Inside James Diyson

In â€Å"Inside Dyson: a distinctive company? †, Shepherd et al. (2011) gives details of the secret of Dyson’s success – the company specializing in innovative, design-heavy vacuum cleaners and other household appliances. The successes and failures of Dyson’s design efforts (from their successful vacuums to the 3-in-1 vacuums that did not test well with customers) are explored, as well as their unique perspective on business, which puts quality and innovation above anything else. 1. Using frameworks from the chapter, analyze the strategic capabilities of Dyson. The strategic capabilities of Dyson revolve primarily around a resource-based view of the strategy with a heavy focus on engineering design; they spend a tremendous amount of time developing and engineering prototypes for household products that seek to provide a twist to the typical device (e. g. , vacuum cleaners that provide smooth turning around the corners, oscillating fans that â€Å"multiply† air, etc. ) This creates a niche in what can be an overly-saturated market. Providing a unique spin of this sort on a product can offer tremendous advantages. Combine this with state-of-the-art, sleek design elements and bright, colorful exteriors, and Dyson creates a number of high-end, well-sought-after appliances. Dyson invests heavily in Chinese and Asian manufacturing in order to make their products cheaper, so that they can maintain profit margin benchmarks. This emphasis on design in their organizational planning means not as many products being manufactured. But what they do sell they sell to a target market at higher prices. Given the innovation that is present in Dyson’s business strategy, it is quite clear that their strategic capability is high, even though the risks can be high as well due to the experimental and ‘out there’ nature of their products which may be too daunting for normal consumers. 2. To what extent do you think any of the capabilities can be imitated by competitors? The primary niche that Dyson follows is superior design. As a result, it can be quite difficult to replicate the specific strategic capabilities. Their focus on innovation revolves around them being the only ones around to actually try to change the way the vacuum or other appliance is designed. The level of specialization is what attracts customers to them. In order to provide legitimate competition to Dyson, superior engineering designers would have to be hired, and a much greater focus on innovation would have to be attempted. Otherwise, Dyson’s dominance in the high-end, experimental house-ware market remains unchecked by competitors. Competitors are already trying to imitate their products with the USA Wind Tunnel vacuums and Mjele swivel-head vacuums. Yet the patents Dyson has placed on their product prevents other companies from outright stealing of their ideas. 3. Which of Dyson’s distinctive capabilities may become threshold capabilities over time? The existence of high-value specialties will likely become a threshold capability for Dyson as the time goes on. Threshold capabilities are what is required to remain in the market. Currently, what is allowing Dyson to maintain its high prices is the high quality of the design and engineering present in their products. Compared to other consumer-level appliances of this kind, Dyson stands out as a distinctive product from a marketing standpoint. Emphasizing the new and innovative stuff allows the consumer to feel as though they are receiving a brand new, insightful product, leagues ahead of the competition. For Dyson to change its business model in any way towards increasing volumes of standard products would be to tarnish its image, nearly irreparably. What is maintaining Dyson’s primary conceit is the design innovation, which is a clear threshold capability. 4. Bearing in mind your answers to questions 1 and 2, how crucial is Sir James Dyson to the future of the company? What might be the effect of his resignation or the sale of the company? Given the importance of James Dyson, it would certainly be a blow if he were to leave or sell the company. James Dyson is a prominent public figure and the best spokesperson in commercials Dyson company could have. For many consumers, there is a certai n security in seeing the actual representative or president of the company speak to them directly and explain the features of the Dyson vacuum; if that was not happening, it is possible that†¦

Reviewer for Science Quiz Bee Essay

1. A great Greek philosopher, he was the first person to study nature systematically. ARISTOTLE 2. He laid the foundation of modern scientific thought and assembled materials for an organized encyclopedia of all knowledge. ARISTOTLE 3. He was the foremost natural philosopher in ancient times. ARISTOTLE 4. A Benedictine nun, she contributed the medical work â€Å"Causea et Curae et Physica†. HILDEGARD OF BENGEN 5. An astronomer who proposed that the sun was the center of the universe. -NICOLAS COPERNICUS 6. He discovered the circulation of the blood which ushered in the new age in the study of medicine and biology. WILLIAM HARVEY 7. He was the first to raise the telescope to the sky to study the universe. GALILEO GALILEI 8. He formulated the 3 laws of planetary motion. JOHANNES KEPLER 9. He proposed the Theory of Evolution. CHARLES DARWIN 10. She discovered radioactivity. MADAME MARIE CURIE 11. He discovered the germ that causes tuberculosis. ROBERT KOCH 12. He became famous for his work on fermentation and decay. –LOUIS PASTEUR 13. He proposed the Theory of Relativity. ALBERT EINSTEIN 14. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on photoelectric effect. ALBERT EINSTEIN 15. She determined the structure of biochemical compounds essential I treating pernicious anemia. -DOROTHY HODGKIN 16. He is considered as the â€Å"father of geothermal energy development†. ARTURO ALCARAZ 17. He invented a fertilizer call farmer’s pure organic fertilizer. ABRAHAM Q. TADEJA 18. He invented a solar engine that can generate electricity for home use. JESUS ALVERO 19. A national scientist, is best remembered for his work on medicinal plants. He discovered over 4,000 plant species. EDUARDO A. QUISUMBING 20. It is the scientific way of solving problems. SCIENTIFIC METHOD 21. It is a systematic and logical procedure in solving problems. SCIENTIFIC METHOD 22. It is a challenge or a task which a scientist undertakes for scientific purposes. PROBLEM 23. It is an educated guess about a certain phenomenon. HYPOTHESIS 24. It refers to the general procedure on how to carry out an experiment. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN 25. These are the factors that are multiplied or changed. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES 26. These are the factors that change in response to the independent variable. DEPENDENT VARIABLE 27. It is a unit of measure used by Egyptians. CUBIT 28. It is the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. CUBIT 29. It is a modernized version of the metric system. INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS/SI SYSTEM 30. It provides a logical and interconnected framework for all measurements in science, industry, and commerce. INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS/SI SYSTEM 31. It is used to weigh small masses of objects. PLATFORM BALANCE 32. It is equivalent to a foot and consists of 12 inches. RULER 33. It used in measuring length and distance. RULER 34. It used to measure length and distance. It consists of 100 centimeters. METERSTICK 35. Measures time in seconds, minutes, and hours. STOPWATCH 36. It measures volume of liquids. GRADUATED CYLINDER 37. It measures atmospheric temperature. THERMOMETER 38. It measures the force or weight of objects. SPRING BALANCE 39. These are the digits that indicate the certainty of the number of units in a measured quantity. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES 40. It is a shorthand writing of extremely large or small figures. SCIENTIFIC NOTATION 41. It is the changing from smaller to bigger unit and vice versa. CONVERSION 42. It is the distance from one point to another. LENGTH 43. It is the basic standard unit in the metric system. METER 44. It is the space occupied by matter. VOLUME 45. It is the amount of matter in an object. MASS 46. It refers to the quantity of matter. MASS 47. It is a quantity of matter which does not change with altitude of a place. MASS 48. It is used to measure the volume of an irregular object. WATER DISPLACEMENT METHOD 49. It is defined as the mass per unit volume. DENSITY 50. A Greek mathematician who discovered that the earth is round. PYTHAGORAS 51. A Greek mathematician who measured the circumference of the earth as 25,000 miles. ERATHOSTHENES 52. It is an information gathered using the five senses. OBSERVATION 53. It is a conclusion or an interpretation of events based from observed information. INFERENCE 54. It is used as a container and as a heating device. It measures volume of liquids. BEAKER 55. It is used as a heating apparatus, a container and may be used for measuring the volume of liquids. ERLENMEYER FLASK 56. It is used as a heating apparatus. It is also used as a distilling device for collecting gases. FLORENCE FLASK 57. It is used for the preparation of any solution. VOLUMETRIC FLASK 58. It is used as a container for liquid solutions and powderized chemicals. TEST TUBE 59. It is used to hold a test tube while heating. TEST TUBE HOLDER 60. It is used to pick up and hold any hot apparatus. TONGS 61. It is used to distribute evenly the heat of the flame. WIRE GAUZE 62. It is used as a container of liquids and solids being tested. WIDE-MOUTH BOTTLE 63. It is used to hold an apparatus especially when being heated. BURET CLAMP/TEST TUBE CLAMP 64. It is used to support heating apparatuses. TRIPOD 65. It is used for stirring/mixing liquid or solid mixtures. STIRRING ROD 66. It is used for measuring a small amount of liquid. MEDICINE DROPPER 67. It is used for cleaning any glass apparatus. TEST TUBE BRUSH 68. It is used to pick and hold hot objects. FORCEPS 69. It is used to pour liquids from one container to another. FUNNEL 70. It is used for grinding solid substances to powderized form. MORTAR AND PESTLE 71. It is used to allow liquids to evaporate. EVAPORATING DISH 72. It is used for scooping solids or any powderized substance. SPATULA AND SPOON 73. It is used to hold test tubes in place. TEST TUBE RACK 74. It is the main heating device in the laboratory in the absence of a Bunsen burner. LABORATORY BURNER 75. It is used to weigh chemicals and smaller masses of objects. PLATFORM BALANCE 76. It is used as a container for specimens being studied. WATCH GLASS 77. These are used to thicken printing dyes for the textile industry. ALGINATES 78. It is an herbal plant with medicinal value. It can cure stomach ache, diarrhea, and colic. TSAANG-GUBAT 79. It is anything that occupies space and has mass. MATTER 80. This is the attraction between molecules. INTERMOLECULAR ATTRACTION 81. A condition that causes the water molecules at the surface to behave as though they are being stretched. SURFACE TENSION 82. It is the rising action of a liquid inside a very fine tube. CAPILLARITY 83. The attraction between two different kinds of molecule. ADHESION 84. The attraction between the same kinds of molecule. COHESION 85. It consists of one phase with a definite composition. PURE SUBSTANCE 86. Is any material with uniform composition. SUBSTANCE 87. These are made up of atoms of the same identity. ELEMENTS 88. These are pure substances that can be resolved into unidentical atoms. COMPUNDS 89. A physical combination of two more substances. MIXTURE 90. It is a combination of two or more kinds of substance which can be separated by physical means. MIXTURE 91. A mixture that has only one distinct phase. HOMOGENOUS MIXTURE 92. A mixture that has two or more distinct phases. HETEROGENOUS MIXTURE 93. A mixture that is made up of 2 or more substances that are mixed together. HETEROGENOUS MIXTURE 94. It is the standard unit for mass based on the SI system of measurement. KILOGRAM 95. It is the measure of the pull of gravity on an object. WEIGHT 96. The standard unit for measuring weight. NEWTON 97. The ability of a matter to return to their original size and shape after being pushed, pulled or subjected to stress. ELASTICITY 98. The ability of a matter to be extended or flattened and shaped. MALLEABILITY 99. It is the temperature at which a solid begins to liquefy. MELTING POINT 100. It is the temperature at which a liquid starts changing into the gaseous phase. BOILING POINT 101. It describes that matter and energy cannot be created nor destroyed, however, they can be transformed. LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MASS 102. It was formulated to explain the composition and behavior of matter. MOLECULAR THEORY 103. Even smaller particles that make up a molecule.   ATOMS 104. Smallest particle of an element. ATOM 105. Smallest particle of a compound. MOLECULE 106. It is characterized by a change in the phase or state of a substance. PHYSICAL CHANGE 107. It is characterized by the formation of new substances with new properties and compositions. CHEMICAL CHANGE 108. These are the materials that undergo a change. REACTANTS 109. These are the materials formed as a result of the chemical change or reaction between the reactants. PRODUCTS 110. It refers to the process in which the amount of living substances in the body increases. GROWTH 111. The process whereby organisms produce new organisms of the same kind. REPRODUCTION 112. It is that ability to respond to external stimuli. IRRITABILITY 113. It means transferring or shifting from one place or position to another. MOVEMENT 114. It allows an organism to change, helping it to cope with unfavorable changes in the environment. ADAPTATION 115. It is the basic structural unit of living things. CELL 116. He invented the microscope. ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK 117. It is an instrument used to magnify or enlarge minute objects. MICROSCOPE 118. An English scientist, the first person to see cells using a very simple microscope. ROBERT HOOKE 119. It is a thin layer that surrounds and holds the parts of the cell together. CELL MEMBRANE 120. It controls the activities of a cell. NUCLEUS 121. It is the jelly-like liquid material of the cell. It contains many cell materials. CYTOPLASM 122. It contains a variety of cell structures. CYTOPLASM 123. These are structures in the cell which generally contain pigments. PLASTIDS 124. These are colorless plastids that are found in sex cells and storage cells of roots and underground stems. LEUCOPLASTS 125. These carry pigments that give color to the plants. CHROMOPLASTS 126. It contains chlorophyll which traps light used in making food. CHLOROPLASTS 127. A green pigment that is essential to photosynthesis. CHLOROPHYLL 128. It provides shape and support to the cell. CELL WALL 129. These are filled with water cell sap which contains food, cell secretions, and wastes. VACUOLES 130. It stores water and dissolved materials. VACUOLES 131. Also known as â€Å"suicidal sac†, it contains the enzymes which promote the breakdown or digestion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. LYSOSOMES 132. It plays an important role in cell division, it is found in the cytoplasm of most animals and in some blue-green algae. CENTROSOME 133. It moves materials within the cells and it maintains its shape. ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM 134. It controls the movement of materials in and out of nucleus. NUCLEAR MEMBRANE 135. It releases energy, powerhouse of the cell. MITOCHONDRIA 136. This is where proteins are made. RIBOSOME 137. It carries the code that controls a cell. CHROMOSOMES 138. It stores and releases chemicals. GOLGI BODIES 139. Small organs found in the cytoplasm of both plant and animal cells. ORGANELLES 140. The interaction between a community and its non-living environment. ECOSYSTEM 141. The study of interactions between living things and their environment. ECOLOGY 142. It includes the different species of living organisms in a particular habitat. BIOTIC COMPONENT 143. It refers to the place where organisms live. HABITAT 144. It is composed of non-living things. ABIOTIC COMPONENT 145. Are organisms that cannot make their own food. CONSUMERS 146. Plant eaters. HERBIVORES 147. Eats both plant and animal. OMNIVORE 148. It is a pathway of food and energy through an ecosystem. FOOD CHAIN 149. It is a complex network of feeding relationships made up of many interconnected food chains. FOOD WEB 150. This cycle involves photosynthesis and respiration. CARBON DIOXIDE-OXYGEN CYCLE 151. Microorganisms that acts upon the remaining nitrates in the soil. DENITRIFYING BACTERIA 152. It converts nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia into oxygen. DENITRIFYING BACTERIA 153. A relationship when both organisms are benefited. MUTUALISM 154. A relationship wherein one organism is benefited while the other is not harmed. COMMENSALISM 155. The organism that is actually benefited. COMMENSAL 156. The organism that is neither harmed nor benefited. HOST 157. A relationship wherein one organism is benefited while the other dies. PREEDATION 158. The organism which captures or kills another animal. PREDATOR 159. The organism which gets killed and eaten alive. PREY 160. A relationship where one organism is benefited and the other is harmed. PARASITISM 161. A relationship wherein organisms compete for food in order to survive. COMPETITION 162. Ecological relationship in which participating organisms belong to the same species. INTRASPECIFIC 163. Ecological relationship in which participating organisms belong to different species. INTERSPECIFIC 164. It is the process of manufacturing food in green plants. PHOTOSYNTHESIS 165. A condition in the environment that stops a population from increasing in size. LIMITING FACTOR 166. The destruction of forest. DEFORESTATION 167. It is the adding of harmful substances to the environment that can affect all living organisms. POLLUTION 168. It is caused by particulates from motor vehicles and the burning of fuels in homes and factories. AIR POLLUTION 169. The wise use of natural resources. CONSERVATION 170. It is the wearing away of soil by water, wind, ice, and gravity. EROSION 171. It is the practice of removing unhealthy trees and those with little commercial value. IMPROVEMENT CUTTING 172. It is the practice of removing only mature trees as younger trees are left to grow. SELECTIVE CUTTING 173. It is the practice of renewing a forest by seeding or planting small trees. REFORESTATION 174. It is the total number of organisms of a species in an ecosystem. POPULATION 175. It is a group of population in an ecosystem. COMMUNITY 176. These are the roles played by an organism in a community. ECOLOGICAL NICHES 177. It is a diagram which shows the flow of energy in a food chain. ENERGY PYRAMID 178. These are level of energy consumption. TROPHIC LEVELS 179. It refers to the land part of the earth. LITHOSPHERE 180. These are the basic building blocks of the lithosphere. ROCKS 181. It is the science that deals with the study of formation, composition, and classification of rocks. PETROLOGY 182. The water part of the earth. HYDROSPHERE 183. The continuous depression on the earth’s surface which holds ocean water. OCEAN BASIN 184. Sea of air that completely surrounds the earth. ATMOSPHERE 185. It is generated primarily by the northeast trade winds. NORTH EQUATORIAL CURRENT 186. It is generated by the southeast trade winds and flows from east to west. SOUTH EQUATORIAL CURRENT 187. It flows towards the east between the two equatorial currents. EQUATORIAL COUNTER CURRENT 188. Are movements of water which result from differences in density of adjoining water masses. DENSITY CURRENTS 189. The region drained by a river system. RIVER BASIN 190. The height of the land separating one river from another. DIVIDE 191. It is the layer nearest the earth. TROPOSPHERE 192. It contains the ozone layer. STRATOSPHERE 193. The coldest zone of the atmosphere. MESOSPHERE 194. Temperature in this layer increases quickly because of the absorption of energy from the sun. THERMOSPHERE 195. A layer of electrically-charged particles which are useful for communications. IONOSPHERE 196. It is the layer that extends out to interplanetary space. EXOSPHERE 197. It is the current state of the atmosphere. WEATHER 198. It is an instrument used to measure the force of air or air pressure. BAROMETER 199. A device that keeps the record of air pressure of force of air together with its changes for a longer period of time. BAROGRAPH 200. It is the movement of the air caused by varying density. WIND 201. It is the moisture in the atmosphere. HUMIDITY 202. It forms when a large part of air in the troposphere stops or moves slowly over a uniform land or water surface. AIR MASS 203. A high pressure area produced by the large pile of air over the earth’s surface. ANTICYCLONE 204. It appears as a depression or basin in an air mass. CYCLONE 205. It is the average state of all weather conditions in an area over a long period of time. CLIMATE 206. It has been developed to control and induced precipitation, it is used to disperse fog at airports. CLOUD SEEDING 207. A person who studies the weather. METEOROLOGIST 208. It measures wind speed. ANEMOMETER 209. It is used to measure the amount of rain fall. RAIN GAUGE 210. It is a compilation of weather data from many collecting stations. WEATHER MAP 211. It causes the wind’s direction to change. CORIOLIS EFFECT 212. The study or science of weather. METEOROLOGY 213. The prediction of weather. WEATHER FORECASTING 214. It describes a weather condition with a few clouds and no rain. FINE WEATHER 215. It means that clouds are present which may produce scattered rains but the greater portion of the day will be sunny or without rain. FAIR WEATHER 216. It refers to a condition in which rains occur during a greater portion of the day with light to moderate winds. RAINY WEATHER 217. It refers to a weather condition characterized by rains and strong winds. STORMY WEATHER 218. It is the agency responsible for providing information to the people on what to do before, during and after any natural phenomenon. PAG-ASA 219. He published the â€Å"Origin of Continents and Oceans†. ALFRED WEGENER 220. The theory that suggests that continents had once been one large land mass which had separated and moved apart. CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY 221. The great land mass. PANGEA (â€Å"ALL THE WORLD† or â€Å"ALL NATIONS† 222. The theory that explains not only the movements of continents, but also the changes on the earth’s crust as caused by internal forces. PLATE TECTONIC THEORY 223. According to the theory, the earth’s crust is broken into nine large plates and several smaller ones. PLATE TECTONIC THEORY 224. It is a minor plate between the Eurasian and the Pacific Plates. PHILIPPINE PLATE 225. Two plates are pulling apart, leaving a gap in between. DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES 226. Plates move past one another in opposite directions or in the same direction but at different rates. CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES 227. Two colliding plates cause one to go under the other. CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES 228. The process wherein successive separations and fillings continue to add new oceanic crusts between diverging plates. SEA FLOOR SPREADING 229. The average rate of spreading from a typical mid-ocean ridge. 6 CMS/YR 230. Highest mountain in the Philippines. MOUNT APO. 231. Highest mountain in the world. MOUNT EVEREST 232. The bending of rocks into folds. FOLDING 233. It is the result when the rock layer slides or slips over one another along the break or fracture. FAULTING 234. It is any vibration or shaking of the earth’s crust caused by faults. EARTHQUAKE 235. Earthquakes resulting from the movement of the crust or plate. TECTONIC ORIGIN 236. Earthquakes caused by molten magma as it forces its way up from deep under earth’s crust. VOLCANIC ORIGIN 237. It is an opening on the earth’s crust through which lava is thrown out. VOLCANO 238. These are cone-shaped structures composed of alternating flows of andesite lava and ash, cinders, and fragments. STRATO-VOLCANOES OR COMPOSITE VOLCANOES 239. These are volcanoes formed from basalt. SHIELD VOLCANOES 240. These volcanoes are formed from violent eruptions that expel fragments of lava in cinders. CINDER VOLCANOES 241. These are volcanoes that erupt periodically or had erupted in recent times. ACTIVE VOLCANOES 242. These are volcanoes that show signs of activity but have not erupted for a considerable length of time. DORMANT VOLCANOES 243. These are volcanoes in which all signs of volcanic activities have ceased. EXTINCT VOLCANOES 244. These are formed from cooling and hardening of molten materials which are heavy, usually dark in color, and unlayered. IGNEOUS ROCKS 245. These are formed from sediments, shells, or remains of plants and animal fossils, that were buried and later hardened into rocks. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 246. These are formed from pre-existing igneous and sedimentary rocks as a result of temperature and pressure changes. METAMORPHIC ROCKS 247. The process where rocks change from one form to another as they are affected by natural processes, such as weathering, erosion, great heat, and pressure. ROCK CYCLE 248. The process of breaking down of rocks into fragments brought about by physical or chemical change. WEATHERING 249. The process by which rock fragments and soil are carried along by such agents as wind, water, and gravity. EROSION 250. The process of transferring soil from one place to another. EROSION 251. The process by which eroded rock fragments and soil are deposited in different places. DEPOSITION 252. The process by which deposited soil and rock fragments at the bottom of the sea become cemented and harden into rocks. COMPACTING 253. The process where compacted or cemented rock is subjected to great heat and pressure, changing the constitution of the rock. METAMORPHISM 254. It is naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with definite chemical composition. MINERAL 255. It refers to the way light is reflected from a mineral’s surface. LUSTER 256. It is a mineral’s resistance to being scratched. HARDNESS 257. A German mineralogist who worked out a scale of hardness used for mineral identification. FRIEDROCH MOHS 258. It is the hardest mineral. DIAMOND 259. It is the softest mineral. TALC 260. It is the color of a mineral in powderized form. STREAK 261. The way mineral breaks along smooth, flat planes. CLEAVAGE 262. It refers to the ratio of the mineral’s mass to the mass of an equal volume of water. SPECIFIC GRAVITY 263. It is the process of excavating and extracting ore or minerals in rocks. MINING 264. It is an organic matter from decayed plant and animal materials. HUMUS 265. It is a vertical section of all horizons that make up a soil. SOIL PROFILE 266. It consists of less fragmented rock materials, being less exposed to agents of weathering. BEDROCK 267. It refers to coarseness or fineness of the soil particles resulting from the weathering of rocks. SOIL TEXTURE 268. It has the smoothest and finest soil texture. SILT 269. It is the soil that is best for farming. LOAM 270. It is the uprising of water from the greater depths as the surface water is driven offshore. UPWELLING 271. A layer that absorbs or filters harmful rays from the sun. OZONE LAYER 272. It is a mountain-building process. VOLCANISM 273. The shape of the earth. OBLATE SPHEROID 274. The spinning or turning of the earth on its axis. ROTATION 275. It is the movement of the earth on its axis that gives rise to the occurrence of day and night. ROTATION 276. The movement of the earth around the sun. REVOLUTION 277. The imaginary line which separates the zones of day and night. TWILIGHT CIRCLE 278. The earth’s axis is tilted at 23  ½ degrees 279. The earth completes its revolution once in every 365 and  ¼ days. 280. Our planet’s only natural satellite. MOON 281. The rise and fall in sea level. TIDE 282. It occurs when the moon, the earth, and the sun are in line with one another. ECLIPSE 283. When the sun, moon, and earth fall in one straight line, the sun cannot be sun from a spot on earth because the moon covers it. SOLAR ECLIPSE 284. When the sun, earth, and the moon are aligned, the moon cannot be seen from earth because the earth covers it. LUNAR ECLIPSE 285. The dark inner part of the eclipse. UMBRA 286. The lighter outer part of the eclipse. PENUMBRA 287. It is the term used when the sun’s disk is completely covered by the moon. TOTAL ECLIPSE 288. It is the term used where only a part of the sun’s disk is covered. PARTIAL ECLIPSE 289. It is defines as the mean distance of the earth from the sun equivalent to 150,000,000km. ASTRONOMICAL UNIT (AU) 290. It considered as the most massive or the biggest planet. JUPITER 291. It is the densest among the planets. EARTH 292. It is the farthest planet and has the longest period of revolution. PLUTO 293. Are celestial objects made of ice and dust that revolve around the sun. COMETS 294. Are small, stony matters located in the space which passes through the earth in orbiting the sun. METEORS also known as â€Å"SHOOTING STARS† 295. Meteors that do not burn completely and fall on earth. METEORITES 296. Are meteor chunks that fall on earth.METEORITES 297. Are gigantic balls of flaming gases. STARS 298. It is the measure of the brightness of a star. MAGNITUDE 299. It refers to the apparent brightness of a star. MAGNITUDE 300. It is the nearest star to the earth. SUN 301. It is a medium-sized, middle-aged star of average brightness. SUN 302. An instrument used to learn about the composition of stats. SPECTROSCOPE 303. The process used to determine the size of the stars. INTERFEROMETRY 304. A technique that obtains an image in the surface of a big star. SPECKLE PHOTOGRAPHY 305. It is used to compute the diameter of the star. STEFAN-BOLTZMAN LAW 306. These are loose groups of stars that move through space as a unit. STAR CLUSTERS 307. These are group of stars that form a definite pattern. CONSTELLATIONS 308. It is the area where the star groups that are always visible are located. NORTH STAR OR POLARIS 309. These are huge systems of billions of stars and other celestial bodies. GALAXIES 310. It is the galaxy to which our sun belongs. MILKY WAY 311. It is a spiraling or rotating group of some 100 billion stars and clouds of dust and gases. MILKY WAY 312. It is composed of millions of galaxies. UNIVERSE 313. The planet that has the highest temperature because of its thick clouds of carbon dioxide. VENUS 314. It is anything that changes the motion and direction of moving objects or that causes an object at rest to start moving. FORCE 315. It is a push or a pull. FORCE 316. The force that attracts all objects on earth. GRAVITATIONAL FORCE 317. The force of attraction or repulsion between charged bodies. ELECTRICAL FORCE 318. The force that attracts any metal to the magnet. MAGNETIC FORCE 319. A very strong force that holds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of an atom. NUCLEAR FORCE 320. It resists or opposes the movement of two surfaces in contact with one another. FRICTION 321. A force that is present on two surfaces in contact with each other. CONTACT FORCE 322. It arises when two bodies collide as a result of squeezing, stretching, or bending. CONTACT FORCE 323. A force that acts on bodies over great distance. NON-CONTACT FORCE 324. It is done when the force applied to an object actually moves the object. WORK 325. It is always a product of a force applied and the distance along which the force acted. WORK 326. These are devices which transform force or energy into useful work. MACHINES 327. It is a rigid bar which is pivoted around a point called fulcrum. LEVER 328. It is made up of a grooved wheel over which a rope passes. PULLEY 329. It consists of a wheel attached to an axle. WHEEL AND AXLE 330. It is a spiral, inclined plane. SCREW 331. It is a flat surface with one end higher than the other. INCLINED PLANE 332. It is a double inclined plane with either one or two sloping sides. WEDGE 333. It is a unit used to express work. JOULE (J) or NEUTRON METER (Nm) 334. It is the distance and direction through which an object moves. DISPLACEMENT 335. He discovered work. JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE 336. It is defined as the capacity to do work. ENERGY 337. It is the ability to do work or the capacity to move matter from one place to another. ENERGY 338. The energy of position or condition. POTENTIAL ENERGY 339. The energy of motion. KINETIC ENERGY 340. According to this law, energy can change from one form or another, but it can never be created nor destroyed. LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 341. It is the total energy coming from the attractive and repulsive forces of all the molecules in a body. THERMAL ENERGY 342. It is the energy transferred from an object with a high temperature to one with a lower temperature. HEAT ENERGY 343. It is the energy stored in matter due to forces of attraction and the arrangement of subatomic particles in atoms and of atoms in the molecules of substance. CHEMICAL ENERGY 344. It is the energy of electrons flowing through conductors. ELECTRICAL ENERGY OR ELECTRICITY 345. It is defined as the changing of one form of energy into another form. ENERGY TRANSFORMATION 346. It involves the transfer of heat energy from one material or system to another. HEAT TRANSFER 347. It is the transfer of heat from one matter to another. It occurs when two objects at different temperatures are in direct contact. CONDUCTION 348. Energy transfer through solid particles. CONDUCTION 349. Materials that conduct heat easily. CONDUCTORS 350. Materials in which heat energy cannot pass through. INSULATORS 351. It is the transfer of heat in a gas or liquid. CONVECTION 352. It is the transfer of energy that does not require matter. RADIATION 353. Energy transfer through an empty space in the form of waves. RADIATION 354. These were formed during the decay of organisms that lived millions years ago. FOSSIL FUELS 355. It forms as a result of the decay of plants in the absence of oxygen. COAL 356. The brownish substance in the decaying materials of plants. PEAT 357. The second stage of coal formation. It is a brown coal composed of compressed woody matter that has lost all its moisture. LIGNITE 358. The third stage of coal formation. It is a dense, dark, brittle material that has lost all its moisture and impurities. BITUMINOUS COAL 359. It is the final stage of coal formation. It has the least impurities because it is mostly carbon. ANTHRACITE COAL 360. It is an important hydrocarbon found in nature within pores and fractures of rocks. PETROLEUM OR CRUDE OIL 361. It is the easiest fossil fuel to transport and the cleanest when burned. NATURAL GAS 362. It refers to the production of electricity by means of generators driven by water turbines as an energy source. HYDROELECTRIC POWER 363. It comes from the internal heat of the earth. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY 364. It is produced by fission or the splitting of the atom’s nucleus. NUCLEAR ENERGY 365. It is the abnormal increase in the temperature of bodies of water. THERMAL POLLUTION 366. A waste product which destroys cells, changes genetic materials, and even kills the plant and animal population living near the power plant. RADIATION 367. It is the harnessing of wind for energy needs. WIND POWER 368. It is the radiant energy from the sun. SOLAR ENERGY 369. A device which collects energy from the sun and transforms it directly into electricity. SOLAR CELL OR PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL 370. It is a possible generator of electricity with the two-way flow of water through narrow passages. TIDAL POWER 371. These are burnable fuels which are made from organic matter. BIOMASS FUELS 372. This is a combination of alcohol and gasoline. GASOHOL OR ALCOGAS 373. It is the wise and careful use of energy resources. ENERGY CONSERVATION

The Struggle for Democracy and Democratic Consolidation Essay

The Struggle for Democracy and Democratic Consolidation - Essay Example The essay "The Struggle for Democracy and Democratic Consolidation" analyzes the struggle for democracy and democratic consolidation and their connection to such themes as corruption, populism, divided societies, and political activism. Society makes a shift to equality, and from there, policies will be yielded by one-person-one-vote and the nation will have more supporting power and the consequential cover, crown, and feast. However, changes in political institutions do not simply happen because the people require them. Transitions to democracy typically take place when the elite controlling the active regime broaden rights. Transfer of political power to the majority mostly guides to social choices that the elite does not like. The theory of democratization is crucial in power transition from the elite to the majority citizens. Revolutions attract citizens thus leading to democracy to stop revolutions from occurring. When revolutions happen much wealth of a society may be destroyed affecting the influential and citizens. These costs force the elite to allow for concession and democratization avoiding revolutions. The power is transferred to the people who participate in decision making through participation. Divided societies exist in a democracy and democratic consolidation is due to the different social classes. Leaders use the fact of classes to appeal to the citizen. Governing institutions for societies are alienated along the lines of customs, culture, language or creed. A historic minority as well as experiences of immigration waves cause divided societies. Futile democratic transitions in plural societies frequently upshot in the bloodiest quarrels and most destructive power strives in developing nations6 today. India has a multiparty parliamentary system of government, a majoritarian first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, an incredibly varied party system with some ethnic-based and some programmatic parties7. Political corruption disguises a sev ere threat to democracy and its consolidation. Corruption, either petty or otherwise has become omnipresent in Indian society and politics. It varies from the bribes that ordinary citizens give to record a statement at the police station, to shady

Right to Workin in the Development of Businesses and the Economy Assignment

Right to Workin in the Development of Businesses and the Economy - Assignment Example Upon its passage, twelve states adopted the right-to-work laws, and since then eleven states have proceeded to approve the laws in their legal systems. The latest state to adopt the legal provisions is Indiana, which had earlier reviewed its right-to-work laws in 1965. However, a fresh bill on the right-to-work legal requirement was made in 2012. This protracted struggle has exposed the opposing views on the subject of labor laws, with many analysts giving differing opinions on the subject. The history of the legislation and the gist behind its provisions can be dated back to the 19th century in France. In the years preceding the French revolution, Louis Blanc came up with the term right-to-work, at a time when the nation was facing staid problems in terms of unemployment and lack of freedom or good labor laws. These issues alongside other social difficulties were the subject of the French revolution, and the term was used in subsequent situations where workers demanded certain rights to be considered. The term gained prominence in the 20th century, when it was introduced as a legal proposition, discussed and passed in the United States (Chavez & Rustin, 2010, p. 92). This legal provision was timely in order to offer freedom and equality for all citizens to pursue and acquire employment opportunities equally, at a time when the existing professionals were placing constraints on aspiring candidates. Progressively, the labor laws under the right-to-work have been adopted by other states, which have drawn better terms of work by professionals and entrepreneurs. Those who advocate for the for the right-to-work mainly point of its provision that seeks to elaborate that the ban on union shops reduces the ability of the labor unions to control their workers and maintain their allegiance to the union. They argue that with this ban in place, it is evident that labor unions have reduced  powers to bargain with the employers, by raising their cost structures in a way that allows unscrupulous members to free riding (Chavez & Rustin, 2010, p. 102).  

Analyzing Marketing Opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Sustainability - Essay Example In the paper a new design of wheelchair has been proposed to provide solution to the problem. Many handicapped people live alone and it becomes difficult for them to get help for every specific movement at their home. They need a system to help them to reach high things on shelves and they want a system which enables easy movement on stairs. In the paper, a new design of wheelchair has been suggested which will help people moving on wheelchair in the following manner - The paper tries to understand the specification of current model and recommends modifications and changes in suggested model to enhance sustainability to provide improved movement to handicapped in home and outside without taking help of anybody else. The design uses battery operated system for movement and suggests further development of system based on renewable sources of energy such as solar energy. Sustainability or sustainable development is significant as it has integrated human development (Bell & Morse, 2003). The decisive role of companies to get sustainability has been discussed on strategic level (Hart, 1995, 1997; Roome, 1998) and instrumental level (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2000; Bennett and James, 1999). Sustainability requires balanced operational conception, integrated operation conception and integrated strategic conception. In the paper the sustainability of the design of a wheelchair used by handicapped people has been discussed. Some of the key factors contributing to product innovation are industrialization, open market and a need for high quality products from customer. Design parameters in the current system include the wheels, the sensors to initiate movement of wheels based on weight change and the battery operated motor. Attachments for increasing the height of chair - The stair climbing wheelchair should be able to balance on two wheels in order to raise the chair’s height and enable the user to reach things at a height. The new

Critically evaluate and discuss Balanced Scorecard Essay

Critically evaluate and discuss Balanced Scorecard - Essay Example customer issues, internal business processes, employing activities and share holders concern. Kaplan and Norton labelled the new tool the balanced scorecard. Many organizations have started using balanced scorecard in order to attain efficiency in their processes. Since it considers all the major components in an organization a total efficiency management is possible in an organization. The four components of balanced scorecard are properly managed in order to create a total efficiency. Balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system, which is extensively, used in business and industry, government, and non profit organizations for doing the business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization. Balanced scorecard is using for improving the internal and external communications and monitoring the organizational performance against the strategic goals of the organization. In earlier stage it was used for the measuring the simple performance of the organization to a full strategic planning and management. New card is focusing not only the performance measurement but also helping the managers what should be done and what should be measuring for attaining the organizational objectives in competitive basis. ... overall business strategy into specific, quantifiable goals and to monitor the organization's performance in terms of achieving these goals." (Balanced Scorecard Methodology, 2005). Competitive Advantage enables the company to operate in a more efficient manner and higher quality manner than the companies to compete with and which helping the company for getting higher more profit. "A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices." (Strategy -competitive advantage). Balance score card is focusing the strategy and its results and improving the organizational performance through measuring the measures in a competitive basis, Focusing on a basis of future performance and also which is used as prioritize projects and initiative basis. Kaplan and Norton described in the following manner, "The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. But financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships were not critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation." (Gnanapoo, 2008). According to his perspective Balanced scorecard having the following areas, Learning and growth perspective Customer Perspective Financial Perspective International Business perspective (What is balanced scorecard 2007). The learning and growth perspective is related to the learning and development

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Eeryday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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The Role of the Leader in Evaluating Data to Improve Quality and Safety Essay Example for Free

The Role of the Leader in Evaluating Data to Improve Quality and Safety Essay The Role of the Leader in Evaluating Data to Improve Quality and Safety Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Quality and safety has been acknowledged as significant issues in constructing the delivery of appropriate and approachable health care. To improve safety and quality the leader must analyze data and interpret the information to develop s system for clinical performance by supervising, motivating and constructing a quandary solving plan to deal with the scheme of medical inaccuracy. The purpose of this paper is to explain the significance of the responsibility of the leader in evaluation of data to perk up safety and quality aspects.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the telemetry unit, patients are in an unremitting electronic supervision. Telemetry practice is a very significant tool in hospitals since it helps physicians to examine heart rhythm, heart rate, breathing from different locations in the nursing station. Telemetry is usually recommended subsequent to heart attack, or when a patient is developing some problem or is acutely ill. Data evaluation in the telemetry is very vital because it helps nurses to monitor the patients by reading the bedside monitors or telemetry readouts while evaluating the patients. This will help the nurses and other hospital personnel to respond swiftly to an emergency (Guo, 2008). Data overview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The average age of patients in the telemetry unit is 72.4 years old, and every patient in the unit has heart disease. The data shows that 68% of the falls were women, who are more susceptible to diuretics. Women are more susceptible to osteoarthritis since bone mass decreases quicker in women as compared to men due to poor nutrition, sedimentary lifestyles and hormonal alterations are therefore more probable of falls. Peripheral sensations dwindle with age and loss of foot affectionate sense in the aged contributes to postural unsteadiness. Postural permanence is an expertise that relies on the harmonization of sensory and motor systems to direct body activities. As component of the aging development people cannot hear, see, feel, smell or taste like they used to do in the early years. The data reveal that fifteen falls in the four-month phase happened between seven in the evening to eleven in the dawn.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Data also reveal that 12% of the patients have secondary diagnosis of disorientation. Confusion in the old age that happens late in the sunset is known as sundowner’s disorder and is amplified perplexity, confusion and is general in telemetry patients. Data reveals that there was only one fall during the eleven pm shift to the three am shift, and on the three to seven shift there was only one fall, the nursing subordinate provides supplementary support for the patients and nurses as well as other basic health care to patients in nursing homes or in hospitals. Data reveals that there were nine falls between 7 in the morning to eleven in the evening. There were seven falls between 11 in the evening to 3 in the morning. And finally there were 14 falls in the 3 in the morning fall to seven in the evening shift. There was a total of 47 seven falls in the 4 months of data evaluation of the elderly people. Some of the old age disorders that causes falls are irreversible, chronic and degenerative ranging from mild to severe hence they require close attention. Appropriate data entry and interpretation is very crucial in the nursing practice. The patients are in diuretics and thus they require constant check up and monitoring so that the doctors can check potassium levels and monitor how the kidneys of the patients are functioning (Murphy, 2012). Quality improvement plan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Quality health concern is defined as the extent of how health services increase the probability of achieving desired health results and are consistent with existing professional acquaintance. Quality health care should meet the following aims set by Institute of Medicine. The six aims include: efficient, safe, timely, equitable, effective and patient-centered. The process of care measures help to access whether the health concern performs procedures that have been established to attain the aspired objectives and evade those processes that are inclined toward impairment (Murphy, 2012).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The objectives of evaluating health care value are to establish the impact of health care on aspired upshots and evaluate the extent to which health concern adheres to procedures approved by the professional consensus and is unswerving with patient predilections. Measures of safety and quality can follow up the process of quality enhancement initiatives using external standards. Total quality model is another significant strategy since involve teamwork, systems thinking, organizational management, and change and defined processes to create an atmosphere for advancing health care quality (Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2682/).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Quality improvement is defined as systematic, data-guided operations structured to bring instant advancement in delivering health care in specific settings. Medical errors are usually caused by process or system failures, thus it is vital to adopt process-advancement procedures to acknowledge ineffective care, inefficiencies, and preventable mistakes to persuade changes related with those systems. Quality improvement includes: effects analysis, lean, Plan-Do- Study-Act, failure modes, root-cause analysis, and six sigma models. These techniques involve evaluating performance and using results to update change (Rowe, 2013). Leadership characteristics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Support and commitment. Leaders should work as a team and always place the patient as the center of care regardless of the prevailing cultural changes. Nurse leaders should be committed to empowering the patients and their families by partnering in their personal care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Transformational leadership is another quality that leaders should embrace changes in nursing practice. Nurse leaders need to be updated about safety measures of improving safety. Nurses can learn to improve care by learning from errors by incorporating safety procedures in their daily work flow. Summary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Safety and quality is very crucial in creating the delivery of successful and approachable health care. Quality improvement involves appropriate analysis and interpretation of data to develop a scheme for clinical performance by constructing a quandary solving plan to deal with errors in nursing. Appropriate data evaluation is crucial since nurses are required to respond quickly to emergencies especially if they are attending to old patients.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aged patients are more susceptible to many diseases especially women. Aged patients experience hormonal changes, poor nutrition and sedimentary lifestyles which place them at high risk of certain disorders. Patients suffering from certain disorders can benefit from telemetry unit services since they will learn about their conditions, their causes and techniques that can be applied to manage those conditions. Patients under diuretics should be attended frequently so that the nurses can monitor their potassium levels as well as the functioning of their kidneys. Quality of health care is very important since it can reduce number of patient falls. References Guo, K. L. (2008). Quality of health care in the US managed care system: Comparing and highlighting successful states. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 21(3), 236-248. Murphy, W. A. (2012). Improving Patient Safety and Quality: A Focus on Falls. Home Health Care Management Practice, 24(1), 62-64. Rowe, R. J. (2013). Preventing Patient Falls: What Are the Factors in Hospital Settings That Help Reduce and Prevent Inpatient Falls?. Home Health Care Management Practice, 25(3), 98-103. Tools and Strategies for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. (n.d.). ncbi. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2682/ Source document

New Public Management In Ghana

New Public Management In Ghana ABSTRACT Ghana local government has undergone several dynamic changes during the course of the 1990s (Charles Polidano, 1999:13). As agent of the central government, it has been forced to endure greater demand for social services despite the budgetary constraints as well as meeting requirements for IMF loans strict conditions In response, there is an attempt by the local government to maintain the quality and quantity of public services by applying business-like principles to governance (Borins, 1995), adopting market mechanisms (Walsh, 1995), and utilizing alternative service delivery (Glover Burton ,1998). These strategies have been championed by proponents of the New Right (Pierson, 1991), public choice (Self, 1993), and the new public management (Borins, 1995) all of whom advocate reduced government intervention into the workings of the market economy. Now as always, the generals of administrative reform prefer to march into action behind a protective advance guard of rhetoric and this rhetoric draws on whatever ideas are globally fashionable. But has the NPM gone beyond rhetoric in local government? The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to review the state of NPM reforms in Ghana local government and to identify the challenges that they present to local governance. In particular, the paper will focus and follow on the NPM selected applications in Ghana local government. III Project contribution The project will allow scholars to understand how the theories of NPM can be transcribed into practicable reforms in local governance. In this manner, the scientific objective of this second degree project is to contribute to the research fields of NPM studies and public sector studies with novel observations and theory. The connection between NPM and civil service has been theoretically explored in depth, and furthermore this project will be a novel scientific contribution to management studies because it extends and elaborates a case study design approach IV My background From 2007 to 2008, I had held a position as a Project Manager and coordinator in charge of National Disaster Management and World Food Program (WFP) respectively of Wa East District Assembly, a wing of local government in Ghana. The aim of these programs is to educate people on natural disasters and sound environmental practices, and also to assess and assist victims of natural disasters. At that level, I have been awarded a scholarship by the Chinese government to enable me further my education in order to contribute efficiently towards the development of local governance and other relevant sectors. This is part of my motivation for suggesting this project topic. V. Methodology Methodologically the project will be anchored in qualitative case-based theory building (Yin 1994; Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007; Corbin and Strauss 2008). The process consists of defining a pertinent research question and then using within-case analysis and replication logic to develop new insights (Eisenhardt 1989; Carlile 2004). The design of the case work will follow Yins approach for using case studies as a research strategy (Yin 1994). In addition, building theory from cases allows for a flexible study where the research design can be altered when new insights or themes emerge. The method employs both qualitative and quantitative data of secondary source. The specific case study design takes its point of departure in a matched pair design; where the basic idea is to review cases to discover insights through comparing similarities and differences. Eisenhardt describes how using pairs of cases to investigate similarities and differences and other cross-case searching tactics of organizational performance, allow investigators to capture novel findings and can lead to accurate and reliable theory (Eisenhardt 1989: 541). The data collection will consist of secondary data; background research and information/data collection from both Ghana local government office(s) and other sources (internet) covering Ghana local government performance from 2001 to date. The data analysis will consist of within-case analysis, data analysis tools such bar chart, histogram, cause-effect diagrams will be utilized as well as outsourcing the application of balance scorecard in needed situations. This analysis will ensure that the conclusions and results are applicable both within the Ghana local government and across the public sector 1. Introduction By the commencement of the 1990s, a new model of public sector management had emerged in most advanced countries and many developing ones. Initially, the new model had several names, including: managerialism (Pollitt, 1993); new public management (Hood, 1991); market-based public administration (Lan and Rosenbloom, 1992); the post-bureaucratic paradigm (Barzelay, 1992) or entrepreneurial government (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). Despite the differing names, they all essentially describe the same phenomenon. The literature has more or less settled on new public management, often abbreviated to NPM, a term coined by Hood (1991), a persistent critic. Various authors also include privatization, decentralization and downsizing as part of the package (Ingraham 1996; Minogue 1998). This has been a product of a number of factors, including the economic and fiscal crises of the state that called the post-war consensus on the active role of the state in the economy into serious question. In developed economies such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the crisis in the Keynesian welfare state led to the search for alternative ways of organizing and managing public services and redefining the role of the state to give more prominence to markets and competition, and to the private and voluntary sectors. On the contrast, the economic and fiscal crisis that engulfed most developing countries in the 1970s and 1980s led to a rethinking of state-led development which had increased the size, functions and power of the state and its bureaucracy (George A Larbi 1999:112). A survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development concluded that new management techniques and practices involving market-type mechanisms associated with the private for-profit sector are being used to bring about changes in the management of public services in countries that have widely varying governance, economic and institutional environments (OECD, 1993a). These practices and techniques have conventionally been labelled the new public management (NPM) or the new managerialism (Hood, 1991; Dunleavy and Hood, 1994; Pollitt, 1993; Ferlie et al., 1996). The components of NPM have evolved over the years. However, as Moore et al. (1994:13) point out; the central feature of NPM is the attempt to introduce or simulate, within those sections of the public service that are not privatized, the performance incentives and the disciplines that exist in a market environment. The assumption is that there are benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in exposing public sector activities to market pressures and in using markets to serve public purposes, and that government can learn from the private sector despite contextual differences (Metcalfe and Richards, 1990:155). Some observers have argued that there are convergent trends (Kickert and Beck Jà ¸rgensen, 1995:501) or diffusion of reforms. (Halligan, 1997) or a globalization of public sector management (Flynn, 1997) as an increasing number of crisis and non-crisis states in Africa, Asia and Latin America are also embracing elements of the new public management approach. A noticeable trend in public sector reforms, in the context of economic crisis and structural adjustment, is that a wider range of administrative functions and the delivery of public services are being subjected to the approach (Bienefeld, 1990; Mukandala, 1992). Interestingly, there has been a long-drawn-out, ideologically charged debate about the merits and demerits of the new public management, or NPM as it is commonly known. The debate tends to focus on the desirability or otherwise of NPM reforms in principle. Advocates and critics alike often accept the assumption that the new public management is universal, notwithstanding that this is disputed by a growing body of work with respect to different countries as well as institutions. The universality assumption is encouraged by the undoubted fact that NPM catch-phrases feature prominently in the vocabulary of civil service reform all around the world (Thomas 1996). Recently, the generals of administrative reform prefer to march into action behind a protective advance guard of rhetoric. Furthermore, that rhetoric draws on whatever ideas that are internationally fashionable. But has the NPM gone beyond rhetoric in public institutions which are the lead implementers? This paper looks at precisely this question in relation to local government. To what extent can the new public management genuinely be called a dominant paradigm of public service reform in the local government? We are almost bound to conclude that the new public management is a dominant paradigm if all we do is look for evidence of NPM-style reforms. But NPM initiatives may be little more than a minor strand of reform, the froth at the top of the glass (Polidana 1999:13). Other reforms, unrelated or even contrary to the tenets of the new public management, may outweigh it in importance. So to be more certain of reaching a balanced conclusion, we must ask four questions in all. First, are public institutions such as local government and others committing themselves to NPM-style reforms? Second, are such reforms being undertaken as part of the worldwide quest towards greater efficiency and cost savings which is said to be the driving force of the new public management (see Minogue 1998)? Third, are the reforms actually being implemented, or are we being misled by the rhetoric of political leaders (and senior bureaucrats)? As I have already mentioned, the rhetoric of reform tends to outpace the reality in any country or institution. Fourth, are reforms simultaneously being undertaken that are unrelated to the new public management or indeed run counter to its principles? This question helps us put any evidence of NPM-style initiatives in its proper perspective. I shall deal with each of these questions in turn. The evidence gathered in this paper also sheds light on the vexed issue of the appropriateness of NPM reforms in local governance. This represents a fifth question which I shall take up towards the end of the paper. Can the new public management work in the local government? As we will see, localized contingency factors-ones that vary from sector to sector and situation to situation within the same country-play a predominant role in determining the outcome of individual reform initiatives. Different situations can call for radically different responses. 2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 2.1.0 Principles and Practices of NPM At the end of the 20th century, a post bureaucratic paradigm of public management was firmly embedded in many countries reflecting the outcome of the suite of reforms intended to enact a break from the traditional model of public administration underpinned by Webers (1946) bureaucracy, Wilsons (1887) policy-administration divide, and Taylors (1911) scientific management model of work organization. A survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) concluded that new management techniques and practices involving market-type mechanisms associated with the private for-profit sector are being used to bring about changes in the management of public services in countries that have widely varying governance, economic and institutional environments (OECD, 1993a). These practices and techniques have conventionally been labelled the new public management (NPM) or the new managerialism (Hood, 1991; Dunleavy and Hood, 1994; Pollitt, 1993; Ferlie et al., 1996). In part at least, NPM was a reaction to perceived weaknesses of the traditional bureaucratic paradigm of public administration (OFlynn 2005a; Stoker 2006), and it encompassed a critique of monopolistic forms of service provision and an argument for a wider range of service providers and a more market-oriented approach to management (Stoker 2006:45). In articulating this NPM paradigm in the early 1990s, Hood set out its key doctrinal components (1991:4-5): 1. Hands-on professional management; 2. Explicit standards and measures of performance; 3. Greater emphasis on output controls; 4. Disaggregation of units in the public sector; 5. Greater competition in the public sector; 6. Private sector styles of management practice; and 7. Greater discipline and parsimony in resource use. Within this new paradigm, the doctrinal components sat alongside four reinforcing megatrends: slowing down or reversing government growth; privatization and quasi-privatization; automation in the production and distribution of public services; and, an international agenda in public sector reforms (Hood 1991:3-4). Fifteen years after Hood (1991), Hughes (2006) in his paper on the new pragmatism articulated four grand themes which characterized NPM: management (i.e. results and managerial responsibility) is a higher order function than administration (i.e. following instructions); economic principles (i.e. drawn from public choice theory, principal-agent theory, contracting, competition, and the theory of the firm) can assist public management; modern management theory and practices (i.e. flexibility in staffing and organization ) can improve public management; and service delivery is important to citizens. As Stoker (2006:46) noted, NPM sought . . . to dismantle the bureaucratic pillar of the Weberian model of traditional public administration. Out with the large, multipurpose hierarchical bureaucracies, [NPM] proclaims, and in with the lean, flat, autonomous organizations drawn from the public and private spheres and steered by a tight central leadership corps. Performance contracts are used across a number of sectors including utilities, transport, telecommunications and agriculture (e.g., in Ghana, Bolivia, Senegal and India). Contracting out is increasingly being adopted in the delivery of public services including urban services (e.g., solid waste management), ancillary health services such as cleaning, laundry and catering (e.g., in Zimbabwe), and road maintenance. Such characterizations provide a good starting point for considering the NPM paradigm, however, there has been a tendency toward conflating shorter reform phases into a NPM catchall. In the Australian context, for example, there were two quite clear phases in the move away from traditional administration, based on distinct theoretical and philosophical underpinnings (Considine and Painter 1997). In the Australian experience, the 1980s was characterised by a post-bureaucratic model of NPM and this was heavily focused on internal reforms and corporate management (Alford 1998;Yeatman 1997). Commonly adopted practices included: corporate planning based on central goals; comprehensive program budgeting; management improvement programs; contract employment for managers; central auditing; and performance monitoring of individuals. The key aims were to empower public servants and increase managerial quality. Following on from this, Australia experienced a marketisation phase in the 1990s which emerged alongside the dominance of economic rationalist discourse (Pusey 1991). This marketisation phase represented an overt challenge to the efficacy of the traditional approach with its monopoly over the production and delivery of public services as it was focused on developing market solutions to government failure. By the time of the marketisation phase it was clear that a new paradigm of public management was becoming dominant and it was during this time that NPM came into its own. In the Australian experience, the marketisation phase rested on the creation of markets in the public sector and the use of contracts to define and govern relationships. For some, such moves signaled the emergence of a new contractualism (Hughes 2003), while for others contracts and competition became the basis for changing the fundamental nature of the public sector (Walsh 1995). Chalmers and Davis argued that, contracting has been established as a standard form of policy delivery indeed as an instrument with few limits, preferable in most circumstances to traditional public bureaucracy (2001:76). Such beliefs were also acknowledged by Deakin and Michie: If there is a single strand that runs through the changes wrought by the neoliberal revolution . . . it is the revival of contract as the foremost organizing mechanism of economic activity (1997:1). During this era, where notions of competition and contracts were so important, the NPM paradigm became dominant As we know, this did not occur without resistance and NPM has been subject to ongoing and fierce debate in the academic literature because it challenged conventional thinking and brought together a range of practices, policies and theories rather than proposing some coherent theory. Notwithstanding this point there has been some agreement on critical theoretical perspectives informing policy makers and underpinning thinking in the NPM paradigm including: public choice theory, principal-agent theory, transaction cost economics and competition theory (Kaboolian 1998; OFlynn 2005a). Public choice theory was extremely influential with Boyne arguing, . . . seldom has the major practical implication of an abstract model of bureaucracy been so widely implemented (1998a:474). NPM encompassed the public choice belief that governments were unresponsive, inefficient, monopolistic, and unable to reach formal goals. In the main this reflected the inherent failures of government: politicians are captured by interest groups and will act in their own self-interest rather than the public interest; the bureaucracy does not necessarily carry out political directions because of the self-interest of bureaucrats and bureaucrats act in pursuit of self-interest rather than efficiency (Walsh 1995). Following this line of argument, bureaucracy leads to resource wastage and budget maximisation in the pursuit of power, status, income, ideology, patronage, discretionary power and ease of management, producing allocative inefficiency and oversupply (Boyne 1998a; Niskanen 1971; Rowley 1995; Walsh 1995). The aim of public choice advocates then was to persuade policy-makers to adopt policies and practices which would import incentive structures based on principal agent theory and property rights in order to increase efficiency and downsize the state (de Laine 1997; Mascarenhas 1993). Despite sustained critique (see for example Boyne 1998a, 1998b; Boyne et al. 2003; Tregillis 1990;Walsh 1995), public choice theory has been critical in underpinning key features of NPM including: separation and fragmentation (Boyne et al. 2003; Self 1993; Streeton and Orchard 1994); competitive markets for public services (Boyne et al. 2003); and preference for private sector provision governed by contracts (Hodge 2000). Principal-agent theory focuses on the relationship between principals and agents and the issues that arise when we assume their interests diverge (Walsh 1995). It provides a means of conceptualising both human behaviour in the agency relationship and the development of organisational forms based on assumptions of self-interest, opportunism, incomplete information, and goal divergence (Althaus 1997). These assumptions predict the emergence of agency issues when contracts are formed and where the actions of the agent have implications for the welfare of both parties (Petersen 1995a). The critical challenge for the principal becomes how to choose an agent and construct incentive structures to align goals in an environment of uncertainty, information asymmetry, and high cost monitoring; and where incentives exist for agents to shirk (Foss 1995). Such structures, which aim to produce optimal outcomes and combat adverse selection and moral hazard, are termed agency costs (Althaus 1997). Hence, at the core of this perspective is the notion that contracts formally setting out requirements, monitoring, reward and incentive systems provide the legitimate connection between principal and the agent (de Laine 1997; Muetzelfeldt 1994). Principal-agent theory played an important part in the NPM paradigm and it underpinned many practical reforms including the structural separation of purchasers and providers to establish contractual and quasi-contractual relationships (OFlynn 2005a). In total, this laid the foundation for a process whereby it was expected that,. . . the government manager clearly articulates the policy, sets the performance standards, and chooses in a competitive market an agent who will faithfully act in the governments behalf to deliver the goods and services so that the outcome sought will be attained (Kelly 1998:205). There has been a continued critique of the appropriateness of agency theory in the public sector. Doubts have been raised, for example, about the ability of purchasers and providers to separate, the efficacy of decoupling policy from delivery, and the ability of purchasers to clearly articulate their preferences in a competitive environment (OFlynn and Alford 2005; Stewart 1996). Regardless of such critiques, however, key characteristics of NPM were built around ideas from principal-agent theory. Transaction cost economics has also played an important role in the NPM era. Coase (1937) set out the crucial role of transaction costs, hypothesizing that an assessment of these costs determined whether transactions were internalized or not.4 Coases (1937) theory of the firm and the associated make-buy decisions is translated as the public sector procurement decision whether public agencies produce themselves (i.e. make) or contract out (i.e. buy) (Williamson 1999). Williamson (1979) extended Coases (1937) ideas through the development of a schema setting out his propositions for the most efficient matching of transactions and governance structures. This ranged from market governance based on classical contracting and formally prescribed relationships and remedies to unified governance (i.e. hierarchy) whereby relationship norms and customs govern behaviour rather than formally written contracts. The most efficient structure is that which best matches specific transaction characteristics (i.e. the levels of frequency and asset specificity) with governance structures allowing for economising on the costs associated with bounded rationality, opportunism, and asset specificity; and an overall reduction in the cost of transacting. Transaction cost economics was important to NPM as it set out options for governments including markets, hybrids, and hierarchy (Petersen 1995b). However, it might be argued that the dominance of public choice theory resulted in a blinkered view of this approach as governments tended toward market governance models. Practice also tended to ignore key writers in the field including Williamson who argued that, [r]ecourse to public bureaucracy for those transactions for which it is comparatively wellsuited is properly regarded as an efficient result (1999:24). In the literature there has been some critique of the application of traditional contracting notions to the public sector, and the underlying assumptions about human behavior encompassed in such theories (Vincent-Jones 1997; Walsh et al. 1997). The doctrine of competition has been central to the development of NPM. While perfect competition rarely exists in reality, governments have sought to pursue activity to stimulate competition rather than replicate pure markets (Townsend 1995). Public choice advocates have been vocal in calling for the discipline of competition to be imposed on public sector operations as a means of improving efficiency: One of the most fundamental determinants of the efficiency of any arrangement is competition; that is, the degree of competition that an arrangement permits will, to a significant degree, determine how efficiently that arrangement will supply a service . . . market . . . [and] contract . . . systems are most conducive to fostering competition and thereby achieving economic efficiency (Savas 1982:80-1). Competitive tendering, in particular, has been a popular instrument used by government. The adoption of such practices carries the belief that planners remain the ultimate arbiters of resource allocation but that gains in productive efficiency can be achieved by some degree of competitive regulation (Hensher and Beesley 1989:236). Competition between bidders is intended to spur efficiency gains and cost savings for purchasers, as market forces can drive out marginal producers (Cubbin, Domberger and Meadowcroft 1987; Domberger, Hall and Li 1995; Rimmer 1994). Interestingly, it has been argued that the mere threat of competition can generate efficiency gains and cost savings within the public sector as internal providers seek to protect themselves from unemployment (Rimmer 1994;Walsh and OFlynn 2000). The applicability of the competition doctrine to the public sector has been questioned in the literature for several reasons including the existence of both demand and supply side imperfections (Kelly 1998), and the absence of conditions required to generate efficiency gains (Wilkinson 1995). Despite such critiques, competition theory has clearly played a critical role in the development of the NPM paradigm. The NPM paradigm encompassed specific assumptions about human behaviour centred on individualism, instrumentality and individual rationality and from here came new performance motivated administration and institutional arrangements, new structural forms, and new managerial doctrines (Kelly 1998; Lynn 1998). Flowing from these perspectives were a set of core principles that sustained NPM: (i) economic markets should be the model for relationships in the public sector; (ii) policy, implementation and delivery functions should be separated and constructed as a series of contracts; and (iii) a range of new administrative technologies should be introduced including performance-based contracting, competition, market incentives, and deregulation (Kaboolian 1998). Within the NPM paradigm, the way in which government was viewed, constructed and arranged was firmly rooted within an economic frame and, from here, policy rhetoric focused on the notion that small government was superior and that government failure must be addressed in order to maximise efficiency. This often resulted in prescriptions built around competition and contracts, with the result being a firmly embedded post-bureaucratic model, not only in Ghana but also in many countries across the world. The practical application of NPM, like its bureaucratic predecessor, suffered from a range of weaknesses which reflected both implementation challenges and fundamental tensions (OFlynn and Alford 2005). For example, competitive regimes have been commonly adopted, but evidence shows that they are usually costly to implement and rarely deliver genuine competition (Entwistle and Martin 2005). Further, there is evidence that such approaches have resulted in increased transaction costs due to the high costs of contract preparation, monitoring and enforcement (Entwistle and Martin 2005; OFlynn and Alford 2005). Minogue (2000) argues that the extensive literature on privatisation, contracting, and the use of markets lacks evidence of any real efficiency gains and that the restructuring and downsizing of civil services (especially in Britain) has produced a decline in accountability. OFlynn and Alford (2005) have argued that competitive government models also lead to fragmentation of relationships which may spur destructive behaviour. A comprehensive list of problems is presented by Lawton (1998 cited in Minogue 2000) who claims the fundamental values of public service organisations have been undermined by competition and the NPM, by limited resources, conflicts between individual demands and public interest, the erosion of accountability and responsibility due to fragmentation, and increased risk-taking. Even the OECD, long a NPM advocate, acknowledged in a 2003 report that the reforms produced some unexpected negative results (OECD 2003:2), echoing March and Olsens statement that reform rarely satisfies the prior intention of those who initiate it (1989:65). Partly this reflected the wholesale application of private sector models and the failure to pay heed to the interconnected and interdependent nature of the public sector. Perhaps more fundamentally the competitive government model failed to understand that public management arrangements not only deliver public services, but also enshrine deeper governance values (OECD 2003:3). The NPM paradigm rested on economic foundations which defined government activity, policy-making and service delivery. Despite a range of weaknesses that have emerged following almost two decades of experimentation and, consequently, Since the 1980s, developed and developing countries have been embarking on public sector management reforms. The following section discusses the public sector reforms which forms the basis for potential paradigmatic change. 2.1.1 Non-NPM reforms An essential concomitant to the development of results-based accountability is the removal or at least relaxation of procedural controls over line management. The idea is, in NPM-speak, to move from accountability for inputs (obeying the rules on spending and staffing) to accountability for outputs (performance). As we have already seen, however, governments have been reluctant to give line managers greater discretion over staff promotions and pay. Some countries have gone further than this: they have tightened up existing central controls within the civil service and introduced new ones. This has often happened in response to the need to bring staff numbers down. Notwithstanding its proclaimed goal of introducing results-oriented management, Uganda actually recentralised the recruitment of temporary and non-pensionable staff because this had been open to wide abuse (Wangolo 1995: 150) when it was in the hands of departments themselves. Until then the government simply had no idea how many people were employed in the civil service. In an effort to control recruitment, other countries have required departmental heads to gain central clearance not only to create new positions, but also to fill vacancies in the already approved complement. More generally speaking, a major thrust of public sector reform throughout Africa and Latin America has been to strengthen and rationalise functions such as budgeting, financial control, staff classification and complement control. Proper execution of these functions is taken for granted in most industrialised countries, which are devolving some of them to line agencies. But these functions remain weak in many developing countries. The World Bank regularly encounters problems such as poor expenditure control and inadequate accounting systems in its client countries (Beschel 1995: 21); while Holmes (1992: 474) notes that many middle-income countries see standardization in the wage and salary area à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as a prerequisite to improvin

Essay on Lies and Self-realization in A Dolls House -- Dolls House es

Lies and Self-realization in A Doll's House    In Ibsen's play,   A Doll's House,   the characters willingly exist in a situation of untruth or inadequate truth that conceals conflict.   Nora's independent nature is in contradiction to the tyrannical authority of Torvald.   This conflict is concealed by the way they both hide their true selves from society, each other, and ultimately themselves.   Just like Nora and Torvald, every character in this play is trapped in a situation of untruth. "A Doll's House", can be misinterpreted as simply an attack on the religious values of Ibsen's society.   While this is certainly an important aspect of the play, it is not, however, Ibsen's main point.   "A Doll's House" established a method Ibsen would use to convey his views about individuality and the pursuit of social freedom.   The characters of "A Doll's House" display Henrik Ibsen's belief that although people have a natural longing for freedom, they often do not act upon this desire until a person or event forces them to do so. Readers can be quick to point out that Nora's change was gradual and marked by several incidents.   A more critical look reveals these gradual changes are actually not changes at all, but small revelations for the reader to see Nora's true independent nature.   These incidents also allow the reader to see this nature has been tucked far under a facade of a happy and simple wife.   In the first act, she admits to Christine that she will "dance and dress up and play the fool" to keep Torvald happy (Ibsen).   This was Ibsen's way of telling the reader Nora had a hidden personality that was more serious and controlling.   He wants the reader to realize that Nora was not the fool she allows herself to be seen as.   ... ...in A Doll's House is the importance of the individual and the search for self-realization.      Works Cited Brunsdale, Mitzi. "Herik Ibsen."   Critical Survey of Drama.   Ed.   Frank N. Magill.   Englewood Cliffs, NJ:   Salem Press 1986. pg982. Clurman, Harold.   Ibsen.   Macmillan, 1977, pg223.   Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.   Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Vol. 8.   Detroit:   Gale, 1982. pg154. Heiberg, Hans. 1967. Ibsen. A Portrait of the Artist. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami. Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll’s House." Perrine's Literature.   Forth Worth:   Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.   pp. 967-1023 Shaw, Bernard.   "A Doll's House Again."   The Saturday Review, London, Vol. 83, No. 2168, May 15, 1897:   539-541.   Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.   Ed.   Sharon K.   Hall.   Vol. 8. Detroit:   Gale, 1982. pg.143.   

Edgar Allen Poe Essay -- Essays Papers

Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe, an America writer, was known as a poet and critic but was most famous as the master of short stories, particularly tales of the mysterious and the macrabe. The literary merits of Poe’s writings have been debated since his death, but his works have continued to be popular and many American and European writers have declared their artistic debt to him. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Poe was orphaned in his early childhood and was raised by John Allen, a successful business man of Richmond, Virginia. Taken by the Allen family to England at the age of six, Poe was placed in a private school. Upon returning to the United States in 1820, he continued to study in private schools. He attended the University of Virginia for a year, but in 1827 his foster father, angry by the young man’s drinking and gambling, refused to pay his debts and forced him to work as a clerk. Poe, disliking his new duties violently, he quit the job as a clerk, thus estranging Allen, and went to Boston. There his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), was published anonymously. Shortly afterward Poe enlisted in the United States Army and served a two-year term. In 1829 his second volume of verse, Al Aaraaf, was published, and he completed a agreement with Allen, who secured him an appointment to the United States Military Academy. After only a few months at the Military Academy Poe was dismissed for neglect of duty, and his foster father disowned him permanently. Poe...

The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf Essay -- Virginia Woolf Death

‘The Death of the Moth† by Virginia Woolf   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Death is a difficult subject for anyone to speak of, although it is a part of everyday life. In Virginia Woolf’s â€Å"The Death of the Moth†, she writes about a moth flying about a windowpane, its world constrained by the boundaries of the wood holding the glass. The moth flew, first from one side, to the other, and then back as the rest of life continued ignorant of its movements. At first indifferent, Woolf was eventually moved to pity the moth. This story shows that life is as strange and familiar as death to us all. I believe this story was well written and will critique the symbolism, characters, and the setting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Woolf uses symbolism in her essay when she speaks of the moth and its journey towards death. Eventually the moth settles on the windowsill and Woolf forgets it until she notices it trying to move again, but this time its movements are slow and awkward. It attempts to fly but fails, and falls back down to the sill, landing on its back, tiny feet clawing at the air as it tries to right itself. Woolf reaches out to help when she realizes that it is dying stating â€Å"the helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death† and she was reluctant to interfere with this natura... The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf Essay -- Virginia Woolf Death ‘The Death of the Moth† by Virginia Woolf   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Death is a difficult subject for anyone to speak of, although it is a part of everyday life. In Virginia Woolf’s â€Å"The Death of the Moth†, she writes about a moth flying about a windowpane, its world constrained by the boundaries of the wood holding the glass. The moth flew, first from one side, to the other, and then back as the rest of life continued ignorant of its movements. At first indifferent, Woolf was eventually moved to pity the moth. This story shows that life is as strange and familiar as death to us all. I believe this story was well written and will critique the symbolism, characters, and the setting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Woolf uses symbolism in her essay when she speaks of the moth and its journey towards death. Eventually the moth settles on the windowsill and Woolf forgets it until she notices it trying to move again, but this time its movements are slow and awkward. It attempts to fly but fails, and falls back down to the sill, landing on its back, tiny feet clawing at the air as it tries to right itself. Woolf reaches out to help when she realizes that it is dying stating â€Å"the helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death† and she was reluctant to interfere with this natura...

How far has the USA role in world affairs developed from 1929 to 2000?

America had adopted a policy of isolationism following the events of WW1, stating openly that the US wanted to stay out of world affairs. They believed that they were geographically isolated – sufficiently protected from potential enemies by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They wanted to avoid sending US soldiers on another ‘death march’ and instead focus on US economic problems such as the Depression. They managed to keep their role in world affairs to a minimum by not joining the League of Nations and passing a series of Neutrality Acts after 1935 which made them neutral. However, they did not suppress their role in world affairs completely. They were still involved in foreign affairs – they loaned money to Europe to help them recover after WW1 and they signed the Kellog-Briand Pact in 1928 which renounced war as a means of settling disputes. America’s role in world affairs was minimal – they stayed out of the League of Nations but they were still involved in world affairs, shown by the US investment into Europe to help it recover from WW1. America’s role in world affairs changed from isolationist when they joined WW2 in 1941, following the Japanese attack on the US naval fleet at Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941. After the attack, it became evident that America had assumed a more prominent role in world affairs, particularly in Europe and in the Pacific. They had taken part in the D-Day landings in June 1944 with the Allies which had led to the surrender of Germany in May 1945 and had governed the end of the war by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. WW2 was an important factor in re-orientating US foreign policy as America had abandoned their policy of isolationism and had intervened in a war. America role in world affairs developed as they emerged from WW2 as a paramount nation that had survived the war with its economy rebuilt and other nations had turned to them for protection from emerging communist countries like the USSR. America had started to play an international role in world affairs when they adopted a policy of containment, announced by Truman in an important speech in March 1947 which marked a turning point in US foreign policy as it was the start of a proactive policy. He backed this policy of containment with the Marshall Plan announced in June 1947 which would provide economic aid to European countries that had suffered badly as a result of WW2 and were struggling to deal with the damage. America played a part in leading the West in the Cold War. America’s involvement in world affairs increased when they sent forces to Korea, Vietnam and Cuba in an attempt to contain communism, which shows they had a more proactive role in world affairs. The expense of the policy of containment had to be cut as the cost of the arms race was massive. America wanted to develop friendlier relations with the Communist superpowers during the 1970s; US foreign policy had changed to detente. Nixon visited China in 1972 and the 21 year old trade embargo was lifted. The policy of detente had improved relations with the USSR between 1972 and 1979 – arms reduction agreements such as SALT 1 emerged. However, when Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, he was not a supporter of detente and called the USSR an ‘evil empire’ in a speech in June 1982. He issued SDI (a plan to shoot down Soviet missiles in space) which caused the relations to deteriorate and cause a Second Cold War. In 1985, the new USSR leader Gorbachev and Reagan returned to the policy of detente and the Cold War ended in 1989. In the 1990s, America had become increasingly involved in the Middle East such as the conflicts of Iran and Iraq. America fought in the Gulf War in 1990 to protect oil supplies in Kuwait, as oil was important to the US economy. This conflict showed that America were still proactive in world affairs and were involved in most of the conflicts. Since 1929, America’s role in world affairs has developed increasingly. They were isolationist and inactive in world affairs in the 1930s. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour forced America to become reactive in world affairs and enter WW2 in 1941. In 1947, America’s role in world affairs had become proactive, attempting to prevent the spread of communism. In the 1970s, America attempted to reduce its role in world affairs by following the policy of detente but the conflicts in the Middle East showed their role to be more proactive in world affairs.