economics, an increase in price causes a decrease in demand, and thus the company planned to increase spending in areas like advertising and PR. In 2015, Bikes Bikes Bikes faced fierce competition with competitors who adopted similar strategies and fell slightly behind from the extra emphasis placed PR expense, which the mountain bike is minimally affected by. However, the firm did incur an increase in sales, SHIP, ND market share, despite the fact that it didnt reach the initial goals set out. The proceeding analysis will provide more depth as to why the company could not reach the goals set out to the highest extent. With regards to the marketing strategy, the firms priority was to raise product awareness and develop a high quality image for the mountain bike that it currently offers. This resulted in an increased expense in areas of advertising and PR. Although a heavy investment, the future benefits that it is to propose; such as increased sales will outweigh the money invested, and will eventually bring back profit. Often, quality is correlated with price. Goods that are priced higher than similar substitutes are often to assumed to have a characteristic that bring upon the distinction, in which it is often quality. Therefore, the firm decided to increase the price of the bike to $750. The increase in expenditures with respect to advertising and PR can also be justified by the price markup. It is more difficult to sell higher priced goods and therefore an extra effort should be taken to minimize loss of sales. At this point in time, the management team did not have the clearance level to make decisions revolving around operations. However, based on reports, seniors believed that it would be best to maintain a constant production level, slightly differing from the 18, 100 units produced in the prior year. Although the production remained consistent, the ending inventory at the end of the year had increased by 58%, forcing the firm to incur expenses associated with inventory storage. At this time, this is all that can be reported with respect to operations. Once again, the financial decisions for 201 5 were made by higher up management. The firm had began with a debt to equity ratio of 30%, in which it was incapable of paying this year due to lack of funding. However, the increase in retained earnings resulted in an increase in shareholders equity, immediately decreasing the debt percentage by 9%, to 210/6. Although no action was taken during this period, the management team is placing emphasis on the repayment of the debt as soon as possible as it will limit our expenses, with specific regards to interest. Firm Results and Analysis For the firms sole product line of mountain bikes, Bikes Bikes Bikes decided to increase the price from 5700 to $750 following its decision to implement a high price, low volume strategy to increase our sales revenue by 10%. Thus, he companys bikes are sold at the third highest price overall (second to two firms with a set price of 5770). Comparing the prices implemented this year to the common price of $700 last year, it appears that most firms also imposed a high price strategy. With a higher price, product demand was expected to decrease, so the firm invested more money towards advertising (of $1 million) and PR (of $700,000) to raise demand for the companys products in the market. Compared to the competitors, the firm had the third highest advertising budget and the highest for PR (at $1 00,000 more than the next leading firm). The objective here was to increase demand enough to generate more revenue by selling more bikes at a relatively higher price than all the other firms. Since the mountain bike is highly influenced by advertising opposed to PR, by spending more than most competitors in PR but not for advertising expense, the firm did not gain as much sales and market share as originally expected. From the overall decrease in demand, demand forecast accuracy also fell from 100% to 97%. In 2015, there was a total sales of $8,635,575. Similarly, cost of goods sold and gross margin fell to $4, 1 96,650 and $4,438,925 respectively. Coupled with the expenses of $2,334,931, the result was a net income of $1 ,373,478 ($94,452 less than 2014), which showed room for improvement in sales and expense management. This year, the firm placed fifth in net income in the industry, and the fourth highest in sales and cost of goods sold, but the highest in selling and distribution expenses. This lead to more cash being expended than earned as revenue, which impacted the firms profitability and placed the firm at the fourth highest in cash balance overall at $3,748,711. With a current asset value of $3,832,575, this signifies that the majority of the rims current assets is comprised of cash. Therefore, the firm is in a very good position to meet its short term obligations, as a current ratio of 6. 51 means having over 6 times more assets than liabilities due within the coming year. This is a significant Increase in liquidity from the current ratio of 3. 87 in 2014, as a result of $1 ,674,770 increase in current assets with only a $31 , 292 increase in current liabilities. Despite the overall decrease in net income this year, the firms return on sales, return on equity and gross margin percentage ratios increased from 2014 (by 0. 01%, 1. 83% and 2. 1% respectively). This means that the amount of generated income from each dollar of equity and sales is now greater, as well as a higher amount of revenue retained as gross profit this year. Out of all the firms, Bikes Bikes Bikes has the fourth highest value for each of the profitability ratios. This means that although our firm experienced more profitability this year, there is still much more to be done to keep the firm at a competitive advantage. Based on the companys overall performance, Bikes Bikes Bikes experienced an increase in SHIP of $1. 97, as well as an increase in earnings per share of 7 cents. The firm has the fifth highest increase in both categories out of the world (with even the next highest having growth of $1. 02 and 73 cents respectively). However, this signifies a relatively stale growth in comparison to all other competitors and a need to increase efforts in hopes of improving company performance. This year, our production remained at constant levels from 2014 (at 45% production, 15% wastage and 40% idle time). In the market, the firm had the fourth highest in production and subsequently the second highest in idle time percentage. As the wastage percentage is also linked to production, our firm as the second lowest wastage percentage out Of all the firms as well. Thus, we began with 150 units in inventory, produced 1 7,918 additional bike for sales and resulting with an ending inventory of 354 units. The firms inventory turnover ratio decreased from 71. 63 to 70. 2, which means the time needed to sell our inventory increased. Moreover, though carrying costs were forecasted at $4,306,804, the firm ended up with only $4,1 96,650 in the end. For all our operations and decisions this year, we decided to use cash as the only source of financing due to our objective of minimizing debt-to-equity Asia. Currently, due to the existing long term debt of SSL the debt to equity ratio was 0. 21 in 2015. In 2014, the firms debt-to-equity ratio was 0. 3, showing progress due to increased revenue. In comparison, most competitors have a lower debt-to-equity ratio at 0. 19, so it is important to further increase sales and decrease incurred debt in order to catch up with other firms. The companys main source of cash activity involved operating activities, including sales revenue, advertising, PR, salaries and other operating expenses. Our budgeted performance for 201 5 was an inflow of 1 ,884,943, though in actuality, our cash inflow from operations only amounted to $1 As expenditures Were controlled based on management decisions, one of the primary underlying reasons for the shortfall would be due to less revenue generated during the period than forecasted. Though no cash investing activities involving property, plant and equipment occurred, cash movement was present in financing activities. From the existing long term debt of $1 an interest expense of $80,000 was incurred. Coupled with the bank interest earned from cash, a final cash outflow of 321 ,873 occurred. To increase the amount of cash available to insane our operations, the firm should reduce cash outflow from debt and interest. Summary Conclusion TO restate, Bikes Bikes Bikes goal for the year of 2015 was to obtain a increase in sales. The strategy implemented to achieve this goal was correlated with the process of increasing advertising expenditures and production. After a thorough analysis, it was determined that Bikes Bikes Bikes was unsuccessful in achieving this goal because it did not meet the targeted sales revenue. It was specified that we would be able to achieve the goal if our sales had increased from $8,1 90,000 to $ 9,009,000. However, Bikes Bikes Bikes sales for the year had only reached $8,625,575. Moreover, in comparison to competitors, we placed 4th in sales ranking. Since the firm was incapable of living up to the goals, Bikes Bikes Bikes plans to improve this performance by carefully analyzing our information again and appropriately making decisions that will help the firm grow. STRATEGIES, RESULTS AND ANALYSIS: 2016 Following a year of steady performance in 2016, Bikes Bikes Bikes identified a need to further improve its operations in order to better compete within the market. The firm was unable to meet its goal of increasing revenue by 1 0%, ailing short by $383,425. Moreover, the firm ranked fourth in revenue and fifth highest out of all firms for SHIP at SSL 2,79 per share. To better the performance of the company while maximizing SHIP and market share, Bikes Bikes Bikes aims to increase the price of bikes as well as the branding budget in order to generate a higher level of sales. Moreover, by reducing unneeded expenditures like PR expense and excess production costs, the firm plans to maximize net earnings to put the company in a far more competitive and profitable position in the market in the future. Marketing, Operational, and Financial Strategies After critical analysis of 2015, the management team had strong evidence that competing firms had adopted similar high price strategies and that the 50$ increase was not enough. Therefore, a 5$ increase was implemented to be able to compete within the market. Also, the enticed investment in advertising was outshone by the larger investment of other firms. With respect to PR, Our firm incurred a useless expense as it became evident that mountain bikes have a low response rate. As a result, an increase in advertising was prominent and the immediate reduction of PR to O was implemented. This year the team had the opportunity to increase investment in branding. Since one of the firms main goals revolves around raising awareness, expenditures on branding are to have a significant impact, and therefore funds were allocated towards this expense. With consistency to maintaining a high quality image, Bikes Bikes Bikes focuses its strategies on having Sports and Bike stores stock our products. Sports and Bikes stores are often correlated with selling high priced quality bikes such as mountain and road bikes. With future plans to expand into the road bike segment, the team determined that it would be of present day and true value to offer support to these stores, in hopes of providing extra incentive to stock our bike line, and lines in the future. However, a malfunction occurred within the systems just as we were submitting the amounts and instead of transferring $75,000 and $300,000 to Bike Shops and Sports Stores respectively, the amounts submitted were 575 and $300. However, the firm plans to make a complete 360 and administer the accurate amounts in the coming days. Bikes Bikes Bikes decided to continue providing stores with 35% retailer margin as it provides them with higher incentive to stock our bike line. Again this year, the management team did not have the access needed to make financial decisions and therefore could not implement any strategies at this point in time. However, as shareholders equity continues to increase over the years, and the companys decision to not take out a loan has decreased the debt to equity ratio by 6%, bringing it down to 15% for this year. This year the firm experienced a significant increase in cash of 61 % from the 2015 balance, placing Bikes Bikes Bikes at an advantage since it acquires the second highest value. For the single bike line, Bikes Bikes Bikes decided to further increase the price o $755 in compliance with a high price, low volume strategy. Thus, the firms bikes now have the second highest price in the market. As a result, demand and sales volume for the firms bikes decreased further, from 17,714 units last year to 1 7,376 units. Our Performa sales amount was 18,148 units, so the actual result did not achieve the intended level and our demand forecast accuracy fell by 2%. In regards to advertising and PR, a decision was made to decrease the budgets to $950,000 and SO respectively. For advertising, this decrease caused the firm to now spend the second least in advertising. As a mountain bikes demand is minimally influenced by PR ratings, it was concluded that there would be no gain in allocating funds towards PR expense. Thus, the firm has an awareness rating increased from 0. 2 to 0. 22 (the fourth highest overall) and a PR rating of 0. 6, a 0. 04 drop from last year (now at fourth place in the industry). Regarding distribution, retailer margins were maintained at a 35-75 split of revenue with retailers (while other firms varied between sharing 25% or 40% with retailers). In terms of extra support, the firm decided to focus more on supporting sports stores, the most popular Handel to sell mountain bikes (at a support amount of $305 compared to $75 for bike stores and $50 for discount stores). Aside from one firm that chose to give SO of extra support, we provided the lowest amount of extra support. Overall, our firm provided the second most distribution support to retailer at $202,365, second only to the firm who spent $290,771 in total. Thus, the company now has a distribution rating of 0. 4 (which doubled from 201 5) and now has the second highest rating in the industry (only 0. 05 less than the leading firm). For sports stores in particular, 319 stores now stocking he companys bikes (14 more than 201 5) which is the third highest number overall. For bike and discount stores, the amount of stores stocking the firms products reached 76 and 201 stores respectively, the second highest amount of stores stocking for both. This year, production level was decreased from 17,918 units to 17,370 units to reduce expenses, ending inventory and carrying costs. The result was the firm having the fifth highest production percentage (at 43%, with the highest in the industry at 54%), the lowest wastage (at 14%, a 1% decrease from 201 6) and the highest idle time (at 42%). In the end, 348 units of ending inventory, and carrying costs of $4,1 17,843 were recorded, but no lost sales occurred (keeping the firms delivery rating at 1. 0 like all other firms). Inventory turnover ratio fell from 49. 57 to 5. This year, showing a far longer period of time to sell inventory, achieve sales and generate revenue (compared to 2015). By continuing to aim for a minimal debt-to-equity ratio, the firm only used cash to finance its operations this year as well. Overall, the firm experienced a increase in cash inflow from operations to $2,295,274 no activity in cash flow room investing and a decrease in cash outflow from financing o f $4,746 compared to 2015. This was due to increased sales revenue, reduced expenses as well as increased cash balance earning interest in the bank exceeding the interest expense from long term debt. In 201 6, the debt-to- equity ratio decreased from 0. 21 to 0. 15, which is relatively the second highest debt-to-equity ratio overall (the lowest being O. 13). In 201 6, the firm generated a net income of $1 from $8,527,272 in revenue, $4,117,843 in cost of goods sold, and $1,649,915 in expenses. Comparatively, this is the fifth highest revenue and cost of goods sold values of all firms (the highest with $1 1 in revenue and 54,71 6,443 in cost of goods sold). By reducing expenses on areas like PR by $685,026 in total, Bikes Bikes Bikes now has the lowest amount of expenses overall. The companys cash balance this year was $6,061 12, signifying an increase of $2,31 2,401 in cash from 2015. Thus, Bikes Bikes Bikes now has the second highest amount of cash in all. With a current assets balance of $6,143,583, this means that over 98% of the firms current assets is comprised of cash that can be used to pay off obligations and finance our operations. Despite an increase of $1 81 , 359 in current liabilities, the firms current ratio increased from 6. 51 to 7. 8 in 201 6, representing that the company is in an even better position to meet current obligations for the year while continuing its operations. This year, the firms return on sales and gross margin percentage increased by 3. 85% and O. 19% respectively. Incidentally, our return on equity ratio decreased by 5. 99%. As a result, the firm now has the third highest return on sales, gross margin percentage and return on equity ratios. This shows considerable room for improvement. The firms earnings per share increase d from $1. 37 to $1. 86, which is now the third highest in the world.

Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Example

Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Example Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Today we are fortunate to have laws to protect us from being forced to work excessive hours without being fairly compensated. We have laws to protect our children from being forced to work at an early age and these laws protect us from working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. In 1938 our 32nd president Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to have the â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act† passed and signed into law. This piece of legislation was a land mark in our history. It banned most child labor; it set a minimum hourly wage and set the standard work week. This was the beginning that made employers develop records to keep track of the wages that they paid to their employees and records of the hours the employees were working. The Supreme Court had been one of the major obstacles to wage-hour and child-labor laws. In the 1936 Presidential race wage-hour legislation was a campaign issue and Roosevelt promised to seek some constitutional way of protecting workers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1936 election by a landslide he was determined to overcome the obstacles of the Supreme Court’s opposition as soon as possible. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins tried to make a model for employers of government contractors in all fields, not just construction. But the Federal Government actually encouraged employers to exploit labor because the Government had to award every contract to the lowest bidder. : President Roosevelt and Frances Perkins continued to try to get congress to pass acts to prohibit the labor of children and set minimum wages and hours. The â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† in a draft form was sent to the White House where two trusted legal advisers of the President, and with the Supreme Court in mind, added new provisions to the already lengthy bill. Roosevelt had told his Secretary of Labor, that the length and complexity of the bill caused some of its difficulties with Congress, and asked for it to be shortened. Lawyers tried to simplify the bill but faced the problem that, although legal language makes legislation difficult to understand, bills written in simple English are often difficult for the courts to enforce. Because the wage-hour, child-labor bill had been drafted with the Supreme Court in mind, the bill could only be cut from 40 pages to 10 pages. The bill was voted upon May 24, 1938 and after the House had passed the bill, the Senate-House Conference Committee made more changes to reconcile differences. During the legislative battles over fair labor standards, members of Congress had proposed 72 amendments. Almost every change had exemptions, narrowed coverage, lowered standards, weakened administration, limited investigation, or in some other way worked to weaken the bill. What had survived was approved by the conference committee and passed the House on June 13, 1938 and then the Senate approved it. Congress then sent the bill to the President, and on June 25, 1938, the President signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law. This affected industries that employed about one-fifth of the US workforce. About 700,000 workers were affected by the wage increase and 13 million more were affected by the hour’s provision. It mostly affected white males, and about 14 percent of women ( u-s-history. com). Children under the age of fourteen were no longer legally allowed to work with some exceptions in the agricultural industries and family businesses. Children under the age of eighteen were banned from working â€Å"hazardous† jobs in mining and some factory jobs. This had greatly reduced the number of children injured by bad working conditions. Children between the ages of 14 and 16 have had additional restrictions on the number of hours they are allowed to work to encourage them to stay in school. During a school day they are only allowed to work three hours and no more than eighteen hours in a school week. Children are not allowed to work before 7a. m. and after 7 p. m. , and from June 1 through Labor Day they are not allowed to work after 9 p. m. The 14 and 15 year old also have addition al restrictions in addition to the â€Å"hazardous† jobs that they may not perform. These jobs include the food service industry such as baking, cooking, working in the freezers and meat coolers, operating food slicers, grinders, choppers and bakery mixers. Fourteen and fifteen year olds are also not to perform jobs that require loading or unloading goods on or off of trucks, railcars or conveyors and they are not to work in connection with maintenance or repair of buildings, equipment or machines. Employers may be assessed civil monetary penalties of up to $11,000 for each employee who is the subject of a violation of the Act’s child labor provisions. A civil monetary penalty of up to $50,000 may be assessed for each child labor violation that causes the death or serious injury of any minor employee, and these assessments may be doubled, up to $100,000 when the violations are determined to be willful or repeated (LindenMeyer, 2004). In the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† the federal minimum wage began at 25 cents per hour in 1938 and it has had over twenty amendments made over the years for increases. The latest rate of $7. 25 per hour was effective on July 24, 2009. In addition to a minimum wage employers must pay the employee’s wages in cash or something that can easily be converted to cash or legal forms of compensation, for example food and lodging. Employers cannot pay their employees with coupons or tokens that can only be used in a store owned by the employer. Discounts that are granted to employees by the employers cannot be used towards meeting the minimum wage requirement. There are a number of employment practices which ‘Fair Labor Standard Act† does not regulate. They are vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay; meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations; premium pay for weekend or holiday work; pay raises or fringe benefits; or a discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees. The standard work week in 1938 was reduced to 44 hours per week, and if employees were to work over that they would be paid over time at a rate of their wages plus one-half wages for the additional time worked. By 1940 the standard work week was reduced to 40 hours per week (www. dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm). Despite this law in 2006 a class action law suit was brought against Wal-Mart for not paying its employees for their overtime and forcing them to work through their breaks. Wal-Mart lost the law suit and the workers won $78. 4 million (Worth 2008 p 12). In 1961 an amendment was added to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† called â€Å"enterprise coverage†. It applies to employers whose annual sales total $500,000. 00 or more, or who are engaged in interstate commerce. The courts interpreted that the term interstate commerce to cover companies that regularly use the U. S. mail to send and receive letters to and from other states. The courts included that employees that use company telephones or computers to place or accept interstate business calls or take orders would make the employers subject to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† (Steingold, 2009). There are also exemptions to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† where some employees do not qualify for the provisions of overtime or the minimum wage requirements. These employees who are not entitled to it are called â€Å"exempt† employees. Employees that are always entitled to the overtime and the minimum wage pay provisions are â€Å"nonexempt† employees and they are blue-collar employees and first responders. Blue-collar employees include carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsman, operating engineers, construction works, and laborers. First responders are workers that are on the front lines of protecting safety and health. They include police officers, firefighters, medical technicians, ambulance personnel, and hazardous materials workers. Employees that are always exempt and are never entitled to overtime or a minimum wage are employees of seasonal amusement or recreational businesses, employees of newspapers with a circulation of less than 4,000 and newspaper deliver people, and workers of small farms. Some employees are exempt if they meet certain requirements; this is usually because the employees are being paid a salary that compensates them enough for the extra duties and responsibilities that they have. Executive, administrative and professional workers are exempt if they meet the specific guidelines. The requirements for an exempt executive worker are that they must manage other workers as a primary job duty and have at least two full time employees that they are in charge of. They must have the ability to hire, fire, discipline, promote, and demote others or make recommendations about these decisions. The executive worker must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an administrative employee to qualify as exempt are that they must primarily complete their work directly for the business’s management or administration. They must be independent workers and primarily use their own discretion and judgment on their work duties. The administrative employee also must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an exempt professional are that they complete work that requires invention, imagination, originality, or talents in the arts such as music, writing and acting. They may need to be a highly intellectual and have been trained in extensive studies such as law, medicine, theology, accounting, engineering, architecture, teaching, and pharmacy. The must also earn a salary of at least $455 per week. Outside sales people are exempt if they regularly work away from the employers’ office and make sales or obtain orders or contracts for services or facilities. Exempt salespersons are generally paid through commissions and will require little to no supervision to complete their job. The exemption from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions also applies to computer specialist that receives a salary of at least no less than $455 per week or not less than $27. 63 per hour. The law specifies that computer specialist’s primary duties involve applying systems analysis techniques and procedures. Designing, developing, documenting, analyzing, creating, testing, or modifying computer systems or programs, prototypes and/or machine operating systems. There are a number of employees that are exempt from only the overtime pay requirements. These include taxicab drivers, announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of radio and TV stations that have fewer than 100,000 people located in a town or city (Repa, 2007 and Steingold, 2009). In 1963 an amendment called the â€Å"Equal Pay Act† had been added to equalize the pay scales for men and women who work at an equal skill, effort and responsibility. Congress felt that the differential in pay prevented the maximization of the available labor resources, they wanted to prevent labor disputes, and they did not want an unfair method of competition. They also felt that the wage differentials depressed the wages and the standard of living. Congress also wanted to eliminate stereotypes about the value of work performed by women. Congress exempted several forms of discrimination from the operation of the Equal Pay Act. These exceptions include shift differentials, restrictions on or differences based on the time of day worked, hours of work, and the lifting or moving of heavy objects. The Equal Pay Act also excluded differences based on experience, training or ability, as well as unusual or higher than normal wage rates which employers maintained for valid reasons. The Equal Pay Act allows for unequal pay for equal work only when wages are set pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or other factors outside of sex (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc, 1963 and Landsberg, 2004). In 2004 a class action suit was brought against Wal-Mart were 1. 6 million female associates that worked for Wal-Mart felt that they were discriminated against because they were women. These women tried to advance into higher paying positions but were passed over by men/boys who did not have the experience and knowledge that these women had. More than seventy percent of the Wal-Mart workforce is women, sixty-five percent of the cashier and greeter positions are held by women and only thirty-five percent of the assistant managers for Wal-Mart are women. The female employees of Wal-Mart are paid less than the male workforce for jobs that are of equal skill, effort and responsibility all for keeping prices lower for the consumer (Worth, 2008 p 8-12). The Fair Labor Standard Act requires employers to keep records of wages, hours, and other regulated items by the Department of Labor. Most of the information is generally obtained by employers in ordinary business practice and in compliance with other laws and regulations. Employees that are subject to the minimum wage provisions or both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions must have employers keep the following records with personal information, including employees name, home address, occupation, sex, and birth date if under 19 years of age, the hour and day when workweek begins and the total hours worked each workday and each workweek. These records also need to indicate the total daily or weekly straight-time earnings and the regular hourly pay rate for any week when overtime is worked and total overtime pay for the workweek. In addition to records for hours worked and paid the records also must include deductions from or additions to wages, total wages paid each pay period and the date of payment and pay period covered. The Records required for exempt employees differ from those for nonexempt workers. Special information is required for employees that work from the home and for employees to where lodging is provided ( ol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm). The constitutionality of the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† was unanimously supported by the Supreme Court it has been altered and amended on at least 43 occasions between 1938 and 2009. Those alterations and amendments have provided and clarified benefits to workers in various employment sections, and made increases to the minimum wage. As a hardwor king American we have a right to be paid fairly for our work. It is unfortunate that many unscrupulous employers attempt to manipulate laws intended to protect workers in order to avoid paying just compensation. When this happens, employees can turn to the legal system to ensure that their rights are protected without being discriminated against or discharged for filing a complaint or participate in any proceeding under the Act. ? Repa, Barbara Kate. â€Å"Your Rights in the Workplace† Consolidated Printers Inc, July 2007 Steingold, Fred S. â€Å"The Employers Legal Handbook† â€Å"Manage you employees workplace effectively†. Delta Printing Solutions, Inc, June 2009 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. â€Å"Equal Pay For Equal Work† BNA Incorporated, 1963 Worth, Richard â€Å"Open for Debate Workers’ Rights† Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Economic History. 1999. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3406400301. html Newman, Roger K. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3407400107. html LINDENMEYER, KRISTE. National Child Labor Committee. Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. 2004. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3402800297. html Grossman, Jonathan. â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage† www. dol. gov dol. gov/dol/topic/discrimination/agedisc. htm dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm dol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm u-s-history. com/pages/h1701. html Equal Pay Act of 1963. Major Acts of Congress. Ed. Brian K. Landsberg. Macmillan-Thomson Gale, 2004. eNotes. com. 2006. enotes. com/major-acts-congress/equal-pay-act

Research Proposal for Research Methods Unit in Masters

For Methods Unit in Masters - Research Proposal Example After all, music is a foundation subject and the arguments for its inclusion in the curriculum must surely have been won; it is no longer what was once described as an 'endangered subject'. However, is this really the case Individuals and professional bodies regularly issue earnest statements about the educational significance and value of music studies and express concerns over limited staffing and resources. While there appears to be a steady supply of secondary specialists, Music Education is understandably disappointed by the scant attention now being given to music in the education and training of secondary school teachers. It may seem to some observers as if musicians and music educationists constantly need to protect their subject against people who regarded arts as little more than dispensable extras or mere entertainments. Whether or not there are any educational policy-makers who would subscribe to such an extreme view is questionable, but music educationists often appear to be on the defensive. In addition, in an age of transparency and accountability many teachers report that they are often required to explain, to different audiences, why music is of value within the context of a general education. The study intends to draw insights among Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland about the decline of music education in their region. Furthermore it seeks to accomplish following specific goals: 1. To present the views of Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland about music education. 2. To describe how Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland have shown appreciation and preservation of music education. 3. To discover the impacts of music education to the curricular and socio-cultural dimensions in the Secondary Schools of Queensland. 4. To solicit plan of actions from Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland on how to effectively improve the quality of music education in Queensland Secondary schools. Statement of the Problem The study aims to document critically the current views among Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland on the decline of music education in their region. Furthermore it seeks to answer the following specific research questions: 1. What are the current views and insights of Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland 2. How do Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland describe music education in the schools today 3. Do Secondary School Administrators, Faculty Members and Selected Students in Queensland believe that, the music education in secondary schools has declined Do they have proof/s on their claims 4. In what specific ways appreciation and preservation of music education are demonstrated or concretized in secondary schools5. What is the impact of music education to the curricular and socio-cultural dimensions in Secondary Schools of Queensland

Little Red Roaster (LRR) coffee outlets Case Study

Little Red Roaster (LRR) coffee outlets - Case Study Example This paper will therefore bring to the surface the weaknesses that prevent quick growth of the business due to managerial poor approach. It will also identify and discuss on those threats that arise from the external environment and thus outside control of the business. While doing so, this case report will also identify the strengths the business has achieved out of its current operating strategies and the opportunities available. Upon a critical analysis of the problem, it emerges that LRR faces more business development challenges in terms of expanding than mismanagement. The business is challenged with how best it can expand its current operating capacity to tap the improperly tapped coffee beverage market. The report analysis will also therefore endeavor to analyze the seemingly big problems related to room for expansion, outside catering and delivery of products. After identifying all these factors, this case analysis and report will review the alternatives available for a new course of action. In so doing, the case report will also discuss and elaborate on the reasons for adoption of such criteria. The adoption of any criterion will be based on the overall financial position of the Little Red Roast and the interplay of other external variables like availability of space and ready and reliable market. Alternatives are usually not necessarily the only choices to choose from by a business. Therefore the report will only identify the options and present them to the management for final decision-making. Recommendation for LRR will be based on the overall analysis and available options for the business. Rationale for such recommendation will be based on other aspects like the consequences of each one of them. Every new venture comes with its own unpredictable risks. This case report will therefore also do a forecast of possible risks that come with the available options. It will be up to the management to decide which option will be in the best interest for th e business given the prevailing circumstances and condition. Finally, this case report will come up with an action plan with critical Steps, potential problem identified above and a contingency plan for each step in the action plan. This will be tabulated for ease of analysis and better understanding of the scenario. It is of vital importance to note that all these are aimed at helping LRR expand its coffee business in the most profitable manner that is both customer friendly and management friendly. Situational Analysis LRR is a chain of small retail coffee shops that offer a variety of light foods and beverages. The business outlet started as a retail business in 1995. It is located in various places such as Byron, Covent Garden Market, London Central Library, and London Provincial Courthouse. It also operates in Springbuck, St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital, The renaissance and Wortley village. The business offers coffees, tea, gourmet beverages, breakfast, light lunches and snac ks. The company has been in business for eight years (seventeen years by now) and continues to