The Impact Of The Salem Witch Trials - 1263 Words

The myths surrounding the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 spike the interest of historians and non-academics alike. These trials have been the concern of different historical articles, novels, plays, films, and even religious debates. One issue that is certain, is the hysteria of the community overwhelmed Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. A particular primary source, â€Å"Accounts of the Salem Witchcraft Trials (1693)† by Cotton Mather, suggests that the actions brought forth provided proof of satanic work. Even though Mather was a contemporary observer, Mather fails to analyze the importance of the real contemporary issues displayed during the time of the trials. Furthermore, historian Kyle Koehler, takes a different approach in his review,†¦show more content†¦Therefore, backfiring on anyone in the lower class as many ended up a victim. By examining the end to witchcraft, a reader can further see the importance of socioeconomic status during the trials. The afflic ted girls discovered their role in putting an end to the allegations by accusing the highest members of Puritan society. Here a reader realizes it was not just mostly women who were accused, but mostly women of low socioeconomic status. Once women began denouncing the most prestigious members, others began speaking out and fighting in favor of the accused. For example, colonial economic and political leaders started objecting the accusations once â€Å"the bewitched had charged the wives of critics Moody, Hale, and Dane, as well as several members of Boston’s ruling elite.† On the off-chance that people never blamed the elite members of society who knows how long the Salem Witch Trials would have kept going. Religious beliefs undoubtedly played an important role in New England during the 17th century. For example, the Puritans believed in a moral code and felt it was the devils work when something went wrong such as misfortunes, failed crops, and/or theft. Susanna Ma rtin became a victim of such allegations; such as, John Atkinson’s testifies that Susanna Martin bewitched the cow her son exchanged because upon bringing the cow home, the cow broke free and escaped. Atkinson believed the only cause of thisShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of The Salem Witch Trials2018 Words   |  9 Pages The Salem Witch Hunt Introduction The Salem Witch Trials is a term that is used to refer to a series of different witchcraft cases that were taken to the local magistrates of a region known as Salem that happened to be considered as a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th Century (Roach and Rosenthal 925). Additionally, it is important to note that the Salem Witch Trials have been considered to be amongst some of the darkest periods in the American trial history. The reason why the trailsRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials And Its Impact On American Society1881 Words   |  8 PagesDid you know that the Salem witch trials resulted in the execution of only twenty people? Most people believe that hundreds of people were executed during the Salem witch trials, which is often a very common thought but in actuality only twenty people (mostly women) were executed. The Salem witch trials was a huge part of American history, they are important to remember because they are probably a crucial turning point for America, because before the trials religion and superstition were very importantRead MoreIs Witch Trails A Thing Of The Past?923 Words   |  4 Pages Being that the Salem Witch Trails date back to over three hundred years, many people believe witch trails are a thing of the past. However, modern day witch trails are still extremely prevalent. Modern-day witch-hunts are reported to still be happening in Africa, the Pacific, Latin America, even in the U.S. and Europe. According to a New York Times article, within the last fifteen years alone, more than 2,000 Indians have been killed after being accused of witchcraft. Almost all of the accused haveRead MoreSalem Witch Trials : A Public Choice Perspective843 Words   |  4 PagesThe Salem witch trials are a memorable period in time that had a huge impact on American society. Many people are still questioning this historical event and what lead to the people of Salem developing that particular mentality. Benjamin Ray’s, â€Å"Salem wi tch trials† grants primary source historical documents to support the allegations of the witch trials in that period. On the other hand, Franklin and Len’s â€Å"The allocation of death in the Salem witch trials: A public choice perspective† focuses primarilyRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials1635 Words   |  7 Pagesovercome was the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692 and 1693 in colonial Massachusetts. â€Å"More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft – the Devil’s magic – and 20 were executed† as detailed by Jess Blumberg on the web article A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials (Blumberg 2007). The trials had a major impact on the American society and the effects could be seen in colonial America as well as today. Why did the injustice of the Salam Witch Trials occur and whyRead MoreSalem Witch Trials1478 Words   |  6 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of trials in which twenty-four people were killed after being accused of practicing witchcraft. These trials were caused by different social climates of the area including the very strong lack of a governor, the split between Salem Village and Salem Town, and the strict puritan lifestyle during the time period. Tituba, the black slave, was a foreigner from Barbados. Her role in society was to take care of Mr. Parris’s family. Tituba’s situation contributedRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism666 Words   |  3 Pagesthe Salem witch trials and red scare, are often overlooked. These events symbolize times of despair, weakness, and slander, to which the essence of the events is nearly identical. The Salem witch trials can be closely compared to McCarthyism and the red scare, based on the similarities of suspicion, accusation, and prosecution. Despite the difference of roughly two hundred and sixty years, the outcome of such uprisings has remained unchanged. The morals discovered during the Salem witch trials failedRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials Essay1349 Words   |  6 PagesBefore 1692, the supernatural was a part of people’s everyday normal life. This is so as people strongly believed that Satan was present and active on earth. Men and women in Salem Village believed that all the misfortunes that befell them were the work of the devil. For example, when things like infant death, crop failures or friction among the congregation occurred, people were quick to blame the supernatural. This concept first emerged in Europe around the fifteenth century and then spread toRead MoreEssay on Did Religion Impact American History?561 Words   |  3 Pagescountries across the world. Many historians believe America was formed on the basis of religion. In this research paper, I will illustrate the impact religion had on American History to 1877. Specifically, it will examine: 1) Major events impacting traditional religious beliefs in America, 2) Religious disputes which impacted land development, and 3) The impact religion had on slavery. Religion is closely tied to events like the Protestant Reformation and other religious movements. The ProtestantRead MoreThe Mccarthy Hearings Vs The Salem Witch Trials Essay1011 Words   |  5 PagesHearings vs The Salem Witch Trials The McCarthy Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials both transformed the thought process of Americans today. Despite being described as completely unique and distinguished events, they both are eerily similar in appearance. The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are both described as witch hunts with several similarities in the way the inspired fear but they have several differences in the motivation and the end of each event. The Salem Witch Trials is know for its

Five Pages of Group Development Free Essays

Describe the five stages of group development briefly and explain how relationships form in groups. There is no doubt that great communication is important, and this in no different when working in groups. Stage one of the five stages of group development is basically the getting to know each member of the group. We will write a custom essay sample on Five Pages of Group Development or any similar topic only for you Order Now Getting to know the group allows each member to talk about one another’s strengths, weaknesses, and what is expected from the group. During this stage it is also important to choose a leader, set up an agenda and create deadlines to reach the end goal. Stage two is for brainstorming and creative thinking. The challenging part of stage two is to make sure everyone is heard, everyone’s feelings are expressed productively, and creativity is fostered among the team. Stage three has some challenging characteristics in this stage the skills, energy, and individual spirit of each team member is coordinated into the work being done so far. Stage four should be seen as the point where the team becomes independent and removes the leader. This allows the group to openly communicate each members work to make sure the project is on task and any problems are quickly addressed as not to delay the assignment. Stage five is communicating the end and adjourning the group. This final stage allows for each group member to talk about the entire process, while communicating if the member’s expectations were met. Communication within a group should be open and honest; if a break-down occurs changes must me made. When a group’s communication fails, the task will also fail. Role of communication in group development works like in the human body. Communication role starts the moment when the group member get together very first time in forming phase, be that face to face interaction or in virtual word. Through interaction each member assesses other member behavior patterns, personality, professionalism, there willing to work with the group and group’s goal. Communication plays essential part in building perception as well. It helps in making correct decisions, and creating positive perception in the eyes of group members. When group member enters in storming phases, which is also called as Confrontive or Power phase, the challenges of this group stage is that every member should get to express their feelings productively , to avoid any misunderstanding and fraction between them. Member interact with each other and their thoughts, views and ideas clashes, in this having proper communication skills are very significant, as it will help the group to stay on track and understand each other’s opinion in cohesive, understanding and open environment. In case of virtual team, proper communication establish clear expectations, resolving conflict, decision making and to build trust. Virtual teams work best when there is a strong communication structure in the organization or area which clarifies shared expectations and people are willingly communicate openly and honestly. Communication is the key to resolve conflict, between group members to come to consensus, and it also helps members move positively from conflicts towards commitment to the group. Lack of good communication between members can result in arising more personal conflicts which can take group to a different track and group goal can suffer. In norming stage also called as constructive stage, communication help members to sharing ideas, feelings and giving feedback to each other and soliciting feedback, exploring actions and sharing information related to the task. It also support in fostering diversity in the group and taking the most use of it, by understanding and encouraging members to contribute in discussion and present their understandings. Group members start to know each other personality and, communication helps in building relationship among team members. In performing stage, also called as productive stage, group perform as well organized unit, they are interdependent and work through issues smoothly and effectively by using effective and efficient communication. How to cite Five Pages of Group Development, Papers

Cisco in the Coyote Valley free essay sample

Cisco in the Coyote Valley. In the discussion case of â€Å"Cisco in the Coyote Valley†, there are different stakeholders, which hold different interests in the company’s expansion. Some of these stakeholders are in favor of the company’s expansion and there are other stakeholders that are not. Different opinions like these will arise when expanding a business and a company needs to take that into factor when planning to expand. In the discussion case â€Å"Cisco in the Coyote Valley† there were relevant and non-market stakeholders. The relevant stakeholders are: the employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers. All of which may have a different opinion on the expansion of the company. The non-market stakeholders are: the community, activists groups, government, and the general public. Each of these stakeholders has different interests in the company. Let’s start with the relevant stakeholders, the employees interest in the company is for the company to â€Å"Maintain stable employment in firm, receive fair pay for work, and work in a safe and comfortable environment (Lawrence Weber p. We will write a custom essay sample on Cisco in the Coyote Valley or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 14)†. The employee is in favor of the Coyote Valley project, because it allows more employment opportunities and most likely more pay.The stockholder’s interest in the company is to receive a satisfactory return on investments in the company. The stockholder is in favor of the Coyote Valley project, because that enables the company to produce more, which causes the stockholder to gain more interest. The customer’s interest in the company is to â€Å"receive fair exchange: value and quality for the money that they have spent (Lawrence Weber p. 14)†. The customer is in favor of the Coyote Valley project, because that enables the customer to get products quicker, and of better quality faster.The supplier’s interest in the company is to receive regular orders for their goods. The supplier is in favor of the Coyote Valley project, because that enables the supplier to get more business and more profit. Finally, the retailers and wholesaler’s interest in the company is to â€Å"receive quality goods in a timely fashion at reasonable cost (Lawrence Weber p. 14)†. The retailer is in favor of the Coyote Valley project because it gives them more products to sell faster, as well as more gain monetarily. The non-market stakeholders, however, may have different views and opinions about the company’s change.For example, the community surrounding the Coyote Valley has mixed interests in the company’s expansion, some individuals think that it will help provide more jobs, and then there are others that feel that the company’s employment expanding will cause more people to move into the smaller communities surrounding the company’s property. Therefore the community is for and against the Coyote Valley project. The activist groups feel that the land should not be used for expansion, but for wildlife, etc. Therefore the activists are against the Coyote Valley project. The government’s interest in the company is basically, to provide more jobs for citizens in the area. Therefore the government is for the Coyote Valley project. The general public is like the community- it has mixed interests in the company. Therefore the general public is for and against the Coyote Valley project. As you can see, the relevant and non-market stakeholders in a company have a great affect on what the company will and will not do. Stakeholders in a way are apart of what drives a company to its knees or to the sky.

Trifles and Duppressed Desires Essay Example For Students

Trifles and Duppressed Desires Essay The plays Trifles and Suppressed Desires wrap around a central theme of sexual tension between women and men. The characters are in search of lifes meaning and seeking self-definition. In Trifles, ignorance of sexism is exposed as a major theme. The play Suppressed Desires explores new feminist theories between a married couple. Both plays were written in the 1920s way before the womens movement began But this traditional way of thinking has surprisingly continued even today and is a very important issue in our society. This is what makes both plays very appealing to us now. The play Trifles is a true murder mystery by Susan Glaspell. The setting is in a lonely, cold landscape of the Wrights kitchen, where the action of the play takes place. The kitchen is in disorder with unwashed dishes, a dirty dishtowel and a loaf of bread sitting out. The scene gives the impression of a lonely household with little attention having been paid to cleaning up either recently or ever. Mrs. We will write a custom essay on Trifles and Duppressed Desires specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Wright is placed in the kitchen in her rocking chair but does not speak during the production. She gives off much information by her expressions used throughout the play. I have read that in the original transcript of the play, the key characters never appear on stage. I believe seeing her gives a major impact to the setting. It helps the audience see the people surrounding the mystery. Even though she does not utter a word, her expressions help tell the story. The characters enter the room from the outside and are bundled in heavy clothing indicating that it is extremely cold outside. There are three men, Sheriff Peters, who is dressed in a coat and hat. His clothes make him appear to be about middle class. Followed by the County Attorney, Mr. Henderson, who is dressed a little nicer and classier than the other men and the neighbor Mr. Hale. Behind the men are two women. One is Mrs. Hale, the neighbors wife who is dressed very homely and Mrs. Peters, the Sheriffs wife, who is dressed very nicely but looks very uncomfortable. The costumes help give the idea of the status of these characters and help declare what they represent. The most distinguishing was Mr. Henderson who looked like he was in authority with his nicer outfit. Both women stand by the door while the men go over to the stove to warm themselves up. The fact that the two women are behind the men is a way of introducing the fact that women are inferior to the men and are supposed to follow behind their husbands. In the beginning of the play you already see that women are living in a male dominated world. It is seen that the image of women has little value without a man. The womens identities are obscured by those of their husbands. It is emphasized when the county attorney reminds Mrs. Peters that she is married to the law because her husband is the Sheriff. It is seen that women are just a lesser sex compared to men. Women were also seen by having lower intelligence as seen when Mr. Hale says, Well, women are used to worry over trifles. In recent times they have been treated as more than just property, but not with the respect they deserve. When the men leave, the two ladies are left in the kitchen by themselves. Instead of focusing on the men in the case, the play concentrates on the women. They engage in small talk and without even knowing it, they use the tactics that a trained police officer would be using to figure out a mystery. They talk about how the kitchen was left after the murder. Mrs. Peter notices that Mrs. .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .postImageUrl , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:hover , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:visited , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:active { border:0!important; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:active , .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ubcce476a0bdd76e662a00fe4ab3782de:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: How to say no Summary Essay Wright had been knitting a quilt. As the two women are wondering whether she was going to quilt it or knot it, the men come down and laugh, making fun of the women. The men have no idea that the women have made a very important discovery. Mrs. Hale resents the mens attitude and rips out the wrong stitches in the quilt and repairs them. The audience gets the idea the ladies are reacting .

Children, Reading, and Literature Essay Example

Children, Reading, and Literature Essay Example Children, Reading, and Literature Essay Children, Reading, and Literature Essay Children’s reading materials when chosen in the light of their needs and interests serves as one of the essential factors in their development in the various phases of growth. Good literature brings the child to contact with great minds and various forms of experiences, increasing his knowledge of human nature and of the expanding world around him. Literature does not only increase the child’s knowledge about life and living but can also become a springboard for creative writing, dramatics, art and music. In order to achieve these desirable changes in the child through literature, it is necessary to know each child-his interests capacities, needs and aspirations. Parents, teachers and librarians share the responsibity of helping him find the right books and provide activities that are related to his interests and needs. Definitions Interest is an expression of an individual’s pattern of reaction or behaviour toward himself, his environment, his associates and the situations him may find himself. Needs has been defined as the desire for what are called or considered necessities. Need is lack of these necessities. Needs are strong motivations that have to be met. Needs have been classified in several ways: physical, mental, emotional, social, moral, and spiritual, aesthetic, economic, and recreational. Other educators and child psychologists classify needs of children which are also basically man’s needs as: need for material security, need for emotional security, need for intellectual security, need to belong, to be a part of a group, need for recreation or diversion, need for aesthetic satisfaction. Need for Material Security The child’s need for material or economic security comes first and begins in his mother’s and father’s arm. It extends gradually to include his regular routine of eating and sleeping and everything that gives him comfort and well-being. The old fairy tales were told by people who didn’t have en

ACT in 9th Grade

Should You Start Prepping for the SAT/ACT in 9th Grade SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." While Alexander Graham Bell may not have been referring specifically to the SAT or ACT, his words ring as true for these tests as for anythingelse. Scoring highly on the SAT/ACT is all about preparation, and luckily you have plenty of time to prepare if you start early. If you haven't started already, let's discuss some reasons why it's useful to start prepping as a freshman and the best ways for doing so. Why Are the SAT and ACT So Important? Most colleges require applicants to send their scores from the SAT or ACT. Colleges consider these two tests equally, so it's up to you to choose and determine which test will better strengthen your overall application. As college admissions get more and more competitive every year (sorry, but it's true!), a strong SAT/ACT score goes a long way toward making your application stand out among the thousands of other applicants. While your curriculum and experiences in schools may differ across the country and the world, the SAT/ACT are meant to test students on an equal playing field. Some schools have adopted test optional and test flexible policies, so you'll eventually want to make sure you're aware of your college's requirements. But it's safe to say the majority of you who are applying to 4-year schools will be taking the SAT or ACT. The SAT is considered to be more of a critical reasoning test that tests yourskills in math, writing, and reading comprehension and analysis. The ACT also has a math, English, and Reading section, but it additionally has a science section.The science section is almost more like critical reading than a science class pop quiz, which I'll explain in more detail below. Both of these tests cover material that you've learned over the years and skills you've developed by 9th grade. Before delving deeper into the content of the tests, let's discuss why test prep is so important for the SAT and ACT . Test Prep and the SAT/ACT While you gain knowledge and develop fundamental skills in and out of school, most students also must do a lot of focused, test-specific preparation to perform well on the SAT/ACT. This is because the tests are unique in the way they time you and ask questions, so you must pair strategy and specific time management skills with your knowledge and understanding. Through practice and studying, you can become familiar with the structure and types of questions in each section, how to best approach them, and what rules of math, grammar, and literary terms will be tested. You can figure out exactly how to read the SAT passages or the ACT passages with time to spare, what approaches will boost your score in math, and what exactly is tested on the ACT science section, to name a few examples. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say, nor can you become an expert in the SAT or ACT overnight. Freshmangrade is the perfect time to start prepping for the SAT/ACT, reinforcing concepts you need to know, and taking official practice tests. If you're having trouble getting started, remember that you'll be doing Future You a favor. By taking time to prep now and diagnosing exactly where you need to improve, you'll be able to be more relaxed when you're in the thick of college applications and more intensive classes, like honors and AP classes. Junior Year You will really appreciate all the help you can give him/her now! So how can you start to prep? PrepScholar's online program offers customizable test prep that diagnoses your strengths and weaknesses, plans your study schedule, and keeps track of your progress along the way. This means that PrepScholardoesn't assume you're a junior in high school, but meets you atyour level. You can also start with SAT Questions of the Day and ACT Questions of the Day, which are a quick, easy, and convenient way to start getting familiar with the types of questions you'll see on the tests.You can find online sample questions on the College Board and ACT websites, as well as download and print official practice tests for the SAT and ACT. If you start studying now, you'll become an expert on the test by the time you register for your first test date. Not only will SAT/ACT test prep help you score high on these tests, it also will help reinforce what you're learning in school and may help you get better grades in your classes. Let's check out how the tests and your classwork line up. SAT/ACT and What You're Learning In School Even if you are just starting high school, you've already learned a lot of key skills and concepts that will help you on the SAT or ACT. You may not have encountered all the vocabulary or math concepts yet, but you probably know a lot more than you realize. Some students who wait until junior year actually feel like their classes have gotten more advanced than what they see on these tests, and they have to go back and review material from past years. By taking the time to prep now, you can really make sure you've reinforced this knowledge and have a clear sense of how you can apply it to one of the tests. Let's break down exactly what I mean by this in terms of each major subject. First, let's consider math. Math Somestudents have already taken an algebra class by the time they get to 9th grade, or are at least familiar with the related conceptsof a pre-algebra class. Algebra and geometry make up the majority of the math questions on the SAT, as well as on the ACT. The ACT gets a little more advanced by covering some trigonometry. As I mentioned above, some students are already in more advanced math classes by the time they take the SAT or ACT, like in pre-calculus or calculus, and mayhave gotten rusty with their algebra, geometry, and probability. Apart from reinforcing the concepts you already know with SAT/ACT practice problems, you can also get a headstart on 10th and th gradeby introducing yourself to new math concepts. You might find detailed explanations and practice problems that will help you learn these concepts independently of class, which can be especially helpful for students who work well on their own and want to set their own pace. If you're surprised that you already know a good deal of the math you'll need to do well on the SAT/ACT, you might also be intrigued to realize you already have some key reading skills, too. Let's take a look at what reading skills you'll need. Reading While there are some differences between the SAT Reading and the ACT Reading sections, there are more similarities. Both includea series of passages (including one pair), with questions about each, though the exact type of passagesand style of questions varies slightly. The passage-based questions on both tests want to make sure you understand the general purpose of the passage, as well as its tone or style. You'll be asked to interpret a word or phrase in context, along with demonstrating your understanding of details. These are all skills of reading comprehension and analysis that you'll have developed throughout your years of English classes in middle school and 9th grade. Reading comprehension is a skill best developed through reading widely and often. By prepping for the SAT/ACT as a freshman, along with the reading, writing, and analysis you do in your English class, you'll get better and better at these skills. Closely linked to the reading sections are the writing section of the SAT and the English section of the ACT. Writing and Grammar The Writing section of the SAT and English section of the ACT are pretty comparable. Both test your understanding of rules of grammar and syntax. Both also include an optional essay. Just like in your freshman year English classes, these testswant you to understand grammar rules, parts of speech, and sentence structure. The essays should generally take the form of a five-paragraph persuasive essay supported with strong examples. Practicing these in class and through test prep will help you develop your English language and writing skills, just like with reading. One difference with the SAT/ACT essay and essays you write in class might be that you'll be writing for the tests under timed conditions and by hand. Thus you'll have to learn to plan out your essay in just two to three minutes and draft it fast. Practicing this could be another useful tool for helping you become more efficient with the essays you're assigned for class. There are specific strategies you can use to draft high quality essays in a short amount of time that will help you on the SAT/ACT and in class. Test prep for the writing sections could help you score highly, impress your teachers, and save time while still writing thorough, well-developed essays. While the SAT and ACT overlap in terms of math, reading, and writing, there is one major section difference between the two. That difference is the ACT science section. Science Unlike the SAT, the ACT has a science section. Thismight sound like it requires a lot of memorization, but actually the science section is less about straight recall of scientific facts and more about applying scientific skills, like reading charts and graphs and interpreting data. In this sense, the science section is almost more like the reading section than the math section. Having some knowledge of biology, earth sciences, and chemistry is helpful, though, for being familiar with the terminology and having lab skills that you can apply to real data. Since a lot of students take biology with a lab freshman year, you'll probably be in a great position to do well on the ACT science section. Just like with the other sections, test prep on the ACT science can help reinforce what you're learning in class and give you a glimpse intonext year. It will strengthen your skills in the context of the ACT and prevent you from getting rusty and then having to reference back to material that you learned years earlier.You might even find you're ready to take the SAT Subject Test in Biology at the end of your freshman year! As you can see, you're likely already in a good position to handle the SAT/ACT. Prepping can help you do well on the tests and in school. Besides mastering and getting ahead on the content, prepping early also gives you more test dates to choose from. When Should You Take the SAT/ACT? Figuring out your SAT/ACT testing schedule as a freshman will ensure you have plenty of test dates to choose from. Since a lot of colleges superscore your results, or take your highest section scores across all dates you took the tests, some students choose to build up their SAT or ACT scores section by section. You can also usually use Score Choice for the SAT or select which score reports you want to send from the ACT, so you can just send the scores from whichever test date you choose. There are some exceptions, though, so you want to make sure you understand your colleges' policies regarding standardized test scores. One testing schedule that a lot of students use is to take the SAT/ACT once in the fall of junior year, again in the spring, and then a third time if they choose senior year. Some students may take it earlier, like in 10th or even 9th grade, to give themselves more testing opportunities or achieve their scores and be finished with the SAT/ACT before the busy time of junior and senior year. Students almost always improve when they retake the tests, having learned more about time management and gained valuable real test experience. Plus if you prep thoroughly and effectively, you can target your weaknesses and do better the next time. So how can you stick to a prep schedule in 9th grade that will help you score highly on the SAT/ACT? Prepping for the SAT/ACT As a Freshman As you saw above with the SAT and ACT Questions of the Day, a little bit of prep sustained over time can go a long way. You definitely don't have to spend all your time studying for these tests in 9th grade. I would suggest devoting an hour a week to test prep. This is enough to be useful and help you develop a habit, while also being low-key and manageable enough not to put yourself under undue stress or pressure. How can you stick to this? Just like with your homework, the best way to stay organized is to use an assignment notebook or planner to write down your plans, goals, and assignments and keep track of them. Some planners even break your day up hour by hour, so you could devote a specific time to test prep, like every Tuesday from 6 to 7. Making something a regular routine is the best way to remember it and incorporate it into your life. This will help you in all aspects of your academic life, along with setting and working towards your own personal goals. To Sum Up... By prepping early, you'llsee your SAT/ACT scores go up and up. Your effort will pay off in a huge way over time, especially if you maintain test prep as a regular part of your routine. Your motivation and discipline will positively impact other aspects of your high school career, too. Test prep will help you improve your math, reading, writing, and science skills, plus it will aid you when you take thePSAT. You can root out your strengths and weaknesses and figure out what you need to learn and where you shouldput in extra effort. Finally, it will remind you that all of your high school career is important for getting into college and help you start laying the groundwork for your future after graduation. What's Next? What's a good SAT/ACT score for 9th graders? If you're taking the SAT or ACT as a freshman, you can figure out yourtarget scores here. The best way to prep for the SAT is with official College Board SAT questions. Download official SAT practice tests here. If you're taking the ACT, you want to try some sample ACT questions from previously administered tests. You can find printable official ACT tests here. Besides prepping for the SAT/ACT, should you think about taking the PSAT as a freshman? Read about the most important considerations for signing up for the PSAT in 9th grade. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today!

Management appreciation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management appreciation - Essay Example Is a forecasting tool that is used to comprehend the Strengths of a particular organization its Weaknesses, Opportunities, and involved Threats (BHC 1999). It includes identifying the objective of that particular business or organization and specifying the internal and external aspects that are supportive or unfavorable towards achieving that objective. SWOT is also used during the process of strategic planning. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats make up the acronym SWOT (Austrainer 1999). The SWOT Matrix Model at first sight this might look like a simple and easy model to apply, but to do an effective and meaningful SWOT analysis, one requires time and a significant input and requires teamwork since it cannot be done by just one person effectively (PMI- Plus, Minus, Interesting 1999). The decisions of managers of any business are affected by various macro environmental factors. PESTEL analysis describes suitable framework of these factors to be used in the environmental scanning section of strategic management (Havergal & Edmonstone 1999). PESTEL is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological, and legal analysis. These factors can be categorized into: Political factors, economic factors, Social factors, technological factors, environmental factors and legal factors: An executive assistant is the epicenter of a number of managerial duties that fall under the senior management executives. His/her duties include managing a wide range of administrative tasks such as; scheduling, prioritizing of tasks, representative of the executive, executes the executive’s instructions among others (Parkinson 1993). SWOT and PESTEL techniques help the executive assistant to come up with useful procedure for evaluating the environmental forces on the team or an organization (Boone & Kurtz 1992). It also helps in researching information for future predictions revolving

Substance dualism is necessary for beings to have free will Essay

Substance dualism is necessary for beings to have free will - Essay Example Therefore, the mind can be distinctly perceived as a whole autonomous entity that does not pertain an extension, correspondingly, the body can also be though as an extension that pertains no element of thought meaning that God could enable the two to exist distinctly from each other, ergo the mind and body are actually distinct from each other. Concisely, Descartes is really trying to make the point that the mind and body are two entirely different entities each set for its own purpose; the mind is a thinking thing that exists in the abstract devoid of physical attributes such as size shape or color while the body is a non-thinking thing that is bound and limited by the laws of physics. Free will on the other hand can be defined as the inherent capacity to make autonomous choices without being constrained or manipulated by any external limitations, these factors range from physical constrains such as imprisonment to metaphysical and logical factors social psychological ones. The rela tionship between dualism and free will is mutually inclusive since without substance dualism, free will could not be logically expected to exist; this is because in the absence of dualism, it would mean that humans are entirely physical beings. Essentially, every action one takes in the physical realm is subject to the rules of physics which do not however apply to the mental faculties. The subordination of the physical bodies implies that while human beings may perceive themselves to be free, their freedom does not extend past the point at which they are bound by these laws. Take for example the modes of human movements, human being can walk and they one can even argue that they choose to walk, however the very action is subjected to the law of motion and gravity and should one be put in a situation where these laws do not function they would be forced to adjust their means of propulsion. Free will does not just imply that one is free to do what they do but also to do otherwise sho uld they so choose, however human beings cannot decide not to walk but instead to fly since even if they may will it, and their bodies are not free to carry it out. Under this premises, free will cannot exist unless the body was to somewhat be viewed as a separate construct from the mind which is essentially what the theory of substance dualism does. Unlike the body, the mind is not subject to the rules of nature and it can construe anything by gravity can simulate the feeling of flight and one may even argue that one can fly, in their imagination without a physical ceiling or limit, for example when one dreams of flight, they may even expense the exhilaration and fear of being airborne just the way they would have if they were actually flying. This is despite the fact that humans cannot actually fly, nevertheless the mind not being bound physical law do whatsoever it wishes, this is the very concept that philosophers and theologians employ to justify the notion of life after death or reincarnation. The assumption is that after the body has died the soul will live on since it is not an organic construct and therefore not subject to the degeneration which the body inevitable has to undergo after death. Several arguments have been

The Political Philosophy of the Constitution Essay Example for Free

The Political Philosophy of the Constitution Essay From my own perspective I feel that the major ideas of the political philosophy of the constitution are to mandate non-partisan redistricting for elections to enhance electoral competition. For example: To reduce the role that legislative politics might play, five states (Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, New Jersey and Washington), carry out congressional redistricting by an independent or bipartisan commission. Two states, Iowa and Maine, give independent bodies authority to propose redistricting plans, but preserve the role of legislatures to approve them. Seven states have only a single representative for the entire state because of their low populations; these are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Redistricting is also necessary within school districts, where attendance zones have grown (or occasionally shrunk) disproportionately to the occupancy capacity of each public school in the system. This always occurs when a new school is built or one is closed, but may also occur due to other shifts in population. These districts are necessary not only to balance enrollment, but also to coordinate school bus routes. Separate maps are usually kept for each level: elementary school, middle school, and high school, for example. This is not an inherently political process, however parents can become very upset when their children are moved from a school they like (or to one they dont), and occasionally elected school boards have been forced to change plans after protests. 2nd Eliminate lifetime tenure for federal judges in favor of non-renewable 15 years term for all federal judges. Judges and certain members of some senates or upper chambers (senator for life) most commonly have life tenure. The primary goal of life tenure is to insulate the officeholder from external pressures. And last a Political meeting which we know as a constitutional convention is a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution. An unlimited constitutional convention is called to revise an existing constitution to the extent that it deems to be proper, whereas a limited constitutional convention is restricted to revising only the areas of the current constitution named in the conventions call, the legal mandate establishing the convention. Constitutional conventions have also been used by constituent states of federations such as the individual states of the United States to create, replace, or revise their own Constitutions though several states have never held a national constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments, the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified not by the state legislatures, but by state level conventions after it was passed by Congress, as described as an alternate method of ratification in Article V of the US Constitution. Furthermore, The systematic elaboration of the consequences for politics of suggested resolutions of philosophical dilemmas (or of the intractability of those dilemmas). The greatest works of political philosophy try to present those consequences in relation to fundamental cosmological, ontological, and epistemological issues. They articulate a view of human nature which links the cosmological with the political. On a less grand scale, political philosophy explores the political implications of particular disputes, for example about the nature of the self (see communitarianism; freedom; liberalism; and autonomy), or about the notion of moral responsibility (see punishment). There is obviously a close connection between political philosophy and moral philosophy, because both involve exploring the nature of judgments we make about our values; consequently, when it was thought on epistemological grounds that it was not the place of philosophy to explore these normative matters, political philosophy was declared to be dead. Contemporary political philosophy flourishes because the epistemological argument once thought fatal to it has Do we need a Constitution. Yes! we need a Constitution because The founding principles behind the Constitution, were values created by men enduring the stress and pressure of creating a new union aside from the rule of Great Britain. Much debate and thought about human values and the rights of a free people were instituted in the writing of this famous document that has endured in the United States for nearly 232 years. Although there have been a variety of amendments, the basic content has been respected and used to govern in the USA throughout history up to the present. The majority of citizens believe in this document to govern our country as its tradition is valued still by many. Just like the Bible is a guide to many religious denominations, the constitution is a guide to the structure, laws and behaviors influencing the culture in America. In conclusion I hope that my ideology on major ideas of the political philosophy of the constitution are true and not of opinionated facts. I obtained my REFERENCES from: Hampton, Jean (1997). Political philosophy. p. xiii. ISBN 0813308586. http://books. google. com/books? id=-. Political philosophy is about political societies. ^ Sahakian, Mabel Lewis (1993). Ideas of the great philosophers. Barnes Noble Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 1566192712. Kraut, Richard (2002). Aristotle: political philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0198782001. (Cicero: a study in the origins of republican philosophy. .http://books. google. com/books. By the ninth and tenth centuries ^ Gellner, Ernest (1992). Plough, Sword, and Book. University of Chicago Press. p. 239. ISBN 0226287027. Natural Law and Calvinist Political Theory. Trafford Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 1412007382.

The Social Impact of Slavery on the Caribbean Society Essay -- Caribbe

The Social Impact of Slavery on the Caribbean Society In order for us to understand the Caribbean, we must acknowledge the tremendous social impact slavery placed upon the islands. We must not only consider the practice of slavery dating back to the indigenous peoples, but from what the introduction of the African slave trade did to the islands economically as well as culturally. In this paper let me reflect on slavery in the Caribbean not from an economical standpoint but, from the racial or what Knight calls ‘complextional mutations’ its social impact on society. Let us discuss historian Benitez-Rojo’s approach to the Caribbean, he tends to reject a single cultural definition of the Caribbean, believing that all the islands have a differing cultural structure referring to its original colonizer. However, he subliminally states in his book The Repeating Island that all the islands hold more in common than the plantation system. He says ..."the multiplication of the Plantation-each case a different one-brought to the Caribbean was such that the Caribbean peoples themselves, in referring to the ethnological process that derived from the extraordinary collision of the races and cultures, produced, speak of syncretism, acculturation, transculturation, assimilation, deculturation, indigenization, creolization, cultural mestizaje, cultural cimarronaje, cultural miscegenation, cultural resistance etc." This idea falls in line with Knight; Knight introduces the Spanish to the history of the Caribbean, as the Caribbean being their conquest. The Spanish, in the name of Christianity, under Queen Isabella and King Ferninad attempt to colonize the Caribbean. They force assimilation trying to re-create the social and political pattern... ...tresses the Jamaican’s separation from the outside world. Yet, he a Jamaican man is in a field of his own within his culture. He tends to separate himself from the African, African-American, all that seems to be ‘barbarian’, and ‘ignorant’. He separates himself from what he has been ‘educated’ or rather ‘mis-educated’ about. His own History. He separates himself unknowingly, for he is a black colonized person living within certain parameters that tend to cloud his judgement. This is the legacy left to us by the institution of slavery in the Caribbean. Bibilography Benitez-Rojo, Antonio: "The Repeating Island" Duke University Press Knight, Franklin W., : "The Caribbean The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism" Oxford University Press Cliff, Michelle: "Abeng" Plume Books Beckles and Shepherd: "Caribbean Slave Society ad Economy" The New Press, New York

Early Risk Factors for Being a Bully, Victim, or Bully in Late Elementary

26 Nov. 2012 Early risk factors for being a bully, victim, or bully/victim in late elementary and early secondary education. The longitudinal TRAIL study By Danielle EMC Jansen, Rene Veenstra, Johan Ormel, Frank C Verhulst and Sijmen A Reijeveld This research discusses the influence of early risk factors on later involvement in bullying. In the beginning of the article, the authors mentioned that while bullying is a serious problem in school all over the world, the most researches on bullying focus on characteristics of children at the moment they already are involved in bullying.Thus there are limited data regarding the impact of early risk factors in bullying. They examined the influence of preschool behaviors, family characteristics, and parental mental health on bullying and victimization. Their examination includes obtaining data of family characteristics, parental mental health and retrospectively on children’s preschool behavior with survey method. Then, they measured t he schoolmate’s reports for involvement of adolescents in bullying or victimization at age 11 and 13. 5.As the research conclusion, variety of aspects such as behavior in preschool, emotional problem, motor problem, socio-economic status, and family breakup, are linked to the involvement in bullying at a later age. The authors emphasize that focusing on risk groups in early age enhances prevention of bullying and its consequences. In this article, the authors are indicating the problem that bullying is a significant issue all over the world, and that there are only limited evidence that associate features of children background before they were involved in bullying.As a solution to this problem, the authors wanted to seek the risk factors; especially before children begin social relationship. They designed their research to examine the impact of the children’s background during the preschool age on bullying at the early teen age. The study subjects’ family chara cteristics include parental mental health, and preschool behavioral, emotional problem and motor problem. I believe this research design is appropriate for the solution of the problem. The ethods of sampling they use were survey and peer nomination from schoolmates; survey is to measure children’s background in preschool hood, peer nomination is to measure involvements in bullying as being bully, bully/victim, or victim. I assume that the sampling methods are appropriate because there are limited contaminations such as experimenter’s bias or base rate problems. The possible confounding variables are gender, diagnoses of development disorders, stress level, and history of heredity mental disease through family. When measuring the behavior, the gender is always the possible confounding variable.Boys and Girls have different preferences of toys, ways of playing, and tension level. The diagnoses of development disorders such as ADD or ADHD are major confounding variables f or the measuring children’s behavior as well. The main limitation of the data collection was that they used retrospective reports of preschool behavior. As a result, parental report may have been affected by inaccuracies in their memory. Other than that, I could say that the data gathering method is reliable and also valuable because the results were based on facts.As a result of their research, preschool children with aggressiveness were more likely to be a bully, bully/victim, and victim. Preschool children with good motor skill were more likely to be bully and less likely to be victim. Children from low socioeconomic status families were more likely to be bully, bully/victim, and victim. Children from intact two parent families were more likely to be uninvolved in bullying. After considering the entire research outcomes, the authors concluded that certain aspects from children in preschool are related to involvement in bullying at a later age.Thus I could say that the evid ence substantiated this conclusion. Focusing on risk at an early age can enhance the prevention of bullying. The research results are very interesting and informative. It helped me as a parent, to realize the importance of preschool social and environmental factors of bullying at later ages. I chose this article for the discussion on this short paper because I am interested in parenting techniques. The way to raise children without involvement of bullying, neither being a bully nor a victim.I do not want my children to get involved with any fears or sadness in school caused by bullying. I believe many often parents feel the same way. I have never experienced any aspect of bullying during my early school age. However I have heard of many stories about bullying in our school and resulted in psychological trauma or injury. I believe that being strong physically and emotionally are very important to escape from bullies. Joining sports clubs is one of the great ways to become stronger ph ysically and emotionally.My four year old son, has recently has joined a flag football team. Being a member of this team will help him obtain the physical ability and emotional development. After he learned how to efficiently run faster and move quickly, he achieved well during the games. When he did well during games, he was encouraged by positive feedbacks from adults. The positive feedback from adults is powerful tools that will help him build up confidence. Another great aspect of being a part of sports team is the opportunity to gain social skill such as fairness, care, respect, and responsibility.Being a fair and trustworthy player is very important for sportsmanship. Coaches and older players are always encouraging children to be fair and trustworthy. Practicing with the same teammates two to three times a week helps children to build a powerful trust and make great relationship with their teammates. Children can learn many lessons from small societies like a sports team to p repare for their real life. Another thing that I learned from this research article is the importance of family environment.I realize that children are very sensitive to their family characteristics and affected easily from negative family factors such as fighting among parents and family break ups. I remembered the time when I was a child, I hated when my mother and father were arguing in front of me. I was sad and unhappy hearing their fighting voices. Thus I can easily imagine how sad to be in the middle of parental conflict in their childhood. To provide the environment without anxiety from parental conflicts, mental issues or family break up is very important for make a strong and mentally stable person.

Into the Wild Paper

Mehakpal Grewal Professor King Work, Leisure, & Play April 13, 2011 How Krakauer Balances his Bias? Jon Krakauer's non-fiction novel  Into the Wild  explores the mystery surrounding Christopher McCandless and his life before he inevitably ran off  into the heart of the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to discover himself in some manner. In order to tell this story as accurately as possible, Krakauer uses a variety of techniques to give different perspectives to Chris’ life.The most prominent decision Krakauer makes though is in regards to his decision to try include or exclude himself and his views from the text. When telling Chris’ story, Krakauer takes an almost fully unbiased approach, and yet when he does present his biased empathy towards McCandless, he has full knowledge, and makes the reader fully aware. So, whether the reader ends up feeling empathetic towards McCandless or finds him rather selfish in dependent on how much they connect with him through his story.Because Krakaeur is able to portray McCandless’ life with such finesse and accuracy, including his faults, while incorporating his own personal observations and similar life experiences, he ultimately lets the reader make up their own mind in regards to how they should feel toward him. In order to truly understand Chris’ story to the smallest detail, Krakauer put a great amount of effort into retracing his past up until his death.As he states, â€Å"I spent more than a year retracing the convoluted path that led to his death in the Alaska taiga, chasing down details of his peregrinations with an interest that bordered an obsession† (Author’s Note 2). Even before the start of the novel, Krakauer points out that he followed Chris’ life like an â€Å"obsession† and became very attached to his story. Krakauer recognizes that his obsession or â€Å"bias† to the Chris will reveal itself throughout the story but makes a key decision i n letting the reader know that he doesn’t â€Å"claim to be an impartial biographer† but does try to â€Å"minimize his authorial presence† (AN 2).Krakauer, like most authors, has some type of bias. In his case, it would be even worse because of how close he got to Chris’ life and his emotional connection to the story. Despite this, Krakauer has already made it clear that his bias is there and his â€Å"convictions will be apparent† in order to â€Å"leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris McCandless† (AN 3). So, while he may show empathy toward Chris throughout the novel, he gives enough perspective on Chris’ life for the reader to make their own decision.Throughout the novel, Krakauer manages to show us a character, Chris McCandless, who can be seen in a positive or negative light depending on how you connect to his story. Krakauer points out how McCandless â€Å"took life’s inequities to heart† (p. 113). He mentions how â€Å"Chris didn’t understand how people could possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in this country† and on one occasion â€Å"Chris picked up a homeless man†¦ brought him home†¦ and set the guy up in the Airstream trailer his parents parked beside the garage† (p. 113).It is apparent here that Krakauer is painting McCandless in a positive light and possibly showing his bias in mentioning such minor details of his life. He also alludes to how Chris spoke out against the racial oppression of apartheid in South Africa and how Chris â€Å"believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting and inherently evil† (p. 115). However, he claims his view on wealth is hypocritical or ironic because he mentions how Billie, Chris’ mom, claimed â€Å"Chris was a natural-born capitalist with an uncanny knack for making a buck.Chris was always an entrepreneur† (p. 115). He describes in detail how he grew vegetables to se ll door to door when he was eight and started a neighborhood copy business when was twelve. Here, Krakauer is showing Chris’ hypocritical nature that has stayed with him throughout the years. Krakauer continues to show McCandless in a more negative light throughout the book. During Chris’ senior year at Emory, he â€Å"seldom contacted his parents and this caused Walt and Billie [to] grow increasingly worried about their son’s emotional distance† (p. 124).He furthers this by describing how Chris’ parents sent a letter saying† You have completely dropped away from all who love and care about you. Whatever it is—whoever you’re with—do you think this is right? † (p. 124). According to Krakauer, Chris saw this â€Å"as meddling and referred to the letter as stupid when talked to Carine† (p. 124). At this point, Krakauer is clearly pointing out Chris’ flaws and how he seemingly didn’t enough about hi s family to bother contacting them for long periods of time. He builds upon this when mentioning how Chris went on trans-continental journeys through he Mojave Desert and various places multiple times without saying a word. He even goes as far as to describe how in July 1992, 2 years after Chris left Atlanta, his mother awoke one night with tears rolling down her cheeks screaming, â€Å"I don’t know how I’ll ever get over it. I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t imagine it. I heard his voice! He was begging, ‘Mom! Help me! ’† (p. 126). Krakauer could have deliberately left out such disheartening details that portrayed Chris in a negative manner, as someone who would make his mother suffer in such a way, but he included them in order to give the reader as much perspective on Chris as possible.In chapters eight and nine, Krakauer interrupts Chris’ story to tell a few strikingly similar stories of journeys into the wilderness. Through these chapters, he doesn’t characterize McCandless in a completely positive or negative light. While describing the story of Everett Ruess, who disappeared while in a remote area of Utah, he points out that Ruess, like Chris, â€Å"was a loner but he liked people too  Ã‚  damn much to stay down there and live in secret the rest of his life. A lot of us are like that –I’m like that† (p. 96).So while drawing parallels to Chris’ story and personality, he describes Chris as a loner but is quick to point out that many people including him are like that. While most of us would consider loners as outcasts from society and see them in a negative light, Krakauer’s personal comments leave us feeling some empathy toward him as an individual. Here, Krakauer shows a balance between his own feelings and looking at Chris through completely unbiased eyes. Through chapters fourteen and fifteen, Krakauer diverges from Chris’ story once again when makes a comparison of his own journey into the wilderness to that of Chris’.One would expect a very evident bias in these chapters that would show Chris in an overwhelmingly positive light but that is not the case. Although, Krakauer creates a parallel between his journey through Devils Thumb and Chris’ journey into the Alaskan wilderness, he is simply trying to give a different perspective to McCandless’ story. He mentions this is his notes when he claims he does this† in the hope that my experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris McCandless† (AN 2).His point is made clear when he ends his personal account of his near death experience by proposing, â€Å"In my case—and I believe, in the case of Chris McCandless—that was very different thing from wanting to die†(p. 156). So while some may argue Krakauer may be showing some sympathy toward Chris, this is only because his story struck a â€Å"personal note† in him (AN 2). Regardless of this, Krakauer’s willingness to show Chris’ faults in a similar manner balance out Krakauer’s moments of including himself and his bias within the story.So, whether you end up liking McCandless to some sort of â€Å"hero† or find him rather selfish and irritating depends on how much you end up connecting with his story. Regardless of how you feel in the end, it is difficult to deny validity and effort Krakauer puts into this novel. He takes a mostly unbiased approach when telling McCandless’ story and even when the bias slips by, he makes it fully known to the reader. Krakauer might have a personal bias toward Chris but in capturing his story, he was able to keep a balance between showing Chris in a positive or negative light.Krakauer recognized â€Å"McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, that he tried to live entirely off the country†¦without bothering to master†¦crucial skills† b ut he like Roman, can’t help identifying with the guy† (p. 180, 181-82, 185). Despite â€Å"identifying† with Chris throughout the novel, Krakauer ultimately allows the reader to make their own decision in regards to Chris and the decisions he made leading up to his death. Works Cited Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1996. Print.

AMAZON SWOT ANALYSIS Essay Example

AMAZON SWOT ANALYSIS Essay Example AMAZON SWOT ANALYSIS Essay AMAZON SWOT ANALYSIS Essay If these suppliers have problems, Amazon cannot supply products and services in an efficient way. Low margin products Amazons business foundation is low cost, which results in high growth in sales and market share, but also leads to a very low profit. Besides, free delivery can cause a negative effect on the profitability. Amazon operating margin stood at 0. 95%, while it was 20. 8% of eBay and 24% of Google ((eyelashes Fraud, 2013). Only online existence Amazon cannot give users the feeling of being touched and tried. Access to Amazons products is also limited to internet users. This means Amazon is ignoring a large umber of shopping customers 2. 3. OPPORTUNITIES E-commerce development customers get used to shopping online will bring more opportunities for the business. Online advertising Amazon has opportunities to take benefits of its reputation and huge customer database for placement of online ads. This can create significant profit like eBay or Google (about 85% of Googles revenues is from online advertising) (Sisyphus Fraud, 2013) Develop private brands With the existing advantages of reputation and systems worldwide, Amazon can save huge expenses in marketing when introducing new products. Launching its own brands will benefit Amazon both profit and image, Kindle is an example. 2. 4. THREATS Intense competition Amazon has many competitors in different industries like Wall-Mart, eBay or Google Moreover the enhanced technologies also increase competition because of convenient Internet facilities entry and easy shopping comparison. This may decrease the companys sales and profit. Government regulations The company depends on various regulations related to both general and internet business such as taxation, privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights.

Case Study Of Reebok and Adidas Samples

The industry related t the production of the athletic shoes initiated in the year 1895. The establishment of the brand Reebok was seen in the year 1958. Reebok started manufacturing running shoes with spikes invoiced in the sole of the shoes. Being the initiator of the spiked shoes the brand gained popularity and the rate of global acceptance of the brand was very high. With the high acceptance rate of the products that were being manufactured by Reebok, the global scenario of the brand in the perspective of sales and brand popularity was at its peak. With the introduction of Nike in the field of athletic shoe manufacturer the sales and the popularity of Reebok was facing a downfall in the global market. This report will discuss about the objective and importance of the case study. This report will also discuss about the details of the case study that are relevant in nature. This report will further provide the analysis of the case study. This report will also discuss about the theor etical implications of the marketing strategies of the project that is being initiated. This project will also discuss about the key issues of the brand Reebok that has been the main reason for the downfall of the brand. This report will also provide recommendations to the brand to sustain the market. Despite of the downfall that it has been facing in the market. Te emergence of the athletic shoe manufacturing brands started in the year of 1980s. The four brands with high aspiration entered the market for achieving the silverware by manufacturing the sports shoes. The legacy of manufacturing athletic shoes started in the year 1895, when Joseph William Foster decided to manufacture athletic shoes and invoiced spikes into the shoes in order to help the runners to gain grip during running. The spikes were totally hand-made. In the year 1958 the two grandsons of Joseph William Foster established the brand Reebok. After the emergence of Reebok, during 1995, when Reebok was going through the downfall, Nike started emerging as the leading athletic shoe brand manufacturer. Adidas saw themselves emerging in the year 1954, after the Second World War. They gained popularity as they supplied cleats to the German International team during the world cup victory. Despite of the fact that the life cycle of Reebok initiated at 1958, Paul Fireman initiated the modern version of Reebok in the year 1979, when he first came across the shoes in an international trade show. After being introduced to the shoes, he started negotiating for taking the right to sell the brand in the North America. In the year 1979, Paul Fireman established the company with the name of Reebok in the Northern America. In the year 1982, Reebok started manufacturing aerobic shoes that helped women who practiced aerobic. With the drastic growth rate in the acceptance of the brand in the year 1995, Reebok made a sale of $3 billion since the last decade. In the early years of 1990, the trend of aerobics was decreasing in a rapid rate, which causes a decline in sales for Reebok as it was mainly focused on the sales of the aerobic shoes that were targeted for the female clients of the brands. Reebok wanted to expand its business in other sector of sports but Nike was already predo minant in the field where Reebok was trying to set up their business. In the year 1995, Nike surpassed the sales of Reebok by $1.33 billion.   The main hindrance that stood in front of Reebok the lack of are the lack of relation between the Foot Locker and their brand. This communication gap was made full use by the Nike athletic shoes production house. Previously, when Nike was not completely established and was just emerging as a brand in the field of manufacturing athletic shoes, Reebok got the chance to start the business with the Foot Locker but due to the lack of time to produce custom footwear for the Foot lockers the business never progressed to a fruitful end. Nike in other hand had agreed to meet the requirements of the Foot Lockers and manufactured custom athletic shoes for the Foot Lockers. Considering the weak market bases Eli Lily, the trainer in the Reebok thought that there must have been some software issues that has led to the lack of sales of the brand. Reebok a long with Lee and Wrangler processed the advancement of the SAP version. This advancement took longer time than the expected deadline of the project. In the mid 2003, Reebok gained their sales and made a great business. The reason of this increase in their sales was the conflict between Nike and the Foot lockers. In 2005, Adidas took the initiative to buy Reebok.   Adidas was fighting to sustain the competition in Europe as Nike proved to be the killer of the entire competition. To face the fierce competition provided by Nike     Adidas decided to buy Reebok and use Reebok in the department of training and fitness. After failing to sign Jordan as the basketball ambassador and again losing the chance of signing the wonder kid of basket ball Lebron James, Adidas decided to invest in signing multiple stars as their rookie in the field f basketball (Mantovani and Galvà £o, 2017). Adidas soon realized that launching the predator soccer shoes in Europe will help them conquer the ma rket as emotion re related to the predator shoes were used by the likes of David Bekham and many other soccer stars. Gradually Adidas started outshining Nike in the mid range sport shoes. Despite the fact that Adidas combined with Reebok was giving a tough competition to Nike but Nike was still crowned as the brand that is labeled to be selling the highest number of pairs of athletic shoes. In the mid 2000s, Reebok was one of the reasons that brought Adidas the success.   Out of the net turnover of $12 billion in Europe, Reebok had its share prominent with $1.9 billion. Reebok restocking the old stock of athletic shoes that were in trend   that got the brand promoted to the highly ranked tier standing second just behind the likes of the Skechers (Tae-Gyu, K.I.M. and Wi-Young, 2015). The CEO of Adidas was much pleased with the growth of the brand under their legacy. This growth in the brand of Reebok forced Nike to collaborate with the brand named Converse and invest a lot of rev enue to buy the brand in order to compete with Adidas in the field of training and fitness field. In the year 2009, Reebok manufactured toning shoes that claimed that wearing them itself is enough to get rid of specific muscular problems and no other mean of treatment will be required. This model of the shoe was targeted mainly for the women. But the science and technology used in the making of the shoes was not well matched with the claims that were made by the brand. Reebok had to settle a lawsuit and pay $25 million to the U.S Federal trade Commission in order to repay the unsatisfied clients. Despite these acts Reebok has still been doing well in the market of athletic shoes and is collaborated with the SAP ERP to sustain the competition with Nike. This case study initially deals with the emergence of the athletic shoe brand Reebok. The brand seems to emerge in a very fast rate, as they were the initial manufacturers of athletic shoes with spikes invoiced in the shoes that will help the athletes to gain a proper grip during running in the track (Romeo, 2016). The business of Reebok was flourishing in a very fast rate as it started manufacturing products that were aimed at a particular scope of the athletics field as well as the products for the general athletic fields. With the increase in popularity of the field of athletics that the brand was gaining, according to the report the brand was not willing to make further modifications in the making of their products. This stable and never changing technology in the brand motive brought in stagnation in the market for the style of shoes that Reebok manufactured. Due to lack of time, Reebok could not manufacture customized products for the Foot Lockers. The gradual profit terms were decreasing in annual basis as the in between 1997 to 1999 the net sales dropped by $3.6 billion again in between 1999 to 2000, the sales decreased by $2.9 billion. This decrease in the net sales of the brand Reebok resulted in growth of the brand Nike as an elite athletic shoe brand. Nike took the advantage of collaborating with the Foot lockers for the supply of their athletic shoes (Jain, 2017). This causes the flash marketing for the Nike as they were collaborated with the Foot lockers in order to increase the sales growth. This growth in the sales of the athletic shoe with the Feet Lockers took Nike to an elite level. This phenomenon was the main reason behind the decline in the growth of Reebok (Fatma, 2018). Another aspect that resulted in the down fall of Reebok is that the downfall in the interest of the aerobics, as Reebok mainly focused on the field of aerobics under which they targeted the women participants of the field (Kempf and Franklin, 2016). Due to the lessening o f the interest in the field of aerobics, the sales of athletic shoe decreases which in turn affected sales of the brand annually (Erus, 2016).   Adidas being another athletic shoe manufacturing brand that has been   emerging as one of the biggest brands after Nike in Europe. To get into the competition of being the biggest manufacturer of athletic shoes, they decided to collaborate with Reebok and spent a huge revenue to buy the brand (Lee and Kahle, 2016). After buying the brand for few years Reebok was not yielding the expected outcome in number of sales, but during the conflict of Nike with the Foot Lockers Reebok again gained the acceptance in the market by restocking the old foot wears and was just ranked behind Skechers in terms of yearly turnover of the training and fitness aspect of athletics. In 2010, a web served store was constructed where the shoes of Reebok was sold as the official product where discount on very less amount was provided (Erhard, Werner and Michael, 2014). This increase in the emergence of the turn over by Adidas that had already collaborated with Reebok forced Nike to collaborate with Converse and spend a huge revenue. Despite all this competition, Nike remained the brand with the highest turnover (Cho and Kim, 2016). The SAP version that was used initially by Reebok was also upgraded to a much updated version of SAP which was possible with the help of LEE and Wrangler as the modification was suggested by the Reebok, Lee and Wrangler (Duncan, 2016).   Ã‚   The main issues in the management of Reebok that led to the downfall of the brand are that the brand after getting a proper start to the marketing aspect of the brand due to the innovative ideas that were incorporated in the products that were manufactured by the company and did not intend to evolve their manufacturing infrastructure (Chatwin, 2017). The main motive of the company was to manufacture the most in numbers and to reduce the cost of production. This aspect of the increasing the production as well as lowering the production cost leads to the factor of not being able to customize the shoes manufactured by them. This led to the decline of the brand (Dolgin, 2017). Another   reason of the company for not being able to flourish is the reason that they did not pair up with the   Foot Lockers despite the fact that the Foot Lockers wanted to collaborate with the brand but due to lack of time for customizing shoes for them the Foot lockers and Reebok did not went   on to cra ck the deal (Burns, Carberry and Schwartz, 2015). Nike was later seen to collaborate with Foot Lockers and reach the highest standards of the business their field leaving behind Reebok as their competitor.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The only recommendation that can be provided to the brand is that they must not provide misleading marketing policies as they did for the toning shoes which will lead to the decrease in good will of the brand and the brand loyalty decreases and this in turn positively affects the growth of their competitors (Nigg et al. 2015) . The company must seek to improve their technologies and the modification and customizations must be made in order to stay updated with the regular trend. The company has already collaborated with Adidas hence must act with the technology that the Adidas uses in order to gain the dominance in the global market and reach the peak of the market. The software systems that the brand is using must be updated to its highest order. This updated version will provide the increase in the efficiency of the marketing strategy of the brand leading to the success in marketing of the products   that will be launched by Reebok.   On following these recommendations the bran d can regain its glory days. From the above discussion it can be concluded that the emergence of Reebok was an obvious choice as it was the first brand to launch athletic shoes with spikes in order to found better grip on the track. Despite of getting   a massive launch Reebok failed to maintain the dominance in the field of athletic shoe brands as Nike took over Reebok as a brand due to the availability   of customized shoes. Reebok did not intend on growing as fast as it needed to and did not focus on modifying the shoes as per the requirement of the clients. This factor of not being capable enough to cope up with the pace created Nike the space to conquer the market. The downfall of Reebok embarked the superiority of Nike, which later led to Reebok being sold to Adidas for te betterment of the company. Buckeridge, E., LeVangie, M.C., Stetter, B., Nigg, S.R. and Nigg, B.M., 2015. An on-ice measurement approach to analyse the biomechanics of ice hockey skating.  PloS one,  10(5), p.e0127324. Burns, R., Carberry, S. and Schwartz, S.E., 2015, April. Classifying Salient Textual Entities in the Headlines and Captions of Grouped Bar Charts. In  FLAIRS Conference  (pp. 217-220). Chatwin, C. R. (2017). Rapid prototyping, tooling and time compression. Cho, S. and Kim, Y., 2016. Empirical Rationalization of Prior Substantiation Doctrine: Federal Traded Commission v. Reebok & Sketchers.  Loy. Consumer L. Rev.,  29, p.55. Dolgin, E., 2017. Outside the lab: Side jobs for scientists.  Nature,  549(7671), pp.297-299. Duncan, C., 2016. Purchase of Safety Shoes on an Annual Contract with two (2) options to renew for various Gwinnett County. Erhard, Werner, and Michael C. Jensen.  Putting integrity into finance: A purely positive approach. No. w19986. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014. Erus, O., 2016. The Benefit of Targeting Trending Niche Marketing Segments and Re-positioning of a Company: Choosing the winning marketing strategies for Reebok. Fatma, S., 2018. Brand Revitalization: Reconnecting Emotionally. In  Driving Customer Appeal Through the Use of Emotional Branding  (pp. 262-272). IGI Global. Jain, S., 2017.  Feasibility study for launch of mission athletecare in India. NIFT-Mumbai. Kempf, M. and Franklin, P., 2016. adidas and Reebok: What Expatriate Managers Need to Manage M&As Across Cultures.  Intercultural Management: A Case-Based Approach to Achieving Complementarity and Synergy, p.148. Lee, C. and Kahle, L., 2016. The linguistics of social media: Communication of emotions and values in sport.  Sport Marketing Quarterly,  25(4), p.201. Mantovani, D. and Galvà £o, F.H.S., 2017. Brand priming effect on consumers’ financial risk taking behavior.  Revista de Administraà §Ãƒ £o,  52(1), pp.15-25. Romeo, M., 2016. Standing in the Octagon: The Ultimate Fighting Championship's Battle to Legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York State.  Ariz. St. U. Sports & Ent. LJ,  6, p.109. Sapra, G.K., 2015.  Measures to improvise the key categories in order to establish reebok as a fitness brand in India. NIFT. Tae-Gyu, K.I.M. and Wi-Young, S.O., 2015. Effect of functional rehabilitation exercise on chronic ankle instability in elite athletes.  South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation,  37(2), pp.47-60.

An evaluation of the ethics program of an organization, Assignment

An evaluation of the ethics program of an organization, - Assignment Example Discussion Background of Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is one of the branded American multinational retail players that operate numerous departmental stores as well as warehouse stores offering high level of discounts in varied items. It came into existence in the year 1962 by Walten Brothers in Arkansas. However, it became the popular among the public from the year 1970. Since then, it has created an image of presenting valuable products at an effective price. So, it holds the second largest position, as per Fortune Global 500 companies. As a result Wal-Mart became successful in creating a worthy image of presenting the products at lowest price to live a better life. So, it is voted as one of the most admired company in the market among others. Being headquartered in Arkansas, it operates successfully in more than over 8970 locations as the largest grocery retailer. However, in different locations, it works with different names but their goal is common, i.e. ‘to save money and live a bett er life’. So, Wal-Mart includes a high level of brand image and reputation in the segment of hypermarket or supermarkets or departmental stores as compared to many other rivals. ... In order to do so, the management of Wal-Mart joined hands with various NGO’s, government leaders as well as other retailers. With the help of such co-operations, the management aims to enhance the working conditions as well as the living standards of the workers in a significant way. This helps in enhancing the power of excellence and motivation of the workers, entirely responsible for producing the products for which varied types of measures are implemented such as: Promoting safety and security within the supply chain functions - in order to improve the safety and security of the supply chain, varied types of policies are implemented like zero tolerance policy. Side by side, the management also tried to maintain transparency with its contractors and terminated all the unauthorised ones. Such type of decisions proved effective for the organization as well as its employees. Safety from fire - in order to reduce the risk of fire, barred windows and doors that mainly existed on the staircases were shifted so that the fire may not spread more vividly. Moreover, all the doors and buildings also comprise of a secondary exists, so that in case of emergency, the employees might exit immediately. Due to the presence of such type of facilities, the security of the employees from fire also enhanced to a certain extent. Fire safety related training programs - in order to improve the knowledge and inner skills of the employees over the security of fire, varied types of training programs are also implemented within the organization. This helps the employee to know varied types of ways to save him or herself from fire. Education and training programs - With the help of implementation of these programs, the devotion and motivation of the employees over

Housing and homelessness Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Housing and homelessness - Coursework Example In the present day context, homelessness along with housing need is considered to be a social issue, which hampers the economic growth and stability of a country at large. The members of social care services provide affordable housing to people to secure their life and reduce health issues that lead towards the development of a healthy society (Department of Housing and Public Works, 2014). In relation to the above context, the essay intends to determine whether addressing and alleviating housing need is a part of social care policy and practice with focus on evaluating evidences and providing valid justifications. With the advent of globalisation, the lifestyle of people and economies of scale have changed by a considerable extent. The issue of homelessness and housing need is identified to s increase considerably that have been affecting the lives of the individuals and rising social issues. It will be vital to mention that in this present day context, the issue concerning homelessness must have ‘no place in the society’. Justifiably, homelessness is duly considered to be one of the social issues, which affects human civilisation and economy at large. It is observed in several countries that people live in the streets as they have no place for taking shelter. With reference to the census of 2011 in Queensland, UK, it was witnessed that about 19858 people lived in the streets as they were homeless (Department of Housing and Public Works, 2014). The issue concerning homelessness resembles the fact that the people are unable to afford a house for themselves, which is mainly because of increasing unemployment. This in turn elevates the poverty level, which is recognised as a social issue and thus utmost attention is provided to eradicate the same. Therefore, in this context, it can be inferred that assisting people in terms of offering them with street based help or

Despite the best efforts of academics, little is known about the way Essay

Despite the best efforts of academics, little is known about the way policy is formulated. Discuss - Essay Example It (the policy) identifies and describes the approved and established courses for the adoption by the government and the organizations. Policy usually embraces all general goals, the acceptable procedures and the main actions that lead to the achievement of the goals. It’s (the policies) work is to provide a center for the formulation of policies/strategies, major plans, legislation and any other framework documents. They (policies) generally reflect on long term objectives and they are more subjected to revisions and modifications that are mainly based on the changed vision and goals (Chowdhury, 2003). The national document is a very large mandate which is normally enunciated by the major authority that governs the state with an intention of formulating certain acts and rules that are mostly applied towards the end of attaining the desired objectives. In order to achieve a good policy formulation there has to be a number of desirable steps that have to be followed generally for the purpose of achieving a good policy. Some of these steps include; agreements on how to set priorities, having a form of participatory process, national determination of having a clear goal, implementation arrangements that has clear cut task distribution and better monitoring of activities for major improvements of services and strategic information. When all these steps are followed a good policy gets to be formulated, these steps act as guidance (or even direction) in the policy formulation (Chowdhury, 2003). For the to be able to address a certain public predicament some polices have to be formulated; before the formulation of the policies some steps have to taken and they include; the proper identification of the problem, formulation of a policy adjustment, implementation of the adjusted policy and evaluation of how the adjusted policy is working so as

Public Health Expenditure And Health

Public Health Expenditure And Health Using a utility maximization approach as developed by Grossman, the results revealed that health expenditure does not affect health outcomes in Kenya. The factors that affect health outcomes include: distance to nearest health facility (5km or more) and other household income. This implies that increasing public health expenditure does not lead to reduced maternal mortality rates. Since the other determinants (access to medical facility and other household income) significantly affect the health outcomes, the government needs to put measures in place to ensure that women can easily access health facilities and sensitize them to ensure that they deliver in health facilities and attend antenatal care. This study did not include some important variables that affect maternal mortality rates like the impact of cultural practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), preference of certain types of health care providers (including traditional and herbal medicine) and earlier marriages. Therefore we suggest that in future, studies in this field should give attention to these variables. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background information Health is the extent to which an individual or group is able to cope with the interpersonal, social, biological, and physical environments (World Bank, 2004). Health is therefore a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. It is a positive concept embracing social and personal resources as well as physical and psychological capacities. Health financing is a key input in the provision of quality healthcare. Governments have always had a prominent role in overcoming public health risks and this is a major area of concern in less developed countries like Kenya (Scott, 2001). The provision of good health satisfies one of the basic human needs and contributes significantly to maintaining and enhancing the productivity of the people (Owino, 1997). Public expenditure on health services therefore is a key investment in human capital and plays a catalytic role in the growth of the economy by enabling people to achieve their full potential and lead productive lives. In recognition of the importance of human health, one of the Kenya governments major goals since independence has been to achieve adequate and good-quality health care for all citizens (GOK, 1965). To address health outcomes in developing countries such as Kenya, UNICEF advocates for increased public expenditure on health (UNICEF, 2006). Therefore, many countries in developing countries have increased their health expenditure over time. For example, to achieve better health outcomes, Kenya has increased its health expenditure from Kshs. 11.9 billion in 2000 to Kshs. 20 billion in 2004 representing a 30% increase as shown in Figure 1.1 (GOK, 2007). But more resources alone may not necessarily lead to better health outcomes because health care expenditure is only one of the many factors that contribute to health outcomes, considering the fact that these resources may be channeled to various projects that may not directly influence health outcomes. The link between government health expenditures and health outcomes may therefore not necessarily be present. First, an increase in public health expenditures may result in a decrease in private health expenditures; a household may dive rt its funds towards other uses once the government increases its provision of basic health care. Second, the incremental government expenditures may be employed on the intensive rather than the extensive margin. An example of intensive expenditures would be if expensive and low productivity inputs are bought with marginal funds in which case the impact of these expenditures on health outcomes may be small. Third, even if extra funds are applied extensively to health care (e.g. more staff at hospitals, adequate stocking of medications), but complementary services, both inside and outside the health sector, are not there (e.g. lack of roads or transportation to hospitals and clinics, subsidized prices for medication, etc.) the impact of extra government health expenditures may be little or none (Wagstaff, 2002a). In addition to health expenditure, Kenya also joined hands with other one hundred and eighty eight countries in a global effort to improve health outcome and reaffirmed its commitment to the united Nations Millennium Development goals (MDGs). Three of these millennium development goals are directly related to health. These are to (i) reduce child mortality, (ii) Improve maternal health and (iii) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Despite these global and local interventions in health, performance of Kenyas health sector in terms of maternal mortality has remained as high as four hundred and eighty eight maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2008/9, an increase from four hundred and fourteen per 100,000 live births in 2003, five hundred and ninety per 100,000 in 1998 (KDHS, 2008-09). Figure 1.2. Most maternal deaths are due to causes directly related to pregnancy and childbirth, unsafe abortion and obstetric complications such as severe bleeding, infection, hypertensive disorders, and obstructed labor (KDHS, 2008-09). Improving maternal health being one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the 2000 Millennium Summit, and with only three years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, closer examination of maternal mortality levels is needed to inform planning of reproductive health programmes and to guide advocacy efforts and research at the national level. These estimates a re also needed at the international level, to inform decision-making concerning funding support for the achievement of this goal. Therefore this study focuses on the relationship between health expenditure and health outcomes in Kenya more particularly, how public health expenditure impacts on maternal mortality rates and other determinants of health outcomes. Figure 1.1 Public Health expenditure trends in Kenya Source: Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008/09 Figure 1.2 Trends in maternal mortality: 1990-2008 Source: Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008/09 1.1.2 Public Health expenditure in Kenya Adequate resources are critical to sustainable provision of health services. The government remains the major financier of health care, meeting nearly half of the national health recurrent expenditure. The Kenya policy framework of 1994 identified several methods of health services financing, including taxation, user fees, donor funds, and health insurance. These methods have evolved into important mechanisms for funding health services in the country. The GOK funds the health sector through budgetary allocations to the MOH. However, tax revenues are unreliable sources of health finance, because of macroeconomic conditions such as poor growth, national debt, and inflation, which often affect health allocations. The government therefore works closely with development partners to raise money for the health sector. Donor contributions to the health sector have been on the increase, rising from eight percent of the health budget in 1994-95 to sixteen percent in the fiscal 2001/2002. In some years, donor contributions accounted for over ninety percent of the development budget of the MOH (Ministry of Health, 2006). According to the 2001-2002 national health accounts (NHA), as cited by Wamai (2009) Kenya spends 5.1% of its GDP on health. He cited that the health budget had grown significantly from Ksh15.2 billion in Fiscal 2001/02 to Ksh34.4 billion in Fiscal 2008/09. He added that the proportion of overall government expenditure that the government spent on health declined over the same period from 9% to 7.9% in Fiscal 2006/07. In 1992 a cost-sharing system was introduced to leverage more resources for health services (Collins et al, 1996). Revenue from the cost-sharing system increased exponentially from Ksh60 million in Fiscal 1992/93 to over Ksh1, 468 million in Fiscal 2005/06. However, the revenues overall share of total health expenditure for Fiscal 2005/06 was just 6.4% of the MOHs total spending (MOH, 2007). Figure 1.3: Overview of Kenyas health budget, FY2002 2008 ( US$ million) Source: Health Policy Initiative analysis of Ministry of medical services, 2008 Figure 1.4: Absolute value of Total Health Expenditure (THE) by financing source 2001-2010 Source: Kenya National Health Accounts 2009/10 Reviews of public expenditures and budgets in Kenya show that total health spending constitutes about eight percent of the total government expenditure and that recurrent expenditures have been consistently higher than the development expenditures, both in absolute terms, and as a percentage of the GDP. Government financing of health expenditure is about sixty percent of what is required to provide minimum health services, implying that healthcare delivery in Kenya is under-funded (KHDR, 1999). This is accentuated by inefficiency of the system, including lack of cost-effectiveness in service delivery. However, preliminary information from Kenyas national health accounts shows that the financial contributions of households (out of pocket expenses) exceed those of the government. (Collins et al. 1996) The per capita expenditure therefore falls short of the Government of Kenyas commitment to spend fifteen percent of its total budget on health, as agreed in the Abuja Declaration. The under-financing of the health sector has thus reduced its ability to ensure an adequate level of service provision to the population (Collins et al. 1996). The national health concern therefore is the extent to which additional health expenditure on specific care programmes like maternal health will promote /increase benefits of the patients through improved outcomes in health (decline in maternal mortality rates). 1.1.3 Maternal healthcare in Kenya Improving maternal health is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the 2000 Millennium Summit. The two targets for assessing progress in improving maternal health are reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters between 1990 and 2015, and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015. With only three years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, closer examination of maternal mortality levels is needed to inform planning of reproductive health programmes and to guide advocacy efforts and research at the national level. These estimates are also needed at the international level, to inform decision-making concerning funding support for the achievement of this goal. Good maternal health is crucial for the welfare of the whole household, especially children who are dependent on their mothers to provide food and care. Prevention of the death of a mother is the single most important intervention for the health of a child. Women are intensely vulnerable to the effects of costs incurred during childbirth. User fees can be especially high for emergency or technological procedures such as caesarean section, sometimes reaching catastrophic amounts, which push families into poverty (Graham and Newell, 1999). Many women often leave the hospital before they are well enough for discharge because they cannot pay for the care they have received. User charges add to the costs of transport and companion time, which can be substantial for those living far from facilities. The time spent looking for cash can also delay access to emergency life-saving care in facilities (Kunst and Houweling, 2001). In sub-Saharan Africa, one in sixteen women die in pregnancy or childbirth (WHO, 2001). An estimated ten to twenty million women develop physical or mental disabilities every year as a result of complications or poor management (Ashford, 2006). The long-term consequences are not only physical, but are also psychological, social, and economic. Despite the commitment expressed with the Millennium initiative, maternal health has not been given financial priority internationally. Safe motherhood programmes compete for funding with other priorities such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. 1.2 Statement of the problem In Kenya, as in most Sub-Saharan African countries, health care expenditure has steadily increased over time, therefore making its containment a major issue for successive governments. The existence of a large public deficit and the need to reduce it drastically to comply with the requirements of the AU has added importance to controlling health care expenditure. Financing health care has remained a challenge to the Government of Kenya for a long time. There seems to be very low investment in health by the government, and inappropriate allocation of resources within the government health budget. In Kenya, health is a basic human right and therefore the health situation in Kenya remains a significant concern for the policy makers. The cost of health care, especially maternal health is a heavy burden on households. While health financing has undergone numerous reforms, more changes are needed to ease the burden of maternal health care costs on households in a bid to increase utilization and subsequently improve the health status of the population. In Kenya, like in most developing countries, maternal health care program encompass a medical condition that is regularly associated with death. The maternal mortality rates are very high. The major concern in this study is therefore the change in patient improvement due to additional expenditure on maternal health care (reduced maternal mortality rates). It analyzes whether increasing health care expenditure towards maternal health care program will reduce the maternal mortality rates. 1.3 Objectives of the study The broad objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between health care expenditure and maternal health outcomes in Kenya. The specific objectives of this study are: To identify the determinants of maternal health in Kenya. To investigate the relationship between government expenditure on maternal health care and maternal health outcomes To make policy recommendations based on study findings 1.4 Significance of the study A key factor that has contributed to the declining health outcomes has been the decline in annual real per capita government budget to the health sector. As noted earlier, the actual expenditures fall below budgetary allocations. With respect to this, policy makers are highly interested in the relationship between expenditure on public health and the resultant health outcomes/benefits. The issue is whether extra spending on maternal health leads to better maternal health outcomes. From a policy perspective, this study can help set priorities on resource allocations across specific program of care. For instance it can help the government to know whether additional expenditure on maternal health care will reduce maternal mortality rates in the country. The government is able to set its priorities right whether to invest more on these specific care programme or to reduce its expenditure given the severe budgetary constraints. It also gives policy makers some guidance on appropriate cost containment measures that will help improve health system performance in Kenya. It is also very useful at the international level, to inform decision-making concerning funding support for the achievement of the fifth millennium development goal. This study also adds to the existing literature on the relationship between health care expenditure and health outcomes, determinants of health outcomes and how health outcomes can be improved. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Healthcare is an intermediate good that has no intrinsic value in itself but has value in its contribution (along with other inputs such as environmental and social factors) towards production of health itself. Health, or in general, health status, refers to measures of the physical and emotional well-being of an individual or a defined population. The quantity of healthcare product produced by a healthcare firm is referred to as its output. The ultimate output of the health sector is health. Healthcare therefore can be viewed as any other good or service in which each individual maximizes utility subject to a budget constraint. The basic economic theory of production provides a basis on the linkage of health expenditure and health outcomes. The theory suggests that there are many ways inputs can be used in various proportions to produce outputs (Wolfe, 2002). Inputs refer to the resources needed to carry out a process or provide a service. Inputs required in healthcare are usually financial, physical structures such as buildings, supplies and equipment, personnel, and clients while output refers to the direct result of the interaction of inputs and processes in the system; the types and quantities of goods and services produced by an activity, project or program. The use of inputs in healthcare leads to outcomes. (Cremieux et al. 1999). Health production theory highlights the manner in which health care as an input is related to health as an output. In this theory, health is the output measured in terms of improved health status such as reduced mortality, morbidity or achieving health related millennium development goals while inputs consist of the number of trained health professionals, the number of school years completed, residential place, the proportion of GDP spent on health and the government health expenditure in the health sector (Desai, 1998). Health production theory utilizes the health production function which is the change in health status affected as an approximate matter by changes in the consumption of various health services effective in improving health. The production function summarizes the relationship between inputs and outputs with health status being the dependent variable (function of healthcare) dependent on populations social and environmental factors, policy variables and country specific effects inclusive of biological endowment, and lifestyle. Many studies on this subject have adopted Grossmans (1972) model of health production which views each individual as both a producer and a consumer of health. It regards health as a commodity which the individual will wish to consume and maximize, subject to his/her budget constraints, in conjunction with a number of endogenous and exogenous variables which have an impact on individuals health. Within this model, income and educational level play an important role as explanatory variables. In Grossmans model, he regards health care as both a consumption good that provides direct satisfaction and utility, and as an investment good, it provides satisfaction to individuals indirectly through reduction in sick days, increased wages and increased productivity. In this case, health can be viewed as a stock which degrades over time if there are no investments in the individual health, and that health is taken as a sort of capital. Investing in health may seem costly as individuals must trade off resources and time that may be devoted to health, unlike other goals. These factors are also used in determining the optimal level of health that is needed by an individual. The model therefore makes predictions on the likely effects of health care price changes and other goods, outcomes in labor market such as technological changes, wages and employment. In the Grossman model, at the optimal level, health investment occurs where the marginal cost of health capital is equal to the marginal benefit. Over time, health is likely to depreciate at a certain rate which may be denoted by ÃŽÂ ´. The consumer faces an interest rate which may also be denoted by r. By adding these variables, the health capital marginal cost can be calculated as under: ÃŽÂ ´ In this case the health capital marginal benefit is the rate of return from this capital in both non market and market sectors. In this model, the health stock at optimal level can be caused by factors such as education, wages and age. The theory further advocates that investing in health should be combined with other factors which are crucial in order to produce new health, which in the long run may offset the process of deterioration in the stock of health. Medical scientists could argue that only effective medical care should be universally available (OHE, 1979). The government therefore may resort to explicit rationing which is not only to set limits on total expenditure for care, but also to develop mechanisms to arrive at more rational decisions as to relative investments in different disease specific programmes, and the establishment of certain minimal uniform standards. This rationing does not guarantee mothers to equal access to appropriate maternal/medical care. Treatment is still within the postulate that the doctor will do his best with the resources available to him but there is no such constraint on those resources as government decides (OHE, 1979). This study looks at maternal health as the output of an aggregate production which utilizes variables such as public health expenditure, access to government medical services and household incomes as the inputs. The assumption is that for reasons associated with diminishing returns and the adverse effects of certain variables after an initial positive outcome, the relationship is expected to be nonlinear (Nixon and Ulman, 2006). 2.2 EMPIRICAL LITERATURE Health status are commonly measured using four major indicators, maternal mortality, mortality rate in infants, mortality rate for under five and life expectancy at birth (Akinkugbe et al. 2009); (Gupta et al. 1999); (Wang,2002); (Imam et al. 2003). Other measures of health outcomes/status used include preference of cancer or circulatory diseases, disability adjusted life years, quality adjusted life years, fertility indicators and achievement of other health related millennium development goals. Similarly, government health expenditure, GDP per capita, female literacy, number of physicians, immunization coverage, urbanization and calorie intake among others are some of the most used explanatory variables (Wolfe, 1986); (Wang, 2002); (Or, 2000b); (Caldwell, 1990) and (Filmer et al. 1999). Most studies have used cross-sectional analysis (Bokhari et al.2007); (Imam et al. 2003); (Anyanwu et al. 2008); (Gani et al. 2009); (Wang, 2002); (Nixon and Ulman, 2006) and (Martin et al. 2009). Some have used panel data (Gupta et al. 1999) and (Or, 2000b), while Akinkugbe et al. (2009) used time series analysis to estimate the relationship between the public health expenditure and health outcomes. To solve the problem of autocorrelation in cross sectional analysis, heteroskedasticity test was done, corrected standard errors for panel data analysis while augmented Dickey Fuller tests were used to test for stationarity in all studies using time series data. All studies reviewed used health expenditure as one of the explanatory variables except Wang, (2002) who looked at it in a different perspective. According to him, demand for electricity, access to piped water and sanitation and female education increases health expenditure but it does not increase public health expenditure in improving health outcomes. Most studies indicated that public spending contributes significantly to health status improvements (Filmer et al. 1999); (Abel Smith, 1963); (Kiymaz et al. 2006); (Ester et al. 2011); (Gakunju, 2003); (Bokhari et al.2006); (Anyanwu et al. 2005); (Cremieux et al. 1999); (Nixon and Ulman, 2006) and (Blendon et al. 2006). For example, Filmer et al. (1999) used data from the early 1990s and estimated multivariate regression model of child mortality on per capita income, government health expenditure and other controls. They found that there was significant correlation between child mortality and income per capita. Some studies however indicated that public health expenditure alone as a determinant of health is inadequate (Ogbu and Gallagher, 1992); (Castrol-leal et al. 1999); (Gupta et al. 2003); (Anderson and Frogner, 2005); (Hitris and Posnet, 1992); (Caldwell, 1986); (Dor et al. 2007) and (Cochrane et al. 1978). In estimations, different methods were used by different authors. Generally two main methods were used: generalized least squares and the ordinary least squares. However, other methods have also been used. For example, Bokhari et al. (2006) and Gupta et al. (1999) used two stage least squares because of the instrumental variables used to address the problem of reverse causality and measurement errors in the variables. Anyanwu et al. (2005) used Robust Ordinary Least Squares as the baseline specification and robust two stage least squares to control for endogeneity and reverse causality. Bhalotra (2007) used the linear probability model. Particularly, Flippi et al (2006) took a broader perspective on maternal health and drew attention to the economic and social vulnerability of pregnant women. They called for action to reduce maternal mortality rates by channeling more resources towards maternal healthcare, improving on human resources and information. They used maternal mortality ratio (by cause) as the major indicator and recommended that research is needed on how to finance health services and ensure equitable access to generate more evidence. While examining the association of the socio-demographic characteristics of women and the unobserved hospital factors in Kenya, Magadi et al. (2001) used multilevel logistic regression. The results showed that the probability of maternal mortality depends on both observed factors that are associated with a particular woman and unobserved factors peculiar to the admitting hospital. The individual characteristics observed to have a significant association with maternal mortality include maternal age, antenatal clinic attendance and educational attainment. The hospital variation was observed to be stronger for women with least favorable socio-demographic characteristics. For example, the risk of maternal death at high-risk hospitals for women aged thirty five years and above, who had low levels of education, and did not attend antenatal care is about two hundred and eighty deaths per a thousand admissions. The risk for similar women at low-risk hospitals is about four deaths per a thous and admissions. In a study carried out on health care services and sources of revenue in six countries from Western Europe and North America, Abel Smith (1963) found that health care expenditure was associated with reduced life expectancy and increased mortality rates. In a similar study carried out in the year 1967 involving twenty nine countries he found that the level of national income was associated with improved health status and that the demand for healthcare increased in countries with declining mortality. Abel Smiths studies laid down foundation for the development of methodologies for tracking health expenditures in both private and public sectors. While investigating the factors that are associated with infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ester et al. (2011) carried out an ecological multi-group study using a bi-variate and multi-variate analysis with infant mortality rate as the dependent variable. They used a linear regression model between infant mortality rate and the correlated indicators (social security expenditure and government expenditure per-capita on health). This study revealed, in the multi-variate analysis, three factors associated with the IMR: a higher social security expenditure on health as a percentage of the general government expenditure on health, a higher per-capita government expenditure on health and a higher number of children under five years of age with diarrhea receiving oral dehydration therapy indicated a lower IMR. During the examination of the effectiveness of public social spending on education and health care in several African countries, Castro-Leal et al. (1999) reviewed the benefit incidence of government spending in Cote divoire, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa and Tanzania. Their study found that public expenditures on health were not sufficient especially on the poor to reduce mortality rates. On the other hand, Gupta et al. (2003) used cross-country data for over seventy developing countries to assess the relationship between public spending on health care and the health status of the poor. Their findings confirmed that the poor have significantly worse health status than the rich. The results however suggested that increased public spending alone will not be sufficient to significantly improve health status. Another study carried out on the health effects of per capita income and public expenditure on social services in Kenya, proved that per capita income had been very influential in determining health status. The study found that expenditures on education and health care improved health status at a great margin. It further established that per capita income was significantly linked to the levels of mortalities, and that some of the negative trends in health status could have been attributed to unfavorable growth and insufficient social spending on health (Manyala, 2000). In his findings income elasticities were all statistically significant, current income had the expected effect on life expectancy but not on infant mortality. He further found that if mothers are malnourished and are in poor state of health, their infant will inherit part of this poor health, and therefore will be at greater risk of mortality relative to infants of healthy mother. A comparative study by Wagstaff (2002a) that focused on forty two developing countries used child mortality due to malnutrition and diarrhea as the health outcomes/indicators. Wagstaff (2002b) treated government health expenditure as an exogenous variable and found that it did have a statistically significant (negative) coefficient. The study used a simple stylized theoretical model rationalizing the health-income relationship and found that public spending on health care had a larger impact on child mortality among the poor than among the non-poor population. In his study on health and schooling investments in Africa, Schultz (1999) found that health status rose with increased public spending on health services. He also argued that the health status will tend to decline with a rise in relative prices of health inputs such as salaries of medical personnel, cost of drugs and other medical supplies, relative to prices of nutrients that help fight infections and disease. He also found that levels of education were correlated with lower mortality rates. The relationship between mothers education and mortality rate was stronger than the fathers. He recommended that an additional year of schooling to the mother especially in low-income countries was associated with a five to ten percent reduction in mortality rates. On his analysis of the factors determining health status in Kenya, Gakunju (2003) found that government expenditure on public health was noteworthy in shaping individual health status. He also found that government health expenditure influences health status with over a long time. This actually implies that the government investment and spending in the health sector have had a major effect on the health of the people. He also acknowledged a number of factors as being important in resolving the health problem Kenya such as: Per capita income, individual access to doctors, HIV/AIDs prevalence, literacy level for women, Child immunization coverage and spending/investment by the government in the health sector. His study majorly used the central government e