My writing Learning Experience in this class -where I started from the Essay

My writing Learning Experience in this class -where I started from the beginning of the class to now - Essay Example Both strategies are concerned with collection of ideas prior to actual writing. I also learned about clustering which is considered as higher level of pre-writing because in this strategy, the ideas are inter-connected with each other. At this point, the relations of each idea are being considered. On the other hand, tagmemics involves initial analysis of the subject. It is divided among particle, wave, and field perspective. The particle is the topic or idea. The wave is the manner by which the particle was affected by time. The field is how the unit is seen in a larger perspective. These learnings helped a lot in my preparations for writing. They helped me gather my ideas prior to actual writing and plan how to relate each idea to suit my topic. I also learned how to develop effective paragraphs. I learned the importance of having an introduction and conclusion in my essays. I realized that there is a need for me to introduce the topic of my essay at the first paragraph so that my readers will be able to know at first glance where the essay would be leading. I also learned that each sentence of the paragraph must relate to one idea and that each paragraph must have some relation to the preceding paragraph so that there will be smooth presentation of ideas. As a writer, I cannot just insert paragraphs where I wanted to, but there must be some logical relationship between and among paragraphs. The The different types of definition essays were also taught in the class. Before, I thought that I could just state and include in the essay everything and anything about a particular subject just to be able to come up with a definition essay. However, in my class, I learned that there are four (4) different types of definition essay, to wit: by function, by structure, by analysis, and by contrast. A definition essay by function means that the writer has to explain

Career Planning for the Graduates in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Career Planning for the Graduates in UK - Essay Example However, they maintain a consistency in their recruitment process hence they can be considered as a dependable industry so that the newly graduates looking for jobs can apply for employment in this sector. The investment banking industry is found to be stagnant for the last few years. The growth in the legal sector has diminished in 2013 compared to 2012 (Schierup, Munck, Likic-Brboric & Neergaard, 2015). However, the field recruits the fresh graduates. Hence, though it does not generate any productive growth in the overall job market of the country, still the nation witnessed employment opportunity generated for the fresh graduates in these sectors (Johnston, Khattab & Manley, 2015).  The growth in the fast moving consumer sector has fallen in 2013 compared to 2012 (Schierup, Munck, Likic-Brboric & Neergaard, 2015). However, in providing employment to the graduates this sector has significant contribution in this country. Nevertheless, the accountancy and the other professional se rvice sector are not so promising for employing graduates. In case of banking sector, the growth has been observed to be negative in 2013 as compared to 2012 (Iammarino & Marinelli, 2015). However it has been noticed that in the graduate job market of UK, the sector has significant contribution compared to other sectors. The people of the country are mainly interested to avail the opportunities in the sectors discussed above (Tran, 2015). Now we look at how these choices change over the year 2014 (Figueiredo, Rocha, Biscaia & Teixeira, 2015).

The Japanese Culture of Drift

The Japanese Culture of Drift Introduction In this paper, I will do a topic about a movie Initial D which release on 2005, produced by Andrew Lau (Osmond, 2006). Initial D is a movie based on the Japanese anime, Initial D. It is about a son of tofu seller known as Takumi Fujiwara. He is a high school boy that take over his fathers job to deliver the tofu every morning to the customer. It had been a routine for him to take the same route to deliver their tofu by went through Mount Akina. The story background is based on Gunma province, in the Kanto region. A very popular place for drift street racing. Even though Initial D is Japanese based story, it was produced by Media Asia Films, Hong Kong company. Moreover, the crews and actors were also a Chinese themselves. It is quite interesting so the perspective of Chinese people on Japanese drift culture. Thus, in this essay, I want to write about one of the famous Japanese culture known by the worldwide that is drift culture. A driving technique What is drift? The definition of drift from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is the act of driving something along. Conceptually, drifting is a driving technique when the car oversteers due to loss of traction usually on the rear wheels or sometimes all wheels (Stallwood, 2016). This is done to maintaining such smooth control when taking a corner. For example, from the movie of Initial D, Takumi always perform drifting for every corner he passes through on the Mount Akina. Also, in some scene, Takumi perform the drift action without spill any water in his cup. Shows that he already masters the drift technique. There were many arguments about the origin of drift driving technique, but for surely it was popularized by the Japanese. When drifting is done, the direction of front wheels must be opposite to the direction of the turn. This is to give the car some balance by introducing counter-steering also known as opposite lock. This action is quite intuitive as the direction of a front tir e does not move along with the direction of the turn. Although it takes a lot of times of practice to master it properly, but it is not hard to grasp the drift concept. From the film, it is shown that the drivers can still drive fast in the corner when performed the drifting technique. Due to this, it becomes very popular Japanese culture that known by worldwide. To prove it, the third franchise of The Fast and the Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift feature drift racing in every scene of their movie. On professional drift racer eye, a good drift technique can be performing when the driver oversteers at an optimal angle while able to maintain a high speed (Nausbaum, 2013). From that, they able to judge a good style of drifting just from the tires lines on every corner. The Drift King The drift driving technique is popularized first in the motoring sport. Kunimitsu Takahashi a motorcycling legend is the one who introduced the drift technique in motorsport (Patrascu, 2009). The technique of drifting gives him many advantages. This technique earned him several championships. Not long after that, the driving technique introduces by Kunimitsu Takahashi catch the attention of Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the Drift King or Dorikin in the Japanese language (Tom, 2007). He learned that drifting style will give him several advantages during a race despite the enjoyments of the car oversteers but still under control when taking a corner. What made him earned that title because the use of drifting in non-drifting racing such as in National championship, Le Mans, and NASCAR (Tom, 2007). Even though he did not win many titles but he did popularize the drifting technique into international level. Thus, he becomes a hit and inspired many professional drifting drivers till today. A lso, several popular magazines and tuning car garage produce a video of his drifting skill. In was an act to shown the greatness of drift and fun in it despite people can learn from it. From the movie of Initial D, it showed that Takumi began practicing drift on the Mount Akina. Similarly, to Keiichi Tsuchiya, he began to practicing his driver skill on the mountains road. The reason why is the mountain because the road on the mountains has relatively many corners compare to normal land and city road. They constructed the road like that because instead of cutting down the mountain, it is better to go around that less cost and no harm to nature. Back into the movie, the creator of Initial D made Takumi to resemble Kunimitsu Takahashi, but he more a lot to Keiichi Tsuchiya. Not just Takumi practice drift on the mountain, he also used the same car, Trueno AE86. The Significance of AE86 in the film The AE86 car has a great influence in Initial D movie. Due to the Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-V AE86 Super Street Version was used by Keiichi Tsuchiya (Tom, 2007). Therefore, the creator of Initial D thinks that AE86 has its own class compare to other race cars out there. He thinks that it was ideal to featuring AE86 alongside with the anime hero, Takumi Fujiwara. In the movie, Takumi uses his father car AE86 Trueno apex hatchback both for racing and deliver tofu. Also, Itsuki Takeuchi drives an AE85 that he mistakenly though the AE86. To show how big the influence of AE86 in Initial D, in the anime series Shinji Inui the compete head-to-head with Takumi drive the Notchback coupe version of AE86. Since the AE86 was made introduced by Toyota in 1983, the specifications of the car cannot beat the current generation cars featuring in the movie. The AE86 non-modified car has a 4 cylinder twin cam 1587 cc. It came with 5-speed manual gearbox (Initiald.wikia.com, n.d.). Thus, like the Drift King, in the Initial D movie, Takumis father a formerly experienced racer modified and tuned in the car to his own liking and optimal level. By this, even an old car like AE86 can give a great competition to a newer car. Takumi able to beat Nissan Skyline GT-R driven by Takeshi Nakazato with just the AE86. If the AE86 not modified it is nowhere near to beat a current generation car. Takumi that seems already a master of driving technique can feel something is different when he drives a non-tuned in the car from a scene when he drives Itsuki AE85. Itsuki car without a doubt is a cheap car that designed not for race. It is also the same case for AE86. Even though a non-race car has a limit if compare to a race car. The significant different is the engine. For AE86 able to catch up a fast car like Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV, it needs to work more than normal load. After it reaches its own limit the engine will die eventually. Takumi car died even before he able to catch up the Mitsubishi drive by Emperor Teams racer. Thus, for the racing event, it is ideal to race using a race car. However, the creator of Initial D wants to stick with the Japanese tradition and honor the AE86 driven by Drift King himself. The creator took a very big step, he embedded a race car engine into the AE86. This is an illegal way of modifications since AE86 is for conventional use not for race. However, to make it fair an AE86 need a great engine. So, then Takumi can fight other racers with his full potential. In Japan, this car was sold as Corolla Levin or Sprinter Trueno (Dennis, 2008). Due to its popularity, the AE86 was imported to other countries. For example, in North America, it sold as the Corolla GT-S. The car has also been featuring in many motorsports outside of Japan. The AE86 was entered in the European Touring Car Championship, showroom, rallying and circuit race. In is no way to deny it after people still choose the older car to compete against the modern and more powerful car. Drift not just on circuits In Japan, there is secret illegal drift scene. The fabulous driving technique has also attracted many people to try by their own. In Gunma province, in the Kanto region, on Friday night it is time to experience firsthand Japans secretive illegal drift scene (Stallwood, 2016). In is also the same region where Initial D movie based on. Usually, the start to gather around the hill side at 2 am. It is the best time for them since there is unlikely interruption from the public cars. Like in the film of Initial D, they use the fully operating road as their race track. The outlaw street racers also are known as hashiriya came from many different backgrounds. Some of them are young rich kids that snuck money from their parents to invest in their car. Middle-aged guys also involve in this arena. Even though they are different in many aspects, but they have something in common, to get the outmost excitement by performing a drift. Of course, there is still some that find their own limit and cha llenge the others to race. Like Takeshi came to Gunma to challenge the Ghost of Mount Akina. However, most of the racer does not like to show off who is the best. Even though drift is the most amazing form of motorsport. Japanese is well known for their modesty and humility. For the racers, they believe in kenson: skill before swagger. Unlike the drift race scene is shown in the Tokyo Drift movie, the place was a full bunch of people with their modified car. There is no background hip-hop music, models to wave flags. When the race started, there would be a crowd formed in corners to see the hasyiriya skill. Also, there is might old generation racer to watch how fast the new generation. The Hashiriya In the end of the film, Takumi decided to become a racer himself after he caught his girlfriend cheating on him. Also, we know that Takumi father is a former racer. In not just because of he found out about Natsuki but it is also part of Japanese culture. A lot of younger drivers inherit their love in drifting and machinery from their fathers. Future drivers have the sense to carry on their family legacy. In not just to honor their family but to make the older generation proud of them. Takumi interest to become a racer not shown obviously but it can be seen from the film he enjoys drifting. Takumi has a very good talent himself as his father blood flow in him. However, he needs to decide whether he want to become a serious racer since he falls in love with Natsuki. After he knew that Natsuki cheats on him, he already knows what he wants to become next. He called back Ryosuke to confirm that he wants to join his team. The life of a racer is different compare to Bosozoku. Bosozoku just a bunch of high school delinquent that want to enjoy their life in a very dangerous way. By driving at very high speed on the road, it not just danger their life but also the public people around it. In contract, hasyiriya not a delinquent or yakuza, the drifters are friendly (Stallwood, 2016). They also race during midnight around mountain area to avoid any traffic. In the Initial D, there is a scene where an informant told the three drivers to slow down as there is a car approaching from the front. Drift racers concern about the safety of the others people. It not just because they dont want any trouble, it also because they come there for fun in drifting. Life of racer portrayed in the film need to travel around Japan to compete well know racer before they can become the King. Thus, if Takumi wants to build a family with Natsuki, the life of racer would not be good for both Natsuki and Takumi. Also, in the film sh owed Takumis father quit his racer life when he married his wife. Conclusion In conclusion, the drift culture in Initial D is firstly popularized by Drift King. The influence of Drift King in drift arena brought back AE86 in the Film. In the movie, it shows many times the AE 86 car. Drift have a great future for Japanese youths. While young people around the world drunk on Friday night to have fun. The drift racers have other definition of having fun. Also, the life of racer has many glorious moments but it is not an easy decision. 2074 words References Agunday, A. (n.d.). Drift Hunter: Japans Underground Drifting Scene. Retrieved from indiegogo.com: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drift-hunter-japan-s-underground-drifting-scene#/ Dennis, C. K. (2008). Toyota. Wesport: Greenwood. MacWilliams, M. W. (2008). Japanese Visual Culture. Taylor and Francis. Nausbaum, D. (2013). Catching drift at Grand Prix: Long Beach race looks to gain traction with new fans on the slide. Los Angeles Business Journal, 1. Osmond, A. (2006). Initial D Drift Racer. Sight Sound, 56-57. Stallwood, O. (2016, December 1). An Inside Look at Japans Secret Illegal Drift Scene. Retrieved from highsnobiety.com: http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/12/01/japan-drift-scene/ Annotated bibliography Osmond, A. (2006). Initial D Drift Racer. Sight Sound, 56-57. This article gives me a short synopsis about Initial D. The author also give a little description about the movie directed by Andrew Lau. Since it is a Japanese based story, the film is quite controversial when featuring non-Japanese actors and crews. However, the authors able to describe even though it is not made by the Japanese but them director made a very good cinematic that represent Japanese Anime. For the director to work very hard on that, probably the drifting element motivates him. So, that it can appeal Japanese audience. This gives a thought that drift culture in Japanese is well respected and known over the world. Dennis, C. K. (2008). Toyota. Wesport: Greenwood. This book written by Chambers is about the company of Toyota. Toyota was the maker of AE86. From the book, I help me to learn about the history of Toyota and their technology. They able to beat the western company cars after with their strategic business plan. So, it is important to learn about the AE86 from the book. The AE86 is less powerful compare to the western car, but it able to compete with the others car in many championships. Also, I learned about Toyota enter the western market and sold many cars in there. It not just cheaper but also high in quality. Nausbaum, D. (2013). Catching drift at Grand Prix: Long Beach race looks to gain traction with new fans on the slide. Los Angeles Business Journal, 1. From this article, the writer helps me learned about the drift Grand Prix hosted by Toyota. It might be a coincidence that Toyota involves in drift since AE86 so popular in drift arena. Drift race is an extreme motorsport popularized in Japan. To attract more people joining the drift championship, they offer a good prize for the winner, car show, and concert. In the Grand Prix, the winner will be judged on their speed, angle, and line taken through the course. Drifting firstly was introduced by Kunimitsu Takahashi in motorsport. Thus, to maintain the drifting technique in motorsport arena, many championships are hosted. MacWilliams, M. W. (2008). Japanese Visual Culture. Taylor and Francis. Even though this book does not compose of Initial, it helps me learned about the Japanese culture in Japanese Anime. Initial D movie is based on the Japanese anime. It has many influences from Japanese culture such the obvious one is drift culture. This book gave me an insight how to tackle the Japanese culture through their history and place. This book describes how the Japanese culture shaped the narration and values of the anime. Since Initial D movie made directed by Andrew Lau, it is very good idea to find the relationship of that movie with the anime based on the others perspective.

Car Repair For The Do-It Yourselfer Essay -- Compare Contrast Website

Car Repair For The Do-It Yourselfer For most people driving a vehicle is a normal and every day process. On any given day driving in city or town traffic one can experience a number of noises by either their own of somebody else’s vehicle. Car repair can be very expensive, and lately, do-it-yourself projects are very popular. In today’s Internet world, the driver has an option to explore the World Wide Web for information on symptoms, problems, and, depending on the service, the repair procedure. This paper will concentrate on two web sites. The fundamental difference between the two is how much one advertises, and how the other sets the viewer in the right direction. The better of the web sites, in my opinion, is the one without all the bells and whistles. The first is www.10W40.com which is a do-it-yourself web site designed to help the home mechanic to do simple to moderate to difficult procedures of car repair. The web site deals with many makes and models of cars, and was very informative. Most of the aspects about the site I liked. This web site has faults; the most notable is the site doses not use big pictures or graphics. As web sites go, it is very plain, and by today’s standards inexpressive. Another problem is the text, it is very small, and on a 15-inch screen it still strains my eyes. In my opinion the site doses not need any more to be useful. The functionality is what is important most. The language is in layman’s English. On the left edge of the home screen are the important links, such as repair manuals, advise forums, and parts/tools. The site is very easy to navigate to the repair section, and then find the link for the particular type of repair. For example, if a person has a probl... ...auto systems work, but as stated not useful for the shade tree mechanic. A very nice link I found was, â€Å"tips from the pros† on about how to avoid getting ripped off. This is very important as of lately, mainly because women are more independent today. Many feel they are being tricked, ripped off, or they cannot trust the mechanic servicing their vehicle. Generally cars have reached a technical level that most people do not comprehend. The more technology expands the harder it is for the driver to make informed decisions. This is an increasingly daunting task. Information on this web site could very well help any vehicle owner make sound informative decisions with their auto service. By far I understood and found the practicality of 10W40.com over autorepair.about.com. Its simplicity works well and over all has more information that the average joe can use.

Oil & Gas Management

Abstract The Gulf of Mexico incident is an occurrence that many people in the United Kingdom and Mexico, who were affected, would like to forget as it had immense environmental and economic impact to them. This paper is going to describe the extent to which the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to have led to a meaningful reform of the regulation of the offshore oil and gas industry on the UK continental shelf. These include well planning and control, environmental protection, emergency response, authority for stopping operations off, catastrophic BOP’s failure, the significance of simple checks, protection of the whistle-blowers, and a summary or conclusion of the described measures. Introduction An explosion took place on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 leading to the death of 11 workers. The region is in the Gulf of Mexico and was under contract to the British petroleum. It is still not yet known the extent of the damage that took place both on the environment and the communities around. Among the errors that led to the incident is the fact that the two pods of control on the BOP of the Deepwater Horizon showed that there was an error in a vital valve in one of the pods of control, and that the other pod of control did not have adequate charge on the batteries; it is believed that these faults were there during the time that the accident happened. There was at least a single working control pod needed to run the automatic mode function that would have helped in closing up the BOP. The automatic mode function should have taken place in an automatic manner, without being aided, when the hydraulic line together with the electric cables were destroyed in the explosion. The automatic mode function is a very important system of backup. This paper is going to describe extent to which the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to have led to a meaningful reform of the regulation of the offshore oil and gas industry on the UK continental shelf. Well planning and control The reforms that were recommended by the panel included making sure that the Well Life Cycle Practices Forum remained in place permanently. It is also required that the professional, influential representatives from the HSE and the industry meet on a regular basis to decide, review and always improve values and standards for good practice in the well integrity as well as management of application in the UKCS. The Macondo blowout is taken into consideration by the standards and consists of operating practices, sufficiency and consistency of the safety vital equipment (particularly BOPs), testing and maintenance of hardware; proficiency and training of personnel; organizational and human features. They share these standards with the partners in the industry and international regulators and the organizations that set the standards. In consideration of the Macando, it was also required that the following are considered; Whether a change in the control of well standards it essential to ne cessitate at least two barricades to be in place (besides the BOP) during the moving of a well to a situation that is not balanced with the zone of production, and; Whether there is any change required to make the operators provide notice warning about each time a situation is arrived at where the BOP together with one other barricade to a release is attained. Protecting the Environment The DECC and the industry are required to work hand in hand for the purposes of developing and adopting improvements like: The concept of Environmental Assurance plan that possibly uses the Environmental Management System or the Environmental Statement as living equipment for engendering a concept of goal-setting to environmental policies intended to continuously improving, especially in relation to the low-frequency incidents that have high impact. The identification and cohesive treatment of the generic features of documents of environmental assurance to enable the devotion of more effort to some other more localized or particular areas of possible risk and impact, via more rigorous use of internet systems. The industry has also been challenged to take greater ownership of the available regulatory requirements of the environment, which include appraisal of the contractual arrangements for the preparation and keeping up-to-date the required documents making them into tools for drivi ng improvements in the environmental evaluation and protection. The regulator is also required to continue working with the industry so as to make identifications of the ways in which the available requirements of reporting, particularly about compliance to the environmental requirements, may be rationalized or even simplified. Additionally, there might be more that should be done to show the need for, and resultant value of the comprehensive environmental evaluations that is required of them, with a need and aim of offering increases scope for approaches that are innovative to the improvement of the standards of the environment. It has also been recommended that the documents of guidance that relate to the offshore environmental effect evaluation, regulatory activities and enforcement should be revised and reviewed on a regular basis, initially following the changes in the procedures that came up from the Macando and consequently taking into consideration any other applicable or re levant occurrences, for the reinforcement of the continuous culture improvement of the UKCS and ensuring that operators are well acquainted with the present requirements and expectations of environmental best practice. In addition, since the incident of the Deepwater Horizon, some other interim environmental regulation and inspection steps that have been taken by the United Kingdom include the increasing of the number of yearly environmental inspections to the drilling rigs, besides hiring three more inspectors. This consequently increased the total number of the inspectors of the drilling rigs to ten, and this includes one inspector who is senior. Considering the less widespread areas of responsibility of the DECC in comparison to the HSE, it together with its prototype agencies have all worked with fewer inspectors as compared with the HSE. The HSE has 114 professional inspectors, whereas the DECC has about ten inspectors. The onshore offices and offshore installations are visited by DECC inspectors for the inspection of the management systems and records. They also go there to interview individuals and appraise the conditions of the site, practices and standards. The increased number of the site inspectors is expected to enable the DECC raise the number of inspections on the environment done on the mobile drilling rigs across the country from an average of seven to at least 16 on yearly basis immediately. The Cabinet Secretary referred to the inspectors’ movement between the private and public sectors. This might render it very difficult for the recruitment and maintaining of inspectors that are highly qualified in the future. The offshore inspectorate of the DECC describe their strategy of environmental inspection as one that is risk-based. This means that of the rigs that are presently carrying out activities of drilling, nearly twenty four of them, which translates to about twenty percent are on gas reservoirs; however, the DECC argue that this in herently does not pose much risk to the environment in comparison with those that operate on oil reservoirs. Hence, this is taken into consideration, together with the site of the rig and the well’s nature, the DECC aims to inspect the rigs that carryout drilling activity on particular oil reservoirs. Responding to Emergencies Arrangements for giving response to the incidents of oil spilling that pose potential danger to the marine environment were established by the Oil Pollution Emergency Plans. The plans intend to prevent pollutions as such and minimize or decrease the effect that might come with it. The Oil Pollution Emergency Plans are risk evaluations that are applicable to a particular installation or field. Their focus is on the worse-case instance; as a result of the incident at the Gulf of Mexico, the United Kingdom operators are not expected to do extra modeling for the installations of deepwater, which include a more appraisal of the predictions of oil spill beaching. These plans are also appraised by the Maritime Coastguard Department and some other related consulters like the Maritime Management Agency and the related inshore statutory agency. Witnesses were asked about the way they had changed their ways of operation in the United Kingdom deepwaters since the occurrence in the Mexican Gulf. Some of them said that they do not believe they had basically changed in any manner. This was due to the strong regulatory era that was the Cullen’s legacy of inquiry into the incident of Piper Alpha. However, with regard to establishing any changes in regulation in reaction to the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon, they were wary of making universal and global changes that might not be proper for them from incident to incident, the kernel of what is in the safety case era. There is a feeling that the industry appears to be reacting to incidences after they have occurred instead of having anticipations and making proper planning for the high-consequence events that are low in probability. It is beyond reasonable doubt that the industry and BP’s inability to respond because it was not prepared in a proper manner was not acceptable. The black swans’ occurrence appears to be more frequent nowadays. The United Kingdom has high regulatory standards of offshore, as sho wn by the Safety Case Regime, which was established in reaction to the 1998 Piper Alpha incident. The regulatory framework of the United Kingdom is on the basis of flexible and goal-getting approaches that are stronger than those that the Deepwater Horizon operated under. Despite the high standards of regulation in the United Kingdom, they are concerned that the industry of offshore gas and oil is giving a response to disasters instead of anticipation worst-instance cases and making proper planning for the high-aftermath, low-probability occurrences. Role of the Offshore Installations Manager We are informed from both the industry and the regulator that there were individual offshore installations that always have the power to shut down the well. Bridging documents were created between the systems of the owner of the rig and the operator systems of the well to ensure that issues like who has the final word or say are properly agreed before any operation is commenced. The HSE stated that there will normally be one individual who is actually responsible for matters safety on the rig, which is the Offshore Installations Manager, the contractor of drilling. There are huge financial implications of delaying the operations of drilling even just for very short periods. In the instance of the Deepwater Horizon, we find that the BP had the aim of drilling the Macondo well for a period of 51 days only, at about 96 million dollars. It was expected that the platform of drilling would be taking off as early as 8 March 2012; however, the Macando well unexpectedly took a longer period. By the 20th April, the day that there was the blowout, which killed eleven individuals, the rig was already late by 43 days, and this would have led to an extra cost of 21 million dollars in lease fees only. There is a danger that those who are responsible for making decisions to stop operations could feel economic pressure not to do so if was possible. Catastrophic BOP’s failure The last defense line against the Macondo incident was a device known as the ‘blind shear ram’, which is part of the BOP found on top of the wellhead, and more than a mile below the ocean floors’ surface. If the oil’s upward pressure and the gas that is in the reservoir became more than the heavy drilling fluid’s downward pressure, and all the other resources for controlling the well failed to operate, the two blades of the blind shear ram, were expected to slice through the pipe of the drill and then help in sealing the well. If the BOP had worded as expected, the whole incident would not have occurred and all the lives would not have been lost. Taking into account the single blind-shear ram’s failure to run the blowout preventer of the Deepwater Horizon, which appeared to be one of the major causes of the blowout of the well of Macondo, it was recommended that the Safety and Health Executive particularly review the case for prescription that the United Kingdom Continental Shelf’s blowout preventers are well equipped with the two blind shear ram. Whereas the flexibility of the safety regulation regime of the United Kingdom seemed to have performed properly, it was also been seen that for fail-safe devices like blowout preventer, the administration or the government has adopted minimum, strict standards of safety or show that these would not actually be an economical, last-resort against catastrophes. Importance of simple checks An appraisal of the two pods of control on the BOP of the Deep-water Horizon as a result of the incident showed that there was an error in a vital valve in one of the pods of control, and that the other pod of control did not have adequate charge on the batteries; it is believed that these faults were there during the time that the accident happened. There was at least a single working control pod needed to run the automatic mode function that would have helped in closing up the BOP. The automatic mode function should have taken place in an automatic manner, without being aided, when the hydraulic line together with the electric cables were destroyed in the explosion. The automatic mode function is a very important system of backup. It is of great concern that the simple failures of various systems were not identified during the process of inspection. As a consequence, a programme has been implemented across the global drilling operation to make sure that the equipment operates the w ay it is designed to do. Another thing that has been done to ensure that such preventable incidences do not repeat include fundamentally improving the testing procedures of the blowout preventers, which consists of making sure that the systems of backup work and are properly tested in the process of drilling a well. This is another instance of the industry giving a response to an accident instead of anticipating a possible problem, even though the new regime is highly welcome. It is believed that the authorities have to make sure that the offshore inspection regime of the United Kingdom could not be susceptible to simple faults like having a battery that does not have sufficient charge, to go without being noticed. Need to protect the whistle-blowers Owing to the immense economic pressure of keeping a drilling rig functional, it is of great concern to various stakeholders that the workers who attempt to talk about safety matters might be or even feel like they are intimidated by their seniors. The whistle-blowers are not in a position of calling a halt or bringing to a stop some things and the managers and clearly attempting to make money for the organization. Their primary responsibility is not protecting the environment. Some contradicting reports were found from the HSE regarding harassment and aggravation on the rigs as well as the industry’s assurances that honest whistleblowers will be given a hearing and protection. The government has also ensured that there are discussions with the unions and industry about the further actions that are required for the prevention of representatives of safety from feeling or being intimidated by their seniors such that they do not report a danger. Conclusion Following the fatal incidence that occurred in the Mexican Gulf, it is important that there is clarity on the hierarchy and identity of the liable stakeholders to make sure that the government, and thus the taxpayers, doe not need to pay for the outcomes of the offshore accidents. Any lack of hierarchy and clarity on the liability will hamper the compensation payment to those that are affected by the incident of the offshore. It is recommended that it needs to be a requirement of the process of licensing that it proves their capability to pay for the outcomes of any incident that could happen. It is recognized that these measures could actually be added to the cost of investment in the new United Kingdom gas and oil production and encourage the Treasury to consider this during incentives to investments as such. Bibliography A. Hopkins, ‘Risk-management and rule compliance: Decision-making in hazardous industries. Safety Science,’ (49, 110-120, 2011). B.P. Deepwater Horizon accident and response. Retrieved on 21/1/2014 from G. S. Braut, & P. Lindoe, ‘Risk Regulation in the North Sea: A common law perspective on Norwegian legislation.’ (Paper presented at the WorkingonSafety, 2009). G. S. Braut, & P.H. Lindoe, ‘Risk Regulation in the North Sea: A Common Law Perspecitve on Norwegian Legislation.’ (Safety Science Monitor, 14(1, Article 2), 2010). Great Britain. UK deepwater drilling: Implications of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (London: The Stationery Office, 2011) http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/gulf-of-mexico-restoration/deepwater-horizon-accident-and-response.html J. Kringen, Culture and control. Regulation of risk in the Norwegian Petroleum Industry, (University of Oslo, 2011). J. Vinnem, ‘Risk indicators for major hazards on offshore installations.â⠂¬â„¢ (Safety Science, 48, 770-787, 2010). M. Baram, Self Regulation and Safety Management. (WoS, Roros, 2011). O. E. Olsen, & P.H. Lindoe, ‘Risk on the ramble: The interntional transfer of risk and vulnerability.’ (Safety Science, 47, 743-755, 2009). Ocean Portal Team. Gulf Oil Spill. Retreieved on 21 Jan 2014 from http://ocean.si.edu/gulf-oil-spill P. Lindoe, & O.E. Olsen, ‘Conflicting Goals and mixed Roles in Risk Regulation: a case study of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.’ (Journal of Risk Research, (12(3-4), 1-15, 2009). R. Steizor, Lessons from the North Sea: Should â€Å"Safety Cases† Come to America. (School of Law, University of Maryland, Paper no. 2011-3, 2011). P. Lindoe, O. A. Engen, & O.E. Olsen, ‘Reponses to accidents in different industrial sectors.’ (Safety Science, 49, 90-97, 2011).

Political Family Essay

Chapter 1 covers five parts: (1) Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2) Statement of the Problem, (3) Significance of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, and (5) Delimitation of the Study Part 1, Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, presents the rationale for the choice of the problem. Part 2, Statement of the Problem, describes the major and specific questions that this study will seek to answer. Part 3, Significance of the Study, cites the benefits that could be derived from the findings of the study. Part 4, Definition of Terms, presents the conceptual and operational definitions of the key terms that will be used in the study. Part 5, Delimitation of the Study, specifies the scope of the study with regards to the variables, the participants, and the instruments that will be used to gather data. Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study â€Å"The family is the strongest unit of society, demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † Jean Grossholtz (1964, 86-87) In the Third World, the elite family has long been a leading actor in the unfolding of the national pageant. More, specifically in the Philippines, elite families can be seen as both object and subject of history, shaping and being shaped by the processes of change. These families have provided a strong element of continuity to the country’s economic and political history over the century past (McCoy 1994, 1). In 1950s Robert Fox (1959, 6) described the Philippines as â€Å"an anarchy of families,† in which the Philippine political parties usually have acted as coalitions of powerful families. The rise of powerful political families was attributed to the Republic’s emergence as a weak, postcolonial state (McCoy 1994, 10-11). According to McCoy (1994, 13), after Spain and United States colonial rule, the Republic thus developed as a state with both substantial economic resources and weak bureaucratic capacity. It is this paradoxical pairing of wealth and weakness that opened the state to predatory rent seeking by politicians. Based on Migdal’s research (1988, 9) on Third World politics, he finds that the source of the state’s weakness—the social organizations such as â€Å"families, clans†¦tribes, patron-client dyads† continue to act as competing sources of authority. Despite the apparent influence and significant factor of the family upon wider society and its politics, most historians, both Filipino and foreign, have ignored this problem. According to Schneider (1969, 109-110), instead of studying and analyzing the Philippine political history through the paradigm of elite families, they have generally treated Philippine past and politics solely through as an interaction of state, private institutions, and popular movements. Even social scientists, despite an obligatory bow in the direction of the family, have generally failed to incorporate substantive analysis of its dynamics into rendering of the country’s social and political processes. Social science as often happens in the study of the Philippines thus diverges from social reality, according to Alfred W. McCoy (1994, 1). At present, there is still a lacking scholarly analysis of either individual Filipino families or family-based oligarchies. While other Southeast Asian societies have produced some useful biographies and autobiographies, the Southeast Asian regions still have little nondynastic family history that can serve as a model for future Philippine research (McCoy 1994, 2). One of the provinces in the Philippines that have no study about family-based politics is Aklan. The Province of Aklan is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island. It was the oldest province in the Philippines organized in 1213 by settlers from Borneo as the â€Å"Minuro it Akean. † In 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in Aklan, and divided the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† five encomiendas which he distributed among his farming followers. Along with political change, the Spaniards introduced Christianity. In 1716, the area of the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† was designated as a province but it was called Capiz. After the Americans took the country from Spain in 1901, Don Natalio B. Acevedo, Aklan delegation head, presented the first memorial for the separation of Aklan from Capiz to the Junta Magna headed by Commissioner Dean C. Worcester. For the same purpose, the Aklanons in Congress filed numerous bills, including Urquiola-Alba bill in 1920, the Laserna-Suner bills in 1925 and 1930, and the Tumbokon bill in 1934. Aklan finally became an independent province when President Magsaysay signed into law the Republic Act 1414 on April 25, 1956. This was made through the efforts of Congressman Godofredo P. Ramos, and then the province was inaugurated on November 8, 1956. (Aklan Directory 2011, http://www. aklandirectory. com/aklan/, ret. 9/16/2012) Political families thrive in all but one province in the Philippines. From Batanes to Tawi-tawi, with the exception of Kalinga, members of political families hold public posts, both elective and appointive. GMA News Research has identified at least 219 political families that dominate the country’s political landscape. (2011, http;//www. gmanetwork. com, ret 9/30/2012) Like these provinces, Aklan’s history is also filled with family-based politics. In order to better understand the present political situations, studying the political history of Aklan in the lens of the familial perspective can led to discover new dimensions in our national history. The history of a political family in a particular province can be a microcosm of the kind of politics that happens in the Philippines. Thus, this study offers this perspective and understanding. Statement of the Problem This study is conducted to find out the political history of Aklan, through the case study in historical method of a selected political family in the province. Unlike Latin America, much more of the Philippine social research treated the country’s political history through its formal institutional structures rather than on the importance of the family and family history. However, it can be seen that in the works of several theorists and researchers like Wolf, Grossholtz, Kuznesof, Freyre, and Schneider, political families in the Philippines and around the world are found to have a more dominant force in shaping the society’s history including political, social, and economic institutions. Specifically, this study will seek to answer the following questions: 1. How the political family in Aklan emerged? 2. How do they maintain their influence in the province? 3. What are the family’s political practices to retain power? Significance of the Study. This qualitative research may be significant primarily to historians in analyzing the centrality of family-based politics to many periods and problems in the Philippine history. For social scientists, this study will help them delve the roles of family as a primary unit of political organization; and will serve as a model for future Philippine research. For political science students, the findings of this study will help them understand the influence of political families on the course of Philippine politics. This study will also help politicians to formulate political strategies and practices based on the history of a political family. Lastly, this study can be added as a significant literature on the political history of Aklan; as well as, it can provide meaningful information for other related literatures. Definition of terms For the purpose of achieving clarity of meaning and interpretation, the following terms were defined. The Case study approach as an empirical inquiry investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. (Yin 1984, 24) The Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. (2012, http://en.wikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) A political family is a family in which several members are involved in politics, particularly electoral politics. Members may be related by blood or marriage; often several generations or multiple siblings may be involved. (2012, http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) The Province of Aklan is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island, and has a total land area of 1, 817. 9 km? which is composed of 17 municipalities. It has a total population of 495, 122 (NSO 2007 census), and Kalibo is the capital town. (Aklan Directory 2011, http://www. aklandirectory.com/aklan/, ret. 9/30/2012) Delimitation of the Study This study will be conducted during the first semester of the school year 2012-2013 until the second semester of the school year 2013-2014. This will be conducted among a purposively selected political family in the Province of Aklan. The case study in historical method will be used in this study to investigate the political history of the Province of Aklan. The researchers in order to collect detailed data needed in this study will employ participant observations, key informant interviews, directly interview the participants, and examine relevant records, documents, and reports. Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature Chapter 2 includes previous studies on political families which are divided into the International Context, the Philippine Context, and the Visayan Context. The International Context includes the previous studies on family-based politics and the history of elite political families around the world. The Philippine Context includes studies about the Filipino family and Philippines as a weak, postcolonial state that led to the emergence of political families. The Visayan Context includes case studies of two political families in the Visayas — the Lopez family and the Osmena family. Political Families The International Context In almost any country in the world, there are always leading political elite families that exist. A significant number of these families can be traced in United States, Brazil, and Mexico. In the United States, the well-known Adams Family of Massachusetts has been the subject of much autobiographical and biographical research. Meanwhile, the Pessoa family is popular as leading actors in Brazilian politics, and the Sanchez-Navarros’ family of Mexico is known for both wealth and power. For several decades, Latin American historians have used detailed microstudies of elite families to discover new dimensions in their national histories. As Gilberto Freyre (1964, 155 and 161), a pioneer in this field, once argued, anyone studying a people’s past will find that historical constants are more significant than ostensibly heroic episodes and will discover that what happens within the family is far more important than often-cited events in presidential mansions, in parliaments and large factories. Applying this perspective to Brazil, Freyre found that Brazil’s most distinctive elite families emerged in the sugar districts of the northeast during the sixteenth century- fusing land, sugar, and slaves to become patriarchs of â€Å"untrammelled power† or unlimited power and â€Å"total fiat† or absolute decree. Arguing that the patriarchal family still exerts a subtle influence on the â€Å"the ethos of contemporary Brazilians,† Freyre cites the case of President Epitacio Pessoa who in the early decades of this century was known as â€Å"Tio Pita† (Uncle Pita) in recognition of his penchant for appointing male relations to key government posts. Another historian, Linda Lewin (1979, 263) has produced some of the most refined historiographic reflections on the connection between familial and national history in her writing on the Pessoa family of Paraiba State in Brazil. By the late 1970s the field of family history was so well developed in Latin America that another Brazilian historian Linda Lewin (1979, 263) stated that the â€Å"family-based† approach to the political history as a â€Å"commonplace in Brazilian history. † Many historians had already employed the family historiography as an approach in discovering different dimensions of Brazilian political history thus making it popular around Latin America. Similarly, an essay by Felstiner (1976, 58) on the role of kinship politics in Chile’s independence movement began with the words â€Å"the importance of the family in Latin America goes unquestioned. † Many historical documents show that the leading elite families in Chile, such as the O’Higgins family, started the movements for independence against the Spanish colonizers. A decade later, Latin American historians were still unanimous in their belief that the elite family played a uniquely important political role in their region. Introducing eight essays, Elizabeth Kuznesof and Robert Oppenheimer (1985, 215) observed that the family in Latin America is found to have been a more central and active force in shaping political, social, and economic institutions of the area than was true in Europe or United States. Indeed, they found that institutions in Latin America society make much more social sense, particularly in the nineteenth century, if viewed through the lens of family relationships. As democracy flourished in the young Latin America, elite families engaged in the political arena and started to stabilize political institutions, such as the electoral system and civil society. Charles H. Harris, a historian, (1975, 314) stated that the Sanchez-Navarros’ family is one of the oldest and most influential families of Spanish descent in Mexico since 1577. The Sanchez Navarro family’s â€Å"latifundio† or an estate composed of two or more haciendas is composed of seventeen haciendas and covers more than 16. 5 million acres—the size of West Virginia. It is said to be the largest â€Å"latifundio† ever to have existed, not only in Mexico but also in all of Latin America. In Harris’ discussion of the acquisition of land, the technology of ranching, labor problems, and production on the Sanchez Navarro estate, and of the family’s involvement in commerce and politics, he finds that the development of the â€Å"latifundio† was only one aspect in the Sanchez Navarros’ rise to power. He also emphasizes the great importance of the Sanchez Navarros’ widespread network of family connections in their commercial and political activities. Reflecting their rich historical traditions, America have also produced impressive family histories. Political families are not a new concept in the United States. The Adams family of Massachusetts, for example, has been the subject of autobiographical and biographical research. (Musto 1981, 40-58) The Adams political family is one of the most prominent political families in United States history, originating in Massachusetts and having a profound impact on the development of the nation’s path from the 18th century and onwards. The family has produced numerous important New England politicians as well as two Presidents – John Adams (1797-1801) and George Adams (1851-1861) but also several ambassadors and literary figures. The children and grandchildren of the Adams family were raised with the idea that public service was expected of you. (2011, http://seattletimes. com/html/nationworld/2004164299_dynasty05. html, ret. 10/10/2012) Similarly, like other developed and developing countries around the globe, the history of Philippines is also shaped by elite families that play leading roles in the control and influence on institutions of the government. The Philippine Context The political families are the actors that have played in the political landscape of the Philippines and have shaped the outcome of the past and are engaged in shaping the future of the Philippines. The Philippine history should not only be viewed as the interaction of different institution of society such as the state, civil societies, the Roman Catholic Church, and the different popular movements. Instead, we should also dissect its political history through the paradigm of elite families. The importance of family-society relationship in the Philippines based on Jean Grossholtz’s description (1964, 86-870, â€Å"the strongest unit of society demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † He then remarked that the communal values of family are often in conflict with the impersonal values of the institutions of the larger society. Many Filipino historians have been critical, and they generally disregarded the leading families and provincial elites in the Philippines on ideological grounds. Nationalistic historians have dismissed the country’s elites for being traitors and conformists to the colonizers. Teodoro Agoncillo (1960, 644-645), one the most famous historian in Philippine history, remarked that the ilustrados have betrayed the revolution. Renato Constantino (1975, 232), a contemporary of Agoncillo, called the same elites as collaborators. According to the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison, the country’s elites were a small alien element – either rural feudal landholders or urban, comprador bourgeoisie as cited by Guerrero (1979, 234-249). According to McCoy (1994, 4), most Filipino biographies, the potential building blocks for elite-family studies, are more hagiography (idolizing biography) than history. Many of these biographies are funded by the family or the person that is the subject of these biographies. Biographers write as if death has cleansed what misdeeds their subject has done in society. Such accounts, McCoy added, are exoneration from the charges of their enemies, silence about their cunning or corruptions, and a celebration of their contribution to the nation. McCoy commented that the weak state and powerful political oligarchies have combined to make a familial perspective on national history relevant. The Philippines has a long history of strong families assuring social survival when the nation-state is weak. In the 20th century, the state has collapsed, partially or wholly, at least four times in the midst of war and revolution. After independence in 1946, moreover, the Philippine central government lost control over the countryside to regional politicians, some so powerful that they become known as warlords. In Philippine politics a family name is a valuable asset. A good name translates strongly to an advantage in polling. Believing that an established name carries cachet and qualification, parties often favor a promising scion of an old line when selecting candidates. Many Filipino politicians use their kinship networks (McCoy 1993, 10), to assure their ascension to power. A kinship network is a working coalition drawn from a larger group related by blood, marriage, and ritual. As elite families bring such a flexible kinship ties into the political arena, elections often assume a kaleidoscopic complexity of coalition and conflict, making Filipino politics appear volatile. It has a unique capacity to create informal political team that assigns specialized roles to its members, thereby maximizing coordination and influence. The Visayan Context Most of the well-known political families in the Philippines have political roots in their home provinces. Whether in the provinces of Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao, there would always be certain political families that would dominate the political arena. The Lopez Family In Alfred McCoy’s essay (1994, 429-517) â€Å"Rent-Seeking Families and the Philippine State: A History of the Lopez Family† illustrates the close connection between state power and the private wealth by elite families in the Philippines. He says that in the Philippine setting, the study of a single rent-seeking family may be the most appropriate way of bridging the gap between western economic theory and the Filipino familial paradigm. Among the leading Filipino families, the Lopezes are, by virtue of their history, well suited for such a case study. Seeking knowledge of the family’s origins and early character, McCoy’s essay begins in the 1870s when the Lopezes enter the historical record as pioneer sugar planters on the plantation frontier of Negros Island. But early on 1850s, they already first appeared to be local merchants. Basilio Lopez served as one of Jaro’s cabeza-de barangay and later as a gobernadorcillo. The growth of their political and commercial influence paralleled the emergence of national political elite (McCoy 1994, 440-441). While the second generation consolidated property and position within a regional planter elite, their children made a successful transition to sugar milling and commerce during the 1920’s. In the five generations of the Lopezes it has a history of both skillful male and female entrepreneurs and politicians (McCoy 1994, 441-444). However, among the family’s twenty-six hundred descendants, it was Eugenio and Fernando Lopez, who initially raised the family’s position to first rank of national prominence. Backed by Eugenio’s growing wealth, Fernando Lopez was appointed as a mayor of Iloilo City for two years in September 1945. He quickly secured overall leadership of the province, relegating Jose Zulueta, his ally, to the position of perennial challenger. His career as provincial politician involved the using violence to advance their interests. In 1946 the Lopezes shifted their capital and residence to Manila. They traded in influence and avoided violence. No longer rooted in the land or dependent upon the social power of the provinces, the Lopezes came to depend upon the state, through the medium of presidency, for the financial and regulatory concessions that would assure the prosperity of their corporations. With the Lopez brothers’ relations with a succession of Philippine presidents, they prospered under the administration of their allies from their patron Quezon, Sergio Osme? a, Elpidio Quirino, and Manuel Roxas. In 1947, he was elected to the Senate. In 1965, the presidential candidate was Ferdinand Marcos. Fernando Lopez, despite his presidential aspirations, became Marcos’ vice-presidential running mate, creating a ticket that married private wealth to populist appeal. The Lopez alliance with Marcos was a strategic blunder born of tactical necessity. To insure the defeat of incumbent President Macapagal, the Lopezes had felt compelled to ally themselves with Marcos. Eugenio Lopez used his money, media, and machine to make Marcos president in 1965 elections. Not long after, Eugenio Lopez launched a major expansion and diversification program at Meralco. Again, with the Lopez support Marcos was reelected in 1969. In January 1971, however, a break occurred, which erupted into what may be the most public and vitriolic split in the Philippine political history. According to Marcos, the Lopezes were demanding concessions to advance their interests. According to the Lopezes, Marcos was demanding shares in their family corporations. Using the Manila Chronicle, the Lopezes began an attack, publishing exposes of graft within the administration. When a delegation of Tondo workers called upon the president at the battle’s peak, Marcos vowed: â€Å"we will crush the Lopez oligarchy to pieces. † After suffering five months of media criticism, Marcos finally sued for peace by paying a call on Eugenio at his Paranaque residence (McCoy 1994, 508). Sixteen months later in Marcos’s declaration of martial law, the Lopez family became the main target of his â€Å"revolution from above. † He used the same licensing powers that had built the Lopez wealth to destroy the family’s fortune and transfer their assets to a new economic elite composed of his own kin. Paul Hutchcroft (1991, 414-450), a political scientist said that, â€Å"using the state and its army, Marcos became the first president since Quezon to reduce the autonomy of provincial elites. He employed economic regulations, backed by threat of force, to pursue the main aim of his rule-changing the composition of the country’s economic elite. In Negros Occidental, for example, Marcos created a new stratum of supralocal leaders whom he financed with rents. On July 1975, Eugenio Lopez died of cancer in San Francisco while Geny Lopez remained in prison on capital charges. In the end, Marcos did not destroy the Lopez family’s accumulated legitimacy, contacts, and skills (McCoy 1994, 518). Marcos’s fall from power in 1986 heralded the restoration of the Lopez fortunes. In the restoration of the family’s fortunes under President Aquino, it is argued that Eugenio Lopez succeeded in handing down enough of his capital and skills to perpetuate his family’s position within the national economic elite. In his essay, McCoy (1994, 431) explains the role of rents for it has a good deal about the weakness of the Philippines and the corresponding strength of Filipino political families. As defined by James Buchanan (1980, 7-8) rents appear when the state uses regulation to restrict â€Å"freedom of entry† into the market. If these restrictions create a monopoly, the economic consequences are decidedly negative—slowing growth and enriching a few favoured entrepreneurs. Competition for such monopolies, a political process called â€Å"rent-seeking,† can produce intense conflict. Anne Krueger (1980, 52-57) has argued that in many Third World countries rents are â€Å"pervasive facts of life. † In India such restricted economic activity accounted for 7. 3% of their national income in 1964, while in Turkey rents from import licenses alone represented about 15 percent of the gross national product in 1968. In the Philippines, political economists have applied this theory to explain how the Palace’s rent-seeking courtiers after Marcos era used state power to plunder the country. Manuel Montes (1989, 84-148), a Filipino economist, argues that â€Å"the economic structure of the country stimulates, encourages, and provides the greatest rewards to ‘rent-seeking’ activities. † As evidence for this provocative reconceptualization of rent-seeking, Montes offers his readers a superficial catalogue of businessmen who have served regimes from Quezon to Marcos. â€Å"In the presidency of Manuel Roxas,† says Montes in a typical passage, â€Å"Soriano, Eugenio Lopez†¦ and Jose Yulo were influential businessmen. † The story of Eugenio Lopez illustrates that for over thirty years, he had used presidential patronage to secure subsidized government financing and dominate state-regulated industries, thereby amassing the largest private fortune in the Philippines (McCoy 1993, 429-430). In the Philippines, the succession of presidents has played partisan politics with the state’s economic powers, awarding loans and creating rents to reward the political brokers who assured their election. Underlying the executive’s partisan use of state power are political elites who fuse public office with private business. For the elites to justify the high risk of campaign investments, public office must promise extraordinary rewards. More than any other entrepreneur of the Republican era, Eugenio Lopez, Sr. , mastered the logic of political investment. The Lopez brothers, being the most successful rent-seekers, formed corporate conglomerates that relied in some way upon the state licenses. Since all of their major corporations were in some sense due to rent system, their commercial success involved a commingling of business and politics. Such a system leaves an ambiguous legacy (McCoy 1993, 435-437). Not only in Western Visayas had leading political families emerged as national actors but also a significant number are found in Central Visayas. The Osmena Family. Another political family that has long dominated the political landscape of the Philippines for many years since the beginning of the 20th century is the Osmena family of Cebu. The Osmenas rose to prominence when Sergio Osmena, Sr. was elected governor of the Province of Cebu and then as Speaker of the Philippine National Assembly during the American colonial period. He was eclipsed only in power by the political maneuverings that Quezon made to overpowering him in the National Assembly and capturing the post as the President of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935. After World War II, Sergio Osmena, Sr. went back to the Philippines as President to establish his control as head of the government in the Philippine archipelago. Osmena’s son, Serging, later became the governor of Cebu and candidate for the Presidency in the 1969 election against Ferdinand Marcos. The present generation of Osmenas is still politically active in Cebu and in national politics. The Osmenas dominated the political world of Cebu not through the usual guns, goons, and gold that are usually used by their political rival like the Sottos, Cuencas,and Duranos. The Osmenas dominated the provincial politics of Cebu because they are highly skilled in the craft of politics. (Resil, 1993, p. 316) They are wealthy, but their wealth do not equate for their capacity to coerce people to vote for them. They use their wealth skillfully, by using it for political gains. They are not as rich as their opponents who have huge haciendas but they show their prowess as politicians during elections. Elections are an exercise deeply inscribed in the Filipino political imagination. Theoretically, an election provides the occasion for society to take cognizance to itself. This is the time when citizens are most self-conscious, a season of stock-taking, when voters reflect on their collective state and history and make choices about leaders, policies, and â€Å"futures†. The â€Å"democratic space† or surface that allows an unlimited range for diverse values and commitments is most visible in incumbents submitting themselves for popular judgement and candidates presenting ideas of government, in the public exchange of contrary views, and, finally, in the voter weighing his or her options and casting a ballot in the ritual’s inner sanctum, the polling booth. (Mojares 1993, 319) The reality of Philippine politics is not tidy. Intensive exploitation of mass media and propaganda techniques crowd public space during the electoral season. There are restrictions of thought and action; however, beneath the diversity and dynamism of election, these restrictions, according to Mojares (1993, 319), are an underdeveloped party system, elite dominance and ideological sameness of candidates, exclusion of those who fail to muster the considerable resources needed to mount a campaign, the subordination of issues to particularistic concerns, elaborate forms of terrorism and fraud, and the cultural baggage of traditional values of power and dependence. Elections, therefore, do not constitute a free field but are in fact, an arena in which the existing limits on participation are further exercised and enforced. In Philippine elections we have a case in which the elite or dominant class usually constructs political reality for citizens. This process may be seen in the centrality accorded to the election itself as field of action and a channel for effecting political change. In elections, obeisance is rendered to the â€Å"state† of the people are constituted or reconstituted as its â€Å"subjects†. In effect, the periodic holding of elections nourishes and renews the government’s system. In the process, it also tends to reify the existing system and deemphasize other areas of political work such as mass organizing, interest-group lobbying, and â€Å"armed struggle. †(Mojares 1993, 320) Elections, by their very nature, provide us with a concentrated expression of the process of ideological domination. This is one area in which Osmena phenomenon is important since the Osmena have built their dominance less on sheer economic power (though the use of such power was basic in their rise) or physical repression (though they were not innocent of its methods) than on their mastery of the instrumental aspects of electoral power building. From this they draw their distinctive character as Filipino kingpins. Skillful management of ideological practices takes precedence over reliance on superior economic leverage (as in the case of the Lopez family), a system of traditional patronage (as in the Durano Family), a mix of religion and militarism (as in Ali Dimaporo), or systematic electoral fraud as what the Marcoses did. The matter of ideology both as the world of social meanings and the politician’s stance in this world is germane to achieving an understanding of the Osmenas.

Ta gueule Essay examples

Ta gueule Essay examples Ta gueule Essay examples f. In statements of comparison, mentally finish the comparative by adding the implied missing words: Next year I hope to earn as much as she. (The verb earns is implied here: . . . as much as she earns.) g. Pronouns must be in the same case as the words they replace or rename. When pronouns are used with appositives, ignore the appositive: A new contract was signed by us (not we) employees. (Temporarily ignore the appositive employees in selecting the pronoun.) We (not us) citizens have formed our own organization. (Temporarily ignore the appositive citizens in selecting the pronoun.) h. Pronouns ending in self should be used only when they refer to previously mentioned nouns or pronouns: The CEO himself answered the telephone. Robert and I (not myself) are in charge of the campaign. i. Use objective-case pronouns as objects of the prepositions between, but, like and except: Everyone but John and him (not he) qualified for the bonus. Employees like Miss Gillis and her (not she) are hard to replace. j. Use who or whoever for nominative-case constructions and whom or whom- ever for objective-case constructions. In making the correct choice, it’s sometimes helpful to substitute he for who or whoever and him for whom or whomever: For whom was this book ordered? (This book was ordered for him/ whom?) Who did you say would drop by? (Who/He ... would drop by?) Deliver the package to whoever opens the door. (In this sentence the clause whoever opens the door functions as the object of the preposition to. Within the clause itself, whoever is the subject of the verb opens. Again, substitu- tion of he might be helpful: He/Whoever opens the door.) 1.09 Guidelines for Making Pronouns Agree With Their Antecedents. Pronouns must agree with the words to which they refer (their antecedents) in gender and in number. a. Use masculine pronouns to refer to masculine antecedents, feminine pronouns to refer to feminine antecedents, and neuter pronouns to refer to antecedents without gender: The man opened his office door. (Masculine gender applies.) A woman sat at her desk. (Feminine gender applies.) This computer and its programs fit our needs. (Neuter gender applies.) b. Use singular pronouns to refer to singular antecedents: Common-gender pronouns (such as him or his) traditionally have been used when the gender of the antecedent is unknown. Sensitive writers today, how- ever, prefer to recast such constructions to avoid gender-biased pronouns. Study these examples for bias-free pronouns. See Chapter 2 for additional discussion of bias-free language. Grammar/Mechanics Handbook GM-9 ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼CHE-GUFFEY9E-11-0315-Grammar.indd 9 05/01/12 7:40 PM ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼ ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼Each student must submit a report on Monday. All students must submit their reports on Monday. Each student must submit his or her report on Monday. (This alternative is least acceptable since it is wordy and calls attention to itself.) c. Use singular pronouns to refer to singular indefinite subjects and plural pro- nouns for plural indefinite subjects. Words such as anyone, something, and anybody are considered indefinite because they refer to no specific person or object. Some indefinite pronouns are always singular; others are always plural. anybody anyone anything each either nobody both everyone no one few everything somebody many neither someone several always singular always Plural Somebody in the group of touring women left her (not their) purse in the museum. Either of the companies has the right to exercise its (not their) option to sell stock. d. Use singular pronouns to refer to collective nouns and organization names: The engineering staff is moving its (not their) facilities on Friday. (The singular pronoun its agrees with the collective noun staff because the mem- bers of staff function as a single unit.) Jones, Cohen,

Social Studies Research Project Topics

Social Studies Research Project Topics Social Studies is the study of human beings as they relate to each other and their environments. If you enjoy exploring people, their cultures, and behavior, you should enjoy social studies. There are many disciplines that fit under the umbrella of the social sciences, so you can narrow the field to one that most interests you as you select a research topic. History Topics You might think of history as a branch of study that falls outside the realm of social studies. Not so. In every era of human existence, people had to relate to each other. For example, after World War II, there was great pressure for women to leave the workforce- they had been the backbone of the defense industry, filling vital jobs while men were overseas fighting the Japanese and the Nazis- yet they have shunted aside when the men returned. This created a great shift in the social dynamic in the U.S. Other historical themes offer rich areas for social studies research ranging from inventions that changed the nature of schoolwork to the impact U.S. presidents had when visiting a small town. Local architecture greatly influenced who people interacted with throughout history and even things as seemingly innocuous as the introduction of silverware impacted social norms and etiquette at the nightly dinner table. Diets of Civil War Soldiers and NutritionWWII Women Who Worked and Returned to HomemakingConfederate Symbols and Race in My TownInventions That Changed School WorkMidwives and Birth RatesLocal Architecture PatternsVanity in the Nineteenth CenturyVietnam War and GrandmaCountry Doctors RecordsThe Impact of a Presidents VisitWhen Silverware Came to TownCoal Camps in Local HistoryThe Household Impact of the Discovery of Germs Economics Topics Economics- a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, as Merriam-Webster notes- is, by definition, a social science. Job growth and loss- both nationally and locally- affect not just how people vote but how they relate to each other. Globalization  is a hot topic that often brings people of opposing views into heated arguments and even physical confrontations. International treaties- particularly those focusing on trade- can inflame passions in the electorate overall, in small communities and even among individuals. Do Attractive People Make More Money?What Political Party Creates Job Growth?Is Globalization  Good or Bad?International Treaties - Good or BadHow Does the IMF Work? Political Science Topics Race and politics are obvious areas for sociological study, but so is the fairness of the Electoral College. Many groups nationwide are firm believers in conspiracy theories, which have spawned entire groups devoted to the study and discussion of these topics. Is the Media Really Biased?How Do Polls Work?How Does Fact Checking Work?Race and PoliticsIs the Electoral College Fair?Political Systems ComparedWhat Is the New World Order?Conspiracy Theories Sociology Topics The umbrella topic of sociology can cover everything from marriage customs- including same-sex marriage- to the ethics involved in adopting children from Third World countries. The debate over private-versus-public schools- and the funding that goes with it- is a topic that stirs strong passions and discussions among advocates on each side. And, the ever-present specter of racism is a vexing problem that continues to plague our society. Federal v. State PowerFood RegulationWhat Opportunities Are Available to Specific Minority Groups?Good and Bad Role ModelsReligion and PoliticsBuilding in Flood ZonesMarriage Customs ExaminedSame-Sex MarriageIs It Ethical to Adopt Children  from Third World Countries?Population Control Around the WorldEducation: Private or Government SystemsWill Racism Ever Die?The Roots of Regional Customs in AmericaHow the Internet Affects Our Perception of Truth Psychology Topics Psychology- the study of the mind and behavior- goes to the very heart of what makes human beings tick as well as how they relate to each other, a prime topic for sociological study and research. Everything from local traffic patterns, politics emanating from the pulpit and the impact of Walmart on local communities influences how people think, congregate and form friendships and groups- all issues that make the following list perfect for sociology research paper ideas. The Impact of River Traffic (on your hometown)Where Do Our Apples Come From?Could We Survive on Garden Foods Today?Using a Local CurrencyHow Clothing Prices Affect Teenager ImageDoes Walmart Help or Hurt Local Economy?Voting Habits: Grandmothers and MothersAre We Born Liberal or Conservative?Political Messages from My PreacherTelevision and Test ScoresTechnology and Fitness Among KidsTV Commercials and Self ImageWii Games and Family TimeSuperstitions and Family TraditionsBirth Order and Test ScoresA Secret Poll: Who Do You Hate?Do Unusual Names Affect Grades?Does Home Punishment Policy Affect School Performance?Local Vocabulary PatternsWhy Do We Make Friends?Are Girls Teams as Competitive as Boys Teams?Snow Days: Cold States, Warm States, and Family BondingAnatomy of a Small Town ParadePatterns of Lunchroom SeatingBullying Yesterday and TodayDoes Movie Violence Impact Behavior?Facebook and Family CommunicationWhat Would You Change About Your Body?Procrastination and TechnologyWhy Kid s Tell Lies Clothing and Attitudes: Do Shopkeepers Treat Me Differently If I Dress Differently?Does Citizen Status Affect Students Self-Esteem?Are You Vulnerable to a Cult?How Do Cults Work?

Beliefs Taken to the Extremes

Believing extreme faith is a fundamental characteristic of man. Faith in many things is a factor that helps people keep on living. Religion is one of the most powerful powers of human emotions, and these emotions often create dangerous situations. When people's religious beliefs reach an extreme level, innocent people may be hurt. There was an example of such a case in history. From the Inquisition in Israel to the battle in Ireland, the recent events in the World Trade Center, people have seen extreme religious beliefs. I think Christians argue that they believe extreme things. To become extreme. Even simple beliefs on monotheism can not be measured. In a sense, there are God, God, Almighty, omniscience, ubiquitous - creator of the universe. This is a belief that shakes the foundation of the earth. But who do you believe? In theology, many people believe it. But they do not believe in their beliefs. They will be questioned to believe what they believe. I believe in God. I believe in God. What does this mean, is there a god? How does this affect me? What does that mean for my reality? Believing extreme faith is a fundamental characteristic of man. Faith in many things is a factor that helps people keep on living. Religion is one of the most powerful powers of human emotions, and these emotions often create dangerous situations. When people's religious beliefs reach an extreme level, innocent people may be hurt. There was an example of such a case in history. Unlike professional sports, from university hearings to suicide bombers, college sports are very violent and unaffiliated by university stakeholders. Before 1850 there was nothing like university sports. College staff knows that students are seeking physical liberation, so the way to cope with the epidemic is through physical labor. They allow students to cultivate or cleanse debris from the university campus. University officials think this is positive as this gives the students body.

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Fair Work Act 2009 Essay

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Fair Work Act 2009 - Essay Example The act focuses on the key parts such as the employment standards of a nation, contemporary awards in the workplace, industrial action, minimum wages, unfair dismissal, office fair work and enterprise agreements. Organisations exists for a purpose but regardless of particular resource in an organisation, HR managers play significant roles in the organisation and they are the key ingredients for organisation success. HR manager controls and manages financial resources, people and other aspects; thus a number of varied things should be taken into considerations in order to transform the nature of work and workplaces in which they are performed. Among these aspects is making significant amendments to industrial relation systems; thus employing more innovative HRM practices such as communicating clearly about organizational policies is vital. The strengths of the Fair Work Act 2009 The aim of the FW Act is to offer a balanced framework for productive and supportive workplace relations, w hich promotes state economic prosperity and social aspects for all Australians (Harpur, 2012, 190). Under this act, employees and employers may bargain collectively to make enterprise agreements in respect of the terms and conditions of employment. The FW Act offer an effective bargaining process in the workplace and this is where agreements between bargaining representatives who represent employers and employees bargain in good faith in order to come to an agreement. Mondy, Noe and Gowan (2005, p. 45) point out that the essential function of the HRM in an organisation is to create and maintain a productive, as well as, a healthy and safe working environment for all stakeholders. The core activities of the human resource manager include offering job analysis, recruitments, retaining employees, and recruiting, training or compensating employees. Regardless of the size of an organisation, HRM should perform their work well by managing and improving the skills of employees in order to create successful organizational performance. These activities take place within a framework of legislation that establishes minimum standards and prospects regarding acceptable behavior in a business entity (Briscoe, Schuler and Claus, 2009, p. 32). The FW Act has been wholly operational since the commencement of the year 2010 and it substituted the workplace relation or work choices amendment Act of 2005 (Manuel and Law Society of South Australia, 2009, p. 51). The FW Act is imperative because it enables employees to adjust the employment costs, workforces or flexible working hours to suit subdued demand (Sloan, 2010, p. 19). Employers in some sectors are concerned with modern awards in the workplace and unfair dismissals while others are concerned with the federal minimum wage; thus the FW Act is vital in the workplace. Many organisations such as the Australian organisations faced turbulent business and economic issues during the 1970s but the implementation of the FW Act 2009 ha s created significant changes on the way organisation perform their functions in the contemporary business world. The FW Act offer flexibility in the workplace and this is significant because it contributes to increased productivity in the workplace. Offering work flexibility is one of the significant aspects that have enabled many human

Signal-Tek Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Signal-Tek Corporation - Case Study Example Two larger instrument manufacturers have been taking some of the division’s market shares by offering low-cost products at a quicker rate. STC has been unable to keep up with the competition resulting in a reduction in their workforce by 15 percent. In 2002 STC was awarded a contract with the U.S. Army by offering the lowest cost on signal generators. However, their calculated costs were based on old data. Their plan is to produce newer and more efficient models. Major Problem STC’s first major problem was their lack of focus on timely goals and their inability to produce low-cost, solid-performance, and high-reliability instruments. Due to the aforementioned, larger manufactures are taking over their division market shares and STC’s work force had to be reduced by 15 percent which also reduces their rate of production. Secondly, the supply department does not have a formal engineering background making their situation worst when compiled with the fact that there is no cohesion between the engineering department and themselves. For low-cost and efficient production of quality instruments both the expertise of the engineering and supply departments are needed to work collaboratively together from beginning to end. Lastly, STC should have never made a bid with the U.S. Army based off of old data for material and production costs. Possible Solutions/Alternatives A. The engineering department collaboratively working with the supply department can reduce costs and improve efficiency. B. Research and an assessment of production should be implemented before any new project and an assessment should be conducted on why the organizations old methods were not working. C. The engineering department collaboratively working with the supply department while conducting research to produce better results would be the best alternative. D. The advantage of both departments working together would be the result of better efficient instruments offered at a lower -cost. The disadvantage may be the clashing of ego’s that one department knows more than the other. The advantage of taking time out to conduct research and do an assessment would be the result of a better understanding of the situation at hand. The disadvantage of this would be biases getting in the way of containing valid facts. Choice and Rationale The best choice would be to start at the bottom level and get the engineering and supply department to engage in their projects together. I would set up a mandatory meeting for these departments and list the advantages of both working together and the great outcome it would produce for the organization as a whole including increased job security. Questions 1. Early supply management involvement can assist in low-cost and timely new product development by using their buying expertise to spot the best quality deal. 2. Supply management’s involvement enhances an early supplier involvement program by giving first-hand knowled ge on their expertise of buying. The potential benefits of this are reducing costs and improving efficiency which creates better job security and a healthier work environment. 3. The division can increase cooperation/communication between the engineering and supply departments by first establishing a meeting and presenting factual data on the benefits of their collaboration which includes increased job security. 4. Standardization will greatly improve the new product development by keeping everyone on the same page which decreases confusion and increases efficiency. 5. More effective supply management involvement changes engineering’s role by adding buying knowledge to their list of skills. 6. The division can help to expand supply management’

The use of the internet among the youth fosters social cohesiveness Essay

The use of the internet among the youth fosters social cohesiveness - Essay Example While most of the adult population continues to admonish the youths for their addiction to the internet, the platform creates an effective platform for interaction among the group thus fostering social cohesiveness. The internet among many other telecommunication developments have succeeded in making the world a global village thus overcoming the geographical barriers that had impaired human interactions. The use of the internet in the contemporary society coupled with the use of the social network sites such create a virtual society in which the youths interact and widen their networks thus sharing social values most of which they transfer to the actual society thus creating a cohesive society as the essay below portrays. The concern shared among most parents about the internet is that the platform has nor effective regulation and therefore exposes the users to unedited content most of which derail morality in the society. Such parents fear that their children would therefore acquir e undesirable behavior pattern from the internet and lose morality. The internet is indeed creates a cosmopolitan society by pooling people from diverse backgrounds together. Additionally, the internet is an unorthodox media that operates on the pull technology. Unlike the traditional media, internet places the power of choice and censure on the hands of the user. The user thus determines the contents to access and those to censure. Such features present challenges particularly with the adolescent a group of hyperactive individuals always willing to experiment especially with their sexuality (Agosto and June 55). Given the nature of the internet and the resources it pools together, the platform may prove detrimental especially to the young population. The internet creates a virtual reality in which the user determines his or her social grouping without the restriction or limitation of space. Young users therefore become exposed to corruptible and unedited content. Additionally, the internet presents the user with millions of users from all over the world. The social media have succeeded in creating a virtual society on the internet. At such, the internet presents the users with myriad of characters who enjoy the beneficial features of the internet such as anonymity and may therefore post whichever content they deem fit without any form of censure. As such, the internet thus becomes the greatest deterrent feature to the creation of cohesive and ethical societies. Despite the valid concerns raised by most parents and opponents of the idea to expose the youth to the internet, the internet still poses the features capable of developing responsive behavior among the youths thus contributing to the creation of cohesive societies. Just as explained earlier, the internet creates virtual societies by drawing participants from all over the world. Additionally, the intensive interaction on the internet has succeeded in turning the world into a global village in which any one anywhere is accessible and communication is therefore real-time. Among the key factors that people exchange over the internet is culture, culture refers to way of life including sets of human behavior, their attire, dietary and religion among others. The internet is the most effective platform on which the users interact and share views on different social views on a global platform. In the different chat rooms, users inform each other of the latest developments in different parts of the world thus increasing the user’s understanding of the world and their societies (Lupa 30). Peace and unity are social and cultural concepts referring to the cohesive societies in different par

Toys R US Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Toys R US - Case Study Example The customers were also satisfied with these every day low price concept. In this way they created a monopoly. Maintaining a healthy  relationship with suppliers is one of the key successes. They get informed by the suppliers about the latest trends and their merchandise accordingly. Hence, the strong rapport with the suppliers helped Toys R Us to maintain a competitive edge over the competitors. Previously the customers were really agitated about the weak customer service they maintained. But later they increased the manpower during the peak hours and helped the customers so that they don’t face any problem during their visit to the store. If they face any problem they can either consult with the employees or return to the help desk for further query. The employees were also dressed in funny attire like red hat so that they can be easily identified. The concept of store within a store is also an important concept which means there is a dedicated store for the company within the parent store. Just for the convenience of customers Toys R Us specially developed these concepts. By this implementation they attract the brand conscious person. The person who desires to buy a particular product can directly visit to that mini store and ultimately saves a lot of time. Here from the case we have seen that that the boy’s action figures are placed right beside the building sets and the baby dolls are placed beside the glittering nail polish which shows a hint of parity within the huge array of products. The Stock Keeping Unit which the company maintained was huge. Thus the company became a favorite of the customers because they can get anything and everything of their desire under one roof. Hence there was a faster growth of the company which in turn helps to increase the market share. The company’s entry into the Japanese market helped to increase its capital by

Questions on Karl Marx Alienation, and J.S.Mill on Liberty Dissertation

Questions on Karl Marx Alienation, and J.S.Mill on Liberty - Dissertation Example For them to survive, the labourers had to submit to wage labour, a new form of exploitation. Capitalism involved a fundamental adjustment in the relations between men, the materials of production, and the instruments of production. These fundamental adjustments meant that every aspect of human life underwent transformation (Allan 2004, p. 3). In the modern world, the reality of alienation is prevalent and can be seen everywhere. In simple terms, alienation means the separation from what is desirable or desired. Marx analyzes the alienation idea in the context of capitalist means of production with a goal of making profits. Marx identified the process of individual finding valuable things in nature and then taking them since they were freely available. The people modified these natural resources through working on them, thus enhancing their usefulness. Alienation has origins of the production of surplus value after satisfaction of all the immediate and basic needs. Surplus value impli ed wealth, and it became a product when some individuals realized that it could be used as an exchange for commodities if there is a shortage in supply of commodities (Allan 2004, p. 6). According to Karl Marx, there are four aspects of man’s alienation that arise in a capitalist society. The aspects include the product of labor, fellow human beings relations, the labor process, and human nature. Marx argued that the product of labor of the employee is alienated from the object he or she produces since it is bought, possessed and disposed off by somebody else (the capitalist). In all societies, individuals employ their creative capabilities to produce commodities, which they exchange and sell amongst themselves. Marx believes that, in capitalism, this becomes an alienated activity since the worker cannot utilize the products that he or she produces to engage in other productive activities. Marx argues that there is the intensification in the alienation of the labourer from wh at he produces, when the products of labour begin to dominate the labourer (Allan 2004, p. 12). The worker is paid less than the value he creates. He argues that a portion of what the labourer produces is appropriated by his employer leading to exploitation of the worker. Workers employ creative labour in the products they produce, but they cannot obtain any creative labour to replace it. Marx also describes the labour process as the second factor of alienation. Marx recognized this as a lack of control over the production process. He argues that lack of control in the process of work transforms the capacity of workers to work innovatively into the opposite and the laborer experiences activity as passivity. The worker views his or her actions as independent of himself or herself and does not consider these actions as belonging to him or her any longer (Allan 2004, p. 15). The fetishism of commodities refers to individuals’ misconceptions of the products of labour once they en ter the exchange; this misconception accords to forms of leading roles. The metamorphosis of value is a story about the man, his productive capacity and products, and what happens to these products in a capitalist society. Misreading this tale as one about the activities of inanimate objects, attributing them qualities which could only be possessed by human beings, positing living relations for what is dead, is what Marx refers as the fetishism of co