A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen - 1725 Words

In the late 19th century, the feminist movement was beginning to take shape. Issues that fall under the feminist movement include reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, womens suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence (Donovon 85). To begin with, feminists were concerned with the social barriers that limited their rights such as being seen as less than a man, uneducated, or only to be a housewife. As the movement built more support, it began taking a political form. This first wave of the feminist movement, also known as women’s suffrage, took place from 1848-1920. In the drama A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, readers are presented with what seems to be the perfect little American dream home. Anti-feminist values are presented immediately in the first scenes of the play and carry out until the end. The play was written in 1879, a time when the feminist movement was just starting to take shape and become well known. The drama A Dollâ₠¬â„¢s House has feminist themes that indicate Henrik Ibsen to be a supporter of the feminist movement through clear examples of misogyny, symbolism, and characterization. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House begins with the first scene portraying a conversation between husband and wife, Helmer and protagonist, Nora. The conversation is playful and seems to be one that is reoccurring in their relationship. The very first scene is where feministic themes begin to become apparent, specifically misogyny. The role of the man and theShow MoreRelatedDoll’s House by Henrik Ibsen1126 Words   |  4 PagesHenrik Ibsen wrote the book, Doll’s House, in the late 1870s about the life of the common woman in Norway during the 1870s. The book gave society an inside of look of the life women in general. Woman during this time were oppressed and men were contemptuous towards women. Women that opposed their husband were considered mentally insane and sent to a mental institution. The bo ok is about a domesticated woman named Nora. Nora lives in a house with her husband and their three kids. Nora main job toRead MoreA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen1492 Words   |  6 PagesA Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was written in 1879 during the Victorian Era. The story is written as a play to be performed on stage. The two main characters Nora and Torvald Helmer are upper middle class husband and wife, but it boils down to social expectations. Conflicts arise when women are under their husbands rule for everything and society pressure to keep up appearances. Torvald Helmer is the antagonist to Nora, his wife, because he is mostly concerned about his reputation, he is the supremeRead MoreA Dolls House, by Henrik Ibsen1539 Words   |  7 PagesThe themes of â€Å"objecthood† and â€Å"feminine liberation† in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House as conveyed through the characterization of Torvald and Nora, diction, stage directions and structure in two integral scenes. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House conveys the story of a wife’s struggle to break away from the social norms of late nineteenth century middle class Europe. Throughout the play, Ibsen focuses on Nora’s characterization and experiences and thus this leads the reader to perceive her as the protagonistRead MoreA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen1556 Words   |  7 Pagesprevalent in a variety of literary selections. This paper will focus on animal imagery in Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House by using the reader response strategy. In the play A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen, animal imagery is used in the development of the main character Nora. It is also later found that the animal imagery is a critical part in understanding who Nora is and how other characters perceive her. Ibsen uses creative animal imagery to develop Noras character throughout the play. The animalRead MoreA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen1829 Words   |  7 Pages Henrik Ibsen, writer of his most famed play A Doll’s House. Ibsen emphasizes on small-town life in this play. A Doll’s House takes place in the 1880s in Europe/Norway and based on a married couple, Torvald Nora, who are considered to be middle class. The main character Nora in Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, seems to give this false installment of her identity. She is both unpredictable and childlike. The entire first and second act she spends giving this hidden subtext that she is unreliableRead MoreA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen868 Words   |  3 Pagesmoney is considered to hold the most power. In the case of the household, the person who holds the most power is the person who handles the money, and in our man-centric world, it is usually the man who holds both money and power. In Henrik Ibsens play A Doll’s House, the theme of money is used to establish power roles between the characters of the play, and how the theme contributes to typical gender roles in the 19th century. A womans duty in the 19th century was to exhibit â€Å"piety, purity, submissivenessRead MoreA Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Essay961 Words   |  4 PagesIn Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, pointedly captures the reality of the Victorian Era within the play. Nora Helmer, the protagonist of the story, represents the typical women in society during that era. The audience’s first impression of Nora is a money obsessed, childish, obedient house wife to her husband, Torvald Helmer. However, as the play progresses one can see that Nora is far from being that typical ideal trophy wife, she is an impulsive liar who goes against society’s norm to be whomRead More A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen Essay842 Words   |  4 PagesA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen â€Å"A dolls house† was written by Henrik Ibsen and produced by famous actors during the time of the 1800’s; in fact it was the year of 1879 to be precise. It was around this time that many different Social, cultural and historical moments were changing through time, leaving the end result to change not only one country but had an effect on most of the world. For this section of the work I will be carefully discussing with you the issues of; * Social events Read More A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Essay1111 Words   |  5 PagesA Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen The play â€Å"A Doll’s House† by Henrik Ibsen is about a wife that is hiding a big secret from her overprotective husband. The play takes place on Christmas Eve till the day after Christmas. Nora Helmer and Torvald Helmer have been married for 8 years, yet Nora is hiding something from Torvald that she thinks would ruin everything if he found out. It opens up with Nora coming home and decorating the house for Christmas and making preparations. They have 3 children:Read MoreA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen834 Words   |  3 PagesMr. Krogstad, a former employee of Torvald is the leading antagonist in A Doll House. He clearly has an agenda and a lust for power. Krogstad’s lust for power gives the reader a sense of subtle rage because Krogstad only wants what’s best for him and his family but he exploits Nora for his own gain. Krogstad advances the plot by controlling Nora through a loan, while illuminating both main characters, and reinforcing the themes of confusion and lost love. Krogstad influences the plot in a very

Study Notes Free Essays

E7-2 (Determine Cash Balance) Presented below are a number of independent situations. Instructions For each individual situation, determine the amount that should be reported as cash. If the item(s) is not reported as cash, explain the rationale. We will write a custom essay sample on Study Notes or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1. Checking account balance $925,000; certificate of deposit $1,400,000; cash advance to subsidiary of $980,000; utility deposit paid to gas company $180. 2. Checking account balance $600,000; an overdraft in special checking account at same bank as normal checking account of $17,000; cash held in a bond sinking fund $200,000; petty cash fund $300; coins and currency on hand $1,350. 3. Checking account balance $590,000; postdated check from customer $11,000; cash restricted due to maintaining compensating balance requirement of $100,000; certified check from customer $9,800; postage stamps on hand $620. 4. Checking account balance at bank $37,000; money market balance at mutual fund (has checking privileges) $48,000; NSF check received from customer $800. 5. Checking account balance $700,000; cash restricted for future plant expansion $500,000; short-term Treasury bills $180,000; cash advance received from customer $900 (not included in checking account balance); cash advance of $7,000 to company executive, payable on demand; refundable deposit of $26,000 paid to federal government to guarantee performance on construction contract. . Cash balance of $925,000. Only the checking account balance should be reported as cash. The certificates of deposit of $1,400,000 should be reported as a temporary investment, the cash advance to subsidiary of $980,000 should be reported as a receivable, and the utility deposit of $180 should be identified as a receivable from the gas company. 2. Cash balance is $584,650 computed as follows: Checking account balance |$600,000 | | Overdraft |(17,000) | | P etty cash |300 | | Coin and currency | 1,350 | | |$584,650 | Cash held in a bond sinking fund is restricted. Assuming that the bonds are noncurrent, the restricted cash is also reported as noncurrent. 3. Cash balance is $599,800 computed as follows: | Checking account balance |$590,000 | | Certified check from customer | 9,800 | | |$599,800 | The postdated check of $11,000 should be reported as a receivable. Cash restricted due to compensating balance should be described in a note indicating the type of arrangement and amount. Postage stamps on hand are reported as part of office supplies inventory or prepaid expenses. 4. Cash balance is $85,000 computed as follows: Checking account balance |$37,000 | | Money market mutual fund | 48,000 | | |$85,000 | The NSF check received from customer should be reported as a receivable. 5. Cash balance is $700,900 computed as follows: Checking account balance |$700,000 | | Cash advance received from customer | 900 | | |$700,900 | Cash restricted for future plant expansion of $500,000 should be reported as a noncurrent asset. Short-term treasury bills of $180,000 should be reported as a temporary investment. Cash advance received from customer of $900 should also be reported as a liability; cash advance of $7,000 to company executive should be reported as a receivable; refundable deposit of $26,000 paid to federal government should be reported as a receivable. 13. FIFO, weighted average, and LIFO methods are often used instead of specific identification for inventory valuation purposes. Compare these methods with the specific identification method, discussing the theoretical propriety of each method in the determination of income and asset valuation. The first-in, first-out method approximates the specific identification method when the physical flow of goods is on a FIFO basis. When the goods are subject to spoilage or deterioration, FIFO is particularly appropriate. In comparison to the specific identification method, an attractive as-pect of FIFO is the elimination of the danger of artificial determination of income by the selection of advantageously priced items to be sold. The basic assumption is that costs should be charged in the order in which they are incurred. As a result the inventories are stated at the latest costs. Where the inventory is consumed and valued in the FIFO manner, there is no accounting recognition of unrealized gain or loss. A criticism of the FIFO method is that it maximizes the effects of price fluctuations upon reported income because current revenue is matched with the oldest costs which are probably least similar to current replacement costs. On the other hand, this method produces a balance sheet value for the asset close to current replacement costs. It is claimed that FIFO is deceptive when used in a period of rising prices because the reported income is not fully available since a part of it must be used to replace inventory at higher cost. The results achieved by the weighted average method resemble those of the specific identi-fication method where items are chosen at random or there is a rapid inventory turnover. Com-pared with the specific identification method, the weighted average method has the advantage that the goods need not be individually identified; therefore accounting is not so costly and the method can be applied to fungible goods. The weighted average method is also appropriate when there is no marked trend in price changes. In opposition it is argued that the method is illogical. Since it assumes that all sales are made proportionally from all purchases and that inventories will always include units from the first purchases, it is argued that the method is illogical because it is contrary to the chronological flow of goods. In addition, in periods of price changes there is a lag between current costs and costs assigned to income or to the valuation of inventories. If it is assumed that actual cost is the appropriate method of valuing inventories, last-in, first-out is not theoretically correct. In general, LIFO is directly adverse to the specific identification method because the goods are not valued in accordance with their usual physical flow. An exception is the application of LIFO to piled coal or ores which are more or less consumed in a LIFO manner. Proponents argue that LIFO provides a better matching of current costs and revenues. During periods of sharp price movements, LIFO has a stabilizing effect upon reported income figures because it eliminates paper income and losses on inventory and smooths the impact of income taxes. LIFO opponents object to the method principally because the inventory valuation reported in the balance sheet could be seriously misleading. The profit figures can be artificially influenced by management through contracting or expanding inventory quantities. Temporary in-voluntary depletion of LIFO inventories would distort current income by the previously unrecognized price gains or losses applicable to the inventory reduction. E8-14 (FIFO, LIFO and Average Cost Determination) John Adams Company’s record of transactions for the month of April was as follows. Purchases Sales April 1 (balance on hand) 600@ $6. 00 April 3 500 @ $10. 0040 41,500 @ 6. 08 9 1,400 @ 10. 00 8 800 @ 6. 40 11600 @ 11. 00 131,200 @ 6. 50 231,200 @ 11. 00 21 700 @ 6. 60 27 900 @ 12. 0 29 500 @ 6. 79 4,600 5,300 (a) Assuming that periodic inventory records are kept in units only, compute the inventory at April 30 using (1) LIFO and (2) average cost. (b) Assuming that perpetual inventory records are kept in dollars, determine the inventory using (1) FIFO and (2) LIFO. (c) Compute cost of goods sold assuming periodic inventory procedures and inventory priced at FIFO. (d) In an inflationary period, which inventory method—FIFO, LIFO, average cost—wi ll show the highest net income? How to cite Study Notes, Papers

Employee Relations free essay sample

All are dependent on policies being adopted that favour positive employee-employer relations. Employee relations play a vital role in the running of an organisation, as they possess the ability to determine the direction in which relationships will head. The workplace is a complex system that is prone to sudden changes of an industrial or economic nature, of which manoeuvring around it depends on the transparency and stability of employer-employee relations. Collings (2008) describes employee relations as the store house of an organisation’s job regulation. This translates to regulating the relationships in an organisation in order to keep things at a standard level and consequently knowing what to do with the repercussions if any employee relations are infringed upon. It then follows that employees and any other stakeholder in the organisation need to be informed of the rights, regulations and protocols involved with the organisation (Collings, 2008). Snape amp; Redman (2008) state that employee relations climate is termed via norms, attitudes and behaviours in the work environment, and are governed by procedural justice, service and leadership climate. We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Relations or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Evidently the climate in the workplace signpost the order of interaction and subsequently its outcomes with regards to employee relations, as a certain standard is sought to be upheld. Employee relations serve as a benchmark within the organisation for all parties involved; establishing the modus operandi and staying within its guidelines, lest one ends up in contravention of the policies put into place. These policies are often concerned with the enhancement of productivity through providing a platform for harmonious work relationships. This essay will set out to prove that employee relations are not only vital for the optimum performance and efficiency of an organisation, but has also proved to be effective in doing so. Employee Relations Role Employee relations were established for organisations to function efficiently and limit conflict in the workplace. They also provide a benchmark for members of the organisation to know what they must do in order to achieve the aforementioned functions. Employee relations also act as a buffer towards any legal action that may be taken against the organisation. Wilkinson (1999) recognises that intimate environments allow for a greater pooling of human resources through face to face communication, involvement and flexibility.

Project Report free essay sample

First of all, for group project we need to choose an application that will be translate into coding which can be successfully executed. After making some discussion with all the members of our group, we decided to make a windows form application namely Cakes Ordering Online System. This Cakes Ordering Online System has some main function that we decided so that every group member can do each of their unction. The 3 main functions are the membership, order and lastly sales report. Then we also have named our cakes ordering online system as Mimis Cakes Bakes for our group project. We had divided each of the members with one of their function so that work can be done properly and neatly. We propose this system as it will make human life become easier as customers dont have to have to waste their time to go to the shop to buy cake. We will write a custom essay sample on Project Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This system not also creates tor customers only, because it is also create tor us to make sure our cakes ordering online system will get a more manageable. With the use of computers nowadays,we are able to create a system that can be the solution to our problems that we face everyday. The main purpose of our application is to overcome the problem face by random people when they have to waste their time to buy cake. Online ordering system is quite useful for those who do not have enough time to go outside. It is very easy to order cakes while sitting at home or in office with the help of online ordering system. The system provides complete customer satisfaction because the customers can register themselves on the websites. Customers can place order without experiencing lengthy on holds or busy signals. Online ordering system help the customers to make the payment after get the cakes receive because this system dont want to make customer feel trouble to make a payment online. Furthermore, objective of this group project is also to understand how to make a system or a windows application using Microsoft Visual Basic 2010. Whithin all the knowledge that we learn especially in Application Development Workshop,we able to create a system that I choose. By the way, this project objective is also to determine and analyze daily life system round us.

Westward Settlement essays

Westward Settlement essays The westward settlement created a dangerous area of political and social conflict between the backcountry settlers, and the eastern settlers. Economic, governmental and ethnic differences played a major role in the continuing conflicts between the east and west. There were many clashes in the early 1760s, between the backcountry settlers and the eastern settlers, from the Paxton Boys to the North and South Carolina Regulations. The westward settlement created a dangerous area of political conflict. Backcountry settlers were isolated more than other colonials. There was a lack of transportation, usually a days ride to the nearest courthouse, tavern, or church. These back country settlers were mostly settlers whom had little money to pay their taxes, and they did not like being governed by officials who were chosen by assemblies so far away. Back country settlers were also economically isolated; many parts were cut off from water transport because they were located above the fall line. Backcountry settlers did not often transport crops or livestock because it was too expensive. Since most backcountry settlers did not have money, they were unable to purchase slaves or servants. Most families were only able to grow enough to feed their own families. As the western communities grew, they needed additional funds to build roads and bridges for creating institutions for local self-government. Eastern colonials were not very helpful; they were slow to set up new colonies in the west, when counties were set up the areas had large lots of land but few representatives. With no continuous local leadership, backcountry farmers who owned had more land than others, or owned a slave were put to the tasks overseeing public order, and were representatives for colonial assemblies. Most of these men were poorly educated and had no experience. With so little authority in the backcountry, settlers had a more aggressive behavior...

Examples of Images in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Examples of Images in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction An image is a representation in words of a sensory experience or of a person, place, or object that can be known by one or more of the senses.   In his book The Verbal Icon (1954), critic W.K. Wimsatt, Jr., observes that the verbal image which most fully realizes its verbal capacities is that which is not merely a bright picture (in the usual modern meaning of the term image) but also an interpretation of reality in its metaphoric and symbolic dimensions. Examples Far beyond her, a door standing ajar gave on what appeared to be a moonlit gallery but was really an abandoned, half-demolished, vast reception room with a broken outer wall, zigzag fissures in the floor, and a vast ghost of a gaping grand piano emitting, as if all by itself, spooky glissando twangs in the middle of the night.(Vladimir Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle, 1969)In the shallows, the dark, water-soaked sticks and twigs, smooth and old, were undulating in clusters on the bottom against the clean ribbed sand, and the track of the mussel was plain. A school of minnows swam by, each minnow with its small individual shadow, doubling the attendance, so clear and sharp in the sunlight.(E.B. White, Once More to the Lake. One Mans Meat, 1942)Mr. Jaffe, the salesman from McKesson Robbins, arrives, trailing two mists: winter steaminess and the animal fog of his cigar, which melts into the coffee smell, the tarpaper smell, the eerie honeyed tangled drugstore smell.(Cynthia Ozick, A Drugstore in Winter. Art Ardor, 1983) That woman sitting on the stoop of an old brownstone house, her fat white knees spread apart- the man pushing the white brocade of his stomach out of a cab in front of a great hotel- the little man sipping root beer at a drugstore counter- the woman leaning over a stained mattress on the sill of a tenement window- the taxi driver parked on a corner- the lady with orchids, drunk at the table of a sidewalk cafe- the toothless woman selling chewing gum- the man in shirt sleeves, leaning against the door of a poolroom- they are my masters.(Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead. Bobbs Merrill, 1943)I should have been a pair of ragged clawsScuttling across the floors of silent seas.(T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 1917)The train moved away so slowly butterflies blew in and out of the windows. (Truman Capote, A Ride Through Spain. The Dogs Bark. Random House, 1973)It is time for the babys birthday party: a white cake, strawberry-marshmallow ice cream, a bottle of champagne saved from another party. In the evening, after she has gone to sleep, I kneel beside the crib and touch her face, where it is pressed against the slats, with mine.(Joan Didion, Going Home. Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968 He clasps the crag with crooked hands;Close to the sun in lonely lands.Ringed with the azure world, he stands.The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;He watches from his mountain walls,And like a thunderbolt he falls.(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The EagleAmong the strangest illusions which have passed like a haze before my eyes, the strangest one of all is the following: a shaggy mug of a lion looms before me, as the howling hour strikes. I see before me yellow mouths of sand, from which a rough woolen coat is calmly looking at me. And then I see a face, and a shout is heard: Lion is coming.(Andrei Bely, The LionThe apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.(Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro)[Eva] rolled up to the window and it was then she saw Hannah burning. The flames from the yard fire were licking the blue cotton dress, making her dance. Eva knew there was time for nothing in this world other than the time it took to get there and cover her daughters body wi th her own. She lifted her heavy frame up on her good leg, and with fists and arms smashed the windowpane. Using her stump as a support on the window sill, her good leg as a lever, she threw herself out of the window. Cut and bleeding she clawed the air trying to aim her body toward the flaming, dancing figure. She missed and came crashing down some twelve feet from Hannahs smoke. Stunned but still conscious, Eva dragged herself toward her firstborn, but Hannah, her senses lost, went flying out of the yard gesturing and bobbing like a sprung jack-in-the- box.(Toni Morrison, Sula. Knopf, 1973 [In] summer the granite curbs starred with mica and the row houses differentiated by speckled bastard sidings and the hopeful small porches with their jigsaw brackets and gray milk-bottle boxes and the sooty ginkgo trees and the banking curbside cars wince beneath a brilliance like a frozen explosion.(John Updike, Rabbit Redux, 1971) Observations Images are not arguments, rarely even lead to proof, but the mind craves them, and, of late more than ever.(Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907)In general, emotional words, to be effective, must not be solely emotional. What expresses or stimulates emotions directly, without the intervention of an image or concept, expresses or stimulates it feebly.(C.S. Lewis, Studies in Words, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1967) Images in Nonfiction ​Instinctively, we go to our store of private images and associations for our authority to speak of these weighty issues. We find, in our details and broken and obscured images, the language of symbol. Here memory impulsively reaches out its arms and embraces imagination. That is the resort to invention. It isnt a lie, but an act of necessity, as the innate urge to locate personal truth always is. (Patricia Hampl, Memory and Imagination. I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory. W.W. Norton, 1999)In creative nonfiction you almost always have the choice of writing the summary (narrative) form, the dramatic (scenic) form, or some combination of the two. Because the dramatic method of writing provides the reader with a closer imitation of life than summary ever could, creative nonfiction writers frequently choose to write scenically. The writer wants vivid images to transfer into the mind of the reader after all, the strength of scenic writing lies in its ability to evoke sensual images. A scene is not some anonymous narrators report about what happened some time in the past; instead, it gives the feeling that the action is unfolding before the reader. (Theodore A. Rees Cheney, Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great Nonfiction. Ten Speed Press, 2001)

MARY DOUGLAS' NATURAL SYMBOLS Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

MARY DOUGLAS' NATURAL SYMBOLS - Research Paper Example According to Douglas, natural symbols are an important determinant of the nature of social and religious rituals practiced by all cultures worldwide. These natural symbols could be derived from â€Å"blood, breath or excrement† and each one of them has a social meaning and implication. Using these bodily symbols, the choices, preferences and perceptions of every culture can be studied. According to Mary Douglas, the way a person treats his/her body explains his/her perception of the society. The hierarchies existing in a society are very much similar to how a human treats his various organs. She explains: According to one, the body will tend to be conceived as an organ of communication. The major preoccupations will be with its functioning effectively; the relation of head to subordinate members will be a model of the central control system, the favorite metaphors of statecraft will harp upon the flow of blood in the arteries, sustenance and the restoration of strength. Accord ing to another, though the body will also be seen as a vehicle of life, it will be vulnerable in different ways. The dangers to it will come†¦ from failure to control the quality of what it absorbs through the orifices; fear of poisoning, protection of boundaries, aversion to bodily waste products and medical theory that enjoins frequent purging. Another again will be very practical about the possible uses of bodily rejects, very cool about recycling waste matter and about the pay-off from such practices. The distinction between the life within the body and the body that carries it will hold no interest. In the control, areas of these society controversies about spirit and matter will scarcely arise. But at the other end of the spectrum †¦ a different attitude will be seen. Here the body is not primarily the vehicle of life, for life will be seen as purely spiritual and the body as irrelevant matter. Here we can locate millennial tendencies from our early history to the pr esent day. For these people society appears as a system that does not work. (Douglas 1996, 16-17) The Body, Religion and Anthropology In her book, Douglas explains how the ritualistic patterns of a culture can be derived through their body symbolism. This book examines religion from an anthropological perspective, explaining the ritualistic and socialistic norms existent in all cultures. Thus, in order to understand a culture truly, a thorough study of the natural symbols occurring in the society is mandatory. Sarah Coakley writes in Religion and the body: Anthropologists have long been interested in ideas about the body. Thus, in the nineteenth-century anthropology, the centrality of the notion of ‘race’ involved detailed studies of the bodies of ‘primitives’. European imperialism made possible, and evolutionary theories of progress encouraged and fed on, the detailed description and classification of types of European and non- European bodies.1 As is evid ent, the body forms an important element of all anthropological studies that aim at a proper analysis of a given culture. According to Coakley, by the end of the nineteenth century, studies focusing on the â€Å"symbolic aspects of the body in primitive cultures† became increasingly prevalent. It was believed that such a study would tell us â€Å"something profound of the human mind†2. Mary Douglas is not the only one to have elaborated on the significance of bodily symbols in anthropology. Many other works, like those of Benthall and Pohemus, Blacking etc. have brought out the importance of the â€Å"Anthropology of the Body†. However, Douglas’ work remains the most popular in terms of both its academic value and interesting notions. Harries (1993) interprets natural symbols as follows, By natural symbols, I

Blood Pressure Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Blood Pressure - Lab Report Example As the muscles are less stretched the force of contraction decreases which reduces the stroke volume. Decreased stroke volume results in decreased cardiac output and hence reduces blood pressure initially. This is also called orthostatic hypotension (reduced blood supply to brain due to reduced cardiac output causing fainting). However after sometimes, baroreceptor respond to this decreased blood volume and stimulates the cardio-accelerator center in Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla which cause noradrenergic discharge. Nor adrenaline then acts on Beta-2 adrenergic receptors on myocardium to increase the heart rate and force of contraction to increase the blood pressure to normal and thus maintaining homeostasis (Williams et al, 2004). Q2. Analyzing the blood pressure it becomes evident that although there was a drop in mean systolic blood pressure (114mm Hg sitting versus 111 mm Hg standing, but it was not statistically significant as p value was > 0.05), even mean diastolic blood pressure decreased (76.3 mm Hg sitting versus 73 mm Hg standing but again it was not statistically significant as p value was > 0.05). However the mean pulse pressure ( difference between systolic and diastolic) increased(84.6 mm Hg sitting versus 87 mm Hg, but this was also not statistically significant as p value was > 0.05). This means that out of 100 observations more than 5 observations has happened due to chance factors of random sampling and change in posture has not statistically altered their blood pressure. Though statistically insignificant it is clearly seen that clinically or physiologically there is reduction of blood pressure from sitting and standing postures as discussed in question 1. The increased pulse pressure was d ue to the fact to compensate the reduction in cardiac output and increase the peripheral circulation (Williams et al, 2004) (Blair et al, 1980). t tests are conducted to test the significance of difference between

Death by Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Death by Chocolate Essay How have the makers of Death by chocolate made their advertisement successful? Discuss the various techniques used and how they have been used. This is an analysis of the advertisement death by chocolate. It is an advert promoting a chocolate cake. The advertisement is rich in techniques which have been purposely included to tempt consumers to indulge themselves and give in to the temptation of the cake. Looking at both pages of the advertisement it seems that there is a concealed message which could possibly be summarized as, go on, be a devil. It is almost as if such devilish whisperings jump out at us. This message is communicated by the trident shaped fork in the hand of an ambiguous woman. Although we are given a motionless picture, there is an overwhelming sense of movement towards the cake. The makers have included this as one of the techniques of the advertisement so that the consumers feel that they are holding the fork. The visual imagery is designed to bring the devil out in you. Although the chocolate cake is brown, it is laced with a devilish crimson colour which adds to the Satan theme. It is interesting in this context that the word consumer is an old name for Satan which again is another technique used. It is clear that the makers of the advert have worked according to the principle that it is the visual impact of an advertisement that is most effective. Most of the second page is covered with a silky textured crimson colour on a white backdrop that mirrors the combination of the crimson streaked chocolate on a white plate. Red is the colour of the devil, but it is also the colour of danger, excitement and fury. White is the colour of virginity and the plentiful red suggests a loss of virginity. This technique is very effective as the contrast of the colours remind us of the naughtiness inside us which drives us to indulge ourselves in this mouth-watering cake. The producers of this advert have also relied upon visual influence and the psychological imagery conjured up by the slogan and larger writing rather than the small text. The slogan, its no angel cake is designed to reinforce the evil theme. The clever remark on the word angel causes reader to dwell on this word and think about its meaning. Puns are always mentally stimulating and enjoyable, and it is as if the enjoyment gained from it is presented to the reader as a sample of the cake itself. In fact one gets the feeling that the designers have tried to make the whole advertisement tasty. The name of the advertisement itself, Death by Chocolate is intended to be entertaining and comical. Although the word death is used, the intention is not to bring to mind fear or anxiety, but in fact, the effect is far from gloomy. The reader is invited to die and be wrapped up in the chocolate, or at least to be dying to eat the chocolate. For those who are fully tempted by the advertisement and go on to reading the small text, there is much more in store. The text starts off on the, naughty devil theme already developed by the visual imagery. The humour in the image of a vicar in The News of The World adds to the atmosphere of sheer evil. The use of brackets is another technique used which gives the reader the feeling that they are being told a secret, making them feel more involved with the text. This reinforces the effect of the use of the second person to make the reader feel personally addressed. The next part of the text tries to use words to convert the visual imagery of the pictures and colours into a sense taste. Words such as cakey-wakey, dark, bitter and sweet reinforce in the words which the readers have seen in picture, and the two together try to combine to bring the images to life. The French word, mi lange produces an exotic feeling that appeals to the average person. The combination of the words bitter and sweet, which in this contexts maybe oxymorons gives a feeling of devilish menace. The words lascivious develop the theme of being naughty and gives verbal expression to the stark crimson on a virgin white background. Immediately after this we have a reference to sensual pleasure. It seems that the makers of this advertisement are trying to sell a chocolate cake by appealing to peoples sexual desires which nowadays is a very popular technique used by producers. The sexual imagery is completed by the reference to Lolita at the end, who was a youthful twelve year old girl corrupted by an older man. In conclusion I think that the producers have been very successful in making this advertisement effective as a whole by creating strong visual imagery and reinforcing it with subtle but direct language. I feel that there is a clear and successful attempt to appeal to human weakness and carnal desire, which is arguably what makes this advertisement a successful one.

Marijuana, Medicine, and Politics :: Argumentative Persuasive Essay Examples

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstract: For the past few decades, debate has ensued over the putative medicinal value of marijuana. These claims extend back over 4000 thousand years ago to ancient civilizations on the Asian continent. More recently, some scientists experimenting with cannabis have found evidence to support these claims. However, the United States federal government has remained reluctant in supporting further research characterizing the therapeutic properties of cannabis. These policies may have been shaped by cannabis' early associations first with low-income minority groups and later with the youth movement in the 1960s. Government support of additional research is key in settling the long debate over the medicinal value of cannabis. Introduction    The government's attitude toward drugs, especially illegals ones, can be summaried in three words, "Just say No!". This has been my attitude toward drugs until I came to UC Berkeley. But now, it is time to examine the reasonings behind the legal status of drugs. Why are they illegal, and should U.S. policy concerning at least some drugs change? We will examine the history, science, and policies concerning marijuana as an example.    History of Cannabis    Marijuana refers to the cured leaves and flower clusters of Cannabis sativa, a herbaceous annual plant often called "Indian Hemp." This plant is believed to have originated in Asia, and is one of man's oldest cultivated non-food plants. In fact, this plant has been domesticated for so long that it is no longer found in its wild state. One reason that cannabis has been so widely cultivated may be its utility to mankind. Durable fibers from the woody trunk can be used to produce hemp rope and cloth such as canvas (Carroll 1989). In the past, canvas was the only known material that did not rot upon repeated exposure to seawater, and so was the major material used to produce sails. Cannabis is also one of the most efficient producers of cellulose pulp which can be used to produce paper, including paper money (WWW 1). Oil from cannabis seeds is used to prepare paints and soaps. The seeds are also edible, most commonly used as birdseed (Carroll 1989).    The earliest known detailed reference to cannabis is from a medical book prepared by the legendary Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung (circa 2700 B.C.). The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus (circa 450 B.C.), recorded a Scythian funeral purification rite that involved the inhalation of fumes of burning cannabis.

The Renaissance era of literature

The Renaissance era of literature The Renaissance era embraces the period between 14th and 16th centuries. The term Renaissance itself meaner the rebirth what in some respect is referred to the rebirth from the obscurity of middle Ages and is originated from a French word. This period has influenced all of branches of human life including religion, philosophy, politics, music, science and literature. Taking into consideration the Renaissance literature it is to be mentioned that there are generally three periods of its development.These are Early Renaissance (14th century), High Renaissance (1 5th 16th century) and Late Renaissance (16th century). The Renaissance era in literature begun from the well-known Dante Aligner's The Divine Comedy. The more important writers of the Renaissance were William Shakespeare, Thomas More, Florentine Vacation, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson, Miguel De Cervantes, Francesco Patriarch and Niccole Machiavelli. In theirs works the authors referred to t he ideals reflected in ancient civilizations like Roman or Greek. They incorporated the classical style into their own works.Religious works, lyric poetry, and drama were here major types of literature in the Renaissance era. This period is characterized by the emergence of new genre of short story. During the Renaissance great changes in world literature have occurred. The first and the most considerable one was the break with the Latin language in the literature. The writers started to write in national languages. The introduction of movable-type printing press in the 1 5th century stimulated great development of literature as well as eliminated the use of manuscripts.Comparing with previous era, books became cheaper and people in order to read a book did not have to know Latin anymore; thus, the books became more affordable in the Renaissance. The Renaissance generally and its literature particularly not only gave the brilliant group of outstanding authors to the world, but actua lly altered the course of the history as well as the literature. References Britton , J. (2006). The Renaissance: A very short introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Lewis C. (1980). Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. United Kingdom, I-J: Cambridge University Press. (Lewis, 1980)

Crime in the 21st Century: Technology and Terrorism Essay

It is an accepted fact that globalization has been a dominant development of the 21st century. Together with globalization, the major crimes in the 21st century became also global in scope and nature. The website policy-traccc. gmu. edu/ (2008) cited Louise I. Shelley, Director of George Mason University School of Public Policy as saying that â€Å"Terrorists and transnational crime groups will proliferate because these crime groups are major beneficiaries of globalization. They take advantage of increased travel, trade, rapid money movements† (1st para. ). Based from the statement, the major crimes in the 21st century in the likes of Sept. 11, 2001 of World Trade Center and the subsequent activities of Al Queda were considered as terrorist-related crimes. Terrorism which is domestic in nature was defined by www. tfft. co. uk (2008) through Boaz Ganor, an expert in the same field as â€Å"the intentional use of, or threat to use violence against civilians or against civilian targets, in order to attain political aims. †(1st para. ). Based on the definition, the target victims of domestic terrorism were the local population of a particular community or communities within a country. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General define international terrorism as â€Å"any action intended to kill or seriously harm civilians or non-combatants, with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling action by a government or international organization† (â€Å"Discussion of definitions and the possibility of amalgamation†, 4th par. ). In both definitions, the use of violence, the target are individuals or a country or an international organization and the purpose is to attain political objectives were the salient points. Related to use of violence against individuals or an international organization, experience in 9/11 bombing will tell us that the impact of terrorist act is much intense when it was done in a surprise manner. In this age of great technological advancement, it is imperative for a government to use technology to pre- empt terrorist acts which usually result to great destruction of lives and properties. In order to promote development of anti-terrorism technology, the US Congress after the 9/11 has acted decisively and passed the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act. This act provides protection to sellers, manufacturers, distributors and providers of hi-tech anti-terrorism gadgets and instruments. As a result, about 200 different companies were awarded the SAFETY Act certification. (Cafarano, 2008). This paper aims to document the availability of the latest high technology instruments, what is the principle behind such instrument and elucidate how the government is using the gadgets to 2 pre-empt surprise terrorist attacks. It was mentioned by Louise I. Shelley, Director of George Mason University School of Public Policy that terrorists usually use the benefits of globalization related to increased travel, trade and rapid money movements. This was the reason why terrorists were always associated with urban centers, buses, airplanes, airports and places where people usually congregate. The following are the popular ant- terrorism gadgets so far invented: The Anti Human-Bomb Bus In Israel and Iraq, the suicide bomber is one of the most deadly threats to innocent citizens. Numerous prevention techniques have been developed to address this problematic threat. According to Holmes, et al (2005), in Israel bus system, a new technology aimed at preventing suicide bombers from boarding a bus was invented and being used at present. This is achieved by detecting explosives from approaching passengers. Developed by Israeli Military Industries, the system takes the form of turnstile fitted with shield sensors. The sensors can detect explosives at a distance of up to a meter from the bus. When the sensor detect a suspicious passenger, the turnstile remains blocked and a red warning light flashes near the bus driver. A green light flashes when a boarding passenger is not a threat. Another turnstile at the rear of the bus allows passenger to get off the rear but not board it in cases of emergencies. The bus windows were bullet and shrapnel – proof and a communication system can allow the driver to talk to waiting passengers outside and call for help in emergencies. A bus with these features costs $25,000. 00. Rapiscan Airport Scanner This technology was developed as an answer to the improvements needed with neutron and ion detector technology (Panel on Assessment of the Practicality of Pulsed Fast Neutron Transmission Spectroscopy for Aviation Security, 2008) According to the Panel, the drawback of the two technology instruments earlier developed is that it cannot detect explosives and other materials if hidden under lead cover and plastic materials. According to Holmes, et al , the instrument was called Rapiscan Secure 1000 and function by scanning the passenger like a virtual strip search. The machine uses a low-level reflective x-ray technology to scan a person’s body through their clothing thus showing clearly metal objects like guns and explosives wrapped in plastics. Civil liberties advocates were opposed in using it due to the virtual strip effect. The technology has been considered for compulsory use in airports. The potential of people being embarrassed due to virtual strip effect of the scanner can be avoided by separating the male from female. The eXaminer This is an advanced form of Explosive Detection System (EDS) and is currency being used in the Middle East although the technology is still being perfected in the US according to Holmes,et al. The instrument is called the Examiner 3DX600 and being used to detect explosives in baggage and not from people. This instrument uses advanced Computer Tomography that result to complete 3D image reconstruction of entire bags and analyzes any potential hazards from the baggage without the need for opening it. This reduces the likelihood of exposure of staff to hazardous stuff inside the baggage. . This EDS can completely and continuously scan over 500 bags an hour. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology and Biometrics This new system is called US-VISIT. It scans photographs of the visitor’s face and index finger into a computer and matched with the criminal data base of the federal agencies. According to infowars. com (2005), the RFID technology practically is an invisible automatic ID check by the government and has long been needed in clogged border system of most countries particularly the US. With RIFD technology, people or objects are identified automatically and swiftly. The technology allow vehicles outfitted with the technology to pass through toll plazas without stopping but will be stopped in borders if their identifying data produce red flags; if otherwise, they will just be stopped for a brief check without lengthy questioning. The website declared that â€Å"U. S. officials want to see if the same technology that speeds cars through highway tolls and identifies lost pets can unclog border crossings without compromising security†. As part of the biometric data base, foreign visitors at the 50 busiest land border crossings in 10 states of the US are now being fingerprinted. The chips with identifying information will be placed in a document such as the State Department issued border crossing cards for those making regular short trips across the Mexican border. The chips can also be attached to an antenna that transmit data to a handheld or stationary reader which then converts the radio waves from the RFID tag into a code that links to identifying biometric information in a computer database of border agents. The use of biometrics which involve the physiological and behavioral characteristics for identification purposes has been initiated by the US to enhance security and identification (Batch, et al, 2006). There 4 were considerations however related to its wide scale collection like its practicality and social impact which infringe on self’s autonomy. To address the concerns, the NRC and the CIA were undertaking comprehensive assessments on current biometric capabilities and future possibilities. Summary and Conclusion It was documented that 21st century crimes were mostly international terrorism in nature and can be linked to advances in technology and globalization especially with the ease of international travel and readily available financing through electronic money transfers. Since terrorists were using the technological advances in doing their crimes to achieve their political aims, the countries were also doing its best to encourage companies and individuals to develop technologically advanced gadgets to pre-empt surprise attacks which were the very common style of terrorist activities. In the US, a total of over 200 companies were registered and given the incentive of being free from legal suit and damages for them to continue their business of inventing instruments aimed at pre-empting terrorism. Only a few newly invented gadgets were available in literature. A number of them being done by the 200 companies according to unwritten sources were highly confidential in nature and therefore no literature yet are available. This was being done by the US Defense Department so that the terrorist themselves will be surprised that their planned acts of terrorism has been long monitored and therefore will think twice before implementing their plan. Surprise attack and defense has been the name of the game against terrorists. The new gadgets documented in this paper were living proof that government is not winking their eyes even for a moment and always several steps ahead of terrorist plans. The government was aware that terrorism cannot be stopped and can only be prevented from happening for the time being but the plan and danger will always be there as experienced in 9/11 bombing. Terrorism is man- made and the inspiration which fuel terrorist acts is a product of an insane mind. This cowardice act can only survive in a society which is ill- prepared and whose ideals were blurred by the blinding light of success and achievements. After the 9/11 incident, we can no longer judge the readiness of one country towards terrorism. The technological advances made it possible to hide all the preparations and readiness in the pretext that everything is topsy-turvy and no one dares to make the first move. Technology will save us all. 5 References Batch, K. , Millett, L. , and Pato, J. (2006). Summary of a Workshop on the Technology, Policy, and Cultural Dimensions of Biometric Systems. Washington. National Academy of Sciences. 62 pp. Cafarano, J. (2008). Backgrounder #213:Fighting Terrorism, Addressing Liability: A Global Proposal. May 21, 2008. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved November 8, 2008 from http://www. heritage. org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg2138. cfm Holmes, A. , Abarra, O. , Chamberlain, A. , Chan, W. , Ho, K. , Hsiao, A. , Von Lendeiner, J. and Nusibeth, Z. (2005). Technologies for Fighting Terrorism. 2004/2005. Retrieved November 8, 2008 from http://www. tfft. co. uk/Files/Report. pdf Infowars. com (2005). Radio Technology to Fight Terrorism. TechNewsWorld. February 5, 2005. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from http://www. infowars. com/articles/bb/radio_tech_to_fight_terrorism. htm Panel on Assessment of the Practicality of Pulsed Fast Neutron Transmission Spectroscopy for Aviation Security, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council (1999). The Practicality of Pulsed Fast Neutron Transmission Spectroscopy for Aviation Security. Washington. National Academy of Sciences. 58 pp. Shelley, L. (2008). TraCC: Devoted to understanding of crime scope and causes and to formulating policy to reduce the problem. George Mason University School of Public Policy. Retrieved November 8, 2008 from http://policy-traccc. gmu. edu/ Tfft. co. uk. (ca 2007). Discussion of definitions and the possibility of amalgamation. Technologies for Fighting Terrorism. Retrieved November 8, 2008 from http://www. tfft. co. uk/ApproachEnd. htm

Eamon de Valera essays

Eamon de Valera essays Eamon de Valera, although born in New York City, in the United States of America, devoted his life to help the people of Ireland. As he once said it, If I wish to know what the Irish want, I look into my own heart. De Valera loved Ireland and its people with a deep and lasting passion. It was he, probably more than any other person in their history, who helped that country win freedom from British rule and then shaped its history well into the twentieth century. De Valeras mother, Catherine Coll, usually known as Kate, came to the states in 1879, at the young age of twenty-three. Like so many other Irish immigrants of that time, she had suffered from poverty, and even hunger, in her native land and saw America as a place where she could go to try and get a fresh start. She first took a job with a wealthy French family that was living in Manhattan. This is where and when she met Vivion Juan de Valera. He was a Spanish sculptor who came to the home of her employers to give music lessons to the children. In 1881, the couple married. A little over a year later, while living at 61 east 41st Street, Kate Coll de Valera gave birth to the couples only child. His name was Edward, called by Eddie at first, but would become known to the world by the Irish variation of that name, Eamon. Always in poor health, Vivion de Valera left his young family behind him and traveled to Colorado, hoping that perhaps the healthier air would help him out. Within a few months he died. Now a widow, Kate went back to work, leaving Eamon in the care of another woman who also had come from the tiny village of Bruree, in County Limerick. Later in his life, Eamon would remember occasional visits from, as he knew her, a woman in black, which ended up being his true mother. Kate de Valera decided that Eamon would be better cared for by her family back in Ireland. Before long he found himself away from noise of Man...

Bacon Roger

Bacon Roger Roger Bacon is an academic philosopher and scientist in the UK, one of the most influential teachers of the 13th century. He was born in 1214 at Irchester in Somerset State. Roger Bacon was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of Paris. After studying, he stayed in Paris and taught at the university in Paris for a while. When he returned to England around 1251, he entered the Franciscan religious order and lived in Oxford. He did active research and experimental work in the field of alchemy, optics, astronomy. Philosopher and theologian B Bacon, Roger (1214 - 1294) Roger Bacon was born in 1214 as a wealthy parent of Il Chester, Somerset State, England. He received education at Oxford University and then traveled to Paris. Bacon is familiar with arithmetic, astronomy, classics, geometry and music. After receiving the master of his art, he lectured at Aristotle. From 1247 to 1257 he studied alchemy and mathematics in detail. He does not believe the idea m ade by his generation of the same generation, and he does not like to do scientific experiments. He strongly opposed his beliefs. Some people think that they built the foundation of modern science in the 3 rd century. Bacon gave hints on making gunpowder. His experiment on the nature of light is remarkable. He observed the solar eclipse through a design that projects the image through a pinhole. During the school days, Bacon was strongly influenced by the Franciscan society and received a Franciscan Decree in 1255. The medieval British philosopher Roger Bacon insisted on the importance of so - called empirical science. In this respect, he is often considered a pioneer of modern science. Little is known about the details of Roger Bacon's lifetime and the chronology and inspiration of his major work. Bacon seems to have been born in Il Chester, Somerset State, England. He is not a big family, but he was born to a nobleman. When he was young, he studied works of ancient Greeks, mathema tics, geometry, astronomy and music. At the age of thirteen he entered Oxford University where he spent eight years. He eventually won a high degree in art.

Global perpective of macroecomonics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global perpective of macroecomonics - Essay Example The following diagram shows how the current account balance in the US economy had depended upon the trade balances of the nation over the years. Of all the three components of the current account, viz., trade balance, income balance and the transfer payments, the trend in the current account balances of the economy is significantly related to that of the trade balances. Hence, any deficit in the trade balances will seriously hamper the current account balance values of an economy. Since the current account balance determine the current financial asset position of an economy, a depreciating value will imply a poor status of the same that will affect the amount of financial investments into the nation and thus prospects of potential future growth. The sake of the present as well as the future of an economy is the reason for an appropriate monitoring of the trade balance status of the economy. The US economy at present is suffering from the problem of high trade deficit which must be taken care of urgently. This paper tries to focus on the causes behind the trade position of the nation, the consequences that it has on various aspects of the economy and the steps that the Federal Reserve has implemented in this regard. Trade deficit in USA, as the adjoining table suggest is found to be increasing over the years. It is also obvious from the table that, the imbalance or rather deficit is primarily due to a hike in the import purchases rather than a fall in exports. There had in fact been a significant increase in exports between 2001 and 2006, but the proportion of imports is found to have outgrown that of the exports within the nation. 1) A trade deficit in the US has often been argued by economists to be an outcome of a savings-investment imbalance within the nation. When the country had been going through a fall in aggregate savings compared to the investment potentials of the nation, other economies had been witnessing just the reverse

Auditing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Auditing - Research Paper Example This paper is a discussion of what the staff a company should expect auditors to do. The staff of a company should expect the auditors to engage in rendering an opinion of the company’s financial statement being presented fairly. The opinion is arrived at after gathering of appropriate and sufficient evidence and observation tests in accordance with GAAS. Sarbanes-Oxley Act section 302 states that the signing officers of the financial reports must review it first. According to the act also the signing officers are responsible for internal controls and must have evaluated them within the previous ninety days. This is in accordance to the financial reporting framework and all material aspects (Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002). The staff should expect the audit to provide information to investors and lenders that will boost the degree of confidence in the financial statements. Auditors have the responsibility of understanding and evaluating the internal control system. The staff in an organization should adopt sound accounting policies for establishing and maintaining internal control (Cangemi & Singleton, 2003). This will help to process and report transactions that are consistence with management assertions embodied in financial statements. As per the Sarbanes-Oxley Act section 401, the staffs are expected to publish accurate financial statements and present them in manner that is correct. The auditors are thus able to determine the practices established by the company are implemented as planned (Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002). Auditors are also responsible of observing the inventory count and performing analytical procedures on expected variances in accounting balances. Some of the procedures that auditors use are interviewing the leadership of an organization. This entails the senior management and the board of directors. The purpose of the interview is to ensure the top level management has an understanding

The five functions of management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The five functions of management - Essay Example The five functions of management This function enables the managers to distribute authority to individual job holders or other employees (Martin and Fellenz 1-75). Controlling can be seen as a four step process of establishing performance standards based on the company’s mission and objectives, measuring and reporting of actual performance, comparing the two and taking of other corrective or preventive actions that may be deemed necessary to solve a particular problem. The main purpose of controlling is to identify deviations from the objectives and taking corrective action (French, Rayner and Rees 12-25). Directing refers to the ability to influence people’s behavior through the motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. The aim of directing is to channel the behavior of all the personnel to accomplish the organization’s mission and objectives while at the same time helping them accomplish their own career objectives (French, Rayner and Rees 12-25). Staffing is fillin g and keeping filled with qualified people all the positions in the business. Some of the specific activities included in this function include recruiting, hiring, training, evaluating and compensating employees. In order to carry out this function properly a manger will liaise with the human resource department. The use of incentives has been seen as advantageous because they encourage and promote appropriate safe behavior among employees at the work place. It is a way that companies are able to demonstrate that they care for their employees and recognizes those who work safely. Secondly long term behavior can be changed through awareness and the provision of financial rewards for proper behavior and this will result in improved morale and reduced worker compensation costs. Third safety incentive programs reduce accidents at the work place as they encourage employees to work in safe conditions (Princhard). The disadvantages of safety incentive programs are that, first they do not o bligate any changes in the existing processes or procedures. Accidents are generally as a combination of some unsafe conditions and therefore by giving employees rewards they try to minimize accidents but the sane processes are still in existence. Incentives also ignore reasons such that they deflect attention from real issues and can disguise genuine deficiencies, flaws or safety management process within the organization. Third incentives are based on a wrong assumption that is unsafe acts. They assume that accidents are intentional acts and that these incentives will cause employees to stop behaving improperly which is wrong (Princhard). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is a theory of motivation that is used to explain the spectrum of human behavior. He proposed that motivation is a function of five basic needs – physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. He said that these categories are arranged in a hierarchy- that human needs emerge in a predictable stair-step fashion. When one need is satisfied another need up in the ladder emerges or is activated. The process continues until the need for self-actualization is activated (Harold Koontz 290-98). Physiological needs include the following: food, water, warmth, rest and shelter. Safety needs include the

Can We Trust Our Senses? Essay

Can We Trust Our Senses? Essay The absolute truth is a journey that leads to never-before experienced realms. The end of this road could never be reached and even the best man will only go a few steps in the right direction. To determine what the truth is and what it is not, a reliability is placed upon what we identify from our senses. This is the standard approach that we as humans take but, it is not necessarily the correct one. Many problems came up when establishing the truth based on our senses and thus they can rarely be fully trusted, this is what we can say when taking bad decisions. Sense is scientifically defined as any of the faculties by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt, as the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium.  [1]  Senses are important in our lives. We are born with them and we would not be able to live without them, but we have a problem with them we can not identify whether they are true or not. Whether they tell us the truth. We are able to see, hear, touch, smell but we are not aware how much these senses matter to us, we are not able to use them properly. Our senses work best in trying to prove if something stimulating our knowledge of reality, not if what we know is absolutely true, but rather if a new truth stimulates known truths, and the old ways remain the same way. Experience that has been done with our senses previously lets us know that something is not working quietly good. Our actual senses convey the physical world to the extent they can do it without being tricked they are mechanisms, they do not understand and interpret, they give us complete information. Our sensory areas in the brain immediately start to simplify this information till we can attach meaning to it. From that point on the information is interpreted as truth( not counting the wavelength, certain pitches, because this would make a minor difference to our understanding of truth). There has always been a problem in distinguishing between something that is true and  something that is not true, because how exactly do we know if its true or if its not. In this  essay truth is going to be defined as conformity with fact or reality; verity.  [2]  Truth can be  defined by senses, however it is very hard to say that form the definition. For example lets  have two brothers Andy and Harry. Andy and Harry have the same perfumes and wear the  same clothes. Harrys friend thought he saw and smelled Harry passing by but actually it was  Andy. We can now say that our senses are not right, because as the friend smelled Harrys  perfumes and saw the clothes of Harry his senses were wrong it was Andy which passed by. This example is showing that senses can tell us truth, only on certain grounds. So there are five definite senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Going back to the essential question, When should we trust our senses to give us truth? In other words, in what aspects of our life can we trust ourselves to understand the true reality of what we believe is happening? Must we really rely on our sense perception for everything? The functioning of all the senses may give us true, but isnt true based on our perception A good example of the above statement is the belief in God we believe in him but actually we dont see him. So do we really trust our senses if we believe in God. We can not see him we can not hear him we can not touch him and we believe in him, also here is the truth in that. So do we really relay on our senses and do they really tell us the truth? Now what causes that is that the faith and for us that becomes the ultimate truth. Another example would be when you have a cold or you are sick can you still trust your senses? If you have a blocked nose then you can not smell anything, so should you still trust your sense of smell? Or should you just ignore that and trust the other senses. A well known philosopher A.J. Ayer. A.J. Ayer (1910-1989) was only 24 when he wrote the book that made his philosophical name, Language, Truth, and Logic (hereafter LTL), that was published in 1936. This book defines, explains, and argues for the logical positivsm, sometimes referred to as the criterio n of significance or criterion of meaning  [3]  . It explains how problems might be solved by the principle of verifiablity. In these views Ayer saw himself as continuing in the line of British empiricism established by Locke and Hume, whose representative was Russell. Throughout A.J Ayer subsequent career he remained with his traditions rejection of the possibility of synthetic a priori knowledge. He saw philosophy method to be the analysis of the meaning of key terms, such as causality, truth, knowledge, freedom.  [4]  . He has investigated the concept justified true belief. Ayer has argued that existence is not a predicate( what is a predicate? In the sentence. Alex is slow is slow is the predicate) A persons sense of perception isnt exactly true that the object exists. Using the above example is Alex exists or not this does not change the fact that the perceive of Alex is slow. Basically what he was trying to say that for something that has to be known, it has to be beli eved, justified( senses for example) and true. The difficulty is proving if something is true or not for example in science we dont prove something we just support it. There is also the question how to test for accuracy which also can make our true different, so for example if we have a really accurate results for testing truth this can lead us to finding out what is truth actually. There is another theory of knowledge known as justified racialism this thory is about that where in order for a knowledge claim to be knowledge it has to be believed, true and justified according to a reliable cognitive process there is a lot of debate over what constitutes a reliable cognitive process and in particular about whether the senses are trustworthy enough to be this process  [5]  . Summarising your senses are the inner being of our souls and that is what needs to be used fist. Trust can be broken our senses tell us when something is wrong and if we chose to ignore our senses and trust what someone is telling us we can end up being hurt and if we go on emotions boy, children get hurt many times when they feel that bad and trust that a bad person with a sob story will tell them. This is when they do not trust their senses for example if their hand is hurting and their friend tells them to play they ignore their senses and just continue playing then they sib at home, due to the fact that the hand is hurting and they cant play football any more, because their hand is broken. So we do need to trust our senses. But our senses as I said before never give us true they give as data which we can use or ignore as the kid in the story above. Truth is not something we sense, it is something we recognize. The data that our senses give us is pretty accurate, we just have to k now how to use it correctly. On the other hand our interpretation of that data is many times in error. Emotion is the bodys reaction to thought, I will again use the example of the boy playing football he didnt trust his senses he kept playing football and after when he came back home he couldnt lay any more football, his body reacted to his emotion, the hand was hurting. We can trust the information that emotion imparts only as far as we have been able to become aware of how it operates in our lives. All emotion is giving us information about ourselves and the best way of accepting that is to know our way of living. If we know our reaction to emotions we know ourselves. Concluding we can not identify if we should trust our senses or not, sometimes we should trust our senses and sometimes there are situations that we should not trust our senses.

Essay example --

In the analysis of environmental samples, advances in instrumentation have allowed laboratories to routinely report sample results into the parts per billion (ppb) range, but this is sometimes insufficient to meet project goals. This article will illustrate a technique that can be used to increase the sensitivity of the mass selective detector, and thereby lower the reporting limit of GC/MS methods such as EPA 8260 for VOCs, or EPA 8270 for SVOCs. The technique is called selected ion monitoring, or SIM, and is specific to the operation of the mass selective detector (MSD). Before describing the advantages and disadvantages of the SIM technique, a brief overview of the principles of operation of the MSD is in order. The MSD is a two-part instrument, comprised of a filter stage and a signal processing, or detection stage. Analytes that have been separated on the gas chromatograph (GC) enter the MSD and encounter a beam of electrons that ionize the analyte molecule into reproducible fragments, each having characteristic properties of mass and charge that allow them to be separated in the filter stage of the MSD. At any point in time, only fragments with the allowed mass to charge ratio (m/z) will pass through the filter and are counted in the detector stage of the MSD. In scan mode, the filter operates dynamically, sequentially scanning m/z ions between the upper and lower limits of m/z specified by the analyst. A full-range spectrum of several hundred m/z ions (specified as atomic mass units, or AMU) is typically scanned in this way. The filter cycles through the m/z range at radio frequencies (109 cycles per second), so each ion in the fragmentation pattern is counted billions of times. The sens itivity of the detector is directly ... ... quant ion. The analyst must be aware of this in order to avoid reporting false or inflated values. Another disadvantage is that the analyte list must be drastically reduced from the 50+ analytes typically reported in a GC/MS analysis. In SIM mode, the detector must be programmed to look for a specific m/z ion (the quant ion) at any particular point in time. Each unknown analyte that is separated on the GC and enters the MSD may potentially have a unique quant ion, so detector limitations come into play for any analyte list that has more than 15 to 20 analytes. Finally, the MSD detector operated in SIM mode is not capable of identifying unknowns or tentatively identified compounds (TICs). SIM analysis is a powerful tool, but one that must be used carefully. Please contact your project manager at Kiff Analytical if you would like further information on SIM analysis

Public Administration and Management Essay

Introduction Public administration in Britain takes place through a variety of state agencies with varying histories, functions, as well as patterns of political control and accountability. These comprise the civil service; a large number of local bureaucracies serving an elective system of local government; another massive organization administering the National Health Service (NHS) and, under the acronym ‘quango’, a diverse range of organizations responsible for a assortment of administrative, consultative, advisory in addition to regulatory roles. In addition there is a compound of tribunals, inquiries, an ombudsman system and the judiciary, which together dispense administrative justice. The architecture of the modern state was drawn mainly in the nineteenth century, when the rising industrial bourgeoisie required a means of supporting the emerging capitalist economy. A number of major reports and Acts of Parliament offered blueprints for a competent and meritocratic modern civil service and the system of carefully managed municipalities. Reconstruction following the Second World War added a new layer to the modern state with the making of a inclusive welfare state, including the NHS, and the nationalization of a number of chief industries in the form of public corporations. From the 1980s an additional chapter was opened, as the post-war Keynesian beliefs were challenged in the rise of neo-liberalism under the government of Margaret Thatcher. The bureaucratic terrain was re-landscaped, part of a procedure distinguished as a ‘hollowing out’ of the state (Rhodes 1994; 1997). Even though talk of reform had long featured on the political program, the public bureaucracies had established a renowned capacity to resist change. However, this time the thoughts were backed by resolute political will. A significant intellectual dynamic came from interpretation based on rational individuality under the name of public choice theory (Niskanen 1973). This was usually suspicious of public bureaucracies, which were seen as principally self serving. Much of the practical reform in structure and management was stirred by the model of the private sector, where it was reasoned that the restraint of the profit motive secured greater efficiency, effectiveness as well as economy. The oratory spoke of ‘reinventing government’ (Osborne and Gaebler 1992); though to critics it emerged as abandoning government in an anti-statist crusade. A program of privatization cut sheathe through the state industrial sector while giving rise to a new generation of regulatory agencies. Much of the civil service was recast into a compound of agencies with a greater level of autonomy from the centre, and the collection of quangos began to grow as responsibilities for a variety of functions were transferred from the realm of elected local government. Indeed, processes of market testing as well as compulsory competitive tendering saw the stipulation of certain services passing from the state altogether and into the hands of the private sector. The arrival of a Labour Government in 1997 did little to stem the tide of change. Furthermore, this new government occasioned further seismic shifts through devolution to Scotland and Wales. Great Britain includes the nations of England, Wales and Scotland, while the United Kingdom extends the embrace to Northern Ireland. These cultural forms were recognized in an outline of administrative regionalism. For long this motivated little political feeling; only in Northern Ireland were separatist tensions felt. Nonetheless, during the 1980s, nationalist movements gathered speed in both Wales and Scotland; this sequentially generated some pressure towards English regionalism. Thus the state has been forced to concern itself with issues of territorial management and make some chief allowances to diversity (Thompson, 1997). Rooted in a history dating from the take-over of Ireland by the Tudors and re-conquest first by Cromwell and later by the Protestant William of Orange, Northern Ireland dwarfs all other territorial problems of UK Government. Coming to office in the year 1997, Tony Blair’s first official journey was to Ulster and Sinn Fein was invited into new peace talks. After indirect negotiations, which included some mediation from US President Bill Clinton, an agreement was reached which included: A Northern Ireland assembly of 108 elected by PR with legislative powers under an all-party executive A North-South Ministerial Council to reflect on issues for instance cross-border co-operation The Irish Government to give up constitutional claims to Northern Ireland and Westminster to reinstate the Government of Ireland Act A Council of the Isles comprising members from the north and south of Ireland and the Scottish and Welsh assemblies There were also to be releases of prisoners in addition to a decommissioning of arms. The agreement was effectively put to referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic in May 1998. Elections were held, but advancement began to slow down. Scotland and Wales In the UK mainland, Wales and Scotland had been governed as provinces from London, with Secretaries of State in the Cabinet and Grand Committees in Parliament. Public administration in the provinces came under Whitehall outposts, the Welsh and Scottish Offices. Nonetheless, from 1979 an extremely centralizing government heightened a mood of separatism, placing strains on the veracity of the state which were to go off in tectonic constitutional shifts in 1998. The configuration of the two new assemblies was intended to release a safety valve on the separatist pressure. On the other hand, opinion polls began to show rising support for the SNP and its objective of complete Scottish independence in the background of the EU. Comparable murmurings were heard in Wales, a country that had done very fine from its European involvement (Jones 1997). Labor’s central machine showed an enthusiastic concern to have its chosen men as the leaders of the provincial parties (and hence first ministers in the assemblies) representing a keen aspiration to keep the provinces under the Westminster wing. Nonetheless, when the elections by the additional member system (d’Hondt version) to the new assemblies were held on 6 May 1999, the Labour Party, with 28 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd, and 59 of Scotland’s 129-seat assembly, failed to win unconditional majorities in either province. A future of alliance government loomed. furthermore, with 17 seats in Wales and 35 in Scotland, the nationalists were second placed in both cases, possibly presaging further separatist pressure (Drewry, & Butcher, 1991). England Devolution debate reverberated into England with requirements for regional independence. A political split was opening as from the early 1980s voting patterns gradually more revealed the Conservatives as a party of the southeast. past the ballot box an economic split yawned as huge deindustrialization and the collapse of mining confounded communities in the north. The economic forecasting organization, the Henley Centre, found per capita income in the south-east to be 20 per cent higher than in the rest of Britain (Wagstyl 1996). A European Commission report of November 1996 established that, while post-war economic revival had closed the poverty gaps between Western Europe’s states, wide dissimilarities remained between regions, the greatest being within the UK.   The British public sector, with numerous of its customs cast in the nineteenth century, has for long been criticized as managerially incompetent. The post-war era saw repeated efforts at reform all through the public sector, though few made any lasting notion before the 1980s. Ever since this time there has been something of a revolution as what was phrased a ‘new public management’ movement became a familiar international influence (Hood 1991; Lowndes 1997). It was to send shivers to the very foundations of the state, reforming structures as well as practices. The nineteenth-century reforms recognized a custom of elitist generalism and social superiority in which Oxbridge graduates schooled in the classics were to lead the upper reaches of the state bureaucracy. This was to stimulate substantial post-war debate. The onset in office of a Labour Government in 1964 pledged revolution and the 1968 Fulton Committee set up by Harold Wilson criticized the ‘cult of the amateur’. It resulted in the formation of a Civil Service Department (CSD) in Whitehall to supervise managerial reforms all through the service, and the establishment of a Civil Service College to offer continuing operating training. One proposal which failed to stimulate was that entrants should hold relevant degrees: the place of the ‘generalist’ administrator remained unassailed. In the 1990s, Richards (1996) initiated the generalists’ promotion prospects still significantly brighter than those of the specialist. In the interim, the Civil Service College had fallen well short of the determined position envisaged for it and the CSD had been ignominiously wipe out from the bureaucratic map. Not until Thatcher took the bit between her teeth did a grave breakthrough come. In her first year of office an Efficiency Unit was set up headed by Sir Derek Rayner of the retail giant Marks & Spencer. He initiated a system of ‘scrutinies’ in which competence teams studied recognized practices and suggested reforms, an initiative which achieved more than anything before (Hennessy 1990:619). Even so, the reforms did not go far enough for those of a fundamental bent. An even greater culture shock was to come when Robin Ibbs took over the Efficiency Unit and produced the 1988 report, ‘Improving Management in Government: The Next Steps’. This was the report which led to the recasting of the Civil Service as executive agencies. Despite its structural impact the intent in this initiative was essentially managerial (Elcock 1991:236-42). Once established, the new chief executives were given a free rein to introduce a wide range of management practices such as performance-related pay and short-term contracts in the quest for efficiency. A special unit was created in the Cabinet Office to maintain the reforming impetus. The government also assisted developments by abolishing the Northcote-Trevelyan model of centralized recruitment through the independent Civil Service Commission for some 95 per cent of appointments. Responsibility was to lie with the various departments and agencies themselves. A Recruitment and Assessment Service was created to offer central assistance if required although, amidst heated controversy, this itself was privatized in 1991. The result was a variety of terms and conditions of employment throughout the service. There were limits to the revolution. Government radicals had wanted the reforms to reach the senior mandarins, subjecting them to short-term contracts, market-testing and large-scale appointments from the private sector on the ‘revolving-door’ principle. For most civil servants, anticipating a life insulated from the chill winds of the market economy, much of the managerial reform process was demoralizing. While academics in the right-wing think tanks applauded the changes, many other academic critics saw in the quest for efficiency serious threats to the fundamental public service ethos (Elcock 1991:188; Chapman and O’Toole 1995). There was some feeling that the reforms reflected governmental antagonism towards civil servants as much as a quest for improved management; the term ‘deprivileging’ was sometimes heard. The Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee noted that in 1992/3,  £768 million worth of activities out of the  £1.119 billion subjected to market testing were contracted out without civil servants even being allowed to make in-house bids. The traditional management structure in local government entailed separate departments responsible for the provision of various services, each headed by a chief officer and responsible to a particular council committee. A legion of post-war critics saw this as slow, cumbersome and diffuse. A major debate in the 1960s concerned a corporate management model in which a powerful chief executive would displace the traditional town clerk to give strong leadership at the centre. Councilors, faced with a palpable loss of power, proved resistant and traditional practices persisted, although often under the camouflage of some changed nomenclature. New impetus came with the Thatcher regime and was elaborated under John Major (Kingdom 1999). Looking as always to the private sector, much was made of the concept of the ‘enabling authority’; the emphasis was not on the direct provision services but on contracting them out to the private and voluntary sectors. Such a practice was by no means new but, from the late 1980s, it became central to government policy, with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) introduced for an ever-widening range of functions, from refuse collection to professional, legal and accounting responsibilities. A policy of care in the community, coming into force in April 1993, added impetus by requiring local authorities to make use of private and voluntary-sector residential homes for their widening community care responsibilities. In opposition Labour had poured scorn on the policy; in government it maintained the contracting out principle under the term ‘Best Value’. The managerial implications in CCT were profound. Although local responses varied with political complexion, few authorities could remain untouched by the culture shift. Even where there was no stomach for contracting out, teams of officials had to endure considerable stress in producing competitive in-house bids in order to keep their jobs. Colleagues found themselves in competitive relationships with each other, some becoming contractors and others providers (Audit Commission 1993). Moreover, the drawing up and monitoring of contracts required the skills of lawyers and accountants rather than elected councilors. Major’s Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine produced a consultation document, The Internal Management of Local Authorities, stressing that the control and co-ordination of large workforces would no longer be the central management task. The paper looked for speedy decision-making and strong leadership, advocating local cabinets, appointed council managers or, most radically, directly elected US-style mayors with high public profiles. The latter had held little appeal to Heseltine’s party but, in a February 1998 consultation paper, Modernizing Local Government: Local Democracy and Community Leadership, the new Labour Government declared itself ‘very attracted’ to the model of a strong directly elected mayor (para 5.14). The promised Greater London Authority was seen as a suitable flagship for innovation. Here the mayor, served by three or four deputies and a small bureaucracy of around 250, would set policy objectives and an annual budget (of some  £3.3 billion). The role of the councilors in the assembly would be approving rather than determining the budget. Responsibilities of the new mayor would include public transport, the fire brigade, strategic planning, trunk roads, traffic management, the ambulance service and possibly the arts. In addition, responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Force would be taken over from the Home Secretary. The potential power of the new office would be considerable, and both main parties showed alarm as the names of some of their more maverick members were canvassed. For Labour leader Tony Blair, the nightmare candidate appeared to be the left-wing Ken Livingstone, ex-leader of the old GLC and extremely popular with Londoners. The nightmare became reality in May 2000. There was an expectation that this model would be extended to other major cities. All 494 councils were asked to submit plans to central government showing how they would separate the decision-making role from that of representing constituents. Three options were offered: †¢ a leader elected by the council who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected executive mayor who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected mayor working with a full-time manager appointed by the council Conclusion The general election of May 1997 saw the end of an 18-year period of Conservative rule during which the administrative landscape of the state had been radically recast. Few corners of the public sector could be said to have escaped some aspect of the winds of change which included privatization, agencification, CCT, market-testing, public-private partnership ventures, the emergence by stealth of the ‘new magistracy’ and the general spread of a private-sector managerial ethos. In opposition, the Labour Party had maintained a prolonged crusade against most of the reforms, and many supporters had looked forward to the advance of the political bulldozers to level the ground. In power the party kicked off with a number of significant constitutional moves over devolution, the electoral system, the ECHR, the House of Lords, the Bank of England and the reform of local government. However, the party in power termed itself New Labour and preservation orders appeared over the recently privatized sector; indeed further privatizations were soon mooted in the cases of the Royal Mint and Air Traffic Control, and the remodeled Civil Service and NHS. In local government grant-maintained schools remained under the term ‘foundation schools’, and the replacement of CCT with ‘Best Value’ was, in the eyes of critics, little more than cosmetic (Theakston, & Fry, 1998). Moreover, there remained something very much like a capping regime over local government expenditure. In managerial terms, the three Es of effectiveness, economy and efficiency continued as the holy trinity. As the millennium closed it was safe to say that, while the British public sector would remain in the state of flux allowed by its vague and unwritten constitution, the substructure had seen some tectonic shifts from which there would be little reversal.   Reference: Audit Commission (1993) Realising the Benefits of Competition: The Client Role forContracted Services, London: HMSO. Birkinshaw, P. (1997) ‘Freedom of information’, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:164-81. Chapman, R.A. and Toole, B.J. (1995) ‘The role of the civil service: a traditional view in a period of change’, Public Policy and Administration, 10, 2:3-20. Elcock, H. (1991) Change and Decay: Public Administration in the 1990s, Harlow: Longman. Hennessy, P. (1990) Whitehall, London: Fontana.   Hood, C. (1991) ‘A public management for all seasons’, Public Administration, 69, 1: 3-19. Jones, B. (1997) ‘Wales: a developing political economy’, in M. Keating and J. Loughlin (eds), The Political Economy of Regionalism, London: Frank Cass. Kingdom, J. (1999) ‘Centralisation and fragmentation: John Major and the reform of Local Government’, in P. Dorey (ed.), The Major Premiership, Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp 45-7. Klug, F., Starmer, K. and Weir, S. (1996) ‘Civil liberties and the parliamentary watchdog: the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994’, Parliamentary Affairs, 49, 4:536-49.   Lowndes, V. (1997) ‘Change in public service management: new institutions and new managerial regimes’, Local Government Studies, 23, 2:42-66.   Mandelson, P. and Liddle, R. (1996) The Blair Phenomenon: Can New Labour Deliver? London: Faber.    Nicholson, E. (1996) Secret Society, London: Indigo. Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T. (1992) Reinventing Government, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1994) ‘The hollowing out of the state: the changing nature of the public service in Britain’, Political Quarterly, 65:138-51. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance,Reflexivity and Accountability, Buckingham: Open University Press.   Richards, D. (1996) ‘Recruitment to the highest grades in the civil service-drawing the curtains Open’, Public Administration, 74, 4:657-77. Wagstyl, S. (1996) ‘Nice work if you can get it’, The. Financial Times, 18 December, 23. Theakston, K. and Fry, G.K. (1998) ‘Britain’s administrative elite: permanent secretaries 1900-1986’, Public Administration, 67, 2:129-48.   Ã‚   Thompson, B. (1997) ‘Conclusion: judges as trouble-shooters’, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:182-9.   Drewry, G. and Butcher, T. (1991) The Civil Service Today (2nd edn), Oxford: Blackwell.