Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Ownership Rights over Ones Person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ownership Rights over Ones Person - Essay Example However, quite a few pundits have believed that Locke's argument is only applicable in the state of nature but not in civil society, where property is decided not by one's work or effort but by laws. (Arneil 1996, p. 155) On the other hand, ownership is defined as "a particular type of property interest in which the person designated as owner is deemed, in some sense at least, to have the greatest possible interest in the thing." (Clarke 2005, p. 180) Another definition of ownership categorizes the owner as an individual who has ultimate control. (Waldron 1988, p. 47) But this theory cannot be said to be without any flaw. Although it has been said that ownership carries with it property rights and incidents, it is to be understood that ownership has a social aspect and the interest over it is not unbounded. The right to ownership is not absolute; there are some limitations to the enjoyment of one's right to property and ownership. Basic examples of these limitations include the prohibition of nuisance and injurious usage of a property; legal responsibility to taxation, execution and expropriation; State rules intended to regulate the use of property; and sometimes, imposition of certain obligations. While there are some limitations to the enjoyment of one's property a... In the incident of control, the right to possession, use and management are included. The right to possess is that inherent right to obtain physical control over the thing, while the right to use is characterized by the owner's personal use and enjoyment of the thing owned. Both of these rights include consumption and modification. The right to manage, on the other hand, is that right to choose and determine the manner and the person with which and with whom the thing owned shall be used. The income incidents, in contrast, include the right to income or the fruits, profits and rent produced by the thing owned. Other incidents consist of the right to capital, right to security, power of transmissibility, the absence of term, the prohibition of harmful use, liability to execution and the incident of residuarity. Being incidents of ownership, the foregoing rights are inherent in the concept of ownership of property. Now that the basic definition and concept of property and ownership have already been extensively discussed, let's go back to the earlier question with regard to the classification of body and/or its parts as "property". In his book Second Treatise of Government, John Locke wrote: Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a "property" in his own "person." This nobody has a right to but himself. The "labour" of his body and the "work" of his hands, we may say, are probably his. (Locke 2004, 17) The essential meaning of this connotation is that, a human being has all the right and ownership over his own "person." But does it mean he can have all the incidents of ownership over his person Can one appropriate and alienate his own person What about his own body The answer

Monday, October 28, 2019

Current Issues in Management Essay Example for Free

Current Issues in Management Essay Executive Summary Aim of this study This study is to analysis the selected airline business environment and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program implementations of some airline and compare with the selected airline. What is CSR CSR is an approach to business that takes account of issues associated with society and the environment in addition to more traditional business concerns of shareholders and profits. The low-fare airline â€Å"Ryanair† doing about CSR We can see the result of Ryanair CSR performance from the interviewee in this section. Analysis and discuss how the airline performance Corporate Social Responsibility. 1. INTRODUCTION In the last few decades, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance, which is reflected by an increasing demand from consumers, employees, legislative systems, and the society for inclusive evaluations about how corporations are meeting acceptable standards. CSR plays an important role in the formation of airlines’ strategies due to the unique characteristics of the airline industry. Nevertheless, CSR in the airline industry has received relatively little attention from academics. The purpose of this study are to understand and analysis how the selected airline communicates to the outside world by implementing CSR programs. This research is exploratory by nature and is based on CSR reports published by the selected airline and related CSR information on the company websites. This topic has been chose because of the importance of CSR in business, more specifically in airline industry. What makes the application CSR programs in airline industry a particularly interesting topic to research is the highly competitive and pollutive nature of the industry. This competitive market has been caused by the price sensitivity of customers, and their desire to get good service at a decent price, as well as by the saturated nature of supply market due to multiple operators. In order to compete in the market, companies have to be cost efficient while providing best possible service. This, however, is difficult due to high operating costs that influence the whole industry. CSR is considered to be a vital part of any contemporary business strategy. In our mind focusing on CSR can provide airlines with both operational efficiency, as well as image benefits. People are becoming more aware of the social and environmental effects of their consuming habits, hence it be projected that innovative and responsible companies will continue to do well in the future, as their actions affect the purchasing behavior of customers.  The purpose of this study is to provide overview of CSR, discuss and analysis the performance of selected airline in corporate social responsibility. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY Corporate are inseparable from society. Nowadays, the responsibility of corporations is not solely providing products and services, it must also take care of the welfare of the various stakeholders in society (Robin, 1987). Corporate nowadays do not primarily focus on profits but being society responsible which generates more intangible value. Consumers prefer to be associated with socially responsible cooperates and as a result of this, corporate will allocate response to this area and play a private role. First, the flying of airplanes will adversely affect the global environment (Miyoshi, 2009). Favorable public image can be created if the airline â€Å"greening† the environment. Secondly, promoting CSR is an attractive differentiation strategy, it gains competitive advantages and growing competition between airlines when airlines are offering increasingly similar products and service in marketplace. For meeting the expectations of various stakeholders and customers, airlines can fulfill their responsibilities as a corporate citizen especially for international airlines operates in multiple countries. There seems to be no universally agreed definition of CSR (Frankental, 2001). He even argues that â€Å"CRS is a vague and intangible term which can mean anything to anybody, and therefore is effectively without meaning†. The continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the community and society at large(Holmes and Watts, 2000). It is generally agreed that CSR refers to the obligations of the firm to society (Smith, 2003). 2.1 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORIES AND STRATEGIES CSR includes four kinds of responsibilities: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. The economic responsibility refers to the firm’s obligations  to be productive, profitable, and to maintain wealth. Firm’s legal responsibility refers to carrying out their activities within the confines of legal requirements. For ethical responsibility refers to having ethical codes, norms going beyond mere legal frameworks, and being honest in their relationships with their customers and their own employees. Finally, the discretionary component includes voluntary or philanthropic activities aiming to raise the well-being and development of society as a whole (Carrol, 1911). CSR issues under a variety of headings: Marketplace, workplace, community and environment will be used as CSR components. Safety is the most important social responsibility for the aviation industry. From All Nippon Airways CSR report 2009, the company reports the preventive measures for two incidents occurred in 2008 that influenced stakeholder trust in the airline. In order to improve workplace relationship and employee morale, Korean Air has created an Employee Counseling Center to resolve complaints and receive suggestions from employees. For community, â€Å"I Can Fly† Program from Cathay Pacific, program is designed to encourage young people to fly high and to reach for their dreams. Being an international airline, Cathay pacific’s community investments also extend to communities outside of Hong Kong. Singapore Airline participates â€Å"the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emission (ASPIRE)† Program in 2010, demonstrated green flight, which operated from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo. As a result, it was able to use around 6% less fuel than normally required for a s imilar flight. Nowadays, customers are more aware of ethical consumption so that the airlines act in positive role in society by implementing some corporate social responsibilities’ programs. At the same times, consumers are also vulnerable to the problems and crises they are facing to, such as crisis in values and climate change, huge differences among people and also economic crisis in developed countries. Therefore, company can gain customer satisfaction and market value when they are applying the above CSR components. Corporate social responsibility means that organizations take on responsibility towards others in society, not merely on their shareholders and customers (Holloway, 2004). On the other hand, corporate social  responsibility also can improve our quality of life in the local community to solving environmental or socio-cultural problems locally or globally. CSR has found a positive relationship in both the short and long terms (Lee and Park, 2009). (Kang et al, 2010) examined the effects of positive effects of positive (proactive) and negative (reactive) CSR activities. 2.2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CHALLENEGES AND ISSUES Despite the potential of a Value Chain approach, the following issues need to be considered if the airline is planning to adopt or develop further more comprehensive CSR activities. Financial implications The Low-Fares Airlines business model relies on cost-reduction (Grob and Schroder, 2007). There are costs associated with implementing a CSR strategy but many are already accounted for within existing budget lines such as: Charitable giving, environmental management programs, corporate sponsorship and etc. Staffing Monitoring, evaluation and management of CSR objectives and related actions do require a staffing commitment in order to facilitate accurate reporting of costs and benefits. The size of the staffing commitment depends on the size and commitment of an organization. British Airways at the time of writing employed 30 staff working on CSR related initiatives (GreenAir 2008) Time Implement on CSR is a medium to long-term commitment that can only be fully achieved with realistic timescales built in from the start. However, there are some objectives, or â€Å"quick wins†, that can be realized in the short-term. 2.3 SUMMARY OF KEY CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ELEMENTS Review of the corporate social responsibility theories, strategies,  challenges and issue has shown that most of the international airlines (for example, Cathay Pacific Airline, Air France-KML, British Airways and etc) are very proactive in some of CSR components, for example, climate change and environment; customer relations by proving a level of customer service and comfort that ensure customer loyalty by focusing safety and security; staff personal development of the airline’s staff by offering personalized career advice, training and encouraging job mobility within the group. However, some of budget airlines, they are not really focus on CSR as a business strategy, the reason are airlines didn’t want to spend too much money on CSR because they need to control expenses for other resources to ensure tickets are low prices. Therefore, those budget airlines only focus on environment and community only. 3.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND Ryanair was established in 1985 by the Ryan family with  £1 share capital and 25 staff. Operation started with daily flights from Waterford in the southeast of Ireland to London on 15 Bandeirante aircraft (Ryanair, 2010). In 1987, the company acquired their first jet aircraft and as a result increased their network with 15 scheduled routes from Dublin to Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and opened new routes from Luton to West of Ireland. Consequently the number of passengers increased to over 600,000, but the company soon faced intense price competition with Aer Lingus and British Airways resulting to  £20m loss. During the 1990s, Ryanair decided to restructure the company by copying Southwest Airline low fares model (Ryanair, 2010). 3.2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AUDIT OF RYANAIR From the above audit, it showed that community projects, local skill training, advertising, disability access and ethical policies are not good from interviewee’s view. CO2 emissions, charity giving, pricing, training investment and safety are just fair. However, Ryanair are good in environmental responsibility for example: paper usage, water usage and waste. To understand why the interview gave this result, it will be discussed by using the following evidences. 4. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSS OF RYANAIR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PERFORMANCE Ryanair Corporate Social Responsibility activities report in 2011, it showed  environment, emissions trading, ethical codes and staff benefits will be implemented in coming year. For instance, Ryanair released two press releases about its 2008 Cabin Crew Charity Calendar, seven press releases for its 2009 Cabin Crew Calendar, and one press release for its 2012 Cabin Crew Calendar. Also, they even created a website for greening the environment. However, the charity calendar and other philanthropic efforts were not mentioned since 2008 annual report. In 2011 annual report, it also didn’t mention what kind of activities they did for the environment and how much fuel consumption they used. The following are the Corporate Social Responsibility performance of Ryanair between 2009 and 2012. For community, Fredrick (1986) developed the CSR analysis to include an ethical base to managerial decision taking in the form of corporate social rectitude and terms this CSR3. The theory claims that the study of business and community needs an ethical anchor to allow a systematic critique of businesss impact upon human consciousness and human continuity. When consumers book tickets at their website, charged price at the purchased stage is higher than the showed price at book tickets page. Real price has been hidden, it also counted as unethical. If the companys action can have either a positive or a negative impact on the quality of a group or individuals life, then the group or individual is a stakeholder of that company (Lepineux, 2005). On the other hand, Ryanair was not willing to provide services to those people who are disabled and older passengers has resulted in court ruling and got fines from court. After that, the airline increased the fare to all passengers and started lobbing airport and airlines, not to provide free services to disabled passengers. In 2010, The central London Country Court found it had acted unlawfully due to there was a passenger who I suffering from cerebral palsy and arthritis and be charged GBP18. Eventually, the one claimed GBP1136. Another important example of Ryanairs unethical practices is their advert in 2012. Two UK newspaper adverted for Ryanair have been banned after complaints from readers that they were sexist and treated women as objects (BCC News, 2012). The advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints of this advertising, and said they were likely to cause offence. However, the airline said the adverts promoted its cabin crew charity calendar and used  images taken directly from it (BBC news, 2012). The company faced probe by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after a string of complaints and the rules have been breached seven times in two years (BBC News, 2009). Corporate Social Responsibility as the purpose of business and the knowledge and abilities of those that run the business (Worthington and Britton, 1997). Of course, every company is making profit, even Ryanair. Therefore, their operation and the impact on the environment have to be administrated. Ryanair is not very good in marketplace of the CSR components. They got a lot of complaints of cancellations, missing bags and denied boarding. In 2011, the aviation watchdog revealed that Ryanair and EasyJet were subject to the most complaints from British airline passengers in 2010. From Ryanair website, it shows that baggage complaints per 1,000 passengers have increased from 1.18 to 1.88 from 2010 to 2011 respectively. EasyJet had the most complaints with 719 and Ryanair following with 673. It was also noted that Ryanair complaints have risen by 70% since 2005 and the Liberal Democrats said that the numbers proved service standards is a casualty of lower fares (Guardian, 2010). As explained earlier safety is the most important social responsibility for the aviation industry. However, the flight to East Midlands Airport was forced to make an emergency landing and oxygen masks were deployed (The Sun, 2012). There are differences between Ryanair and its competitors in terms of services and how they are delivered. Ryanair pledges simply to get passengers from point A to B safely and at lowest price. Some seats are sold as little as  £1 or â‚ ¬ 1, however, if flights are delayed, passengers should not expect free refreshments (Emerald, 2007). At the same time, the airline treats their employees are different with other airlines e.g. Southwest airline. Southwest airline believes that customers deserve respect, fun and dignity but that their employees come first. This is because employees would treat customers the way they are been treated (Emerald, 2007). Employees from Ryanair are disregard. Also the company is in major dispute with its operation being socially irresponsible. 5. STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RYANAIR Corporate Social responsibility is very important for growth of the business so that the airline should be more social responsible by addressing the demands of the stakeholders. Building the sense in the organization being socially responsible will improve corporate image to create value. In my opinion, environmental issues should be considered the most important. Despite the airline can only contribute few percent to global CO2 emissions, there still are so many people will consider flying to be much more harmful. Therefore airlines are pressured into contributing to the environment and reducing their environment impact. Moreover, focusing on environmental issues airline can gain competitive edge through improved image and operational efficiency. Fuel efficiency, waste and recycling should be the most important to be addressed. CO2 emissions nowadays can be considered. To tackle the issue of emissions, most of the airlines have implemented programs that aim to reduce overall emissions within a certain time period. For example, Air France aims to reduce CO2 emissions 1-2 % annually. This is also important in order to achieve emissions target set by IATA. Most of the airlines focus on improving fuel efficiency, as it is by far the biggest source of emissions. Ryanair should reduce fuel consumption immediately, improved maintenance and engine washing, improved route planning and navigation. Waste and recycling are the second important environmental topic. Waste produced by in-flight operations comprises of aluminum, plastic, mixed paper and organic waste. Chemical waste includes deicing and antifreeze products, paint and detergents used in washing airplanes and engines. Other waste sources are normal business operations where paper is the predominant material. Most airlines reviewed are trying to reduce waste and focus on recycling. Airlines should move towards recycling and reduction of waste production in all operational areas. In my opinion this can be achieved by favoring longer lasting, recyclable or biodegradable materials i.e. in  catering operations. Airlines have a high impact on neighborhoods and communities surrounding their major hubs. The airline should support communities by recruiting and training staff, offering educational support and etc. i.e mentioned previously â€Å"I Can Fly† Program from Cathay Pacific. Creating the organizational culture of shared values where employees are willing and enjoy to work. Empower employees to do their job, support and encourage them in their decisions. When employees are empowers to do their job and be respected at work place, they will feel that they are part of the organization and their decision are appreciated, then they will work wholeheartedly at the airline. It can improve customer servicing, reduce complaints and improve airline performance. Safety measures also to be one of the most important areas of airline business, concerning customers as well as employees. Therefore various systems should be implemented to support safe business operations. In order to ensure work safety, trainings supported by risk management systems should be implemented. Key performances should be regularly measured and improved according to the legal requirements. 6. CONCLUSION In the recent years the importance of CSR has been increasing immensely in the airline industry. Although in many aspects airlines are still behind in comparison to other industries, it has been made apparent that environmentalism and social responsibility issues will only increase in importance in the coming years and decades. Having a business strategy is as essential as never before due to a high need in business life for forecasting, measuring and developing business actions further. There will always be competitors that are potentially doing better business regarding overall revenue which consequently leads to a need of efficient and structured operations to ensure long lasting business success. Businesses that are going to last and also be profitable in the future are the ones  with CSR incorporated into their business strategy. We therefore believe that implementing it is inevitable. Like many other business aspects a clear vision on how to implement CSR is crucial. Therefore a â€Å"road map† needs to be developed in order to ensure a successful outcome. It allows the firm to be successful whilst using its resources within its unique environment to meet market needs as well as meet stakeholder expectations (Industry Canada 2006, pp. 32-33). 7. References Alle, M. M and Schmitz, A. M. (2004). Ryanair plc. Sà ©minaire delaboration dun Business Plan, p. 1-45. Moir, L. (2001). What do we mean by corporate social responsibility. Corporate Governance, 1, 2, p. 16-22.Y CO Worthington, I and Britton, C. (1997). The business environment. 2nd Edition. Pitman Publishing: London Holloway, C. J. (2004). Marketing for tourism. Harlow etc.: Prentice Hall Lee, S., Park, S.Y., 2009. Do socially responsible activities help hotels and casinos achieve their financial goals? International Journal of Hospitality Management 28, 105–112 Kang, K., Lee, S., Huh, C., 2010. Impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 29, 72–82. Alle, M. M and Schmitz, A. M. (2004). Ryanair plc. Sà ©minaire delaboration dun Business Plan, p. 1-45. Appelbaum, H.S and Fewster, M. B. (2004). Safety and Customer Service: Contemporary Practices in Diversity, Organizational Development and Training and Development in the Global Civil Aviation Industry. Management Research News. 27, 10, p. 1-26. BBCNews. (2008). Ryanair faces probe over adverts. [on-line] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7337165.stm [Accessed: 13/03.2010]. Bowman, C and Faulkner, D. (1995). The essence of competitive strategy. 1st Edition. Prentice: Hall. Carr, S., Penson, R and Bendell, T. (1995). The quality gurus-their approaches described and considered. Managing Service Quality. 5, 6, p. 44-48. Chilosi, A and Damiani, M. (2007). Stakeholders vs shareholders in corporate government. Munich Personal RePEc Archive. PN, 2334, p. 1-50. Davies, W. (2000).Understanding strategy. Strategy and Leadership. 28, 5, p. 25-30. Data Monitor. (2008). Ryanair holdings plc. Data Monitor Europe: London. Data Monitor. (2009). Ryanair holdings plc. Data Monitor Europe: London. Donaldson, T., Preston, L.E. The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence and implications. Academy of Management Review. Vol, 20, 1, 1995, pp.65-91. Emerald. Easyjet and Ryanair flying high on the Southwest model. Strategic Direction. Vol, 22, 6, 2006, pp. 18-21.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Peer Pressure and Academic Performance :: Peer Pressure Essays

Quantitative Research Question 1. What effect does peer support have on academic performance? 2. Does peer pressure affect the academic performances of adolescents in School? Hypothesis 1. â€Å"Peer pressure significantly influences academic performance†. 2. â€Å"Students who experience peer support have better academic performances, than those who do not have peer support†. 3. â€Å"Peer support influences academic performances†. 4. â€Å"Academic performance is associated to peer pressure and peer support†. Qualitative Research Question 1. How does peer pressure and peer support associate to academic performances? 2. How does peer support affect academic performances? Cho, Y., & Chung, O. (2012). The researchers investigated the relationship between conformative peer bullying and discovered that peer pressure and its resistance is linked to antisocial conformity. Conformative peer bullying is defined as â€Å"behaviours that supports and reinforces bullying and does not include initiating proactive actions†, (Cho, 2012. p. 521). Peer Pressure â€Å"influences a person to change his/her attitudes, values, behaviours, and relationship in order to conform to the norms of the peer group†, (Cho, 2012. p.521). Peer Conformity is â€Å"the inclination to adopt behavioral patterns that are considered as acceptable to the peer group†, (Cho, 2012. p.521). The researchers used the â€Å"four-point Likert scale† which rated from â€Å"1 = never; 4 = a lot† and the Participant Role Scale (PRS) to measure the variable â€Å"conformity’ and â€Å"peer pressure†, (Cho, 2012. p. 523 - 524 ). The participants consisted of 391 second year students from 21 different classrooms in Seoul, South Korea, out of which 285 were boys and 106 were girls, aged between 13-14yrs old. Between 14 to 18th July, 2008, the researchers obtained informed consent from the teachers and students. After peer assessment was acquired, the researchers distributed the â€Å"four-point Likert scale† survey questionnaires to 673 students in 21 classrooms of three middle schools. Students were given about 20 to 25 minutes to respond to the questionnaires. At the end of the analysis it was discovered that there was a positive correlation between peer pressure, peer conformity and confirmative peer bullying. The effect of bullying is greatly influenced by the bully’s personal characteristics. It also indicated that without a groups influence an individual might not resort to bullying or simply peer pressure drives people to act differently to please others to show their support or capabilities to be in the group. In conclusion, antisocial peer conformity is one of the causes that influences peer conformity bullying. It also showed that those who cannot resist are influenced more than those who can resist bullying.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Mass Media Should Be Highly Responsible

ELTU 1001 Presentation Outline Name: Chan Yu Yan,Fiona SID: 1155032656 I. Topic The mass media should be highly responsible to the problem of childhood obesity in Hong Kong II. Introduction ?Opener – Ask question; ‘what’s childhood obesity in your mindset? ’ ? Background –To provide statistics about the % of population of having childhood obesity in Hong Kong (To show the seriousness of the problem) ? Purpose/Objective – To persuade the government and the public to agree that the mass media is the key determinant that leads to childhood obesity through the means of television especially. Stance – The mass media is the most influential stakeholder in affecting the severity of the problem when compared to family’s influence and primary education in Hong Kong. ?Preview – To compare the effectiveness of the mass media and the primary schools in solving the problem. III. Body 1. The coverage of the receiver ?The public v. s. pr imary students -Advertisements are published through the mass media, such as television and radio, the recipients of the advestisements are the general public; ? Parents are informed ? teach their children about the correct value -Primary school policies (e. g.PE lessons) only influence the primary students, who may not be able to understand the purpose of these policies? not seriously followed 2. Academic studies showing the influences of the mass media on affecting the lifestyle of the obese children. ? A number of studies have confirmed that obesity is directly related to the number of hours spent watching television (Dietz and Gortmaker, 1985, 1993; Gortmaker et al. 1990). ?Attractive commercials advertising food and drink(Bar-Or et al. , 1998; James, 2002) that promote foods that are not recommended for the optimal development of health and fitness of children(Parizkova and Hills, A.P. , 2005) ? IV. Conclusion – Summary / Concluding statement The mass media is one of the most important channel in affecting the childhood obesity problem in Hong Kong. V. References – Books, Websites, etc. 1. Parizkova & Hills, A. P. (2005). Childhood Obesity: Prevention and Treatment. Florida: CRC Press. 2. Non-communicable Diseases Aware,3(9). (2006). Retrieved November 10, 2012 from Centre for Health Promotion, Department of Health Web site: http://www. chp. gov. hk/files/pdf/grp-NCDAware-en-20060915. pdf 3. Bagchi, D. (2011).Global perspectives on childhood obesity : current status, consequences and prevention. Boston: Academic Press/Elsevier. 4. Hui, S. C. (2007). CUHK Sports Science and Physical Education Department Releases Survey Results on Childhood Obesity in Hong Kong. Retrieved November 10, 2012 from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Sports Science and Physical Education Department Web site: http://www. cuhk. edu. hk/cpr/pressrelease/070525e. htm 5. Kulkarni, A. (2010). Mass Media Influence. Retrieved November 22, 2012 from http://www. buzzle . com/articles/mass-media-influence. html

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

American Airlines Flight Essay

Through his 1997 Airframe novel, Michael Crichton describes Casey Singleton’s response after a plane that was manufactured by Norton Aircraft experiences an accident while in flight. Singleton is a quality assurance officer at Norton Aircraft. Does the story accurately portray an aircraft manufacturer’s response to an accident? By demonstrating that following the accident, Norton Aircraft works hard to ensure that it (Norton Aircraft) does not only ascertain the genesis of the accident, but also to try to exonerate itself from any culpability, Crichton presents an accurate picture of aircraft manufacturers’ reaction to plane accidents. To illustrate, Singleton puts forth great efforts to investigate the facts behind the accident (Crichton, 1996). It is notable that a Singleton is not interested in the numerous aspects that usually surround pane mishaps. Rather, she seeks to establish who erred with regard to the accident. This is the typical reaction of aircraft manufacturers after plane accidents; they seek to apportion blame rather than solve the problem. Does the story accurately portray the media’s response to an aircraft accident? Crichton also presents a credible description of how the news-hungry media usually responds after plane accidents. It is undisputable that media houses jostle to present that so-called ‘exclusive’ story to the public after air accidents. This trend is clearly exhibited by the plans by a local media house to air a sensational news program that has somewhat maliciously dubbed the ill-fated plane a ‘deathtrap’. The author thus describes and critiques the sensational attitude that the media shows towards plane accidents. What was your overall impression of the story? After studying Crichton’s story, I was pleased with the author’s description of events that closely resemble real-life aviation accidents. For example, in describing the circumstances as well as the cause of the accident, Crichton draws parallels with the American Airlines Flight 191 fatal crash. In addition, Singleton’s investigations reveal that the accident was partly caused by the captain’s error of allowing his inexperienced son to take charge of the aircraft. Similarly, the Aeroflot flight 593 mishap in 1994 originated from the pilot’s mistake of permitting his inexperienced son to man the flight. Discerning such parallels to real-life events makes me to like the novel owing to its seeming applicability in contemporary mishaps. On the other hand, after closely examining Crichton’s plot, I have deduced several themes which make the author’s text very significant. For example, the author describes events that seek to show that air accidents are usually blamed on the wrong parties. In this case, John Marder and his associates try to place the blame for the accident squarely on Singleton. After her investigations, Singleton however detects that the fault was in the person who was operating the aircraft, particularity the pilot. The author thus demonstrates that innocent and vulnerable parties usually unjustly carry the blame for plane accidents. This candid portrayal of the blame games that accompany plane accidents is an aspect that makes the author’s work worthy of praise. In addition, I marveled at Crichton’s demonstration that humans, as opposed to mechanical failures, are the main cause of plane accidents. The author thus eradicates the popular notion that machine failure is normally the major culprit behind plane accidents. To illustrate, the aircraft is functional as per Singleton’s investigations. Human error, in form of improper maintenance coupled with operational errors; make the plane to have the accident. Crichton thus debunks a popular myth related to aircraft accidents through the novel’s events. This aspect makes me to really like the author’s bluntness and originality. References Crichton, M. (1996). Airframe. New York: Knopf.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The relationship between employees job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in service business

The relationship between employees job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in service business Abstract This study is conducted within the bank of America and is aimed at showing the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction in the banking industry.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on The relationship between employees job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in service business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The study is necessitated by the realization that customer satisfaction is determined by the perceptions the customers have on the nature and the quality of services offered. Since the study focuses on the correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction at a specific point in time, a cross sectional study design is chosen. 104 participants will be targeted for this study, 53 of which will be employees of the bank of America. Data will be mostly collected through written interviews. However provision for oral interview will be available especially for corpo rate clients who may be too busy to fill in written interviews. Seven aspects of job satisfaction will be measured and correlated with five categories of customer satisfaction. The study concludes that customer satisfaction is directly influenced by employee satisfaction. A number of factors interplay in this relationship. These include job security, work load, motivation, and employee empowerment, among others. Introduction Management experts believe that business success is attained through offering quality service to customers. However, not many of these experts link quality service with the level of employees’ satisfaction. Suffice to state that the service industry is seen as one of the key sectors of growth in any economy. As such, proper management of the service industry is needed to ensure that the value of service offered does not compromise customer expectations. This is because, negative customer perceptions about the nature and the quality of service offered is d etrimental to business growth. This suggests that customers’ perceptions about service quality are directly proportional to the business success achievable.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There a number of characteristics unique to the service industry. Employees in the service industry put in more hours while serving numerous customers, most of whom have complicated needs. This usually makes the job of customer service providers very cumbersome. As a result, Yagil (2006) explains that service providers are most likely to be fatigued and burned out. Such burn out has a direct influence on the quality of service offered. In a survey conducted by Burke, Graham and Smith (2005), it is found out that customer service is a psychological intercreative human experience. This implies that service provision is relational, face to face, and has got nothing to do w ith the products that the service provider offers. A good intercreative environment thus improves the perception of the customer on the quality of service offered. As such, two major conclusions can be made from the assertion above: perception plays a vital role in determining the nature of service quality; customer service provision is a psycho social activity. Burke et al. (2005) conclude that service provision has to be offered appropriately; otherwise the customer is dissatisfied. This leads to loss of business. This assertion is confirmed in a study conducted within the Indian mobile phone industry by Sathish, Santhosh, Naveen and Jeevanantham (2011). In this study, it is evident that one of the major reasons why consumers of Indian mobile phone services switch providers is poor quality of service offered. Therefore, customer satisfaction is directly connected to nature of service offered. The level of employees’ satisfaction varies and can be attributed to a number of f actors. These include poor salaries, employee attrition, work load issues as well as employee empowerment (Bull 2005; Yagil 2006). Yagil (2006) and Burke et al. (2005) add that the perception of the customer on the quality of service is directly connected to employees’ satisfaction. These factors, coupled with employee burn out determine the kind of behavior exhibited by employees within the customer service industry. As a result, service providers portray loss of enthusiasm and positive regard for their jobs, lack of concern for clients’ needs, both emotional and physical exhaustion among other behaviors (Yagil 2006).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on The relationship between employees job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in service business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During the cause of service provision, if employees portray negative attitudes and behaviors towards the customer, the cus tomers’ level of satisfaction with service quality decreases. This assertion can be attributed to the fact that social behavior is determined by the perceptions about the underlying motives and the prevailing environment, within which service is offered (Yagil 2006). As such, the perception of the customer regarding the quality of service offered is influenced by the behavior and attitude portrayed by employees. The studies above suggest a complex relationship between customer satisfaction, employee behavior and the quality of service offered. Customer satisfaction determined by customers’ perception on the quality of service offered. Employees’ conduct is determined by how the customers perceive value of service offered. The perception of the customer is influenced by the level of job satisfaction. As mentioned above, previous studies reveal that employee satisfaction is directly related to customer’s perception on service quality. As such, it is imperat ive to conclude that there is relationship between employees’ job satisfaction and customer perception of service quality which affects the overall satisfaction in the service business. While previous studies focused on hotel, teaching and telephone industries, there does not exist any study that focuses on the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction within the banking sector. As such this study seems relevant. The purpose of this study is to test hypothesis that the there is a relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. As such, the following questions seem relevant for this study: Do customers report higher satisfaction with service quality when employees indicate higher levels of work satisfactions? What aspects of job satisfaction that directly effect employees’ morale and behavior and how it effects customer satisfaction? To supply answers to this questions, the cross sectional study design has been chosen. Data for this study will be collected, separately, from employees and customers of Bank of America New York branch.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since previous studies show that customer satisfaction is dependent on perceptions about employees’ job satisfaction, for the purpose of this study, employee satisfaction is the independent variable and customer’s satisfaction is the depended variable. The bank of America was chosen because of the high number of customers served by the bank as well as high number of employee within the bank. As such, the banks employees and customers will provide sufficient sources of data for this study. Methodology This study targets both the employees and customers at the bank of America’s New York branch. The branch is chosen due to its central location as well as due to the fact that its serves a large clientele base. The study targets both individual and corporate customers, who will be observed at a particular point in time. A total number of 104 customers will be targeted. The number 104 has been chosen not because it has any special meaning in relation to the study but since it is manageable, and will also allow the researcher to collect as much data as possible. The target population will be divided into 53 employees and 51 customers. Out of the 51 customers, 17 corporate will be targeted. All the employees targeted for this study will be from departments that deal directly with the customers. As such, employees from the customer relations desk, tellers, loan clerks, information officers among other will be provide valid data for this study. As explained above, the numbers chosen for this study have no special meaning in relation to the topic of the study. However, odd numbers are chosen for the sake of tallying. Since the researcher targets all types of clients and employees at a particular point ion time, a cross sectional study design seems relevant for this study. According to Rose and Barker (1997), a cross sectional study targets a subset of the entire population with the aim of providing data that can be used to formulate generalized assum ptions regarding the entire population. It is also imperative to mention that the study is based on observations made, whose results are related to the employee satisfaction (independent variable for this study) and customer satisfaction (dependent variable for this study). As Rose and Barker (1997) further explain, studies which evaluate the relationships between variables and seek to establish pattern are descriptive in nature. As such, this study is descriptive. Participants As explained previously, the study targets 104 participants. The participant will be selected from both the employees and customers of the bank of America. In total 53 employees and 51 customers (both corporate and individual) will be targeted. Since the researcher aims at targeting all types of clients, 17 out of the 53 customers will be corporate. Employees targeted will vary in terms of age, race, job description and gender. To ensure that equity is achieved, the study will identify employees for participa tion as follows. 25 women and 28 men will be identified from all departments especially those that deal with customers directly. The researcher will also identify at least 2 employees from each of the major races, namely Hispanics, Caucasians, blacks and Asians. It is imperative to get the perception of job satisfaction form employees in different age groups. As such, the age criterion for participant has been identified as follows. 25 years and below 26 to 35 years 36 to 45 years 46 to 55 years 55 years and above 51 customers are targeted for this study. Due to the complex nature of the customers, written and oral interviews have been identified as the suitable methods of data collection. Alternatively phone interviews will be used for corporate clients who may not be available during the time of the interview. Procedure Due to time, convenience and logistic constraints, it will be impossible contact each of the employees physically for a face to face interview. As such, written questionnaires are the preferred research tools for employees. As such each of the employees targeted will be requested to fill in a questionnaire separately. Emphasis will be made on providing responses to all questions. Data from employees will be correlated with data derived from the customers. Data which will be used to determine the level of job satisfaction will be derived from employees. To determine the level of job satisfaction, several aspects will be measured. These aspects are: job security, career future, financial rewards, work load, work appeal, leadership and direction. To address each of these issues, the questionnaire includes a table which employees will fill in their perceptions about each of the aspects The purpose of targeting customers is to measure the level customer satisfaction. As such customer satisfaction will be measured using a survey consisting of 22 questions based on the SERVQUAL scale that cover the 5 categories of service quality: reliability, res ponsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibility. According to Yeck, Morales, Ladhari and Pons (2002) SERVQUAL is the only method which can accurately measure customer service by comparing the expectations of the customer about customer service and the real customer service experience. Therefore, based on Yeck et al.’s (2002) assertions, it is justifiable to use SERVQUAL to analyze findings on customer service in this study The procedure implies that there are two sets of data to be collected for this study. After collection of the two sets of data, an analysis will be done. The criterion for analysis is to compare the live of employee satisfaction and the correlating customer satisfaction. Hypothetical results It is expected that the study will reveal that customer service is determined by customers’ perception about the quality of service offered. It is expected that the study will correlate financial rewards (salaries and other financial benefits) with job satisfacti on aspects. Furthermore, the work load as well as work schedule are expected to portray a significant influence in the employee satisfaction and the overall effect on the customers’ perceptions. Furthermore, employee attrition, work load and labor issues will show a direct influence on employees’ satisfaction. Since, it is assumed that employees of the Bank of America will portray a level of dissatisfaction with their work; the study hopes to find a direct relationship between notable employees’ dissatisfaction with work and the perceptions of customer on the quality of service offered by the bank. The researcher expects to find that employee dissatisfaction directly affects the job morale, and as such the customer perceives low morale with employee dissatisfaction. In this case the researcher hopes that the customer will cite low morale as one of the indicators of job dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the researcher hopes to find data which proves that the customer equates low morale with poor customer service. Within the course of the study, the researcher expects to find a significant level of employees’ satisfaction. This is expected to show correlation with how customer perception on the quality of service rendered to them. As such, the study will find out that in those areas that employee exhibit a high degree of satisfaction, similar degree of employee satisfaction will be noticed. One of the key indicators of employees’ satisfaction with the job is proper remuneration as well as positive perceptions by the customer about the quality of service offered. In this study it is expected that properly paid employees exhibit a high degree of job satisfaction. The study is also expected to expose the fact that positive customer perceptions about the quality of service offered to have a direct relationship with the level of employee satisfaction. As explained earlier, the customers’ perception about the quality of service of fered is founded on the perceptions the customers have about the employee job satisfaction. In this study, it is expected that the researcher expects to identify the speed at which employees offer service, employees’ knowledge about products ad services as well as employees’ willingness to assist customers as having a significant influence on how customers perceive the quality of service. Furthermore, the ability of employees to identify particular needs of each customer, the ability of employees to make the customers feel appreciated as well as confidence portrayed by employees influence customers perception on the quality of service offered. Additionally, both verbal and non verbal communication skills including neatness, dress mode, smiling, use of polite and courteous language, direct eye contacts, among others, as having a directly influence on how customers perceive customer service. Overall, the researcher expects to find out the following correlation between em ployee job satisfaction and the perceptions about the quality of service offered by the bank. In those services which employees exhibited behavior that portrayed them as highly satisfied with their jobs, then customer will be satisfied with services offered in those areas. Conversely, on those areas that employees exhibited behavior that indicated to the customers that they were dissatisfied with their job, customers will equate this as poor customer service. If perception about job satisfaction outweighs perceptions about job dissatisfaction, this leads to increased customer satisfaction, and as such increased rate of customer retention. Discussion The hypothetical results above confirm the hypothesis that employees’ job satisfaction and customer perception of service quality affects the overall satisfaction in the service industry. From the hypothetical results above, it is evident that the quality of customer service is determined by the customer and not the service provid er. As such, this findings support Andreassen and Lindestad’s (1998) assertions that proper management of employees leads to increased employee satisfaction. In relation to this, the hypothetical findings will identify that there several aspects of human resource management, including proper remuneration, affect employee motivation and morale. Additionally, the results above affirm that, as explained by Ahmad, Ahmed, Nawaz and Ahmad (2011) that there are other factors which directly influence employee behavior. These include labor policy issues, work load among others, prolonged contact with customers, among others. These factors are expected to have an influence in the kind of behaviors exhibited by employees and the overall satisfaction with their job. As previously explained, Andreassen and Lindestad’s (1998) assert the need to improve human resource management practices by service industry players. In this regard, Ahmad et al. (2011) stipulates that giving full con trol to employees improves job satisfaction, since employees feel that they are in charge of their work. This corroborates Yagil’s (2006) assertion that empowerment means the process of gaining influence over events and outcomes of importance to an individual or group†. In this case, empowering employees significantly enables employees exert influence over customers. This is as a result of the findings that empowering employs directly influence the performance on the job. As such, the more empowered the employee is, the higher the performance on the job. Coupled with other factors mentioned above, such employees are able to meet the demand of the customers and as such this increases customer satisfaction. It can therefore be concluded that how employees behave determine perception on the nature and the quality of service offered by service providers. These conclusions can be validated through the findings explained above, which assert that there are a number of employee s’ behaviors which are directly related to employee job satisfaction. These behaviors are reflected as follows. The friendliness of employees towards the customers; if employees are friendly the customers perceives such employees as highly satisfied with their jobs. This creates a good relationship with the customers, effectively impressing the employees positively regarding the nature of customer service rendered (Andreassen and Lindestad 1998). Similar effects are realized if employees portray a commendable knowledge of products and services, the willingness of employees to assist the customers as well as the confidence portrayed by employees in handling customer relations issues. Two of the behavior mentioned previously results portray a significance influence on perception of customers regarding customer service. The ability of the employees to identify particular needs of each customer greatly enhances the relationships between the two parties. This creates an immediate positive perception about the nature of customer service. Furthermore, good communications skills by the employees are most like to make the customers feel appreciated, thus raising perception about good customer service. Additionally good communication skills are enhanced by non verbal skills such as neatness, smiling, among others. The discussion above shows that customer perception on the nature of customer service based on observable employee behavior. As such, these findings identify an area of interest of which service providers must consider. While human management issues especially those concerning empowerment and provision of tools and facilities to work are vital towards raising employees’ morale, the study also highlights the need to manage employee behavior. This can be attained through motivation and behavioral training. Furthermore, since this study is cross sectional in nature, it only answers the question of employee’s satisfaction and the relationship it has on customer service, at a particular point in time. This leaves other important questions answered. Such questions include the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer perception on customer service on long term basis. As such, there is need to study this complex relationship over a long period of time. Thus longitudinal studies seem relevant. In addition, this study cannot be used to make valid generalizations, since it is cross sectional in nature. Cross sectional studies are time limited and as such only target a small part of the population (Rose and Barker, 1997). While the data produced is valid, the results cannot used to make generalization about the relationship between customer satisfaction and perception about customer service in the entire service industry, since the target population cannot be used as a fair representation of the entire service industry. Conclusion It is evident that employees’ satisfaction bears heavily on customer percepti ons about customer service and the general satisfaction in the service industry. Despite the fact that there are a number of factors that influence the relationship, the nature customer satisfaction largely depends on the perception the customers have on employee satisfaction. Since customer form their perception based on observable employee behavior, service provider must be keen on the type of behavior exhibited by their employees. As such, other than proving that employees and customer satisfaction are related, the stud provide evidence needed for further action by service providers, especially on the need to train employees on behavior management. Furthermore, the study is cross sectional and as provides opportunities to conduct longitudinal research in future. References List Ahmad, Z., Ahmed, I., Nawaz, M. and Ahmad, Z. (2011). Job Satisfaction of Middle Level Managers in Pharmaceutical Industry of Pakistan Vol. Journal of Management Review, 1(1). Andreassen, T., and Lindestad , B. (1998), Consumer loyalty and complex services.  International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9 (1). Bull, F. (2005). The relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment amongst high school teachers in disadvantaged areas in the Western Cape. Web. Burke R., Graham J and Smith F. (2005). Putting the customer second. TQM Journal, 17(1). Rose, C. and Barker J. (1997). Case-control and cross-sectional studies. London: BMJ. Sathish, M., Santhosh, K., Kumar, K. Naveen, J. and.Jeevanantham, V. (2011). A study on consumer switching behavior in cellular service provider: a study with reference to Chennai. Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, 2(2). Yagil, D. (2006). The relationship of service provider power motivation, empowerment and burnout to customer satisfaction. Journal of Service Management, 17(3). Yeck, S., Morales, M., Ladhari, R., and Pons, F. (2002). 10 years of service quality measurement: reviewing the use of the SERVQUAL instrument. Cu adernos de Diffusion, 7(13).

Monday, October 21, 2019

Life of Francis Crick, Co-Discoverer of DNAs Structure

Life of Francis Crick, Co-Discoverer of DNA's Structure Francis Crick (June 8, 1916–July 28, 2004) was the co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule. With James Watson, he discovered the double helical structure of DNA. Along with Sydney Brenner and others, he demonstrated that the genetic code is composed of three base codons for reading the genetic material. Fast Facts: Francis Crick Full Name: Francis Harry Compton CrickKnown for: Co-discovered the double helical structure of DNABorn: June 8, 1916 in Northampton, EnglandDied: July 28, 2004 in La Jolla, California, United StatesEducation: University of Cambridge, Ph.D.Key Accomplishments: Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1962)Spouses Names: Ruth Doreen Dodd (1940–1947) and Odile Speed (1949–2004)Childrens Names: Michael Francis Compton, Gabrielle Anne, Jacqueline Marie-Therese Early Years Francis Harry Compton Crick was born on June 8, 1916 in the English town of Northampton. He was the eldest of two children. Crick began his formal education at the Northampton Grammar School, then attended Mill Hill School in London. He had a natural inquisitiveness for the sciences and enjoyed conducting chemical experiments under the tutelage of one of his uncles. Crick earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University College London (UCL). He then started his Ph.D. work in physics at UCL, but was unable to finish due to the start of World War II. During the war, Crick worked for the Admiralty Research Laboratory, conducting research on the design of acoustic and magnetic mines. After the war, Crick moved from studying physics to studying biology. He very much enjoyed pondering the new discoveries that were being made in the life sciences at the time. In 1950, he was accepted as a student at Caius College, Cambridge. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1954 for his study of the X-ray crystallography of proteins. Research Career Cricks transition from physics to biology was critical to his work in biology. It has been said that his approach to biology was refined by the simplicity of physics, as well as his belief that there were still big discoveries to be made in biology. Crick met James Watson in 1951. They had a common interest in discerning how the genetic information for an organism could be stored in the organisms DNA. Their work together built upon the work of other scientists such as Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, Raymond Gosling, and Erwin Chargaff. The partnership proved fortuitous to their discovery of DNAs double helix structure. For the majority of his career, Crick worked for the Medical Research Council at Cambridge in England. Later in life, he worked for the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in the United States. The Structure of DNA Crick and Watson proposed a number of significant features in their model of the structure of DNA, including: DNA is a double-stranded helix.The DNA helix is typically right-handed.The helix is anti-parallel.The outside edges of the DNA bases are available for hydrogen bonding. The model consisted of a sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside and pairs of nitrogenous bases, held together by hydrogen bonds, on the inside. Crick and Watson published their paper detailing the structure of DNA in the science journal Nature in 1953. The illustration in the article was drawn by Cricks wife Odile, who was an artist. Crick, Watson, and Maurice Wilkins (one of the researchers whose work Crick and Watson had built upon) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for Medicine in 1962. Their discoveries furthered the understanding of how the genetic information from one organism is passed down to its progeny from generation to generation. Later Life and Legacy Crick continued to study other aspects of DNA and protein synthesis after the discovery of the double helical nature of DNA. He collaborated with Sydney Brenner and others to demonstrate that the genetic code is made up of three base codons for amino acids. The research demonstrated that, since there are four bases, there are 64 possible codons, and the same amino acid can have multiple codons. In 1977, Crick left England and relocated to the United States, where he served as the J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute. He continued to research in biology, focusing on neurobiology and human consciousness. Francis Crick died in 2004 at the age of 88. He is remembered for the significance of his role in the discovery of DNAs structure. The discovery was pivotal to many later advances in science and technology, including screening for genetic diseases, DNA fingerprinting, and genetic engineering. Sources The Francis Crick Papers: Biographical Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/SC/p-nid/141.  Francis Crick - Biographical. Nobelprize.org, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/crick/biographical/.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"About Dr Francis Crick.† Crick, www.crick.ac.uk/about-us/our-history/about-dr-francis-crick.  Watson, James D. The Double Helix: a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New American Library, 1968.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The best student cities in the world

The best student cities in the world Top 10 student cities It is very important for every entrant to observe the city while applying to the university. You should pay attention on its friendliness, arts and culture, nightlife, affordability, employment opportunities, and diversity. Think whether you could stay in this city after graduating for making your career. The student survey has shown that there are many other cities not including the most iconic ones, such as Paris or London, which suggest the perfect educational conditions and make the student life interesting and diverse. We decided to write a list of the best student cities in 2017, according to students’ opinion. Hope it will be interesting. Shanghai Shanghai is a megalopolis, which attracts the students from all over the world due to its culture, arts, friendliness and nightlife. It gives the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and experience such international influence. It is the largest city in China. However, it is very easy to get around it. You will definitely praise its local cuisine. Nottingham The student survey shows that Nottingham is considered to be a student-focused college-town, which attracts the youth with its nightlife, culture, green spaces, arts, and friendliness. It is also easy to get around it. Nottingham is high scored for inclusion and tolerance. Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe (Keihanshin) Here you can definitely experience a modern student lifestyle. This metropolitan area, called Keihanshin, consists of three cities – Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, which together form one of the world`s largest economies. Students can enjoy the unbelievable combination of astonishing nature and urban life. Moreover, this megalopolis is rich in its traditions, history, and culture. Boston Boston is famous for its leading academic environment. Despite the fact that this is a medium-sized city it combines all aspects of the big city life. Students will be impressed with its attractive surroundings, culture, and arts. Boston has the strong ratings for its friendliness and ease of getting around. Brno Here you can easily become the part of the friendly student community. Brno delivers a great student experience, providing students with unforgettable nightlife, affordability, inclusivity, and tolerance. Students praise this Czech city for its astonishing attractiveness and friendly atmosphere. Ottawa Ottawa is famous for its student-centered environment with its rich bilingual and multicultural peculiarities. The capital of Canada stands out for its nightlife, tolerance, and friendliness. Ottawa offers its students the opportunities to gain experience in various scientific areas. Montreal Montreal is considered to be the cultural capital of Canada. This city is distinguished by its rich culture, diversity, arts, affordability, and friendliness. Students can enjoy the wide range of different activities. Its welcoming and multicultural environment makes Montreal particularly appealing to the youth. Seoul Seoul is the South Korean capital, which is famous for its convenience and safety. This city offers its students the diversity of opportunities and activities. The nightlife is particularly appealing. It boasts of its culture, arts, and ease of getting round. It is a perfect city not just for studies, but also for making a glittering career. Prague Prague is situated in the very heart of Europe and attracts students with its diversity beauty, historic architecture, low living costs, and nightlife. Here students always have plenty of things to do, see, drink, and eat. It is world-known for its affordability, rich culture and traditions. Taipei Taipei is a Taiwan`s capital, which provides students with convenient transports system and cheap food. Moreover, Taipei claims the highest student rating in the category for affordability which is very important for students. It also gets the high rating for friendliness. It is also important to take into account such cities as: Vienna – top for culture and arts Oslo – highest-rated for ease of getting around Canberra – the friendliest city according to student survey Riyadh – offers a lot of employment opportunities

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Effects of quantitative easing on food prices Research Paper

Effects of quantitative easing on food prices - Research Paper Example He stated that the United States is the leader and the rest of the countries seem to be trailing the footsteps of us. The more money countries print the higher the prices of goods grow. Thus, if countries want to end the uphill trajectory and the volatility of prices, then they need to turn off the printing presses and let interest rates rise. This statement shows the effect of quantitative easing on prices of commodities including food (Schiff, n.p.). Under normal circumstances, whenever there are quantitative easing, prices for foodstuff will be on the rise, since the money around or being in circulation increases. While the agricultural production, as well as food being manufactured in industries could be the same as it were before, quantitative easing increases the price of foodstuff as it has been commonly believed and in some cases proven that easy money reliably drives up the price. Fredrick Kaufman, writer of â€Å"A Short History of the American Stomach† and an editor to the Harper’s Magazine stated that quantitative easing brings up a new level of volatility in the markets. Because of the introduction of more billions of dollars in the market, food prices have increased because a lot of money in the market means inflation that causes a rise in the price of things. Kaufman argues that it is true quantitative easing has led to increase in food prices he goes further to say that we cannot blame quantitative easing alone because demand and supply, climate change, and speculations are also serious contributors to the volatility in the commodities market (Schiff, n.p.). As money increases and becomes more available so does the prices of food stuff rise and affect people differently because of the differences in the economic status of people, in that society. The poor are affected negatively, since they do not feel the real impact of quantitative easing. Thus, some people have been quoted making statements saying that if only the world was poor and starving masses understood the benefits of  Quantitative Easing, they would perhaps not riot in the streets over increasing  food prices. This shows the real effect of quantitative easing on foodstuff. People must simply be educated to understand the concept of quantitative easing. For instance, the prices of major foodstuff wheat and corn are being towered so are the profits at Goldman Sachs, according to Eric Fry of  the Daily Reckoning. In his article, Eric goes further to say that the passing food problems of the poor people in places that they occupy are a minimal price to pay for the resurgent economic activity in other places. Moreover, if people do not make much money in one place, they cannot send any handouts to other places. This logic seems to inspire Chairman of Bernanke’s QE campaigns. This already is a proof that quantitative easing causes an increase on food prices and hits the poor people with detrimental effects when the prices of foods are raised because they cannot access the money said to be available (Fry, n.p.). The fact that quantitative easing increases food prices also means that it makes the availability of food scarce to many people. Quantitative easing makes the prices of stocks to shoot up and influence people to feel that they have more money, something that makes them spend

Language and identity , English composition 1 Essay

Language and identity , English composition 1 - Essay Example Anzaldua's essay is concerned with naming - but not 'mapping' - the multiplicity of identity formations she occupies simultaneously and contradictorily. She agrees with the (post)structuralist view that language speaks us, and that the languages we speak define our identity, our cultural make-up, our ideologies, and our definition of self. "Language is a homeland", Anzaldua says (1999, p. 895). She asserts that 'ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language" (p. 898). But those who occupy 'the border', those who have multiple and conflicting subject positions or identity categories - such as Chicana lesbian - are 'deslanguadas' [without language] according to Anzaldua: "Somos los del espanol deficiente" (p. 897). We are your linguistic nightmare, your linguistic aberration, your linguistic mestizaje, the subject of your burla. Because we speak with tongues of fire we are culturally crucified. Racially, culturally and linguistically somos huerfanos - we speak an orphan tongue (p. 897). Anzaldua's own essay, in English and in Spanish - sometimes translated, sometimes not - embodies her answer to the problem of dominant and subordinated languages and identities. Her concept of 'mita y mita' - half and half (p. 890).

Friday, October 18, 2019

CIS126 U1 Discussion 2 - 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CIS126 U1 Discussion 2 - 1 - Essay Example The latter has made timely delivery a complicated process. TDD, for instance, face the challenge of their own code with its developers not willing to continue that path. It is important to define correctly the APIs for use in the system other than just using the IDE to refactor the code that requires a very constructive intervention. Object oriented code becomes difficult to handle mainly due to the absence of modularity. The lack of limits in modularity has made frequent developments almost an impossible thing. It significantly compromises the risk of making alterations to the legacy code. Further, there are extra dependencies brought about by frameworks in the open source community. The result is frequent errors and slows down the speed of development. In such environments, code refactoring becomes such a complicated process that is not worth pursuing. Other challenges include non-experts in Object Oriented code involved in the development process of these systems. Since these persons do not uphold the disciplines in the development, they compromise the use of libraries or frameworks. Consequently, there is a lot of codes that is purely

Monetary Policy and Its Implications in Belgium Research Paper

Monetary Policy and Its Implications in Belgium - Research Paper Example This meant that the signatories’ domestic currencies would not fluctuate against the Euro and each other. The Euro was initially launched as electronic money and eventually became a legal tender on 1st January the year 2002. The European Central Bank was tasked with the responsibility of implementing monetary policies on countries using the Euro (GunyeÃŒ  2004). One of the main reasons why the Euro was introduced was to provide a common currency that could be used all over Europe. It is important to note that European countries are small and trade with each other. A common currency would make trade between the European countries easier. This eliminated exchange rates that were a common hindrance to trade among the countries. The common currency was expected to be stronger than other currencies of the individual countries and this would have increased the competitiveness of exporters using the Euro. Since the Euro was incepted in the year 1999, it has remained fairly stable against the US dollar. The euro in 1999 would buy the US dollar at $1.18. This figure has since risen to $1.38. The lowest amount that the Euro has ever bought the US dollar is $0.82 and the highest ever level the Euro has ever bought the dollar remains at $1.60. Some of the member countries have been experiencing high labor costs and this has been affecting their export competitiveness in the market. In such a case a currency would devalue to solve the scenario. It is, however, impossible to devalue the Euro and this has led to major problems for countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy. This is due to the fact that they are experiencing a fall in exports. It is widely thought member countries are protected from financial crisis. However, this is not the case as Greece is experiencing a major financial crisis. The member countries are given less incentives to implement structural reform (The

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Community health services Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community health services - Assignment Example Top of this list are the aged in the society who form the majority of residents at the home. These can be admitted for either short term or long term stay depending on their individual conditions. Another group of individuals accommodated at the center are the elderly who require memory care such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s. The main goal of this facility is to ensure that the aged in the society live a quality life. Presently, the residents come from a range of cultural backgrounds but the majority is white males. Patients have to book in advance before they are admitted. The facility is well equipped with trained medical personnel who are on call on a 24 hour basis to cater for the needs of the clients and ensure they get the care that they need throughout the day and night. Payment in this facility is by the use of personal cheques while payment through insurance agencies can be arranged. In case of any emergencies, the facility has working relationships with nearby hospitals and patients can be transferred at no extra cost although it operates as a stand-alone facility. This facility caters for war veterans. These are individuals who served in the military, air service or the naval forces. These people have the right to access these services as long as they were not discharged dishonorably from the force. As such, this clinic comprises of patient s from a wide range of cultural background. The members of the National Guard are also eligible to access these health services. All the patients are screened before admission at the clinic. The facility provides care that is personalized to their specific needs. Attached to this center is a list of physicians, nurses and dentists who ensure that the patients get the best possible care while they are at this center, ranging from dental to therapeutic services.The facility is closely connected to other veteran care centers around the country. In this facility payment is by both Medicare and

Marie De France Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marie De France Era - Essay Example As for technical grounds, the contradiction can be found in the writing when it comes to fulfillment of the marriage vows and that obligation that come along with it. This is presented in case of a young girl, who is married to an elderly person and the couple is a total mismatch, and she is as in figure of speech being caged, and seeking salvation, she pleads for a messiah who comes in form of messiah of love and this leads to the spark of physical desire and love. Being totally non-platonic, this falls right into contradiction with the views those are being carried about marriage in the first half, where she lambasts the court practices and the common performance of adultery in the court four walls. She does not approve of any illegitimate and outside marriage physical relation, and this can be clearly inferred from by mention of adultery that was largely in routine and was not looked up to. However in the later part when the girl who the girl’s prayers get answered and a ha wk is being sent over which later on becomes her lover. The theme is full of expression of love and feeling, and even the beginning is marked by one similar event, where suffering and testing of a soul is joined and folded in the concept of love. It is presented in form of Guigemar who is totally indifferent to the concept of love in the beginning and later on gets embalmed into the vicious element of love which is hard to come out of once entered into. This part of the narrative work is independent of the nature of love or the kind. (from physical or platonic). However the second part of their tale is marked by the physical desire and love for one another when they through the force of love and magic come together again. Le Fresne’s tale is another similar account which has been expressed to explain the love. Lais of Marie de France is actually a collection of poems that was written around the medieval times, although no exact details are available yet all that are available are sufficient enough to deduce the theme and tone of he r thinking, her narration and her mind. Considering suffering as an attached part of love, she advocates the concept of unlawful practices of marriage through the lovers who are admired by the girls who themselves are in difficult times and they welcome the lovers despite being in a matrimonial relationship in other place which is in tatters in this regard thereby allowing them a reason to look out of the window even after being hooked in a matrimonial relationship. She does not stand indifferent to the element of love and values it, yet has different interpretation in different times, which leads to the argument that her first part of paper advocates a different approach of love and relationship, while the second part sees slight deviance from the earlier established concept. The element of trouble, sorrow, loneliness, separation, mismatch, all has been made a part of love, and for this purpose, she has defended the concept of illegitimate relationship. Hence a clear inconsistency exists and it is

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Community health services Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community health services - Assignment Example Top of this list are the aged in the society who form the majority of residents at the home. These can be admitted for either short term or long term stay depending on their individual conditions. Another group of individuals accommodated at the center are the elderly who require memory care such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s. The main goal of this facility is to ensure that the aged in the society live a quality life. Presently, the residents come from a range of cultural backgrounds but the majority is white males. Patients have to book in advance before they are admitted. The facility is well equipped with trained medical personnel who are on call on a 24 hour basis to cater for the needs of the clients and ensure they get the care that they need throughout the day and night. Payment in this facility is by the use of personal cheques while payment through insurance agencies can be arranged. In case of any emergencies, the facility has working relationships with nearby hospitals and patients can be transferred at no extra cost although it operates as a stand-alone facility. This facility caters for war veterans. These are individuals who served in the military, air service or the naval forces. These people have the right to access these services as long as they were not discharged dishonorably from the force. As such, this clinic comprises of patient s from a wide range of cultural background. The members of the National Guard are also eligible to access these health services. All the patients are screened before admission at the clinic. The facility provides care that is personalized to their specific needs. Attached to this center is a list of physicians, nurses and dentists who ensure that the patients get the best possible care while they are at this center, ranging from dental to therapeutic services.The facility is closely connected to other veteran care centers around the country. In this facility payment is by both Medicare and

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Envs 1000 research essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Envs 1000 research - Essay Example The field of agriculture accommodates many workers as compared with most other industries. In addition, agriculture helps in boosting international trade through imports and exports. Therefore, without productive agriculture, people and society as a whole would not be privileged to enjoy the same quality of life. This paper presents a discussion on the role of agriculture in Canada and its possible environmental implications, and it covers food, food production and loss of biodiversity. Agriculture plays a very significant role in society by improving life quality and in the production of marketable commodities for food, fuel, fiber among others (Holland, 2012). Agricultural activities facilitate the production of individuals’ basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing thereby improving the living standards and quality of life. Primarily, agriculture provides people with food from either crops or animals and agricultural food are full of nutrients and nourishes individuals ’ bodies. Agriculture provides the basis of subsistence by ensuring adequate production of food and safety (Holland, 2012). Food is very essential for individuals to survive; therefore, agricultural intervention is necessary to ensure that there is adequate food supply. Agriculture assures food security to the people and individuals work hard to increase agricultural productivity and secure enough food. Animal products such as milk, meat, or even eggs serve as a food source and are consumed by people. Similarly, plant products such as cabbages and other vegetable are also other food sources produced though agriculture. All food produced in Canada guaranteed high quality of production, environment as well as welfare standards. Secondly, agriculture provides us with fiber, cotton, flax among others and all these are necessary materials needed to manufacture natural cloth. Additionally, agriculture offers different job opportunities for many Canadians considering that some peopl e prefer working on the farms while others engage in agricultural based activities. According to studies, agriculture has been stated to be the main source of income to many people in Canada especially in the rural areas. More so, agricultural industries are one of the industries that employ many people; hence, agriculture is a major contributor of Canadian’s wealth (Britton, 1996). Mostly in rural areas, the main activity that people engage in is agriculture and they depend on various agricultural activities in order to earn a living. The increasing farm size and productivity have led to larger labor productivity gains in agriculture. Approximately 340,000 Canadians work on agricultural production sites (IICA-Canada, 2005); thus, agriculture is their occupation and so they dedicate their time to it and focus on how to increase agricultural products. In addition, one of the objectives of agriculture is to eradicate poverty in the society and this is possible through job creat ions especially working on the farms. However, working on the farms can sometimes be very demanding because it requires energy in that, those working on agricultural farms should be physically energetic and this leaves those who are physically weak disadvantaged. Moreover, agriculture plays a leading role in promoting both regional and international trade thereby boosting the country’

Monday, October 14, 2019

A dramatic way Essay Example for Free

A dramatic way Essay After the September 11, 2001 attack the civil aviation system of our nation was given a great deal of congressional attention. The Congress enacted the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) on November 2001. The ATSA created the Transport Security Administration (TSA) within the Department of Transportation (DOT). The TSA was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring security in aviation as well as other modes of transport. This agency hired a number of people for the deployment of both passengers and baggage. Explosives detection equipment was used to check the baggage. The agency is also working on the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS); this would use national security as well as commercial databases in order to identify passengers who could pose risk for additional screening. TSA also initiated a number of programs and research on the use of technology and information in order to advance security. The Transportation Workers Identification Card program is issued to airport workers after a background check has been conducted on them. Biometric indicators have been incorporated in them so that each worker can be positively matched to his or her credential. Though TSA takes pains to see that bombs and other threat items are not carried into the planes by the passengers on their self or in their baggage, areas such as the air cargo security, general aviation security and the airport perimeter security are still vulnerable, the air cargo is vulnerable as very little of the cargo on cargo and passenger planes are screened. Thus TSA has been advised to use a risk management approach to enhance and strengthen the air cargo security. Prior to September2001, screeners who were hired by the airlines very often failed to detect threat objects on passengers or in their carryon luggage. This could be because of insufficient training and a rapid turnover. In most of the airports the turnover exceeded 100 percent, the skilled and experienced screeners were few mainly because of low wages, few benefits and monotonous work. Moreover before September 2001 people entered the secure areas of airports, including the aircrafts as the limiting controls did not work as intended. TSA’s first and foremost responsibility was according to ATSA that of ensuring security in all modes of transportation. The security screening responsibility was also shifted to TSA. Some of the aviation security responsibility such as security of air traffic control and other computer systems remained with FAA. TSA worked to establish itself and worked at meeting the deadlines set forth by ATSA. TSA had 13 employees in January 2002. A year later it had 65,000 employees. TSA had met over 30 deadlines during 2002 to improve the aviation security. Racial profiling against the ‘young muslim male’ seems an awful idea and therefore it ought to be abolished. Still it is argued and even many minority police are of the opinion that it can be used as a statistical tool. It can be a cost effective way to tackle a certain problem e. g. most people committing X belong to Texas, then if there is a reliable way to identify people from Texas, it would certainly reduce the action X. Still it is not ethical even though police argue that they are not taking action based on any race but that they are using race as a factor to identify suspects. This is discrimination by race and religion and when such discrimination meets approval, we start heading down the slope. Besides this the practical problems are also to be met. It certainly antagonizes the group that is being profiled. The young muslim men in America would not like it and might even flare up, and it might irritate them so that they who might have helped in a terrorist investigation might just shrug their shoulders now. Moreover how many people would it affect? Numerous? Muslim looking men hail from Nigerians to Iranians to Indonesians. The muslims of Central Asia often resemble the Chinese and tree quarters of Arab Americans are Christians. It is also to be noted that even if racial profiling isn’t motivated by bigotry, over a period of time it is very likely to cause racial tension. The civilians would view all young Muslims males suspiciously, which would again inflame racial tensions. Therefore in order to preserve racial harmony an extra couple billion dollar get spent, for the security measure, it is still more worthwhile that creating disillusioned youngsters who in their anger might turn terrorists. Sources Jackson Brain A :Aptitude For Destruction: Organizational Learning in Terrorist Groups and its Implications for†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Brower Jennifer L: The Terrorist Threat and its implications for sensor technologies, Prometheus Inc.Newport . RI02840, USA 3. www. wikipedia. org 4.. Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations, Keynote address to the Closing Plenary of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security March 10 2005 5. Joan Arehart –Treichel; Terrorists Motives Arise From Diverse Factors Psychiatric News March 18, 2005, Volume 40, Number 6 6. Lee Tien, Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Counsel, Sep. 27, 2001 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 7. Jenkins, Brian Michael: Countering the New Terrorism (199

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Bill Clinton And His Many Problems :: William Jefferson Clinton Essays

Bill Clinton and His Many Problems William Jefferson Clinton was re-elected as president of the United States in 1996. During the last 4 years Bill has had a lot of problems e.g. Whitewater and sex-scandals. Whitewater is a summerhouse-area where Bill and especially his wife, Hillary, a couple of years ago, made some suspicious money-transactions. Right now the case against Hillary Clinton is pau ¬ sed, but the judge thinks a breakthrough might come if a good friend of Hillary and Bill is proved guilty. If he is judged it will be a lot easier to get the Clintons. And now to the sex-scandals; a young girl is right now trying to win a case against Bill Clinton. She claims that the president, when he was governor in Arkansore, came to a hotel where she was a waitress or something like that. He should then have asked her to come to his room later that day. When she arrived he tried to force her to have sex with him. He should also have showed her his thing. She turned him down and he gave up and said that she should forget all about this. That is what she has told, we are still waiting to hear Bill Clinton's statement. Another big problem to Bill is that he has been unable to fulfil those very big promises he gave during his election campaign in 1992. That has given his credibility and the polls a big push down. One of his promises was his health program, the purpose of this was to give people with not so many money a chance to get treated at a hospital. In US you are supposed to pay hospital-bills yourself. It is something like our public health insurance where the government pays for the ho ¬ spitals. In US it is a problem that the poor can not afford the medicine and therefore they sometimes do not get any. This healthprogram was unfortunately voted down by the republican majority in the Congress The US government has also an extreme materialistic way of getting people in work and thereby holding down the unemployment. They simply only give the unemployed a minimum of benefit and they only get it in a very short time. The unemployed are therefore forced to find a job, no matter what they have to do. This policy has also its good sides; the unemployment is very low, the salaries are low and therefore the competitive power is good. Unfortunately for the Americans it has not done anything good for the balance of payments, they still

Saturday, October 12, 2019

IDEA Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Essay -- Paying for

â€Æ' In 1991 the Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was replaced by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law was passed to provide free and appropriate public education to every child with a disability. It requires that each child with a disability â€Å"have access to the program best suited to that child’s special needs which is as close as possible to a normal child’s educational program† (Martin, 1978). The Individualized education program (IEP) was developed to help provide a written record of students’ needs and procedures for each child that receives special education services. The IEP will list all the services to be provided, the student's performance level, academic performance, and modifications in place for the student. Human rights to education are important to the right to a fair education. Article 26.2 which explains the human right to equality in education and states that (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Before the Education for All Handicapped Child... ... the amount of extra procedures and paperwork a teacher is required to do that could be spent teaching. According to research the school staff often state beliefs that IDEA protects children and parents but not districts, schools and teachers. Also, parents request services for their children for which their children do not qualify based on local, state and federal guidelines. Teachers and administrators often have to deal with anger from parents who do not understand or agree with the regulations by which the school must abide. REFERENCES Driscoll, Amy; Nagel, Nancy G. (2008). Early Childhood Education, Birth -8: The World of Children, Families, and Educators. Pearson education Inc. Martin, Ed. (1978). Instructor 87, no.9, p.63 Simpson, Michael D. (1997). â€Å"Rights watch: Who’s Paying for special Ed? NEA Building the legacy: IDEA 2004. http://idea.ed.gov

Friday, October 11, 2019

Sonnet 104

Essay: Sonnet 104 Sonnet 104 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a fair friend. Each stanza expresses Shakespeare’s relationship with his beloved. The sonnet deals with the destructive forces of time as humans grow older and makes a commentary on the process of aging. In the first quatrain, the poet focuses on his beloved, exploring the theme of beauty and aging. The very beginning of the quatrain begins with â€Å"To me†, and in the second line, ends with â€Å"eye I eyed. These two phrases signified that what he was writing was from his own perspective. The poet did not consider the opinion of the reader and later in the quatrain, continues this theme when he states, â€Å"Such seems† in the third line. This quatrain was a commentary on the beauty of his beloved friend. The poet acknowledges that this is his perspective; yet he does not ack nowledge the perspective of anyone else. These lines also discuss that his beloved friend is as beautiful as when they first met and that his opinion of beauty is not judged upon the reader.In the second quatrain, the poet focuses on time passing the significance of evolution. This theme progresses with the continual mentioning of seasons. The poet wants to emphasize the three years that have passed. The natural cycle between seasons emphasizes the time passing. â€Å"Summers pride† gives way to â€Å"winters cold†, â€Å"beauteous springs† give way to â€Å"yellow autumn†, and April perfumes make way to the â€Å"hot Junes burnd†. This is not only a commentary on how much time has passed, but also a commentary on how beauty can fade.As stated in the phrases listed above, the changes in seasons always lead to a different landscape. With this evolution, it is only natural that beauty fades. However, the poet makes is blatantly clear in the eighth li ne that his beloved never changes. This last line of the quatrain shows that his beloved is a fresh beauty. The use of the words â€Å"green† and â€Å"fresh† signify his beloved’s youthfulness and prove that he has defied nature. This breaking of the cycle proves to be a powerful use of language and diction.In the third quatrain, the poet recognizes that his beliefs are unnatural, and creates a shift in the sonnet. The ninth line instigates the shift once the poet writes, â€Å"Ah, yet†. This sign tone and shift in perception help him come to a realization. This recognition proves that the poet is fooling himself about his friend’s beauty. The â€Å"dial-hand† mentioned in the ninth line signifies that even though his beloved friend is actually aging, he only sees him to be beautiful. This metaphor is a perfect representation of his perception of beauty.As the quatrain continues he explains that his eye deceives him of reality. Like a clock hand moves slowly, he slowly recognizes reality. In conclusion, sonnet 104 is a commentary on the poet’s perception versus reality. The poet ends the sonnet by announcing that no one, after he and his beloved die, could ever understand what beauty really is. The height of beauty was when his fair friend lived. Beauty was and will always be understood as a part of his writing. Though his friend may not be living, his beauty still lies within the poet’s literature.