Being Me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Being Me - Essay Example However, I chose not to have my marriage as a hurdle in the way of my education. Therefore, I discussed my desire of continuing studies with my husband. He was very reluctant to grant me permission to study. He was of the view that I might compromise upon my home in order to do good at studies. It took me as much as two whole years to convince him. I love him for finally understanding me. â€Å"You need not just a spouse, but a spouse who believes what you believe† (Onyemalech, n.d.). I assured him that home to me was just as important and sacred as it was to him, and convinced him that I would never compromise upon my home in any case. Becoming a Radiology Technologist had always been my dream. I worked in different areas in radiology including diagnostic, mammogram, MRI, and Cat Scan. By the grace of God, today I am the first female Director of Radiology at the medical center where I work. Today, when my high school class mates meet me, they become astonished to see me as a successful Radiology Technologist. The last thing they knew about me was that I had got married, and had said â€Å"good-bye† to studies. They expected me to have spent all of my life growing children. What makes all this even more interesting is that I managed to fulfill my duties as a wife and a mother along with taking my academic career and professional life to higher levels.

Proposal on The DREAM Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Proposal on The DREAM Act - Essay Example This innovative legislation would render immigration benefits to several young individuals who are presently considered as illegal migrants in the country. And this is the very reason that why several lawmakers and analysts oppose this bill. For example, reputed immigration policy analyst Krikorian has asserted that â€Å"all amnesties have at least three harmful consequences, and the DREAM Act ignores all three. The first of these is massive fraud. Perhaps one-fourth of those legalized under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act received amnesty fraudulently, including Mahmud Abouhalima, a leader of the first World Trade Center attack.† Hence, review of immigration enforcement is a precondition to the enactment of the proposed DREAM Act. Thesis Statement: The DREAM Act can benefit both the US economy and the young immigrants in the country provided that immigration enforcement within the provisions of the proposed Act is properly implemented and fraudulent practices are prevented. Benefits: The DREAM Act seeks to legalize the undocumented youth and young adults in the country if they fulfill certain educational criteria and effort to obtain college graduation. From an economic viewpoint, legalization of unauthorized students can be an important incentive for them to work hard and graduate from a high school. This will improve their chances of obtaining higher education. Ultimately, the overall number of college graduates in the country will increase. College graduates obtain higher salaries and hence they will yield higher tax revenues as well. The increased financial contribution of the legalized educated immigrants will repay the necessary educational investments within a few years.

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages Assessment centres were introduced at the middle of the 20th century. It also gives the idea and use of assessment centre. It uses to check the ability and skills of the employees. History of assessment centres explore, how and why assessment centres help us to appreciate, what the original user were trying to get and how can be assessed the skills, attitudes, personal skills and abilities as well as knowledge of the participants with the help of interview, exercises and leading practice. Basically, the origin of assessment centres started for the selection of the soldier in the Germany. That time there was a great frustration between the boundaries of the countries due to the atmosphere of the war, and every country wanted to get Prestige on the other countries. So, assessment centres used to check the ability and quality of the employees, and referred the position according to his knowledge and capabilities. We can be seen certain example throughout the history. Germany used to check the ability and performance to select the officers. In the book Spies and Saboteurs, by Dr W.J.Morgan (1955, London Victor Gollancz Ltd), the author describe how a German psychologist, Dr Simoneit watched officer performing a variety of tasks. The duties of assessment centres were to check the abilities thorough different implications of test and exercises. It also checked the rate and standard of the officers and according to this, the promotions have been announced by the army. This process had been started because; it showed the performance and their promotions. It also explored the certain reasons, why certain offices did not reveal or proceed in the way. They would have been promoted once. After this, the assessment centres emerged from Germany to USA. USA was one of the fast growing economies and USA used to judge the ability of the spy. It also used select the officers for intelligence. For checking of mental ability of officers they used further research of psychological and scientific method had been to add the work by assessment centres. The concept of assessment centres populated in different economy from one side of the world to another part of the world. British Government checks the qualities of on board selection committee and testing method. British government added more tests and exercises analysing the capability, British were pioneers to add the physical and psychological tests during an interviews and selections for employees. Dr WJ Morgan illustrates that it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an individual or within a group, that matters not how quickly an exercise was done. With the passage of the time, it growth and, different business have been adopted by different countries. Then most businesses used the assessment centres to assessing the hold jobs to employees. But sometimes man has more ability but at the position sometimes, it can be showed by an organisation. In this matter the assessment centres help the organisation as well as to emerged the capabilities of the employees and the employees have better opportunities to do best. It is right that an assessment centres started for militaries bias to check the abilities but now it very common in between every aspect of the life such as businesses and other public service as well. Now in this era, there is a great competition in the world, so, it is not easy task to check the capabilities of any employees. So in this matter assessment centres is helpful to check the abilities and capabilities through the interviews and exercises the personality of the employees. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-assessment-centre-origin.htm) INTRODUCTION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An Assessment Centres does not refer to a location, DEFINE ASSESSMENT CENTERS : It can be usefully defined as A method for assessing aptitude and performance; applied to a group of participants by trained assessors using various aptitude diagnostic processes in order to obtain information about applicants abilities or development potential. Assessment Centres are mostly utilized in the initial stages of the selection process; this is due large amount of time and expenditure involved in it. This is followed by initial job interview. Assessment centres involve assembling in one place several candidates who applying for the same position and putting them through a variety of different tests. They can be operated over one day, but usually involve an overnight stay. Assessment Centres are seen as one of the most effective ways of identifying top candidates wholl get on well with others and fit in with the organizations culture. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developments Recruitment, Retention and Turnover 2009 Survey, 34% of employers now use assessment Centres when recruiting managers, professionals and graduates. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-assessment-centers.htm) IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: Implementation of assessment centres should be carried out properly. When the structure and content of the assessment centre have been established, the issues involved are organising, managing and giving proper direction. The assessment centres should have a range of activities that allow candidates to demonstrate teach competency more than once during the course of the centre. The range of activities should considered exercises that sample job content and mirror real-life situations. The assessment centres should have different department heads which can manage too many candidates or too many exercises and maintain a sensible ratio of assessors to candidates. The assessment centres should have proper clear goal in mind so that they achieve the success. Adopt a competency-based approach with assessment criteria appropriate to the target role. Training is necessary for assessors in technical areas, such as observation and interview techniques, and raises their awareness of diversity issues. Feedback should be given to both the successful as well as unsuccessful candidates. The assessment centres activities should regularly refresh to avoid over-familiarity on the part of candidates and assessors. DESIGN OF A SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTER: The successful assessment centre is well defined on how well it has been designed. Before designing its best to review the nature and purpose of an assessment centre. The important feature is to consider the skills and abilities assessed are actually relevant to the job in question. An assessment centre is a step further in selection procedure, it is held either on employers premises or in a hotel, which normally lasts one or two days. The process which usually involves in designing is as follows: While designing the assessment centre the time duration of the centre is taken into consideration. For instance, for senior most people, one day might not be sufficient. The second most important criteria is the location of the assessment centre, which deals with the proper surroundings and accessibility for candidates. Create a Task list and match with roles and goals given by the company. Create a questionnaire related to the task list. Use the competencies well through knowledge and skills. DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPETENCIES: Different competencies generally are developed as framework to be used as a reference or resource. The purpose of the resources database is to assist users to identify the many existing competency-based resources currently in use. The database is not exhaustive, but contains numerous examples of the resources that were tapped to identify competencies in the development of the high growth industries. A competency is demonstrated or mastered in a job and can be easily transferred to another job. These resources generally contain descriptive information about the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in the field. Managerial Competencies: The competencies which are considered to be important for staff with managerial or supervisory responsibility with sizeable budget to manage, which includes directors and senior posts. Some managerial competencies could be more relevant for specific fields; however they are applied in the organization. These competencies include: 1) Team leadership 2) Change management 3) Analysis and decision-making. 4) Interpersonal sensitivity. Technical/ Functional Competencies: Some specific competencies which are taken into consideration to perform any job in the organisation within a defined technical or functional area of work. Those competencies are as follows: 1) Industrial process sectors. 2) Finance and administration 3) Human resource management and environmental management. Generic Competencies: Competencies which are considered essential for all staff, regardless of their function or level include: 1) Communication programme execution. 2) Processing tools. 3) Business awareness. 4) Achievement and motivation. STEPS INVOLVED FOR SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTRE: The assessment centre should be very clear about the objectives. They should have a proper planning and organising of all the departments which are involved with them for two or three days. The assessor should look for different competencies which are being evaluated in the assessment centre. When the assessor is assessing the candidates working environment is taken into consideration. The assessment centres should be well known for their good and different variety of exercise so that the candidates feel motivated. The vital step involved for successful assessment centre is giving feedback to everybody. Successful as well as those candidates who did not get selected. MAIN ELEMENTS OF ASSEMENTS CENTERS: Elements of assessment centres are used in anglicising and zeroing in on relevant behaviours to be assessed and evaluated. The assessment centre use different exercises and techniques to select or assess the candidates. The assessor carefully examines the candidates while the candidates are doing exercises, on the bases of performance the candidate which has potential or capable for the job they got selected. The assessors who are selected for conducting interview they are trained, the assessor must be external of the organisation or the organisation needs to hire them or it should be from organisation itself like the HR managers. The assessor observes the candidates and records the observed behaviour of the participants. The assessment centre does job analyses before conducting interviews. There are seven important element of the assessment centre: PRESENTATION: In the interview process this is the most important exercise because the assessor or the management team will assess the candidates, in this exercise the candidate gets a topic and they have to prepare that topic in specific time and that topics are highly job specific. The candidates shows their communication skills, problem solving skills, and confidence level, how they interact with the assessor. GROUP INTERVIEWS: The purpose of the group interview in the assessment centre exercises is to observe candidates interpersonal skills and personality when he or she is working with other people in a group. After the group interview, the assessors reduced the number of candidates and one-on- one interview is set up. The important employers working in organisation can check the candidates interactions with other people. In the group interview the employees give the candidates a task to solve hypothetical problems in order to work in a group. 3) IN-TRAY EXERCISES: In this kind of exercises the employers involves the candidates in some paperwork from the role in question and asking them to deal with it. The in-tray exercise items will be specifically designed to measure job skills such as: ability to organise and prioritize work; analytically skills, written communication skills, and their delegation. In-tray exercise are the most vital components of assessment centres, not only because of variety of skills, attitudes and knowledge can be judged but because this exercise also has considerable face validity. In this way the candidate can see how it relates to the job they are applying for and therefore they tend to take it seriously. 4) ROLE-PLAYS: Role play is a type of assessment centre exercise which offers a chance to place candidates in the kind of situation. In role play the candidates get the role of employee who has to resolve the problems of the customer. In this exercise the management team assess the candidates who have problem solving skills and see that how they communicate in that situation and how they can handle. The assessor usually plays the role of the customer and the candidates play the role of the employee. 5) PSYCHOMETRIC EXERCISE: Psychometric test assess the ability and personality test, the assessment centre hire the professional assessor it is expensive. The external assessor are qualified, they can manage the recruitment process, interpret results and give feedback to the candidates so they can know about their strength and their weakness. The two types of psychometric tests: ABILITY TEST: The rough ability test, it can be checked that and purified the ability of the employees by assessment centres. It is also helpful to check the skills and ability for the vacancy. Ability testing is a very common and effective selection tool, particularly for identifying unsuitable candidates. PERSONALITY TEST: The personality assessment provides the evidences and direct selection process. It also highlights the area where candidate can work. Personality assessment also provides the opportunity to glimpse in the candidates personality during the interview. Personal questionnaire is important to provide feedback for candidates as well as it also helps to understand the personal profile of the candidate. The feedback session is the best idea for decision making process for any position. Personality test remains contentious but is widely used in United Kingdom. GROUP EXERCISE: Interpersonal competency is usually tested by means of variety of group exercises that a group of four or five candidates carry out together. The aim in group exercise is to allow assessors to observe how each candidate behaves in relation to the others. Here the leadership qualities are anglicised and the negotiating skills of the candidates. Some assessment centres give groups some task to complete, which include management games more commonly used for developmental purposes. EVALUATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTRES: The selection and decision for hiring and promotion of the employees can be made by evaluation of assessment centre. Assessment centres also identify the training and development according to requirements and needs of vacancies or positions. The most essential characteristic of assessment centre is to evaluate participants potential and management skills. The emphasis is to identity the selection and promotion decisions of participants are on the basis of essential job performance dimensions. Deficiencies on critical job dimensions of participants can be anglicised by using training and development purposes. The feedback and employee development suggestions that result from an assessment form the basis for training programs that are designed to correct performance problems. In an organisation assessment centers can serves as needs assessment programs that identify employee development and hiring needs. ASSESSORS: In the assessment centers the role of an assessor is very vital. The assessors are given their own briefing packs. These packs contain description of the exercise and a list of the behaviors or answers that they should be looking for. Organisation usually recruit trained additional assessors if required for selection process, however trained internal assessor are used from the centre. This comprises a combination of HR specialists with experience in assessment techniques and line managers. CANDIDATES: Here the candidates are also presented with the briefing pack which contains the objectives of task and any information required to complete it. In each exercise, candidates are rated independently by two or more assessors, using behavioral scales for each competency being assessed. TEST VALIDITY: ADVANTAGES OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: The most important advantage of an assessment is their flexibility. They are not time-restricted as interviews. The data which is collected by the assessment center helps them to recruit the right candidates for the right position; by this process the reliability and validity of the selection decision is improved. The assessment centers which are designed well provide evidence of the most valid method of predicting a candidates performance in a job. The way in which the assessment center collects data is the most fair and objective to make recruitment decision. Assessment center improves planning and administration. Now a days many organisation choose assessment center for recruiting large number of candidates because to avoid juggling interviews and managing the recruitment process. Assessment centers apply these for recruitment such as graduate recruitment, training scheme intakes. The nature of the assessment centre also allows organizations to get closer to the selection process by observing how candidates perform the sort of tasks actually found in the role for which they are being assessed. These sorts of real life exercises can provide a good indicator of a candidates probable future performance. LIMITATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An effective centre requires a considerable investment in time and resources-the design process alone can take many months. Many organizations already have detailed job descriptions and competency frameworks in place, simplifying this part of the design process. Assessment centers are expensive to run but appear to be rated highly by employers and candidates alike. Aside from psychometrics test and interviews, candidates can expect to undertake in-tray exercises, role-plays and group activities, as well as being required to make presentations. Care should be taken when using high-validity selection methods to ensure that they operate fairly and are free of bias against any particular group of candidates. CONCLUSION: http://www.howto.co.uk/careers/questions-at-interview/assessment_centres/

The Stone Angel :: essays research papers

The Stone Angel Event by event, memory by memory the scales fall from Hagar's eyes until she sees clearly her own nature. No longer blaming others, she dies courageously by being fully responsible for her own life. What are the stages of Hager's enlightenment. The novel The Stone Angel portrays an image of a ninety-year-old woman, Hagar Currie, who confronts her past of personal failures in an attempt for rejuvenation before death. Hagar has lead a life dominated by authority and memories of whom she is expected to be. As she goes through life she continually tries to escape from her fears and gain acceptance. Through events and journeys, Hagar is able to release herself from the restrictions that have prevented her from leading a satisfactory life. Thus, to reconcile with herself and her fate, Hagar must flee from three domestic confinements: her father, her husband and her eldest son. As a child, Hagar was hampered by the pride, social standards and disciplines of her father, Jason Currie. Hagar's life had been dominated by the authority of her father and that is what drove her away from him. Jason Currie was a very proud, self-made man who pushed his values on his children. It is easily seen that many of the father's traits belong, also, to his daughter, such as his pride and stubbornness. Hagar is often closely compared to the stone angel that stands over her mother's grave, doubly blind. It is for this reason that Hagar lived a joyless life for which she was unable to express herself. Jason Currie was excessively caught up in his own dynasty, his image, and was determined to have his children uphold this image. He wanted his children, especially Hagar, to display his pride and behave at the level of his standards. Hager's emotional reactions and superficial outlook were determined by the views expressed by her father's examples and reinforced by punishment. With a father who will tolerate no weakness of any kind, Hagar learned how not to express any emotions. Such as when Hagar says "Oh, look! The funniest wee things, scampering" (Pg.9) while looking at the sultanas, her father's commodities. This was an insult to her father's reputation and pride and makes it known through punishment. However, no matter how much he strikes her hands she refuses to cry. It is at this point that the reader sees how much like her father she really is.

Managing Health and Safety at Work Act Essay

Review of health and safety roles and responsibilities Identify 2 pieces of legislation relating to health, safety and welfare relevant to the workplace I have identified, The Health and safety at work act 1974 and Management health and safety at work regulations 1999. The health and safety at work act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering all work related health and safety in the UK. It sets out employers responsibilities for your health and safety at work. The Management of health and safety at work regulations make the assessment of risks a cornerstone of UK health and safety requirements. Duties statute law imposes on both the manager and the team and the managers responsibilities contained within the organisations health and safety policy. The most important responsibility as an employee is to take reasonable care of your own health and safety and if possible avoid wearing jewelry and tie hair back when using the machines. To take reasonable care not to put other people , fellow employees and members of the public at risk by what you do or don’t do in the course of your work. You should co-operate with your employer, making sure you get proper training and you understand and follow the company’s health and safety policies. An employee should never interfere with or misuse anything that’s been provided for your health, safety or welfare. It is your duty to report any injuries, strains or illnesses you suffer as a result of doing your job. You should always tell your employer if something happens that might affect your ability to work eg becoming pregnant or suffering an injury. All employers must make the workplace safe and prevent risks to health and ensure that the machinery is safe to use, and that safe working practices are set up and followed. The employer needs to provide adequate first aid facilities and tell you about any potential hazards from the work you do and give you information, instructions, training and supervision as needed. Emergency plans need to be set up in case of emergency. Make sure that ventilation, temperature, lighting, and toilet, washing and rest facilities all meet health, safety and welfare requirements. Check that the right work equipment is provided and is properly used and regularly maintained. Ensure that the right warning signs are provided and looked after.Report certain accidents, injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences to either the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the local authority, depending on the type of business. Explain what is meant by a ‘competent person’ in your workplace A competent person is someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities that allow them to assist members properly. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help you need. When getting help you should give preference to those in your own organization who have the appropriate level of competence which includes the employer themselves before looking for help from outside. You must consult health and safety representatives in good time on the arrangements for competent help. Identify 2 ways you can provide health and safety information, instruction and training in your team One way you can provide health and safety information is by using leaflets and posters around the work place. You can get these from various sites including: – Sector Skills Councils (www.sscalliance.org.uk); – UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES)(www.ukces.org.uk); – trade unions or trade associations; – further education colleges; – private training organisations; – independent health and safety consultants; – employer bodies (eg Chambers of Commerce); and – qualification-awarding bodies. To find a course leading to an accredited health and safety qualification look at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority website www.qca.org.uk/qualifications. Secondly you could offer on the job training or classroom based learning individually or in groups. Computer based or interactive learning is a very fast, accurate and fun way of teaching the employees.

A Litte Kindness Goes a Long Way Illustration Essay

A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way Have you ever thought about what happens when people are kind, or how it feels to be filled with benevolence to other human beings? Recently I have found myself being very kind to other people and having concern for their feelings. Time flies by too fast to be hateful or rude to other people. We as humans often underestimate the power of kindness and caring, and don’t take into consideration of other peoples feelings. A simple smile or an honest compliment can change somebody's life.One example of showing kindness or curiosity for somebody elses feelings happened to me at the Country Market, the store i work at. It was about 8:00 p. m. on a tuesday night when I had just finished for the day and was coming home from school and the gym. I stopped at Country Market, and I went inside to get a drink and pay for my gas. The lines for the cash registers were filled on both sides with about 10 customers waiting at each. I was third in line, behind a middle aged man in his 40’s, and finally an elderly man in front of the line was checking out.The elderly man was in his upper 70’s, and he had a handful of groceries. The cashier asked the man if he needed help out, he replied â€Å"No thank you I can take this out myself†. The old man was struggling to get his groceries, and I noticed the middle aged man was hesitating to help him, so I set my drinks down and went up to the counter and grabbed his groceries and took them out. Little did I know when I was carrying out the mans groceries the middle aged man saw my act of kindness, and he paid for my drinks and my forty six dollars in gas.Another example of ways to show kindness and how it can impact other people's lives is just by smiling. The power of smiling is amazing, and it takes little or no effort and does not cost you anything. There is a website called To Write Love On Her Arms. TWLOHA is an anti-suicide non profit organization that aims at random acts of kindness or speaking out to those in need. They have a forum on their website about smiling and there has been a handful of cases where teenagers were thinking about committing suicide or feeling so down that they did not wanna live.These teenagers told their stories on this website and there were two that I read that was very sad. This girl said that she was going to kill herself, and the only reason that she did not is because a random old man opened a door for her at school and said â€Å"Smile it looks beautiful on you†. Now this young woman works for TWLOHA and is helping other people with their problems. Other examples of kind acts giving good karma is a story of an old man that works out at my gym with me by the name Jason Overstreet.Jason told me that he was in the drive through for Taco Bell when he decided to pay for the vehicle behind him. He said â€Å"he felt like a million bucks the rest of the day†. A week or so went on when Jason decided to go back t hrough Taco Bell again when he went to get his food from the drive through window. The girl that was working the window recognized him, and told him â€Å"It was really an amazing thing you started the other day. While you bought that lady’s lunch then she bought the car behind hers.It was like a chain reaction that lasted about 7 cars†. Jason was astonished at what he had started just by one simple act of kindness. Anyone can give random kindness anytime of the day. All they have to do is share a bit of their lives with others, or make a simple smile. When you are kind, you bring joy and happiness into the lives of others, and you will also be happier, too. Share your happiness with others, because happiness and kindness make the world go around. You never know when you can change someone's life with a simple smile.

The Best Way for a Reporter to Cover a Speech

The Best Way for a Reporter to Cover a Speech Covering speeches, lectures and forums – any live event that basically involves people talking - might seem easy at first. After all, you just have to stand there and take down what the person says, right? In fact, covering speeches can be tricky for the beginner. Indeed, there are two big mistakes novice reporters make when covering a speech or lecture for the first time. They dont get enough direct quotes (in fact, Ive seen speech stories with no direct quotes at all.)They cover the speech chronologically, writing it out in the order it occurred like a stenographer would. Thats the worst thing you can do when covering a speaking event. So here are some tips on how to cover a speech the right way, the very first time you do it. Follow these, and youll avoid a tongue-lashing from an angry editor. Report Before You Go Get as much information as you can before the speech. This initial reporting should answer such questions as: What’s the topic of the speech? What’s the background of the speaker? What’s the setting or reason for the speech? Who’s likely to be in the audience? Write Background Copy Ahead of Time Having done your pre-speech reporting, you can bang out some background copy for your story even before the speech begins. This is especially helpful if you’ll be writing on a tight deadline. Background material, which typically goes at the bottom of your story, includes the kind of information you gathered in your initial reporting – the background of the speaker, the reason for the speech, etc. Take Great Notes This goes without saying. The more thorough your notes, the more confident you’ll be when you write your story. Get The â€Å"Good† Quote Reporters often talk about getting a â€Å"good† quote from a speaker, but what do they mean? Generally, a good quote is when someone says something interesting, and says it in an interesting way. So be sure to take down plenty of direct quotes in your notebook so youll have plenty to choose from when you write your story. Forget Chronology Don’t worry about the chronology of the speech. If the most interesting thing the speaker says comes at the end of his speech, make that your lede. Likewise, if the most boring stuff comes at the start of the speech, put that at the bottom of your story – or leave it out entirely. Get The Audience Reaction After the speech ends, always interview a few audience members to get their reaction. This can sometimes be the most interesting part of your story. Watch For The Unexpected Speeches are generally planned events, but it’s the unexpected turn of events that can make them really interesting. For instance, does the speaker say something especially surprising or provocative? Does the audience have a strong reaction to something the speaker says? Does an argument ensue between the speaker and an audience member? Watch for such unplanned, unscripted moments – they can make an otherwise routine story interesting. Get a Crowd Estimate Every speech story should include a general estimate of how many people are in the audience. You don’t need an exact number, but there’s a big difference between an audience of 50 and one of 500. Also, try to describe the general makeup of the audience. Are they college students? Senior citizens? Business people?

Dont Be Vexed by Vexillology

Dont Be Vexed by Vexillology Dont Be Vexed by Vexillology Dont Be Vexed by Vexillology By Maeve Maddox There is historical proof that Jeanne dArc had three ensigns Two were for military use: her Battle Standard, which was large in size and her Pennon which was small. The third was a religious banner made for the priests and men of the army to assemble around for morning and evening prayers. This excerpt contains four synonyms for flag: ensign, standard, pennon, and banner. English has many others. In modern usage, an ensign is a countrys official national symbol, used to identify ships, airplanes, and official installations like military camps and embassies. This is the flag flown on patriotic occasions. A pennon was a small flag, attached to a knights lance for identification. It was long, like a streamer, and usually triangular or swallow-tailed. A standard was larger and was fixed to a pole that could be stuck in the ground. The word banner is often used for its emotional connotations, as in the U.S. national anthem: O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave. In US usage, the flag is called an ensign when it is displayed on a vessel, the colors when carried by someone on foot, and a standard when displayed on a car or an aircraft, and by the cavalry. Websters thesaurus gives the following flag synonyms, most of them not much used: banderole, banner, bannerol, burgee, color, ensign, gonfalon, gonfanon, jack, oriflamme, pendant, pennant, pennon, standard, streamer A jack is the identifying flag flown on a ship. The Union Jack is the familiar British flag. When flown on land, it is properly called simply the Union. (See Wikipedia article for a differing view on the use of Union Flag. The U.S. naval jack is the canton (the blue part with the stars) of the national ensign. NOTE: The Union Jack began as the canton of a larger flag. A burgee is a triangular pennant flown by members of yacht clubs. You can see a picture of one in the Wikipedia article on maritime flags. The word oriflamme is familiar to readers of medieval history and romance. It was the sacred banner of the French kings, first mentioned in 1124. In England, people turn out for the trooping of the colour, a patriotic parade held in June to celebrate the Queens birthday. U.S. military personnel on active service salute the colors twice a day: in the morning as the ensign is raised, and at sunset when it is lowered. In his unpleasant poem, Ethiopia Saluting the Colors, Walt Whitman uses a word not in Websters list, guidon, to refer to the cavalry flags carried by Shermans soldiers on their march to the sea. The study of flags is called vexillology. The word comes from vexillum, Latin for flag. You can find all sorts of fascinating vexillological information on the Flags of the World site. For rules and regulations surrounding the U.S. flag, and some interesting violations thereof, visit the Betsy Ross flag site. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the FutureLatin Plural Endings20 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity

Certainty Essay Example for Free

Certainty Essay Essay Topic: Certainty Choose cite format: APA MLA Harvard Chicago ASA IEEE AMA company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints The Purpose of the Certainty of Objects Requirement – For a Trust to exist, A must: (i) hold a specific claim-right or power; and (ii) be under a duty to B not to use that claim-right or power for A’s own benefit (unless and to the extent that A is also a beneficiary of the Trust). In other words, for a Trust to exist, A must be under the core Trust duty. The certainty requirements for a Trust simply reflect the fact that A must be under a duty to B in relation to a specific right. The certainty of objects requirement ensures that: (i) A owes a duty to a specific person; and (ii) A’s duty is certain enough to be enforced. The certainty of objects requirement can sometimes be seen as an inconvenient obstacle that can trip up a party (A0) trying to set up a Trust. However, it serves a vital purpose: a court cannot enforce a duty unless that duty is adequately defined. This point is not peculiar to Trusts. For example, an agreement between A and B can only impose a contractual duty on A to B if it is satisfies a certainty test: the nature of A’s duty to B must be adequately defined. In understanding the certainty of objects requirement, it is important to ask what information the court needs in order to enforce A’s supposed duty to B. If that information is lacking, A’s supposed duty cannot be enforced; so A will be under no duty to B; so there can be no Trust. 2. Discretionary Trusts – A discretionary Trust is a form of Trust (see p 222-4 of the book): it can exist only if A is under the core Trust duty. Example 1a: A0 transfers ? 100,000 to A subject to a duty: (i) not to use that money for A’s own benefit; and (ii) to invest the money prudently; and (iii) at the end of 21 years, to pay any unspent part of the ? 00,000 and its income to Oxfam. A0 also stipulates that, during that 21 years, A can, if he wishes, pay all or any of the ? 100,000 and its income to all or any of A0’s children or grandchildren. In such a case, there is clearly a Trust: A is under the core Trust duty. And Oxfam is a beneficiary of that Trust: A owes the core Trust duty to Oxfam. A0’s children and grandchildren are not, however, beneficiaries of a Trust: A does not owe them the core Trust duty. Rather, A has a power: A can, if he wishes, give all or any of the money to all or any f A0’s children and grandchildren. 1 See eg G Scammell & Nephew Ltd v Ouston [1941] AC 251. 1 – A discretionary Trust is a particular form of Trust: it exists where A, in addition to being under the core Trust duty, has a power to choose how to distribute the benefit of the right A holds on Trust. Example 1b: A0 transfers ? 100,000 to A subject to a duty: (i) not to use that money for A’s own benefit; and (ii) to pay the money, in equal shares, to all of A0’s children and grandchildren. In such a case, there is clearly a Trust: A is under the core Trust duty. There is no discretionary Trust: A does not have a power to choose how to distribute the benefit of the ? 100,000. Rather, there is a fixed Trust: A is under a duty to distribute the benefit of the right held on Trust in a specific way. Example 1c: A0 transfers ? 100,000 to A subject to a duty: (i) not to use that money for A’s own benefit; and (ii) to invest the money prudently; and (iii) by the end of 21 years, to have distributed that ? 100,000 and its income, as A sees fit, amongst all or any of A0’s children or grandchildren. In such a case, there is a discretionary Trust. A does owe the core Trust duty to A0’s children and grandchildren; but A has a power to choose how to distribute the benefit of the ? 100,000. 3. Discretionary Trusts & Certainty of Objects: The â€Å"Any Given Person† Test Example 2: A0 transfers ? 100,000 to A subject to a duty: (i) not to use that money for A’s own benefit; and (ii) to invest the money prudently; and (iii) by the end of 21 years, to have distributed that ? 100,000 and its income, as A sees fit, amongst all or any of A0’s relatives. In Example 2, there seems to be a problem. A0 has attempted to set up a discretionary Trust. However, such a Trust depends on A being under a duty not to pay any of the money to a person who is not a relative of A0. But can a court enforce that duty? For example, let’s say A chooses to pay out ? 5,000 to X. Is there a meaningful test the court can use to decide if X really is a relative of A0? If not, a key part of A’s intended duty cannot be enforced; in that case, the intended discretionary Trust cannot exist. And, if that occurs, A will hold the ? 100,000 on Resulting Trust for A0 (or, if A0 has died, for A0’s estate). We can sum up this point by saying that, for a discretionary Trust to exist, it must pass the â€Å"any given person† test: a court must be able to tell of any given person (eg X) whether or not that person falls within the class of those to whom A is permitted to distribute the benefit of the right A holds on Trust. 2 That â€Å"any given person† test is often referred to as the â€Å"given postulant† test. In re Baden (No 2),3 the Court of Appeal considered whether a discretionary Trust for A0’s relatives could pass that test. 2 3 See per Lord Wilberforce in McPhail v Doulton [1971] AC 424 at 456. [1973] Ch 9. Stamp LJ held that the discretionary Trust was valid. His Lordship reached that conclusion by taking a very narrow view of relatives as including only A0’s statutory next of kin (ie those close relatives specified by statute as being able to acquire A0’s rights if A0 dies without making a valid will). 4 Sachs and Megaw LJJ took a much broader approach to the term â€Å"relative†, defining it as anyone sharing an ancestor with A0. 5 That definition seems to cause a problem: if X claims that he and A0 had the same great-great-great-great-great grandmother, can the court really test that claim? Sachs and Megaw LJJ both dealt with that point by saying that the onus is on X to prove that claim; until X does so, it must be assumed that X does not share an ancestor with A0. 6 The approach of Sachs and Megaw LJJ (assuming X is out of the permitted class, unless and until X can show otherwise) seems to make the â€Å"any given person† test redundant. For example, if A0 tries to set up a discretionary Trust in which A has a power to distribute the benefit of a right to anyone who is a â€Å"good person†, we might expect A0’s attempt to fail: there is no way for a court to tell if X is or is not a â€Å"good person†. However, on the approach of Sachs and Megaw LJJ, we could instead say that the discretionary Trust is valid – it is just that, if X cannot prove he is a â€Å"good person†, it will be assumed that he is not such a person. It seems that neither Sachs LJ nor Megaw LJ wanted to leave the law in such a way as to permit there to be a discretionary Trust in favour of anyone who is a â€Å"good person†. So each judge added a further certainty requirement. Sachs LJ stated that the class of those to whom A can distribute the benefit of A’s right must be â€Å"conceptually certain†: that is, it must be possible to come up with a definition of the class. Practical, evidential problems as to whether X is or is not within that definition can be dealt with by applying the simple rule that X is out of the class until he proves otherwise. So the â€Å"good person† discretionary Trust will be invalid as there is no clear way of defining that term: it is conceptually uncertain. In contrast, whilst it may be difficult, or even impossible, to tell if X is or is not a relative of A0, that evidential uncertainty will not defeat the discretionary Trust. Megaw LJ added a different requirement, stating that a discretionary Trust can only be valid if there are a â€Å"substantial number† of people who are clearly within the class to whom A can distribute the benefit of A’s right. 8 Again, that requirement can be used to mean that a â€Å"good person† discretionary Trust is invalid, whereas a â€Å"relatives† discretionary Trust is not. The extra requirements imposed by Sachs and Megaw LJJ do not assist in fulfilling the purpose of the â€Å"any given person† test: making sure the court can tell if A distributes the benefit of the right to a person outside the permitted class. It may be that each requirement instead aims to ensure that the discretionary Trust makes some practical 4 5 [1973] Ch 9 at 28-29. Ibid at 21-22 (following the lead of the first instance judge, Brightman J). 6 Here, again, the lead of Brightman J was followed. 7 Ibid at 20. 8 Ibid at 24. 3 sense: for example, if it is not possible to give a conceptually certain definition to the class, it may well be that no-one can show he is within that class. Megaw LJ’s requirement for a â€Å"substantial number† to be within the class is of course quite vague: the point seems to be that, for a iscretionary Trust to make sense, A must have a genuine choice to make as to who will receive the benefit of A’s right. However, that point is not always correct: for example, the discretion in a discretionary Trust could come from A having a power to decide how much of the benefit of A’s right a particular individual should receive. 4. 4. 1 Discretionary Trusts & Certainty of Objects: Further Tests The â€Å"full list† test? At one point, it was suggested that a discretionary trust could be valid only if the court could draw up a full list of the people to whom A is permitted to distribute the benefit of a right. On that view, in Example 2, a discretionary trust would arise only if it is possible to draw up a full list of A0’s relatives. However, in McPhail v Doulton, the House of Lords rejected that view. 9 It was based on the idea that, if A failed in his duty to distribute the benefit of the right, a court would have to step in and decide how to distribute. And, to avoid favouring any one person, the court would have to order equal division of the benefit of the right amongst all members of the class. On that view, a discretionary trust would become, in effect, like the fixed Trust in Example 1b: so a full list would be necessary. In McPhail v Doulton, Lord Wilberforce pointed out that, if A fails in his duty to distribute the benefit of a right, a court does not have to order equal division. 10 After all, such equal division could be one of the worst ways of distributing the benefit of a right: for example, splitting up a fund of ? 100,000 equally among 1,000 people would mean that no one person gains a substantial benefit from the discretionary trust. So, given the other means by which the court can step in to execute a discretionary trust, there is no need to apply the â€Å"full list† test. 4. 2 The â€Å"administrative workability† test The fact that a court may need to step in and execute a discretionary trust does not mean that a discretionary trust must pass the â€Å"full list† test. Nonetheless, it may have some impact. For example, if the terms of the attempted discretionary trust mean that there is no sensible plan a court could adopt to execute that supposed trust, then A0’s attempt to set up a discretionary trust must fail. This point may explain the (rarely relevant) â€Å"administrative workability† test. 11 9 [1971] AC 424. Ibid at 456-7. 11 That test is referred to by Lord Wilberforce in McPhail v Doulton: [1971] 1 AC 424 at 457. 10 4 For example, in one case,12 A0 (a council shortly to disappear as part of a reorganisation) attempted to set up a discretionary trust (of a large sum of money) for the benefit of all the former residents of the area covered by that council. The class of people to whom A could distribute the benefit of its right would thus include over 2 million people. It was found that the council’s attempt to set up a discretionary Trust failed: the planned Trust was â€Å"administratively unworkable†. The problem here may be that, if A fails to perform his duty to distribute, the court will have to step in. And is there any sensible way order a court could make to distribute the benefit of A’s right? We have to bear in mind the need for a court to avoid making the type of contentious political decision which it is ill-suited to make and which may cause resentment. 3 Of course, in most cases, no such problems arise: the â€Å"administrative workability† test rarely prevents an intended discretionary trust from arising. This explanation of the â€Å"administrative workability† test explains why it applies to discretionary trusts but not to attempts to give A a power (as in Example 1a). If A chooses not to exercise a power to distribute the benefit of a right then, as A is under no duty to do so, a court does not need to step in and order some form of distribution. There is thus no risk of a court facing the dilemma that would arise if an administratively unworkable discretionary trust were allowed to be valid. 4. 3 The â€Å"non-capricious† test Although the â€Å"administrative workability† test does not apply to powers, that does not mean that powers are free from certainty tests. For example if A has a power to distribute the benefit of a right to all or any of a certain class of people then, as is the case with a discretionary trust, A is under a duty not to distribute outside that class. So, with a power as with a iscretionary trust, the â€Å"any given person† test applies:14 the power is only valid if a court can tell, should A exercise the power in favour of X, whether or not X is in the permitted class. Sometimes, when accepting a power, A also comes under a duty to act loyally and responsibly when considering whether to exercise that power. In such a case, for example, A (as is the case if A holds a right on a discretionary trust) cannot simply ignore the power: he is under a duty to members of the class of potential recipients to consider periodically whether or not to exercise the power. 5 In these cases, A can be said to have a â€Å"fiduciary power†: A is not just under the negative duty not to distribute outside the permitted class; he also has some positive duties in relation to the power. It has been held that A0’s attempt to set up such a power will fail if the intended power is â€Å"capricious†: if there are no sensible criteria A can apply in considering whether and how 12 13 R v District Auditor, ex p West Yorkshire MCC [1986] RVR 24 (noted by Harpum [1986] CLJ 391). For example, would the money be better spent on paying for a new school, or a new hospital, or new sports facilities? 4 See eg re Gulbenkian [1970] AC 508. 15 For a discussion of A’s duties in such a case see eg per Megarry V-C in re Hay [1982] 1 WLR 202, esp at 210. 5 to exercise his power. 16 This does not mean that, when giving A the intended fiduciary power, A0 needs to spell out what factors A should take into account. However, it does mean that if the supposed power is â€Å"capricious† (ie there is no sensible scheme A can come up with) then A0’s attempt to give A the power must fail. Two points are worth noting about this â€Å"non-capricious† test. First, if it is linked to A0’s attempt to impose a duty on A to act loyally and responsibly when considering whether to exercise a power, it must apply to an attempt to set up a discretionary trust: such a duty is a key part of a discretionary trust. Second, in practice, it is very unlikely that this test will present a problem: people rarely go round setting up bizarre powers that cannot be considered in a sensible way. 4. 4 The â€Å"one person† test Example 3: A0, an owner of a large number of paintings, dies. In his will, he instructs A (his executor) to allow â€Å"each of my friends† to purchase one of those paintings each, at half its market value. In such a case, A0 does not attempt to set up a discretionary Trust: A has no power to choose how to distribute his rights. Rather, each friend of A has a fixed entitlement. A0 is attempting to make a conditional gift: if X satisfies a particular condition (if he is a friend of A0) he has a specific right. Nonetheless, it may seem that there is still a certainty problem: how can A (or the court) tell if X is or is not a friend of A0? However, in re Barlow, the essential facts of which were identical to Example 3,17 Browne-Wilkinson J held that the conditional gift was valid. His Lordship noted that an attempt to set up a discretionary Trust for â€Å"friends of A0† would fail: applying Sachs LJ’s test in re Baden (No 2), the term â€Å"friends of A0† is conceptually uncertain. However, a conditional gift should be treated differently: if there was just one person who could clearly show he was, on any reasonable test, a friend of A0, that person is entitled to acquire one of the paintings. 8 The test applied in re Barlow has been criticised. However, it can be defended. If an attempted discretionary Trust (eg in favour of â€Å"friends of A0†) fails a certainty test, then someone who could have benefitted from A’s power (eg a clear friend of A0) will miss out. But, in any case, that person only had a chance of receiving a benefit; he had no legal guarantee. In contrast, if a conditional gift is found to be invalid when there is a person who definitely stands to benefit from it, that person is deprived of a definite entitlement: a right given to him by A0. Certainty. (2018, Oct 14).

Light experiment Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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TET Offensive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

TET Offensive - Essay Example Johnson, upon assuming the Presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, inherited not only Kennedy's social reform policies but also the United States' involvement in Vietnam. He had never wanted to become a 'war president'. His primary objective had been to ensure a legacy of a president who gave his country social reform policies and programs devoted to establishing the 'Great Society' and first three years saw him work almost exclusively towards achieving it.2 This solitary concentration cost him conscientiousness with regard to the Vietnam Conflict. During the first three years Johnson was responsible for establishing groundbreaking strides in the Civil Rights Movement, development of programs to provide training for the poor, such as Job Corps and VISTA, establishment of the Medicare/Medicaid Programs, and creation of educational enrichment programs for disadvantaged children such as Head Start, to name just a few3; Ironically, however, these programs which would come to become an intrinsic part of American society, is not what Johnson is remembered for. He as a President is responsible for leading the United States into the longest period of continuous armed battle in its history - The Vietnam Conflict. ... In simpler words, he underestimated the commitment and investment that were necessary for launching a sustained Vietnam Conflict.4 Although the TET offensive is hailed by many as the turning point of the war, its political ramifications were laid years earlier. During an address at John Hopkins University in 1965, LBJ stated "We fight because we must fight it [the Vietnam Conflict] if we are to live in a world where every country can shape its own destiny. And only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure".5 In fact, the United States' entry into Vietnam was anything but altruistic in nature. America involved itself for purely political motives, and in Johnson's defense the events leading up to it did predate his presidency. However, he escalated the political stakes and ultimately lost. The war in Vietnam was not a war of major battle engagements, although at times there were some. Vietnam was more of guerrilla warfare. There were neither defined battle lines nor set plans. With the Vietcong's endless manpower supply, they were able; it seemed, to hold America, the 'super power' at bay indefinitely. By February of 1966 General Westmoreland asked for a significant increase in manpower. What had begun as several thousand American soldiers had by this time escalated to over 400,000 combatants in Vietnam with no end in sight.Johnson, at this point, began to see his folly. He was stuck. On one hand he had to finance an ever increasing international war and on the other, his domestic commitment to social reform program, the Great Society. With no scope to compromise, he was trying to balance between the American public's acceptance and his power to exert his will upon them. Although he had avowed

Health Maintenance Organization vs. Health Savings Account Essay

Health Maintenance Organization vs. Health Savings Account - Essay Example Contributions to the plan are tax deductible and interest can effectively be accrued whilst the plan operates on a 'roll over' basis. The first point of view we shall look at here is from someone who opted for the Health Savings Account health plan. The individual here was actually in their mid-twenties and decided to take out the HSA plan at this relatively early stage in order to build a suitable sum of money that they could use to cover health costs at a later stage. However, less than a year later they found themselves in a position where the money was needed. The medical bill they incurred amounted to approximately $2000, however, due to the nature of the plan they were only liable for around 1400 of that. In addition, their employer had thus far contributed $560 and the remaining $840 could be deducted from taxes. Overall the individual only had to pay $168 on top of the annual premium which, given the circumstances, they felt was a good result. Moreover, the individual was imp ressed by the fact that the money could effectively cover aspects such as prescriptions, glasses and even visits to the dentist. The second account we shall deal with here also comes down on the side of the HSA plan as far as saving money is concerned. Their main point is how the fact that the contributions to the plan that are deducted from an individual's wages are actually done so at the pre-tax stage.

The Hero(ine)'s Journey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Hero(ine)'s Journey - Essay Example What is particularly interesting about this â€Å"mythological† approach to any given subject matter is that it nearly perfectly applies to the way that almost every story can be told. Evidence of this process can of course be seen with regards to the story of Odysseus. The author begins by recounting how the â€Å"ordinary world† presents the known reality and easy confines within Odysseus’ life will develop. In this way, the hero is presented as an entity that is uncomfortable and/or unaware of the underlying tension and struggle that brews beneath the surface. This develops the action into the secondary stage or â€Å"call to adventure†; represented by Odysseus choosing to â€Å"take the plunge† and embark upon his journey. ... tem with the â€Å"ordinary world†; acting as a type of buffer and constraint against the unknown dangers that very well exist within the confines of the unknown. This refusal is interesting in that it follows a spiritual undertone that often requires Odysseus to undergo a spiritual reassessment of morality in order to form a more realistic opinion with respect to the anticipated action that is awaiting him. In the fourth stage, the Odysseus receives mentorship; a fundamental aspect of the heroic development that he receives. The fifth stage revolves around the character stepping over the threshold which has thus far been the barrier for undertaking such an endeavor. This is of course a figurative and literal step in that it helps to define the way in which the character views their own circumstances as a function of the â€Å"mission† in which they are about to undertake. It is also not until this juncture that, according to the author, the character is fully committed to undergoing the demands and hardships that such a course of action necessarily implies. Similarly, the sixth step implies the character development that takes place once the character has stepped across the threshold. These developments are generally concentric around the tests, allies and enemies that the character encounters a function of endeavoring to complete his/her quest (Russel et al 22). Similarly, stages seven and eight refer to the lead up to and confrontation with the ordeal that has necessarily defined the struggle up until this point. As with any story and/or character revelation, the lead up to the action is oftentimes as intriguing to the audience as the action itself. In this manner, the author devotes some time to discussing the means by which screenwriters can further develop upon the

Leadership (Bill Gates) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership (Bill Gates) - Term Paper Example He can singularly be credited with launching the personal computer revolution that has helped billions of people to acquire personal computers and also changed the settings of the business world. Microsoft is today a very big corporation that employs more than 71,000 people in different facilities all over the world. Gates has for a long time functioned as the Chief Software Architect as well as Microsoft’s CEO (Strother, 2010). Transformational leadership helps companies to form different ideas which are then implemented. The corporate resources are injected into research to form more cutting-edge products. Transformational leaders usually have personal characteristics that assist them to inspire these type of changes in organizations (Mullins,  2010). Bill Gates, for instance, is known to be an aggressive, charismatic, and knowledgeable man who is also a visionary and an introvert. His original vision was to ensure that every home would have at least one personal computer. To this day, Bill Gates goes annually to Washington’s Hood Canal to come up with ideas about how to continue with the transformation of Microsoft. Microsoft employees are at this time encouraged to submit proposals of how they think the company can benefit from new services or products (Strother, 2010). If Bill Gates is impressed with any of these ideas, he returns to the Microsoft headquarters at Redman to develop the idea further. Due to practices such as these, Microsoft still maintains a strong vitality that has seen it continuously create innovative products. Microsoft has several research institutions; each of which are unique. It also has a suggestion box that allows employees to give their suggestions as well as recommendations to its managing directors. Bill Gates uses participative as well as delegative leadership styles to engage his employees. He has in the past allowed Microsoft’s research teams to freely create the

Health Maintenance Organization vs. Health Savings Account Essay

Health Maintenance Organization vs. Health Savings Account - Essay Example Contributions to the plan are tax deductible and interest can effectively be accrued whilst the plan operates on a 'roll over' basis. The first point of view we shall look at here is from someone who opted for the Health Savings Account health plan. The individual here was actually in their mid-twenties and decided to take out the HSA plan at this relatively early stage in order to build a suitable sum of money that they could use to cover health costs at a later stage. However, less than a year later they found themselves in a position where the money was needed. The medical bill they incurred amounted to approximately $2000, however, due to the nature of the plan they were only liable for around 1400 of that. In addition, their employer had thus far contributed $560 and the remaining $840 could be deducted from taxes. Overall the individual only had to pay $168 on top of the annual premium which, given the circumstances, they felt was a good result. Moreover, the individual was imp ressed by the fact that the money could effectively cover aspects such as prescriptions, glasses and even visits to the dentist. The second account we shall deal with here also comes down on the side of the HSA plan as far as saving money is concerned. Their main point is how the fact that the contributions to the plan that are deducted from an individual's wages are actually done so at the pre-tax stage.

Leadership (Bill Gates) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership (Bill Gates) - Term Paper Example He can singularly be credited with launching the personal computer revolution that has helped billions of people to acquire personal computers and also changed the settings of the business world. Microsoft is today a very big corporation that employs more than 71,000 people in different facilities all over the world. Gates has for a long time functioned as the Chief Software Architect as well as Microsoft’s CEO (Strother, 2010). Transformational leadership helps companies to form different ideas which are then implemented. The corporate resources are injected into research to form more cutting-edge products. Transformational leaders usually have personal characteristics that assist them to inspire these type of changes in organizations (Mullins,  2010). Bill Gates, for instance, is known to be an aggressive, charismatic, and knowledgeable man who is also a visionary and an introvert. His original vision was to ensure that every home would have at least one personal computer. To this day, Bill Gates goes annually to Washington’s Hood Canal to come up with ideas about how to continue with the transformation of Microsoft. Microsoft employees are at this time encouraged to submit proposals of how they think the company can benefit from new services or products (Strother, 2010). If Bill Gates is impressed with any of these ideas, he returns to the Microsoft headquarters at Redman to develop the idea further. Due to practices such as these, Microsoft still maintains a strong vitality that has seen it continuously create innovative products. Microsoft has several research institutions; each of which are unique. It also has a suggestion box that allows employees to give their suggestions as well as recommendations to its managing directors. Bill Gates uses participative as well as delegative leadership styles to engage his employees. He has in the past allowed Microsoft’s research teams to freely create the

Control being over business by government Essay Example for Free

Control being over business by government Essay What are the arguments for and against, greater control being exercised over business by government? How do these arguments differ between the countries of the group members? We would like to start the answer by an example of USA when they were heavily involved in the industrialization and expansion. People of all different occupations were involved in some part of the industrial revolution. However there was a debate over the government intervening in the building of infrastructure. Chief Justice John Marshall made many landmark court decisions which played a role in defining the business climate that developed during the industrial revolution and strengthened the central governments control over the business. Thus finally the government was involved in the early stages of the industrial revolution. The governments decision of this era laid the ground work of the future U.S. growth of the nation. Without these pro-business decisions, the United states would not have made the change from being agriculturally dependent to the industrialized nation it is today. [www.historyteacher.net/USProjects/myessay21.htm] Hence it sounds better in some situation and it doesnt in some. For example in China, local governments stand passively by as private firms aggressively reject long-standing official right because the government officials in south China are increasingly anxious to shed their responsibility for economic management. Also they fear the risks and dangers associated with the more complete market system that has emerged during the 1990s. As a result, Chinas southern provinces have already begun the process of separating government from business, while, in the north, leading officials emphasize the slogan separate government from enterprises but, fearing slow growth, practice the opposite. [www.pitt.edu/~tgrawski/paper98/china.html] To what extent do you think a change of government in a) UK would affect the business community? b) the countries of group members? It can have a great impact on businesses in UK or in other countries like India, China etc. For example: Regulatory systems can be improved to provide faster access to exploration land and clarification of aboriginal disputes, taxes such as corporate taxes, income taxes etc can be reduced, Business leaders can hope for a complete overhaul of the resource-rich provinces economic structure, Economic growth can be affected by change in government, it is expected that the new government can come up with creative solutions on how to reduce government indebtedness during its term, the new government will aim to solve deficit of balance of payments by boosting production through attracting direct foreign investments, also new government can change the manufacturing scenario in the country like instead of importing products, they can plan to manufacture in their own land which will indirectly reduce the unemployment in the manufacturing field. Also it can provide grant to those regions in which unemployment is high. [http://www.rba.hr/web/pdf/rrr/rba-rrr-012-2003-12-18.pdf] What are the implications of privatising a public sector business organisations? With privatization programs still active in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing debate on effects on economic development. To address such issues the representatives of privatization agencies of different nations established the African Privatization Network (APN) in November 1995. APN aims at promoting the concept of privatization and encouraging its implementation in African countries by sharing legislation and other relevant documentation; studying the nature and scope of privatization in each country according to its special circumstances and needs; and monitoring the process of privatization in Africa, identifying problems and obstacles and offering advice where required. The positive view of privatization suggests that it went ahead, in spite of domestic opposition, because politicians and bureaucrats perceived real benefits to themselves and their supporters. They could influence the sales to their own benefit, while, on the other hand, a more focused public sector improved service delivery. A well functioning private sector is essential for increasing economic growth and thus reducing poverty. Yet international development institutions recommend sophisticated policies to improve the business environment that governments in developing countries cannot successfully implement. The result is often a worsening of private sector performance. The promotion, support, financing, marketing and management of small and medium sized enterprises and industries is the core business of any privatisation programme. [ http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130679/]

Impact of Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Impact of Rapid Application Development (RAD) Impact of Rapid Application Development ABSTRACT This report is submitted in context to a study that was performed to analyze the Impact of Rapid Application Development (RAD) on the software industry using the context of the NASA weather forecasting system. The NASA existing weather forecasting system was studied for a new feature of exposing the NASA weather data to the other countries of the world using Rapid Application Development Platform. NASA is a world renowned organization that deals in space research and forecasting systems. NASA has an internal software system that collects weather data from the various NASA satellites and produce variety of forecasting reports for the next 24 hours that includes temperature, pressure, humidity , wind speed as the major reports. The other countries of the world has requested NASA to give them an API (Application programming Interface ) or a port from which they can import the weather data of NASA into XML format into their local servers after which they can use the it for their countries weather forecasting. The various system development methodologies including the popular Software Development Lifecycle method, Iterative method and Rapid Application Development methods were analyzed to choose the best methodology according to NASA requirements. During the course of the study it was observed that Rapid Application Development methodology works best when you have times and budgetary limitations as well as when you are assigned a limited but elite programming resources. The only thing that need to be maintained is that all the team members work together and there is We attached to the product/project development rather than I , because I word in these sort of small team can become a big danger of losing one or two good team members altogether. The report also includes the principles, realities and myth of the Rapid Application development Paradigms. It was observed that the timelines and the project deadlines can be achieved sooner in an efficient way by using Rapid Application development methodology and RAD project executed and implement at least the twice the speed and half the time taken by the regular Software development Life cycle. It was concluded from the study that Rapid Application Development will form the future backbone of software industry because of its effectiveness, less development and implementation time and more flexibility. Keywords:- Following is the list of important keywords and their definition which might be used through this report:- RAD :- Rapid application development SSADM :-Structured System Analysis and Design Method DSDM:- Dynamic System Development Method Waterfall Model Time Boxing Iterative Model UML :- Universal markup language OOP:- Object Oriented Paradigm/Programming UCD:- Use Case Diagram OOM:- Object Oriented Modeling GUI:- Graphical user Interface IDE:- Integrated development environment API:- Application Programming Interface NASA:-North Atlantic Space Association DLL:-Dynamic Linking Libraries. XML :- Extensible Markup Language Class Diagrams Sequential Diagrams Inroduction NASA or North Atlantic Space Association is a United States Government owned Space Research and Development Company. NASA has its own internal Weather forecasting department and specialized custom build weather forecasting software that connects to the US satellites receive various weather inputs from them and then calculates and forecasts the next 24 hour weather report that includes Temperature, Pressure, Humidity and Wind Speeds. During a recent United Nations Conference US government has accepted the proposal of other countries of the world to provide them weather forecasting data from NASA weather forecasting servers. Following are the project requirements that NASA has to fulfill:- The project development, testing and final implementation should not take more than 3 months. The project will only have the budget for 5 software developers. The project has to contain bare minimum only required important documentation and should not contain detail system specifications The first prototype for the other countries technical experts review has to be release withing15 days of project initialization. The rest of the project phases will work in iterative manner and based on client feedback. The feasibility study on various software development methodologies include software development Life Cycle (SDLC) and RAD was done , keeping in vision the product development cost and the stricter timelines and it was accepted to use Rapid Application Development or RAS as the software development methodology for the current system. LITERATURE REVIEW IMPACT OF RAD ON SOFTWARE INDUSTRY Before starting our discussion on RAD, let us take a closer look of what Agile Methodology is and a brief overview of its history and manifesto What is Agile Software Development? Agility is more attitude than process, more environment than methodology (Jigh Highsmith , April 6,2004 , Agile Project Management : Creating Innovative Projects ) Agile Software Development is a set of software development Methodologies based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self organizing cross function team. According to (HighSmith, 2002) Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment. Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability. Agile Modeling is based on a collection of principles, derived from the principles of Agile Alliance, such as importance of assuming simplicity when you are modeling and embracing change when you are working, because requirements do change in future (Scott Ambler , 2002 , Agile Modeling: Effective practices for extreme programming and the unified process, Wiley) History and Manifesto of Agile software development The definition of the agile software development methodology started evolving in mid 1990s as a part of strong opposition against the already existing standard, micro managed use of Waterfall Model for development. There were heavy cost and time schedules escalations in Waterfall Model because of the freezing of design phase first and then starting up with the development and implementation phases. The time when product use to get ready to be deployed at the client side, it is already obsolete for use, because most of the time client requirements change during the product development phase. In 2001, some most important prominent figures in the field of Agile development came together in Utah to discuss the ways of creating software in a lighter, faster and more people centric way. It was then only the Agile software development and Agile methodology term gets coined. In the same meet, they create Agile manifesto that includes the canonical definition of the Agile Development and accompanying agile principles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development ) Values and Principles of Agile Methodology:- As per the 2001 Agile Manifesto, following are stated as the values of the Agile methodologies:- Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools used. Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan Some of the principles envisioned behind Agile Manifesto are:- Customer satisfaction by rapid and continuous delivery of software system Working software is the principle measure of progress Even late changes in requirements are welcomed Close , Daily Cooperation between business people and developers Communication Simplicity Feedback Courage Humility

What Were The Causes Of The Russian Revolution Essay -- essays researc

Before the war. Before the war, there were lots of problems which led up to the revolution and we call them the long term causes. The peasants working and living conditions were very bad but the government made it even worse by its own policies. Russia needed to develop its industries, so that it was a modern agricultural country instead of a backward one and also to remain in an important military power. To aid this dilemma the government invested in enormous amounts of money in improving Russia’s industries. Where did most of this money come from? From the pockets of the people in Russia! To do this, the peasants had to pay huge taxes not only on grain but on nearly all everyday items such as alcohol and salt! Nevertheless, the workers’ wages still stayed very low and did not increase much at all as the government wanted to squeeze the people for every penny they could get to put into industrial development. Soon later, all seemed well, iron and steel industries grew rapidly but then thousands of workers lost their jobs. This was a cause for strikes and rebellions against managers and the government. Also, things were not going very well in the country side. As if being taxed for all you were worth wasn’t enough, there were very bad harvests for a couple of years so now they were starving as well! To return the favour, the peasants became violent and started to burn landlords’ houses. Then the Tzar went to war with Japan which he thought would make the public believe in the government again. However, it backfired on him and caused all the same problems again but by a greater degree. That really infuriated the people! Leading up to the war the peasants and workers still had: *Inadequate clothing *Insufficient and unhealthy food *Long, hard hours at work *Inadequate housing/shelter *Self-made entertainment *Impoverished standard of life *Very low quality of life *Age of death-early 20's-30's. These were the huge differences in the quality of life between the rich and the poor as the rich had: *More than adequate clothing *More than adequate food *Lived on rising and unearned income *Entertainment was provided for them *Excellent standard of life *More than excellent quality of life *Age of death-late 50's, 60's and above In these years leading up to the... ...t. On the 12 March, soldiers refused to fire on crowds, some regiments shot their officers and joined in the demonstrations. They had had enough of the war and the way they were being treated! The soldiers joined the strikers and the women in the streets marched to the Duma to demand that they take control of the government. I think that this was a major turning point. In my opinion it would have taken a much longer time to overthrow the government without the soldiers joining in!! Conclusions. In my opinion, most of the above issues are long term causes, the short term ones were about the lack of equipment and hospital facilities, the incompetence of the officers, inadequate armour, weapons .etc., the massive loss of life and the 25% desertions!! In my opinion, it was not the Tzar’s fault intentionally to be a bad leader. It was his predecessors who did not train him properly. If they had really cared about what was to happen after they had died they would have done something about bringing up proper leaders. I think that they were very careless about choosing leaders but I also feel very sorry for the Tzar, it was NOT his fault!! What Were The Causes Of The Russian Revolution Essay -- essays researc Before the war. Before the war, there were lots of problems which led up to the revolution and we call them the long term causes. The peasants working and living conditions were very bad but the government made it even worse by its own policies. Russia needed to develop its industries, so that it was a modern agricultural country instead of a backward one and also to remain in an important military power. To aid this dilemma the government invested in enormous amounts of money in improving Russia’s industries. Where did most of this money come from? From the pockets of the people in Russia! To do this, the peasants had to pay huge taxes not only on grain but on nearly all everyday items such as alcohol and salt! Nevertheless, the workers’ wages still stayed very low and did not increase much at all as the government wanted to squeeze the people for every penny they could get to put into industrial development. Soon later, all seemed well, iron and steel industries grew rapidly but then thousands of workers lost their jobs. This was a cause for strikes and rebellions against managers and the government. Also, things were not going very well in the country side. As if being taxed for all you were worth wasn’t enough, there were very bad harvests for a couple of years so now they were starving as well! To return the favour, the peasants became violent and started to burn landlords’ houses. Then the Tzar went to war with Japan which he thought would make the public believe in the government again. However, it backfired on him and caused all the same problems again but by a greater degree. That really infuriated the people! Leading up to the war the peasants and workers still had: *Inadequate clothing *Insufficient and unhealthy food *Long, hard hours at work *Inadequate housing/shelter *Self-made entertainment *Impoverished standard of life *Very low quality of life *Age of death-early 20's-30's. These were the huge differences in the quality of life between the rich and the poor as the rich had: *More than adequate clothing *More than adequate food *Lived on rising and unearned income *Entertainment was provided for them *Excellent standard of life *More than excellent quality of life *Age of death-late 50's, 60's and above In these years leading up to the... ...t. On the 12 March, soldiers refused to fire on crowds, some regiments shot their officers and joined in the demonstrations. They had had enough of the war and the way they were being treated! The soldiers joined the strikers and the women in the streets marched to the Duma to demand that they take control of the government. I think that this was a major turning point. In my opinion it would have taken a much longer time to overthrow the government without the soldiers joining in!! Conclusions. In my opinion, most of the above issues are long term causes, the short term ones were about the lack of equipment and hospital facilities, the incompetence of the officers, inadequate armour, weapons .etc., the massive loss of life and the 25% desertions!! In my opinion, it was not the Tzar’s fault intentionally to be a bad leader. It was his predecessors who did not train him properly. If they had really cared about what was to happen after they had died they would have done something about bringing up proper leaders. I think that they were very careless about choosing leaders but I also feel very sorry for the Tzar, it was NOT his fault!!

King Henry VIII: Informative essay :: essays research papers

Henry VIII, born in 1491, was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. The significance of Henry's reign is, at times, overshadowed by his six marriages: dispensing with these forthwith enables a deeper search into the major themes of the reign. He married Catherine of Aragon (widow of his brother, Arthur) in 1509, divorcing her in 1533, the union produced one daughter, Mary. Henry married the pregnant Anne Boleyn in 1533, she gave him another daughter, Elizabeth, but was executed for infidelity (a treasonous charge in the king's consort) in May 1536. He married Jane Seymour by the end of the same month, who died giving birth to Henry's lone male heir, Edward, in October 1536. Early in 1540, Henry arranged a marriage with Anne of Cleves, after viewing Hans Holbein's beautiful portrait of the German princess. In person, alas, Henry found her homely and the marriage was never consummated. In July 1540, he married the adulterous Catherine Howard - she was executed for infideli ty in March 1542. Catherine Parr became his wife in 1543, providing for the needs of both Henry and his children until his death in 1547. The court life initiated by his father evolved into a cornerstone of Tudor government in the reign of Henry VIII. After his father's staunch, stolid rule, the energetic, youthful and handsome king avoided governing in person, much preferring to journey the countryside hunting and reviewing his subjects. Matters of state were left in the hands of others, most notably Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Cardinal Wolsey virtually ruled England until his failure to secure the papal annulment that Henry needed to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533. Wolsey was quite capable as Lord Chancellor, but his own interests were served more than that of the king: as powerful as he was, he still was subject to Henry's favor - losing Henry's confidence proved to be his downfall. The early part of Henry's reign, however, saw the young king invade France, defeat Scottish forces at the Battle of Foldden Field (in which James IV of Scotland was slain), and write a treatise denouncing Martin Luther's Reformist idea ls, for which the pope awarded Henry the title "Defender of the Faith". The 1530's witnessed Henry's growing involvement in government, and a series of events which greatly altered England, as well as the whole of Western Christendom: the separation of the Church of England from Roman Catholicism.

Religion and Homophobia in Trinidad and Tobago Essay

As previously demonstrated, the data collected was graphically represented in order to highlight trends or anomalies. Figure 1 (Fig. 1) begins by showing that 36% of our sample supported same sex marriage, whilst 64% did not. Since non-support of same-sex marriage is used as our indicator of homophobia, approximately two-thirds (( 2)? (3 )) of our sample is considered homophobic. Whilst this suggests that a substantial proportion of our population is supportive of homosexuality, the majority is apparently homophobic. Thus, a standard was found, against which individual elements of the population can then be manipulated and analysed in a positivistic approach. Figure 2 shows that the gender of the non-supportive population was almost equally distributed, which suggests that perspective is gender neutral. This is surprising considering that gender commonly indicates differing perspectives, but may perhaps be attributed to the existence of homosexuality in both genders. Additionally, this is reflected in Fig 3. where the male only school, Naparima College is proportionately equal to the female only schools, Naparima Girls’ High School (NGHS), ASJA Girls’ College (ASJA) and St. Joseph’s Convent (SJC). Furthermore, Figure 4 shows that the average CSEC grades (which we will use as an indicator of education level) of the supporters approximately equalled that of the non-supporters. Therefore, neither gender, education level school has significant effect on our candidates’ perception of same-sex marriage. Continuing the search for factors that may affect the development of homophobia, Fig 5 outlines four further dimensions of social life, showing that, support of the legalisation of marijuana, alcohol consumption habits, history of altercations with the law, and family structure all had negligible effects because the proportions only slightly deviated from the norm. It is only when the dynamic of religion is introduced that anomalies become apparent. As illustrated in Figure 6, there is little variance between the individual religions, with Islam being marginally more homophobic, but, when religion is removed, as in the case of our secular candidates, the proportions are reversed and approximately two-thirds (( 2)? (3 )) of the secular candidates were supportive. Additionally, it was observed that, whilst Muslim candidates had the highest correlation to homophobia within our sample, the candidates from the Islamic school, ASJA Girls’ College –who would have been exposed to the institution for at least five years, a substantial portion of their lives-, had the lowest correlation to homophobia; the difference being approximately 10%. This is pertinent because it is also indicative of secularisation by differentiation wherein the non-religious sphere of life, education is separated from religion (Jose Casanova, 1994). In both instances of secularisation, homophobia was reduced. Building on the investigation of the influence of religion, religiosity was then compared to opinion using three common measures of religiosity. Figure 7 shows the relationship between frequency of visitation of place of worship and non-support, Figure 8 shows the frequency of private worship against non-support and Figure 8 shows the frequency of private study of religious texts versus non-support. All graphs yielded a positive gradient, began well below the average and ended well above it. This indicates, that as religiosity increases, so too does homophobia. This contrasts our previous observation that there were no trends amongst the various religions but verifies the implication that secularisation decreases homophobia. Careful consideration of the qualitative data compounds these assertions because, not only is religion openly and usually used as justification of homophobia, the candidates who were most fervently religious and enmeshed with their congregation were often most blatantly homophobic. Additionally, if the view of the religious leaders is to be taken as the consensus of the congregation, it would appear that most justify discrimination. However, there were cases in which the fervently religious advocated positively for same-sex marriages. The phenomena observed can be explained using a functionalist perspective in which religion serves as a method of maintaining social order through increasing solidarity within a mostly heterosexual population by segregating the homosexual, thereby providing a common ‘enemy,’ and instilling a set of values and norms in society. Also, religion may be viewed as encouraging more â€Å"productive† marriages in which childbirth is possible, thereby helping to sustain the birth-rate, working to aid the system of the family. When candidates are separated from the functions of religion, they are more likely to maintain a different set or norms, wherein homosexuals are equal to heterosexuals. Contrastingly, a Conflict perspective may be used in hich religion serves to justify the construction of a class society in which the heterosexuals are the ‘bourgeoisie’ and the homosexuals are the ‘proletariat. ’ By masking the foundation of power and exploitation in divine ruling, the heterosexuals are allowed to legitimize their position of superiority. When this illusion is removed and class consciousness attained, as in the case of secular candidates and candidates with little religiosity, the bourgeoisie can no longer legitimize their position, and so homophobia is reduced. Alternatively, if one is to utilize Weber’s theory of Rational Choice, one might suggest, that, perhaps candidates decided to follow the homophobic direction of their religious leaders, rationalizing that earning the support of the entire congregation was worth discriminating against a minority. This theory also serves to explain why candidates supported same-sex marriage, because the prevailing justification was a rationalisation that their (homosexuals) private life did not affect me (the candidate) negatively and was therefore not a problem. This also explains the anomaly of the few candidates who were enmeshed in non-supportive congregations but still supported same-sex marriages. Continuing the interpretivistic trend, Mead’s theory of Symbolic Interactionism may be applied in which the ascribed meanings of symbols encourage homophobia. For example, candidates who studied their holy texts daily were most likely to be non-supportive. They may ascribe that the text determines their values and that the text does not support homosexuality, therefore, they, identified as a follower of the text, does not support homosexuality. Another example may be the use of song references in their justification, wherein, candidates interpret the music to disapprove of homophobia and therefore, as listeners, they should also disapprove. Lastly, the use of homophobic slurs such as ‘fag’ in the language of the non-supporters suggests that homosexuality is unwanted, and communicates this to others who may interpret it as such, and develop the same opinion. Discussion of Findings In, Invitation to the sociology of religion, Zuckerman presents a functionalist approach in which we see how religion may affect social hange. He demonstrates a correlation between a decline in the influence of religion and an increase in the acceptance of homosexual relations suggesting that religion does indeed influence homophobia as determined from my research. Furthermore, he considered another form of discrimination, that is, racism in which again, religion resulted in the segregation of a minority, but also, where religion provided a powerful community through which resistance could grow. The strength and influence of these churches echoes the observation that the more enmeshed our subjects were in their religious congregations, the more homophobic they tended to be. Building on the methods by which religion could affect social life, the article, â€Å"Gays bash government on same-sex marriage,† presents a scenario in which religion has clearly moulded the opinion of a prominent member of our government to the point that it over-rode proper conduct. This crass act seems less surprising when it is observed that some candidates also paraphrased or quoted biblical passages in lieu of an explanation. The research paper, †Religion and public opinion of same-sex marriage,† also adds validation to our research because their results were strikingly similar to our own. They discovered, as I did, that a persons’ religiosity and not their specific religion was the prominent factor in influencing their view of same-sex marriage. Additionally, the article entitled, â€Å"J-FLAG Issues Statement on International Day Against Homophobia,† also verifies this conclusion by using statistics which showed that 56% believed homosexuality and Christianity were incompatible and that 82% believed that it was immoral. This, second study was conducted in Jamacia and as such, it is also more relevant to our research based in Trinidad; it should come as no surprise that their sample yielded a homophobic rate only marginally lower than our own at 59% as opposed to 64%. Finally, in relation to our final aim, the research paper, †Religion and public opinion of same-sex marriage,† also proves handy because they validate that no other standard demographic holds significant influence on a candidate’s opinion of same-sex marriage besides religiosity. Considering these observations, my main finding appears to be that religion does, in fact, play a significant role in developing homophobia within the Lower Six population of San Fernando. Additionally, three main inferences can be made: Firstly, that religion may develop homophobia by presenting a community in which homophobia may be justified and advertised as the norm, through interaction with the institution of government, or through symbolic interaction wherein the religious texts are interpreted as encouraging homophobia. Secondly, that religiosity is a much more significant factor than religious affiliation in developing homophobia, with religious affiliation being almost powerless in our study. Thirdly, we may infer that, whilst exposure to the media did have some effect on the development of homophobia as reflected in our qualitative data, by and large, religion is the major influence with no significant alternative factors appearing in our study. ? Limitations Whilst conducting my study, certain limitations were confronted. Chief amongst these was the cost effectiveness of conducting such a relatively large-scale survey consisting of over two hundred subjects. Adding to this difficulty was the statistical analysis in which a spreadsheet was necessary. Additionally, in order to balance the ratio of male to female respondents, the strata of Naparima College was over-represented since that was the school in which the most co-operation was met. However, since Naparima College proved to be a typical institution, for the purposes of our study, I believe that the integrity of the data was no compromised. Difficulty was also met in collecting and analysing secondary data sources as inquisitions at our public libraries proved fruitless and many of the recent, relevant research papers published were either costly, or restricted to members of certain institutions. Lastly, there may have been some, inherent instrument bias in my analysis of the qualitative data. Recommendations On completion of my research, certain recommendations have become apparent. The first being that a complete separation of the church and state must be accomplished in order to provide the allocation of same-sex marriages, and the second being that the institution of religion should be removed from society as it, in its many forms may a dangerous tool for inspiring discrimination. Conclusion Although it has been a lengthy road, it was a straight one, and, in summation, we can determine that there is indeed a clear relationship between religion and homophobia in which religion inspires the other through various ways. Furthermore, a person’s religiosity was shown to be the determining factor in influencing homophobia with no other influence being significant. ?