The Names for French Punctuation Marks and Symbols

Cathedrals Implied Glory and Importance to Christianity...

There is nothing, in any shape or form, implied about the glory of Cathedrals. These stone behemoths are simply glorious in size, design and aesthetic appeal all built into their design plan and plays an important role in the growth of faith in Christianity. But what is a Cathedral? In their very nature, they are holy places of worship for Christians. Unlike churches which are basic places of worship that are apt for most of the critical requirements of Christianity, Cathedrals are massive places of worship which act as the headquarters for the local diocese, or districts, of the certain sect of Christianity around it and are also where the Bishops resides. They serve as one of the holiest places of worship for Christians, but why?†¦show more content†¦This immediately gives Seville a heavenly appeal considering that most buildings at the time had very few aspects about them pointing skyward and if they had some they were for architectural purposes and not exaggerated. This would give anyone at that time the impression that their religion is the only true religion and that they should have faith because the will of their God is what built it; it would also give any none practicing individuals a jaw dropping sense of aw since no religion before had created buildings like this on a mass scale as the cathedrals were being built in the gothic era. This promoted more faith and belief in Christianity through the glorification of a place of worship and contributed greatly to the growth of the religion. All citizens of that day and age would have most certainly over looked the fact that while this building glorifies their religion in a way that no idea had been glorified before, their generous leaders name would be the most common name associated with this most holy of buildings followed by the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, not the other way around. After all, this Cathedral was a raw display of wealth and power to put the Hagia Sophia, the previous worldâ₠¬â„¢s largest cathedral at the time, in its place while maintaining approval of the church, a most powerful influence on the selection of the emperor. While these two buildings were both really different, they both shared some of the same aspects:Show MoreRelatedThe Philippine Architecture: Spanish Colonial Period18287 Words   |  74 Pagesmain four classifications of each were the Military architecture which made the Philippines to have watchtowers, fortresses, and other structures that served as defenses; Religious Architecture which focuses on the building of the churches for the Christianity purposes; Domestic Architecture which caused the evolution from bahay kubo to bahay na bato into the idea of Arquitecture Mestiza; and lastly, Civil Architecture which involves structures needed in running the city. Spanish Colonial Intent inRead MoreUt Unum Sint25504 Words   |  103 PagesEncyclical of Pope John Paul II promulgated on May 25, 1995 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I - THE CATHOLIC CHURCHS COMMITMENT TO ECUMENISM Gods plan and communion The way of ecumenism: the way of the Church Renewal and conversion The fundamental importance of doctrine The primacy of prayer Ecumenical dialogue Local structures of dialogue Dialogue as an examination of conscience Dialogue as a means of resolving disagreements Practical cooperation CHAPTER II - THE FRUITS OF DIALOGUE Brotherhood rediscovered

CSL Ltd and Macquarie Group

Question: Discuss about the CSL Ltd and Macquarie Group. Answer: Introduction The future aspiration of the organisational leader is driven by the vision and mission statement of the firm. The vision statement articulates a broad conceptualization regarding the future destination of the organisation (Minoja, 2012). On the other hand, the mission statement is considered different than the vision statement, as it depicts the immediate future of an organisation and delineates the reason for the existence of the firm as well. In this regards, Klettner, Clarke and Boersma (2013) stated that the vision and mission statement builds the values of the organisation, which drives the overall management functions of the firm as well. Also, Cordeiro and Tewari (2014) mentioned that the corporate social sustainability builds responsiveness and accountability of the brand within the global business environments. Farooq, Aguenaou and Amor (2015) also stated that organisational value statement guides to create decisions and goals to meet the vision of the organisation. Considering the fact, the current study attempts to identify the vision or mission statement of two different firms from two different industries considering the case study of CSL Limited and MACQUARIE GROUP. At the outset of the survey, a comparison has been made of various values of both the firms. The study also covers the corporate social responsibility conducted by the current organisations and ends with the evaluation of stakeholder accountability in the business growth of both the firms. Vision or mission statement of CSL and MACQUARIE GROUP MACQUARIE GROUP: The MACQUARIE GROUPs vision statement is to bring together all the investments of the stakeholders into a single and integrated digital tool to help the clients efficiently manage individual wealth. The vision statement of the firm is as follows: The brand will never compromise with the standards. The company took the responsibility for all actions and managed potential integrity to maintain and honour promises. It has been identified that the vision is to maintain the courage to speak up when a mistake arises from the internal operation of the firm (www.macquarie.com, 2016). Opportunity, accountability and integrity are the original code of conduct of the brand. The overall brands approach is based on the three long-held principles. The overall analysis states that the vision of the Macquarie Group is smart, measurable, achievable and realistic as well. The SMART goals are qualitatively measurable. CSL Limited: The core values of CSL Limited are to provide safe and efficient products. The vision of the firm is as follows: Customer focus is the original image of the company. In this context, Elias and Tucunduva Philippi (2015) stated that the company works hard to keep the trust level of the customers. Also, managing brand innovation is also another important vision of the enterprise. Promoting safety and supporting technological innovation to improve service quality have become one of the images of the business. Integrity and outstanding commitment to the transparency across all communication levels are considered one of the heritage visions of the firm CSL Limited (www.csl.com.au, 2016). Managing long-term collaboration with all stakeholders is seen as a major vision of the enterprise. It also helps the company managing a superior performance regarding producing high-quality products and innovative services. The current vision statement of CSL Limited is aligned with each component of the SMART goals. The vision is smart, measurable and achievable. At the same time, the vision elements are realistic and timely achievable as well. The vision statement analysis for both the firm indicates that CSLs vision statement is better than the enterprise MACQUARIE GROUP. Values of CSL and MACQUARIE GROUP CSL Ltd emphasises to provide the standardised marginal products that help the consumers to improve the health conditions. In the circumstance of the present context, Brennan (2010) mentioned that the brand invests around US$460 million over the RD team in order to discover the specific drugs that can easily be the solutions of the high chronic diseases. The corporate value of CSL is highly specific and time bound. Morsing and Roepstorff (2014) mentioned that since, the brand deals with the pharmaceutical products, therefore, it is the exclusive responsibility of the management to ensure the primary safety of the consumers. Hence, CSL focuses on the plasma-derived and the recombinant products to reduce the side effects of the medicines. CSL works in an organised manner, and the activities are planned for the short tenure, which helps the enterprise to attain the corporate objectives. However, MACQUARIE GROUP emphasises on providing all possible diversities to its employees, which influence the internal members to increase both the professional and the personal expertise. Cordeiro and Tewari (2014) mentioned that the management believes in providing widespread flexibilities with its staffs. Through the specific action, the management manages to increase the motivational aspects of the employees. The value creation strategy of MACQUARIE GROUP is recognised to be achievable. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities performed by CSL and MACQUARIE GROUP The CSR activities of CSL In the framework of the current subject, Farooq, Aguenaou and Amor (2015) mentioned that CSL is continuously improving its protein-based therapies to develop the new medicines that prevent the serious human illness. The RD (Research and Development) actions are led by the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). According to Klettner Clarke and Boersma (2013), CSL is majorly committed to the RD activities in a responsible manner. The particular approach ensures the quality of the research project, which confirms the safety, well being and an active clinical trial of the patients. Minoja (2012) determined that the CSL ensure an operating responsibility in the marketplace by marketing the medicine in an ethical manner. The enterprise is committed to offering accurate and balanced information to its healthcare professional and governments. Through the particular action, the company seeks to receive adequate support from the government to provide best possible care to its patients. According to E lias and Tucunduva Philippi (2015), the CSLs CSR activities is highly realistic, as the production process, packaging and the medicine transportation action generate greenhouse gas emission. The CSL team performs sustainable practices to minimise the environmental impacts. The CSR activities of MACQUARIE GROUP Morsing and Roepstorff (2014) mentioned that the environmental impact of the brands operations, predominantly relate to the resources the brand uses within the offices, data centres and the air travel. The management of MACQUARIE GROUP managed the environmental impact of monitoring and limiting the resource use. The brand includes the energy efficiency measures, data centre virtualization, water management and waste recycling programs. In the similar instance, Farooq, Aguenaou and Amor (2015) specified that the MACQUARIE GROUP is committed to conducting the business by the applicable regulations and laws of the regional governing authority. Thus, assessing the above activities, it could be perceived that the CSR actions initiated by the brand are highly accurate. The enterprise provides all possible diversities to its employees to utilise the potential growth within the workplace. Evaluating the above context, a perception is derived that the CSR activities of CSL Ltd are far more specific and measurable that MACQUARIE GROUP. The CSR action of CSR is far more organised and planned than MACQUARIE GROUP, which helps the enterprise to achieve its corporate objectives efficiently. Stakeholders feedbacks in the corporate statement The stakeholders feedbacks are analysed below: As per the annual report of the firm, the company has consistently achieved the growth through the process execution and the business strategy. In the opinion of Horisch et al. (2015), investing in research and development to make advance the medical therapies is the core portfolio of the firm that expands its market share. The report of the stakeholders specifies that the relentless commitment of the organisation increases its productivity and efficiency. Thus, it could be deduced that the specific goal of the firm is completely measurable, and it is achievable in the every sector of its activities. Furthermore, the life saving and life-enhancing therapies of the company acts in a sustainable and responsible way to illustrate the tangible commitments (Jung et al. 2015). Therefore, as per the opinion of the stakeholders, the trademark rules and labels of the firm is entirely realistic. Adding to this, the CSR (Corporate Social Responsible) approach of the firm highlights the social, environmental and economic performance of the company that assists in drawing the attention of the stakeholders towards the firm. Considering the opinion of Corno and Razzak (2012), the continuous growth of the biopharmaceutical company reflects that the health and safety performance of the company completes within the projected time. Therefore, it could be identified that the overall activities of the firm are also aligned with the timely factor and also completely achievable to influence the organisational goal. Macquire Group The annual report of the MACQUIRE GROUP indicates that the firm supports the entire community where it operates. According to the opinion of Corno and Razzak (2012), the global finance service provider firm is expertise to cover the capital market, funds management, asset financing and retail financial services. Thus, the specific goals of the firm are completely aligned with its operations. As per the stakeholder's reports, the diversified functionality of the enterprise, strong capital position and the robust risk management process has contributed to enhancing the profitability record of the firm (Husted and Allen, 2010). Therefore, the measurable and achievable attribute of the SMART objectives of the firm has been identified. Furthermore, the sustainable shareholder value to meet the stakeholders expectations is an example of the sound corporate governance of the firm. The management of the MACQUIRE GROUP is capable of encouraging the employees and business opportunities while o perating in a strong risk management framework (Noddings, 2007). Hence, the timely and realistic attribute has also been founded to the business performance of MACQUIRE GROUP and as well as with the stakeholders feedbacks. Conclusion The primary assertion of the study indicates that the overall management process of the two firms named, CSL Ltd., Australia and the MACQUIRE GROUP. As per the research on the current context, it has been observed that the commitment of the CSL Ltd., Australia is to save the lives and improve the quality of peoples life. The firm is focused on fulfilling the customers requirements. On the other hand, the opportunity, accountability and integrity are the three major factors of MACQUIRE GROUP. The purpose of this firm is to realise the opportunity and the benefits for the clients, shareholders and the other business entity. While conducting the research, the research associate has analysed that both the chosen firms are in the stable position to meet the specific objectives with SMART goal attribute. Thus, it could be inferred that the business of the two different industries are in the profitable state to achieve the long-term goal. Reference: Brennan, D., 2010. Corporate social responsibility: The corporate governance of the 21st century. 2nd ed. Netherlands: Kluwer Law International. Cordeiro, J.J. and Tewari, M., 2014. Firm characteristics, industry context, and investor reactions to environmental CSR: A Stakeholder theory approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(4), pp.833849. Corno, F. and Razzak, F., 2012. Intelligent energy optimization for user intelligible goals in smart home environments. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 3(4), pp.21282135. Elias, M.F. and Tucunduva Philippi, S., 2015. Mission, vision, and corporate values. Organizational Cultures: An International Journal, 13(4), pp.1526. Farooq, O., Aguenaou, S. and Amor, M.A., 2015. Corporate social responsibility policy and brand value. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 31(6), pp.2013. Horisch, J., Schaltegger, S. and Windolph, S.E., 2015. Linking sustainability-related stakeholder feedback to corporate sustainability performance: An empirical analysis of stakeholder dialogues. International Journal of Business Environment, 7(2), pp.200212. Husted, B.W. and Allen, D.B., 2010. Corporate social strategy: Stakeholder engagement and competitive advantage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Jung, K., Morris, K.C., Lyons, K.W., Leong, S. and Cho, H., 2015. Mapping strategic goals and operational performance metrics for smart manufacturing systems. Procedia Computer Science, 44(5), pp.184193. Klettner, A., Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., 2013. The governance of corporate sustainability: Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsible business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), pp.145165. Limited, C., 2016. CSL Ltd is a leader in plasma protein biotherapeutics. Available at: https://www.csl.com.au/about [Accessed 11 August 2016]. Limited, M.G., n.d. Personal. Available at: https://www.macquarie.com/au [Accessed 11 August 2016]. Minoja, M., 2012. Stakeholder management theory, firm strategy, and Ambidexterity. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(1), pp.6782. Morsing, M. and Roepstorff, A., 2014. CSR as corporate political activity: Observations on IKEAs CSR IdentityImage dynamics. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), pp.395409. Noddings, N., 2007. Aims, goals, and objectives. Encounters/Encuentros/Rencontres on Education, 4(1), pp.122125.

The Iranian

The Nuclear race between Iran and Israel has been an ongoing conflict of low intensity for decades. It has been a long time since it became apparent that this strain will always fuel the instability in Middle East region, and remain a particular concern for the GCC states and especially UAE. It is obvious that the stability or the balance of powers can never be achieved as long as both states, Iran and Israel, continue to compete for victory in the arms race.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Iranian-Israeli Nuclear Race and Its Implications on the GCC/UAE Security specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A distinct sense of insecurity keeps growing among the countries of the Gulf region, and such awareness will definitely have its implications on the neighbor countries. For some time already the UAE has been voicing its concerns about the region’s instability, although in the past few years it has moved from to lerant and patient rhetoric to a more apprehensive attitude and bold statements, along with the fellow countries of GCC. The combination of these factors and the cited arguments allow to come to a definite conclusion regarding the need for UAE to reshape the programs of military security and place greater focus on foreign policy and relations between the countries, as well as turning attention to its own nuclear program, not for militarization or entering a new round of arms race, but merely for preserving the balance of power in the region and making explicit its intentions to resist any threats. A thorough background research has shown that the nuclear programs of both countries have been influencing not only the Middle East Region but the political life and international relationships all over the world for at least three decades. It is well known that Israel has neither denied nor confirmed the fact that it has constructed or possessed the nuclear weapons. However, the implicati ons of possession of a nuclear arsenal and its estimated numbers have varied from year to year, with the last probable assessment of the Federation of American Scientists has been of 80 missiles by 2015, although Israel might have produced enough plutonium for 100-200 warheads (par. 4-18). The Israeli scientific nuclear program is based on the use of a nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant in Dimona, Israel. The government of Israel has acknowledged the existence of plant site; however, it is not willing to disclose any details, and the information remains classified. Such policy has been also known as the so-called â€Å"nuclear ambiguity,† which Israel has maintained throughout its history. Another way of dealing with the tension in the region for Israel lies in applying significant efforts to prevent neighbor countries from acquiring the nuclear weapons or developing the nuclear programs. Most of these efforts have been definitely aimed at Iran, as Israel has been warning that a nuclear Iran will become a threat not only to the Jews, but it would also threaten the safety of all the GCC countries and might provoke a new round of the arms race. The anxiety of the Israelis is easy to understand; however their strategies are unable to solve the threat of the nuclear dilemma, moreover, they may worsen it in some ways. Despite the deep Israel-US cooperation, according to a report on Israel policies by Haim Malka (2012),Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The strategies†¦ [of] deterrence, containment, and entente, as well as a military strike†¦ [do not] solve the threat of a potentially nuclear threat. Every strategy poses complicated dilemmas for Israel and the United States, which means that managing Israeli expectations and actions will become more complex in the months and years ahead. (61) The nuclear status of Iran is as indefinite as Israel’s, but it has always evoked greater interest and concern. According to a report on Iranian nuclear program, for scientific and nuclear energy purposes the country now possesses two uranium mines, uranium processing facilities that include at least three uranium enrichment plants, a research reactor and several research sites (Kerr 1-5). The same research also notes: Although Iran claims that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, the program has generated considerable concern that Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program†¦ [The IAEA] has concerns about the program, particularly evidence that Iran may have conducted procurement activities and research directly applicable to nuclear weapons development. (Kerr 1) The abovementioned facts can be used to describe the roots of the problem in its entirety. The two advanced and covert nuclear programs create major regional instability and pose a severe security threat to the GCC states and the U AE in particular. At the same time, the only thing opposed to the threat and used to maintain the delicate power balance in the region is the US liability to provide conventional weapons and a â€Å"nuclear umbrella† for Israel only, even while Israel itself believes that such deterrence system should, in fact, be extended to Gulf allies (Malka 57). This means that neither UAE nor any of the GCC states own a nuclear program for deterrence use and have no way to defend them or compete with the previously mentioned military programs of Iran and Israel. The analysis of the current situation shows that the Iranian – Israeli nuclear holocaust is not much likely to happen given the fact that modern Iran is not prone to taking significant risks, and it does not want to enter international isolation again as its economy and international relations have just started evolving after long years of boycott and deteriorating relations between Iran and the Western Countries in partic ular. Yet the Iranian official speeches do not hesitate to express aggressive strategies and the government shows its willingness to use its weapons against any threats posed by Israel, both real and speculative.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Iranian-Israeli Nuclear Race and Its Implications on the GCC/UAE Security specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Iran struggles to be introduced to the world as the only Muslim country who can give Israel a fitting reply, and therefore it will be able to act as major power in the Middle East region and to play the role of the guardian for GCC states, which may serve their expansionist ambitions in compliance with their religious and cultural Shiite doctrine. A policy paper on Iranian doctrine states the following: Iranian centrality has created a vision for Tehran’s regional role that does not follow the known rules of the international order; instead, it is based on transnational doctrinal discourse and policies to â€Å"create a Shiite nation† with Iran as its center and political term of reference. Thus, Iran resembles Israel only, which also sees itself as a state for world Jews. (Emirates Policy Center 65) Thus, it is obvious that Iran can become a source of greater instability than Israel now, meaning that the UAE and GCC should contain the Iranian role in the Gulf region for the sake of maintaining the balance of power. While according to a research conducted by Alireza Nader, the Iranian attempts to undermine the stability of the UAE socio-political system have been unsuccessful, and the domestic intelligence has deterred the attempts to do so, the Iranian threat to the GCC countries should not be completely dismissed; while the acquisition of the nuclear weapons will not change the equation dramatically, the balance will be disrupted (14-16). The recommended policies for dealing with an acute topic of nuclear safety in the Middl e East region should include at least a few different options to address every aspect of the problem. First of all, it is important to establish a distinct foreign policy concerning the relations with Iran and Israel, which should not be threatening but rather warning and showing the calm and confident strength and determination. The GCC countries must turn away from the accusation discourse and seek rapprochement with both Israel and Iran, under a condition that such policies will be reciprocated. Another recommendation might involve UAE taking advantage of its already established nuclear program. The information provided in a report by Karim Sadjadpour and Ali Vaez shows that â€Å"the UAE signed a landmark contract with a Korean-led consortium †¦ to construct four nuclear reactors†¦ The UAE has sought to become a nonproliferation model by †¦ ratifying the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement †¦ [and] renouncing †¦ to enrich uranium or rep rocess spent fuel† (22). For purposes of maintaining a secure nuclear program that could be used in the future if there is any need to develop a deterrence weapon, the UAE should gain the International community support to her nuclear program and subsequently invest in nuclear technology for safety.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Emirates Policy Center. The Doctrinal Foundations of Iran’s Geopolitical Project. Abu-Dhabi, UAE: Emirates Policy Center (EPC) Iranian Studies Unit, 2014. Print. Federation of American Scientists. â€Å"Status of World Nuclear Forces.† 2015. Web. https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/ Kerr, Paul K. â€Å"Iran’s Nuclear Program: Status. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress.† 2012. PDF File. 04 Dec. 2015. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34544.pdf Malka, Haim. â€Å"Israel.† Gulf Kaleidoscope: reflections on the Iranian challenge. Ed. Jon. B. Alterman. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic International Studies, 2012. 49-61. Print. Nader, Alireza. Iran After the Bomb: How Would a Nuclear-Armed Tehran Behave? Santa-Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2013. Print. Sadjadpour, Karim, and A. Vaez. Iran’s Nuclear Odyssey. Costs and Risks. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2013 . Print. This essay on The Iranian-Israeli Nuclear Race and Its Implications on the GCC/UAE Security was written and submitted by user Haylee Michael to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Ozone Depletion essays

Ozone Depletion essays Stratospheric ozone depletion is a worldwide concern that has been addressed by several international organizations. Ozone depletion characterize the environmental problems we as humans face today; it is global and the direct, however unintended result of human industry and if not regulated can cause catastrophic effects; affecting humans and everything that lies upon the earth. Ozone is a bluish, reactive gas, whose molecule is made by three oxygen atoms. Nearly 90% of the Earth's ozone is situated in the stratosphere, the atmosphere layer between 10 to 40 kilometers above Earth's surface, where it is continuously generated and destroyed by the UV radiation. (6) The ozone forms from the action sunlight on oxygen. This action has been taking place for many millions of years and naturally occurring nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere apparently have kept the ozone levels at a stable state. Only a small portion of ozone is in the troposphere, the internal atmospheric layer. Ozone was first noticed around 1956 in at Halley Bay, Antarctica. Soon, an English scientist gave the term ozone depletion. His observation showed that acidic precipitation damages things. Chemicals that react with the oxygen atom temporarily freed whenever an ozone molecule breaks apart. (2) The only ozone destroyers of concern are those that can participate in a catalytic cycle that is, where one trace catalytic chemical can be responsible for destroying tens or even hundreds of thousands of ozone molecules. (5) There are more than a dozen of catalytic cycles that influence the stratospheric ozone at different altitudes. The most effective cycles involve chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrogen oxide radicals (HOx). Natural catalytic cycles involving NOx and HOx have historically helped keep ozone levels in the atmospheric stable. (6) Various human activities have released ozone-destroying chemicals int...

Understanding Where Money Goes in the Stock Market

Understanding Where Money Goes in the Stock Market When a stock market price for a company suddenly takes a nosedive, a stakeholder may wonder where the money they invested went. Well, the answers not so simple as someone pocketed it. Money that enters the stock market through investment in a companys shares stays in the stock market, though that shares value does fluctuate based on a number of factors. The money invested initially in a share combined with the current market value of that share determine the net worth of shareholders and the company itself. It may be easier to understand this given a specific example such as three investors - Becky, Rachel, and Martin - entering the market to buy a share of Company X, wherein Company X is willing to sell one share of their company in order to increase capital and their net worth through investors. An Example Exchange in the Market In this scenario, Company X has no money but owns one share that it would like to sell the open exchange market while Becky has $1,000, Rachel has $500, and Martin has $200 to invest. If Company X has an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $30 on the share and Martin buys it, Martin would then have $170 and one share while Company X has $30 and one less share. If the market booms and Company Xs stock price goes up to $80 per share, then Martin decides to sell his stake in the company to Rachel, Martin would then exit the market with no shares but up $50 from his original net worth to now total $250. At this point, Rachel has $420 left but also acquires that share of Company X, which remains unaffected by the exchange. Suddenly, the market crashed and Company X stock prices plummet to $15 a share. Rachel decides to opt out of the market before it goes any further down and sells her share to Becky; this places Rachel with no shares at $435, which is down $65 from her initial net worth, and Beck at $985 with Rachels stake in the company as part of her net worth, totaling $1,000. Where the Money Goes If weve done our calculations correctly, the total money lost has to equal the total money gained and the total number of stocks lost has to equal the total number of stocks gained. Martin, who gained $50, and Company X, who gained $30, have collectively gained $80, while Rachel, who lost $65, and Becky, who is sitting on a $15 investment, collectively lost $80, so no money has entered or left the system. Similarly, AOL’s one stock loss is equal to Becky’s one stock gained. To calculate the net value of these individuals, at this point, one would have to assume the current stock exchange rate for the stake, then add that to their capital in the bank if the individual owns stock while subtracting the rate from those who are down a share. Company X would, therefore, have a net value of $15, Marvin $250, Rachel $435, and Beck $1000. In this scenario, Rachels lost $65 has gone to Marvin, who gained $50, and to Company X, who has $15 of it. Further, if you change the value of the stock, the total net amount Company X and Becky are up will be equal to $15, so for every dollar the stock goes up, Becky will have a net gain of $1 and Company X will have a net loss of $1 - so no money will enter or leave the system when the price changes. Note that in this situation nobody put more money in the bank from the down market. Marvin was the big winner, but he made all his money before the market crashed. After he sold the stock to Rachel, hed have the same amount of money if the stock went to $15 or if it went to $150. Why Does Company Xs Value Increase When Stock Prices Fall? It is true that Company Xs net value does go up when the stock price goes down because when the price of the stock plunges, it becomes cheaper for Company X to repurchase the share they sold to Martin initially. If the stock price goes to $10 and they repurchase the share from Becky, they will be up to $20 as they initially sold the share for $30. However, if the stock price goes to $70 and they repurchase the share, they will be down $40. Note that unless they actually make this transaction Company X does not gain or lose any cash from changes in the share price. Lastly, consider Rachels situation. If Becky decides to sell her share to Company X, from Rachels perspective it doesn’t matter what price Becky charges Company X as Rachel will still be down $65 no matter what the price. But unless Company actually makes this transaction, theyre up to $30 and down one share, no matter what the market price of that share is. By constructing an example, we can see where the money went, and see that the guy making all the money made it just before the crash happened.

Financial Markets and Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Markets and Institutions - Essay Example Financial intermediaries have played a major role the development and growth of the world’s economy. The financial institutions such as banks and other financial institutions such as microfinance institutions, investment ventures, and Sacco’s provide funds for the development of businesses operations. The Financial intermediaries help investors to save to improve their living conditions. For example, finance institutions give loans to small enterprises and individuals who make take less risky loans but give high returns in terms of interest rates. These returns are used to provide loans for other investors. Banks and credit unions take money that has been saved and use the money to give loans to investors; mutual funds take contributions from a group of investors and invest in a high investment requiring assets which individual investors would not have been able to invest in alone thereby spreading the risk. Financial intermediaries that encourage savings include retire ment benefits institutions, housing finance institutions, insurance companies, and mutual funds where members of the public are encouraged to save for their old ages, investment purposes, and better housing. In a country where a culture of savings and borrowing is encouraged there is a significant change in the living standards of the citizens leading to development and growth of the country’s economy in general. The financial institutions encourage savings while using those savings to lend out to the individuals or the organizations that want to borrow money to invest. Financial intermediaries receiving capital from those willing to invest and in turn disbursing it to those willing to borrow capital achieve this. Allen and Santomero (1999, pp. 1-42) reported that financial intermediaries play a role in providing an avenue for organizations to access the financial markets. Financial intermediaries have been known to undertake underwriting and acting as agents to the stock exc hange. When financial intermediaries undertake underwriting they are able to market the shares and other instruments on behalf of their clients as well as advise their clients on the best offer that they can attain maximum capital. The Financial intermediaries provide a channel to the financial market to their clients through underwriting. Financial intermediaries also play a role in providing credible information to their clients. The Financial intermediaries are able to represent their clients in the market by providing consultative services about the stock market. Most banks in the twenty first century have formed a different department that deals with stock market consultative services. The financial intermediary investigates for the best possible investment venture for its clients both individuals and organizations. This accrues a fee to the clients who pays the financial intermediary for the services offered (Allen & Santomero 1999, pp. 1-42). Consequently, Allen and Santomero (1999, pp. 1-42) documented that financial intermediaries reduce the lending risks upon utilizing its lending services. There are many syndicates and pyramids in the economy who want to exploit individuals and organizations by providing loans at very high rates. The financial intermediaries have been created by law and are governed by the government through the central bank. The law ensures that all financial intermediaries use a lending rate that does not exploit the members of

The Impact Of Employee Motivation On Organisational Performance (UK) Dissertation

The Impact Of Employee Motivation On Organisational Performance (UK) - Dissertation Example Different sampling techniques were used for both studies, which seemed best suited for the situation and type of study considering time and other limiting factors. Eleven dimensions were derived out of the semi–structured interviews and questions in the survey were based on these dimensions. Data obtained from questionnaires, on Likert scale from 1-5, was assessed by calculating summated scores and cumulative percentages of each dimension and total cumulative scores. In order to identify the core concern areas, Pareto analysis was performed. Three main dimensions captured more than 75% of dissatisfaction among employees. Analysis of scores obtained for each dimension reveals the significance of organisational procedures, practices and policies on employee motivation. Recommendations are proposed based on these findings, which can be practically implemented. Conclusions are drawn based on all findings and gaps that emerged during the research study have been proposed for future research. The cumulative scores from this research indicate average satisfaction among employees, which are comparable with average performance recorded by company. Table of Contents Chapter 1--An Overview 5 1.1 Introduction 5 1.2 Introduction to this research: a general impression 5 1.2.1 The need and means for employee motivation 5 1.2.2 Significance of employee motivation in organisational success 6 1.3. Background for this study 7 1.3.1 Rationale for this research 7 1.4 Aims and objectives 7 1.5 Hypotheses 8 1.6 Research Questions 8 1.7 Scope and Limitations 8 1.8 Summary 8 Chapter 2 --Literature review 10 2.1. Introduction 10 2.2. Theoretical perspectives on employee motivation 10 2.2.1 Theoretical standpoints 11 2.2.2. Other impressions on employee motivation 13 2.3 Types of motivation 14 2.4. Factors impacting motivation 15 2.5. Impact of employee motivation 16 2.6. Summary 17 Chapter 3 -- Methodology 19 3.1 Introduction 19 3.2 Research design 19 3.2.1 Semi-structured interv iews 20 3.2.2. Survey questionnaire and design 20 3.3 Population and sample size. 21 3.3.1 Semi structured interviews 21 3.3.2 Survey questionnaire 22 3.4 Data collection and method of assessment 22 3.4.1 Semi-structured interviews 23 3.4.2 Survey questionnaire 23 3.5 Validity, reliability and generalisability of the methods 24 3.5.1 Semi-structured interviews 24 3.5.2 Survey questionnaire 25 3.6 Ethical considerations 25 3.7 Reference to previous research 26 3.8 Summary 26 Chapter 4—Findings and Results 27 4.1. Introduction 27 4.2 Qualitative research : Findings and results 27 4.2.1. Semi-structured interviews with staff: findings and interpretations 27 4.2.2. Responses from supervisors/managers 29 4.3. Limitations of semi-structured interviews 33 4.4. Quantitative research: Findings and results 33 4.4.1 Hypothesis testing using Chi-square test 33 4.4.2. Percentage calculations 34 4.5 Pareto analysis 35 4.6. Summary 35 Chapter 5 -- Discussion. 35 5.1 Introduction 36 5.2 Retu rning to aims and objectives of this research 36 5.3 Hypotheses testing 36 5.4 Analysing qualitative and quantitative information 37 5.5 Pareto analysis 48 5.6. Summary 48 Chapter 6 – Conclusions and Recommendations 50 6.1 Introduction 50 6.2 Answers to research questions 50 6.3 Conclusions from overall research 51 6.4 Limitations and drawbacks of this research 51 6.5 Recommendations for supervisors/managers 52 6.6 Final conclusion and propositions for future research 53 Chapter 7 – References and Appendices 54 Chapter 1--An Overview 1.1 Introduction: This chapter presents an overview of the research to be

About Wine Essay Example for Free

About Wine Essay What is wine? It is one of the most sensual and tasteful drinks you have ever drunk. It has been over hundreds of years and till today, wine has never disappointed our mouth feels. The most important of selling wines are the packaging, because the value packaging as a marketing tool. But how many companies know how to put up their wines into markets, and who know that packaging is the first step to extract customer. In this century, a lot of people have problem to choose a bottle for dinner or for any occasion, the mainly is too many bottle of wines for them to choose from and some of the wines label are not too clear to read and it might be a problem for customer. See more:Â  Manifest Destiny essay So means that wines marketing as wines packaging as label are so important to target customer. Nowadays most wines are sold in glass bottle and are sealed using corks as the packaging. Most the wines producers have been using alternative closures such as plastic corks, screw caps and tap. The mainly is because of the costs of produces and also to prevent cork taint. In this day, some of the wines are packaged in thick and heavy plastic bags with cardboards boxes cover as label. The wines are normally connected with tap on the side of the box, the box wine can stay up to one week after opening or less, it depends how much oxidized has been mixed in. This is another newest packaging in wines in the world, so that it also extracts some new people to buy it. But the important are the wines label, have to descript clearly and bit more extractive to the customer.

September 11 and Arab-Israeli Peace Essay examples -- Threats to World

The current war on terrorism creates a great opportunity to advance the Arab-Israeli peace process. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, some argued that the most effective way to prevent future attacks would be to address the root causes of terrorism, notably the Palestinian issue. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon indeed became alarmed that in its attempts to build a wide coalition, one that includes as many Arab and Muslim states as possible, the United States might "appease" the Arabs. It would do so by sacrificing Israel's interests. Osama bin Laden, for his part, is using the Palestinian issue for his war against America and the West, to appear as the great savior of the suppressed Palestinians much as Saddam Hussein tried to do a decade ago. "Appeasement" of bin Laden and his associates would be fruitless. These fanatics are not trying to influence the fine details of an Arab-Israeli peace. They planned their horrific actions well before the recent collapse of the peace process. Peace in the Middle East is their great enemy, which will deprive them of a great issue to mobilize money and support for their war against America and Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. There is no way any peace agreement can satisfy their demands, because they wish Israel not to exist at all. Israeli worries about coalition deals with Arab states behind its back are understandable and such deals have to be avoided. However, a more forceful U.S.engagement in the peace process, which will result in security for Israel and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside it, is a key interest of both the United States and Israel. All the better if such an outcome will "appease" the mode... ...endations about confidence-building measures should be a first step in reviving the peace process one year after it collapsed. To be sure, the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister by Palestinians militants on Wednesday poses a major threat to this opportunity to promote peace. While restraining Israel, the United States and the international community should take advantage of the current situation to exert very heavy pressure on Arafat to crack down decisively on his radicals so that the terrorism against Israel will finally stop. Suppressing the militants is a prerequisite not only for reviving the peace process but for avoiding a dangerous escalation of violence. Moreover, disarming the radicals is an essential condition for building a viable Palestinian state able to live peacefully alongside Israel.

Ebara Balance Scorecard and Communication Plan Essay

Ebara Technology Incorporated Component Division is a subsidiary of Ebara Corporation. Ebara Technology is known as a Research and Development focus company, whose main subject matter is on research and development for its business operations. Ebara will always campaign for research and development to increase added value to the product and over and above research and development related cost reduction and manufacturing technologies, toward improving it competitiveness and profitability, (R&D – Ebara (n.d.)). Finance The financial perspective has the strategic objective in areas of the market shares, revenues and costs, profitability, and competitive position. On the financial viewpoint of the new F-REX 600 millimeter Chemical Mechanical Polishing System will increase the sales growth anywhere from 10% to 20%. This modification or enhancement will dictate the end results of decreasing in the cost, increase higher quality and speed, for a prompt response to customers’ needs. The operating cost will decrease anywhere from 15% to 25% for the reason that on common parts the volume will increase and with contracts already in place the forecast will go up and the price will go down. A small number of ideas turn out to be profitable for the reason of research and development, and pre-marketing costs of transforming a promising idea into a profitable product. Customer In the customer value perspective we want to look at how the customers see us in all these areas, customer retention or turnover, customer satisfaction and customer value. Our goal of retention rate is to recognize the turnover and to monitor the performance over time. â€Å"The main objective is not to be at zero, however to be at a position that is supporting our goals for  growth† (Customer Retention Strategy | Marketing MO. (n.d.)). Developing plans to increase customer loyalty and decrease turnover. Our company will set up meeting on a quarterly basis with customers with the agenda being directed at on-time delivery percent of sale from the new product, and feedback from the customers. On time delivery will be recorded and reviewed to communicate to our shareholders and employees. The company as a whole will be working with all current customers to maintain a goal 98% or better delivery performance. Feedback whether it is positive or negative from our customer is vital action for the growth of the company. Internal Business Process The internal business process is to construct a streamline process for the manufacturing process. Manufacturing objective is make sure they have create a useful and efficient process that will imposed check points at all operating locations. Paperwork will be turned in and the information is loaded into the database. The target is recorded and a weekly or monthly report is run. These reports are called Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or Key Success Indicator (KSI). â€Å"These reports are a set of quantifiable measures that the company or an industry uses to gauge or compare performance in team meeting of the strategic and operational goal† (Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Definition | Investopedia. (n.d.). These reports will be posted in all appropriate departments and meetings are set-up for discussion to talk about great performance or what we need to improve on. Learning and Growth The learning and growth of the company will depend widely on the knowledge and training of all employees. In order to achieve our vision production must be able to be ready for changes and the ability to improve. Our goal will be focus in two different areas; the first will be the production employees and the second will be document control. Our intention is for all managers and executives to keep and open communication with every employee in the company and all outsourcing suppliers of all pending and up and coming changes. Every employee and the outsourcing suppliers will go through a training program on how to build all areas of F-REX 600 millimeter Chemical Mechanical Polishing System.. Our aspiration would be to ensure  that each outside service and each and every in-house employee are trained and certified in their specified areas. Eventually we would want to see some cross-training in all the areas. On the Document Control side will also be following the same step listed above, but because changes will need to be made rapidly and some changes will need to be phased in. This department must be knowledgeable of all aspect of the Engineering Changes Notices and the Engineering Changes Orders. The goal for this department is to be conscious and mindful of Engineering Changes Orders and Engineering Changes Notices. The focus would be to make certain they have all signatures and it is approval through all levels. We will need to proceed by requiring training, cross training and certification of each of employees in this department. Conclusion The supposition of the balanced scorecard we covered all four areas: The financial side with building of the F-REX 600 millimeter Chemical Mechanical Polishing System we will be decreasing the cost, increase higher quality and speed, where the customer is getting their needs met. This proposal will bring profit because of the research and development, and pre-marketing cost changing ideas into a profitable product. Secondly on the customer perspective side, the goal is increase customers loyalty and always looking for ways to decrease the turnover rate. Customer satisfaction and customer value by encouraging face to face meeting to keep client/customers informed. The internal process is where we will find ways to improve the process. Key Performance Indicator will be set up in difference department so that each department knows how they are performing. And last is the learning and growth of the employees. We will focus on the production employees and Document Control . Training and c rossing training is a major area because of all the changes that will forthcoming. Document Control will be overwhelmed with countless changes and will need to be prime and ready for the surplus. References Customer Retention Strategy | Marketing MO. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.marketingmo.com/strategic-planning/customer-retention-strategy/ Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Definition | Investopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kpi.asp R&D – EBARA – Global Website. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2014, from http://www.ebara.com/global/en/company/rd.html

Inequality in the Workplace, Still- Harriet Martineau

Inequality in the Workplace, Still. HARRIET MARTINEAU Harriet Martineau, the founding mother of sociology, was a very accomplished female. She was, among other things, a feminist, Unitarian, critic, social scientist, and an atheist. She began many methodological, theoretical and substantive studies that would now be considered the study of sociology. She analyzed women’s rights, disability, education slavery, history, health and religion within her lifetime. Long before Marx, Weber, or Durkheim, Martineau also studied and wrote about social class, suicide, forms of religions, domestic relations, delinquency, and the status of women† (Gordon). Her neglect by sociologists in later years is a perfect example of how academic sociology has excluded women sociologists from its study. Martineau stated that, â€Å"an American woman's life is equal to that of a slave's, (in that) they were both given indulgence rather than justice. † (Berleant) Harriet saw that women were denied education and had only one option and duty in the United States: marriage. Her attitude towards the injustice of women would most suit the feminist theory which focuses on analyzing gender inequality and promotes women’s rights, interests and issues. A recent incident, showing the inequality women still face today, occurred when a female was denied equal treatment at the workplace causing a gender discrimination lawsuit. Monday March 15th, 2010, a federal judge announced a $2. 5 million discrimination verdict in favor of Michelle Maher, who was forced out of the Fresno Fire Department’s training academy. Maher, a single mother, former professional mixed-martial arts fighter and certified EMT with 13 certificates in firefighting skills, was clearly qualified for the job at hand but apparently the fire training academy supervisors continuously focused on asking her personal questions and setting her up to fail certain tasks while unfairly grading her exam. Maher sued the Fire Department in 2008 due to the discrimination she faced. Maher says, â€Å"A supervisor repeatedly asked about my divorce and suggested that I was not giving my full effort in the academy because I was a single mother† (Ellis). She was also told that because she scored below an 80% on a midterm, she would have to resign or be fired from the academy, therefore she resigned. â€Å"After the three-week trial last fall, jurors said they believed Maher was not given adequate time to prove herself at the academy. They felt the evaluations were inconsistent since the men in the academy were given extra chances to improve in weak areas and nobody from the Fire Department could pinpoint the department standards† (Ellis). It is likely that Maher will win her lawsuit and the city of Fresno will have to pay $2. 6 million plus another million for attorney fees. The judge concluded that the evidence was â€Å"very substantial† in Maher’s favor. Martineau suggested â€Å"improving women’s position in the workforce including education, nondiscriminatory employment and training programs. † She also promoted â€Å"women’s admission into medical school and the importance of physical fitness and exercise for girls and women†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Soc, 10) In this case, Martineau was right on queue with the goals Maher set in working with the Fire Department. Maher was qualified physically and academically but unfortunately faced discrimination. The feminist theory concerning gender inequality and sexuality sees gender stratification as â€Å"benefiting men and the capitalist system. Sexuality is linked to gender inequality†¦ and that male dominance is especially harmful because it results in men controlling women’s sexual behavior† (Soc, 172). If Maher had applied to another profession, appropriate for her sex, her personal business and lower test grade wouldn’t be an issue. For her to apply for a â€Å"man’s job,† was bold and daring and unnecessary actions to prove she was inadequate was a poor risk the Fire Department chose to play. â€Å"All feminists agree that men and women should be valued equally, women should have more control over their lives and gender inequality can be remedied by changing political, economic, family and other institutions as well as everyday interactions, attitudes and behaviors† (Soc, 172) Change needs to occur and gender equality is possible through equal civil rights and opportunities. Women have been internalized to achieve the womanly roles based on gendered socialization. Teaching young girls how to be passive and maternal while promoting boys to take on the dominant roles and taught to strive to achieve educational and career success is how the gender inequality begins. Martineau was raised in a Unitarian community which focusing on rationalism, individualism and democracy. Amazingly Martineau, along with her seven brothers and sisters, received equal education until college when it came time for a higher education for the boys only. Being the feminist that she was, she wrote an anonymous article, â€Å"On Female Education† for a Unitarian journal expressing â€Å"Women's intellectual inferiority to men is based on women's lack of mental training, others' expectations of women, and women's circumstances rather than women's ability† (Berleant). Later her brother found out she wrote the article and said, â€Å"Now, dear, leave it to the other women to make skirts and darn stockings, and you devote yourself to this† (Webster. du). And indeed, Martineau was destined to become is monumental figure in sociology and to feminist history. Maher’s skills exceeded the qualifications for the Fire Department but the one opportunity she wasn’t given was the pinnacle for her demise. In the end, I’d say she won, since she made her voice heard and was awarded some major bank from her lawsuit! Work Cited Benokraitis, Nijole V. Soc + Review Cards + Bind-in Printed Access Card. Wadsworth Pub Co, 2009. Print Berleant, Riva. â€Å"Harriet Martineau: Biography and Bibliography. †Ã‚  Brycchan Carey – Home Page. 2004 Web. 18 Mar. 2010. . Gordon, Marshall. â€Å"Martineau, Harriet. †Ã‚  A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia. com. 18 Mar. 2010  . â€Å"Harriet Martineau. †Ã‚  Webster University. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. . Ellis, John. â€Å"Ruling Backs Woman's Suit against Fresno Fire Dept. †Ã‚  Covering Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley in Central California – Fresno Bee. 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. .

Whirlwind Essays - The Rush Limbaugh Show, American Christians

Whirlwind Essays - The Rush Limbaugh Show, American Christians Whirlwind Subject: English Book Report/Review (See I Told You So, Rush Limbaugh) It is not very often that a person has his own national television show, radio show, and two books that have been on the New York Times Best Seller List. Rush Limbaugh happens to be one of these unique people, his radio show is popular, his television show has the largest audience for a program of its type and his new book is one of the best of its kind. Limbaugh always backed up his comments with facts or statistics. While the book was informative and factual, it was also very humorous. See, I Told You So was definitely a conservative use of 363 pages. Without question, Rush Limbaugh is a spokesperson for a conservative majority within the United States. His book follows what he says on his radio and television programs, which is a conservative and republican view on issues. A few of the things he stresses in his book are that conservatives are the silent majority and President Clinton cannot ruin this country in four years. Although he stresses that conservatives are the majority, he says that liberals are trying to regain control by forcing the public schools get rid good things like the Bible and competition, and replace them with Outcome-Based Education. Most importantly, we need to motivate people to pursue excellence and not feel sorry, pity and coddle underachievers. While the purpose of his book is to express these views, he also covers many other topics from the environment, to Dan's Bake Sale. The spectacle was enough to drive a stake through the heart of liberalism (p.101), says Rush Limbaugh about Dan's Bake Sale. Sixty-five thousand people flocked to Fort Collins, Colorado for what was called Rushstock '93. This all started as a quest for Dan Kay to make $29.95 for a subscription to The Limbaugh Letter and escalated to a full day event that even Limbaugh attended. While Rush Limbaugh discusses many different controversial and serious issues, he manages to make it entertaining. He makes these serious issues amusing by sarcastic comments and pionting out the irony in government today. Parts of the book are made for just entertainment like the Politically Correct Liberal Dictionary and the Lies, Lies chapter in which Limbaugh backs up his theory that, the Clinton administration, has cataloged an avalanche of false hoods with 7 pages of Clinton's major contradictions. Rush Limbaugh makes many controversial comments throughout his book, but instead of just commenting, he supports what he says. An example is, when he talks about the environment. He uses references to scientific studies, other than just speculating. Limbaugh states, Most scientists say a supernova 340,000 years ago disrupted 10 to 20 percent of the ozone, causing sunburn in prehistoric man.... Man has never done anything close to the radiation and explosive force of a supernova.... if prehistoric man merely got a sunburn, how are we going to destroy the entire ozone with our air conditioners and under arm deodorants and cause everybody to get cancer.... (p.178) I thought this book was very intresting. I attribute this sucesss to the fact that rarly has there been a radio/TV commentator who consistently makes sense on so many subjects: taxess, environmentalism, animal rights, crime, education, the inner cities, extreme feminism, government regulation and Congress. See, I Told You So is a serious and important book, but Rush Limbaugh, whatever your opinion of his politics, is an marvelous entertainer.

Strategies for writing an ideal teacher resume -TheJobNetwork

Strategies for writing an ideal teacher resume -TheJobNetwork If you’re a teacher (or working on becoming one), you know that by the time you complete your degree(s), your training courses, and any standardized exams your state throws your way, the job search can feel like yet another daunting process. Or maybe you’re further along in your career and you’re ready for a scenery change, or a subject change. Whatever the case may be, your resume should be a painless part of the process. Let’s look at some strategies you can use as you craft your own teaching resume. Do a little pre-resume brainstorming.Before you start cranking away, here are some resume basics to consider before you even start working on your resume. Ask yourself:Who is going to be reading this? Will it be another educator or administrator, or a layperson? This can help you determine how much jargon or career shorthand you can use.What do I want to emphasize most about myself and my career? What are the assets that make you the most valuable hire?What is my goal with this resume? Are you looking to find your first job in the field, change jobs, or move up?Thinking about these things ahead of time helps you refine your resume before you’ve even begun. You’ve got ideas. Now you just need some structure for them†¦Open strong with a headline, objective, or summary.At the top of your resume will be your contact info, of course (don’t be that guy or gal who thinks that the cover email is enough contact info for this digital day and age), but after that is your opening statement. You could just dive right into the details of your resume, but think about it- this is a chance to really introduce yourself to the reader, and set the narrative for the rest of your resume. Chances are, whoever is reading your resume will also be reading a pile of resumes from other people who may be similarly qualified for the job. So you want to take every edge you can get, including a sentence or two to help set you apart from thos e others.Headlines are exactly what they sound like: a brief, bold one-liner about who you are. A headline is brief, and it doesn’t contain your life story, but it does tell the reader who they’re about to meet in the rest of the resume. Here are some examples:Columbus School District Teacher of the Year  Seasoned Educator and Expert Curriculum Builder  Creative, Metrics-Focused Elementary School Educator Objective statements are a couple of brief sentences letting the reader know your intent. The reader already knows you want a job, so you don’t need to be that explicit. The objective can be more about your short-term goals with this position. Are you looking to change your career? Start your career? Level up with a leadership role? The objective helps the reader see what you’re angling for, besides an interview. Here are some examples:Educator with 10 years of experience seeking an administrative role.Looking for a position as a special-needs teache r at Washington Academy, bringing a creative, high-energy approach to student outcomes.Seeking a position as a math teacher focusing on technology integration and curriculum best practices to improve student achievement.Summary statements are more of a brief collection of highlights that you want to emphasize about yourself. Resume summaries are sometimes called â€Å"qualifications summaries† or â€Å"competencies.† Here, you call out the skills and accomplishments that you want the reader to focus on. For example:Motivated, energetic teacher who values diversity and creativity in the classroomResults-focused leader with a record of improving student test scores year-over-year15 years of curriculum-building experience, and development of classroom activities in accordance with state standards and best practicesAgain, not the life story, but a bit of a sneak preview for the reader. You should be prepared to back up your intro statements with more detailed skills or exp erience bullets later in the resume.Make your experience work for you.As a teacher, you’ve got a lot of things already working for you on your resume: your education and certifications, which are essential elements. Those are concrete points that you don’t really need to finesse or wordsmith- they are what they are. You should highlight your education and credentials in a brief section near the top of the resume.After that, you can start being a little more creative with your resume structure. If you already have a ton of classroom experience, then you can go the traditional route and put your work experience next, followed by skills.If you’re a recent grad or a career changer, and don’t yet have tons of experience, consider going with a more skills-heavy format. This puts your skills and general qualifications front and center, giving it higher priority over the â€Å"experience† section. And even if you feel like you don’t have a lot of ex perience (yet), you do have things you can use to flesh out that experience section. Volunteer work, club or professional association activities, or extracurricular teaching work you’ve done can also be used here. That community writing seminar you ran at the senior center last year? Include it. Your three recent summers as a camp counselor working with elementary age students while you completed your undergrad work? Include it, if it applies to the teaching job you’re seeking. (If you’re seeking an early childhood education job, great- if you’re looking to teach calculus to seniors, maybe not as relevant). You can be creative here to fill in gaps.As you’re building your experience section, don’t forget to list accomplishments, not duties. The person reading the resume is more interested in what you’ve achieved in your career so far, not necessarily what your 10 daily duties were in your last job. It’s important to highlight on ly the most relevant experience points, related to the job you’re seeking.Be selective about your skills.Sure, you may have the highest Candy Crush score in the county, or play the harmonica intro to â€Å"Piano Man† so beautifully it’d make Billy Joel himself cry. Those are great skills to have. But they may not work on your resume. Your skills section, like the rest of your resume, should be laser-focused on the job at hand. These six skill sets are among the top skills for teachers, so you should concentrate on these areas:Communication skills. Teachers communicate all the time- they work directly with students, other teachers, administrators, staff, and parents on a regular basis. Make sure you emphasize your strengths when it comes to writing, speaking, presenting, and- perhaps most importantly- listening.Problem solving skills. Teachers are problem-solvers, and help others solve them as well. You can provide examples of how you solve conflicts, how you can adapt lesson plans in real time, and how you approach those unexpected moments in any classroom.Organizational skills. Hiring managers will be interested to know how you juggle a teacher’s many tasks (classroom teaching, meetings, grading, lesson planning, etc.). Your time management skills are crucial, so definitely emphasize those on your resume.Patience. Whether you’re teaching a classroom of six-year-olds or sixty-year-olds, one of the key characteristics of an educator is patience, and the ability to work with any student to help them learn and achieve. Not everyone has patience, so this is a good skill to include on your resume.People skills. Similarly, general people skills are an asset on your resume. The reader will want to know you can work with others in a productive way, especially students. But this applies to others as well, because teachers are very much team players, interacting with their colleagues and administrators every day as well.Technological s kills. We live in an ever-more-digital world, and teachers who can help bring technology into the classroom productively can be major assets for a school. The skills section is a good place to call out your career-relevant tech expertise.Don’t skip the editing.After you’ve written your resume, there is one more non-negotiable step: you need to review it carefully. Do you really need everything you’ve included? Is everything relevant to the job description? And most important, have you obsessively proofread it, and/or had someone trusted do it for you? It can be tempting to hit â€Å"send† as soon as you write the last word, but you should always, always take that extra step and make sure the whole document is exactly as it should be.For examples of teacher resumes (entry level, mid-career, and seeking upward movement), we’ve got you covered: How to Write a Perfect Teaching Resume (Examples Included). And if you need more inspiration, our Resume Lib rary is a click away as well.

The vulnerabilities of industrial control systems and possible Essay

The vulnerabilities of industrial control systems and possible solutions - Essay Example Industrial control systems (ICS) are imperative to the quality of life that most of society shares and depends on every day. These systems regulate the electricity, food supply, medical and chemical manufacturing, as well as many other processes and utilities that are used daily.After September 11, 2001, the threat of terrorist attacks became a high priority on the home front (Marsh 2006). Most people worried about airplanes, metro or subway systems, or bombs, but a few realized that with the computerization of control systems in a variety of industries becoming normal operating procedures, the risk of attack was just as possible as any other probable target. In fact, some of the systems, such as nuclear plants or chemical manufacturing companies, were more apt to be targeted than others. This concern led to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to lead a 500 member forum to discuss cyber-security of the ICS regulating our lives and our country.At the conclusion o f this 2004 forum, NIST produced the System Protection Profile-Industrial Control Systems (SPP-ICS) to use as guidelines and strategies to find the vulnerabilities in each facility and possible solutions. Some of the main concerns include terrorists and unfriendly governments, human error, disgruntled employees, bored teenagers, and natural disasters to name a few. However, most facilities looked only on the outside, without considering errors on the inside that could do as much damage as those external forces. (Barr, 2004; D'Amico, 2004; Marsh, 2006; NIST, 2004; NIST's process control, 2004; Wagman, 2008). NISTS findings were based on the System Target of Evaluation and all risks and vulnerabilities are determined by this standard. The corporate leaders should look at and consider the vulnerabilities and their solutions to help identify the areas that are in need of immediate attention in their own facilities and to make the cyber-connection of the location secure. Unfortunately some do not believe there is a real threat. For example, Tom Donahue from the CIA stated that "attacks on critical infrastructure lack the necessary dramatic display that seems to be preferred by this constituency" (Marsh, 2006, p. 12). This concept may have been true five years ago, but as the world becomes more connected the disruption of electricity, water, or gas would be a fairly dramatic event for those experiencing it, and for those watching it. Previously most facilities were separated by using their privately owned machines, hardware and methods of communication. However, with the onset of more facilities and corporations using "commercial, off-the-shelf" products the vulnerability increases (D'Amico, 2004). The SPP-ICS provides three main areas to watch; the type of agent, method of attack, and the asset that will be affected by the attack. The agent is the insider or outsider that either maliciously or accidently causes an attack on the ICS. The vulnerabilities of attack can include, but are not limited to, protocols, unnecessary systems attached to the ICS, outside remote access to the ICS, incorrect IT architecture, lack of security controls, and lack of risk assessment upon or prior to installation of the system. The assets consist of all the systems used to control the system software and hardware and the infrastructure of the company (Barr, 2004; NIST, 2004) When working to correct or strengthen the security of these systems, the company should look at physical items, the connectivity and if it is secure, authentication, backup and remote access as well as many other attributes of security. Understanding the

Contextualization of the Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Essay

Contextualization of the Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls - Essay Example In the aftermath of de Vaux’s excavations in the 1950’s up until the mid 1980’s, it has been commonly assumed that the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the nearby caves constituted the library of a Jewish sectarian community (most probably of the Essene sect that lived at Qumran). However, despite such apparent consensus, we ought not to narrowly focus our interpretation of the Scrolls, its authors (for which most scholars seem to agree are the Essenes) and the Qumran site itself when it comes to a proper analysis of contextualizing all three. In light of recent scholarship, the traditional sectarian explanation of Qumran combined with a more nuanced approach may possibly reveal that the site had at least a dual purpose beyond that of a certain sectarian settlement and more specifically was a place for the development of communal activities, including the production or manufacture of pottery. Moreover, could it have been possible that the Essenes employed non-Essen es to do certain functions? To be certain, it has long been argued since de Vaux’s excavation reports, that when placed in a proper historical and archaeological context, the caves, the scrolls and the ruins are altogether interconnected.To shed some historical perspective, according to Davies, Brooke and Callaway, the basis for this interconnectivity was originally the texts themselves found in Cave 1 and their later interpretation by de Vaux’s team of excavators, the members of the Cave 4 editorial team and most other scholars

The Impact of Mobile Banking on the Accounting Profession in Banking Research Paper - 1

The Impact of Mobile Banking on the Accounting Profession in Banking Environment - Research Paper Example It is worth noting that Hello Money, like other mobile banking services, is different from mobile payments, which entail the use of mobile devices to pay for goods. Mobile banking is performed through mobile web or SMS. The service has been particularly facilitated by the evolution of an array of technologies, such as smartphones and web-based technologies, which create the allowance for installation of special features that support mobile banking. The full adoption of mobile banking implies that accounting systems would be automated and this would significantly accounting workplace. The crucial question is then how these changes would affect the banking environment workplace. The trending developments regarding mobile banking are well documented. According to SWIFT (2005), mobile banking is still considered as one of the pertinent topics in the finance industry, as well as for banking institutions. This has been exacerbated by the growing ubiquity of mobile phones across the global population. In a population of about 7 billion people, as many as 5 billion people will be in the possession of mobile phones. At the same time, out of all that population, only 2 billion people will be holding the bank accounts. Consumers are now increasingly using their mobile phones in making payments and bank their money. Mobile banking is described as a growing business, with users expected to increase to about 900 million while the transaction value is expected to exceed 1 trillion dollars by 2015. Many banks have come up with brands of mobile banking. However, the main concerns are inherent challenges. Various entrants, such as PayPal, Vodafone and Google are looking to mobile banking and transactions. However, the business is still immature, considering that only a few initiatives have succeeded in attracting a significant base of users.  

Family And Gender Roles Changing Attitudes Sociology Essay

Family And Gender Roles Changing Attitudes Sociology Essay From this point of view, female employment can be seen as a necessary means of family income and support. But the question remains whether and in which way family life and children will be affected by employed womens temporary absence from the household. Gender has been an important principle of stratification throughout Japanese history, but the cultural elaboration of gender differences has varied over time and among different social classes. After World War II, the fixed image of the Japanese woman has been that of the young office lady, who becomes a housewife and a stay-at-home mother after marriage. But a new generation of educated women is emerging, who are seeking a career as a working woman with a family at home. They continue to have nearly total responsibility for home and children and often justify their employment as an extension of their responsibilities for the care of their families (Molony, 2000). But how are the views on that commitment compared to women in a much more liberal country, such as the Netherlands? The subject of gender equity and working women in the Netherlands is often viewed by known two-tier societies (such as Japan, Austria, Italy and Venezuela) as progressive, maybe even too liberated for the tastes of some governments. Japan generally constitutes a case of low gender equity and low female labour market participation while the Netherlands has moderate to high gender equity and high part-time female labour market participation. This bachelors thesis will therefore attempt to identify whether a link exists between asymmetrical gender division of household labour and low gender equity. Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for womens historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Japan and the Netherlands will be very interesting countries to compare, because inequality between men and women in the Netherlands is relatively small compared to the other countries. As you can see, the Netherlands has a relatively high score on the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM):Arbeidsdeelname vrouwen in de EU, 2009 It comes fourth behind Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Despite anti-discrimination laws and a steadily growing number of employed women, Japan is falling behind the rest of the world on gender equality. Widespread discrimination persists, and has only grown more subtle over the past years. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Japan has consistently ranked as the most unequal of the worlds richest countries. Our means for above endeavor will be the Multidimensional Unfolding technique; can this technique be applied successfully to the large dataset of the ISSP 2002 survey programme: Family and Changing Gender Roles III? This large annual cross-national survey includes questions about attitudes towards gender role distribution, the attitudes towards employment of mothers and married women and management of marriage or partnership. I will also try to give a practical explanation of unfolding and the procedures that are used for this. The first phase of the project will involve an analysis of the ISSP data with SPSS PREFSCAL. With this programme we will try to find a common quantitative scale that allows us to visually examine the relationships between our two sets of objects/countries; Japan and the Netherlands. The main issue of this study is to show how attitudes towards marriage, motherhood, and the morality of family behavior differ across nations, both in the Netherlands and in Japan. What is the difference in attitudes about the changing gender roles in two different cultures? Theory 2.1 Attitudes towards gender equity in Japan and the Netherlands In the beginning, woman was the sun. An authentic person. Today, she is the moon. Living through others. Reflecting the brilliance of others (Sievers, 1983). It was Toshiko Kishida (1863-1901) who said: If it is true that men are better than women because they are stronger, then why arent our sumo wrestlers in the government? (Kishida, 2007) This famous Japanese woman used clever phrases such as this to attack the view that men by nature were superior to women. She became a talented and exciting public speaker and the first woman to travel all over Japan, addressing huge crowds. She was imprisoned for her beliefs, but continued to speak out. She said that a civilized country such as Japan should be ashamed to respect men and yet despise women. When after this the Meiji-Taisho era (1868-1926) began, Japanese leaders were open to new ideas; male nationalists argued that improving the status of women was essential if other technologically advanced nationals (such as the Netherlands) were to accept them. This opened the door for a small group of women who called for new rights and freedoms. The phrase good wife, wise mother was coined, meaning that in order to be good citizens, women had to become educated and take part in public affairs (Sievers, 1983). But even after this, the dominant male-breadwinner family model, accompanied by tax and state benefits for families that favor one-earner couples, and a lack of available or affordable institutionalized childcare make it difficult for Japanese women to combine work and parenthood. When they do attempt this, they take on not only the role of paid worker, but also remain the largest contributor to housework and child-caring tasks (Kreyenfeld Hank, 2000). I dont interfere with my husbands business, not with my mouth, hands or legs. (Jordan, 2002). This statement, made by Kumiko Hashimoto, the wife of former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutario Hashimoto, underlines the traditional role of women in Japan. After this we can conclude that traditional gender roles in Japan are characterized by a strong sense of patriarchy in their society, which accounts for the bifurcation of the productive and reproductive spheres, with a distinct separation of gender roles. In the family, this refers to the idea of the man as the primary breadwinner of the family, and the woman as the primary caregiver in the family (Iwao, 1994). But all this is completely different in the Netherlands. After being oppressed by men in the 19th century women started the first feminist wave here around the year 1870. Wilhelmina Drucker and Aletta Jacobs were the two main women of this wave and both meant a lot for the position of women nowadays. At the end of the first feminist wave women obtained the right to vote and were able to attend college and universities, and had the right to work outdoors. In the 1950s and early 1960s it seemed that the emancipation of women in the Netherlands was completed. Formally, women had the same rights and possibilities to work outdoors as men. Though in practice, married women did not work outdoors and the public opinion was that both men and women had both different competences; women were the ones to take care of the children and men had paid jobs outdoors. In 1980 the law for equal treatment for men and women was finally ratified. Nowadays, the amount of part time jobs has increased massively over the last twelve years. Though, women work much more in part time jobs as men. The government wants to stimulate more women to work more hours a week. Furthermore, men should have the chance to work in part time and take care of children for example as well (Van de Loo, 2005). Most women in the Netherlands today continue to work after the birth of their children, and compared with Japan the employment rate of mothers in the Netherlands is high. The majority of women in the Netherlands do however reduce their working hours after the birth of their first child. This fits in with views in the Netherlands on looking after children; the fact that a mother is working is no longer an issue, but a mother having a full-time job still goes too far for most Dutch people. The majority feel that it is best for children to be looked after exclusively by their own parents, and they are very reserved about formal childcare. In addition, a third of women and more than half of men believe that women are better suited than men to looking after small children. Working part-time offers mothers an opportunity both to participate in the labour market and to look after their children largely or entirely themselves (Versantvoort, 2008). Multi-dimensional Unfolding Technique Unfolding is a data analysis technique that was invented in 1950 by Clyde Hamilton Coombs and his students in one dimension and is later extended to multiple dimensions (Busing, 2010). The unfolding model is a geometric model for preference and choice. It locates individuals and alternatives as points in a joint space, and it predicts that an individual will pick the alternative in the choice set closest to its ideal point. It is perhaps the dominant model in both scaling of preferential choice and attitude scaling. By scaling we refer to the process following data collection, by which numbers are assigned to entities such as items or individuals. Coombs proposed a joint scale for preference data: his J scale positions both judges and items on a single continuum such that an item is located closer to the judge the more it is preferred. Unfolding  is the name he coined for the operation of deriving the joint scale from the individual preference rankings (Coombs, 1950). Coombs ideas were later extended by Bennett and Hays (1960) to the multidimensional case: multidimensional unfolding  becomes then the operation of representing both individuals and preference items as points in a low-dimensional space such that the distance orders re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ect the rankings. This multidimensional unfolding model, which relies on distances and that is also known as ideal point model, is a very attractive one: it gives a geometric representation of nonmetric data in a sparse way, and with a distance model that is easy to grasp. This statistical method is explorative in the sense that it can identify latent dimensions in a given dataset. The model will find coordinates in a low-dimensional joint space, in the particular case at hand both for respondents and statements about gender equity and inequity. The resulting configurations are very easy to interpret and give a quick first insight into the overall structure of the data and its particularities (Van Deun, Marchal, Heiser, Engelen, Van Mechelen, 2007). The multidimensional unfolding technique computes solutions to the equations of unfolding model. It can be defined as multidimensional scaling of off-diagonal matrices. This means the data are dissimilarities between n row objects and m column objects, collected in an n ÃÆ'- m matrix 1. An important example is preference data, where _i j indicates, for instance, how much individual i dislikes object j . In unfolding we have many of the same distinctions as in general multidimensional scaling: there is uni-dimensional and multidimensional unfolding, metric and nonmetric unfolding, and there are many possible choices of loss functions that can be minimized (De Leeuw, 2011). Unfolding also finds an optimal solution by minimizing what is called a stress function. (To be continued) 2.3 Data This research is a secondary analysis based on the study monitoring survey conducted by ZUMA for the ISSP on the 2002 Family and Changing Gender Roles module. Thirty-four member countries archived the 2002 Family and Changing Gender Roles module; all of them have completed the monitoring questionnaire. The ISSP 2002 module contains 362 variables and 60000 cases. The cases are a multi-stage stratified sample of the (adult) population of thirty-four countries worldwide. The data was essentially collected through face to face interviews, self-completion (with interviewer involvement) or, in some cases, telephone interviews. But these telephone interviews were later on not permitted in the ISSP, so they are not included in the data. Nine countries had advance letters, including Japan; while the Netherlands had a telephone pre-contact. The Netherlands also made use of an incentive (a gift token of 15 euros), while Japan did not use any incentive. With the exception of Japan, countries using interviewer-administered modes back-checked interviews (proportions ranging between 3%-95%). Japan and the Netherlands both had an age cut-off point at 16 years. The Study Monitoring Questionnaire (SMQ) has been modified from year to year. Questions on fieldwork, translation, and sampling have, for example changed and questions on documentation been added. Some countries used old versions of the SMQ, which they had kept. This means that some information for these countries is missing in the report. While the statements in the ISSP questionnaire are about different aspects of family and work life of women, they generally imply that an unequal burden of homemaking activities should lie with the female and/or that a females activities in the labour market are of secondary importance to her role as a homemaker and her husbands role in the labour market. Method The multidimensional unfolding technique usually runs with small datasets with a maximum of 100 subjects. Not much research is done yet on how well PREFSCAL handles larger datasets like the ISSP set with 2341 subjects (only Japan and the Netherlands) Im about to use, so this will be an interesting and instructive endeavor. To investigate whether or not unfolding can be used to make sense of the relations between the different gender-related items (i.e., statements) a first analysis will be done on a restricted sample from the dataset with respondents from the Netherlands and Japan only. Choosing only two countries turned out to be a wise decision, because PREFSCAL cant run smoothly with all thirty-four countries in one data-set, it is simply too much data for SPSS to handle; you will get an error about having insufficient memory to complete the procedure. After that the execution of the command will come to a halt. The next step was making a choice selection from the many variables; I chose seven variables which can best represent the construct of gender equality, these variables are given in table 1. The variables are comparable because they all measure subjects attitudes towards gender equality. V4 A mens job is work, a womans job is the household. V6 When a woman works, the family life suffers. V7 What women really want is a home and kids. V8 Work is the best thing for a womans independence. V9 A working woman should get paid maternity leave V11 Working in the household satisfies just as much as a paid job. V27 If a mom works she can still have a warm relationship with her children. The above questions were presented to each of the subjects, who were asked to indicate their degree of agreement on a 9-point rating scale. This scale goes from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree with an added Cant choose and No answer refused. I chose a (wide) variety of questions from my data; some are very positive about women in the workplace and household and some are very negative about women in the workplace and household. Entries in the following models indicate average similarities and dissimilarities between the Japanese and Dutch people across seven different points of view. The term similarity is used to indicate the degree of agreement between two objects, while dissimilarity indicates the degree of disagreement. I filtered the thirty-four countries with Select-Cases and using the option If condition is satisfied. My variable for country is called v3, with Japan having code 24 and the Netherlands having code 11; so I put in v3=24 OR v3=11. When I wanted to write the cases to a whole new data-set I chose the option copy selected cases to a new data-set in the first tab of Select Cases. Having done this, I had a whole new data-set with only the data from Japan and the Netherlands to work with. When I tried to make some models with PREFSCAL I got a missing data error: Row with only missing data found. This is not allowed. This means that at least one person in my data-set hasnt given a valid answer to the variables/questions Im using for this project. That is why I chose to use only persons that have given a valid answer to at least 50 percent of the questions in my analysis. I did this by going to Compute Variable and creating a filter-variable with Include if case satisfies condition: NVALID (v4, v6, v7, v8, v9, v11, v27)>=4. I simply took the amount of variables I had (7), divided them by two and rounded off upwards to four. Four being the minimal amount of valid answers I wanted in my analysis. After this I filtered my Japan-Netherlands data-set on this new variable (Valid Answers) via Select Cases. SPSS will then filter all the cases that have too little valid answers. When I had finally solved all the problems with my data-set I got the following error: Invariant part of the data found, check, depending on conditionality chosen, your data for constant parts. To solve this problem I made the decision to analyze my data with the option matrix-conditional and transforming the input data row conditionally, whereby tied observations were untied for each row separately. This means that the model was allowed to transform like-wise item scores into different values, as long as the overall order of the item scores was not altered. To better distinguish the difference between males and females on other variables, such as education and religion, I used Select Cases again to create two different data-sets, one with 1106 males and one with 1235 females after correcting for invalid answers again. The first two-dimensional unfolding model of Japan and the Netherlands was created. Its Normalized Stress level was a fair 0,1027924, which is an excellent stress-level for an unfolding model. This stress is intended to be a measure of how well the configuration fits the data. Stress is defined as a Standardized Residual Sum of Squares which should always be positive, and the smaller the better. Kruskal himself suggested the following benchmarks for measuring stress: .20 = poor, .10 = fair, .05 = good, .025 = excellent, and .00 = perfect. These benchmarks are based on experience with experimental and synthetic data (Kruskal, 1964). By adding more variables into my model I wanted to get a better grasp of the cultural differences between Japan and the Netherlands on the subject of gender equity, family life and marriage. I did this by adding these five questions to the seven I already had: V10 Both men and women should attribute to the household income. V12 Men should do a larger share of child care. V13 Men should do a larger share of household work. V19 A bad marriage is better than no marriage at all. V26 People without kids lead empty lives. These questions are aimed more at a mens responsibility in the household and add some more cultural information about attitude about marriage and having children. Before using the Prefscal method in SPSS, first the Correlation Matrix was analyzed. As can be seen in the above matrix table there are quite a few significant correlations between the twelve variables. The highest correlations can be found between questions about working mothers and questions about mens household duties, and also between questions about having children and questions about family life. So there are strong correlations between the variables. This is as expected, because the variables represent unique characteristics of two cultures about gender equity. Since Prefscal itself doesnt give a three-dimensional graphical representation in the SPSS output automatically, I wanted to see if I could find three different dimensions in my data, instead of two (see Figure under construction). Results I will hereby present the results of an attempt to classify 2341 Japanese and Dutch citizens using the unfolding model. The result of the SPSS PREFSCAL unfolding model for the sample from the Dutch and Japanese citizenship values data from the 2002 ISSP Citizenship Programme is a two-dimensional joint plot based on a classical initial scaling configuration, which shows points for 1241 Dutch respondents, 1100 Japanese respondents and twelve statements about gender-equity and inequity. This solution resulted in a great two-dimensional graphical representation which looked very interpretable in terms of the possibilities of interpreting the differences between the two countries in the data set. As you can see, the gender equity positive variables are all on the bottom of the Column Objects model. The negative variables are all at the top, and the one neutral variable is in the middle. The Joint Plot shows the separately derived two-dimensional spaces for the red (Japanese respondents) and blue (Dutch respondents) dots. The twelve statements are represented by black dots. The axes represent the primary and secondary dimensions, shown in normalized units. The interpretation of this unfolding solution is done intuitively. It will be investigated whether the dimensions can be given meaning. A good modeling solution will locate a subjects opinion about gender equity according to the most dominant cross-reference proximities in their answers. By first inspection, it can be readily seen that Prefscal indeed located points corresponding to similar objects close together, while those corresponding to dissimilar objects far apart. This is consistent with our intuition that the countries within the groups havent got much in common. To understand these different contexts, we can again turn to nation-specific contextual explanations. (Insert interpretation of the above model) The highest level of education for the respondent is represented by five comparative categories, not included No answer, dont know. Lowest formal qualification and above lowest qualification represents those who have not completed primary school to those who have completed this level or the first stage of basic education. Higher secondary completed refers to those who have completed higher secondary school or technical training. The above higher level of secondary education group includes those who completed higher secondary school theoretical training up to the last and highest level of tertiary education, University degree completed (i.e., PhD). Van Wel Knijn (2006) maintain that the part-time labour market participation of Dutch mothers is primarily caused by cultural factors and not economic or institutional constraints. They contend that a culture of care dominates, as does the one-and-a-half earner model where the man works full-time and the woman part-time. This model is particularly dominant among people with a lower education. For those with higher education, the tendency is for both partners to attempt to work part-time, although this is only achieved within a very limited group. Based on these institutional and cultural differences, we anticipate that women in Japan will face higher institutional and family constraints than in the Netherlands. As outlined in the main hypothesis, we expect that these constraints will be particularly poignant for Japanese working women who engage in both substantial paid labour combined with a heavy load of household duties. (Insert education model with only females). Conclusion Discussion