Federal programs Essay

Throughout the twentieth century, Congress has established a great number of federal programs administered by agencies within the Executive Branch. Through this process of a wide-ranging allocation of authority to the executive Branch, Congress has assisted in creating a massive Federal Bureaucracy. The relationship of Congress to the Executive Branch today must therefore be seen in terms of its relation to this Bureaucracy, as well as its relation to the Presidency. In order to gain some control over the operations of the various agencies which had been established within the Executive Branch, in 1946 congress began to develop a sequence of configurations and procedures designed to manage the Administration. This process was also known as congressional oversight. There are several methods through which congressional misunderstanding operations take place: the committee process, congressional administrative offices, casework, as well as a number of administrative practices. Where the congressional oversight functions take place, there are three types of committees: authorizations committees, appropriations committees, and governmental operations committees. The first type of committee is the functional committee which initially establishes or authorizes the program or agency. In the case of a military program, this would be the Armed Services Committees in both chambers. ‘In the case of an urban program, this would be the Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee in the House and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in the Senate. Similarly, each program area within the Federal Bureaucracy is related to at least one specific substantive standing committee in each chamber of Congress. ’ (Issa, 2011) In attempting to follow the oversight activities through these authorization committees, a number of complications are often encountered. One of these is the result from the fact that a particular governmental agency may fall within the authority of several different practical committees or subcommittees. As a result, the agency may play ‘one committee or subcommittee against the other in order to achieve those results in Congress which tend to benefit the agency the most. (Office of The Law Revision Counsel, 2012) Another problem is that a committee which establishes a program is often too involved with the outcome of its own efforts to be willing to investigate adequately the operations of the program it has initiated. One of the most substantial places where an amount of oversight activity takes place is in the appropriations process. The budget for an agency must be approved anew each year. ’ One might assume that this yearly appropriations process would lead to a careful annual inspection of the budgets of all the various governmental agencies. (Issa, 2011) This is not the case. The federal budget is so great and compound that it is impossible to consider carefully the budget of each agency and program on a year-to-year basis. What happens instead is that budgets are often routinely approved from year to year with general reviews only occurring sporadically. In addition, many agencies develop quite close relationships with the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committees which spe cifically deal with their agency. These agencies are therefore often able to abstract some special favors from these particular appropriations subcommittees. The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Governmental Reform were initially established to manage congressional concern over governmental processes. Thus, many see these committees as an ideal place for maintaining congressional observation over the activities of the vast Bureaucracy located within the Executive Branch. However, because of jurisdictional differences and because of the hesitancy of most representatives and senators to provide for satisfactory independent oversight activities, the efforts of these governmental operations committees have been quite restricted. The three administrative offices within Congress are used to some extent in the congressional oversight process. The General Accounting Office, The GAO has the accountability, not simply for performing accounting audits, but also for judging how various programs are being managed. In other words, the GAO often performs the task of program assessment. The GAO plays a significant role in congressional oversight. The Congressional Research Service, while preparing reports and studies to assist members of Congress, the CRS sometimes includes some information on the activities and routines of various governmental agencies. This is another important source of oversight information for members of Congress. The Congressional Budget Office gathers information on the budgets of the various governmental agencies and to report on new budgetary requirements and propositions that are made through the Executive Branch’s Office of Management and Budget. Budgetary information is an extremely important source of data upon which the various congressional committees can judge the effectiveness of specific governmental programs. Granting, the information gathered by the CBO may seem to permit for substantial congressional oversight, the fact is that it is the agencies that often use this informational link for their own purposes in pursuing their requests for additional funding directly to the congressional committee, instead of directing all their communications through the OMB. This short circuits the use of the OMB as one of the President’s management tools. Efficiency, from an overall standpoint, we can see that these three congressional offices. The General Accounting Office, the Congressional Research Services, and the Congressional Budget Office combined with the staffs of individual congresspersons and senators and the staffs of congressional committees are able to supply our national legislators with vast amounts of information and evaluations of governmental activities. ‘In fact, the United States Congress has available to it one of the most extensive research staffs of any national legislature in the world. ’ (Issa, 2011) Nevertheless, the availability of information and study alone is not sufficient for effective congressional oversight. The desire to follow through on this available information is another necessary ingredient and it is this ingredient which is often lacking. Many times congressional oversight is limited by the worries of various congressional committees and subcommittees over their particular jurisdictions and in a substantial number of instances, the burdens of organized special interests also interfere with the ability or wishes of members of Congress to significantly oversee governmental operations. Aside from these problems, there are also the boundaries of time. Congresspersons are loaded with extremely dense schedules. They have a large number of often conflicting responsibilities to perform. Representatives and senators must therefore place priorities on the use of their time. Often oversight activities lose in this shamble of priorities to legislative activities, to the creation of new programs to deal with current problems, and to casework concerns. Representatives and senators, themselves, do not usually become directly involved in much casework or fundamental services. It is their staff that deals with these matters. However, representatives and senators are usually informed by their staffs of many of these problems, and it is through these specific interactions that these legislators often get the most intense impression as to the effectiveness of many governmental programs. Casework thus provides an important source of direct, specific information which proves very useful in congressional oversight activities. Congress has also passed some major reforms and reconnoitered a number of major legislative techniques, many of which have had the effect of enlightening congressional oversight. Sunshine Laws. During the 1970s, Congress attempted to open up many facets of governmental operations to the general public. This was done through the Freedom of Information Act and the â€Å"Government in Sunshine† Act. By making information more broadly available to the public, these acts also increase the amount of information available to Congress. The Congressional Veto. Very often Congress passes rather broad pieces of legislation. It is then up to specific agencies to fill in the details of these laws, both with regard to the building of governmental agencies and the processes which they follow. One might note for example that while Congress passes general tax laws, the details of the regulations regarding the payment of federal taxes is to be found not in the tax law itself but rather in the Internal Revenue Code which is developed by the Internal Revenue Service, which is an executive agency. The problem that were presented by the executive agencies developing a great many regulations or codes is that the only way Congress is able to affect these details is through the passage of new legislative acts. As we have seen, this is often a burdensome and prolonged process. In order to avoid this, Congress now writes into some authorization bills requirements for a congressional veto. According to this procedure, when an agency disseminates rules filling in the details of congressional legislation, Congress automatically has the power within a specific time period to veto some of these rules and to demand that the agency fill in the details in a different way. The important thing is that Congress can do this without having to go through the process of passing a new law. Although this procedure is rarely used, it does offer the prospective for a far greater legislative control over the procedures by which the Bureaucracy operates. Sunset Legislation. In starting governmental programs or agencies, Congress usually sets no time limit on the functioning of the program or agency. Since the 1970s, a practice developed by which Congress authorizes the existence of a program or agency for only a inadequate amount of time. In other words, Congress specifies a date by which the agency or program will conclude to function. In order for the agency to continue its operations after that time, a new bill must be passed allowing its continued existence for another specified period of time. This practice is obviously intended to avert the continued existence of agencies or programs which no longer meet a legitimate need or which fail to meet a legitimate need effectively. A dissimilarity on sunset legislation is the procedure of annual authorization. According to this procedure, the continued existence of governmental agency must be approved on a year-to-year basis. While this practice obviously creates tremendous difficulties in the ability of such an agency to engage in long-term planning, it does suggestively increase the potential effectiveness of congressional control. ‘Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB). Zero Based Budgeting is a technique through which administrators must carefully justify their entire agencies’ budgets. Zero based budgeting requires a continual top-to-bottom assessment of all agencies’ programs designed to insure their cost effectiveness. ’ (Issa, 2011) We can see that many structures and techniques have been developed to allow Congress to be more effective in its oversight activities. However, jurisdictional disputes and pressures from various well organized special interests continue to prevent these new techniques and sources of information from being used effectively. In many occurrences, the actual nature and effect of government policy depends less on the actions of our elected officials than it does on the activities of non-elected bureaucrats who often remain totally immune from the pressures of the general public–although not necessarily from those of well-organized special interests. One of the major political issues determining our national future is the question of how well our government is able to represent effectively the needs and desires of the American people. As we have noted, the role of Congress as a representative of the people was one of the most important functions of this â€Å"first branch† of government envisioned by the Founders when they drafted the Constitution. However, the many new needs which our national government has had to meet in this century have placed this role of representation under great stress.

Main Trends in Births and Deaths in the United Kingdom Essay

The birth rate of a country refers to the number of live births per thousand of the population per year. The general trend for the UK is that there has been a decline in the birth rate since 1900 however there have been fluctuations in the rate due e.g. After World War 1 & 2 and in the 1960s. Sociologists believe this is because of four major factors: changes in gender roles, falling infant mortality, children being seen as an economic burden and our society becoming more child centred. A main part of the decline can be explained in terms of women simply choosing to have fewer children. As the position of women in society has changed overtime, they have chosen to delay childbearing and to limit the number of children they are having because of several factors. Women now have equality with men because of the Equality Act 2010 as well as receiving increased educational and employment opportunities. Other ways in which women’s position has changed is that there is now easier access to divorce, contraception and abortion meaning that they can avoid unwanted pregnancy so have full choice over when they have a child. Beck and Back-Gernsheim(1995) said that the changes in the birth and fertility rate are due to individualisation meaning that people have more choice to follow their own norms and values as well as making their own decisions, rather the following what society deems acceptable. Also the falling infant mortality rate (number of children dying before their first birthday per thousand of live births) has fallen dramatically as a result of factors such as better living standards, improved hygiene and sanitation, improvements to healthcare and the developments made to the welfare state. Geographers explain that these circumstances lead to a demographic revolution in which birth and fertility fall because women no longer feel they need to have a large number of childre n to protect against the risk of infant mortality. It is clear that the attitudes towards children have changed and society in general has become more child-centred, meaning that we are now more concerned about the welfare of children than in the past. The social norms about childcare have changed significantly and the time and costs involved in raising children have significantly increased, therefore making a large family economically unattractive. In the early 19th century children were often seen as an economic asset because they were able to work and contribute towards the family income at a relatively young age however nowadays legislation has  banned children from working and has also increased the time that children have to stay in education for..Because of this, children are financially dependent on their parents for longer so are seen more as an economic burden rather than an asset. As well as this, due to the improvement of the welfare provision for the elderly, parents no longer need to worry as much about having large a mounts of children to look after them once they are elderly. Since people are now having fewer children, the dependency ratio, along with the birth rate has decreased meaning that there are fewer dependents within the population leading to less childcare and school services needed. Although there has been a decline in the birth rate, the amount of deaths occurring in the UK remains steady and the death rate is decreasing because of the growing population since 1900. The death rate refers to the number of people dying per thousand of the population per year. The average life expectancy is now around 78 years for men and 82 years for women whereas in 1900 it was 45 years for men and 48 for women. This tells us that people are staying healthier for longer and this is because of a number of factors including: improved nutrition and living standards, developments in medicine and improved government provisions of welfare and health. It has been said that over half the decline is the death rate is due to the decrease of infectious diseases and McKeow n(1972) argues that most of the fall in the death rate took place before immunisation and was based mainly on good nutrition and hygiene. Studies by Rowntree and others (1899, 1950) found a rapid decline in absolute poverty meaning that people have better living standards which have allowed significant improvements to diet that help increase resistance to some infectious diseases Medical knowledge has improved dramatically since 1900 because of the establishment of the NHS in 1949 as well as a better knowledge of antibiotics, surgery, treatment and immunisation which have helped decrease the death rate. The government also continues to make provisions for those who need it e.g. EMA, careers allowance, working class credits which allow people to have a better quality of life. After the Beveridge Report of 1944, the range of welfare provisions available has expanded and become more universally available. It provided protection against risk factors such as old age through pensions, and low income through housing benefits, unemployment benefit and the benefit now called income support. There are many of other factors involved in the  decrease of the death rate including that there are a lot less dangerous occupations available to people e.g. mining and factory working as well as having higher incomes meaning that people are able to afford better foods and medicines which contribute to the health and wellbeing of individuals. It is evident that even as the population of the UK increases, the death rate and birth rate are both decreasing. These are both because of a number of factors however the most important for both seem to be the improvement of medical knowledge and practices which stop people from becoming ill and include important things such as medicines, contraception and support services for those who become pregnant or suffer with diseases.

Psychological Abnormality Essay

There are many ways of defining psychological abnormality; the two I will be discussing is deviation from social norms and failure to function adequately. Deviation form social norms is a person’s thinking or behavior being classified as abnormal if it violates the rules or norms about what is expected or acceptable behavior in a particular social group. An example of this can be anorexia, more common in females where the person sees themselves as overweight even when extremely thin and person is terrified of weight gain. The media create unrealistic, and for most people ‘ideal’ images, especially of women. Most models are well below normal weight for their age and height Sufferers desperately want to be accepted and valued and tend to feel that they are not. However self-starvation is seen as abnormal in terms of social norms. Strength of deviation from social norms is that this definition takes into consideration the effect that behavior has on others in which deviance is defined in terms of breaking social rules which are usually made in order to help people live together. There are many limitations with the definition of deviation from social norms, beliefs about abnormality and social norms or morally acceptplable behavior changes over time for example homosexuality was included in the American classification system for disorders up to the 1960s. Since then attitudes have changed and homosexuality it no longer seen as a disorder. Another limitation is that context is import as we distinguish between normal and abnormal according to social norms of the time. Much of our behavior is context specific and take out of context may seem bizarre for example if you saw a person suddenly jump up from a park bench and start talking to themselves you might think of them as being very strange on the other hand if you saw a camera crew you would have thought of it being bizarre. Also culture relativity can be a limitation as different cultures have different ideas about acceptable behavior fro example some African societies cut themselves as a sign of inner beauty but in Western societies we se it as self harm. Another definition of abnormality is failure to function adequately this is when abnormal behavior interferes with daily life/functioning i. e. people are unable to live a normal life. An example of this can be when people cannot work and lose the motivation to care for themselves properly and agoraphobia or fear of crowds which is defined as an abnormal behavior where a person may have a fear of open space and can’t go shopping, school and do other everyday things because they have a fear of crowds. Strength of this definition is that it is easy to judge who is failing to function adequately because it is easy to . ist behaviors that show people are not functioning properly in their everyday lives e. g. unable to dress themselves, can’t get up in the morning etc. Limitations of this definition can be the context as starving yourself is irrational, unpredictable and maladaptive. However it is understandable when political prisoners go on hunger strike as a political pro test, so context is important. Also some people may not have psychological disorder but still have failure to function adequately e. g. dues to economic conditions it may not be possible to hold down a job and support family. Another limitation is that some people are able to maintain an adequate or high level of functioning even if they have a psychological disorder for example some people with anxiety or depression can still function. Similarity between both definitions is that they both have a limitation of culture relativity as different societies have different rules and norms of what’s normal and abnormal. A problem with both definitions is that context is important as we distinguish what is normal and abnormal behavior according to what is expected in a given situation according to the social norms at the time.

Couseling theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Couseling theories - Essay Example The Adlerian approach, on the other hand, stresses on social context and lifestyle of human beings that can help them cope with their problems. It also deals with the significance of early experiences and family constellations in the life of an individual. The Gestalt approach emphasizes on the improvement of the whole rather than enhancing separate parts of the individual to help people cope with their problems. Similarly, it aims at incorporating feelings, cognitions, beliefs, and perceptions and past, present and future occurrences to facilitate in developing self-awareness and desired life needs. Counseling Theories Counseling is a commonly used expression, but it usually means different things to different people. Generally, counseling is explained as encompassing a counseling relationship in which an expert interacts with a person or group of people who are looking for help in dealing with problems and making changes in their lives (Corey, 2000). A number of theories usually di rect the process of counseling, assisting in the understanding of behavior and designing of intervention programs that hold promise for achieving the desired outcomes. Theories vary based on numerous aspects. A few need an active participation of the therapist, while others place more responsibility on the client. A few emphasize on transforming cognitive activity, while others emphasize on observable behavior or inner feelings. Theories also differ in where they think most of the action occurs: the present, the past or the future (Sharf, 1999). Within counseling, psychoanalytically and psychodynamically based interventions are illustrious due to focus on the significance of early experience and the role of unconscious mental functioning. In the psychoanalytical approach, individuals are mainly determined by early experiences and unconscious forces and conflicts are fundamental in the existing behavior. According to the psychoanalytic perspective, illogical forces are powerful and t he individual is motivated by sexual and aggressive impulses. Psychoanalysts postulate that early development is of great significance because later personality issues are embedded in repressed childhood conflicts. The main idea of this perspective is that regular personality development is founded on successful working out and combination of psychosexual stages of development. On the other hand, damaged personality development is due to poor resolution of certain stage (Ricu, 2003). Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic interventions are formulated to bring about transformation in an individual’s personality and character. In this process, individuals struggle to resolve unconscious clashes themselves and develop more acceptable ways of coping with their problems. Self-understanding is accomplished through analysis of childhood experiences that are restructured, understood, and explored. The understanding helps bring about changes in feelings and actions. By discovering unconscio us material through dream interpretation or other means, people can deal with different issues and problems in their lives in an improved manner (Chan, et al., 2004). As a result of psychoanalytic therapy, individuals become aware of themselves and feel more real. Furthermore, due to an improved understanding their own reactions to other people, individuals have better relationships with family, friends, and colleagues (Chan, et al., 2004). In recent years, the contributions of Alfred Adler have gained great

Final self reflection report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final self reflection report - Essay Example (pp.2-3). Organizational Behaviour is a social science discipline, using scientific method to establish truth and to validate its theories. (Miner, 2002, p.3). Three organizational behaviour issues that I feel I can demonstrate as enabling me to apply my knowledge of organizational behaviour, are: *Learning, *Personality and *Teams and Groups. .Experiential Learning Process: The Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1975): All learning begins with a concrete or real-world experience. Then, through reflections, the learner makes abstract generalizations about the experience and finally plans a new course of action as a result. (Cundell; Gray, 2004, pp.44-45). The following is a Self Reflection Report based on the four phases of Kolb’s Learning Cycle, which identifies how I have applied the knowledge and skills of Organisational Behaviour issues learned in the module. 1. LEARNING: The outline of a learning experience that I had recently is as follows: I had wanted to learn the art of lettering, where the letters of the alphabet are modified and presented in a stylised version, as in ornamental calligraphy. Since this art would always come in handy for using in greeting cards and other jobs, I approached a friend of mine who was knowledgable in the matter to learn how to create the lettering. My direct experience of learning by receiving sensory information on the creative procedure, combined with verbal transmission of information and the re-organisation of known information in a new configuration, resulted in my successfully learning the new style of lettering, as theorised by Dixon, 1999, (p.39). Learning is central both to bringing about the massive re-organisation that causes us to have a new sense of self in relation to the world, and to constructing a satisfactory existence within our current frame. This need to learn serves many important ends for us human beings, including survival both as individuals and as a

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Literature Review - Essay Example There are questions that often come up when the issue of abortion is deliberated upon: some critics believe that abortion compromises known standards of morality and allow people, most especially women, to abuse their bodies without minding that their random sexual habit would backfire in unwanted pregnancies (Dellapenna, 1979). But this assertion may not be true on all occasions since abortion has been deemed necessary in some complicated circumstances: for examples, victims of rapes, sexual harassment and other crimes against women may carry pregnancies that they do not want from such encounters—in such situations, they need to terminate them to remain sane and happy (Dellapenna, 1979). Why has abortion created this much trouble for all parties involved in its heated debate? Abortion, typically, is a medical procedure that involves removing living fetus from the womb of a woman. This process has been in practice over several centuries, but it becomes more pronounced in the current period because of the decay of morality in homes and societies. This has led to wanton sexual behavior that, on most occasions, leads to unwanted pregnancies that would be aborted (Dworkin, 1993). There are two perspectives to the matter of abortion: one school of thought regards the act as a subtle way to kill a living human soul (as in fetus); the other group sees it as an opportunity or right to freedom individual should enjoy, explaining that everyone should have the power of choice—whether to do abortion or not (Dworkin, 1993). The opponents of abortion think that people in America could help themselves if they would pay attention to their lifestyles and/or do Family Planning or Contraceptive Procedures to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The groups that support it believe that everyone could do whatever he/she likes in as much as the laws are not broken—this may include having the freedom to enjoy sex randomly; a practice that could cause

Homeless on Campus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Homeless on Campus - Essay Example The article has discussed the plight of a number of college students who have been rendered homeless. The first one is Aesha who happens to be in her last semester in college. Aesha became homeless after she walked out of the three bedroom apartment that she shared with her son, her son’s father, her mother’s boyfriend as well as her mother. Aesha and her son left the three bedroom apartment mainly because her son’s father became a violent. Physical abuse from a partner is quite devastating both for the victim as well as other close family members that witness. It is even a criminal offence for a person to engage in domestic violence. The physical abuse would not only have caused a direct harm to Aesha but also an indirect harm in her studies as she is a student. It is not possible for any student to juggle family work, school work and an abusive partner. I therefore agree in entirety with the decision that Aesha made of leaving her son’s father. This woul d save both her physical health as well as her emotional health. She will therefore at least be able to concentrate in hers studies despite the homelessness challenges that she might face. After leaving the three bedroom apartment, Aesha was forced to spend her nights in a temporary shelter for one month. This was quite dangerous for the life of her son as well as her. Safety is never guaranteed in temporary shelters in the cities. Her son was also exposed to dangerous conditions in that shelter house as he was likely to catch various diseases like a common cold. The next shelter that Aesha and her son landed in after spending their nights at the shelter house was the emergency assistance unit that was located in the city. The living conditions in this place were equally atrocious as the place was filled with a crowd of people. Sleep was not comfortable at all and benches were used as beds. This would only have aided in causing backaches for the users of those beds. From the article it is also

Toyota Strategic Alliances Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Toyota Strategic Alliances - Essay Example Toyota Strategic Alliances Theories and analytical tools to assess strategic issues Decision makers in organizations are continually showered with various issues that can potentially affect the current performance and actions of their companies. They make constant adjustments in their strategies in order to keep them updated with the needs of the changing environment. Hence, assessment of strategic designs of organizations is critical to their success and performance. In the face of the changing global business environment, decision makers should keep in mind that strategy choices become obsolete within a very short period of time. Past styles of operating might not fit the current challenges posed by the competitive environment of the current business world. It is important to identify the chief issues facing the organization in the current financial year or a period of financial years and select some issues from this multitude to deal with at a particular point of time. Selection o f these issues are made with regard to the current business position of the firm, technological advancement of the firm, its economic conditions, human resource capacity of the firm, social and political contexts in which it operates. This process requires the organizational leaders to sort the issues faced by the firm on the basis of the importance level attached to the issue. There are various tools that organizational decision makers might exploit in order to assess the importance of the issues faced by them. ... Higher focus maintained on sorting and assessing issues demonstrate a better understanding of the issues. Hence, decision makers are better positioned to make the most appropriate response to these problems (Tan, Shen, and Langston, 2012; Jauch, 2010). The major dimensions in the strategic decision making process are top management decision, allocations of company resources for various activities, long term objectives of the firm, future orientation of the firm, multifunctional and multi- business consequences of the decisions and general external environment of the firm. This process is known as â€Å"strategic issue diagnosis (SID)† (Huff and Jenkins, 2002, p. 276). SID is a tool used as the first step to identify the issue and assess its characteristics. Diagnosis outputs cast important impact on the following stages in the decision making process. Strategic issues facing companies in Asia Pacific All business firms, in their heart, aims at a general notion; increasing the profits of the firm. For any decision to make sense in the decision making process of the business, it has to be directly (or indirectly) associated with the act of increasing profits. In any other case, the business does not have any strong reason to make investments in this decision. There are two basic issues that a company might face in its path of long term development. These issues are highly contrasting to one another. One issue pertains to the problem of expanding the business, while the other relates to contracting business. In the Asia-Pacific region, business firms face either of these two issues. In this post financial crisis period, a majority of countries are striving to recover from recessionary pressure. Therefore, there is low level of aggregate demand in the economy.

The life of Harry Truman in the context of civil Right Era Essay

The life of Harry Truman in the context of civil Right Era - Essay Example This was the true picture as well as impression depicted by Harry Trumann in the context of Civil Right Era (Gardner, 2002). It is of crucial significance to note that Harry Truman led America in gaining victory over World War II. However, tied to this are several of my major impressions relevant to his life in the Civil Right Era. Harry Truman was a leader of dignity, in-depth understanding, humanness as well as vast of wisdom. This was so conspicuous in the way he made his decisions on the context of civil rights. He championed of equality rights for all Americans, including the Whites and the Blacks. This was quite impressive since it enabled for equal consideration of people regardless of race, ethnicity as well as socio-political classes (Truman Legacy Symposium and Geselbracht, 2007). In defiance to the issue of racial discrimination, Truman employed racial integration within the USA military. This was a clear indication that Truman was considerate and wise in decision-making. He considered the pains both the Whites and Blacks underwent in the wars, thereby championing for the spirit of inclusion an d equality amongst all the American citizens (Gardner, 2002). As a leader of humane character, Truman espoused in his campaigns that he believed in the spirit of brotherhood and unity amongst all people in the face of law. He stressed the fact that any form of racial, political, social or economic discrimination could likely cause a state of political unrest as well as insecurity (Truman Legacy Symposium and Geselbracht, 2007). Such could easily disrupt peace and safety to all the citizens. This is quite impressive of Truman since he showed that as a leader, he valued peace, safety and equality amongst all the

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 22

Assignment Example Between early1900s and 1960s was characterized with core improvement in relation to domestic violence against women in the societies of the US. Major rights were awarded to women across the different states of the US. Feminist movements were formed to fight for gender equality and acts of male chauvinism. Women could charge their husbands for assault in a court of law. Domestic violence cases are commonly presented in courts across the country. It is also during this period that cases that regarded to domestic violence were transferred from the criminal court to civil court. In the civil courts, only the civil procedures could apply. This meant that men who assaulted their wives or girlfriend was not considered as criminal In the 1800s, most states in the United States had laws that somewhat favored domestic violence against the women. Although most of federal laws in different states in the US stated to have had protected the women in the society against domestic violence, most of these laws tolerated men who beat their wife as they would be charged for such act. It was not considered a major offense for the men in the societies of the 1800s in the US, since women were generally considered inferior. Between 1900s and 1960s was characterized with major improvement in relation to domestic violence against women in the societies of the US. More rights were awarded to women across the different states of the US. Feminist movements were formed to fight for gender equality and acts of male chauvinism. Women could charge their husbands for assault in a court of law. Domestic violence cases are commonly presented in courts across the country. It is also during this period that cases that regarded to domestic violence were transferred from the criminal court to civil court. In the civil courts, only the civil procedures could apply. This meant that husbands or men who assaulted their wives or girlfriend was

No namecan the writer make a name for me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marks and Spencer as One of the Biggest Retail Companies - Essay Example In April 2004, the prospect of the company seemed blurred. The brand of the Marks and Spencer got a great push back and lost its confidence due to the consecutive decline in sales and continual negative PR. The company has started to lose public faith and love and the fear has taken over by Philip Green of Arcadia Group was on the threshold. Rejecting the offer of Mr. Green, Mr. Stuart Rose has restructured the company through promoting its brand and has formulated a method of treatment, which worked in a significant way for the M & S to get back its health. (Thompson, Neal, Threadgould and Trillo, June 30, 2006: 3-4) There were different thoughts on the vulnerability of the company. Analysts told that decline of sales of the company in a continuous basis and lack of enthusiasm for change was mainly responsible behind such weakness whereas the journalist reported that the company listed itself in one of the worst performers among the 100 companies. Besides the customers were also not satisfied with the product of the company. The garments of the company were believed to be old-fashioned. People thought the company might have fallen in the vicious circle of loss. Fall in sales of the M & S in one way led to falling in share price and in another way led to negative captions producing the negative impression in the market. These movements caused to loss of confidence over the company by the customers for the purchase and also by the investors to invest. In this situation when Mr. Green came with his proposal to acquire M & S, the senior team of the company including the new Chief Executive of the company, Mr. Stuart Rose and the Executive Director for Marketing, Store design and Development, Mr. Steven Sharp has formed a new plan regarding the business of the company and successfully crush the proposal of Mr. Green.

Catholicism in Quebec and the Quiet Revolution Essay Example for Free

Catholicism in Quebec and the Quiet Revolution Essay Montreal is Quebec’s largest city, has always been renowned for its many churches and basilicas, earning it the nickname la ville aux cents clochers. Mark Twain once said â€Å"This is the first time I was ever in a city [Montreal] where you couldnt throw a brick without breaking a church window†. Today, it is better known for the diversity of its people and its culture painted streets, such as the Quartier Latin and the booming Quartier des spectacles. The city is home to over a hundred and twenty cultural communities and seventy-five languages; seemingly fitting since well over a quarter of the population was born abroad. In the June 2008 issue of Monocle, a London based magazine, Montreal was dubbed â€Å"Canada’s Culture Capital†. It seems hard to imagine that the Catholic Church had a monopoly over not only Montreal but the entire province of Quebec simply half a century ago. How did a land founded and built on Catholicism become a place renowned for its cultural diversity? This essay will explore how the Catholic faith’s image developed in Quebec after the Second World War, touching the province’s strong religious foundation, the Church’s control of the education and medical systems, and how the Quiet revolution paved the way for the prosperity of the French language and the multicultural land we have today. Jacques Cartier officially claimed Quebec in the name of the King of France in 1534, bringing the first sign of Christianity by putting up a cross in Gaspà © that is still visible to this day. The farm, family, faith and language were until recently stereotypical symbols for the Quebecois, but gradually became symbols of French settlers instead. However, these hadn’t always been symbols of the colonists; farming and permanent families were not part of the mindset of the early colony. Samuel de Champlain first met with the Algonquin people on his exploration journey in 1603 and the two parties were quick to form an alliance. The French and Algonquin began trading firearms for furs to keep warm throughout the winter but were mainly sent to be sold in France. During the long alliance with the Algonquin people many Jesuits, members of the Society of Jesus, a Christian male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, sought to evangelize and convert the aboriginal people. This created a bitter divide between the traditional practitioners of Midewiwin and the Catholic converts. Champlain returned in 1608 to create a settlement in what is now Quebec City, however at the time the French were interested in trading, fishing cod fish and later hunting beaver. This lifestyle made it difficult to attract potential colonists, and upon Champlain’s death in 1635 there were only 300 settlers in New France. King Louis XIV began encouraging members of his military to remai n and settle in New France after discharge, and also hiring young laborers to work in the colony then encouraging them to stay as well. The recruitment efforts of the King of France resulted in a 2:1 male to female ratio, thus he supported les filles du roi, a plan where poor women without a dowry migrated to New France to be married and bear children. By 1681, the marriages and families of these women grew the population to 10 000. These 10 000 French settlers would produce most of the francophone population of Canada (Phan, 292). Once King Louis XV signed the Treaty of Paris, handing over the French territories to the English, the French military, upper-class and business elite all returned to France. The abandoned settlers turned to the Roman Catholic Church as the clergy begun opening schools and hospitals. The French colony of Quebec wanted to avoid an American influenced political policy which stood for Protestantism, republicanism and war, as well as severing its ties with France following the Treaty of Paris and the French Revolution’s religious prosecutions. The colony then adapted policies of the Church, associating the land with the Vatican instead. The Church system worked well for the prosperity of the people at the time, but later Pope’s decisions would eventually lead to the downfall of faith in Quebec. The early 19th to mid-20th centuries saw the farm, family, faith and language become the sacramental lifestyle of the Quebecois. At the end of the 19th century in Rome, Pope Leo XIII called for a renewal of ecclesial studies to modernise the Church’s lessons to aid in the application against the challenges of the new world. Reform-minded scholars were thus encouraged to explore and revise the conventional positions of the church and were given much elbowroom until the Pope’s death in 1903. His successor, Pope Pius X, had a much different approach. In 1907 the Pope published Pascendi Dominici Gregis, a letter condemning modernism as the synthesis of all heresies (Jodock, 56). The Vatican began enforcing anti-modernism, which set the stage for what would later be the Quiet revolution. `The period leading up to the 1960s was one through which the province had long been undergoing a process of industrialization and urbanization that had dated back to the latter part of the nineteenth century. Various transformations had been taking place, making it no surprise that the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) was able to dethrone the Union Nationale (UN) as leaders of provincial government. During the 1940s and 1950s, the image most frequently associated with Quebec’s French-Canadian people was that of a church-ridden, agricultural society outside the mainstream of the urban-industrial North American way of life. Although the Catholic Church is credited for the preservation of the French language and culture, the Western world had moved its interest away from the large families and agriculture supported by the Church. This seemingly outdated view of Quebec as a society gave politicians a clear view on what to campaign for. Jean Lesage of the QLP was able to garner over 50% of the popular vote and gain 51 seats to defeat the UN, ending a 16 year run for that party in Quebec. The province was about to come out of the period known as â€Å"la grande noirceur†, due to the scandal and corruption that the Union Nationale leader used to remain in power, and to enter a new era that Quebec still finds itself in at this very moment. The Quebecois expected change and Lesage was to come through for them. As the former provincial government had been supported by the Catholic Church, he had started what seemed to be a secularization process that coincided with the status of religion in Quebec at that time. Between the years 1961 and 1971, religious practice in Montreal fell from 61 percent of the population to 30 percent, and only 14 percent among people aged 16-24. The low number of young Catholics raised many concerns for the Church as to wear they would find future replacements for its aging clergy (Gauvreau). The emergence of lay Quebec organizations that defined nationalism in terms of language and political independence instead of religion also hastened a loss of confidence in the church. Not the least of significant markers in the 1960s was the bishops decision to dismantle Catholic Action itself. The entire process resulted in a de-Christianization that most defined carefully as not the decline of private belief, but as the rapid loss of a Catholic public identity. Jean-Paul Desbiens wrote a letter under the name Brother Anonymous criticizing the education system, stating the importance of the involvement and control of the provincial government over such services. The characterization of Quebec citizens as a religious people was outdated and the following period gave birth to a new identity for the Quebecois to latch on to. The Premier began this procedure by having the province take control of education by first establishing the Department of Youth (which became the Ministry of Education in 1964) and provided free education up through high school. Lesage would then go on to make schooling up until the age of 16 mandatory with the belief that educating the youth would lead them to become the successful leaders of tomorrow, replacing the Anglophones who were in control of most of Quebecs businesses at the time. Continuing the reform, he increased government control over the healthcare system, by implementing a hospital insurance plan in 1961 (a prequel to Quebec’s version of a universal healthcare plan in 1972). These two essential institutions, which had been the responsibility of the Catholic Church ever since the birth of New France, were now primarily in the hands of the provincial government, giving substantiation for the many that now believed Quebec was a secular society. In Conclusion, a land founded and built on Catholicism became a place renowned for its cultural diversity after the anti-modernisation of the Church forced the Quebecois to break free from its monopoly over the province. After exploring how the Catholic faith’s image developed in Quebec, it is made evident that the stereotypical symbols of the 19th century Quebecois had to be shaken in the 20th century in order for them to prosper in the 21st century. Works Cited: Tentler, Leslie W. and Kevin Christiano. The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholicism since 1950 in the United States, Ireland, and Quebec. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 2007. Print. 19-90 Jodock, Darrell. Catholicism Contending with Modernity: Roman Catholic Modernism and Anti-modernism in Historical Context. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 2000. Print. Van, Die Marguerite. Religion and Public Life in Canada: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2001. Print. Phan, Peter C. Ethnicity, Nationality and Religious Experience. Lanham, MD: University of America, 1995. Print. Gauvreau, Michael. The churches and social order in nineteeth- and twentieth-century Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2006. Print. Baum, Gregory and Michael Gauvreau. The Catholic Origins of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005. Print.

Methods for Short and Long Term Memory Formation

Methods for Short and Long Term Memory Formation The purpose of the experiment was to determine which Learning Method was the most effective for short- and long-term memory formation. Method efficacy was tested via a Short-Term Memory (STM), and Long-Term Memory (LTM), glyph recall test. There were four groups, each using a different Learning Method which varied in two factors: written repetition (10X/none) and movie viewing (before/after STM test). The Learning Method was used to introduce the symbols, and there was a short maths test before the STM test. Symbol recall was assessed again in the LTM test, three weeks later. As the LTM test was taken after the STM test, all students had watched the movies. Analysis suggested that Learning Method 1 produced higher scores; students who wrote the symbol 10X and viewed the movie prior to taking the STM test had significantly greater glyph recall compared to those who used the other methods (p While Learning Method 1 appeared to be the most effective, it is possible that the results were affected by experimental design flaws; notably, the non-standardised test conditions. The degree of symbol retention demonstrated on the LTM test may be related to memory consolidation, which is aided by hippocampal ripple oscillations. The Learning Methods for each group were as follows (for the method code definitions and full method, see the Appendix): Group 1 (Learning Method 1): WB-1X_MB_10X Group 2 (Learning Method 2): WB-1X_MA_10X Group 3 (Learning Method 3): WB-1X_MB Group 4 (Learning Method 4): WB-1X_MA The independent variable is the Learning Method and the dependent variable is the number of symbols recalled correctly on the memory tests (STM and LTM). Method 1 was the most involved (writing 10X, and watching the movie beforehand). The alternative hypotheses are: Ha: if Short-Term glyph recall is related to the Learning Method (Method 1, 2, 3, 4), then students in Group 1, who used Method 1 (WB-1X_MB_10X), will recall a greater number of symbols correctly on a Short-Term Memory test. Ha: if Long-Term glyph recall is related to the Learning Method used for the Short-Term Memory test (Method 1, 2, 3, 4), then students in Group 1, who used Method 1, will recall a greater number of symbols correctly on a Long-Term Memory test. For the STM data, Levene’s test established that there was an effect of variance (p p p p p = 0.8790) and those in Groups 3 and 4 (p = 0.9260). For the LTM data, Levene’s test established that there was no effect of variance (p > 0.05). As the variance is not significant, a One-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test can be used to test the hypothesis. The One-way ANOVA established that LTM test scores differed as a function of Learning Method used [F(3, 124) = 66.0280, p p p = 0.6160). The results support the alternative hypotheses that if glyph recall is related to the Learning Method used, then students in Group 1 (who used Method 1) will recall a greater number of symbols correctly on both a STM and LTM test. As the test scores for students who used Method 1 were significantly higher in both the STM and LTM tests, at a significance level of 0.05, the alternative hypothesis is favoured. By adopting the alternative hypotheses there is a possibility of Type 1 error in both cases. The hippocampus contributes critically to memory formation, organisation, and storage Memory consolidation, a process that transforms newly acquired information into long-term memory, also depends on the hippocampus. Through consolidation, labile newly formed memory traces are progressively strengthened into long-term memories and become more resistant to interference. However, it is suggested that they remain susceptible to updating and modification The hippocampus generates high-frequency ripple oscillations in local-field potentials (LFPs), observed most prominently in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal layer Ripples participate in strengthening and reorganising memory traces, possibly by mediating information transfer to neocortical areas Memory traces are represented by assemblies of principal neurons that are activated during ripple-associated network states There is evidence suggesting that memory consolidation is enhanced during sleep and resting (â€Å"off-line†) states Sleep is a state which optimises the consolidation of newly acquired information in memory, depending on the specific conditions of learning and the timing of sleep It induces long-lasting cellular and network modifications responsible for memory stabilisation A proposed neural mechanism for sleep-dependent memory consolidation, is reactivation of awake experience (neuronal replay) in the hippocampus which is associated with sharp wave-ripple (SPW-R) events that occur primarily during off-line states SPW-Rs are â€Å"aperiodic, recurrent instances of large deflections (sharp waves) in the hippocampal LFP†, and they are associated with synchronous fast-field oscillations (ripples) During SPW-R events, hippocampal cell firing closely follows the pattern that took place during the initial experience Theta (4-8 Hz) oscillations and ripples (~200 Hz) occurring during sharp waves may mediate encoding and consolidation, respectively. Pyramidal neurons replay previous waking activity in a temporally compressed manner, thus reactivated firing patterns occur within shorter time windows propitious for synaptic plasticity within the hippocampal network and in downstream neocortical structures. Slow-wave sleep (SWS) supports system consolidation and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep supports synaptic consolidation through specific patterns of neuromodulatory activity and electric field potential oscillations. During SWS, there is a diminution in cholinergic activity and the ripples stimulate the redistribution and transfer of hippocampus-dependent memories to the neocortex The thalamocortical spindles generated by the thalamus arrive at the neocortex at the same time as the hippocampal memory information, due to the slow oscillations which facilitate the transfer, and this synchronisation is thought to be vital to the long-term storage of memories within neocortical networks During REM sleep, at high cholinergic and theta activity, local increases in plasticity-related immediate-early gene activity may promote synaptic consolidation of memories in the cortex Incoming signals move through the hippocampus via a ‘trisynaptic loop’ consisting of synapses between principal cells in the dentate gyrus (DG), CA3 and CA1 Hofer et al investigated the cellular and network properties of SPW-Rs with simultaneous laminar multielectrode and intracellular recordings in a rat hippocampal slice model. Spontaneous SPW-Rs were generated in the DG, CA3, and CA1 regions During the memory encoding phase, the hippocampus binds neocortical representations to local memory traces. Then, during the off-line periods, the traces are concurrently reactivated in the hippocampus and cortex to potentiate the corticocortical connections underlying stored representations Studies show that disruption of ripples during post-learning SWS impairs memory consolidation and learning In an experiment conducted by Ego-Stengel and Wilson rats were trained daily in two identical tasks, each followed by a one hour rest period. Following one of the tasks, neuronal activity associated with ripple events was disrupted, without changing the sleep-wake structure, via selective stimulation of hippocampal afferents. It was found that the rats learned the control task significantly faster than the task followed by the stimulation, which suggests that interfering with hippocampal processing during sleep led to decreased learning Similarly, Nokia et al. found that disrupting hippocampal ripples using electrical stimulation either during training in awake animals, or during sleep after training, had a negative impact on learning A study by Wang et al indicated that the median raphe region (MnR) is important for regulating hippocampal ripple activity and memory consolidation. A fear conditioning procedure was used to determine this relationship, via interruption of ripple activity. Simultaneous in vivo recording in the MnR and hippocampus of mice showed that, when a group of MnR neurons was active, ripples were absent; ripple activity was related to the activity of MnR neurons. Additionally, MnR may regulate memory consolidation via its projections to thalamocortical regions, which facilitate interactions between the hippocampus, thalamus and cortical regions during SWS. Under the assumption that there was little deliberate reactivation of memory traces for the symbols in the three weeks following the STM test, the degree of retention of the symbols on the LTM test may be related to memory consolidation via hippocampal ripples occurring during sleep and rest. There were a number of limitations which may have affected the validity of the results. The major limitation was the non-standardised test conditions. Since different groups took the test at different times of the day, and different individuals have performance peaks at different clock times randomisation of subjects is important. This also leads to the possibility that students in an earlier group may have informed others of the symbols or experimental procedures. Knowledge of the tests could have influenced the students’ concentration, with those who knew being more likely to apply themselves to the Learning Method. While all students would be likely to undergo some degree of memory consolidation following the STM test, those who were aware of the experimental design would likely have greater retention. If all students took the test at the same time under standardised conditions, it would be less likely for this issue to affect the results. Additionally, the small sample size, and the fact that the participants were all students of one course (Neuroscience), also means that the external validity of the experiment, and thus the generalisability to groups other than the experimental group, cannot be established. There was also only one group per Learning Method, so it is unknown if the results are repeatable.

Different Marriage Perceptions In Contemporary And Traditional China

Different Marriage Perceptions In Contemporary And Traditional China The main purpose of this report is to give the values of marriage in terms of contemporary Chinese perceptions. According to a survey through questionnaire of naked marriages, this report reflects the different view points of marriage between contemporary and traditional Chinese people. In order to indicate the new trend of peoples marriage views, the report will firstly analyze the results of research in terms of percentage. Then, the report will give an account of naked marriages, with people standing on different opinions. Next, it will analyze the main causes from different standpoints. It will state the root reason as well as other reasons. Finally, the report will give the comprehension of naked marriage and reach the conclusion on the basis of the researchs result and the reasons above. 2. Introduction Naked marriage refers to a phenomenon that people are directly married at a registry under condition of lacking house, car, even their wedding ring. In other word, naked marriage is to get married without debt and luxury. In this case, there are less complicated things to prepare and to undertake than previous marriage. It is a new network vocabulary which gained popularity in 2008. With the development of civilization in modern society, the first objective of a marriage has transformed into love from breeding offspring. As is known, marriage and material are always inseparable in Chinese traditional marriage perception. Before 1949 when the new country was established, both boys and girls should get married on coming of age, and they would be tied in wedlock formally through matchmakers on the basis of financial situation of the mens family. After the founding of new China, the feature of marriage was simple and thrift which followed the style in revolution time and the wedding just means a common meal. In the 1960s, the marriage began to attach importance to exquisite decorations; it was common to see that couples asked the carpenter to make wooden furniture such as wardrobe, table and chair. When it comes to 1970s, three major items including watches, bicycles and sewing machines were necessary in marriage. Approximately ten years later, however, they changed into the refrigerators, color TV sets and washing machines. In addition to home appliance, many brides must own the gold necklace, gold earrings and the gold ring, which afterwards were called three pieces of gold. At the beginning of 21st century, house, money and the car becomes the new contents of three major items. Contrasts to the Chinese family concept in the past, the modern couples emphasize freedom and independence to a higher degree and pay less attention on wedding from the standpoint of marriage. Meanwhile, marital status is regarded as one of the privacy in the eyes of young white-collar, a nd then the phenomenon of hidden marriage appears. Under such background, naked marriage is brought to the publics attention. 3. The Analysis of Research In the investigation of naked marriage, as for the question of whether naked marriage is the trend or the helpless option, 18% of the respondents choose trend while 82% of them choose helplessness. When being asked the opinion of the relationship between naked marriage and happiness, the number of people who hold the views that the naked marriages can obtain happiness accounts for 44 %. In their opinions, only love can endure the test of lacking material products, can it mean precious. The ratio of people with the opposite views is just the same. They argue that economic basis is the prerequisite for the daily life and the absence of substance will cheapen the quality of life and the degree of happiness. Another 12% people are uncertain about this. Interestingly, the research indicates that the attitude to the naked marriage between men and women are quite distinct. 80% of men are in favor of naked marriage while 70% of women feel that naked marriage is infeasible. In regard to the a pproval of naked marriage, the proportion of people who welcome the naked marriage takes 57.7%, they argue that love is the core of marriage and couples can make efforts together to buy house after marriage.in the meantime, those who disapprove of naked marriage accounted for 35.7%. The research also reveals that the majority of people who agree with the perception of naked marriage family are at the age of 20 to 35. Furthermore, most of them are urban white collar with high education and large income. 4. Literature Review As a token of modern marriage perceptions, naked marriage has been brought to public attention with people standing on both sides. Some people welcome this new form of marriage with applause, arguing that holding a wedding for others watching is costly and time-consuming. As a result, it can be omitted if couples themselves feel it is unnecessary .The money spending on houses, cars and other things is a great mass of expenditure for their parents. In this case, the things like ostentation and extravagance have nothing to do with marriage. Anyhow, marriage is related to two people and it can be conducted as long as both of them feel proper. Professor Chen who has engaged in social psychology research since 2002 illustrates the popularity of naked marriage in terms of sociology. She has been holding the opinion that it is sagacious for couples to live together simply. They should get marriage certificate from marriage registration office under the insufficient material conditions. (Chen, Fu-Mei and Li, Tsui-Shan. 2007, p400) It shows the increasing legal consciousness among the new generation of young people. Besides, Lu Rucai thinks that compared to the premarital cohabitation, naked marriage is worthy of being advocated. Moreover, it also deserves to advocate as a simple way of life in the high level of material development. Naked marriage gets rid of the material restrictions and secular ideas and makes couples get married without any burden. (Lu Rucai. 2004, p34) Other Sociologists also indicate that naked marriage should give praise and support. Professor Chia thinks that it is not only a return of rational knowledge but also a kind of social progress. According to the analysis of them, during the 1950s, due to the restricted conditions, many peoples weddings were naked marriages. However, it has not prevented the passion of this generation in work and life. (Chia, Rosina C. etc.1986, p599) In fact, the form of marriage is considered less important when taking sincere love into account. Accordingly, parents are supposed to put aside outmoded thoughts, and offer more freedom to the next generation in order to reduce their economic pressure. Feldman also points out that naked marriage encourages to forming a plain life style which is worth recommending. Thanks to naked marriage, young generation no longer acts as the NEET group (Not in Education ¼Ã…’Employment or Training). Instead, they rely on their own efforts to create the future. (Jin X, Li S, Feldman MW. 2005, p30) On the other hand, there are also many opponents who strongly believe that basic material is the foundation of a marriage. Professor Cao who criticizes the naked marriage on a realistic basis, argues that it is not a feasible thing to do, especially in this fast-developing material world where the divorce rate is rising alarmingly. Naked marriage will result in more life pressure and competition. (Liv Jiang and Cao Yang. 2006, p40) In this context, material preparation is equivalent to a promise for a new marriage, particularly for expensive urban living. Having a home and a car is really beneficial to a new family and it helps them grow from a pretty good start. Jill Savege predicts that naked marriage will not be always in vogue in China. It is common that China has constant custom with long history towards marriage that cannot be easily changed. Marriage has a close relationship with material in Chinese traditional marriage perception. (Shi, Qijia; Scharff, Jill Savege. 2008, p310) In this regard, even through couples have reached consensus on naked marriage, their parents would object strongly to the wedding , and the reason is that they cannot afford a diamond ring and marriage ceremony, let alone a home and a car. In their opinion, house and car represent the capability of getting established in society. In addition, the scholar Olga thinks that due to the insufficient material foundation, their children may lag behind others at the starting line at birth. Many educators like Lu also point out that good material elements have far-reaching influence on mental development of children, and they reveal that children with good material elements are inclined to form the extroverted and gregarious character which is benign to their future. (Pochagina, Olga. 2004, p140) Both sides of the scholars discuss the naked marriage from different angles and aspects which offer plenty of valuable ideas for this report. On the basis of their works and results of research, the report makes synthetic and comprehensive analysis. 5. Methodology This report is mainly to discuss the modern Chinese marriage perceptions by questionnaires and interviews of naked marriage, and it will use data analysis and the qualitative analysis. Data analysis will offer sufficient data to support the facts. And qualitative analysis will see through the appearance to perceive the essence. This kind of analysis will expound from different aspects to form an integral evaluation for the viewpoints of marriage. However it should be pointed out that questionnaires failed to take into account peoples real-life action, the data getting here is the possibility of what people are willing to do, rather than what they would do in practice. 6 Causes of the Naked Marriage 6.1 Social Pressure Young generation that has reached marriageable age is inflicted with the heavy pressure from work and life, and it is the social pressure that makes young people cannot afford to houses and cars. In recent years, the soaring housing prices in China give rise to the increase of marriage cost and become the biggest obstructions in the preparation for marrying. Therefore young people begin to choose naked marriage as a way of compromise. A survey conducted by statistical bureau shows the average wedding cost in shanghai reached a high point at 18.7 million in 2009 and the spending was in line with that of the United States. Undoubtedly, the wedding cost in Shanghai ranks the first place in China and it is twice more than Harbin that has the least wedding cost in China. Another Investigation reveals that fifty percent of Chinese newly-married couples manage to get married at the cost of emptying their parents funding. A new national statistics conducted by Ministry of Civil Affairs show that the total consumption amount produced every year due to the marriage has reached 25 million Yuan. 6.2 Pursuit of Pure Love The young generation pursues pure romantic love in this frugal way of marriage. From the view point of love, the marriage is based on the ideal of common life between men and women, and then they will form a strong admiration for each other in their heart. True love means a strong pure feeling of a desire for people to become lifelong partners regardless of material constrains, and naked marriage can prove that true love is everlasting. The Associate Researcher Johnson, who works in institute of sociology and demography, argues that naked marriage can aid in getting rid of the secular concepts and making couples get married without any material burden. (Johnson, Julie R. 2010, p27)The ones who have a naked marriage can throw common customs and reveal the true meaning of marriage, so that the so-called honeymoon, wedding and money are not necessities if people are marrying with the people they really want. Besides, No matter how poor the man is, as long as this man has perseverance an d ambition, he will not let his beloved women suffer from hardships through his hard working. Only when people eliminate factors such as ceremony and traditional material concepts and just immerse themselves in the joy of marriage itself, will such naked marriage show distingue and faithful. And people can put off difficulties which are tough to handle temporarily in marriage and do them when the conditions are abundant. 7 The Significance of Naked Marriage On the one hand naked marriage manifests the changing attitude towards marriage in modern China. Choosing naked marriage is not only a familial decision, but also an individuals choice of love and lifestyle. Contrast to Chinese traditional wedding concept, marriage stands for the spirit of mutual assistance and efforts rather than the actual wealth people possess. On the other hand it also reflects the varying concept of material nowadays. Instead of spending extra money on unnecessary products, couples should make effective use of it and meet the challenge in a positive attitude. Love is a kind of intellectual product that needs the joint efforts of couples to accumulate. Therefore, choosing naked marriage might be taking a test in the future and the state of poverty after efforts cannot be accepted by everyone. Additionally, the popularity of naked marriage partly proves the struggle of social equity from men. Obviously, men have undertaken excessive pressure of marriage in modern life. As everyone knows, society calls on the equality between men and women for a long time, but these days the actual fact is that society pays close attention to ensuring women enjoy equal rights in employment and promotion with men, whereas the uneven marriage cost that men has taken on is neglected by most people. It seems that the mens natural responsibility is to buy houses for their families in the perspective of traditional Chinese people, and therefore many young men would like choose to support naked marriage in order to reduce their pressures of being mortgage slaves. But for women, they dont have a deep understanding of marriage cost due to the lack of houses supplement burden. In this regard, women dont need to carry too much pressure, thus they inclined to support the concept that it is appropriate to own houses at the time of getting married. 8 Conclusion This report is mainly to discuss the issue of naked marriage in the current China. It makes a detailed analysis based on the questionnaire survey with respect to whether naked marriage is appropriate and reasonable for love. It is apparent that people hold various views on this phenomenon. And it is a great challenge to the traditional family values. This trend is regarded as the sublimation of love which lacks the material and secular opinions and goes back to the essence of love itself. Of course, when considering choosing naked marriage, people should take account of both the enthusiasm of enterprising spirit and the growth of wealth to make full preparation for the unpredictable future of life. In conclusion, whether adopting naked marriage or not depends on the couple, and if their economic backgrounds and mutual perception of money is similar, naked marriage will bring them the happiness. It makes couples work hard together and start them off on an equal financial platform. But if their relationship is not strong enough, then naked marriage will have a higher probability of failing. 9 Appendices APPENDIX A: Questionnaire Dear Sir/ Madam, Thank you for your attention and opening this questionnaire. The project aims to give the values of marriage in terms of contemporary Chinese perceptions. Your opinion will be of great help in my project. Your response will and your information will be coded and will remain confidential. Thank you very much for your time and support. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Please mark the appropriate answer to the questions below. 1. What will you place more weight on when you marry to your fiancà ©? A. House B. Pure love C. Wedding ceremony D. Car E. Honeymoon 2. Do you think naked marriage is the trend in modern society or the helpless option? A. The trend of marriage B. The helpless option with regard to modern society C. Not Sure 3. Do you think naked marriage can obtain happiness? A. Definitely Yes B. Yes C. Should be D. Not Sure E. No 4. Do you approve of naked marriage? A. Definitely Yes B. Yes C. Should be D. Not Sure E. No Thank you very much for completing this questionnaire. If you have some questions that we do not list, please write it down below. Thank you APPENDIX B: Interview Questions 1. What is the reason for couples to choose naked marriage in your opinion? 2. What do you think of the marriage?

The Red Badge of Courage :: essays research papers

The Red Badge of Courage, by it’s very title, is infested with color imagery and color symbols. While Crane uses color to describe, he also allows it to stand for whole concepts. Gray, for example, describes both the literal image of a dead soldier and Henry Fleming’s vision of the sleeping soldiers as corpses and comes to stand for the idea of death. In the same way, red describes both the soldiers’ physical wounds and Henry’s mental vision of battle. In the process, it gains a symbolic meaning which Crane will put an icon like the ‘red badge of courage’. Stephen Crane uses color in his descriptions of the physical and the non-physical and allows color to take on meanings ranging from the literal to the figurative. Stephen Crane begins the novel with a description of the fields in the morning: â€Å" As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors† (1). The fog clears to reveal the literal green world of grass. It also reveals another green world, the world of the youth. Like school children, the young soldier tells rumors within the regiment. This natural setting provides an ironic place for killing, just as these men seem to be the wrong ones fighting in the Civil War. Stephen Crane says something on this in the narrative: â€Å" He was aware that these battalions with their commotions were woven red and startling into the gentle fabric of the softened greens and browns. It looked to be a wrong place for the battlefield† (26).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Green is an image of the natural world and of the army’s youth, while red in the previous quote is clearly and image of battle. In the beginning, however, Crane uses red to describe distant campfires: â€Å"†¦one could see across the red, eye-like gleam of the hostile campfires set in the low brows of the distant hills† (1). Obviously, the fires are red, but Henry characterizes the blazes as the enemy’s glowing eyes. He continues this metaphor in the second chapter: â€Å" From across the river, the deep red eyes were still peering† (15). Crane then transforms this metaphor into arrogance used throughout the text: â€Å"Staring once at the red eyes across the river, he conceived then to be growing larger, as the orbs of a row of dragons advancing† (16). The red campfires come to represent eyes of the enemy, of dragons.

Brain Development in Victims of Child Abuse Essay -- Neurobiology of C

Child abuse is a widespread problem in America and beyond. Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children(1a). For many years, experts believed that the negative effects of child abuse, such as emotional problems, flashbacks to traumatic events, and even learning problems, were psychological phenomena only, able to be cured with therapy. Now, however, beliefs are being changed with the help of tools such as MRI imaging, able to detect actual changes in brain anatomy, and it appears that what doesn't kill you may still permanently weaken you, at least when it comes to child abuse. The chief danger to the brain in child abuse, besides direct injury by the abuser, is the stress placed on fragile, developing tissue. Traumatic stress placed on the brain, such as that caused by abuse, will activate the locus ceruleus, which through a release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine will cause the release of neurotransmitters such as epinephrine, dopamine, and more norepinephrine (2). These neurotransmitters are called catecholamines and are complemented by glucocorticoid stress hormones such as cortisol (2). Stress hormones and neurotransmitters are necessary to the normal function of the brain, and are to some point beneficial, but unusually high levels of these chemicals caused by abuse, especially over an extended period of time, can be very harmful (3). When levels of glucocorticoid hormones are elevated for an extent of several days due to stress, the neurons receiving these hormones begin to be damaged (4). Neurons begin to atrophy and the growth of new neurons is halted (4). If the stress continues for too long, neurons will die (4). This problem is ex... ...II, an article from the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, about the damaging effects of stress hormones on the developing brain http://info.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/plomdevelop/development/January99.html 5)Developmental traumatology part II: brain development, an article detailing a study of the effect of post-traumatic stress disorder upon the brains of abused children http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T4S-3WK3RV4-4&_user=400777&_coverDate=05%2F15%2F1999&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%234982%231999%23999549989%2399771!%20AND%20(%23UOI%23B6T4S-3WK3RV4%204)%20&_cdi=4982&_sort=d&_acct=C000018819&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=400777&md5=4e6b134b5ccc9a8bd44fd1a8d05a5eab 6) Teicher, Martin H. "Scars That Won't Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse." Scientific American 286.3 (2002): 68-75

Management Hence Essay

It was a win-win proposition for both HS3C and 01B to merge to draw synergies from the strength of both, HSBCS technology, global reach and product innovation and Old’s domestic reach and strong customer base. Under the terms of the merger, HSBC Middle East will inject an additional capital of US $97 4m into HSBC Oman and in turn, 01B issued to HSBC new shares equivalent to 51 per cent ot the shareholding In the combined entity. Though there were synergies end the merger provided gains, there were certdln challenges. The organisational culture, customer profile, business segment, banking products and technology in place were totally different. All these require adoption of suitable change customers and 10,000 corporate clients of more than 80 branches under one unified anking platform and connecting more than 140 ATMs to the OmanNet National Switch Network were completed by the bank well ahead of its scheduled target. In addition, issue of fresh ATM/Debit cards to ex-OIB customers were achieved in record time. HSBC Bank Oman also made changes in the business process by making a number of lending policy changes to benefit its customers, rolled out complimentary life insurance on personal loans, launched receivables finance besides providing value added services like on-the-ground payments and cash management roposition to strengthen client’s coverage capabilities. (wrww. hsbc. co. om) Change of management style: The bank successfully manages the changes required in technology, business practices and physical infrastructure. However, the biggest challenge for the bank will be integrating the workforce and bringing across a uniform Organisational Culture. Towards this aim and in line with the National Objectives to retain all the 1300 people of both banks, HSBC trained ex-OIB staff to new working culture and banking products of HSBC group. Unlike other challenges, this one will be difficult to uantify and could be gauged only by the success of the merged entity in terms of its market share and financial performance. Conclusions: Though the bank has achieved significant progress in initial challenges like technological and organisational integration, the impact on its business can be gauged only after looking at the financial results of the bank and its market share in 2013 and 2014. However, with a newly expanded team, diverse geographical network and growing customer base, the business opportunities for HSBC Bank Oman are significant. No doubt the merger creates an opportunity for the bank to drive growth n Oman and thereby having a strong presence in the Gulf and demonstrate its commitment.

Difference between Branding and Advertising

Branding is a marketing strategy in which a name, slogan or logo is assigned to a product or a service for the market to recognize and be familiar with them. A good brand name should be; legally protectable, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, easy to recognize, attract attention and make a clear distinction amongst competitors. This process of assigning name aims at increasing the product or service perceived value to the potential customer currently and in future. Companies may create brand variations from the same product so as to produce a product that will fit the desired market and gain the retail shelf space.The rationalization of brands can be done time to time so as to increase production and marketing efficiencies. Advertising is also a marketing tool in which producers of goods and services uses media to communicate and educate the public on the information concerning their product or a service to reach a targeted population. This service is provided freely or charged at fee by organizations that legalized to offer the service. In each country there are rules and regulations that stipulate ways in which advertising is to be done.This includes the timing, placement and the content to be included in the advert. Various forms of media are used to deliver the messages include; print, audio, digital or video depending on the type of audience expect to get the information. Although advertising is necessary for economic growth its increase in public areas has negative effects on the society. Branding and advertising are both strategies that are used by marketing agencies of a product so as to compete effectively with other companies producing similar products.After a product or a service is made, a brand name is designed to it and then an advertising media is selected so as to inform the public of the product and where it can easily be found. Thus branding was as a result of increased varieties of products serving the same purpose and companies had to deve lop uniqueness in their products by giving the names that differentiate them from others. Advertising then is employed to reach the target population by use of billboards, television commercials, radio, newspapers, internet or any other place where audience can easily see or hear.For a product or a service to be marketed globally, there are important factors to be incorporated when branding and advertising. First developing brand name which will be familiar with all potential customers depending on their localities so that they can easily associate the product with the name, making best of use advert and increasing the rate of installing advert locally and in other countries will ensure unification and healthier competition amongst brands from different countries.Communication between countries can be improved through advertising when information concerning a product is done in foreign countries. Cultural and natural heritage exchange between nations can be realize through branding and advertising cultural activities which are practiced in one country but not practiced in another country like visiting museums and parks.All these activities in the long run create a close business relationship amongst the countries over the globe where products and services available in one country are offered in other countries advertising media and business transaction can be exchanged. Thus branding and advertising can be used as agents of globalization in social, cultural, political technological, economical and ecological aspects from one county to another.

Animal Euthanasia

To Kill or Not To Kill In the past few decades, there has been a big uproar regarding the topic of euthanasia in dogs. Euthanasia used to be a term used to end the suffering of a life by putting them in a painless and permanent state of sleep. I believe that today, the term ‘euthanasia’ when referred to dogs has transformed to a word used to justify the mass murder of dogs across the world. Most people will agree that the only time a dog should be put down is when it is sick or suffering from pain. I believe that if a dog is euthanized for any other reason, the person in control is guilty of committing an abominable act.They do not call dogs â€Å"mans’ best friend† for nothing. With proper training, every single dog has the potential of making a good house pet and becoming an important part of an owner’s life. Most dogs that are being euthanized each year are not even suffering from any illnesses and are not aggressive either. They are just unlucky. The reasoning that is given by these shelters committing these vile acts is that there is an overpopulation of dogs in their shelters and not enough homes for all of them so they have no choice.The problem with this picture is the fact that many of these shelters breed dogs for the sole purpose of having them sold. Many of these dogs are being sold for sums well over a thousand dollars. The dogs that they are not able to sell are sent to shelters. These shelters fill up quickly because of these breeders who can’t sell their dogs and can only take what they have room for and can manage which leads to these breeders euthanizing their extra dogs, many times in the convenience of their own backyards.They figure that it costs them a lot less to murder their unsold dogs then the expenses they pay to take care of them while they wait for them to be sold. In the United States, an estimated 4 to 6 million dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. Pete Wedderburn, editor of Small Ani mal, says â€Å"It’s very disappointing that after all the noise that is made about how appalling it is, nothing changes. † Unfortunately, not everyone will agree with the fact that euthanasia amongst dogs should only take place when the dog is suffering from pain or terminally ill.Joy Leney and Jenny Remfy mention in their book Dogs, zoonoses, and public health why dog population management is necessary and very important. In their book they say â€Å"Some people love dogs. Some people hate them. Some dogs are man’s best friends. Others, or sometimes the same ones, are sources of injury, accident, disease and pollution. † (299) Dogs can breed and multiply their numbers very quickly but the breeding is not their fault. It is the fault of the breeder for breeding them in order to sell them.Once they are not sold, they either become stray dogs and usually end up being killed in the future or are sent to be killed right away. I believe that this is very inhu mane. Leney and Remfy continue to speak about the methods used to kill these dogs are beginning to be too costly because of transportation and drugs needed so kill shelters and breeders have come out with cheaper ways to get rid of their extra dogs. These new methods include ovens and gas chambers where they throw in large amounts of dogs at a time to be killed in order to save time and money.It makes me shiver how anyone who is responsible for these mass murders can live with their despicable acts. A simple solution to lower these rates of dogs being euthanized and to take control of the overpopulation of dogs is to alter the majority of dogs. Most shelters and animal organizations neuter dogs for no charge as well as give vaccines needed to prevent diseases from being transmitted. By altering dogs, the rate of dogs reproduced each day will drastically decrease. Each day 10,000 humans are born in the U. S. – and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born.As long as these b irth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. Early age altering of dogs (6-14 weeks) has been practiced for over 25 years in North America. The perceived high cost of altering is not the problem since many shelters will happily do it for free. The problem is the lack of education dog owners have about altering their dogs. If the benefits were understood, more people would be altering their dogs. Euthanasia should be thought upon and observed very carefully before being put to use.It used to be a treatment but is now mostly used as a weapon to kill. . In the Irish Veterinary Journal, Pete Wedderburn believes â€Å"†¦the government ought to proceed with compulsory micro chipping, a license for life and a discounted license fee for neutered pets† (Wedderburn 530). This is one way to really help lower the number of dogs being euthanized. Furthermore, it will be thought upon twice before euthanizing a dog since the dog is now neutered and will not b e able to produce more dogs. Not allowing a dog to reproduce may be a bit cruel but a big step towards lowering the kill rate.Having the dog micro chipped and placed inside a database will also help influence the decision of a shelter or breeder of whether or not to put down a dog. There are numerous pet owners surrendering their dog due to personal reasons and inadequacy in taking responsibility for their dogs. This also adds to the overpopulation of dogs. According to a survey conducted by the American Humane Association, out of the 1000 shelters who responded to the survey, 2. 7 million of 4. 3 million animals (64 percent) are being euthanized. Out of this euthanized number, 56 percent are dogs.Majority of the animals in shelters were being euthanized since there is a standard period of time, ranging from several days to weeks, for unclaimed stray animals. However, there are â€Å"no kill† shelters run by private and animal welfare organizations. This alone is part of the solution to end the overpopulation of dogs. These â€Å"no kill† shelters make it an official policy never to euthanize animals unless it’s for medical reasons. If overcrowding is really an issue, then it may be necessary to send dogs to other shelters instead of murdering them.I am sure there are many animal cruelty prevention organizations that will be willing to take these dogs in and finding them a foster home until they are adopted into a permanent household. This will lower the rate of dogs being killed, give the dog a better life, and be a much more humane thing to do. In the book Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America, the author Nathan J. Winograd writes â€Å"The decision to end an animal’s life is an extremely serious one, and should always be treated as such.No matter how many animals a shelter kills, each and every animal is an individual, and each deserves individual consideration. And finally, to meet the challenge that No Kill entails, shelter leadership needs to get the community excited, to energize people for the task at hand. By working with people, implementing lifesaving programs, and treating each life as precious, a shelter can transform a community. † (Winograd 22-31, 229) The programs Winograd is referring to include free spay/neuter, rescue groups, foster cares, pet retention, medical and behavioral programs, ommunity involvement, volunteers and a compassionate director to control the friendly shelter. Winograd calls this the No Kill Equation. I don’t quite agree with Winograd that this equation is the key solution to lower the rate of dogs euthanized each year. I think that there are much easier and more efficient ways to lower the rates. It will take too long for all community shelters across the country to set up these programs in their communities. The right way to do this is to hire lobbyists to fight for the no kill shelters and animal welfare organiza tions and push the passing of a law against euthanasia on healthy dogs.All dog owners should be taught the benefits of neutering their dogs. The usage of microchips should be implemented by all shelters in order to manage the population of dogs. For every single animal euthanized in a shelter, there is a person outside of that shelter responsible for it. The responsibility to keep shelters from euthanizing animals lies with each of us as pet owners. If we adopt through rescue, choose a good match, spay and neuter, and keep our animals for their lifetimes, the shelters will be near empty, not overfull, and euthanasia can become a tragedy of the past.

Conceptualizing a Business Essay

Strategic planning for the purpose of developing a business is vital. In my opinion, a strong vision, mission, and values make up the foundation that is required to build a successful business. This paper will introduce the business selected in week two and will explain the importance of the selected business’s vision, mission, and values as they correspond in determining a strategic direction. The created vision for this organization will clearly demonstrate the future plans for the business. The guiding principles or values for the selected business considering the topics of culture, social responsibility, and ethics will be defined. Next, an analytical overview of how the vision, mission, and values guide the organization’s strategic direction will be discussed. Finally, an evaluation of how the organization addresses customer needs and critiques how the business achieves competitive advantage will be performed. When selecting a business these planning processes are important and will help define what direction the business is going in for success. The first objective in strategically planning a business is to have a vision. As stated by BusinessDictionary. om, a Vision Statement is: â€Å"An aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. † The vision for the company is to be like Wal-Mart, a one-stop shop. I envision the hair salon to become a unisex salon, spa, and barber shop. The vision is for a person to come in and get his or her hair, nails and skin care, while having the option to purchase professional hair and beauty products at a fair and reasonable price. The vision is to incorporate a boutique where not only can people get pampered but can also buy a nice outfit to complete their look. The motto is, â€Å"We keep you neat from your head to your feet,† and therefore incorporating a boutique will confirm the motto of the business. The vision is to incorporate services that will stand out only in said selected salon and to provide professional caregivers and products to make customers feel as if they are on top of the world relaxing in a cloud of comfort ability. The business selected is a professional hair salon. When considering starting a business, one should ask themselves, â€Å"What is the mission for my business? † The mission of a company is the unique purpose that sets it apart from other companies of its type and identifies the scope of its operations (Pearce, & Robinson, 2009). The mission for the selected hair salon is to supply products and services to customers with exceptional customer service. To create a pleasurable environment with high-level professionals, for desired hair and body care results. Our Motto is, â€Å"We keep you neat from your head to your feet. The chosen business strives to use high quality products with passion and courtesy to all clients. The name for the hair salon will be, â€Å"The Malveaux Hair Experience. † The Malveaux Hair Experience needs guiding principles or values considering the topics of culture, social responsibility, and ethics. It is the responsibility of the salon owner to ensure that all personnel are adequately trained, licensed, and understands each service offered (Fulbright, 2004). It is the salon owner responsibility to be aware of the liabilities of the salon, licensed personnel, clean environment, and clean equipment. The social responsibility of a salon is pondering hair trend, marketing, and clients. The salon should be run with individual morals and values as well as the values of the business. In a salon setting, the professionals must have respect for one another. There has to be a strong trust factor with each other personal items and salon products. The salon has personnel has to consist of a group of team players. Although stylist has their own style of artistry, they must all be on the same professional level. Each employee of the salon must portray positive attitudes and leadership skills. Customers will be greeted with a friendly smile and treated fair and with respect. It is the responsibility of the salon’s team members to create an environment that treats people the way he or she expects to be treated and not subject the business to anything short of this type of behavior. The vision, mission, and values guide the organizations strategic direction. The vision, mission, and values of the company help to forecast the business’s success. As long as the business is following the strategic plan by which the foundation and integrity of the company is built, customers will continue to come and receive services. People will spread the word of good service he or she received while visiting The Malveaux Hair Experience. Good values will help the business grow in areas the business could not imagine. If the employees and manager of the business follow the strategic plan of the company, the company will be successful and profitable. The vision, mission, and values will help all employees involved and will allow the team to be on the same accord. This is a perfect example of how to keep team communication consistent and giving excellent customer service to clients. When employees work toward one common goal, the organization is channeled in the right direction. The mission helps to generate possible and desired opportunities. The organization needs to evaluate how the organization addresses customer needs and critique how he or she achieves competitive advantage. The salon has to evaluate the services and products provided to the customers. Evaluate whether or not the needs are met in accordance to the ethics of the business. The business has to evaluate whether or not it is providing services that other salons are not offering. The business has to evaluate the competition it has and make sure its business providing the best customer service. The business can evaluate repeat customers and if the needs are being met. If a customer tells his or her family and friends about the services or services The Malveaux Hair Experience is providing, the word of mouth referrals will be a good evaluation of how the business is doing. This will also provide a way to analyze whether or not the company is meeting the needs of the customers and meeting or exceeding the competitive advantage. This paper explained the importance of a business’s vision, mission, values, and has determined the strategic direction. When a strategic plan is in place, this helps the business determine what needs to be the main focus. Planning helps the business show leadership and direction. The business has to have some direction to achieve goals set for the business. Working with a team of people who focus on the same goal will allow much success for businesses. Strategic management is the set of decision and actions that result in the formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve a company’s objectives (Pearce, & Robinson, 2009).