The World Trade Organization

The courage and dedication that was displayed by the protestors in the video was what I took to heart. It was something else to see a group of people come together to protest something that they believed so strongly despite being pepper sprayed, shot at with rubber bullets, and thrown into jail†¦.. But why would anyone go to these lengths to protest against an organization? The World Trade Organization was created in Jan. 1 1995 and has 140 member countries. According to their official website www. wto. org the organizations main purpose is to, â€Å"help trade flow as freely as possible-so long as there are no undesirable side-effects. This partly means removing obstacles. † However the organization isn’t a democratic organization. Instead the WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored as WTO meetings are held in secret. According to the video, out of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations and only 49 are countries. As a result it is no wonder why so many came to protest this secret meeting held in Seattle, WA. According to the video many protestors argued that the WTO and its motto of free world trade is stomping over labor and human rights in countries throughout the world as the use of cheap labor and child labor are continually ignored by the WTO. The magazine Global Exchange states that the WTO is blocking human rights abuses since they have ruled that, â€Å"1) It is illegal for a government to ban a product base on the way it is produced and 2) Governments cannot take into account the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma. The protestors in the video also felt that the WTO was destroying the environment. Evidence of this, dates back to 1993 when according to the Global Exchange, â€Å"The very first WTO panel ruled that a regulation of the US Clean Air Act, which required both domestic and foreign producers alike to produce cleaner gasoline, was illegal. Recently, the WTO declared illegal a provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires shrimp in the US to be caught with an inexpensive device that allows endangered sea turtles to escape, and the WTO is currently negotiating an agreement that would eliminate tariffs on wood products, which would increase the demand for timber and escalate deforestation. As a result I believe that these corporations should not be allowed to continue to get away with such actions. The people in Seattle honored their legal right to assemble. The actions taken by the city of Seattle against these protestors were too extreme and I’m still unclear for what reason they took such extreme measures against the protestors. These were peaceful protests and the city freaked out over a few broken windows at corporations such as Starbucks and Nike. In my point of view the steps taken by the city of Seattle was way over the line and its disgusts me that peaceful protestors were thrown into jail for demonstrating a legal right in the constitution.

India, China, and Japan History Essay

Early offers from the west – The west wanted to trade with china but they rejected it. They had all the stuff they needed and didn’t need any outside help Self-Reliance – China thought they didn’t need any help from the outside Trading limitations – China was self-reliant, so it didn’t tend to trade with other countries. But then again the European countries wanted to trade with them. They set limits on which they would trade with. Opium/Opium war of 1839 – Opium was the cash crop in China, there was a war between the British and the China, China lost and British declared a treaty Treaty of Nanjing – China lost and British declared the Treaty of Nanjing which states that British get Hong Kong Extraterritorial Rights – Is when foreigners do not have to ‘follow’ the rules of that country in a place Taiping Rebellion – Peace war with the peasants Dowager Empress – Cixi was the last emperor of China, and was overthrown by her nephew Sphere of Influence – Another foreign country control your economic powers Open Door Policy – They opened the ‘doors’ to other countries, Doors as in trading Boxer Rebellion – The boxer rebellion was 1900 revolt that was aiming to end foreign rule over parts of their country 1905 World Tour – Where the Chinese went to other countries to study their ways and copy some Constitution – Wrote their constitution based off of Germany Kuomintang – Nationalist party; led by Sun Yixian; a forerunner of the party, overthrew the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644) in 1912 Sun Yixian – 1st great leader of the Kuomintang; wanted a government based on the â€Å"three principles of the people† (nationalism, people’s right, people’s livelihood); lacked authority and military support to fufill his goal; turned over presiden cy to Yuan Shikai (a powerful General) Treaty of Versailles – The treaty of Versailles gave some of China’s land to Japan May 4th Movement – 5000 students plus many farmers, workers, and peasants protesting against Treaty of Versailles Mao Zedong – An assistant librarian at Beijing University; one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai; one of China’s greatest leaders Chiang Kai-Shek – Son of a middle-class merchant; followers were bankers and business people; feared that social economy is like the USSR; peasants did not support Jiang, Communists; became president of the Nationalist Republic of China Nationalist Republic of China – The national republic of china was a government-kind-of-thing that was lead by the Kuomintang â€Å"Swimming in the peasant sea† – Said by Mao Zedong because he took lenin’s idea but changed them a little bit because he believe the peasants could be revolutionaries†¦ The Long March – Communists fled and hid from the Nationalists led by Jiang, 100,000 communists fled, thousands died from hunger, hypothermia, etc, communists were only one step ahead from Jiang’s forces Unity VS Japan India British East India Company (1600-1858) History- Inside 3 cities: Bombay, Madras, Calcutta; Sir Robert Clive defeats Indian & French army; Leading power in India; Used British officers and Sepoy soldiers (Indian) Sepoy- Soldiers from India Jewel in the Crown† (Benefits of British Rule)- India has the 3rd largest railroad system, modern roads, telephone lines, damn, bridges, irrigation canals, sanitation/public health, schools/colleges, ended local welfare, brought relative peace Negatives of British Rule- British had political/economic power, restricted Indian-owned industries, emphasis on cash crops for Britain (reduced food production/famine), racial attitudes from British to Indians Sepoy Mutiny (1857) – Rumor of British smearing beef & pork lard on cartridges (religious issues); 85/90 people refused and sent to jail May 10, 1858- Sepoys rebelled, took over Delhi; British takes over, end of BEIC, start of RAJ, RAJ was British rule under India, Queen Victoria rewarded those who supported BEIC, and killed those who didn’t Ram Muhum Roy- Began a campaign to move India away from tradition (No caste sy stem and no child marriages) Indian National Congress- Founded in 1885 at Bombay, separates Hindus and Muslims in 1905, Muslim league formed in 1906 Swaraj- Self-Rule Amritsar Massacre (1919)- Indians protested against the Rowlatt Acts, 10,000 Indians protested by praying and fasting, the British fired into the crowd Gandhi – The massacre sets the stage for Gandhi to take over, people boycotted British shops and merchandise. One day, Indians marched 240 miles to the ocean to make their own salt, 60,000+ arrested including Gandhi Raj – (1858-1947) Partition – Had everything separate onto 2 countries; 10 million relocated, 1 million died in the process August 15th, 1947- India is the world’s largest democracy under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru Japan Prior to the Meiji Era Shoguns- Top people in the Japanese military Contact to the outside world- No contact to the outside world for peasants and workers Commodore Perry (Treaty of Kangawa) – Arrives in 1853 at Tokyo harbor scaring the Japanese with warships delivering a letter from US President Fillmore; US wanted free trade with Japan (Japan also trades with China and the Dutch), more coaling stations, more trading partners, a haven for ship-wrecked sailors; the Treaty of Kangawa in 1854 opened 2 ports for the US, in 1860, the US were allowed to trade, traditionalist did not like the plan Meiji Revolt (1868) – Samurai overthrew the Shogun The Last Shogun- The last shogun was Emperor Mutsuhito who ruled for 45 years, he wanted Japan to modernize; Mutsuhito sent diplomats to Europe and the US Meiji Reforms – Abolition of feudal system, land redistribution, westernize the school system (USA), modernize the army (Germany), modernize Navy (British), Emperor worship, human rights, religious freedom, written constitution (Germany), m odern banking system. In 1890, Japan was the strongest military in Asia, decided to show how strong they are by attacking other countries Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) – In 1885, China and Japan decide to leave Korea alone. In the month of June in 1894, Korea asks China for help, Japan protested against the help and sent in their military, in only a few months, Japan takes down the entire Chinese Navy. Treaty of Shimonseki (1895) – Japan start having colonies in Korea and Japan Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) – In 1903, Japan asks if Russia stays out of Manchuria, Russia refuses and they star fighting. Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) – In 1905, the US comes in and used the Treaty of Portsmouth to end the R-J war. They gave Japan its territory and forced Russia out of Manchuria Annexing of Korea – In 1905, Japan made Korea protectorate (sent advisors). In 1907, the Korean king quits and in 1910, Japan annexes Korea.

CORE Questions and Answers like Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CORE Questions and Answers like - Essay Example His theory does not negotiate neither on the argument based the reach to the need nor on the level of compromising ones’ luxury towards a social cause. Even though, Singer’s theory does not precisely define the level of sacrifice one should do to equate against ones social responsibility. In the context of ‘The Truth about Fortune’, it is very easy to take a utilitarian support as the emphasis here is on the cause of the security of the society, no matter the methodology undertaken to achieve it. Breach of laws and regulations on torture of prisoners are justified here on the utilitarian grounds that this is at times the only solution towards the social cause. The cases as ‘the ticking bomb’ and the ‘slower-fuse high-level terrorist’ are left with no other option than to go on with extreme torture levels. However this theory also does not precisely define the level determining the need of taking the extreme steps. However the second context is much easy to be pursued by a utilitarian as this practically does only affect him in the utility level and not in the implementation level. The surprise in the Singer’s theory thus well goes with his thesis. Peter Singer is an Australian Philosopher who specializes in practical ethics, approaching ethical issues from a utilitarian perspective. His work ‘Famine, Affluence, and Morality’ was published in the revised edition of Philosophy and Public Affairs in 1972. In this essay, the author through the perceptive of the Bengal famine in 1971 tries to evolve the theory that helping the ones in need is more the fellow human’s duty than a charity. Moral attitudes are to be shaped by the needs of the society and he reckons the need of people within the society who would observe the rules that make the social existence tolerable. As of his thesis, the moral point of view requires us to look beyond the

Jaguar Land Rover Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jaguar Land Rover - Case Study Example Having said that different models of Jaguars are manufactured in different areas such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Solihull all in United Kingdom. Being the major wealth generator for UK there were 78 percent of Land Rovers exported to 169 countries and about 70 percent of Jaguars were exported to 63 countries and through importers and franchised dealers sales are being made. Around September of this year when Jaguar Land Rover stopped the operations in one of its two West Midlands plants but still committed to keep the Merseyside plant open. This would mean job losses will only happen to West Midlands. Reason being was to save money and not to create more jobs as the management is trying to avoid any redundancies. Hearing the news on one of the West Midlands plant closing came not a surprise to everyone as this was already anticipated several years back since opening 3 sites on current volume will really cause the Company lose some money due to below capacity operations. However, projections for 2010 chopping of another plant is a work in progress wherein one plant is seeing to shut mid-2010, either Birmingham or Solihull. Moreso, this is one way to cut the cost dramatically.

Product Life Cycle Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Product Life Cycle Management - Essay Example Secondly, to explore how PLM could help in different stages of Computer Aided Design (CAD) design or where PLM could contribute and involve in a new product development. This paper also incorporates the case studies of PLM and how adoption of PLM has helped SMEs to secure an established position in the industry. The project analyzes important studies and then conducts a primary survey that centers on SMEs adoption of PLM. The results of the studies have confirmed the conclusion that the SMEs have grown with the acceptance of new sophisticated technologies. PLM strategy is a solution addressing many components for managing product data (Kemmerer, 1999) and provides the necessary requirements and capabilities companies need to successfully manage information and facilitate communication and collaboration across the entire product lifecycle from idea through retirement [PTC n.d. ]. In fact, PLM is the extension of PDM (Abramovici and Sieg, 2002) which appeared during 1980s. With the advent of Computer Aided Design (CAD) solutions, engineering design entered a new era. Parallel with the continued development of Computer -Aided Design and Manufacturing and Engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) tools, Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the crucial business approach that assigns a constant set of business solutions on behalf of the cooperative establishment, management, distribution, and application of product definition orientation across the extended business from abstraction to edge of life and it is now clearly acknowledged by many firms as basic to the product innovation evolution, and a corporation's top-notch and fundamental accomplishment (Stark, 2003, 4) PLM is the method of managing a firm's products all the way across their life cycles in the most effective way. If the firms start losing control over its products, then it will lead to adverse effects. A product does not exist when it is at its development stage. That is the time when it becomes difficult to manage. This is practically the reason why there is a need to completely involve PLM in the process so as to be sure that the product would make a good introduction and growth within the industry that it is involved with. Penetrating the industry totally is not that easy, this is a truth even for those products whose brands have already been established in the market.1 Hence, to be able to assure that a particular business product or service would make it to the competition, the administrators of the company should know about how to use PLM cycle effectively for their own product or service's popularity in the market probably resulting to more improved rate of profit returns. Ho wever, it could be noticed too that as the introduction of the product is launched, the management as to how to retain its effect in the market is what should be given attention next. As soon as existence of a product is ensured, the problem of managing that product arises. With the advent of PLM, the products are able to reach the market fast and better support from the customer's side is guaranteed. It is necessary to bring a product into the market otherwise; one firm will lose the customers to other firm. The fact that competition is tough in the market, being the first one to introduce a new product is an important part of the process.2 This fact is a special

Supply Chain Class--Company analysis Case Study

Supply Chain Class--Company analysis - Case Study Example For the last 25 years, many companies have been negatively affected by the failure of their supply chain an aspect that has caused some of these companies to be acquired by their competitors at very low prices. Other failed companies have resulted to loss of a lot of investor’s funds thus resulting to their closure and court litigation as the investors seek for compensation. This paper will discuss common mistakes that are done by the company leading to supply chain disasters. One of the key mistakes that companies make is failure to do an extensive research on the suitability of the technology in improving their supply chains. For example, in its effort to improve production, Foxmeyer failed to research on how effective the new ERP system and the highly automated DC would be. Despite the efforts by the consultant to notify the company management that some areas of the new technology were not properly functioning, no step was taken. That ignorance has also greatly contributed to the supply chain disasters. Lack of undertaking feasibility studies that involves the evaluation of the benefits and costs associated with the supply chains is also a mistake that led to their failure. It is vital to note that before any company invests in new technology or a supply chain, it is essential to calculate the returns that are expected. For example, despite being an experienced manager, Robert Smith, the General Motors CEO failed to evaluate the performance of the robot technology leading to a supply chain problem that entailed loss of billion dollars in the investment (Supply Chain Digest, 2009). Lack of adequate market research is also another mistake that companies have made. Market research is crucial since it allows a company to initiate system that will provide products that will meet ready market. However, some companies such as Webvan, an online grocer invested in automated warehouses that reduced the company capital to a great extent yet the market demand for its products was very low. The same case applied to Cisco. On its part, Cisco, failed to initiate an inventory visibility study as well as adoption of poor market research leading to piles of products that were not demanded in the market. As a result, Cisco wrote down its inventory while the stock decreased by 50%. The company has yet to recover. During the planning stages of the management, most of the companies that faced the supply chain disasters did not skilled man power to undertake the task. As result, the managements were not aware of the repercussion of either adopting new system or even entering new markets. For instance, in its effort to move its production facility from Manila to low costs countries in 1994, Aris Isotoner resulted to reduction of costs by 50% while the Isotoner unit was sold to Totes. A mistake of poor estimation of the number of products and the delivery time is also a major cause of the supply chain disasters. For example, in 1999 Toys R Us.com compan y failed to realize that its system was not able to produce and deliver thousands of orders to its customers. This created a negative public image even though the company outsourced the supply to the Amazon.com. One of the companies that experienced a notable supply chain disaster was Apple Incorporation. Despite being a market leader in the production and selling of personal computers in 1990s, the company was faced with an issue that made it lose huge market share. In 1995,

Current Event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Current Event - Essay Example s to achieve a two-fold objective, to wit: (1) to provide explanations on the issues discussed within the article; and (2) to demonstrate the ways that the article is related to the course material. Terkel noted Pelosi to emphasize that Republicans were advancing three legislations that limit or restrict access to abortion by (1) preventing the use of taxpayers’ money to fund abortion-related services; (2) denying tax credits to employers or business establishments that allow health coverage of employees with abortion access; (3) denying â€Å"federal family-planning funds under Title X to groups that offer abortion access† (Terkel, 2011, par. 4); and (4) allowing hospitals to turn away women who opt to terminate pregnancy even for the purpose of saving lives (Terkel, 2011, par. 5). The concerns raised by Pelosi are related to the issues on women’s health, particularly on reproductive health and reproductive rights (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, 2004, p. 173). The topic of abortion is still a controversial issue when taken within a global perspective. Not only to take into account the issue seen as barred and illegal in predominantly Catholic nations, the issue has been monitored to provide risks to women (Malter and Wind, 2012). Accordingly, â€Å"research from WHO shows that complications due to unsafe abortion continued to account for an estimated 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2008; almost all of these deaths occurred in developing countries† (Malter & Wind, 2012). The concern on Pelosi, as disclosed in the article focused primarily on the legislation that sought to deny federal family planning funds to groups that offer access to abortion services. As averred, â€Å"I cant believe that everybody who is anti a womans right to choose is anti-birth control and contraception and family planning† (Terkel, 2011, par. 7). Aside from denying rights to avail or restrict access of services to abortion, these legislations actually aim to limit the funds to be

Specimen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Specimen - Essay Example Nobody can access it but him." The taller of the two men made a growling sound and took a menacing step towards Jason, "look here you little ." His partner pulled him back before he could continue and whispered something. They walked to the corner of the deck and began talking in urgent murmurs, with a great deal of hand movement and arm flaying. Jason strained his ears, trying to catch what their conversation but their voices were just too low. "The professor," Jason said, more as a confirmation than a question, "I don't know. Last night he told me that he was going to take the dinghy to shore at dawn to collect some specimens from the island and will be back around midday What's all this about," Jason asked fearfully. "No I mean yes, I don't know anything. Like I said, he locks himself up in the lab all day, only comes out for meals and ever so often, takes the dinghy to the island. I took this position as an assistant researcher but actually all I do is prepare the meals and clean up the yacht, and feed the specimens. I don't even know what the professor is working on or anything," Jason concluded desperately. They had to believe him, Jason thought to himself, they just had to. He really knew nothing. He had thought he was applying for a well-paying research position with the world famous marine biologist, James Farnsworth, and that this would be a career coup. However, ever since he boarded the Experian ten days ago, he'd only seen the professor at mealtimes and they had barely exchanged a few words. Jason had tried asking the professor about his research and what areas he would be assisting him in but Farnsworth had just glared at him beneath those bushy eyebrows of his and, in a surprisingly ferocious tone, had told him to mind his own business. Since that incident, which had happened the very first day he had boarded the Experian, Farnsworth had ignored Jason, barely acknowledging him with the briefest of head nods at mealtimes. If the truth be told, Jason didn't like the professor much. Certainly, he admired him as one of the greatest marine biologists of the age but he just did not like the man. He made him feel uncomfortable and a bit wary. "Look here," the taller of the two men said, breaking Jason's thoughts. "We're going to come clean with you. That boss of yours is onto some dangerous work and is involved with some very frightening people. We're not the criminals here and you really have no need to fear us if you're nose is clean. It's that boss of yours that you should be afraid of - very afraid of." A look of total confusion passed over Jason's face. He stared at the two men, open-mouthed and incredulous. "What! Farnsworth may not be a nice person but he's certainly not a criminal. The guy has been published in every single scientific

Children's Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Children's Literature - Essay Example Social class structures were beginning to break down as common men were able to make fortunes in industry and landowners found it more and more difficult to keep the idyllic life they’d constructed alive. Women, too, were beginning to question their allotted place in society as more and more opportunities opened for them in the urban centers of the country, providing them with a means of supporting themselves and freeing themselves from the yoke of male domination. However, at the same time, these positions were not the equal rights positions of modern times, so it was often difficult to determine whether one wanted to sacrifice freedom for comfort or comfort for freedom. Rarely was it possible to attain both. All of these social and economical concerns can be found in the novels written during this time period even in children’s literature as it is revealed in something as simple as the subject of clothing, dressing and ideas about fashion, such as the examples seen in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The type of clothes one wore during the Victorian period, during which these three children’s books are based, frequently said a great deal about the wealth of the home, the character of the individual and the degree of social status enjoyed by the family. Those at the lower rungs of society are given the cast off materials and clothing available only because no one else is interested in them. For example, when Anne Shirley first appears in Anne of Green Gables, she is seen as a homely child in a â€Å"very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey† with a â€Å"faded brown sailor hat† (21). This clothing is the result of a generous donation of a merchant who reportedly couldn’t sell it otherwise and thus at least ensured it was used

If I Could Tell You Essay Essay Example for Free

If I Could Tell You Essay Essay TimeTime, said to be eternal, possess neither a beginning nor an end. Yet however there is a fixation on being able to measure it in years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Trying to save time with new technology, manage time with multi-tasking activities. All in the hopes of giving meanings to the past, present and future. The past is able to been seen but not changed, today is in the present yet still unpredictable, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden is a villanelle much like others using rhyme, repetition, and meter, that revolve around the main idea of the continuity time and its unforeseeable nature. The rhyming of the alternating ending lines, â€Å"Time will say nothing but I told you so† (1) and â€Å"If I could tell you I would let you know† (3) keep the rhyme scheme which stays on the central themes. â€Å"Time will say nothing but i told you so† shows that time keeps going, because this is a statement. Although the things of the future are unforeseeable, it is guaranteed that in the end the only one who will know what will happen is Time. â€Å"If I could tell you I would let you know† show how unforeseeable Time is. Auden knows that he can not see into the future, which is why he says â€Å"If I could †. These two phrases depict the speakers understanding of the continuity of time even though he shows to have a desire to know ahead of time what to do before certain events. The villanelle itself has a rhythm as a whole through periodical thinking. The beginning shows how Time does not wait for anything or anyone, â€Å"nothing but I told you so†. He later goes on to question Time in the second stanza and if we should fight back, which is why he says â€Å"weep when clowns put on their show† and â€Å"stumble when musicians play† which are juxtapositions since these actions are not likely given the circumstances. The third stanza shows the shift as he begins to understand that Time is necessary and things have to happen for a reason, â€Å"the winds must come from somewhere†. In the fourth stanza his train of thought is nearing a conclusion as he begins to wonder if not only do things have to happen, but are they meant to happen for the greater good, â€Å"Perhaps the roses really want to grow†. The ending shows Audens maturity throughout the villanelle and ends with â€Å"If I could tell you I would let you know † stating that Time is out of his hands, but it is acceptable and if there was anyway he could help, he would. Throughout the villanelle, time is personified and introduced to the reader as an unreliable character, through. Auden blames Time for unwanted changes in life, and he repeats the line because he observes that all changes, even those that are unintentional, come with Time. The repetition of Time at the end of the stanza rather than the beginning or end display how eternal time is. The first part of each stanza question Time, but all ends with â€Å"Time will say nothing but I told you so†, explaining that whatever Auden thinks or observes, will all be part of the past in the future. Much like poetry as a whole, used to express emotion and speechless opinions, the villanelle is almost perfect fitting for the theme of time. A villanelles structure alone portrays almost a near exhibition of time. Through the first five stanzas, a villanelle is predictable with tercets although the last stanza is a quatrain. This depiction could be metaphorical that time can be planned although in the end, everything may not come to together as hoped. The meter only emphasises this metaphor more by breaking the alternating line in each of the tercets before at the end. Audens desire to be able to match time is emphasized by the repetition of two phrases by the structure of the poem, which in itself helps portray the author’s idea about times continuity and its unforeseeable nature.

Risk Assessment for Elderly Falls

Risk Assessment for Elderly Falls Q1: Part of your education includes experiences in different types of healthcare settings. How would your role in the primary care setting be different from your role in the acute care setting? Include in your discussion a definition of the philosophy of primary health care and the principles of wellness. Healthcare is provided at three levels primary care, secondary or acute care and tertiary care , each provides a structure for how healthcare services are organised and delivered for example primary care tends to be delivered in a GPS offices and community clinics and tertiary care is more commonly provided in hospitals and rehab facilities ( Crisp J Taylor C 1997). in recent years the term primary healthcare has been used interchangeably with primary medical care and primary nursing care although they are not the same ( Wass,2000 ). primary nursing care is focused on illness intervention. It is a pattern of care delivery in which a single nurse takes responsibility for a large group of clients, such is in an aged care facility.( Crisp J Taylor C 2005). where secondary and tertiary levels of care are provided in the hospital setting, in these settings, nurses work closely with all members of the health care team to plan , co ordinate and deliver care for people who are seriously ill. Nurses must constantly monitor and evaluate whether care is effective and how it can be improved, acute care nurses respond to clients needs expectations to form effective care partners. The principles of wellness a classic definition of health is that adopted by the world health organization (WHO ) which states that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity â€Å"(WHO 1974:1).? Q2: Mr Alexopoulos, is 88 years old who has migrated from Greece and lives alone. He speaks very basic English only. In the past year he has fallen twice at home, once by tripping over a rug and once when he got up to go to the bathroom at night. He has become increasingly afraid of falling again and tends to restrict his activities in the home. He goes out only when accompanied by his son. QUESTION A. In the information provided, outline the data the nurse would use to complete a risk assessment for Mr Alexopoulos (include bio psychosocial and cultural health care considerations in relation to implementing primary health care). ANSWER . During the assessment the nurse obtains two types of data: subjective and objective. Subjective data are clients perceptions about their health problems only clients can provide that kind of information. For example the presence of pain or the meanings of an illness are subjective findings. Although only clients can provide information about symptoms frequency, duration, location and intensity. Subjective data may include feelings of anxiety physical discomfort or mental stress Objective data are observations or measurements made by the data collector the nurse (crisp et al 2005). to conduct a comprehensive and patient focused assessment possible risks to the patients safety including enviromental as well as individual risk factors should be taken into consideration. When assessing a home for hazards and risks indiviual needs of the patient should be considered, a walk through the home with the patient should be done to assess the possible risks of the enviroment and to the patient, a discussion between the patient and nurse should take place to find out how the patient conducts his daily living activities this should give an indication of the patients immediate needs, getting a sense of how the patient conducts his daily routine helps the nurse to identify hazards that may not be obvious,(crisp 2013 p 278). B. QUESTION What aspects of Mr Alexopoulos’ environment need to be assessed? ANSWER The home environment needs to be assessed such as furniture placement , lighting, removing the rug as it is a trip/fall hazard incorporate multidisciplinary team members such as assisted living. (crisp 2013 p 279). C. QUESTION. Design interventions to ensure Mr Alexopoulos’ safety in his home. ANSWER Assisted living, remove all trip and falls hazards with clients permission an ACAT assessment D. QUESTION In terms of evaluation, what findings indicate that Mr Alexopoulos should not live alone in the house? ANSWER due to the patients age and general health his two past falls,he can no longer care properly for himself E QUESTION What allied health and community services referrals would you suggest to assist Mr Alexopoulos to maintain his independence? ANSWER collaboration with other disciplines such as occupational therapy community nursing ,home care, meals on wheels, community transport physiotherapy may become an important part of the plan of care planning also involves an understanding of the patients needs and maintain his independence .the patient and nurse collaborate together to establish ways of maintaining the patients active involvement in the home.(crisp 2013 p 280). Q 3 Choose one of the theories listed below and explain how it would apply in these different healthcare settings: Aged Care; Palliative Care; Mental Health; Hospitals 3.Hildegard Peplaus theory (1952)is focused on the nurse and the interactive process with the patient so a relationship can be established between the two , according to Peplaus model the patient is an individual with specific needs and nursing is the interpersonal and therapeutic process. The nurses goal is to educate the patient and their family to help the patient reach personal development. The nurse develops a relationship with the patient so she can help the patient with resources needed for their care. This theory can also be applied to other healthcare settings such as aged care, pallitive care, mental health and hospitals for goals to be set in the above institutions the nurse must develop the same interpersonal relationship with the patient so effective care can be optimized for the patient. (Crisp 2013 p 49) Q4: Many countries suffer health inequalities, including Australia – specifically within the ATSI community. In Western societies social issues continue to emerge as the gap between those with and those without economic resources grows. In what ways do you think an individual’s financial status affects their ability to access health resources? A. Socioeconomic factors: social and psychosocial factors can increase the risk for illness and influence the way a person defines and reacts to illness. One of the most powerful variables is economic status. Economic variables may affect a clients level of health by increasing the risk of disease and influencing how or at what point the client enters the healthcare system. (Crisp et al 2013 p). B. The most significant effects of economic status are more often experienced by those at the extreme lower end of the economic scale, racial (ATSI) and ethnic minorities are considered high risk groups for illness because of their economic status (Evans and stoddart, 1994;najman, 1993), (crisp et al 2001) Q5: Discuss the following features of the Australian health care system: State vs Federal health care funding A. The Australian Government is chiefly responsible for health service funding; control of health products, services and workforce; and national health policy leadership. The states and territories are essentially responsible for the delivery and management of public health services (including public hospitals, community health and public dental care), and the standard of health care providers and private health facilities. Local governments fund and deliver some health services such as environmental health programs. (Australian bureau of statistics, 2012). The Australian and state and territory governments fund and deliver a range of other health services including universal healthcare programs, community health services, health and medical research, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services, mental health services, health workforce and health base. (Australian bureau of statistics, 2012). B. MEDICARE VS PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE, The face of the Australian public Health care system, Medicare, is run by the Federal Government. Medicare started in the 1970s under the Whitlam government as ‘Medibank’ and was renamed in 1984. The Medicare system allows free, universal hospital cover for eligible persons in public hospitals. (GCIT, 2014a) eligible persons means all Australians and the majority of people of low socioeconomic circumstance who may not be able to afford private healthcare Private health care is also available in Australia under a ‘user pays’ system, whereby Medicare will cover some costs, the private health company covers other costs and the patient pays the remainder or ‘gap payment’. Private health care insurers and providers receive the majority of their funds from charging their members. Private hospitals receive minimal to no funding from the government and are funded through the user pay system of private health insurance. They receive the Medicare benefits identified for the treatment provided, but no more than that (even if the cost of the procedure to the hospital was $500 more). This is why there is a gap payment with private health. The private health system also benefits from a 30% private health rebate to all people who purchase private health insurance, which is paid for by the Federal Government. This rebate is aimed at encouraging more participation in the private health system, to take some of the pressure of the public health system. Private health insurance works alongside Medicare and can be used in both public and private hospitals. Patients have the right to elect to be admitted as a public patient even if they have private health insurance within public hospital facilities. (GCIT, 2014a)? C. AGED CARE, Australia’s aged care system is structured around two main forms of care delivery, residential (accommodation and various levels of nursing and/or personal care) and community care (ranging from delivered meals, home help and transport to intensive coordinated care packages for people who otherwise would need residential care). Residential services are mainly in the non-government sector, about half being operated by religious and charitable organizations. Residential aged-care funding in Australia: that is day-to-day operations of facilities are governed by both Commonwealth and state government policies. (Australian Government, 2011) D. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is an extension of Medicare and allows prescription medications to be purchased by Australians at differing rates, depending on their income. There’s a threshold and once this threshold is met, the pharmaceuticals can be purchased at a discounted rate. (GCIT, 2014a) ? Q6: Access DMF A4 nursing summary guide -2010from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia website: (click on this link to be taken directly to the article – â€Å"Nursing practice decisions summary guide†) http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Codes-Guidelines.aspx#professionalpracticeguidelines Use this scope of practice decision-making summary to assist you to identify the issues outlined in the following case study: This evening when you report for your shift on to your general medical ward, the charge nurse tells you that you need to assist on the orthopedic ward. You have not had any recent experience with orthopedic patients. When you arrive on the orthopedic ward, the charge nurse allocates you patients who require special techniques for getting out of bed and who need to do exercises using specialized equipment during the shift. You are not familiar with the techniques or the equipment. The charge nurse tells you that the patients can explain it to you. 6. A. according to DMF A4 summary guide Does the person who is to perform the activity have the knowledge, skill, authority and ability (capacity) to do so either autonomously or with education, support and supervision. no I would not accept this assignment as I have had no recent experience with orthopedic patients and I should not have to rely on the patients to tell me how to transfer them or to use the equipment? ? B. DMF A4 Select appropriate, competent person to perform the activity C. ACTION †¢ Consult/seek advice (eg NUM, DON other health professional) OR †¢ Refer/collaborate OR †¢ Plan to enable integration/practice changes if appropriate (including developing/implementing policies, gaining qualifications as needed) ? Within each nursing level, there are standards of practice and scopes of practice issued by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. These guidelines and competencies are issued by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). (GCIT, 2014a) Ensuring that you practice within your scope and role, within your place of employment is essential. Furthermore, it should be made abundantly clear that all health care facilities will have policies and procedures that must be followed in order to undertake care provision or procedures. (GCIT, 2014a) ? Q7: Identify 2 community health promotional strategies and evaluate their effectiveness. Health promotion at a population and community level another main area of nursing intervention. (Crisp 2013 p 310) for example a health promotion strategy is get set for life The get set for life health promotion strategy was developed as a handbook / guide that provides realistic information to help parents and carers to interact with their child in developing and strengthen the value of establishing healthy life habits. The handbook also has useful resources for parents/carers to obtain further information regarding the health and development of their children. The aim of the Healthy Kids Check is to ensure all four-year-old children in Australia have a basic health check to see if they are healthy, fit and ready to learn when they start school. The Healthy Kids Check promotes early detection of lifestyle risk factors, delayed development and illness, and introduces a direction for healthy life styles and early intervention strategies (Australian Government, 2009.) The Healthy Kids Check can be undertaken by a doctor but not including a specialist or consultant physician, or a practice nurse on behalf of a GP. (Australian Government, 2009.).? Another health promotion that is community based is active after school communities program this program was established by the Australian sports commission, the aim of the health promotion is to get kids moving and enjoying sport. The Active After-school Communities (AASC) program, which is the largest Government initiative of its kind. The program is designed to engage non-active kids, or those not involved in mainstream sport. To start to participate in sport and enjoy playing sport A positive introduction to all varieties of sport to children may inspire a passion for sport and more importantly it can help develop mobility skills Evaluation of the effectiveness of the program Since 2005, nearly 400 000 children have been given this introduction to sport and over half a million sessions have been delivered around the country. Currently, there are up to 150,000 children participating in the program, which is run in up to 3250 schools and after-school care locations in every state and territory in Australia. (Australian Government, 2009.) Q8: When you graduate, identify where you could find out about employment opportunities. Outline the interview process and materials/Information required to apply for a position 8. To find jobs, the best information resources are newspapers (both print and online), the Internet, hospital internal vacancies and government websites. (GCIT, 2014a) Once you have found a job you would like to apply for, you’ll need to create a resume. It can be a difficult task to list all of your attributes and education, without sounding ‘over the top’! A resume should include the sections that portray you at your best, outlining your experience in not only nursing, but other relevant areas of employment. Always ask for the position description before applying for a job. Also note that many organisations have specific selection criterion to be addressed when applying for a position, depending on the institution (e.g. state or private) and the job description. (GCIT, 2014a) If your application appeals to the employer, the next step will probably be an interview. There are particular processes involved in a nursing job interview. A panel of selected nursing and non-nursing peers will review your application and ask you a series of questions related to both your experience and the role you’re applying for. (GCIT, 2014a)

Private Schools vs. Public Schools :: Education Religious Schools Teaching Essays

In a recent report, a little over six million students were enrolled in a private school during the year 2003- 2004. That is roughly 11.5% of all students enrolled in schools. But how do parents decide which private school is the best for their child? Parents consider many factors when choosing the right private school. They look at many factors such as the type of private school, class settings, academic curriculum, administration, accreditation and vouchers. There are many different types of private schools. The most common private schools are Catholic, Religious Affiliated and non-sectarian. According to a report by the Private School Universe Survey of the school year 1999-2000, 48.6% of private school students attended Catholic private schools, 15.7% attended religious affiliated private schools and 15% attended nonsectarian.[1] Catholic private schools have greater diversity and larger enrollment than any other type of private school. [2] 85% of all private schools are affiliated with religious organizations.[3] According to the National Center for Education Statistics, â€Å"†¦in 1993-94, about one-quarter were Seventh-Day Adventist; 15 percent, Missouri Synod Lutheran; 10 percent, Episcopal; about 6 percent, Hebrew Day; 8 percent other Jewish; and the remainder, other religious groups.†[4] Religious affiliated schools can be found all over the United States. The main goal of religious schools is to implement religion in students’ studies. Nonsectarian schools are not affiliated with any religion. In contrast with religious schools, nonsectarian schools generally emphasize development or moral character in their studies than the study of religion.[5] There are also specialized private schools that focus on a general interest which makes someone’s decision about a private school easier. A private school that focuses on a certain skill is called a trade or vocational school. These schools would be beneficial to students who already know what major they would like to pursue in the future. A trade/vocational school would be placed under a nonsectarian private school. Reducing class size improves student achievement.[6] When students are in smaller class sizes the teacher is able to have more control over her class. The children receive more individualized attention from the teacher when the student- teacher ratio is less. The teachers can also identify learning disabilities sooner and engage family participation within the child’s education.[7] In a study conducted in 1985, The Tennessee Student/ Teacher Achievement Ratio, the state randomly selected students in grades kindergarten through third and assigned them to small classes; 13-17 students, and regular classes; 22-28 students.

Science in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Hard Times by Charles Dicken

The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Bot h of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become almost a myth in our culture; it so deeply probes the collective cultural psyche and our fear of science and progress. â€Å"Frankenstein is our culture’s most penetrating literary analysis of the psychology of modern ‘scientific’ man, of the dangers inherent in scientific research, and the exploitation of nature and of the female implicit in a technological society† (Mellor, 1988:38). The interesting thing about Frankenstein is that there can be multiple readings of the text. It can be seen as a conservative criticism of science, a Promethean belief of the unlimited progress of science, the feminist anti-female principle angle to the story, even a religion versus science story. What I will explore through this essay is each of these readings and shed some light on this wonderful novel. â€Å"The value of Mary Shelley’s novel lies not in presenting a clear morale but encouraging the readers to make up th eir own† (members.aon.at.htm). The most obvious and well-known theory of the story of Frankenstein is that of a warning to the dangers of science: â€Å" Mary Shelley’s implicit warning against possible dangers inherent in the technological developments of modern science† (Mellor, 1988:114). Shelley was very interested in ... ... David Copperfield and Hard Times, New York: Macmillan Press. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Small, C. (1972) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein-Tracing the Myth, Pittsburgh: University Of Pittsburgh Press. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shelley, M. (1996) Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition, New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tambing, J. (1995) Dickens, Violence and The Modern State, London: Macmillan Press. 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ashbury, M (2001) Representation of Industrialization in Dickens’ Hard Times [Online]. Available: http://www.colourpurple.com [Accessed 25th April 2005]. 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Allingham, P. (2000) Charles Dickens’ Hard Times for These Times as an Industrial Novel [Online]. Available: http://www.victoriaweb.com [Accessed: 25th April 2005]. 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rohrmoser, A. (2004) The Origin of a Myth: Mary Shelley's Novel Frankenstein [Online]. Available: http://membersaon.at.htm [Accessed: 25th April 2005]. 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oldham, R. (2000) Charles Dickens’ Hard Times: Romantic Tragedy of Proletariat Propaganda [Online]. Available: http://www.pillowrock.com [Accessed: 25th April 2005]. 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frankenstein: a science-fiction novel or a scientific fiction? [Online], (2001). Available: http://gala.univ-perp.fr [Accessed: 25th April 2005].

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks Essay -- The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

â€Å"The Wedding† by Nicholas Sparks The novel â€Å"The Wedding† by Nicholas Sparks is a sequel to the love story, The Notebook. The characters in this novel are facing pretty much one big problem. The setting in this story is taken place in the year 2003 in a little place called New Bern, where the lives of the Lewis family would change in many ways. Wilson and Jane Lewis; a married couple for many years, are the main characters in this novel. They are facing a very difficult time in their lives. It seems as if Jane has fallen out of love with Wilson. Wilson is the kind of guy who spends far too much time at work. He knows he should be spending more time at home, but just never could find the time to do so. During the course of their life, they had kids and did everything a normal f...

Banning Books Essay

Throughout history, books have been the target of censorship. At times, these books are even banned from schools and public libraries because the content in them is thought to be too offensive. For this assignment, you will be reading one of these banned books. Which book you read is your decision, however you should keep in mind the appropriateness of your choice- make sure it is a book that your parents would not find objectionable. After you have read the book, you will be writing a persuasive essay defending whether or not the book should or should not be banned from a middle school library. Your essay should include a paragraph that summarizes the book as well as three logical, defendable reasons why the book should or should not be banned from a middle school library. While you may look up the reasons why the book has been challenged in the past, the thoughts expressed in the paper must be your own. You are expected to use the information about persuasive essays learned in class to format this paper. A rubric outlining the expectations will be posted on my Teacher Page. Your essay must be typed and follow the standard requirements for an essay: double-spaced, Times New Roman, one-inch margins. Any secondary sources or research that you use must be documented with in-text citations and included on a Works Cited page. If, at any time, you have questions regarding the book you are reading or the essay you are writing, please ask me.

Five Forces Framework Essay

Porter’s Five Forces Model is a model that analyzes an industry to help develop a business strategy. The model uses five forces that have been identified to categorize an industry as intensely competitive or not competitive at all and this will then determine the attractiveness of the market.There are many features of an industry in which a company competes that determines the level of competition it will face and the profits it will get. The most famous classification was done by Michael Porter, known as Porters Five Forces framework which can help a company determine its potential profits by looking at five sources of competitive pressure. The five sources of competition are: 1. Threat of new entrant 2. Threat of substitutes 3. Rivalry among existing competitors 4. Bargaining power of suppliers 5. Bargaining power of buyers. Porter’s Five Forces In particular, we will focus on three different industries; We will start analyzing the five forces in the smartphone industry and then we will continue dealing with the personal computer industry and finally we will present digital music portable industry. SMARTPHONE Industry: In general the smartphone market is rapidly changing, with constant product introductions. It is characterized by quickly evolving technology and designs, short product life cycles, aggressive pricing, rapid imitation of product and technological advancements, and highly price sensitive consumers. Self-elasticity and cross-elasticity are high. No one firm in the market has sufficient market share to control prices, resulting is strong rivalry and competitive pricing. 1. Threat of new entrant: The barriers to entry are high due to the existence of patents, high fixed costs and economies of scale, regulation, and brand loyalty. The individual market participants engage in attempts at product differentiation, some being more  successful than others. The standout is Apple, which has successfully differentiated its iPhone, and stands a good chance of maintaining that differentiation due to its closed and all-inclusive model or development and use.Barriers to entry in the smartphone market are relatively high, but the rapid growth of the market is providing opportunities despite this. There are significant fixed costs associated with smartphone manufacturing. While most firms have the hardware of the phones manufactured overseas by foreign companies, the costs of developing the research and engineering personnel to design and test the smartphone and software can be prohibitively expensive for an entering firm. These fixed costs include not just the cost of the manpower, intellectual knowhow, intellectual property, computers, test equipment, prototyping devices and supplier and manufacturer contracts, but also the time necessary to develop all of these. Because the industry moves so quickly, an entering firm would either have to enter with existing resources targeting the smartphone market, or it would have to have another significant competitive. Moreover consumer will face an high switching costs if they decide to change their products, as a result of the fidelity every brand put on its product. Because all these reasons smartphone industry is extremely difficult to enter. As a result the threat of new competition is low. Smartphone production needs huge number of money and high technology. Even if established the company, it is impossible for new brand to compete with big company like Apple and Samsung. 2. Threat of substitutes : As a result of the high barrier to entry, to build and launch a substitute product is a hard work. Thus Threat of substitute is low. It’s extremely difficult to enter Smartphone production; because this industry base on high technology. As a result, it’s very hard to invent the substitute to replace smartphone with low price and more power function. 3. Rivalry among existing competitors:With rapid innovation necessary for a rapidly changing market, where customers are very price conscious, rivalry among firms in the smartphone market is fierce. Firms in the smartphone market actively work to adopt the successful ideas and technology of their competitors. This has been the trend with large touch screens, touch friendly operating systems, embedded cameras, and availability of an easy to  use app store, among other things. As consumers are more and more driven to purchase by the features that are available on the smartphone, there is a constant rivalry among firms to match each other on features. There is also an effort to stifle each other’s efforts to develop those technologies through obtaining of patents and filing lawsuits seeking injunctions and trade restrictions. No particular firm in the market has a significant amount of market power; every firm is vying for a greater piece of the pie. This has resulted in drivin g down of smartphone prices and relative price parity for flagship smartphones from each major firm. Firms are heavily involved in price discrimination, pricing their phones differently based on the sale outlet. Smartphones sold through retailers are frequently cheaper than those sold through network service providers. The one exception to this is Apple. Apple maintains price equivalency no matter the outlet, and the prices it charges for its smartphones is in many cases much higher than its competitors. Because Apple has been able to do this, its smartphone sales are reportedly highly profitable, while smartphone sales for Motorola have not been profitable at all. Rivalry also comes from outside the manufacturers’ market as other firms try to cash in on the smartphone profits. Google open sourced the Android OS so that it could find revenue from sales of apps and ads through the smartphones that run the OS. This cuts directly into Apple’s effort to become the dominant player in the smartphone manufacturer market, changing the nature of the market significantly. Such changes are likely to continue as other firms attempt to enter the market. Therefore, threat of substitute might have two factors (price and performance) which allows customer to switch the product as well as willingness of buyers to switch. Threat of substitute can be reduced as much as buyers become loyal to the products. To give an example, Apple has been able to create an â€Å"ecosystem†. People buy iPhone for standard, apps and other Apple’s product for upgradeability and stability which gives customer the ability to transfer knowledge and apps among devices 4. Bargaining power of suppliers: Bargaining is very high; Smartphones’ producers have to deal with two different categories of supplier: the hardware producers and the software. Because smartphone production market is not easy to enter , also supplier are limited. If the smartphone company  changes their supplier of components or CPU, the performance of smartphone will change a lot. So the company have to stay under their suppliers’ rule and they have to accept their price, that will be reflected in the price of the final product inevitably. The smartphone company are not willing and will be not willing to take the risk to change their suppliers, in order to maintain the quality of their products. 5. Bargaining power of buyers: customers are not concentrating on price; when they decide to buy a new smartphone they will take into consideration the design and the prestige the product will give them. Sometimes they choose basing on the advertising they receive. So they do not have a strong influence on this industry. Firms get the power to influence their customer and their ability is to make them trust in their own brand, providing for some value added. Take iPhone for example, the function of iPhone is just as good as some that other smartphone could have; However, the price of iPhone is one of the highest in the entire variety of smartphone present in the market, just because the prestige of iPhone is very high. This example shows that the bargaining power of customer is quite low. PC INDUSTRY The computer hardware industry consists of companies that manufacture and assemble personal computers, computer hardware, and computer peripherals. This industry is highly competitive, which means that companies must continuously be innovative in order to sustain a competitive advantage. The major companies of this industry include Oracle, IBM, HP, Dell, Apple, and Toshiba. This analysis will focus on computer manufacturing since it is the largest component of the industry, containing 43.7% of the market’s total value. The computer industry has been rapidly growing and shows no signs of slowing despite the recent economic downturn. 1. Threat of New Entrants :PC market is dominated by some major competitors as Hp, Dell, Acer, Apple, and others who currently have nearly the entire market share; this will likely discourage any potential new companies from entering the market. So we can state that the personal computer industry is characterized by a very weak threat of new entrants. A huge problem that  has to be faced in order to entry this market is that the market requires significant investments to be made in research and development to continually develop innovative products as well as large fixed start-up costs for manufacturing and employees and customer service.Existing firms can benefit from their capabilities of manufacturing at lower prices because of the advantage of economies of scale, where the will have fewer per unit costs as a result of their large scale production. Companies trying to enter the market will initially have smaller production and will consequently have higher prices. In the personal computer industry there is currently much emphasis put on price because consumers have become more price sensitive as personal computers have become more or less a commodity. New entrants will not only have higher prices but they will likely have a less innovative product as well because they do not have equal funding for research and development as other established brands and they will also have to deal with the brand loyal customers that have trusted the existing players in the industry for years. By attempting to join the market without any market share it will also be important for a new entrant to focus its investments more heavily on advertising and marketing then existing brands. A new entrant to the personal computer market will likely not fare well and is almost guaranteed to always be a second mover as the larger companies will develop more innovative products more rapidly because of their many competitive advantages. 2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: It is possible to identify three different groups of suppliers in the personal computer industry including hardware suppliers, software suppliers and service suppliers. The first group is not able to exert a significant power. The core of their products are generally standardized and they compete by focusing on creating better, more advanced products at a better price and not through their attempts to differentiate them. As a result, firms within the industry are able to switch between this kind of suppliers relatively easily. It is really in the hands of the firm and which strategy they are committed to that will determine whether or not they will utilize a high or low end supplier. On the other hand, suppliers of hardware and software within the industry play a critical role in the pricing of products. With the quality of a computer being largely  determined by their microprocessors and application system installed within them. If a firm is following a high quality strategy then it can be expected that their prices will generally be higher to reflect the higher prices they are paying their suppliers.In terms of service suppliers, the service that can be offered within the personal PC industry include internet, tech support and repair services. These suppliers focus highly on operational performance and relational performance in order to increase customer satisfaction. They also offer a variety of customer loyalty programs in attempts to lock in and expand their customer base while trying to gain the competitive edge over competitors within the service industry of personal computers. While the PC industry changes regularly, it can be observed that only the central processing unit (CPU) is a key input. All other items are commodity in nature and so don’t command a bargaining power. Intel has a significant market power as it is a single major supplier of microprocessor and has an 80% of market share.Thus, Dell as computer manufacturer holds a power over the suppliers as opposed to the suppliers holding a power over the manufacturers. It is the suppliers that are in direct competition with each other. The suppliers are often forced to slash prices or merge with larger companies in order to survive. Hence, the bargaining power of suppliers is moderate. 3. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The personal computer industry is somewhat vulnerable against the bargaining power of buyers. Personal computer buyers are price-sensitive. Buyers are interested in quality and specifications thus making consumer loyalty low. Should one company not offer a product a product to suit the customer’s needs, they will find one that will. Buyer power is reduced slightly as computers are increasingly seen as a necessity due to the importance of online communication and information processing. Moreover, in the last recent years, some new technologies came on the market providing customers with the possibility to have more and more alternative options to the personal computer as smartphones, tablet computers, and other handheld devices like Ipods have most of the same capabilities as a personal computer. Because of the availability, sleekness, and trendiness of these alternatives, personal computers are becoming more and more obsolete. Personal computer must differentiate itself  in order to regain market share and compete with these newer alternative options. Large businesses, governments and schools which buy computers in large volumes have the power to bargain on price, quality and service. PC manufacturers can reduce a threat of buyer power by differentiating their product.DELL has introduced a new way of selling (direct model concept); buyers can directly buy computers with DELL without a so called middle man. By using this concept, computers cost per unit can be reduced. Furthermore, buyers are able to customize the PC based on their needs. The basis of this model, the direct model concept is to improve efficiency by effectively eliminating the intermediaries thereby allowing the company to speak directly to the customer. Dealing directly with customers allows Dell to customize their orders according to the customers’ needs. But, despite several ways in which manufacturers have differentiated their products and found ways to increase switching costs, customers still see units as very similar and thus choose primarily on price.To conclude we can consider a strong bargaining power of buyers. 4. Rivalry among Existing Firms: There is fierce competition between the top manufacturers in the personal computer industry. As the PC has increasingly become a commodity in a household, the fight to keep costs low while bringing the best product to the market has become a never ending battle. Thus competitors are trying to produce a low cost, powerful machine with the most efficient operating system. Firms specialize in different areas in order to compete amongst their rivals. Some focus on innovation and attempt to bring the newest technology to their customers first. Nevertheless, others may focus on their distribution channel and services throughout their firm. For example, DELL is focusing on distribution channel and high quality service while others such IBM and Apple focus more on innovation. All these create differentiation to some extent. Low-cost production at DELL contributes its positive growth rate, while other major manufacturers are experiencing negative growth rates. However, one of the fiercest areas is the price competition throughout the industry. It is to underline that the determinants of a pc’s quality are the microprocessor and application systems installed. As a result, there is a direct correlation between the firm’s profitability and the profitability of the firm’s suppliers.The major  manufacturers as DELL, IBM, HP, Acer and Apple are in competition to produce the least expensive and most efficient machine. Japanese companies such as Fujitsu, Toshiba, Sony and NEC also have large market shares.This intense competition are beginning to be felt its effect.Some companies exit via selling to other companies or simply exiting the industry altogether. For example, Compact Computers was acquired by Hewlett-Packet in 2002 while Xerox exi ted the computer business and concentrate on printers. Today, regardless of the number of companies present, the computer industry will continue to expand and remain competitive for a number of years to come, although threat to industry rivalry will continue to be strong. 5. Threat of Substitutes and Complements: Although it is very hard and challenging for a new entrant to join the personal computer industry there are currently other growing industries such as the smartphone, tablet, TV set/top boxes industries which are predicted to affect the sales of personal computers. All those alternatives started to encroach on functionality that was once the sole purview of the PC. Also if those products have different major players, their offers similar benefits to consumers that a personal computer also has. Moreover the technology advances are improving those products day by day. Thus they continue to increase in popularity and in performance, leading the sales of personal computers to a decline. The internet can now be accessed through phones and tablets and they are more portable than a laptop. Currently laptops and personal computers offer many unique applications and are compatible with much more software than smartphones and tablets. If smartphones and tablets can attain greater memory space, processing speeds, and compatibility with similar software, smartphones and tablets may be an all-in-one alternative to personal computers. Not only smartphone and tablet, but also some advanced game device like Sony PS3 allowed consumers to watch DVDs, surf the web, and play the game directly online in addition to play traditional video games. As technology continues to increase these separate industries may merge into one, or at least drastically affect each other.Hence we can conclude that threat from substitutes is strong in the PC industry. Digital Music Portable Industry 1. Threat of new entrant: In this industry, threat of entry is medium because the production cost is quite low. For example, the cost of material, packaging, assembly of iRiver (H320) only costs  £69 and the company can sell it in retail shop at  £153 (Skee G., 2005) Therefore, it may attract new competitors to enter into the market due to the low cost of material and the high product margin. Furthermore, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports that the demand for music on the internet and mobile phones is booming and it may replace physical formats such as tape, CD, and DVD in the future; hence, it can be predicted that the market is still growing gradually (The Computer & Internet Lawyer, 2005). As a result, many companies come into the market and pose new threat to existing companies. For example, Microsoft has recently entered to this industry and launched â€Å"Zune† into the market. Many experts believe that Zune might be a competitive rival with iPod; however, it is not easy for new entrants to gain market share in this industry. It is obvious that Apple is still the market leader because Apple has economies of scale in its production that Apple produces and sells iPod more than 10 million with the high margin cost in each year. Next, Apple’s product is highly differentiated from other brands that customers still buy iPod due to its differentiation. For instance, iPod Nano, the latest model from Apple, has attractive features such as full color screen and the copyright-click wheel button, and iTune system which customers can use it easily to buy and download songs into iPod from internet. As a result, it is difficult for new entrants which have recently entered into the market to develop product to overcome existing companies in the industry. 2. Threat of substitutes : he threat of substitute product in the industry is medium because digital portable music products are quite unique which could not be easily replaced by other products. Products have many advantages for customers. For example, it is cheaper to download songs from internet into iPod than buy CD audio. Next, the quality of sound is equal to an original CD after encoding into audio file format. Customers can enjoy listening music as the same as they enjoy listening music from original CD but cheaper price. Therefore, these are reasons why a MP3 player is still popular today. However, in this last recent years we can see the birth of new product which perhaps can replace MP3 player. They are the new mobile phone and smartphone that are provided with an integrated music players ( previously Nokia N91 with a built-in 4GB hard drive or Motorola E398 with removable memory card and now iPhone, Galaxy and so on). Music phone can download songs via WAP or GPRS and store it in a built-in or removable memory. Importantly, many experts believe that the music phone will be the most serious threat to the industry in the near future because it is all-in-one functions that customers can use it for both communication and entertainment. According to some recent research, the benefit of music phone will make some consumers may hesitate to spend  £149 on MP3 Player when they could buy music phone with  £169 or  £189. 3. Rivalry among existing competitors: In this industry, the intensity of competition is high because there are many players in the industry and each company try to complete with each other by developing new products in the market all the time. For example, Microsoft has recently launched their new product which is MP3 player â€Å"Zune†. It has many features which is different from other products in the market such as an integrated FM tuner, bigger screen, and WiFi connection. Microsoft reports that Zune can penetrate into the market and gain the market share from dominant companies. Two weeks after launching, it took the second place of the market from SanDisk and grabbed 9% of the U.S.A. market but following Apple whose its product (iPod) still dominated the market (Martell, D., 2006) Moreover, â€Å"Cut Price† is popular business strategies in the industry. Most companies use it to overcome with other competitors and it can drive the industry to be more competitive. For example, Creative is a MP3 Player manufacturer that lost the market position to Apple two years ago. In 2005, Sim Wong Hoo, the founder of Creative, declared war on Apple’s iPod by launching new and modern product (Creative Zen Neeon) which Apple tried to counter by cutting price on its product that it forced Creative to do the same thing in its product; therefore, the intensity of rivalry was increasing gradually from this situation. (Sudhaman A., 2005) Besides, the market is growing very fast in the industry that it could also make the industry to be more competitive as well. For instance, iRiver anticipates that MP3 player market in Thailand  will continue to grow increasingly and consumer’s demand will double in the near future; therefore, iRiver has launched new product in the market which it hopes to gain more market share from 13.7% up to 20%. (Veerasak, 2005) When the market is growing very fast; it tends to stimulate many companies to enter and launch their product in the market to gain profit in the industry. 4. Bargaining power of suppliers: In this industry, the bargaining power of supplier is medium because, firstly, there are a lot of suppliers which provide materials for companies such as flash memory, hard disk, semiconductor, and so forth. These suppliers mostly come from Asia region especially in China which is a major source for many companies due to the low price of material. Secondly, according to a supplier in the industry, iSuppli anticipates that the shipment of MP3 players with Hard Disk Drive (HDD) – based product is growing up to 42.6% in 2009 from 26.6% in 2004. Consequently, it made many suppliers come to produce material for MP3 Player market. (Electronic News, 2005) Thirdly, most companies in the industry have power to negotiate with suppliers regarding the price of material. Nowadays, the demand of digital music player is growing dramatically; therefore, the growth of the market made many companies have to produce their product in high volume in order to serve market’s need and it made suppliers lost bargaining power because the large production gives company to be able to order material in high volume from suppliers. Furthermore, some companies that need lots of material in their production tend to have a long-term agreement with supplier to supply them material. For example, Apple need to have lots of material such as flash memory and hard disk memory for its product; therefore, Apple decided to make a long-term supply agreement with flash memory manufacturers such as Samsung, Toshiba in order to get good deal of price and ensure to have material for their product up until 2010. 5. Bargaining power of buyers. The bargaining power of buyer in the industry is low. Although, there are a lot of competitors in the market, products in some companies made a great success in sales volume because of their specific characteristics, such as iPod for example. It is not product’s price but it is product’s differentiation and the brand of the product.  Firms have the power to address customers to choose their specific product focusing on marketing tools. As a result, Apple can set price for its product and it can push high switching cost to customers if they want to change to other products in the market. Importantly, customers buy iPod because it also contains good features and attractive appearance. For instance, although, the price of iPod Nano is higher than other competitors in the market, the excellent features and functions of the product such as it can be played movies and it has higher storage capacity compared to previous model (iPod Mini) made Apple to get lots of profit from iPod Nano in 2005 which iPod Nano is not only just Apple’s best-selling iPod, but also the best – selling digital music player model worldwide.

Case Study: Home Depot Implement Stakeholder Orientation

The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. The Home Depot employees Three Hundred Forty Five Thousand and it operates 2,193 big-box format stores across the United States (including all 50 U. S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam), Canada (all ten provinces), Mexico and China. The Home Depot is headquartered from the Atlanta Store Support Center in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, near Atlanta.It also operates four wholly owned subsidiaries: Apex Supply Company, Georgia Lighting, Maintenance Warehouse, and National Blinds and Wallpaper Company sales are over $81 billion annually The Home Depot is the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, ahead of rival Lowe's, and the second-largest general retailer in the United States, behind only Wal-Mart. Home Depot continues to do things on a grand scale, including putting its corporate muscle behind a tightly focused social responsibility agenda.Every week 22 million customers visit Home Depot, and that means some conflict associated with providing services in a retail environment will occur. However, even Home Depot is feeling stress of the economics crisis they announced on January 26, 2009 that they plan to layoff over 7000 employees employed with their Home Depot (Expo) operation (Retalindustry. about. com, 2009). Although Home Depots Philanthropic efforts appear to be sincere; Home Depot continues to suffer in customer and employee relations. 1. Rank the relative power of Home Depot’s various stakeholders. Defend why you have ranked the first three as most important.Ferrell, John Fraedrich, Linda Ferrell (2009) define stakeholders as â€Å"those whose continued association is absolutely necessary to the firms survival. These included employees, customers, investors, shareholders as well as governments and communities listed that provides necessary infrastructure. So Home Depot stake holders would include the customers, the employees, the communities that benefit from the philanthropic activities of Home Depot. I ranked the customers first because if Home Depot had no customers they would not need any employees and they would not be able to help others.I ranked the employees second because the employees represent Home Depot to the world – if a customer does not have a positive experience with the employees when dealing with them they will probably not make purchases and if no purchases are made no money is made and ultimately, no Home Depot. The third important stakeholder is the community because if often benefits from Home Depot’s desire to give back to the community. All of Home Depot’s stakeholders listed on their websites would qualify as primary stakeholders 1) Custmoers 2) Associates 3) Communities ) Vendors ; suppliers 5) Shareholders 2. Evaluate Home Depot’s philanthropic activities as a link to its overall corporate strategy . Home Depot has always wanted to be an outlet for â€Å"the people† not just builders or other professionals. Their mantra is â€Å"You can do it. We can help. † This mantra is exemplified in the philanthropic activities that Home Depot has been a part of. Home Depot has shown that they are committed to giving back to the community with their philanthropic efforts. They have given back to the community by donating their time, money, labor and supplies.Their chairtable contributions alone have exceeded $200 million. In 2002, the Home Depot Foundation was established. The foundation supports many community projects, including Habitat for Humanity. City of Home Cancer, a California-based cancer-treatment center, and KaBOOM, a playground construction organization. In 2007, the Home Depot Foundtion commited to investing $400 million in grants over the next 10 years, which will result in the development of 100000 affordable, healthy homes for working families, and the plant ing and preservation of more than three million community trees in urban areas. Homedepotfoundation. org, 2009) All of Home Depots philanthropic activities are too numerous to mention.Giving back to the community through philanthropy is one of their eight core values that Home Depot delivers on the most. Through an extensive community relations program , we reach our to the communities where our associates live and work with philanthropic and volunteer support. Programs bring together volunteerism, do it your self expertise, product donations and monetary grants to meet critical needs and build affordable communities. . How do you think Home Depot has handled ethical issues such as gender discrimination and other human resource issues over the last ten years? In Aug 2004, as a result of an approved settlement, the U. S. District Judge in Colorado ordered Home Depot to pay $5. 5 million to current and former employees, as well as significant injunctive relief. Like many other large c orporations, when there is a settlement there is no admission of wrong doing. Home Depot has had a long history on not dealing with it issues of gender discrimination.As a recent blogger best, put it, If Home Depot was serious about handling their long standing gender discrimination issues, it would 1) Stop systematically sexually harassing and discriminating against women, especially in their merchandising organization. 2) Submit gender and race employment information as promised in 2002 to shareholder (oweners) of the company 3) comply with federal and state regulations on contraception coverage, wage discrimination and civil rights issues (especially since they are federal contractors two times over). ) Stop encouraging and allowing claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation to go univestigated or unchecked, and 5) Hold the perpetrators of these actions accountable to their moral turpitude contract clauses and their largely ingoned code of Ethics and HR SOPs. This appears to be an area that still needs work as they have had several lawsuits in recent years related to these issues and are currently involved in a suit. Perhaps additional training in this area and a comprehensive ethical program will help in this area.References http://corporate.homedepot.com/, retrieved on October 20 ,2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/, retrieved on October 20 ,2009 http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/, retrieved on October 20 ,2009 978-1-111-08264-2, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, 2009 Update, 7e, O.C. Ferrell, John Fraedrich, Linda Ferrell –  © Cengage Learning

What is a Monster? Are We Monsters? Are Humans Monsters?

When we become envious of our friend's belongings, vengeful toward those who hate, or selfish when we have plenty. Monsters strike fear within our hearts because they are giant, monstrous, ugly and uncontrollable beings. Humans strike fear in their peers because of their vengeance, race or politics. In Beowulf, readers are exposed to these monsters who are uncontrollable through the ways that they fight each other. By analyzing Beowulf, the concept of monstrosity is parallel to some flaws of humanity. Although Beowulf is seen a deviant God-sent savior by the people of Heorot and Hrothgar, he is not exempt from the equivalence of humanistic flaws in the natural world. Through the use of many parallels between the characters of Beowulf representing monsters and the natural world humans, the reader is left questioning what it is to be a hero and what it is to be a monster. The story uses symbolism such as supernaturalism as the model to create specific roles for the characters in Beowulf that parallel humans. In this paper, I will discuss the ways in which Grendel, Grendel's Mother and Beowulf are parallel to humans in the natural world by looking at the ways in which monsters and humans are similar. The epic poem, Beowulf, describes each of the monsters to be supernatural except Grendel and his mother who are understood to not be supernatural. He is one of three monsters in the story that is ornamented with monstrous traits such as â€Å"heathen talons, terrible spikes† (Beowulf 987). Although he is described with these monstrous features, it is humanistic and emotional instinct that propel his actions. For example, in the beginning of the story, Grendel is angered by the joyous celebration of the men of Heorot (Danes), crawls out of his underground swamp and creates a deathly disturbance. This ambiguous monstrosity gives mixed views of the role of humans and monsters, allowing for overlapping representations. He lives underground with his mother that is recognized by readers as the unnatural world-living in swamps and darkness. The grumpy Grendel attacks the Hall because it â€Å"harrowed him to hear the joyful din loud in the hall† (87-105). He is envious of Hrothgar and his people because they live in civilization-unlike Grendel-who lives in isolation. Words like â€Å"harrowing,† â€Å"misery† (105), â€Å"unholy creature,† and â€Å"ravenous† (120-121) are all used in the beginning of the story which alludes readers that Grendel is monstrous and envious of the Danes. The human characteristic Grendel is portraying in the story is envy. He wants to fit in with the Danes but since he is a Cain (who kills kin) he is unable to. His physical form confuses readers in terms of categorizing him as man or beast. He has many animal attributes, a grotesque and monstrous appearance such as â€Å"beast† (425), â€Å"heathen talons† and â€Å"terrible spikes† (985), but his actions and emotions prove otherwise. When Grendel is gravely injured from the battle with Beowulf at the Hall, he is doomed to die in his underground home. When Beowulf describes the win over Grendel, he states, â€Å"death is not an easy thing to escape-try it who will-but compelled necessity all must come to that place set aside for soul-bearers, children of men, dwellers on earth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1012). This further blurs the line between natural world humans and monsters because of the vernacular Beowulf chooses, â€Å"earth dwellers†, â€Å"children of men†. These words with specific intent towards Grendel, can overlap with descriptions of death towards humans in the natural world that death is hard to escape. Grendel's mother in the story is relatable to every mother in the natural world. Her intent to avenge her son's death (Grendel) to kill Beowulf is a very similar instinct mothers have in the natural world humans feel remorse for the loss of their loved ones. She symbolizes the natural quality of revenge. Grendel's mother comes into play and described as, â€Å"a woman's warfare, is less than an armed man's when a bloodstained blade, its edges strong, hammer-forged sword, slices through the boar-image on a helmet opposite† (1283). The line, â€Å"a woman's warfare, is than an armed man† to describe Grendel's mother as weak is a direct parallel to mothers in the natural world. In today's world, people assume that women are weak and less harmful than a man. In the story, the men in the hall are not afraid of her because she is a woman. Even though she is a mother, a female, to a â€Å"weak†, â€Å"emotional† monster (Grendel), she can still be violent and dangerous to others. This parallels mothers in the natural world. They can be terrifying when you make them mad. Grendel's mother is also ornamented with monstrous descriptions, â€Å"her hostile claws, that she-wolf of the sea swam to the bottom† (1505). This puzzles the reader when trying to categorize Grendel's mother as (wo)man or â€Å"beast†. Along with Grendel's monstrosity and his mothers', Beowulf's humanity is called into question. His call for attacking and killing Grendel is only for the fame he receives from the men of Heorot, â€Å"he trusted his strength, the might of his handgrip-as a man should do if by his warfare he thinks to win long-lasting praise: he cares nothing for his life† (1535). In this scene, the reader sees how he possess supernatural qualities of abnormal strength. This is the epitome of so many men in the natural world. Men are greedy for praise to impress a woman they like. The description of Beowulf here can again confuse the reader as to what to categorize him as, man or â€Å"beast†. Men try to be heroic when a tragedy happens most of the time to gain praise from the public. This is what Beowulf does in the story, to be the hero by stopping the attack on Heorot by Grendel. Beowulf is the example of the â€Å"tragic hero† in the story. He comes from being known as nothing but an ugly strong monster to a praised monster who killed the bad guy. He has many animal attributes and a monstrous appearance, but he seems to be guided by vague human emotions and impulses. For example, the impulse to kill Grendel for glory and fame is a remorseful killing act, Beowulf uses it as adrenaline to keep killing and attacking the â€Å"beasts† who harm Heorot. These different monstrous personalities are seen in the natural human world which need to be addressed today when reading and exploring one's own life. Humans are monsters too. Grendel is portrayed as the man who takes the bus to work every day and is envious of happiness in people's life-maybe someone with depression. Grendel's mother is portrayed as everyone's mother who wants revenge for a loved one's death and Beowulf is the greedy white American who wants to be praised for saving blacks in a burning house. Each of these portrayals in the human world is scary to see and understand. But it is all real. Concepts of monstrosity, heroism, and supernaturalism in Beowulf are complex due to the parallelisms between humanity and the monsters in the story. It is easy for readers to neglect the looming allusions on humanity that Beowulf offers through its use of subtle comparison. The ambiguity of â€Å"monster† and â€Å"hero† are intermixed in both the story and world of common man. Beowulf reminds readers to question the flaws and norms in humanity and its longing labels. We must yearn to understand human motivation before asking and claiming self-righteous glory. The difference between Grendel's mother and Beowulf is that his mother was avenging the death of her son and Beowulf kills for glory and fame. Humans are monsters.

Iterature comprehension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Iterature comprehension - Essay Example Robert Lee Frost’s The Road Not Taken is a poem about the contemplation of two different possible outcomes of travel down two divergent roads in the woods. When the traveler is first viewing his choices, he notices that the road down the first path is clear to see: â€Å" And be one traveler, long I stood, And looked down one as far as I could, To where it bent in the undergrowth;† The other path, the one our traveler chooses, â€Å"Because it was grassy and wanted wear† it turns out may not be as different because â€Å"the passing there, Had worn them really about the same†. The contemplation of the two paths, on a literal level, has to do with what the traveler can see and not see on down the road from the vantage point at the beginning of the journey. One path is widely tread and clearly seen. The other one that is unseen, unclear and unknown is the one the traveler chooses. But it is also with this choice that the traveler knows he is ultimately forsa ken the other. After all, as he says, â€Å"Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.† ultimately face when we choose one course in life over another. The poet is telling us about the power of free will, that we no longer live under the age of determinism and pastoral control thus we are free to take our own path in life, which in The Road Not Taken, is the one that others have not. I don’t think that Frost is advocating a specific position in this poem. I just think that he is just showing vs. telling the reader that we exist in a time where we have the power to choose one course in life over another. Thus the lesser traveled path is not always the better path, it is simply the one that is lesser known. The path that has fewer unforeseen consequences at the outset is not greater or lesser, it is simply unknown. I think another misconception that is easy to make about the poem is that the poet is sad or full over regret over the path not taken. â€Å"I shall