Gender Communication Essay

Women are continually hammering against a glass ceiling and also their advancement is usually hindered by a promotion bottleneck in the middle management and a sticky floor. According to a recent research on an analysis of careers from a number of employees, it was found out that the rates of promotion for men from the start of their careers to senior management was higher as compared to women who started at the same level. Majority of men were promoted as compared to women who had equivalent experience and education. This has adversely affected gender communication by way of intimidation whereby the women are left feeling inferior (Ivy, 28). I picked this topic so that I can comprehend deeply on the effects of glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication, and how it is related to gender communication. Knowledge about this topic would adequately prepare me for the world since I would be knowledgeable on how to handle various aspects of my life which include my workplace and my relationships. I came to discover that the glass ceiling and sticky floors issues had only been studied at a high level especially at the top of the management. Women are only promoted to very top positions only if they have successfully made it through at the middle management level (Wood, 157). From my conclusive research I discovered that there is usually a floor that is men dominated by the men in regards to promotions. Unfortunately for women, it is extremely difficult to penetrate through this floor due to the fact that there is a lot biases towards women promotions. Men are easily promoted whereas for women, they have to demonstrate capabilities beyond reasonable doubt that they deserve a promotion. I learnt that there is also the challenge of a mid- level bottleneck towards women which ideally favored men. This concept ensured that few women were promoted from the mid-level management to senior management. This meant that a lot of women were stuck at the mid-level management and they did not progress further from this level. However, this was not same case with men who had similar credentials to the women regardless of both sexes having similar qualifications academically and  experience (Krolokke and Ann, 58). I was deeply surprised by the aforementioned findings and I had to ask myself various questions about the topic. I still have not understood where there should be that prejudice towards women yet there is an affirmative action regarding women. I am yet to establish effective solutions to the link between challenges of gender communication in relation to the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication. A number of areas need to be researched thoroughly so that the relation of the two aspects are understood and practice to the letter. Challenges that face the two aspects should be dealt with through consensus so that there can be a win- win solution where both parties, that is the male and female live and work in harmony (Wood, 159). In conclusion, I wish to strongly suggest that the gender equality aspect should be practiced and women should effectively be given equal opportunities like their male counterparts. Gender communication needs to be a two way traffic and both the male and female should have equal opportunities to express themselves. The barriers that create the glass ceiling and sticky floors approach to communication should be eradicated. Everyone should be given equal opportunities for harmony between both sexes to prevail. Works Citied Ivy, Diana K. Genderspeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print. Krolà ¸kke, Charlotte, and Ann S. Sà ¸rensen. Gender Communication Theories & Analyses: From Silence to Performance. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.: SAGE, 2006. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print. Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage, 2013. Print.

Help Wanted – How the Un Failed in Rwanda

Help Wanted World Politics – POLS*1500 Word Count – 1,562 Abstract: This paper aims to questions the United Nations ability to create and maintain peace within a country. This paper will examine the extent of action that the UN commits when a nation encounters internal conflict. Looking at the Rwanda genocide, the paper concludes that the UN is inefficient at creating and building peace. Help Wanted During the twentieth century the world entered into a new sphere of international relations. New technology which led to military advancements evoked countries to act out wars that were unprecedented in past generations.When their was conflict between nations, it became easier to cause destruction towards the other nation because of new advanced technology, and therefore the brutality of war was far worse. After World War II, which many call the most horrific war of the century, 51 countries came together and formed the United Nations in 1945. This organization set standards for morality so that the world would not have to experience the same brutality that they had faced during World War II. It encouraged cooperation and peace between countries. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. former American ambassador once said that,â€Å"the primary, the fundamental, the essential purpose of the United Nations is to keep peace. Everything it does which helps prevent World War III is good. Everything which does not further that goal, either directly or indirectly, is at best superfluous. †1 The United Nations was an organization who’s principle was to create an international center of understanding and cooperation. Although this was a clear goal, this was a difficult task for the UN because it involved so many different states and actors.The Rwanda Genocide is an example of the United Nations inability to fulfill its goal. In the early 1990’s, the nation of Rwanda faced a ruthless internal conflict between two races, the Tutsis and the Hutus. Although the se two races had the same religion, culture, and language, they saw themselves as different because of past colonial influences that had ensued this society for decades. 2 Although mass killing were taking place in Rwanda, the UN did not intervene to the extent that was demanded.The United Nations’ unclear peacekeeping tactics, lack of resources, and unwillingness to use force during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide led to the murder of over 800, 000 Rwandans and evoked disgrace towards the organization that promised peace. The unfolding events of the Rwanda Conflict had much to do with the hatred that Tutsis and Hutus felt for one another. It was viewed by many as a genocide, but the Security Council of the United Nations had much hesitation accepting that conclusion.In the Charter of the United Nations, it states in Chapter I, Article 2 that, â€Å" nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state†3. The UN believed that within a nation, the government should control its sedentary conflicts and the organization should not intervene with such matters. However, promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is the UN’s main goal, and therefore the organization should intervene in internal conflicts if they believe these rights are being denied.This unclear practice caused the UN to make decisions about intervening in the Rwanda conflict for it depended on the basis opinions of the Security Council instead of decisions based on facts4. Because the definition of genocide could not be construed to an individual conflict, it was up to the Security Council and there underlying goals to come to a decision. As thousands of people were being murdered based on their race, the UN unclear peacekeeping regulations held the organization back from acting. This was also seen when Mr.Waly Bacre Ndiaye, a Amnesty inter national representative, reported to the UN recommending â€Å"a series of steps to prevent further massacres† but the report seemed to be â€Å"largely ignored by the key actors within the United Nations†5. By not taking into consideration the opinions of firsthand witnesses of the genocide, the UN disregarded its duty to protect and build peace within this nation. These irresponsible peacekeeping tactics caused the organization to fail in their peaceful pursuits and ultimately led to the death of thousands. Without taking into onsideration Rwanda’s cultural instability and their need for support, the United Nations was therefore unsuccessful. As the conflict in Rwanda continued to progress to a critical state, the UN did not seem to have the resources needed to neutralize and keep the peace within the country. This has to do with the economic expense of peacekeeping. It is believe that â€Å"the projected cost of peacekeeping rose from some US $600 million in 1991 to an estimated US $2. 3 billion for 1993†6. States were unwilling to contribute more to the UN because they had other concerns that were higher in national interest.The United Nations had to ration the support they gave to each cause and therefore the demanded assistance in a nation could not always be met. When the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was planning their second phase of their mission to create peace, there was â€Å"no estimate of the date of further deployment because the necessary additional resources had not been made available†7. Without the proper materials and supplies available to the United Nations, the organizations power to act was limited because of the lack of resources.It is believed that, â€Å"the predicament of the United Nations is the mismatch of large responsibilities and few powers to fulfill them†8 This problem was seen in Rwanda Genocide. The United Nations had so many responsibilities to the world, a nd yet, the major actors in this organization did not know how to allocate their assistance. The UN’s lack of resources caused a halt in their ability to neutralize the conflict in Rwanda which allowed the massacres to continue, thus, the organization ultimately failed in its peacekeeping pursuits.The United Nations inability to secure peace in Rwanda had much to do with the organizations unwillingness to use military force. When discussing the Rwanda Conflict, the Canadian Forces stated that, â€Å"in order to prevent or suppress the crime of genocide, the necessary international†¦ military will [should have been] marshaled and mobilized†9. Although the UN does not promote the use of military force, and have many steps of peacekeeping before employing this option, the brutality of the Rwanda Genocide could not have been resolved by means of negotiation.This was seen through the failure of The Arusha Accord. Although all the parties in Rwanda had signed this peace agreement, the negotiations created bitterness and violence between the two groups of people which escalated the conflict10. During the UN’s decisions about the conflict, there seemed to be a â€Å"overriding consideration†¦ to avoid entering into a course of action that might lead to the use of force and unanticipated repercussions†11. The UN was unwilling to send troops into Rwanda because of the unforeseen violence that was taking place.The outcry for help was tremendous, however, the conflict’s escalating tension and violence caused the organization to weigh its obligation to this cause. Once the United Nations created a plan of action to be implemented in Rwanda, the â€Å"size of force was far to small to meet the assigned mandate within the increasingly tense conditions†12. Though the United Nations was contributing to creating peace, it lacked the force that was needed. Lieutenant-General[->0] Dallaire â€Å"sent [UN] Headquarters a draft o f Rules of Engagement†¦ pecifically allowing the mission to act, and even to use force, in response to crimes against humanity and other abuses†13 Headquarters, however, never responded. The fear of the repercussions and losses due to implementing military force in Rwanda caused the violence to continue. Peace could only be implemented in Rwanda if the United Nations used military forces as power. Karl Maier a German author stated that, â€Å"in Rwanda, one person's God is another person's Satan†14. The peace needed in the nation would only be achieved by using force and commanding the violence to stop.The UN’s unwillingness to provide the military forces that were demanded allowed the Rwanda massacres to continue and therefore illustrates the United Nations failure during this conflict. The United Nations failure to bring peace to Rwanda was due to the organizations unclear peacekeeping tactics, lack of resources and unwillingness to use military force. Thi s conflict caused many deaths that could have been avoided if the UN had implemented the proper plans and created clear, logical tactics.Although the events are tragic, the United Nations â€Å"had much to learn, and many adjustments needed to make in applying [peace] in the future†15. The former Secretariat of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has given public apologizes and leading actors in the Security Council including former American president Bill Clinton, have expressed their regret to act during the Rwanda genocide. The UN has conducted inquiries to try to understand how a conflict of this magnitude could occur without the United Nations having the ability to neutralize the situation. By understanding the causes, the hope is that history will not repeat itself.The United Nations has taken responsibility for their failure to provide peace within Rwanda. This has led to the organizations credibility to grow in recent years through their work internationally to help build and keep the peace. Although the United Nations did not provide peace in Rwanda, they have had a tremendous affect on the cooperation between different countries. If this international organization can create clear procedures of how to deal with, and when to intervene in internal problems, the United Nations will have more success in their pursuits. Footnotes 1. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Quotes,† Think Exist, November 2, 2011, http://thinkexist. com/quotation/the_primary-the_fundamental-the_essential_purpose/344191. html 2. Dixon Kamukama, Rwanda Conflict: Its Roots and Regional Implications Second Edition, (Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers Ltd. , 1997), 3-4. 3. â€Å"Purpose and Principles,† in The Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, ed, United Nations (San Francisco, 1945) 3. 4. Michael Barnett, Eyewitness to Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda, (New York: Cornell University Press, 2003), 2. . United Nations, â€Å"R wanda Genocide and UN’s Contribution†, (Security Council Inquiry, 1999), 7. 6. Neil Riemer, International Peace and Security: The Cost of Waging Peace, (USA: Praeger Publishers, 2000) 63. 7. James S. Sutterlin, The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Security: a Challenge to be Met, Second Edition, (New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. , 2003) 75. 8. Mariano Aguirre, â€Å"Power and Paradox in the United Nations,† in Open Democracy (November 2006): accessed October 31, 2011; www. pendemocracy. net/globalization-institutions_government/un_paradox_4073. jsp[->1] 9. â€Å"Learning From the Rwandan Genocide of 1994,† National Defense and the Canadian Forces, November 6, 2011, http://www. journal. dnd. ca/vo6/no2/human-humain-eng. asp 10. Dixon Kamukama, Rwanda Conflict: Its Roots and Regional Implications Second Edition, (Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers Ltd. , 1997), 27-30. 11. United Nations, â€Å"Rwanda Genocide and UN’s Co ntribution†, (Security Council Inquiry, 1999), 11. 12. James S.Sutterlin, The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Security: a Challenge to be Met, Second Edition, (New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. , 2003) 74. 13. United Nations, â€Å"Rwanda Genocide and UN’s Contribution†, (Security Council Inquiry, 1999), 9. 14. Karl Maier, Into the House of the Ancestors: Inside the New Africa, (San Francisco:John Wiley, 1998), 273. 15. James S. Sutterlin, The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Security: a Challenge to be Met, Second Edition, (New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. , 2003) 77.

Internal analysis of Apple Corporation Essay

Apple Inc was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne and has its headquarters based in Cupertino, California. The company is well known for the manufacture of computer software and hardware. The computer hardware manufactured by Apple Company include: iPod, iPhone and iPad. The computer software produced by the company are Mac OS X operating system, iTunes, iLife, iWork, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, and Logic studio. By the close of the financial year 2009 the company had employed 34,300 permanent workers and 2,500 temporary workers globally in all its subsidiaries. Most of the employees are located in the United States while others are located in the subsidiaries of the company world wide (Linzmayer, 2009). Steve Jobs is the president of the company and has acted as the chief executive officer since 1997. Recently, Steve Jobs delegated his duties to Tim Cook due to the health problems he has encountered. Apple Inc is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is assisted by a board of directors; to manage and make supreme decisions about the organization. Various committees are elected to coordinate the operation of the projects and strategies of the organization. There are various departments which are used in the daily operation of the organization. Officers have been elected to head the departments. Some of the departments are the finance department, operations department, product marketing, industrial design, retail, engineering, applications, and other departments (Linzmayer, 2009). Financial According to Menn (2010), Apple has dominated the United States market for personal computers and a sales revenue of more than one million is being made each moth in the US market alone. As competition in the personal computer industry continues to intensify, there is need to have a strong financial background. Apple has increased the sales volume for most of its brands and this has provided a good foundation for manufacturing better products which are competitive (Menn, 2010). In the capital markets, the company has been performing well and this has been a source of capital for carrying out different innovations. The stock price of Apple’s stock has increased from $6 per share to more than $80. The market performance of the shares of the company has surpassed that of Dell (Colvin, 2010). Marketing Supporters of Apple Company have suggested that it has made great success in dominating the domestic and international markets through better marketing strategies. It is estimated that the company can sell more than ten million iPads in one year due to the appropriate use of marketing strategies. The US market has indicated strong support for Apple products since it has been the major market for iPod and other brands. Sales target of more than one million for iPod are achieved every month. More than six million iPod and iPhone brands are sold on a monthly basis and this suggests that the company has been able to capture a large market for its products. According to Menn (2010), the company has maintained a very high customer loyalty for most of its brands. Many consumers in the market are ready to re-purchase products from the company. This trend has been generated by manufacturing brands which match the market demand. Sales trend for other traditional products has been progressive, for example in the quarter ending March 2010; the company sold almost three million Macs. Menn (2010) estimated a sales value of one million for the Macs during this period. Generally, the total sales of the company have been increasing over the years. The success of Apple Inc has been indicated by the increase in sales that have been reported by the company over the last one decade. In the financial year 2009, sales value of US $42. 91 billion was registered by the company. In 2010, an increasing trend was observed in the overall sales volume of the company (Colvin 2010). Apple’s Strategy Menn (2010) is of the opinion that Apple has been very successful by introducing competitive technologies. The company has carried out innovations which have placed the products at a very competitive position in the global market. Apple has been able to compete with Microsoft Company, the major company in the industry, by introducing the iPad brand. The company has been introducing differentiated products in the market and this has intensified the competitiveness of the products manufactured by the company. Before the introduction of iPod brands, the iPhone brand had captured a huge number of customers, both in the domestic and global markets. The use of new technologies has been the main strategy adopted by Apple to sustain stiff competition in the market. To accomplish technological progress, the management of Apple Inc has established partnership with universities and research institutions. A team of researchers has been established as well as collaborating with research and development department of the company to come up with products which are acceptable in the global markets. To accomplish these strategies, the management has put in place better management processes and human resource management strategies to ensure all aspirations are achieved (Linzmayer, 2009).

Small business plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Small business plan - Research Paper Example Personal celphone users can be a profitable segment in the market given their sheer size. II. The marketing orientation that the business will follow and why you have chosen that particular path.   Marketing orientation is â€Å"an approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its customers† (Pearson 2008). By following this approach, all the activities of Mobile Plus Group Ltd will be directed toward customer satisfaction with a customer service that is second to none. The key element for a successful implementation of a marketing orientation is to know the customers of a business. Our customers are primarily composed of business people and are responsive to functionality, value and service. With this in mind, our company should strive to satisfy customer needs by always thinking of ways to source out products that could offer more functionality at a price that is lower than competition. To ensure customer retention, we should also co uple it with a customer service (a service center is also offered by the business) that is second none. Implementing this market orientation which is focused on exceeding customer expectation will ensure the company’s viability in the industry. III. At least three external environmental factors that will impact on your market. Given the nature of our business which is technology based that constantly change at a dizzying pace, we should always be on the lookout for external environmental factors that could threaten the business’ viability. The following are the three factors that are considered as a potent threat to the business. a) Obsolescence – technology innovates and changes so fast that what is â€Å"in† right now could become obsolete in just few months or weeks. Such, we should always be updated about the emerging trends and technology so that the business will be able to appropriately respond to new trends to remain viable and competitive in the market. b) Tariff – Mobile Plus Ltd market orientation is to give value to its customers. That entails offering functional celphones to customers at a lower cost. If tariff taxes will shoot up, will have an effect on our pricing which will have an impact on our competitiveness. c) Competition – If there is any external factor that could directly affect the competitiveness of a business, it would be its competitors. As such, competition should be should always be monitored to ensure that the position of the business in the industry is competitive. IV. Explain the characteristics of the chosen market. The business users segment in the celphone market can be demanding considering that they are aware of the various options and alternatives they have for our products. They know that if they are dissatisfied with our products and/or service, they can always go to the competition. The business segment market also has a greater purchasing power but appreciate getting value for their money knowing that money saved could be used for other important purchases. They require after sales support for product purchased anticipating the convenience of a customer service should they will have any issue with the product. They are also sensitive to the reliability of the products purchased from us. Time is important to

The effect of Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The effect of Globalization - Essay Example The effect of Globalization One of the obvious aspects of global concern that has been profoundly affected by globalization is citizenship; with global interrelationships, it is becoming increasingly hard for nations to maintain their sovereignty in the global system, and  eventually  national citizenship is lost. Nations in the global system are obliged to systems and decisions of mutual interest, and to a certain level, security and wellbeing of the citizenry is never assured. National citizenship is thus affected and determined by external conditions in the global system, and in this regard, entitlements of  national  citizenship  are lost. National citizenship is crucial in the sense that it assures individuals belongingness, a surety that they are protected by their countries in exchange for loyalty to them. In this respect, the state is obliged to secure the rights of their citizenry within their borders, and the citizens have a responsibility to their countries. However, with the rise of global ization, national citizenship is destabilized due to movement towards integration and interconnectedness of nations on an international level. The role of globalization in undermining the citizenship of individuals can be regarded clearly from a socio-economic perspective; the global economic system presents tough conditions of trade that lead to stiff completion between nations. Economic decisions and measures are taken at a global level, and individual nations have no control on the laws governing trade and exchange in the global markets. In this regard, the states cannot protect their citizens against liabilities and risks of losses in the global economy.3 Citizens are on their own in the global markets, and their economic prospective is determined by global forces of trade, with little intervention from the individual’s countries. Largely, domestic economic policies are derived from the global market conditions, and this undermines national sovereignty and national citize nship accordingly. Countries are eventually forced to sacrifice their social-economic goals in favor of global ones, and to this effect, the preference for effective ways of production such as cheap labor directly affects the well fair of citizenship. For instance, in the case of outsourcing for labor, the countries have no power to ensure employment to the citizenry, thus leading to loss of jobs to foreigners and unemployment.4 With the ease of movement and interaction of people and businesses across boundaries, there is an obvious loss of cultural uniformity. Nationhood can no longer be defined in the global system as cultures are easily diffused and  eventually  abandoned all together with a preference for more superior ones. In this respect, globalization undermines the cultural uniformity of individual nations as global norms and ideals override the national ones. There is a move towards the establishment of universal citizenship, one that is one, which by cultural barriers and boarders; this means that national identities are dismantled and lost all together. Citizens can no longer identify with national values and ideals, and in this

Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer's Nursing as Caring Theory Assignment

Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer's Nursing as Caring Theory - Assignment Example The authors specifically state that nursing is not only a profession but also a discipline. Boykin and Schoenhofer (2010) claim that the Nursing as Caring Theory is a better framework to improve an individual’s understanding of caring as it particularly emphasizes the need of nursing knowledge to increase the care quality and patient safety (p.371). Since this knowledge comes from situations, the Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer consider nursing situation as a key concept of the theory. In actual practice, this theory makes significant contributions to nursing practice, nursing administration, nursing education, and nursing research and development. The Nursing as Caring theory enhances nurses’ knowledge about caring their clients in creative and individualized ways in a situation-specific environment. In addition, as Purnell (2013) purports, this framework assists nursing administrators to develop and implement policies within the organization in order to improve operational efficiency and thereby to achieve higher degree of patient safety (p.371). Evid ently, a clear understanding of personhood contributes notably to nursing knowledge and education. This theoretical framework can be better used by researchers to explore the patterns of caring personality and improve the quality of the care delivered. Since Nursing as Caring is a grand theory, it can be applied to real life situations in collaboration with other nursing theories like Watsons theory of nursing or Orems theory of nursing. Today the growing number of clinical errors becomes a great threat to the medical field, and in most cases the issue is caused by the negligence of caring staff. Here the theory of Nursing as Caring can be applied to improve the situation because this theory greatly emphasizes the virtue of humanness in a caring environment. When humanness is valued greatly and considerable importance is given to care

No topic Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

No topic - Coursework Example The video implicitly states that a virtuous individual follows orders that are in enforced often externally. The video also notes that this statement is in conflict with Kant’s ideology about these orders being enforced from inside the virtuous individual. As a result, Kant calls this self-enforced order a categorical imperative. The example of an intruding murderer scheduled by formulating orders for the viewer concerning the most ethical decision one â€Å"ought† to make. Turning the basis of this decision into a universal law is important for a categorical imperative as identified by Kant. These main points built the argument in the video by demonstrating how a single responsibility supersedes another. By demonstrating the possible outcomes of lying to the murderer, the video shows how Absolutism is holistic by denying any exceptions. This argument is sound in the sense that it does not allow any exceptions in any situation. However, when there are no ethical principles to consider exceptions, then there lacks any means of solving ethical predicaments, which are situations involving two or more conflicting ethical

Case study of Jack Welch at General Electric Essay

Case study of Jack Welch at General Electric - Essay Example According to this definition, Welch partly fulfilled the corporate social responsibility. In the Welch era, the General Electric Company fulfilled numerous responsibilities to the society. For instance, the company fulfilled its economic responsibilities by paying taxes worth 5.7 billion US dollars in 2000, and enriching shareholders and pension funds to its employees. In addition, the company enriched its managers, transforming them into multimillionaires. Additionally, the company was involved in sponsorships in 2000 where it established a charitable institution, the GE fund, which completed 40 million US dollars in donations to educational institutions and non-profit organizations in United States. However, General Electric Company under the Welch era can be criticized for its lack of corporate social responsibility. Welch’s leadership was not appeasing to everyone for numerous reasons. He was regarded as a ruthless employment cutter where he laid off a mass of employees during his tenure. Needless to say, he also emphasized on globalization where he transferred labor to low wage countries. This created unemployment within the society and loss of labor within United States. The defective evaluation system and the pollution in the Hudson Rivers also constituted a lack of corporate responsibility to the society. Though no company ever achieves this paragon, General Electric Company should have endeavored to attain it. In order to achieve this, the Welch should have devised a fair evaluation system that would reduce the rate of layoffs in the company and motivate its employees, and device other environment friendly disposal methods that would reduce pollution to the society. The General Electric Company under Welch illustrates a constricted standpoint of corporate social responsibility nearly similar to friedman’s perspective that the only corporate social

Leisure and tourism operations management Essay

Leisure and tourism operations management - Essay Example The Service Concept Service quality is the method to manage the business processes to ensure customer satisfaction at all levels. Hospitality sector was identified by the atrium concept designs, service and the hotel industry has seen many developments in past few years. In the hotel industry, the customer chooses to buy service depending on its quality (Panda, 2006). The Service Package (The mixture of goods and services that make up the service) The service provided by hotel is based on guests / customers. The service package includes providing online room / air ticket reservations and chuffer driven car to pick up guests from airport. The hotel provides facilities such as elevators , central heating , in room radio , bar , electric elevator, centralized computer, electric cash register, free in room movies, video conferencing features, swimming pools, separate swimming pool for children, golf ground, sports activities, gym, beauty parlors and in-house restaurants and shops. Servic e Processes According to Sampson service processes are where the customer provides most of the inputs to the production process (Sampson, 2000). Service is interaction of customer and producers. The service process in the hotel includes booking airline tickets and hotel rooms through internet and on reaching the city, the guests are picked up by the vehicle of the hotel. The customers can even make direct call to the hotel to book tickets and there are other means by which you can book rooms at the hotel. The complete information related to the hotel is provided through its website and local marketing means. Service Processes (Type): Runners, Repeaters & Strangers The hotel provides free introductory scuba diving lessons for strangers and also a hotel run kid clubs for family travelers. The hotel is a leader in its business model due to the high class service. Since, Turkey is a popular tourist destination every year many visitors come to the hotel. Fitzgerald Typology (Volume/Varie ty) To design a service system the importance of variability should be determined (Kannan and Proenca, 2010) .The hotel has 200 rooms which includes standard rooms, suits and deluxe rooms and during the peak seasons from October to March the demand for rooms is very high. It provides many different type of entertaining and engaging activities to guests such as dance parties, music evenings etc) to enable convenient and enjoyable stay at the hotel. Visitors from different parts of world come to the place and the hotel staffs have to meet the variability in demands. Capability and Commodity Processes The hotel has the capability to accommodate more than 100 guests at one time but sometimes in peak season it becomes difficult to handle varieties of customers. The service is handled by the front desk employees. Schmenner Typology (1995) Schmenner typology identifies four different types of service processes which include service factory, service shops, mass service and professional serv ice. The hotel provides professional service where the staff immediately responds in professional manner to every call and provides the desired service. Though professional services it is easy to handle variability in customer call. Service Processes (Location and Mapping) Internet provides complete informat

Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes Essay

Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes - Essay Example States and other foreign countries have relaxed policies on prohibition of this plant. A large number of the U.S. population clamors for its legalization because of their need for the medical plant. 3) Economic benefits will be derived by the government in its implementation The use of marijuana was declared illegal under Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. The historical account on â€Å"Why Marijuana is illegal† showed the reasons to be â€Å"racism, fear, and protection of corporate profits, yellow journalism, ignorant, incompetent, and/or corrupt legislators, personal career advancement and greed†.(Pete Warrant) Mathre, Marlyn who completed a study on the medicinal value of marijuana, referred to same reasons for 1937 Act. The events that took place are told below. Nothing has been mentioned that marijuana was illegal because of some dangerous effects found by the medical science and prohibition was made to protect the citizens. The plant was considered an important crop during 1600s because it was used as rope, food, incense, cloth and for other economic uses. Planting of the crop was encouraged at that time. Racism was the primary reason it was prohibited in California when in 1900s, Black Americans and traveling Mormons were found using it for smoke. Other states just followed this prohibition. Ignorance could also be stated as one of the reasons here that even without proper justification, a Senator made a generalized statement saying â€Å"that all Mexicans are crazy because of smoking marijuana†. Another ground was â€Å"Yellow Journalism† that spread exaggerated and fearful stories on Black Americans using the stuff to benefit readership of their newspapers; like saying that marijuana was linked to brutal behavior of users . William Randolf Hearst, the owner of the newspapers just hated Mexicans which was due to racism, plus the fact that he saw the hemp as a fierce competition to his timber plantation. Personal career and advancement were also the

Her Lifestory Essay Example for Free

Her Lifestory Essay Now you can see how successful Concepcion Baylock is. At the age of 12 the young Concepcion was already away from her family and lived with her relatives in order to have a good education. Living with her relatives is not that easy, she had to do the household chores for them to let her stay, and she goes to school at the same time. At a very young age Concepcion showed her diligence in everything she does. When the time her grandparents took her, Concepcion’s life changed because they treat her nicely and they were good to her. However she still tried to help doing the chores because she wanted to thank them, in that simple way she showed her grandparents how thankful she is. As a teenager Concepcion supposed to be hanging out with her friends going to movies, parties, and outings. However she missed this, she would rather save her money that was given by her grandparents. She doesn’t even buy new things. When she was still in her senior years in high school she already worked by teaching grade school student. Later on she worked as a telephone operator in the United States Naval force in Subic. While she was working she married an irresponsible man, he just let Concepcion doing all the work. Good thing Concepcion successfully gets out of this marriage. She had a child with this unsuccessful marriage. Years later, Concepcion married again with an American who she had a four children. He is the one who helped her to put up her first business, they had a jeepney and taxi concession. When her business succeeded she put up her second business a four-storey hotel, which later on turned out to be a combined hotel, night club, and restaurant. Her ventures succeeded, but she remembers that before she married her second husband she faced many disapproval regarding in her plan f having a business. She never let this bring her down, despite she used this as challenge to pursue more. Concepcion was not still contented; she pursue her education in Manila. She managed to raise her children and run a business at the same time while she was studying. She had a very hectic schedule; she only had around four hours of sleep every day. After she finished her degree in commerce, she proceed to law, and then to a master’s in public administration, and a doctorate in commerce. Concepcion Blaylock is now a president and chairman of Diamond Motors Corporation. As an entrepreneur and a manager Conception knows how to deal with different type of people. She knew how to treat her people properly. She never hesitates to help them, especially those who showed loyalty to her and to the business. She never forgets to credit the companies who trust her. She always makes sure to maintain their trust to her. She never abused her creditor, who trusts her. Today, when Concepcion Blaylock looks back at her past she was very thankful for such an experience that she had. She was very grateful with the things that challenged her more to do more and thought her to be strong. A. Cultural Values| Manifestation of the Value| 1. Frugality (katipiran)| As a child, she saved money rather than buy new things; as an adult, did not immediately buy a car even though she can afford it. | 2. Risk taking (lakas ng loob)| She pursue her plan of having a business even though she knew that she don’t have any formal orientation in running a business. | 3. Amor Propio (utang na loob)| She never hesitates helping her staff especially those who have proven loyalty and commitment. 4. Harmonious labor management relations| She makes it to a point to compensate her people generously with profit sharing schemes and other benefits. | 5. Diligence (sipag)| At a young age, she already attributed this trait, she do the housemaid works and study at the same time. | 6. Endurance (pagkamtiisin)| She was already away with her family at an early age, for her to have a good educ ation. She never let this be a reason for not to achieve her goals, instead she makes this as her inspiration. | B. As a Filipino we were brought up by our parents to have a sense of adventure (pakikipagsapalaran) that is big help in venturing a business. Filipinos were not afraid of trying new things , we intend to be a risk taker. We usually put in our mind that God will help us in everything we do, that is a â€Å"bahala na† attitude. â€Å"Bahala na† attitude is not that bad because we do our part, but we just hope for the guidance and help of God. We Filipinos are well known of having a good relationship to people such as being family oriented and â€Å"pakikipagkapwa†. Filipinos are naturally have a close family ties. This trait is a good thing when you are in a business. Our family serves as our strength because we knew that they will be always be there to support us. They are the one who inspires us to do our best. Filipinos also exhibits the trait of being good to the people around us. This trait really plays a big role in how Filipino entrepreneur manages their people very well. Yes, the Filipino culture and values that were instill in us really help in building our entrepreneurial spirit.

Java-Whitepaper Essay Example for Free

Java-Whitepaper Essay This white paper compares C++/Qt with Java/AWT/Swing for developing large-scale, real-world software with graphical user interfaces. References are made to independent reports that examine various aspects of the two toolsets. 1 A Comparison of Qt and Java 1. What Do We Compare? When selecting an environment for a large software development project, there are many aspects that must be considered. The programming language is one of the most significant aspects, since its choice has considerable impact on what other options are available. For example, in a GUI development project, developers will need a GUI library that provides ready-made user interface components, for example, buttons and menus. Since the selection of the GUI library itself has a large impact on the development of a project, it is not uncommon for the GUI library to be chosen first, with the programming language being determined by the languages for which the library is available. Usually, there is only one language per library. Other software components like database access libraries or communication libraries must also be taken into consideration, but they rarely have such a strong impact on the overall design as the GUI libraries. In this white paper, the objective is to compare the C++/Qt environment with the Java/AWT/Swing environment. In order to do this in the most useful way, we will begin by comparing the programming languages involved, i. e. C++ and Java, and then compare the two GUI libraries, Qt for C++ and AWT/Swing for Java. 2. Comparing C++ and Java When discussing the various benefits and drawbacks of particular programming languages, the debate often degenerates into arguments that are based on personal experience and preference rather than any objective criteria. Personal preferences and experience should be taken into account when selecting a programming language for a project, but because it is subjective, it cannot be considered here. Instead we will look at issues such as programmer-efficiency, runtime-efficiency and memory-efficiency since these can be quantified and have been examined in scientifically conducted research, although we will also incorporate information based on the practical exerience of projects that have been implemented in our own company. 2. 1. Programmer-efficiency Programmer-efficiency describes how efficiently (i. e. how quickly and accurately) a programmer with a given degree of experience and knowledge can implement a certain set of requirements in a particular programming language, including debugging and project setup time. Since developer salaries are one of the primary cost factors for any programming project, programmer-efficiency greatly affects the 2 A Comparison of Qt and Java cost-efficiency of the project. To some extent, programmer-efficiency is also determined by the tools available. The main design goal of Java is increased programmer-efficiency compared to other general-purpose programming languages, rather than increased memory- or runtime-efficiency. Java has several features designed to make it more programmer-efficient. For example, unlike C++ (or C), the programmer does not have to explicitly free (give back) allocated memory resources to the operating system. Freeing unused memory (garbage collection) is handled automatically by the Java runtime system, at the expense of memory- and runtime-efficiency (see below). This liberates the programmer from the burden of keeping track of allocated memory, a tedious task that is a major cause of bugs. This feature alone should significantly increase the programmer-efficiency of Java programmers, compared to C++ (or C) programmers. Research shows that in practice, garbage collection and other Java features, do not have a major influence on the programmer-efficiency. One of the classic software estimation models, Barry Boehm’s CoCoMo1 predicts the cost and schedule of a software project using cost drivers which take into account variables like the general experience of a programmers, the experience with the programming language in question, the targeted reliability of the program, etc. Boehm writes that the amount of effort per source statement was highly independent of the language level. Other research, for example, A method of programming measurement and estimation by C. E. Walston and C. P. Felix of IBM2, points in the same direction. Both the reports cited here pre-date the advent of Java by many years, although they seem to reveal a general principle that the sophistication of a general-purpose programming language has, compared with other aspects, like the experience of the developers, no significant influence on the overall project costs. There is more recent research that explicitly includes Java and which supports this hypothesis. In An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl3, Lutz Prechelt of the University of Karlsruhe, describes an experiment he conducted in which computer science students were assigned a particular design and development task and asked to implement the specification provided in any of the languages C, C++, or Java which they could freely choose according to their personal preferences (the other languages were examined in a different part of the research project). The data gathered shows almost the same results for C++ and Java (with C running third in most aspects). This is also backed up by our own experience: if programmers can choose their favorite programming language (which is usually the one they have most experience of), programmers with the same level of experience (measured for example, in years of programming experience in general) achieve about the same programmer-efficiency. Another interesting aspect that we noted (but which is not yet supported by any formal 3 A Comparison of Qt and Java research) is that less experienced developers seem to achieve somewhat better results with Java, medium-experienced developers achieve about the same results with both programming languages, nd experienced developers achieve better results with C++. These findings could be due to better tools being available for C++; nevertheless this is an aspect that must be taken into account. An interesting way to quantify programmer-efficiency is the Function Point method developed by Capers Jones. Function points are a software metric that only depend on the functionality, not on the implementation. Working from the function points, it is possible to compute the lines of code needed per function point as well as the language level which describes how many function points can be implemented in a certain amount of time. Intriguingly, both the values for the lines of code per function point and the language level are identical for C++ and Java (6 for the language level, compared with C’s 3. 5 and Tcl’s 5, and 53 for the lines of code per function point, compared with C’s 91 and Tcl’s 64). In conclusion: both research and practice contradict the claim that Java programmers achieve a higher programmer-efficiency than C++ programmers. 2. 2. Runtime-efficiency We have seen that Java’s programmer-efficiency appears to be illusory. We will now examine its runtime efficiency. Again, Prechelt provides useful data. The amount of data he provides is huge, but he arrives at the conclusion that a Java program must be expected to run at least 1. 22 times as long as a C/C++ program. Note that he says at least; the average runtime of Java programs is even longer. Our own experience shows that Java programs tend to run about 2-3 times as long than their equivalent C/C++ programs for the same task. Not surprisingly, Java loses even more ground when the tasks are CPU-bound. When it comes to programs with a graphical user interface, the increased latency of Java programs is worse than the runtime performance hit. Usability studies show that users do not care about whether a long running task takes, say, two or three minutes, but they do care when a program does not show an immediate reaction to their interaction, for example when they press a button. These studies show that the limit of what a user accepts before they consider a program to be unresponsive can be as little as 0. 7 seconds. Well return to this issue when we compare graphical user interfaces in Java and C++ programs. An explanation about why Java programs are slower than C++ is in order. C++ programs are compiled by the C++ compiler into a binary format that can be executed directly by the CPU; the whole program execution thus takes place in 4 A Comparison of Qt and Java hardware. (This is an oversimplification since most modern CPUs execute microcode, but this does not affect the issues discussed here. ) On the other hand, the Java compiler compiles the source code into bytecode which is not executed directly by the CPU, but rather by another piece of software, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM in turn, runs on the CPU. The execution of the bytecode of a Java program does not take place in (fast) hardware, but instead in (much slower) software emulation. Work has been undertaken to develop Just in Time (JIT) compilers to address Java’s runtime efficiency problem, but no universal solution has yet emerged. It is the semi-interpreted nature of Java programs that makes the compile once, run anywhere approach of Java possible in the first place. Once a Java program is compiled into bytecode, it can be executed on any platform which has a JVM. In practice, this is not always the case, because of implementation differences in different JVMs, and because of the necessity to sometimes use native, non-Java code, usually written in C or C++, together with Java programs. But is the use of platform-independent bytecode the right approach for crossplatform applications? With a good cross-platform toolkit like Qt and good compilers on the various platforms, programmers can achieve almost the same by compiling their source code once for each platform: write once, compile everywhere. It can be argued that for this to work, developers need access to all the platforms they want to support, while with Java, in theory at least, developers only need access to one platform running the Java development tools and a JVM. In practice, no responsible software manufacturer will ever certify their software for a platform the software hasnt been tested on, so they would still need access to all the relevant platforms. The question arises why it should be necessary to run the Java Virtual Machine in software; if a program can be implemented in software, it should also be possible to have hardware implement the same unctionality. This is what the Java designers had in mind when they developed the language; they assumed that the performance penalty would disappear as soon as Java CPUs that implement the JVM in hardware would become available. But after five years, such Java CPUs have not become generally available. Java automatically de-allocates (frees) unused memory. The programmer allocates memory, and the JVM keeps track of all the allocated memory blocks and the references to them. As soon as a memory block is no longer referenced, it can be reclaimed. This is done in a process called garbage collection in which the JVM periodically checks all the allocated memory blocks, and removes any which are no longer referred to. Garbage collection is very convenient, but the trade offs are greater memory consumption and slower runtime speed.. With C++, the programmer can (and should) delete blocks of memory as soon as they are no longer required. With Java, blocks are not deleted until the next garbage collection run, and this depends on the implementation on the JVM being used. Prechtelt provides figures which state that on average ( ) and with a confidence of 80%, the Java programs consume at least 32 MB (or 297%) more memory than the C/C++ programs ( ). In addition to the higher memory requirements, the garbage collection process itself requires processing power which is consequently not available to the actual application functionality, leading to slower overall runtimes. Since the garbage collector runs periodically, it can occasionally lead to Java programs freezing for a few seconds. The best JVM implementations keep the occurrence of such freezes to a minimum, but the freezes have not been eliminated entirely. When dealing with external programs and devices, for example, during I/O or when interacting with a database, it is usually desirable to close the file or database connection as soon as it is no longer required. Using C++’s destructors, this happens as soon as the programmer calls delete. In Java, closing may not occur until the next garbage collecting sweep, which at best may tie up resources unnecessarily, and at worst risks the open resources ending up in an inconsistent state. The fact that Java programs keep memory blocks around longer than is strictly necessary is especially problematic for embedded devices where memory is often at a premium. It is no coincidence that there is (at the time of writing) no complete implementation of the Java platform for embedded devices, only partial implementations that implement a subset. The main reason why garbage collection is more expensive than explicit memory management by the programmer is that with the Java scheme, information is lost. In a C++ program, the programmer knows both where their memory blocks are (by storing pointers to them) and knows when they are not needed any longer. In a Java 6 A Comparison of Qt and Java program, the latter information is not available to the JVM (even though it is known to the programmer), and thus the JVM has to manually find unreferenced blocks. A Java programmer can make use of their knowledge of when a memory block is not needed any longer by deleting all references that are still around and triggering garbage collection manually, but this requires as much effort on the part of the programmer as with the explicit memory management in C++, and still the JVM has to look at each block during garbage collection to determine which ones are no longer used. Technically, there is nothing that prevents the implementation and use of garbage collection in C++ programs, and there are commercial programs and libraries available that offer this. But because of the disadvantages mentioned above, few C++ programmers make use of this. The Qt toolkit takes a more efficient approach to easing the memory management task for its programmers: when an object is deleted, all dependant objects are automatically deleted too. Qt’s approach does not interfere with the programmer’s freedom to delete manually when they wish to. Because manual memory management burdens programmers, C and C++ have been accused of being prone to generate unstable, bug-ridden software. Although the danger of producing memory corruption (which typically leads to program crashes) is certainly higher with C and C++, good education, tools and experience can greatly reduce the risks. Memory management can be learned like anything else, and there are a large number of tools available, both commercial and open source, that help programmers ensure that there are no memory errors in the program; for example, Insure++ by Parasoft, Purify by Rational and the open source Electric Fence. C++s flexible memory management system also makes it possible to write custom memory profilers that are adapted to whichever type of application a programmer writes. To sum up this discussion, we have found C++ to provide much better runtime- and memory-efficiency than Java, while having comparable programmer-efficiency. 2. 4. Available libraries and tools The Java platform includes an impressive number of packages that provide hundreds of classes for all kinds of purposes, including graphical user interfaces, security, networking and other tasks. This is certainly an advantage of the Java platform. For each package available on the Java platform, there is at least one corresponding library for C++, although it can be difficult to assemble the various libraries that would be needed for a C++ project and make them all work together correctly. However, this strength of Java is also one of its weaknesses. It becomes increasingly difficult for the individual programmer to find their way through the huge APIs. For any given task, you can be almost certain that somewhere, there is 7 A Comparison of Qt and Java functionality that would accomplish the task or at least help with its implementation. But it can be very difficult to find the right package and the right class. Also, with an increasing number of packages, the size of the Java platform has increased considerably. This has led to subsets e. g. , for embedded systems, but with a subset, the advantage of having everything readily available disappears. As an aside, the size of the Java platform makes it almost impossible for smaller manufacturers to ship a Java system independent from Sun Microsystems, Java’s inventor, and this reduces competition. If Java has an advantage on the side of available libraries, C++ clearly has an advantage when it comes to available tools. Because of the considerable maturity of the C and C++ family of languages, many tools for all aspects of application development have been developed, including: design, debugging, and profiling tools. While there are Java tools appearing all the time, they seldom measure up to their C++ counterparts. This is often even the case with tools with the same functionality coming from the same manufacturer; compare, for example, Rational’s Quantify, a profiler for Java and for C/C++. The most important tool any developer of a compiled language uses, is still the compiler. C++ has the advantage of having compilers that are clearly superior in execution speed. In order to be able to ship their compilers (and other tools) on various platforms, vendors tend to implement their Java tools in Java itself, with all the aforementioned memory and efficiency problems. There are a few Java compilers written in a native language like C (for example, IBM’s Jikes), but these are the exception, and seldom used. 3. Comparing AWT/Swing and Qt So far, we have compared the programming language Java and the programming language C++. But as we discussed at the beginning of this article, the programming language is only one of the aspects to consider in GUI development. We will now compare the packages for GUI development that are shipped with Java, i. e. AWT and Swing, with the cross-platform GUI toolkit, Qt, from the Norwegian supplier, Trolltech. We have confined the comparision on the C++ side to the Qt GUI toolkit, since unlike MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) and similar toolkits, This seems to contradict Java’s cross-platform philosophy and may be due to the the initial AWT version being reputedly developed in under fourteen days. Because of these and a number of other problems with the AWT, it has since been augmented by the Swing toolkit. Swing relies on the AWT (and consequently on the native libraries) only for very basic things like creating rectangular windows, handling events and executing primitive drawing operations. Everything else is handled within Swing, including all the drawing of the GUI components. This does away with the problem of applications looking and behaving differently on different platforms. Unfortunately, because Swing is mostly implemented in Java itself, it lacks efficiency. As a result, Swing programs are not only slow when performing computations, but also when drawing and handling the user interface, leading to poor responsiveness. As mentioned earlier, poor responsiveness is one of the things that users are least willing to tolerate in a GUI application. On today’s standard commodity hardware, it is not unusual to be able to watch how a Swing button is redrawn when the mouse is pressed over it. While this situation will surely improve with faster hardware, this does not address the fundamental problem that complex user interfaces developed with Swing are inherently slow. The Qt toolkit follows a similar approach; like Swing, it only relies on the native libraries only for very basic things and handles the drawing of GUI components itself. This brings Qt the same advantages as Swing (for example, applications look and behave the same on different platforms), but since Qt is entirely implemented in C++ and thus compiled to native code; it does not have Swing’s efficiency problems. User interfaces written with Qt are typically very fast; because of Qts smart use of caching techniques, they are sometimes even faster than comparable programs written using only the native libraries. Theoretically, an optimal native program should always be at least as fast as an equivalent optimal Qt program; however, making a native program optimal is much more difficult and requires more programming skills than making a Qt program optimal. Both Qt and Swing employ a styling technique that lets programs display in any one of a number of styles, independent of the platform they are running on. This is possible because both Qt and Swing handle the drawing themselves and can draw GUI elements in whichever style is desired. Qt even ships with a style that emulates the default look-and-feel in Swing programs, along with styles that emulate the 9 A Comparison of Qt and Java Win32 look-and-feel, the Motif look-and-feel, and—in the Macintosh version— the MacOS X Aqua style. 3. 2. Programming Paradigms In Qt and Swing While programming APIs to some extent are a matter of the programmers personal taste, there are some APIs that lend themselves to simple, short, and elegant application code far more readily than others.

Promissory estoppel is now a mature doctrine

Promissory estoppel is now a mature doctrine â€Å"Promissory estoppel is now a mature doctrine. Its role is to mitigate some of the harshness of the doctrine of consideration by protecting those who reasonably rely on promises. Its full potential can only be reached if the court permits its use not merely as a shield, but as a sword, where appropriate. The decision of the Court of Appeal in Baird Textile Holdings Ltd v Marks and Spencer plc [2001] therefore represents a missed opportunity to clarify and modernise the law. Promissory estoppel is an important tool in equity to create fairness within contract law. It deals specifically with consideration, which as a doctrine holds the parties that have entered into a contract to which they both intend to be bound. Therefore the parties must have the capacity to be bound to the contract; as well as the intention to be bound by the contract. There must be a value to amount to consideration, which does not necessarily have to be monetary[1]. Consideration can be a right, interest, service, benefit to one party and sufficient detriment to the other party. [2] Consideration does not have to be equal on both sides; one party may only leave a nominal amount of consideration[3] As long as there is sufficient intention and the terms are not vague then the law will not get involved in business dealings; therefore the courts will infer intention[4]; as long as the consideration for that particular business dealing illustrates that there is sufficient consideration. [5] Insufficient consideration is any act where the duty is already imposed by law or a valid contractual duty. However, there are exceptions to the rules, because consideration at times can be deemed as far too harsh. The case of Williams v Roffey Bros[6] held that consideration could be inferred in a pre-existing contractual duty if there was further consideration that could be inferred. For example this case recognized that the contractor would be subject to a significant late charge, if he did not re-negotiate his contract with the subcontractor to finish on time. Therefore the renegotiation of the pre-existing duty saved the contractor a loss of money, which the courts held as sufficient consideration. However, in the case of paying a partial debt there can never be consideration. The rule in Pinnel’s Case[7] was confirmed in the case of Foakes v Beer[8] where it was held that part payment of a debt could be held as consideration because there was an existing contractual duty. The rule in Pinnel’s Case is that promissory estoppel is an invalid action when it comes to the part payment of debt, unless it is paid in full and benefits both parties. The reasoning behind this is that p art payment of debt is inequitable because the person who is supposed to benefit from the consideration is put at a detriment and therefore defeats on of the central tenants of consideration, which one party is at a sufficient benefit whilst the other party is at a sufficient detriment. There are circumstances where promissory estoppel is possible in regards to a reduced payment of a price or fee. The case of Central London Property Trust v High Trees House Ltd[9] is such a case, because the political and social environment was drastically changed. The two parties where a property owner and a business tenant, who then leased the property as flats to other individuals residentially. An agreed business tenancy price came into question during WWII, because of the bombings in London the situation made it impossible for the renter to pay the whole rent due to the bombing and lack of tenants. Here equity stepped and promissory estoppel was used, because it would be unfair to make the rent er pay the whole rental amount due to the circumstances. In addition the agreement by the property owner to accept less due to the WWII inferred intention, because otherwise the landlord would receive no rent because the renter would have vacated the premises; and no other businesses would have taken up the tenancy during the war. This is a very specific scenario, where WWII could have amounted to frustration of the contract, because the war would have made it impossible for the renter to satisfy the contract and an act of war is outside his ambit of control. After the High Trees case the courts extended the doctrine of promissory estoppel in the case partial full partial payment of a debt; however if it were revealed that the re-negotiation was due was an action of duress that forced the creditor to agree to the new credit agreement then equity could not step in with the doctrine of promissory estoppel. One such case that illustrates that equity will only aid those with clean hands is the case of D C Builders v Rees[10] where Rees discerned that the building company was in financial distress and tried to use this to her advantage by offering a smaller payment in full or nothing. This amounted to duress, because the knowledge that Rees had of the problems that D C Builders were facing was used as a sword against a fair and equitable outcome. The key factor that surrounds the doctrine of Promissory Estoppel is that it originates out of equity and aims to create a just outcome, as in the High Trees Case. In the case of D C Builders the use of Promissory Estoppel was for unjust purposes and equity could not aid Rees, because an injustice would occur. High Trees is the case that the modern doctrine of Promissory Estoppel has developed from; however it was the Hughes Case that the doctrine originated from, where a landlord’s actions gave the tenant contrary belief in the events surrounding a notice to repair. Tool Metal Manufacturing Co Ltd v Tungsten Electric Co Ltd[11] case allows for suspension of payment to be reverted back to active payment as long as reasonable notice is given. This also means with the reasonable notice that the creditor can also receive compensation for the suspended payments; therefore ensuring that there is not a case of part payment of debt, because the interest can keep running. The only exception to this is an agreement of an early settlement, with a lump sum that is considered reasonable by both parties. The Tool Metal Case and the Hughes Case point to the doctrine of promissory estoppel being a shield and not a sword of equitable justice, because it believes that consideration plays an essential part of contract law. To eradicate the harshness of consideration may allow individual like Rees in the D C Builders Case to use Promissory Estoppel for unfair and unjust purposes. However, the High Trees Case that is the key case for the modern doctrine of Promissory Estoppel seems to be pointing in a different direction, i.e. that the doctrine is a sword against the harshness of consideration. In this case WWII made it impossible for the original contract to be kept to, hence the parties re-negotiated during this period. The case of Coombe v Coombe[12] argued that the doctrine in High Trees could not be identified as a sword against the doctrine of consideration; rather it can only be used as a defense to an action and in the interests of justice. The cases of Re Wyven Developments[13] an d Evenden v Guildford City AFC[14] argued that Coombe v Coombe was incorrect and that the doctrine of Promissory Estoppel could be used as a sword; as well as a shield if justice and equity dictated. The Coombe approach makes sense by ensuring that the rules surrounding contract law are upheld and ensuring that certainty in contracts remain; otherwise there would be a mass confusion where courts could get too involved in business contracts. English law is based on a laissez faire system, where business dealings should be free from the ministrations of parliament and the courts; as long as just and both parties were capable to enter the contract. As Mitchell argues, parties enter a contract with specific expectations and to turn these upside down would be a breach a fundamental principle of contract law: While we could dismiss this as assimilating reasonable expectation with contractual rights, and therefore making the appeal to reasonable expectation redundant, it is clear that many appeals to reasonable expectation rely upon an institutional or contract law-based source for such expectations. Reiter and Swan, for example, write that '[t]he assumption is that the fundamental purpose of contract law is the protection and promotion of expectations reasonably created by contract'. If 'contract' here is taken in a legal, rather than a social sense, then the utility of reasonable expectations as a counter-contractual reference point is in danger of disappearing.[15] Therefore in the light of the essential principles of contract law and the doctrine of consideration the decision of Baird v MS[16] would have been the correct decision, otherwise there would be a free for all for parties to argue that the contract is unjust and flagrant actions of Promissory Estoppel would occur. However, Promissory Estoppel would still remain as a defense in cases where the situation dictated that there would be an unjust outcome if the contract was upheld in its present form. The case of Baird v M S, Baird used Promissory Estoppel as an action to enforce what Baird classed as an unwritten contract. In other words Baird was arguing that the long term relationship between the two created a reasonable expectation that there was an ongoing business relationship, which could only be altered or terminated with reasonable notice; as per the Tool Metal Case. The Court of Appeal however decided against this approach, because the reason that M S did not enter a written co ntractual agreement was for flexibility and the option of changing suppliers if market forces dictated this route. Also the Court of Appeal stated that the lack of a (legal) contract was determinative for the court. The estoppel claim was also thought likely to fail, since estoppel cannot be used to create a cause of action. It was remarked that, despite the close relationship between the parties, 'businessmen must be taken to be aware that, without specific contractual protection, their business may suffer in consequence.[17] However, this argument seems to be very one-sided, because as with the High Trees Case the situation in Baird v M S does indicate that there was intention to create some form of business and contractual relationship that benefited both parties. In fact the long history of Baird supplying the goods could be inferred as terms and conditions of the contract; however the lack of a written contract seems to be an excuse for the Court of Appeal to open up Prom issory Estoppel as an action; as opposed to just a defense. Therefore, as Mitchell argues the decision in Baird v M S could be taken either way because both sides were arguing certainty of contracts and reasonable expectation; however the determining factor not to find a contract was because of public policy reasons NOT to make Promissory Estoppel a cause of action (a Sword) and open the floodgates to further actions: One can see how a 'reasonable expectations' argument can be used to support Baird or M S, but each relies on a different basis for the reasonable expectation. Baird will have non-contractual reasonable expectations concerning the parties' mutual obligations, based upon their experience of the previous thirty years. M S, on the other hand, have reasonable expectations based on their strict legal rights, and supported in the judgement, that there is no contract and hence the relationship can be terminated at will-an institutional interpretation of reasonable expectation†¦ This result does not support the attempt to make contract law more sensitive to the social dimension of agreement-making, but undermines it by privileging the legal framework in the resolution of the dispute.[18] Bibliography: J. Beatson (2002) Anson’s Law of Contract 28th Edition, Oxford University Press Hooley (1991) Consideration and Existing Duty JBL 19-35 David Kelly, Ann Holmes Ruth Hayward (2002) Business Law 4th Edition, Cavendish Ewan McIntyre, (2004) Business Law, Longman McKendrick, 2005, Contract law, text, cases and materials, second edition, Oxford University Press Mitchell, 2003, Leading a Life of its own? The Roles of Reasonable Expectation in Contract Law, OJLS 23 639 Stallworthy (1994) Case Comment: Variation of Contracts, ICCR 5(7) Chris Turner (2004) Unlocking Contract Law, Hodder Arnold Footnotes [1] Currie v Misa (1875) LR 10 Ex 15 [2] Combe v Combe (1951) 2 KB 215 [3] Chappell Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd (1960) AC 87; Mountford v Scott (1975) [4] White v Bluett (1853) 23 LJ Ex 36 [5] Collins v Godefroy (1831) 109 ER 1040 [6] [1991] 1 QB 1 [7] (1602) 5 Co Rep 117a [8] (1884) 9 App Cas 605 [9] [1947] KB 130 [10] [1966] 2 KB 617 [11] [1955] 1 WLR 761 [12] [1951] 2 KB 215 [13] [1974] 1 WLR 1097 [14] [1975] QB 917 [15] Mitchell, 2003, Leading a Life of its own? The Roles of Reasonable Expectation in Contract Law, OJLS 23 639 [16] [2001] unreported [17] Mitchell, 2003, Leading a Life of its own? The Roles of Reasonable Expectation in Contract Law, OJLS 23 639 [18] Mitchell, 2003, Leading a Life of its own? The Roles of Reasonable Expectation in Contract Law, OJLS 23 639

Contemporary Art Essays -- Post-Modernity Post Modernity

Contemporary Art: Dealing with Post-Modernity − †Art worlds consist of all the people whose activities are necessary to the production of the characteristic works which that world, and perhaps others as well, define as art. †¦ By observing how an art world makes those distinctions rather than trying to make them ourselves we can understand much of what goes on in that world.... The basic unit of analysis, then, is an art world.† - Howard Becker (Art Worlds) Postmodernism deconstructs Modernism like Modernism deconstructed art Like the Simpson's episode that explained Po-Mo as â€Å"weird for the sake of weird†, Postmodernism accepted the philosophy â€Å"art for the sake of art†. A very free and democratic practice, a natural response to the inhibiting Modernist intelligentsia. So radical is this notion that it was banned in China during the Mao rule. Art after Modernism became free to reference anything or nothing at all. It no longer needed a meaning or idea. It does not mean, however, that Postmodernism itself is free of Ideology. It is a reaction to Modernism. It analyses and comments on it. Postmodernism rejects meta-narratives of history, culture, and national identity that were present in Modernist art. It rejects totalizing theories that are to explain the way people act and the way the universe works, like the Freudian or Marxist views that science can explain society. It rejects the concept of cultural unity, of equality, and the view that one person can speak on behalf of humanity. Postmodernist art is skeptical of late capitalism and the technological industrial progression. It critiques the concept of â€Å"individualism†, and encourages people to consider multiple identities. It embraces the concept of mul... ... the linear narrative of art history. Works Cited: Baudillard, Jean. â€Å"The Precession of Simulacra†. Translated by Paul Foss and Paul Patton. New York: 1983. Danto, Arthur. â€Å"The Journal of Philosophy†. Vol. 61, No. 19. American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Sixty-First Annual Meeting. (Oct. 15, 1964). pp. 571- 584. Accessed online, 05/10/08. Howard Becker. â€Å"Art Worlds†. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1982 Irvine, Martin. â€Å"Lectures, Essays, and Seminar Notes†. Georgetown University. Accessed online, 05/11/08. Jameson, Frederick. "Marxism and the Historicity of Theory." New Literary History Accessed online, 05/12/08. /StructuralistMarxism/Jameson/Jameson.htm>

Researching the Asian American Culture Essay -- Cultural Identity Essay

Researching the Asian American Culture There are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western cultures and the meeting of these cultures has had several effects, both in Asia and here in the US. Overseas, you can see the juxtaposition of American pop culture on the older modes of Asian thought and society. Here, New Age religions find new excuses in Asian religions and philosophies and Anime is appears regularly on Saturday morning cartoons. Often, this juxtaposition becomes turbulent as the younger generations are caught between two seemingly opposing cultures. As a result, crime rates rise with the integration of Western ideals and culture into Asian society. This is true here in America too as the first generation of Asian-Americans are born and brought up by Asian parents, with Asian thinking, in American society and culture. This conflict manifests itself in our history as a nation as well as in modern universities and businesses. Historically, the United States has not been kind to Asian immigrants and until as late as 1965, legal discrimination against Asians has been an accepted part of American culture. In the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants began to come to the United States in response to the gold rush in California. By 1852, over 20,000 Chinese had emigrated to the United States. Many of these would end up working on the Transcontinental Railroad as contract laborers. Local groups demanded, however, that the flow of emigration be stopped and in 1858, a law was passed that barred the Chinese from entering. This began a series of laws and treaties with China and Japan that would govern Asian emigration to the US. In 1868, Chinese emigration is reopened as a result of the Burlingame... ...ginning to result in more and more first and second generation Americans in the business and professional world. More and more Asian doctors, always a popular profession, can be seen today. The recent dot com craze similarly resulted in a disproportionate number of Asians heading up companies, although this has yet to manifest itself in the larger corporations. (no hard data on this, but I could probably find some if you need) However, Asians are rapidly becoming a greater force in American culture as the proportion of educated Asian-Americans rises. Despite small numbers, they begin to have more and more influence in the business and professional worlds as well as academics. They are an interesting group, however, caught between two extremely different cultures as they seek to strike a balance between the ideals of their parents and the world they live in.

Excessive Dependence on Homework in American Schools Essays -- Teachin

Excessive Dependence on Homework in American Schools "I didn’t feel [stressed] until I was in my 30’s. It hurts my feelings that my daughter feels that way at eleven" (Ratnesar 313). This statement describes the intense issue facing the American Education System today. More and more students are spending a lot of out of school time on enormous amounts of homework. The overabundance of homework is putting pressure on the students, along with their parents. Our nation has steadily focused on after school studying to the point of possible exhaustion. In this paper, I will attempt to explain how educators are relying on homework as the major form of education, and how the amounts are too demanding on the students. The emphasis on homework has slowly escalated since the launch of Sputnik in the 1950’s (Ratnesar 313). "Sputnik" was a Russian satellite sent into outer space in 1957. The Russians, not Americans, were the first nation to send a satellite into orbit. This caused a nationwide frenzy. Law-makers were inclined to focus on math and science because of the threat of soviet "soviet wiz kids" (Ratnesar 313). As the 1970’s approached homework declined once again, but soon we emphasized it to its highest level of importance. According to research done by the University of Michigan, elementary school students in 1981 spent forty-four minutes a week on homework. Sixteen years later 9-12 year olds had an increase of almost two more hours a week (Ratnesar 313). A 1983 government report, A Nation at Risk, caught the attention of the American Education System. The article explained the failings of the American school. It explained how education is declining, and teachers need to get tough on their students again. This prompted... ...ould be a sufficient amount, increasing 10 minutes each year, beginning in the first grade (Cooper 317). After studying the issue of homework, and the teacher’s influence upon it, I’ve come to realize homework may be overused in today’s educational system. I feel teachers are depending too much on outside education and not enough on in-class learning. Also, I believe the United States Government needs to develop a "homework standard". Educators in general need to come together and encourage students to learn in the classroom, and spend less time out of school doing countless hours of busy work. Teachers must look at the best interests of the students and base learning on communication in the classroom. Works Cited Considine, Jeana "The Homework Ate My Family" Cooper, Harris "The Homework Ate My Family" Ratnesar, Romesh "The Homework Ate My Family"

If I Could Change 3 Things About Myself Essay

Yes, maybe you will say:†Hey! That’s not enough! I need MORE! † but what are the three most importance things that you decide to change? If I could change three things about myself, I think first and foremost, I would change my desirous of food-ness. I got the stomach ache-ness when I was at Japan and tried not to eat so much. Well, to late for regrets now! I am eating now and just ate some ice-cream just now and ate fish chops for dinner. Well, good luck to me! Secondly, I would like to change my laziness. I had been pretty darn lazy through my whole life until now. Except for the time when my sister who is older than me by a year got to go to school and petty little me didn’t get to go. So, I got so interested in learning that I read ALL of my sister’s textbooks. And ever since my sister knew that I knew   that she was learning, made up a lame excuse and threw her homework to me and went to play some stupid computer game like†¦ MINES. Because she doesn’t know how to play it, she just simply pushes some buttons. But now, I inherited her laziness and she inherited my hardworkingness and it’s the other way round than the time we were kids. Lastly, I would like to change the fact that I don’t really have any talents. I’m suck in studying, not really good in sports. I would want my talents to be: singing, dancing and acting. So, I could just be a pop star when I grow up. Well, it’s really nice to be a star, you know, with people fan boy and fan girling you. You just sing, which you awesomely have HUGE talent at and you get tons of money for just ONE song you sing! It would be such an awesome life! Well, its probably pretty obvious that nobody is going to magically materialize from thin air and grant those for me. So seems like I would just need to keep working at it.

Financial Planning and Forecasting Essay

We have also provided comprehensive documentation on the templates so that you do not need to guess or figure out how we implemented the models. All our template models are only in black and white color. We believe this is how a professional financial template should look like and also that this is the easiest way for you to understand and use the templates. All the input fields are marked with the ‘*’ symbol for you to identify them easily. Whether you are a financial analyst, investment banker or accounting personnel. Or whether you are a student aspiring to join the finance world or an entrepreneur needing to understand finance, we hope that you will find this package useful as we have spent our best effort and a lot of time in developing them. ConnectCode Pg iii Financial Planning and Forecasting Version 1. 0 1. 1. 1 Financial Planning and Forecasting Pro Forma Financial Statements Financial statements projections and forecasting are very common in corporate financial analysis. The reason is that it is very useful and important to forecast how much financing a company will require in future years. The projections are achieved by using historical sales, accounting data and assumptions on future sales and costs. These financial statements projections are known financial modeling as Pro Forma financial statements. 1. 2 Financial Statements Modeling This spreadsheet provides a template for financial statements forecasting. It requires simple financial statements inputs from the past 5 years and will automatically generate all the necessary Pro Forma Financial Statements projections outputs. The following diagram illustrates the process of using this template for financial statements forecasting.

The Fall of the City

These were rounded by humbler dwellings made from matchboxes and the covers of exercise books. The streets and alleys were full of nobles, peasants and soldiers, their two- dimensional bodies scissors from paper, theirs faces and clothing drawn in crayon and lead pencil. From the turreted roof of the palace, hung a green, white and gold atrocious, the flag of the Kingdom of Pauli Somber gray eyes glinted in teddy's pale, triangular face. He shoved his hands deeper in the pockets of his worn khaki shorts. He decided that what he heard was not the rattle of rain on the roof and window, but the muffled roar of distant cannon.The armies of the Emperor Gang of Donovan were attacking the fortifications on the Upland frontier! Teddy inhaled deeply and held his breath, his thin chest pressing against his sweat shirt. His Majesty King Theodore l, resplendent In the red and black uniform of a generalissimo, emerged on the balcony of his winter palace In Thoroughbred, capital of the Kingdom of Pauli. Through the square below rode squadrons of lancers, dragoons and hussars, batteries of horse artillery; behind them marched regiments of infantry. Grasping the diamond-studded hilt of his sword. King Theodore watched his army march out to give battle to the enemy.This would be the third war between Donovan and Pauli. The first had been fought in the year 2032 and had ended in the defeat of the Emperor Gang and his imprisonment on the Isle of Hawks. But he had escaped through the treachery of Kill, Duke of Enders, a general In the upland army, and In 2043 the Donovan had invaded Pauli a second time, aided by the renegade force under the command of Kill. This time, they conquered Thoroughbred and massacred the populace before being routed by King Theodore. On the day of victory, the Duke of Enders was roughs to Thoroughbred in chains and hanged in the city square.The Emperor Gang was as evil and cunning as the If Munch about whom Teddy had read in books. Tow, astride a black wa r-horse, he directed his troops as they besieged For Lion on the Ocarina River. Hopelessly outnumbered, the defenders rallied behind their commander, Duke Lanai of Carla, and prayed for the coming of King Theodore . . . â€Å"Teddy! † FIFO He opened the door. Mien? † he called sulkily. â€Å"Come down here this minute and get ready for supper! How many times do I have to call you? † â€Å"Okay, okay, I'm coming'! † -?And be quick about it! † â€Å"I'm coming', I told huh! She stood in the hall, a tall, stooped woman with tired, suspicious eyes. â€Å"Seems to me that you're spending a lot of time in that attic. † She wiped red, swollen hands on her apron. Mimi been into some mischief up there? † He shrugged impatiently. â€Å"I anti been doing' nothing' -? Just playing',† he told her sullenly. â€Å"Well, young man, you better wipe that scowl off your face and march to the bathroom and get ready for supper. † miss, ma'am,à ¢â‚¬  he enunciated carefully. During supper, he was scarcely aware of what he ate; he was so deep in thought hat his pork chop tasted no different from his whipped cream and Jell.Mechanically, he obeyed his aunt when she told him to take smaller bites and to take his elbows off the table. He was pondering on the tactics that would have to be used by King Theodore in relieving the siege of the fort by the river. If the Upland army crossed the Tableland marshes, they might succeed in encircling the Donovan, but there was the risk that their cannon would founder in the morass. On the other hand, if they scaled the Theodore mountains †¦ â€Å"Look what you're doing, for heaven's sake! † His aunt glared at him. Don't say ‘huh† when you answer me. Look what you've done!You've spilled cream all over yourself. † Blushing, he rubbed at his sweat shirt with a paper napkin. â€Å"He's got his head in the clouds again. † His uncle laughed mirthlessly. â₠¬Å"Half the time, he doesn't know whether he's living on earth or on Mars. † Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy looked at his uncle's round, florid face and reflected on the resemblance to Kill, Duke of Enders. â€Å"Well, he'd better smarten up if he knows what's good for him,† his aunt grated. â€Å"If he doesn't, I know something that will smarten him,† his uncle said. He laughed gain and reached for another helping of potatoes.Behind him, cloudy white marbles of rain slid down the window. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down Teddy's spine. What if the Donovan attacked Thoroughbred while the king and his army were in the mountains? Old Gang was cunning as a serpent. If .. â€Å"He spent most of the afternoon in the attic,† his aunt said. His uncle gave him a disdainful look. â€Å"He Just about lives up there, doesn't he? † miss. I think it's about time that one of us went up there and found out what he's been doing. † â€Å"No! † Teddy cried sharply. His uncle laid down his knife and fork. Look here mister, I don't like your tone of voice.Have you been up to some of your monkey-shines up there? Mimi better not be, not if you want to be able to sit down the rest of the week. † The man resumed eating. â€Å"After supper, I'll take a look and see Just what you have been doing,† he said. As his aunt gathered up the dishes, his uncle went into the living room and sat down in his easy chair to read his newspaper. Teddy sat by the window and looked out at the rain. The sodden grass of the lawn had turned a darker green and foaming rivers of rainwater ran down the street. He shut his eyes. Here in the kitchen, he loud not hear the strumming of the rain on the roof.There was no rumble of Donovan cannon. He frowned and rested his chin in an upturned palm. Anyhow, the cannon were only playthings: scraps of cardboard held together with cellophane tape. What did it matter if his uncle saw them, or even destroyed them? But it did matter. Thoroughbred had been growing for a year and , often, it seemed more real that the town, the street and the home in which he lived with his uncle and aunt. Muffed better get at your homework. You won't get it done by sitting there mooning out the window,† his aunt told him. Mien. He fetched exercise books and spread them on the table.His aunt and uncle did not mean to be cruel, he knew. From time to time, by their acts and words, they showed that they were fond of him. Twice that summer, his uncle had taken him trout fishing and on both occasions there had been something subtly warm between them. And sometimes he detected a hint of affection in his aunt's voice even as she nagged him. But . His uncle stood in the doorway between kitchen and living room, his shoulders shaking with laughter. Muffed never guess what that kid has been doing up there! † He shook his head in ender and amusement. Teddy flushed and stiffened.His aunt turned from the sink where she was drying the last of the supper dishes. â€Å"What's he been up to, now? † mound never believe it, but that great big lummox has been playing with paper dolls! † â€Å"Paper dolls! † his aunt laughed dubiously. â€Å"They anti paper dolls,† Teddy mumbled. He pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. â€Å"They looked pretty much like paper dolls to me. Paper dolls and doll houses. And eleven-year-old boy! † The man choked, trying to restrain his laughter. â€Å"The next thing we know, you'll be wanting us to put skirts on you! † l never heard of such a thing.Paper dolls! † â€Å"They anti dolls, I told you! † Teddy's fists were clenched, his arms stiff by his sides, his voice shaking. His uncle pointed a warning finger. â€Å"Don't get saucy now, mister. I know paper dolls when I see ‘me. † Once again he burst into laughter. His cheeks were the color of a tomato. â€Å"Sit down and finish your homework, Teddy,† his aunt said. To his surprise, her voice was not harsh: it contained a suggestion of weary sympathy. He resumed his returned to the living room and picked up his newspaper. Paper dolls! His uncle had said that he should be dressed in skirts and hair boons.And he could never explain; they would never let him explain. Theodore, King of Pauli, and all his armies -? paper dolls! He slumped, doodling on the paper before him so that his aunt would think he was working. Yes, they were paper dolls. There was no king Theodore, no Emperor Gang, no Thoroughbred, no Pauli, no Donovan. There was only an attic full of preposterous cardboard buildings and ridiculous paper people. It was still daylight when he finished his homework. The rain had stopped, but water still poured from the elms along the street.When Teddy went through the paving room, his uncle did not speak, but he glanced up from his newspaper and grinned slyly. The boy was blushing to the roots of this hair as he opened the hall door and started up the stairs. The city was as he had left it. Yet everything had changed. Always before when he had come here, his flesh had tingled, his eyes had shone with excitement. Now there was only a taste like that of a spoilt nutmeat. He bent and seized the cardboard palace. Gritting his teeth and grunting, he tore at its walls. The corrugated board was sturdy: he was crying by the time he finished tearing it to shreds.