Japans Genpei War, 1180 - 1185

Japan's Genpei War, 1180 - 1185 Date: 1180-1185 Location: Honshu and Kyushu, Japan Outcome: Minamoto clan prevails and almost wipes out Taira; Heian era ends and Kamakura shogunate begins The Genpei War (also romanized as Gempei War) in Japan was the first conflict between large samurai factions.  Although it happened nearly 1,000 years ago, people today still remember the names and accomplishments of some of the great warriors who fought in this civil war. Sometimes compared with Englands War of the Roses, the Genpei War featured two families fighting for power.  White was the clan color of the Minamoto, like the House of York, while the Taira used red like the Lancasters.  However, the Genpei War predated the Wars of the Roses by three hundred years.  In addition, the Minamoto and Taira were not fighting to take the throne of Japan; instead, each wanted to control the imperial succession. Lead-up to the War The Taira and Minamoto clans were rival powers behind the throne. They sought to control the emperors by having their own favorite candidates take the throne.  In the Hogen Disturbance of 1156 and the Heiji Disturbance of 1160, though, it was the Taira who came out on top.   Both families had daughters who had married into the imperial line.  However, after the Taira victories in the disturbances, Taira no Kiyomori became the Minister of State; as a result, he was able to ensure that his daughters three-year-old son became the next emperor in March of 1180.  It was the enthronement of little Emperor Antoku that led the Minamoto to revolt. War Breaks Out On May 5, 1180, Minamoto Yoritomo and his favored candidate for the throne, Prince Mochihito, sent out a call to war.  They rallied samurai families related to or allied with the Minamoto, as well as warrior monks from various Buddhist monasteries.  By June 15, Minister Kiyomori had issued a warrant for his arrest, so Prince Mochihito was forced to flee Kyoto and seek refuge in the monastery of Mii-dera.  With thousands of Taira troops marching toward the monastery, the prince and 300 Minamoto warriors raced south toward Nara, where additional warrior monks would reinforce them. The exhausted prince had to stop to rest, however, so the Minamoto forces took refuge with the monks at the easily defensible monastery of Byodo-in.  They hoped that monks from Nara would arrive to reinforce them before the Taira army did.  Just in case, however, they tore the planks from the only bridge across the river to Byodo-in. At first light the next day, June 20, the Taira army marched quietly up to Byodo-in, hidden by thick fog.  The Minamoto suddenly heard the Taira war-cry  and replied with their own.  A fierce battle followed, with monks and samurai firing arrows through the mist at one another.  Soldiers from the Tairas allies, the Ashikaga, forded the river and pressed the attack.  Prince Mochihito tried to escape to Nara in the chaos, but the Taira caught up with him and executed him.  The Nara monks marching toward Byodo-in heard that they were too late to help the Minamoto, and turned back.  Minamoto Yorimasa, meanwhile, committed the first classical seppuku in history, writing a death poem on his war-fan, and then cutting open his own abdomen. It seemed that the Minamoto revolt and thus the Genpei War had come to an abrupt end.  In vengeance, the Taira sacked and burned the monasteries that had offered aid to the Minamoto, slaughtering thousands of monks and burning Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji in Nara to the ground. Yoritomo Takes Over The leadership of the Minamoto clan passed to the 33-year-old Minamoto no Yoritomo, who was living as a hostage in the home of a Taira-allied family.  Yoritomo soon learned that there was a bounty on his head.  He organized some local Minamoto allies, and escaped from the Taira, but lost most of his small army in the Battle of Ishibashiyama on September 14.  Yoritomo escaped with his life, fleeing into the woods with Taira pursuers close behind.   Yoritomo made it to the town of Kamakura, which was solidly Minamoto territory.  He called in reinforcements from all of the allied families in the area.  On November 9, 1180, at the so-called Battle of the Fujigawa (Fuji River), the Minamoto and allies faced an over-extended Taira army.  With poor leadership and long supply lines, the Taira decided to withdraw back to Kyoto without offering a fight.   A hilarious and likely exaggerated account of the events at Fujigawa in the Heiki Monogatari claims that a flock of water-fowl on the river marshes was started into flight in the middle of the night.  Hearing the thunder of their wings, the Taira soldiers panicked and fled, grabbing bows without arrows or taking their arrows but leaving their bows.  The record even claims that Taira troops were mounting tethered animals and whipping them up so that they galloped round and round the post to which they were tied. Whatever the true cause of the Taira retreat, there followed a two-year lull in the fighting.  Japan faced a series of droughts and floods that destroyed the rice and barley crops in 1180 and 1181.  Famine and disease ravaged the countryside; an estimated 100,000 died.  Many people blamed the Taira, who had slaughtered monks and burned down temples.  They believed that the Taira had brought down the wrath of the gods with their impious actions, and noted that Minamoto lands did not suffer as badly as those controlled by the Taira. Fighting began again in July of 1182, and the Minamoto had a new champion called Yoshinaka, a rough-hewn cousin of Yoritomos, but an excellent general.  As Minamoto Yoshinaka won skirmishes against the Taira  and considered marching on Kyoto, Yoritomo grew increasingly concerned about his cousins ambitions.  He sent an army against Yoshinaka in the spring of 1183, but the two sides managed to negotiate a settlement rather than fighting one another. Fortunately for them, the Taira were in disarray.  They had conscripted a huge army, marching forth on May 10, 1183, but were so disorganized that their food ran out just nine miles east of Kyoto.  The officers ordered the conscripts to plunder food as they passed from their own provinces, which were just recovering from the famine.  This prompted mass desertions. As they entered Minamoto territory, the Taira divided their army into two forces.  Minamoto Yoshinaka managed to lure the larger section into a narrow valley; at the Battle of Kurikara, according to the epics, Seventy thousand horsemen of the Taira perish[ed], buried in this one deep valley; the mountain streams ran with their blood... This would prove the turning point in the Genpei War. Minamoto In-Fighting Kyoto erupted in panic at the news of the Taira defeat in Kurikara.  On August 14, 1183, the Taira fled the capital.  They took along most of the imperial family, including the child emperor, and the crown jewels.  Three days later, Yoshinakas branch of the Minamoto army marched into Kyoto, accompanied by the former Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Yoritomo was nearly as panicked as the Taira were by his cousins triumphal march.  However, Yoshinaka soon earned the hatred of the citizens of Kyoto, allowing his troops to pillage and rob people regardless of their political affiliation.  In February of 1184, Yoshinaka heard that Yoritomos army was coming to the capital to expel him, led by another cousin, Yoritomos courtly younger brother Minamoto Yoshitsune.  Yoshitsunes men quickly dispatched Yoshinakas army.  Yoshinakas wife, the famous female samurai Tomoe Gozen, is said to have escaped after taking a head as a trophy.  Yoshinaka himself was beheaded while trying to escape on February 21, 1184. End of the War and Aftermath: What remained of the Taira loyalist army retreated into their heartland.  It took the Minamoto some time to mop them up.  Almost a year after Yoshitsune ousted his cousin from Kyoto, in February of 1185, the Minamoto seized the Taira fortress and make-shift capital at Yashima.   On March 24, 1185, the final major battle of the Genpei War took place.  It was a naval battle in the Shimonoseki Strait, a half-day fight called the Battle of Dan-no-ura. Minamoto no Yoshitsune commanded his clans fleet of 800 ships, while Taira no Munemori led the Taira fleet, 500 strong.  The Taira were more familiar with the tides and currents in the area, so initially were able to surround the larger Minamoto fleet and pin them down with long-range archery shots.  The fleets closed in for hand-to-hand combat, with samurai leaping aboard their opponents ships and fighting with long and short swords.  As the battle wore on, the turning tide forced the Taira ships up against the rocky coastline, pursued by the Minamoto fleet. When the tides of battle turned against them, so to speak, many of the Taira samurai jumped into the sea to drown rather than being killed by the Minamoto.  The seven-year-old Emperor Antoku and his grandmother also jumped in and perished.  Local people believe that small crabs that live in the Shimonoseki Strait are possessed by the ghosts of the Taira samurai; the crabs have a pattern on their shells that looks like a samurais face. After the Genpei War, Minamoto Yoritomo formed the first bakufu and ruled as Japans first shogun from his capital at Kamakura.  The Kamakura shogunate was the first of various bakufu that would rule the country until 1868  when the Meiji Restoration returned political power to the emperors. Ironically, within thirty years of the Minamoto victory in the Genpei War, political power would be usurped from them by regents (shikken) from the Hojo clan.  And who were they?  Well, the Hojo were a branch of the Taira family. Sources Arnn, Barbara L.  Local Legends of the Genpei War: Reflections of Medieval Japanese History, Asian Folklore Studies, 38:2 (1979), pp. 1-10. Conlan, Thomas.  The Nature of Warfare in Fourteenth-Century Japan: The Record of Nomoto Tomoyuki, Journal for Japanese Studies, 25:2 (1999), pp. 299-330. Hall, John W.  The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1990). Turnbull, Stephen.  The Samurai: A Military History, Oxford: Routledge (2013).

How to Study for a Philosophy Exam

How to Study for a Philosophy Exam Perhaps youve heard this story: Thirty students are waiting to write a final exam for a philosophy course on the Theory of Knowledge. The professor enters the room, hands out blue books, picks up  a chair, places it on top of a table, and says, You are to write just one essay on this exam. Prove to me that this chair exists. You have two hours. A minute later one student gets up, turns in her answer book and leaves. The rest of the class slave away for two hours, explaining foundationalism, pragmatism, materialism, idealism, and every other ism they think is relevant.  But when the exams are returned, only one essay receives an A- the one turned in early.  The classmates of the student who got the A naturally demand to see her essay.  She shows it them. It consists of two words: What chair? If you have a philosophy final coming up, and youre feeling witty, you could try a strategy like that. But we wouldnt recommend it. Theres a 99.9% probability that in the real world, the two-word essay would have received a big fat F. In the real world, the most important thing to remember is to study for the exam in an active rather than passive way. What does that mean? Passive studying is where you look over your class notes, notes taken from books, old essays. Research has shown that this is not very effective. This may be especially true in philosophy because the abstractness of the material can often make recall difficult. So how can you make your studying active?  Here are four ways. Write Practice Essays, Preferably Timed This is probably the single most valuable exercise you can do. Writing under exam conditions- time limits and no notesforces you to organize what you know, strengthens your ability to recall details (definitions, arguments, objections, etc.), and often prompts original thoughts of your own that you might end up including if you write on the same topic in the exam. Most teachers should  be able and willing to give you sample questions that you can use for this purpose. Read, Keeping Practice Essays in Mind Before writing a practice essay, youll naturally need to prepare by studying the relevant material. But doing this sort of focused, purposeful studying is much better than just scanning many pages of notes and texts and hoping that some of it sticks. Think up Your Own Examples to Illustrate Abstract Points For instance, if youre writing about how utilitarians might be willing to sacrifice individual rights in order to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number, you might think about a group of peeping toms who are all spying on someone in the shower. Its much easier to remember concrete examples than abstract principles; but once you do, youll probably find it easy to  recall the theoretical point the examples are making. Whoever is reading the essay may also give you credit if you use original illustrative examples: it shows you really understand what you are talking about and not just mindlessly repeating what someone else has said. Practice Making Outlines After youve written a practice essay and you have the material fully in mind, draft an outline for the essay youve just written, perhaps with some improvements. Again, this will help to organize your thinking and should help improve your ability to recall the material during the exam. Bottom Line The  mechanical basics of preparing for any  final are pretty much the same for all subjects: get a  good nights sleep; eat a good breakfast (or lunch) so your brain is fueled; make sure you have a spare pen. Some people also think it helps to sleep with the textbook under your pillow. Experts are skeptical about this strategy but, to date, its ineffectiveness has  never been conclusively proved.

Applying Ethical Frameworks in Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Applying Ethical Frameworks in Practice - Essay Example It may also lead them avoid seeking care for fear of being exposed against their will. This could lead to serious consequences, for instance further injury or even death in certain instances. Secondly, breach of confidentiality could make a patient feel disrespected by the physicians or healthcare providers. The provisions of confidentiality provide for a means for the preservation of the patient’s privacy and autonomy rights. Therefore, breaching of confidentiality is similar to breaching the privacy and autonomy rights of an individual, which is unethical in healthcare. Thirdly, when healthcare providers or physicians enter into a relationship with patients, there must be fidelity that calls for respect for confidentiality that is developed implicitly and as required by the code of ethics that guides medical and healthcare practice for all health care professionals. This means that the healthcare professional has the obligation to keep the patient’s confidentiality to earn his or her trust and be able to provide the needed care for the patient. When healthcare professionals breach confidentiality, they break the trust and fidelity put upon them by the patients and act irresponsibly. This will therefore be unethical. Several ethical principles emphasize on the importance of confidentiality in healthcare provision. These principles include beneficence, Non-malfeasance, autonomy, justice and truthfulness. The principle of beneficence entails the compassion that health professionals should show towards patients. This means that health professionals must desire to do good and an aspect of this is to keep the patient confidentiality, as it is an important factor in patient advocacy. Non-malfeasance is also an important principle in the sense that it stipulates that health professionals should ensure the avoidance of harm as a core of medical oath and nursing ethics. Breaching patient confidentiality equals to malfeasance. The

Diversity in our law agencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diversity in our law agencies - Essay Example However, the gender bias that exists in police department begins right at the hiring stage where applicants are required to perform a Physical Abilities test where they have to scale a 6 foot wall and other physical acts that call for strength in the upper body, where women are weeded out. Moreover, the smaller number of women police officers creates an environment that predisposes towards sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace. Women are subjected to sexual innuendos and unwanted advances from their superiors and find it difficult to help female victims of domestic violence in the environment of male bias that exists in the police force. Since most police officers work in teams with one â€Å"rookie† officer assigned to work with an older, more experienced officer, the mentor-student approach sometimes tends to create personal conflicts and instances of sexual harassment. The tough nature of the job itself is exacerbated by personal tensions that creep up betwe en a female rookie and a tough, male officer-mentor. In an occupation that has been a traditionally male dominated bastion, there also exists an unspoken â€Å"brotherhood† that tends to promote and favor male officers over females, based upon the false perception that women are inherently weaker and incapable of the harsh realities of police work.(Shusta et al, 1995). The existence of the stereotypes about the physical or psychological characteristics makes it even harder for women to break into the tough world of policing. The common perception is that women are less effective on the field and are better relegated to purely administrative positions within the department. While one standard is applied to assess the ability and skill of men for higher positions within the department, a different standard is applied for women, often requiring them to

Report on Packaging Industry Essay Example for Free

Report on Packaging Industry Essay All major industries create wealth but if there is one industry that plays a unique role by way of both creation of wealth through a wide range of manufacturing activities and also by way of preserving the wealth or value created by many, many other industries, it is packaging. Apart from the huge value addition and employment involved in these activities, packaging has served the Indian economy by helping preservation of the quality and lengthening the shelf life of innumerable products ranging from milk and biscuits, to drugs and medicines, processed and semi-processed foods, fruits and vegetables, edible oils, electronic goods etc. besides domestic appliances and industrial machinery and other hardware needing transportation. With water becoming a consumer product, polymer material-based bottles are becoming a universal presence. Packaging, as distinct from mere â€Å"packing†, plays it? s most visible and catalytic role in a modern economy with the widespread adoption of branding of products and development of consumer preferences. To the extent that any consumer product is packaged in a manner that meets the criteria of safety, convenience and attractiveness, it gains market share. In the aggregate, packaging as a sectoral activity boosts consumption and economic growth. Packaging, as distinct from mere â€Å"packing†, plays it? s most visible and catalytic role in a modern economy with the widespread adoption of branding of products and development of consumer preferences. To the extent that any consumer product is packaged in a manner that meets the criteria of safety, convenience and attractiveness, it gains market share. In the aggregate, packaging as a sectoral activity boosts consumption and economic growth. The packaging industry? s growth has led to greater specialization and sophistication from the point of view of health (in the case of packaged foods and medicines) and environment friendliness of packing material. The demands on the packaging industry are challenging, given the increasing environmental awareness among communities. The World Packaging Organization? s (WPO) slogan, â€Å"Better Quality of Life Through Better Packaging†, sumps up the important place that packaging occupies in a modern economy. To ensure that public appreciation of this role and the policy-makers? support to the industry are not diluted, attention should be paid to basic issues like collection, segregation and reuse of synthetic packaging material and observation of regulatory requirements.

The Grange :: essays research papers

The Grange The Grange was the first major farm organization and began in the 1860's. This organization was created mostly as a social and self-help association not originally an organization of protest. During the depression of 1873, this group of bonded friends, became an "agency for political change." They knew in ordered to help themselves they must become a voice in this new government in order to survive. With the depression farm product prices began to decrease. More farms joined the Grange to band together to resolve the issues before them. Beginning as a small group of friends learning from each other what worked and what didn't, by 1875 the Grange boasted of over 800,000 members and 20,000 local lodges; claiming chapters in almost every state, being the strongest in the states that produced the most: the South and Midwest. As a group (strong in member) they made their statement to the world on an appropriate day, Independence Day 1873. The framers Declaration of Independence informed those listening they were ready to fight back. The Declaration stated they would use "all lawful and peaceful means to free themselves from the tyranny of monopoly". Many of the members opened stores and other businesses so they could begin to buy and sell to each other. However most of these were farmers, with families, not businessmen and many companies didn't survive because of their lack of real business knowledge and the pressures of the middlemen who wanted them to fail. They worked as a team to get candidates elected who agreed with the need for governmental control of the railroads. With the control of the Legislatures they implemented governmental controls on railroad rates and practices. However the railroad was also very wealthy. They hired lawyers who soon destroyed the new regulations. With these defeats and with the new rise in farm prices in the late 1870's the Grange began to lose strength and power, dwindling to a membership to only 100,000 by 1880. The Grange was the springboard for another banding together of farmers, the Farmers Alliances. This new movement began in the Southern states and quickly spread beyond what the Grange had been. One of the most notable differences within the Alliance, was the approval of women to vote and become speakers and leaders for their cause. The Alliance however, had similar problems as the Grange. Many of the cooperations, stores, banks, processing plants and other resources began to suffer the same fate. Lack of solid management and the market forces operating against them caused them to fail. These disappointments aided the forming of a national political organization.

High maintenance intensive gardens Essay

Located primarily in the southern region of the United States, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, ColorTech is a privately held company that grows and supplies annual and perennial flowers to big-box stores. Some of its clients include Walmart and Home Depot. They rented greenhouse space in other US cities to be able to handle special orders, with greenhouses in the North which helped them provide region specific and seasonal plants. ColorTech profits had been consistently dropping due to a change in the market and industry. A saturated market and a shift away from water and high maintenance intensive gardens, along with increased price competition are the major reasons why we have seen a loss in profits for ColorTech. Demands for lowering prices and very costly customizations from the big-box stores made ColorTech even more exposed than other competitors. As part of its growth strategy and an effort to generate additional revenue, ColorTech recently acquired a Colombian company specialized in cut flowers, and quickly became one of the largest growers in North and South America. Character profiles- Melissa Richardson- She is the main character in this case study. Melissa was the top sales performer in Chicago before her recent promotion to sales manager of the Phoenix office. Melissa is excited and eager to step into this position, hoping that her previous experience and success will be able to help the struggling Phoenix office become successful. She has no previous manager experience, but has taken management training courses which helped her learn about some of her duties. Beth Campbell- She is the Regional Sales manager for ColorTech. Beth is very absent from this story and does not provide the support to Melissa that she needs. Campbell appears to be very busy and does not communicate expectations with Melissa well. Alex Hoffman- He is an account representative, and has been with the company for 8 years. He is the top salesperson in the entire company. He is very dismissive in his attitude towards Melissa. He does not appear to accept her as his manager. He might be having some feelings of jealousy born out of the fact that he may have considered himself qualified for the manager position. Alex has no interest in selling the cut flowers portion of the business and will only work on his own terms. Gregorio Torres- Torres, also an account representative, has been with the company the longest, 12 years. His sales numbers are below average. During his first encounter with Melissa, he was more interested in discussing his idea for a new website to manage customer service. When further pushed about why his sales numbers were so low, Gregorio responded with â€Å"I guess I’m just not a hard-sell kind of guy.† From an outside perspective it seems as if Gregorio is just not cut out for sales and might be more interested in customer service or operations. Sarah Vega- Sarah is the third account representative on the team. Even though she has been with the company for 3 years, still does not appear to have it all together. Sarah was either tardy or absent from meetings. Even when she eventually made it for a meeting, she seemed distracted, restless and unorganized. This attitude to work reflected on her erratic sales numbers, though she appeared knowledgeable in some areas of the company’s product line, she was totally clueless in others. . Chelsea Peterson- Chelsea is a store merchandiser and has been with the company for 2years. This is a position that provides support for the sales team. Chelsea from the start was openly hostile with Melissa. Chelsea feels that Melissa is not giving her a chance to become a sales rep even though she has never expressed that desire to anyone. She eventually expresses her interest to Melissa who told her to put a resume together for consideration. Chelsea still feels slighted and has hires an attorney to approach ColorTech about gender diversity records. Nick Ruiz- Nick is fresh out of college and has been with ColorTech for 1 year. He is the most enthusiastic of all the employees on the team. He is currently a store merchandiser, but will do whatever it takes to get into an account rep position. His product knowledge is very strong, he has active discussions with customers, and since there is a greenhouse on site he has strong knowledge of operations as well. He even forgoes his breaks to go into the greenhouse just to talk to workers about the jobs that they do. The Situation- From the very start Melissa Richardson has received no support or respect as a manager. In addition, Melissa has never had any managerial experience and has stepped into an office where she is way over her head with problems that she has never faced before. Her first day on the job gave a glimpse of what she was in store for. Her regional sales manager did not show up to introduce Melissa and to get Melissa acclimated to the team. The top sales rep in the company did not respect her and showed up to the first meeting late even though he knew about it. Along with that Sarah Vega showed up late to the meeting and also disrespected Melissa. Very quickly things spiraled out of control for Melissa. She was disrespected in the first meeting by Alex and Sarah, and she did not do anything to address the situation. Melissa coming from Chicago was not accustomed to the culture of the Phoenix office. The greenhouse workers and a lot of the sales team are Hispanic by nature and Spanish was their first language. Melissa has tried to learn Spanish by tape, but could not keep up with the speed that everyone else spoke it at. On multiple occasions the sales reps would speak Spanish in front of her, but Melissa could not follow what they said because they spoke in Spanish. This would upset Melissa and make her feel even more distant from her team. The Phoenix sales office was not meeting sales expectations, and to makes things even worse there was a fungus in the Columbia Greenhouse cut facility. The only way to remedy this problem was to destroy the stock inside, disinfect the entire facility, and then finally start regrowing all of the cut flowers. This problem caused delays of weeks in orders from new customers, and the potential loss of many clients. Due to low self efficacy, a lack of support from upper management, not fitting into the culture of the office, and lack of experience as a manager; Melissa failed to successfully transition from team member to team leader. In the end, everything spiraled out of control, with Sarah missing work at least once a week, Gregorio consistently putting up poor numbers, Chelsea filing a gender discrimination lawsuit against the company, and Alex providing no respect and support for his manager. Diagnosis Melissa Richardson is having difficulty transitioning from Team Member to Team Manager for a variety of reasons including her own behaviors and situational challenges she encounters and they contribute to a dysfunctional team environment. Melissa is in trouble even before she begins her new job as Sales Manager because of her low self-efficacy beliefs concerning her management training (Kinicki, 2008, p. 39-41). She has taken management training courses offered by her company but has little confidence in her understanding of the Managerial and Human Resources responsibilities of her new position. She finds it hard to imagine how she might apply the specific advice and experiences that her management trainers relate to situations she will encounter. Self-efficacy beliefs are often self-fulfilling prophecies; low self-efficacy beliefs lead to low expectations of success and can result in destructive behavior patterns, such as putting off difficult tasks, which contribute to failure (Kinicki, 2008, p. 40-41). Melissa’s problems transitioning to a management position are partly because; whether she recognizes it or not, she is not confident that she has the necessary skills and abilities. As she meets her new team and interacts with her new supervisor it becomes clear that she is not communicating well with any of them. The members of her team are mostly distant or distracted–not focused on the job at hand–and she allows herself to be distracted from making a strong first impression by other aspects of her job such as touring the greenhouses, phone meetings, and paperwork. Melissa is a low self-monitor, not particularly good at observing her own self-expressive behavior and adapting it to the demands of the situation (Kinicki, 2008, pg 42). She learns from her manager, too late to complete a quarterly sales report, that the data she is using was falsified by her predecessor. She is also confronted by an angry employee wrongly convinced of being passed over for a promotion. Melissa, however, does not respond to the environmental cues and change her behavior as she would if she were engaged in self-management (Kinicki, 2008, p. 43). She isn’t helped by the lack of leadership from her own manager, Beth Campbell, who ought to be coaching her and providing feedback as she transitions to her new role and gets to know her new team members (Kinicki, 2008, p. 42). They meet only once before Melissa starts her new job and when Melissa does start, Beth fails to properly introduce her or give her any background information on her new team and position. She assigns work but does not give Melissa the necessary support and training to make sure she succeeds at new and unfamiliar tasks. Beth is not providing the leadership that she needs and Melissa is not comfortable asking for help. One more situational factor working against Melissa’s transition to Team Leader is her difficulty adapting to a new environment in Phoenix, where speaking Spanish is a big part of everyday interactions with her co-workers. Several times she feels isolated from her team because she is not fluent in Spanish, even though she has tried to learn the language. Melissa’s sales team is dysfunctional and she immediately has problems in her interpersonal relationships with several team members. Alex Hoffman is dismissive, Chelsea Peterson is hostile and Sarah Vega is absent. By the time of her July meeting with Beth Campbell, Melissa’s group has not progressed beyond the second stage of Bruce Tuckman’s Five-Stage Theory of Group Development (Kinicki, 2008, p. 88). She encounters problems in the first stage, Forming, when she fails to make a strong first impression on her team. This is followed by the second stage of group development, Storming, as demonstrated by challenges to her authority from Alex who dismisses her goal of selling cut flowers, Chelsea who accuses her of gender discrimination, and Vega who is persistently absent. The group never reaches the third stage, Norming, because nobody challenges the team to move forward and really take on the problem solving necessary to overcome the challenges presented when sales are jeopardized by production issues in the greenhouses. They lack the common commitment necessary to qualify as a real team (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Melissa does not effectively set goals or provide incentives and feedback to motivate her team members. She also fails to develop teamwork competencies by helping them understand their problem solving situation so they can arrive at a common understanding of what challenges are facing them and how to go about resolving them (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Prescription While the ColorTech team in Phoenix has encountered numerous problems, including lagging sales, production errors, and an infectious fungus, the team’s main issues stem from Melissa’s difficulty transitioning from team member to team manager, team dysfunction, and Melissa’s difficulty managing diversity and the new culture in Phoenix. There are solutions available to help mitigate the team’s problems, including improving Melissa’s management skills, developing teamwork competencies, and implementing diversity initiatives. However, there is no single solution or quick fix. In fact, under the Contingency Approach, the ideal solution may be a combination of multiple techniques, instead of relying on one solution (Kinicki, 2008, p. 11). The first potential solution provides Melissa with steps she can follow to improve her skills as a manager. Clark Wilson developed eleven skills managers should have: 1. Clarify goals and objectives; 2. Encourage participation, suggestions, and upward communication; 3. Plan and organize work flow; 4. Obtain technical and administrative expertise; 5. Facilitate work through training, team building, coaching, and support; 6. Provide honest and constructive feedback; 7. Keep things moving with schedules, reminders, and deadlines; 8. Control details without being overbearing; 9. Apply reasonable pressure to achieve goals; 10. Empower employees and delegate key duties; and 11. Recognize good performance with positive reinforcement and rewards (Kinicki, 2008, p. 2-3). By clarifying goals and objectives, Melissa would have given Gregorio, and the rest of her team, a target to shoot for, which may help him reverse the negative trend in his sales numbers. A clear sales target may also help Sarah become more consistent with her sales figures. Goal-setting research indicates that performance is higher when challenging goals are set, and feedback helps employees stay on track and motivated (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). In addition, by encouraging employees to participate in goal-setting, empowering team members, and recognizing good performance with rewards, employees become more committed to team objectives, and performance improves (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). Lastly, organizing workflow, facilitating work, providing reminders, and motivating the team with reasonable pressure allows Melissa to ensure the team is working efficiently and productively (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). Learning these management skills will not only improve her team’s performance, they will also help improve Melissa’s communications with her manager, Beth Campbell. By clarifying her goals and objectives with Campbell, Melissa will have a better idea of what it will take to succeed as a manager. By improving Melissa’s technical and administrative expertise, she will avoid mistakes and late submissions with her sales reports. Lastly, by providing honest and constructive feedback to Campbell about Melissa’s frustration and difficulties, Campbell may be able to provide guidance and advice. Thus, refining her management skills will improve not just Melissa’s relationship with her team, but Melissa’s relationship with her manager as well. To address team dysfunction, Melissa and her team need to develop teamwork competencies. Urging employees to be good team players is not enough (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Managers need to model and teach the following competencies: the team must understand its problem-solving situation; the team must get organized and measure its performance; a positive team environment should be promoted; conflict must be handled properly; and team members should promote their points-of-view appropriately (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). By understanding their problem-solving situation, Melissa’s team can take ownership of their challenges, and help find solutions. Getting organized and measuring their performance allows the Phoenix team to understand their goals and what they need to do to achieve them. Lastly, promoting a positive team environment, handling conflict properly, and expressing one’s views appropriately will foster trust, cooperation, and team synergy. The next solution requires Melissa to implement diversity initiatives. Based on Morrison’s study of diversity initiatives, organizations that successfully manage diversity focus on three main areas: 1. Accountability—treating diverse employees fairly; 2. Development—preparing diverse employees for greater responsibility and advancement; and 3. Recruitment—attracting diverse applicants who are willing to accept challenging work assignments (Kinicki, 2008, p. 36). Under the Equity Theory, motivation is a function of fairness, and employees are more likely to commit if the changes are fair (Kinicki, 2008, p. 58). In addition, because of Fundamental Attribution Bias, managers tend to attribute employee behavior to internal causes, but may be ignoring environmental factors (Kinicki, 2008, p. 28). By treating everyone fairly, implementing development programs, and communicating better, Chelsea would have understood Melissa’s thought process, and would be less likely to think that Melissa was being discriminatory. In addition, Spanish was the predominant language at the Phoenix greenhouse, because of the large number of workers from Mexico and Central America. Thus, Melissa would have to significantly improve her Spanish if she wants to be able to communicate more effectively with the majority of workers at the site. Also, the workers in Phoenix like to keep a friendly atmosphere, and even cook outdoor lunches and share lunch with the sales staff, so it would be a good idea for Melissa to get to know them and to learn more about the culture in Phoenix, in order to maintain positive and productive relationships with her co-workers. Organizations operate in a global economy, and the workplace is becoming more and more diverse (Kinicki, 2008, p. 5-6). In the past, managers were monocultural and monolingual; however, the 21st century manager must evolve to become multicultural and multilingual to remain competitive in such a diverse and fast-paced environment (Kinicki, 2008, p. 7). In addition, â€Å"managing diversity enables all the organization’s people to perform up to their maximum potential by changing the organization’s culture and infrastructure† (Kinicki, 2008, p. 32). By learning the culture and getting to know the people Melissa is going to be working with, she will be better able to communicate with and manage her team. After all, â€Å"management† is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in an efficient and ethical manner† (Kinicki, 2008, p. 2). Melissa and her team are facing numerous challenges, including team dysfunction in part due to Melissa’s lack of management skills, and because Melissa has found it difficult to transition from being a successful team member to successful manager. Melissa also has difficulty managing diversity and adjusting to the new environment and culture. Fortunately, there are solutions available to help solve her team’s difficulties, including improving Melissa’s management skills, developing teamwork competencies, and implementing diversity initiatives. While there is no easy or single solution, using these techniques in combination will help Melissa and her team become more productive, and help them reach their personal and organizational goals. Action Plan There are four key steps that need to be implemented in order to improve Melissa Richardson’s ability to manage successfully. And we have prioritized each solutions based on different challenges and its influence on how well she can lead. First of all, Richardson needs to voice her concerns to her boss, Beth Campbell. Then, she needs to talk to HR about some of the employee’s conduct. Also, she needs to meet with the team and talk about her expectations. Finally, Richardson needs to discuss performance of each individual on one-on-one basis. As discussed before, Richardson was hoping to be guided and mentored in her new role as a sales manager. She did not have prior management experience so it was normal for her to expect some â€Å"hand holding† initially. However, she didn’t receive any support from her boss, Campbell. Not only that, she was in charge of leading a team that require clear direction and discipline. To make the matters worse, the organization was facing its own set of problems related to customer demand and operation limitations. Furthermore, Richardson wasn’t an effective communicator since she wasn’t able to address the team issues and set clear expectations. All of these challenges are very difficult for someone new to manage. So she needs to cultivate a mentor figure, whether it is Campbell or someone else. Because mentoring will provide Richardson the career and psychosocial functions, identified by Kram (Kinicki, 2008, pg. 194), that will help her perform well in her new role. The second challenge Richardson was facing was related to the HR issues. Team members often arrived late to work or were absent. Also, an issue of gender discrimination was brought up by Chelsea Peterson. She felt that she should be receiving a preferential treatment over others because she was a woman. So it is necessary for Richardson to bring up these issues with the HR department and take appropriate actions to stay out of legal trouble and to ensure that the team adheres to organization’s code of conduct. Next order of business requires Richardson to bring synergy and tackle the dysfunctional team. For example, Alex Hoffman is a top sales person but doesn’t open up much. He could be a great asset if she can get him more engaged and involved in the team. And Sarah Vega is not focused and is often distracted by non-work related events. So Richardson needs to understand what holds each member back from being at their maximum potential. And she can increase their performance by applying some of Clark Wilson’s recommended management skills (Kinicki, 2008, pg. 2-3). Finally, Richardson needs to recognize the human capital in her team (Kinicki, 2008, p.12). She already made a list of skills each team members has or lacks. She needs to use that knowledge and focus on increasing productivity potential of each member. She can also increase their motivations through job redesign (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). For example, Hoffman is focused more on selling to bigger clients while Gregorio Torres is not. So it may be helpful for her to adjust their sales quotas to reflect their customer preference. Also, Nick Ruiz is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about being in the sales team. Richardson can look into opening up an associate sales rep position for him to see how he does in the new role. She can have him work with Hoffman or mentor Ruiz herself on becoming a successful salesperson as she was. We believe that the four steps mentioned above will allow Richardson to improve her management success. Therefore, she needs to tackle each action plan by setting up meetings to address the challenges. First meeting with Campbell seem appropriate due to many questions and concerns Richardson has about her new role. A second meeting with the HR department would help her address the ethics problem with Peterson and other issues. Finally, she needs to meet with the team members again to try to make a strong first impression and re-establish her leadership. References Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational Behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Ocean Carriers Essay

Iron ore and coal imports will most probably decrease the upcoming year With the increasing supply of vessels should result in a market surplus By creating this surplus, prices will be driven down, since we will have limited demand and suppliers competing Average daily rates, based on historical numbers, have a direct relationship with the number of shipments. Only Accept the project if we sell after 25 years in a tax free environment Reject all of the following; sell after 15 years in both a tax and tax free environment, also after 25 years with a tax environment The longer the wait to sell; the better How Long Should Vessels Operate? The company’s current policy is to not operate ships older then 15 years old If Ocean Carrier operates for 25 years the NPV will be higher then if they operate for 15 years and sell the scrap metal ($5,368,557 vs. $2,238,411) The present value of the future cash flows exceeds the value of selling the scrap metal 10 years earlier. Hence there is greater value operating the vessel for an additional 10 years/ Iron and coal’s demand is expected to increase annually and the charter rates are expected to increase by annually for the life of the vessel. The company can generate more income if they decide to operate the ship for an additional 10 years.

What Colleges Should I Apply To Making a College List

What Colleges Should I Apply To Making a College List SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips With almost 4,000 colleges to choose from across the country, you may be asking yourself, "What colleges should I apply to?" How do you narrow thousands of schools down to just ten?The best way to streamline your college list is to divide it roughly equally between safety schools, matchschools, and reach schools. This guide will go over exactly what these terms mean and how tochoose the best schools for you. Before taking you through the process step by step, let’s review the research process as a whole. Making Your College List: Full Process This guide will go over a few important points, all for the purpose of helping you make your college list. Ultimately, your mission is to choose a few safety schools, a few match schools, and a few reach schools. First, you must understand what colleges are looking for in their applicants.To make your list, youshouldfocus most on yourGPA and SAT or ACT scores. Grades and scores typically aren’t the only important pieces of your application, but they’re sufficient to give you an estimate of your admissions chances.Once you know what your college expects, you can use PrepScholar's admissions calculator to see how yourcredentials stack up. This guide will go over each step of this process, starting with an explanation of how colleges evaluate candidates. As you read, keep in mind your primary mission: to make your idealcollege list. What Determines Your Chances of Getting Into College? If you’ve started down the college admissions road, then you probably have a good sense of what colleges look for in applicants. Most colleges fall into one of two categories when it comes to admissions decisions, those that use assured admissions and those that take a holistic approach. Read on to learn about both. Assured Admissions Assured admissions are pretty much based solely on grades and test scores. If you have a minimum SAT or ACT score and GPA, then the college will let you in. Oklahoma State and Washington State are two schools that use assured admissions. Several others offer assured admission for in-state residents, including state schools in California, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, and Nevada. If you live out of state, then other factors will become important too. Holistic Admissions Many other colleges take a holistic approach. In addition to your grades and test scores, they consider your extracurricular involvements, community service, and any internships, as well as the academic and personal qualities that come through your recommendation letters and personal essay. These colleges are seeking to get to know the â€Å"whole person,† including his/her interests and goals. Because these other elements come into play, it’s tough to make an exact prediction of whether or not you’ll get into a school. Competitive schools, like those in the Ivy League, can especially bea gamble. Even if you can’t know for sure whether you’ll get accepted, you can still estimate your chances of admission based on your GPA and SAT or ACT scores. Before delving into how to do this, let’s review why estimating your chances is a key part of making your college list. Colleges that use holistic admissions go beyond the numbers to learn about you from lots of different angles. Estimating Your Chances of Admission By understanding what colleges look for in their applicants, you can figure out which schools qualify as safety, match, or reach schools for you. You can focus on the average SAT/ACT scores and GPA of accepted students, while keeping in mind the other factors that come into play for holistic admissions schools. If your own scores and GPA are much higher than those of the average accepted student, then you might consider the school a safety. If the reverse is true, then it might be a reach school. To help you more precisely estimate your chances, we've developed a handy admissions calculator. Before showing you how to useit to make your list, let’s go over the different ways you canresearchyour colleges of interest. How Can You Find Data on Your Prospective Colleges? To estimate your chances of getting in, you should compare your grades and test scores to that of the average accepted student. So where can you find this information? There are three main sources: college search engines, official college websites, and PrepScholar’s college database. Let’s start with the search engines. 1. Use College Search Engines When you first start to research schools, college search engines can be your best friend. They let you set various filters, like GPA, test scores, location, and college size, to learn about schools. You can set as many or as few filters as you like and then explore what comes up. As you read, research, and perhaps visit campuses, you’ll start to narrow down your list to the top contenders. After using search websites, you might compile a list of 20 schools or so. Of course, sending 20 applications would takea lot of time and money, so you probably want to narrow it down to your top eight or nine. By taking a closer look at the schools’ expectations, you can further narrow down your list. Find out more about each school on its official website and PrepScholar’s database of schools. 2. Check Out the Official College Admissions Websites Your college research is sure to lead you to your college’s website pretty quickly. You can learn a lot about a college on its website, especially its admissions section. Most colleges publish data on the average GPA and SAT/ACT scores of accepted students each year. To find this info directly, you could try searching for â€Å"college name + average SAT scores† or â€Å"college name + average GPA.† To give you one example, the following graphic is lifted from NYU’s website. It shows the average GPA, SAT (math), and ACT of incoming freshmen. Every admissions site is different, and some only offered limited information. To find this data right away, head on over to PrepScholar’s database. Not only will you find information on your schools, but you’ll also find theadmissions calculator to estimate your chances! 3. PrepScholar’s Database and Admissions Calculator PrepScholar has a streamlined way for you to find the average test scores and GPA for your colleges. Simply search for the name of your college of interest plus PrepScholar to find this information, along with all the other application requirements. For instance, here’s PrepScholar’s information on NYU’s average SAT scores. In addition to learning what scores and grades you need, you can also use PrepScholar’s admissions calculator to estimate your chances. Simply input your grades and test scores. The example below shows the admissions chances of a student with a 2020 SAT score and 3.7 GPA. As you can see, a student with a 2020 on the SAT and 3.7 GPA has almost a 32% chance of admission. Of course, this is just an estimate as other factors come into play for a school like NYU that uses holistic admissions. As mentioned at the beginning of the guide, figuring out your admissions chances is a key step in making your college list. By understanding your chances, you can narrow down your list into safety, match, and reach schools. Read on for a precise definition of each and the steps for finding yours. Like a pup in his security blanket, make yourself comfortableby applying totwo to three safety schools. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. What’s a Safety School? Making your college list requires you to do someresearch on the colleges you’re interested in. Once you have a sense of their requirements, you can sort them into safety, match, and reach schools. Let’s start with your safeties. You might choose two to three safety schools for your final list. A safety school is one where your academic credentials are much stronger than thoseof the average accepted student. You feel relatively confident that you’ll get accepted. You might have an 80% or higher chance of admission, an estimate you can makewith ouradmissions calculator. As you saw above, some schools have assured admissions for all applicants or in-state residents. If you have one of these on your list, then you could consider it a safety school. Safety schools usually aren’t your first choice, but they should still be schools that you’d be happy to attend. So how can you go through the research process discussed above to find your two to three safety schools? How to Find Your Safety Schools As discussed above, you can look for information on your college’s official website and PrepScholar’s database. Let’s say, just to give an example, that you’re interested in the University of Mississippi. On its official website, you’ll find this information about regular admission: If you’re a resident of Mississippi and meet the GPA and test score requirement, then you have automatic acceptance (aka, assured admission). If this describes you, then you can definitely consider the University of Mississippi to be a safety school. If this doesn’t describe you or you still want to find more information, then you can consult PrepScholar’s database. You’ll find that the average GPA for the University of Mississippi is 3.46, the average SAT ranges from 980 to 1190 (excluding the Writing section), and ACT scores range from 21 to 27. Let’s say you’ve got a 1200 on your SAT and a 3.6 GPA. Plug in these stats to calculate your admissions chances, like so: As you can see, a student with these scores and GPA has an 81.33% chance of getting accepted. Since that’s greater than 80%, this student can consider the University of Mississippi to be a safety school. Go through this process and use the admissions calculator to find two to three safety schools where your chances of getting in are 80% or greater. Next, you can choose two to three match schools. Pick a match, but not just any match. Also, what kind of magic trick is this? Looks dangerous. What’s a Match School? Match schools, also known as on target schools, are schoolswhere you have a good, but not guaranteed, chance of getting accepted. Your academic credentials line upwith those of the average accepted student. While your safety schools might not be your first choice, match schools are typically ones you’d be excited to attend. So how can you pick out your match schools? These should be the schools where you have somewhere between a 30% and 80% chance of admission. Those on the lower end may be borderline reach schools, while those on the higher end are borderline safeties. Read on for a step-by-step example of finding a match school. How to Find Your Match Schools As mentioned above, you could consider a college to be a match school if you have between a 30% and 80% chance of getting in. Research your colleges’ requirements and head over to PrepScholar’s admissions calculator to estimate your chances. For instance, here’s a student interested in Purdue University. She has a 3.5 GPA and 1700 SAT score. So what are her chances of getting in? With this GPA and SAT score, the student has about a 39% chance of getting in. Remember that other factors come into play, so her extracurriculars, essay, and recommendation letters might boost (or weaken) her chances. Choose about three match schools across this range of 30% to 80% chance of admission. Once you've done that, you can finish your college list with a few reach schools. The final spots on your college list are reserved for reaches. This kid's actually reaching for a frisbee, not a college application. He's ten. What’s a Reach School? Once you’ve selected your safety and on target schools, you can pick a few reach schools. Often, reach schools are the ones that you aspire to and would love to attend, but can’t count on the fact that you’ll get in. Ivy League schools, by the way, should be considered a reach for just about any student, even if you have a perfect GPA and SAT/ACT score. Beyond the Ivies, you might consider any school where you have a 30% or less chance of getting in to be a reach school. For reach schools, the credentials of the average accepted student are stronger than yours. At the same time, they’re not so much higher than you have zero shot of getting accepted. Let’s go through an example of researching a reach school. How to Find Your Reach Schools Reach schools will make up the last one-thirdof your college list. In this next example, let’s consider Boston University. BU accepted students average a 3.59 GPA and 2080 SAT. A student with a 3.5 GPA and 1800 has about a 20% chance of getting in. Her chances aren’t impossible, but they’re certainly not guaranteed. While you should carefully craft all your college applications, you especially want to makea strong showing toreach schools. If your grades and test scores fall below expectations, then you should consider how you can present other aspects of your candidacy to give you an edge. Once you’ve chosen your reach schools, you should be just about finished with your college list! You’ll have about two to three each of safety schools, match schools, and reach schools. While your chances of getting accepted will help you narrow down your list, there are several other considerations when picking your colleges. Let’s review a few of the most important. In addition to estimating your chances of getting accepted, make sure to research financial aid! Some colleges these days seem to think this is what theaverage student's dorm room looks like. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Making Your College List: 3 Extra Tips So far, this guide has mainly focused on the hard data of picking schools. To help you make concrete choices about your safety, match, and reach schools, you can focus on the numbers: average SAT/ACT scores, average GPA, and your chances of admission. Beyond estimating your chances, you should also consider other factors when making your college list. There are a number of factors to think about, but for the purposes of this guide,let’s focus on three main tips. Consider Financial Aid Financial aid is a huge factor for many students. If you’re one of them, then it should definitely factor into your application plans. In addition to figuring out your chances of admissions, research your schools’ financial aid policies. While you can’t always predict what your financial aid package will look like, you can get a sense of how much each school will meet demonstrated financial need. If you get in and can’t afford to attend, then the notions of safety, match, and reach schools are irrelevant. Make sure your schools representrealistic options. On a similar note, make sure that all the schools on your list are ones that you’d be reasonably happy to attend. Only Apply to Schools That You’d Like to Attend While your excitement about schools is sure to vary, you should still be reasonably excited about all of them. Students sometimes treat safety schools as throwaways, but that approach is unwise. Your safeties are on your list for a reason, and you don’t want to end up feeling stuck or without options. There are tons of schools throughout the country. If you haven’t found at least two to three safeties, match, and reach schools that you like, then keep looking! Find YourBest Fit Finally, a lot of other factors go into your college search than estimating your chances of admission. When you start using college search engines, you’ll start to think about what you’re looking for, in terms of school size, location, majors, extracurricular offerings, or even internship or study abroad opportunities. While you might not be sure what you plan to do or study, you should still take advantage of this time to self-reflect. Consider what excites you and what you like to study and do. Some students are swayed by a school’s reputation or prestige, but they should consider the level of fit even more seriously. Fit is a two-way street. Find a place where you think you’ll enjoy studying and living for the next four years of your life! In closing, let’s go over the key points to remember about making your college list. As long as you do your research, you can feel confident about your college list! Conclusion: What Colleges Should I Apply To? There’s no magic number of colleges to apply to, but a good total for most students is between eight and ten. About one-thirdof these can be safety schools, one-third can bematch schools, and the remaining one-third can bereach schools. To figure out your safeties, matches, and reaches, you shouldresearch your chances of admission. PrepScholar’s admissions calculator offers a great way to plug in your GPA and test scores and estimate your chances. Over 80% chance of admission qualifies as a safety, between 30% and 80% falls into a match school, and under 30% is a reach. Highly selective schools, like the Ivies, are pretty much reaches for everyone, even students with perfect grades and test scores. By taking advantage of data and the admissions calculator, you can gain a realistic understanding of your chances and put together a well-researched college list. Once you have your schools chosen, you can focus on putting together the strongest application you can! What’s Next? What other factors go into choosing a college? If you’re wondering which college you should attend, check out this great guide on how to choose! Will you be applying for financial aid? This comprehensive guide takes you through the FAFSA application process, step by step. Are college applications a financial burden for you? Learn about how you can get a college application fee waiver here. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Hypostatizationâ€Fallacies of Ambiguity and Language

Hypostatization- Fallacies of Ambiguity and Language The fallacy of Reification- Also known as  Hypostatization- is very similar to the Equivocation Fallacy, except that instead of using one word and changing its meaning through the argument, it involves taking a word with a normal usage and giving it an invalid usage. Specifically, Reification involves ascribing substance or real existence to mental constructs or concepts. When human-like qualities are attributed as well, we also have anthropomorphization. Examples and Discussion of the Hypostatization Fallacy Here are some ways in which the fallacy of reification can occur in various arguments: 1. The government has a hand in everybodys business and another in every persons pocket. By limiting such governmental pickpocketing, we can limit its incursions on our freedom.2. I cant believe that the universe would allow humans and human achievement just to fade away, therefore there must be a God and an afterlife where all will be preserved. These two arguments demonstrate two different ways that the fallacy of Reification can be used. In the first argument, the concept of government is assumed to have attributes like desire which more properly belong to volitional creatures, like people. There is an unstated premise that it is wrong for a person to put their hands in your pocket and it is concluded that it is also immoral for the government to do the same. What this argument ignores is the fact that a government is simply a collection of people, not a person itself. A government has no hands, therefore it cannot pickpocket. If the governments taxing of the people is wrong, it must be wrong for reasons other than a too-literal association with pickpocketing. Actually dealing with those reasons and exploring their validity is undermined by eliciting an emotional reaction by using the pickpocketing metaphor. This arguably means that we also have a fallacy of Poisoning the Well. In the second example above, the attributes being used are more human which means that this example of reification is also anthropomorphization. There is no reason to think that the universe, as such, really cares about anything- including humans beings. If it is not capable of caring, then the fact that it does not care is not a good reason to believe that it will miss us after we are gone. Thus, it is invalid to construct a logical argument which relies upon the assumption that the universe does care. Sometimes atheists create an argument using this fallacy which is similar to example #1, but which involves religion: 3. Religion attempts to destroy our liberty and is therefore immoral. Once again, religion has no volition because it is not a person. No human-created belief system can try to either destroy or build anything. Various religious doctrines are certainly problematic, and it is true that many religious people attempt to undermine liberty, but it is muddled thinking to confuse the two. Of course, it should be noted that hypostatization or reification is really just the use of metaphor. These metaphors become fallacies when they are taken too far and conclusions are formed on the basis the metaphor. It can be very useful to employ metaphors and abstractions in what we write, but they carry a danger in that we can begin to believe, without realizing it, that our abstract entities have the concrete attributes we metaphorically ascribe to them. How we describe a thing has a great influence on what we believe about it. This means that our impression of reality is often structured by the language we use to describe reality. Because of this, the fallacy of reification should teache us to be careful in how we describe things, lest we begin to imagine that our description has an objective essence beyond the language itself.

March of the Penguins The movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

March of the Penguins The - Movie Review Example This paper discusses the basic plot, similarities and differences, strength and weaknesses of the movie, followed by some lessons learned, and then the conclusion. An outline shows the structure of the arguments. Matthew Turner1 of The ViewLondon Review (2005) gives the basic plot of the movie thus - Directed by Frenchman Luc Jacquet and narrated (in the U.S version) by Morgan Freeman, the film . charts the annual cycle of the emperor penguins of Antarctica, beginning with their 70-mile march from the sea to their mating grounds. They walk in single file, often travelling on their bellies, enduring winds of up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. When they finally reach the mating grounds, they undergo a series of elaborate mating rituals before pairing off into monogamous couples and mating. Once the egg is laid, the female penguins travel back to the sea, swimming and eating and having a great time while the males are left to hatch the eggs. After two months, the eggs hatch and the females return with food, at which point the males begin a trek to the sea and back in order to gather enough food to keep the penguin chicks alive. MEETING OF MALE PENGUINS at more normal times. Emperor penguins behave like a community. In the harsher times of winter, together they brave the storms of their environment. After the storms, it is the same. These are the fathers who take care of the eggs and nurture them to chicks and until the mothers come back. The mothers have gone back to sea to eat and would take them about two months to return.2 Photo credits: Yahoo MOTHER PENGUINS TRAVEL BACK TO SEA. After delivery, the mother penguins would entrust their eggs to the father penguins and would need to go back to sea to eat or else would die. The travel is not that easy as it takes them to coast ice glaciers of some distance. Most of the time, they travel by foot. When they get tired, they use their stomachs and slide by the ice glaciers.2 Photo credits: Yahoo Thesis. There are differences between human beings and penguins, but there are also similarities that echo much human experiences of love and loss. Penguins,3 however, are just birds and so should be assessed as birds and not something that should model for human beings. Similarities and differences. In March of the Penguins, the similarities and differences between man and penguin were clearly marked. The similarities mainly centered on rearing habits and mother instincts. Like human beings, penguins are warm-blooded vertebrate bipeds that reproduce sexually from male and female intercourse. They also rear their offspring to maturity as couples, very much reminiscent of domestic concerns (Greydanus 2006). This penguin concern extends to filial relationship and parent feelings for the offspring. The mother instinct in the movie is partially exemplified in the mother penguin trying to steal another's chick in an effort to replace her lost chick. It is hilarious in that in this episode, it is like the story of the two women fighting over a baby and judged by Solomon in the bible. Unlike human beings who resort to legal cases, the penguins band together to stop the stealing (Greydanus 2006). Not of the same

Investigating and Developing Ready-to-Eat Desserts Dissertation

Investigating and Developing Ready-to-Eat Desserts - Dissertation Example This dissertation reveals that the market for chilled desserts is estimated to be worth 302 million in 2004, which showed an increase of 29% since 1999. The market is split into two key sectors, loosely described as 'sharing desserts' and 'fresh cakes', which includes fresh in-store bakery items as well as pre-packed sliced cakes and desserts. The dessert sector is larger with 51% value share delivering a 13% growth across the period since 2000. However, it is the fresh cake sector, which has driven the largest growth, 40% up from its 2000 value to account for 49% of the category. A report by the 'Mintel' group has some interesting findings and is worth discussing. Mintel International group, which is a market research and consumer intelligence group, provides expert analysis on all aspects of consumers' economic activity. Mintel's latest report is based on an up-to-date market and original consumer research and offers ideas and motivation one needs for designing clever, creative and profitable marketing plan in the chilled desserts market. In conclusion, Mintel's report has been designed to help identify the important factors that determine the scale and nature of the UK chilled dessert market. Mintel's consumer intelligence is supposed to provide valuable insight to unlock some of the secrets of the dessert market for the more effective-and more profitable-business plan. The findings show that 48% of the consumers have eaten ready-to-eat desserts in the last 12 months while 32% believe that frozen foods are as good as fresh ones. Women are 50% more likely to buy cheesecake (34% versus 25%) and 33% more likely to buy a cream cake than men (32% versus 20%). Research design Shop Research For the shop research, visit was made to Tesco food joint in Trent Vale. I surveyed the range of desserts, both frozen and chilled and made notes of the products, the main ingredients, the price, packaging, and portion size. The survey result is shown in the following table: Type of dessert Ingredients Price (per head) Packaging Portion size Texture Remark Tiramisu Italian dessert Cream and chocolate topped chocolate cookie crust 39.95 Cardboard and plastic Serve 8 Not too soft to the touch Outstanding1 Chocolate tart with cranberries Chocolate, cranberries 19.95 plastic Serve 12-16 Soft Terrific3 Profiterole Butter, sugar, cream, vanilla, yolks, milk 2.25 plastic Individual soft Outstanding1 Lemon pudding Lemon, cream, sugar, 1.29 plastic Individual soft Excellent4 Tunisian lemon pudding Almond and lemon topped with cream and fresh berries 22.95 Cardboard and plastic Serve 12 Soft to touch but not too soft Excellent2 Ranking order *1,2,3,4 The survey revealed that most desserts are packed for 8 to 12 people, so price for individual portion had to be worked out by taking out the averages. Most of the desserts were served in porcelain plate or bow. Packaging is done either in plastic or cardboard or both. The individual price range of all the desserts was within 2 except Tiramisu Italian dessert individual portion