Michelle Morano’s “Grammar Lessons: The Subjunctive Mood” Essay

The essay â€Å"Grammar Lessons: The Subjunctive Mood† by Michele Morano is a work that parallels the Spanish language and life. In the story, Michele reveals a little about herself as a character in the essay. She offers the reader a glimpse into an extravagant daydream into the locales of exotic Spain in which she hopes to one day visit to escape her husband whom had recently tried to kill himself. Throughout her fantastic tale, she encounters many unusual characters and proceeds to compare aspects of the Spanish language such as clauses like, ‘si’ and ‘como si’ (Morano 111), and ‘verbs of doubt and emotion’ (114) to the complexities of life. As I first began reading the essay, I was puzzled that Morano chose to ‘speak’ in the second tense as it is a rare form of writing, especially for a non-persuasive essay. While she was using her own experiences to provide the reader with an imaginary world, she wrote as though she hoped her audience would find themselves in her shoes. I also found it difficult to understand Morano’s style of writing because of her choice to use the future tense. I was able to grasp the concept that this extravagant adventure had not occurred yet, but I found it difficult to insert myself in her whimsical, romantic production. Once I began reading the essay and analyzing it, however, I took a liking to her ‘what-if’ style of writing. It suited the topic matter very well. Morano was able to equate the Spanish language with life beautifully with her writing style and extensive use of imagery. While I enjoyed the style of writing very much, the essay itself left me tentative on weather or not I enjoyed the piece as a whole. I am very familiar with the Spanish language, but I believe Morano could have clarified each educational segment a little further. As amusing as it was to brush up on high school Spanish, I found the presentation of the content in the text itself very confusing. I am uncertain that I would have enjoyed the piece as much had I not taken Spanish in earlier years of schooling. I also found it distracting how Morano would switch from her ‘grammar lessons’ to her fantasy life in Spain so abruptly. Beginning to read the piece, I was unsure of whether or not Morano had actually lived these experiences she was writing about, or if they were a thoughtful delusion of the future. For example, while reading about Morano’s encounter with the swimmer (110), I  found myself being pulled into the reverie of this romance in Spain; and suddenly I would be brought back to this lackluster high school Spanish class. And while Morano did provide the reader with a comparison from the language to the event itself, the change seemed so abrupt that it left me displeased. I also could have gone without the jumping back and forth between Morano’s life with her depressed husband and her musing of a life in Spain. While I do believe that her history with her husband was pivotal to the back story, I found the bouncing between her Spanish daydream and her real life experiences with her husband very distracting. I consider it would have suited the essay better had Morano simply used that as an introduction and left it at that. One feature of the essay that I enjoyed, although, was the fact that Morano took something as lifeless as the Spanish language and seemed to enliven it to the reader. I find it very rare that an author is able to put life into something as cold as grammatical concepts, especially in a different language. Morano, through her experiences in Spain, was able to provide the reader with a looking glass into a world where language isn’t just language and grammar isn’t just grammar but they’re part of being alive. She is able to convey to the reader that while details such as how to express emotion in Spanish would seem tedious any other point, experiences such as sleeping with a stranger in Spain unexpectedly brings out these ‘grammatical elements’ of human nature such as doubt and excitement (115). As a whole, I did enjoy the essay. I found Morano’s use of descriptions and interactions between characters very intriguing. I was able to sympathize with Morano as a character through her internal struggle of leaving the man that she had been with for a long while for a fresh start in Spain. Morano, Michele. â€Å"The Best American Essays.† Grammar Lessons: the Subjunctive Mood. Ed. Lauren Slater. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 107-121. Grammar Lessons: The Subjunctive Mood

Scientific Method Essay

The scientific method has four steps 1. Observation and description of a phenomenon. The observations are made visually or with the aid of scientific equipment. 2. Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon in the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. 3. Test the hypothesis by analyzing the results of observations or by predicting and observing the existence of new phenomena that follow from the hypothesis. If experiments do not confirm the hypothesis, the hypothesis must be rejected or modified (Go back to Step 2). 4. Establish a theory based on repeated verification of the results. The subject of a scientific experiment has to be observable and reproducible. Observations may be made with the unaided eye, a microscope, a telescope, a voltmeter, or any other apparatus suitable for detecting the desired phenomenon. The invention of the telescope in 1608 made it possible for Galileo to discover the moons of Jupiter two years later. Other scientists confirmed Galileo’s observations and the course of astronomy was changed. However, some observations that were not able to withstand tests of objectivity were the canals of Mars reported by astronomer Percival Lowell. Lowell claimed to be able to see a network of canals in Mars that he attributed to intelligent life in that planet. Bigger telescopes and satellite missions to Mars failed to confirm the existence of canals. This was a case where the observations could not be independently verified or reproduced, and the hypothesis about intelligent life was unjustified by the observations. To Lowell’s credit, he predicted the existence of the planet Pluto in 1905 based on perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. This was a good example of deductive logic. The application of the theory of gravitation to the known planets predicted that they should be in a different position from where they were. If the law of gravitation was not wrong, then something else had to account for the variation. Pluto was discovered 25 years later. Limitations of the Scientific Method Science has some well-known limitations. Science works by studying problems in isolation. This is very effective at getting good, approximate solutions. Problems outside these artificial boundaries are generally not addressed. The consistent, formal systems of symbols and mathematics used in science cannot prove all statements, and furthermore, they cannot prove all TRUE statements. Kurt Godel showed this in 1931. The limitations of formal logical systems make it necessary for scientists to discard their old systems of thought and introduce new ones occasionally. Newton’s gravitational model works fairly well for everyday physical descriptions, but it is not able to account for many important observations. For this reason, it has been replaced by Einstein’s general theory of relativity for most celestial phenomena. Instead of talking about gravity, we now are supposed to talk about the curvature of the four-dimensional time-space continuum. Scientific observations are also subject to physical limits that may prevent us from finding the ultimate truth. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to determine simultaneously the position and momentum of an elementary particle. So, if we know the location of a particle we cannot determine its velocity, and if we know its velocity we cannot determine its location. Jacob Bronowski wrote that nature is not a gigantic formalizable system because to formalize it we would have to make some assumptions that cut some of its parts from consideration, and having done that, we cannot have a system that embraces the whole of nature. The application of the scientific method is limited to independently observable, measurable events that can be reproduced. The scientific method is also applicable to random events that have statistical distributions. In atomic chemistry, for example, it is impossible to predict when one specific atom will decay and emit radiation, but it is possible to devise theories and formulas to predict when half of the atoms of a large sample will decay. Irreproducible results cannot be studied by the scientific method. There was one day when many car owners reported that the alarm systems of their cars were set off at about the same time without any apparent cause. Automotive engineers were not able to discover the reason because the problem could not be reproduced. They hypothesized that it could have been radio interference from a passing airplane, but they could not prove it one way or another. Mental conceptual experiences cannot be studied by the scientific method either. At this time there is no instrumentation that enables someone to monitor what anybody else conceives in their mind, although it is possible to determine which part of the brain is active during any given task. It is not possible to define experiments to determine objectively which works of art are â€Å"great†, or whether Picasso was better than Matisse. So-called miracles are also beyond the scientific method. A person has tumors and faces certain death, and then, the tumors start shrinking and the person becomes healthy. What brought about the remission? A change in diet? A change in mental attitude? It is impossible to go back in time to monitor all variables that could have caused the cure, and it would be unethical to plant new tumors into the person to try to reproduce the results for a more careful study. Critical Thinking The scientific method relies on critical thinking, which is the process of questioning common beliefs and explanations to distinguish those beliefs that are reasonable and logical from those which lack adequate evidence or rational foundation. Arguments consists of one or more premises and one conclusion. A premise is a statement that is offered in support of a claim being made. Premises and claims can be either true or false. In deductive arguments the premises provide complete support for the conclusion. If the premises provide the required degree of support for the conclusion then the argument is valid, and if all its premises are true, then the conclusion must be true. In inductive arguments the premises provide some degree of support for the conclusion. When the premises of inductive arguments are true, their conclusion is likely to be true. Arguments that have one or more false premises are unsound. Fallacies Arguments are subject to a variety of fallacies. A fallacy is an error in reasoning in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support. A deductive fallacy is a deductive argument where the premises are all true but reach a false conclusion. An inductive fallacy consist of arguments where the premises do not provide enough support for the conclusion. In such cases, even if the premises are true, the conclusion is not likely to be true. Common fallacies are categorized by their type, such as Ad Hominem (personal attack), and appeals to authority, belief, fear, ridicule, tradition, etc. An example of an Ad Hominem fallacy would be to say â€Å"You do not understand this because you are American (or Chinese, etc. â€Å". The national origin of a person (the premise) has nothing to do with the conclusion that a person can understand something or not, therefore the argument is flawed. Appeals to ridicule are of the form: â€Å"You would be stupid to believe that the earth goes around the sun†. Sometimes, a naive or false justification may be added in appeals to ridicule, such as â€Å"we can plainly see the sun go around the earth every day†. Appeals to authority are of the form â€Å"The president of the United States said this, therefore it must be true†. The fact that a famous person, great person, or authority figure said something is not a valid basis for something being true. Truth is independent of who said it. Types of Evidence Evidence is something that provides proof concerning a matter in question. Direct or Experimental evidence. The scientific methods relies on direct evidence, i. e. , evidence that can be directly observed and tested. Scientific experiments are designed to be repeated by other scientists and to demonstrate unequivocably the point that they are trying to prove by controlling all the factors that could influence the results. A scientist conducts an experiment by varying a single factor and observing the results. When appropriate, â€Å"double blind† experiments are conducted to avoid the possibility of bias. If it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of a drug, an independent scientist will prepare the drug and an inert substance (a placebo), identifying them as A and B. A second scientist selects two groups of patients with similar characteristics (age, sex, etc. ), and not knowing which is the real drug, administers substance A to one group of patients and substance B to the second group of patients. By not knowing whether A or B is the real drug, the second scientist focuses on the results of the experiment and can make objective evaluations. At the end of the experiment, the second scientist should be able to tell whether the group receiving substance A showed improvements over those receiving substance B. If no effect can be shown, the drug being tested is ineffective. Neither the second scientist nor the patients can cheat by favoring one substance over another, because they do not know which is the real drug. Anecdotal, Correlational, or Circumstantial Evidence. Where there is smoke, there is fire† is a popular saying. When two things occur together frequently, it is possible to assume that there is a direct or causative relationship between them, but it is also possible that there are other factors. For example, if you get sick every time that you eat fish and drink milk, you could assume that you are allergic to fish. However, you may be allergic to milk, or only to the combination of fish with milk. Correlational evidence is good for developing hypotheses that can then be tested with the proper experiments, e. g. drink milk only, eat fish only, eat fish and milk together. There is nothing wrong with using representative cases to illustrate an inductive conclusion drawn from a fair sample. The problem arises when a single case or a few selected cases are used to draw a conclusion which would not be supported by a properly conducted study. Argumentative Evidence consists of evaluating facts that are known and formulating a hypothesis about what the facts imply. Argumentative evidence is notoriously unreliable because anybody can postulate a hypothesis about anything. This was illustrated above with the example about the â€Å"channels† of Mars implying intelligent life. The statement â€Å"I heard a noise in the attic, it must be a ghost† also falls in this category. Testimonial Evidence. A famous football player appears on television and says that Drug-XYZ provides relief from pain and works better than anything else. You know that the football player gets paid for making the commercial. How much can you trust this evidence? Not very much. Testimonials are often biased in favor of a particular point of view. In court proceedings, something actually experienced by a witness (eyewitness information) has greater weight than what someone told a witness (hearsay information). Nevertheless, experiments have repeatedly demonstrated that eyewitness accounts are highly unreliable when compared with films of the events. The statement â€Å"I saw a ghost last night. † is an example of testimonial evidence that probably cannot be verified and should not be trusted. On the other hand, the statement â€Å"I saw a car crash yesterday. can be objectively verified to determine whether it is true or false by checking for debris from the accident, hospital records, and other physical evidence. Make full use of your senses. Making use of your senses is the subjective part of the Methodology. This is the stage where your special sensory skills can be put to use. If you have extraordinary hearing, use it. If you have a photographic memory make sure that it gets used for most of your problem solving. N obody else has your specific impressions of your environment. Your point of view and your observations are unique. Part of using your senses may involve using instrumentation or interaction with others. Lucky charms, divining rods, and other magical devices that do not have reproducible and verifiable functionality do not count as â€Å"instrumentation†. If you don’t have perfect eyesight and you need to see something clearly, use your glasses. Make observations from several points of view to get good depth perception and to confirm impressions. Take photographs if you need to remember something in great detail. Use a tape recorder or a notepad to record your observations for later review. Make sure that your senses are at their best by avoiding intoxicants that affect your perceptions. â€Å"Interaction with others† may involve using another being (not necessarily human) to make the observations for you. For example, a blind person may use a seeing-eye dog to get around, a truck driver may use directions from someone else when backing up into a tight spot, a hunter may use a dog’s sense of smell for tracking game, or a miner may use a canary to warn him of pockets of unbreathable odorless gases. Whenever you trust someone else’s perception more than your own you may find that the conclusions that you reach are unsatisfactory. How many hunters have been led astray by dogs that followed a rabbit’s trail rather than the fox’s? And how many truck drivers have crashed while backing up because they misinterpreted their helper’s signals? Reliance on your own senses is the only way to avoid such problems, but you don’t always have this choice. The application of logic may be necessary to determine which perceptions you can trust. Let us say that you are not under the influence of any drugs and you see an apparition of a dead person, what should you do? How do you distinguish hallucinations from real perceptions? How do you know if your senses fool you or if your observations are real? One time-honored test is to pinch yourself to make sure that you are not dreaming. If you should tell someone else about your experience and they don’t observe the same things, does this mean that you are crazy or that something is wrong with you? Or does this prove that you have more refined perception that enables you to see things that others do not see? What would it be like to live in a world where only you have color vision and everyone else is colorblind? The difference between real perceptions and hallucinations is that you can repeat and reproduce results from real perceptions but not from hallucinations. In a world where you are the only person with color vision, you would eventually be able to prove to everyone else by objective means that colors, or at least different frequencies of light, do exist.

Improving High Schools Service Quality in America Essay

Improving High Schools Service Quality in America - Essay Example There are many pieces of evidence that prove that the students are not very happy with the education system and this has made the education system very fickle and ineffective. Hence, the argument lies on the fact that the whole system of education needs modification that caters to the students as well as to the teachers as both of them to need to work together to make an education system a success. The article, â€Å"Put Teachers to the Test† by Diane Ravitch (2008) provides implications to the problems as it provides reasons of increased dropout rate. There are many reasons for a poor education system and one of the examples can be quoted in this article. An investigation was carried out regarding teacher’s role and to everybody’s surprise; it was found that the teachers themselves were not proficient enough to educate the students. When teachers were asked to take a test of 11th grade, a very small percentage of teachers could answer it correctly. Moreover, Diane (2008) states that there is a very less number of High schools teachers who have related education and experience of what they teach. This gap is disastrous for students as the teaching style may not be appropriate, accurate, relevant and reliable. In this regard, it is argued that the education system should have a policy that every teacher should have the license to teach. It is essential that the teachers should have knowledge about pedagogical methods of teaching as well as have information relating to child psychology in order to teach students effectively. The number of low-grade students and dropouts is due to these issues and the evidence is given by Diane (2008)as she states that research was conducted relating to unqualified teachers.

Global Warming is not as Big a Deal as the Government Makes it Seem Research Paper

Global Warming is not as Big a Deal as the Government Makes it Seem - Research Paper Example This paper briefly analyses the global warming topic with respect to reasons other than manmade. As per the recent studies, the earth’s surface temperature has been increased around 0.750 C during the last century itself. Moreover, scientists believe that the atmospheric temperature may even go up by 6 degrees before the end of the current century. Studies also showed that warming and sea level rise may continue for more than 1000 years even if we manage to stabilize the greenhouse gas levels. Increased global temperature can create dangerous futures for the human being. The consequences of global warming are unimaginable. Sea level raise, increased extreme weather intensities, changes in agricultural yields, complete destruction of some living things etc are some of the immediate difficulties we can anticipate. Even though manmade activities may have some effect, modern scientific theories unanimously agreed that the major reasons for global warming may be natural phenomenon like solar variations and volcanoes. While the world is unanimous in accepting the fact that global warming may cause severe problems to living things, there are different opinions about who contributes to the atmospheric temperature. The intensity of radiations received on earth from the sun has been increased drastically as per the studies conducted by Dr. Solanki.  

The dark side of uhckleberry finn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The dark side of uhckleberry finn - Essay Example The dark side of the story and of Huckleberry Finn himself is the central dilemma for Finn regarding what he should do with the escaped slave and his friend, Jim. Slavery and the ownership of one man by another was an accepted fact in the times and Huckleberry Finn is actually troubled by the concept that he is aiding and abetting an escaped slave (Bennett, 1974). His conscious is bothering him since civil duties and civic responsibilities ask him to return his friend to the master so he can be punished for his behavior while loyalty asks him to continue to help his buddy get to eventual freedom. Huck discusses this dilemma and debates it with himself when he says: â€Å"I tried to make out to myself that I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off from his rightful owner; but it warn’t no use, conscience up and say, every time: ‘But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddled ashore and told somebody (Wikisource, 2006).† F urther on in the passage Huck says: Conscience says to me: ‘What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean? I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead (Wikisource, 2006).† Huck is placed in the same dilemma again when he learns that Jim wants to steal his wife and children as well. Of course we can certainly appreciate the motives of Jim since he wishes to have his family with him and be free from the bondage of slavery but again Huckleberry Finn asks himself if he is doing the right thing by taking another man’s property (Bennett, 1974). While Finn is not above petty theft, he draws the line when it comes to real valuable property i.e. slaves, inheritance and entertainment money which belong to someone else. Essentially, it had

Letter to the Editor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Letter to the Editor - Essay Example The transmission of the disease occurs on sharing of the needles and syringes. Some drugs abused have effects of do not  care  aspect  coming from the drug abusers. They often  exchange  or share the needles and syringes containing the drugs. In the process of sharing, if one drug user is an HIV positive, the virus will end up spreading to many more users when they share the needles. Therefore, injecting drugs Users  constitute  a health threat to the local population. The main reason why IDUs should be focused is that most are young people.  They  spread  HIV to the rest of the people because they are more sexually active.  This means that the future  generation  will be at risk. HIV sequences  comparison  from newly reported cases amongst injecting drug users  has been used. Similarities of the genome got identified. This sums up that the virus must be circulating among drug users. Other data collected by  clinical  monitoring  are represented  for injecting drug users. HIV among the IDUs has remained a neglected issue. Policies have been many concerning drug control, but the  level  of a country to address HIV among IDUs is extremely  low. In most cases, prevention services  are limited. IDUs  get  no care or support from any source even when the funding of the HIV prevention measures got put into consideration. My main  objective  in this letter is to come up with an appealing solution to help curb this problem of HIV amongst IDUs (W.H.O., 2004). It is not necessary to stigmatise anyone as the cause of this but  rather  focus on the risk and take appropriate health  action  to  stop  the spread of the virus. Recent studies show that the IDUs remains excluded from the anti retroviral  therapy  and even basic care. To solve this problem, we need a multi combination of methods to at least be  effective. This  guide  is put  down for all institutions, individuals and

Retail management case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Retail management case study - Essay Example With the help of Simon’s decision-making structure one can examine the decision making process. Also, included in the model is the time and cost savings of the customers. The satisfaction levels can also be measured with this model. Apart from the design and choice factors the consumers also give due consideration to cost and time savings factor. These aspects affect the consumers greatly and help them to make the decision accordingly. In the present structure of online shopping the comparison shopping agents play an active role between the suppliers and the consumers in order to yield efficient markets. But the recent days shopping agents are mostly determined by the price factor and it is not dependent on the supplier and consumer differentiation. However, in spite of tremendous growth in the Web commerce and the superlative growth of consumers now making purchase online it is not very clear what actually makes the consumers purchase from the online shopping malls. The most important characteristics of the online retailers is that they allow the vendors to make their own unique interactive web pages, enabling the consumers to decide accordingly as per their needs and comfort zone. These tools are a great differentiator in terms of consumer preferences and can change a shopper from one website to the other. The product information available can help the customers to take the decisions accordingly. But while making the decision the consumers at times are unable to evaluate all the available alternatives with in depth analysis. Hence they use primarily a two stage process while taking such a decision. These are: Considering this the consumer requires the correct tools in order to select the most appropriate commodity. These tools are very effective to make the initial decision much easier. The in-depth analysis can also be made before deciding on the final product. The better the tools the

Company Law - English law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Company Law - English law - Case Study Example Commentators have attempted to categorise those decisions under various headings, such as agency, fraud, group enterprise, tort and so forth6. What is clear on a close reading of the cases which have distinguished Salomon is that the courts will only interfere - by lifting the veil of incorporation - where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing or where they are required to interfere by Statute. There is therefore a presumption that members of a limited company are only liable to the extent of any unpaid amount on nominal value of their shares unless 'wrongdoing' can be established. LJM Limited seems to have been incorporated for the sole intention of providing a vehicle for the directors Jean, Lynette and Lauren to unlawfully deprive W&H Limited, its shareholders and its members of its corporate assets and any retained profits from the international contract. There is authority to suggest that the courts will lift the veil to prevent evasion of an existing obligation7 and the court will grant an injunction/specific performance in that instance. For a short while it also seemed to be the case that the court would lift the veil where there was clear evidence of asset stripping. In Creasey v. Breachwood Motors Ltd [1992]8 proprietors of Breachwood Welwyn Ltd transferred that company's assets to the defendant company. The evidence indicated that the defendant company had been formed for the sole purpose of avoiding the payment of a substantial wrongful dismissal claim. Breachwood Welwyn Ltd was then struck off the company register following the procedure laid down in Section 652 of the Companies Act 1985; hence depriving the plaintiff of any redress. Robert Southwell QC, sitting as deputy High Court Judge, held that the plaintiff could present his claim for damages directly against the new company, Breachwood Motors Limited, as its sole purpose was to strip Breachwood Welwyn's assets and deprive Creasey of redress. The decision in Creasey was unequivocally overruled in Ord & Another v Belhaven Pubs Ltd [1998] by the Court of Appeal. Hobhouse L.J said: " Creasey v. Breachwood . represents a wrong adoption of the principle of piercing the corporate veil. Therefore, in my judgement the case of Creasey v. Breachwood should no longer be treated as authoritative". The Court of Appeal cited its previous decision in Adams v. Cape Industries plc [1990]9 where plaintiffs were not able to seek redress from a holding company when its subsidiary (the defendant) went into liquidation. The House of Lords have endorsed this stricter interpretation of Salomon more recently in Williams v. Natural Life Health Foods Ltd [1998]10. In that case a franchise company had already gone into liquidation by the time a misrepresentation was discovered. The plaintiff sought redress directly from the sole director of the former franchise company. Their Lordships held not only that the corporate veil was sacrosanct and should only be lifted in the most

Ethnic American Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethnic American - Personal Statement Example The family values of our people are extremely strong and we have strong family bonds. Even in the time when we were slaves and the families were separated and sold as slaves, we still have strong family bonds. The old members of the family pass the cultural and social heritage to the young members of the family and in return the younger members take care of their old. Our families provide strength and support to each other and even in our communities. Spiritual values are considered important for our people. The elders and the parents develop emotional and spiritual values and needs in the young African American so that their transition into adulthood is easy and it would prepare them for it as well. With the help of these spiritual values the young ones learn to change and grow and develop in terms of emotions, morals etc. Gender roles, as you know means the attitude, behaviour, responsibilities and activities of a male and female in a society. When we talk about gender roles among African American people it is given that the financial provider in the family would be the male. But they also agree to the fact that male and the female should share the responsibility of raising a child together and sharing the duties of housework. And we also believe that there is a lot of female discrimination in the society. Even though the US claims to be a country of free thinkers and promotes free speech through out the world as their ultimate quality. We still see that they contain a certain amount of biasness towards us the African Americans. If our background is from the rougher part of society getting an education becomes practically impossible. Even though the US society says that they help out all kinds of people regardless of sect or culture we still have problem when we want to educate ourselves further and if we do not posses the financial backing or if we don't talk or sound or act or dress the way they think is right then they discriminate us in the basis that our society is filled with no do-gooders and that we do not deserve a chance to better ourselves with a good quality education. We are discriminated as a whole and nobody pays attention to our personal values and they do not even look at the fact whether we are capable of educating ourselves and that we do not posses the drive to rise higher than our immediate circumstances and our willing to work hard to achieve our goal and further improve ourselves. There is an income gap between the white families and black families. And if we look back and see that the African Americans earn only 65% of the wages when comparing to the wages of the white people. And if we go back in time and see when the country was facing economic problems the people who mostly suffered were; we the African Americans in regards of employment. And we still face the problem of unemployment or under-employment. We are considered as people who are lazy and no do-gooders. Generational differences play a vital role in changing the attitudes and behaviours of people. And we can see that it is happening in the African American society. As we can see this generation of African Americans is facing heir issues and problems related to racism and discrimination

Race And Ethnic Relations In Global Perspective Essay Example for Free

Race And Ethnic Relations In Global Perspective Essay When I did my research on Hmong people in unit six I found their history and culture to be very interesting, that is why I choose the conflict of the Hmong people and the Vietnam War to do this project on. Before getting into the exact conflict and the harm that the war caused many Hmong people I am going to write about the Hmong culture. http://www. historyguy. com/hmong_rebellion_in_laos. html#. UYxyE6JnG8g The Hmong are ethnically different from the Vietnamese, Cambodians and Lowland Lao. They lived in the mountains between Laos and Vietnam. They were considered less â€Å"civilized† than the other ethnic groups mentioned. They were considered to be Semi-Nomadic because they practiced the slash-and-burn as their way of getting food. Before the French came and made Indochina a Colony the Hmong were persecuted for their way of life, after that they were left alone and not bothered by the other groups. During the Indochina War (1946-1954) the Hmong people supported the French because they protected them. When the French pulled out they left the Hmong people to survive on their own, little did they know that this would not be the last time this would happen to them. In the early 1960’s JFK sent in the Special Forces (Green Berets) to South Vietnam. They landed right by the Hmong villages. Right after they landed, the American soldiers started to recruit the young men in the villages to help them fight the North Vietnamese. They agreed to do this not because they had love for the South Vietnamese, but because they thought that the United States would be a good replacement for protection since the French had left them with no protection. The United States also recruited young Hmong men who lived in Laos to form a â€Å"Secret Army†. The Hmong people were dedicated to help the United States in the war and would do whatever it took to have the United States protection from the communist North Vietnamese. Little did they know but that protection wouldn’t be there for long and they would be left to face the enemy on their own. Before the United States recruited the men of Hmong, they were a neutral party in Vietnam. In 1973 the United States soldiers were ordered to pull out of the Vietnam War and left the Hmong with no protection. When the communist won the war in 1975 they ordered the Hmong people, women and children include, to come down from the mountains. They wanted to be able to monitor what the Hmong’s were doing. I guess they probably did this to make sure that they were no longer a threat to them. Most of the Hmong people refused to come down from the hills. When the Hmong refused to come down the communist started dropping Soviet supplied toxic agents on the villages from the air, this was called â€Å"Yellow Rain†. The yellow rain wiped out whole villages including men, women and children. In 1975 the Hmong people fled to refugee camps in Thailand to escape the horror and torture that they would have to suffer from the Lao Communist Government. In late 1975 they began arriving to the United States from the refugee camps. In the early 1990’s the refugee camps were forced to close and the people who had not fled to the United States were forced to go to non-un camps. Many of them tried to become Thai citizens but that entailed getting large sums of money from relatives. Most of those refugees could not obtain citizenship because their relatives did not even have enough money to take care of their direct families. In 2006 the Thai government made the remaining Hmong people relocate to a more isolated area in Thailand, many of them are deprived access to join their families in the United States. They are basically left to fend for themselves and fear for their lives every day. If they would never have been asked to join the United States in the fight in Vietnam, they would still be living like they always did before. They were not an enemy to anyone until they trusted the United States and later that trust was broken. The Hmong people who now live in the United States have what we would call a better life. In my opinion if we would have never disturbed them and their lives during the war they would have never known a different way of life. They would probably be happy just the way they were, with no enemies to mess with them and have never have lost most of their people in the war. It is our fault that they ever had this conflict.

Effect of Discounting on Climate Change

Effect of Discounting on Climate Change Introduction Climate change can be termed as the single largest problem that we as a humanity are facing at present. Since the 1960’s- when for the first time the perils of greenhouse gas emissions on climate were reported- the gravity associated with demand for action on climate change has only been increasing.Though the impacts of climate change are already being felt in terms of increased frequency of disasters and changing weather patterns, a majority of the impacts are to affect future generations only. This raises many questions on whether to act on climate change now or later. The role ethics has to play in tackling such an issue is immense. Individual perceptions, their choices and what defines morality for them all come in to light while determining action on climate change. Since the formation of UNFCCC, under which international negotiations on climate change are being held, the weightage on acting against climate change has been catapulted to a global level. The framework has seen many international agreements on cutting down the global emissions of greenhouse gases and building resilience among communities to tackle climate change. But the costs involved in acting against climate change and arresting the global temperature change to such a level so that it doesn’t prove catastrophic to the future generation is huge. Nicholas Stern, an economist, had published a report- The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change- in 2006 for the British Government which had given an estimate of one percent of global GDP that is required to arrest the impacts of climate change. This estimate was revised in 2008 to two percent of the global GDP accounting for faster than expected climate change. To put things in perspective two percent of global GDP acco unts for close to US$1.5 trillion when the World Bank estimate of the total global gross domestic product of US$74.9 trillion is taken into consideration. Such values aren’t small and require enormous funding from countries world over to act against the impacts. Hence action on climate change, though ethical, has huge implications on the global economy. This economic implication of acting on climate change becomes more precarious when we take into consideration the fact that climate change is set to have its worst impacts on the generations to come. This leaves us with the question of whether to act now or leave it to the future generations to tackle the issue of climate change. Corporations and for that matter countries in itself would act only if they see some incentives in acting now, else one wouldn’t want to sacrifice their economic growth which transcribes into well being in the present. What drives international climate negotiations in formulating policies for climate change mitigation is something called as the social cost of carbon (SCC). SCC helps us in estimating the benefits (climate) of decision making. Social cost of carbon can be termed as the the economic damages associated with a small increase in carbon dioxide. This dollar figure also represents the value of damages avoided for a small emission reduction. Hence such an economic value is what drives nations to act on climate change. Higher the value of SCC, higher is the perceived threat from climate change, which in turn increases the urgency required to act on climate change. Higher values also indicate a negative impact of climate change on the future GDP projections of nation states, hence acting on climate change is incentivising nations by insuring their future GDP against the perils of climate change. But for arriving at a social cost of carbon we need to consider what is called an optimal ‘r ate of discount.’ Arriving at a rate of discount is based on what ethical stand one takes, hence this value might hugely vary from person to person. Aspects such as how much you value intergenerational equity, how much are you ready to sacrifice in the present, how do you expect technology to improve in the future and what do you expect to happen to economic growth in the future all come into play while arriving upon a discount rate. This paper would aim to look at the ethics of discounting taking into consideration the various values for discount rates proposed by economists and the implications that these values have on the policy measures we adopt. Existing literature in this area would be reviewed, shedding light on the various arguments/viewpoints centered around choosing different discount rates for climate change action. This process of reviewing literature in itself might be a limitation as the paper would rely on the arguments put forth by authors of respective papers for choosing a certain discount rate. This paper would initially discuss about the evolution of discounting and its relation to climate change and then move onto reviewing existing literature in this field and finally concluding the discussion by stating the author’s viewpoint. Literature Survey Discounting is a financial term that which means a debtor has obtained a right to delay the payment to a person who has lended the amount, a creditor, for a defined period of time by paying a certain fee. This discount is usually associated with something called a discount rate. In simple terms discount rate can be defined as the rate at which the amount owed must be raised to delay payment for one year. A discount rate is what what determines the discount rate and not vice versa. Discounting Factor is another term that is used in context to discounting. Discount factor is the percentage rate required to calculate the present value of future cash flow. What these values mean in terms of climate change and their implications on climate policy shall be discussed in the next few paragraphs. With the basics of discounting know lets move onto the role discounting has to play on climate change mitigation decisions. To figure this out let us look at some questions that economists seem to be in love with while determining the amount we should spend to fight climate change: How much will you be willing to spend to make your child richer by certain amount in the future? And what about the amount that you would be willing to spend to make your grandchild, or your great- great-great grandchild in the distant future richer by the same amount? The answers to these questions might shed light on the future of the planet. Most economic analyses of climate change have concluded that we should be spending only small amounts to combat climate change now, ramping up slowly over time. This conclusion is argued against by climate scientists who say that immediate action is the only way to arrest the serious ramifications of climate change. And the disagreement arises from the above mention ed questions, on how much do you value the future generations’ welfare in terms of a monetary value. The worst consequences of climate change, as mentioned earlier in the introduction, are likely to unfold only over decades or centuries. This means that the present generation is only set to see the beginning of what might be the worst consequences of climate change, with the future generations bearing the maximum brunt of it. Hence, the decision of how much to spend now to arrest climate change in the future weighs itself on assessing how much it is worth to us now to prevent that future damage. As driven by human tendency we would be prefer money now over money later, and hence economists typically figure that our willingness to pay for preventing a dollar worth of damage in a year, or in a decade is less than a dollar. This percentage less is called the â€Å"social discount rate.† What is of importance is figuring out what this discount rate should be. For a short period of time, the easier way is to consider the prevailing market rate of interest. This is similar to a loan that you have taken at a certain interest rate. After all, if you happen to get a bank loan at an interest rate of 7 percent, then getting a dollar in a year is essentially equivalent to getting a tad over 93 cents now. What this essentially implies is that, economically, it would make sense for you to spend 93 cents today if it helps you in avoiding a problem that would otherwise cost you one dollar a year from now. This can be put in other words: a dollar of the projected future impacts has gotten discounted to 93 cents today. But when this is played over many years the results are very peculiar. The following example is cited from an article published in Science News: â€Å"For example, at a 5 percent annual interest rate, a penny that belonged to Julius Caesar would have expanded to the bogglingly huge sum of 3 – 1041 dollars today — more than the entire world economic output over the last 2,000 years multiplied by the number of stars in the sky.† And what this essentially means is that discounting, at a 5 percent social discount rate, would shrink any imaginable catastrophe today to far less than a penny in Caesar’s time, and an economist would have therefore recommended that Caesar not spend even so tiny an amount to avoid it. The mind boggling amount this discounting would result in besides being absurd, would also silence the people wanting action on climate change because of the huge monetary implications. It is very difficult to overlook the effect any constant discount rate (like the 5 percent rate used in the above example) on the future growth potentials which is going to be exponential and explosive. So even considering a moderate social discount rate of say, 2 to 3 percent, economists will have a very hard time trying to justify the amount spent on combating climate change in the present. Instead, economists would suggest to invest this amount in savings and our future generations will be rich enough to live well inspite of all the damages from climate change. But an exception to this is Nicholas Stern. In 2006, he wrote the The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review which concluded by suggesting that we should invest one percent of world GDP immediately to combat climate change. Otherwise, he said, the chaos resulting from climate change could cost twenty percent of world GDP per year. But this was arrived at by setting the social discount rate to near zero. The discount rate he had taken into consideration while arriving at the conclusion was severely criticized by many economists. Underlying assumption is that people would prefer a dollar today than a dollar in the next year are a hundred years from now. Economists are still at loggerheads over this, on whether to: Either accept an assumption that is argued as economically unjustified (a close to zero social discount rate), or conclude that we should accept climate change without a fight. A third alternative which is more likely to remain unentertained is that the economic valuations fail to shed light on the issue at hand. Let us now look into the argument put forward by Stern in his â€Å"Economics of Climate Change† report for taking a near zero discount rate. This paper has already referred to the Stern Review in its earlier sections. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is probably the most comprehensive survey of the economics of climate change published until thus. The lead author of the review, Sir Nicholas Stern, from besides being a distinguished economist, he has also made important contributions to areas of public and welfare economic theory that are particularly relevant to climate change economics. His conclusion that we should act now by investing on acting against climate change as it would have more serious implications on the future generations in strongly contended by leading economists. Stern, in his review had said that we should invest one percent, which was revised to two percent in 2008, of the global gross domestic product for acting climate in order to curtail the ravaging impacts of climate change in the future which, otherwise, might lead to huge losses to the tune of 20 percent of global GDP every year in the future. After the first chapter’s brief summary of the scientific evidence for climate change, the next few chapters have devoted considerable attention to the ethical issues revolving around the choice of discount rate. â€Å"This represents the economist’s trade-off between the welfare of different generations and is hence the key to the way that different distributions of consumption over time can be ranked in terms of social welfare.† The Review states that â€Å"The ethical framework of standard welfare economics looks first only at the consequences of actions (an approach often described as ‘consequentialism’) and then assess consequences in terms of impacts on ‘utility’ (an approach often described as ‘welfarism’). The standard welfare economic approach has no room, for example, for ethical dimensions concerning the processes by which outcomes are reached. Some different notions of ethics, including those based on concepts of rights, justice and freedoms, do consider process† (p. 29). The Review also takes a consequentialist approach, which is in line with standard welfare economics, and makes judgements that are both explicit and implicit concerning the distribution of welfare and of consumption across generations. Discounting and the Stern Review It is now well now that in h (i.e. the avoidance of the damage that climate change might otherwise do under what is known as a ‘business as usual scenario’).

Community Service: Giving Back to the Community By Volunteering :: Contribution to My Community

â€Å"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.† ― Barack Obama It all started when I was in high-school. I volunteered at Helping Hands, Meals on Wheels, and Habitat for Humanity. These volunteering experiences opened my eyes to the needs of my community and the many opportunities for community service. After high-school, I started volunteering with a variety of organizations. I was involved in projects and activities relating to peace, human rights, environment and HIV/AIDS. It was a great pleasure for me to contribute to the development of my community through volunteering. The impact I was making on my community was visible. I encountered numerous obstacles while volunteering because many people don't value volunteer work. In my community, many people consider volunteering as waste of time. They cannot conceive of the fact that someone would work without receiving compensation. My friends and family advised me on several occasions to stop volunteering. I felt extremely discouraged at one point but I could not stop because I loved doing it. Volunteering was the top priority of my life. I decided to ignore their advice and concentrate on my work. One day, a group of young people came to me and said they had something to say. I was very surprised. They said they were all grateful for the changes I brought into their lives. I was so happy to hear such a statement - it aroused a great joy in my heart. This experience has helped me to understand that when one focuses on what others think, it may be difficult to have a meaningful impact upon the lives of others. There are three elements that permitted me to succeed in life through volunteering: passion, determination and patience. One cannot succeed in life overnight. We have to work hard to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Cisco Systems Essay -- essays research papers

Case Study: The Internet and the New Information Technology Infrastructure 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Describe the competitive business environment in which GM is operating General Motors, while they are the largest automobile maker, are currently going through a decline in sales. Their competition is extremely stiff. With competitors such as Ford, Chrysler, and other Japanese vehicles that have lower production costs and include better styling issues and quality in mind, this makes for a difficult struggle for GM. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GM remains a far-flung vertically integrated corporation †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Makes 70% of their own parts While GM makes their own parts, other companies, such as Daimer-Chrylser purchases their parts from other vendors with whom they can haggle over their prices. With such advances in the automobile industry, this brought about a race for companies surrounding GM to produce more vehicles quicker and allowed for faster sales. While some may say that GM still builds quality cars, they are by no means keeping up with the competition in production areas. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Describe the relationship between GM’s organization and its information technology infrastructure. What management, organization, and technology factors influenced this relationship? GM’s organization found that its system as a whole was falling behind in technology. Their design group could not relate with other sectors of the company, as each division of the company was on their own software and hardware database. No one particular system communicated with another. In the early 80’s GM tried to integrate their system by using EDS (Electronic Data Systems) and they were able to streamline their computers together. Their current CIO Ralph Szygenda has managed to bring the company to its feet once again by bringing in several new changes. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Replaced many systems with standardized software for all computers which in turn was networked to other systems †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Created programs that would correlate with one another and enabled data sharing †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consolidated legacy systems and databases Management realized that without sharing the data and having a system that could run smoothly they would soon fall to their knees. When they began reali... ...e problem is quickly finding the car that the customer wants, which is a strategy better known as Locate-to-Order. To reach this goal, GM must create a regional inventory of the vehicle pool that will be shown on the Internet so that regardless of the vehicles’ location, potential buyers can find â€Å"their† vehicle. There is one flaw in the system that manufacturers and dealers must deal with in the business. They must realize that customers will require varying styles, colors and other options and they (the company) must be ready at the drop of a hat to have the product readied. The inventory must be stocked and ready to be sold. Internet technology could be the catalyst for GM to reconstruct its entire value chain, transforming itself into a customer-focused business that provides many different electronic services to consumers, as well as cars. â€Å"Built-to-order† has been around the auto industry for a long time, but only for very expensive cars, and it required a waiting period of two to three months before delivery. This system would greatly reduce finished vehicle inventory costs as well as generate other production cost savings, potentially saving GM $20 billion per year.

Circuit Analysis Using Kirchoffs Voltage Law, Kirchoffs Current Law,

Have you ever wondered how or what makes an electric circuit function? A fact that many people don't realize is that almost every electric circuit can be analyzed with three very important laws. Those laws are Kirchoff's Current Law, Kirchoff's Voltage Law, and Ohm's Law. With some practice and the above stated laws in your tool bag, you can feel assured that you too can analyze electric circuits with the best of them. However, before we get into the nitty-gritty of defining and using these laws, I recommend that you first connect to the links that offer a little historical information about the two men that defined these fundamental laws for electric circuit analysis. Gustav Robert Kirchoff was a German physicist born on March 12, 1824, in Konigsber, Prussia. Gustav Kirchoff's first research topic was on the conduction of electricity. As a result of this research, Kirchoff wrote the Laws of Closed Electric Circuits in 1845. These laws were eventually named after their author, which are now known as Kirchoff's Current and Voltage Laws. Because Kirchoff's Voltage and Current laws apply to all electric circuits, a firm understanding of these fundamental laws is paramount in the understanding of how an electronic circuit functions. Although these laws have immortalized Kirchoff in the field of Electrical Engineering, Kirchoff also had additional discoveries. Gustav Kirchoff was the first person to verify that an electrical impulse traveled at the speed of light. Furthermore, Kirchoff made major contributions in the study of spectroscopy and he advanced the research into blackbody radiation. Gustav Robert Kirchoff died in Berlin in October 17, 1887. Georg Simon Ohm was a German physicist born in Erlangen, Bavaria, on March 16, ... ...t is directly proportional to its applied voltage and inversely proportional to its resistance. In equation form, Ohm's law states V = I*R where V is the applied voltage, R is the resistance in Ohms, I is the current in amperes. Ohm's law demonstrates that if the applied voltage across a circuit is increased or decreased, the current generated in the circuit increases and decreases, respectively. Furthermore, as the resistance in a circuit increases, the current generated in the circuit decreases. The following are algebraic variations of Ohm's law that demonstrate theses observations. I = V / R R = V / I Using one of the three algebraic variations of Ohm's law, and any two known variables, one can solve for the other unknown quantity.

Nationalism and the origins of The first world war Essay

When global war broke out in 1914 dreams of world peace and prosperity were shattered. Accordingly, the First World War was arguably one of the most traumatic episodes in the history of international affairs. Geopolitically speaking, the First World War (also described as WWI in this essay) was unprecedented in both scale and sheer loss of human life. Never before had the world witnessed such carnage and violence perpetuated through the use of modern technology. The First World War touched much of the world and the implications of this conflict reverberated across the globe. Seeking to understand the historical explanations as well as the role that nationalism played in the outbreak of the First World War, this essay will explore the multiple causes of the development of global hostilities in 1914. Using a three pronged analytical model, the causes of the WWI will be discusses with reference to the pre-conditions and precipitants for conflict and the triggers which sparked the war. Understanding that WWI was an international event with global repercussions, we will analyze the various antecedents for the emergence of armed conflict through a multi-causal approach. This essay will argue that a variety of factors led to the outbreak of the First World War and while there is not one single causal explanation for the emergence of global conflict in 1914, a proper explanation of the origins of this conflict takes into account the amalgamation of each of these factors. While nationalism was an important factor leading to the outbreak of international conflict between the warring parties, this essay will argue that in fact, nationalism was an important precursors to the emergence of conflict but the sole and deciding force in the violence which erupted on the shores of Europe and reverberated across the planet. Although the First World War has recently been overshadowed in the aftermath of the WWII, this conflict was the first in terms of scale and sheer destruction and thus continues to be worthy of scholarly analysis. Nationalism in International Affairs Nationalism is an important force in international relations and has been so for centuries. As a basic principle of the international order, concepts of state sovereignty are intrinsic to our understanding of the world system. Accordingly, the international system is predicated upon the existence of nation-states and nationalism is a belief or sense of identity within the nation. The Treaty of Westphalia established the principle of state sovereignty, another fundamental principle of the international order which established the nation-state as an autonomous political entity. Similar to tribalism or a sense of social kinship, nationalism as a potent political force began in Europe in the late eightieth century and was connected with a decline in overall religiosity, the development of industrialization, Enlightenment thoughts and a concerted effort by political elites to â€Å"build states†. By inculcating a sense of nationalist fervor in the citizens of their respective countries, elites have been able to manipulate nationalism for political purposes. Mass mobilization towards a variety of specific causes through an appeal to nationalist sentiment has been used as a political tool for centuries. Although not exclusively a negative force, nationalism remains an important ordering principle of the international system and a force to be reckoned with (Anderson 2006). Preconditions to the Outbreak of Conflict There were a variety of preconditions to the emergence of the conflict, which up until that date, had been the largest that the world had ever seen. The First World War represented the dueling alliances of the Triple Entente – composed of Britain, France and Russia – and the Triple Alliance – comprised of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Pre-conditions are best described as the precursors to conflict and there were many underlying long-term causes for the belligerent behaviour of the states of Europe in 1914. An arms race, underway for years, and growing at a rapid pace just prior to the emergence of the First World War set the stage for violent conflict between the major states of the region. Accordingly, the arms race occurring at the time exacerbated the global balance of power and led to an increased likelihood of aggressive behavior between the armies of Europe. As the European armies grew and competed with one another for size, manpower and prestige, the naval race between German and Britain contributed to a partition of the major states of the continent into two opposing camps. Competition was surely facilitated by nationalist tendencies and a desire to counterbalance the political, diplomatic and military ambitions of one’s rival. In addition to international arms races, domestic pressures and a willingness of the part of the citizens of some countries to engage in war helped precipitate the conflict. Accordingly, the diplomatic isolation of Germany, Austro-Hungary was another important contributor to the outbreak of global war in 1914. German nationalism, largely ignored in the settlement of the Congress of Vienna almost one hundred years before, did experience a resurgence particularly after the imposition of what was then conceived by many to be an unfair Treaty in Vienna and gained prominence in the middle to late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Accordingly, a German nationalism movement led a revolution to unify the country in 1871 – a similar movement in Italy served to unite that country in 1861 – and remained an important, although not solely important, force in attempting to explain the preconditions of conflict in 1914 (Joll and Martel 1992). In addition to the pre-conditions above, a series of crises from 1904-1914 also helped pave the way for the emergence of the First World War and were important pre-cursors to this conflict. The First Moroccan Crisis from 1905-1906 resulted in a German offensive which created the Entente. This was followed by the Bosnia-Herzegovina Crisis of 1908/1909 in which Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina. This important precursor to future conflict forced Russia to reevaluate its geopolitical situation and in turn view Germany and Austro-Hungary as a potential threat. The Second Moroccan Crisis (1911-1912) united Russia, Britain and France against Germany and was an important stabilizer for the Triple Entente informal alliance. The final conflicts which were important pre-conditions to the outbreak of violence in 1914 were the Balkan Wars 1912-13. These series of wars removed the Ottoman Empire from the equation and led to an impressive German arms build-up (Strachan 2001; Joll and Martel 1992). On the Cusp of War: Precipitants to Conflict Precipitants are short-term crises that made the war seem inevitable and a series of crises, beginning with the assassination in Sarajevo of Franz-Ferdinand, Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, made large-scale war in Europe seem like an inevitability. In fact, the months of late June/early July were replete with crises beginning with the violent assassination in Serbia of the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Assassinated on Serbia’s national day by a violent terrorist organization, the Black Hand, this event alone is described by many observers of the First World War as perhaps the most monumental precipitant to the outbreak of hostilities between the major powers of Europe. Following his violent death at the hands of a Serbian nationalist, Germany unilaterally supported the right of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to respond as it saw fit. This led to successive increases in belligerence on both sides and an ultimatum by Austria-Hungary to Serbia (Strachan 2001; Joll and Martel 1992). Triggers and the Outbreak of War There are a variety of direct antecedents to the War of 1914 and the following will describe the important triggers for the world’s largest military mobilization to-date in the aftermath of the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand, Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While there is not one single event which explains the emergence of large-scale conflict, the following will chart the important triggers which led to the internationalization of conflict and the explosion of a truly global war. Serbia’s rejection of the ultimatum put forth by the Austro-Hungarian represented a desire on its part to safeguard its independence. By rejecting the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum and seeking Russian support, the Serbian republic unwittingly set the stage for the bloodiest war the world had ever known. Serbian intransigence and refusal to acquiesce to the demands of Austria-Hungary set the stage for Russian involvement which internationalized the conflict and significantly increased its scope. At the time, the Russian army was the largest army on the planet and the inclusion of Russia into the dispute significantly increased its scope and explosive potential. Following the introduction of Russia into the equation, the first four days of August 1914 proved to significantly expand the horizons of the conflict. During those first few days of the month, Germany declared war on Russia and its ally France, leading to the mobilization of Britain and the further internationalization of belligerence. Germany’s decision to declare war on Russia and the Entente powers represented an important expansion of the conflict on the side of the Triple Alliance and set the stage for the mobilization and later involvement of Britain in the brewing hostilities (Strachan 2001; Joll and Martel 1992). Origins of the â€Å"Mass War† and Nationalism At the outbreak of World War One, states mobilized what scholars have described as â€Å"mass wars†: the uniquely modern phenomenon of warfare developed in the twentieth century which required the wholesale diversion of economies, labour and national productivity towards the war effort (44). Accordingly, â€Å"from 1914 on, wars were unmistakably mass wars†¦such a level of mass mobilization cannot be maintained except by a modern high-productivity industrialized economy. † (Hobsbawm 1994). State apparatuses grew and â€Å"mass wars† required governments to mobilize people, resources, and armaments to serve the war effort. Citizens were conscripted to fight, industry was instructed to produce arms, and the government became intimately involved in the establishment of monopolistic war economies. Although nationalism did play a role in the establishment of war economies and the growth of military-industrial complexes built up to support the war effort, many factors account for call to arms and the descent into extreme bloodshed and violence during the First World War. Mass mobilization towards the war effort was certainly helped by nationalist fervor as the belligerent parties prepared for conflict which until then would have been on an unimaginable scale, but as has been shown above, nationalism is just one part of the equation in attempting to explain the origins of the First World War (Hobsbawm 1994). Concluding Remarks As one of the most traumatic episodes in the history of the world, the First World War represented geopolitical conflict on an unprecedented scale. Never before had the world witnessed such carnage, bloodshed and violence. Seeking to understand the historical explanations and discuss the role that nationalism has played in the outbreak of the First World War, this essay has explored the antecedents for conflict in 1914. Important preconditions, precipitants and triggers have accounted for the emergence of this conflict. Nationalism, although an important factor which can help explain the emergence of World War One, is actually only one aspect of the overall conditions which lay the groundwork for World War One. Nationalism may be a guiding principle of the international order but a focus which exclusively explores the role of nationalism in the causes of war gives an incomplete picture of this global conflict. While nationalism may have been a force in the establishment of alliances in Europe, there were a handful of other preconditions, precipitants and triggers which led to this conflict. As this essay has shown, many factors led to the violent episode now known as the Second World War and while each factor differed in substance, each contributed to the emergence of the â€Å"War to End All Wars†. REFERENCES Anderson, B. 2006. Imagined Communities. New York: Verso. Hobsbawm, E. 1994. Age of Extremes: The Short History of the Twentieth Century: 1914-1991. London: Abacus. James Joll, J. and G. Martel. 1992. The Origins of the First World War. New York: Longman. McEvedy, C. 2003. The New Penguin Atlas of History. New York: Penguin. Strachan, H. 2001. The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War. London: Oxford University Press.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmar Essay

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, tells the morbid tale of a young man’s quest for revenge. Set in Denmark during the Middle Ages, the play chronicles the assassination of a king and his brother’s usurpation of the throne and insinuation into the king’s old life, to the point of marrying the king’s own widow. Hamlet, the young prince, is charged by his dead father’s ghost to bring his uncle to justice and restore the rightful crown. When Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, comes to the realization that his young nephew has uncovered his murderous conspiracy, he resolves to assassinate the young prince as well. However, when his attempt to have Hamlet executed in England is foiled, he must find another means to surreptitiously remove the threat to his kingship. After Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, Claudius’ chief counselor, Polonius’ son is filled with rage, resulting in Claudius concocting a plan to match Hamlet against Polonius’ son, Laertes, in a duel to the death. II. THEME The theme primarily seen throughout the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one of dilemma and indecision. This theme is reiterated often in the play, habitually in situations surrounding young Hamlet himself, due to his immaturity and inexperience. This is demonstrated as early as the opening of the play, in which Old Hamlet’s ghost appears to Hamlet. Hamlet’s difficulty in determining the difference between appearance and reality causes him to question whether the ghost is really a good spirit, or a devil trying to trick him. † Angels and ministers of grace defend us! — / Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, / Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, / Be thy intents wicked or charitable, / Thou com’st in such a questionable shape† (Ham. I. iv.623-627). This theme can also be seen in Act III, Scene iii, in which Hamlet is debating on whether to truly kill Claudius or to spare his life. Hamlet is at the point of deliberation as he sees his uncle kneeling in prayer and remorse, and thus, vulnerable. â€Å"Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; / And now I’ll do’t;–and so he goes to heaven; / And so am I reveng’d. –that would be scann’d:† (Ham. III. iii. 2350-2353). However, at that very moment, Hamlet wavers and begins to have misgivings about doing the actual deed. â€Å"But in our circumstance and course of thought,/ ‘Tis heavy with him: and am I, then, reveng’d, / To take him in the purging of his soul, / When he is fit and season’d for his passage? / No† (Ham. III. iii. 2360-2363). Another example of this theme is seen during one of Hamlet’s darkest hours, in which he is disenchanted with life since his father’s death, as well as disgusted with is mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius. To Hamlet, these momentous events have degraded the Danish court. Hamlet’s strongest impulse to kill himself to avoid debasement, and yet, he fears the damning consequences of suicide. â€Å"To be, or not to be,–that is the question:– / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them? –To die,–to sleep† (Ham. III. i. 1710-1714). A minor theme in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is remorse. In Act III, Scene iii, Claudius reveals his profound guilt about his crime, and states that he will never be able to seek God’s forgiveness for it. â€Å"My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer / Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder! — / That cannot be; since I am still possess’d / Of those effects for which I did the murder,† (Ham. III. iii. 2327-2330). This minor theme can also be noted when Hamlet regrets not telling Ophelia that he really did love her when he stumbles upon her funeral in Act V, Scene i. Earlier, he had insulted and rejected Ophelia during one of his bouts of madness. â€Å"I lov’d Ophelia; forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum. –What wilt thou do for her? † (Ham. V. i.3466-3468). III. DICTION In the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare utilizes an assortment of vivid images to describe certain objects. This enables the reader to form a clear mental picture of what is happening in each scene and of what had happened in the past. †¦ in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kiss’d I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that (Ham. V. i. 3375-3381). Shakespeare also makes good use of idialect in the play, which is particularly seen in Hamlet’s involvement with the gravediggers. â€Å"A pickaxe and a spade, a spade / For and a shrouding sheet; / O, a pit of clay for to be made / For such a guest is meet† (Ham. V. i. 3283-3286). These terms are expressions that are commonly used in the mortuatory business. Due to the fact that the play was written centuries ago, the language of the play contains a large amount of poetic diction, with antiquated pronouns as well as inverted sentence order, such as seen in â€Å"‘Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco. / For this relief much thanks: ’tis bitter cold, / And I am sick at heart† (Ham. I. i. 11-13). Precise, exact meanings are used when describing scenes, as well. This is clearly seen in Act III, Scene ii in which the actors are reenacting Old Hamlet’s poisoning by Claudius. â€Å"Neptune’s salt wash and Tellus’ orbed ground, / And thirty dozen moons with borrow’d sheen / About the world have times twelve thirties been, / Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands, / Unite commutual in most sacred bands† (Ham. III. ii. 2023-2027). The use of diction greatly contributes to the subject and theme of the play, as well. The use of vivid images, as well as precise, exact meanings enable the reader to visualize the action that is taking place in each scene as well as understand the relationships that are occurring in the play. The inverted word order and use of antiquated pronouns help the reader picture a forbidding time period as well as visualize the conspiracies hatching around Denmark. Why, let the strucken deer go weep, The hart ungalled play; For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away. – Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers–if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me,–with two Provincial roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir? (Ham. III. ii. 2142- 2150). IV. TONE The major tone of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is ominous. With the play opening in the dead of night at the walls of Elsinore Castle, the reader can immediately sense the gloom, uncertainty, and anxiety that hangs over the kingdom of Denmark. It seems that everyone is aware of the terrible evil that surrounds the monarchy, particularly all of the circumstances that led to Claudius’s coronation. The threatening possibility of further evil to descend upon the kingdom is unconsciously on the minds of every character within the play. Minor tones can be sensed throughout the story during certain areas. A feeling of morbidity can be felt while looking at specific sections of the story. This gruesome feeling is often felt in association with the scenes involving death, such as the graveyard scene in which the gravediggers are chuckling and singing as they dig Ophelia’s grave. Irony is also another minor tone that can be found in several areas of the play. Hamlet truly loved Ophelia, and, by a twist of fate, he also caused her death in a roundabout way, in the murder of Polonius, whose death so depressed Ophelia that it lead her to insanity, and ultimately suicide. Irony is also especially evident in Claudius’ death, in which he was forced to die in the same manner that he had planned for Hamlet. V. SYMBOLISM Different symbols represent different universal meanings in life and in the story. The most obvious symbol in the play is the poison that is used by Claudius in the murder of Old Hamlet. Poison is also used on the tip of Laertes’ sword and in Claudius’ drink in another attempt to assassinate Hamlet. This poison could also be seen as a symbol of the death and corruption spreading throughout Denmark as a direct result of Claudius’ rule. Another symbol seen in the play is the murder of Old Hamlet by his own brother, Claudius. The death of Old Hamlet by Claudius traces back to the time of the first murder between brothers, and shows a religious parallelism in going back to the story of Cain and Abel. Flowers are common enough in the play, but daisies hold a special meaning as well. Ophelia’s ‘mad scene’ is a scene which is full of flowers. In particular, however, she gives a daisy to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, which symbolizes faithlessness, in reference to Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius less than two months after her first husband’s death. Upon his suspicion of Claudius’ involvement in Old Hamlet’s death, Hamlet is struck with the inspiration to have actors reenact the death of his father in order to observe Claudius’ reaction. When the moment of his father’s murder is in the theater, Claudius is compelled to leave the room, and the play that the actors perform is symbolic of the guilt that Claudius feels. Perhaps the most famous of all symbols in the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is the skull of the king’s former jester, Yorick. Hamlet holds a few sentimental memories of the jester, who used to give him piggyback rides and play with him. Yorick’s death gives Hamlet an opportunity to contemplate human mortality, as well as remind him that life is not all pessimistic and glum and that there was a happier time in his life. VI. SPEAKER In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the speaker is in the third person. The author, William Shakespeare, is unnamed and uninvolved. The speaker does not have an active role within the story, yet is omniscient of everything that is occurring within the context of the play. VII. STRUCTURE Within Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare uses chronological order. The play begins with Hamlet discovering that the ghost of his father has been spotted wandering Elsinore castle, and ends with Hamlet avenging Claudius for the death of his father as well as his own death. Although references are made to events that have occurred in the past, such as the murder of Old Hamlet, these events are revealed as the past. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written by William Shakespeare, is a paperback book consisting of 342 pages. The front cover depicts a man in the foreground, presumably Hamlet, with the image of a lady in the background, presumably Ophelia. The play consists of five acts, with as little as two scenes and as many as seven scenes within an act. VIII. Imagery William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark includes a wide variety of figurative language that helps the reader visualize the story and to guide in the understanding of the plot and the characters. Similes are used frequently throughout the play; the author uses similes often in describing objects around the scene, such as, â€Å"By the mass, and ’tis like a camel indeed† (Ham. III. ii. 2249). Irony of situation is also used in the story. For example, throughout the last half of the play, the reader is aware of Claudius’ plot to assassinate Hamlet by planting poison inside a goblet of wine, and assumes that Hamlet will be poisoned and die. However, in reality it is Claudius and Gertrude who drink the poison instead â€Å"No, no! the drink, the drink! –O my dear Hamlet! — / The drink, the drink! –I am poison’d †¦ Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, / Drink off this potion. –Is thy union here? / Follow my mother† (Ham. V. ii.3788-3810). Alliteration is also used in the play by Hamlet. For instance, he refers to his â€Å"long life† (Ham. III. i. 69). and a â€Å"bare bodkin† (Ham. III. i. 76). An obvious and famous antithesis that can also be found in the play is the line, â€Å"to be or not to be† (Ham. III. i. 58), in which two opposites are juxtaposed next to each other for a dramatic effect. Metaphors were also used to imply comparisons between certain objects. This is clearly demonstrated in Act I, Scene ii during Hamlet’s soliloquy where he is comparing his own flesh to melting ice. â€Å"O that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! † (Ham. I. ii. 312). The play also includes several soliloquies by Hamlet in which he is conversing with no one in particular save himself or the audience. During one long monologue, he is agitated and visibly upset over his mother’s marriage to Claudius and addresses the heavens â€Å"Like Niobe, all tears;–why she, even she,– / O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, / Would have mourn’d longer,–married with mine uncle† (Ham. I. ii. 333-335). To help the reader understand certain situations and see circumstances from his point of view, Hamlet described certain objects with human characteristics, such as in â€Å"She married:– O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! † (Ham. I. ii. 340-341). Hyperbole is the use of figurative language that greatly exaggerates facts; for example, at Ophelia’s burial, Hamlet and Laertes are arguing and Hamlet calls for â€Å"millions of acres† (Ham. V. i. 3478) of earth to be piled onto all three of them. The phrase â€Å"Tis an unweeded garden,† (Ham. I. ii. 19). is the beginning of a conceit that extends throughout the book. Shakespeare is comparing Denmark to Eden, relying on the theme of corruption and how it spreads from the head monarch of Denmark (Claudius) throughout the entire court. IX. Genre The Handbook to Literature states that a revenge tragedy is a â€Å"form of tragedy made popular on the Elizabethan stage †¦ largely Senecan in its inspiration and technique. The theme is the revenge of a father for a son or vice versa, the revenge being directed by the ghost of the murdered man†¦ (440). The play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark perfectly fits this description in that Hamlet literally is the son that is directed by the ghost of his father, Old Hamlet, to avenge his death and bring Claudius to justice. Hamlet seeks revenge for the death of his father, which leads to much bloodshed and violence later in the play. According to The Handbook to Literature, a Senecan tragedy †¦ combined native English tragic tradition with a modified Senecan technique and led directly toward the typical Elizabethan tragedy†¦ though reflecting nsuch Senecan traits such as sensationalism, bombast, and the use of the chorus and the ghost, departed from the Senecan method in placing the murders and horrors on the state, in response to popular Elizabethan taste†¦ (472). This genre is also greatly accentuated in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, particularly towards the climax of the play during the duel between Hamlet and Laertes, in Act V, Scene ii, which leads to the dramatic, and somewhat sensationalized, deaths of Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and Gertrude onstage. X. Metrics Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a play that primarily uses blank verse. The Handbook to Literature defines blank verse as â€Å"unrhymed but otherwise regular verse, usually iambic pentameter† (62). The four lines below are spoken by Hamlet as be deliberates on whether to commit suicide or not. To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, (Ham. III. i. 1710-1714). These lines are written in iambic pentameter, although each of these lines contain an extra unstressed syllable at the end of each line. The majority of the play uses blank verse. However, there are certain areas in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark that employ prose in order to show intense feeling, as demonstrated in Act II, Scene ii. â€Å"†¦ l tell you why; so shall my anticipation / prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and / queen moult no feather I have of late,–but wherefore / I know not,–lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises† (Ham. II. ii. 1340-1343). Prose is also commonly used for expressing madness.

Joint Venture of the France Based Company Alcatel

A joint venture, according to Adler and Graham (1989),along with mergers and acquisitions, licensing and distribution agreements, and sales of products and services – critical aspects of all such interorganizational relationships, are face-to-face negotiations. This would mean the interaction between people. In today’s society, as the world becomes much more globalized than we could ever think of, with the fast growth of the internet industry, we are connected with people from another country at an instant. However, business to business deals and negotiations are still at a stage where face-to-face communication is still required. As interpersonal communication is brought onto the table, with the clash of different cultures as companies today all have the tendency to become globalizes and multi-nationalized, the understanding of another’s culture and cultural values plays an important role in the negotiation, and the interactions thereafter. As the proportion of foreign to domestic trade increases, so does the frequency of business negotiation between people from different countries and cultures. To successfully manage these negotiations, businesspeople need to know how to influence and communicate with members of cultures other than their own (Adler and Grahamd (1989)). Through the analysis of the case study on the joint venture of the France based company Alcatel and the U. S. based company Lucent Technologies, issues of cross-cultural management, the weakness and strength of an international joint venture, including the rights and wrongs of the particular case study will be discussed. As Shenkar (2001)said in an article, establishing a measure gauging the â€Å"distance† between cultures has understandably presented an even greater challenge. At the end, recommendations will be provided for future companies seeking joint ventures. Body The major differences between the initial negotiation in 2001 and the final successful negotiation in 2006 was the division of power. In 2001, in the original negotiation, the base company was Lucent, which was based in the US. Because it was a joint venture, the amount of power on Alcatel cannot be decided. Due to this inequality, the joint venture was called off in 2001. In 2006, as this inequality no longer stands between the two companies, it established the final negotiation of the joint venture, and at least in the beginning, both companies were satisfied with the negotiation. According to Barkema and Vermeulen (1997), differences in uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation cause problems. Differences in how IJV partners perceive and adapt to opportunities and threats in their environment are more difficult to resolve. Cultural differences regarding power distance, individualism and masculinity are more easily resolved because they are mainly reflected in different attitudes towards the management of personnel, something firms can make explicit agreements about before entering the partnership. As Berkema and Vermeulen (1997) already said, issues on power distance, individualism and masculinity are considered to be more easily resolved cultural issues, and realizing the fact that if the joint venture between Alcatel and Lucent Technologies could not even solve the more easy problems, it is pointless to say the success of the negotiation. Since the merger in 2006, it is now the fifth year for the joint venture to be in business. With the resignation of Russo, the company is now led by The company is under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Ben Verwaayen and the non-executive Chairman of the Board is Philippe Camus. Verwaayen and Camus joined the company in the third quarter of 2008 after Alcatel-Lucent's first CEO Patricia Russo and first Chairman Serge Tchuruk resigned. For 2008, the company posted revenues of â‚ ¬16. 984 billion and a net loss of â‚ ¬5. 215 billion (Alcatel-Lucent (2009)). As Powell and Dent-Micallef (1997) found in their article, ITs alone have not produced sustainable performance advantages in the retail industry, but that some firms have gained advantages by using ITs to leverage intangible, complementary human and business resources such as flexible culture, strategic planning–IT integration, and supplier relationships. The results support the resource-based approach, and help to explain why some firms outperform others using the same ITs, and why successful IT users often fail to sustain IT-based competitive advantages. Alcatel-Lucent has done what it was suppose to do a long time ago, which was to appoint leaders based on expertise, and not nationality. As the entire industry was going downhill during 2006, for the past few years, with the correct leadership of Verwaayen and Camus, the joint venture is in much better shape than it was before. As Tchuruk commented initially that the merger is â€Å"a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity,† the company has run into some major cross-cultural problems since its merger in 2006. One major issue is the fact that the appointed CEO of the joint venture could not effectively run the business, resulting in six quarterly losses, which led to the restructuring of the company, and a cut of 16,500 jobs in total. As the case study states, it was a poor decision to appoint leaders based on their nationality rather than skills. For the time that Russo was CEO, she struggled greatly to bring together a company that consisted of two entirely different cultures, especially when she has no background knowledge of any French language at all. In addition, because there was a lack of understanding between the cultures, the two companies, although formed as a joint venture, were literally pushed into each other out of desperation because of the down sliding industry. However, more importantly, it was the cultural clash that brought the JV into a poor state initially. As Adler, Doktor, and Redding (1986) wrote in their article, with the growing shift of business from the Atlantic to the Pacific Basin, East-West cultural differences are becoming increasingly significant. Research in developmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology shows that there are major differences among the cognitive processes of people from different cultures. In the era of the global corporation, cultural diversity has to be recognized, understood, and appropriately used in organizations. It is suggested that cross-cultural management would greatly benefit from comparative studies considering the impact of the cognitive aspects of culture on managerial practice. Moving forward as a combined company, the JV faces great competition from low-cost Chinese rivals, and as the internet technology is increasingly changing the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is faced with much deeper challenges as demand in the entire industry is decreasing tremendously. Yet one challenge would also be the challenge to integrate the French culture with that of the American Culture. As Shenkar (2001) pointed out, establishing a measure gauging the â€Å"distance† between cultures has understandably presented an even greater challenge. With the globalization of the firm into the Eastern side of the world, and with the JV servicing clients all over the globe, it is not hard to imagine the importance of cross-cultural management as the firm takes its role onto the global stage. In Ralston et al. (1993)’s research on onvergence/divergence of managerial values, the four Western-developed measures (Machiavellianism, locus of control, intolerance of ambiguity and dogmatism) and the four dimensions of the Eastern-developed Chinese Value Survey (Confucian dynamism, human-heartedness, integration, and moral discipline) were used to find that often times both culture and the business environment interact to create a unique set of managerial values in a country. It is the values of the management, the values of a company, that makes up the success of an industry. Conclusion Soderberg and Holden (2002) defines cross cultural management as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters between what are perceived as well-defined and homogeneous entities: the organization and the nation-state, and offering tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miscommunication. However, in the business world today, with its transnational companies that face the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using global communication technologies. There is the need for an alternative approach which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about organizations and multiple cultures in a globalizing business context. Today’s world has become a big clash of all different types of culture. Not only it is seen in the business world, but this clash of cultures has become part of today’s society, and the whole world. This phenonmenon not only suggests more research topics for scholars, as Thomas and Mueller (2001) said in their study, that the relationship between culture and four personality characteristics commonly associated with entrepreneurial motivation. By demonstrating systematic variation in entrepreneurial characteristics across cultures, we raise important questions about the boundaries of international entrepreneurship research and the challenges of transcending them, in the real world, cross-cultural management is also becoming more important and is discussed and faced by many entrepreneurs in the business world. With the case study of Alcatel from France and Lucent Technologies from United States as an example, it has proven the fact that the importance of understanding the different cultures that one’s engaging in, and the importance of acknowledging cross-cultural management has become a requirement for any company leading to a JV or entering into a foreign country. Everyone country has its own unique culture, and every country has its own set of rules. In order to gain profit, in order to become globalized, one must take the time to learn about the culture, and go by their rules, because ultimately, in the business world, you are never alone.