The Human Race By Lidia Noemi Aguilar Essay - 1334 Words

We the human race live on a system of chain reactions where people and choices effect our lives. Choices that not only weigh on personal lives but also on the lives around that life. As a good friend of mine has said â€Å"We do not sin in a vacuum, our choices effect everyone around us.† Lidia Noemi Aguilar grew up in a financially unstable home. Her parents choices affected her life even when she no longer lived with them or even around them. Noemi lived in a financially unstable home, learning that as a life style but wanted to change not only for herself but because of her family. Growing up Noemi’s father had a well-paying job as a welder, she says â€Å"At that period of time I do not remember wanting anything†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Noemi has 5 siblings 2 sisters and 3 brothers. At seven years old Noemi’s father was asked to take a job as a pastor in Washington state. Even though they had asked him to take that job, he was paid under half his wage because the church considered him young. He was 30 years old. After that all the kids had to take jobs she was 8 years old working in the field and going to school. Once a month she got about 25 cents of her pay enough for a candy, though most children might complain for more, for Noemi it was exciting and she looked forward to it, she felt like a â€Å"big girl† buying her candy with her own money. She does not know how much she was actually paid for her work in the field. When she was 13 her father had finished his pastoral job in Washington and had another

Good Hair Free Essays

There are three major beliefs that hinder Alice Andrews’s life progression; however one belief hinders it the most in the novel and this is shown in three ways. Alice is young, Black, bourgeois, and in search of everything, as her life unfolds her beliefs and past are challenged. First, Alice maintains the belief that it is important to look the part and not be labeled as low class or impoverished. We will write a custom essay sample on Good Hair or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is relevant because she becomes a prisoner in a world of pretense. Second, Alice believes she should she should hid the truth about where she comes from and lives her life deeply ashamed of her blue collar New Jersey roots. This is relevant because it causes her to lose herself identity. Third, Alice struggles to fit in the upper echelon class she surrounded herself by and Alice Andrews’s belief that it is necessary to look the part and not be labeled as low class hinders her life progression because she becomes a prisoner in a world of pretense. Based on what she believes about social status, it appears that â€Å"good hair† is a standard of beauty and status amongst the upper echelons of the African American social order in Manhattan. There was pressure from society to promote this standard of beauty in the novel. More specifically, social status and beauty standards are doubtless dependent to a certain extent on physical appearance. As Alice struggled to look the part in order to be accepted, it became clear that the standards of beauty had a significant burden on her notion. In society, African Americans continue to struggle with the concept of good hair. I believe that the lack of proper cultural images and the negative social scripts caused by mainstream media play a significant role in the perception of beauty. Another reason why Alice Andrews’ struggle to maintain an image caused her life progression to be hindered is because she became a prisoner in a world of pretense. Since her entire foundation was built on the claim that How to cite Good Hair, Papers

Designing - Implementing and Improving Processes

Question: Write an essay that demonstrates how both Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be used by organisations to facilitate change in their business processes to enhance and sustain their competitive advantage. Answer: In this essay, it has been demonstrated that how an organization can implement Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma method to facilitate change in the business processes so that it can enhance and gain sustainable competitive advantage. As Babarit et al. (2012) stated that, in the last decade business process is changing rapidly, and they are coupling with various disruptive technologies social media, mobile technology, and cloud computing. It has initiated the necessity of business process management. Industry development has made it necessary for companies to change their architecture. According to Antony et al. (2012), the relationship between information technology and business operation is getting highly complicated. On the other hand, with the increase of purchasing power of customers, it has become crucial for an organization to enhance their business operation. As Cheng and Chang (2012) stated that, presently customers are getting more involved with company operations. They scruti nize every access of business such as availability, accessibility and delivery time. Hence, in order to meet customer expectations, it has become mandatory to use strategies such as Six Sigma and benchmarking strategy. In this essay, at first, both methods are discussed. Then it has been found which organizations have actually implemented these strategies to identify business process change. After observing those case studies, an appropriate strategy has been developed to apply one or both of these techniques in a simple organization. As Rolstadas (2012) stated that, Benchmarking is the method to improve performance by recognizing and implying best-demonstrated practices to sales and operation of business. With the help of benchmarking process, managers are able to compare their process and products externally with that of competitors. They also can compare their operations internally with other operations of the organization (Sajjad and Amjad 2012). The major objective of Benchmarking technique is that it helps to find out examples of superior performance and try to understand those factors that drive that performance. After analyzing those practices, a company is able to implement them into the operations and sales of their own organizations (Williams et al. 2012). As Yakovleva et al. (2012) argued that, benchmarking is not about copying strategies of other organization to improve business operation, but it is related to the innovation of enhanced strategies to improve business operations. There are mainly 12 stages related with the appropriate benchmarking procedure. They are such as subject selection, the definition of the process, identification of potential partners, collection of data, determination of gaps, target future performance, communicate, adjustment of goal, implementation and review and calibration (Hong et al. 2012). There are three major costs related with the benchmarking procedure. They are such as visit cost, time cost and benchmarking database cost (Zink 2012). The cost of benchmarking can be reduced by using several internet resources. According to Qayoumi (2012) Lean Six, Sigma is a new methodology of business improvement. It combines both Six Sigma and Lean methodologies. It is the principal aim of Lean process management to reduce waste from business process and focus on customer's expectations. On the other hand, Six Sigma is implemented to cut process variation and enhance process improvements depending on customer's perception of quality (Psychogios et al. 2012). When these two processes are combined, they create a business methodology that can standardize and integrate business process. According to Pamfilie et al. (2012), it has been found that organizations, who have implemented Lean Six Sigma methodology, are able to deliver service and goods with minimal waste and in a cost effective manner. As Pamfilie et al. (2012) stated that lean Six Sigma process has utilized all the phases similar to that of Six Sigma. There are two major aspects on which the Lean Six Sigma process works. They are such as reducing defects depending on critical to quality (CTQ) and Lean's waste elimination. In order to implement benchmarking in an organization, it is required to understand what it actually is. Benchmarking is not superficial visits, which are undertaken to analyze the business performance. As Hong et al. (2012) argued that, it is impossible to gather detail knowledge of an operation after only a short visit. Benchmarking is also not a personal appraisal tool. As Hilton and Sohal (2012) stated that, Benchmarking should focus on organizations rather than individuals associated with it. Organizations also need to understand that, Benchmarking is not a standalone procedure (Hiebeler et al. 2012). It has to be a constant part of improvement operation strategy. The active benchmarking process can be developed within organizations if they ram up their performance frequently to remain competitive in the present business environment. Oil and Gas industry is the prime example of benchmarking implementations. In order to respond to the drastically changing technology, business, an d regulatory demands, most of the oil and gas companies have implemented benchmarking. There are various stages in which benchmarking helps to improve business operations of these companies. They are such as identification of world-class level of performance, determining the drivers of superior performance, determining gaps between world class performance and benchmarking performance recognize best practices in critical business process and build foundation for performance improvement (Habidin et al. 2012). Organizations can apply various types of benchmarking such as internal and external benchmarking and competitive and non-competitive benchmarking (Habidin and Yusof 2012). In order to implement Lean Six Sigma into the business process change, it is required to provide training to all employees. As Gremyr and Fouquet (2012) stated that, a belt-based training has been developed for Lean Six Sigma model, which is similar to that of Six Sigma model. There are four belts comprises in the Lean Six Sigma model. They are such as a yellow belt, green belt, black belt and master black belt (Gnanaraj et al. 2012). For each level, there are some levels of skills are available that describe which Six Sigma tools are required to be implemented in the present situation (Chiarini 2012). For, example yellow belt are given to the employees who have awareness about Lean Six Sigma. In the Greenbelt stage employees are focused on using Lean tools. As (Hilton and Sohal 2012) stated that, in this juncture employees learn how to implement DMAIC and Lean management principles in the business operation. At the black belt level, employees become full-time project leader of lean management. As Gnanaraj et al. (2012) stated that when lean management project leaders become two years experienced, then they become Master of Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma process. Figure 1: Organizational structure for Lean Six Sigma model The Xerox Corporation is the first company that has used the benchmarking technique to enhance its competitiveness during the mid-90s (Zink 2012). The form that time is benchmarking has become an important part of Business performance management of the organization. There are some major factors of improvement revealed under the benchmarking process. They are such as competition, manufacturing cost and quality of product (Habidin and Yusof 2012). It has been found that the average manufacturing cost of the copies companies of Japan is 30-40% less than that of company Xerox (Hong et al. 2012). For this reason, Japanese companies are able to cut down their production. Xerox Corporation also has neglected the potential of new entrants such as Canon, Sevin, and Ricoh, who have grabbed the lower-end market and niche segments. It also has been found that the products of Xerox had over 30,000 defective parts per one million products. It is 30 times more than its competitors (Gnanaraj et al. 2012). It has been found that the company Xerox needs 18% annual productivity growth rate to match up with its Japanese competitors (Yakovleva et al. 2012). In order to improve the condition, the company had initiated 5 stage benchmarking process. These five stages are as planning, analysis, integration, action, and maturity. The company has asked its branch managers to match its stocking policy with the installation orders of customers. It reduces the inventory holding time of the company. It leads to saving of $200 million for the organization (Yakovleva et al. 2012). Successful implementation of benchmarking strategy has increased the number of satisfied customer s, and it also helps to reduce the number of defective parts by 78%. Company 3M has used Lean Six Sigma process in order to provide high quality products and service to its customers. It was launched in the year of 2001 in the company 3M. As Yakovleva et al. (2012) stated that, Lean Six Sigma process provides methodologies, tools and cultural mindset that can help to meet the brand promise of the organization. There are five primary ways in which Lean Six Sigma helps to improve the business operation of the company 3M. The central part of 3M Lean Six Sigma process is a belief that consumers are entitled to get highest quality product from the enterprise. By cutting down root causes of variation from the business process, it helps to improve product quality. As Hong et al. (2012) stated that Lean Six Sigma process helps accelerate and streamline manufacturing process, supply chain and services of the organization to meet the demand. It helps the company to minimize defects and waste for the production process. It aligned innovation with the needs of cu stomers helps the company to develop a right product that can meet the needs of clients. Now Lean Six Sigma process has become a mandatory part of 3M's business operations. Successful implementation of this method has improved sales performance of the company by 20% in the last decade (Yakovleva et al. 2012). There are five stages related with Lean Six Sigma process. They are such as defining, measuring, improve and control. Together they are known as (DMAIC) tools. They help to make production control and enhance the business operation. Figure 2: DMAIC tools used in Lean Six Sigma process On the other hand, LEAN tools help to enhance speed and eliminate waste from the manufacturing process. Figure 3: LEAN tools used in Lean Six Sigma process In this section, it has been discussed how Hewlett-Packard Corporation can implement benchmarking process lean six sigma process in the organization. There are four phases in which HP can perform benchmarking. These stages are like a plan, adapt, collect and analysis. The planning process of the company includes performance benchmarking, process benchmarking and strategic benchmarking. In the next stage, the company needs to gather information. It includes points such as the cost of packaging materials, materials, physical properties like size and total package product weight. A process flow plan for the competitive analysis program has been given below for the company HP. Figure 4: Process flow of competitive analysis program for the company HP The company HP can adopt Lean Six Sigma process and give training to its employees so that they become expert problem solvers. By implementing Lean Six Sigma, the company can improve the current skill level of employees. It also provides them detail understanding about definition, measurement, analysis, improvement, and control methodologies of business operation (Hong et al. 2012). Appropriate application of six sigma model helps HP to produce products and services faster, better and cheaper manner. It helps to remove wastage from the manufacturing process, which helps to increase overall organizational productivity. Appropriate application of Six Sigma model will help the company HP to make an annual savings of $300 million. There is a table given below to measure the applicability of Lean six sigma process in HP. Name of the company Benefits drove due to application of Lean Six Sigma Hewlett Packard Reduction of error during product usage Reduction of overall time for software development Enhancing requirement gathering procedure to reduce rework Reducing the complaint resolution time Reducing appraisal cost per defects Figure 5: Advantages of implementing Lean Six Sigma in HP After analyzing benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma model, it has been found that both of these strategies are helpful to identify the process change within an organization. With the increase of customer expectation and demand from a company, it has become utterly important for the company to implement any one of the strategies for business process improvement. It has been found that company Xerox has successfully implemented the benchmarking process, which enables the company to save more than $200 million. On the other hand, the company 3M has successfully analyzed the Lean Six Sigma model and used it in the organizational process. It has been found that the company HP can successfully use both these models on anyone of them to improve its business performance. Reference list Antony, J., Krishan, N., Cullen, D. and Kumar, M., 2012. Lean Six Sigma for higher education institutions (HEIs) Challenges, barriers, success factors, tools/techniques.International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,61(8), pp.940-948. Babarit, A., Hals, J., Muliawan, M.J., Kurniawan, A., Moan, T. and Krokstad, J., 2012. Numerical benchmarking inbusiness.Business research,41(1), pp.44-63. Cheng, C.Y. and Chang, P.Y., 2012. Implementation of the Lean Six Sigma framework in non-profit organisations: A case study.Total Quality Management Business Excellence,23(3-4), pp.431-447. Chiarini, A., 2012. Risk management and cost reduction using Lean Six Sigma tools.Leadership in Services,25(4), pp.318-330. Gnanaraj, S.M., Devadasan, S.R., Murugesh, R. and Sreenivasa, C.G., 2012. Sensitisation of SMEs towards the implementation of Lean Six Sigmaan initialisation in a cylinder frames manufacturing Indian SME.Production Planning Control,23(8), pp.599-608. Gremyr, I. and Fouquet, J.B., 2012. Design for Six Sigma and lean product development.International Journal of Lean Six Sigma,3(1), pp.45-58. Habidin, N.F. and Yusof, S.M., 2012. Relationship between lean six sigma, environmental management systems, and organizational performance in the Malaysian automotive industry.International Journal of Automotive Technology,13(7), pp.1119-1125. Habidin, N.F., Yusof, S.R.M., Omar, C.M.Z.C., Mohamad, S.I.S., Janudin, S.E. and Omar, B., 2012. Lean six sigma initiative: Business engineering practices and performance in Malaysian automotive industry.IOSR Journal of Engineering,2(7), pp.13-18. Hiebeler, R., Kelly, T. and Ketteman, C., 2012.Best practices: Building your business with customer-focused solutions. Simon and Schuster. Hilton, R.J. and Sohal, A., 2012. A conceptual model for the successful deployment of Lean Six Sigma.International Journal of Quality Reliability Management,29(1), pp.54-70. Hong, P., Hong, S.W., Jungbae Roh, J. and Park, K., 2012. Evolving benchmarking practices: a review for research perspectives.Benchmarking: An International Journal,19(4/5), pp.444-462. Manville, G., Greatbanks, R., Krishnasamy, R. and Parker, D.W., 2012. Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma programmes: a view from middle management.International Journal of Quality Reliability Management,29(1), pp.7-20. Pamfilie, R., Petcu, A.J. and Draghici, M., 2012. The importance of leadership in driving a strategic Lean Six Sigma management.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,58, pp.187-196. Psychogios, A.G., Atanasovski, J. and Tsironis, L.K., 2012. Lean Six Sigma in a service context: a multi-factor application approach in the telecommunications industry.International Journal of Quality Reliability Management,29(1), pp.122-139. Qayoumi, M.H., 2012.Benchmarking and organizational change. The Association of High Education Facilities Officers. Rolstadas, A. ed., 2012.Performance management: A business process benchmarking approach. Springer Science Business Media. Sajjad, F. and Amjad, D.S., 2012. Role of benchmarking in Total Quality Management: case of telecom services sector of Pakistan.Business Management Dynamics,1(8), pp.34-44. Williams, J., Brown, C. and Springer, A., 2012. Overcoming benchmarking reluctance: a literature review.Benchmarking: An International Journal,19(2), pp.255-276. Yakovleva, N., Sarkis, J. and Sloan, T., 2012. Sustainable benchmarking of supply chains: the case of the food industry.International Journal of Production Research,50(5), pp.1297-1317. Zink, K.J., 2012.Total Quality Management as a holistic management concept: the European model for business excellence. Springer Science Business Media.

School UniformsPro Essays - Uniforms, Childrens Clothing

School Uniforms:Pro SCHOOL UNIFORMS In recent years the face of public schools has changed drastically. Our schools were always intended to be a place where the students could go and learn in a safe and secure environment. Unfortunately for us, the times have changed; discipline, safety and security in our public schools have all fallen by the wayside. Today, our children are faced with the growing threat of violence and crime in their classrooms. In aspirations of bringing back the essential requirements for education in the classroom numerous parents, teachers, and school officials have come to conclusion that requiring school uniforms is a clear-cut step in reversing the downward trend of our schools. The majority feel that school uniforms will help expedite the effort to guide our schools back in the right direction. The implementation of school uniforms has the potential to help bring under control the disciplinary problems found in our schools, and it can do so in many ways. It could end the needless violence that occurs from the strong-arm robberies and thefts at our schools. These senseless acts largely occur due to the designer clothing, expensive jewelry, and high cost brand name footwear that are being worn to class. Uniforms can furthermore help deter the display of gang activity in the school. The simple logic behind this is, gangs would not be permitted to wear their gang colors during school because of the uniform regulations. School uniforms could also help deter the trend of cutting class or skipping school. Because if students were outfitted in mandatory school uniforms, they could be easily recognized outside the school grounds during the normal school day. Thereby eliminating the temptation to leave school grounds unless authorized to do so. The increasingly difficult task of school safety could be, without a doubt, greatly enhanced by the use of school uniforms. The increase in school security could be seen instantaneously since the school administration and teachers would be able to identify, by sight, who is and who is not supposed to be permitted on campus. Subsequently by implementing the mandatory wearing of school uniforms, the chances of having intruders wander into school would be significantly diminished. We also have to look at the possible ways school uniforms could improve the students learning environment and also allow students to concentrate on their need for academic success while in school. The requirement of school uniforms contribute to eliminating the apparent student fashion barriers that are present when some students cant meet the expense of keeping up with the Joneses. This could come about because uniforms contribute in eliminating the socioeconomic line found throughout the student population. By doing so, the students would be more fairly judged by their peers and teachers alike on their scholastic abilities and personalities instead of by the designer clothes they wear. They can also help bring an end to the conflict between parent and child as to what is appropriate to wear to school. The opponents of school uniforms will state that school uniforms will restrict an individuals choice of self-expression. They will furthermore imply that school uniforms dont take into account the religious, cultural, or physical differences of the individual. The issues brought up in the oppositions viewpoint may merit some consideration when debating what we need to do concerning the implementation of school uniforms. However, we must ensure their concerns are well founded. Its our duty to look at all the benefits that will be gained from school uniforms and weigh the good they can do so that we can make the choice that will most benefit our students and teachers. We have now been better informed about some of the good points and concerns on the issue of school uniforms. The information has been presented on how school uniforms can help restore the discipline, safety and security thats lacking today in our public schools. The information given has informed you as to how the implementation of school uniforms would help turn our schools back into the places where students go an learn in a safe and secure environment. Now that the facts have been presented it is up to us as decision makers and leaders in the community to do the

Cardiovascular Fitness Essays

Cardiovascular Fitness Essays Cardiovascular Fitness Essay Cardiovascular Fitness Essay Cardiovascular Fitness Definition Cardiovascular fitness is the practice of using and transfer of oxygen to the organs in your body. The daily exercising can help bring oxygen to the body making it more simple to release oxygen. So enhancing your exercising routines is useful. An important thing about cardiovascular fitness is the maximum volume of oxygen you body can retain is called VO2 Max. There are different ways for you to exercise and practice cardiovascular fitness like walking. Cardio fitness can also involve aerobics, but either way fitness can be important in many ways. For example physical fitness can give you a boost in physical and cardiovascular fitness. Being healthy is important because you get to be more active knowing that your fit. Another way it can help is by keeping track of your weight. Obesity has grown in the U. S and just doing simple everyday execises in cardio fitness can maintain your weight and help decrease it. This also can boost someone’s life and can help people’s self-esteem and health problems. Cardio fitness can also help your breathing system which involves your heart and lungs. This is important because people also have harsh issues with their heart and lungs that can lead to serious health problems in their future. Exercising for cardio fitness can stop your breathing system from ever being damaged and can help maintain its healthy ways. All these are explanations on how cardio fitness can help a someone’s life and can make a healthier and stable life. Exercising is an important part for becoming more healthy and fit but doing other things involving health can help like eating a healthy diet and having enough energy to actually do exercises.

The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Email Autoresponder Course

The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Email Autoresponder Course The coveted email list, that perfect tool for building audience growth and traffic–it has the highest conversion rate in the industry (more than social media, even), but how in the heck do you get lots of email addresses in it? You can beg and plead for people to sign up for you list.  You can offer people a free ebookbut theyll have to give you their email list to get it even if they dont want to be on your email list. Or, you could create an email autoresponder course that people gladly give you an email for, and eagerly await the arrival of your emails. Yep. An email autoresponder course can do that. It makes sense for both you and your reader. It actually works. 5 Reasons You Need An Email Autoresponder Course An email autoresponder course is a true workhorse for your blog. It helps establish your expertise, it creates trust, and frankly, its a fantastic exchange between you and your readers. Both of you get what you want. 1. You’ve already created the content. The apprehension for most bloggers, when it comes to finding something to trade for an email address, is that they don’t have the time or know-how to create a comprehensive ebook or report. They feel like they have to create some brand-new, never-before-seen content. An email autoresponder easily makes use of the blog content you’ve already created. Most readers haven’t read everything you’ve written, nor have they read it in sequential order. Your email autoresponder groups related topics together and packages it neatly for the convenience of your readers, delivering it right to them. You don’t have to create new content in order to make this happen. You can use what youve already written for your blog. People dont always like giving an email address for things that shouldnt require them. 2. You’re trading an email for an email. When you ask readers for their email in order to sign up for an autoresponder, it makes sense. You need their email in order to deliver the information, and it’s a transaction that doesn’t have a hint of hucksterism. Downloading an ebook or a report doesn’t require an email, but that’s the trade they have to make in order to get it. Readers aren’t dumb. They know they could get an ebook if you provided a direct link to it. They know you’re after their email. Their email address is your prize. Signing up for an email autoresponder course doesn’t seem like they have to trade anything at all. Its an email course. The only way they can get it delivered to them is to give you an email address. For readers, it feels like youre being pretty generous and giving them some great free stuff without asking for anything in return. Your email course is their prize. Email courses are a fair trade for readers. You need their address to deliver the content.3. Readers sign up understanding that they will be receiving your email. Some readers give you their email to get that report or ebook or infographic and don’t understand that they’ll be added to your regular email list. Perhaps you didn’t make it clear or they are new to how these things work. After all, they just wanted an ebook, not to be added to an email list. Those readers unsubscribe. Sometimes they love to tell you why they unsubscribed in no uncertain terms. Sometimes they report you as spam. This reaction is rare with an email autoresponder course. Even though they’ll be added to your general email list, they still expect to get emails from you and are more receptive to all of the email you send. They get used to seeing your emails come in through your email autoresponder course; your other emails arriving to their inbox are no big deal. Readers who signed up for an email course understand; they asked you to email your content to them, and they don’t mind when you do. 4. Readers get to know you gradually, and you aren’t forgotten. How many times have you gone and grabbed an ebook and then not read it? I have an impressive library of free ebooks I’ve downloaded and never read. An email autoresponder is a bit different. It’s not the full deluge, its not a 42-page PDF. It’s your best information, fed out in a steady drip, like an information IV. And, even better, it arrives in their inbox, the place they spend most of their day anyway. You meet them on their turf on their time. An email autoresponder keeps you on your reader’s mind. An ebook is downloaded once, and is a one-time connection. An email autoresponder is repetitive, and your content can become a habit. Your emails constantly remind your readers that you still exist, and they grow comfortable hearing your voice in your emails. 5. Email is good place to mention your latest projects. Maybe you finally have something to promote. An online learning course, or a webinar. When it comes to selling or promotion, single solitary landing pages are powerful, particularly if you understand the art of creating copy and graphics that get readers to do what you want them to do on your landing pages.  But maybe you’re not up to landing pages just yet, though you still have something to promote. Where do you do the promotion at? Start with the email autoresponder course. Get some motion going with that first; youll eventually get to the landing page. Dont be shy or feel like your email autoresponder ought to stay purely instructional.  You have given your readers great content, and you earned their attention. They don’t mind if you mention something you think they would be interested in. They dont mind if you mention that webinar or other product in your email to them. Readers appreciate you telling them about products or services theyd be interested in. Dont beChoosing The Topic For Your Email Autoresponder Course Here you are, convinced that you ought to have an email autoresponder course. What should it be about? As usual, Im going to tell you to know your audience and youre going to sigh in frustration. Before you walk away in exasperation, though, read on. You can find out who your target audience is. You can find out what your readers want you to tell them more about. 1. Look at your analytics. Your analytics can tell you specific information about why people visit your site. Here are three things to look at in your analytics that give you an idea about what is bringing people to your site, and what they want to hear about from you: Search terms: You can find out the specific terms people are using to find your site, which will help you decide what the most popular topics for your readers are. However, Google searches are increasingly not providing the specific search terms  that they used to, going with â€Å"not provided† instead, so this ability may decrease in the future (at least with the Google search engine). You can subsidize this lack of information from Google Analytics a little bit with your  Google Webmaster Tools dashboard. Simply go to Search Traffic Search Queries and get a list of the terms people are using to find your site. Google Webmaster Tools can tell you what search terms bring people to your site. High-traffic posts:  High-traffic posts are the posts that people are reading, and indicate a topic they are interested in. You could create an email autoresponder out of these specific posts, or use them as a guide on what people want to read about.  An added bonus, once you know which posts get the traffic, is that you can promote your email autoresponder in those actual blog posts and target a specific audience. For example, we found a few obscenely high-traffic posts on the Todaymade blog, and created a pop-up that encouraged people to sign up for an ebook that was related to the topic of the post. These were posts that had high bounce rates, meaning people came in, read what they wanted, and left. We figured we might as well offer them related content, since they were going to leave anyway. (Click here to see what I mean.) Imagine if you did that for your email autoresponder course?  If you know people are going to those posts, why not offer them useful related content? Theyre already primed for the topic. Nuthin to lose. Choose a topic for your email autoresponder that your readers already like, not one you like. Topical trends: See if there is a trend across these posts that make for a singular topic. Unrelated blog posts might still have a connection. For example, on my personal blog, two high-traffic posts have to deal with customer service issues with Dell and Verizon. They are unrelated except that they indicate people are looking for help in dealing with large corporations when they are frustrated. That trend could be a topic. What topics are people reading that are related on your blog? 2. Look at your social media. Your social media isnt just for sharing and conversation. Its also a not-so-sneaky way to learn about what your readers are doing with your content. It is a kind of â€Å"unofficial† source of analytics, if you pay attention. Shares. Which of your blog posts get shared the most on social media? This is a good indicator of not only what your followers are interested in, but what they are willing to share with their own followers. Even basic stats are useful, such as what bit.ly provides. Bit.ly, Buffer, and other apps that you use with your social media give you some nice stats that show you which of your posts get the clicks and shares. Those posts have topics and headlines people liked. Hashtags. Pay attention to the popular hashtags you’re seeing used by your social media followers. They are telling you what topics are the most important to your readers. Plus, you can capitalize on these hashtags when it comes time to tell the world about your email autoresponder. Conversations. You’ve had conversations with people on social media. What are they talking about? What are they repeatedly asking you about? Wouldn’t you love to have an email autoresponder handy so the next time you’re asked, you can mention that it is available?  Places like Inbound or Quora are a great place to find out what people want to know about. Just read the conversations they have with each other. Answer their questions, and tell them about your email autoresponder.  Social media isn’t as mathematical as pure analytics, but it is a good measurement of what people say they are interested in. 3. Look at your blog comments. Which posts raised the most discussion and passion? What questions were asked? An active comments section is a great way to find out which blog post topic piqued your reader’s interest. If youre lucky, readers may even be so kind as to ask you questions in their comment that you can answer as part of your email autoresponder course, or that you can use as an opportunity later to refer them to your email autoresponder course. Ive had blog readers email me directly and ask if I could write specific posts to answer specific questions they had. As you can imagine, Im more than happy to do so. Wouldnt it be great to say I just so happen to have an email course thatll walk you right through that. 4. Ask your readers. Consider asking your readers directly if there is a topic they’d like to know more about. Use a survey, or write a blog post. Bloggers spend a lot of time water witching for post topics and forget that they can just come right out and ask what readers want to read.  Don’t be afraid to ask your audience specifically what they want to know, and how they want you to cover it. Wonder what your blog readers want? Why not just ask them directly?Creating The Content For Your Email Autoresponder Course Your email autoresponder can be made up of content youve already published on your blog, or new content that you write specifically for the course (or, a mix of both). 1. Use currently published blog posts. Using blog posts that are currently on your blog is quite common, and it is a good way to get started and build your first email autoresponder course. The barrier to entry is easy, because you already have done most of the work. Evergreen posts. Select blog posts that are â€Å"evergreen†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthat is, their content will age well. Blog posts with detailed â€Å"how-to† instructions on using social networks are notorious for aging poorly. Just ask me about the very long and detailed series I wrote on the new Facebook Timeline. I think it was outdated in two weeks. If youre going to use posts already published, try to find ones that will remain viable over a long period of time. Its easy to forget whats in your email course if you fall into the set-it-and-forget-it mode. Make sure your email autoresponder uses content that is relevant over a long-term. Popular posts. We’ve mentioned using analytics, social shares, and comment activity on popular posts to determine what your overall topic should be. Go ahead and use these same popular posts for your actual email autoresponder contentbut with one extra consideration: don’t forget your archives. You likely have some great posts that used to hit the top ten that maybe don’t anymore because they are a few months or more old. Do they still contain good content? You bet they do. Include them. You be the judge. You know which posts you are proud to have written (and those which inspire hidden, dark shame). Select those posts that have excellent content that your readers might not have found yet. One nice thing about using content that already exists out on the wilds of your blog is that you have the option to either include the full blog post in the body of your email, or give readers a snippet and a link back to the original post. Snippets and a link drive traffic, to be sure. 2. Creating brand new content. Sometimes you might want to create brand new content for your email autoresponder. There are several reasons this is a good idea. Rework old copy and make it new. You may have a great post that you wish you could use, but the content is outdated and in much need of repair. There are several blog posts Ive written that Ive reworked and slapped a new headline on. The foundation and frame was good; they just needed a bit of remodeling.  It is not unusual for us to use a looming new email autoresponder course as the impetus to get us to write several new blog posts for our blog. The topic or idea might be relevant, but the available blog posts at our disposal need rework. Rework an old blog post, publish it fresh on your blog for readers, and set it up for your email autoresponder course recipients. Introductions and prefaces. Creating new copy to put each blog post into context helps make individual posts seem to be part of a cohesive whole. The new copy helps frame the blog post so that it fits with the rest. For some of our email courses, weve written a preface, a summation of the previous lesson, and even a bit of a teaser that hints at what the next lesson will bring. That little bit of extra fresh and new copy helps your email autoresponder course feel less like youre just spitting out old blog posts. Create entirely new content. Perhaps you’re using published blog posts, but your email autoresponder is missing a crucial lesson and you need to write brand new content so that the course achieves its goal. Maybe youve not even begun your blog yet, and are building your autoresponder first. Or, you just want to write the course from scratch from the ground up. Some bloggers dont like creating entirely new content. For one thing, its a lot of work. But mainly, you miss out on the SEO benefit because that content is not on your site. These things are all true, but do consider this: exclusivity. When you create new content that isn’t available anywhere else, you can â€Å"sell† your email autoresponder course on the promise that there is exclusive new content not available anywhere else. Readers need to sign up if they want it. So, whether or not youll publish all newly created content on your blog depends on if you are using exclusivity as part of the enticement.

Choose two foreign policy failures and two foreign policy successes Essay

Choose two foreign policy failures and two foreign policy successes that the US has experienced since 1898 - Essay Example President Carter initiated talks with the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp Davis in 1978. The peace treaty entailed Israel withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsula and US troops would monitor to ensure there would be no more attacks. In addition, Israel would initiate peace negotiations with Palestine. The treaty led to Israel withdrawing completely from the Sinai gulf. Also, The US government helped Israel to rebuild the Negev Desert Israel military base. Menachem and Anwar won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize (Smith, 2014). Secondly, the Marshall Plan (1948-1951) entailed the USA extending aid worth 13$ billion to Western Europe. This treaty was a success because it propelled Western Europe’s growth of capital stock. Exchange rates stabilised, and prices were restored since the aid reduced massive shortages of resources. The Marshal Plan played a role in ensuring the stability and prosperity of Western Europe and also the formation of the current Eastern Europe (Block, 1977). Firstly, The American Foreign policies largely support and protect Israel. As a result, USA has tolerated Israel’s destruction and killing of Palestinians in a bid to maintain amicable relationships with Israel. . The tolerance is an indication of foreign policy failure since it does not uphold the main aim of foreign policies which is to uphold peace in all nations. Also, moral and ethical decay is evident leading to lack of trust between USA and Arab nations. The American Veto power in the UN has prevented the UN from charging Israel with the war crimes despite the 2,142 deaths of Palestinian nationals (Smith, 2014). USA has also gone against the general foreign policies by breaking international laws on Guantanamo MO bay and treatment of prisoners. The violation of human rights has tainted the image of USA as well as its credibility. America being at the forefront of the war

War on Drug Crimes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

War on Drug Crimes - Essay Example They are mostly the cause of many social problems we are facing these days in our society such as; rape, assault, reckless driving est. These drugs are mostly illegal drugs and when used often can lead to very server addiction, which is very difficult to overcome. Example of such drugs include cocaine, heroine est. The problem of wiping out these drugs from the system has become a global concern since trades in these drugs are now done even across. Many governments therefore are trying so hard to structure out very effective ways of preventing their countries from being used as trading grounds or safe passes by people trading in these illegal drugs since it poses a great to their country. These drugs have very negative effects both on individuals and the society and the society at large. These effects include addiction on the part of the individual. As mentioned earlier on, these drugs have very addictive potentials. Therefore when one takes these drugs two or three times, it is possible for that person to become addicted to them. Addictions to these drugs cause a lot of harm to the human body. Once people get addicted to these drugs, they will risk anything; either their education, job est. in other to get these drugs to take.

English Mamet Miller Essay Example for Free

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Short-story Paper -- essays research papers

SHORT STORY PAPER 'Compare/contrast Faulkner's 'Dry September' with 'A rose for Emily' in terms of writing style and character presentation.'; What is going to be analyzed in this paper are the two short stories by W. Faulkner 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Dry September'. Basically, what is to be performed is a comparison/contrast analysis in terms of the writing style and character presentation. More specifically, I will provide first the information from the story 'A Rose for Emily', concerning writing style and character presentation, and following is going to be the same analysis for the other story 'Dry September'. After the necessary data are provided, there is going to be a comparison/contrast of these data, by also citing passages from the two stories, for making them more understandable. The similarities and differences that exist in the two stories are substantial. Before, the analysis on the stories takes place there are some general points that have to be mentioned that concern other elements of fiction that are as well important. To begin with, the town name that is used in both stories is the same and that is 'Jefferson'. Also both stories are taking place in the old South. And finally, in both of them the main character is a woman, Miss Emily Grierson and Miss Minnie Cooper respectively. The first story that is going to be analyzed is 'A Rose for Emily', and more specifically the analysis is divided in two parts, first I am concerned with the writing style and second with the character presentation. To begin with I have to say that this story is one that keeps the readers' interest undiminished. It has a complex plot and many questions arise when reading through it. Basically what is creating this is the lack of chronological order in the evolution of the facts that are presented. Things become more clear when one places them in the right order. Since the story is taking place in the old South, the choice and use of words indicts us to that region. Furthermore, what is also noticed here is that there are many descriptions(descriptive language) used in the story; 'It was a big, squarish frame house that … an eyesore among eyesores';(431-2). These help to understand more about the surrounding environment and about the appearance, 'They rose when she entered-a sma ll fat woman in black … while the visitors stated their errand';... ... story the descriptions about characters are referring to Emily a lot, and to other people that were close to her like the servant and H. Barron. In 'A Rose for Emily';, I saw that the reader is more like adduced to Emily's actions and emotions, while on the other story the reader has to deal with other people's actions and feelings. Added to this, I have also to say that two big differences concerning the main characters in that Emily's complex personality-in relation with her father and loved one is projected more, while on the other story we have more on Minnie's environment and relationships with other people. Summing up, throughout the analysis of the two stories by W. Faulkner, I spotted many similarities and differences, concerning the two elements of fiction, the writing style and the characters' presentation. Overall, the two stories are really interesting with a strange plot. Faulkner maintains in both stories, the strange feeling of an almost horror stories. He shows the profound wickedness that penetrates the various characters in both of the stories. Bizarre characters, outlandish settings, but more or less the same feelings to the reader, created by William Faulkner.

Adr in an Era of Globalisation: an Indian Perspective

In a country with a population in excess of a billion, and plagued by an underfunded court structure full of corrupt and ineffecient officers, we are looking at decades of stagnation, a backlog of cases in excess of 29 million, across the state-level courts, the twenty-one high courts and the supreme court. According to Global Corruption Report 2007: Corruption in Judicial Systems, Indians shelled out an estimated $600 billion as bribes to the judiciary, which is higher than the bribes paid out in any other sector in the court. This long gestation period of litigation has resulted in a large scale loss of confidence in the judiciary, with a growing number of people opting to stay away from court. Enter alternate dispute resolution. It is this plethora of people who are prime targets of an alternate dispute mechanism. The prime time solution to the snail's pace discharge of cases. The main selling point of arbitration is the speedy and cheap resolution of disputes outside of a courtroom. While arbitration is a product of a private agreement, once an arbitration award is rendered, the prevailing party can seek to have that award confirmed by the courts, and, having done so, can invoke the coercive power of the state to enforce it in the same manner as it could a court judgment. Initially received with skepticism by the courts in various countries, arbitration is now being embraced as an effective form of alternate dispute resolution. As a result of the burgeoning international trade and an explosion in the foreign direct investment numbers in the country, arbitration and other forms of alternate dispute resolution are becoming more and more indispensable. One of the major problems with foreign litigation is that foreign judgments are subject to several layers of appellate review, whereas, foreign awards are much easier to enforce in different sovereign states. Arbitration is particularly successful in fields like construction, where a certain amount of expertise is required while resolving disputes, of which there is paucity in the courts. Arbitrators are chosen from the same industry, and are generally required to resolve disputes based on fact rather than legal issues. Most companies prefer such a business approach to resolution of disputes, rather than a legal approach. Arbitration in India was first governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1940, which was later replace by the 1996 Act. The 1996 Act was designed primarily to implement the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and create a pro-arbitration legal regime in India. This Act was largely aimed at subduing the loopholes which allowed for excessive judicial intervention in the 1940 Act. Some of the features of judicial review The words in Section 30 of the 1940 Act read â€Å"shall not be set aside† took away the jurisdiction of the courts to set aside an award except on one or more of the grounds specified in the section. Amended in 1996, however, the section re-numbered section 34 reads â€Å"An award may be set aside only if†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Hence, the court has no jurisdiction to set aside an award on any other grounds. This amendment was brought with an intention to reduce the scope of judicial review to allow for a minimum level of court intervention. In R. S. Avtar Singh & Co. v. N. P. C. C. Ltd. , the court commented on the nature and extent of the court’s jurisdiction: It is a well settled principle of law that the award of the arbitrator who is a chosen judge of facts and of law between the parties cannot be set aside unless an error is apparent on the face of the award or it can be inferred from the award that the arbitrator has misconducted himself or the proceedings or that he has not applied his mind to the material facts. Hence, the court is not sitting in appeal on the award, nor can it re-examine the material which was adduced before the arbitrator. The court cannot examine the correctness of the award on merits nor it is obligatory for the arbitrator to give detailed reasons. Unless the court comes to the conclusion that the award is preposterous, it cannot set aside nor substitute its own decision in place of the arbitrator. In short, the arbitrator is the final judge of facts and law, and the arbitral award is not open to challenge on the ground that the arbitrator has reached a wrong conclusion or failed to appreciate the facts. Section 31 (3) of the new Act of 1996 states that an arbitral award shall state the reasons upon which it is based, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, or the award is agreed on the terms enumerated under Section 30. This was reiterated by the court in the case of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board v. Bridge Tunnel Construction Co.. The rationale behind this order of the court is to ensure that the arbitrator acts capriciously, and to give the parties assurance that the grounds for the course of action chosen by him and reasonable and just. At the same time, however, to ensure the finality of the award, reasonable of reasons given by an arbitrator cannot be challenged on merits. Why judicial review? The main purpose of arbitrator’s is to try to decide disputes correctly on the basis of the applicable law, and subsequently, explain the rationale for their decision. The need for a provision for judicial review in the field of arbitration is born out of the state’s concern to maintain the integrity of the arbitral process, and maintain a balance between party autonomy and the laws of the land. Judicial review is primarily intended to guard against arbitrariness of awards, and to ensure that the law of the land is followed within the state’s jurisdiction. No doubt judicial intervention is a requisite in the field of arbitration which lacks a certain decisional law in the matter. However, the issue to be addressed is to what extent, and an attempt is to be made to define the scope of this judicial intervention. To what extent can court’s come forward and substitute their judgment for the arbitral award? Parties who are dissatisfied with arbitration awards often call upon the courts for review. Procedurally, review is sought in an action to modify the award or set it aside; by way of defense, in a proceeding brought to enforce the arbitrator's decision; or, by way of replication, in an action where the dissatisfied party has sued on his original claim and the satisfied party has pleaded the award. One of the major problems with the 1996 Act, is that a person aggrieved by an arbitral award has to start right from the District court in order to hallenge an award. Additionally, in two recent Supreme Court decisions, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation v. SAW Pipes and SBP v. Patel Engineering, the scope of judicial review has been widened by interpreting anything contrary to â€Å"public policy† as being â€Å"patently illegal†, and since any award which contravenes Indian statutory provisions is patently illegal, it is also contrary to public policy, and hence, subject to the j udicial review of courts. Generally speaking, arbitral awards are not subject to appeal. However, in most countries, including India, there are provisions to set aside an award in extreme cases. Judicial review of foreign arbitral awards generally falls into two categories. First, the reviewing court inquires whether requirements of natural justice were observed in the arbitration proceeding and whether the arbitration agreement is valid under the applicable law. Failing so, the arbitral award will be denied recognition or enforcement on the grounds that the fundamental requirements of natural justice or legality have not been met. Subsequently, the court inquires into the merits of the award, that is, whether the arbitral body has committed an error in rendering the award. The question of judicial review, however, is a two-headed coin. On the one hand, limiting the scope of judicial review reaffirms the roots of arbitration, that is efficient and speedy resolution of disputes. Conversely, however, widening the scope of judicial review defeats the very concept of finality of an arbitral award, and hence, moving back to square one of the legal court system. Why not? The way in which the proceedings under the Act are conducted and without an exception challenged in courts has made lawyers laugh and legal philosophers weep. Experience shows and law reports bear testimony that the proceedings under the Act have become highly technical accompanied by unending prolixity at every stage providing a legal trap to the unwary. An informal forum chosen by the parties for expeditious disposal of their disputes has by the decisions of the courts been clothed with â€Å"Legalese† of unforeseen omplexity. To the critics of judicial review of arbitral proceedings, the likelihood and to an extent, inevitability of judicial review serves as a serious deterrent to individuals and companies seeking arbitration as a solution to commercial disputes. A certain school of thought views arbitration as a mere dress rehearsal for subsequent litigation, and disregards judicial review as a mere interference to the finality of the arbitral award. India is a co untry growing in leaps and bounds, with the coming of globalization. Being a country looking to attract more foreign investment, developing a fool-proof, cost-efficient and speedy legal system is vital. When a foreign company explores the prospects of investing in India, they factor in the possible legal costs, and the opportunity to settle disputes through arbitration quickly and cheaply is an attractive selling point. However, with increasing judicial intervention, and the inevitability of ending up in court, hassle-free dispute resolution is no longer a pro on their list of pro’s and con’s. Hence, the 1996 Act was passed with the objective to minimize the supervisory role of the courts in the arbitral process. The very epitome of minimal judicial intervention is contained in Section 5 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which reads: â€Å"Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no judicial authority is to intervene except as provided in the Act† Section 34 of the Act imposes certain restrictions on the right of the court to set aside an arbitral award, and the limited grounds on which the award can be challenged have been enumerated. The five grounds upon which an award can be set aside as per Section 34 (2) (a) are: -Incapacity of parties -Non-existence or invalidity of arbitration agreement -Exceeding jurisdiction -Non-compliance of due process -Composition of arbitral tribunal As per Section 34 (2) (b), an arbitral award may also be set aside by the court on it’s own initiative if the subject matter of the dispute is not arbitrable or the impugned award is in conflict with the public policy of India. Public policy, however, has not been defined anywhere in the Act. Borrowing the definition of public policy from Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872: â€Å"The consideration or object of an agreement is lawful, unless – it is forbidden by law; or is of such nature that, if permitted, it would defeat the provisions of any law; or is fraudulent; or involves or implies injury to the person or property of another; or the court regards it as immoral, or opposed to public policy. † The court, over the years, has subscribed to varying conceptions of public policy, swinging between the narrow view and the broader view. In Gherulal Parakh v. Mahadeodas Maiya, the court favoured the narrower view, and commented that: â€Å"†¦though the heads are not closed and though theoretically it may be permissible to evolve a new head under exceptional circumstances of a changing world, it is admissible in the interest of stability of society not to make any attempt to discover new heads in these days. † With respect to public policy in the field of arbitration, the court held in Renusagar Power Co. Ltd. v. General Electric Co. , that in order to attract the bar of public policy the enforcement of the award must invoke something more than the violation of the law of India. It was held that the enforcement of a foreign award would be refused on the ground that it is contrary to public policy if such enforcement would be contrary to: -Fundamental policy of Indian law -The interest of India -Justice or morality The court in recent times, however, has subscribed to the broader view of public policy, choosing to widen the scope of judicial review. A landmark judgment in this respect is Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. v. SAW Pipes Ltd.. The crux of the case was that the arbitral tribunal had failed to take into account Section 73 and 74 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. The major issue, however, that it dealt with was whether the Court would have jurisdiction under Section 34 of the 1996 Act to set aside an award passed by the Arbitral Tribunal which is patently illegal or in contravention of the provisions of the Act, or any substantive law governing the parties, or is against the terms of the contract. The judgment of the court in this case, not only negated the purpose of the 1996 Act, but also widened the scope of judicial review beyond the realms provided for in the 1940 Act as well. It was held that an award is opposed to â€Å"public policy† under the same heads laid down in Renusagar Power, but also if it is: -Patently illegal -So unfair and unreasonable that it shocks the conscience of the court Another important judgment of the Supreme Court in 2005 was SBP & Co. v. Patel Engineering, which sanctioned further intervention in the judicial process. The case dealt with the appointment of an arbitrator by the Chief Justice, and the contention was that the Chief Justice could adjudicate on contentious preliminary issues such as the existence of a valid arbitration agreement. The court agreed, while holding that the Chief Justice’s findings would be final and binding on the arbitration tribunal. This judgment makes a mockery of the principle of Kompetenz Kompetenz, which is the power of an arbitral tribunal to determine its own jurisdiction, enshrined in Section 16 of the 1996 Act. This opens up a Pandora’s box of opportunity for parties to sabotage the appointment process of arbitrators and make spurious arguments simply to delay the arbitration proceedings. Looking Ahead It is easy to forget the purpose of arbitration and get carried away with the nuances of the law. Therefore, in an attempt to move forward, it is important to incorporate the very aspect of finality and amicable resolution in the contract itself. Of course the most apparent solution at the face of it is to close all doors to review of the award by incorporating a clause for the same in the contract. However, this can only be done at the risk of receiving an award not in line with the principles of natural justice. On the legislature’s part, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2003, currently pending before the Parliament, proposes to introduce a new section 34A, which would allow an award to be set aside â€Å"where there is an error apparent on the face of the arbitration award giving rise to a substantial question of law†. This narrows the scope for review laid down by the SAW Pipes ruling, but it still affords losing parties an opportunity to approach courts in an attempt to second – guess arbitral tribunals, very similar to the position during the applicability of the 1940 Act. An interesting avenue to be explored in the future, particularly in the case of contracts involving large sums of money, is a system of contemporary and concurrent dispute resolution, involving the establishment of Dispute Review Boards (DRBs). This system has been adopted by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Maharashtra Sewerage Board and Delhi Metro in recent times. A Dispute Review Board basically consists of three experienced, respected and impartial reviewers. It is constituted before the commencement of the contract, and regular inspections are carried out to ensure smooth functioning of the contract and ensure good working conditions. This serves to familiarize the reviewers with the job process and the basic environment as well, so that in case a dispute arises, a well-informed decision can be made. In such a case, a hearing is convened where the reviewer’s hear arguments of both sides and after deliberation submit a non-binding recommendation to the contractors.

Americans with a Better Cause (Abc), a Nonprofit Organization Essay

According with what we learned so far and the book, there are 4 sources of American law. The U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of the various states. Statutory law—including laws passed by Congress, state legislatures, or local governing bodies. Regulations created by administrative agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration. And finally, case law and common law doctrines. In the case of a federal statute conflicting with the United States Constitution then the Constitution will take priority as it has throughout history of the U.S. Supreme Court. If a federal law is in direct conflict with a state statute, where the â€Å"supremacy clause† is valid, such as interstate commerce for example, then the federal law will be superior. However, if the federal law is NOT one that the federal government has exclusive control over, then the state constitution will control unless the federal government can show there is government need that is greater, as in the case of a national emergency, for example. The U.S. Constitution will always have priority if any law is in violation of it regardless of what its source. If a state constitution does not violate the U.S. Constitution of federal law then it is supreme within the state’s borders, thus in both cases the U.S.Constitution will always prevail. Hence in the case above the DOJ enforcing the constitutional laws trumps the ABC suit conflicting with state law. The U.S. Constitution will always trump any federal statute but it is irrelevant if a federal statute conflicts with a state constitution due to the supremacy clause. US Constitution Art VI, Clause 2 â€Å"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.† Therefore, in settling the constitutional question would, if upheld, eventually by the U.S.Supreme Court if necessary, end the case. But, if not upheld or thrown our of court, then it would have to go to the state court and this might set up another Constitutional challenge, involving again, taking it to the U.S.Supreme Court again.

Marketing and Product Essays

Marketing and Product Essays Marketing and Product Essay Marketing and Product Essay The traditional way of viewing the components of marketing is via the four PS: 1. Product. Goods and services (creating offerings). 2. Promotion. Communication. 3. Place. Getting the product toa point at which the customer can purchase it (delivering). 4. Price. The monetary amount charged for the product (exchange). Introduced in the early 1950s, the four Ps were called the marketing mix, meaning that a marketing plan is a mix of these four components. If the four Ps are the same as creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging, ou might be wondering why there was a change. The answer is that they are not exactly the same. Product, price, place, and promotion are nouns. As such, these words fail to capture all the activities of marketing. For example, exchanging requires mechanisms for a transaction, which consist of more than simply a price or place. Exchanging requires, among other things, the transfer of ownership. For example, when you buy a car, you sign documents that transfer the cars title from the seller to you. Thats part of the exchange process. Even the term product, which seems pretty obvious, is limited. Does the product include services that come with your new car purchase (such as free maintenance for a certain period of time on some models)? Or does the product mean only the car itself? Finally, none of the four Ps describes particularly well what marketing people do. However, one of the goals of this book is to focus on exactly what it is that marketing professionals do. Value Value is at the center of everything marketing does (Figure 1 . 1). What does value mean?

Analyzing Jack Londons White Fang English Literature Essay

Analyzing Jack Londons White Fang English Literature Essay Jack London was an American author who wrote quite a few books. The main focus of this paper will be on White Fang, one of his more popular books. Jack London’s White Fang exhibits his naturalist way of thinking, when discussing how the environment and natural world around him is able to raise society and exhibit the deeper truths. Throughout the book there are many references to naturalism with the use of symbols and metaphors. He also uses survival of the fittest and romanticism as major themes. Jack London uses the theme of Naturalism all through the book of white fang. Naturalists were people who view life strictly from a scientific point of view. In turn this means that Jack London thought that man and other creatures were molded by their genetics and what they were around or where they lived. The environmental theme is indicated at the start of White Fang as London vibrantly describes the landscape, ironically combining a foreboding hostility with an ominous sorrow. Jac k London wrote this book with biological as well as social determination. London insists that although Beauty Smith was â€Å"a monstrosity the blame of it lay elsewhere. He was not responsible (GradeSaver Editors)†. White Fang’s heredity is carefully defined as three fourths wolf and one fourth dog leading up to the fight within him between his sophisticated impulses and his untamed ones. London is also careful to stick to traditional facts of a White Fang’s life cycle in his early years. The nature of life was another major theme in white fang and London seemed inattentive in it. Many 19th-century readers and thinkers had this theme on their minds. In 1859, Charles Darwin pressed on ideas that came to be known as â€Å"survival of the fittest†. About a half-century later, London published this novel, which may be read as a â€Å"taking to task† of such â€Å"social Darwinism.†(Novelguide editors) The change that takes place in White Fang a t Weedon Scott’s start shows that love is the greatest power of all. With Darwin’s ideas in mind, Jack London wrote many books, the one I’m referring to is white fang. Natural selection is embodied by white fang. From the opening he is the strongest, the only one to survive the famine. His strength and intelligence make him alpha dog in the Indian camp. While defending Judge Scott, White Fang takes three bullets but is able to survive(GradeSaver Editors). He learns how to scrap with the other dogs, he learns to befriend new masters, and, finally, he learns what love is and is tamed by Weedon Scott. If White Fang explores the meaning of life, then it must also explore the meaning of civilization. It does so through the character of Beauty Smith. Beauty Smith stands as an quarrel against the distortions of Darwinism, the validation of the weak and powerless utilization at the hands of the strong and powerful; and an attempt to free individuals from the responsibil ity to exercise their own will by an appeal to a fixed destiny. Smith is the product of harsh experiences. Like White Fang, his clay has been roughly shaped. Even so, Smith has had and most probably still has choice about how to respond to his environment with a choice, for instance, whether or not to justify his existence by harming men and beasts less powerful than he. White Fang, in order to survive, does not. This marks the biggest contrast between the two characters. It also elevates the novels overarching likeness on the fight of life, however, for even as Smith is wrongly exercising his power, White Fang is rightly exercising his to continue to live: â€Å"He had too great vitality. His clutch on life was too strong† to continue to resist Smith (GradeSaver Editors). Ironically, he shows power through compliance. Thus, if Smith was a civilized man, he would know that he should treat White Fang better.

The Binding and Control of the Female Form within the Masculine Gaze Essay

The Binding and Control of the Female Form within the Masculine Gaze - Essay Example Through Georgia O’Keefe, however, the association of the female form at its most intimate when it is revealed through the aspects of nature allows for a sense of desire to be viewed without overtones of violence or degradation. As the discussion turns to the public sphere, the idea of the female in the work place, the concept of domination becomes more acutely visible, the vulnerability of the nude replaced by the idea of male domination over female office workers whose existence is dependent upon their beauty and sexual appeal. Within the span between the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, the vulnerability of the female form turned from the willingness to accept those chains to the tension of patriarchal subjugation in the public sphere. The female nude has been a subject for art for centuries. The nude form reveals human beings at their most vulnerable. One of the best examples of this type of vulnerability can be seen in the sculpture titled The Dying Gaul (Figure 1 ). In order to understand the human belief in the idea of the nude it is interesting to examine this expressive piece of sculpture from the Hellenistic period. While the original does not exist, antiquity has saved the Roman copy of this piece in order to give to posterity an example of the human view of nudity as it relates to vulnerability. The warrior is nude in order to humiliate him and his homeland, unclothed to denote his weakness without weapons or armor on the field of battle (Perry, 1882). His death is not complete; he lives in the state between life and death as he leans against his hand contemplating the wound that will take his life. He is vulnerable to all things at this point, his strength waning as his body is without protection. In looking at this nude, the viewer can begin to see how the female nude can be understood in relationship to her environment. Figure 1 They Dying Gaul (Ancient Encyclopedia History, 2012) The female nude, on the other hand, is in a conflict ed state for the viewer. The female nude has the power of her sexuality to move those who view her. Being nude leaves the female in a state of vulnerability, an essential violence on the fringes of how she is viewed. The nude and the romanticized idea of rape are never far from one another as she is represented in a form that evokes fear and sometimes anger. Anger can be found through the fear that her sexuality can motivate, manipulate, and make men violate their own principles in order to get near her in that state. It was, after all, the desire for a woman that launched a thousand ships against the city of Troy. The female nude is in a state of vulnerability, but she also has power and creates a conflict upon the viewer. This element of vulnerability and the conflict of sexual power that is held by women has been a resource for artistic creation throughout history. In the history of American art, however, the female nude has been a resource from which to identify the changing rol es of the female gender as it has been reflected through

Experiential Accounting Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Secularisation in Contemporary Ireland

Secularisation in Contemporary Ireland This study will investigate whether, and in what ways secularisation is occurring in contemporary Ireland. Theories of secularisation, and arguments against the process, abound, and this is a hotly debated topic. How, and in what ways might secularisation be said to be taking place within a given society? This study will attempt to make a contribution to this debateby looking at the situation in Ireland. Attention will also be paidhowever, to what has happened in Britain as much of the researchconcerning secularisation has taken place in that context. It will makesome comparisons between Ireland and the situation in Britain and otherEuropean countries to demonstrate the unique place of religion in Irishsociety. The study will seek to understand: †¢Ã‚  What processes might signify whether secularization is taking place? †¢Ã‚  Whether similarly observed processes might be said to signify that secularization is taking place in Ireland †¢Ã‚  Whether Contemporary Ireland could be said to be a secular society or as Brewer (2005) contends, a post-Christian society. †¢Ã‚  Whether, and in what ways religion may be said to have a unique position in Irish society. The study will draw on statistical and documentary data, along withmedia reports to ascertain whether, and in what ways, secularization istaking place. The study will look at the relationship between religionand the state in the republic of Ireland and also in Northern Ireland.It will also look at the education system and the phenomenon ofinter-religious marriage. In this way the study treats existingdocumentation as primary data by using it together in a distinctivefashion. Structure The study will begin with theories of secularization and a literaturereview which will look at the process in Britain and in Europe andcontrast this with the situation in Ireland to demonstrate in what waysIreland may differ from other industrialized societies and how this mayaffect whether and in what ways secularization could be said to betaking place. Following the literature review the methodologicalapproach to the study will be outlined and attention will be paid toreflexivity in the research process. There will be an analysis of thefindings of the research and finally a conclusion that will establishwhether the research question has fulfilled its aims. Religion is common to almost all cultures. Religious traditions andtheir teachings are, it might be argued, the result of three things,faith, theology, and culture. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1966) describes religion thus: 1. A system of symbols which acts to 2. Establish powerful, pervasive,and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by 3. Formulatingconceptions of a general order of existence and 4. Clothing theseconceptions with such an aura of factuality that 5. The moods andmotivations seem uniquely realistic (Geertz, 1966:4). Religion has many different aspects from personal beliefs aboutspirituality, to institutional structures like schools and hospitals,to the influence of religious bodies over legislation Until theEnlightenment the teachings of religion were rarely questioned becausethey were regarded as direct truth from God. Modernity, with its implicit understanding of the absolute powers of reason, called intoquestion the traditional understandings of theological truth claims anddrastically reduced the cultural influence of theology and religion. The contemporary term ‘secularisation’ has come to represent thedeclining influence of religion in society. The word is contextual inthat it arises from the western tradition and is part of the history ofthe church.It was first used in 1648   to refer to the transfer of landsunder church control to lay political control. The term secular is alsoused to specify that which is inferior to the realm of the sacred. Itwas later used in the context of the priest being allowed to dispensewith his vows, in the Middle Ages the distinction between religious andsecular priests referred to those who worked within a religious orderand those who worked among the laity. From the 1830s onwards the death of religion due to the rise of thescientific age was proclaimed by confident atheists. Comte inparticular decreed that the fiction that was theology would die and be replaced by the truth of science. This viewwas largely endorsed by Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Freud, all of whomwere convinced that the forces of the modern age heralded the birth ofa secular one. Auguste Comte is regarded as the founder of sociology.He believed that with the rise of science religion would, eventually, die out. Weber also thought that religion would loseits significance through the growth of capitalism and the influence ofurbanisation and rising technology. The world would become desacralisedand there would be less reliance on magic and religion. Meaning would be found rationally. Throughout the twentieth century it had been widely assumed that the decline of religion and religious belief was an irreversible process. Sociologists are keen to stress that secularisation is a natural process rather than a polemic againstreligion (which secularism is), some would also argue thatsecularisation is not an ideology (an imposed system of ideas). It is simply a process which has been observed over the last two   or three hundred years. Seen from this vantage point secularisation is largely the result of two things, the increasing complexity of modern society andits compartmentalisation into different areas, for example, politics,education and the law, and religion ceasing to provide cohesion for allareas of human life. Wilson (1966) says that the complexity of thisprocess is characterised by a wide variety of innovations which haveled to a structural change in society. He cites the following;scientific advance and the development of technology, changing patternsof wor k and increasing industrialisation, the rise of individuality,and education characterised by science rather than religion andtradition. Bruce and Wallis (1992) class secularization as the ‘diminishingsocial significance of religion’, directly brought about by threestrands of modernization: ‘social differentiation’, ‘societalization’and ‘rationalization’.   By social differentiation, they mean theprocess by which ‘specialised institutions’ take the place of religiousones; for example, in Britain the provision of education and welfare isnow the responsibility of a secular government, not the church.   Socialdifferentiation also includes the fragmentation of society into distinct social groups basedon differing life experiences, for example a distinction between socialclasses. Bruce allows however that the significance of religion is lesslikely to decline if it can find some social role, other than thecommunication of beliefs, within the wider society. In Ireland for example, the fact that religion has long been a source of contentionhas given it anot her social role. Societalization refers to the disappearance of small-scale communities and their replacement by the idea of ‘society’, largely due toincreasing industrialization and urbanization.   Rationalization refersto changes in the way people think; the rise of science and technologyhas removed uncertainty and the need for faith and has provided rational explanations for questions which in the past were considered the domain of religion.   The combined effect of theseprocesses is the decline in the social position of religion. McLeod(1992) maintains that the concepts of differentiation andrationalization are not particularly helpful when trying to understandthe place of religion in a particular society as cultural practicesdiffer widely. Berger (1970) believes that urbanisation and modernisation result insocial fragmentation and this leads to a plurality of cultural andrelgious groups. The monopoly previously held by one group comes to anend. We can see that this has happened, whether or not we subscribe tothe secularisation thesis. Secularisation is a problematic concept however, while Wilson (1982) and Bruce (1996)maintain that the forces of modernity heralded a new secularized age,other theorists differ. The view that modernization inevitably leads tosecularization is often challenged. Martin (1978) contends that inorder to make sense of the process of religion in industrialized societies attention must be paid to the specific cultural andhistorical patterns that pertain in a specific society. In NorthernIreland for example, religion has remained in the public arena as asource of dispute that is connected to issues of national identity.What happens in Ireland is quite different to what has happened inBritain since the Second World War. The Changing Face of Religion in Britain The religious landscape of Britain was significantly different at the close of World War2 than it is now, at the dawn of the twenty first century. In the yearsimmediately preceding the war and on into the late 1940s and 50s themajority of British people still had some form of contact with theChurch (often through their children attending Sunday School, orthrough membership of Scouts, Guides and the like) and many still claimed to hold a belief in God and in the basic teachings of Christianity. They would also have been exposed to explicitly Christian teaching in schools. The General Picture and its Effects in Ireland The growing importance of the ecumenical movement meant a change indenominational attitudes. Mainstream Christianity was endorsed in partby the 1944 Education Act. The Act required that the school day begin with anassembly and act of worship and that religious instruction should beaccording to an agreed syllabus and should be given to all pupils(Parsons, 1993). The Act did not make provisions for other faith traditions, but neither did it specify the form of worship or instruction. The ongoing effect of the Act was to weaken the hold of mainstream Christianity on British society, although this was not considered atthe time the Act was passed. It was felt that non-denominational worship and teaching would make sensewhen co-related with more specific Church teaching that it assumed children would have (Parsons, 1993).   However this assumption proved to be unfounded. Theway in which education has been affected in Ireland is ratherdifferent. In some areas amendment to the education system haveresulted in a reiteration of   Catholic religious beliefs to thedetriment of the Protestant minority. The Picture in Ireland Secularisation has affected the whole ofEurope and surveys undertaken in the 1980s and 90a   via the EuropenaValues systems survey indicated that many young people show little ifany recognition of religious symbols. In Ireland the situation israther different. Although seculaisation may be seen to be having aneffect religion has always had a prominent place in Irish life andpolitics. In Ireland the survey showed that there was a growing lack of confidence in the church and that for the first time a generation who were not connected to the church was emerging. Irelandis quite different from both Britain and the rest of Europe. While in Britain and the rest of Europe the process of secularization has been taking place for the last 300 years, Bishop Bill Murphy maintains that in Ireland it has onlybeen observable for the last 30 years.   In the republic of Irelandthere has, historically been a much closer connection between Churchand state. The refusal of the state to confront the Church iscontributing to the international problem of the unresolved question of those who have been sexually abused by clergy. Doyle (2005) writes poignantly on this matter. Their voice is stifled, their complaint against the church is relegatedto the wings. This is precisely what the Church has sought to doelsewhere, including America, though with much less success and at far greater financial cost. (Doyle, 2005 no p. no.).   The place of education, and particularly compulsory religious educationis a highly controversial subject in sectarian Ireland. From thenineteenth century the education system in Ireland has been split alongsectarian lines and in the last thirty years this has been an area ofmajor concern for some analysts (Darby, 1976). Bowen (1983) maintains that since independence the minority ofProtestants (in the 1991 census only 3% fell into this category) hasfallen further and that this is largely a result of inter-religiousmarriage. In 1996 a study was undertaken to establish the number ofinter-religious marriages in Ireland (Sexton and O’Leary, 1996).Ireland has witnessed a growth in inter-religious marriages (Bowen,1983). Jack White, a Protestant wrote of inter-religious marriage that:   no single cause contributes so much to the continuing division in Irish life and the embitterment of inter-church relations; in any circle of Protestants this will be advanced to justify segregation in education and social activities’(White, 1975: 129). The Research Question This study looks at the process of secularization in contemporary Ireland. It draws comparisons between what has happened in Britain andwhat is happening in Ireland. The argument of this study is that theIrish context is quite unique and secularization may not be occurringin the way that sociologists understand it, i.e. the removal ofreligion from the public to the private sphere. In Ireland theconnection between Church and state and between religion and politicsmeans that religion is constantly in the public sphere and thus thesituation is quite different. This difference has led Brewer (2005) toview Ireland in terms of a post-Christian society rather than in termsof secularization. The use of the term post-Christian originated in the1960s in Britain where the pace of social and religious change and thecontention of many theorists that Britain was a secular society ledsome theologians to speak of the death of God and a post-Christian era.The term was again taken up in the 1960s by feminist theologian MaryDaly who called on women to leave the Churches and to participate in apost-Christian spirituality. Methodology This study will investigate the above question through a literature based survey. It will look especially at : †¢Ã‚  Inter-religious marriage †¢Ã‚  The education system †¢Ã‚  Whether the situation in Ireland could be said to be unique in that religion in Ireland still occupies a very public place. Due to costs and time constraints the research will consist of theexamination and analysis of existing documentation, statistics, andmedia reports. Theoretical concerns are: †¢Ã‚  Whether, and in what ways, increasing industrialization and modernization influences the process of secularization in Ireland. †¢Ã‚  How this process manifests and may be connected to any perceptions of the decline of religious authority in Ireland. †¢Ã‚  Whether what is emerging could be called secularization, or as Brewer(2005) maintains might be better thought of as post-Christian The major areas of analysis are through the relationship betweenChurch and state in the republic of Ireland and how this impacts on, oris impacted by, inter-religious marriage and the education system.Questions arising from this are: †¢Ã‚  How far might the relationship between Church and state be said toimply that the Irish situation is unique due to religion’s place in thepublic sphere. †¢Ã‚  Does a growth in inter-religious marriage loosen religious ties anddoes it indicate a decline in adherence to religious authority? †¢Ã‚  Has integrated education been successful and how does this affect the teaching of   religious values and doctrines? †¢Ã‚  How far could there be said to be a move towards a multi-faithorientation in the teaching of religious studies, and what effectsmight this have on the Irish situation? †¢Ã‚  Might Ireland be said to be a post-Christian rather than a secular society. †¢Ã‚   The research will be largely literature based, using existing studies and analyzing them in terms of the above questions. This same process of analysiswill also be applied to media reports and to statistical findings. Onesource of data will be the 1991 census which indicated that 84% of theIrish population still claimed regular church attendance. In addition the study will look at any decline inreligious practices as defined by Wilson 1982. How does societydistance itself from religious traditions? Theorists argue that it canbe seen in the   decline in the number of church baptisms and weddings,and the fact that church officials have less financial recognition. InBritain religious festivals have become increasingly secularised and sohave beliefs with numbers of ministers saying that they no longerbelieve in the virgin birth, the incarnation or the resurrection. Wilson   is of the opinion that there are at least three levels ofanalysis that need addressing if we are to assess the impact ofsecularisation they are: religious practice, religious organisation andreligious belief. While these three levels are dealt with separatelyfor the purpose of this research, they are connected empirically.People are, more often than not born into a religious tradition in thesame way that they are born into a particular culture and these thingswill affect a person’s worldview, their moral values, and their senseof themselves. This study will also ask how far Wilson’s levels ofanalysis could be said to be evident in Ireland and thus relevant tothe Irish situation. The distinctiveness of this study is the bringingtogether of a number of different aspects of the Irish situation andcomparing them (for example attitudes to marriage and to abortion) towhat has happened in Britain. Does going to Church really mean that a person believes in God, or canyou do this without attending religious ceremonies. It certainly seemsthat the power and influence of the Church and perhaps other organisedreligions is declining in Britain if the statistics are anything to goby.   Sunday Schools were another recruiting ground for the Church they were extremely popular in the late nineteenthcentury and remained so until the middle of the twentieth century. Thenumber of attendees at Sunday School is now only ten percent of thenumber in 1900 (Bruce, 1995). The next question is how has thisinfluenced the institutions themselves. At the same time This involves an examination of the extent to which religiousorganisations are involved in the day to day secular order in anysociety and to what extent they are able to exert control over thatsociety. Signs of the growth of secularisation include the following,declining membership of the established Churches, declining numbers ofpeople who are willing to make religion their vocation, and the closingof churches, which in Britain are either sold off or left and allowed to fall into terminal dereliction. Historically, senior clergy were recruited from the same universities,schools and families as the government.   In Britain Church of EnglandBishops were recruited largely from the peerage or landed gentry in1860. This practice has decreased and nowadays clergy often come fromthe poorer strata of society. The Protestant Church was once considereda good living but its wealth has declined and so ordinands usually haveconcerns other than material welfare, it has become   a low statusoccupation. In Britain there was a marked decline in the number ofChurch of England ordinands between 1900 and 1988 (Bruce, 1995). Thisstarted happening much later in Ireland, and at a much slower pace. With the apparent decline in church membership and the marked declinein the number of both Church of England and Roman Catholic ordinandsthe requirement for church buildings has diminished. This has largelyaffected the Anglican Church and in some cases other Protestant denominations. The trend for closingchurches is less marked in the Roman Catholic Church. It could be thatthe Catholics were not so prolific in their church building as theAnglicans were or that they have greater funding capacity formaintaining large buildings. Nevertheless it is not uncommon nowadays,in Britain particularly, to see Church buildings sold off and used aspubs or as retail outlets or warehouses. This has not yet been the case inIreland, particularly the Irish republic, where much of the land andbuildings are still the property of the Catholic church and remainsunder the church’s control. In Britain, between 1970 and 1998 1250 church buildings were closedor sold off. Religion itself appears to be changing, becomingsecularised, it is less likely to provide a lead for people and moreinclined to follow trends than to set them (Browne, 1998).Browne (1998)shows that while the influence of the Anglican Church has declined, andmay continue to do so, the Church still remains important in a numberof ways. †¢Ã‚  Church of England Bishops have seats in the House of Lords. (The Lords Spiritual). †¢Ã‚  Themonarch must be a member of the Church of England, is crowned by theArchbishop of Canterbury, and since the time of Henry V111 has beenhead of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith. †¢Ã‚  The Church of England remains the official or established Church in England. †¢Ã‚  The Church of England is extremely wealthy, with investment funds ofan estimated  £3 billion in 1991, and it is one of the largestlandowners in the country. †¢Ã‚  Since the 1944 Education Act, all schools have been legally obligedto hold a religious ceremony each day, and the 1988 Education ReformAct reaffirmed and strengthened the requirements to hold assemblies ofa broadly Christian nature and teach Christian beliefs for at least 51percent of the time allocated to religion in schools. This still leaves us with the question of whether religious belief is affected by the growth in secularisation. How much influence does religion have in the areas of personalbelief and practice, and how does one measure people’s beliefs?Sociologists identify this type of measuring as a problem and many admit that there is no clear picture ofwhether, and to what extent, secularisation has occurred in this area.One of the problems stems from the different understandings people haveof such a belief. For numbers of people it may be agreement to all ofthe teachings of Christianity, for others a general belief in God andfor some it might be a spiritual awareness and a sense of meaning andpurpose to life. In Ireland, religious belief is closely allied topolitical matters and people are far more inclined to state that theybelong to a particular tradition, in this way they define not onlytheir religion, but also their political and national loyalties. In Britain one way of estimating trends in religious believing is tolook at the rise in the number of New Religious movements, the rise ofthe Bla ck led Churches and the rise in the number of House Churches.There has also been a considerable growth in other forms of evangelicalChristianity and most people in Britain still claim a belief in God.. Bruce (1995) argues that the face of organised religion over the lasttwo hundred years has changed from a dominant Church model to thegrowth of the sect and the denomination (Bruce, 1995). This has been brought about by the riseof cultural pluralism and the reluctance of governments to use force toget people into a state Church. Although the churches were slow torelinquish their privileges the role of the Anglican, Scottish, and Welsh Churches have changed considerable sincethe 19th century, in Britain for example in 1828 a person who heldpublic office was, at least officially, a member of the Anglican faith. Non-members could not holdpublic office. Catholics were not allowed the vote before 1829 (Bruce,1995) and it was 1850 before the Church was allowed to restore its hierarchy. Until 1836 marriagescould only be celebrated by an Anglican minister, irrespective of thefaith of the marriage partners and until 1854 non-Anglicans were not allowed to study at Oxford andCambridge, and unti 1871 all teaching posts at these institutions wereheld by Anglicans. Women were not allowed to be members of thesecolleges before the late 1890s. With each of these changes the Churchof England lost some of its power in society. Bruce (1995) holds that Protestantism by its very nature increases fragmentation inreligion and by extension in society. The rise of the ecumenicalmovement also played a part in the Church’s loss of power. Fragmentation undermines the Church, it has state support for areligious monopoly and this has gradually been removed, this also hasfunding implications, until the nineteenth century the Churches werefunded by the land they owned and by public taxation, this was largelyfinished by the start of the twentieth century. Secondly its personnelbecome increasingly influenced by the psychology of an increasinglypluralist culture. It is not so easy to believe that a religion isright in every detail when other worldviews are becoming more prominent. At the same time the Church retains an illusion of strength from the continuation of communal occasions such as baptisms, weddings and funerals. However, the growth in competition means that this illusion becomes increasingly difficult to maintain (Bruce, 1995). The rise inthe number of denominations eventually increases tolerance anddecreases certainty. The problems that different denominations beenmight be said to constitute a significant feature of the situation in Ireland, particularly as it pertains to education. In Northern Ireland, beginning in the 1980s integrated systems ofeducation were introduced and this caused a deal of controversy centredaround conflicting interests (Dunn, 1989). The Belfast Agreement of1998 set out guidelines for the promotion of religious and culturaltolerance and it is thought by some commentators that this was directly linked to the Good Friday Agreement (Morgan and Fraser, 1999).Since the Good Friday Agreement some thinkers have argued that there isan increasing secularization in Ireland and that liberals in the Northmay be considering replicating the multi-faith educational model thatoperates in the rest of Britain. This has led to vigorous debate anddiscussion of the differences between Britain and Ireland (Barnes,2004). Although numbers of commentators contend that there is a growingsecularization, in Ireland in the 1991 census 84% claimed to attendchurch at least once a week. In a survey undertaken in the south ofIreland Greil (1998) found the following listed in the table on thenext page. Table One weekly mass attendance in the Republic of Ireland 1981-1998 Year  %  Comments  Source 1998  94%  older people  Survey of Diocese of Cashel and Emly published in Irish Times 1998  92%  People over 65  MRBI poll for Irish Times 1981  87%  all people  European Values Survey 1998  87%  Connacht/Ulster people  MRBI poll for Irish Times 1990  85%  all people  European Values Survey 1988/89  82%  all people  Mac Grà ©il (1996) 1998  66%  all people  MRBI poll for Irish Times 1998  60%  People 18-34  Survey of Diocese of Cashel and Emly published in Irish Times 1998  60%  all people  RTE Prime Time poll 1998  50%  Dubliners  MRBI poll for Irish Times 1998  41%  18-24 yr olds  MRBI poll for Irish Times 1990  40%  Urban unemployed  European Values Survey While this does show a rapid decline, particularly among the young,for Father Greil the fact that only one percent of his sample professedno religion at all, still leaves him optimistic about the place of religion in Irish life. Greil is of the opinion that there is a lack of community feeling in the cities and that the rapid growth in urbanization is a significant factor in the decline in church attendance.    While there does seem to be a decline in participation in organisedreligion in both contemporary Britain and in Ireland, many people stillclaim to hold orthodox beliefs and a moral judgement based on thetenets of Christianity. At the same time they do not have so muchattraction to institutional forms of religions (Bruce, 1995 and Browne,1998). The nineteen sixties saw rapid social and religious change. In theyears after the war, the rise of the welfare state, the growth in thenumber of Catholic Grammar Schools and the resulting rise in the numberof Catholics to enter Higher Education spurred a transformation inBritish Catholicism. This eventually led, in the 1960s to the holdingof the Second Vatican Council and the resultant Catholic alignment withthe ecumenical movement. By the end of the decade most people owned a television and programmessuch as That was the Week That Was took an irreverent view of religion.This, along with the sixties sexual revolution, brought changingattitudes towards the Church and to people’s attitudes to religiousauthority. The media was highly influential on the Church’s publicimage and became far more critical of outdated morality.   What went onin America had a greater influence on what happened in Britain. Thesuccess of the civil rights movement in the mid-nineteen sixties openedthe way for second-wave feminism and the call for women’s rights. Theabortion reform act of 1967 meant that women had more rights over their own body and the employmentdiscrimination act of the mid-nineteen seventies meant that other thanin the Church employers could not discriminate on the basis of sex. Thelate 1960s also saw the burgeoning of feminist theologies. These havedeveloped and changed over the last thirty years a nd have become achallenge to patriarchal systems across the world. Divorce law reformsaw a huge increase in the number of divorces and traditionalists sawthis as a threat to the institute of marriage and the structure of thefamily. The rise of the Gay Christian movement and the aids threatsfrom the 1980s onward meant an overall rethinking and debate onpersonal morality within the chuches (Parsons, 1993). As stated earlier Brewer (2005) contends that what is happening inIreland is very different to what has happened in Britain and ratherthan the secularisation of Ireland what we are seeing is the move to apost-Christian society. What Brewer means by this is: the declining ability of Christian religion to affect and shapeordinary believers’ lives, a growing liberalisation in what ordinaryChristians believe and in the certainty with which they believe it, andthe appearance of other world faiths, still admittedly very much asminority religions, but a presence that nonetheless challenges theChristian hegemony. Religious diversity and pluralism now has to caterfor differences in practice and belief between the world religions notjust Catholic and Protestant (Brewer, 2005:7).   Sociologists use divorce statistics, abortion and homosexuality figuresto sustain the argument that secularisation is on the increase. Theyuse this evidence to suggest that these factors are a result of thedeclining importance of religious thinking and teaching in people’slives. In Britain many people have a pick and mix attitude towards religious believing and more than half of all marriages are nowcivil or non-religious ceremonies.From the 1950s onward Ireland haswitnessed an increasing industrialization through urbanization and agrowth in the number of people employed in both the industrial, ratherthan the agricultural sector, and in higher education. Religion hasbeen a key factor in Ireland and, since the 1970s, an increasing causeof conflict between Catholic and Protestant groups (O’Leary, 2001).Brewer (2005) has argued that the conflict has not been about religionas such but about identity and political loyalty. Religion is not the substance of this conflict; no one seriouslyargues that the conflict has been about religion. But religion is itsform, the way in which it is experienced. The contestation has beenabout the legitimacy of the state and access to its scarce resources,but this took on a religious form because ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’were the