HR Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HR Proposal - Essay Example According to Yousef (2004), the Middle Eastern countries have the lowest levels of social and economic development in the world. The population in this region is approximately 313 million with a GDP of $732 billion (Yousef, 2004). Unemployment rate in Middle East is 15% which is among the highest rates globally (Yousef, 2004). This includes women rate of unemployment which is higher than the males. The role played by the women in the Middle East workforce is very little but very crucial. As more and more women enter the workforce, it is encouraging for the new generation women to take education which was once thought as an unnecessary thing (Ross, 2008). As women participate in the workplace, it open ups the view that they can earn their own income and thus contribute to the household besides the traditional household duties. For this reason, many Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE are increasing the women percentage in the workplace by expanding the jobs available to them. Most of the employment sectors heavily populated by women are education and health care (Rubin, 2007). According to a census in 2000, the women workforce occupied 74% of primary school, 54% of secondary school and a certain percentage of them were involved as police officers, military officers and taxi drivers (Rubin, 2007). The role of women in the workplace in Middle East is increasing especially in countries such as Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco and Kuwait as the governments are trying to provide better facilities to increase female participation. Female entrepreneurs are increasing rapidly. Many firms are operated by females in the aforementioned regions which are well-established, technologically advanced, productive and comparable to the male-owned firms not just regionally but globally (Ghimire, 2006). Most of these firms, according to Ghimire (2006), are 1.7 times more productive as compared to those owned and run by men. For example, a B2B trading

The controversy of water fluoridation Research Paper

The controversy of water fluoridation - Research Paper Example One particular issue has to do with the overall potential benefit for drawbacks that this fluoridation might necessarily affect. For the most part, it is been broadly accepted that water fluoridation is beneficial to the overall health of individuals within society. For the most part, this benefit has been tangentially related to dental health. However, there are also been claims by many scientists and researchers that fluoride within drinking water also benefits the overall bone health within an individual that is exposed to it. Furthermore, this practice has been approved and supported by both the American Medical Association and the American dental Association since 1951 and 1953 respectively. Essentially, two government agencies are ultimately responsible for overseeing the way in which fluoride is represented within the water supply in the United States. These government agencies are the Federal Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. The government requirem ents for fluoridation of water and acceptable levels stipulate that the maximum level of fluoride that can be found in public water should not exceed 4 ppm (parts per million) (Vandana, 2014). In several studies that have been conducted nation-wide, this has been found to have been exceeded. For the most part, there is a great dearth of effective and fully scientific studies that have been conducted as a means of determining the potential drawbacks or extant benefits that water fluoridation is able to effect. This is unique and at the very least somewhat troubling; in light of the fact that the nation’s water supply has been fluoridated for well over 60 years now. As such, the following analysis will pay a special level of attention to some of the positive and potential negative effects that water fluoridation may have on the populace. Through such a level of examination and

Cause And Effect Of Gender Discrimination Sociology Essay

Cause And Effect Of Gender Discrimination Sociology Essay Gender discrimination started since the days of our ancestors who had been suppressing womens rights and is perceived to be the norm of the male-dominance society. Men are always, until today, seen as the figure of leadership and success in many countries with no exceptions to some well-known countries where women are given as much rights as their counterpart (Dailymail, July 18, 2011). Although the idea of women belongs in the kitchen is fast fading or much despised by the society as discriminatory, women are underperforming comparing to their male counterpart. Women are facing these hard truths mainly because the fact that most traditional minded people thinks that women are underrepresented. After that, education is one of the main causes for gender discrimination. Lastly, religion is also the factor for this issue. Traditional lifestyle in some households causes unjust discrimination to women (Anderson, Moore, Faison, 1995). For instance, many Asian cultures groom young girls to becoming women, who later in life play the role of a homemaker responsible to prepare meals for the family and to do everyday house chores. On the other hand, they are deprived off some basic rights now considered to be essentially important such as their marriage. In their culture, they are required to seek for their parents blessing on their marriage, if it is unsuccessful, their relationship would fall apart. Daughters are matched for marriages with their parents discretion and rejection is a form of disobedience which is unacceptable in their society. Old folks especially Asians are concerned about the surnames and it is the duty for the younger generation to pass on. However, only the male members are able to inherit the surname while woman must adopt their husbands surname, abandoning their maiden name (WHO 2011). It is perceived to be important to uphold their familys name because family history is the pride of many people. Therefore, traditional lifestyle is the cause of gender discrimination. As mentioned by Moreau (2010, 159). Education opportunities are prioritized for the male family members. This is due to most of the people have a thought that men are more talented to studies. This will cause that men think that they have more knowledge compared to women and it is a cause of gender discrimination. Another cause for education opportunities are prioritized because men should be responsible for the family. They think that men must be educated in order to find a better work to give his family a better life. This is also the factor that cause gender discrimination due to men will think that they have to work hard to earn a living while women only prepare meals for the family and to do everyday house chores. Therefore, the equality of education opportunity is important to prevent gender discrimination. Religion in some ways contributes to gender discrimination. Women are suffering in countries where religion is law, such as many Muslim countries (MUNFW 2012). Some of the religion such as Muslim prohibits women to become leader. They think that men should take the responsibility while women are expected to be the followers of men. This fuels men with overwhelming self-confidence and underestimate womens ability without having to evaluate them. In-born egoism causes men to always think that they are right all the time and refuse to accept suggestion from women. This is also caused them to think that women do not have the ability to get things done. Therefore, some of the religion will cause gender discrimination in the society and will bring a lot of bad effect to the society. Most of the people think that gender discrimination doesnt really bring any negative effect to the community and society. They do not really comprehend the severity of gender discrimination to the community. The population of women is shrinking in China as the result of gender selection. Trafficking of women are becoming more common in European countries. Last but not least, gender discrimination leads to violence against women. Gender imbalance is one of the effects of gender discrimination in China. International average gender ratio is 104 boys for every 104-107 girls while Chinas gender ratio is 123 boys per 100 girls in 2005 (Hua 2006). The gender imbalance in China is due to abortion of female fetuses because Chinese parents desire sons over daughters due to surnames purpose and they believe girls will leave the family once they get married and no one is going to take care of them in old age (Hua 2010). Gender imbalance in China also caused twenty percent of men in China are single in twenty years time, that attitude itself reflects gender imbalance. Gender imbalance is one of the major effects of gender discrimination in China. Trafficking of women became more general in Europe since the collapse of Soviet Union for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Prostitution is a multi-billion dollar shadow market and it is estimated to generate seven to twelve billion annually. On top of that, this industry is relatively low risk compared to drugs or arms (Hughes, 2000, 4). They abduct women, because women are weaker and are able to contribute into the sex industry. The collapse of Soviet Union opens up a pool of millions of women from which trafficker recruited. It has become a major sending country for women trafficked into sex industry all over the world (Hughes, 2000, 14). Therefore, trafficking of women is caused from gender discrimination. Violence against women is also a miserable experience for women due to gender discrimination. Gender based violence reflects and reinforces inequality between both gender, it compress wide range of human rights violation, including abuse of children, violence of women, sexual assault, trafficking of women and girls and others (UNFPA 2012). Violence has profound effects on a womans reproductive health including unwanted pregnancies, restricted access to family planning information and contraceptive, unsafe abortion after an unwanted pregnancies, sexual transmitted infection including HIV and others. Other than that, gender based violence also serves to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and serious health consequences due to long term abuse (WHO 2011). Lastly, sexual inequality is the main factor of violence against women. Gender discrimination is a very harmful activity to everyone in this world. In traditional, education and religious view, women are weaker compared to men and it is now a reason for gender discrimination as every person has human rights in this world. Other than that, gender discrimination brought us a lot of negative effect for us. Gender discrimination caused sex-imbalance in China and trafficking of women in European countries (The Problem 2012). Gender discrimination also caused womens life to be miserable because of the violence against women from gender discrimination. Lastly, men shall not discriminate women as this common saying stated Behind all successful man, there is a woman. This quotes stated clearly that everyone have their role including women in the way to success of a man.

Problems with Voting :: essays research papers

Why Voting is never Completely Accurate!! Statement of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio. Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I know that this doesn’t look like a single vote would sway an election that much but you figure that 1,000 people across the nation vote incorrectly for the same person. That could sway an election, probably not a presidential election but it might sway an election for senate or the house. I believe that a unified way of voting should be made, whether it is any type of voting. Problems with Voting :: essays research papers Why Voting is never Completely Accurate!! Statement of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio. Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I know that this doesn’t look like a single vote would sway an election that much but you figure that 1,000 people across the nation vote incorrectly for the same person. That could sway an election, probably not a presidential election but it might sway an election for senate or the house. I believe that a unified way of voting should be made, whether it is any type of voting.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 13

Chapter 13 â€Å"I could kick that punk's punk ass,† the angel said, jumping on the bed, shaking a fist at the television screen. â€Å"Raziel,† I said, â€Å"you are an angel of the Lord, he is a professional wrestler, I think it's understood that you could kick his punk ass.† This has gone on for a couple of days now. The angel has found a new passion. The front desk has called a dozen times and sent a bellman up twice to tell the angel to quiet down. â€Å"Besides, it's just pretend.† Raziel looked at me as if I had slapped him. â€Å"Don't start with that again, these are not actors.† The angel back flipped on the bed. â€Å"Ooo, ooo, you see that? Ho popped him with a chair. Thaz right, you go girl. She nasty.† It's like that now. Talk shows featuring the screaming ignorant, soap operas, and wrestling. And the angel guards the remote control like it's the Ark of the Covenant. â€Å"This,† I told him, â€Å"is why the angels were never given free will. This right here. Because you would spend your time watching this.† â€Å"Really?† Raziel said, and he muted the TV for what seemed like the first time in days. â€Å"Then tell me, Levi who is called Biff, if by watching this I am abusing the little freedom I've been given while carrying out this task, then what would you say of your people?† â€Å"By my people you mean human beings?† I was stalling. I didn't remember the angel ever making a valid point before and I wasn't prepared for it. â€Å"Hey, don't blame me, I've been dead for two thousand years. I wouldn't have let this sort of thing happen.† â€Å"Uh-huh,† said the angel, crossing his arms and striking a pose of incredulity that he had learned from a gangster rapper on MTV. If there was anything I learned from John the Baptist, it was that the sooner you confess a mistake, the quicker you can get on to making new and better mistakes. Oh, that and don't piss off Salome, that was a big one too. â€Å"Okay, we've fucked up,† I said. â€Å"Thaz whut I'm talkin' about,† said the angel, entirely too satisfied with himself. Yeah? Where was he when we needed him and his sword of justice at Balthasar's fortress? Probably in Greece, watching wrestling. Meanwhile, when we got to the library, Balthasar was sitting before the heavy dragon table, eating a bit of cheese and sipping wine while Tunnels and Pea Pods poured a sticky yellow wax on his bald head, then spread it around with small wooden paddles. The easels and slates from my lessons had been stacked out of the way against the shelves full of scrolls and codices. â€Å"You look good blue,† Balthasar said. â€Å"Yeah, everybody says that.† The paint, once set, didn't wash off, but at least my skin had stopped itching. â€Å"Come in, sit. Have wine. They brought cheese from Kabul this morning. Try some.† Joshua and I sat in chairs across the table from the magus. Josh, completely true to form, disregarded my advice and asked Balthasar outright about the iron door. The aspect of the jolly wizard became suddenly grave. â€Å"There are some mysteries one must learn to live with. Did not your own God tell Moses that no one must look upon his face, and the prophet accepted that? So you must accept that you cannot know what is in the room with the iron door.† â€Å"He knows his Torah, and Prophets and Writings too,† Joshua said to me. â€Å"Balthasar knows more about Solomon than any of the rabbis or priests in Israel.† â€Å"That's swell, Josh.† I handed him a hunk of cheese to keep him amused. To Balthasar I said, â€Å"But you forget God's butt.† You don't hang out with the Messiah for most of your life without picking up a little Torah knowledge yourself. â€Å"What?† said the magus. Just then the girls grabbed the edges of the hardened wax shell they'd made on Balthasar's head and ripped it off in one swift movement. â€Å"Ouch, you vicious harpies! Can't you warn me when you're going to do that? Get out.† The girls tittered and hid their satisfied grins behind delicate fans painted with pheasants and plum blossoms. They fled the library leaving a trail of girlish laughter in the hall as they passed. â€Å"Isn't there an easier way to do that?† asked Joshua. Balthasar scowled at him. â€Å"Don't you think that after two hundred years, if there was an easier way to do it I would have found it?† Joshua dropped his cheese. â€Å"Two hundred years?† I chimed in. â€Å"You get a hairstyle you like, stick with it. Not that you could call that hair, per se.† Balthasar wasn't amused. â€Å"What's this about God's butt?† â€Å"Or that you could call that style, for that matter,† I added, rising and going to a copy of the Torah that I'd seen on the shelves. Fortunately it was a codex – like a modern book – otherwise I'd have been unwinding a scroll for twenty minutes and the drama would have been lost. I quickly flipped to Exodus. â€Å"Right, here's the part you were talking about. ‘And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.' Right? Well, then God puts his hand over Moses as he passes, but he says, ‘I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.'† â€Å"So?† said Balthasar. â€Å"So, God let Moses see his butt, so using your example, you owe us God's butt. So tell us, what's going on with that room with the iron door?† Brilliant. I paused and studied the blueness of my fingernails while savoring my victory. â€Å"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard,† said Balthasar. His momentary loss of composure was replaced by the calm and slightly amused attitude of the master. â€Å"What if I told you that it is dangerous for you to know about what is behind that iron door now, but once you have training, you will not only know, but you will gain great power from the knowledge? When I think you are ready, I promise to show you what is behind that door. But you must promise to study and learn your lessons. Can you do that?† â€Å"Are you forbidding us to ask questions?† asked Joshua. â€Å"Oh no, I'm simply denying you some of the answers for the time being. And trust me, time is the one thing that I have plenty of.† Joshua turned to me. â€Å"I still don't know what I am supposed to learn here, but I'm sure I haven't learned it yet.† He was pleading me with his eyes to not push the issue. I decided to let it drop; besides, I didn't relish the idea of being poisoned again. â€Å"How long is this going to take?† I asked. â€Å"These lessons, I mean?† â€Å"Some students take many years to learn the nature of Chi. You will be provided for while you are here.† â€Å"Years? Can we think about it?† â€Å"Take as long as you like,† Balthasar stood. â€Å"Now I must go to the girls' quarters. They like to rub their naked breasts over my scalp right after it's been waxed and is at its smoothest.† I gulped. Joshua grinned and looked at the table in front of him. I often wondered, not just then, but most of the time, if Joshua had the ability to turn off his imagination when he needed to. He must have. Otherwise I don't know how he would have ever triumphed over temptation. I, on the other hand, was a slave to my imagination and it was running wild with the image of Balthasar's scalp massage. â€Å"We'll stay. We'll learn. We'll do what is needed,† I said. Joshua burst out laughing, then calmed himself enough to speak. â€Å"Yes, we will stay and learn, Balthasar, but first I have to go to Kabul and finish some business.† â€Å"Of course you do,† said Balthasar. â€Å"You can leave tomorrow. I'll have one of the girls show you the way, but for now, I must say good night.† The wizard stalked off, leaving Joshua to collapse into a fit of giggles and me to wonder how I might look with my head shaved. In the morning Joy came to our rooms wearing the garb of a desert trader: a loose tunic, soft leather boots, and pantaloons. Her hair was tied up under a turban and she carried a long riding crop in her hand. She led us through a long narrow passageway that went deep into the mountain, then emerged out of the side of a sheer cliff. We climbed a rope ladder to the top of the plateau where Pillows and Sue waited with three camels saddled and outfitted for a short journey. There was a small farm on the plateau, with several pens full of chickens, some goats, and a few pigs in a pen. â€Å"We're going to have a tough time getting these camels down that ladder,† I said. Joy scowled and wrapped the tail of her turban around her face so that only her eyes showed. â€Å"There's a path down,† she said. Then she tapped her camel on the shoulder with her crop and rode off, leaving Joshua and me to scramble onto our animals and follow. The road down from the plateau was just wide enough for a single camel to sway his way down without falling, but once down on the desert floor, much like the entrance to the canyon where the fortress's entrance lay, if you didn't know it was there, you would never have found it. An added measure of security for a fortress that had no guards, I thought. Joshua and I tried to engage Joy in conversation several times during the journey to Kabul, but she was cranky and abrupt and often just rode away from us. â€Å"Probably depressed that she's not torturing me,† I speculated. â€Å"I can see how that might bring her down,† said Joshua. â€Å"Maybe if you could get your camel to bite you. I know that always brightens my mood.† I rode on ahead without another word. It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs. Once in Kabul, Joy led the search for the blinded guard by asking every blind beggar that we passed in the marketplace. â€Å"Have you seen a blind bowman who arrived by camel caravan a little more than a week ago?† Joshua and I trailed several steps behind her, trying desperately to keep from grinning whenever she looked back. Joshua had wanted to point out the flaw in Joy's method, while I, on the other hand, wanted to savor her doofuscosity as passive revenge for having been poisoned. There was none of the competence and self-assured nature she showed at the fortress. She was clearly out of her element and I was enjoying it. â€Å"You see,† I explained to Joshua, â€Å"what Joy is doing is ironic, yet that's not her intent. That's the difference between irony and sarcasm. Irony can be spontaneous, while sarcasm requires volition. You have to create sarcasm.† â€Å"No kidding?† said Josh. â€Å"Why do I waste my time with you?† We indulged Joy's search for the blind man for another hour before directing her inquiries to the sighted, and to men from the camel caravans in particular. Once she started asking sighted people, it was a short time before we were directed to a temple where the blinded guard was said to have staked his begging territory. â€Å"There he is,† said Joshua, pointing to a ragged pile of human being beckoning to the worshipers as they moved in and out of the temple. â€Å"It looks like things have been tough on him,† I said, amazed that the guard, who had been one of the most vital (and frightening) men I'd ever seen, had been reduced to such a pathetic creature in so short a time. Then again, I was discounting the theatrics of it all. â€Å"A great injustice has been done here,† said Josh. He moved to the guard and gently put his hand on the blind man's shoulder. â€Å"Brother, I am here to relieve your suffering.† â€Å"Pity on the blind,† said the guard, waving around a wooden bowl. â€Å"Calm now,† said Joshua, placing his hand over the blind man's eyes. â€Å"When I remove my hand you will see again.† I could see the strain in Joshua's face as he concentrated on healing the guard. Tears trickled down his cheeks and dripped on the flagstones. I thought of how effortless his healings had been in Antioch, and realized that the strain was not coming from the healing, but from the guilt he carried for having blinded the man in the first place. When he removed his hand and stepped away, both he and the guard shivered. Joy stepped away from us and covered her face as if to ward off bad air. The guard stared into space just as he had while he had been begging, but his eyes were no longer white. â€Å"Can you see?† Joshua said. â€Å"I can see, but everything is wrong. People's skin appears blue.† â€Å"No, he is blue. Remember, my friend Biff.† â€Å"Were you always blue?† â€Å"No, only recently.† Then the guard seemed to see Joshua for the first time and his expression of wonderment was replaced by hatred. He leapt at Joshua, drawing a dagger from his rags as he moved. He would have split my friend's rib cage in a single swift blow if Joy hadn't swept his feet out from under him at the last second. Even so, he was up in an instant, going for a second attack. I managed to get my hand up in time to poke him in the eyes, just as Joy kicked him in the back of the neck, driving him to the ground in agony. â€Å"My eyes!† he cried. â€Å"Sorry,† I said. Joy kicked the knife out of the guard's reach. I put an arm around Joshua's chest and pushed him back. â€Å"You need to put some distance between you and him before he can see again.† â€Å"But I only meant to help him,† said Joshua. â€Å"Blinding him was a mistake.† â€Å"Josh, he doesn't care. All he knows is that you are the enemy. All he knows is that he wants to destroy you.† â€Å"I don't know what I'm doing. Even when I try to do the right thing it goes wrong.† â€Å"We need to go,† said Joy. She took one of Joshua's arms while I took the other and we led him away before the guard could gather his senses for another attack. Joy had a list of supplies that Balthasar wanted her to bring back to the fortress, so we spent some time tracking down large baskets of a mineral called cinnabar, from which we would extract quicksilver, as well as some spices and pigments. Joshua followed us through the market in a daze until we passed a merchant who was selling the black beans from which was made the dark drink we'd had in Antioch. â€Å"Buy me some,† Joshua said. â€Å"Joy, buy me some of those.† She did, and Joshua cradled the bag of beans like an infant all the way back to the fortress. We rode most of the way in silence, but when the sun had gone down and we were almost to the hidden road that led up to the plateau, Joy galloped up beside me. â€Å"How did he do it?† she asked. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I saw him heal that man's eyes. How did he do it? I know many kinds of magic, but I saw no spells cast, no potions mixed.† â€Å"It's very powerful magic all right.† I checked over my shoulder to see if Joshua was paying attention. He was hugging his coffee beans and mumbling to himself as he had for the whole trip. Praying, I presume. â€Å"Tell me how it's done,† Joy said. â€Å"I asked Joshua, but he's just chanting and looking stunned.† â€Å"Well, I could tell you how it's done, but you have to tell me what's going on behind the ironclad door.† â€Å"I can't tell you that, but perhaps we can trade other things.† She pulled the tail of her turban away from her face and smiled. She was stunningly beautiful in the moonlight, even in men's clothes. â€Å"I know over a thousand ways to bring pleasure to a man, and that's only what I know personally. The other girls have as many tricks that they'd be willing to show you too.† â€Å"Yeah, but how is that useful to me? What do I need to know about pleasing a man?† Joy ripped her turban off her head and smacked me across the back of the head with it, sending a small cloud of dust drifting into the night. â€Å"You're stupid and you're blue and the next time I poison you I will be sure to use something without an antidote.† Even the wise and inscrutable Joy could be goaded, I guess. I smiled. â€Å"I will accept your paltry offerings,† I said with as much pomposity as an adolescent boy can muster. â€Å"And in return I will teach the greatest secret of our magic. A secret of my own invention. We call it sarcasm.† â€Å"Let's make coffee when we get home,† said Joshua. It was some challenge to try to drag out the process of how Joshua had returned the guard's sight, especially since I hadn't the slightest idea myself, but through careful misdirection, obfuscation, subterfuge, guile, and complete balderdash, I was able to barter that lack of knowledge into months of outrageous knob polishing by the beauteous Joy and her comely minions. Somehow, the urgency of knowing what was behind the ironclad door and the answers to other enigmas of Balthasar's fortress abated, and I found myself quite content pursuing the lessons the wizard assigned me during the day, while stretching my imagination to its limit with the mathematical combinations of the night. There was the drawback that Balthasar would kill me if he knew that I was availing myself of the charms of his concubines, but is the pilfered fruit not sweetened by the stealing? Oh, to be young and in love (with eight Chinese concubines). Meanwhile Joshua took to his studies with characteristic zeal, fueled in no little bit by the coffee he drank every morning until he nearly vibrated through the floor with enthusiasm. â€Å"Look at this, do you see, Biff? When asked, the master Confucius says, ‘Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness.' Yet Lao-tzu says, ‘Recompense injury with kindness.' Don't you see?† Joshua would dance around, scrolls trailing out behind him, hoping that somehow I would share his enthusiasm for the ancient texts. And I tried. I really did. â€Å"No, I don't see. The Torah says, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' that is justice.† â€Å"Exactly,† said Joshua. â€Å"I think Lao-tzu is correct. Kindness precedes justice. As long as you seek justice by punishment you can only cause more suffering. How can that be right? This is a revelation!† â€Å"I learned how to boil down goat urine to make explosives today,† I said. â€Å"That's good too,† said Joshua. It could happen like that any time of the day or night. Joshua would come blazing out of the library in the middle of the night, interrupt me in the midst of some complex oily tangle of Pea Pod and Pillows and Tunnels – while Number Six familiarized us with the five hundred jade gods of various depths and textures – and he'd avert his eyes just long enough for me to towel off before he'd shove some codex in my hand and force me to read a passage while he waxed enthusiastic on the thoughts of some long-dead sage. â€Å"The Master says that ‘the superior man may indeed endure want, but the inferior man, when he experiences want, will give into unbridled excess.' He's talking about you, Biff. You're the inferior man.† â€Å"I'm so proud,† I told him, as I watched Number Six forlornly pack her gods into the warmed brass case where they resided. â€Å"Thank you for coming here to tell me that.† I was given the task of learning waidan, which is the alchemy of the external. My knowledge would come from the manipulation of the physical elements. Joshua, on the other hand, was learning neidan, the alchemy of the internal. His knowledge would come from the study of his own inner nature through the contemplation of the masters. So while Joshua read scrolls and books, I spent my time mixing quicksilver and lead, phosphorous and brimstone, charcoal and philosopher's stone, trying somehow to divine the nature of the Tao. Joshua was learning to be the Messiah and I was learning to poison people and blow stuff up. The world seemed very much in order. I was happy, Joshua was happy, Balthasar was happy, and the girls – well, the girls were busy. Although I passed the iron door every day (and the niggling voice persisted), what was behind it wasn't important to me, and neither were the answers to the dozen or so questions that Joshua and I should have put to our generous master. Before we knew it a year had passed, then two more, and we were celebrating the passage of Joshua's seventeenth birthday in the fortress. Balthasar had the girls prepare a feast of Chinese delicacies and we drank wine late into the night. (And long after that, and even when we had returned to Israel, we always ate Chinese food on Joshua's birthday. I'm told it became a tradition not only with those of us who knew Joshua, but with Jews everywhere.) â€Å"Do you ever think of home?† Joshua asked me the night of his birthday feast. â€Å"Sometimes,† I said. â€Å"What do you think of?† â€Å"Maggie,† I said. â€Å"Sometimes my brothers. Sometimes my mother and father, but always Maggie.† â€Å"Even with all your experiences since, you still think of Maggie?† Joshua had become less and less curious about the essence of lust. Initially I thought that his lack of interest had to do with the depth of his studies, but I then realized that his interest was fading along with the memory of Maggie. â€Å"Joshua, my memory of Maggie isn't about what happened the night before we left. I didn't go to see her thinking that we would make love. A kiss was more than I expected. I think of Maggie because I made a place in my heart for her to live, and it's empty. It always will be. It always was. She loved you.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Biff. I don't know how to heal that. I would if I could.† â€Å"I know, Josh. I know.† I didn't want to talk about home anymore, but Josh deserved to get off his chest whatever it was that was bothering him, and if not to me, to whom? â€Å"Do you ever think of home?† â€Å"Yes. That's why I asked. You know, the girls were cooking bacon today, and that made me think of home.† â€Å"Why? I don't remember anyone ever cooking bacon at home.† â€Å"I know, but if we ate some bacon, no one at home would ever know.† I got up and walked over to the half-wall that divided our rooms. There was moonlight coming through the window and Joshua's face had caught it and was glowing in that annoying way that it sometimes did. â€Å"Joshua, you're the Son of God. You're the Messiah. That implies – oh, I don't know – that you're a Jew! You can't eat bacon.† â€Å"God doesn't care if we eat bacon. I can just feel it.† â€Å"Really. He still feel the same way about fornication?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"Masturbation?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"Killing? Stealing? Bearing false witness? Coveting thy neighbor's wife, et cetera? No change of heart on those?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Just bacon. Interesting. You would have thought there'd be something about bacon in the prophecies of Isaiah.† â€Å"Yeah, makes you wonder, doesn't it?† â€Å"You're going to need more than that to usher in the kingdom of God, Josh, no offense. We can't go home with, ‘Hi, I'm the Messiah, God wanted you to have this bacon.'† â€Å"I know. We have much more to learn. But breakfasts will be more interesting.† â€Å"Go to sleep, Josh.† As time passed, I seldom saw Joshua except at mealtimes and before we went to sleep. Nearly all my time was taken up with my studies and helping the girls maintain the fortress, while nearly all of Joshua's time was spent with Balthasar, which would eventually become a problem. â€Å"This is not good, Biff,† Joy said in Chinese. I'd learned to speak her language well enough that she seldom spoke Greek or Latin anymore. â€Å"Balthasar is getting too close with Joshua. He seldom sends for one of us to join him in his bed now.† â€Å"You're not implying that Joshua and Balthasar are, uh, playing shepherd, are you? Because I know that's not true. Joshua isn't allowed.† Of course the angel had said he couldn't know a woman, he hadn't said anything about a creepy old African wizard. â€Å"Oh, I don't care if they're buggering their eyeballs out,† said Joy. â€Å"Balthasar mustn't fall in love. Why do you think that there are eight of us?† â€Å"I thought it was a matter of budget,† I said. â€Å"You haven't noticed that one of us will never spend two nights in a row with Balthasar, or that we don't speak with him beyond what is required for our duties and lessons?† I had noticed, but it never occurred to me that there was something out of the ordinary. We hadn't gotten to the chapter on wizard – concubine behavior in the book yet. â€Å"So?† â€Å"So I think he is falling in love with Joshua. That is not good.† â€Å"Well, I'm with you on that one. I wasn't happy the last time someone fell in love with him. But why does it matter here?† â€Å"I can't tell you. But there has been more commotion coming from the house of doom,† said Joy. â€Å"You have to help me. If I'm right, we have to stop Balthasar. We'll observe them tomorrow while we adjust the flow of Chi in the library.† â€Å"No, Joy. Not library Chi. The stuff in the library is too heavy. I hate library Chi.† Chi or Qi: the breath of the dragon, the eternal energy that flows through all things; in balance, as it should be, it was half yin, half yang, half light, half dark, half male, half female. The Chi in the library was always getting fucked up, while the Chi in the rooms with just cushions, or with lightweight furniture, seemed well adjusted and balanced. I don't know why, but I suspected it had a lot to do with Joy's need to make me move heavy things. The next morning Joy and I went to the library to spy on Joshua and Balthasar while we redirected the library's Chi. Joy carried a complex brass instrument she called a Chi clock, which was supposed to be able to detect the flow of Chi. The magus was noticeably irritated as soon as we entered the room. â€Å"Must this be done now?† Joy bowed. â€Å"Very sorry, master, but this is an emergency.† She turned and barked commands at me like a Roman centurion. â€Å"Move that table over there, can't you see that it rests on the tiger's testicles? Then point those chairs so they face the doorway, they lie on the dragon's navel. We're lucky someone hasn't broken a leg.† â€Å"Yeah, lucky,† I said, straining to move the huge carved table, wishing that Joy had recruited a couple of the other girls to help. I'd been studying feng shui for more than three years now and I still couldn't detect the least bit of Chi, coming or going. Joshua had reconciled the elusive energy by saying that it was just an Oriental way to express God all around us and in all things. That may have helped him toward some sort of spiritual understanding, but it was about as effective as trained sheep when it came to arranging furniture. â€Å"Can I help?† Joshua asked. â€Å"No!† shouted Balthasar, standing up. â€Å"We will continue in my quarters.† The old wizard turned and glared at Joy and me. â€Å"And we are not to be disturbed, under any circumstances.† He took Joshua by the shoulder and led him out of the room. â€Å"So much for spying,† I said. Joy consulted the Chi clock and patted a cabinet filled with calligraphy materials. â€Å"This most certainly rides on the horn of the ox, it must be moved,† she pronounced. â€Å"They are gone,† I said. â€Å"We don't have to pretend at this anymore.† â€Å"Who is pretending? That cabinet channels all the yin into the hall, while the yang circles like a bird of prey.† â€Å"Joy, stop it. I know you're making this stuff up.† She dropped the brass instrument to her side. â€Å"I am not.† â€Å"Yes, you are.† And here I thought I'd push my credibility a bit, just to see. â€Å"I checked the yang in this room yesterday. It is in perfect balance.† Joy dropped to her hands and knees, crawled under one of the huge carved dragon tables, curled up into a ball, and began to cry. â€Å"I'm no good at this. Balthasar wants us all to know it, but I've never understood it. If you want the Elegant Torture of a Thousand Pleasant Touches, I can do it, you want someone poisoned, castrated, or blown up, I'm your man, but this feng shui stuff is just, just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Stupid?† I supplied. â€Å"No, I was going to say difficult. Now I've angered Balthasar and we have no way of knowing what is happening between him and Joshua. And we must know.† â€Å"I can find out,† I said, polishing my nails on my tunic. â€Å"But I have to know why I'm finding out.† â€Å"How will you find out?† â€Å"I have ways that are more subtle and crafty than all your Chinese alchemy and direction of energies.† â€Å"Now who's making things up?† I'd lost most of my credibility by dragging out the arcane-Hebrew-knowledge-for-sexual-favors ruse until I had actually claimed credit for receiving the tablets of the Ten Commandments as well as constructing the Ark of the Covenant. (What? It's not my fault. Joshua was the one who would never let me be Moses when we were kids.) â€Å"If I find out, will you tell me what is going on?† The head concubine chewed at an elegantly lacquered nail as she thought about it. â€Å"You promise not to tell anyone if I tell you? Not even your friend Joshua?† â€Å"I promise.† â€Å"Then do what you will. But remember your lessons from The Art of War.† I considered the words of Sun-tzu, which Joy had taught me: Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby, you can be the director of the opponent's fate. So after considering strategy carefully, running and rejecting the various scenarios in my head, working out what seemed a nearly foolproof plan, and making sure the timing was perfect, I went into action. That very night, as I lay in my bed and Joshua in his, I called forth all my powers of subtlety and mysteriousness. â€Å"Hey Josh,† I said. â€Å"Balthasar sodomizing you?† â€Å"No!† â€Å"Vice versa?† â€Å"Absolutely not!† â€Å"You get the feeling he'd like to?† He was quiet for a second, then he said, â€Å"He's been very attentive lately. And he giggles at everything I say, why?† â€Å"Because Joy says it's not good if he falls in love with you.† â€Å"Well, it's not if he's expecting any sodomizing, I'll tell you that. That's going to be one disappointed magus.† â€Å"No, worse than that. She won't tell me what, but it's really, really bad.† â€Å"Biff, I realize you may not think so, but from my way of thinking, sodomizing the Son of God is really, really bad.† â€Å"Good point. But I think she means something to do with whatever is behind the iron door. Until I find out, you have to keep Balthasar from falling in love with you.† â€Å"I'll bet he was myrrh,† said Josh. â€Å"Bastard, he brings the cheapest gift and now he wants to sodomize me. My mother told me the myrrh went bad after a week too.† Did I mention that Joshua was not a myrrh fan?

Venezuela and democracy

Venezuela Is a country ruled by dictatorship hidden by democracy. Basically, the whole governmental system Is controlled by Hugo Chavez and his own party. The problems that exist are foot shortage, prlvatlzatlon of recourses(such as 011) and economic Issues. The volce of people can't be heard. Many evidences tells that Venezuela is actually a dictatorship country, not a democracy country as it seems. President Hugo Chavez had control of the election in Venezuela. 2 The government was trying to control the people by police officers. They abused student groups with iolence and threat.On the streets, while the students were peacefully protesting fighting for their freedom, democracy and civil rights, the police tried to stop them. 4 The common goal in Venezuela is to get real democracy. People take actions. For example, students form the organization â€Å"VotoJoven,† to promote democracy. 7 They achieved striking results with the registration of more than 750,000 new voters In t he system In 2010. They demand students rights. Come back to our important topic, as the â€Å"former† of the countrys problems, Chavez, who has been on the position of President since 1999.

Examples of Petrochemicals and Petroleum Products

Examples of Petrochemicals and Petroleum Products According to the American Heritage Dictionary, petroleum is a thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earths surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel, and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products. In other words, petroleum is much more than oil, and it has an astounding array of uses. The Many Uses of Petrochemicals Petrochemicals are any products made from petroleum. Youre probably aware gasoline and plastic start out as petroleum, but petrochemicals are incredibly versatile and are incorporated into a huge range of products ranging from groceries to rocket fuel. The Primary Hydrocarbons Raw crude oil and natural gas are purified into a  relatively small number of hydrocarbons (combinations of hydrogen and carbon). These are used directly in manufacturing and transportation or act as feedstock  to make other chemicals. Methane: a greenhouse gas that can be used as fuel and is often included in rocket fuelEthylene: used to  make plastics and films, as well as detergents,  synthetic lubricants, and styrenes (used to make  protective packaging)Propylene: a colorless, odorless gas used for fuel and to make polypropylene, a versatile plastic polymer used to make products ranging from carpets to structural foamButanes: hydrocarbon gases that are generally used for fuel and in industryButadiene: used in the manufacture of synthetic rubbersBTX (benzene, toluene, xylene): benzene, toluene, and xylene are aromatic hydrocarbons.  A major part of gasoline, benzene is also used to make nylon fibers which, in turn, are used to make clothing, packaging, and many other products Medicine Petrochemicals play many roles in medicine because they are used to create resins, films, and plastics. Here are just a few examples: Phenol and Cumene are used to create a substance that is essential for manufacturing penicillin (an extremely important antibiotic) and aspirin.  Petrochemical resins are used to purify drugs, thus cutting costs and speeding the manufacturing process.Resins made from petrochemicals are used in the manufacture of drugs including treatments for AIDS, arthritis, and cancer.Plastics and resins made with petrochemicals are used to make devices such as artificial limbs and skin.Plastics are used to make a huge range of medical equipment including bottles, disposable syringes, and much more. Food Petrochemicals are used to make most food preservatives that keep food fresh on the shelf or in a can. In addition, youll find petrochemicals listed as ingredients in many chocolates and candies. Food colorings made with petrochemicals are used in a surprising number of products including chips, packaged foods, and canned or jarred foods. Agriculture More than a billion pounds of plastic, all made with petrochemicals, find use  annually in U.S. agriculture. The chemicals are used to make everything from plastic sheeting and mulch to pesticides and fertilizers. Plastics are also used to make twine, silage, and tubing. Petroleum fuels are also used to transport foods (which are, of course, stored in plastic containers).   Household Products Because it is used to make plastics, fibers, synthetic rubber, and films, petrochemicals are used in a bewildering array of household products. To name just a few: CarpetingCrayonsDetergentsDyesFertilizersMilk jugsPantyhosePerfumeSafety glassShampooSoft contact lensesWax

The Most Selective Colleges, Why, and How to Get In

The Most Selective Colleges, Why, and How to Get In SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips It's tempting to judge the quality of a school based on its admissions rate. Although this is a reasonable way to assess schools in most cases, there are some special circumstances that might result in extremely low acceptance rates at less academically demanding colleges. In this article, I'll list the most selective colleges in the United States, tell you why they accept so few of their applicants, and provide some advice on how to apply successfully. What Are Selective Colleges, and Why Are They So Picky? Selective colleges are schools that only admit a small percentage of the students who apply. For this article, I'm focusing on the most selective schools in the country, which I've defined as schools that admit less than 10% of applicants. There are several reasons why certain colleges end up with such low acceptance rates. Some schools are extremely selective because they’re looking for a certain specialized type of applicant, and very few students fit the bill. This category would include a school like Juilliard, which is only interested in admitting students who demonstrate virtuosity in music. Students must audition in front of members of the faculty as one of their application requirements. This group also includes military schools like West Point, where candidates must pass a physical fitness assessment and obtain a nomination from their representative in Congress or the Senate to be considered for admission. Other colleges are extremely selective because they’re looking for students with excellent credentials overall, and they can only afford to take the most high-achieving individuals out of the huge applicant pool they attract. These schools represent an intersection of popularity and very high standards. This includes Ivy League schools and schools like Stanford and MIT. These schools have strong name recognition even on an international level, so they attract a huge number of applicants. In 2018-19, Harvard offered admission to only 1,950 students out of 43,330 total applicants! In order to maintain their reputations, these schools can only choose the most outstanding students for each class. Usually, it takes more than just excellent grades and test scores to get in; you'll need these qualifications on top of other unique academic and extracurricular accomplishments. I'll go over the schools that fall into each of these categories in the next section. I assume this was the fate of most applications in the primitive time before the Internet. The Most Selective Colleges I've grouped the following selective colleges into two main categories: non-specialized schools and specialized schools. Non-Specialized Selective Schools First, I'll list some schools that have low admission rates because they're extremely popular and can only choose the strongest overall applicants. They're listed in descending order, starting with the most selective school. I'll also give you the statistics for the average GPA and SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. Keep in mind that even if your scores and GPA are technically at the same level as the averages at these schools, you can’t count on being accepted. Any school that has an acceptance rate of less than 15% is a reach school even for the best students, and any school with an acceptance rate of less than 30% is still very selective. College Name Acceptance Rate Average GPA Average SAT Average ACT Stanford 4.8% 3.95 1465 33 Harvard 5.2% 4.10 1520 34 Columbia 6.1% 4.14 1515 34 Yale 6.3% 4.12 1505 34 Princeton 6.4% 3.90 1500 33 MIT 7.2% 4.16 1528 34 Caltech 7.7% 4.22 1560 35 Pomona 8.4% 4.01 1450 32 University of Chicago 8.7% 4.29 1530 34 Claremont McKenna 9.0% 4.09 1490 32 Northwestern 9.2% 4.09 1490 33 Brown 9.3% 4.09 1488 32 UPenn 9.3% 3.93 1490 33 Dartmouth 10.4% 4.07 1478 32 Vanderbilt 10.7% 3.80 1475 34 Duke 10.8% 4.08 1485 33 The University of Chicago: subtly (or not so subtly) trying to inch its way into the Ivy League? Specialized Selective Schools Now I’ll list schools that are extremely selective because they have specialized programs and are looking for specific types of applicants. I'll also include the average GPA and test scores for each of these schools, although be aware that some of them do not report these statistics. In the case of highly selective music schools, test scores and grades are less relevant to a student’s likelihood of acceptance. These schools consider musical talent more strongly than academic performance. In this section, I’ve included a description of exactly why each school is so selective as well. College Name Acceptance Rate Average GPA Average SAT/ACT Why Is It So Selective? Curtis Institute of Music 4.0% Not reported Not reported This school is only looking for the most elite music students, and admission is "based on artistic promise alone." Curtis Institute also provides a full tuition scholarship to all of its students. These factors combined create an acceptance rate below that of even the most competitive colleges on the first list. The Juilliard School 5.9% Not reported Not reported Like the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard is only looking for a very specific and very talented subset of students. Students must audition for faculty members as a part of the application process, and performance standards are extraordinarily high. US Naval Academy 8.5% 3.94 1410 / 31 In order to attend the US Naval Academy, students must apply for and receive a nomination from a US representative, a senator, or the vice president. Students must also pass a physical fitness assessment and a medical examination. Academic standards are very high, so there is only a small subset of students who meet all the necessary requirements. US Military Academy (West Point) 9.6% 3.73 1300 / 25 West Point has such a low acceptance rate because it requires students to pass muster in other ways besides earning high test scores and grades. Applicants must complete a physical fitness assessment where they have to do as many push-ups as they can in two minutes (for me, this would be about 0.5), run a mile as fast as possible, and do a few other tests for agility and strength. They also have to apply for a nomination from a congressperson or senator from their state or from the vice president. Only students whose requests for nominations are granted will be offered a spot at West Point. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art 13.1% 3.50 1393 / 31 Cooper Union is an all-honors college where every student receives a half-tuition scholarship and is automatically considered for additional merit scholarships; it also has highly specialized programs in architecture, fine arts, and engineering. Students applying to each of the schools must take "home tests" designed by Cooper Union to determine their skill levels. Admission is based significantly on creative abilities in addition to high academic standing, which makes Cooper Union both popular and picky. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering 13.4% 3.90 1497 / 34 The small size of the student body (fewer than 100 students are accepted each year), combined with the half-tuition scholarship all accepted students receive, make Olin a desirable and competitive college to get into. Because Olin is an engineering school, students must demonstrate aptitude in areas like calculus and physics in addition to overall academic excellence. West Point graduation looks fun, but they're actually throwing up their hats in a very specific military formation. This is a tactic used to confuse and distract the enemy with its appearance of reckless exuberance. What to Do If You're Aiming for the Most Selective Colleges If you're hoping to attend one of these selective schools, that's great! There's no magic formula for acceptance, but you also don't have to rely on luck if you play your cards right. To have a solid chance of acceptance at one of the non-specialized selective colleges, you'll need to take the most difficult classes throughout high school while earning very high grades. As you can see by the average GPAs for admission at these schools, it's expected that most students will have high school transcripts dominated by As. SAT/ACT test scores are also very important; your scores should be at or above the average for admitted students. Even at non-specialized schools (but especially at specialized schools), it's important to show excellence in one academic or extracurricular area if you want to stand out from the crowd. Since you're competing with so many applicants, and most of them will have academic credentials that are just as good as yours, you need to find a way to demonstrate your value as a member of the college community that goes beyond grades and test scores. The most selective schools appreciate passion, drive, and outside-the-box thinking. If you can develop a specialization that shows them that you possess those qualities, your chances of acceptance will be very strong. Read this article for more advice on what it takes to get into extremely selective schools. What's Next? If you're hoping to attend a highly selective school, you'll need to have a very strong academic record in high school. Learn more about high school honors classes and societies. Not sure what your GPA means for your chances of college admission? Find out what a good or bad GPA might look like based on your goals. College ranking lists can strongly influence how people view the quality of certain schools. Read this article to get a more complete picture of what ranking lists really mean and whether you should trust them. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation

3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation 3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation 3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation By Mark Nichol The grammatical convention known as suspensive hyphenation is employed when two or more adjacent and parallel phrasal adjectives, phrases that in tandem modify a noun that follows them, have a common element in the same position. Elision of one of the repeated words because it is clearly implicit is a common strategy, but misuse of suspensive hyphenation can complicate a sentence rather than simplify it, as the examples below demonstrate. (Each sentence is accompanied by a discussion and a solution.) 1. We help companies identify, manage, and resolve the business and technology related risks they face. This sentence contains two phrasal adjectives, â€Å"business related† and â€Å"technology related,† but because they share the second word, that word has been elided from the first phrase because it is implicit. However, because the phrasal adjectives precede the noun, they must be hyphenated, and a hyphen should follow business to clarify that an implicit word has been omitted: â€Å"We help companies identify, manage, and resolve the business- and technology-related risks they face.† 2. Most of these markets are little-known small- and midsize cities. Here, suspensive hyphenation has been erroneously introduced. Because small is not part of a phrasal adjective (the reference is to â€Å"small cities,† not â€Å"small-sized cities†), no hyphen should be attached to it: â€Å"Most of these markets are little-known small and midsize cities.† 3. The meeting was held to discuss risk-assessment and -management policies. Here, suspensive hyphenation is employed to elide the first word of a two-word phrasal adjective that has the same first word as an adjacent phrasal adjective. (Notice that in this case, the second instance of the first word has been omitted; compare this with omission of the first instance of a second word in common to two or more two-word phrasal adjectives.) The construction is technically correct but awkward and distracting, so it’s better to explicitly include the second instance of risk rather than elide it: â€Å"The meeting was held to discuss risk-assessment and risk-management policies.† Check out our latest YouTube video: How to Write a Reference Letter Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsAwoken or Awakened?9 Forms of the Past Tense

Mussolini and Matteotti Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mussolini and Matteotti Crisis - Essay Example He was executed on April 28, 1945 in Milan, Italy when economic depression and military failures in World War II led to his ousting and subsequent persecution. (Benito Mussolini, 2003; Benito Mussolini, 2007; Benito Mussolini) Mussolini began his political career when he became editor to Milan socialist paper "Avanti!" in 1911. A gifted orator and writer, Mussolini was brought to the notice of the socialist movement when he was arrested and imprisoned for leading demonstrators protesting the attack by the Italians on Libya. Under socialist concepts, war was merely a way for the rich to get richer at the expense of the common worker. Under his editorship, the newspaper gained popularity. (Benito Mussolini, 2007) Five months into World War I, however, Mussolini had a change of attitude, regarding war as an opportunity, and for this the socialist party expelled him. In August 1915, Mussolini answered his country's call to arms. In 1917, a mortar bomb signalled his discharge from the army with the rank of corporal. (Benito Mussolini, 2007) Mussolini developed a political ideology to tie in support of his group, later to be known as Fascism because he named the group Fasci di Combattimento or League for Combat. He was not the first to use the word fasci but his party was the most identified with it. (Rise of Mussolini: to 1922, 2006) World War I threw Italy into an economic crisis and the country was in turmoil. In response, Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party in 1919 and people looked to him to bring order into chaos. He formed the Black Shirt militia, officially the squadre d'azione but popularly described as armed thugs that used violence against all who opposed the Fascist party with special preference for socialist, communists and democrats, and little opposition from authorities. (Rise of Mussolini: to 1922, 2006) In 1921, Mussolini and 35 other fellow Fascists became members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (Benito Mussolini, 2003) This was partly due to a coalition Mussolini forged with then Prime Mi nister Gioletti, who sought to restore authority over the Italian citizenry, which he promptly broke as soon as he gained membership. (Rise of fascism in Italy under Mussolini, 2007) The Pacification Pact between Mussolini and the socialists in Parliament was an attempt to forge an alliance, but this was strongly opposed by the radical members of the Party, the squadristi, especially by their leaders, the ras. Attempts to disband the squadristi failed and the pact was dissolved. (March on Rome, 2007) The March on Rome and Military Loyalty The ruling Leftist party initiated a general strike against the Fascists in August 1922, and Mussolini saw his opportunity for his party to grab power. Mussolini counted on the indecisiveness of the Italian government under Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the growing discontent of the citizenry to hedge his gamble. He threatened a march to Rome of 40,000 strong Black Shirts, ostensibly as an intervention necessary to uphold a weak government as solidified by its failure to the secure the Italian-speaking town of Fiume as due recognition for the contributions of Italy to World

Management Accounting Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management Accounting Master - Essay Example Due to the changes taking place in the accounting field today, it is necessary to bring appropriate measures for improving the managerial accounting techniques and procedures. Obtaining adequate in formations required for the organization is the main driving force for change. For meeting the organizational goals, it is necessary to implement the relevant managerial accounting policies effectively. Increased competition requires adequate changes in the management techniques. Earlier period, management accounting was concentrated for the determination of cost, control of finance, and also to provide concentration for minimizing the wastage of resources. In addition to this, the management accountant is also responsible for the preparation of accounting statements in an effective manner. But recently, the role of management accountant is enhanced due to the changing scenario of the world of accounting. As far as an organization is taken in to consideration, management accountant is resp onsible for taking the adequate managerial decisions for the future running of the entity. Management accountant is one who should possess thorough knowledge about the relevant aspects of the enterprise as a whole. The concept of accounting point of view of both management and financial accounting is not at all similar. The MIS (Management Information System) is very crucial in recent days. "MIS (management information systems) is a general term for the computer systems in an enterprise that provide information about its business operations. It's also used to refer to the people who manage these systems." (Moore 2007). For the purpose of mitigating the existing difficulties associated with the concept of managerial accounting and its principles and policies, it is necessary to undertake effective implementation strategy and also to undertake the reinvention of management accountants. The organizational customs and its environmental factors are also effecting this reinvention to certain extend. Management accounting principles and its applications are fundamental for the preparation of financial statements and report to the entity for taking appropriate future decisions. Management accounting is highly concentrating for taking the most relevant decision required within the organization, and it is necessary to obtain the proper information about the entity for taking decisions, and such information should be more accurate in nature. MIS is a significant concept, because it is possible to undertake the business operations more effectively through this system. So, major factors responsible for changes in the management information system are- Changes take place in the economy. Awareness about global competition. Emergence of recent innovative measures and technology. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the changes in the organization in an effective manner for taking the prominent decision which may affect the performance of the entity in future. Implementation of strategic management accounting tools are also effective for this. So, the effective installation of the MIS is important for the adequate functioning of an entity. It is very essential to maintain and develop a proper accounting theory for the proper implementation of accounting procedures and the effective reporting of

Stem cell research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Stem cell research - Essay Example The usability of stem cell therapy is wide but for this the destruction of young life cannot be allowed on ethical grounds. Stem cell research could pave way to a medical world where solution can be sort out for many fatal diseases but the brutality involved in it cannot be disregarded. Human embryo in any way cannot be suggested to be employed for the research or for the treatment purpose. The consequences and medical ethical point of view to stem cell research is important to study as it is connected with the destruction of a budding life. Stem cells are living from of human and it contains DNA and destruction of one life should never be a ladder to the life of another. The information and facts for this study has been in qualitative form as it is obtained from internet sources, books and journals. A thorough study of literature has been conducted and analysis and assessments are drawn accordingly. The Stem cell research Stem cells are undifferentiated cells of dualistic nature fou nd in human embryos and animal’s .The stem cells while remaining undifferentiated has the capability to expand or can differentiate and contribute to the development or repair of tissues of the body. In the website (Deem,2009)writes that â€Å"According to many stem cell researchers, embryonic stem cells are the preferred stem cells for cell-based therapies. Although they tend be more versatile than adult stem cells, other sources (including umbilical cord stem cells) have proven to be just as versatile†. The remarkable potentiality of the stem cells to develop in to different cell type is the advantage many scientists want to make use in future. Recently scientist has used only two types of stems cells namely: embryonic stem cells and non – embryonic stem cells. The stem cells present in the embryos have the unique capability of regenerating when introduced in the body of diseased or injured person. Stem cells have the potentiality in treating people suffering from heart diseases and diabetes. Stem cells are different from other cells present in the body. Unlike blood cells, nerve cells or muscle cells which do not replicate stem cells have the ability to replicate. Presently the scientist is under the process of studying the signaling pattern inside and outside each stem cell with their differentiating process. The majority of research and laboratory activities regarding the advantages of stem cells on human health are still yet to begin. Stem cell research also throws light upon the specific properties of stem cells and their contribution to attain new drugs and treatment. Pros and Cons of stem cell research The pros and cons of stem cell research related to embryonic cells can be described as follows. Pros Most people and scientists think that with the help of stem cells from embryo many diseases suffered by the people can be minimized Many people think that stem cells can help scientist in studying and observing the diffentiating proc ess it undergoes through replicating. Some people assume that ,stem cells can help in reproducing major organs of people who are diseased hence prolonging their life expectancy There is argument in scientific world that the excess embryo generated for the in vitro fertilization should be destroyed or utilized for research purpose. The embryo has many vital stem cells than adult cells and cord cells and is

Porter's five forces analysis for UK's venture capital industry Essay

Porter's five forces analysis for UK's venture capital industry - Essay Example This industry emerged in 1945 following the adoption of the Macmillan committee report, the industry was founded by three banks and they include private bank of England, London clearing bank and the Scottish clearing bank. It was formed due to capital raising problems faced by small companies that were emerging. The following is a discussion of the industry using the Porter’s five force model. Porter identified five forces that influence and shape an industry and they include rivalry, barriers to entry, buyer power, supplier power and substitution threat, the following is a discussion of the five forces and the characteristics of the UK venture capital industry. This refers to the degree of competition. The degree of competition in markets is determined by the concentration ratio which is a measure of market share, as many firms enter an industry the profits of the firm decline. (Porter, 22) A firm will choose a number of strategies in order to increase its market share, a firm will reduce prices to increase market share, vertical integration which include integration with suppliers and buyers and differentiation of its products. Rivalry intensifies when many firms enter the industry, existence of substitutes, existence of exit barrier and when product differentiation of products is limited. (Porter, 22) Degree of competition in the venture capital market is high given that there are over 1,300 firms in the industry. Venture capital industry products also have close substitutes which include loans and equity, therefore the industry firm’s degree of rivalry is considerably high. Rivalry has intensified over the years with the entry of many firms into the industry, initially there were only 3 firms in the industry and over the years many firms have entered the market. (Lerner, 41) The existence of substitute products produced in an industry constrains a firm in the industry to increase prices.

Particle Image Velocimetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Particle Image Velocimetry - Essay Example a dual camera digital image capturing system which provides appropriate optical access where the two viewing angles accurately fulfil the Scheimpflug condition. [1 – 4] Stereo PIV has widespread applicability in the field of scientific education and research in which motion patterns of particles having a high degree of three dimensional or 3D behaviours are to be examined adopting a mechanistic approach involving velocity vector component analysis. Stereo PIV can be diversely used for analysing the in-cylinder flows of an internal combustion engine [5] or the flow-fields of a gas turbine combustor [6]. Stereo PIV has been useful in analysing fluid flows in thermal turbomachinery [1], artificial hear valves [7], near-wall turbulences [8], fluid-flow patterns around a circular cylinder at high Reynolds Number [9] etc. Stereo PIV is based on the standard two dimensional (2D), two-component (2C) or 2D/2C PIV. Velocity of the flow of a fluid is calculated by standard PIV by defining it as displacement vector of the fluid ∆S over a specified time interval ∆t. The velocity vector V is derived from the cross sections of the target area of the flowing fluid seeded with tracer particles by calculating their positions between two illumination pulses as: Further, Brossard et al explains, â€Å"The position of the fluid is imaged through the light scattered by liquid or solid particles illuminated by a laser light sheet. In most applications, such particles are not naturally present in the flow which, therefore, has to be seeded with tracer particles, assumed to be sufficiently small and light to move with local flow velocity.† [10] After obtaining a series of two illumination pulses, the images are separated into smaller subsections or interrogation areas denoted by IA. These interrogation areas, consisting of the image frames I1  and I2, are then intricately cross-correlated through sub-pixel interpolation. The vector map of velocity over an entire target area is

Prospects and Problems of Biomass Energy in a Future Global Research Paper

Prospects and Problems of Biomass Energy in a Future Global Sustainable Energy System - Research Paper Example The primary and major emission gas for Greenhouse Gases is carbon dioxide (CO2). When the carbon dioxide goes into atmosphere and changes the weather conditions, the bio-diversity will decrease through increase in temperature. Researchers suggest that biomass has the potential to become one of the major primary sources of energy in the centuries to come. It is believed that bio-energy systems would come out as the important contributors to future sustainable development in industrialized and developing countries. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are the basis of biomass. The energy sources that act in the derivation of biomass energy are garbage and wood. The other sources include landfill gases and alcohol fuels. One can convert biomass into some other forms of energy like methane gas or fuels for transportation. The other utilities from biomass include production of electricity. Sugarcane and corn are some of the resources of biomass energy. The raw material for biomass is much cheaper than other fuels. Probably the oldest source of energy after the sun is biomass. Sun is the source of energy for biomass. Almost half of the biomass used in the present times comes from burning of wood and wood scraps. The biggest user of biomass is industry followed by transportation (National Energy Education Development Project, 2009). Problems of biomass energy Biomass power can have its impact on the environment. Air pollution can be caused in using biomass as a fuel. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and some other particulates can be the forms of pollutants. A pollutant that is created by incomplete combustion of fossil fuel is black carbon which is held as the second largest contributor to cause global warming. The carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. When a carbon is released into the atmosphere it acts as a contributor in climate change. Even though there are some advantages accrued in using biomass fuels, yet it had not been the major source of energy i n everyday life. The traditional biomass energy was dependent upon combustion of woods and leaves. This sort of activity generated carbon into the atmosphere. Recent advancements in technology has reduced the cost of the process and increased the production of ethanol yield of switch grass. This will drive more profits as well as protect the environment. The production of biomass is possible only when crop is raised to serve the purpose of producing the fuels only. The process will use up land which could have been used for other purposes like the normal agricultural process. Scientists opined that these production processes will insert its tool in the ecosystem. This can also result in climate crisis. The production of biomass energy uses a lot of energy to harvest the crops. It requires more water and other fossil fuels to make the fertilizers for the plantation and harvesting processes. It is also difficult to collect biomass. There is also constraint on the availability of bioma ss all round the year. The major constituents of biomass energy production are wheat, barley and corn and they are seasonal crops. Their availability is limited in certain seasons of the year. The source of producing biomass is expensive. Although the fuels of biomass are renewable sources but one cannot find a reduction in the levels of emission. Some amounts of pollutants that are harmful are produced by bio-fuels. This is known as fossil fuels.

Particle Image Velocimetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Particle Image Velocimetry - Essay Example a dual camera digital image capturing system which provides appropriate optical access where the two viewing angles accurately fulfil the Scheimpflug condition. [1 – 4] Stereo PIV has widespread applicability in the field of scientific education and research in which motion patterns of particles having a high degree of three dimensional or 3D behaviours are to be examined adopting a mechanistic approach involving velocity vector component analysis. Stereo PIV can be diversely used for analysing the in-cylinder flows of an internal combustion engine [5] or the flow-fields of a gas turbine combustor [6]. Stereo PIV has been useful in analysing fluid flows in thermal turbomachinery [1], artificial hear valves [7], near-wall turbulences [8], fluid-flow patterns around a circular cylinder at high Reynolds Number [9] etc. Stereo PIV is based on the standard two dimensional (2D), two-component (2C) or 2D/2C PIV. Velocity of the flow of a fluid is calculated by standard PIV by defining it as displacement vector of the fluid ∆S over a specified time interval ∆t. The velocity vector V is derived from the cross sections of the target area of the flowing fluid seeded with tracer particles by calculating their positions between two illumination pulses as: Further, Brossard et al explains, â€Å"The position of the fluid is imaged through the light scattered by liquid or solid particles illuminated by a laser light sheet. In most applications, such particles are not naturally present in the flow which, therefore, has to be seeded with tracer particles, assumed to be sufficiently small and light to move with local flow velocity.† [10] After obtaining a series of two illumination pulses, the images are separated into smaller subsections or interrogation areas denoted by IA. These interrogation areas, consisting of the image frames I1  and I2, are then intricately cross-correlated through sub-pixel interpolation. The vector map of velocity over an entire target area is

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay Example for Free

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay In the literature, several motives for takeovers have been identified. One is the desire for synergy. That is, similarities or complementarities between the acquiring and target firms are expected to result in the combined value of the enterprises exceeding their worth as separate firms (Collis and Montgomery, 1998). A second motive involves the expectation that acquirers can extract value because target companies have been managed inefficiently (Varaiya, 1987). A third motive is attributed to managerial hubris the notion that senior executives, in overestimating their own abilities, acquire companies they believe could be managed more profitably under their control. Agency theory motive is the anticipation that firm expansion will positively impact the compensation of top managers since there tends to be a direct relation between firm size and executive pay. Contemporary specialists contend that managerial ownership incentives may be expected to have divergent impacts on corporate strategy and firm value. This premise has been recognized in previous studies. For instance, Stulz (1988) has examined the ownership of managers of target companies and has proposed that the relationship between that ownership and the value of target firms may initially be positive and then subsequently become negative with rising insider ownership. Moreover, Shivdasani (1993) empirically shows that the relationship of the ownership structure of target companies with the value of hostile bids is not uniformly positive. McConnell and Servaes (1990) have likewise analyzed the relationship of equity ownership among corporate insiders and Tobins q. Their results demonstrate a non-monotonic relation between Tobins q and insider equity stakes. Wright et al. (1996: 451) have shown a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and corporate strategy related to firm risk taking. Ownership Incentives and Changes in Company Risk Motivating Acquisitions An agency-theoretic motive for acquisitions has been used to explain managerial preferences for risk-reducing corporate strategies (Wright et al., 1996). The implication is that both principals and agents prefer acquiring target companies with higher rather than lower returns. In that, shareholders and managers have congruent interests. The interests, however, diverge in terms of risk considerations associated with acquisitions. Because shareholders possess diversified portfolios, they may only be concerned with systematic risk and be indifferent to the total variance of returns associated with a takeover. Senior managers may alternatively prefer risk-reducing corporate strategies, unless they are granted ownership incentives. That is because they can not diversify their human capital invested in the firm. In the literature, it has been argued that agency costs may be reduced as managerial ownership incentives rise. The reason is that, as ownership incentives rise, the financial interests of insiders and shareholders will begin to converge. Analysts conjecture, however, that such incentives may not consistently provide senior executives the motivation to lessen the agency costs associated with an acquisition strategy. Inherent is the presumption that the nature of executive wealth portfolios will differently influence their attitudes toward corporate strategy. The personal wealth portfolios of top managers are comprised of their ownership of shares/options in the firm, the income produced from their employment, and assets unrelated to the firm. Presumably, as senior executives increase their equity stakes in the enterprise, their personal wealth portfolios become correspondingly less diversified. Although stockholders can diversify their wealth portfolios, top executives have less flexibility if they own substantial shares in the firms they manage. Hence, if a significant portion of managers wealth is concentrated in one investment, then they may find it prudent to diversify their firms via risk-reducing acquisitions. In the related literature, however, takeovers and risk taking have been approached differently from the described approach. Amihud and Lev (1999) have contended that insiders employment income is significantly related to the firms performance. Thus, managers are confronted with risks associated with their income if the maintenance of that income is dependent on achieving predetermined performance targets. Reasonably, in the event of either corporate underperformance or firm failure, CEOs not only may lose their current employment income but also may seriously suffer in the managerial labor market, since their future earnings potential with other enterprises may be lowered. Hence, the risk of executives employment income is impacted by the firms risk. The ramification of Amihud and Levs (1999) contentions is that top managers will tend to lower firm risk, and therefore their own employment risk, by acquiring companies that contribute to stabilizing of the firms income, even if shareho lder wealth is adversely affected. Consistent with the implications of Amihud and Levs arguments, Agrawal and Mandelker (1987) have similarly suggested that managers with negligible ownership stakes may adopt risk-reducing corporate strategies because such strategies may well serve their own personal interests. With ownership incentives, however, managers may be more likely to acquire risk-enhancing target companies, in line with the requirement of wealth maximization for shareholders. The notion that at negligible managerial ownership levels, detrimental risk-reducing acquisition strategies may be emphasized, but with increasing ownership incentive levels, beneficial risk-enhancing acquisitions may be more prevalent is also suggested in other works (Grossman and Hoskisson, 1998). The conclusion of these investigations is that the relationship between insider ownership and risk enhancing, worthy corporate acquisitions is linear and positive. Some experts assert that CEOs personal wealth concentration will induce senior managers to undertake risk-reducing firm strategies. Portfolio theorys expectation suggests that investors or owner-managers may desire to diversify their personal wealth portfolios. For instance, Markowitz (1952: 89) has asserted that investors may wish to diversify across industries because firms in different industries. . . have lower covariances than firms within an industry. Moreover, as argued by Sharpe (1964: 441), diversification enables the investor to escape all but the risk resulting from swings in economic activity. Consequently, managers with substantial equity investments in the firm may diversify the firm via risk-reducing acquisitions in order to diversify their own personal wealth portfolios. Because they may be especially concerned with risk-reducing acquisitions, however, their corporate strategies may not enhance firm value through takeovers, although managerial intention may be to boos t corporate value. The above discussion is compatible with complementary arguments that suggest that insiders may acquire non-value-maximizing target companies although their intentions may be to enhance returns to shareholders. For instance, according to the synergy view, while takeovers may be motivated by an ex-ante concern for increasing corporate value, many such acquisitions are not associated with an increase in firm value. Alternatively, according to the hubris hypothesis, even though insiders may intend to acquire targets that they believe could be managed more profitably under their control, such acquisitions are not ordinarily related to higher profitability. If acquisitions which are undertaken primarily with insider expectations that they will financially benefit owners do not realize higher performance, then those acquisitions which are primarily motivated by a risk-reducing desire may likewise not be associated with beneficial outcomes for owners. Additionally, it can be argued that shareholders can more efficiently diversify their own portfolios, making it unnecessary for managers to diversify the firm in order to achieve portfolio diversification for shareholders. Risk Associated with HRM practices in International Acquisitions There are a number of reasons why the HRM policies and practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and cross-border acquisitions are likely to be different from those found in domestic firms (Dowling, Schuler and Welch, 1993). For one, the difference in geographical spread means that acquisitions must normally engage in a number of HR activities that are not needed in domestic firms such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity. Second, as Dowling (1988) points out, the personnel policies and practices of MNCs are likely to be more complex and diverse. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in acquisitions because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to many different groups of subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Finally, there are more stakeholders that influence the HRM policies and practices of international firms than those of domestic firms. The major stakeholders in private organizations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could also think of unions, consumer organizations and other pressure groups. These pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, but they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This probably means that international companies need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than domestic firms. Acquisitions and HRM Practices: Evidence from Japan, the US, and Europe In contemporary context, international human resource management faces important challenges, and this trend characterizes many Japanese, US and European acquisitions.   From the critical point of view, Japanese companies experience more problems associated with international human resource management than companies from the US and Europe (Shibuya, 2000). Lack of home-country personnel sufficient international manage ­ment skills has been widely recognized in literature as the most difficult problem facing Japanese compa ­nies and simultaneously one of the most significant of US and European acquisitions as well. The statement implies that cultivating such skills is difficult and that they are relatively rare among businessmen in any country. Japanese companies may be particularly prone to this problem due to their heavy use of home-country nationals in overseas management positions. European and Japanese acquisitions also experience the lack of home country personnel who want to work abroad, while it is less of an impediment for the US companies. In the US acquisitions expatriates often experience reentry difficulties (e.g., career disruption) when re ­turning to the home country: This problem was the one most often cited by US firms.   Today Japanese corporations report the relatively lower incidence of expatriate reentry diffi ­culties, and it is surprising given the vivid accounts of such problems at Japanese firms by White (1988) and Umezawa (1990). However, the more active role of the Japanese person ­nel department in coordinating career paths, the tradition of semi ­annual musical-chair-like personnel shuffles (jinji idoh), and the continu ­ing efforts of Japanese stationed overseas to maintain close contact with headquarters might underlie the lower level of difficulties in this area for Japanese firms (Inohara, 2001). In contrast, the decentralized structures of many US and European firms may serve to isolate expatriates from their home-country headquarters, making reentry more problematic. Also, recent downsiz ­ing at US and European firms may reduce the number of appropriate management positions for expatriates to return to, or may sever expatri ­ates relationships with colleagues and mentors at headquarters. Furthermore, within the context of the lifetime employment system, individ ­ual Japanese employees have little to gain by voicing reentry concerns to personnel managers. In turn, personnel managers need not pay a great deal of attention to reentry problems because they will usually not result in a resignation. In western firms, reentry problems need to be taken more seriously by personnel managers because they frequently result in the loss of a valued employee. A further possible explanation for the higher incidence of expatriate reentry problems in western multinationals is the greater tendency of those companies to implement a policy of transferring local nationals to headquarters or other international operations. Under such a policy, the definition of expatriate expands beyond home-country nationals to en ­compass local nationals who transfer outside their home countries. It may even be that local nationals who return to a local operation after working at headquarters or other international operations may have their own special varieties of reentry problems. Literature on international human resource practices in Japan, the US and Europe suggest that the major strategic difficulty for the MNCs is to attract high-caliber local nationals to work for the company. In general, acquisitions may face greater challenges in hiring high-caliber local employees than do domestic firms due to lack of name recognition and fewer relationships with educators or others who might recommend candidates. However, researchers suggest that this issue is significantly more difficult for Japanese than for US and European multinationals. When asked to describe problems encoun ­tered in establishing their US affiliates, 39.5% of the respondents to a Japan Society survey cited finding qualified American managers to work in the affiliate and 30.8% cited hiring a qualified workforce (Bob ; SRI, 2001). Similarly, a survey of Japanese companies operating in the US conducted by a human resource consulting firm found that 35% felt recruiting personnel to be very difficult or extremely difficult, and 56% felt it to be difficult (The Wyatt Company, 1999). In addition to mentioned problem, Japanese acquisition encounter high local employee turnover, which is significantly more prob ­lematic for them due to the near-total absence of turnover to which they are accustomed in Japan. The US, European and Japanese companies admit very rarely that they encounter local legal challenges to their personnel policies. However, in regard to Japanese acquisitions large   amount of press coverage has been given to lawsuits against Japanese companies in the United States and a Japanese Ministry of Labor Survey in which 57% of the 331 respondents indicated that they were facing potential equal employ ­ment opportunity-related lawsuits in the United States (Shibuya, 2000). Conclusion This research investigates whether corporate acquisitions with shared technological resources or participation in similar product markets realize superior economic returns in comparison with unrelated acquisitions. The rationale for superior economic performance in related acquisitions derives from the synergies that are expected through a combination of supplementary or complementary resources. It is clear from the results of this research that acquired firms in related acquisitions have higher returns than acquired firms in unrelated acqui ­sitions. This implies that the related acquired firm benefits more from the acquirer than the unrelated acquired firm. The higher returns for the related acquired firms suggest that the combination with the acquirer’s resources has higher value implications than the combination of two unrelated firms. This is supported by the higher total wealth gains which were observed in related acquisitions. I did however, in the case of acquiring firms, find that the abnormal returns directly attributable to the acquisition transaction are not significant. There are reasons to believe that the announcement effects of the transaction on the returns to acquirers are less easily detected than for target firms. First, an acquisition by a firm affects only part of its businesses, while affecting all the assets (in control-oriented acqui ­sitions) of the target firm. Thus the measurability of effects on acquirers is attenuated. Second, if an acquisition is one event in a series of implicit moves constituting a diversification program, its individual effect as a market signal would be mitigated. It is also likely that the theoretical argument which postulates that related acquisitions create wealth for acquirers may be underspecified. Relatedness is often multifaceted, suggesting that the resources of the target firm may be of value to many firms, thus increasing the relative bargaining power of the target vis-a-vis the potential buyers. Even in the absence of explicit competition for the target (multiple bidding), the premiums paid for control are a substantial fraction of the total gains available from the transaction. For managers, some implications from the research can be offered. First, it seems quite clear from the data that a firm seeking to be acquired will realize higher returns if it is sold to a related than an unrelated firm. This counsel is consistent with the view that the market recognizes synergistic combinations and values them accordingly. Second, managers in acquiring firms may be advised to scrutinize carefully the expected gains in related and unrelated acquisitions. For managers the issue of concern is not whether or not a given kind of acquisition creates a significant total amount of wealth, but what percentage of that wealth they can expect to accrue to their firms. Thus, although acquisitions involving related technologies or product market yield higher total gains, pricing mechanisms in the market for corporate acquisitions reflect the gains primarily on the target company. Interpreting these results conservatively, one may offer the argument that expected gains for acquiring firms are competed away in the bidding process, with stockholders of target firms obtaining high proportions of the gains. On a pragmatic level this research underscores the need to combine what may be called the theoretical with the practical. In the case of acquisitions, pragmatic issues like implicit and explicit competition for a target firm alter the theoretical expectations of gains from an acquisition transaction. Further efforts to clarify these issues theoretically and empirically will increase our understanding of these important phenomena. Bibliography Sharpe WF. 1964. Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. 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