A Good Leader Influence a Group of Individuals Essay

Assignment of â€Å"a good leader influence a group of individuals to achieve a common goal and perform well, without having to watch over them† Introduction Leadership is always considering as an important managerial topic because a good leader does not only able to guide behaviors from followers, but also leads individuals within an organization to achieve their common objectives (Morrill, 2010). The commonly accepted definition of leadership is contributed by David and Vince (2008, p2), who defined leadership as a person has â€Å"abilities of leading a group of people, and also has abilities of supporting group of people to achieve common objectives†. More specifically, Bass (1990) defines leadership as the ability to adapt the setting so everyone feels empowered to contribute creatively to solving the problems. The primary aim of this assignment is to critically discuss the topic of â€Å"a good leader influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal and perform well, without having to watch over them. In order to answer this question well, the author selects Steve Jobs as the leader, and then with reference to Apple Inc to discuss why a good leader as Jobs influences group of individuals without watching them. As an essay based assignment, the author organizes this paper in three main parts, including introduction, main body and conclusion. In introducti on section, the definition and importance of leadership are briefly discussed along with primary aim of this assignment. In the second part, the author discusses principles of a good leader; stages of leadership research, employee motivation and organizational culture in detail to discuss why Jobs influenced group of individuals in Apple Inc without watch them. Finally, in conclusion section, the author summarizes findings of this paper and explains how the primary aim of this assignment has been fulfilled. Main Body After reviewing wide range of leadership literatures, the author found that the debate on principles of a good leader is never stopping. In many researches, such as Alexander and Buckingham (2011); and Weidemeyer (2004) commonly argue that a good leader does not only need strong leadership skills and competences, but also needs to behavior morally and ethically. However, this argument has intensively been argued by many contemporary leadership researchers. For example, Ciulla (2004) argues that great leader is morality magnified. In addition, Jennings (2006) also argues that great men are always and almost bad men. In order to provide evidences to support these arguments, Jennings (2006) points out the seven signals of ethical collapse to describe misbehaviors from leaders. In recent dark side leadership researches, a mutual argument can be summarized as â€Å"it is not necessary for a good leader to be a good person†. For example, Conger (1990) argues that different leaders have different dark personalities in their leadership style. Even many very great leaders cannot avoid these dark personalities because they are unconscious. Furthermore, Liu et al (2012) argue in contemporary environment, in order to achieve organizational objectives and motivate individuals, leaders need to behavior unethically and unmorally to ensure the benefits of their organizations. In order to support this argument, Liu et al (2012) use Sir Alex Ferguson and Hafner of Playboy as examples to explain in some extent why misbehaviors from leaders are acceptable. In summary, there is no doubt that leaders should behave morally and ethically to provide positive guidance for society and followers. But ethics and morality are not basic principles to measure a good leader. Instead, the strategies used by leaders to motivate individuals and to achieve organizational objectives are principles of a good leader (Shear et al, 2012). On the other hand, there are five stages of leadership approaches have commonly been discussed in leadership literatures, including trait approach, behavioral approach, situational/contingency approach, creative approach, and post-charismatic& post-transformational approach of leadership (Parry and Bryman, 2006). Information of each stage is summarized in below table one. Table one: stages of leadership theory and research (Parry and Bryman, 2006)| Trait Approach:Dominant until late 1940s assumes leaders born, not made| Style (Behavioral) ApproachHeld sway until late 1960s- effects of leadership on those led| Contingency/Situational ApproachPopular to 1980s-situational factors are focus for understanding leadership| Creative Leadership ApproachSince 1980s, leader defines organizational reality through articulation of a vision| Post-Charismatic or Post Transformational Emerged late 1990s, distributed leadership, cooperative community, ship and spirituality| As table one illustrated, the research of leadership can be summarized in five leadership stages. In this paper, the author briefly introduces first three stages of leadership approaches, and then discusses creative leadership approach in detail because creative leadership is used as basis of this paper and will be applied with reference to Jobs and Apple Inc in later sections. Trait approach of leadership is considered as the first stage of leadership research and dominates in 1940s (Northouse, 2003). In this leadership approach, people believe characters of leaders are born from nature. So that they use physical traits, personal attributes, intelligence, values and self-confidence these factors to distinguish leaders and non-leaders (Bass, 1990). Style (behavioral) leadership approach is recognized as the second stage of leadership research, and it is emphasized on what a leader does rather than identifying who would be an effective leader (Bass, 1990). As table one demonstrated, the behavioral leadership approach was appeared in later 1960s. The most important progress from trait approach to behavioral approach is that behavioral approach attempts to answer the question of what leadership style is most effective. In order to answer this question, researchers such as Kurt Lewin assumes behaviors from leaders can be observed more objectively than traits and behaviors can be measured and taught (Lussier and Achua, 2010). Thirdly, situational and contingency leadership approach argues that leaders are not born from nature (Lussier and Achua, 2010). Situational and contingency approach points out that main reasons for people to be leaders are because they suitable with the working situations (Oostrom et al, 2012). As a result, a person probably be a leader in one situation, but not be a leader in another. In situational and behavioral approach, Oostrom et al (2012) point out that personality, style and behavior of effective leader are dependent on the requirements of the situation. Thus, there is no one best way to lead. Traits and behaviors from leaders can all be effective in different situations. Similarly, the best leading style or behavior are determined by situational or contextual factors (Bass, 1990). There are many real life examples can be seen as evidences to prove the accuracy of situational and contingency leadership approach. For example, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho are all great football coaches, but they are not leaders in their player career. In addition, Lionel Messi performed as a god in the team of Barcelona, but also provides rubbish performances in Argentine National Football Team. Thus, these real life examples can fully indicate that successes of leaders are dependent on situation and contingency. Creative leadership approach is emerged in 1980s, and has wide applications even in today’s business environment. According to Bass (1990), there are three different approaches are contained by creative leadership approach, including transformational approach (Bass, 1985), Charismatic approach (Conger, 1989) and visionary leadership (Mintzberg, 1989). In addition, the biggest different between creative leadership and previous leadership researches is that in creative leadership approach, leaders focus on intellectually motivate employees, and then to earn performances from them beyond expectation (Chuang et al, 2011). However, previous leadership researches focus on an exchange between leaders and followers. Leaders provide rewards (e. g. extrinsic and intrinsic) to employees, and in return they contributed their compliancy and labors to leaders (Liu et al, 2012). In this paper, the author focuses on discussing transformational approach and charismatic approach, and with references to Jobs and Apple Inc to see why a good leader influences group of people without watch them. According to Bass (1985), transformational leadership approach focuses on inspiring and motivating followers. It can be defined as leaders have abilities to inspire and motivate followers to achieve goals greater than originally expected. In case of transformational approach, internal rewards are important to followers rather than external rewards (Bass, 1985). General speaking, it means that followers or individuals within an organization treated intrinsic rewards more important than extrinsic rewards. In motivational theories, many scholars contributed different ways to distinguish needs and expectations from individuals of an organization. For example, Maslow (1987) points out the famous hierarchy of needs to describe different expectations from individuals at the workplace. The hierarchy of needs include physical needs (e. g. sex, food), security needs (e. g. working condition), love and belonging needs (e. g. family), esteem needs (e. g. respect), and needs of self-actualization. In addition, Maslow (1987) argues that needs from individuals are always changing. Once needs from lower layers of the hierarchy are satisfied, needs from individuals would be turned from higher level of the hierarchy. In addition, McGregor (1960) also contributes the theory x and theory y as basic theories to recognize nature of human being. In McGregor’s the human side of enterprise, the scholar (1960) argues that the nature of human being can be classified in two different categories, including theory x and y. In theory x, McGregor (1960) argues that people are naturally lazy and dislike work. Money is the only factor to motivate them at work, so that they need to closely be directed and supervised. In the opposite theory y, McGregor (1960) argues that work is a natural experience of human life. Most of them are self-motivated and self-controlled, and focused on intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards. There are four factors commonly described as transformational factors of transformational approach, including idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individualized consideration (Morrill, 2010). Idealized influence describes that leaders use admiration, respect, and trusts and put needs of others before personal interests to motivate employees. In addition, inspirational motivate means that leaders motivate and inspire others by providing meaning and challenge to them (Bass, 1990). Thirdly, intellectual stimulation refers to leaders encourage innovation and creativity at workplace, and motivate individuals and followers by approaching old things in new ways. Lastly, individualized consideration means leaders attend to individuals needs for growth and achievement, and create new learning opportunities, accept individual difference and avoid close monitoring (Bass, 1990). In case of Apple Inc, Jobs is a leader who uses transformational factors to motivate individuals within the organization. According to Mayo and Benson (2006), as a leader of Apple Inc, Jobs firstly trusts and respects individuals of the organization, especially to the group members. In addition, Mayo and Benson (2006) also express in Apple Inc, Jobs never closely direct and supervise individuals. In order to encourage their creativity and provides excellent working condition, Jobs even not set any HR department in Apple Inc. Thus, it does not only satisfy with the principles of idealized influence in transformational approach, but also satisfies with the principles of previous stated motivational theories. Steve Jobs uses respects and trusts to others as basis to motivate and influence group of people in Apple, and without watch them. In addition, Jobs also focuses on providing meaning and challenges to group of people in Apple to motivate and influence them. According to Jobs â€Å"if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go to do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next†. It is a famous Quotation from Steve Jobs. In this Quotation, it is easy to carry out that Jobs is a person who likes perfect. Steve Jobs does not dwell on the current successes. Instead, he focuses on providing meanings and challenges to himself and group of individuals in Apple, and motivates them to complete tasks beyond expectations. It is useful to achieve the common goal of Apple Inc which is described as â€Å"to provide best technological products to customers around the word† (Apple. com, 2013). Many individuals in Apple Inc are become as passionate to deal with highly challenging tasks that they have been done before. It does not only mean Steve Jobs has transformational factors to influence a group of people, but also understands how to use goal setting theory in motivating employees to achieve challengeable, but possible goals. Thus, there is once again indicates that a good leader influences a group of individuals without watch them. On the other hand, Steve Jobs is also a charismatic leader in Apple Inc. According to Michaelis et al (2009), charismatic leadership is defined as a leadership based on leader’s abilities to communicate and behave in ways that reach followers on a basic, emotional way to inspire and motivate. General speaking, charismatic leadership refers to a process of establishing self-images and charms by leaders rather than using authority and external power to motivate and influence people (Tuytens and Devos, 2012). In case of Apple Inc, there is no doubt that Steve Jobs is a charismatic leader. Firstly, even though Steve Jobs was passed away in 2011, Apple Inc still uses Jobs’ quotations, pictures, and other stories to motivate individuals of the organization (Apple. com, 2013). Innovation, focused on detail and perfection and creativity are recognized as both important characters of charm from Jobs. Until today, these characters of charm are seen as important cultural characters in Apple Inc. According to Morrill (2010), organizational culture is defined as the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization. It bases on an organization’s experiences, philosophy, values and expectations. It expresses the self-image of an organization, the ways of individuals work in the organization, and how the organization interacts with external word and its expectations (Morrill, 2010). It is unique to any organization, and can be influenced by many factors. For example, the characters of leaders, working methods are all important factors to influence the cultural characters of an organization (Northouse, 2003). In case of Apple Inc, Steve Jobs is a charismatic leader and deeply injected his charms of focusing on innovation, adventure and creativity in culture of Apple Inc. According to Apple. com (2013), the culture of Apple Inc is described that innovation and adventure, focused on group work and details. Thus, there is no doubt that as a charismatic leader, Steve Jobs puts charms in establishing the cultures of Apple Inc, and uses charismatic factors to influence group of individuals in Apple even he was passed away. Individuals in Apple Inc are working with a common goal, which is to achieve the commitment of delivering great technological products to customers around the world (Apple. com, 2013). As a result, there is also no doubt that a good leader as Steve Jobs influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal and without watch them. Even he passed away; the charms and personal characters of Steve Jobs are still driving individuals to work with the common goal of Apple Inc. Conclusion The primary purpose of this paper is to answer the question of â€Å"a good leader influences group of people to achieve a common goal and perform well, without having to watch over them†, the author selects Jobs as the leader and Apple Inc as the case company. In order to achieve the primary purpose, this paper firstly discusses the principles of good leaders as background. The findings of this section indicate that it is not necessary for a good leader to be a good person because there are conscious biases as well as unconscious favors of people. Therefore, it is impossible to avoid personalities from many leaders to against the ethical and moral issues. In the second part, the author introduces five stages of leadership researches as basis, and then discusses why Jobs is a transformational and charismatic leader in case of Apple Inc. In order to answer the essay question in comprehensive way, the author also introduces employee motivation and organizational culture synthesizes with leadership theories in the second part. Findings of this section indicate that a good leader understands how to use leadership skills as well as motivational skills to influence group of individuals to work with a common goal, and perform well. In addition, it is also not necessary for leaders to watch them because in this context, leader always used intrinsic motivation or injected charismatic characters in an organization’s cultures to influence individuals of the organization. With reference to Jobs and Apple Inc, there is no doubt that Jobs influenced individuals of the company to develop and create new products in achieving the common goal of delivering best technological products to customers. In addition, Jobs also establishes a culture of focusing on details and perfection of their products from his personal characters. It is also influenced group of people from Apple Inc to deliver the best products to customers and is one of the principal reasons to Apple Inc’s success of today.

A Critical Essay

If the above quote is to be examined, it actually says the opposite of this thesis statement; that art, such as music, theater and the like are expressions of society’s creativity. Ironically, though, it also bolsters it by saying that the personal expression of the artist, although not necessarily a reflection of society’s collective creative process and experience is actually the very basis from which society itself is being drawn into, modified, classified, shaped, molded, awakened, and finally, defined.Art after all, beginning from the artist’s own personal creativity, was created due to the artists reaction to, or personal reflection of a stimulus that came from his dealings and living in his environment and society; coming full circle when society shares and identifies with the artist’s own significant human experience.History is replete with artistic expressions of a group of people’s own intrinsic expressions of individuality and affinity am ong the members of the same group or community. This is in tune with the artist’s search for a sounding board within the society, and thus, shaping and reforming his own society.Art, being larger than the life that it supposedly mirrors does not only remain confined within the artist’s personal sphere. It seeks far wider audience, even beyond the community or society. It seeks the world to find a collectivity with the universal human experience.Folk art is one among the many forms where art is being elevated as a voice of a society, a generation or a community. Here it ceases to be a mere personal expression of the artistbut becomes a societal expression of creativity and significance. Art also functions as a chronicle of the human spirit, as well as the development of society as a whole. The songs, dances, poetry, paintings and other artistic expression serve as testament to the development of society.A society’s greatness, or otherwise is reflected in the art forms and expressions that would surface during one given time. It goes without saying therefore that a study of art would reveal much of a society’s soul. It is imperative therefore that art should be studied, understood, encouraged, cultivated and empowered.The clearest and most direct way to attain this of course is to go back to the source and soul of art; the artist and his interaction with life and the world he lives in. If art is to be cultivated, then we must create an environment that would be conducive and supportive of the artist. We must awaken the sense of artistry and the zest for artistic expression in every one of us, so that we will stand as chroniclers each, of the society we live in at our given present time.Let it flourish and be a collective expression that would stand time and in the process, enrich the future with a ready reference that would mirror our present society, and in effect serve as lessons for the future generations. Such is the irony of art that Johann Wolfgang Goethe once said there is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art. (Goethe, 1749)Such is the paradox that is art; one that is a personal expression but then again – art (and science) belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the border of nationality, (Goethe, 1749) as a matter of fact. The famous Latin expression says everything, after all; Vita Brevis, Ars Longa. Life is short, Art is songReferencesMiller, H. (n.d.). Henry Miller. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from http://www.henrymiller.org/ Von Goethe, J. (2008). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/goethe.htm

Quantitave Plating

BioSci 101 – Lab Section 810 QUANTITATIVE PLATING PURPOSE The purpose of this lab is to see the effects of pasteurization while emphasizing the process for serial dilutions. PROCEDURE See references (1) RESULTS As the dilution factor increased for both the raw milk (unpasteurized) and pasteurized milk samples, the number of colonies decreased. The number of cells/mL in the pasteurized milk sample is considerably less than the number of cells/mL in the raw milk sample. RAW (UNPASTEURIZED) SAMPLE Dilution Factor| Number of Colonies| Number of cells/mL| 10-3| TMTC| TMTC| 0-4| TMTC| TMTC| 10-5| TMTC| TMTC| 10-6| 284| 284,000,000 cells/mL| 10-7| 44| 440,000,000 cells/mL| | AVERAGE| 362,000,000 cells/mL| PASTEURIZED SAMPLE Dilution Factor| Number of Colonies| Number of cells/mL| 10-3| 71| 71,000 cells/mL| 10-4| 9 (TLTC)| TLTC| 10-5| 6 (TLTC)| TLTC| 10-6| 1 (TLTC)| TLTC| 10-7| 12 (TLTC)| TLTC| | AVERAGE| 71,000 cells/mL| DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS Pasteurization, a process named after sc ientist Louis Pasteur, involves the application of heat to destroy the majority of human pathogens in foods.In the dairy industry, pasteurization involves the â€Å"heating of every particle of milk or milk product to a specific temperature for a specified period of time without allowing recontamination of that milk or milk product during the heat treatment process. † (2) For public health purposes, pasteurization is the process of making milk and milk products safe for human consumption by destroying all bacteria that may be harmful to health. (2) A serial dilution is a laboratory technique in which a substance is decreased in concentration in a series of proportional amounts. Dilutions are usually made in multiples of 10. 3) The viable plate count procedure allowed for live cells in the milk samples to be analyzed. The raw milk (unpasteurized) sample demonstrated too many colony forming units to count in the first three dilutions of 10-3, 10-4, and 10-5. The 10-6 dilution d emonstrated 284,000,000 cells/mL and the 10-7 dilution demonstrated 440,000,000 cells/mL. This demonstrates that raw milk contains a lot of bacteria even after multiple serial dilutions. In the 10-3 pasteurized sample, the plate exhibited 71,000 cells/mL. The results of the additional dilution samples contained too few colony forming units to count.However, in the 10-7 dilution, although the plate demonstrated 12 colonies, there should have been no colony forming units on this plate. The reasons for this could have been that this sample was contaminated from â€Å"double-dipping† the sample before dispensing it onto the plate or when using the pipette, it mistakenly was inserted in a higher concentration sample and then immediately to a lower concentration sample before it was dispensed onto the plate. The results suggest that pasteurization kills most pathogens in milk by brief exposure to relatively high temperature.This was demonstrated most beneficially with the 10-6 and 10-7 dilutions wherein the raw milk exhibited 284,000,000 cells/mL and 440,000,000 cells/mL respectively and the pasteurized milk had too few cell colony forming units to even count. Unpasteurized milk is not healthy for people to drink. For example, in a study performed in December of 2001, the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni, a microaerophilic bacteria commonly found in animal feces, was found in unpasteurized milk at an organic dairy farm in Wisconsin and caused 75 people, ages 2 to 63, to become ill. 4) Therefore, pasteurized milk is essential for ensuring good quality, nearly bacteria-free drinkable milk. REFERENCES 1. BioSci 101, Section 810 – PowerPoint Lab 9A 2. http://www. foodsci. uoguelph. ca/dairyedu/pasteurization. html 3. BioSci 101, General Survey of Microbiology Laboratory Supplement Fall 2012 4. http://foodsafety. ksu. edu/articles/1138/Raw_Milk_Outbreak_Table. pdf

Scenario Project Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Scenario Project - Coursework Example He also had a dark shirt; red shirts are seen as dark in the night. The suspect also had an object in his hand, which later turned out, to be a gun. This matched the lady’s description. The officer, however, did not use his instincts to make sure that the suspect could not shoot. He only had the threat of serious injury or death that the suspect posed, in his mind. Yes, the society is working towards minimizing the use of force when dealing with mentally ill people. According to Das (2009), experience in dealing with the mentally ill people has led to the development of specialized police response programs that train officers on how to handle and resolve encounters with the mentally ill. An example is the Crisis Intervention Program (Landsberg, 2002). The agency might be under scrutiny for not having necessary policies guiding its officers’ behavior, towards the mentally ill or how they act in encounters with the mentally ill. Concerning the pending litigation, the mental status of the suspect changes the ruling against him, but reasonability of the police officer in handling the situation will still be considered (Lee,

Not set, depends on a research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Not set, depends on a research - Essay Example It was this pacified demeanor reinforced in King’s speech that I want to give focus to. The speech is an intense argument that delivers its point to persuade others in the pursuit of the objective that the movement aspires to accomplish. The eloquent call of Dr. King to his people was an inspiration that gave face to the diplomatic crusade of the African-American people. â€Å"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred† (King). This was meant to be a reminder against the tendency of those who employ the use of violence to call attention to their goal. â€Å"Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality† (King). This is also recognition on the tendency of others to be consumed by animosity against those who prejudice their race because of the reality that demonstrations could easily turn vicious. Thi s is not the answer, as he reiterates, to be able to achieve true freedom from the existing racial oppression. Much like the crusade of Mahatma Gandhi and his adherence to uphold a passive resistance, ensuring that there is no bloodshed, Dr. King called for the same. A wrong can never be corrected by another wrong and where a victory is sought and achieved through inequitable means then it is a shallow triumph nonetheless. â€Å"He could not see that the fact that a majority was oppressing a minority, even violently, somehow justified the minority's oppressing the majority by violence in turn. Nor could he see that an oppressive minority should be suppressed by a violent majority† (Steinkraus 104). When we look at it, the success of the Civil Rights Movement is even more admirable in a historical point of view because they were able to change the course of future because of the virtue of the people who led them. This is why Martin Luther King is the first person we associate with racial equality. The event itself was a confirmation of the peaceful face of the movement. There was something on that day extremely different from all the riots that are happening in other parts of the country. The people were very calm and though the number of those present was numerous, there was no tension between the police officers and the demonstrators. There were sharing of food and the people were dressed as though they were going to church. The organizers of the protest kept a working relationship with the officers and there was a system created to ensure that everything was orderly. Some participants even went so far as to prepare 80,000 cheese sandwiches in New York (Lei and Miller 84). Warren Steinkraus in his article, â€Å"Martin Luther King's Personalism and Non-Violence,† explores the development of King’s philosophy from the influence of religion from early on up to his acquaintance with various political and social philosophers that shaped his o wn views. This formation of his own philosophy is significant in understanding how he came to impart his own indelible mark on the Civil Rights Movement. â€Å"King's support of non-violence as a method of social change seems to be derived from his view of the nature of the ultimate ground of existence and the place and importance of finite individuals in the universe†

Cross cultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cross cultural communication - Essay Example She advises that when you visit another country; forget about popular notions about the people. When doing business with Spanish and Swiss for instance, do not expect that the latter arrives on time and is more organized because that is how we have been socialized to believe. It is imperative to appreciate that such characteristics are dependent on the individual. We had punctual Spanish people and disorganized Swiss. Therefore do not assume that every Spanish person you meet will be late and that the Swiss are always punctual, you might end up very surprised. In other words, cross-cultural stereotypes might negatively influence our ability to perceive things properly. Currently, there are very helpful courses that help those who want to work or live abroad cultivate cross-cultural awareness, which is very essential in developing global competence and in building international teams. Such courses help individuals identify and then can deal with such cross-cultural differences ultimately improving their overall capacity in developing and most of all maintaining efficacious cros s-cultural relations. Sometimes stereotypes lead us into misunderstanding and judging other individuals in accordance to much unfounded generalizations, which sometimes may be very detrimental since we miss the point of meeting new people and knowing them as individuals, not as a population. Communicaid is a cross-cultural awareness-training center that helps you understand your counterpart’s behavior without relying on any stereotypes. Remember that such beliefs about other individual’s habits and behavior can greatly influence our expectations and attitudes when communicating with cultures different from our own. Nevertheless, this does not imply that no stereotypes are important. They help us in some situations where we are dealing with strangers since culture is responsible for shaping our perceptions and thoughts, we can be able to

Letter - Support Statment Veteran Claim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Letter - Support Statment Veteran Claim - Essay Example These risks include disease contamination, assassinations or even death. Therefore, in order to protect them against these risks, the US through the Department of Veterans has initiated programs through which the veterans are forced to subscribe to for temporary immortality. The claim is for service connection for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH/ NAFLD), initially characterized as fatty liver and claimed as liver failure/ liver disease, as caused by medication from in-service (US Army) incurrence and/or aggravation of disease or injury due to the prescribed medications taken on a daily basis for an extended period of time for service-connected disabilities. I, _____________ (â€Å"The Veteran†) served on active duty with due diligence from 2003 to 2004 and during this period, I was treated with high doses of Ibuprofen 800mg and other medications for pain relief and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. VA Doctors restricted me from taking medication or adjusting to new medication due to NASH (for example: Ibuprofen was discontinued by Doctor Olesen Miami Hospital, Cymbalta was discontinued by Doctor Racha Washington DC, etc.) and this has been considered as a threat to my general well being. Over the years, I have been unable to perform and live to my expectations due to the medications that I took during the in-service. The side-effects to these medications are visible and their damage is imminent. As indicated earlier on, I have lost weight, my diet has been restructured and my budget has been strained due to the adoption of a new life. My NASH / LIVER Disease was established and recognized by the VA Hospitals in Miami, FL and Washington, DC and my doctors have recommended that my condition is worsening. In regards to risk factors that have affected progressively my liver disease, I have three that include my BMI 31.23 ( > 28 kg/m2), presence of fibrosis in my liver biopsy in 2010, and my current elevated AST

Modern scientific issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modern scientific issue - Essay Example What fascinates me most is where to draw the line between good technology that helps people and bad technology that harms people. One example of situations where cloning can help is when scientists take cells from an organ in the lab and grow tissue to help someone recover from damage to one of their organs. If tissue from their own body can be cloned, and then replaced in the body, then there is less likelihood of rejection. Genes can be cloned too, so that patients who are lacking particular genes or segments of genetic code could in some cases be helped with cloned genes. I do not see any moral problem with this kind of medical cloning. An example of where cloning could be a bad technology is where human embryo cells are used for experiments and then just simply destroyed. This does not show much respect for human life, and many people believe very strongly that experimentation on human embryos, even when they are only a few cells in size, is fundamentally wrong. Some scientists are happy to work with embryos created purely with the intention of providing cells to help another person, but other scientists think this is taking science a step too far, and acting like God, and they refuse to get involved in this type of work. There is also the fact that when scientists work on clones, there is a huge failure rate and many of the eggs are destined to die just as a normal part of the process, and this helps nobody. There is also a larger than usual amount of problems in later life with cloned organisms, and no one really knows how safe or unsafe it would be to have artificially cloned human beings. Identical twins are natural clones, which means they have exactly the same genes and chromosomes, and they appear to be quite normal but so far there has never been an artificially cloned human being, as far as anyone can tell. I believe that one day someone somewhere will do this, partly to prove it can be done, and partly to see what the resulting

Social De-alignment in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Social De-alignment in UK - Essay Example It has become popular through the recent years to view the voting patterns in the UK as less dependent on social attitudes and positions, rather than dependent on political factors. However, it is still under argument, whether social issues still play major role in defining voters' behaviours, as the present-day society has become more polarized. The electorate may be described as well-educated and informed mass of people, and it is often that its rational choice is based on the party's position, leadership, strategy and policy, not taking into account to which class the exact part of electorate belongs. This is the basis of the so called 'supermarket' model of voting, when the rational choice is based on the perceptions, which party will improve the life of the society while in Government. Thus the theory becomes active, when the leadership and personality of the candidate become increasingly significant for voters, and the political issues leave for the background. However, such th eories don't take into account the influence, which the media may make on the personality of each leader, and this influence may be both positive and negative, thus causing the electorate to make wrong choice. This work is to be concentrated on the social theories in voters' behaviour which take into account age, gender and class to which the voters belong, and assuming that these factors dictate the way the voter makes his choice. De-alignment 'Class is undoubtedly a significant factor when considering voting behaviour; traditionally two thirds of all voters chose their 'natural' class party, the working class favoring Labour and the middle class Conservative. However, since the1970s class de-alignment has begun, and the proportions of classes voting for particular parties have become more even, caused by embourgeoisement and the consequent decrease of in size of the working class'. (Curtice, 2002) This theory may be easily linked to the suggestion, that the voter's choice is becoming more tied to the place of his residence (the theories of voters' behaviour and the influence of neighbourhood will be discussed in this work), however, it is easily explained by the fact that the working class mainly occupies the northern part of the country, while the southern part belongs to the middle class. Simultaneously, it is interesting to note, that during the election campaign of the year 2001 the Conservatives lost most of their southern votes, which says there are some other factors except for class, which influence voters' choice. Another important social factor in defining voting preferences is gender. However, the proofs, which support this theory, are very inaccurate, as they don't account the gender equilibrium in the workforce and the attempts of different parties to concentrate their campaigns on childcare and health issues. It may be surprising not to note the influential role of the social factors in electorate behaviour, as Britain cannot be described as less class aligned. People still reflect their class preferences in their voting, though less attention has been paid to these factors, while they are still important and should be taken into account. To realize the importance of the social re-alignment and de-alignment in relation to the voting behaviours, it is necessary to provide the reliable argument as for the increasing social polarization in the society. According to Dorling (2006), 'housing wealth per child rose 20 times more in the best-off tenth as compared to worse-off tenth of areas in Britain 1993-2003; the majority of extra higher education places

Belonging to Place Essay Example for Free

Belonging to Place Essay Have you ever been in a room packed full of people, yet no matter whos around, you cant shake a feeling of un-ease, or a sense of not belonging? This has probably happened to each of us atleast once before. Belonging is usually defined as just generally being accepted, we assume its a reference to someone being treated differently to others, whether its for better or worse. But sometimes, it has more to do with the place we are in, rather than the people who are around. To prove this, Ill be discussing Shakespeares As You Like It, a romantic comedy set in a ficticious world, where the illustrious Court is supposedly the place to be for educated citizens, and the Forest of Arden, a place of exile, is thought to be harbour to many theives and those discarded from society. The dramatist uses techniques such as imagery, metaphors and dramatic irony to highlight key aspects of belonging and not belonging. In contrast to this text, Ill also examine My Sisters Keeper written by Jodi Picoult, where the sense of place is not physical, but familial. Picoult uses similar techniques to Shakespeares in As you like it, with imagery and irony used as common themes through-out the text. As You Like It revolves around Rosalind whos uncle, Duke Frederick banishes several characters from city life in the French Court. But when Rosalind herself is exiled, her cousin Celia declares that she will join Rosalind, and that they must go to the Forest to seek the rightful Duke, Rosalind cries Alas, what danger will it be to us, maids as we are, to travel forth so far! Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold This is where Shakespeare introduces the reputation of the forest, known as a dark and scary place of banishment and explains Rosalinds sense of obligation to dress as a man and call herself Ganymede, as she feels she must protect herself and her cousin. Throughout the text Shakespeare uses symbolism in many different ways. He commonly uses metaphors or similies not only to describe things, but sometimes to give them a double meaning. An example of this being Rosalinds choice of alternative identities, when she picks the name Ganymede, who in Roman myhtology is a cupbearer and a symbol of homosexual love, this adds to the continuum of sexual possibilites. When Orlandos selfish brother Oliver first causes him to join those exiled into the Forest of Arden he fears for himself, and his servant Adam, yet his opinions of the forest change when he meets Duke Senior and his comrades. Hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court? The Duke asks him. Eventually others come to realise that their impression of the forest was also wrong, and that it has the potential to give them true happiness. As opposed to finding a physical place, Jodi Picoult demonstrates a different kind of belonging. Sara and Brian Fitzgerald dedicate their every moment to their middle daughter Kate, who is suffering from leukemia, leaving their other two childern, Anna and Jesse, feeling like they have no place in the family. This affects Anna in particular, as she was concieved in a lab to be used as spare parts for Kate, and made to donate things like stem cells and bone marrow. She is pushed too far when she is told she has to donate a kidney to her sister, and seeks medical emancipation, leaving her feeling even more out of place in the household. The eldest child Jesse however, rebels his own way by committing arson and petty crimes. Throughout the book Picoult uses this allusion to fire for many things; Kates uncontrollable illness, which seems to destroy everything within its path, or Anna initiating the law suit, like shes starting a blaze that she might not be able to contain. It is again used as a comparison to Kates disease, by her father Brian, who is a firefighter, when he suggests that some fires need to be left alone until they burn out. Though both texts have clear links to family, another aspect they share is great irony. In As You Like It, dramatic irony is used quite often because we, as the audience, always know something that the characters dont. When Rosalind, acting as Ganymede, ends up weaving a very tangled web for herself, she is the character who comes to help everyone achieve their happy ending, and find their rightful place. Shakespeares use of this technique brings great entertainment, and adds to the comedy. However, in My Sisters Keeper the irony is not so comedic. Jesse announces in court that Kate had forced Anna to stop donating organs as she was ready to let her luekemia take her life. Leaving the courthouse, after winning her case, Anna and her lawyer are caught in a terrible car accident, resulting in her giving her kidney to Kate before she passes, this helps Kate to fight off her cancer. Through this Picoults use of irony, much different to Shakespeares, allows Anna, who never knew her part, to help her sister find her own place in the world. In conclusion, the very different texts both highlight aspects of belonging, or not belonging, to a certain place. Whether its physical place or a role that you need to find. The Authors use of techniques such as imagery and irony, and as focus on relationships involving both love and hate, helps to convey what belonging truly means to them.

BT Company: Business Analysis Report and SWOT

BT Company: Business Analysis Report and SWOT Part 1: Understanding the business 1. Suggest the income streams and costs that may be appropriate to an organisation in your sector. The main income streams for the telecommunication industry is the revenue achieved through the usage of their services. Originally those services were limited to the provision of telephone communication using landlines. Today, the communication industry has expanded the number of services that it provides into mobile, VoIP, internet and other communication. The majority of the revenue can come from any one of those different services. For example, in 2005 BT had 75% of its revenue coming from their traditional services, but in 2006 this number decreased to 68%. Instead the company received an increased amount of revenue from it’s â€Å"New Wave† services, such as networked IT services, broadband, mobility etc. The mobile telecommunications provider such as Vodafone gets the most of its revenue from the tariffs that it charges its customers for using their mobile phones. However, the mobile telecommunication has also expanded into the provision of other services such as messaging and data and information provision. The largest cost for any communication company is the maintenance of the business. This cost can consist of staff costs, contractor wages, operational costs etc. Main contributor will depend on the company. For example, BT identifies ‘other operational costs’ as its main contributor to the overall cost of maintaining the business, representing 35%. The ‘other operating costs’ include the cost of supporting the network IT services, maintenance and support of the networks, costs of accommodation and marketing and general overheads (BT, 2007, p. 34). 2. What measures of performance are applicable to the industry? The majority of the industry has a few fundamental performance measures. The prime measure is the satisfaction of their customers. This is not surprising considering the competitiveness of the industry, the ease with which customers can change providers and the fact that the companies’ profits are based on the volume of customers. The other measures can include the satisfaction of the company’s employees. The industry that is so customer focused tries to provide them with as much human contact as possible (as long as it is profitable). Therefore the industry employs a large volume of employees. Satisfied employs are more likely to make sure that the customers are happy with the service that they are getting, allowing the companies to stay competitive. For example, BT has four performance measures regarding the satisfaction of their employees: employee engagement index, diversity, HS: loss time injury rate and HS: sickness and absence rate. Other performance measures can include: the satisfaction of the suppliers; investment in the community; protection of the environment; digital inclusion and sustaining integrity. In order to measure those performance measures, the company engages a number of internal indices. Some of those indices are much easier to measure, for examples the number of complaints that the company receives, the others are more difficult, such as measuring the integrity of the employees. The majority of the companies employ surveys in order to measure the more difficult quantifiable factors. 3. Construct a Value Chain for a company within the industry. The value chain has been developed by Michael Porter in 1985. The method divides the organization into the activities that is performs and them links them to the company’s competitive position. Porter (1985) argued that only by separating the organization into its activities and findings the right links will the managers be able to achieve a competitive advantage. The value chain method distinguishes between primary and support activities. Combined, they should lead to a margin, which is equal to the cost of the product subtracted from the price that it is sold to the customer. Model 1 depicts the value chain. Primary activities in the business are concerned directly with the creation, production and delivery of service and are grouped into inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. The Support activities are there to help the primary activities and they are divided into main areas of support activities: procurement, technology development (including RD), human resource management, and infrastructure (systems for planning, finance, quality, information management etc.). The support activities are directly linked to the primary activities, and if those links are produced well, then the company will become more efficient and competitive in the market. The value chain model can be applied to the telecommunication industry. The inbound logistics are the goods and services that the company receives from its suppliers. In the world of telecommunication, this can be the phones (that might be manufactures in China), the cables, the sim cards etc. The ‘operations’ in the original method meant manufacturing of the product. Since telecommunication is already dealing with a finished product, it is the provision of this product that can be named their ‘operation’. For example, provision of the reception, the IT platform that connects people etc. The outbound logistics is the finished product being delivered to the customer. In this case this can be the phone set, the website of the company where the customer can buy their own product etc. Every telecommunication company has their marketing and sales team, that offer services and make customers aware (through advertising) of their services. In the competitive industr y such as telecommunication, the firms pay a lot of attention to the right kind of marketing and promotion. If a company releases a new product, the other companies are likely to follow. Therefore the first ‘inventor’ has to capture as much market as possible. Furthermore, due to the competitiveness of the industry, the companies are under pressure to provide the customers with as much as possible, in order to keep them, as finding a new customer is always much more expensive then keeping the old one. The last section of the primary activities is the ‘service’. Service is something that the company provides after the customer has the product. In the telecommunications this means installation of the product into the customers home, helping the customer with every day questions, replacing the product if is gets broken etc. Under the support activities the first factor is ‘procurement’. The procurement department in the telecommunications industry are people who buy all of the inbound logistics into the company. This department will be in charge of agreeing the best deal with the suppliers of the product and making sure that the product is of high quality. Technology development is an extremely important element in the telecommunications industry, which allows them to gain a competitive advantage. The technology development in this method can also include customer relationship management activities, and not be limited purely to the innovation. Human resource management is a vital part in this method as those people are responsible to the satisfaction of the employees, which can be achieved through remuneration, training and development, bonuses and other HR strategies. The above mentioned would be the base for the value chain. However, it should be noted that the majority of the companies in the telecommunications industry are multi-national corporations. They provide a large number of products to their customers world wide. Furthermore, the components of their services may come from a wide range of suppliers, for example the plastic for the phone will come from Russia, the phone will be constructed in China and painted in India. Due to their size, the majority of the companies have already established the most productive and available route of producing, maintaining and providing the service. Therefore, the value chain would be a lot more complicated with both the primary and support activities. Furthermore, the margin may also come from a wide range of sources, such as mergers and acquisition, investment in stock markets etc. 4. Construct a Value System for the industry. The value system was also introduced by M. Porter (1985). It represents the link between the value chains of different ‘market customers’. For example, it will link the value chain of the suppliers to the value chain of the company to the value chain of the channel and then to the value chain of the customer. The supplier value chain for the telecommunications industry can include the suppliers of the physical products, such as phones and sim cards from the supplier value chain; provision of the telephone connection and services in the company value chain; services provided by the third party distributors (such as Yahoo!) in the channel chain and a wide range of customers buying the products (for example businesses, individuals and other telecommunication companies). 5. What are the environmental factors that may influence the industry? Most of the large organizations today are environmentally friendly, and have special strategies to maintain this position. For example, BT is one of the largest consumers of electricity in the UK (BT, 2007, p. 3). In order to reduce the damage to the environment, the company has adopted the majority of the environmentally-friendly electricity sources, such as wind generation, solar and hydroelectric energy generation. The telecommunications industry face a number of environmental risks that can damage their profitability. For example, global warming increases the number of storms and floods that are occurring around the world. In turn, this damages the telecommunications’ infrastructure and can cost the industry billions of pounds. Moreover, by damaging the environment, the costs of the primary products can increase (e.g. electricity). Since the telecommunications industry relies on a wide range of products outside of their own services, an increase in the cost of primary prod ucts, such as electricity, is likely to have a negative effect on their profits. Part 2: Evaluating Company Resources 1. How well is the present strategy working? â€Å"Group Strategys principal role is to help the BT Group maximize long term value for shareholders. This involves ensuring that the BT Group can sustain competitiveness in all its markets† (BT, 2007, Group Strategy). The financial results for the 2006 showed that the company has strengthened its position in the market. It had increased its revenue by 6% to  £19,514m, provided its customers with both the income and investment growth, by increasing the share price by 8% and dividend pay out by 14% in one year (BT Annual report, 2007, p. 2). Since their share price has gone up over the year, it can be argued that the company’s strategy has worked. Furthermore, BT has also subdivided their strategy aim into a number of objectives, namely: â€Å"to pursue profitable growth in new wave markets to maximise the return from our traditional business to transform our networks, systems and services for the twenty-first century to create long-term partnerships with our customers† (BT, 2007, Annual Report, p. 4). The â€Å"new wave† activities (networked IT services, broadband and mobility) growth has been overachieved by 50% by the company in 2006 (BT, 2007, Annual Report, p. 4). The company has also asked all of their existing customer to swap to the subscription-based packages. They have achieved 67% customer base being swapped to the subscription, which has also overachieved their target. The transfer of all of the services onto the 21C (twenty-first century IP technology) has not been completed yet. Finally, BT has achieved an increase of 3% in their customer satisfaction table, which also brought them closer to their long term goal. Therefore it can be argued that BT’s strategy has been successful. 2. What are their resource strengths and weaknesses? BT’s resource strength is their brand and strong reputation, that is recognized world wide. Their strong brand allows them to form stronger relationships with their customers (stakeholders, customers, suppliers, employees). BT’s reputation of reliability, consistency and effectiveness allows them to keep their customers and increase their customer base. Furthermore, BT provides a wide range of services that are in line with the latest technology, such as IP phone calls and are often a market leader in the industry. BT had a large number of weaknesses a few years ago: it was loosing the DSL market share to every competitor in the market, it had a shrinking market share in the fixed line services and sometimes it was not up to speed with the innovative technology. However, the new market strategy has proved very beneficial to the company. The company was the first in the IDSL provision in the UK market in 2006; its market share is growing and it is transferring most of its services onto the 21C technology (BT, 2007, Annual Report). Although introduction of 21C will be beneficial to BT in the future, it can have a negative impact on the profits in the short run. Furthermore, does BT think far enough? There are a wide range of external risks that BT group faces. From the social aspect, they can be divided into: supply chain working conditions and outsourcing. The ‘supply chain working conditions’ risks arises from the wide range of services that BT buys from across the world. The company is committed to following the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Labour Organisation rules. The main risk of breaching those rules is that the company may be faced with a large number of law suits and loose its reputation. In turn, reputation is one of the most valuable assets of the company, as it has a positive correlation with the number of customers that sign up and stay with BT. The group deals with this risk by asking all of the suppliers to fill in the ‘Risk assessment questionnaire’, which it then examines and decides if it should deal with the named supplier (BT, 2007, Human Rights and Suppliers). BT has outsourced a number of operations such as human resource contracts, pensions, recruitment and training, as well as finance, accounting and payroll (BT, 2007, Outsourcing). The risk arises when the company tries to get the cheapest service and ends up making a very expensive mistake. For example, the BT can loose control of the quality of the service that the outsourced functions provide; or the outsourced departments may make a financial mistake, that will lead to wrong internal decisions within a company. 3. What are the external opportunities and threats facing them? There are also a number of factors that can be quite threatening to BT. The change in the environment, where natural catastrophes can destroy BT’s infrastructure, have already been discussed. The collapse of the stock market can also have a negative effect on the company, as BT invests some of its money in the stock market. Furthermore, an innovative product, such as WoIP being introduced by another major competitor, will strongly harm BT’s profits (since all of the phone calls can be free, without relying on the internet). The economic and political decisions can also affect the profitability of the company. For example, if the interest rates rise sharply in the UK, the disposable income of the customers will decrease. In turn, the customers may reduce their usage of the BT’s services or swap to cheaper providers. Moreover, since BT has global presence, large looses in one of the countries may put a lot of pressure on the rest of the Group to ‘bail outâ₠¬â„¢ the damaged company, which can negatively affect the profits. As has been mentioned above, there is also an issue of reputation. Loss of reputation due to the external factors can strongly affect company’s profitability. Furthermore, mobile phone providers also represent a threat, since they undercut the prices and the majority of the customers find mobiles an effective way to communicate. However, there are also a wide range of opportunities available to BT externally. For example, the technology progress has been very rapid over the last few years, which means that BT can take advantage of this to gain extra customers. The IP voice communication will also allow BT to gain more customers worldwide, as there will not be legal barriers of the contract. More and more people are getting to know how to use the internet. Since BT is moving towards making their phone calls through the internet rather then fixed lines, this means that BT will have an opportunity to deal with a larger customer base. Finally, BT has a good reputation, capitalization and brand that it can use to expand into a wide range of those products. 4. How strong is their competitive position? BT’s competitive position can be seen from two perspectives: in the UK and worldwide. In the UK, BT has a very strong competitive position, since it is the largest communication provider in the country (BT, 2007, Annual Report, p. 7). Worldwide the situation is a bit different (see Table 2). Table 2: BT’s competitive position worldwide BT T Pvt1 VZ Industry Market Cap: 47.23B 232.84B N/A 105.08B 6.51B Employ ­ees: 104,400 302,000 143,251 N/A 12.52K Qtrly Rev Growth (yoy): 5.00% 23.10% N/A 31.80% 3.80% Revenue (ttm): 38.76B 63.06B 5.62B1 88.14B 4.02B Gross Margin (ttm): 84.08% 56.99% N/A 60.33% 65.54% EBITDA (ttm): 11.00B 22.88B N/A 29.53B 1.67B Oper Margins (ttm): 13.31% 16.87% N/A 16.13% 15.46% Net Income (ttm): 5.38B 7.36B 304.40M1 5.48B 402.77M EPS (ttm): 6.35 1.887 N/A 2.12 1.55 P/E (ttm): 8.98 19.76 N/A 17.03 15.1 PEG (5 yr expected): 2.17 1.51 N/A 3.08 1.64 P/S (ttm): 1.24 3.67 N/A 1.21 1.61 Source: Yahoo! Finance Where: T= AT&T Inc Pvt1 = Cable and Wireless plc VZ = Verizon Communication Inc Industry = Telecom Services – Foreign As can be seen, BT has a small capitalization value compared to its closest direct competitors in the telecommunication market. However, its value is still nearly 7 times the size of the average market capitalization of the industry. The revenue growth has also been poor compared to the largest competitors, and hardy exceeds the industry average. However, despite the low capitalization, the net income of BT is very close to that of the other companies, which indicates that the company is efficient. 5. What is your assessment of the culture within the company? Will it be supportive to change or not? BT has a strong set of values within the company. Those values build the culture of the company. Furthermore, judging from the amount of information that is available of their website, it can be assumed that BT is very good at informing all of its employees of any changes that are taking place in the organization. The employees rarely welcome change or restructuring, however over the years it has been shown that good and frequent communication with the employees will allow the company to implement the changes much more easily. Therefore, the BT’s employees are likely to be supportive of the changes that BT makes. Part 3: Strategy and Competitive Advantage 1. Review the generic strategies. Which would be suitable cost advantage, differentiation or focusing on a niche market? Given the 3 generic strategies: cost advantage, differentiation or focusing on a niche market, BT is more likely to go for differentiation. This opinion is based on the existing strategy that the BT is adopting. BT provides a wide range of services. It could go for a niche market if it will have an opportunity to keep the rest of the products. For example, at the moment it’s transferring most of its services onto 21C platform. This will allow BT customers to use internet for communication. Although most of the large telecommunications companies have not done that, there are a number of companies that have already dominated this market e.g. Skype. BT could also go the cost advantage, as the telecommunication industry is becoming more and more price competitive. However, as with any industry, price wars can not last forever. Considering that BT used to be a state monopoly and therefore has an advantage of the largest customer base, it has decided to provide quality to the customers rather then quantity. Furthermore, since BT is launching the large transferal of its technology onto the 21C base, it is unlikely to go for a cost advantage this year. Instead, it will provide its customers with high quality innovative products, that will be cheap once they launch (internet communication is free). This leaves differentiation. As has been discussed above, BT has chosen a number of strategies that will differentiate it from its competitors, such as the 21C platform, direct and clear communication with the customers, emphasis on the good treatment of its employees and innovative products. 2. Looking into the future, how may the company seek to achieve cost competitiveness? Achieving cost competitiveness is the aim of every company in the world. Cost competitiveness can be achieved through economies of scale and scope, as well as synergies. BT is a very large company and therefore has a stronger negotiation power with its suppliers. The suppliers might be willing to provide BT with lower prices for their products, since BT is likely to order large volumes of products. Economically, as the company gets bigger, the cost of production of one more unit of a good or service decreases (marginal cost). Therefore, as BT expands it will be able to decrease the cost of the production. However, the economic theory also states that this decrease in marginal cost will eventually reach a point where the company will enter the diseconomies of scale (the marginal cost will start to increase). In order to avoid that, BT has expanded globally, rather then just within the UK. BT can also reduce costs through the economies of scope – the production of a wider range of goods. The marginal costs will decrease because certain fixed costs will be shared between the products. For example, the IP platform that BT is using will not only be used to generate revenue from the phone calls, but will also be used for the provision of video messaging services. Later on, if BT decides to bring out another product, it will be able to use this IT platform without the need of building a new one. BT can achieve synergies between its businesses. BT operates 4 separate businesses: BT retail, BT wholesale, BT Global services and Openreach. There are a large number of synergies between all of those companies, for example HR, finance and accounting services. Furthermore, if BT decides to acquire another company in the future, it is likely to use the existing synergies to create even more synergies with the new company in the future. Furthermore, there are a large number of other cost cutting exercises that the company can do in the future to achieve cost competitiveness, such as restructuring, selling some parts of its business that are no longer useful to it and increasing efficiency internally. 3. Suggest ways that information technology and information systems can be used to exploit external opportunities and defend against threats facing the company? Information technology (IT) is strongly linked to the information systems (IS) in telecommunication industry. BT is successfully using both to capture new opportunities in the market, as has been discussed previously. However, as the whole industry is moving towards VoIP, BT could use its existing information systems to move a step further – provide WoIP services. VoIP requires internet in order to use free voice calls, while WoIP allows a customer to use free voice calls without internet. In turn, by using the IT and IS BT can capture a larger share of the market not only in the UK but also worldwide. Furthermore, BT has enough capitalization and IT in order to compete with the mobile phone providers. It can expand to provide those services. Efficient IT and IS will allow BT to connect people cheaply around the world, where the customers will not need to worry where they are resident. BT is very much aware of the external threats that it faces. IT and IS will not be able to defend BT from the environmental risks. However, some of the social risks can be eliminated. For example, the outsourced functions of finance and accounting can be checked electronically first, by setting up an appropriate IT system. The work can then be send to Britain for checking. Furthermore, although BT can not control the stock markets, it can certainly install a number of IT systems that will allow it to prevent a large loss of money, for example by using Technical Analysis systems. By making sure that all of BT’s IT and IS systems work efficiently, the company will reduce the risk of losing its reputation. 4. Analyse the current core competencies of the company. The current core competencies of the company is professionalism, integrity, straightforwardness and team work. All of those competencies are built into their core values. Furthermore, by achieving those competencies as a business the company will be able to achieve its overall aim – bring value to the shareholders. Competencies are often measures on the internal scale of the company, which makes it difficult to analyze for the outsider. However, the companies achievements and the strategy for the future work reflect those competencies. It is in the interest of the company to retain professionalism and integrity towards the customers and employees, if it want to keep both groups. Straightforwardness is a good differentiator of the company, as this allows better communication with the customer, and therefore contribute towards building a loyal customer base. The team work, in turn, will allow the company to achieve its performance targets. 5. Apply a SWOT matrix to the analysis carried out in Activity 2 to gain an understanding of how the strengths and weaknesses of the company may be considered, together with the opportunities and threats that exist, to determine a set of strategic options for the company. SWOT Analysis (S)trengths (O)pportunities Stable and increasing share price Strong financial results Strong brand Good reputation Worldwide Reach Market leader in the UK Large customer base Increasing number of customers that will use the IP platform Further expansion into the world market Use of capital to expand into ‘products of the future’ (W)eaknesses (T)hreats Lack of innovative products Sometimes overprices products which leads to loss of the market share (DSL) Weak global market presence Supply chain working conditions Outsourcing Loss of reputation Environment Stock market crash Recession Mobile phone users BT is the largest fixed-line provider of communication in the UK. Since BT used to be a state monopoly it has a very large number of customers. However, since its privatization, despite a strong competition not only from the new fixed-line providers by also from the mobile phone providers, BT still has a very strong market presence in the UK. This indicates that BT has built a certain customer loyalty, which can be added to its strengths. As the communication market matures, new technology and opportunities are entering the industry. The most recent innovation, that remains a threat to the most fixed-line providers is the building of the IP platforms. The IP platforms allows the customers to speak to each other for free by using their internet. BT has been extremely proactive and has built the platform. Since the majority of its customers are still using fixed lines for communication, in order to the customers to start using the new products, BT should communicate the instruction on how to use the products very clearly. Furthermore, it should also inform the customers of the new products available. Strategically, BT should be able to connect the majority of its customers, since it will be cheaper to them to use the platform. The next move would be to make sure that all of the ‘voices of the customer’ are heard, as with any new systems there will be a number a faults. BT should then implement all of the changes that it has decided on. Since the price of the communication will decrease, the BT will be able to make higher revenue through an increasing number of customers that will start using the service and through the sale of other goods and services that it provides through the new platform. Therefore, BT should start making a good marketing plan of how to sell their new products. The number of customers available to BT is likely to increase over time, as more people are connecting to the internet. This is a great opportunity for BT to increase its world market share. Considering that BT is not the first company to implement this, a large number of customers have already been captured. The BT can use

The Author to her Book: An Annotation of Bradstreet Essay -- Authors A

The Author to her Book: An Annotation of Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet's poem, The Author to her Book, is a twenty-four-line metaphor comparing the relationship of an author and her writings to the relationship between a parent and a child. The meaning of this lighthearted poem can clearly be seen as she traces the growth of a piece of work to the growth of the child. The significance of the poem, however, lies in the fact that this poem is a glimpse of the emotions felt by Anne Bradstreet an American female poet, and how it conflicts with the puritan society that frowns upon her appreciation of her talents and role as a poet. To clearly see all aspects that surround the interpretation of her poetry it is necessary to look at biographical information surrounding the life of Anne Bradstreet. Background knowledge gained previous to writing this annotation can be found at http://shenessex.heartland.net/local/scs/shs/faculty/dickerson/term197class/Jill/Bradstreet.html The lines below are annotated to explain how Bradstreet develops her metaphor as well as how it relates specifically to her life. The Author to her Book Anne Bradstreet Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad, exposed to public view, Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judge). At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, Thy visage was so irksome in my sight; Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, And r... ...roduced a piece of work and even though she may be wealthy through her husband, she is poor, and like any poet wants to profit from what she has created. Bradstreet is often titled as the first American poet. This title is a hard one to determine, not only because it is difficult to say who is first, but because it is hard to decide what makes a poet American. Since the colonies were founded many poets were writing on American soil, so does that make them American poets? It does not seem right to allow them such an honor if they still conform to European styles. Anne Bradstreet, however, earns the title because she makes the transition from being English and living in America, to being American. The shift is described in The Author to her Book, where she disturbs her European roles as a Puritan and a woman, and comes out looking, instead, the part of an American.

Teachers Meeting The Challenges of Student Disabilities Essay -- Educa

In this chapter, we discussed the numerous challenges that teachers face while teaching students with different disabilities. It was found that barring a few teachers who had knowledge of the exact needs of these students, majority of the teachers deployed methods that they felt would assist learning for them. Modifications in teaching methods were undertaken based on the nature of the students’ disability and the demands of subject taught. In case of some government colleges, parents were reportedly assisting in the laboratory due the absence of support staff. In the case of students with visual impairments and/or learning disabilities, repetition was found to be the most favoured method to explain everything, from diagrams in economics to sociological concepts. However, implementation of this method was time-consuming. While, in general, students with disabilities were encouraged to seek help from the teachers beyond the class timing, it was observed that students with learning disabilities rarely did so, possibly due to the social stigma attached to their disability. With regard to teaching students with learning disabilities, it was found that a majority of teachers did not take any particular efforts towards addressing the needs of these students may be because their disabilities were hidden or invisible in nature. Contrast to the lack of information on how to cater to students with learning disabilities, a majority of the teachers were able to adjudge some measures as facilitating learning among students with visual impairments such as encourage students to sit in the front row, read aloud any text that was presented in visual format or making the study material available in soft copy. The onus, however, was on the stude... ...7–24. Reddy, Raghava C. 2011. ‘From Impairment to Disability and Beyond: Critical Explorations in Disability Studies’, Sociological Bulletin, 60 (2): 287–306. Sharma, Umesh, Dennis Moore and Sanjeev Sonawane. 2009. ‘Attitudes and Concerns of Pre-service Teachers regarding Inclusion of Students with Disabilities into Regular Schools in Pune, India’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 37 (3): 319–31. Singal, Nidhi. 2005. ‘Mapping the Field of Inclusive Education: A Review of the Indian Literature’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 9 (4): 331–50. ––––. 2006. ‘Inclusive Education in India: International concept, national interpretation’, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53 (3): 351–69. ––––. 2010. ‘Doing Disability Research in a Southern Context: Challenges and Possibilities’, Disability & Society, 25 (4): 415–26.

Problems in Air Traffic Control and Proposed Solutions Essay -- Aviati

Problems in Air Traffic Control and Proposed Solutions In northern California this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unintentionally performed it's first operational test of "free flight"; aviation without direct air traffic control. This was an unintentional experiment because it was a result of a total shut-down of the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). Although Oakland is only the 16th busiest ARTCC, it's responsible for the largest block of airspace of any ATC facility; 18 million square miles. Oakland directs all upper-level flight from San Luis Obispo, California to the California/Oregon boarder, including most Pacific oceanic routes. The failure happened at 7:13 a.m. local time during the morning "departure push". Controllers estimated there were 60-80 aircraft under their control when the power died. All radar screens went dark and all radios went silent. It took 45 minutes to restore radios and bring up a backup radar system. It was more than an hour before the main radar presentations came on line. One controller described the sudden quiet in the control suite as "the loudest silence I've ever heard" (UPI , 1995). He went on to say there was "panic on everybody's face" as they realized they had been rendered deaf, dumb, and blind by this catastrophic equipment failure. It took a few minutes for controllers to realize the shut-down had affected the entire facility. There was no book procedure to cover this emergency scenario, so most controllers improvised. Controllers in adjourning Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and Seattle ARTCCs and various Terminal Radar Approach Controls (TRACON; the level of radar coverage below upper-level ARTCC radar) were asked to take control over all airspace within their radar coverage, and divert aircraft under their control inbound to Northern California. Control towers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and other airports in the area were instructed to hold all IFR departures on the ground. The most difficult problem was getting notification to the airborne flight crews. In one case, controller Mike Seko said, "We had Napa tower telling high altitude aircraft Oakland Center had lost everything, and to switch to emergency frequencies" (Seko, UPI, 1995). But most airborne aircraft on Oakland Center frequencies were in a state of "l... ...ly privatize it, another to rework it from within, and a few other variations of those. Legislators have their own reasons to support certain bills; is our safety one of them? The Federal Times editorial sums up an everyday controllers concern. He's the one working with that aged computer equipment, he's the one working the unnecessarily long shifts, he's the one scared every day his screen will go dark during the morning rush hour. I would be inclined to listen very closely to his concerns and follow his recommendations towards a solution. The FAA's Quality statement declares the agency as an organization dedicated to "eliminating barriers, improving communication, providing additional opportunities for training, and constantly encouraging all personnel to seek ways to improve". The FAA is proud of its Quality activities because they "foster such initiatives as continuous improvement of work processes, empowerment of employees, partnering of labor and management, and re- engineering". (World Wide Web FAA Home-page, 1995) These are very lofty goals that always require improvement. But will disaster strike before their processes gets us a new ATC system?

Lab 5 Acid/Base Extractions Essay

The purpose of this experiment is to separate either the organic base (amine) or organic acid (carboxylic acid) from a mixture that contains inorganic impurities (salt) by performing a liquid-liquid extraction and then taking a melting point. Key Experimental Details and Observations Our starting material, Compound B, was a fine white powder and weighed 0.535g. The final product was a shiny white sheet that resembled acrylic paint and weighed 0.109g. Results Our percent yield was 0.109g/0.535g x 100 = 20.4%. Discussion and Conclusions The melting point ranges we got for compound B ranged from 110.8-114.0 Â °C, while the melting point range for benzoic acid is 121.0-123.0Â °C and 103.0-107.0Â °C for 4-amino acetophenone. Since the ranges we acquired for compound B are directly in between both acid and base melting points, we can conclude that the purity for compound B is relatively high due to the compound being made up of equal parts of benzoic acid and 4-amino acetophenone. Thus saying that our melting point ranges are fairly accurate because they exemplify an equal percentage of both compounds, which is exactly what compound B is made up of. The purity can also be concluded through the melting points depression because depression arises from impurities within the lattice of a crystalized sample. We acquired a percent yield of 20.4%, which is relatively low. This result could be from part of the compound B solution being left behind in the Erlenmeyer flask when pouring the solution into the vacuum filtrate. The efficiency of a liquid-liquid extraction is high because it did allow us to gain some of our starting product back. We were able to isolate the acid from the base by deprotonating the solution with 10mL of NaOH. This caused the benzoic acid to settle at the bottom of the separatory flask because the NaOH broke it into ions, which made the acid polar. We then protonated the solution by adding HCl, which cause the acid to separate from the solution.

Engl 135 Advanced Composition

Running Head: RAPE VICTIMS IN KOSOVO DURING WAR Rape Victims in Kosovo during War Manjola Cuka ENGL 135 Advanced Composition Catherine Davis April 20, 2009 DeVry University, We all are aware of the suffering that war brings in people’s lives. War means losing everything you hold dear. War means losing your childhood home, war means losing your husband, wife, child, brother, and sister. During the war in Kosovo there were a number of brutal actions performed towards the Kosovo population physically and emotionally.The Serbs knew exactly what these people valued the most in their lives. That is honor. Among other inhuman and degrading acts executed towards the Kosovo people during the war, the Serbs used rape as a tool to destroy not only the women as individuals but also their families to the core. According to McKinsey (1993), there were an estimated twenty thousand females raped during the war in Kosovo. That is a large number considering that population of Kosovo is a little over two million people. The Kosovo population had been trying to gain their independence for almost a decade.They were only asking for their rights: the freedom of speech, the right to send the children to schools where they can learn their own language, the freedom of media, and the freedom of living in their own country without fear. This is their country and they were only asking for what was theirs. According to the U. S State Department report (1999), the Serbs started an â€Å"ethnic cleansing† campaign that was meant to remove all the non Serb population out of the country. The most gruesome acts towards these people started to get worse after NATO troops bombed the Serb military points on March 24, 1999.Serbs decided to punish the people by forcing them out of their homes, burning their houses, torturing them, raping them, and killing them. Rape was the main weapon used against the Kosovo women to terrorize and weaken the entire population. Shenon (1999), reports on these gruesome activities that were taking place in Kosovo: â€Å"The department's report said that refugee accounts suggested that Serbian forces had executed more than 4,000 Kosovars, and that surveillance photographs taken either by satellites or airplanes had identified seven possible sites of mass graves.The report said that rapes of Albanian women were being reported in increasing numbers, with systematic mass rapes apparently carried out in the cities of Djakovica and Pec. † To understand the consequences that rape has in the lives of the Kosovo people, we have to understand how they are raised and the beliefs that are engraved in them throughout the years. The people of Kosovo value family and country more than their own lives. The young girls are raised to believe that their role in the world is to get married, have children, and take care of the chores around the house.There is a distinguished difference the way these people lived their lives. Men were the bread wi nners and women were there to raise the children and take care of the house. If there was male company in the house, the females would only serve them and go to their rooms until the company left. One of Dr. Alakija (2000) reports explains how a team of males was greeted only by Kosovo males, and when a team of females went to investigate they were greeted by females. It is not appropriate for strange males to discuss with the Kosovo females even to get their testimony.Another important part of these people’s lives is marriage. Dating outside marriage is prohibited in their culture and the girl should not lose their virginity until she gets married. The girls that had pre marital relationships are called unfit for any man to marry. So after knowing these facts we can only imagine, what rape means to these people. The women lose their purity after being touched by another man even though it is not their fault. No man would come close to them for the rest of their lives. They w ould live the rest of their days hating themselves and wishing they were dead.The Kosovo women were raped and tortured systematically in front of their loved ones ruining them physically and emotionally for the rest of their lives. There are statements of pregnant women who were raped and beaten by either gunpoint or by being tortured. The physical pain these women endured can never be compared with the emotional and mental damage they went through. There is not a bigger humiliation than being raped in front of your father, your mother, your brother, your uncle, and your children. How can someone be the same after going through something like that?These women were raped in front of their children, no matter what age. It is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time how these individuals would put children and mothers in these inhuman situations. One of the many rape victims explained how helpless she was when being held down by multiple individuals while another was raping her. This is how she describes her torment: â€Å"I could not resist, I could not fight against them,† the witness, a woman identified as N. S. , testified. †I could not resist because the others were holding me while my children were watching† (Sullivan, 2000).Another horrific fact during the war was that the Serbs raped these women with the intention to make them pregnant. There are two reasons the Serbs impregnated the Kosovo women: one was to dishonor them and their families for life and second one to increase the Serb population with their children. According to BBC News (2000), only the month of January of 2000, there were one hundred rape babies born. That is a large number for this small community. How were these women able to live every day knowing that inside them was the child of the enemy.The enemy that killed their man, the enemy that kicked them out of their own homes, the enemy that raped them in front of their loved ones. As Both (2001), noted â€Å"Th e term ‘genocidal rape’ is both emotionally and politically loaded, but is does seem to accurately reflect the realities felt by some if not all raped women in the conflict. As we saw above, some raped Muslim women reported that their attackers claimed that they were intending to impregnate them to create Serbian babies, and that some women were held captive for a period of weeks to ensure that they did not abort the child they had conceived in rape† (p. 4). Honor is the most valuable virtue in the Kosovo society. Serbs knew they would humiliate and degrade not only the Kosovo women but their families and their loved ones. After being raped these women would never speak of the ordeal they went through and would hide it from everyone if they could. These women would rather be dead then share their torment with someone else especially if it was someone they did not know. They would rather keep the pain to themselves if that was an option. It was not enough they suff ered rom the torture that was used against them, but they had to live in fear of losing everything they held dear even though this was not their fault. The raped Kosovo women would not share these ordeals with their own families for the fear of bringing shame to their entire family. The husband would leave the wife if they found out she was raped. Here is one example of a husband that suspects his young wife was raped: â€Å"Mr. Thaqi says his wife, who did not want her name published, denies the rape because †she doesn't dare tell that kind of story. ‘ If she admitted it to him, he said, †I would ask for a divorce — even if I had 20 children. † As his wife listened, silent and shamefaced, in a corner of their empty home, looted of all furniture and possessions by the Serbs, Mr. Thaqi added: †I don't hate her, but the story is before my eyes. I feel very cold toward her. † Kissing her, he said, †is like kissing a dead body† (Bu miller, 1999). It is not hard enough that they were raped and humiliated but they have to live with the shame for the rest of their lives. Most of these women lock themselves in their parents’ homes until they die either by choice or they are forced.It is heartbreaking how the community and their families expect them to commit suicide for something that was not their fault. Serbs knew that by raping the women they would destroy their families. What other method could be better then destroy a country to its core? These women live the rest of their lives excluded from the outside world wishing they were dead. The husbands live the rest of their lives wishing their wives were dead. Their parents live their lives wishing their daughter was dead. In the Kosovo culture rape carries a very strong social taboo and shame keeps victims silent.The women and men of Kosovo are not as afraid of death as they are of rape. â€Å"Rape is a deeply sensitive subject in ethnic Albanian Kosovo, a Muslim and largely traditional society, where a sexual assault can permanently stigmatize a woman, shaming her family and ruining her marriage or prospects of marriage. Gathering first-hand accounts of rape has proved very difficult for war crimes investigators, and the scale of sexual assaults here may never be fully known† (Finn, 1999). They cannot tolerate the thought of their women being touched by another man.This degrading act not only humiliates the women but it demoralizes the men that are fighting in the mountains. That was one of the biggest war strategies the Serbs used to defeat the Kosovo people. And this was one more reason the women keep the rape secret. They want their husbands, their fathers, and their brothers to fight for their country instead of carrying the family shame in their shoulders. The world came together to help the rape victims with everything they needed. The biggest issue the humanitarian organizations  were facing  was the non cooperatio n from the victims and their families.Under no circumstances they would admit they were raped unless there were witnesses to testify to that. Even then it would be very difficult to treat these patients. Knowing the consequences of admitting they were raped, what mother would risk losing her children to get medical treatment? How can they put their own well being before their children? They considered themselves dead anyway. They would rather live in pain for the rest of their lives with their children around them, then medically treated and have lost their families.They would shut down and most of the time they would deny they were raped. There are a large number of cases that are not officially reported as we have seen in different reports: â€Å"Rape: There are numerous accounts indicating that the organized and individual rape of Kosovar Albanian women by Serbian forces was widespread. For example, Serbian forces systematically raped women in Djakovica and Pec, and in some case s rounded up women and took them to hotels where they were raped by troops under encouragement of their commanders.Rape is most likely an underreported atrocity because of the stigma attached to the victims in traditional Kosovar Albanian society† (U. S State Department Report, 1999) It is unthinkable in some cultures to comprehend how these families treat the rape victims, particularly these women that were forced into these acts and had no other choice. Instead of embracing them and try to help them get through these tough times, they throw them in the streets and also blame them for the shame they bring to the family. There is no mercy for the raped victims.What can be worse than having your own parents, the ones that gave you life, the ones that raised and nurtured you, wish you were dead? These rape victims find their way out by shutting down or by going in the mountains and join the man in the fight for their freedom. They have no life next to their own family. They choo se to leave and fight to get away from the staring eyes of their neighbors and everyone else that gets in contact with them. The biggest reason is to take their humiliation with them and spare their family the shame and embarrassment.Here are the words of a father of a rape victim: â€Å"I have given her to the KLA so she can do to the Serbs what they have done to us,† Haxhi Lokaj said of his daughter, who has been sent to fight with the rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army. â€Å"She will probably be killed, but that would be for the best,† the 40-year-old father said with more resignation than sorrow. â€Å"She would have no future anyway after what they did to her† he continued (Williams, 1999). There are different approaches the enemy uses to destroy a population to the core in the time of war.Serbs used the most degrading act to ruin the Kosovo families for life. That was rape. Death does not come close to the pain and the outcome that rape brings in these peoples’ lives. If the women and men died protecting their country, fighting for their rights, or protecting themselves from being abused, they would be praised. In contrary if the women were raped but survived, for no fault of their own, they were the humiliation of their family and the whole community. Compassion for the rape victims does not exist.It will take a long time and a few generations for these people to start living a full life. It will not be easy for these memories to be erased from their minds. References Alakija, P (2000). The ravages of war. Retrieved April 21, 2009 from http://www. cmaj. ca/cgi/content/full/163/9/1148 BBC News. (2000). Women scarred by Kosovo atrocities. Retrieved April 17, 2009 from http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/716701. stmBooth, K (2001). The Kosovo tragedy: the human rights dimensions. (1st Ed. ) Oxford: Routledge, member of the Taylor & Francis Group.Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://books. google. com/books? id=777jPodhCY YC&dq=The+Kosovo+tragedy:+the+human+rights+dimensions. &printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=8HLuSaSYMYuqtgeEgMHMDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4Bumiller, E. (1999). Crisis in the Balkans: Crimes; Deny Rape or Be Hated: Kosovo Victims' Choice. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www. nytimes. com/1999/06/22/world/crisis-in-the-balkans-crimes-deny-rape-or-be-hated-kosovo-victims-choice. html? n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjec