Political Ideology

Chapter#4-Poetical Culture and Ideology In the textbook, American Political Culture Is described as the extensive communal pollens, standards, and morals citizens have In correlation with the government, as well as in relation with each other. One of the contributing factors that make the culture that way is suffrage, which is the right to vote. For example, our thoughts in suffrage went from the belief that white men who own property are allowed to vote to all citizens who are adults, besides criminals in some cases, have that right.Another season for this would be deliberation, which is the procedure where administrators or people gather to converse and contemplate public Issues, along with social capital, which Is democratic and municipal series of debating, agreement, and regard for contrast, which derives from involvement in optional groups. An example that represents these overlapping ideas is political campaigning because of their extensive use in internet that allows people t o interact with each other on their thoughts.Our shared values include natural rights (born with moral rights), liberty sovereignty), equality (providing fair opportunities to all, no discrimination), Individualism (freedom of action for individuals over group authority), respect for the common person (does not have to be superior with money In order to be respected; common people can be successful: makes economy thrive), democratic consensus (we all come to a common line), and majority rule/popular sovereignty (allowing people to decide who can go forward on).These can all relate to political culture, because these are what we believe in as a nation to be Just, and these beliefs that we hare with others and the government is political culture. The most Important aspects are equality, and respect for the common person, because without these two attributes, our nation would not provide equal opportunities to everyone who are not considered to be superior above all else because of the lacking amount of money they have.Equality and respect for the common person helps to make our democracy prosper. The American Dream is defined as â€Å"the widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual Initiate and hard work can bring economic success†(Government by the People 112).In terms of work, success, and capitalism, these can be shown through the ownership of one's private property, availability/people who work hard that get economic rewards (free market system gives everyone equal opportunities and freedom depends on capitalism which helps grow our economy), wealthy people who fund campaigning projects, and wealthy people who fund money to try and influence elections or public policy (such as donating money to organizations to prove their support for that particular topic). Verbalism- Liberalism alludes to the belief that the government can affect fairness and equality of option. Examples of this would be shown through their support on equal access to health care, same-sex marriage, abortion, other forms of individual choices, more environmental protection, education for all citizens, protection for workers' health and safety, affirmative action programs, and tax rates that rise with a person's income. Menservants- Conservatism touches upon the belief that limited government guarantees order, competitive markets, and ones' own personal equines opinions, the main task of the government should be to protect the country from foreign invaders, support economic growth by promoting competitive markets, and free fair trade, encouraging family values, rejecting Judicial laws that allow abortion, same-sex marriage and affirmative action programs. Socialism- Socialism is an economic and governmental practice that depends on public ownership involving production and exchange.Various examples of this would be represented in wanting a immensely expanded role in nationalizing industries, taxing the wealthy more than rower and middle class men, instituting a public Jobs program and cutting defense spending. Environmentalism- Environmentalism is a supposition that looks at environment instead of genes/heredity as the significant element in the growth and particularly the cultural and cognitive development of a group or individual.Examples of this would be viewed through dealing with issues regarding global warming, overpopulation, and genetic engineering. Libertarianism- Libertarianism is the ethics that fosters individual liberty and promotes minimal government, advocating a free market economy, a nonintervention's foreign policy, and a lack of regulation in moral, economic, and social life.Examples of this include favoring major cuts in government spending and a termination to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and the most regulatory commissions, opposing all government regulation (mandatory seat- belt and helmet laws), because t hey believe the attitude â€Å"live and let live† and thinks that an undistorted free market will benefit individuals. I would describe the American people in terms of their political ideology as mostly well balanced, even though the majority of the groups are conservatives, according to figures 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4.My reason for this is because in all figures, they showed a significant amount of conservatives/conservative related opinions that outnumbered the moderate and liberal groups. In figure 4-2, 77% of people thinks that â€Å"there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies† (116). This issue is mostly interpreted by conservatives. Also, in figure 4-3, once I added up the totals of the sex, race, age, religion, education, and party columns for each of the 4 groups, conservatives won the majority out of the other 3 groups.In figure 4-4, it showed results that there was a slight increase of conservatives in 2008 (most recent year noted), and a steady decrease for other groups as well, including liberals, and moderates, whereas the don't know/have not thought about it group has increased very slightly. Conclusions that I can reach about the ideology of people of the United States are the facts that ideology overtime shown in figure 4-2, is well balanced for all of the conservatives, liberals, don't know/have not thought about it group, and moderates.Also, there has been more of an increase shown in moderate/don't know/ haven't thought about it group, as well as conservatives only. In 4-2, the graph shows how the don't know/haven't thought about it group has increased compared to all else, besides conservatives. In figure 4-3, it also shows similar results, representing that there has been an increase of moderates/don't know/have not thought about it rope (47%), there are more conservatives (17%)/slightly conservative (12%) than liberals liberal (3%).I think that Americans are mostly a part of the moderate/don't know/hav en't thought about it group, because there has been rising solution than the other groups'. This can lead to an indecisiveness for all people who have been passionate in the past with their former group, because they may have disappointed them with agreeing in something/many other things that the person would not agree with, and then not being able to agree with other ideologies as well.

The city of ember

The city of ember Tobacco Smoking and Alcohol Drinking Cancer of the upper respiratory and alimentary tracts claimed over 23,000 lives in 1989 and 57,000 additional cases were diagnosed. The majority of individuals who fall prey to this type of cancer are males who abuse both alcohol and tobacco. What is the risk you might ask. The fact that the risk of developing cancer of the esophagus, lip, tongue, mouth, pharynx or larynx. increases dramatically in people who are heavy users of alcohol and tobacco is substantiated by 30 years of collective research.Studies demonstrate that the risk to individuals dually addicted far utweighs the risk to Individuals who abuse only one substance. This confirmed link between alcohol and tobacco abuse and an increased risk in upper alimentary and respiratory tract cancer makes this type ot disease among the most preventable. The Correlation Between Smoking and Drinking . 1t has been observed that Individuals who drink alcohol have d greater tendency to smoke than non-drinkers. One of the first studies to establish and quantify the degree of association between drlnklng and smoking was reported In 1972.The Investigation compared 130 alcoholic men hospitalized for alcohol withdrawal to 100 non-alcoholic psychiatric utpatients, Ninety-four percent of the alcoholic men smoked one or more packs of cigarettes per day, as compared to only 46 percent of the non-alcohollcs, who smoked one or more packs per day. Another study. which compared male and female alcoholics enrolled In an army drug and alcohol rehabllltatlon program to non- alcoholic army personnel and their relatives, affirmed the smoking-drinking association.The report found that individuals who were alcoholics smoked an average of 49 cigarettes per day, but that the non-alcoholic subjects smoked only 13 cigarettes per day. In addition, the study established a high correlation between the umber of cigarettes smoked and the grams of alcohol consumed by alcoholics, as opposed to a very weak association for the non-alcoholic control group. similar report, 58 percent ot the non-drinkers were non-smokers, but the individuals who were alcoholics did not abstain from smoking.The finding that smokers who did not drink smoked significantly less than smokers who did drink was further substantiated In additional studies. Why Do Many Drinkers Smoke More? Studies released in the late 1950s, correlating heavy coffee consumption with smoking and drinking, suggested that a strong oral drive caused drinkers to smoke ore frequently. However, new evidence suggests that a strong oral drive is not the culprit. In one study, alcoholics who had successfully stopped drinking demonstrated no appreciable Increase In smoking.In tact, some even smoked less with alcohol abstinence. If a strong oral drive was responsible for the drinking-smoking association, one would expect an increase in smoking during periods of alcohol abstinence. An alternative theory claimed that drinkers smo ked more due to just as much as alcoholics who drink in the company of other people dispelled this theory. The most plausible explanation is that drinkers smoke more than non- rinkers due to a greater physiological need for nicotine. Nicotine, the main psychoactive component of tobacco, is a potent chemical.It has a stimulating effect on the nervous system, causing, among other things, increased heart rate and mental stimulation. Once addicted to nicotine, a person may experience tremors of shakiness as blood levels of nicotine decrease to critically low levels. The smoker will crave another cigarette as blood levels reach this threshold to avoid these uncomfortable symptoms. Alcohol apparently causes blood levels of nicotine to fall more rapidly in smokers by activating enzymes in tissues which metabolize drugs. For example, rats pretreated with ethanol cleared nicotine from their blood more rapidly than rats not receiving ethanol.This research, coupled with numerous independent ob servations, strongly suggests that drinkers must smoke more in order to maintain the blood nicotine levels upon which they have become dependent. Why Is There More Cancer Among Alcohol and Tobacco Users? Investigations are under way to find an answer to this question. Laboratory studies have shown that alcohol enhances the metabolism of several tobacco associated carcinogens, including nitrosamines. It is known that tobacco and its smoke contain many classes f chemical carcinogens which must be activated to react with DNA and initiate steps towards carcinogenesis.Important in this activation process are cytochrome P-450 enzymes, which are induced by alcohol in heavy drinkers. Thus, alcohol and smoking are synergistic in increasing cancer risk. Since alcohol increases the metabolism and hence the need for nicotine, it follows that the success of smoking cessation programs will be improved if drinking habits of patients are controlled. Treatment of incipient alcoholism thus becomes a prerequisite for the ultimate success of behavior modification aimed at the elimination of smoking. The City of Ember The City of Ember is a post apocalyptic fantasy about Ember. I was written by Jeanne DuPrau and published in 2003. Ember is a city which was built by people, in the book know as â€Å"The Builders†, they built this city underground to house its citizens for 200 years. They say that the earth is uninhabitable for those years but never specify why. During these years a box with instructions is passed from mayor to mayor but a plague is spreading and the seventh mayor thinks the box may contain a cure so he tries opening it but dies before it is opened. The box was never returned and it is currently missing. It is now year 241 and the towns recourses are dwindling down. The power source is also not doing well because of the generators age it is not producing enough power. Lina and Doon are two graduates of their school and are both assigned jobs they don't like so they decide to switch. When She finds the box and it has the letter in which the escape route is stated. She does not know and before she can find out her sister chews it until their are hole in it. Lina and Doon eventually make a run for it after unraveling the letters meaning. They are amazed to find a whole new world outside of the small world they lived in. When they eventually reach safety in their newly discovered world they throw the directions down to the city they lived in. The book leaves off with Mrs. Murdo, Lina's guardian finding it and it is a mystery from then on. Overall I enjoyed the book because it was suspense filled and all the action that went on made it fun to read. The ending even had suspense and i would definitely recommend this book to others as a fun read but I stress it is not a challenging one. The city of ember The city of ember Tobacco Smoking and Alcohol Drinking Cancer of the upper respiratory and alimentary tracts claimed over 23,000 lives in 1989 and 57,000 additional cases were diagnosed. The majority of individuals who fall prey to this type of cancer are males who abuse both alcohol and tobacco. What is the risk you might ask. The fact that the risk of developing cancer of the esophagus, lip, tongue, mouth, pharynx or larynx. increases dramatically in people who are heavy users of alcohol and tobacco is substantiated by 30 years of collective research.Studies demonstrate that the risk to individuals dually addicted far utweighs the risk to Individuals who abuse only one substance. This confirmed link between alcohol and tobacco abuse and an increased risk in upper alimentary and respiratory tract cancer makes this type ot disease among the most preventable. The Correlation Between Smoking and Drinking . 1t has been observed that Individuals who drink alcohol have d greater tendency to smoke than non-drinkers. One of the first studies to establish and quantify the degree of association between drlnklng and smoking was reported In 1972.The Investigation compared 130 alcoholic men hospitalized for alcohol withdrawal to 100 non-alcoholic psychiatric utpatients, Ninety-four percent of the alcoholic men smoked one or more packs of cigarettes per day, as compared to only 46 percent of the non-alcohollcs, who smoked one or more packs per day. Another study. which compared male and female alcoholics enrolled In an army drug and alcohol rehabllltatlon program to non- alcoholic army personnel and their relatives, affirmed the smoking-drinking association.The report found that individuals who were alcoholics smoked an average of 49 cigarettes per day, but that the non-alcoholic subjects smoked only 13 cigarettes per day. In addition, the study established a high correlation between the umber of cigarettes smoked and the grams of alcohol consumed by alcoholics, as opposed to a very weak association for the non-alcoholic control group. similar report, 58 percent ot the non-drinkers were non-smokers, but the individuals who were alcoholics did not abstain from smoking.The finding that smokers who did not drink smoked significantly less than smokers who did drink was further substantiated In additional studies. Why Do Many Drinkers Smoke More? Studies released in the late 1950s, correlating heavy coffee consumption with smoking and drinking, suggested that a strong oral drive caused drinkers to smoke ore frequently. However, new evidence suggests that a strong oral drive is not the culprit. In one study, alcoholics who had successfully stopped drinking demonstrated no appreciable Increase In smoking.In tact, some even smoked less with alcohol abstinence. If a strong oral drive was responsible for the drinking-smoking association, one would expect an increase in smoking during periods of alcohol abstinence. An alternative theory claimed that drinkers smo ked more due to just as much as alcoholics who drink in the company of other people dispelled this theory. The most plausible explanation is that drinkers smoke more than non- rinkers due to a greater physiological need for nicotine. Nicotine, the main psychoactive component of tobacco, is a potent chemical.It has a stimulating effect on the nervous system, causing, among other things, increased heart rate and mental stimulation. Once addicted to nicotine, a person may experience tremors of shakiness as blood levels of nicotine decrease to critically low levels. The smoker will crave another cigarette as blood levels reach this threshold to avoid these uncomfortable symptoms. Alcohol apparently causes blood levels of nicotine to fall more rapidly in smokers by activating enzymes in tissues which metabolize drugs. For example, rats pretreated with ethanol cleared nicotine from their blood more rapidly than rats not receiving ethanol.This research, coupled with numerous independent ob servations, strongly suggests that drinkers must smoke more in order to maintain the blood nicotine levels upon which they have become dependent. Why Is There More Cancer Among Alcohol and Tobacco Users? Investigations are under way to find an answer to this question. Laboratory studies have shown that alcohol enhances the metabolism of several tobacco associated carcinogens, including nitrosamines. It is known that tobacco and its smoke contain many classes f chemical carcinogens which must be activated to react with DNA and initiate steps towards carcinogenesis.Important in this activation process are cytochrome P-450 enzymes, which are induced by alcohol in heavy drinkers. Thus, alcohol and smoking are synergistic in increasing cancer risk. Since alcohol increases the metabolism and hence the need for nicotine, it follows that the success of smoking cessation programs will be improved if drinking habits of patients are controlled. Treatment of incipient alcoholism thus becomes a prerequisite for the ultimate success of behavior modification aimed at the elimination of smoking.

Risk Management Week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Risk Management Week 4 - Essay Example However, business enterprises must be aware of possible risk factors in respect to data integrity, data availability, and data disposal while outsourcing data storage to external providers. Service providers need to manage the data of several businesses, and hence they might host all these data on the same storage server. Under this circumstance, the organization must ensure that its data are not mixed with others’ data and are separated by the application of proper virtualization software so as to enhance data integrity. As Kaur (2007) points out, timely data availability often becomes a challenge while outsourcing data storage to external parties. In order to address this issue, the organization must clearly prioritize its data availability requirements so that the service provider can properly place the data on the server (p. 110). Finally, in order to improve data security business houses must make sure that external service providers no longer store the unwanted or expire d data. When hiring an enterprise service provider for processing information system applications including payroll, workforce management, and sales order taking, organizations actually put a part of their operations in the hands of someone else. If the service provider is not trustworthy, this business practice will dreadfully affect even the survival of the firm. There are many rules and regulations governing the operations of enterprise service providers. Therefore, prior to contracting out a business function, a firm must ensure that the chosen service provider strictly adheres to such rules and regulations. In addition, it is good for companies to choose enterprise service providers who have a strong reputation for their previous business dealings. Experts suggest that an extensive research would assist firms to identify a reliable service provider in this

The Clipper Chip Controversy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Clipper Chip Controversy - Essay Example The clipper managed to  perform  the above task with the  help  of certain numerical keys. Controversy sprung from the fact that the US government sought to  retain  exclusive  but regulated knowledge of such algorithms. That way, the government could eavesdrop on any conversation it considered  suspect. However, this would only be possible with a nod from the courts. As it happened, from ordinary citizens through  business  people to senior military personnel,  virtually  everyone had an opinion on the issue. On one hand,  there were civil libertarians glibly expressing their fear of the technology  being used  to  aid  a  big  brother regime that would  easily  stifle freedom of speech. On the other, cogent arguments in favor of keeping an eye and ear on the criminal  activity  were made. This paper endeavors to present arguments on both sides of the divide all through to the final part of the debacle. The privacy constituency rooted it s opposition to the clipper on the way it  was envisioned  to operate. ... stance if an ordinary citizen happened to stumble upon damaging information about the government, it was an  act  in futility for  him or her  to  attempt  to  pass  an encrypted  dossier  to someone in the media. The government’s operatives would work relentlessly to  intercept  it before some loudmouth spilled the beans if it (the government) knew about the leak. In such situations, no one was willing to tell the truth about anyone because the risk of  being caught  would be  unbearable. Similarly, it is quite thinkable that the government would use its backdoor privileges to access information otherwise supposed to be  confidential  about political competitors. In short, the charge from this end was that the chances of a  regime  turning  rogue  and harassing people for having unfavorable opinions, are exceptionally high with the clipper chip. The Clinton Administration countered this line of reasoning with a poignant statement that read; unfortunately, the same encryption technology that can help Americans protect  business  secrets and personal privacy can also be used by terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals (Lewis 26). Even during those pre-9/11 days, it was easy to see how a determined and sophisticated terrorist could benefit from access to encryption technology that no man, woman or  spirit  can penetrate. Plans to smuggle  would-be  murderers, take  flight  lessons, hijack airplanes and  crash  them into skyscrapers would be swapped across cyberspace without detection. Although the usefulness of the clipper in matters of defense is  somewhat  clear, its  inadequacy  is even clearer. Thoughtful opponents of the clipper observed no criminals or terrorists smart enough to use a  system  to use data encryption would be  dumb  enough to use

Are we too dependent on computers Research Paper

Are we too dependent on computers - Research Paper Example Used in controlling and sequencing operations in a computer are the control and sequencing units respectively. Since its invention, the computer has caused hitherto unimagined changes in the nature of man’s life. In fact, computers are today required and used in almost all professions and spheres of life known to man. Among the uses of a computer include internet, desktop publishing, digital video and audio composition, in medication and diagnosis, mathematical calculations, e-learning, ATMs, media, and business (Stokes, 2007). The other fields in which computers are extensively used are the aviation industry, sports, and weather analysis. From these applications of computers, it is apparent that almost all spheres of life are affected by the computer. It may thus be asserted without fear of contradiction that computers have pushed the society into hitherto unfathomed levels of proficiency and efficiency. In fact, computers are currently leading the human mission to eradicate social problems such as illiteracy and poverty, making it rather difficult fro people to envisage what a world bereft of computers would look like (Ifrah, 2001). This paper explores the assertion that people are too dependent on computers. Despite the myriad advantages and benefits of computers, the evident overuse of computers by man in almost all spheres of life has been decried given that this overdependence has caused numerous negative health and social problems that future researches should focus on. Despite the fact that it has made work and life easier and more enjoyable to some extent, opinions differ on the extent to which man depends on the computer and the positive and negative impacts of this overdependence on computer and related technologies. Generally, computers are regarded as rather helpful tools for saving time at workplace and at study. For instance, in a school environment, computers may help a student save on time by cancelling out the need to visit libraries or

Movie osama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Movie osama - Essay Example My mother and I are left with little to no options. My mother, feeling like there is no other option, has had the idea to dress me as a boy in order for me to seek employment. She has opted to call me ‘Osama’ and we both are desperately concerned that the Taliban will discover my true identity if we are not very careful. I must embark on a journey to find employment as a boy in order for my mother and I to have enough money to survive. I am only 12 and it is hard for me to understand the stringency and rules being placed on the society in which I live, especially when they create such a difficult environment for women and girls. Every moment of every day must be planned out in advance if one is female, in order to make sure that there is a male to provide accompaniment. If a woman does happen to venture out on her won, the Taliban will surely punish her. These patriarchal rules make being female not only next to impossible, but almost ike one is living under a curse. It is as though women are such lesser beings that they must cover their faces and bodies to hide every part of themselves from view. I dream of living in a place where the patriarchy of the Taliban does not dictate every move of one’s life and where women are not only free to experience sunlight on their skin, but are also able to leave their homes without a man. I long for this burden of making ends meet to be lifted from my mother as well as from me. It is so difficult to survive under circumstances where one needs to work alone but tot hen not be permitted to do so is painfully difficult. I do not like the culture in which I live and am accustomed. I want to leave this place but feel trapped as though I will be stuck here all of my days. I do not feel that thi culture offers me any type of future as a female. I watch my mother and can see how years of thi type of oppression have weighed her down and made her who she is today. I dislike

Social Media Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Social Media Marketing - Essay Example Social media sites are easily accessible at any time and place using computers or at the mere click of a button via smart phone. These sites are here to stay and many organisations are shifting from the traditional methods of advertising to the new trend of social media marketing which is cheaper and easier to get more audience than in conventional advertising. Social media marketing should be adopted since it allows new communication methods between an organisation and its publics. There are new ways to communicate with the clients in a fast and efficient manner, where customers direct enquiries to the organisation and they are able to get answers faster as compared to print or television adverts. Social media does not limit marketers to a specific time or page or a particular newspaper or magazines where advertisements are displayed. Adverts can be placed on such networks at any time of day or night and potential clients can have access to them whenever they are on these social media platforms. As more people are shifting from buying newspapers and relying on social media and blogs for information, marketers should tap into this opportunity to place their adverts where they will be seen (Hay & Hay, 2011). Therefore, social media is pivotal to the world of marketing. This paper will focus on Samsung smart Phones and why the firm should em brace social media marketing. Samsung smart phones continue to face several challenges in the market today. This is due to proliferation of cheaper brands of smart phones such as Huawei from china. Although Android phones are more popular than windows and other operating systems, high end brands which are sophisticated such as apple’s iPhones are also a major challenge. However, Samsung enjoys a huge social media presence with over twenty million followers on Face book alone (Evans & Mckee, 2010).

Christ Appearing to his Mother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Christ Appearing to his Mother - Essay Example Juan was an early Netherlandish painter which is a combination of early Renaissance and late Gothic styles (Welton23-24). This piece of art has a sense of illusionism expressed by mimesis. That means that the scene appears to be real as expressed by the artist. The portrait has a sense of depth. It makes an observer feel like he or, she can walk into the scene. This style closely relates to photorealism in which the artwork appears like a camera copy of the scenario. Both styles have a deep sense of realism (Heilbrunn2009).It is an oil painting done on wood.The portrait is one of the famous iconographies of that era (the fifteenth century). Therefore, it has significant religious value. The original was part of a triptych altarpiece in a Catholic church.The portrait has some aspects of realism as it appears lifelike. It also is exceptionally bright. The trees in the background appear to sway in a gentle breeze. Juan strives to reflect the scenario as part of the natural world.The the me of the artwork is the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. Mary appears surprised by the vision of her son. There is a Bible next to her which implies the word of God and His prophecies. It appears that the Bible has been a source of refuge for her since the crucifixion of her son. Jesus appears to be showing her the evidence of his death, which is the holes in his hands and feet, as well as the slit in His side. In the background is Christ rising from the tomb after His crucifixion.

BPO and Cloud Computing (case study) Case Study

BPO and Cloud Computing ( ) - Case Study Example These applications range from external e commerce and business to business application to internal financial and human resources. An enterprise can have one or more than one data centers. The benefits of the data centers includes supporting business operations round the clock, rapid deployment of applications and consolidation of computing resources and maintenance for sustaining business functions. Enterprises make special arrangement of both the facilities that house the equipment and personnel required for such an operation. These facilities support high concentration of network infrastructure and server resources. A data center is based on the availability of power capacity, cabling, cooling capacity, temperature and humidity control, physical security like restricted access and surveillance systems, fire and smoke systems, rack space and raised floor. Data centers support high speed communication between servers, storage and devices of storage (Arregoces & Portolani, 2004, P.21) . It also increases the availability of mirroring, clustering and replication between database systems and storage devices. These facilities helps in storing the data in multiple locations thus lowering the chances of site failure that prevents chances of normal system operations. Site failures are recovered by the replica of data at different sites thereby creating the need for distributed data centers, distributed server firms and obvious transport technologies for enabling communication between them. Data centers can be local as well as one that is located overseas. A local data center does not rely on connectivity over the internet and therefore negates a possible failure point. Local data collection, correlation and processing are easier with local data centers. Corrective actions can be immediately taken to fix problems. The closer the management components are to the source of the problems, the3 more independent the firms can be for supporting their infrastructure. Corrective management activities can be taken even if the network to the management server is down. Continuous and autonomous monitoring is possible with the help of local data centers. A local database has access to all data sources which are not remotely accessible. In addition to remote interfaces like SNMP, scripting, WMI, the local data centers also have sensors for log files, discovery information, performance data sources- basically anything that is available locally. A local data centre can perform correlation which helps in reducing flood of data into meaningful set of events. Instead of sending thousand log file records over the network to the server for analysis, local data centers filters out extraneous information and allows important problems to be sent to a centralized event console. It helps in reducing false alarms and increases the productivity and efficiency as short term peeks are ignored and no time is spent in dealing with false alarms. It also helps in suppressing dupli cate events that is based on time interval, count of similar events or both. Identical messages that occur within a very short period of time are suppressed and the first event is only forwarded to management server (Murugesan & Gangadharan, 2012, P. 21). Local actions can be executed without the intervention from the management server. The disadvantage of local data center is that keeping each client side database in sync is very difficult. Programming, administration and maintenance of data become nearly impossible. Data integrity, security, data

Safe Staffing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Safe Staffing - Assignment Example The perceptions of nurses towards safe staffing is that a staff mix that takes into account the educational preparation, experience and professional requirements must be given priority as an aspect that will help in addressing nursing shortage and the poor nurse workout put that comes with being overworked. Safe staffing enables nurses to have room to work together, take advice from colleagues and reflect on their own performance in their work output. However, this cannot happen when nurses feel that they are not safe in their places of work (Frost & Alexandrou, 2013).Safe staffing according to nurses is not just about improving the needs of the patients and improving their outcomes while in healthcare settings. It also features an aspect of ensuring that nurses feel safe in the environment where they work. Safe staffing should provide an environment where nurses can work without injuring themselves or feel exhausted to the extent that they cannot provide adequate care to the patient s (Tierney, Seymour-Route, Crawford, 2013). The environment in safe staffing requirements ensures that all nurses feel motivated to work hard and not being forced to work hard because of the circumstances that the work place exposes them to. These aspects must be assured in the environment where nurses work. Therefore, safe staffing needs encompass the needs of the nurses first for them to be in a position to provide effective care services for patients (Rogowski, Staiger, Patrick, Horbar, Kenny & Lake, 2013).

A rose for Emily Essay Example for Free

A rose for Emily Essay In William Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† the focus is on Miss Emily and her Southern upbringing. In the South during Miss Emily’s life time for a woman not to be married was socially unacceptable. In Southern society during this time, and even today, it was encouraged and believed that to be happy it was necessary for one to be married. Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a classic example of Southern literature because of the importance of family, community, religion, time and place. Miss Emily represented the importance of all of these things on Southern society. Miss Emily, is forced to conform to her father’s Southern societal values. Her family represented a monument of the past; Emily was referred to as a â€Å"fallen monument.†. She was a relic of Southern gentility and past values. She was considered fallen because she had been proven susceptible to death and decay. Like the rest of the world Miss Emily’s father chased away any and all men that tried and wanted to marry her. Miss Emily was very controlled by her father. He was very protective of her and extremely dominating. This kind of family environment for women was typical of southern society. Miss Emily herself represented, â€Å"a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation. Miss Emily was merely a product of her environment. William Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† displays an ideal of the antebellum Southern society that is ofte n still associated with the south. Faulkner succeeded in writing a work of Southern literature that displays a romantic pull of the past and the idea that submission to this romance was a form of death thematically, death conquers all. The story of Miss Emily Grierson from Yaknapatawpha County is a tale depicting the romance of the South combined with the story itself created a captivating atmosphere, a world where no one wants.

Becoming A Reflective Supervisor And Counsellor Nursing Essay

Becoming A Reflective Supervisor And Counsellor Nursing Essay This essay is a reflective journey into the process of supervision. What supervision actually entails and how to use the process to begin the life mission of becoming a professional counsellor. What it means to become a truly self-reflective practitioner who is mindful and open to learning about ones self in addition to continuing the process of deepening the theoretical knowledge of which supervision can be ones most useful tool. First and foremost being a student counsellor in the mode of Peron-Centred counselling, the key component would have to relate to first taking a personal journey of discovery through reflection to become aware of self in the process of actualisation. Corey (2009) cites Rogers who believed that people where essentially an expert on their own lives and that if the therapist was to become a conduit for empathy, respect, and authenticity, then they too would benefit from experiencing self through the process of reflection and exploration. Only then could the therapist model the behaviour for which the client could perceive possible for themselves. Corey (2009) also cites Broadley as describing actualizing tendency as a directional process of striving towards realisation, fulfilment, autonomy, self-determination, and perfection (p169). For me self-reflection and exploration is the only way to realise self actualisation, for without having an internal conversation how would one expect to g row as an individual let alone as a counsellor. In addition, as a student a vital tool in self-reflection is the process of supervision, through which the sharing of experiences gained through placement can be an opening to not only improving the use of skills, but additionally a tool to develop mindfulness, and self-awareness. Since starting my volunteering I have applied these concepts to the best of my abilities, and through daily reflection I have been able to recognise the learning goals that I would like to focus on during my first placement. When asked to summarise my learning goals I then had to consider theoretically how learning goals can aid the student to not only reflect on their needs and experiences, but also to refine what a professional counsellor requires to develop and progress. Cleak and Wilson (2004) who cite Rogers and Langevin as suggesting that a learning agreement contain elements of being, knowing, doing and thinking in order to make the most of the placement and the supervisory experience. Cleak and Wilson (2004) also suggest that there are seven core learning areas which can be incorporated into the learning contract. Such as, values and ethics, processes combined with skills and relationships, how to use knowledge, self-learning and professional development, understanding the organisational context, awareness of the necessity for research, and finally acknowledging social policy within the placement experience. Learning goals are also important from the supervisors perspective as Brockbank and McGil l (2007) discuss awareness of the supervision relationship can benefit both the supervisee and the supervisor when learning goals are clearly defined and aid supervision to function as a supportive and productive process. This also includes the supervisee being aware of their learning styles for example whether learning has a preference towards perhaps cognitive rather than experiential. I therefore summarise the key learning goals I have identified for my first placement experience as follows. My learning goals begin with honing my use of the core counselling skills of active listening, accurate empathic reflection, authenticity, and presence, through the process of feedback and reflection. Secondly I have identified that I need to work on the appropriate use of rapport and the use of disclosure, through understanding how to establish boundaries and use deflecting techniques when the issue of inappropriate disclosure is exhibited. Third I feel that understanding how the organisatio nal procedures such as keeping confidential client notes functions around my responsibility to upkeep the records to meet my ethical requirements. This is also a process of learning to work within the organisational teams that work in a paradox of isolation and conjunction, to bring together the experience and knowledge of administration, support staff, nurses, other professionals including my department of pastoral care and counselling. Fourth is the learning involved with bringing art and music into the person-centred style of counselling I have been taught to use. This includes bringing in the theoretical knowledge of my supervisors to help facilitate a deeper understanding of combining skills and theories. Finally to bring it all together is the practice and development of self-reflection and self-awareness including being mindful. This final task is probably the most important of all since it requires me to open myself to self-reflection in addition to positive and negative fee dback from my clients, my colleagues, and both of my supervisors. Here is where keeping a personal journal of my inner journey through placement is of vital importance if I am serious about being in the process of self actualising and developing as a professional counsellor. Self reflection is possibly the most important process of awaking awareness and aiding the development of a counsellor who is confident, centred, ethical, and professional. Developing self awareness and mindfulness through self reflection should not be underestimated due to the fact that an open relationship with ones self is conceivably the preeminent way to grow not only as an individual, but also as a counsellor. During my placement as well as for the entirety of my professional life the reflective practices I intend to use include daily self-reflection daily and consciously practicing mindfulness. Germer (2005) suggests being mindful is usually not a common reality in our thinking processes, as being mindful takes practice to comfortably stay present and focused on the mome nt. Mindfulness as Germer reminds us is a Buddhist concept dating back some two thousand years, which Buddhists term sati that translates as awareness, attention and remembering. Germer (2005) also cites Hanh as describing mindfulness as an in the moment awareness of our consciousness processing everything that is happening around us, to us and between us, a being focused on the here and now and totally present. Germer (2005) also suggests that one can learn and develop mindfulness through meditation, relaxation and practice of focusing and clearing ones mind. Through mindfulness the process of self-reflection can truly begin especially with the aid of meditation allowing one to focus on the difference between emotion, thoughts and feelings, as well as perceptions in order to replay experiences and perceive self in action. Fook and Gardner (2007) suggest reflection is a process whereby the student identifies how their sense of self plays out through the window of personal perception s, with particular emphasis on how emotions influence decisions. Realising the difference in how relationships play out against theoretical knowledge, and recognising how self can get in the way, begins the process of being able to differentiate between the needs of the student and the needs of the client. These realisations also contain an understanding that becoming a professional means accepting that often what happens in real life counselling is unpredictable, and that that is okay. In addition to journaling I intend to religiously maintain my daily debriefing with my organisational supervisor to constantly balance my perceptions of client interactions both emotional and intellectual. Furthermore feedback from my clinical supervisor will be essential in determining how to interpret my reflective journal in a process that can focus self actualising. Orchowski, Evangelista, Probst (2010) discuss how supervision can be a process of understanding how reflection can impart an unders tanding to enable a safe client student relationship. In addition self reflection enhances ones ability to activate mindfulness when in session with a client, as well as in the process of supervision. Self awareness, reflection and being mindful are all fundamental thought processes that help guard against unethical decision making, and establish a way of ensuring safety for both the therapist and the client. Orchowski, Evangelista, Probst further discuss how reflection can be part of the contract between supervisor and supervisee bring about an openness to the process of revisiting the client experience for the supervisee, and exploring what came up emotionally for the supervisee. Which brings up the importance of supervision in the reflection process as I have discovered already, without a supervisor to clarify perceptions lack of confidence and inexperience could easily lead to an unproductive negative interpretation. After spending the last eleven weeks as a volunteer and really having begun the process of placement, I can truly see the importance of supervision in the process of reflection. During the time spent within the organisation I have begun the process of building a relationship with my placement supervisor, with whom I confer about my use of skills, how my clients are reacting, in addition to drawing on her wealth of professional knowledge, and her years of client contact and their histories. Each day contains a component where we debrief and self-care around how to maintain boundaries and identify where emotions can blur person perception, particularly considering that when working in aged care where clients often die or experience the process of illness or severe loss. Jochen (2008) talks about how supervisees often begin the learning process of supervision by being wrapped up in the clients story, and emotions. However, as time and self awareness of the process begin a process of understanding and acknowledging that even though the clients story may be as confronting as severe illness which may bring imminent death, the counsellors role is to support and empathise not attach personal meaning to the emotional content being presented. Hawkins and Shohet (2007) discuss that the use of supervision become a fundamental tool that any counsellor or health professional makes use of regularly, to aid in the understanding ones emotional configuration regarding professional progress and maintenance. Hawkins and Shohet also suggest that supervision is a necessity in the helping professions, to ensure client safety is always upheld, through the constant self-reflection that supervision aims to provide the practicing counsellor. Considering that supervision is going to play an important role not only during placement but feasibly for the entirety of my counselling career, it would be prudent to consider what challenges supervision may bring. First and foremost is overcoming the fear of being vulnerable and exposed to criticism, in addition to having personal values and beliefs put under scrutiny, not to mention experiencing another professional judge your ability to effectively master the basic counselling skills, all on top of exposing your self-reflective thoughts and emotions to for all purposes an external voice of conscious. Tjeltveit and Gottlieb (2010) discuss the ethical role vulnerability and resilience play in keeping the therapist safe, in particular the student. Our vulnerabilities can expose themselves in our unconscious reactions through our values, beliefs, cultural identities, even habits and emotions that even with awareness impart unethical decisions or actions. Tjeltveit and Gottlieb go on to argue that resilience is strengthened by the student becoming aware of their vulnerabilities, addressing emotional issues, and becoming open to parts of their personality which could influence unethical decisions. These issues of interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions are so important we can often overlook procedural problems and challenges that can also occur that could in fact hinder completion of the placement in academic terms. For example I discovered that my placement supervisor would not meet the clinical requirements that ACAP (2010) base their requirements upon. Acap (2010) have recommended that if a student wishes to be able to join The Counselling and Psychotherapists Association of NSW Inc [CAPA] (2009) one must have clinical supervision that complies with CAPAs training standards, which state that the clinical supervisor must have completed at least seven hundred and fifty hours of personal supervision post training. In addition they must also meet the Psychot herapy Counselling Federation of Australia [PACFA] (2009) requirements stated in article 4.3.1, that a supervisors credentials are to be of a level beyond basic counselling and include eligibility to be a clinical member of a counselling association for at least three years (p7). Therefore after having succeeded in acquiring a clinical supervisor I now have to apply the above mentioned challenges in two different scenarios, with two different people, in two different organisations. To conclude I believe the importance of self-reflection cannot be expressed too often, to widely, or too deeply. The concept of supervision

Currency Risk Management in Indian Banks

Currency Risk Management in Indian Banks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of the project is to study the attitude of Indian corporates towards currency risk management and the problems faced by the companies dealing with their currency exposure which occur as a result of exports or imports or both. The study has also included the problems faced by the banks, the authorised dealers of foreign exchange in India, in managing their forex (foreign exchange) market operation as it has large implication on the corporate currency exposure. Indian corporates have an attitude of staying away from the currency market. Companies consider hedging as unwanted cost centres. Periods of exchange rate stability bred complacency. Importers are confident that the Central banks shall intervene to halt any rupee decline where a exporters are of the view that rupee has always been over rated and that there is no way that it shall appreciate from the present value. These reason keep them away from hedging their exposures. Companies which are involved in hedging, go the conservative and orthodox way to hedge their exposure. Not a single company surveyed, take financial derivatives other than forward contracts as tool for hedging their exposure. This is mainly because of lack of awareness and experience. Many of the companies feel that the importance of currency risk management will increase, in coming years but very few of them are making themselves ready to face the situation. Banks that act as facilitators are also suffering from acute problems. Public sector banks, which control 75% of Indian forex market, have always been under staffed and governed by bureaucratic rules. The market for derivatives other than forward contracts is very shallow. Many of the banks reason it out to be as a result of corporate reluctance and lack of information and technology. Most of the banks in public sector do not merge the forex and money operation and they do not treat their forex operation as a separate profit centre. This bred inefficiency in their working which has affected the corporate sector. The corporates have been recommended to look strategically into their exposure and take prudent decision in hedging. This decision should be backed by professional treasurers, an efficient back office and good forecasting techniques. They have been asked to go in for various other derivatives that are flexible and cost effective. The banking sector has been recommended to recruit specialised personnel for the job with latest technology to deal in the market. They should start providing variety of other derivatives to the industry. They should also merge their money market and forex operation and treat is as a separate profit centre. These all measures will definitely make the forex market deep and vibrant, which will make the work easier for corporates in dealing with the currency exposure. 1. INTRODUCTION â€Å"We have to sleep with one eye open† Managing director of an Indian company with investments in Indonesia. This was in reference to the Indonesian rupiah crash which followed the nearly 100 percent, Thai currency plunge after the bahts free float last July with the Indonesian currency in downward spiral and interest rates shooting northwards, Indian companies with investment in South-east Asia are in the midst of the maelstrom and are desperately scrambling to get a grip of this unprecedented situation even as they wonder: what next? If only they could have got the wind of the disaster things would have been bit different for them. The spate of Southeast Asian currency plunge has sent warning signals to the developing economies to set their level in order to face crisis. Companies have to set their house in order and give a micro as well as macro look at the currency exposure which they are facing. With increase in volume of business in external sector, companies should make themselves tuned to the dynamics of foreign exchange (currency) market. 1.1 Currency RISK MANAGEMENT An asset or a liability or an expected future cash flow stream (whether certain or not) is said to be afflicted with currency risk when currency movement changes (for better or for worse) the home currency value. There is always a possibility of the exchange rate changing between the home and foreign currencies, interest rate differentials widening and inflationary effects amounting, to an adverse reaction for the expected cash flows . The concept of currency risk also emanates when an investor is planning to diversity his portfolio internationally to improve the risk- return trade off by taking advantage of the relative correlation among risks on assets of different countries. This involves investing in a variety of currencies whose relative values may fluctuate , it involves taking currency risks. The foreign exchange market is psychological in nature. A large number of transactions are speculative in nature which depends upon expectations of a large number of participants. People tend to hitch their expectations to one fundamental. For example, they might look at the money supply in the USA. The logic is that an increase in money supply will result in : Þ An increase in inflation Þ FED squeezing money Þ Interest rate rising Þ Dollar becoming more attractive for holding. But this event of money supply could also lead to a different series of outcomes an shown by the following logic. According to fisherman equation, Nominal rate = Real rate + Inflation rate. An increase in inflation would mean the interest rates would be higher. Higher interest rates on bond and equity prices would make them less lucrative and thus lead to a bearish effect. There would be a selling pressure on the dollar and hence the exchange rates would tend to move against the dollar. Dealings in foreign exchange market is said to be around $ 1000 billion each day. Out of this sizeable chunk of more than 75% is on speculative basis. And this speculation has been pointed out as major cause of the south Asian turmoil. Since the mid 1970s a potent mix of fast-interlocking market and a revolution in information technology has increased the speed, frequency and magnitude of price changes in the financial markets, which, in turn have multiplied both opportunity and risk for the CFO. Not, surprisingly, in the developed markets, much innovative energy has been devoted to devising instruments and mechanisms that enable CFO to survive this turbulence. While creative financial engineering has opened the floodgates for a deluge of products, two broad classes of risk management have evolved. The first deploys a natural hedge to manage exposure to risk. Typically, this means explicitly factoring in risk perceptions when choosing the components of the financing mix. Or, to neutralise exposures in a particular market, a natural hedge could involve taking a counter position in another market. The second class of tools however creates a synthetic hedge by utilising specific financial instruments. Notably, derivatives. 1.2 Problems in Indian foreign exchange market Our foreign exchange market suffers from several constraints. i) There are a lot of ceilings on open positions and gaps and hence there is a virtual absence of market making and position trading. ii) There is prohibition of initiating transactions in the cross currency in the overseas market. iii) Besides the forward contracts, there is no free access to the other products like futures, swaps, etc. The market lacks the required liquidity and depth for the derivatives to be economically viable. 2. Literature review 2.1 THE NATURE OF EXPOSURE AND RISK The value of a firms assets, liabilities and operating income vary continually in response to changes in economic and financial variables such as exchange rates, interest rates, inflation rates, relative prices and so forth. The impact of every financial decision on the value of the firm is uncertain and various options can be evaluated in terms of their risk return characteristics. The nature of uncertainty can be illustrated by a number of commonly encountered situations. An appreciation of the value of a foreign currency (or equivalently, a depreciation of the domestic currency)., increases the domestic currency value of a firms assets and liabilities denominated in the foreign currency receivable and payables, bank deposits and loans etc. It will also change domestic currency cash flows from exports and imports. An increase in interest rates reduces the market value of a portfolio of fixed rate bonds and may increase the cash outflow on account of interest payments. Acceleration in the rate of inflation may increase the value of unsold stocks, the revenue from future sales as well as the future costs of production. Thus the firm is â€Å"exposed† to uncertain changes in a number of variables in its environment. Let us begin with the definition of foreign exchange exposure. Foreign exchange (Currency) exposure is the sensitivity of the real value of a firms assets, liabilities or operating income, expressed in its functional currency, to unanticipated changes in exchange rates. Note the following important points about this definition. Values of assets, liabilities or operating income are to be denominated in the functional currency of the firm. This is the primary currency of the firm and in which its financial statements are published. For most firms it is the domestic currency of their country. Exposure is defined with respect to the real values i.e. values adjusted for inflation. While theoretically this is the correct way of assessing exposure, in practice due to the difficulty of dealing with an uncertain inflation rate this adjustment is often ignored i.e. exposure is estimated with reference to changes in nominal values. The definition stresses that only unanticipated changes in exchange rates are to be considered. The reason is that markets will have already made an allowance for anticipated changes in exchange rates. For instance, an exporter invoicing a foreign buyer in the buyer currency into the price. A lender will adjust the rate of interest charged on the loan to incorporate an allowance for the expected depreciation. From an operational point of view, the question is how do we separate a given change in exchange rate into its anticipated and unanticipated components since only the actual change is observable? One possible answer is to use the forward exchange rate as the exchange rate expected by the â€Å"market† to rule at the time the forward contract matures. Thus suppose that the price of a pound sterling in terms of rupees for immediate delivery (the called spot rate) is Rs. 60.000 while the one months forward rate is Rs. 60.20. We can say that the anticipated depreciation of th e rupee is 20 paise per pound in one month. If a month later, the spot rate turns out to be Rs. 60.30 there has been an unanticipated depreciation of 10 paise per pound. In contrast to exposure which is a measure of the response of value to exchange rate changes, foreign exchange risk is defined as. The variance of the real domestic currency value of assets, liabilities or operating income attribute to unanticipated changes in exchange rates. In other words, risk is a measure of the extent of variability in the values of assets etc. due to unanticipated changes in exchanges rates. 2.2 Classification of Foreign Exchange Exposure and Risk Three types of foreign exchange exposure and risk can be distinguished depending upon the nature of the exposed item and the purpose of exposure estimation. These are as follows. Transaction Exposure: This is a measure of the sensitivity of the home currency value of assets and liabilities which are denominated in foreign currency, to unanticipated changes in exchange rates, when the assets or liabilities are liquidated. Transaction exposure can arise in three ways: * A currency has to be converted in order to make or received payment for good s and services. * A currency has to be converted to repay a loan or make an interest payment (or, conversely, receive a repayment or an interest payments) or. * A currency has to be converted to make a dividend payment. Suppose a firm receives an export order. It fixes a price, manufactures the product, makes the shipment and gives 90 days credit to the buyer who will pay in his currency. A company has acquired a foreign currency receivable, which will be liquidated before the next balance sheet date. The exposure affects cash flows during the current accounting period. If the foreign currency has appreciated between the day the receivable was booked on the day the payment was received, the company makes exchange gain which may have tax implications. In a similar fashion, interest payments and principal repayments due during the accounting period create transaction exposure. Transaction risk can be defined as a measure of uncertainty y in the value of assets and liabilities when they are liquidated. Translation Exposure: Also called accounting Exposure is the exposure on assets and liabilities appearing in the balance sheet but yet to be liquidated. Translation risk is the related measure of variability. The key difference between transaction and translation exposure is that the former involves actual movement of cash while the latter has no direct effect on cash flows. (This is true only if there are no tax effects arising out of translation gains and losses). Translation exposure arises when a parent multinational company is required to consolidate a foreign subsidiarys statements from its functional currency into the parents home currency. Thus suppose an Indian company has a U.K subsidiary. At the beginning of the parents financial year the subsidiary has real estate, inventories and cash valued at pound 1,000,000, pound 200,000 pound 150,000 respectively. The spot rate is Rs. 60 per pound sterling. By the close of the financial year, these have changed to pound 1,200,000, pound 205000 and pound 160,000 respectively. However during the year, there has been a drastic depreciation of the pound to Rs. 56. If the parent is required to translate the subsidiarys balance sheet from pound sterling into rupees at the current exchange rate, it has â€Å"suffered† a translation loss. Note that no cash movement is involved since the subsidiary is not to be liquidated. Also note that there must have been a translation gain on the subsidiarys liabilities. There is broad agreement among theorists that translation losses and gains are only notional accounting losses and gains. The actual numbers will differ according to the accounting practices followed and depending upon the tax laws, there may or may not be tax implications and therefore real gains or losses. Accountants and corporate treasurers however do not fully accept this view. They argue that even though no cash losses or gains are involved, translation does affect the published financial statements and hence may affect market valuation of the parent companys stock. Whether investors indeed suffer from â€Å"translation illusion† is an empirical question. Some evidence from studies of the valuation of American multinationals seems to indicate that investors are quite aware of the notional character of these losses and gains and discount them in valuing the stock. for Indian multinational, translation exposure is a relatively less important consideration since the law doe s not require translation and consolidation of foreign subsidiaries financial statement s with those of the parent companies. Operating Exposure: Unanticipated exchange rate changes not only affect assets and liabilities but also have significant impact on future cash flows from operations. Operating Exposure is a measure of the sensitivity of future cash flow and profits of a firm to unanticipated exchange rate changes. Consider a firm that is involved in producing goods for export and or import substitutes. It may also import a part of its raw materials, components etc. A change in exchange rate (s) gives rise to a number of concerns for such a firm. 1. What will be the effect on sales volume if prices are maintained? If prices are changed? Should prices be changed? For instance, a firm exporting to a foreign market might benefit from reducing its foreign currency price to the foreign customers following an appreciation of the foreign currency. A firm that produces import substitutes may contemplate an increase in it domestic currency price to its domestic customers without hurting its sales. 2. Since a part of the inputs are imported, material costs will increase following a depreciation of the home currency. 3. Labour costs may also increase if cost of living increases and wages have to be raised. 4. Interest costs on working capital may rise if in response to depreciation the authorities resort to monetary tightening. In general, an exchange rate change will affect both future revenues as well as operating costs and hence the operating income. As we will see later, the net effect depends upon the complex interaction of exchange rate changes, relative inflation rates at home and abroad, price elasticities of export and import demand and supply and so forth. Operating exposure and the related risk are extremely difficult to analyse, estimate and hedge against. 2.3 THE INDIAN FOREX MARKET Indian foreign exchange market as compared with their American and European counterparts is till in its infants. The post liberalisation period has witnessed many exchange controls been lifted and introduction of few â€Å"hedging† tools like cross currency option, Range forwards, currency swaps etc. which provide a degree of flexibility to corporates in using the forex markets effectively. The Rupee has been made fully convertible on current account accepting the article VIII status laid down by IMF. This step has seen increased volume of trade in the Indian forex market. Tarapore committee has put the proposal for capital account convertibility. It proposes to deregulate the foreign exchange by year 2002 in three phases. 2.4 PRESENT STATUS Exchange control in India is administered by the Reserve Bank of India, which is empowered by the Foreign exchange regulation Act. The figure shows the players involved in the foreign exchange market from administrative point of view. Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 Govt. of India Reserve Bank of India Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India Authorised Dealers Authorised Money Changers Full Fledged Restricted Administration of Foreign Exchange in India. The foreign exchange market in India functions with a three-tier structure which includes (1) Reserve Bank of India, at the apex level, (ii) authorised dealers/money changers conducting foreign exchange trading activities, and (iii) customers which include exporters/importer, corporates and other foreign exchange earners like NRIs etc. The market is highly influenced by State Bank of India and Reserve Bank of India because of their Sheer Size. The RBI constantly intervenes to keep the rupee from appreciating and is responsible for highly liquid spot market as it is a last resort buyer of dollars. The forward market in India is fairly liquid and quotes are easily available up to six months. The RBI prohibits any international speculative access to rupee. 2.5 SIZE AND DEPTH OF THE MARKET The daily turnover in the Indian Foreign exchange market is over US $400 million that is dominated by dealings in dollars. The foreign exchange reserve of $30 million provides the market with enough liquidity. 2.6 INDIAN EXCHANGE CONTROLS Exchange Controls refer to the regulation, restrictions, guidelines that a country issues with respect to foreign exchange transactions. In the absence of any exchange control one would expect to do anything with the foreign exchange reserves that the company has-convert to any other currency, speculate, buy or sell option, freely export foreign exchange etc. etc. In India, forward contract is the single largest product which the companies employ as a tool to manage their foreign exchange risks, though the cost has changed over the period of time. Before LERMS (liberalised exchange rate management system) importers rushed to book forward contracts expecting a devaluation of Re against US$. The cost was as high as 18% in Feb.92. The cost of the forward premium came down sharply reflecting a more stable foreign exchange markets. The Indian exchange market do not provide frequent quotations for ore than 6 months so for any long term forward cover rollover of the contract after every 6 months is needed. Rollover means cancellation of the old contract and re-booking of 6-month forward contract. Under this, care should be taken to cancel the old contract and re-book the next at the time when the cost of rebooking is least i.e. forward dollar is relatively cheap. Further, in December 1994, RBI has allowed the corporates to bet on the third currency movement even if one does not have an underlying transaction exposure in the â€Å"third currency†. This means that a corporate with an underlying exposure in Dollar-Re can bet on the Dm-Dollar rate and book a forward contract for Dm against Re and on the maturity may change Dm to Dollar at the spot rate. This has been allowed as Indian Re has been pegged with US$ and there has not been many fluctuations on which the companies could speculate. There can be other ways to take advantage of this RBI circular. Consider an importer with $ payable after 6 months. He may buy $ forward against Yen (third currency) and after 6 months may buy Yen against Rupee at the spot rate. This position may be taken if the company expects Yen to depreciate against the Dollar within these 6 months. Nevertheless the speculative attempts to earn profits may also backfire to give losses if the exchange rate moves in the opposite direction. RBI has also made it obligatory upon the banks, which extend the third currency cover, to maintain â€Å"initial† and â€Å"variation† margins before offering such a facility. This has been done to avoid any default risk. Another peculiar feature of ‘The Indian Exchange Control is that the â€Å"hedging† can be put through in case of transaction and translation exposures only. Economic exposures cannot be hedged. Cross Currency option was introduced on 1st Jan. 1994, under which companies could enter option contract for hedging non-dollar exposure against dollar. As for now Rupee option does not exist in India. Essar Gujarat has been one of the innovative corporates who discovered this new concept and has benefited considerably by writing option in Dm- Dollar in Jan 1994. Indian Exchange controls do not allow cancellation of cross currency options in parts and once the option is cancelled it cannot be re-booked, unlike forwards. In the overseas markets minimum lot traded is $ 3m whereas Indian corporate by for lesser amount, this increases the premium paid by them for the option. Recently, ANZ Grindlay has offered to arrange a loan of $ 50m to Ranbaxy by making effective use of call and put options to defend both the parties against unfavourable movements in exchange rates. Cross currency forward cover for importers who have taken $ loan for their imports but receive goods invoiced in say a Dm. They can enter forward cover for the delivery of Dm against the currency of loan i.e. -$. This is the cross currency forward cover. Some of the foreign Exchange controls are that export of foreign currency is not permitted, unless it has special RBI permission. â€Å"Exchange controls also they list the permitted currencyâ€Å" and a method of payment as approved by RBI for translation across the countries. It also contains guidelines relating to â€Å" Foreign currency assets† covering permission as for repatriation of capital profits dividends etc. Exchange controls also allow FC to be retained up 50% (in case of EOU EPZ units) and 25% (in case of ordinary exporters with banks in Indian and also abroad under EEFC a/c and FCA a/c. Exchange controls also state under-invoicing and over-invoicing of exports as a crime attracting penal provisions. Further, all sale proceeds in FC should come into the country within 180 days. RBI permission is required for any extension beyond 180 days. In case of failure to get RBIs nod, the tax and other export incentives are not provided to the exporters. Further, exchange controls give details and guidelines for different accounts for NRI and foreign investors such as Ordinary Non- Resident Rupee a/c, Non-Resident External; Rupee a/c FCNR (B) a/c etc. Introduction of complex hedging tools like futures, options is still a long way to go, Recently, the government lifted the ban on futures, option trading in equity (stocks) after 40 years, This could be regarded as a step ahead to come closer to introduction of more complex tools in the currency markets in India. In the near future Standard Chartered plans to introduce rupee-based derivatives in India subject to the clearance and approval by exchange controls, with many companies now making use of different tools effectively, the Indian foreign exchange markets are moving ahead towards more relaxations and towards making the foreign exchange markets more vibrant and versatile, IDBI is one of the most active user of financial derivatives in Indian market. It made considerable savings over the last two year by using the entire range of products available in Indian forex markets. 2.7 FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES USED IN INDIAN MARKET A derivative instrument is commonly defined as one whose price is derived from an underlying quantity that could be an interest or an exchange rate (in this case exchange rate) we refer to derivatives of money and foreign exchange market prices as â€Å"financial derivatives†. The history of using financial derivatives to hedge foreign exchange exposures by corporates in India is fairly recent. Early 90s witnessed few foreign currency call options written by some Indian corporates. The limited use and general lack of interest in the available instruments can be explained by the fact that dependence on external sources of funding was very limited and the external sector wasnt really developed. But after liberalisation and current account convertibility, the whole scenario has changed. Risk management has under gone a paradigm shift, new financial derivatives have been allowed in the market to provide for exposures arising out of increased business activity in the external sector. We shall discuss the various hedging tools is operative. 2.7.1 FORWARD CONTRACTS The Definition: A forward contract is simply an agreement to buy or sell foreign exchange at a stipulated rate at a specified time in the future. It is a contract calling for settlement beyond the spot date. The time frame can vary from a few days to many years. Instrument: A forward contract locks you to a particular exchange rate, thereby insulating the CFO from exchange rate fluctuations. In India, the forward contract has been the most popular instrument employed by corporates to cover their exposures, and thereby, offset a known future cash outflow. Forward contracts are usually available only for periods up to 12 months. Forward premiums are governed purely by demand and supply, which provide corporates with arbitrage opportunities. The premiums in this market are quoted till the last working day of the month. Internationally, the forward premiums or discounts reflect the prevailing interest rate differentials. Arbitrage opportunities are therefore limited. As a rule, a currency with a higher interest rate trades at a discount to a currency with a lower interest state. Since there is a forward market available for longer periods, the forward cover for foreign exchange exposures can stretch up to five years. The premiums or discounts are quoted on a month-to-month basis. That is, from the spot date to exactly one month, or two months, or even a year. AN EXAMPLE.A corporate has to make a payment of US $I million on March 31, 1998. They can book a forward contract today, and fix the exchange rate at which he will make the payment. Assuming that the dollar-rupee spot rate is Rs 36.40, and the forward premium on the dollar for delivery on March31. 1998, is Rs 0.30 the effective exchange rate for the remittance becomes Rs 36.70 (36,40+30). The Regulations: In March 1992, in order to provide operational freedom to corporates, the unrestricted booking and cancellation of forward contracts, for all genuine exposures, whether trade-related or not, was permitted. In January 1997, the RBI allowed the banks to quote rupee forward premiums for more than six months. This has resulted in the development of a local forward market for up to one year. However, as the link between the local money market and the foreign exchange markets is not strong, and as prices and determined by demand and supply, activity in the long -term forward market has been limited. 2.7.2 FORWARD TO FORWARD CONTRACTS The Definition: A forward -to-forward contract is a swap transaction that involves the simultaneous sale and purchase of one currency for another, where both transactions are forward contracts. It allows the company to take advantage of the forward premium without locking on to the spot rate. The Instrument: A forward-to-forward contract is a perfect tool for corporates that want to take advantage of the opposite movements in the spot and the forward markets. By locking in the forward premium at a high or low level now, CFOs can defer locking on to the spot rate to the future when they consider the spot rate to be moving in their favour. However, a forward-to forward contract can have serious cash-flow implications for a corporate. Before booking a forward-to forward contract a CFO should carefully examine his cash flow position bearing in mind the immediate loss that he would make if the spot rate did not move in his favour. The Example. An exporter believes that forward premiums are high, and will move down before the end of December 1997. Also he expects the spot rate to depreciate in the next few months. Then, the optimal strategy would be to lock in the high forward premium now, and defer the spot rate to a future date. So, he opts for a forward-to forward contract for end December. 1997, to end March of 1998. Paying a premium of say a Rs 0.64 By entering into such a contract the exporter has the opportunity to lock on to the spot rate any time till December 31, 1997. Alternatively, if the three-month premium between end-December and end-March moves below the Rs 0.64 level he can cancel the contract and book his profits. Forward -to-forward contracts The SCenario Company A is due to receive the payment for goods exported three months earlier. Currently, three-month forward premiums are high, but Company A expects the sport rate to depreciate further. The Instrument The forward-to-forward pay-off matrix DS>EF DS>EF Lack in the Current Premium By Purchasing A Forward-To-Forward Contact EF>SF Better Than Simple Forward, But Worse Than Uncovered Strategy Optimal Strategy Choose The Spot Rate Within A Stipulated Time-Period, Thus Determining Effective Forward Rate SF>EF Worst Strategy Better than Uncovered Strategy, At the end of the months, Convert Export Proceeds to Rupee at the Effective Forward Rate SF : Simple Forward Rate EF: Forward-to-Forwar

Character of Hamlet Essay -- Papers

Character of Hamlet "Wer gar zu viel bedenkt wird wenig leisten" -Schiller " He who reflects too much will accomplish little" It is impossible to attain completeness in the assessment of any one's character and more so in the case of Hamlet's, for its note are complex and mysterious. But on rigorous study, Hamlet's character can be described though partly but adequately by the above quote. 'Hamlet' is the most famous, the most popular play in the English language. But to quote T.S.Eliot -"So far from being Shakespeare's masterpiece, the play is most certainly an artistic failureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. And probably more people have thought Hamlet a work of art because they found it interesting, than have found it interesting because it is a work of art. It is the "Mona Lisa " of literature." "The grounds of Hamlet's failure are not immediately obvious."T.S.Eliot in his essay "Hamlet and His Problems", says this and after his analysis he concludes that in order to understand Hamlet - the play and the character - we need to understand things, which Shakespeare did not understand himself. A similar view is aired by A.C.Bradley who says that the character of Hamlet as one can understand from the play cannot answer several questions which pertain to the logic and rationality of Hamlet's deeds like his idea to pretend madness and in order to get a reasonable answer one must try history where we find the story of Amleth,the Prince of Denmark which inspired Shakespeare to write this "Mona Lisa " of literature. The story of Amleth is a story, which involved just the revenge of a son avenging his father's murder. In this story, Amleth 's uncle... ...ths may be, by some means can be held as a retributive justice against them for their own deeds. Except the deaths of king Claudius and 'his' Queen ,all the rest happen due to their involvement with the king. These deaths could have been avoided.But,once the death casts a shadow on someone," the rest is silence". Note: The actual age of Hamlet is in question due to evidences based on various grounds. In my opinion the knowledge of Hamlet's age can help in understanding his complex character to perfection. Bibliography 1.Tales from Shakespeare - Charles and Mary Lamb 2. Hamlet - Commentary by A.W.Verity (A.W.V) 3. "Hamlet and His Problems" - Essay by T.S.Eliot 4. A.C.Bradley's work on Hamlet 5. F.C.Hunt's work on Hamlet referring to Bacon's life 6. A Book of Quotations 7. www.hamlet.org

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay -- essays research papers

"A Good Man is Hard to Find": The Grandmother's Grace Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" tells the metaphorical tale of a family's fatal confrontation with The Misfit, an escaped serial killer. The incidents and characters throughout the story are aspects of a plot intending to symbolize the spiritual grace passed from one human to another, without regard for kindness or evil. The prominent character in O'Connor's story is the grandmother, who embodies this grace. By including imperfections in the development of the grandmother's character, O'Connor shows the indiscriminatory property of grace she possesses. The grandmother is the most developed character of the story. She contains several traits that coincide with the stereotypical elderly southern woman. Some of her notions are bizarre and trivial, and ignored by her family, such as the possible attack by The Misfit, a trip to Tennessee instead of Florida, and a fear of feline asphyxiation. John Wesley and June Star have little if any respect for their paternal grandmother. "She has to go everywhere we go," whines June Star (194). The grandmother also dresses immaculately, even for a car trip, simply because in an accident "anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady" (194). She calls attention to pointless details such as mileage, the speed of the car, and scenic road-side attr...

Gustave Flauberts Madame Bovary Essay -- Flaubert Madame Bovary Essay

Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary The characters Charles and Emma of Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Madame Bovary, escape from the drudgery and monotony of their life through fantasy. For Emma, it is a direct manipulation of her world, while for Charles it is disillusionment with the world. Each of these characters lives in complete ignorance of the true personality of the other. Emma ignores Charles's simple love and devotion while Charles is oblivious of Emma's affairs. Even before she meets her husband, Charles Bovary, Emma escapes from her dull and monotonous country life by reading stacks of books and magazines, as well as occupying herself with the conventions of religion. She becomes engrossed in the romanticism of religion – the radiant candles, the cool holy water, blue bordered religious pictures – even going so far as to make up sins for confession. By the time Charles Bovary enters the drama that is Emma’s life, she has all but convinced herself that she has no more to experience. This is, again, an over dramatization of her life. Charles Bovary, a kind but unremarkable country doctor, is married to the overbearing and shrewish Heloise when he meets Emma for the first time. He is struck by Emma’s beauty and dismisses the signs of potential disaster: her quick changes of mood from guileless joy to profound boredom and her wandering thoughts. Charles is "never able to imagine her any differently from the way she had been the first time he saw her" (Flaubert 30), a thought that carries through the novel even when Emma is at her worst. On their wedding day, Emma comments that she "would have preferred to be married at midnight, by torchlight..." (Flaubert 22), a sentiment that illustrates the depth of her imprac... ...e so obviously evident. Both Emma and Charles are too wrapped up in their own delusions to realize that their lives are falling apart. Emma’s death, however, only serves to deepen his skewed perception of her: The sweetness of her touch brought his grief to a climax; he felt his whole being collapse in despair at the thought of having to lose her just when she was confessing more love for him than ever before. (Flaubert 275) In the end, it is Emma who finally realizes that Charles loves her and that her affairs were perhaps unjustified, while Charles spends the remainder of his days carrying false memories of his beloved wife, Emma. Works Cited Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. 11th printing. Trans. Lowell Bair. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. Brombert, Victor. In Madame Bovary. 11th printing. Trans. Lowell Bair. New York: Bantam Books, 1989.

Motivating Employees Case Study Essay

In order to be productive at work or at home an individual must be motivated to complete their task. There are two main forms of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do the task right out of the satisfaction of a job well done without any ‘rewards’. Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources such as incentives programs. Both can be equally effective in the right situation. SAS Institute has gained a high reputation for their ability to motivate its employees with a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. How Does SAS motivate its employees? The SAS Institute has long since set the standards for the ideal workplace. Focusing on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational methods, SAS strives to ensure its employees enjoy what do and continue to stay interested in their work. SAS also encourages their employees to occasionally switch areas of expertise, gaining additional training if it is required. Using this approach, SAS keeps their employees from getting bored and losing interest in their job. In addition, â€Å"The SAS Institute also cares about its employees and their families’ well-being both on and off the job.†(George, Jones 2012) At its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute also offers employees and their families 200 acres of luxuries activities as well as on-site childcare, healthcare and many other fitness and recreational benefits. What factors are likely to contribute to intrinsic motivation at SAS? The intrinsic motivation at the SAS institute can be attributed to many work and pe rsonal related factors. As quoted in the text, Bev Brown from external communications states: â€Å"Some may think that because SAS is family-friendly and has great benefits that we don’t work hard†¦. But people do work hard here, because they’re motivated to take care of a company that takes care of them.†(George, Jones, 2012) The SAS institute works hard to  keep their employees happy and motivated with generous benefits such as unlimited sick days and flexible schedules. As mentioned earlier, SAS offers on-site healthcare, childcare and many other benefits that not only benefit the employees but their families as well. Another factor that may contribute to the intrinsic motivation at SAS is the option to change jobs within the company. SAS offers additional training, if necessary, to employees who wish to switch fields. This keeps their employees interested in their work and productivity at a maximum. What factors are likely to contribute to extrinsic motivation at SAS? The managers at the SAS Institute are of the firm belief that employees need to feel that the work they do is making a difference within the company. SAS offers many incentive bonuses that are based on work performance. Employees can also take advantage of services offered such as massages, dry cleaning, car detailing and many recreational activities that include swimming and golfing. How might SAS’s long-term focus affect employee motivation? James Goodnight, long time CEO and co-founder of the SAS Institute, has implemented a long-term focus comprised of developing their software from scratch and setting up a long line of research and development projects. Not only does this approach help SAS when the economy takes a downward turn, but it serves as purposeful motivation for its employees. Firstly, employees don’t have to worry about getting laid off based on an economic crisis. Creating software from scratch also helps employees get creative. They get to design every nook and cranny of the software from the brainstorming process to the completed project. Overall, the SAS institute has a long history of happy and productive employees. SAS’s turnover rate is at an incredible 2%, while the rest of the software industry holds around 22%. SAS has maintained its status on Fortune Magazines â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work for in America† for 13 years in a row, ranking first in 2010. This is only possible by motivating its employees intrinsically, extrinsically, and therefore giving them a reason to produce great work. Reference George, J. M., & Jones, G. R. (2012). Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). Prentice Hall.

Huck, Emma, and Asher: Studies in the Theme of Self-Actualization Essay

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jane Austen’s Emma, and Chaim Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev readers are presented with three characters that of different time periods that each possess similar psychological traits.   They each strive to attain self-awareness as they learn the lessons of life through Huck’s journey down the river, Emma’s experiences in the art of match-making, and Asher’s conflicts with his family’s Hasidism.   Each novel uses the theme of psychological struggle for self-actualization of its youthful protagonists to explore growing up in the different periods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a young, immature boy at the beginning of the novel living by the Mississippi in the nineteenth century.   Huck observes his situation as one that is the design of others, not himself: â€Å"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time [†¦]; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out [†¦] and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back† (Twain, 1953, 11). This statement evidences Huck’s undying love for the freedom and escape he finds in nature, and also his desire for Tom’s approval.   Huck is forming his own personality, growing through his personal observations and realizations that civilization is not all that it appears or that he desires.   During his trip down the river on the raft with Jim Huck observes, â€Å"Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft† (118).   It is this recognition of value that ultimately allows Huck to leave Tom and â€Å"civilization† behind, as he sets out for the west to pursue his own independence and maturity. Twain utilizes several literary techniques in order to convey Huck’s maturation to the reader.   Firstly, by telling the story from a first person perspective, we see Huck’s development as it occurs, from his own mouth.   Rather than being told by an external narrator that Huck is growing up, we see it evidenced in his speech and perceptions.   Also, the recurring theme of hypocrisy that occurs in Huck’s encounters with the civilized world and in the views on slavery that emerge from the text, a framework of repetition is established so that readers might see Huck’s growth, when comparing it to a constant.   Finally, Twain utilizes the symbol of the Mississippi River—a thing that is in constant flux—to illustrate Huck’s own movement toward adulthood and self-awareness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like Huck, we see the theme of great personal maturation in the character of Emma, the Victorian English middle class girl.   Austen introduces her as a girl used to having â€Å"rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself† (Austen, 2000, 1).   As a result, Emma spends the bulk of the novel meddling in other people’s lives and circumventing her love for Mr. Knightley.   When Emma finally admits to herself her true feelings, it is the result of the lessons she has learned along the way and her own self-actualization. Because of the near ruination of Harriet’s romance, her insults to Miss Bates, and Mr. Knightley’s gentle guidance throughout the novel, Austen writes, â€Å"Emma’s eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude, for a few minutes. A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth† (268).   Like Huck, Emma found out her true nature through personal observations, and was able to advance into maturity with her own independent wisdom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With as much acuity as Twain, Jane Austen utilizes rhetorical techniques to convey the theme of self-actualization in Emma.   By structuring the story around social class, Austen creates a framework through which Emma moves.   Also, Austen utilizes word games throughout the text, such as Mr. Elton’s riddle meaning ‘courtship’.   Emma’s solution to the puzzle poses a double entendre, as she correctly guesses the answer, but does not see its meaning, just as she does not see the implications of her feelings for Mr. Knightley.   Finally, Austen uses Mr. Knightley as a static character, in order to emphasize Emma’s dynamic nature.   In Mr. Knightley’s steadfast character we see a yardstick by which Emma’s maturity is measured. Like in the previous two novels, in Chaim Potok’s novel My Name is Asher Lev, the theme of a youth struggling to achieve self-actualization is relayed.   Readers are presented with the title character, a Hasidic Jew growing up in Brooklyn, and an incredibly gifted artist.   Through Asher’s struggle with this staunch religious sect, that views his paintings as a sacrilege, he learns ultimately to accept his art and himself.    â€Å"Away from my world,† Asher states when living in Paris, â€Å"alone in an apartment that offered me neither memories nor roots, I began to find old and distant memories of my own, long buried by pain and time and slowly brought to the surface now† (Potok, 1972, 322).   Because he has survived the hardships imposed upon him by his family’s strict fundamentalism, Asher is now able to emerge from his past as an individual, apart from the culture, community, and family that produced him.   Like Huck and Emma, Asher achieves maturity and independence by the end of the novel. Potok conveys this development of character through several literary techniques.   Like Twain, he utilizes a first person point of view to demonstrate Asher’s movement from boyhood to maturity.   Also, in the figure of Asher’s mythical ancestor we see a reflection of the protagonist’s development.   As a child, the image of his ancestor invokes fear in Asher, but at the conclusion of the novel he acts as an embodiment of Asher’s own struggles with his heritage.   Finally, Potok creates powerful images throughout the novel, using Asher as a mouthpiece.   Through these beautiful descriptions we see Asher’s ability to comprehend and appreciate art, and, ultimately his growth as an artist. In each of these three individual’s stories we see the theme of a youthful journey into mature self-actualization.   In Huck’s trip up the river, Emma’s gallivanting through the social circles of Highbury, and Asher’s banishment from the Ladover community and excursion through Europe, there is a great and inspiring parallel: that of the human capability for change, growth, and enlightenment.   Whether the young characters come of age in the rural Midwest, Victorian England, or Brooklyn, the result is similar and includes the greatest gift a person can give to his or her self: thoughtful independence. Bibliography Austen, J. (2000). Emma. New York, New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Potok, C. (1972). My Name is Asher Lev. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Twain, M. (1953). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London, England: Puffin Books.