Modern Japan and Meiji Restoration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modern Japan and Meiji Restoration - Essay Example The Charter Oath, which was promulgated made very democratic and great pledges that would see Japan people being involved in decision making regardless of their social status as well as embracing the natural law of nature. This was a very important step made by the Meiji in transforming Japan people and putting them ready for new improved Japan (Goto-Jones 42-46). Privileges introduced were absolutely different and were meant to propel Japan into a civilized system of governance. Meiji Restoration was driven by the need to create a very powerful nation with strong political structures that could not be humiliated by the Western powers simply because their system of governance was exotic compared to the Westerners’. The new administration wanted the Western powers to respect Japan and treat them as equal partners and as a way of reducing humiliation brought about by unequal treaties. Influence on demands of foreign powers was imminent in Japan and therefore it was significant for japan to institute strong legal and political system (Goto-Jones 42-46). Indeed, the new government fought tirelessly to stop cultural imperialism that was imposed by the Western powers and in the end, treaties were renegotiated after riots and protests in Japan. Japan now had a formal constitution that governed them and there was evidence of imperial power in Japan. They even managed to organize a civilized military power, which was used in defeating powerful China (Goto-Jones 42-46). Generally, the reforms in Japan during Meiji Restoration were as a result of both domestic and international pressures. The regime was pressurized to form their own state because of the powerful foreign forces, which they were not pleased with. Yes, there was need to remain an independent state and this was even part of the Tokugawa project. Traditional Japanese injustices and the

No more excuses, Hollywood needs to hire more female directors Research Paper

No more excuses, Hollywood needs to hire more female directors - Research Paper Example Sexism in Hollywood is real and such unacceptable situation for female film directors persists partially because the society at large is reluctant to take measures in order to address the problem and fix it once and for all. A young film director Lexi Alexander is not the only one who might think that Hollywood needs to put lame excuses aside and finally start hiring more female film directors. However, she is obviously one of few in film industry, who has courage to admit that the problem of gender inequality in Hollywood is not solved today just because the troubleshooting has been sabotaged at the highest level for years. There is no need to unmask conspiracy in here but it is utterly important to understand that the problem of sexism in Hollywood cannot be solved if it is only talked about with no real practical steps being taken to change the situation for better. And the first step for those, who have a enough enthusiasm to eliminate gender-based discriminatory practices, might be tapping out and acknowledging the fact that the main problem within the context of gender inequality in Hollywood is... indifference. As a matter of fact, male film directors are satisfied with the way it is right now in Hollywood, even if nobody articulates that. Those who are in charge of major Hollywood filmmaking companies are not interested in changing the existing status quo either because they are sexists themselves, who consciously encroach on female directors legitimate rights, or they are unaware of the problem and believe that there is just not enough female film directors in movie-making industry. Those who are unwilling to fix the problem of gender inequality within the framework of film industry often say that there are not enough female film directors to choose from and women are just not interested in directing the way

Organizational Culture of Toyota

Organizational Culture of Toyota Toyota is a globally recognized automobile manufacturer. It is one of the top auto mobile manufacturers in North America. Passion, integrity, and innovation are element of great importance at Toyota. It is an innovation leader in the industry, and well known for its philosophy of management its mass market hybrids. Toyota is delivering diverse line up of vehicles around the globe. The integrity, innovation and passion are extended beyond the vehicle manufacturing; this statement by Toyota is backed by procedures and policies that are practiced at Toyota. Toyota has been distinguished among its competitors for its ability of forward thinking. In the current environment of rapid growth and development, Toyota plans in advance to deal with the prospected growth rate and demands of diverse market. For Toyota to predict the growth in future, start must be from looking behind to their past. Behind the Toyotas remarkable success, there is excellent corporate culture of Toyota that hires the people as individuals not employees. At Toyota, everyone involved in the process strives for excellence and committed to his duties. Lean manufacturing practices of Toyota helps it move fast toward incorporation of TQM in its organizational process. Toyota has strong relationship with its all stakeholders and remarkably with its suppliers and customers. There is high degree of understanding between Toyota and its suppliers that enables Toyota to use Just in time technique of inventory. Toyota understands well about the fact that people possess different abilities and skills and these skills are their strengths, thus its exploits as many possible talents of its employees in one area and able to create great opportunity for growth within the corporation. Diversified employment approaches are used y Toyota that helps to generate a set of new ideas for future growth and become the leader of automobile industry by incorporating these ideas (Christensen, Overdorf, 2000), not only on loc al basis but also globally. From top ten official business strategies of Toyota is to recruit brightest and best among candidates, this strategy also help Toyota to create new opportunities for partnership. This approach of Toyota, help it to build an image of Toyota that it is committed to excellence. Ethics and social responsibility are of basic concern of Toyota. Ethics begins with core value of Toyota and whole process goes with these ethical set of values, creating a distinction as the Toyotas way. Despite having a very diverse workforce, there are no prejudices or stereotypical assumptions are apparent at Toyota, as there is a fair policy (Liker, 2004), that is concerned to hire the best and talented employees for company that can be source of leadership and innovation at Toyota. Due to its concern for society Toyota has a positive corporate image, a company that believe in helping people to improve their quality of life. In this regard Toyota is working with many organizations, universities, schools, and other businesses in support of programs that are beneficial for our world. Rules/norms at Toyota: Some important rules and norms at Toyota include the following: Respect for human rights: At Toyota, people are respected for their human rights. There are no discriminating practices on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity, age, religious, physical disability or material or social status. Intimidation or work place harassment is not tolerated at all (Yu, 2008). Toyota provides social protection to its employees and remuneration in accordance with local regulations. Safe and healthy working environment: Providing safe, healthy and comfortable working environment is the ultimate priority at Toyota. Systems at Toyota are designed to prevent disasters and accidents (Gowen Iii, Tallon, 2003). If any disaster or accident occurs, Toyota will cease the all related areas of operation and try to save and rescue the people. Team work: A culture of team work and cooperation is supported and practiced at Toyota, to achieve objectives and tasks effectively and efficiently and strive to enhance the capabilities of individuals and organization. All individuals at superior positions such as managers, supervisors etc. will encourage the team work (Gowen Iii, Tallon, 2003) and guide their subordinates to perform their duties efficiently. Customer opinion is an invaluable asset: Toyota has greater concern for the safety of its customers and thus provides adequate information to them on new safety related equipment that helps them to operate the vehicles in safe and sound manner. Honoring and observing the terms of contract: Toyota takes due note on terms and conditions of its contracts with it research and development partners and show full honor and respect for them (Liker, 2004). For such agreements, all relevant laws and regulations are considered. Contents for restrictions on joint research are always considered and practiced according to regulatory requirements of different countries. Organizational hierarchy of Toyota: Toyota is a multinational corporation; major decisions come from Toyota motors Japan. There is three tier executive systems at Toyota, executive vice president, senior managing director and managing officer who deals and manages the group affairs. Decision making lies on the side of executives in Japan. In Toyotas structure following important attributes include: Decision making is based on centralized style as major decisions are made at top level of management in Japan. Authority to make important decisions is retained at top of the hierarchy. To group the job tasks, Toyota uses departmentalization of different types, functional departmentalization, product departmentalization, geographic departmentalization and cross functional departmentalization namely. Toyota has tall hierarchal structure of organization as it has several layers of management between top level and frontline employees. There is narrow span of control, 49 managing directors at every department (Marksberry, 2012). Due to its rigid hierarchal structure, formalized communication system, tall structure and centralized decision making, Toyota can be said to have highly mechanistic structure (Sako, 2004). In Toyota every employee has not only to answer superior authority or manager, but also to engineer who representing the interests of customer. So it crosses a traditional structure with product structure. Finally it is a boundary less organization with no definite design. Toyota is managed to create strategic alliance. Internal communication practices at Toyota: At Toyota motors, written communication takes place at all levels of business. Corporate communications and newsletter writings are the vital elements that have kept staff informed and publically perceived notion of reliability and credibility that is highly important to its bottom line and given corporate and company image. To disseminate information from corporation, notice board is used. This way of communication is not so effective as people commonly ignore and do not read news from it. Bulletins are also used at Toyota which is an effective tool of internal communication. Bulletins are placed in front of counters or offices which are open to every member of organization. In order to pass urgent messages, Toyota motor uses cell phones as tool of internal communication. Telephones and cell phones are part and parcel of communication at Toyota Motor Corporation. Instant messaging allows staff at Toyota to communicate effectively and efficiently, as this system is featured with inst ant acknowledgement or reply. E-mail as a mean of communication is also popular practice at Toyota. Face to face interaction and communication also takes place. All these means of communication used at Toyota, plays critical role in passing important and necessary messages that help build the company. Planning and decision making at Toyota: As the hierarchal structure of Toyota reveals that important commands and decisions come from the top management in Toyota. Top management makes decision and then these decisions are communicated for implementation at lower levels. There is tell type of culture for decision making at Toyota. Top management issues commands and orders and seeks for implementation. Leadership at Toyota: Toyota perceives lean as continuous improvement and respect for people, embodying in two simple but powerful concepts (Cusumano, Kentaro,1998). Respect of people for Toyota lean leadership is viewed as having long term partners in business that mines the value by challenging people to stretch themselves and grow (Liker, 2004). By lean leadership approach in place, people who are not so challenging and are stagnant, are handled in nice way, they find opportunity to grow and enhance their capabilities by participating under process of continuous improvement. Conclusion: This paper provides a detailed view of organizational culture and characteristics of Toyota. Toyota has culture that is attributed with, commitment to excellence, respect for all inside the organization, concern for all stake holder including community, strong ethical values and code of conduct, hiring talented and bright people without any discrimination of race, ethnicity. Toyota has structure of mechanistic organization in decision making style. There is centralized decision making takes place at Toyota (Takeuchi, 2008). As far as communication system of Toyota is concerned, different effective tools for internal communication are used by Toyota such as bulletins, newsletters, email and text messaged and telephone system and face to face communication method. All these tools are used in mix to have effective and quick communication at workplace. Toyota is committed to excellence and in this journey, it not only uses lean manufacturing techniques but approach of lean leadership is also being practiced at Toyota (Cusumano, Kentaro, 1998), that helps Toyota to move forward towards process of continuous improvement.

Rhetorical Analysis of a Manual :: essays research papers

Rhetorical Analysis: Quick Start Guide of an MP10 MP3 Player Audience The audience of the Quick Start Guide (QSG) is going to be composed of men and women who have purchased the mp3 player or received it as a gift. The owners of an MP10 mp3 player may or may not have experience using an mp3 player, and even if they do, the experience may not be with this exact model. One way the designers of the QSG allow for a wider audience is by providing a Spanish alternative to the English side. The reader of this guide needs thorough instructions and diagrams in order to begin operating the MP10 as quickly as possible. For this reason, the instructions are laid out in numerical order to introduce the user to the different features and options that are available. These instructions correlate with diagrams of the MP10. Callout boxes point out the buttons and their functions to allow the user of the QSG to use as much or as little of the guide as they desire. One can assume that because of varying levels of technological knowledge, a user of the guide would want to be informed on all of the capabilities the MP10 possesses. The reader may ask a question like; What is possible with this expensive mp3 player? In turn, the designers of the QSG have to display the functions of the MP10 without turning the guide into a complete owner’s manual. The user of the guide wants to use a feature of the MP10 as quick as possible, and probably doesn’t want to read that much in order to do so. Therefore, the readers’ design preferences include solid diagrams, distinct headings, and comprehensive directions without being overly long. Purpose The overall purpose of the QSG is to inform the reader how to use the MP10. The designer of the guide had to display each of the potential functions of the player and provide the short, yet complete instructions associated to performing each task. A QSG is exactly what the title suggests, a brief way of introducing the MP10 to a user. It is not an all-inclusive owner’s manual, but a guide with the intent of allowing the user to find their specific function in one of the bolded headings and follow the instructions to perform the task. Knowing that most buyers of electronic equipment want to get their purchase home as soon as possible and put it to use is the issue that generated the QSG. Rhetorical Analysis of a Manual :: essays research papers Rhetorical Analysis: Quick Start Guide of an MP10 MP3 Player Audience The audience of the Quick Start Guide (QSG) is going to be composed of men and women who have purchased the mp3 player or received it as a gift. The owners of an MP10 mp3 player may or may not have experience using an mp3 player, and even if they do, the experience may not be with this exact model. One way the designers of the QSG allow for a wider audience is by providing a Spanish alternative to the English side. The reader of this guide needs thorough instructions and diagrams in order to begin operating the MP10 as quickly as possible. For this reason, the instructions are laid out in numerical order to introduce the user to the different features and options that are available. These instructions correlate with diagrams of the MP10. Callout boxes point out the buttons and their functions to allow the user of the QSG to use as much or as little of the guide as they desire. One can assume that because of varying levels of technological knowledge, a user of the guide would want to be informed on all of the capabilities the MP10 possesses. The reader may ask a question like; What is possible with this expensive mp3 player? In turn, the designers of the QSG have to display the functions of the MP10 without turning the guide into a complete owner’s manual. The user of the guide wants to use a feature of the MP10 as quick as possible, and probably doesn’t want to read that much in order to do so. Therefore, the readers’ design preferences include solid diagrams, distinct headings, and comprehensive directions without being overly long. Purpose The overall purpose of the QSG is to inform the reader how to use the MP10. The designer of the guide had to display each of the potential functions of the player and provide the short, yet complete instructions associated to performing each task. A QSG is exactly what the title suggests, a brief way of introducing the MP10 to a user. It is not an all-inclusive owner’s manual, but a guide with the intent of allowing the user to find their specific function in one of the bolded headings and follow the instructions to perform the task. Knowing that most buyers of electronic equipment want to get their purchase home as soon as possible and put it to use is the issue that generated the QSG.

Ameritrade’s Cost of Capital Essay

Executive Summary After careful analysis of Ameritrade and comparable companies, I have estimated a 14.784% cost of capital that should be used to evaluate Ameritrade’s upcoming investments in technology and advertising. After analyzing the historical return on Ameritrade’s investments, I have concluded that if the firm manages this project at least as well as its previous investments, the return on the proposed project will exceed the cost of capital resulting in a positive NPV project. Based on the estimated cost of capital, relative to the company’s historical returns on investment, I recommend that Ameritrade undertakes this investment project. I believe that the estimated cost of capital is appropriate because it is partly based on a set of companies where the main source of revenue is similar to that of Ameritrade, deep discount brokerage companies. In addition, the nature of the project is to increase the customer base of Ameritrade, a frequent and archetypal venture for a deep-discount brokerage firm. Because Ameritrade has very limited data due to its recent IPO, I will be using the comparable data of Waterhouse Investors, Quick and Reilly Group Incorporated, and Charles Schwab Corporation to estimate Ameritrade’s levered beta using a bottom-up approach. I will be using these comparables because they are all characterized as deep-discount brokerage firms with similar sources of revenue. I used data from 1992-1996 because in my experience, I have found that five years of data provides a reasonable and precise measure of information. It should be noted that I consistently used the same amount of data from five calendar years for all of Ameritrade’s comparables. The key stakeholders involving this decision are management and those providing the capital, both debt and equity, for this new undertaking. For these stakeholders, priority lies in the return of the investment, the success of the company, and the ability to meet the financial obligations of the firm. These priorities can be best predicted with my provided estimation of the cost of capital in relation to the company’s historical return on investment. Market Overview As Ameritrade continues to grow and make investments in projects, it is important to realize the effect the market has on the brokerage. One thing I want to emphasize is the direct correlation between the deep discount brokerage market and the stock market. While the S&P 500 during the last two years (1995 and 1996) have had returns of 34.11% and 20.26% respectively, it is easy to be optimistic about the health of the economy and the performance of the company. In the case of an economic downturn, Ameritrade should be ready for a decrease in consumer activity and should consider diversification. Perhaps taking on other types of activities such as investment banking roles like mergers, acquisitions, and security underwritings would also be wise. This would diversify away some of the risk involved in strictly deep-discount brokers. Ameritrade should also be conscientious of the very price-sensitive nature of its consumers when evaluating this investment. My calculated cost of capital i s subject to a variety of factors affected by the uncertainty of the future. For instance, it is conceivable that the company’s beta will change over time due to the dynamic characteristics of the market and the economy. In addition, stakeholders could change their comfort regarding the degree of risk aversion, which would affect the market risk premium. In order to mitigate the risk, Ameritrade could place a premium cost of capital on top of my estimated cost of capital when discounting future cash flows. This would mitigate the risk of future cash flows that are too optimistic in potentially harsh economic times. I believe that this would be an appropriate way to help stakeholders feel more comfortable with investments, especially investments as large as this advertising and technology project. In order to estimate the cost of capital of Ameritrade, I had to determine standard parameters, such as beta, from comparable companies because of Ameritrade’s recent IPO and subsequent short track record of performance. I was able to obtain comparable companies’ betas by way of running a regression on the returns of the companies in relation to the return on the market, or the S&P 500. By applying Ameritrade’s capital structure to the comparable companies’ unlevered beta, I was able to approximate the beta of Ameritrade. I was subsequently able to estimate the cost of equity assuming the same capital structure prior to the prospective investment with the  Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). I used CAPM to find the cost of equity for this particular project, not to evaluate the potential change in the process. The capital asset pricing model can be used in evaluation of the cost of capital because it reflects the reward for postponing consumption, the relative amount of systematic risk, and the reward in the market for bearing systematic risk. Thus I can estimate the cost of capital using the true systematic risk. I believe that in the future, a capital structure consisting of more debt may lower the weighted average cost of capital and keep a larger proportion of the benefits of the project to the current stakeholders, while keeping in mind that Ame ritrade should abstain from taking on too much debt considering its sensitivity to the market. I used three comparable companies to estimate Ameritrade’s cost of capital: Waterhouse Investors, Quick and Reilly Group Incorporated, and Charles Schwab Corporation. These deep-discount brokerage firms, along with Ameritrade, source most of their revenues through transactions and net interest. Situation Overview The WACC is a measurement of the riskiness of the firm as a whole and can be applied to standard company projects. Ameritrade has been first movers on introducing features such as an automated phone trading service and an online trading platform in the deep discount brokerage market. Both of these investments are characterized by substantial investments in technology, as is the proposed project. Based on this, I consider the stated project as a typical project of the firm, yielding an average risk equal to that of Ameritrade’s nature. Therefore, I find that evaluating the stated project with WACC as a hurdle rate of whether to undertake the project is correct. One of the parameters that has a large effect on WACC is the capital structure applied in the calculations. In my calculations of the WACC of 14.783%, I assumed a debt to equity ratio of 0.261. I based this on the balance sheet numbers you provided me with for the two available years; it is a weighted? average of the two years of data. When looking to the market comparables Quick and Reilly Group Incorporated and Charles Schwab Corporation, one can see that the debt to equity ratio of Ameritrade is an industry standard. I decided to omit Waterhouse Investors for this comparison because of their atypical capital structure. In the calculation  of the WACC, debt has the advantage that it brings a tax shield since interest on debt is tax deductible. Therefore taking on more debt relative to equity can be profitable to a certain point where, cost of potential financial distress for undertaking that extra debt is less than the value of the interest tax shield. In addition, taking on too much debt carries the risk of major credit rating agencies downgrading the company, where eventually, debt becomes too costly because the cost of potential financial distress is greater than the value of the interest tax shield. Therefore, the management in the evaluation of the investment must have a clear focus on which capital structure is the optimal for Ameritrade in the future. Below I have done a sensitivity analysis of the WACC that should be applied in the evaluation of the investment project in relation to the capital structure. D% – E% 10/90 20/80 30/70 40/60 WACC 14.54% 14.32% 14.11% 13.89% Based on these calculations, I would recommend that management look into the optimal capital structure after the proposed investment. While keeping in mind the disadvantages of taking on too much debt, I would recommend a higher, though incremental, debt to equity ratio. I found Ameritrade’s after-tax cost of debt to be 7.28%. To find Ameritrade’s after-tax cost of debt, I collected the credit rating of Ameritrade’s outstanding debt through Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency. Ameritrade’s debt is currently rated at B+. The default spread on B+ corporate debt is listed at 5.01 on 10-year debt obligations. To find the cost of debt you add this number to the risk-free rate, which as of August 1997 is 6.69%, and multiply that number by 1 subtracted by the corporate tax rate of Ameritrade. The corporate tax rate of Ameritrade I found to be 37.7%, by averaging Ameritrade’s tax rates  over the two available years. It should be noted that the default-spread rate applied in my calculations are projected rates, not current rates (2014). The risk free rate of applied throughout my calculations is the annualized yield to maturity of a 20-year government T-bond has and has a yield of 6.69%. I have chosen to use this because I consider the proposed investment project a long-term investment. When choosing the risk-free rate, there can be no uncertainty about reinvestment rates in the calculations, meaning that one should use a zero-coupon bond with the same maturity as the project. The Market risk premium is defined as the difference between the expected return on the market portfolio and the risk-free rate; in other words, it is the compensation that risk adverse investors need to receive in order to invest in the market portfolio. I calculated the current market risk premium by finding the geometric average of the return on the market subtracted by a 20-year government T-Bond. I used the geometric average because we are valuing the average over a long period of time and the arithmetic average tends to overestimate the value. I then found the beta by using a bottom-up analysis. The bottom-up approach tends to make the standard error of the beta much lower than other types of analyses. In addition, the bottom-up approach can reflect the current and the expected future beta of the company. I looked at the beta of the comparable companies and found the average of the betas over the 1992-1996-time period. I then had to un-lever the beta and then re-lever the beta by Ameritrade’s capital structure to find Ameritrade’s levered beta. By using this beta, I was able to calculate Ameritrade’s cost of equity to be 16.06% by using the Capital Asset Pricing Model. In terms of the size of the investment, increasing advertising expenses to $155 million and technology expenses to $100 million is a huge undertaking for Ameritrade. If you look at your total assets at the end of 1996, you will see that it values at a little more than $400 million. Thus, the investments of this project would be 64% of Ameritrade’s total assets. When looking at the comparable companies Schwab, Quick and Reilly, and Waterhouse, a similar investment would only be 2%, 6%, and 21% of their total assets respectively. Because the investment is so large for Ameritrade, in comparison to its competitors, Ameritrade should be conscientious of the enormity of the project and require a higher proportional return. After consulting the database of Bloomberg Financial  Records, I found that your return on assets and return on equity exceeded my estimated weighted cost of capital. Thus, I conclude that Ameritrade undertakes this project with full-invested confidence in the m anagement. Conclusion My extensive research on Ameritrade and its comparable companies yielded an estimated 14.784% cost of capital for this project. Because of the nature of the proposed investment, I decided that the WACC would be applicable to the project. While this project may require a significant amount of resources, an optimistic return like the one you proposed and the historical average of your return on assets and equity would more than make up for the costs. Therefore my recommendation based on my calculations is that this is an attractive investment opportunity for Ameritrade, to grow its customer base and revenue, which the management should accept. However it must be taken into account that the beta and thereby the cost of equity I used to calculate the cost of capital were influenced by the comparable companies because I used data of these companies in my estimation of Ameritrade’s beta. Further the beta is estimated on historical return and not the future return. Consumer preferenc es and market conditions may lead to a change in Ameritrade’s beta over the projects lifetime. Since the future is unknown estimating a historical beta is the best guess of what the future beta will be. The market risk premium that I have applied in my calculations is also a subject to the changes of the future. The market risk premium is the compensation a risk adverse investor needs in order to invest. In periods of economic and financial depression, this market risk premium will increase resulting in a higher cost of capital. On the other hand, periods with good economic and financial conditions will lower the market risk premium. Further the market risk premium applied in my calculation is based on a projected default spread (2014) instead of the actual spread in 1996; this may be a source of variability. The capital structure of Ameritrade has a substantial effect on the cost of capital. In my calculations, I have applied the historical capital structure of Ameritrade. Increasing Ameritrade’s debt to equity ratio can bring down Ameritrade’s cost of capital. Therefore it would be in Ameritrade’s management best interest to look at the company’s future capital structure prior to this investment.  Ameritrade’s management should also look into the projected revenues of the investment. With projections ranging from 10% to 50%, only the most pessimistic forecasts are lower than the cost of capital of the project. However by cutting the transaction fees and thereby relying on a higher volume of executed trades can make Ameritrade even more susceptible to future economic depressions. As per my calculation, the size of the investment is proportionally large and must be treated in the most delicate manner. Ultimately, I suggest that management find the optimal capital structure before investing in this project. However, I do believe that with my calculated cost of capital in comparison to the average return on equity and return on assets, the investment will be a worthy venture.

An Analysis of Oroonoko by Aphra Behn Essay

Oroonoko is a short work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn (1640–1689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African inSurinam in the 1660s, and the author’s own experiences in the new South American colony. Behn worked for Charles II as a spy during the outset of the Second Dutch War, ending up destitute when she returned to England, and even spending time in a debtors’ prison, because Charles failed to pay her properly, or at all. She turned her hand to writing in order to survive, with remarkable success. She wrote poetry that sold well, and had a number of plays staged, which established her fame in her own lifetime. In the 1670s, only John Dryden had plays staged more often than Behn. She began to write extended narrative prose toward the end of her career. Published less than a year before she died, Oroonoko is one of the earliest English novels. Interest in it has increased since the 1970s, critics arguing that Behn is the foremothe r of British women writers, and that Oroonoko is a crucial text in the history of the novel. Plot summary and analysis Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is a relatively short novel concerning the Coromantin grandson of an African king, Prince Oroonoko, who falls in love with Imoinda, the daughter of that king’s top general. â€Å"Coromantee people† were Akan slaves brought from present-day Ghana, a polyglot band known for their rebellious nature. the sacred veil, thus commanding her to become one of his wives, even though she was already married to Oroonoko. After unwillingly spending time in the king’s harem (the Otan), Imoinda and Oroonoko plan a tryst with the help of the sympathetic Onahal and Aboan. They are eventually discovered, and because she has lost her virginity, Imoinda is sold as a slave. The king’s guilt, however, leads him to falsely inform Oroonoko that she has been executed, since death was thought to be better than slavery. Later, after winning another tribal war, Oroonoko is betrayed and captured by an English captain, who planned to sell him and his men as slaves. Both Imoinda and Oroonoko were carried to Surinam, at that time an English colony based on sugarcane plantation in the West Indies. The two lovers are reunited there, under the new Christian names of Caesar and Clemene, even though Imoinda’s beauty has attracted the unwanted desires of other slaves and of the Cornish gentleman, Trefry. Upon Imoinda’s pregnancy, Oroonoko petitions for their return to the homeland. But after being continuously ignored, he organizes a slave revolt. The slaves are hunted down by the military forces and compelled to surrender on deputy governor Byam’s promise of amnesty. Yet, when the slaves surrender, Oroonoko and the others are punished and whipped. To avenge his honor, and to express his natural worth, Oroonoko decides to kill Byam. But to protect Imoinda from violation and subjugation after his death, he decides to kill her. The two lovers discuss the plan, and with a smile on her face, Imoinda willingly dies by his hand. A few days later, Oroonoko is found mourning by her decapitated body and is kept from killing himself, only to be publicly executed. During his death by dismemberment, Oroonoko calmly smokes a pipe and stoically withstands all the pain without crying out. The novel is written in a mixture of first and third person, as the narrator relates actions in Africa and portrays herself as a witness of the actions that take place in Surinam. In the novel, the narrator presents herself as a lady who has come to Surinam with her unnamed father, a man intended to be a new lieutenant-general of the colony. He, however, dies on the voyage from England. The narrator and her family are put up in the finest house in the settlement, in accord with their station, and the narrator’s experiences of meeting the indigenous peoples and slaves are intermixed with the main plot of the love of Oroonoko and Imoinda. At the conclusion of the love story, the narrator leaves Surinam for London. Structurally, there are three significant pieces to the narrative, which does not flow in a strictly biographical manner. The novel opens with a statement of veracity, where the author claims to be writing no fiction and no pedantic history. She claims to be an eyewitness and to be writing without any embellishment or theme, relying solely upon reality. What follows is a description of Surinam itself and the South American Indians there. She regards the locals as simple and living in a golden age (the presence of gold in the land being indicative of the epoch of the people themselves). It is only afterwards that the narrator provides the history of Oroonoko himself and the intrigues of both his grandfather and the slave captain, the captivity of Imoinda, and his own betrayal. The next section is in the narrator’s present; Oroonoko and Imoinda are reunited, and Oroonoko and Imoinda meet the narrator and Trefry. The third section contains Oroonoko’s rebellion and its aftermath. Biographical and historical background Oroonoko is now the most studied of Aphra Behn’s novels, but it was not immediately successful in her own lifetime. It sold well, but the adaptation for the stage by Thomas Southerne (see below) made the story as popular as it became. Soon after her death, the novel began to be read again, and from that time onward the factual claims made by the novel’s narrator, and the factuality of the whole plot of the novel, have been accepted and questioned with greater and lesser credulity. Because Mrs. Behn was not available to correct or confirm any information, early biographers assumed the first-person narrator was Aphra Behn speaking for herself and incorporated the novel’s claims into their accounts of her life. It is important, however, to recognize thatOroonoko is a work of fiction and that its first-person narrator—the protagonist—need be no more factual than Jonathan Swift’s first-person narrator, ostensibly Gulliver, in Gulliver’s Tra vels, Daniel Defoe’s shipwrecked narrator in Robinson Crusoe, or the first-person narrator of A Tale of a Tub. Fact and fiction in the narrator Researchers today cannot say whether or not the narrator of Oroonoko represents Aphra Behn and, if so, tells the truth. Scholars have argued for over a century about whether or not Behn even visited Surinam and, if so, when. On the one hand, the narrator reports that she â€Å"saw† sheep in the colony, when the settlement had to import meat from Virginia, as sheep, in particular, could not survive there. Also, as Ernest Bernbaum argues in â€Å"Mrs. Behn’s ‘Oroonoko'†, everything substantive in Oroonoko could have come from accounts by William Byam and George Warren that were circulating in London in the 1660s. However, as J.A. Ramsaran and Bernard Dhuiq catalog, Behn provides a great deal of precise local color and physical description of the colony. Topographical and culturalverisimilitude were not a criterion for readers of novels and plays in Behn’s day any more than in Thomas Kyd’s, and Behn generally did not bother with attempting to be accurate in her locations in other stories. Her plays have quite indistinct settings, and she rarely spends time with topographical description in her stories.[2] Secondly, all the Europeans mentioned in Oroonoko were really present in Surinam in the 1660s. It is interesting, if the entire account is fictional and based on reportage, that Behn takes no liberties of invention to create European settlers she might need. Finally, the characterization of the real-life people in the novel does follow Behn’s own politics. Behn was a lifelong and militant royalist, and her fictions are quite consistent in portraying virtuous royalists and put-upon nobles who are opposed by petty and evil republicans/Parliamentarians. Had Behn not known the individuals she fictionalizes in Oroonoko, it is extremely unlikely that any of the real royalists would have become fictional villains or any of the real republicans fictional heroes, and yet Byam and James Bannister, both actual royalists in the Interregnum, are malicious, licentious, and sadistic, while George Marten, a Cromwellian republican, is reasonable, open-minded, and fair.[2] On balance, it appear s that Behn truly did travel to Surinam. The fictional narrator, however, cannot be the real Aphra Behn. For one thing, the narrator says that her father was set to become the deputy governor of the colony and died at sea en route. This did not happen to Bartholomew Johnson (Behn’s father), although he did die between 1660 and 1664.[3] There is no indication at all of anyone except William Byam being Deputy Governor of the settlement, and the only major figure to die en route at sea was Francis, Lord Willoughby, the colonial patent holder for Barbados and â€Å"Suriname.† Further, the narrator’s father’s death explains her antipathy toward Byam, for he is her father’s usurper as Deputy Governor of Surinam. This fictionalized father thereby gives the narrator a motive for her unflattering portrait of Byam, a motive that might cover for the real Aphra Behn’s motive in going to Surinam and for the real Behn’s antipathy toward the real Byam. It is also unlikely that Behn went to Surinam with her husband, although she may have met and married in Surinam or on the journey back to England. A socially creditable single woman in good standing would not have gone unaccompanied to Surinam. Therefore, it is most likely that Behn and her family went to the colony in the company of alady. As for her purpose in going, Janet Todd presents a strong case for its being spying. At the time of the events of the novel, the deputy governor Byam had taken absolute control of the settlement and was being opposed not only by the formerly republican Colonel George Marten, but also by royalists within the settlement. Byam’s abilities were suspect, and it is possible that either Lord Willoughby or Charles II would be interested in an investigation of the administration there. Beyond these facts, there is little known. The earliest biographers of Aphra Behn not only accepted the novel’s narrator’s claims as true, but Charles Gildon even invented a romantic liaison between the author and the title character, while the anonymous Memoirs of Aphra Behn, Written by One of the Fair Sex (both 1698) insisted that the author was too young to be romantically available at the time of the novel’s events. Later biographers have contended with these claims, either to prove or deny them. However, it is profitable to look at the novel’s events as part of the observations of an investigator, as illustrations of government, rather than autobiography. Models for Oroonoko There were numerous slave revolts in English colonies led by Coromantin slaves. Oroonoko was described as being from â€Å"Coromantien† and was likely modeled after Coromantin slaves who were known for causing several rebellions in the Caribbean. One figure who matches aspects of Oroonoko is the white John Allin, a settler in Surinam. Allin was disillusioned and miserable in Surinam, and he was taken to alcoholism and wild, lavish blasphemies so shocking that Governor Byam believed that the repetition of them at Allin’s trial cracked the foundation of the courthouse.[4] In the novel, Oroonoko plans to kill Byam and then himself, and this matches a plot that Allin had to kill Lord Willoughby and then commit suicide, for, he said, it was impossible to â€Å"possess my own life, when I cannot enjoy it with freedom and honour†.[5] He wounded Willoughby and was taken to prison, where he killed himself with an overdose. His body was taken to a pillory, â€Å"where a B arbicue was erected; his Members cut off, and flung in his face, they had his Bowels burnt under the Barbicue†¦ his Head to be cut off, and his Body to be quartered, and when dry-barbicued or dry roasted†¦ his Head to be stuck on a pole at Parham (Willoughby’s residence in Surinam), and his Quarters to be put up at the most eminent places of the Colony.†[5] Allin, it must be stressed, was a planter, and neither an indentured nor enslaved worker, and the â€Å"freedom and honour† he sought was independence rather than manumission. Neither was Allin of noble blood, nor was his cause against Willoughby based on love. Therefore, the extent to which he provides a model for Oroonoko is limited more to his crime and punishment than to his plight. However, if Behn left Surinam in 1663, then she could have kept up with matters in the colony by reading the Exact Relation that Willoughby had printed in London in 1666, and seen in the extraordinary execution a barbarity to graft onto her villain, Byam, from the man who might have been her real employer, Willoughby. While Behn was in Surinam (1663), she would have seen a slave ship arrive with 130 â€Å"freight,† 54 having been â€Å"lost† in transit. Although the African slaves were not treated differently from the indentured servants coming from England (and were, in fact, more highly valued), their cases were hopeless, and both slaves, indentured servants, and local inhabitants attacked the settlement. There was no single rebellion, however, that matched what is related in Oroonoko. Further, the character of Oroonoko is physically different from the other slaves by being blacker skinned, having a Roman nose, and having straight hair. The lack of historical record of a mass rebellion, the unlikeliness of the physical description of the character (when Europeans at the time had no clear idea of race or an inheritable set of â€Å"racial† characteristics), and the European courtliness of the character suggests that he is most likely invented wholesale. Additionally, the character’s name is artificial. There are names in the Yoruba language that are similar, but the African slaves of Surinam were from Ghana. Instead of from life, the character seems to come from literature, for his name is reminiscent of Oroondates, a character in La Calprenà ¨de’s Cassandra,which Behn had read.[6] Oroondates is a prince of Scythia whose desired bride is snatched away by an elder king. Previous to this, there is an Oroondates who is the satrap of Memphis in theÆthiopica, a novel from late antiquity by Heliodorus of Emesa. Many of the plot elements in Behn’s novel are reminiscent of those in the Æthiopica and other Greek romances of the period. There is a particular similarity to the story of Juba in La Calprenà ¨de’s romance Clà ©opà ¢tre, who becomes a slave in Rome and is given a Roman name—Coriolanus—by his captors, as Oroonoko is given the Roman name of Caesar.[7] Alternatively, it could be argued that â€Å"Oroonoko† is a homophone for the Orinoco River, along which the English settled, and it is possible to see the character as an allegorical fi gure for the mismanaged territory itself. Oroonoko, and the crisis of values of aristocracy, slavery, and worth he represents to the colonists, is emblematic of the new world and colonization itself: a person like Oroonoko is symptomatic of a place like the Orinoco.

The Real Reason for Washingtons Crazy Street Patterns

The Real Reason for Washingtons Crazy Street Patterns Watch out. Here comes the end of the world again. Viewers of the History Channels Ancient Aliens learned that the crazy streetmap of Washington, D.C. with its roundabouts and angled avenues, is based on celestial navigations, ancient aliens, and Luciferian New World Order. City planner Pierre Charles LEnfant would be shocked to hear about this. Born August 2, 1754 in France, Monsieur LEnfant is best known for designing the D.C. roadways of circles and spokes, a 1791 master plan that transformed a patch of swamp and farmland into the capital of the United States. Even today, much of Washington, D.C. with its wide boulevards and public squares follows LEnfants original concept. But was LEnfants design inspired by Freemasonry, aliens, and the occult - or maybe the orderly French Baroque styles of the day? The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service has given us the answer. In documenting the significance of LEnfants design, they say: The historic plan of Washington, District of Columbia - the nations capital - designed by Pierre LEnfant in 1791 as the site of the Federal City, represents the sole American example of a comprehensive baroque city plan with a coordinated system of radiating avenues, parks and vistas laid over an orthogonal system. Influenced by the designs of several European cities and eighteenth-century gardens such as Frances Palace of Versailles, the plan of Washington, D.C, was symbolic and innovative for the new nation. Existing colonial towns surely influenced LEnfants scheme, just as the plan of Washington, in turn, influenced subsequent American city planning.... LEnfants plan was magnified and expanded during the early decades of the twentieth century with the reclamation of land for waterfront parks, parkways, and improved Mall, and new monuments and vistas. Two-hundred years since its design, the integrity of the plan of Washington is largely unimpaired - boasting a legally enforced height restriction, landscaped parks, wide avenues, and open space allowing intended vistas.- LEnfant-McMillan Plan of Washington, D.C. (The Federal City), HABS No. DC-668, 1990-1993, pp. 1-2 The Legends and Stories The real story of LEnfants design is one of professional urban design - architectural planning based on study and history. The juicy stories that were fabricated may have begun with prejudice. One of the original surveyors of the District of Columbia was Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free African-American. Banneker and Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) were enlisted by George Washington to stake out the boundaries for Americas new capital, the Federal City. Because he knew a bit about astronomy, Banneker used celestial calculations to mark off the borderlines. A Black man using the stars and the moon, along with the Freemasonry of some of the Founding Fathers, and stories of the occult and a new government based on Satanism was certain to flourish. The street design in Washington, D.C., has been laid out in such a manner that certain Luciferic symbols are depicted by the streets, cul-de-sacs and rotaries, claims one conspiracy theorist writing in The Revelation. LEnfant hid certain occ ultic magical symbols in the layout of the new capital, and together they become one large Luciferic, or occultic, symbol. If this story of urban design intrigues you, the theories about extraterrestrials and advanced civilizations visiting Earth in ancient times may be of further interest. Were the avenues of Washington, D.C. really ancient landing strips for alien spaceships? Check out the full series from the History Channel to find out what other mayhem the ancient aliens were up to (Ancient Aliens DVD Box set, The Complete Seasons 1–6). The McMillan Commission LEnfant had come to America to fight in the Revolutionary War, serving with the Corps of Engineers of the Continental Army. His passion for Americas future was well-understood by the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but his stormy reluctance to compromise did not sit well with the City Commissioners. LEnfants plan lived on, but he was uninvolved with its development and died penniless on June 14, 1825. It wasnt until 1900 when Senator James McMillan chaired a commission that instituted the vision of Pierre LEnfant. To realize the plans of LEnfant, the McMillan Commission enlisted the  architects Daniel Burnham and Charles F. McKim, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and the sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens - all famous figures in American design at the turn of the 20th century. Pierre Charles LEnfant is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in a grave overlooking the city he designed but never realized. Sources Arlington National Cemetery website. arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Notable-Graves/Prominent-Military-Figures/Pierre-Charles-LEnfantThe Revelation website, theforbiddenknowledge.com/chapter3/A Brief History of Pierre LEnfant and Washington, D.C., Smithsonian.comLEnfant-McMillan Plan of Washington, DC (HABS NO, DC-668, 1990-1993, researched and written by Elizabeth Barthold and Sara Amy Leach), Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service, Department of the Interior at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/dc/dc0700/dc0776/data/dc0776data.pdf; The LEnfant and McMillan Plans, National Park Service [websites accessed July 23, 2017]Image of Baroque street plan of 1791 Washington, DC designed by Pierre LEnfant from the LEnfant-McMillan Plan, HABS DC,WASH,612- (2 of 32), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

What To Do If Youre Not Passionate About Anything

What To Do If Youre Not Passionate About Anything You hear a bunch of people all around you talking about their passion and â€Å"following their bliss,† but all you hear is panic. What is your bliss? What if you don’t have one? Do you feel that everything you do is grey and lusterless? Do you find work boring? Is everything just kind of blah? Maybe you feel that you can’t be good at anything or passionate because you aren’t super talented or great at anything. Well that’s just not the case. It’s never too late to figure out what matters most to you, and to live a life of passion.Here are a few strategies to combat the â€Å"meh† feelings that currently fill your life.1. Shift your view.A little perspective goes a long way. Release yourself from all the negative voices in your head holding you back and keeping you stuck.2. Think strategically.Figure out what’s causing you the most frustration and dissatisfaction. Isolate that thing and start working towards bringing it down. Al l the while, start keeping a notebook of things that give you joy. And while you’re at it, start asking yourself what you wanted to be when you grew up. Why can’t you be that now? Start dreaming again.3. Get healthy.Your health is a major source of your wellbeing. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to be in your prime. Eat right, exercise, stay active. Make sure you sleep and make time for self-care. Get rid of toxic patterns and relationships.4. Stay curious.A great way to figure out what you want to devote your life to is to figure out what interests you most. If you haven’t hit upon it yet, that might be because you haven’t seen it yet. Start reading and being more open to new things. You never know where your passion might turn up.5. Think for yourself.Don’t just follow what the herd decides is â€Å"cool.† Figure out what you actually like. Dabble in all sorts of things. Push your comfort zone. Try new things more than onc e. If you like them, keep doing what you’re doing until you start to make some forward progress. If you don’t, cut your losses and move on. You might even find you meet new and deeply important friends when you start committing your time to things you truly enjoy.6. Be brutally honest.Ask yourself the tough questions about your unhappiness. The challenging soul searching and emotional work required will pay enormous dividends in the long run.7. Be confident.Believe that you’re doing the right thing when you find it. You’ll know what that is if you only start listening to yourself. Push past your fear and find the fun in life. Take time to check in, smell the roses, and keep yourself honest. Your future self with thank you, and you’ll be living a life that’s true to yourself. What could be better?

Analysis of the Consolidation of Assets as an Integral Part of Business for Organizations

Analysis of the Consolidation of Assets as an Integral Part of Business for Organizations Introduction Mergers or acquisitions have become a norm for companies aiming at growth. Various companies resort to mergers and acquisition, to form strategic alliances. In majority of cases the underlying reason for these is to guarantee long-term sustained achievement of fast profitable growth for the business. In todays competitive world it is important for various companies to keep up with a rapidly increasing diversified global market and increased competition. In order to gain competitive advantage it is essential to form alliances. According to Megginson and Smart Mergers and acquisitions are major corporate finance events that, when executed efficiently and with the proper motives, can help managers realise their ultimate goal of maximizing shareholder wealth. A merger is the combining of two or more companies into a single corporation. This is achieved when one company or business purchases the property or some other form of assets from another company. The result of this action is the formation of one corporate structure. This new corporate structure retains its original identity. An acquisition is a little different from a merger in that it involves many problems being dissolved, and an entirely new company being formed. Reasons For Mergers: There are many reasons for mergers and acquisitions such as, growth of the company, achieving the economies of scale, for power or better management, stability and to increase market share and eliminate competition. At the core of mergers and acquisition lies the sole objective of maximization of shareholder wealth regardless of the scale of the business. This maximization of the wealth must be both in day-to-day running of the business as well as in the long-term through their tactical decisions. A well executed acquisition or merger will increase the profits earned by increased sales income and by reducing costs. It may also place the business in a position of strategic advantage over its competitors that will enable it to add value by using the opportunity of that advantage to increase profitability. Role of Managers in successful Mergers/Acquisitions: The scope of organizational behavior for a manager goes beyond carving strategies for the functioning of the organization, and can extend further during and after acquisitions to extend financial benefits. The manager has an important responsibility to develop a leadership plan while keeping human elements that arise from such mergers in mind. To create this balanced equilibrium, the manager must use transition strategies of organizational behavior to keep the vision and goals of the organization while motivating and achieving better individual performances Arkin, (2003) shows that, involving Human Resource Professionals at the earliest stages of a merger or acquisition is crucial to help employees adapt to the change. Kitching (1967) stresses the importance of installing managers of change to handle the critical areas needing change to accomplish the tasks of the acquisition. Kitching emphasizes the importance of change management efforts on control in the post-acquisition period. Of late MA research takes into account not only control-based value creation, but also a variety of integration processes through which those synergistic benefits can be realized (Hitt, Harrison, Ireland, 2001). Gadiesh, et al (2002) identified a range of leadership characteristics that might be associated with successful MA outcomes. These characteristics are decisiveness (closing the deal), serving as a symbol and creating momentum (crusading for the new entity), fostering a sense of focus (establishing and communicating the strategic vision) motivating organizational members (cheering on the troops), and providing key cultural and operational guidance (captaining change through integration). Managerial ability must be a non-specialised proclivity, and the leaders of the acquiring company must be men of much greater talent than those of the corporations they absorb In the context of mergers and acquisitions, managers create accountable others (Galpin and Herndon 2000) as Clemente Greenspan, (1998) write, These leaders make concrete the mutual responsibility of all employees, but alert and bind them to everyone elses responsibility . . .this will create a social conscience. Case of BMW acquiring Rover: In the case of BMW (Gould, B 1998) acquiring Rover for 800 millions highlights the importance of managers and effective human resource management in mergers and acquisitions. BMW was easily able to gain entry into a new market segment without compromising its high end and niche market segment through acquisition of Rover. The main reason thats made BMW bought Rover and land Rover is that BMW doesnt have an SUV. the X5 was from the Land Rover team.So it was long term investment by BMW.Also the products and quality, although better, needed some help. And BAE was doing nothing with it. BMW thought about acquiring Rover, as it was too small to survive on its own. However, a more fundamental objective was the enhancement of shareholders wealth through acquisitions aimed at accessing or creating sustainable competitive advantage for acquirer. Such an advantage was to stem from economies of scale, market power or access to unique strengths, for example BMW through acquisition of Rover was able to offer a rage of cars in every category. Successful acquisitions are distinguished from failed ones in a number of dimensions, ranging from pre- acquisitions planning to post- acquisitions integration management. Haspeslagh and Jeminson (1991) contrast two perspectives of acquisition decision making the rationalist and the organizational process. The rationalist view based on hard economic, strategic and financial evaluation of the acquisition proposal and estimates the potential value creation based on such an evaluation. In this case the aim of the acquisitions was to create competitive advantages, strengthen their positions in the markets and to achieve the strategic value creation. BMW/Rover is the examples of acquisitions that have failed to be successful. Despite of the ambitious plans regarding Rovers future, Rover could not bring any profits until the year 2000 due to an investment programme of 500 million pounds per year in the UK. BMW experienced financial distress after acquiring Rover. Robert Hellar writes, BMW has invested .8 billion in a business which at last report was losing ,000 annually. Reasons for Failure: Success of acquisition depends on pre acquisition audit, including a human element audit, clarity of purpose, good communication and understanding of the cultural nuances of the acquired company. Making a successful acquisition requires all three stages of acquisition process namely, preparation, negotiation and post acquisition integration and shall be considered interrelated process. BMW wanted to acquire Rover in order to create a range of cars in every category. BMW was not strong enough to compete on its own and the acquisition seemed to be attractive from the points of extending its range and achieving economies of scale in souring, production, distribution and RD. However, obstacles started since implications of the acquisition. There was a lack of agreement between the teams negotiating a deal and implementing it, so the aims of acquisition were not preserved. Tight secrecy in planning and negotiating is considered necessary to prevent either rivals or the staff of the target finding out about the deal. This secrecy may be one of the reasons for the due diligence audit being somewhat superficial. BMWs preacquisition audit neglected human resource aspects; the audit resulted in some nasty surprises after the acquisition; for example, BMW redeployment of senior BMWs staff to top Rover positions. The chairman of BMW planed to turn Rover into exclusive cars as BMW and the same time he wanted to increase world sales. However, his ambitious target has turned out to be arduous. Robert Stevens (1999) writes On February 11 BMWs chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder resigned after failing to win the support of his board. He was the kingpin in BMWs million acquisition of Rover in 1994 and is associated with the failure of this take-over Conclusions Mergers or Acquisitions are complex challenges for the management. There are major challenges most importantly employee related issues. Need for competent management is paramount with focus on the human resource audit as whatever, the merits of an acquisition on financial and business criteria, it is people who make it all happen. The employees need to be motivated and well informed about their future within the company. As evident from the case study there was a lack of pre merger planning and non-transparent negotiations resulting in shocks for merged company. Most of all there was a total lack of post acquisition integration strategy resulting out of poor management. The most important attributes for the managers are honesty; sensitivity, competence and willingness to share with the target staff the benefits of acquisitions. These are the most important contributors to success of acquisitions, which were sadly lacking in case of BMW acquisition of Rover.

This is a PERSUASIVE paper arguing that VIOLENCE ON TV AND IN MUSIC Essay

This is a PERSUASIVE paper arguing that VIOLENCE ON TV AND IN MUSIC causes individuals to perform physically aggressive behavior which can result in injury, and - Essay Example Now that television has spread out into the world in such a big way, there is obviously no way one can turn the clock back and wish it a perennial goodbye. It is a necessity, but it could also be a menace, depending on the way it is used. Psychologists and social activists have time and again, over the years, conclusively established that without proper parental guidance, children are being adversely affected by exposure to the wrong programs in TV. Tender, impressionable, and receptive, the mind of a child is eager and ready to accept thrilling encounters and heroic feats. Therefore, while watching violent encounters and high decibel music, not only he enjoys the pulsating effect but also begins to build a personal bond with the characters in the movie. Eventually, within a short period of time, the child has decided that these are the programs and characters that he is going to be relating with for the rest of his life. In Chicago, two boys, both outsiders, enter, a maths classroom, and are locked in a fight. When the students and teacher try to break it up, one of the students gets fatally stabbed by the outsiders who then flee. Two teenagers burst into their Colorado high school about one year ago and gunned down 13 people. Then they shot themselves. Though it had appeared to be a spur of the moment event, it emerged later that the two had the bloodshed meticulously planned "down to the last bullet and explosive" for nearly a year. It was a murder-cum-suicide mission. Their bigger plan had been to blow up the entire school with pipe bombs attached to their bodies. Society is benefiting in terms of gross national product with everyone, including women, working. However, Kevin Dwyer, president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is not pleased. He is direct to the point, "Kids are growing up without the supports they had in the past." Due to the abysmal lack of parental care, the television has become the stalwart companion after school hours for children. A child spends about 2 minutes communicating with his or her parents on an average day as compared to 16 hours a day glued to the television, writes journalist George Howe Colt in his 1991 book, The Enigma of Suicide. Studies are noncommittal on how exposure to images of murders and assaults on the television affects children's behavior, though many psychologists are convinced that violent television shows, movies, and computer games inflame destructive tendencies. Tellingly, more than 86 percent of television shows and movies portray characters who have their interpersonal problems solved with violence, according to NASP. According to the Center for Media Education in Washington, by the time he completes his elementary

Air Transport in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Air Transport in the UK - Essay Example According to the report  there are two key drivers of air transport demand in the UK economy. One is growth in income in the long-term and the other one is fall in the real cost of fares of air transport. With the decline in air fares and rise in income, the passengers are expected to increase their air travel. However, with fall in the air fares, the airlines are unable to cut down operational costs and due to this, the sector has to meet increasing cost for emission of fuels. The figure below shows the key factors of air transport demand in the UK.This research highlights that  income elasticity of demand in economics is used to measure the responsiveness of quantity demanded of a good with respect to the income change of the individual demanding the good, holding all other things constant. Mathematically, it is calculated by taking the ratio of change in the percentage of quantity demanded to the change in percentage of income.  Income elasticity of a good which is greater t han 1 (luxury good) is considered to be highly elastic. The good whose elasticity lies in the range of 0 to 1 (normal or necessary good) is considered to be elastic and the one with elasticity less than 0 (inferior good) has negative elasticity. Also, goods having income elasticity equal to 1 is unit elastic. The figure below shows different types of elasticity.  Therefore, income elasticity differs with the nature of goods. The demand for inferior good is negative, less elastic for normal good and that for luxury good, it is highly elastic.

Inquiring Minds want to know Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Inquiring Minds want to know - Case Study Example The information being sought touches on the private lives of the individuals participating in the study and this is a great challenge to the study as this is likely to raise many ethical issues. In the modern information age, protecting the personal and private information of an individual is extremely important. Yet, as is seen in this case, there are a number of issues which must be looked at in order to ensure that the privacy of the individual is well protected. Confidentiality Confidentiality refers to the fact that the information of the individuals will not be revealed to other people. It also loosely refers to the fact that the information collected for one purpose will not be used for other purposes. This is extremely important in order to help in protecting the privacy as well as other interests of the individual. In this particular study, there is the risk of the confidentiality of the individuals in at least two ways. First, the data used in the background research is dat a that was collected many years ago and for different purposes. For instance, according to Schindler (2011), data from the early 90s which was collected using reader service cards was used to determine how the technology had affected the way the people were using information. This may be a violation to confidentiality of the people to whom this information belongs. Secondly, the information being collected through the questionnaires may also bring about the issue of confidentiality if it is used in the wrong way and this must be looked at in a critical way. Confidentiality is very important and any research carrying out a research where individuals are involved will have to only assure the participants that their confidentiality will be protected but also do also everything that they can in order to guarantee that the confidentiality of the study will be guaranteed. In this case, there are a number of issues which must be looked at in order to protect the participants. Informed cons ent Informed consent refers to the fact that the participants of the study are clearly informed about the study, its purposes and how the information they will provide will be used. It also refers to the fact that the participants have wilfully agreed to participate in the study even after knowing exactly what the study will be used for. In this particular study, it is necessary for the participants to know exactly how the data they are providing will be used and how this will affect them. After this, they will need to give their informed consent and agree to participate in the study. This is especially important with regard to the privacy of the participants especially due to the fact that the individuals will be providing information which is quite personal with regard to their private life or their professional life. In this regard, it will be necessary for the person carrying this study to make sure that apart from guaranteeing confidentiality of the study, they will also help t he participants to understand clearly what the study is about and that the participants will willingly agree to participate in the study. Protecting the interests of the participants This has to do with the first three issues discussed above, that is, privacy, informed consent, and confidentiality which are all geared towards protecting the inte

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 117

Assignment Example Possibly, the decrease in MMP-2 in the presence of interfering mutated Ras resulted to the observed decrease in the amount of invaded cells. B) Based on figure b, MMP-2 signal is very apparent when the mutated Ras, N17Ras, is absent. On the other hand, MMP-2 signal is decreased in the presence of N17Ras. And since in the next figure the absence of N17Ras was shown to increase the number of invaded cells per field, then it is highly likely that invasion can be attributed to the presence of MMP-2, which is Ras-dependent. Again, as mentioned in part A, N17Ras competes with the wild-type Ras in the latter’s interaction with the factors that lead to the upregulation of MMP-2 (Kin et al. 55) These findings were determined using gelatin zymogram assay, as well as in vitro invasion and transwell migration assays. Particularly, gelatin zymogram assay determines the presence or absence of gelatinolytic activity of the conditioned media. This assay takes advantage of the inherent gelatinolytic activity of MMP-2 to determine the molecules presence or absence. Thus, liquidation of gelatin predicts the presence of MMP-2 (Kin et al.

Summary of the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summary of the article - Essay Example Consequently, shared value has been used to balance economic and societal progresses. Global firms with large turnovers have adopted the approach with the aim of acquiring competitive advantages. Products have been reconceived and redefined through innovations to ensure safe and pollution-free societies while maximizing profits (Porter and Kramer, 2011). The principle of shared value should be employed by all firms by changing decisions and business opportunities. Shared value may cause an increase in internal company costs. It has enhanced competitiveness with an aim of advancing social and economic conditions in environments where firms operate. Corporate responsibility programs have been because of external pressure from the society (Porter and Kramer, 2011). However, social needs may also indirectly define markets due to the costs incurred in conserving various societies. It has also affected productivity levels in companies due to the strategies being adopted. Competitive advantage also depends on societal needs such as employee conditions and environment impacts. As a result, social entrepreneurs have come up with innovations that include social and environmental-friendly

Memento Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Memento - Essay Example Leonard is motivated by the mission of seeking revenge for the murder of his wife. When his wife died, they were attacked by two men. He succeeded in killing one of them and the other one disappeared and he came to recognize him as John G. He ends up killing teddy and Jimmy as he suspects that they were the attacker who disappeared after killing his wife. However, in the end it turns out that Leonard was delusional and had killed his own wife. He keeps telling himself the story of the attackers in order to forget about his mistake of killing his wife. This paper analyzes the movie Memento in terms of plot structure, character development themes and style. The movie Memento does not follow the normal Freytag plot. Instead the movie follows a unique plot where the events are displayed in two sequences, the white and black sequence that follows a chronological order and the colored one which is reverse. For instance, instead of the climax appearing after the introduction, it comes at th e end of the movie where Leonard realizes that he was actually the one who killed his own wife. Nolan develops rising action by showing the confusion in Leonard’s minds. ... Leonard’s says that he knows who he was before the attack an insurance broker. He however has a problem keeping short term memory. Teddy points out that Leonard has created the unsolvable puzzle of John G. in order to give his life meaning. He tells him that the real attacker had been killed a year ago after tricking him to Kill Jimmy who was a drug dealer. A hotel attendant charges him double for a motel and points out that he would not remember it. He also says that even after getting his revenge, Leonard would not remember it. After the narration that Teddy gives about the killing of the attacker one year ago, the audience question who Leonard really is. Teddy’s story is more reliable than that of Leonard. This is because the movie establishes that since the attack, Leonard could not keep short memory. This is seen in the movie when he pays twice for a room in a motel without realizing it. Moreover, he wears Jimmy clothes and drives his car after killing him. He then walks in a bar where Natalie who was familiar with Jimmy recognized his clothes. It is thus possible that Leonard may have killed the real attacker as Teddy says. Although Leonard has a reminder of the story of Sammy he does not seem to understand the relationship that the story has in his own condition. It can thus be true that Leonard’s wife died of an overdose of insulin shot under directions of Leonard who could not remember events happening around him. He keeps repeating to his listeners that he talks fast since he has problem with short term memory. The notes and pictures that he keeps are unreliable source of information. The notes are flimsy and are not enough to base a memory on. Leonard is unable to read

Summary of the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summary of the article - Essay Example Consequently, shared value has been used to balance economic and societal progresses. Global firms with large turnovers have adopted the approach with the aim of acquiring competitive advantages. Products have been reconceived and redefined through innovations to ensure safe and pollution-free societies while maximizing profits (Porter and Kramer, 2011). The principle of shared value should be employed by all firms by changing decisions and business opportunities. Shared value may cause an increase in internal company costs. It has enhanced competitiveness with an aim of advancing social and economic conditions in environments where firms operate. Corporate responsibility programs have been because of external pressure from the society (Porter and Kramer, 2011). However, social needs may also indirectly define markets due to the costs incurred in conserving various societies. It has also affected productivity levels in companies due to the strategies being adopted. Competitive advantage also depends on societal needs such as employee conditions and environment impacts. As a result, social entrepreneurs have come up with innovations that include social and environmental-friendly

Race in the study of food Essay Example for Free

Race in the study of food Essay â€Å"Local food advocacy is a political and moral discourse that is meant to provide the foundation for understanding local food networks as sites of resistance against the norms and power of globalized industrial foodways† (Daston, 2017). Daston is correct â€Å"in her philosophy because, in various and dispersed traditions, nature has been upheld as the pattern of all values, the good, the true, and the beautiful.† (Daston, 2017) â€Å"There is nothing new about the link between nature and necessity, nor with the exculpatory inferences drawn from such links. † (Daston, 2017). In the first section of the paper, she describes local food advocacy as having a political and moral discourse that is meant to provide the foundation for understanding local food networks as sites of resistance against the norms and power of globalized industrial foodways. She explores the use of the concept of â€Å"nature† and the â€Å"natural† in local food discourses with a number of examples of local food advocacy in an attempt to decipher the meaning of the â€Å"natural† in the discourse. Portman (2014) discovers that a cluster of implicit concepts which are uncritically assumed to be earth-based, family-based, and feminine-based; these bases are also assumed to be unproblematic.† (Portman, 2014 Daston asserts that â€Å"the moral dimension of local food discourse, in general, is encompassed in the conviction that there are ethical and unethical ways by which our food can be produced, distributed and consumed.† (Daston, 2017). â€Å"It is only within this modern framework that we can make sense of the naturalistic fallacy, both its confusions and its tenacity. The naturalistic fallacy and its barnacle-like accretions assume what Frankena called a â€Å"bifurcation ontology† that prohibits commerce between the two immiscible realms. Repeated efforts on the part of monists of both materialist and idealist persuasion to dissolve the dichotomy in favor of one or another realm have only reinforced its binary logic† (Daston, 2017, p.581). Portman’s (2017) decision to delve into the ethics of local food advocacy is a timely decision as words such as organic, healthy, and farm-fresh have become a part of the mainstream vernacular. While it may seem random to popular culture.† (Portman, 2017, p. 4). His ideology supports a long-held belief that humans make their food choices based on financial ability. However, it is reckless to say that a single mother of four will make â€Å"everyone’s agreed upon† morally sound decision when trying to determine how to feed her children with her last $20. While politics and economics dictate the type of food presented to various populations and demographics, morality is a luxury that only those who have the time to debate it can afford. â€Å"In this context, the concept of the â€Å"natural† is frequently and uncritically invoked to argue for the ethical significance of participating in and advocating for local food networks. This is problematic in that the dualistic framework serves to obscure many actual complexities within the â€Å"natural† and the â€Å"local† themselves, and in their relationships with their counterparts, the â€Å"cultural† and the â€Å"global.† Thus, by leaving unquestioned certain assumptions about the meaning of the â€Å"natural† and how that meaning was constructed, local food advocacy is not as resistant as it might otherwise be.† (Portman, 2014) Datson (2014), on the other hand, supposes that the idea of morality having a direct influence on decisions regarding nature is a modern phenomenon. This notion supports the theory that these philosophical examinations are only able to be discussed because humans now have the knowledge and time, thanks to modern technology, to make these assumptions. Datson (2014) defined nature as, â€Å"everything in the universe (sometimes including and sometimes excluding human beings), to what is inborn rather than cultivated, to the wild rather than the civilized, to raw materials as opposed to refined products, to the spontaneous as opposed to the sophisticated, to what is native rather than foreign, to the material world without divinity, to a fruitful goddess, and to a great deal else, depending on epoch and context† (Portman, 2014) (p. 582). The lack of a universally accepted definition of the term they are trying to define speaks to the logical flaw that we cannot discount anything that we do not yet understand. It argues that just because something is natural it must be good. We act against nature all the time with money, vaccination, electricity, even medicine. In the same sense, many things that are natural are good, but not all unnatural things are unethical which is what the naturalistic fallacy argues. Both articles show a bias for people who have a choice. A choice to choose what they eat, a choice to carefully examine what they are able to consume, both physically and mentally, and a choice to act on their desires. According to the â€Å"Center for Disease Control (CDC), Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (48.1%) followed by Hispanics (42.5%), non-Hispanic whites (34.5%), and non-Hispanic Asians (11.7%)† (2017).† The CDC also reported that â€Å"obesity decreased by the level of education. Adults without a high school degree or equivalent had the highest self-reported obesity (35.5%), followed by high school graduates (32.3%), adults with some college (31.0%) and college graduates (22.2%)† (2016). The populations represented in these reports are often plagued by a lack of choice due to political agendas and systemic oppression. Without using these statistics to inform their theories, the authors have left out a demographic who would benefit the most from these findings. Portman (2017) and Daston (2014) have continued a discussion that has been argued for centuries. Portman (2017) provides an action-based solution to the posed questions and the stance it takes, while Daston (2014) attempts to break down a concept that has not been generally agreed upon. Both articles, when referenced wisely, can begin the movement of a positive change in the relationship between our decision-making and our food. References Daston, L. (2017). The naturalistic fallacy is modern. The History of Science Journal, The University of Chicago Press, 105(3), 579-587. doi:10.1086/678173. Overweight and Obesity. (2017). Adult Obesity Facts. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html Overweight and Obesity. (2017). Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html Portman, A. (2014). Mother nature has it right: Local food advocacy and the appeal to the â€Å"natural.† Ethics and the Environment, 19(1), 1-30. Doi: 10.2979. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/678173 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/547343/summary https://muse.jhu.edu/article/547343/pdf https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/archive/

Holistic View Of The Bilingual Person English Language Essay

Holistic View Of The Bilingual Person English Language Essay The term bilingual in the psycholinguistic literature does not only apply to people who speak two languages equally well because they were exposed constantly to two different languages maybe due to their parents two different native languages. However Bilingualism refers to the regular use of two (or more) languages, and bilinguals are those people who need and use two (or more) languages in their everyday lives. (Grosjean, 1992, pp. 51). This represents a holistic view of the bilingual person as a competent and complete communicator, on the other hand though a bilingual person is surely not the result of the sum of two monolinguals. As early as 1968, Macnamara, Krauthammer and Bolgar wrote: Within certain limits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, all bilinguals manage to keep their languages distinct and can switch from one to the other. It follows that to some extent bilinguals experience their languages as psychologically distinct systems, and that they have some device to control which one is used at any particular time. However, fluent bilinguals are capable of switching between their two languages, when for example a third person who can speak only one of the two languages is pulled in a conversation or when the topic of the discussion strongly asks for the use of both languages at the same time. To clarify this point, consider this situation described by Judith Kroll You are sitting at a cafà © or at the airport when you overhear a conversation in English that suddenly switches to another language and then back to English. If you are a monolingual speaker of English, you may notice the mixture of languages without realizing that you have listened to an impressive cognitive accomplishment by the speaker. This exceptional achievement is instead a rather common feature of bilinguals language use in which words of two languages mix together in a coherent and meaningful conversation .. In this sense, a bilingual changes the linguistic form, without alterating the substantial meaning byusing a word which may address the sense of a discourse in a better or stronger way like choosing between synonyms with the same language (Sridhar Sridhar, 1980). Yet when the same bilinguals speak to a monolingual they rarely use or switch to an alternative language in order to prevent the monoli ngual speaker from not understanding. These different circumstances and a variety of other situation where this capability arises leads to question of how the information to be processed or expressed is bound to the activation or articulation of a corresponding word or phrase in the appropriate language. On one hand, for a person repeatedly coping with language switches within the conversation, these apparently strange words come unexpectedly and may perhaps be more difficult to process than their within-language counterparts. On the other hand for a bilingual who has to choose in which language to speak, the process of finding the right word in the right context, which French and Jacquet (2004) refer to as lexical access may result extremely complex , as in addition to the activation of words in one language other than the target, other parole (words) in the other language might be active as well.,. Thus, the simultaneous activation of the two lexico-semantic represenations of a bilingual might address different answers paralleled with the specific processing modality, word recognition or production, driven by the context. In word recognition, language membership is passively conveyed to a person by the orthographical or phonological characteristics of the word (). However, in word production, the speaker actively and intentionally decides which language to use. Therefore, the speaker can exert some control on lexical forms and choose the target which best fits the communicative context among a set of activated representations. We do not claim that the mechanisms and neural dynamics recruited for lexical access are necessarily different in recognition and production, but rather that the processes involved in each may be at least partially different. The aim of this project will be first to trace the effects of a language switch on models of both language production and language comprehension and second to identify the neural correlates of language switching and the impact a switch may have on the cognitive processes which rule lexical access in order to produce or recognize a word. Bilingualism and language comprehension Language comprehension has been investigated in bilingual populations mainly through tasks in which bilinguals are substantially asked to respond to written words in one or both of their languages. In such visual word identification tasks, the language switch is driven by the upcoming stimuli in input, while the output is executed by button press driven by a binary decision. A large number of studies have addressed bilinguals performance in comprehension tasks through both within-language and cross-language tasks such as lexical decision (e.g., Dijkstra, Van Jaarsveld Ten Brinke, 1998; Dijkstra, Grainger, Van Heuven, 1999; von Studnitz Green, 2002), language decision, and categorisation tasks (e.g., Dufour Kroll, 1995; Grainger Frenck-Mestre, 1998). Initial studies revealed, for example, that when bilinguals were asked to read language-mixed passages, their performance suffered compared to reading single-language passages (Macnamara Kushnir, 1971). In lexical decision, responses to words where a switch in language occurs were slower than those to a trial nested in a sequence of words from same language s (Thomas Allport, 1995; Von Studnitz Green, 1997). Ability to recognize words in one language seems to be influenced by the language memebership of the word immediately preceding (the basic language priming effect) (Grainger Beauvillain, 1988; Grainger ORegan, 1992) even in lists of unrelated words. Fluent bilinguals seem to comfortably manage whichever language they are requested to use, however in all of the contexts mentioned just above a language switch during comprehension hurts their performance. This evidence suggests that even when bilinguals read (e.g., Dijkstra, 2005) or hear (e.g., Marian Spivey, 2003) one langua ge alone, both languages are still active. Thus, a crucial point here is to establish if and to what extent the other language is still there when bilinguals use one language alone. One way of testing this hypotheisis is to isolate ambiguous features of the bilinguals two languages , meaning to use words that partially overlap or are totally shared in both languages. When two languages share the same alphabet, we may find words called cognates that look or sound the same and mean the same thing as well. For example, In French and Italian, the words balla and balle are almost spelled identically and have the same meaning and. If bilinguals are really capable of shutting down one language and dress as monolinguals, then performance on these special words (cognates) should not differ from that on distinctive and unambiguous words. If the other language results not to be in standby but always on, then bilinguals should perform differently from monolinguals which in a lexical decision ta sk will need to match the target with only one possible candidate instead of two A cognate benefit on performance has been demonstrated across a variety of tasks (De Groot and Poot, 1997; Van Hell De Groot, 1998a; Van Hell and Dijkstra, 2002;), providing substantial evidence that cognates are represented or processed differently from non-cognate translation equivalent words in the second language. Cognates and non-cognates also show different priming effects: in one of the earliest explorations of the effects of cognates, De Groot and Nas (1991) found cross-language repetition priming for both cognates and non-cognates, but associative priming only for cognates. Given such evidence they reached three conclusions: (1) the representations of both cognate and non-cognate translations at the lexical level of representation are connected; (2) cognate translations share a representation at the conceptual level while (3) non-cognate translation equivalents are represented in separate conc ept nodes. De Groot and colleagues model of cognate representation has continued to develop, but it remains firmly based on the principle that cognates representations in the two languages are shared, or overlapping, more than those of non-cognates. In terms of distributed representations, Van Hell and De Groot (1998) describe the notion of overlap as the patterns of activation for a cognate word and its translation being similar to one another, whereas the patterns of activation for a non-cognate word and its translation may have very little in common. The more features are shared between words, the smaller the lexical distance between their corresponding patterns of activation. In addition, the cognate effect was found not to be restricted only to conditions where stimuli are presented in written form. Costa, Caramazza, and Sebastià ¡n-Gallà ©s (2000), for example, found that bilinguals named pictures with cognate names more quickly than pictures with non-cognate names, while monolinguals showed no difference on the same set of pictures. This confirms that the cognate benefit is not solely due to orthographic overlap in the presented stimuli. Many studies have took advantage of these special properties of cognate words in order to determine how this linguistic ambiguity impacts on bilinguals ability to understand these words in only one of their two languages. Evidence stemming from all these studies strongly supports the idea that the language not in use may be in a sort of sleeping mode and anyway exerts an influence on the bilinguals lexico-semantic system even when a task tunes it to the other language. When cross-language form and meaning converge, bilingual performance is typically facilitated; when cross-language form and meaning conflict, bilingual performance is often hindered, in that it is slower and more likely to be error prone (Dijkstra, 2005). These cross-language effects will likely occur especially in the case of a second less dominant language given that most of time both languages will never be equally strong. Furthermore in conditions where a change in language occurs, the cross-linguistic influence of one language on the other will directly affect the processing of words in either one of the two languages. However it is a point of some controversy in the literature whether the costs associated with switching between languages might be somehow modulated by language specific or ambiguous cues. The Bilingual Interactive Activation model (BIA) and language switching Dijkstra and van Heuven (1998) have proposed a model for word recognition in bilinguals (BIA, the Bilingual Interactive Activation model) in which they try to account for the interaction between active word candidates in both languages. Novel to the BIA model is the use of language nodes. When the BIA model encounters a string of letters, the specific visual features of each at a particular letter position excite letters in the system with corresponding features while different letters are inhibited . Activation in turn from letters is driven to words in both languages where each letter figures in the determined position, while all other words are inhibited. At the word level, language membership will not affect inhibition as all words inhibit each other. Activation thriving from word nodes in the same language is carried on to the corresponding language nodes which store activation from words with a specific language tag, and in turn spread, through a feedback mechanism, inhibition to all word nodes in the other language. Furthermore, these language nodes can be pre-activated reflecting a particular task and this device allows the asymmetric inhibition of words in the two languages; word forms in L1, for instance, can be more inhibited than word forms in L2. The effects of language switching can be explained in this framework through a mechanism which allows lexical activation to flow from one trial over to the next. The BIA hypothesizes that activation of a specific language node paralleled with the presentation of a word in that particular language will not completely decay and fall beneath threshold, therefore when the next item comes up in the other language the corresponding word unit will be partially inhibited. According to this model any cost relative to switching will fall close to zero if the input carries orthographic features unique to a language. Only one or a few word units in that particular language will be active and any advantage or disadvant age held by similar cross-linguistic representations (i.e. as in the case of cognates) of the previous trial will fade out. This model shows that language switching may be a function of the task situation, the nature of stimulus material, as well as the expertise of the bilingual. Figure 1. The Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model for bilingual word recognition. Arrowheads indicate excitatory connections; black filled circles indicate inhibitory connections. (Dijkstra van Heuven, 1998) 4.4 The effects of context information and the BIA+ Model Language is a single word, however in its everyday use it implies the use of a set of multiple words to express meaning. It is possible therefore that evidence for cross-language activity stems from the decontextualized nature of word recognition tasks commonly employed to investigate the bilinguals two languages. In the context of a conversation or while we read a passage in one language rather than the other cues which shift the balance of activity in favour of the intended language should be conveyed to a mechanism which could virtually switch off the other language. This indeed does not seem to be the case as recent evidence from a number of studies suggest that contextual cues per se are not able to turn completely down the activity of the language not in use. On one hand we would have intuitively predicted that the frame provided by a stringent linguistic context should reduce the number of viable language interpretations. On the other hand, these findings justify the ease of language switching and the relatively low cost it entails in terms of processing resources (e.g., Moreno, Federmeier, Kutas, 2002). However, a point of some controversy remains and namely the relationship between the word identification system and the linguistic context (as a sentence) or the non-linguistic context information determined in an experimental framework by the task demands (i.e. the participants expectations determined by the instructions). One option is that after the initial stages of lexical processing, information of both types (linguistic and context) may exert an influence on the activation level of forms in the target and non-target language. For instance, context information could inhibit lexical candidates or lemmas in the irrelevant language (BIA model by Dijkstra et al., 1998; IC model by Green, 1986, 1998) or just modulate of the activation level of lexical candidates in each language (Grosjean, 1997). A second option is that non-linguistic context information does not directly influence the activity in the identification system itself, but affects decision criteria only.. The BIA+ model postulates the existence of two distinct systems: a word identification system and a task/decision system. Linguistic information conveyed by a sequence of words in in a sentence context may modulate the word identification system, while non-linguistic context information (e.g., participants expectations and strategies) affects parameter settings in the task/decision system.. However, the model clearly states that the task/decision system and sources of non-linguistic information do not affect the lexical activation levels within the word identification system itself. Therefore while performing in a task (such as lexical decision) an early preconscious, automatic level of processing thriving from activity within the word identification system may be followed by an attention-sensitive level in which lexical forms are selected through a task/decision system with reference to different contextual factors and bound to a specific response relevant to the task at hand (cf. Altenberg and C airns, 1983, p. 187; Dupoux and Mehler, 1992; Balota, Paul and Spieler, 1999). The task schema, which is set up during the practice set or retrieved from memory, designates the algorithm which selects the cognitive processing steps necessary to perform the specific task (Green, 1986, 1998; Norman and Shallice, 1986). The decision mechanism is incorporated in the task schema and monitors continuously the activation level of candidates in the identification system by weighting the different levels of activation of targets with respect to each other within the identification system in order to arrive at an output in terms of response. The decision relies upon a lexical selection mechanism, which triggers depending on the breaking of an activation threshold for a lexical candidate. In other words, the identification and task/decision systems, though interconnected, may be partially independent. The two systems use their own criteria for action triggering (i.e., lexical selection and res ponse selection/execution). The identification system is assumed to recognize a word and is able to select a single lexical candidate with a good degree of certainty) when the system reaches a fair stability. The task/decision system triggers a response when its own criteria are met, some of which ruled by lexical activation, while others driven by a tendency towards optimization in terms of how activated and selected representations in the identification system are linked to possible responses. For instance, in lexical decision the input letter string conveys activity to orthographic, semantic and phonological codes, all of which could allow a discrimination of word and non-word input. However, when participants are asked to make a language decision in the sense to press one button if a presented item belongs to one language (e.g., English) and another button if it belongs to another language (e.g., Dutch) only those codes which facilitate the retrieval of language membership infor mation (language tags) are able to address a correct response. Thus, different schemas underlie different tasks, although one task may obey to different schemas. The schema might capture and use information from different sources in parallel, but presently available evidence suggests that orthographic representations play a major role (Pexman and Lupker, 2001). A number of recent experiments have addressed the predictions stemming from the BIA+ model by asking whether the parallel activity of the two languages can be reduced or eliminated when language ambiguous words that produce cross-language effects out of context, are placed in sentence context (e.g., Elston-Gà ¼ttler, Gunter, Kotz, 2005; Schwartz Kroll, 2006;Van Hell,1998). Schwartz, Kroll, and Diaz (2007) showed that when bilinguals are asked to name a cognate like radio in isolation, they are faster relative to controls if there is both orthographical and phonological overlap across the two languages. However, when they read highly constrained sentences the processing advantage for cognates disappeared while in sentences with a lower closure probability, an advantage for cognates remained, suggesting that knowing the language in which you are reading does not switch off the unintended language. This last assumption leads to the question of whether the decision criteria in a language switching task is affected when cognates are involved considering that the activation threshold for lexical candidates will be broken not as quickly. According to the BIA+ model, the similarity of the input word to the internal lexical representations establishes their activation level. Therefore the larger the overlap between the input string and a representation in the mental lexicon, the more the internal representation is activated. In the case of two languages with alphabetical writing systems, the number of activated orthographic candidates is determined by factors such as the neighbourhood density and frequency of the target word and its within- and between-language neighbours and not by the words language membership. However, If the two input codes specific to each language are different (e.g., letter sets), the activated set of neighbours may become much smaller. Figure 2. The BIA+ model for bilingual word recognition. Arrows indicate activation flows between representational pools. Inhibitory connections within pools are omitted. Language nodes could instead be attached to lemma representations between word form and meaning representations. Non-linguistic context only affects the task schema level. (Dijkstra Van Heuven The architecture of the bilingual word recognition sysytem, Bilingualism:Language and Cognition, 5, 2002 )