Business finance - The Dividend Decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business finance - The Dividend Decision - Essay Example Because, they are the ultimate owners of the company, and have to suffer even if both profits/losses made by the company. The dividend policy, its growth and valuation of shares are closely related with the company’s earning capacity. Dividend Discount Model (DDM) is one of the important tool or technique used to analyze the equity share valuation. So, dividend is an important tool to maximize the growth of cash flows and earning capacity of shareholders. The share capital of Carnock plc. is 1.5 million ordinary shares(i.e.15,00,000shares) with a nominal value of 100p., so the overall equity capital of  £150000000. The ultimate market value of shares is 225p / share, and the Finance Director of the Carnock plc decided to provide yield to the share holders at 12.5%. One of the main objectives of the finance manager is to maximize both the return on ordinary shares and total wealth of the company. Earnings Per Share (EPS) means the earnings made by a company during a particular accounting period on each of its ordinary or equity shares. It is computed by dividing the Net Profit after interest, tax and preference dividend by number of equity shares. Number of Equity shares= Equity Financing/Market price per share. Here, market price per share amounts to 225p/share The concept EPS and theoretical ex right per share is closely related to each other. For this calculation of Right Shares or right issue is also required. â€Å"The dividend valuation model states that the market value of a security is equal to the present value of

Democracy - Essay Essay Example for Free

Democracy Essay Essay Introduction Democracy, it is generally believed, had its roots in Ancient Athens. We know it spread its stems to most of Europe and later to parts of Asia by mid 19th century , mostly in the form of parliamentary democracy. But in the context of this paper,we are not interested in the histrocity of the idea or concept of democracy, but in the idea itself. That is to say we want to analyze the meaning of democracy and its different forms, study its efficiency (so to say), ponder over its limitations and compare it to other forms of government. Whether democracy was conceived of in Athens, Sparta or India is not a topic of interest in this paper (although there may be references to historical events in the evolution of the idea when pertinent). What does democracy mean? Democracy comes from the greek â€Å"rule of the people†. But as I searched for a definition of democracy in the course of research for this paper, a consistent defintion of it seemed to elude me. So we must examine some of these definitions and try to find a core to the idea of democracy, if there exists one. Bunch of different ideas and quotes are out thr on internet put about 4-5 of them here and discuss if them from a current or historical perspective..ive written down one for u: â€Å"The right to dissent without repercussions to ones personal well-being is the core value of Democracyâ€Å" * Nathan Sharansky Discuss quotes such as this to evaluate how these ideas are implemented in practice.. All this should take up about 500 words..  The only core value seems to be people get to elect their governement..how much of the peoples rights are respected after that greatly varies.. Forms of democracy Representative..constitutes parliamentary and liberal(most democracies are  these) Constitutional Direct Socialist Totalitarian ..discuss all thseabout 300 words.. A critique of democacy An illusion There was no stone-pelting, nothing.There was no curfew They fired indiscriminately. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-burns-again-as-india-responds-to-dissent-with-violence-2045905.html). The above was said by Abdul Rashid, a Kashmiri youth whose friend was gunned down by Indian army officials for holding a peaceful, nonviolent, anti-government rally in the summer of 2010. But this was not an anomoly in the process of democracy in India. Kashmir still remains the most militarized zone in the world with about a half a million troops on active duty (for the sake of comparison, the United States had about 165,000 troops in Iraq at its peak)(i read these figures on cia.gov..i dont remember the exact link ). How is that a government for the people is killing its own citizens for holding a nonviolent demonstration? How is such a huge militarization of a province in a democracy justified? Even a basic understanding of the ideas of freedom and liberty that democracy ent ails shows how abhorrent these actions are. But these things happen, not just in India, but in other developed counties like the United States (Japanese americans in 1942), where the rights of their citizens are violated just when they would want to exercise them. So one must ask, are democracies really for the people? A study of history of goverment brutality in countries like India and the United States seem to suggest otherwise. The almost forceful takeaway of land by the Indian goverment in eastern India from farmers (actions which directly led to the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, something the current prime minister of India called the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country.( http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-IndiaAP.html)), seem to suggest otherwise. The locking up of Japanese Americans in internment camps in 1942 by Franklin Roosevelt and the Unites States government seem to suggest otherwise. The indiscriminate shooting of  unarmed, nonviolent Kashmiri youths (some as young as 9 years old)shouting â€Å"azadi!azadi!†(â€Å"freedom!freedom!†) by Indian security officials seem to suggest otherwise. One gets the idea. So maybe people like Vilfredo Pareto and Gaetano Mosca are correct after all. The masses are always characterized by apathy and division, the powers to be by drive and unity (Femia, Joseph V. Against the Masses, Oxford 2001). Maybe all democracy does is shift the power scale, from domination by a despotic leader to manipulation by a democratic government. Maybe the people don’t really have much of a say after all. Maybe it’s just an illusion. Majority rule Majority always gets its way..discuss gay rights..civil rights in us..womens rights historically..religious parties like shiv sena in Mumbai..rising intolerance of secularism in india..majority rule can get tyrannical and the minority issues ignored when people get to decide resolutions to minority issues. The irrational voter â€Å"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.† – Winston Churchill Talk about how the common man is largely ignorant about serious issues and hence can vote against his/her interests..u can greatly discuss the recent midterms in us to make this pointbasically ur sayin if we must solve economic issues we talk to economist..if we must solve environmental issues we talk to climate scientists..if we are talking abt what to teach in science class we take the consensus of scientist not what the common people of the state think (talk abt teaching creationism in schools..a lot of states in us have majority of it people wanting creationism be taught as science even though almost no scientist believe it to be science)not everything should be up for a vote.. Economically Ur a better person to write abt this Idealistic Show how its hard to apply democratic principles in practicecorrupt officials..apathetic citizens..uprisings etc.. Instable Frequent elections make the government instableshitload of examples on the internet abt this.. Best we have? â€Å"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.†- Winston Churchill Compare democracy to other forms of governments like dictatorships, communist states, anarchist, socialist,etc..define and discuss each with respect to western liberal democracy..ive done some of it for anarchist Anarchist Anarchists are those who advocate the absence of the state, arguing that common sense would allow people to come together in agreement to form a functional society allowing for the participants to freely develop their own sense of morality, ethics or principled behaviour. (from wikipedia). One such current society is Somalia, and it would not be hyperbole to suggest they are not doing very well. The lack of a state and police have led to nationwide lawlessness, violence and spiralled the country into utter chaos. I think Somalia really characterizes the severe consequences of not having a state and is not a direction one would want their country to go in. Giving people all the power has resulted in the most powerful and the most brutal of them to take power and the rest of people losing all freedom(ironically).

A Comparison of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman and A Raisin

The Value of a Dream in Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun      Ã‚   How does one value a dream? This question arises while reading both Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.   Although the two novels are very different, the stories and characters share many likenesses.   Death of a Salesman concerns a family’s difficulty in dealing with unrealized dreams.   A Raisin in the Sun focuses on a family's struggle to agree on a common dream.   In each of these stories, there are conflicts between the dreams that each character is struggling to attain.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Death of a Salesman, Happy and Biff are uncertain of where they are in life, and only reach out for the simple, already-tangible things at hand. Biff: "I don't know- what I'm supposed to want", and Happy:   "I don't know what the hell I'm working for", means that they bothh feel they havn't progressed.   All they want to do is work with their hands, with their shirts off and their backs to the sun.   Neither Biff nor Happy have struggled to get to where they feel secure, otherwise they would not be admitting such things.   And both have also dismissed the truth; Biff saying "Never mind. Just don't llay it all to me" and Happy saying, "Just don't lay it all at me feet."   Happy also wants to believe that everything is alright; Happy is fine, so long as he can make himself believe that everyone around him is fine.   Towards the end of the story, when Biff accuses everyone of lying, Happy exclaims, "We always told the truth!" b ut in the beginning, he admitted to Biff, "See, Biff, everybody around me is so false that I'm constantly lowering my ideals."      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Willy Loman wants his dreams so badly that, in his ... ...o survive.   The Youngers never left the house; the house was the only place of action.   It was the pillar, even though it wasn't a great one.   They made it the pillar by their pride and faith.   Willy Loman died with somewhat of a sense of honor and dignity.   He knew he would make his family finally and truly proud, and, most importantly, he knew that Biff loved him, and he always had.   There is no such thing as a wasted life, so long as there are dreams to cloud up reality and, possibly, make them possible.      Works Consulted: Bloom, Harold. Twientieth-Century American Literature. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992. Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman.   New York: Viking, 1995.   

Managing Change in Complex Environment Essay

History and Background Introduction The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent government organization that generates income through mail services. It is currently the second largest civilian employer in the United States. Its primary task is to deliver mail around the country, at a standard price, regardless of geographic location. Over the last two centuries, the USPS has evolved into an efficient organization that financially sustains itself through its delivery operations. With a monopoly on the delivery of non-urgent mail, the USPS provides delivery service of about 40 percent of the world’s mail, or approximately 200 billion pieces of mail annually. Starting in the 1990s, the USPS faced increased competition from rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the Internet. Presently the USPS is facing a financial collapse. The USPS needs to undergo an essential and systematic change in order to maintain its significance in the 21st century. History/Background On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress appointed a Postmaster General giving birth to the Postal Department of the United States. The mission of the U.S. Postal Department was much the same as today, process and deliver first class and non-urgent mail to individuals and businesses within the United States. Congress passed various laws that grant the post office a â€Å"statutory monopoly† on non-urgent First Class Mail and the exclusive right to put mail in private mailboxes. Although these laws grant the USPS a market advantaged they also restrict its ability to compete with rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the technological innovations. How it got started The Post Office Department has origins in America dating back to the 17th century, when there was a need for mail between colonial settlements and intercontinental exchange of information with England. In 1775, the Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general and chairman of a committee empowered to make recommendations for the establishment of a postal service. On September 22, 1789 the post office became a new government branch of the United States. At this time there were 75 post offices and approximately 2,000 miles of post roads. The USPS was critical to national welfare and pivotal in facilitating communications for military, congressional representation and newspapers. From the very beginning, the USPS financed operations from revenue it earned and Congress gave it a monopoly to be the only courier service to deliver mail. Key points in evolution The main focus and the efforts of postal officials from the foundation of the Post Office to the present day have been finding the best methods of transporting information and directing mail. For example, in 1791 George Washington stated that that the importance of the postal routes had increased because the country wanted to distribute knowledge of governmental laws. Also, between 1791 and 1861, the U.S increased from 3.9 million to 31.4 million square miles and postal roads grew from 1,875 to 240,595 miles. The Board of Governors of the USPS sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the US Senate. The nine appointed members then select the Postmaster General, who serves as the board’s tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer. The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat. The USPS is often mistaken as a government organization but it is legally defined as an â€Å"independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States.† Environmental context The external environment elements that significantly influence the USPS are the United States political system, workforce unions, changing technology and market forces. United States Political System In 1970 the U.S. Postal Department evolved into the USPS through the implementation of the Postal Reorganization act. This act required the USPS to be a â€Å"self-sufficient organization within the U.S. Government†. It also added an additional regulatory body into its chain of command, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), but did not make any modification to the Postal Department’s Board of Directors or regulatory congressional statutes. The USPS Board of directors is charged with directing the USPS through the control of expenditures, reviewing practices, long term planning and setting policies and service standards. The PRC has 5 commissioners, appointed through the executive branch and confirmed by the Senate, who have the authority to reject, modify and approve any USPS initiated congressional recommendations. Since congress alone retains the authority to change USPS’ rates, service frequency and employee benefits, any market related changes from the Board of directors is routed through the PRC and congress for consideration. Pressure from Unions There are 4 unions representing around 90% of the USPS workforce: National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers, National Rural Letters Carriers Association and National Postal Mail Handlers Union. These organizations have successfully contracted collective bargaining agreements for its members for compensation and benefits that have come to exceed the USPS’ ability to maintain with its current revenues. These labor unions are very influential in weighing in on most of the decisions that affect the well-being of the USPS labor force. Presently USPS employees enjoy 79% coverage of their health care costs; the most of any federal agency. Strategic challenge Over the years the USPS has transformed its operating model and is now set up and mandated to operate like a business entity generating its revenue through the sale of postal products and services. The largest issue with the current business model of the postal service is its lack of flexibility essential for a business in a dynamic market. Specifically the USPS has not been able to organizationally adjust to a large decrease in the demand for first class mail service has resulted in decreasing net revenue in recent years. Congressional Influence The USPS congressional charter came with both benefits and operating constraints. Among the constraints the USPS is obligated to provide a uniform price for its services regardless of the geographic location and dispersion of its customer base. The USPS is obligated to deliver six days a week to every mailing address regardless of its mail volume. Additionally the USPS is required to provide free mailing service to the blind and facilitate voting for overseas military personnel. A significant amount of the USPS’ operating costs comes from its requirement to pre-fund retiree health benefits (RHB) for future retirees. Key Issues The USPS is suffering from the combined effects of declining mail volume from new technology and increasing labor costs resulting in a loss of net revenue. These declines are projected to extend into the future. The addition of a significant number of new addresses in the United States each year increases the USPS’ operating costs although volume is decreasing. Business Model – While the USPS has enjoyed the benefits of the monopoly on first class letter mail services that congress has bestowed, it has a stagnant business model that prevents the USPS from being able to adapt in the face of technological innovation and other market forces that affect its bottom line annually. The major source of revenue for the post office is the postage it charges for first class and non-standard mail. The advance of modern information systems such as email, smartphones, online banking, and other digital communications decreased the demand for traditional mail services. Compounding this issue is the basic economic principle of supply and demand. New technologies offer cheaper substitutes for the services that the post office provides. Stakeholders Postal Workers – The USPS employs more than 500,000 employees making it second only to Wal-Mart as the nation’s largest civilian employer. While every employee is represented by a labor union, employees are legally restricted from striking. Labor Unions – The USPS unions are old, influential and politically connected. Collectively, these unions continually fight for increased employee pay, living allowances and health care benefits. Postal Regulation Commission (PRC) – The PRC serves as the middleman between the USPS board of governors and congress. The PRC can reject or modify requests before they reach congress for final approval. Congress – Members of Congress exercise control over many aspects of the USPS operations including approving the markets for which it competes as well as representing the interests of its constituents whenever the USPS requests changes to its business model. Public Consumer – One of the mandates of the post office is to provide mail service of all addresses. The number of addresses has increased by nearly 18 million nationwide in the past decade and continues to climb as the country recovers from the past recession. A vast majority of the consumers are congressional constituents to whom member of congress are responsible. Competitors The USPS monopolizes, via congressional mandates, the delivery of first class mail, non-urgent mail and small packages. As such it faces very little direct competition from other businesses. However, the USPS has seen significant decreases in its mail volume over the years. The decreased volume of mail is directly related to the global acceptance of technology and use of digital communications which displaced traditional USPS services. Market Forces The USPS full time workers cost the USPS 80% of its revenue. Although they still enjoy a monopoly on first class mail, they are in direct competition with smaller, more efficient, companies who deliver large packages and urgent letters. Strategies Used What it Does Now – The USPS has improved its efficiency and effectiveness through both technology and reorganization. The USPS made significant investments in the late 1990’s in fuel efficient vehicles and new facilities as well as a $15 million advertising campaign to improve its image as a progressive and modern organization. A decade ago it took 70 employees one hour to sort 35,000 letters. Today in an hour, only two employees process an identical volume of mail. Though the number of addresses in the nation has increased by nearly 18 million in the past decade, the number of employees who handle the increased delivery load has decreased by more than 200,000 (Potter 2010a). It launched delivery confirmation service and priority mail in order to compete with competitors. The USPS now operates more than 31,000 post offices and the largest vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 218,684 vehicles. What They Want to Do – Concerned with increasing costs and decreasing revenues, the USPS petitioned for the following changes: * Stop Retiree Health Benefits prefunding – in 2011 the prefunding amount exceeded net operating losses. * Retirement System Overpayment – In 2010 Government Accountability Office disputed overpayment freezing approximately $6.9 billion. * Delivery Frequency – Shifting from six to five days weekly delivery would save approximately $3 billion annually. This measure is supported by 75% of USPS consumer base. * Change prices – Mandates currently cap the USPS ability to adjust to market conditions dynamically. * Restructure labor costs – Current collective bargaining decision do not consider the USPS financial health yet mandate compensation and benefits to be paid at levels comparable with private sector organizations with the burden falling on the taxpayers. * Consolidate infrastructure – A proposal in 2009 to close 3,000 postal outlets to reduce excess capacity yielded only a closure of 157 following consumer complaints and congressional intervention. Part II Diagnosis Lewis (2011) states that the USPS’ problems are a result of a restrictive business model and its inflexibility to operate in a dynamic market place. As stated earlier, the USPS response to this problem is a direct plan to cut expenses and increase revenues to overcome their mounting deficit. Although this plan does address the USPS’ immediate insolvency concerns, it fails to address their underlying issues. Through the use of Senge’s system approach and the McCaskey’s Organizational Design model, this paper will expose USPS’ root problems. Strategic Issues/Strategies/Goals-Objectives The USPS’ strategic issues are a loss of revenue due to declining mail volume, extensive costs due to a bloated and expensive unionized-workforce and the use of an outdated-legislatively constrained business plan. Their proposed strategy to mitigate these issues centers on cutting their expenses, consolidating infrastructure, renegotiating labor cost/employee benefits and increasing rates. In addition, the USPS intends to evolve their business plan to incorporate technological innovations. This strategy aligns with their long term goal of providing a â€Å"trustworthy, dependable, reliable and secure means to communicate on a national level† (Lewis, 2011), by implementing a long term sustainable business model that promotes flexibility and economic growth in a dynamic market. Environment In FY11 the USPS’ total revenues were $65 Billion dollars while their total expenses were $75 Billion dollars. Under congressional law the USPS is required to be a â€Å"self-sufficient government agency†. Under this direction the USPS is obligated to cover its costs without government assistance. The USPS does this by generating revenues from a monopoly market while operating more like a private business then a government agency. Its government backed monopoly advantage comes with extensive congressional restrictions on rates, delivery procedures and labor benefits. The USPS’ monopoly restricts the direct competition in the delivery of first class mail, use of specific delivery routes and personal mailboxes. It does not protect the delivery of urgent mail and large packages. FedEx and UPS are direct competitors in this market and have a competitive advantage due to their efficiencies, technological innovations and ability adapt to market needs. Key Success Factors The USPS’ key to success is their ability to meet their customer’s needs, generate enough revenue to cover their costs , maintain the flexibility to adjust in a dynamic market and optimize a scalable infrastructure that facilitates the efficient and economic delivery of their services. Task Requirements There are multiple ways that mail is accepted into the delivery process. For the purpose of observing the USPS organizational structure, the simple method of customers placing the mail in their residential, or post office, curbside mailbox will be examined. In either case this process begins and ends with the customer sending or receiving mail at a mailbox. The mail item is received by the postal carrier, and then consolidated at the local post office, where it is inspected manually or automatically checked for correct postage. It is then routed to a hub for delivery to a particular region in the country. The mail is then sent to a final processing plant where it is sorted for the specific route for delivery. Finally the mail is sent to the distant end post office for delivery to the end customer. The mail is moved in a linear manner between each node in the process chain. Along the interdependency continuum of the USPS’ functional units we observed a sequential relationship. Throughout the process each entity produces an output that is a necessary input for the next link in the chain. The USPS’ key to success in this linear process is the secure delivery of mail for a nominal fee. For their part, the workers must be honest and ensure mail is properly safeguarded as it makes its way through each step in the chain. The workers only have to be ‘good enough’ for their specific task in the process. This means that there is very little incentive for them to innovate or make improvements to the process from within. Any efficiencies gained, in any one link in the process, are not readily propagated throughout because of the sequential nature of the process. Because of the nature of change within the organization, and the employee compensation structure, their only incentive is to maintain the status quo. This analysis is represented in the interdependency/coordination mechanism model below. The analysis shows a misalignment between the levels of interdependence between the functional units and the coordination mechanism used. The USPS coordinates through rules and regulations. Using the systems approach of focusing on successes rather than the failures of the organization, we compared the USPS current coordination level to its closest successful competitor, FEDEX. As depicted FEDEX has a coordination level that aligns with it level of interdependency. The preferred and optimal approach is to align the organization’s level of interdependency horizontally with the coordination mechanism. The USPS needs a higher coordination mechanism to match the current level of interdependence in order to facilitate efficiencies in the system. Process/ Systems Snowfall and showers may not be able to stop postal carriers from their appointed delivery routes, but their financial problems may halt at least 50% of all postal offices. The U.S. Postal Service, weakened by a public turning to digital communications, is down 22 percent in volume from just five years ago, a decline which is expected to continue, driven in part by rigid competition from carriers such as FedEx and UPS. The Postmaster General has responded with a list of cost-cutting proposals, such as eliminating Saturday delivery and closing up to 3,700 local post offices which would be replaced with automated centers operating out of local businesses. The Postmaster General has also proposed laying off as many as 120,000 workers, and pulling workers out of more costly federal pension plans. Pre-funding retiree benefits has cost the Postal Service $21 billion in the last three years. The underlying issue is that all those moves cannot be made without congressional approval. In order to make these immediate and dramatic changes, the Postal Service would require access to its own funds as well as the authority to act as its own corporation. The transition from a government ran entity to a privatized organization requires Congress to give the USPS flexibility to take action and make changes without all the bureaucracy. The below modified Senge Model (Limit to Growth) demonstrates how the USPS is constrained from making changes. In short, the USPS is limited by congress to making quick and reactive changes that focus on the problem rather than the underlying issue. Creating change and making it work are all resisted by a condition called the â€Å"Status Quo† and the USPS is no exception. USPS employees feel protected under the current unionized culture. They feel threatened by the prospect of losing benefits and are unwilling to pay the high personal price necessary for change. We have demonstrated that this change is necessary for the long term health of the organization. The real question is, â€Å"does the current status quo fit the new change requirements?† An organization in dire need to make radical adjustments to become current cannot be fixed with antiquated congressional imposed constraints. PART III Change Management Plan The USPS acknowledges its need to cut costs and increase revenue. It believes this will fix the problems. USPS starts to address this by taking reactionary measures, but fails to take the necessary steps to address the root issue. We argue that there is a more fundamental problem within the USPS organization which requires a systems approach to identify and solve. Senge says â€Å"it is impossible to change the system from inside the system.† By â€Å"complicating up† the USPS management structure we identify the core problem and faults in its system. Due to the short time needed to enact this change we propose a top down approach that pushes change while mitigating assumed employee resistance such an approach will generate. Our plan uses the Lewin and Kotter models to shape the USPS organizational transition. Through the Lewin model we identify a three phase approach to address changes that simultaneously focuses on employee and organizational issues. Throughout each p hase an information plan is propagated to employees to facilitate transition to the next phase. Conclusion The bottom line is that the USPS current costs of doing business outweigh its current methods of productivity. Without changing the strategic management model, the USPS will continue to lose revenue and be unable to react effectively to market demands. Its proposed cost cutting solutions only scratches the surface of the underlying problem of restrictions on organizational management and coordination. Our uses validated organizational change models. We justify our plan which uses the Lewin model and shows a close association to Kotter’s organizational change model. Our plan leads the USPS to long term success, maintains its relevance in today’s market and allows it to make appropriate changes through periodic reevaluations. References Lewis, T., Montgomery C., Shuler, J. , (2011), The US Postal Service , Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Senge, P., (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday Publishing, New York 15May 2012: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_124.htm> 15 May 2012: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj31n1/cj31n1-9.pdf 19 May 2012: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/industries/Transportation-Communications-Utilities/United-States-Postal-Service.html

En Route Essay

D. C Scott’s poem, En Route describes the moment of stillness a train passenger observes as his train is unexpected halted on a train journey. This essay analyses the poem, exploring details of how the journey the passenger intended to take is interrupted, offering him an altogether unexpected journey, one which affords him an opportunity to see his surroundings in a new light. Within this essay I will explore the meaning of the title â€Å"en route† and consider the various meanings that can be attributed to this title as a result of the track followed by the passenger within the poem. The poem starts with an attention grabbing line, â€Å"The train has stopped for no apparent reason in the wilds†. The image presented is that of isolation, a passenger stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a sense of solitude and forbiddance. All around the now still train is further stillness. Winter has frozen the landscape in the same way in which the train has been stopped, â€Å"A frozen lake is level and fretted over†, â€Å"all so still†. The reader is provided with an image of stillness and serenity, the purpose of the train journey, its origin and its destination all become irrelevant and the reader instead becomes heavily involved in the here and now and what is happening in the landscape outside in which the train now sits is so still. The stoppage of the train allows the passenger to look beyond his immediate surroundings within the train to what is actually happening outside his carriage. The delicate and detailed language employed within the poem describes the world outside, â€Å"it seems a tiny landscape in the moonlight†. The landscape that, moments ago would have been a blurred image as the train rushed through, becomes a fascinating scene with multiple levels of life, detail and delicacy. Descriptive lines such as â€Å"wisps of shadows from the naked birches† and â€Å"one almost hears it twinkle as it thaws† provide the reader with a vivid sense of how the passenger is able to scrutinize every minute part of the landscape which surrounds him. These are all things that people generally do not have the time or opportunity to observe as they journey on route from one place to another. Whilst these images are perhaps real and part of nature and life, the passenger seems to perceive them as transitory, â€Å"they’re going fast where all impressions go†. He is preoccupied with his journey, a journey that he values in contrast to the scene he can see. The train represents real direction to him, a solid steel structure which is without emotion and sensuality is, ironically, of more meaning to him that these delicate images. The purity and honesty of the nature that he is afforded the opportunity to view in great detail is something that he sorrowfully perceives as meaningless, â€Å"On a frail substance- images like these, vagaries the unconscious mind receives†. The passenger is unable to change. He intends to carry on with the journey he started and, sadly, dismisses the intimate relationship between himself and the environment in which he lives. The title of the poem En Route has numerous meanings within this poem. The train is clearly en route from one place to another when it is stopped. The stoppage itself is ironic as the train is no longer â€Å"en route†; it is going nowhere at all. However, through the stoppage the passenger is transported from one place to another almost instantaneously. Whereas previously he would have been concerned with the immediate surroundings of his carriage, with the landscape perhaps whirling by quickly outside his window, he is now offered an opportunity to look beyond this, to real life outside his window. These views offer him another route, a possibility to acquaint himself with the real meaning of life. Although he momentarily observes this and appears to emphasize with it in some way, he eventually rejects it as being something that isn’t of real meaning. He instead chooses to continue on his intended route, leaving the reader with the sense that he is on the wrong tracks, failing to be fully appreciative of the images he can see.

Understanding Childrens Development Essay Example

Understanding Childrens Development Essay Example Understanding Childrens Development Essay Understanding Childrens Development Essay There has been a huge amount of research into infants perception of objects including experiments into subjective contours, object unity, shape perception and size perception. This research has resulted in the emergence of contrasting views and has attracted both positive and negative attention. It seems that the general conclusion is that infants are born with an innate capability to perceive objects, however this is limited and during the first 4 months infants develop very quickly and are able to fill in the gaps in perception in order to perceive object unity and subjective contours. Another main area of study into infant perception is that of perception of people. In order for infants to form attachments it is paramount that they are able to distinguish between strangers and parents. Fantz (1961) conducted a study in which he presented infants with three examples of schematic stimuli. The first face presented had all its features in the right place, the second had all its features jumbled up and the third had the same stimulus brightness but had no specific features. Fantz found that even in the first month, infants showed a small but consistent spontaneous preference for the full face, it was concluded that even the youngest infants had the ability to perceive faces, therefore providing support for the nativist view of infant perception. However, there were several criticisms of this study, the main one being that the full facial arrangement contained more information around the edge of the stimulus and evidence has shown that infants tend to scan around the edge of complex pictures, therefore it is possible that infants may have looked longer at the full facial arrangement simply because there was more detail around the edge. There has been extensive research conducted in this area as it has important implications for later development in infants. Wilcox (1969) estimated that the age for face perception was around four months; this was later revised to two months as a result of the work conducted by Maurer and Barrera (1981). This appears to provide support for the empiricist theory that perception is developed not innate. However it is possible that the negative results obtained with younger infants could be due to the experiments being unsuitable for infants that young. Goren, Sarty and Wu (1975) developed a more suitable method by using the visual preference technique. They moved the schematic stimuli back and forth within the vision field of newborns and found that they followed the full face further and for longer than the other two faces. It is possible that the movement of the stimuli was the reason for the different results; it could be argued that this method is more ecologically valid as faces are rarely static. The second main area of research into face perception in infants is into whether infants are able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar faces. There have been several studies that have found support for the nativist theory that infants are able to distinguish between their mothers and a female strangers face (Carpenter, 1974). The same results have been found with newborns that had only had a few hours contact with their mother (Bushnell, 2001). In all these experiments the infant showed a preference to their mothers face. This is important evidence to support the theory that infants are able to perceive effectively before they know how to act appropriately. However, one weakness found with this study is that it is possible that the infant will recognise the mother through smell rather than sight; therefore it is not possible to tell whether they are distinguished solely through visual recognition. Bushnell, Sai Mullin (1989) tackled this problem by providing a strong smelling perfume to act as a kind of mask. Another problem is that when the mother looks at the infant they tend to have more pronounced facial expressions through familiarity, the infant could simply be reacting to this. Walton, Bower Bower (1992) reduced this possibility by presenting video tapes of the mother and stranger to the infant, therefore it was clear that the infant stared longer at the mother due to visual recognition alone, this provides support for the nativist theory that infants are able to perceive adequately before knowing how to act appropriately. Another area of face perception in infants investigated by psychologists is imitation. Piaget (1954) put forward the conventional view that imitation was impossible until infants were capable of representing self and other, a capacity thought to develop in late infancy. However, evidence has shown that even newborns are capable of imitating facial and manual gesture. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) were the first ones to report well-controlled studies of imitation in early infancy. The research into imitation provides strong evidence to support the nativist view as in order to imitate a facial gesture, infants have to be able to understand the method involved in making a particular gesture and match this to their own facial gestures. However, these findings were seen as highly controversial and still are. Investigating imitation is difficult as you are faced with two problems: you must ensure that the actions are simple enough for an infant to imitate but at the same time the gestures should not be those that can be confused with the gestures infants make spontaneously. The research discussed in this essay provides evidence to suggest that many perceptual abilities are present in infants from birth or emerge very shortly afterwards. This suggests that many aspects of perception develop on innate, maturational factors rather than on learning from the environment. A main example of this would be face recognition; newborns become familiar with their mothers face within a few hours of birth. The infant ability to perceive depth and distance and to apply visual constancies has also been investigated. It is not as clear in these areas whether the evidence provides support for the nativist or empiricist argument. The methodological difficulties involved in studying infants makes it difficult to form firm conclusions, however, it seems likely that babies need to interact with the environment at some level in order for their perceptual abilities to develop normally and effectively. References Cardwell, M. , Clark, L. , Meldrum, C. (2001) Psychology for A2 Level pp185-218 Slater, A. , Bremner, G. (2003) An Introduction to Developmental Psychology pp117-139 Smith, P. K. , Cowie, H. , Blades, M.(2003) Understanding Childrens Development pp319-341 Sources Cardwell, M. , Clark, L. , Meldrum, C. (2001) Psychology for A2 Level. Collins. Carlson, N. R. Buskit, W. Martin, G. N. (2000) Psychology: The Science of Behaviour (European Adaptation. ) Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Slater, A. , Bremner, G. (2003) An Introduction to Developmental Psychology. Blackwell Publishing :Oxford. Smith, P. K. , Cowie, H. , Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Childrens Development 4th Edition. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.

How to Tackle the 2015-16 Common Application Essay Prompts - The Essay Expert

How to Tackle the 2015-16 Common Application Essay Prompts - The Essay Expert In preparation for a TV interview on Channel 3000 last summer, I researched the new Common Application Essay questions. Somehow I got it into my head that I had already written about them since I had researched them. But in actuality, I did not share these new topics on my blog! Now that it’s college application season, I am really and truly sharing the Common Application Essay Prompts for 2015-2016. These new college essay prompts, on which I’ve commented below, were crafted based on survey results from almost 6,000 people who were members and constituents of the Common Application organization. The parts that changed from last year are in italics: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it.  If this sounds like you, then please share your story. (Previous prompt: â€Å"Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it†¦.†) I like that â€Å"identity, interest, and talent† were added as options and that the words â€Å"so central to your identity† were replaced with â€Å"meaningful.† These changes open up the question to a broader range of possible responses, and frankly take some pressure off. Not every applicant has a background that they consider â€Å"so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it.† But just about everyone has something in their life that’s meaningful enough to be important to share with the admissions committee. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? (First sentence was added to prompt.) Honestly, I don’t love this addition. To me it’s too handholding and should be clear to any student writing an essay about failure. Perhaps schools were not getting enough essays that showed how students applied the lessons they learned from their failures? But I would think a student’s approach to this essay would be one of the aspects admissions officers would want to consider, without handing a directive to them on a silver platter. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? (No change.) In my experience, this question proves challenging for most high school students. Few youngsters at that age have gone against the grain in a meaningful way. I recall in second grade challenging teachers who were talking during a fire drill, and, in high school, writing an editorial expressing my dislike of the student dress code. Neither was serious fodder for a college essay. Nevertheless, for those debaters and newspaper editors and political activists in the college application pool, answering this prompt might be just the right road to admission. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. (Completely new prompt, replacing this previous one: â€Å"Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?†) I like this change a lot! The previous question was fairly bland and presented a difficult writing challenge, with no obvious opportunity to show growth. The new question, in contrast, provides an exciting opportunity for students to display their intellectual prowess or emotional intelligence. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. (No change.) This might be the prompt to go or be changed significantly in 2016-17. Can you imagine thousands of students struggling to find something â€Å"different† to say about their Bar Mitzvah or Eagle Scout project? However, the prompt does offer an opportunity to explore and describe a unique childhood-to-adulthood transition. I remember fondly, for instance, the essay of one of my clients who taught his sister how to ride a bike, going from being annoyed at her wimpiness to owning his teacher role and succeeding in his task. The challenge here is to steer clear of anything clichà ©. That’s my take on the new College Application essays. As for other people’s opinions on these prompts, almost all of those surveyed agreed that the current prompts would generate effective essays on the whole. A slight majority believed the â€Å"story/background† prompt is the most effective, and I agree. In fact, most students could probably answer that question and submit a very effective essay; but there’s value in offering four more ways for students to approach thinking about their unique offerings and how to talk about their lives in 650 words. Note that very few participants in the survey wanted the â€Å"Topic of Your Choice† topic back. This is understandable since a student could write about pretty much any topic of their choice that’s personal to them and fit it within one of the current essay choices. If your child is applying to college and wants support on writing a great response to the Common Application questions, contact The Essay Expert. Remember, approximately 26% of all college applicants hire an admissions consultant, and your child is in the same pool they are. You might also enjoy some of my other articles about college essays and admissions.

Why You Dont Need Approval (+5 More Lean Marketing Ideas)

Why You Dont Need Approval (+5 More Lean Marketing Ideas) Marketers are often asked to do more with less. Publish more frequently to get better results. Publish more with only the resources you already have. Publish more content thats among  the best youve ever published. And do all of that as fast as you possibly can. I dont think those are  unrealistic expectations, either. As marketers, our job is to create content that attracts an audience interested in what our businesses sell. Why You Dont Need Approval (+5 Bonus *Unconventional* #LeanMarketing Ideas)Its 100% true that publishing more content gives us more data to analyze to increase our results more quickly than ever before. And if youre publishing content and not measuring your results how do you know youre attracting the audience that is interested in what youre selling? The proof is in the numbers. And the proof that your work isnt generating results also exists  when you have no numbers to show for the work youve done. ^ That happens, unfortunately, when you  waste time doing projects that focus on the 10%. Let me explain. Lean Marketing = 10x Growth Versus 10% Improvement Theres a mantra you hear daily at : Focus on 10x growth and forget the 10% improvements. That means prioritizing the work you do to reach your marketing goals ten times faster. Dont do the trivial minutia that sucks productivity away (and honestly doesnt drive huge growth). Prioritize your work to reach your marketing goals ten times faster.Your Example For example, should you focus on writing better content or research the best times to publish your content? 10x growth can definitely come from sharing  better content. But publishing at the best times is a  10% improvement because it  focuses too heavily on one-day advantages versus the long-term 10x benefits of strong evergreen, keyword-driven content. (Plus, you can automatically post at the best times without any manual busywork.) Make sense? Heres another example. My Example We recently launched a course to help marketers plan their 2017 marketing strategy. We thought a video would be great to promote the course: We could add the video to   the signup page! We could share the video on Facebook! Then we could also do Facebook video ads  to reach a larger audience! We could upload the video to YouTube! That video would have been a 10% project. And we would have spent hours recording, designing, editing, uploading, and sharing the thing. Do you know how we knew the video would have been a 10% improvement? We had created a video for a previous course that had only 914 views. Thousands of students literally  joined the course  without ever scrolling down the  signup page far enough to even watch the video (which we learned with data from  heat mapping). For this new course, could we have created a video and put it higher on the page so people would watch it? Sure. But the video  didnt matter last time because we promoted  the course so well that our audience didnt need to be sold any further- the moment  they saw the signup form, they signed up. Video on Facebook tends to perform well. Thats 100% true. But hours of effort for one Facebook post? Plus, we knew from our prior Facebook ads that video does not convert even close to as well as  other visuals like colorful screenshots and custom photography. Thats likely something to do with our audience, but hey. It was a data-driven decision, nevertheless. We have a small following on YouTube now. Sure, more videos = larger audience. But is it worth the effort  to create a video to reach a handful of people? ^ Thats a real life example of how we sift through projects to focus our efforts on 10x growth instead of 10% improvements. That course is definitely 10x growth. But the video to promote it? 10%. A lot of these lean marketing ideas go against the grain. Its a frame of mind that helps you prioritize your work for growth instead of perfection. Prioritize your work for growth instead of perfection. So what other unconventional  things do we do to focus our time on 10x growth instead of 10% improvement in the marketing team at ? Lean Marketing Idea #1: Prioritize + Start Perfection There are a million things you could do. What should you do? What are you doing today that youre doing simply because youve always done it that way? In its simplest form, start with a list of projects prioritized by great for growth to just OK for growth. To use an agile product management term, thats your marketing project backlog. This is what ours looks like for the demand generation marketing team at : Once you know your best opportunities for 10x growth, map your projects week by week to know when youll tackle (and complete) them. Again with the agile terminology: That map is called your marketing sprint backlog. This is what ours looks like: Then you start executing. But, for many of us, starting is difficult. Its human nature to want to be an expert. To shoot for perfection. But when you start youre anything but an expert. The work you produce wont be perfect. And thats perfect. I recently discovered a new favorite quote from Zig Ziglar that should help you get started: You dont have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Zig Ziglar The highest priority project on your marketing project  backlog may involve learning new skills, doing things youve never done before. The most important thing to do is start. Its scientifically proven that  you need to start, hone your process, and consistently improve to master  a new skill. As it turns out, that kind skill acquisition is really handy for us marketers who want to publish more content. And thats because If you don’t ship, you actually haven’t started anything at all. At some point, your work has to intersect with the market. At some point, you need feedback as to whether or not it worked. Otherwise, it’s merely a hobby. - Seth Godin Shooting for perfection is imperfect. Publish something just good enough, improve your process, and learn from what youve done. Shooting for perfection is imperfect.Lean Marketing Idea #2: Ditch The Documented Marketing Strategy People who write down their goals are more likely to  make them a reality. So write yours down. Then create your marketing project roadmap and marketing sprint backlog. If you have those three things (goal + roadmap + backlog), you dont need a 54-page marketing strategy describing what you need to do. You can execute the right projects (right now) that will make that goal a reality. We dont have a documented marketing plan  at . And if you think thats crazy, the results of our strategy  prove it works. In 2016, we boosted our results by 125%. We get more than 1 million monthly page views to our content from more than 130k email subscribers. And  now were doubling down on new goals with the same strategic approach. You see not having a documented plan is not about acting without strategy. And we prioritize execution for 10x growth over internal documentation that doesnt put the proof of numbers in our favor. Not having a documented plan is not about acting without strategy.This is a concept adapted from Eric Ries book, The Lean Startup.  And its something our CEO and Co-Founder at , Garrett Moon, is pretty passionate about: For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they are now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case. Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess. Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses too. - Garrett Moon Work on the right projects. Help them reach the right audience. And put in the right amount of effort. Lean Marketing Idea #3: You Dont Need An Approval Process Empower + trust your team. If you manage everything right from the beginning, you dont need five rounds of drafts to approve (that your content creators loathe, by the way). Heres how to do it: Have a goal. Prioritize  the  project that will make that goal a reality. Discuss how to execute the project as a team. Break down the project into a chronological list of tasks. Assign the tasks  to your  team. Publish the content when all tasks are complete. ^ Am I oversimplifying that? I really  dont think so. If you nail the process as your team executes from the start,  the work theyll produce will be world class the first time around. And that will eliminate the need for lengthy last-minute edits, tweaks, and fire drills. So how can you  do that? A Standard Of Performance may be just what your team needs. In combination with solid project management (check out the six steps ^), a Standard Of Performance assigns expectations for the content your team is producing. For example, blog posts at have five pillars in our Standard Of Performance: Topic: The angle is well-chosen to attract an audience interested in resolving the challenges delivers. Keyword: The content is optimized to attract an audience at exactly the moment they need it most- when theyre searching for it. Research: The content is factual + backed by data, examples, or testimonials. Comprehensive + Concise: The content covers the topic exhaustively, but is  all killer, no filler. Optimized: The content is optimized for conversion, whether it be  capturing email subscribers or generating trial signup leads. When your team follows your process and delivers on your Standards Of Performance, you effectively remove the need for a lengthy approval process. Dont get me wrong. There is still process. But its process to boost productivity and free up your teams time (and yours, too). Replace approval with empowerment.Lean Marketing Idea #4: Dont Edit Your Content After You Publish It Process directs positive outcome. It doesnt direct perfection. Even when copyediting is a task in your workflow process, chances are, youre going to publish content with spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and sentences/paragraphs you just arent 100% satisfied with. ^ Editing typos + grammar + personal qualms after youve published content is a 10% improvement. I can tell you from experience that the grammar police will let you know when they find  these mistakes. Theyre being nice so you can stop  your 10x project to: Go into WordPress Search for that blog post Hunt for the specific paragraph and sentence Change a couple characters Hit update View your blog post Scroll to the specific paragraph and sentence Re-read everything so it sounds + looks great Then you can get back to the real work that actually adds measurable, 10x impact to your goal. We make mistakes in every blog post we publish on the blog. People let us know about them in blog post comments, social media, emails, and way more. It is helpful, sure. And  we chock up that advice to lessons learned. We commit to  avoiding  those same mistakes next time around. But we dont stop what were doing for 10% improvement. Make mistakes once.Lean Marketing Idea #5: Develop Frameworks That Help Your Team Make Solid Decisions Without You Its unrealistic (and super  micro-managery) to help your team members make every decision. Simple frameworks make this possible. Youve already read about a couple of ours at : 10x growth versus 10% improvement Standards Of Performance Create the right content, get it in the right hands, and put in the right level of effort Garrett actually wrote an entire blog post about the questions he asks the team to keep us focused on what matters. These questions are also frameworks  we, as a team, ask ourselves as we work to focus our decisions on the best possible outcomes. Here are just a few of the questions we use as frameworks: Whats in it for them? Does this meet our standard of performance? What can you ship right now? Are you building a monopoly? Do you have everything you need to be successful? You might want to borrow those frameworks. Or maybe this can inspire you to come up with your own. The point is, frameworks help your team  make the right decisions by themselves because youve given them the guidance/direction/empowerment to do it without you. Lean Marketing Idea #6: Use The Right Tools Designed For The Right Job How valuable is your time? Lets say you make a salary of $50,000 a year. With 250 working days at 8 hours a day, you make $25 an hour. When  you spend more than 1 hour doing something manually that a tool could do for $25, you are wasting productivity. Here are some examples of what I mean (specifically for the team at ): We could manually search for  all mentions of the brand across the web (which would take forever). Or we could use a tool like Mention to see every mention in one place and easily respond. Easy choice. We could manually schedule emails one at a time for specific  segments. Or we could use marketing email automation to automatically (and intelligently) send specific emails to the right audiences at the right times based on their interests. AKA do the work once and let a system manage the mechanics again, easy choice. We could use  a spreadsheet as our marketing calendar (which only one person could access at a time, and doesnt integrate with our marketing tools). Or we could use to organize  every project in one place, eliminate endless  email CCs, and assign tasks to complete work super efficiently. No brainer. The time you spend manually working through something a tool could do more efficiently  is probably  more expensive than buying the tool designed for the job. The time you spend on manual work is more expensive than buying the right tool.Those Are A Few Of  Our Unconventional Lean Marketing Ideas You might  be nodding your head and smiling right now. Or ready to write that comment to tell me why Im completely wrong. Either way, I want to hear from you. ;)

Summative assessment - critical assessment of the external and Essay

Summative assessment - critical assessment of the external and internal contexts of management - Essay Example Howe and Strauss (2003) rightly pointed out that young people and communities are raised in relatively secure and objective driven environment in comparison to their previous generations. Howe and Strauss (2003) also pointed out that lesser numbers of siblings at home (in comparison to previous generations) has decreased the magnitude of competitive environment there. On the other hand, in external environment, young people and communities are being encouraged by family members to participate in competitions and gather accomplishments (Alsop, 2008). It is evident from the discussion that young people and communities have certain personal traits such as, low loyalty, urge for working in team, more focus on knowledge sharing and over-dependence on technology. Therefore, organisations need to consider the above-mentioned traits while managing young people and community. Apart from the mentioned aspects of young people and community management, primary agenda for the essay is to evaluate Sue Lea’s quote â€Å"this policy climate severely limits the capacity of leaders to lead† mentioned in Ord (2012, p. ... ntioned text, management and leadership are being used interchangeably but in reality, significant amount of difference exist between both these concepts. Therefore, the line should be read as, potential and scope for managing young people and community within or outside organization gets affected by government policies, external environmental issues and dynamic shift in macro environment. Although, there are research scholars who have criticized the mentioned argument and the essay will cover their criticism in order to make the discussion robust. In the next section, the researcher will shed light on management-leadership perspectives in order to develop background for further discussion. Management & Leadership Kotter (2001) stated that stark differences exist between managers and leaders. For example, managers are those people who are responsible for doing the assigned task, planning operational activities, budgeting, organizing resources to achieve organizational objectives, pro blem solving and controlling the action of team members or department members, while leaders are those who motivate, align and direct the subordinate’s action. Internal conflict between leadership and management can be summarized in the following manner: Vision and Objective Management is concerned with planning, budgeting, establishing process steps, setting project time line and manager’s ability to display an impersonal attitude. Leadership is concerned with establishment of direction, vision, developing strategic plans, display of passionate attitude and motivating team members to achieve the performance objectives (Kotterman, 2006). Human Development and Networking Management is concerned with delegating responsibility to staff at different organizational verticals, implementing

Team Performance Measurement in the Health Care Services Essay

Team Performance Measurement in the Health Care Services - Essay Example These periodic performance assessments are deemed important in every line of work, even more so in jobs that deal with life and death situations, as methods of bringing care to the sick and injured can be improved by taking the outcomes of previous performance assessments into consideration (Sundar, Sundar, Pawlowski, Blum, Feinstein, & Pratt, 2007). By creating clear and realistic goals based on the attainability of meeting or exceeding previous goals, patients and members of the community can get an assurance that the services being given by health care personnel in health facilities can either remain as satisfactory as before or become even better. Thus, it is important that there is a proper monitoring of the performance of teams and their members to maintain quality services to all stakeholders. However, while monitoring of performance measures and keeping track of goals sounds fairly simple, doing the actual thing can be daunting and even labor-intensive. It can be expected that some problems and challenges could arise during the evaluation itself, such as questioning the reliability of performance measures as well as the accuracy of goals which depend on quantitative characteristics and could bring challenges in the appropriate assessment of a team’s performance (Zeiss, 2002). Self-monitoring for each member normally does not pose a problem, even among team members that have other ancillary functions apart from their specific job functions, but when it comes to feedback from other members of the team, interpersonal problems between the evaluated party and the evaluating party could affect the outcomes of total scoring such as supervisory and peer evaluations, which could lead to resentments with each other if not addressed promptly (Reader, Flin, Mearns, & Cuthberts on, 2009; Shi, 2010).

The Role of Religion in the Formation of America Essay

The Role of Religion in the Formation of America - Essay Example â€Å"Religion was an important issue for many Americans in their personal lives at the time of the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution†¦ Religion played a formative role in many of the colonies at the time of their founding.† (Merriman, 68) Plymouth Plantation was founded by a group including separatists, who are known as the Pilgrims, and it was one of the earliest colonies to be founded by the English in North America which provided the first sizable stable English settlement in the region. Plymouth Plantation was an important settlement for the people were fleeing religious persecution and searching for an appropriate place to worship their God. Thus, the people of the Plymouth Plantation were very religious and its social and legal systems were intimately linked to the religious beliefs of the settlers. The influence of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation on the formation of our country is indisputable and the people and events of this colony have formed part of our folklore. Similarly, the works of Roger Williams, the controversial young Puritan minister and the founder of Rhode Island, have greatly influenced the formation of our country.

Malcolm X from the Civil Rights Time Term Paper

Malcolm X from the Civil Rights Time - Term Paper Example The world today remembers him as a great leader of all times apart from his contribution to the Civil Rights movement. Brief biography Malcolm X was one of the eight children of Reverend Earl and Louise Little. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska and his birth name was Malcolm Little. His father believed in an individual’s fortitude and worked for unanimity within the black community. Malcolm grew up within the environment of racial prejudice and poverty. Earl was a dedicated Baptist minister and an organizer for Marcus Garvey’s UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Society). Earl also preached as a disciple of Marcus Garvey for generating ethnic awareness and dignity amongst black communities and encouraging his parishioners to return to Africa, their ancestral homeland. In 1931, Malcolm’s father was brutally slain in Lansing, Michigan due to a spark of violence with a local hate group (Aboulafia 1). Malcolm attended school up to his eighth grade and spent most of his te enage years on streets of New York City’s Harlem, Boston and Chicago (Aboulafia 1-2). At the age of 20, in Feb 1946, he was convicted and sentenced for ten years imprisonment in a case of robbery (Aboulafia, 2). After this imprisonment, the phase of change within Malcolm began. This moral and spiritual transformation within him initiated after his discovery about the teachings of Honorable Elijah Mohammad who was known as the â€Å"Messenger of Allah†. These teachings of Elijah Mohammad and the Nation of Islam influenced him as it instilled self-respect and admiration within the black followers through criticism of the white colored people. Elijah Mohammad blamed the white colored people for the miserable condition of the blacks in North America. According to him, in order to resolve this problem of long standing injustice the blacks should embrace the strategy of separatism (Aboulafia 2). In 1953, Malcolm was released from prison and he actively participated in the Na tion of Islam movement which entirely changed the purpose of his life (Aboulafia 2). Malcolm X – role against discrimination As mentioned earlier, after being released from prison he became an active and committed member of the Nation of Islam. He was following the personal instructions of Elijah Mohammad when he was posted at Detroit (Siddiqui). He was appointed as an assistant minister for the Nation of Islam movement. During this time he also changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X (Miller). He preached all over the US about his newly adopted religion and converted thousands of blacks by helping them embrace Islam. Malcolm’s commitment towards the movement of Nation of Islam was very high and it helped Nation of Islam become a nation-wide organization. Furthermore, this movement also helped him emerge as an international figure. He was very popular and many major television broadcasters and magazines conducted interviews with him. He also spoke at various forums and universities across the country for the blacks and also advocated for their right of equal opportunity in education, employment and wages. His main strength lay in his eloquent speeches and powerful word selection which helped to vividly depict the predicament of the blacks and fervently lay the blame on the white people (Siddiqui). Once he also tried to make the whites realize how much they are prejudiced about the black people. When a white

Principles of International Relations - Group Assignment Essay

Principles of International Relations - Group Assignment - Essay Example astrophic and irreversible environmental consequences such as decline in global food production, extreme precipitation and destruction of the natural ecosystem and biodiversity. The extreme summer heat waves could lead to adverse health impacts on human beings and increase the prevalence of vector-borne diseases (Luterbacher & Sprinz, 2001). The development of climate change was initially constrained to scientific conferences since scientists established that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were increasing in the 1960s. The Villach Conference of 1985 organized by United Nations Environmental Program concluded that states should initiate consideration on a global climate change convention thus creating an agenda for policy makers to address climate change (Paterson, 2013). Countries such as Germany and Canada were concerned with the increased depletion of stratospheric ozone layer, pollution of oceans and loss of biodiversity thus forcing scientists to carry out more research that led to discovery of Antarctic ozone hole (Luterbacher & Sprinz, 2001). The Northern American heat wave of 1988 summer boosted greenhouse warming agenda in Canada and the United States and thus led to the Toronto Conference of June 1988 that called for reduction of the global carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by the year 200 5 (Victor, 2011). Countries like Canada and Japan have committed to reducing greenhouse gases emission since global warming is an environmental disaster that has led to natural disasters in countries in the East Asia region (Paterson, 2013). The Toronto Conference marked the involvement of international actors such as non-governmental actors in environmental and states thus making global warming an international issue. The United Nations Assembly made climate change a common concern for mankind in 1988 while the Noordwijk Conference of 1989 in Netherlands concluded that industrialized nations should maintain their greenhouse gas emissions

Creditor Right System of Company Law Coursework

Creditor Right System of Company Law - Coursework Example Crystal to the company towards working capital must be registered with companies within a period of 21 days. â€Å"If a registrable charge is not registered in time, then it is void against the liquidator or administrator and any creditor of the company. This means that the debt for which the charge was given will remain payable, but it will be unsecured.† (Company charges, 2009, p.7). Thus, in this case, it is assumed that the charges on debentures and debts have been registered and, therefore, they need to be paid first before setting the claims of the unsecured creditors and the equity shareholders of the company. It is common knowledge that the corporate entity, Crystal Chandeliers Ltd, is a limited company and thus, except under exceptional circumstances, the shareholders, Ms.Crystal, and her sons would be liable only for the value of unpaid shares payable by them, or in other words, the shares which they hold. Crystal Chandeliers Ltd is a limited liability company the personal assets of the owners are usually protected from business creditors as a matter of law. Shareholders and LLC members have a kind of asset protection called limited personal liability under which it would be difficult to attach.  Normally unsecured creditors would rank the last after all preferential and secured creditors are paid off. But in the event, the charge on the assets are not registered with the Companies House within the prescribed time, it is possible that these would also rank only as unsecured creditors, along with other kinds of unsecured debt holders.  

Principles of International Relations - Group Assignment Essay

Principles of International Relations - Group Assignment - Essay Example astrophic and irreversible environmental consequences such as decline in global food production, extreme precipitation and destruction of the natural ecosystem and biodiversity. The extreme summer heat waves could lead to adverse health impacts on human beings and increase the prevalence of vector-borne diseases (Luterbacher & Sprinz, 2001). The development of climate change was initially constrained to scientific conferences since scientists established that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were increasing in the 1960s. The Villach Conference of 1985 organized by United Nations Environmental Program concluded that states should initiate consideration on a global climate change convention thus creating an agenda for policy makers to address climate change (Paterson, 2013). Countries such as Germany and Canada were concerned with the increased depletion of stratospheric ozone layer, pollution of oceans and loss of biodiversity thus forcing scientists to carry out more research that led to discovery of Antarctic ozone hole (Luterbacher & Sprinz, 2001). The Northern American heat wave of 1988 summer boosted greenhouse warming agenda in Canada and the United States and thus led to the Toronto Conference of June 1988 that called for reduction of the global carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by the year 200 5 (Victor, 2011). Countries like Canada and Japan have committed to reducing greenhouse gases emission since global warming is an environmental disaster that has led to natural disasters in countries in the East Asia region (Paterson, 2013). The Toronto Conference marked the involvement of international actors such as non-governmental actors in environmental and states thus making global warming an international issue. The United Nations Assembly made climate change a common concern for mankind in 1988 while the Noordwijk Conference of 1989 in Netherlands concluded that industrialized nations should maintain their greenhouse gas emissions

Syncope Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Syncope - Research Paper Example Syncope can cause injury if the victim falls on things that can hurt him or her. Syncope is preceded by dizziness, nausea, light-headedness, and black out or white out field of vision. Syncope can be triggered by pain, trauma, prolonged standing, or emotional stress. Syncope is categorised into several types. Carotid sinus syncope occurs as a result carotid artery constriction around the neck and it normally happens when having a tight collar, in the shaving process, or after turning the head. Vasovagal syncope is usually triggered by stress, pain, or trauma. Situational syncope occurs in the process of urinating, coughing, defecation or can also be stimulated by gastrointestinal process (Hain, 2009). In a dental office, it is a common phenomenon to encounter cases of syncope. Syncope in this case can be because of anxiety, fear, emotional distress, and pain. Syncope always happens in a dental office due to fear, unusual smells and images, fasting as a result tooth ache, pain, and fatigue. Syncope is frequent case to young men. The dentist should always be prepared to handle syncope cases. There should be adequate drugs and equipments to handle case of syncope. Before syncope sets in, the body undergoes a period known as presyncope whereby the victim suffers inadequate cerebral circulation therefore leading to lack of oxygen and glucose. Initial symptoms include a change in the skin colour to a pale complexion followed by a cold sweat (Hain, 2009). The victim then suffers a feeling of dizziness, warmth around the neck and in the head, nausea, light-headedness, tingling in the fingers and the toes. Many victims may complain of a bad feeling, or that everything becomes dark prior syncope. Fainting can happen abruptly. Syncope is actually the duration by which the victim loses realization. Other common symptoms are weak thread pulse, hypertension, and bradycardia. Unconsciousness leads to muscle relaxation resulting to obstructed airway, because of

Humor in Mathematics Classroom Essay Example for Free

Humor in Mathematics Classroom Essay INTRODUCTION To make the learning in classroom more fun, teachers do make a different strategies or techniques. Game and laughter is very important in learning, that’s why teachers that do have humor make their class more enjoyable and interesting. Anyone who has paid attention to great speakers would know that humor is an excellent method for eliciting sympathy from the audience and opening them up to your message. Every teacher also knows that a sense of humor is necessary to winning the hearts of students. How should this inform teaching? Should the teachers focus on creating an entertaining show for their students? Or would the teachers change their lessons into therapy sessions? This study presents a teaching approach that is built around math problems that are for the student at the same time Cheerful (entertaining, funny, cool) and Challenging (difficult). We call this CheCha mathematics. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The technique of using humor to enliven lectures is as ancient as the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbah (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbos 30b), a Talmudic sage who lived 1700 years ago, would say something humorous before starting to lecture to the scholars, and they would laugh; after that, he would begin his lecture. Rabbi Meir (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b), another Talmudic sage, was an expert in fox fables and would devote one-third of his lecture to parables. These sages recognized the value of humor in education, even in ethical and religious instruction. Most statistics textbooks do not use a humorous approach, with exceptions such as Runyon (1977) and Pyrczak (1998). Blumenfeld and Alpern (1985) discuss ten reasons to use humor in the classroom. These include such factors as opening communication and the humanizing effect of humor on image. Berk (1996, 1998) claims that humor has the ability to decrease students’ anxiety, improve the ability to learn, and boost self-esteem. This, in turn, can encourage a more receptive learning atmosphere. One researcher found that having students watch an episode of Seinfeld helped calm them and reduced their heartbeats when they were later forced to do something stressful, give an impromptu speech about Bosnia, a subject they knew very little about, in front of a camera. The heart rates of students who had watched the humorous Seinfeld episode rose from an average of 70 to averages of 80 to 85 beats per minute while speaking; the heart rates of students who had not been inoculated with humor rose to a mean of 100 (Burkhart 1998). Lundberg and Thurston (1992) discuss various ways humor can be used in the classroom. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK CheCha math method is based on three educational approaches: acknowledging the role of affect in math learning (Hannula, 2006), using humor in teaching (Grecu, 2008) and use of open-ended problems in math teaching (Pehkonen, 2004). Affect in mathematical thinking and learning In order to study affect in math education in contexts of actual classrooms there are three main elements to pay attention to: cognition, emotion, and motivation. Achievement without motivation is not sustainable, and neither is motivation without enjoyment. All three domains have a more rapidly changing state-aspect and more stable trait-aspect. (Hannula, 2006). One fundamental principle of human behavior is that emotions energize and organize perception, thinking and action (Izard, 1991). Research has confirmed a positive relationship between positive affect and achievement. It seems that the affective outcomes are most important during the first school years, as they are less likely to be altered later on. Two key elements of a desired affective disposition are self-confidence and motivation to learn (Hannula, 2006). Advances in our understanding of the neuropsychological basis of affect (e.g. Damasio 1995, LeDoux, 1998) have radically changed the old view of the relationship between emotion and cognition. Emotions are no longer seen as peripheral to cognitive processes or as noise to impede rationality. Emotions have been accepted as necessary for rational behavior. Moreover, research has also shown although not yet fully understood that certain emotions facilitate certain type of cognitive processing (Linnenbrink Pintrich, 2004). Focusing on motivation we may find ways to influence what the subjects want to do, not only how they try to achieve it. In the existing literature, psychological needs that are often emphasized in educational settings are autonomy, competence and social belonging (e.g. Boekaerts, 1999). These all can be met in a classroom that emphasizes exploration, understanding and communication instead of rules, routines and rote learning. However, this requires that all feel safe and perceive that they can contribute to the process. A possible approach to meet all these conditions would be the open approach, and more generally focusing on mathematical processes rather than products (Hannula, 2006). Humor Already Kant (1952) considered the nature of humor. He stated Laughter is the result of expectation which suddenly ends in nothing (p. 199). His classical statement has started considering humor as a mental mechanism resulting in laughter. As another early scientific approach to humor, Freud (1991) divided comic into wit, humor and actually comic. Many kinds of activity, including wit, are directed on reception of pleasure from intellectual processes. A person feels pleasure from suddenly released energy, which is splashed out in the form of laughter. From this perspective already, we can perceive how a good joke can generate a joyful atmosphere and create a positive emotional background of activity. The comic, humorous contents can be reached in various ways and techniques. For example, Veatch (1998) suggests a list of types that are funny: finishing to the point of irrationality, satire, literal understanding of metaphors, irony, ambiguity, word-play, contradiction, discrepancy, excessive rationality and a deviation from the usual. Each of these types of the comic can be expressed as a joke or a problem in math context. As an example of a math contradiction we take a joke, here framed within the world of Winnie the Pooh: Pooh and Piglet sit on a small bench and talk. Eeyore has sent them a box. In the box there are ten sweets and a note. In the note Eeyore tells them to divide them: seven for Pooh and seven for Piglet. Piglet: How is that? I do not understand. What do you think of it?† Pooh: I do not even want to think. But I have already eaten my seven sweets. Humor can also act as means of a psychological discharge, and promote efficiency of pedagogical activity. Suhomlinsky (1975) wrote: I would name laughter as a back side of thinking. To develop ability to laugh in the child, to enhance his sense of humor means to strengthen his intellectual forces, abilities, to teach him to think and to see the world wisely. Grecu (2008) has considered use of humor in teaching. She highlights seven basic functions of humor in pedagogical activity: 1) informatively-cognitive (Opens essential features and properties of subjects and the phenomena. Rejecting standard approaches, the humor bears in itself any discovery), 2) Emotional (the Humor can act as means of creation of creative state of health and as means of emotional support) 3) Motivational (The humor can serve as a stimulator of volitional processes) 4) Communicative (the Person with humor is attractive for people) 5) Developing (Humor promotes development of critical thinking, a sharpness of vision of the world, observation and consequently intellect) 6) Diagnostic (by the laughter maintenance at what the person laughs, it is possible to judge about his merits and demerits) and 7) Regulative (the humor gives the chance to look at oneself from an unexpected angle, allowing self-evaluation). In CheCha method most of these are relevant, the most important functions being on top of the list. Grecu suggest the following techniques for designing of humor for educational tasks. These pedagogical techniques are paradox, finishing to the point of irrationality, comparison by the remote or casual attribute, return comparison, wit of absurd, pseudo-contrast or false opposition, a hint, a self-exposure of own faults, intentional ignoring of things that might cause laughter, and exaggeration of the certain features of behavior. Grecu has offered also classification of means of the comic: 1) word-play based on violation of language norm (carrying of terminology over to a context unusual to it). Consider the following riddle: I am it while I do not know that I am. But I am not it when I know that I am. What am I?† 2) Comparison, authors original neologisms, based on artistic expressive means (double entendre, an ambiguity). Examples are easy for finding in Carrolls books (2006, s. 50): â€Å"Explain yourself!† â€Å"I can’t explain myself.† 3) Paradox, an example being the claim â€Å"I am lying now†. Also Dzemidok (1993) distinguishes several humoristic methods: modification and deformation of the phenomena, unexpected effects and amazing comparisons, disproportion in attitudes and communications between the phenomena, imaginary association of absolutely diverse phenomena, creation of the phenomena which deviate from logic. As an example of the latter method consider the following: There were only 3 students attending a professors lecture in University. Suddenly 5 persons left the room. The professor said: If 2 students enter this room, there is nobody attending. Most types of humor and their techniques could be used at mathematics lessons. Thanks to entertaining tasks and comical contents of the problems the classroom climate promotes a positive interaction between the teacher and students. However, one must be aware that opportunities of humor as pedagogical means have their limits. Grecu (2008) gives several suggestions regarding these limits. She suggests that one should use humor gently and support humor of students. She also warns not to ridicule student’s person, laugh at what the student is not able to correct or change or laugh at an involuntary mistake of the student. Rough joking would indicate lack of customs and disrespect of the student and hence is absolutely unacceptable for the teacher. Moreover, the teacher should avoid being the first to laugh at ones own joke, as it can cause the reaction opposite to expected. Problem solving and open-ended problems Problems are said to be open, if their starting or goal situation is not exactly given and they usually have several correct answers (cf. Pehkonen 2008). Open-ended problems emphasize understanding and creativity (e.g. Nohda, 2000, Stacey 1995). This would not mean lowering the expectations, quite the contrary. If an open task allows the solver to gain deeper and deeper insights (a chain of discovery; Liljedahl, 2005) it can facilitate a state of sustained engagement. This would also lead to more intensive working. Research has shown that problem solving can be engaging and enjoyable for many students, but it does not attract everyone. Schoenfeld (1985) defined an individuals beliefs or mathematical world view as shaping how one engages in problem solving. For example, those who believe that math is no more than repetition of learned routines would be more likely to give up on a novel task than those who believe that inventing is an essential aspect of mathematics. Unfortunately, there are students who do not see the potential for engagement and enjoyment in a math problem. We see humor as a means to engage also those students who do not perceive math problems enjoyable to begin with. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: 1. What mathematical problems are entertaining from the students point of view? 2. How CheCha method influences the atmosphere in mathematics lessons?

Essay on Fame in Djerassi’s Cantors Dilemma -- Cantors Dilemma Essay

Dreams of Fame in Djerassi’s Cantor's Dilemma  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   Opportunistic scientists, the most hypocritical deviants of the modern age, revolve around the scientific method, or at least they used to. The scientific method once involved formulating a hypothesis from a problem posed, experimenting, and forming a conclusion that best explained the data collected. Yet today, those who are willing to critique the work of their peers are themselves performing the scientific method out of sequence. I propose that scientists, or the "treasure hunters" of that field, are no longer interested in permanent solutions, achieved through proper use of the scientific method, and rather are more interested in solutions that guarantee fame and fortune. Fame and fortune as a motive for scientific discovery is a popular theme in fictional writing, especially in Cantor's Dilemma by Carl Djerassi. Cantor's Dilemma is a novel of the struggles of two scientists through life and a Nobel Prize "campaign". As one digs deeper into the context of the novel, one finds it similar to that of a political race, a fight for glory. For example, the "Cantor-Stafford experiment", the first tumorigenesis experiment tested in the novel, was not validated before its findings were published. This example fails to meet the standards of the scientific method because a conclusion was reached before experimentation was fully executed. Surely any true scientist would know such conclusions to be unsuitable and not "Nobel" worthy. Yet, Cantor and Stafford, both, won a Nobel Prize for their work. Kurt Krauss in Cantor's Dilemma, an opportunistic scientist, is the extreme of scientific deviance. As a fellow scientist and a competitor, Krauss is charged with the duty of ch... ...o not believe my experience has changed the ways of the scientist at that company. Both in fiction and in real life a certain breed of scientists has decided to ignore the scientific method and chase dreams of fame. With that fame, they hope to dig deep into our pockets and reap the benefits of their poor workmanship. It is most evident from the examples given that these scientists, who have seemingly reversed scientific evolution, no longer care for true science and the scientific method, but rather are interested in personal glory. 1 Carl Djerassi, Cantor's Dilemma (New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1991), pg. 113. 2 Djerassi, Cantor's Dilemma, pg. 113. 3 Abbott laboratories, medical news, (http://www.plsgroup.com/dg/72da.htm), 5:25 p.m. 9/23/97 4 "Cold Fusion Times", (Wellesey Hills, MA http://world.std.com), 7:15 p.m. 9/23/97      

The Donner Party :: essays research papers

DAVID McCULLOUGH, Host: Good evening and welcome to The American Experience. I'm David McCullough. At the start of spring in the year 1846 an appealing advertisement appeared in the Springfield, Illinois, Gazette. ''Westward ho,'' it declared. ''Who wants to go to California without costing them anything? As many as eight young men of good character who can drive an ox team will be accommodated. Come, boys, you can have as much land as you want without costing you anything.'' The notice was signed G. Donner, George Donner, leader of what was to become the most famous of all the hundreds of wagon trains to start for the far west, the tragic, now nearly mythic Donner Party. For years Western scholars and novelists have been drawn to the story, yet until now there has been no documentary. Ric Burns's film is a first. Westward ho, indeed. If ever there was a moment when America seemed in the grip of some great, out-of-the-ordinary pull, it was in 1846. The whole mood was for movement, expansion, and the whole direction was westward. It was in 1846 that the Mormons set out on their trek to the Great Salt Lake. It was in 1846 that the Mexican war began and effectively all of Texas, Mexico and California were added to the United States. And it wasn't just young men who answered the call. Whole families and people of all stations in life joined the caravan, which is part of the fascination of our haunting story. One is struck, for example, by how many women there were in the Donner party and how many of them survived the horrific ordeal they met. Imagine packing up an entire household, saying good-bye to all you've known and setting off to walk essentially to walk to California, a continent away, little knowing what was in store. ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE: ''It is odd to watch with what feverish ardor Americans pursue prosperity. Ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen the shortest route to get it. They cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die, and yet rush to snatch any that comes within their reach as if they expected to stop living before they had relished them. Death steps in, in the end, and stops them before they have grown tired of this futile pursuit of that complete felicity which always escapes them.