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European Lion Facts and Figures

European Lion Facts and Figures Panthera leo, the cutting edge lion, incorporated a befuddling exhibit of subspecies in early authentic o...

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

European Lion Facts and Figures

European Lion Facts and Figures Panthera leo, the cutting edge lion, incorporated a befuddling exhibit of subspecies in early authentic occasions. At any rate three of these-Panthera leo europaea, Panthera leo tartarica and Panthera leo fossilis-are alluded to all things considered as the European Lion; these enormous felines occupied an expansive area of western, focal and eastern Europe, extending from the Iberian landmass to as far east as Greece and the Caucasus. The European Lion most likely slid from a similar regular predecessor as the Asiatic Lion, Panthera leo persica, the still-surviving leftovers of which can in any case be found in current India. Social References Tantalizingly, the European Lion is referenced various occasions in old style writing; the Persian ruler Xerxes apparently experienced a few examples when he attacked Macedonia in the fifth century B.C.E, and this huge feline was in all likelihood utilized by the Romans in gladiatorial battle or to discard appalling Christians in the first and second hundreds of years A.D. Like other Panthera leo subspecies, the European Lion was pursued to annihilation by people, either for sport or to secure towns and farmland, and vanished off the substance of the earth around 1,000 years prior. The European Lion ought not be mistaken for the Cave Lion, Panthera leo spelaea, which made due in Europe and Asia up to the cusp of the last Ice Age. Realities Chronicled Epoch Late Pleistocene-Modern (one million-1,000 years prior) Size and Weight Up to four feet high at the shoulder and 400 pounds Recognizing Characteristics Huge size; absence of manes in females

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Merck case report Essay Example

Merck case report Essay Dismissing Mr.. Mercers theory, the program proposes to not Invest In sedate rights because of a general loss of $260,000. Stage One: The KILL-798 item has been under trying stages for a half year. In light of Kappa Labs venture group examine there Is a 60% possibility of Phase One effective finish. If Merck somehow managed to purchase the item rights, the expense Incurred to finish this would be $5 million. The product states there Is an opportunity of Phase One coming up short bringing about lost $35 million. In the event that the first round demonstrates effective, at that point Merck faces the choice of advancing to Phase Two. Stage Two: If Merck chooses to progress into Phase Two there presents a large number of chances. The main choice includes treating only heftiness at 10% probability. A 10% possibility additionally exists of the medication treating just elevated cholesterol. There additionally is a chance of the medication adequately tending to the two conditions at 30%. The possibility of the medication not treating any of the diseases is half. The expense of finishing Phase Two is $40 million. For each condition that is tended to, the choice remains whether to search out FDA endorsement. The program recommends if Phase Two is effective, the numerous has two plausible choices, to deliver a medication for Just stoutness or achieve a medication that battles both heftiness and cholesterol. The more pragmatic choice for the organization is to deliver a medication that tends to just weight since there is a higher by and large benefit when contrasted with creating a medication that objectives the two illnesses. The medication that objectives just stoutness has a general advantage of $197. Million, while the medication that objectives the two has a general advantage of $160. 5 million. FDA Approval: The choice tree encourages Merck to search out FDA assent. For the item that treats just heftiness, there is a 75% possibility of getting FDA acknowledgment. This would cost Merck $50 million to proceed with this procedure. In the wake of looking for endorsement, the organization Is co nfronted with the choice whether to showcase the medication. In the event that the medication Is affirmed and showcased, an addition of $430 million will be accomplished. We will compose a custom article test on Merck case report explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom exposition test on Merck case report explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on Merck case report explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer The following alternative Is to choose If we should proceed to FDA endorsement for the medication that treats just cholesterol. Choice Tree Analysis encourages Merck to not proceed with this procedure despite the fact that a 75% possibility exists of achieving endorsement. The expense of looking for acknowledgment Is $50 million. The third alternative Is to settle on looking for FDA acknowledgment for a medication that treats tooth illnesses. Concurring too nitty gritty examination, creating this medication Is additionally a suitable alternative, in spite of the fact that the advantage would be not exactly delivering for just heftiness. Affectability Analysis: The main examination directed was on accomplishing achievement in Phase I Nils apneas Is amazingly delicate up until purportedly up until tens rate, the normal worth is negative. Any likelihood more noteworthy than 60% outcomes in a positive anticipated worth. On the off chance that the likelihood increments by 1%, the program choice will change to propose the organization to push ahead (it would be ideal if you allude to Decision Tree 2). For the second affectability examination, we set the choice with the most elevated chance as the consistent, which is the choice to deliver neither medication. This alternative additionally ends up being exceptionally delicate at the half likelihood mark. In the event that the rate were to be more prominent than half, at that point it would not be ideal to push ahead. The last examination included the likelihood of the two medications accepting FDA endorsement. Like the past two investigation, a worth higher than 60% will bring about a normal worth that is certain. This outcomes in the medications getting acknowledgment. Agreement: According to Decision Tree footwear, the ideal suggestion is to not buy sedate rights. This outcomes in neither benefits or misfortunes, and the ideal circumstance for the Merck association. In the event that the firm were to initially employ a counseling firm to explore the likelihood of accomplishment in stage one and the specialists demonstrate that achievement is reasonable, the estimation of giving this data brings about a general advantage of $57. 9 million. This gives a $55. 3 million contrast from not employing an expert of $2. 635. Hence, Merck could procure an expert up until the expense of this distinction (it would be ideal if you allude to Decision Tree 3).

Sunday, August 9, 2020

American culture at its finest Thanksgiving

American culture at its finest Thanksgiving The fourth Thursday of November and the few days before and after are typically the biggest travel days in the U.S. Why? Because that day (today!) is Thanksgiving day, which is a BIG DEAL in the U.S. Considering the size of our international audience, I thought I might take a few minutes to explain why. Thanksgiving is when Americans gather together with their families to take part in a few time-honored traditions: huge, home cooked meals centered around a turkey, football (the American kind, not actually played with your feet), and preparation for the holiday season. I just watched the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, another staple of the holiday. Apparently (according to Wikipedia, anyway) the parade began back in the 20s because a large number of Macys employees were new immigrants who were eager to embrace American traditions. (You learn something new every day.) Macys is a huge department store, the main branch of which is located on 34th street in New York City. (Hence the movie title.) In fact, I just passed Macys on Tuesday night- the bus I take drops me off at Penn Station, right across the street from the famous store. So back in the 20s, a bunch of Macys employees put together a big parade with balloons, floats, and animals from the Central Park Petting Zoo, and a great American tradition was born. Ever since its first incarnation, the parade ends with the entrance of Santa Claus- the official ringing in of the holiday season. (In fact, before Thanksgiving was officially encoded as the 4th Thursday in November, presidents during lean tim es attempted to move the holiday earlier in the year to increase the length of the shopping season. I really need to read less Wikipedia.) At my house, Thanksgiving morning is pretty lax. While delicious cooking happens in the kitchen, the TV in the living room is left on channel 4 (NBC) which broadcasts the parade every year. My mom and/or sister and I take breaks from preparing some food to bring to my grandparents house to catch snippets of the parade on TV. We never sit down and watch the whole thing, but everyone makes sure to catch the very end, when Santa makes his appearance. But before the climactic end, the parade features marching bands from across the country, floats with famous performers singing and dancing to holiday tunes, and huge balloons of characters from all arenas of pop culture: books (the Cat in the Hat, Clifford the Big Red Dog), TV shows (Kermit the frog), movies (Buzz Lightyear), toys (Mr. Potato Head), and even commercials (the Energizer Bunny, the MMs characters.) And a fun fact: apparently, engineering students from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ volunteer at the parade by inflating the balloons and using their physics knowledge to train the handlers in keeping the balloons under control. I almost went there, and I never knew that! After my family enjoys the parade, we head to my grandparents house with as many of my moms sibilings as can make it (my moms sisters both live nearby, but her 2 brothers live out of state and only make it back to Jersey every couple of years for important family events) for a traditional dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and all sorts of other autumn foods. Not only that, but my grandmother actually works in a bakery, so the pies and cookies are always top-notch (and in oversupply, normally). My extended family is huge, so we almost never have a formal sit-down dinner like you see on TV. All sorts of food is set out and everyone grabs what they want and finds a place around the house to sit down and enjoy. As for the football: the TV in the background is set to the football game, and after weve digested a bit, we head outside for a family match. A few years ago, when we had a larger crowd than usual thanks to my uncle and his family flying in from Utah, my mom actually borrowed pinnies from the basketball team she coaches so we could have proper teams. It can get pretty intense. This is my family playing football a few Thanksgivings ago. We pick teams after dinner, and the winners take pride in rubbing victory in the face of the losing team for an entire year. Im not kidding. Its a big deal. The story behind the first Thanksgiving goes as follows: the pilgrims who landed in Massachusetts had no idea what they were doing. They were totally unprepared for New England winters and certainly wouldnt have made it through the first few years without the help of the Native Americans in the area who taught them how to fish and hunt local game, which crops to plant, and generally how to survive on the terrain. To express their thanks, the pilgrims and the Native Americans held a big feast together to celebrate a successful harvest. But every story has two sides. If it seems a little bogus to you that one of the biggest, most culturally important holidays in the U.S. celebrates the help of an indigenous population which weve historically, to put it mildly, treated very poorly, youre not alone. The United American Indians of New England agree with you, and since 1970 theyve staged a protest on Thanksgiving Day (called the National Day of Mourning) in Plymouth, Massachusetts- the site of the original Thanksgiving to protest the myth of the First Thanksgiving (because we all know the story wasnt that simple, and the way we celebrate the holiday now almost certainly bears very little resemblance to the original) and the even bigger myth of cooperation between the natives and the settlers. I think thats a pretty comprehensive overview of the holiday. Enjoy your turkey, your protests, or your ordinary autumn day- whatever is in store for you.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Leadership The Public Policy Process - 1299 Words

Running Head: LEADERSHIP 1 Leadership in the Public Policy Process Sharon Lockhart Foundations of Public Administration/PPA601 Dr. LaQuita Gray-Baker April 3, 2017 LEADERSHIP 2 Leadership in the Public Policy Process The public†¦show more content†¦To sum all up, charismatic traits are most important because they conform to various situations (Cropf, 2008). A charismatic leader uses communication traits to communicate the needs and interest surrounding the creation of public policies. Public policies are created in the best interest of the public, therefore, the traits of the charismatic leaders are important because the leader go above LEADERSHIP 3 and beyond to insure sound policies. Creating public policies that are unbreakable requires a leader with strong professional and personal traits as the charismatic leaders. Does a leader’s educational background matter significantly in providing leader- Ship in the policy making process? Educational background matter significantly in providing leadership in the policy making process. There are different courses that will give leaders knowledge in politics and the policy making process. Leadership in the policy making process should have an idea of the economic, political, government and public problems. Educational background will ensure leadership have the knowledge how a policy is made up. Hypothetically speaking, anyone dreaming of leading a country, â€Å"their best chance of being a leader is to get a major or advance degree in econ omics, law andShow MoreRelatedLeadership in the Process of Public Policy Development559 Words   |  2 PagesLeadership in the Process of Public Policy Development Introduction Leadership in public service involves capability in a number of areas in order to be successful. 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Leadership on the federal level comprises of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial. Spearheaded by the federal government, public health policies decision making, programs and projects funding flows down to the states and local levels. The variations that exist among the three levels of public health leadership are characterizedRead MoreThe Abandonment Of Professional Autonomy787 Words   |  4 Pageswhich is treatment. Some medical providers are failing to follow policies or regulatory requirement when providing care. They should be held account and must be required to follow policies or procedures when pro viding care. Reduced autonomy on healthcare that is supported by joint pressure, safety rules, and institutionalized safety methods that is standardized could force provider to follow protocol. The strengthen approach to process improvement through focus on quality care in the hospital andRead MoreLeadership Of The Public Sector1442 Words   |  6 Pages Leadership in the public sector is not something that is cut and dry, it is something that some people see while others swear doesn’t even exist. In the age of globalization where top talent is highly sought after and leadership qualities are something that every firm desires, it would seem that the public sector needs to boast their leaders just to remain competitive and relevant in the modern business world. In the public sector leadership has been theorized to be very beneficial in practice howeverRead MorePresentation Of Partisanship : Constituency Connections And Partisan Congressional Activity967 Words   |  4 Page sOver the past three decades, parties and partisan organizations have evolved to become key features of today’s House of Representatives; the two are now essential to congressional policy and the member’s careers. In the article â€Å"Presentation of Partisanship: Constituency Connections and Partisan Congressional Activity,† published in the Social Science Quarterly (2009), Scott R. Meinke investigates how House members explain and frame their participation in partisan activity to constituency representation

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act - 1136 Words

Morality is our ability to make a difference between right and wrong, and protect Children experiences at home and the environment around them. Federal and State laws define child neglect and abuse is both criminal and civil. The civil definitions that determine the grounds for intervention by State child protective agencies, at the Federal level, by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) January 31, 1974.By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America and Congress assembled this act may be cited as, â€Å"the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Section 3 of the Law said† For purposes of this Act the term child abuse and neglect means the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent†¦show more content†¦(CAPTA) – 93-247 and the public demand for investigation of child abuse. The Child protective services were established generally directed toward institutions and residential facilities. Research and studies has documented that it’s a terrible to face Child Abuse and maltreatment, and it is a global phenomenon.(Lalayants,M 2013). Most States recognize four major types of maltreatment: neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. Although any of the forms of child maltreatment may be found separately, they often occur in combination. Also in many States, abandonment, and parental substance abuse are also defined as forms of child abuse or neglect. African Americans have the leading percentage of child abuse 128.8 %, American Indian /Alaskan Native 102.1%, Asian Pacific Islander 17.0%, Latinos 50.6%, and Whites 45.3%. Physical Abuse arrange from minor bruises to severe fractures or death as a result of throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting with a hand, stick, strap, or burning, chocking, hitting with the hand, slapping, shaking, biting, punching, kicking, stabbing or otherwise harming a child, that is inflicted by a parent, caregiver, or other person who has respons ibility for the child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the parent or caregiver intended to hurt the child or not.(Cyr,c.Michel, G. Dumais,M 2013) The

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Interchangeable Manufacturing Free Essays

Interchangeable Manufacturing and Technical Drawings Until the 1700-1800’s industrial productions was like custom fitting sections in a product. Assembly would consist of craftsman hand filing and grinding roughly shaped parts and putting them together. The invention of interchangeable parts allowed the assembly of products to be done a lot quicker, and without training of a craftsperson. We will write a custom essay sample on Interchangeable Manufacturing or any similar topic only for you Order Now To be able to make the parts there had to be improvements to the technology in the machine had to be made. This led to a mass production of different products such as, cars, appliances, electronics etc. The products can be made in larger numbers then if each one needed to be hand made. With the development of interchangeable manufacturing, technical drawings have become a very important part of the process. Before interchangeable parts were developed the manufacturer would create a part that worked or fit the machine and just kept producing that part. A technical drawing done by draftsmen containing known symbols and labels that when sent to the manufacturer they could interpret them and send back a finished product the drafter wanted. Most technical drawings used are simple wire frame views showing the information for production. Technical illustrations are a set of more complex drawings; they contain coloured sections reveling the operating mechanics. Technical drawings are used to convey ideas to others. There function is to communicate descriptions specifications, and instructions to the manufacturer. This is so the three dimensional objects and systems can be made and assembled correctly. The technical drawing shows many important elements that are needed and how they are assembled. They are also made to show each part of the product and the instructions needed. Technical drawings are an essential process of the interchangeable parts assembly. They help the manufacturer know what specifications are required for the product. Without the drawings the assembly would not be able to run as efficiently as it does today. How to cite Interchangeable Manufacturing, Essay examples

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Kahlil Gibran free essay sample

But Gibran was primarily a poet and a mystic in whom thought, as in every good poet and good mystic, is a state of being rather than a state of mind. A student of Gibrans philosophy, therefore, finds himself more concerned not with his ideas but with his disposition; not with his theory of love but with Gibran the lover. That Gibran had started his literary career as a Lebanese emigrant in America, passionately yearning for his homeland, twentieth-century and intellectual may, perhaps give a basic clue to his disposition framework. To be an emigrant is to be an alien. But to be an emigrant mystical alienation is added poet is to be thrice alienated. To geographical from both conventional human society at large, and estrangement also the whole world of spatio-temporal existence. Therefore such a poet is gripped by a triple longing: a longing for the country of his birth, for a utopian human society of the imagination in which he can feel at home, and for a higher world of metaphysical truth. This Gibran with the basis for his artistic creatitriple longing provided vity. Its development from one stage of his work to another is only a variation in emphasis and not in kind; three strings of his harp re always to be detected and towards the end of his life they achieve * Al-Majm? ah al K? milahli Muallaf? t Gibr? nKhal? lGibr? n,Beirut 1949-50 Sand and Foam, New York 1926 ThePropbet, New York 1923 The Forerunner,New York 1920 Jesus the Sonof Man, New York 1928 The Earth Gods,New York 1931 1 TheProphet, 33. p. 56 almost perfect harmony in his master-piece, The Prophet, where the home country of the prophet Almustafa, the utopian state of human existence and the metaphysical world of higher truth become one and the same. To The Prophet as well as to the rest of Gibrans works, Music can be considered as a prelude. Published eleven years after Gibrans emigration to Boston as a youth of eleven, this essay of about thirteen pages marks the authors debut into the world of letters. Though entitled Music, this booklet is more of a schoolboys prosaic ode to on it. As such, it tells us more music than an objective dissertation about Gibran, the emotional boy, than about his subject. The Gibran it reveals is a flowery sentimentalist who, saturated with a vague sees in music a floating sister-spirit, an ethereal nostalgic sadness, of all that a nostalgic heart is not and yet yearns to be. embodiment of the whole essay, both in style and in spirit, is the Representative following quotation, in which he addresses music: Oh you, wine of the heart that uplifts its drinker to the heights of the world of imagination;-you ethereal waves bearing the souls phantoms; you sea of sensibility and tenderness; to your waves we lend our soul, and to your uttermost depths we trust our hearts. Carry those hearts away beyond the world of matter and show us what is hidden deep in the world of the unknown. Between Mztsic of 1905 and The Prophet of 1923, Gibrans writings as well as his thought seem to have passed through two stages: the youthful period of his early Arabic works, Nymphs of the Wally, Spirits Rebellious, Broken Wings and A Tear and a Smile, published between 1907 and 1914, and the relatively more mature stage of Processions, The Tempests, The Madman, his first work in English, and The Forerunner, his second, all leading up to The Prophet. It is only natural that in his youthful stage Gibrans longing in Chinatown, Boston, where he first settled, for Lebanon, the country of the first impressionable years of his life, should dominate the two other strings in his harp. Nymphs of the Vallg is a collection of three short stories; Spirits Rebellious consists of another four, while Broken names and Wings can easily pass for a long short story. Overlooking dates, the three books can safely be considered as one volume of eight collected short stories that are similar in both style and conception, even to the point of redundancy; in all of them Lebanon, as the unique 1 See al M? ? qa al-Majm? ah in al-K? milah (The Complete Works), vol. I, p. 57. 57 of mystic natural beauty, provides the setting. The different heroes, though their names and situations vary from story to story, are Khalil Gibran in essence one and the same. They are unmistakably the youth himself, who at times does not even bother to conceal his identity, speakin g in the first person singular in Broken Wings and as Khalil in Khalil the Heretic of Spirits Rebellious. This first-person hero is typically to be found challenging pretenders to the possession of the body and soul of his beloved Lebanon. These pretenders in the nineteenth and early twentieth century are, in Gibrans reckoning, the feudal lords of Lebanese aristocracy and the church order. The stories are therefore almost invariably woven in such a way as to bring Gibran the hero, or a Gibran-modelled hero, into direct conflict with of one or another of those groups. representatives In Broken Wings, Gibran the youth and Salma Karameh fall in love. But the local archbishop frustrates their love by forcibly marrying Salma to his nephew. Thus Gibran finds the opportunity, whilst his love of the virgin beauty of Lebanon, to pour out his singing anger on the church and its hierarchy. In Spirits Rebellious, Iihalil the heretic is expelled from a monastery in Mount Lebanon into a raging winter blizzard, because he was too Christian to be tolerated by the abbot and his fellow monks. Rescued at the last moment by a widow and her beautiful daughter in a Lebanese hamlet and secretly given refuge in their cottage, he soon makes the mother an admirer of his ideals of a primitive anticlerical Christianity and the daughter a disciple and a devoted lover. When he is discovered and captured by the local feudal lord and brought to trial before him as a heretic and an outlaw, he stands among the multitudes of humble Lebanese villagers and tenants and speaks like a Christ at his second coming. Won over by his defence, which he turns into an offensive against the allied despotism of the church and the feudal system, the simple and poverty-stricken villagers rally round him. As a consequence the local lord commits suicide, the priest takes to flight, Khalil marries the daughter of his rescuer, and the whole village lives ever afterwards in a blissful state of natural piety, amity and justice. John the Madman in Nymphs of the Valley is almost a duplicate of Khalil the heretic. Detained with his calves by the abbot and monks of a monastery simply because the calves have intruded on its property, John, the poor calf-keeper, accuses his persecutors and all other men of the church of being the enemies of Christ, the modern pharisees land 58 on t he poverty, misery and goodness of the very people prospering like himself in whom Christ abides. Come forth again, o living out of your Christ, he calls, and chase these religion-merchants For they have turned those temples into dungeons where the temples. nakes of their cunning and villainy lie coiled. 1 Because he was social order uniinspired with sincere truth under a domineering to sincerity and truth, John was dismissed as a formly antagonistic madman. It is easy to label Gibran in this early stage of his career as a social reformer and a rebel, as he was indeed labelled by many students of his works in the Arab world. His heroes, whose main weapons are their eloquent tongues, are always engaged in struggles that are of a social nature. There are almost invariably three factors here: innocent romantic love, frustrated by a society that subjugates love to worldly selfish interests, a church order that claims wealth, power and absolute authority in the name of Christ but is in fact utterly antichrist, and a ruthlessly inhuman feudal system. However, in spite of the apparent climate of social revolt in his stories Gibran remains far from deserving the title of social reformer. To be a reformer in revolt against something is to be in possession of a positive alternative. But nowhere do Gibrans heroes strike us as having any real alternative. The alternatives, if any, are nothing but the negation of what the heroes revolt against. Thus their alternative for a corrupt love is no corrupt love, the sort of utopian love that we are made to see in Broken Lf/ings; the alternative for a feudal system is no feudal system, or the kind of systemless society we end up with in Spirits Rebellious; and the alternative for a Christless church is a Christ without any kind of church, madman in the kind of role in which John has found himself. Not being in possession of an alternative, a social reformer in revolt is instantly transformed from a hero into a social misfit. Thus Gibrans heroes have invariably been heretics, madmen, wanderers, and even prophets and Gods. As such they all Boston, drawn represent Gibran the emigrant misfit in Chinatown, in his imagination and longing to Lebanon, his childhoods fairyland, who is not so much concerned with the ills that corrup t its society as with the corrupt society that defiles its beauty. What kind of Lebanon Gibran has in mind becomes clearer in a relatively late essay in Arabic, in which his ideal of Lebanon and that of the antagonists whom he portrays in his stories are set against one another. vol. 1 Al-Majm? ahal-K? mila, I, p. 101. 59 The best that Gibran the rebel could tell those corrupters of Lebanese society in this essay entitled You Have Your Lebanon and I have Mine is not how to make Lebanon a better society, but how beautiful is Lebanon without any society at all. He writes: You have your Lebanon and its problems, and I have my Lebanon and its beauty. You have your Lebanon with all that it has of various interests and concerns, while I have my Lebanon with all that it has of aspirations and dreams Your Lebanon is a political riddle that time to resolve, while my Lebanon is hills rising in awe and attempts Your Lebanon is ports, industry majesty towards the blue sky and commerce, while my Lebanon is a far removed idea, a burning emotion, and an ethereal word whispered by earth into the ear of heaven Your Lebanon is religious sects and parties, while my Lebanon is youngsters climbing rocks, running with rivulets and ball in open squares. Your Lebanon is speeches, lectures and playing while my Lebanon is songs of nightingales, discussions, swaying branches of oak and poplar, and echoes of shepherd flutes reverber1 ating in caves and grottoes. It is no wonder that this kind of rebel should wind up his so-called social revolt at this stage of his career with the publication of a book of collected prose poems entitled A Tear and a Smile. The tears, which are much more abundant here than the smiles, are those of Gibran the misfit rather than of the rebel in Boston, singing in an exceedingly touching way of his frustrated love and estrangement, his loneliness, homesickness and melancholy. The smiles, on the other hand, are the expression of those hitherto intermittent but now more numerous moments in the life of Gibran the emigrant when the land of mystic beauty, ceases to be a geographical Lebanon, in his imagination into expression, and is gradually metamorphosed a metaphysical After such rudimentary as his homeland. ttempts short story The Ash of Generations and the Eternal Fire in Nymphs Gibran has of the Valley, expressive of his belief in reincarnation, managed in his prose poems of A Tear and a Smile to give his homesickness a clear platonic twist. His alienation has become that of the human soul entrapped in the foreign world of physical existence, and his homesickness has become the yearning of the soul so est ranged for rehabilitation in the higher world of metaphysical truth whence it has originally descended. It is for this reason that human life is 1 Ibid. , vol. III, pp. 202-203. 60 expressed by a tear and a smile: a tear for the departure and alienation The historic analogy and a smile for the prospect of a home-coming. of the sea in this respect becomes common from now on in Gibrans writings: rain is the weeping of water that falls over hills and dales from the mother sea, while running brooks sound the estranged Such is the soul, says Gibran in one of happy song of home-coming. rom the universal soul it takes its his prose poems. Separated course in the world of matter passing like a cloud over the mountains of sorrow and the plains of happiness until it is met by the breezes of death, whereby it is brought back to where it originally belongs, to the sea of love and beauty, to god. 1 When Gibrans homeland, the object of his longing, was Lebanon, his anger was directed against those who in his view had defiled its beauty. But now that his homeland had gradually assumed a metaphysical Platonic meaning, his attack was no longer centred on local influences clergy, church dogma, feudalism and the other corrupting in Lebanon, but rather on the shamefully defiled image that man, the emigrant in the world of physical existence, has made of the world of God, his original homeland. Not only Lebanese society, but rather human society at large has become the main target of Gibrans the second stage of his career. isgust and bitterness throughout This kind of disgust constitutes the central theme in Gibrans long Arabic poem Processions of 1919 and his book of collected Arabic essays The Tempests of 1920, his last work in Arabic, as well as in his first two works in English, The Madman of 1918, and The Forerunner of 1920, both of which are collected parables and prose poems. The hero in Gibrans poetico-fictional title-piece in The Tempests, Youssof al-Fakhry in his cottage among the forbidding mountains, becomes a mystery to the awe-stricken Only to neighbourhood. Gibran the narrator, seeking refuge in the cottage one stormy evening, does he reveal the secret of his heroic silence and seclusion. It is a certain awakening in the uttermost depth of the soul, he says, a certain idea which takes a mans conscience by surprise at a moment and opens his vision whereby he sees life projecof forgetfulness, ted like a tower of light between earth and infinity. 2 Looking at the rest of men from the tower of life, from his giant God-self which he has so recognized at a rare moment of awakening, Youssof al-Fakhry sees them in their forgetful day-to-day earthly 1 Ibid. vol. II, p. 95. 2 Ibid. , vol. III, p. 111. 61 to existence, at the bottom of the tower. In their placid unwillingness lift their eyes to what is divine in their natures, they appear to him as disgusting pigmies, hypocrites and cowards. I have deserted people, he explains to his guest, because I have found myself a wheel turning he right among wheels invariably turning left. No, my brother , adds, I have not sought seclusion for prayer or hermitic practices. Rather have I sought it in escape from people and their laws, teachings and customs, from their ideas, noises and wailings. I have sought seclusion so as not to see the faces of men selling their souls to buy with the price thereof what is below their souls in value and honour In The Grave-Digger, another poetico-fictional piece in The these men who have sold their souls, and who constitute in Tempests, Gibrans reckoning the rest of human society, are dismissed as dead, though in the words of the hero, modelled in the lines of Youssof alFakhry, finding none to bury them, they remain on the face of the 2 earth in stinking disintegration. The heros advice to Gibran the narrator is that for a man who has awakened to his giant God-self the best service he can render society is digging graves. From that hour up to the present, Gibran concludes, I have been digging graves and burying the dead, but the dead are many and I am alone with nobody to help me. 3 To be the only sane man among fools is to appear as the only fool among sane men. If life, as Youssof al-Fakhry says, is a tower whose bottom is the earth and whose top is the world of the infinite, then to clamour for the infinite in ones life is to be considered an outcast and a fool by the rest of men clinging to the bottom of the tower. This is first English work, The precisely how the Madman in Gibrans his title. His masks stolen, he was walking naked, as Madman, gained every traveller from the physical to the metaphysical is bound to be. Seeing his nakedness, someone on a house-top cried: He is a madman. Looking up, the sun, his higher self, kissed his naked face for the first time. He fell in love with the sun and wanted his masks, his no longer. Thereafter he was always physical and social attachments, known as the Madman, and as a madman he was at war against human society. Processions, Gibrans long poem in Arabic, is a dialogue between two voices. Upon close analysis, the two voices seem to belong to one and 1 Ibid. , vol. III, 106. p. 2 Ibid. , vol. III , p. 11. 3 Ibid. , vol. III, 15. p. 62 the same man: another of those Gibranian madmen, or men who have become Gods unto themselves. This man would at one time cast his at people living at the bottom of the tower, and eyes downwards raise his voice in derision and sarcasm, poking fun at consequently their unreality, satirizing their Gods, creeds and practices, and ridiculing their values, ever doomed, blind as they are, to be at loggerheads. At another instant he would turn his eyes to his own sublime world beyond good and evil, where dualities interpenetrate giving way to unity, and then he would raise his voice in praise of life absolute and universal. is to achieve serenity and peace. That To achieve self-fulfilment Gibran and his heroes are still mad Gods, grave-diggers and enemies of mankind, filled with bitterness despite their claim of having arrived at the summit of lifes tower, reveals that Gibrans self-fulfilment this second stage of his work is still a matter of wishful throughout rather than an accomplished fact. Too thinking and make-believe with his own painful loneliness in his transcendental preoccupied quest, Gibran the madman or superman, it seems, has failed hitherto at the summit, but also to not only to feel the joy of self-realization recognize the ragedy of his fellow-men supposedly lost in the mire instead of love and compassion, down below. Consequently people could only inspire in him bitterness and disgust. The stage of anger and disgust was succeeded in Gibrans development by a third stage, that of The Prophet, his chef d? tlvre, Jesus the Son of Man and The Earth Gods. The link is to be found in The Forerunner of 1920, his book of collect ed poems and parables. To believe, as Gibran did, that life is a tower whose base is earth and whose summit is the infinite is also to believe that life is one and indivisible. For the man on top of lifes tower to reject those who are beneath, as Gibran had been doing up to this point, is to undermine his own height and become lower than the lowest he rejects. Thus one of Gibrans poems in The Forerunner says, as though in atonement for all his Nietzschean revolt: Too young am I and too outraged to be my freer self. And how shall I become my freer self unless I slay my burdened selves, or unless all men become free? How shall the eagle in me soar against the sun until my fledglings leave the nest which I with my own beak have built for them. 1 1 TheForerunner,p. 7. 63 Gibrans belief in the unity of life, which has hitherto made only and at times confused appearances in his writings, has intermittent now become, with all its implications with regard to human life and conduct, the prevailing theme of the rest of his works. If life is one and infinite, then man is the infinite in embryo, just as a seed is in itself the whole tree in embryo. Every seed, says G ibran in one of his later works, is a longing. 1 This longing is presumably the longing of the tree in the seed for in the actual tree that it had previously been. Every self-fulfilment seed therefore bears within itself the longing, the self-fulfilment and the means by which this can be achieved. To transfer the analogy to man is to say that every man as a conscious being is a divine seed; is life absolute and infinite in embryo. Every man, therefore, according to Gibran, is a longing : the longing of the divine in man for man the divine whom he had previously been. But, to quote Gibran again, No longing remains unfulfilled. 2 Like the seed, he Therefore every man is destined for Godhood. bears within him the longing, the fulfilment which is God, and the road leading to this fulfilment. It is in this context that Gibran declares in The Forerurcner, You are your own forerunner, and the tower have built are but the foundations of your giant self. 3 you Seeing man in this light, Gibran can no longer afford to be a gravedigger. A new stage has opened in his career. Men are divine and, therefore, deathless. If they remain in the mire of their earthly existence, it is not because they are mean and disgusting, but because the divine in them, like the fire in a piece of wood, is dormant though it needs only a slight spark to be released into a blaze of light. it is not a grave-digger that men need, but an Consequently, a Socratic mid-wife, who would help man release the God in igniter; himself into the self that is one with God. Therefore in this new stage Gibran the grave-digger and the madman gives way to Gibran the and the igniter. rophet In The Prophet of 1923, Almustafa who was a dawn unto his own day sees his ship, for which he had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese, returning to bear him back to the isle of his birth. The people of Orphalese leave their daily work and crowd around him in the city square to bid him farewell and beg for something of his 1 Sandand Foam, p. 16. 1 Ibid. , p. 25. 1 TheForerunner,p. 7. 64 he answers their various before he leaves, whereupon knowl edge on subjects of their own choosing. uestions It is not hard to see that Almustafa the Prophet is Gibran himself, who in 1923 had already spent almost twelve years in New York city, the city of Orphalese, having moved there from Boston in 1912, and that the isle of his birth is Lebanon to which he had longed to return. But looking deeper still Almustafa can further symbolize the man who, in Gibrans reckoning, has become his freer self; who has realized the passage in himself from the human to the divine, and is therefore ripe for emancipation and reunion with life absolute. His ship is death that has come to bear him to the isle of his birth, the Platonic world of metaphysical reality. As to the people of Orphalese, they stand for human society at large in which men, exiled in their spatio-temporal existence from their true selves, that is, from God, are in need in their God-ward journey of the guiding prophetic hand that would lead them from what is human in them to the divine. Having made that journey himself, Almustafa presents himself in his sermons the book as that guide. throughout Stripped of its poetical trappings, Gibrans teaching in The Prophet is found to rest on the single idea that life is one and infinite. As a living being, man in his temporal existence is only a shadow of his real self. To be ones real self is to be one with the infinite to which man is related. Self-realization, therefore, lies in going out of inseparably ones spatio-temporal dimensions, so that the self is broadened to the mans only extent of including everyone and all things. Consequently in self-realization, to his greater self, lies in love. Hence love is the path theme of the opening sermon of Almustafa to the people of Orphalese. No man can say I truly without meaning the totality of things apart from which he cannot be or be conceived. Still less can one love oneself truly without loving everyone and all things. So love is at once an emancipation and a crucifixion: an emancipation because it releases man from his narrow confinement and brings him to that whereby he feels one with the stage of broader self-consciousness with God; a crucifixion because to grow into the broader self infinite, is to shatter the smaller self which was the seed and confinement. For even as Thus true self-assertion is bound to be a self-negation. love crowns you, says Almustafa to his hearers, so shall he crucify 1 you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. 1 TheProphet, p. 15. 65 love, which is our guide to our larger self, is insepConsequently arable from pain. Your pain, says Almustafa, is the breaking of Even as the stone of the the shell that encloses your understanding. fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know 1 pain. Thus conceived, pain becomes at once a kind of joy. It is the joy of the seed dying as a tree in embryo in a process of becoming a tree in full. and unheeded which is really painful. It is only pain misunderstood self is God, then anything that gives us pain is a witness If our larger that our self is not yet broad enough to contain it. For to contain all is is thus an to be in love and at peace with all. Pain truly understood to growth and therefore to joy. Your joy, says Almustafa, impetus is your sorrow unmasked. The deeper that sorrow carves into your 2 being, the more joy you can contain. If pain and joy are inseparable, so are life and death. In a universe that is infinite nothing can die except the finite, and nothing finite can be other than the infinite in disguise. Death understood is the pouring of the finite into the infinite, the passage of the God in man into the man in God. Life and death are one, says Almustafa, even as the And what is to cease breathing, but to river and the sea are one free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and 3 seek God unencumbered. If life and death are one even as joy and pain, it must follow that life is not the opposite of death nor death the opposite of life. For to live is to grow and to grow is to exist in a continuous process of dying. Therefore every death is a rebirth into a higher state of being, in the sense of the child is father to the man. Thus in a Wordsworthian chain of birth and rebirth man persists in his God-ward continuous of himself until ascent, gaining at each step a broader consciousness he finally ends at the absolute. It is a flame spirit in you, says Almustafa, ever gathering more of itself. 4 Similarly, nothing can happen to us which is not in fact self-invited, If God is our greater self, then nothing can and self-entertained. efall us from without. Says Almustafa: 1 Ibid. , p. 60. 2 Ibid. , p. 35. 3 Ibid. , pp. 90-91. 4 Ibid. , p. 97. 66 The And And And murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder, the robbed is not blameless in being robbed. the righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked, the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon. 1 If God is our greater self then there can be no go od in the infinite universe which is not the good of every man, nor can there be any Like a procession, evil for which anyone can abjure responsibility. Almustafa, you walk together towards your God self. says even as the holy and righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, so the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also. And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. 22 It would follow that the spiritual elevation of a Christ is part and parcel of the material villainy of a Judas Iscariot. For in God Christ and Judas are one and inseparable. No man, therefore, no matter how elevated, can be emancipated into his larger self alone. An eagle, however high it can soar, is always bound to come down again to its fledgelings in the nest and is until they too become strong of wing, doomed to remain earthbound and the same is true of an elevated human soul or a prophet. So long as there remains even one speck of bestiality in any man no other human soul, no matter how near to God it may be, can be finally Like the released emancipated and escape the wheel of reincarnation. n Platos allegory, he will again return to the philosopher-prisoner cave, so long as his fellows are still there in darkness and in chains. Gibrans Prophet, as he prepares to board his ship, says: Should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again. A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me. 3 In literary ter ms, this moment of rest upon the wind for Almustafa was brief indeed. Only five years elapsed on his departure from 1 Ibid. , p. 47. 2 Ibid. , pp. 46-47. 3 Ibid. , 105. p. 67 Orphalese before he was given birth again; not by another woman, as he had foretold, but by Gibran himself. His name this time was not Almustafa but Jesus. Jesus the Son of Man, Gibrans second book after The Prophet, appeared in 1928, the first being only a short collection of aphorisms under the title of Sand and Foam. To the student of Gibrans literary art, Jesus the Son of Man may offer some novelty, but not so to the student of his thought. Gibran in this book tries to portray Christ as he understands him by inviting to speak of him each from his a number of Christs contemporaries own point of view. Their views combined in the mind of the reader are intended to bring out the desired portrait. But names, places and situations apart, the Jesus so portrayed in the the book is not so much of the Biblical Christ, as he is the old Biblical a new development Gibranian Almustafa. transformed into another Like Nazarene who Almustafa he is described as The chosen and the beloved, after several previous rebirths is come and will come again to help lead men to their larger selves. He is not a God who has taken human form, but an ordinary man of ordinary birth who has been able through spiritual sublimation to elevate himself from the human to the divine. His several returns to earth are the several returns of the eagle who would not taste the full freedom of space before all his fledgedesire, says lings are taught to fly. Were it not for a mothers Gibrans Jesus, I would have stripped me of the swaddling-clothes and escaped back to space. And were it not for sorrow in all of you, . I would not have stayed to weep. I Therefore Gibrans Jesus was neither meek nor humble nor characterized by pity. His return to earth is the return of a winged spirit, intent on appealing not to human frailties, but to the power in man which is capable of lifting him from the finite to the infinite. One reporter on Jesus says, I am sickened and the bowels within call Jesus humble and me stir and rise when I hear the faint-hearted and when the that they may justify their own faint-hea rtedness; meek, for comfort and companionship, down-trodden, speak of Jesus as a worm shining by their side. Yes, my heart is sickened by such men. It is the mighty hunter I would preach, and the mountainous spirit 2 unconquerable. Gibrans Jesus is even made to re-utter the Lords prayer in a way 1 Jesus The Sonof Man, p. 19. 2 Ibid. , p. 4. 68 to the heart and lips of Almustafa, appropriate teaching man to himself to the point of becoming one with the all-inclusive: enlarge Our father in earth and heaven, sacred is Thy name. Thy will be done with us, even as in space .. In Thy compassion forgive us and enlarge us to forgive one another. Guide us towards Thee and stretch down Thy hand to us in darkness. For Thine is the kingdom, and in Thee is our power and our fulfilment To dwell further on the character and teachings of Jesus as conIn The Prophet, Gibran the ceived by Gibran is to risk redundancy. thinker reaches his climax. His post-Prophet works, with the possible exception of The Earth Gods of 1931, the last book published in his lifetime, have almost nothing new to offer. s a collection of The Wanderer of 1932, published posthumously, and sayings much in the style and spirit of The Forerunner of parables 1920, published three years before The Prophet. As to The Garden of the in 1933, it should be dismissed Prophet, also published posthumously as a fake and a forgery. Gibran, who had planned The Garden outright state of being and of the Prophet to be an expression of Almustafas after he had arrived in the isle of his birth from the city of teach ings Orphalese, had only time left to write two or three short passages for that book. Other passages were added, some of which are translations from Gibrans early Arabic works, and some possibly written by another pen in imitation of Gibrans style. The result was a book to Gibran, in which Gibrans attributed are poetry and thought to a most unhappy state of chaos and confusion. brought This leaves us with The Earth Gods as the complete work with which Gibrans career comes to its conclusion. And a fitting conclusion it is indeed. The book is a long prose poem where, in the words of Gibran, The three earth-born Gods, the Master Titans of Life hold a discourse on the destiny of man. is career was a poet of alienation and Gibran, who throughout strikes us in The Prophet and in Jeszrs the Son of Man, Almuslonging, tafas duplicate, as having arrived at his long-cherished state of intellectual rest and spiritual fulfilment. Almustafa and Christ, who in Gibrans reckoning are earth-born Gods, reveal human destiny as being mans gradual ascent through love and spiritual sublimat ion 1 Ibid. , p. 60. 69 towards ultimate reunion with God, the absolute and the infinite. It is possible that Gibran began to have second thoughts about the philosophy of his prophet towards the end of his life. Otherwise why is it that instead of one earth God, one human destiny, he now presents us with three who apparently are in disagreement ? Shortly after Jesus the Son of Man, (libran, who had for some time been fighting a chronic illness, came to realize that the fates were not on his side. Like Almustafa, he must have seen his ship coming in the mist to take him to the isle of his birth and in the lonely journey of towards death, armed as he was with the mystic convictions Almustafa, he must have often stopped to examine the implications of his philosophy. In his farewell address to the people of Orphalese, Almustafa saw his departure as A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind. But what of this endless cycle of births and rebirths? If mans ultimate destiny as a finite being is to unite with the infinite, then that destiny is a virtual impossibility. For the road to the infinite is infinite, and mans quest as a traveller through reincarnation is bound to be endless and fruitless. Therefore comes the voice of Gibrans first God: Weary is my spirit of all there is. I would not move a hand to create a world Nor to erase one. I would not live could I but die, For the weight of aeons is upon me, And the ceaseless moan of the seas exhaust my sleep. Could I but lose the primal aim And vanish like a wasted sun; Could I but strip my divinity of its purpose And breathe my immortality into space And be no more; Could I but be consumed and pass from times memory Into the emptiness of nowhere. In another place this same God says: For all that I am, and all that there is on earth, And all that shall be, inviteth not my soul. Silent is thy face, And in thine eyes the shadows of night are sleeping. But terrible is thy silence, And thou art terrible. 2 1 The Earth Gods, 3. p. 2 Ibid. , pp. 5-6. 70 If man in his ascent to the infinite is likened to a mountain-climber, then these moments of gloom and helplessness only occur when he casts his eyes towards the infinitely removed summit beyond. It is not so when he casts his eyes downwards and sees the heights he has already scaled. The loneliness and gloom then give way to optimism and reassurance. For a journey that can be started is a journey that can be concluded. Gibran on his lonely voyage must have turned to see There we hear the this other implication in Almustafas philosophy. voice of the second God, whose eyes are turned optimistically downwards. His philosophy is that the height of the summit is a part of the lowliness of the valley beneath. That the valley is now transcended is a reassurance that the summit can be considered as already conquered. For to reach the summit is to reach the highest point to which a valley could raise its depth. Mans journey to God is therefore a journey inwards and not an external quest. The second God says to the first: We are the beyond and we are the most high And between us and the boundless eternity Is naught save our unshaped passion And the motive thereof. You invoke the unknown, And the unknown clad with moving mist Dwells in your own soul. Yea, in your own soul your redeemer lies asleep And in sleep sees what your waking eye does not see. Forbear and look down upon the world. Behold the unweaned children of your love. The earth is your abode, and the earth is your throne; And high beyond mans furtherest hope Your hand upholds his destiny. Yet in Gibrans lonely journey towards death, a voice not so pessimistic as that of his first God nor so optimistic as that of the second from the youthful past of is heard. This voice, coming perhaps Broken Wings and A Tear and a Smile, though not part of Almustafas voice, is yet not out of harmony with it. It is the voice of someone who has come to realize that man has so busied himself philosophizing to live it. Rather than the climber about life that he has forgotten terrified by the towering height of the summit or reassured by the lowliness of the valley, here is a love-intoxicated youth in the spring meadows 1 Ibid. , on the mountainside. p. 22. 71 There is a wedding in the valley. Brothers, my brothers, the third God rebukes his two fellows, A day too vast for recording. We shall pass into the twilight; Perchance to wake to the dawn of another world. But love shall stay, And his finger-marks shall not be erased. The blessed forge burns, The sparks rise, and each spark is a sun. Better it is for us, and wiser, To seek a shadowed nook and sleep in our earth divinity And let love, human and frail, command the coming day. Thus Gibran concludes his life-long alienation. His thought in the twilight of his days seems to have swung back to his youth where it first started. It is a complete cycle, in conformity, though perhaps unconsciously, The tenacious cedar tree which was with his idea of reincarnation. Gibran the Prophet went back again to the seed that it was: to love, to wake to the dawn of another world. 2 human and frail-Perchance N. NAIMY 1 Ibid. , pp. 25-26. 2 Ibid. , pp. 38-41.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 179 Essays

Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. These four acts of Congress were meant to protect the new nation from French immigrants. They reflected a broad paranoia that French newcomers would poison American minds and weaken the new American government. In 1882 President Arthur signed into federal law the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinese immigrant labor was the infrastructure backbone of the 19th century California Gold Rush, but by the 1880s a significant economic downturn increased competition and turned up animosity. Fueled by scarcity-stoked fear, nativists pushed an anti-immigration agenda, culminating in the 1882 Act that excluded Chinese workers from entering the United States. In 1943 this act was repealed. In the 1880s Reconstruction ended in the U.S. South. States of the former Confederacy began to enact legislation that stripped black citizens of the right to vote, ejected black office holders from their posts, and forcibly segregated public accommodations and public transportation. Architects of these Jim Crow Laws justified the exclusion of black Americans from the public sphere as a protection of the values and culture of Southern life. In 1890 the state of Wisconsin passed the Bennett Law and the state of Illinois passed the Edwards law. Both restricted the use of German-language instruction in the state's classrooms. These were antagonist legislative acts meant to cripple the extensive German parochial school system in these states. Many believed German immigrants to be a threat to American values and political interests. In 1892 both laws were repealed. In 1942 the United States began the forcible internment of more than 100,000 Japanese nationals, more than half of whom were American citizens. The "War Relocation Camps" were justified as a protective measure for American interests in the wake of Pearl Harbor. In 1945 the internment camps were closed and in 1948 reparations were made to many of the survivors. In 2008 the United States of America elected its first black president. He is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya. He was born in an American state with a sizeable Japanese-American population. He went to grade school in Indonesia. He chose a Catholic man as his running mate. In the general election he won Virginia, a state that was once the capital of the Confederacy. In 2009 he worked with Congressto craft legislation aimed at providing affordable health insurance coverage to all. While addressing a joint session of Congress he was called a liar by a Representative from South Carolina. Those who opposed his policies decried him as a socialist, a Nazi, a bigot and a murderer. They suggested that his ideas were dangerous and threatened the values of the United States. This prominent New York journalist blanketed the nation with fairy tales of corrupt, incompetent, lazy Black Republican politicians. Reconstruction's enfranchising policies were a "tragedy," Pike wrote, nothing but "the slave rioting in the halls of his master." His "objective" reporting caused many once sympathetic Northerners to demand a national reunion based on white rule. In the 1880s, Southern segregationists marketed their region as the New South, among them this Methodist bishop and Emory College president. In his popular book, Haygood eased consciences that the end of Reconstruction meant the end of black rights. The New South will be as good for black folk as the old, Haygood declared, as new white Southerners would continue to civilize inferior black folk in their nicely segregated free-labor society. "Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro," by Frederick Hoffman (1896) Better covered than the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that year, "Race Traits" catapulted this statistician into scientific celebrity. At the time of emancipation, blacks were "healthy in body and cheerful in mind," Hoffman wrote. Thirty years later, the 1890 census forecasts their "gradual extinction," due to natural immoralities and a propensity for diseases. He blazed the trail of racist ideas in American criminology when he concluded that higher black arrest rates indicated blacks committed more crimes. As Americans fought against Nazism overseas, this Swedish economist served up an encyclopedic revelation of racial discrimination in their backyards. If there was a scholarly trigger for the civil rights movement, this was it. Myrdal concluded that "a great majority" of whites would "give the Negro a substantially better deal if they knew the facts." Segregationists seethed, and racial reformers were galvanized to show the truth of Jim Crow.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

History of the Washing Machine essays

History of the Washing Machine essays As a society that depends on high tech gadgets and gizmos, we tend to overlook the origination of our devices that have been built to simplify our lives. One of the most useful devices that virtually all of North America depends on is the Washing Machine. This is an appliance that has been around in a variety of forms for nearly two and a half centuries, though many would believe it to be a fairly recent invention, perhaps 40 to 50 years passed, as many of our parents and grandparents tell us stories of how they used washboards to clean their clothing. What could possibly have existed before it? The answer; an assortment of other machines as well as methods varying from the cage with wooden rods and a handle that was built in 1782 to the first electric washing machine that was built in the year 1906. Using the friction caused from rubbing clothing against rocks, and rinsing the clothes in a stream in order to clean them, no doubt became a tedious task in a short time. However, the technology did not exist to improve on this method. That is, not until the year of 1782, when the first washing machine was designed by a man named H. Sidgier from Great Britain. This machine consisted of a cage with wooden rods and a handle that was used for turning. Sidgiers design led the age of washing machines into the 1800s when companies began to create machines that used paddles or dollies and were hand operated. This, in turn, led to the invention of the revolving drum in 1851. The patent was made by James King; an American. This machine was similar to the modern machines of today. Later, Harrison Smith produced the same but with a reversing action in 1859. A wringer was added to the designs in 1865. In 1874, William Blackstone, a merchant from Indiana, built his wife a birthday present. He had constructed a machine that would remove and wash away dirt from clothing. Blackstone built and sold his machines...

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

COMPARE CONTRAST THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA AND GOETHE'S FAUSTUS Research Paper

COMPARE CONTRAST THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA AND GOETHE'S FAUSTUS - Research Paper Example No contemporary song better illustrates the persistence of the â€Å"Devil as fiddler† than the 1979 country-rock hit â€Å"The Devil Went Down to Georgia† by the Charlie Daniels Band. The Devil encounters a young man â€Å"who plays the fiddle hot† and challenges him to a musical duel, the outcome of which is unexpected: After centuries of bargaining, humankind has finally produced a musician whose natural skills surpass the Devil’s. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences between Goethe’s Faust and Charlie Daniels’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It is the contention of this paper that the song has largely adapted the ‘devil wager’ theme while making its subject more straightforward than the complex Faust play. The tune is made up of two instrumental pauses ushered by Charlie Daniels himself on fiddle; every break symbolizes the performance of one of the competitors. The song of the devil has no actual, genuine tune, but an eerie melody that Daniels attained by overdubbing some parts of his own performance with the fiddle. Johnny performs a rendition of the old song called Fire on the Mountain. His melody is presented in the song through the below puzzling verses (Daniels 10): Charlie Daniels, in creating this song, was obviously inspired by folk stories about the demon taking part in fiddling competitions, which have been popular in the U.S. for more than a century. Charles M. Skinner documented such a story, narrated by a Black fiddler called Joost in New York, perhaps in the middle of the 19th century. Similar to numerous devil and ghost tales, in the story of Skinner the demon is chased off by the devotion of Joost in performing a hymn, and by the coming of dawn (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem 128). Nevertheless, in other renditions of the story, the demon is easily conquered by grander musicianship. Still in relation to The Devil Went Down to Georgia, consider, for instance, a rendition obtained by Herbert

Monday, February 3, 2020

Unit9englassignm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Unit9englassignm - Essay Example Initially not intended to house non-violent criminal offenders, current trends indicate that youths convicted of crimes, even very minor offenses, are being increasingly committed to detention centers in preference to the implementation of less stringent methods of punishment and rehabilitation (Foley, 2001). However, the large-scale use of detention centers as the sole method of deterring youth crime is insufficient to the purpose as it increases the familiarity and acceptance of criminal attitudes and behaviors, has a negative impact on the mental condition of detainees, and hinders both education and the healthy development of acceptable social behaviors. The detention of minors who have exhibited criminal tendencies and/or engaged in illegal activities within this type of large, secure holding facility does not result in a direct, significant level of discouragement to future crime. On the contrary, communal youth housing practices used in such detention facilities has been proven to create an atmosphere which aggravates the rate of recidivism among minors. Studies based on information compiled from multiple states suggest that as many as 60 percent of young offenders sentenced to time in a juvenile detention center have later been required to return, often to the same facility, following the commission of new criminal offense(s) (Sander, Sharkey, Tanigawa, and Mauseth, 2010). Such an excessively high rate of recidivism does little to support the notion of rehabilitation through detention. Though many factors have been blamed for the high rate of recidivist practices among delinquent youths, one influential element of this recurring criminality is the reinforcement of negative behaviors and attitudes within detention facilities themselves. Statistics concerning a seeming reduction in youth crime rates fail to consider this

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Challenges for Businesses in the Caribbean

Challenges for Businesses in the Caribbean   1.1 Introduction Change, according to the adage, is always constant. Embracing change can be a challenge to change agents. Many authors of change have maintained that change fails because of flawed methods, or in the case of John Kotter, the failure of management to realize that the process can and often do, take years to come to fruition. Professor Kotter (Kotter, 1996), proposed an eight-step model for ensuring change initiatives success. Many organizations, especially state-owned corporations, were born out of legacy bureaucratic systems and find that the workers have acquired knowledge and skill-set that surpasses that of the management who hold on to archaic methods. Such organizations are prime candidates for transformational interjection. 1.2 Purpose of the Study This study looks into the challenges that faces emerging businesses within the Caribbean area, with an aim to highlight issues that are critical for growth and transition. Focus is placed on complexity as a driver of change; as a vessel for accommodating interactive initiatives within systems and agents of change. The study will explore the ways in which researchers and academics have adopted various models and theoretical methodologies to catalyze change, some with limited success others with high success rate. The region has been able to adapt to changes throughout the years but modern change initiatives calls for unique, if not unorthodox methods to successfully execute such transitions. This research attempts to apply such novel ways to bring out the best in management of organizations. 1.3 Problem Statement For decades academics and researchers have wrestled with the problem of change and have even proposed theoretical models explaining their different methods. It has been ascertained that over 70% of all change initiative have failed, (Higgs Rowland, 2005), (Beer Nohria, 2000). Change hinges around behavioural patterns in people; people have to consciously desire change in order that it works. The past methods applied to organizations have proven to be inadequate, or very complex in nature. John Kotter in an article in the Harvard Business Review, made it clear that change is a large-scale process that takes time. This process goes through stages and any significant error in any stage can lead to the collapse of the entire change initiative (Kotter, 1995). An attempt at change management at the airports in Trinidad and Tobago entitled Institutional Strengthening Project failed after several years at change management. There is no single reason for the failure, but a series of complex interrelated processes and situations that lead to a total breakdown of the effort. I propose that using models that manage change from a multi-faceted approach that caters for complexity, will ultimately see positive transformational mechanism in the organisations. 1.4 Purpose of the Research This exploratory study will demonstrate the phenomenon that either foster a change climate or actively deter the process in dynamic organizations. A qualitative approach would be used. Many theorist including (Senge, 1990; Morgan, 1996) in systems theory, showed that the organizations tend towards maintaining homeostasis, but failed to show what dynamics occurs in continual change (Ford, 2008). Moreover, system theory (Von Bertalanffy, 1965) enabled the practictioner to view the organization in a more holistic manner: more like an organism, rather than a machine (Ford, 2008). In many developing states, the airport environment, which is highly dynamic has seen the phenomenon of rapid, constant changes and evolvement. The airports in Trinidad and Tobago were chosen and HyperResearch software was employed to manipulate the data. 1.5 Significance of the Study The research into the behaviour, culture, management style, of state organizations such as airports and port in Trinidad and Tobago specifically and by extention, the wider Caribbean area can be a launching pad for significant inroads into the understanding of dynamics that are emerging in organizations of these types. The research would lead the way in identifying the strengths or weaknesses of applied management styles, and the way that many management paradigms are applied to such dynamic organizations. The information obtained will be used for practitioners to understand the emergent phenomenon within the organization; the way to encourage rather than deter changes by agents of change. State administrators and management practitioners would be given the tools to deal with a changing environment. The organization can benefit from a lower turnover rate and higher output as employees find that their needs are now significantly addressed; both their hygenic and motivating wishes (Chowdhary Prakas, 2005). Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Why Change Management? The classical and scientific management theories and to a lesser extent, the systems theories sought to minimize the turbulence of changes. These changes were seen as movement away from homeostasis. What modern theorists advocate is the embracing of non-equilibrium forces within an open-style organization. According to (Ford, 2008), an open organization interacts with its environment, both internally and externally, and between and within groups. This study will focus on the new way of collecting, using, and disseminating information and processes within the organization to cope with, foresee, even cause changes that may propel such organization forward. Systems theorists came to realize that organizations were to be looked at more as organism, rather than machines. Systems, according to renowned academic (Von Bertalanffy, 1965), all shared common attributes irrespective of their kind, the nature of their components and the forces between them. All systems were seen to consist of an environment, components, interrelatedness, negative entropy, equifinality, homeostasis, has a central purpose and has synergy. Systems theory describes the organization as depicting the control systems mechanisms positive and negative feedback loops that maintain the system at some desired goal or a state of homeostasis (Ford, 2008). Ford noted that both systems theory and classic management maintained similar ontological stances when referring to turbulence and managing change. Both seek to maintain an equilibrium state. They seek to reduce or absorb the effect of the turbulence causing the disruption to the system. Kurt Lewins Three Phases Change Management Model, is a theory that attempts to give the fundamentals of linear change. Figure 1. shows Lewins 3-Step model of change. Lewin proposed that the change practitioner, firstly, unfreezes the current processes, mindset or beliefs that exist. This is usually by introducing a new concept, idea or challenge that allows people to see the need for change. Secondly, transitioning follows. This is the introduction of new actions, processes or way of doing things. There may be times when this is bombarded with confusion and caution as people may not have clear understanding of where to go or how to get things done a particular way. Finally, there is the process of refreezing. This process is the crystallization of the new processes as the accepted norm. This is a period where there is constant reiteration of the new system. This is crucial since people may revert to their old ways. Another method that is widely used is the ADKAR model. The method is different from the Kurt Lewin method only in its emphasis on the change at the individuals level. ADKAR posits that successful organizational change is only possible when everyone can transition successfully (Connelly, 2011). The model has a sequential five-step process as depicted in the figure 2 below. Many researchers believe that changes occur on two dimensions. The business and the people dimensions and changes to each dimension should occur simultaneously for success   (PROSCI Inc, 2013). Figure 2 shows this process. Change management, according to Fred Nickols (2010), brings to mind four definitions: the task of managing change; an area of professional practice; a body of knowledge and a control mechanism. Managing change can be further subdivided into a planned or systematic fashion. This is simply implementing planned change into an existing organization. Unplanned change is the response to environmental issues in which the organization has little or no control. As an area of professional practice, many change agents and consultants have set up shops with expertise that cater for changes within organizations. As a body of knowledge, there are models, tools, techniques, skill-sets, and applied practices that make up this area of management. According to Nickols, the subject matter for change management is drawn from a wide field of professions and studies: psychology, sociology, economics, business administration, industrial and system engineering, and human and organizational behaviours. As a control mechanism, many organizations keep tabs on the alterations specially in the systems used. These version controls as seen to be part of the change management systems at many workplace. 2.2 The Pitfalls for Change Management Randal Ford(2008) posits that an organization that has learned how to manage continuous change because continuous change is part of its goal and necessary to its survival would prove invaluable in providing robust empirical data as a living heuristic. The fact is, there exist no solid data to support the fact that there will be success if change management is modelled on the complex adaptive systems approach. In looking at companies that have profitably survived over the years it is evident that they used some systems approach as they continually remolded their future as the years progressed. The Coca Cola company, for example, showed its resilience as it headed the field for many years and changed to accommodate the changing environment. Google has been relatively new but has applied the model of adapting changes. Change do not come easy. People resist change for a variety of reasons: by quitting, overt and covert hostility, passive compliance, strikes, and even giving reasons for the resistance. Paul Lawrence of the Harvard Business Review (Lawrence, 1969), contends that most people do not resist technical changes but do so for social changes. Professor Rosabelle Moss-Kanter (Moss-Kanter, 2012) of the Harvards Business School, in her blog suggest that change should not come as a surprise but should be introduced tactically by change agents. She stated that people prefer to be mired in misery than to head towards an unknown. Change can make people feel that they have lost control over their territory. Because of the ripple effects of change the agents must reach out to all stakeholders in an effort to lessen this ripple effect. Dr. Moss Kanter contended that it is better for management to be honest, fair, transparent, and fast in any change initiative. 3.1 Introduction Primary and secondary research were applied in achieving the objectives of this dissertation. Due to the nature of the data to be collected and analysed it was expedient to use a qualitative approach. 3.2 Primary Research Questionnaires were used with standardize closed questions. Direct interviews were conducted as well as the use of focus groups focus groups where open ended questions were used.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Opium As A Chinese Saga Essay

The Lure That Was China Amidst it all, she withstood the grandeur of her civilization and past, her legacy and mystique, her people and culture: China is the ever yearned for prize of colonization; of commercialism; of travelers of yore and hitherto – for she has everything to be proud of in any given time. She has achievements, inventions, products, people, craft, art, inert knowledge, philosophies, grace – so with her natural resources. Up until the end of the 17th century, China and her people and their life was as they preferred it to be. Then the West was utterly impetuous to indulge China to comprehensive trade. China has most exquisite exportable products: porcelain, silk, tea. The West love to have them. However, there is nothing much that the Chinese need from the West – nor find of any use. Specifically Great Britian, Europe could not allow an imbalance trade. So, in 1793, Britain sent a diplomat and successfully was given an Imperial audience. The array of European products presented was wonderful and would be suitable for the balancing of trade that must be established between Europe, between Britain and China. It was a disappointment. The Emperor wrote King George: â€Å". . . As your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures. . . Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders. There was therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce. But as the tea, silk and porcelain which the Celestial Empire produces, are absolute necessities to European nations and to yourselves, we have permitted, as a signal mark of favour, that foreign hongs [merchant firms] should be established at Canton, so that your wants might be supplied and your country thus participate in our beneficence. † (Historywiz, 1999-2005) And the problem began. China Sets A Foothold As the West expressed its agitation about such imbalance of trade, China thenon closed its doors from trade. It isolated itself. It allowed selective foreign trade only via the City of Canton (now Guangzhou). The Europeans could not do away with the Chinese goods. So their gold and silver paid for what they want. It never flowed back to Europe because there was nothing that the Chinese want from Europe. What drove China to distance itself from Europe is because of the haughtiness the Europeans pursued with regards to trade. To this the Chinese is unaffected. For the Chinese, they are sufficient to themselves. Their confidence is a sense of superiority in their race. Their domestic trade is immensely rich on their own. China is a country, a nation, a people that is very big, very fruitful, very rich, very diversified in natural resources. Furthermore, as China’s interaction with the foreigners from that time made them wary. They felt intimidated and therefore became protective of itself. Thus, the isolation. Then, particularly the British, drew the gambit: Opium. Benign Was Opium Supposed To Be Opium has been in China and its use for as far back as 12 centuries ago. The purpose was medicinal. It cured diarrhea. Up and until 17th century it was sparingly mixed with tobacco as a means of relaxation. It was said to have been introduced by the Arabs, then the Portuguese, the Dutch. It is one of the lesser portion of trade that China indulges in but placed under control. This is what the British saw to balance things out with China. But â€Å"in 1729, when the foreign import was 200 chests, the Emperor Yung Ching issued the first anti-opium edict, enacting severe penalties on the sale of opium and the opening of opium-smoking divans. The importation, however, continued to increase, and by 1790 it amounted to over 4,000 chests annually. In 1796 opium smoking was again prohibited, and in 1800 the importation of foreign opium was again declared illegal. Opium was now contraband, but the fact had no effect on the quantity introduced into the country, which rose to 5,000 chests in 1820; 16,000 chests in 1830; 20,000 chests in 1838, and 70,000 chests in 1858. † (La Motte) China therefore was alarmed with the increasing use of opium by its people. It decreed a complete prohibition of its trade. Yet, the addiction that the Chinese evolved into towards the drug, encourage Western traders to penetrate China. On top of this the Chinese empire is facing corruption and fraud in its government. Bureaucracy is becoming inefficient and weak emperors are no longer qualified to face the problems. No matter what laws and penalties are imposed on the trade and use of opium, it fell on deaf ears. The profits were too much for underground Chinese traders not to connive with Western exporting traders. The balance of trade is deteriorating and China was awakening to the scourge. â€Å"In 1839 the Emperor ordered Commissioner Lin Tse-Hsu to put a stop to the opium trade. Lin wrote to Queen Victoria, appealing to the British sense of justice and compassion: ‘We have heard that in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost strictness and severity:—this is a strong proof that you know full well how hurtful it is to mankind. Since then you do not permit it to injure your own country, you ought not to have the injurious drug transferred to another country, and above all others, how much less to the Inner Land! Of the products which China exports to your foreign countries, there is not one which is not beneficial to mankind in some shape or other. There are those which serve for food, those which are useful, and those which are calculated for re-sale; but all are beneficial. Has China (we should like to ask) ever yet sent forth a noxious article from its soil? ’ He received no reply.  Left on his own to solve the problem, Lin ordered the destruction of a large supply of opium stored on Chinese soil. † (HistoryWiz, 1999-2005) Then, the two opium wars ensued. China lost. Effects of Loss Moral Effects All because of misunderstanding and obstinacy about how to balance trade, China had to experience a loss not just in terms of economics more importantly the destruction of their moral fibre. The imbalance is not only in trade but waging conflict towards strengths and weaknesses, superiority and pride. The unknowing Chinese at the end was the one who paid the bigger price because of an addiction he likewise unknowingly developed. Because of the lure of the profits, even the Chinese himself pitted against his own countryman’s destruction of his morality. After so many years of demoralization due to the tremendous addiction of the Chinese and the usurping profiteering of the scrupulous Chinese and foreign businessmen, China for once and for all to work itself unanimously to kick the habit. The emperor ordered that in ten years no more opium traffic will be allowed. No matter that China has tremendous distances as a vast land; no matter that have no viable means of telecommunication; no matter that they have very few learned people – they all decided to get rid of opium. The West agreed to cooperate with China to lift them from their moral bondage of drug addiction. Economic Effects As a turning point in the life of China as a nation and a people, its loss counted likewise the diminishing territorial rights it holds. China then had to sign the treaties of Nanjing and Tietsin in surrender and allowed its doors again to international trade. As foreign trade was pursued, Western merchants bought silk and tea from China, increasing the volume remarkably as years went by. Because of this, Chinese farmers opted to abandon producing food stuff and concentrated on silk and tea. Thus food prices skyrocketed. With five more ports opened, the former boatmen who worked in Canton ports met with unemployment. Aggravated by rising food prices, the unemployed became more miserable. It is not all glory with increased trade. The instant resurgence of trade volumes caused a shortage in Spanish silver dollars. It has to be abolished due to its uncontrollable appreciation and was replaced by the Mexican dollars. There are also imbalances in the local currencies. Copper cash depreciated because of inadequate supply of copper and the inefficient government. This is a total destruction of the financial systems of China and they were left with the introduction of paper money in 1853. Another commercial activity affected after the loss to the opium war was the textile industry. Cloths are produced by hand in China. The West brought in cheap machine made cloths. That killed local production. And then there is the basic agriculture and home grown industries that were affected by the changes in other commercial activities. Capitalism surged into China’s consciousness and yet China was not ready for the big time game of capitalism. They were not that knowledgeable about managing profit and loss. Sociological Effects With the shameful loss from the opium war, the Chinese lost faith in the superiority of their race. They came to recognize the superiority of the Westerns. They decided to get to know them and their ways. The Chinese decided to discover the political, social and technological know-how of the Western culture. Thus, they came to know and open up to what diplomacy and foreign relations are all about. Political Effects: Since the loss of China was due to the superiority of the Western armaments, China looked into the advancement of their military and armory. They opened modern factories for modern weapons to be produced. The factories were set not to make money but for purposes of the development of Chinese military. The opium war likewise revealed the ineffectiveness of the feudal system. Its Manchu government became incapable of protecting and governing the citizenry. Poverty prevailed; petty revolution ensued; the economy collapsed. The Chinese intellectuals rose up to the occasion and likewise looked into re-organizing its government an dpolitics. Conclusion: China’s quagmire in opium was not a show of the total weakness on the part of its people, but rather insufficiency of appropriate support. For not knowing any better, they indulged because it was available. The inherent cultural perspective and philosophies are quite strong yet it was limited to the features of their time. Modern circumstances that come along their way are not something they are really prepared for. Education and information was not present at that time. Coupled with this shortcoming of the pertinent period of time, the West was incessant in its colonization and commercial and capitalist activities. At that period of time, the West sees itself as the lord and master of the whole world. What they occupy and spread must be taken hook, line and sinker. The trade objectives of the West were very encompassing, so with the rest of their occupation strategies. If the West was morally short sighted in instigating addiction among the Chinese people and the infiltration and condoning of underground Chinese business man with the lure of profit in the opium trade – then the Opium War is something that it is not a laurel to have won. And on the part of China, the opium war and rising above its ashes might have been a blessing in disguise. For what China is now in this 21st century is a result of lessons learned.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Critically discuss to what extent Porter’s Diamond Essay

Critically discuss to what extent Porter’s Diamond is a useful concept in explaining home and host location strategies of international business? Illustrate your answer with reference to at least two case companies. The main aim of International business is to build and sustain competitiveness for economic value creation in both domestic and overseas markets (Besanko et al. 2007). Internalization business theory however has a variety of models that can identify the environmental analysis of specific countries. These models are used for companies to internationalize and find the right location(s) overseas by taking; institutional, cultural fit and success opportunities into consideration. These models also give in-depth information on locations that the companies have chosen. A very well-known framework is the Porter’s Diamond which was found by Michael Porter in 1990. This report will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to determine a company’s home and host location decision by analyzing two high street retailers – French E.Leclerc and UK’s Sainsbury’s. Porter’s Diamond Model (1990: 73 ) states that nation’s competiveness depends on the capa city of its industry to innovate and upgrade this however depends on the productivity level of the nation. From a company’s point of view a national competitive advantage means that it would have to depend on the nation to implement a home base to improve their existing products and services such as; technology, features, quality as well as being able to compete with international industries. Therefore, the advantage of this model is that it identifies the four factors that develop the essential national environment where companies are born, grow and as mentioned above sustain competitive advantage (Porter, 1990:78). The idea of this model is useful because it allows organizations to carry out the necessary research and identify which countries would be good enough to internationalize. As you can see from the Porters Diamond diagram the first factor is the factor condition, this factor is about production such as land, raw materials, capital infrastructure etc. these are not inherited, but developed and improved by a nation for instance skilled labor (Porter, 1990:79). In order to sustain competitive advantage it will depend on the factor creation ability. For instance, E. Leclerc started as a small rented warehouse â€Å"Leclerc established a chain of outlets across the country, single-handedly changing  the landscape of shopping in France†(www.independent.co.uk) â€Å"Critical evaluation of development and role of Balanced Scorecard in production and service organizations† Excerpts from HBR-1 (1992): â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance,† Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1992, pg 71-79. Page 76-77: †¦ Analog Devices, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of specialized semiconductors, expects managers to improve their customer and internal business process performance continuously. The company estimates specific rates of improvement for on-time delivery, cycle time, defect rate, and yield. †¦ †¦Over the three-year period between 1987 and 1990, a NYSE electronics company made an order-of-magnitude improvement in quality and on-time delivery performance. Outgoing defect rate dropped from 500 parts per million to 50, on-time delivery improved from 70% to 96%, and yield jumped from 26% to 51 %. Did these breakthrough improvements in quality, productivity, and customer service provide substantial benefits to the company? Unfortunately not. During the same three-year period, the company’s financial results showed little improvement, and its stock price plummeted to one-third of its July 1987 value. The considerable improvements in manufacturing capabilities had not been translated into increased profitability. Slow releases of new products and a failure to expand marketing to new and perhaps more demanding customers prevented the company from realizing the benefits of its manufacturing achievements. The operational achievements were real, but the company had failed to capitalize on them. †¦ Excerpts from HBR-2 (1993): â€Å"Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work,† Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business Review, September-October, 1993, pg 134-147. Page 142: †¦ Analog Devices, a semiconductor company, served as the prototype for the balanced scorecard and now uses it each year to update the targets and goals for division managers. Jerry Fishman, president of Analog, said, â€Å"At the  beginning, the scorecard drove significant and considerable change. It still does when we focus attention on particular areas, such as the gross margins on new products. But its main impact today is to help sustain programs that our people have been working on for years.† Recently, the company has been attempting to integrate the scorecard metrics with hoshin planning, a procedure that concentrates an entire company on achieving one or two key objectives each year. Analog’s hoshin objectives have included customer service and new product development, for which measures already exist on the company’s scorecard. †¦ Excerpted from JMAR (1998): Innovation Action Research: Creating New Management Theory and Practice, Robert S. Kaplan, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 10, 1998, pg. 89-118. Page 99-101 â€Å"†¦For the balanced scorecard, the initial idea also came somewhat serendipitously, but also not completely by accident. The need for improved performance measurement systems had been widely recognized during the 1980s. Many articles, books and conferences documented the limita ­tions of relying solely on financial signals for improving business perform ­ance. The adoption of total quality management, just‑in‑time production systems and synchronous manufacturing all created a demand for im ­proved performance measures that would support companies’ continuous improvement initiatives. Therefore, much work had already occurred by 1990, the time when the balanced scorecard concept initially emerged (Berliner and Brimson 1987; Howell et al. 1987; Kaplan 1990b). Much of the need for improved operational performance measurements had been satisfied by measures such as part‑per‑million defect rates, yields, cost of nonconformance, process cy cle times, manufacturing cycle effectiveness, throughput times, customer satisfaction, customer complaints and em ­ployee satisfaction. What remained missing was a theory for how the myr ­iad of nonfinancial performance measures now being used on the factory floor could be reconciled with and achieve comparable status to the finan ­cial measures that still dominated the agenda of senior company executives. Fortunately (again), a skilled practitioner, Arthur Schneiderman of Analog Devices, contacted me to assist his company with launching an activity-based costing project. In our initial  conversation, I learned that he had developed an innovative approach, the half-life system, to measure the rate of improvement of his company’s TQM program. As part of my research agenda (see step 1 in exhibit 1), I asked for and received approval to visit Analog Devices and write a case about their initiatives. During my visit, I learned that Schneiderman had also developed and implemented a corporate scorecard that senior executives were using to evaluate the company’s overall performance and rate-of-improvement . The corporate scorecard included, in addition to several traditional financial measures, some metrics on customer performance (principally operational measures related to lead times and on time delivery), internal processes (yield, quality and cost) and new product development (innovation). This corporate scorecard, evolved, as we shall see, into what came to be called the balanced scorecard. †¦ †¦ by teaching the Analog Devices case to executives, I learned quickly that Analog’s corporate scorecard was of much more interest to them than the half-life method, the original focus of the case. †¦ †¦ even more initial learning came from testing the ideas directly with a set of companies that participated in a yearlong project on performance measurement with the Nolan, Norton & Co. The project attracted senior financial and planning executives from a dozen companies who met on a bi-monthly basis throughout 1990. Analog’s corporate scorecard captured the interest of the participants. Throughout the year, they experimented with it in their organizations and reported back to us on the results. The concept proved successful in many of the pilot sites and turned out to be the prime output from the year-long research project. In the process, the original corporate scorecard, which focused mostly on operational improvements (on lead times, delivery performance, manufacturing quality and cycle times) had become transformed into a much more strategic organizational performance measurement system, characterized by four identifiable perspectives (financial, customer, internal business process and innovation and growth). †¦ Page 109: †¦ The balanced scorecard implementations being done at the end of 1995, as integrated strategic management systems, were far more advanced than the initial formulation, as a complementary nonfinancial measurement system, at Analog Devices or the companies described in our initial article (Kaplan and  Norton 1992). In six years (1990-1995), Norton and I had made three cycles around the knowledge creation cycle. The half-life of improvement of the balanced scorecard knowledge base was much shorter than for activity-based costing. †¦