Zappos.Com Case Essay

1. Sources of competitive advantage lay in the field of their first offer. * First of all they provided a huge selection of styles, colors and sizes of shoes as it was one of the biggest problems of traditional retailers. * At the first stage of their entering of the market, Zappos was the first-mover, which eventually supported its success as the market for on-line order of shoes was estimated to be about $2 billion. * High level of customer satisfaction was also one of the important factors to indicate proper operations of the Zappos.Company achieved such a success due to its corporate culture and a value of extreme concentration on its customers. In the retail business on of the indicators of retailer success is the level of customer return and Zappos succeed to attain this indicator on a very high level. Corporate culture was about delivering WOW effect through service and hiring people who were passionate about service was the most important concerns of the top-managers.This WOW effect was delivering through many ways: from the speed of site loading, all-round telephone support, allowance for 365 days of return, extensive information about the products and fast site loading. That’s why customers were willing to make purchases more often. In my opinion, service is a very important part of providing sustainable sales growth for the company as it creates an image of reliable company which operates in the internet and helps people to choose between traditional shopping and e-shopping. This image while managed properly was a sustainable competitive advantage for Zappos.As it was mostly mentioned features of a corporate culture which provide this competitive advantage than we can say that corporate culture is a background for it. 2. According to the position of the company to retain loyalty of the customers and provide WOW effect through service, it became more important to use UPS as a reliable logistics provider and organize 1-day air delivery with no e xtra price. Therefore, I can assume that reducing marketing costs for gaining new customers were the right decision as long-term partnership with previous customers was able to generate profit and new customers in the long run perspective.From another side, Zappos was able to keep transportation costs on the constant level partly from the scale of the collaboration with UPS (as it was mentioned, Zappos has become one of the top three UPS shippers). And as it was estimated, UPS ground shipping was able to reach only 11% of Zappos’ customer within 1 day. Knowing the fact that consumers got used to high qualitative and fast delivery, this could significantly harm the perception of the brand by loyal customers. This is the reason why company didn’t refuse to provide one-day air shipping. . First of all, we should understand that in situation of crisis people are decreasing their spending on high-end products if they previously had opportunities for that. That’s why it can be suggested, that company should concentrate more on mass market products and decrease costs while being very careful about scalable expansion. As it was mentioned in the case, Zappos searched for opportunities to improve its supply chain without harmful effect on customer satisfaction.From this point of view, company can concentrate more on retaining loyal customers and acquiring new customers partly by providing promotional discount actions, but at the same time keep prices on the same level, otherwise it can create a sense of discounter among Zappos clients. 4. The most important concern while expanding such business as Zappos is retaining this WOW effect. There are many factors which could affect this service oriented culture negatively, so that company should understand that rapid expansion in the situation of crisis can be very risky.From the other hand, there is no need to add more product to its product range as its already sell shoes, clothing, handbag, accessories, baby products, beauty, entertainment, eyewear, home, jewelry, sporting goods, and watches. In my opinion, company can diversify its businesses by developing other e-platforms with mentioning that they are powered by Zappos. That means that company could partly avoid risks connected with brand perception and increases sales level by selling more products. 5. The environment of a more cost-conscious consumer can harm the business if it won’t be careful about its costs.The main idea here is to provide at least the same level of quality in service with constant rates. Zappos can lower transportation costs through developing closer relationships with transport companies (for ex. try to reduce shipment costs from UPS or use ground shipment when it won’t extend delivery time). Company can also provide selective discounts (for ex. providing promotion discounts for loyal customers or creating encouraging promotional events). They could also take into consideration competitorsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ activities and offers in order to make sure that they provide the best prices or better opportunities for their clients.Zappos must take advantage of its other core competencies to ensure that the customer will choose to buy from Zappos as long as they are not paying more for the product. Probably, other variant to boost sales would be testing the system when customer have an opportunity to enjoy free shipping for a bit higher price, while company could gain profitability from a scope of the shipments. 6. First thing which comes to a mind is preserving Zappos’ corporate culture and brand on the same level as these things made Zappos that successful.In my opinion, it would be better to leave Zappos as an independent entity with its charismatic top-manager and founder Tony Hsieh while his forces led company to the leading position. Another thing to concern is a cost structure. One of the ways that Amazon tries to deliver a great customer experience is by offering low pr ices, whereas Zappos wasn’t ever been concentrated on price competition. This policy also shouldn’t be excluded from the Zappos future strategy as Zappos brand is more about service, but not a lowest price.Probably, another important step would be Zappos’ access to Amazon’ resources. They could be improvements and access to supply chain expertise, warehouses, suppliers and other advantages. Finally, Amazon could use Zappos for looking upmarket towards higher-priced goods. The high touch model obviously comes with higher costs. It’s much more attractive when selling a $400 pair of boots than a $29 pair of flip-flops. Zappos has already been rapidly expanding their product offerings so greater sales of fashion items like handbags and wallets are already steps in this direction.

Childbirth and Midwife

In many parts of the world today there are still many women who use a midwife verses using an Obstetrician Gynecologist. However in the United States fewer than three percent of women who give birth are attended to by midwives (Kram and Eckstein,1990). It is stated that â€Å"In the United States that childbirth has become increasingly medicalined and specialized, first with family doctors or general practitioners taking over the process, then obstetricians, and today, perinatologist.These physician specialists are trained to see birth as an abnormal or pathological process requiring heroic interventions, rather than a natural process† (Kram and Eckstein, 1990). Midwives however view childbirth and pregnancy in a different light. They tend to view childbirth and pregnancy as a natural process. â€Å"Midwives are trained to see birth as a normal, physiological life event throughout which women must make their own choices in order to have control over their own experience †Å"(Kram and Eckstein,1990).The model of care that midwives go by is the belief that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes. The model of care includes monitoring all aspect of the woman well-being throughout the childbearing cycle, provide individualized care with hands on assistance during the birthing process, minimizing technological interventions, and identifying and referring women to obstetrical attention if needed (Midwife Alliance of North America,2013). I choose to do my research on midwives because I want to become one.The who process pregnancy and birthing intrigues me. The process is unique with every case and every woman handle and go through their pregnancy differently rather it be because health reason, religion, or simply because they wanted to go about the experience in a particular manner. Being a midwife I will see a lot of different things and face a lot of different challenges but the most rewarding part of the whole thing is bringing a new life into the world unharmed and healthy. I really like the care model that midwives believe in as well.I think that as a midwife you have a more intimate and closer relationship to your patient because instead of just telling a woman how her pregnancy is being planned out, most midwives take the time out to make a birthing plan and make sure to use the least amount of medicine possible is used so that there are no prolonged or future complications on the mother or unborn child. Though midwives do have comfort medicines that they will use in cases where the pain is unbearable or needed. The nursing care steps are related to just bout all aspect of nursing no matter what area. The nursing care steps are used frequently by a midwife. When a woman becomes a patient for a midwife the woman is first assessed. All her present and pass history is given and the midwife looks her over and gives her gives her a complete and thorough physical examination and make sure all her blood work is checked. After al l test and physical examinations are complete the midwife in conjunction with a doctor diagnosis the patient if needed and provide any extra care to ensure a healthy pregnancy.In most cases is a woman is considered high risk the midwife will refer her to an OB/GYN. Midwives tend to only take in low risk pregnancies because there is less complications that they will encounter being that most midwives lean toward all natural pregnancy’s. After all diagnoses are made the midwife and the patient formulates a birthing plan in which the midwife follows through on as long as the pregnancy goes according to plan with no complications.The implementation phase of the birthing process is how the midwife is actually handling the patient at all visits and how the pregnancy is progressing along. The evaluation phase like always is when the midwife evaluates if the birthing plan being accomplished in a healthy manner and to the patient liking, if there is found to be complications or someth ing that needs to be changed here in the evaluation phase is it done and then it is implemented into the nursing care plan once again. This ongoing cycle is not complete until the child is born and all postpartum care is complete.As a nurse midwife if would be my job to ensure that the patient is well educated about the pregnancy and what is to be expected. It is also the responsibility of the midwife to ensure that the patient is comfortable with every aspect of the birthing plan and feels comfortable being able to discuss what’s going on in her pregnancy. It is the responsibility of the midwife to ensure the safety and well-being of the patient and the unborn child. The midwife is to make sure that the pregnancy is going

William Somerset Maugham’s ‘the Lotus Eater’

Q: Sketch the character of Thomas Wilson. Is the name ‘lotos-eater’ appropriate to him? Ans. William Somerset Maugham’s compelling short story ‘The Lotus Eater’ paints his curious meeting with Thomas Wilson, the pivotal character of the story. A retired English bank manager, Wilson, who made the Italian island Capri his own abode, had a good deal of rumour going about him. No believer of all the tittle-tattle that went about him on the island and elsewhere, the author met him personally to discover his real character. When the author met him for the first time, Wilson, a middle-aged fellow, had already spent fifteen years on the island. As Wilson himself revealed to the author, he fell in love with Capri at first sight. Capri was an island of superb sights and sounds so much so that Wilson would enjoy them heartily until the last day of his life. After his retirement, he lived on an annuity that was to last for only twenty-five years, and he wished to live these years to his heart’s content. He was a man who would live in the present caring little about the future. To Wilson, he had justifiable reason to live after his own heart, since he had none on earth to worry about. He loved nature, music and books, which alone could feed the thoughts of a lonely man like him. He preferred leisure to work, for he believed that people worked only to obtain leisure. Small wonder, after the expiry of his annuity, Wilson fell on worst days and lost the will-power to carry his life any further. With no hopes to live for, Wilson once made an attempt to commit suicide. Though he survived the mortal attempt, he was no longer in his right mind. Then one fateful morning, he was found lying on the mountainside with his eyes closed for ever. The author recalled Wilson saying that he had come to the island on a moonlit night. Hence, he assumed that Wilson had breathed his last while feasting his eyes on a breath-taking sight in the moonlight. It is noteworthy that the title of the story ‘The Lotus Eater’ is remarkably appropriate to the character of Wilson. The lotus eaters in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ were the mariners of Ulysses who forgot their friends and homes after consuming the ‘lotos’ plant on Lotus-land. Having consumed the plant, the mariners broke into a memorable chorus. The chorus worded the anguish that came with toil, as also the joy that they had in that blissful life of leisure and inaction.

Mrs. Fields Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mrs. Fields - Case Study Example However, the main reason behind the dramatic success of the Mrs. Fields’ Cookies was its exceptional management philosophy and management information systems (Richman(a)). In the process excessive international expansion, Randy and Debbi, made sure that they have control over all branches and were not in favor of franchising the outlets. According to them, franchising would have resulted in hurting their management philosophy and quality of business (Richman, 5). Debbi believed in guiding the employees with example and regularly visited its stores in this regard. Management information system of the Mrs. Fields’ Cookies was designed in order to keep control over all stores and to provide the required information to all store managers in order to take better decisions. Information systems at each store helped the managers in the process of taking important daily operational decisions (Richman, 6). Hence, less autonomy is given to the store managers and employees. On the other hand, LPB had completely different management practices and philosophy. The store managers and employees of LPB were provided with the required autonomy and freedom to take important decisions regarding day to day operations at the bakery. Apart from this, LPB does not have the carefully and cleverly build information system. Randy and Debbi were not able to understand these differences and modify the information system according to the new requirements, which in turn resulted in losses after the acquisition of the LPB by the Fields. INTIAL ACTIONS OF FIELDS UPON ACQUIRING LPB AND ITS ANALYSIS: The first most action taken by the Fields upon the acquisition of the La Pettie Boulangerie (LPE) was the reduction of the overall staff of the bakery chain. The administrative staff was reduced to 3 from 53 (Richman, 9). The reason provided by the Fields for this was that all overhead activities and tasks were integrated with the existing management structure and organization, this inc ludes several important tasks like human resources, finance, training and several other. The three people kept belonged to operations and research and development department (Richman, 9). This step of reducing the staff and merging overhead functions with existing organization allowed to cut down the overall cost of operations. Apart from this, integration of the operations and reduction of staff was supportive to the management practices of Debbi and Randy and they could have gain more control. Although, this decision was taken by the Fields in order to manage the acquisition more effectively and efficiently but at the same time this decision would have resulted in resistance on part of the store manager and other employees of the LPB. The decision of reducing the staff would have discouraged and de-motivated the employees and at the same time the level of trust over the new management would have reduced. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FIELDS AND LA PETTIE BOULANGERIE: De bi and Randy were of the view that La Pettie Boulangerie (LPB) was similar to their own business. However, it was important to acknowledge first that the similarity between both businesses was only limited to the type of industry in which they were operating, as the products were related to each other. Debi and Randy wanted to enter into a whole new segment in the bakery industry and for this purpose acquired La Pettie Boulang

Differentiated Instruction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Differentiated Instruction - Essay Example This ensures that all students who are placed in an education system can be provided with training materials in ways that are considerate of the different situations of the environment. Through this way, there is no single student who can fail to acquire ideas because of the limitations posed by their environment, gender, ability or disability, language spoken, personal interests as well as the socioeconomic issues surrounding the area. In education, there are different methods of teaching that are implemented and which can be implemented to ensure that all the people who seek education get the ideal kind without restriction (Etscheidt, 2006). This kind of education, which factors in the requirements of all students in terms of their ability and improvising the environment to make it bearable for learner, is known as differentiated instruction and it takes place in different forms. Differentiated instruction does not characterize the area of acquisition of knowledge only but also the environment of acquisition, modes of assessment of ideas, the amount of support that is given to different students as well as manipulating the contents in the study. Differentiated education is a method of instruction whose main purpose is to ensure easy accommodation different students in program, which has students who have different styles of learning and varying instruction preferences. This kind of instruction involves teaching one subject to different students in varying ways to make sure that the differences are represented by the people. In order to understand differentiated instruction, a person can consider the elaborating the different methods of differentiation which lead to improvement of the situation of individual learner when they are exposed to classes. There are four main ways through which teachers accommodate students with different education needs to ensure that they do not only get the ideas but also are able to apply them in their day to day life after they are subjected them. The four areas that are addressed by the differentiated instruction include the factors of environment of learning, the mode of assessment, the support accorded to learners as well as the modification of the content of learning (Landrum & McDuffie, 2010). In passing of ideas, there are students that are generally slow to learn while others are quick to grasp and use ideas, which are passed by a teacher to them. Those with slow learning abilities require more support from their teachers than those that are quick learners and can get ideas by their own. There are students who can get ideas by their exposure to books on their own without necessarily getting the teachers to help them in elaborating the content of the book. These students can be taught in very easy ways because the amount of time the teacher accords them is minimal so that they do not have to spend a lot of time and energy to teach. These students are able to get and apply ideas that are contained in different books without necessarily getting much assistance from their teachers. This means that exposure to book books can be the only tasking support that a teacher can engage in to facilitate the learning of such a student. On the other hand, there are those students

Cover letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Cover letter - Essay Example The motive was to gain competence on how to identify the possibility of stroke in postoperative orthopedic patients. The course enabled me understand the neurologic patterns that may indicate the danger of stroke in orthopedic patients. Currently, I am pursuing a certificate course on Advanced Cardiac Arrest Support to boost my service to severe orthopedics cases that require information on cardiac arrest. My intention is to advance in the leadership ladder. I have successfully served several leadership positions in various institutions. I served as a charge nurse on a medical unit from 1983 to 1995. The position entailed supervising other nurses, offering support to them and also caring for patients. The position helped advance my leadership skills. I was promoted to Unit Supervisor in 1996 after satisfactory service at the Charge Nurse position. I have served as the unit supervisor from 1996 to date. The position entails supervising a nursing unit in the orthopedics department. I ensure the wellness of the unit nurses as well as ensuring that patients receive quality care from the nurses. My education and experience prove my commitment to excellence. I can fit into any nursing leadership roles. I hope the information will be useful in making a decision on hiring me for a leadership role. I am looking forward to hearing from you. I am a Registered Nurse with more than 30 years of nursing experience. My specialty has been in orthopedics. I am a team player, team leader and skilled in current and emerging trends in my scope of practice. I am attentive to details and always put the health of the patients first in any decisions I make. I am also emotionally intelligence and hence able to make objective decisions on any emerging issue, trend or practice. I am keen to study new concepts that add value to my practice such as ACLS and NIHSS

Industry Briefing Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Industry Briefing Paper - Essay Example Modern market is highly competitive in nature. Each and every competitor is competing very hard. Managers around the world are facing lots of issues regarding placing their products in the market. Proper product placement gives significant competitive advantages to any company. In this paper, a detailed discussion will be done about the different factors related with product placement. It will be a step by step discussion. The paper will include critical analysis about product placement, review of related literature, key issues. At the end of the paper suitable recommendation and conclusion will be given. In the appendix, examples of two case studies will be given. Reflective analysis also will be done. This paper will help the Marketing Director of Bio-gloss to place their hair care products in the market. It will act as a clear guideline for the company to attract the attentions of young, fun loving girls. This paper will help the company to stand out of the competitions and will e nable to place their products uniquely. In this section of the study different product placements theory will be discussed in the context of Bio-gloss. Theories will be discussed are Buying Association Theory, Brand Association Theory and Brand Salience and Recall. According to buying association theory, buyer’s decision making process related with hair care products of Bio-gloss will start as soon as young girls are exposed to the products. The process will start with the customers having an indirect awareness or weak associations with the products of Bio-gloss. In this stage with the help of proper product placement the organization must turn the attentions of their targeted customers towards them. It is very important for the company to develop brand name, familiarity with the different products of Bio-gloss. It is also important for the company to influence the purchasing behaviours of targeted customers. How one targeted customer of Bio-gloss is being exposed to the

Benefits of Partnerships with Nonprofits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Benefits of Partnerships with Nonprofits - Essay Example Public Administration in partnership with these entities can only assure a gain on both sides. Having both at the board table can only improve and extend the services presently being rendered to the public (Carroll, 1989). Collaboration is one of the things that have been missing over the last 30 years in the development of Public Administration and that collaboration can build strong interrelated teams for a better public trust. The world of the non-profit has continued to expand over the last 30 years. Public Administrations expected responsibilities have also expanded. Traditionally the two groups have worked alone, even being in competition with each other at times. This causes a lack of collaboration and less than adequate use of funds on both sides. Funds, under today's circumstances, are not increasing and neither is the public's trust of how funds are being used (Butz, 2009). The building of partnerships between Public Administration and the non-profits may be the answer to how we manage better use of funds available for the better of the public. We will discuss how non-profit and Public Administration is presently working and what a partnership may accomplish. Nonprofits today are very inter-related with communities and it is sometimes difficult to understand what their impact on the community truly is. They support local economies through employment as well as collection of needed funding. There is usually a great deal of public trust and funds throughout the community are collected through various methods to permit these to function. Grants frequently support large numbers of them and with each of these grants comes accountability that is often difficult to achieve. On the same note Public Administration has a great deal of engagement in the public good and how and what areas are funded in a community. Community housing becomes an extreme need for both sides and therefore is an important consideration for the possibility of a partnership. At this time, the community at large may see both Public Administration and the not-profit housing industry as repetitive (Jennings, 2005) as well as somewhat competitive. There are many concerns that there is a great deal of redundancy as these agencies depend on volunteered funds, government funding and foundation funding alike. Would it be more efficient for Public Administration to be involved in a partnership here to decrease gaps in services as well as gaps in skills necessary to provide these services (Jennings, 2005) Recently because of the thought that redundancy is happening, there has been a decrease in overall confidence in nonprofit organizations in some states that are handling the housing piece. This might be remedied by having some administrative duties being provided by public administration. This might also help to close the gap of government funding in the social sector, increasing the funding that both have available to do their work. Public Administration can help the public with experience in building the capacity of the local

RXD Marketing Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

RXD Marketing Plan - Assignment Example Within a span of two years, the products had spread across the world enabling RXD to set up fourty stores. With the increased demand in ballerina shoes, the company intends to put some of its stores in France. Ballerina shoes come in different forms depending on the purpose unto which it is to be put into. Some of ballerina shoes are; loafer, indoor accessories, snowfall and Tonka. This paper is going to cover the market exploration of ballerina shoes in France. The French people like luxurious lifestyle. They are in love with social places like eating and drinking joint. This culture is very common among the urban population. Material comfort goes hand in hand with this kind of living. RXD has to select a reference group which will help her do the sale of her products in this new market. The company needs to address some of the concerns in mind and more so those that pertains to the longevity of their product in the market of France. In a bid to realize this, RXD plans to engage the professionals, modern women and the fashion designers. The company also intends to take advantage of the France flexible business laws favouring sale of shoes and shoe manufacturers. The customer’s life cycle needs to be put into consideration. In this cycle the customer’s age and stage will be analysed. This will determine their reach, acquisition, conversion, retention and loyalty to the product. Since there are no stores for any of the RXD products, customers will be the first to be reached. The occupation and economic states the country’s population of the target customers’ will have to be considered. The company targets a fourteen million people aged between twenty and fourty years old. This population is believed to be stable enough to by the shoes. The customers’ way of living, opinions, attitudes and cognitions as well as their self concept will have to be considered. The lifestyle of professional ladies for instance

Literature review Essay Example for Free

Literature review Essay A reasonable risk assessment of sex offenders, when combined with good parole supervision and a community-based treatment program aimed at relapse prevention, effectively reduces recidivism. This was the finding of a study conducted by Wilson, Stewart, Stirpe, Barrett, and Cripps in Canada. Published in 2000, the study covered 107 sex offenders who were released to the custody of the Central Ontario District during a period of eight years starting in 1990. According to the authors, their study outlined the general principles laid down by Motiuk, Belcourt, and Bonta in 1995, namely: careful and continuous evaluation of offender risk which ensures that highly dangerous offenders were not allowed to return to the community by sentencing them to life in prison; focusing on criminal behavior when conducting intervention programs with the help of qualified psychologists; effective monitoring of the returning offenders’ activities in the community by employing only competent parole personnel trained in the principles of relapse prevention; and an honest exchange of information among the relatives of sex offenders, the parole personnel, and the treatment staff in order to achieve the right mix of treatment intervention and parole supervision. Wilson et al (2000) found that the strategy resulted to a low 3. 7% recidivism compared to the 5. 4% cited by the study of Motiuk and Brown, and the 6.3% recidivism rate which came out of the study conducted by Barbaree, Seto, and Maric. Both studies were completed in 1996 (Wilson, Stewart, Stirpe, Barrett, and Cripps, 2000). In West Virginia, Gordon and Weldon (2003). Examined the effect of educational programs on recidivism. Studying the records of inmates who attended the General Educational Development (GED) and the Vocational training programs conducted from 1999-2000 at Huttonsville Correctional Center, they found that a recidivism rate of 8. 75% was recorded for those who completed the vocational training program. Inmates who went through both the vocational training program and the GED, on the other hand, reported a lower 6. 71% recidivism rate. Both figures were way below the recidivism rate of 26% which was observed on inmates who did not participate in either educational program. These results were comparative to the findings of a study made by Mace in 1978 of 320 inmates who were discharged from correctional institutions in West Virginia in 1973. Out of the 320, 76 were rearrested after four years, 21 (or 6. 56%) of whom were products of educational programs behind bars while 55 (or 17. 19%) did not attend any educational program while being incarcerated (Gordon and Weldon, 2003). Meanwhile, two cost-effective programs were the subject of an article authored by Harvey Shrum in 2004. Published in the Journal of Correctional Education, the article discussed two additional practices called logotherapy and intensive journal which, according to him, were better at reducing â€Å"future criminality† of both offenders and potential offenders than punishment and surveillance-based programs. Logotherapy, which means â€Å"health through meaning,† was developed by Dr. Viktor Frankl as an effective substitute to the 12-step program of rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abusers generally accepted by most parole boards. The program aims to provide inmates with a â€Å"purpose and direction in life. † Introduced forty years ago to inmates of a California Rehabilitation Center, program participants reported a recidivism rate of 5. 5%. When it was re-introduced to nineteen inmates of Folsom State Prison in 1998, the three participants who were released on parole reported a zero percent recidivism by year 2004. Intensive journal, on the other hand, was first introduced at Folsom State Prison in 1992. Created by Dr. Ira Progoff, it is a â€Å"method of self-development† that makes use of writing exercises. Inmates were made to write about their experiences, relationships with their families, their jobs and health, and the meaning that they give to their lives in a journal. These journals were reviewed and feedbacks were provided. By 2002, ten years after the program was introduced, no participant was ever rearrested (Shrum, 2004). The debate on the value of using recidivism to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of correctional programs continues and, in fact, polarized justice scholars. A dissenting opinion was voiced by Thomas in 2005 when he said that prison facilities and programs have no influence over the behavior of inmates once they return to their communities. He argued that communities are influenced by certain social, cultural, and economic factors which are beyond the control of prison facilities. Policymakers and academics, however, refuse to budge. They insist that there is no other, better measure than the rate of recidivism. According to these academics and policymakers, effective rehabilitation measures should be able to provide inmates with coping mechanisms necessary for them to deal with the â€Å"economic, social, and cultural stresses of post-release life. † In the same vein, they argue that effective deterrence programs should produce inmates who should have learned enough lessons during incarceration to dissuade them from returning to a life of crime. In both cases, they maintain that low recidivism should be the direct result. Although inclined towards the use of recidivism, Maxwell, in an article entitled: â€Å"Rethinking the Broad Sweep of Recidivism: A Task for Evaluators,† suggested that academics should not stop looking for less familiar methods of approaching the problem while policymakers should maintain an open mind so that like policy questions could be considered more objectively (Maxwell, 2005). References Gordon, H. R. D., and Weldon, B. (2003). The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars. Journal of Correctional Education, 54, 4, 200-209. Maxwell, S. R. (2005). RETHINKING THE BROAD SWEEP OF RECIDIVISM: A TASK FOR EVALUATORS. Criminology Public Policy, 4, 3, 519-526. Shrum, H. (2004). No Longer Theory: Correctional Practices That Work. Journal of Correctional Education, 55, 3, 225-235. Wilson, R. J. , Stewart, L. , Stirpe, T. , Barrett, M. , and Cripps, J. E. (2000). Community-based sex offender management: Combining parole supervision and treatment to reduce recidivism. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 42, 2, 177-188.

Doctrine of Harmonious Construction

Doctrine of Harmonious Construction HISTORY 1st amendment came in the case of Sankari Prasad before SC. The court unanimously decided to resolve the conflict between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles by placing the reliance of the line of doctrine of harmonious construction. The court held that the FRs impose limitation over the legislature and executive power. They are not inviolable and parliament can amend them to bring in conformity to directive principles. The result was generally all law providing for the acquisition of state and interest therein and specially certain state including land reform acts of U.P., Bihar and M.P. were immune from the attack based on article 13 read with other provision of part III. DOCRTINE OF HARMONIOUS CONSTRUCTION It is a sound canon of interpretation that courts must try to avoid a conflict between the provisions of Statute. The rule of reconciliation on the Entries was propounded for the first time in the case of in re C.P. and Bare Act. It is the province of the courts to determine the extent of the authority to deal with subjects falling within the legislative purview of each legislature. To avoid conflict, the Courts should read Entries of two Lists together and the language of one Entry can be interpreted, and modified too, with the help of another Entry. Interpreting Entries 24 and 25 of the State List harmoniously, the Supreme Court held that gas and gas works being in Entry 25 would not fall in the general Entry 24Industry and observed: It is also well settled that widest amplitude should be given to the language of Entries but some of the entries in the different Listsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦may overlap and sometimes may also appear to be in direct conflict with each other, it is then duty of this court to reconcile the entries and bring about harmony between them. In this way it may, in most cases, be found possible to arrive at a reasonable and practical construction of the language of the sections, so as to reconcile the respective powers they contain and to give effect to all of them. In Tika Ramji v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [3] the position of the industries was clarified by Supreme Court. In the instant case the vires of U.P. Sugarcane (Regulation of Supply and Purchase) Act, 1953 was involved. It was contended that sugarcane being controlled industry fall within the jurisdiction of the Union List by virtue of Entry 52 of List I falls within the legislative purview of Parliament. The Supreme Court, therefore, had to e xplain the Inter-relation between Entries 52 of List I, 24 and 27 of List II and 33 of List III. Entry 24 of List II and 52 of List I establish that except controlled industries, the industries generally fells within the State Sphere. Entry 27 of List II gives power to State to regulate the production, supply and distribution of goods subject to provisions of Entry 33 of List III. The sugar industry being controlled industry, the distribution, supply and production of the product of this controlled industry viz. Sugar as a finished product, Principle of Harmonious Construction The principle of harmonious interpretation is similar to the idea of broad or purposive approach. The key to this method of constitutional interpretation is that provisions of the Constitution should be harmoniously interpreted. Constitutional provisions should not be construed in isolation from all other parts of the Constitution, but should be construed as to harmonize with those other parts. A provision of the constitution must be construed and considered as part of the Constitution and it should be given a meaning and an application which does not lead to conflict with other Articles and which confirms with the Constitutions general scheme. When there are two provisions in a statute, which are in apparent conflict with each other, they should be interpreted such that effect can be given to both and that construction which renders either of them inoperative and useless should not be adopted except in the last resort. This principle is illustrated in the case of Raj Krishna vs Bino d AIR 1954. In this case, two provisions of Representation of People Act, 1951, which were in apparent conflict were brought forth. Section 33 (2) says that a Government Servant can nominate or second a person in election but section 123(8) says that a Government Servant cannot assist any candidate in election except by casting his vote. The Supreme Court observed that both these provisions should be harmoniously interpreted and held that a Government Servant was entitled to nominate or second a candidate seeking election in State Legislative assembly. This harmony can only be achieved if Section 123(8) is interpreted as giving the govt. servant the right to vote as well as to nominate or second a candidate and forbidding him to assist the candidate it any other manner. Upon looking at various cases, the following important aspects of this principle are evident The courts must avoid a head on clash of seemingly contradicting provisions and they must construe the contradictory provi sions so as to harmonize them. The provision of one section cannot be used to defeat the provision contained in another unless the court, despite all its effort, is unable to find a way to reconcile their differences. When it is impossible to completely reconcile the differences in contradictory provisions, the courts must interpret them in such as way so that effect is given to both the provisions as much as possible. Courts must also keep in mind that interpretation that reduces one provision to a useless number or a dead lumbar, is not harmonious construction. To harmonize is not to destroy any statutory provision or to render it otiose. Case 1: Unni Krishnan, J.P. and ors., etc. v. State of Andhra Pradesh and ors. The writ petition was filed challenging whether the right to life under Article 21 of the constitution guarantees a fundamental right to education to the citizens of India and right to education includes professional education. This was challenged by certain private professional educational institutions and also in respect of regulating capitation fees charged by such institutions. The Supreme Court held that right to basic education was implied by the fundamental right to life when read with article 41 of directive principle on education. As per article 45 of the constitution, the state is to provide free and compulsory education for all children below the age of 14 years and there is no fundamental right to education for a professional degree that flows from article 21. Several states have passed legislation making primary education compulsory and there is no central legislation to make elementary education compulsory. In addition, the Court held that, in order to treat a right as fundamental right, it is not necessary that it should be expressly stated as one in Part III of the Constitution: the provisions of Part III and Part IV are supplementary and complementary to each other. The Court rejected that the rights reflected in the provisions of Part III are superior to the moral claims and aspirations reflected in the provisions of Part IV. Case:2 Smt. Rani Kusum vs Smt. Kanchan Devi And Ors on 16 August, 2005 Showing the contexts in which harmonious construction author:A Pasayat appears in the document have to ascertain the object which is required to be served by this provision and its design and context in which it is enacted. The use of the word shall is ordinarily indicative of mandatory nature of the provision but having regard to the context in which it is used or having regard to the intention of the legislation, the same can be construed as directory. The rule in question has to advance the cause of justice and not to defeat it. The rules of procedure are made to advance the cause of justice and not to defeat it. Construction of the rule or procedure which promotes justice and prevents miscarriage has to be preferred. The rules or procedure are handmaid of justice stress. In the present context, the strict interpretation would defeat justice. In construing this provision, support can also be had from Order VIII Rule 10 which provides that where any party from whom a written statement is required under Rule 1 or Rule 9, fails to present the same within the time permitted or fixed by the Court, the Court shall pronounce judgment against him, or make such other order in relation written statement under this provision, the Court has been given the discretion either to pronounce judgment against the defendant or make such other order in relation to suit as it thinks fit. In the context of the provision, despite use of the word shall, the court has been given the discretion to pronounce or not to pronounce the judgment against the defendant even if written statement is not filed and instead pass such order as it may think fit in relation to the suit. In construing the provision of Order VIII Rule 1 and Rule 10, the doctrine of harmonious construction is required to be applied. The effect would be that under Rule 10 of Order VII I, the court in its discretion would have power to allow the defendant to file written statement even after expiry of period of 90 days provided in Order VIII Rule 1. There is no restriction in Order VIII Rule 10 that after expiry of ninety days, further time cannot be granted. The Court has wide power to make such order in relation to the suit as it thinks fit. Clearly, therefore, the provision of Order VIII Rule 1 providing for upper limit State Of Orissa And Ors vs Arakhita Bisoi on 14 April, 1977 Showing the contexts in which harmonious construction appears in the document respondent was allowed by the Orissa High Court by its order dated 15-7-1976 holding that the Additional Magistrate had powers to revise an order of the appellate authority passed u/s 44 by virtue of the powers conferred on him under s. 59of the Act. Dismissing the appeal by certificate, the Court, HELD: (i)The language of S. 59(1) of the Orissa Land Reforms Act is wide enough to enable the Collector to revise any order including an appellate order under S. 44 of the Act.[561B] (ii) In applying the rule of harmonious construction with a view to give effect to the intention of the legislature the court will not be justified in putting a construction which would restrict the revisionary jurisdiction of the Collector and the Board of Revenue. [560E] In the instant case, the Act is of expropratory nature and the determination of the excess lands is done by the Revenue Officer. The legislature intended that any error or irregularity should be rectified by higher authorities like the Collector and the Board of Revenue. [560E] J. K. Cotton Spinning Weaving Mills Co. Ltd. v. State revise such order. Though the amendment to section 44(3) makes it clear that a right to revision is provided for orders passed under section 44(2), we do not think that this could mean that section 44(2) as it originally stood did not provide for power of revision to the Collector under section59. In our opinion, amendment does not make any difference. The learned counsel for the appella nt submitted that section 44(3) is in the nature of a special provision and should be construed as an exception to section 59 on the principle of harmonious construction. In support of this plea the learned counsel referred to the decision in The J.K. Cotton Spinning Weaving Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of U.P. Ors. (1). In construing the provisions of clause 5(a) and clause 23 of the G.O. concerned, this Court held that the rule of harmonious construction should be applied and in applying the rule the court will have to remember that to harmonise is not to destroy and that in interpreting the statutes the court always presumes that the legislature inserted every part thereof for a purpose and the legislative intention is that every part of the statute should have effect, and a construction which defeats the intention of the rule-making authority must be avoided. This decision does not help the appellant for in our view in applying the rule of harmonious construction with a view to giv e effect to the intention o(the legislature the court will not be justified in putting a construction which would restrict the revisionary jurisdiction of the Collector and the Board of Revenue. It may be noted that the Act is of exproprietory nature and the determination of the excess lands is done by the Revenue Officer and on appeal by the Revenue Divisional Officer. In such circumstances, it is only 13roper to presume that the legislature intended that any error or irregularity should be rectified by higher authorities like the Collector and the Board of Revenue. In our view it will be in conformity with the intention of the legislature to hold that section 59 confers a power of revision of an order passed under section 44(2) of the Act. The learned counsel next referred to a decision of this Court in The Bengal Immunity Company Limited rule of construction is stated at p. 791 in the following terms by Venkatarama Ayyar, J. speaking for the Court: It is a cardinal rule of constr uction that when there are in a Statute two provisions which are in conflict with each other such that both of them cannot stand, they should, if possible be so interpreted that effect can be given to both, and that a construction which renders either of them inoperative and useless should not be adopted except in the last resort. This is what is known as the rule of harmonious construction. One application of this rule is that when there 561 is a law generally dealing with a subject and another dealing particularly with one of the topics comprised therein, the general law is to be construed as yielding to the special in respect of the matters comprised therein. Construing section 59 as conferring a power of revision against an order passed under section 44(2) is not in any way contrary to the principle laid down in the above decision. Jagdish Singh vs Lt. Governor Delhi And Others on 11 March, 1997 Showing the contexts in which harmonious construction appears in the document later. The Registrar, however, committed serious error in interpreting Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 and directing cessation of membership of the appellant from both the societies. Mr. Bobde also argued that if Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 is interpreted to mean that on incurring such disqualification by operation of law one ceases to be a member of both societies, then Rule 28 conferring power on the Registrar to give a written requisition to either or both the co-operative societies for cessation of the membership, would become inoperative, and therefore, efforts should be made for harmonious construction where under both the provisions can operate. Mr. Bobde also argued that under Rule 25(1) the embargo upon a person to become a member of a co-operative society is there if the said person or his spouse or any of his dependent children is a member of any other housing society. The disqualification in question is thu s attached to becoming a member of co-operative society if he is already a member of another society. Under Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 a deemed cessation accrues obviously in relation to a society in respect of which the disqualification is attached question that arises for consideration is: whether a person who is a member of a housing co-operative society having incurred the disqualification under Rule 25(1)(c)(iii) on being a member of a subsequent housing society would cease to be a member of both the societies with effect from the date of the disqualification incurred by him. It is a cardinal principal of construction of a statute or the statutory rule that efforts should be made in construing the different provisions, so that, each provision will have its play and in the event of any conflict a harmonious construction should be given. Further a statute or a rule made there under should be read as a whole and one provision should be construed with reference to the other provision so as to make the rule consistent and any construction which would bring any inconsistency or repugnancy between one provision and the other should be avoided. One rule cannot be used to defeat another rule in the same rules unless it is impossible to effect harmonisation between them. The well-known principle of harmonious construction is that effect should be given to all the provisions, and therefore, this Court held in several cases that a construction that reduces one of the provisions to a dead letter is not a harmonious construction as one part is being destroyed and consequently court should avoid such a construction. Bearing in mind the aforesaid rules of construction if Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 and Rule 28 are examined the obvious answer would be that under Sub-rule (2) the deemed cessation from membership of the person concerned is in relation to the society pertaining to which disqualifications are incurred. A plain reading of Rule 28 makes it crystal clear that the Regis trar when becomes aware of the fact that an individual has become a member of two co-operative societies of the same class which obviously is a disqualification under Rule 25 then he has the discretion to direct removal of the said individual from the membership of either or both the co-operative societies. If Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 is interpreted to mean that deemed cessation of the person concerned from membership of both the societies then the question of discretion of the Registrar under Rule 28 will not arise .If the interpretation given by the Registrar incurred. In the case in hand the disqualification which the appellant incurred was in respect of his membership of the Tribal Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. as he could not have become a member of the said society as he was already a member of Dronacharaya Co-operative Group Housing Society, and therefore, by operation of Sub-rule (2) he would deem to have ceased to be a member from the Tribal Co-operative Housing Society right from the inception in November, 1983 and not from the Dronacharaya Co- operative Group Housing Society. 8. Apart from the aforesaid harmonious construction of Sub-rule (2) of Rule 25 and Rule 28, on a plain construction of Rules 25 also the same conclusion has to be arrived at. Sub-rule (1) disqualifies a person for admission as member of a housing society if he or his spouse or any of his dependent children is a member of any other housing society. The disqualification in question obviously attaches to membership of the second society and has no connection with his membership of the first society. In view of the aforesaid embargo contained in Sub-rule (1) to Rule 25, Sub-rule Significance The courts must avoid a head on clash of seemingly contradicting provisions and they must construe the contradictory provisions so as to harmonize them. The provision of one section cannot be used to defeat the provision contained in another unless the court, despite all its effort, is unable to find a way to reconcile their differences. When it is immpossible to completely reconcile the differences in contradictory provisions, the courts must interpret them in such as way so that effect is given to both the provisions as much as possible. Courts must also keep in mind that interpretation that reduces one provision to a useless number or a dead lumbar, is not harmonious construction. To harmonize is not to destroy any statutory provision or to render it otiose. Conclusion As per this doctrine the courts must try to avoid conflicts between the provisions of the statutes. Thus the provisions must be so interpreted that the conflict between the two is avoided and each of them is given effect and, for that purpose the scope and meaning of one may be restricted so as to give meaning to the other also.

The Traditional Culture of Asian Civilizations from 1500 to 1700 Essay

Do you feel that Asian Civilizations from 1500 to 1700 veered towards modernity or careened back toward traditional culture? From the 16th to 18th century, the prominent Asian Civilizations were the Mughal Empire, the Ming Dynasty of China and the Edo Period of Japan. There was an obvious trend that these empires leaned toward traditional culture mainly because of political influences. Although there were also several aspects of each society such as the more important role of women in the Mughal Empire, the interactions of the Jesuits with China and Japan that might be indicative of modernity or act as a precursor to modern values, the reversion of traditional culture in each civilization is so much greater that it outweighed the progress towards modernity. The early Mughal Emperors were religiously tolerant, unlike previous Muslim rulers and they embraced the cultures of the Indians that they conquered. Even though they were Muslims, Hindu art and literature once again flourished and the rulers themselves followed a traditional Maharaja style of ruling that paralleled themselves to divine avatars with absolute authority. Respect from commoners was thus mandatory. (Murphey 190) The Ming Dynasty was established when a rebel by the name of Hongwu successfully reclaimed China from Mongolian Rule. Triumphant in breaking free from their Mongolian oppressors, the people of China tried to restore the former glory of their ancestors by embracing their traditional customs that their Mongolian rulers forbade. This started a trend in conservatism where there was fervent determination to establish the original Chinese way of life after Mongol humiliation. (Murphey 213) Due to paranoia, Emperor Hongwu tried to prevent intellectua... ... in gender equality was no different than their traditional customs. In conclusion, Asian civilizations from the 1500 to 1700 were generally not open to radical changes; they were more comfortable embracing old customs. The Indians fell back on their age old Hindu practices and caste system. The Ming Chinese were influenced to practice conservatism and upholding original Confucian Ideals by their Emperor. The Edo Japanese upheld the Imperial tradition of having an Emperor as well as secluding themselves from foreigners to protect their customs from Western cultural corrosion. The first wave of Europeans to reach Asia did not manage to influence much of these civilizations since they already had a proper, formalized government and hundreds even thousands of years of culture. Therefore, Asian civilizations from 1500 to 1700 were generally traditionalistic.

Forgiveness Essay -- Informative, Nazy Soldier

Simon Wiesenthal’s question â€Å"What would [you] have done† if one had the opportunity to forgive a Nazi soldier forces humanity to understand and apply our moral repertoire. My moral repertoire I mean the set of moral beliefs that informs our understanding of forgiveness and the criteria by which we evaluate its Karl the Nazi Soldier, who initiates our inquiry into forgiveness, represents multiple identities. He is at once a rational human being, a member and supporter of the Nazi military, a murderer, and actor and representative of the State. Because of the simultaneously occurrence and fluidity of these identities conflation is an easy mistake in constructing exactly who we are forgiving. To forgive Karl the individual is very different than forgiving the Nazis or the State as represented by Karl. Even Lawrence Lager in the Symposium writes â€Å"It seems to me that in refusing to extend forgiveness to the culprit, Wiesenthal unconsciously acknowledges the indissoluble bond fusing the criminal to his crime† (The Sunflower 178). The conflation of what Karl represents is a large part of what make Wiesenthal’s question so vexing because the rules of forgiveness alter depending on the actor. Karl the individual is due certain considerations simply because of his humanity while the Nazis and the State as represented by Karl are entangled in political considerations. Forever labeling Karl as a murderer forgoes his still present humanity. This is not to say that forgiving Karl the individual isn’t political, or that we shouldn’t acknowledge the enormity of his crime. This is to stress that the limits and criteria of forgiveness change whether it is person to person or person to political bodies. This separation of individual from sta... ...untry and the victims to move forward and be â€Å"free† as one symposium speakers says. To wallow with bitterness and despair is perhaps than acknowledging what happen, mourning what was loss, and beginning the process of rebuilding. Louise Mallinder in â€Å"Can Amnesties and International Justice be Reconciled?† posits the following hypothetical: â€Å"Amnesty for lower-level offenders could also mean that in their daily life, victims are frequently confronted by the individuals who caused their suffering which could cause further harm to the victims and even lead them to engage in vigilantism† (210). Forgiveness is not physical and can only be manifested through the mediums of words, actions and shared understandings. These traits gives forgiveness a spiritual quality that illustrates how it can transcend physical atrocity; to render the unforgiveable forgivable.

Lupus Essay -- essays research papers fc

br> Lupus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lupus is a potentially life threatening disease that effects about 1.5 million Americans. Lupus can effect many different parts of the body. Lupus is a type of autoimmune system disorder in which the body cannot distinguish the difference between foreign antibodies and its own organs. So basically what happens is that the body ends up attacking its own organs thinking they are foreign substances. (The Lupus Foundation of America)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are three different types of Lupus. They are: Discoid, Systematic, and Drug-Induced. Discoid Lupus only effects a persons skin. The only symptom of Discoid Lupus is a rash. Systematic Lupus is the most common form of Lupus. It effects the skin, joints, and sometimes the organs of a persons body. Sometimes this form of Lupus will go into remission and there will be no symptoms until the disease becomes active. The final type of Lupus is Drug-Induced. This Lupus is brought on by the use of certain prescription drugs, especially drugs to lower blood pressure. When the use of the drug is discontinued the symptoms almost always disappear. (The Lupus Foundation of America)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is no known cause of Lupus. Although some families seem to be prone to Lupus, there is no known gene that carries the disease. Only about five percent of children born from a mother with Lupus will develop Lupus. Lupus is often thought of as a women’s disease because it occur...

HBS Case: Hedging Currency Risks at AIFS Essay

Instructions: This case should be done individually. You should prepare a written analysis, and hand in two copies of your analysis on April 12 in class. Only hard copies of the case analysis are accepted. I will submit one of the copies to the Dean’s office for assessment purpose. Each student should also bring his/her own copy of the write-up to class, as well as the case itself, so that we can refer to the specifics in our discussion. The text analysis of your case should be about 3-5 pages (double-spaced). You should download the excel spreadsheet for the case at the Blackboard, complete the quantitative analysis using the spreadsheet, and attach the spreadsheet to your case write-up to support your arguments. Your write-up should begin with an opening paragraph that defines the main problem in the case and your recommended solution. The remainder of your paper should support your conclusion and recommendations. This support should be based on your definition of the problem and inferences that you draw from the facts of the case. Structure is important for your argument to be lucid and transparent. The grading will be based on the quality of your analysis and writing. Points will be deducted for grammar mistakes and typos. Your case should address the following questions: 1. What gives rise to the currency exposure at AIFS? 2. What would happen if Archer-Lock and Tabaczynski did not hedge at all? 3. What would happen with a 100% hedge with forwards? A 100% hedge with  options? Use the forecast final sales volume of 25,000 and analyze the possible outcomes relative to the â€Å"zero impact† scenario described in the case. 4. What happens if sales volumes are lower or higher than expected as outlined at the end of the case? 5. What hedging decision would you advocate? Key Problem The American Institute for Foreign Studies (AIFS) organizes study abroad programs and cultural exchanges for American students. The firm’s revenues are mainly in U.S. dollars, but most of its costs are in euros. AIFS sets guaranteed prices for its exchanges and tours a year in advance, before its final sales figures are known. If the dollar depreciates against the Euro during this period, AIFS’s cost would be higher when measuring in dollars, and negatively impact the firm’s profit. In order to hedge its foreign exchange exposure, AIFS can use an appropriate balance between forward contracts and currency options to achieve the goal. The Case with No Hedging If the exchange rate remains constant at $1.22/euros then AIFS will not incur a foreign exchange loss or a gain. It would cost $1220 per participant at this exchange rate. If the dollar depreciates against euro, the actual dollar costs would be above $1220, and then there would be a negative impact. If actual dollar costs were lower than expected, the impact would be positive. Thus, with a sales volume of 25,000 participants and the exchange rate rises to $1.48/euros then AIFS will be subject to a loss of $4,391,892. If the exchange rate drops to $1.01/euros then AIFS will save $5,198,020.

Ancient Greek Marital and Gender Roles

Ancient Greek Marital and Gender Roles *Note: All claims are assumptions based off of textual clues and are not to be understood as fact but to be recognized as potential truths. The roles of men and women in Ancient Greek civilization can never be fully understood since no one alive today existed during their era. That being said, analysis of texts written by Ancient Greek authors provides us with insight into how their culture viewed both genders. It is through these texts that scholars can identify customary actions of single and married couples.Questions such as: should women save themselves for marriage, Are men the providers, And were women expected to be subservient in a patriarchal society can all be answered through textual understanding. As we prepare to dive into ancient texts and learn about the Greek culture of old, one must understand the importance of utilizing multiple authors. Without calling upon a variety of texts, a credible and thorough theory on how Ancient Gree k individuals acted cannot be erected.For the purposes of this analysis the authors Euripides, Aeschylus, and Homer will be employed with the prospect of further understanding Ancient Greek gender and marital roles. Taking into account the differences among these texts in authorship and date, we will burden three main tasks: identify what makes a good husband and good wife, discern if and why one role receives more attention than the other, and conclude what ancient Greek social norms may have been from the way these texts depict marital relationships. Euripides’, Hippolytus, provides a sturdy backbone for understanding how Ancient Greek civilization viewed gender roles.Before reading a text it is important not to have a narrow scope. This means that one should not only focus on the perceived main character, but rather consider how every character may depict an aspect of the then current culture. Despite being titled Hippolytus, it is crucial not to only concentrate on the ch aracter Hippolytus. In fact, there may be just as much if not more to be learned from Phaedra. Phaedra, being the stepmother of Hippolytus, supplies a situation where her actions toward Hippolytus can be used in understanding the expected actions of married females toward single males. After Phaedra earns that her nurse has disclosed the sensitive information about her romantic feelings for Hippolytus to him and that he has rejected her she takes her own life out of shame. However, she leaves a note for her husband – Hippolytus’ father – Theseus, claiming that his son has raped her. This action reveals that perhaps it was not uncommon for women to take their lives after being sexually violated. With that in mind, it may be inferred that sexual purity was expected of women, that once a woman has been tainted by a male who was not her partner she loses her respect, honor, and desirability.In addition, Theseus’ reaction allows us to see even further into gen der relationships and societal norms. Theseus takes the offensive against Hippolytus, cursing him and subsequently causing his death. Nevertheless, instead of coming to the hasty conclusion that Theseus is emotionally volatile and lacking the ability to understand, it is pertinent that one stops and asks: â€Å"Why may he have acted this way? † For where most mistakes are made in textual analysis is through hasty generalizations based on current era norms.Indeed, in todays world Theseus’ reaction would lead to his imprisonment and mandatory meetings with a psychiatrist but this was not always so. In Ancient Greece honor was critical and helped in determining social status. Euripides lived during the end of the Persian Wars and much like the notorious Spartans, the Athenians considered honor for themselves and their family to be of the utmost importance. With this in mind we will take another look at Theseus’ reaction and how it provides insight into Ancient Gree k culture.It is possible that Theseus reaction would have been of the norm during his time. It was most likely seen as dishonorable to commit suicide as well as to lie; therefore, Theseus would not dare question the claims made by his wife. Theseus was trying to protect his honor as well as that of his family by taking action against he who had supposedly raped his wife. Society may have expected him to avenge Phaedra’s death. This shows that a married couple was a strong unit, that each must have trust in each other; it was not their duty to question the word of their partner.Bearing everything in mind it can be deduced that a good husband is one who protects his family and a good wife one who is loyal, even if it means taking their own life. Nevertheless, the male gender role stresses honor over family. Moreover, when honor and family conflict, family loses – hence the death of Hippolytus. Euripides portrayal of Hippolytus assists in depicting how men were expected t o act in society. Hippolytus serves as a paradigm for a man who does not meet the standards of the societal norm. We are able to identify that Hippolytus is not a normal Athenian male because the goddess Aphrodite punishes him for his actions.He is a boy who has not yet become a man; he shows that it was not acceptable for males in Ancient society to resist maturity. His wish to remain abstinent, or more so his lack of sexual desire is common among the youth but not a matured male. Aphrodite is used to receiving praise and worship from the male population and because Hippolytus does not worship her – but instead the virgin goddess Artemis – she chooses to punish him. His punishment allows us to infer that all men were required to seek out a woman when they reached the age of maturity.Those who did not most likely brought shame to themselves and their family. Moreover, it can be seen through the emphasis on family, and sexual desire that procreation was not so much a ch oice as it is today but an obligation and duty of each and every able-bodied male. Ultimately, Euripides’ Hippolytus sheds a lot of light on social norms regarding gender roles. During the time period in Ancient Greece while Euripides was alive – estimated between 484 – 407 B. C. E. (Before Current Era) – the prevalence of honor was paramount, effecting the actions and choices made by both males and females.It was the duty of the male to protect and maintain honor for his family by taking action against those who threaten or harm the fortitude of his family. But first it is his societal obligation to wed a woman and create a family. On the other hand women are important members of society, their word bears weight in discussion and decision, it is their duty to love and protect their family as well as to maintain honor for themselves by being loyal companions even if it means taking their own life. Although the assumptions made off of textual clues in Hipp olytus appear valid, it is still important to consider other ancient texts.The Odyssey by Homer is another text that provides clues toward how Ancient Greek civilization regarded gender and marital roles. There appears to be an undisputable amount of evidence supporting that there was a double standard between men and women on how they should act toward the opposite sex. Odysseus engages in sexual activities with a large amount of women on his journey home to Ithaca. Whereas despite not having not seen her husband for twenty years Penelope remains loyal even though she has a crowd of suitors desiring her bed.Odysseus’ behavior leads to the belief that it was acceptable for Greek males to cheat on their wives. However, there is not enough evidence that supports that his behavior was acceptable. Additionally his circumstances were not of the norm so it is unfair to say that Odysseus’ behavior corresponded with that of the average Greek male. The important part of Odysseu s and Penelope’s relationship that does speak to the social norms of society is the devotion held toward one another. Penelope’s decision to remain loyal to her husband even after twenty years of absence says a lot about Greek women.It can be inferred that marriage was a huge deal and loyalty an even bigger one. If Penelope had chosen another suitor before knowing if Odysseus was dead or not then she could have potentially brought dishonor to herself and her family. The importance of loyalty and marriage is stressed by Penelope’s actions. Additionally, she shows that to be a good wife is to be a committed wife. In comparison, although Odysseus is not loyal like Penelope, he shows that it is the duty of a husband to make it home to his wife and to always put family first.The fact that Odysseus wants more than anything to return home and see his wife – so badly that he even gives up his potential life with Calypso – supports that commitment to oneâ⠂¬â„¢s family is the most important duty of a Greek male. When Odysseus does return home and finds that suitors have overrun his house he takes action and eliminates all of them. Although it may be argued that a couple of the suitors were genuine, decent people and should not have been killed, his decision to kill all of them attests to the duties of a good husband.The suitors entering his home without verification of his death was a strike at his honor. It is from his decision to eliminate all of the suitors that we can learn about how Ancient Greek society viewed the male gender role. Men were expected to be strong and to protect the honor of their home, to enter discussion over who was the most in the wrong displayed weakness. In order for a man to reclaim his good name he must do away with any and all threats. This notion toward the expectations for Ancient Greek male gender roles is further supported by the actions of Odysseus’ son Telemachus.Telemachus had never met his father but still decided to set out on an expedition to find him. The fact that Telemachus had never met Odysseus when he decided to risk his life to find him validates the importance of family. Clearly common ethics in Ancient Greek civilization endorsed family over everything. A son was expected to fight for his family no matter how close his relationship with the rest of his family may be. Normal male gender roles were to maintain honor and protect one’s family.Homer’s The Odyssey and Euripides Hippolytus both share common characteristics in their insight into Ancient Greek marital and social gender roles. The overwhelming aspect of both texts that appears to be the focal point of Ancient Greek culture is family commitment. All clues point toward both marital roles to be to preserve and protect the honor of one’s family as well as the importance of having one. The assumption can be made that in order to be a good wife she must be loyal and honest, whereas to be a good husband he must also be devoted, putting his loved ones before himself and honor above all else.There does not appear to be one gender that receives more attention, supporting that both genders played a vital role in ancient culture. In contrast with the previous two texts, Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Agamemnon offers a different approach in addressing Ancient Greek cultural norms relating to marital and gender roles. While Agamemnon is gone for ten years at the Trojan war his wife Clytemnestra conspires against him with her lover Aegisthus. To be fair, Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter in order to have the wind be on his side.Before we continue let us analyze how this depicts Ancient Greek marital roles. The relationship between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra is incredibly strained after he sacrifices their daughter Iphigenia. However, if emotions are withheld it can be seen that perhaps Agamemnon’s marital and gender role supported his decision. As was seen wit h the death of Hippolytus, stemming from Theseus’ duty to uphold his principles, it can be inferred that the requirement for a male to preserve his honor comes before family.Although taking a different approach, Oresteia: Agamemnon, has the same main principles regarding marital roles. Except this text allows us to see what happens when roles compete. As the story progresses more insight is provided into how marital roles are affected when one takes precedence over another. When Agamemnon returns home he brings with him a new woman, Cassandra. After arguing with his wife about not wanting to display excess hubris by walking on the purple carpet their time together becomes very strained. Shortly after his return Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon and Cassandra.Her catharsis is complete after committing these murders and uses the sacrifice of Iphigenia as justification for her actions. Both the love affair of Clytemnestra with Aegisthus and Agamemnon with Cassandra hint that perhap s there were a little bit more public scandalous acts that took place in Ancient Greece than the other two texts let on. We have learned that in order to be a good wife she must protect her family and be loyal to her husband. The text written by Aeschylus explicitly proves that when a wife must choose between loyalty to her husband and protection of her family she will choose her family.Regardless of the obvious differences between this text and the two priors they all three present Ancient Greek gender and marital roles to be comprised of the same basic principles. That being said, all three illuminate a new characteristic. After analyzing all the texts it can be assumed that Greek culture revolved around family, loyalty, and honor. A good wife is a woman who puts her family first and remains loyal to her husband no matter what the circumstances. Likewise a good husband defends the honor of himself whilst remaining devoted to his family.Nonetheless, after further analysis it can be argued that social norms for marital roles did not always go hand in hand with what a â€Å"good† husband or wife should do. This is because certain roles are emphasized more than others. When a wife chooses her children over her husband or a man defends his honor at the consequence of his family he or she can no long fit into the paradigm for a â€Å"good† husband or wife. In another text written by Euripides, Medea, the view into the past is much different than that of Hippolytus or any of the other texts.That being said, it is crucial to analyze the new perspective in order to formulate an educated theory on what Ancient Greek marital roles used to be. Jason and Medea are married with children when Jason chooses to suddenly leave to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth. Euripides is insinuating that in some instances male gender roles overpower their marital roles. As a Greek man it is his duty to gain honor and status as well as to create a family. However, a s a Greek husband it is his duty to be devoted to his family and to never leave them.From this text we can infer that the desire of a man to achieve honor and status can lead some men to abandon their families. The prospect of one day being king is too much for Jason, he leaves and forgoes his marital roles. His choice to relieve himself of his duties as a husband infers that not all men in Ancient Greece were morally sound, taking a very loose interpretation of the word â€Å"honor. † Additionally, Medea involves herself in some actions that go against what would be considered socially preferable. Medea is distraught and angry after Jason abandons her and the children.She takes action by plotting to hurt Jason the way that he hurt her. Medea gives Jason’s new wife a poisoned robe that burns her flesh off and murders her own two children in hopes to harm Jason. By murdering both Jason’s wife and her children she is exhibiting revenge with the only intention of b enefiting herself. This act infers that there were many citizens of Ancient Greece who did not regard the normal social roles. Unlike Agamemnon who sacrificed his daughter to fulfill one of his societal roles, Medea acts completely outside of the norm by murdering her children in cold blood.Euripides may potentially be trying to express that there are always going to be individuals that act radically opposite to what is at the time considered normal. A distinction that must be recognized is that between gender roles and marital roles with the understanding that they sometimes overlap. It seems as if more attention is placed on gender roles than marital roles. For instance, Odysseus chooses to cheat on his wife, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Clytemnestra murders her husband, and Jason deserts his family.After analyzing all of the texts we can finally make an educated decision on what marital and gender roles were like in Ancient Greece. It appears that Ancient Greek society had determined roles for both men and women and they were meant to be adamantly revered. A good husband was considered to be a man who was devoted to his family and defended the honor of himself and his home. He recognized that there is no honor in hurting loved ones, no matter what the outcome. Additionally, a good wife was a woman who was completely loyal to her husband and her family, protecting them by whatever means necessary.However, thorough analysis reveals that there were often times people who went against what would be deemed â€Å"good† because they made a choice when roles conflicted that ensued a consequence for a loved one to bear. And finally there were those who went against the grain completely. Overall, Ancient Greek social norms involved family at the center and devotion from every member to each other. The reason there is such a strong emphasis placed on understanding, documenting, and analyzing history is because it is through historical analysis that schola rs can infer as to how modern-day culture came to be.It is through investigation of historical texts and other mediums of recording history that allows us to track the progression of people and their roles in society. In the current era people are still learning more about how past societies operated and what led to their development. From Homer to Hemmingway there is always more that can be learned through textual analysis, whether it be a historical primary source or not. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Struck, Peter T. â€Å"ClSt 200 – Greek Tragedy. † ClSt 200 – Greek Tragedy. N. p. , 2000. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. .

Hermeneutics and Philosophers

The word â€Å"hermeneutics† is derived from the Greek hermeneuo, which means, to interpret, to put into words, expressed in a language. Many times, it is synonymous with exegesis, explanation, and interpretation. In connection with the explanation of Scripture, these two words are equivalent to the eighteenth century, when the word â€Å"hermeneutics† assumes various shades of meaning according to the various schools and philosophical theories. Today we prefer to call â€Å"exegesis† to that of the biblical text analysis intended to discover what the author meant to his contemporaries, and â€Å"hermeneutics† to which the same text tells us today in a different context and in a comprehensible modern man. For Ricoeur, the â€Å"reflective philosophy† is part of â€Å"reflection† on itself, to establish the â€Å"I† of thought as first truth: â€Å"I think, therefore I am†. But Ricoeur thinks that â€Å"reflection is not intuition† of me because the â€Å"I think† is just an abstract truth and empty. The self can only be found in their objectification. Therefore, say that the reflection can only be understood as â€Å"the effort to apprehend the Self of Ego cogito in the mirror of its objects, their works and finally for their actions. † The lives lost and forgotten â€Å"I† himself to his works, which manifests his desire and effort to exist. The debate should not then go straight to the â€Å"I† but to their deeds and actions, which given its ambiguous nature, should be interpreted. Thus, philosophy becomes reflexive â€Å"hermeneutic philosophy† or interpretive. Lonergan and Aquinas were two philosophers that were in a same point. For example, both were students of theology. â€Å"Aquinas believes that humans are directed toward the transcendent God as the ultimate goal of their lives, and this transcendent goal is a beyond the power of human reason to grasp† (p. 47). Lonergan â€Å"understands the relationship between critical reason and faith as central to the practice of theology in the modern world â€Å" (p. 64). St. Thomas Aquinas see that theology does not seek an essence, but a living being who constantly challenges the man, instead of being presented as an object, is the â€Å"Unknown† is revealed in the vision-oriented faith. To address the issue thus appeals to the view that is taken into eternal bliss, in eschatology, which keeps the vital tension between theological discourse and praxis logos. The method according to Lonergan, not a set of rules to be followed strictly, but rather a framework to foster creativity and collaboration, by which all the operations that are necessary for the development of theology are susceptible to be printed, and giving mutually intertwined cumulative and progressive results.

Quality management Essay

Dialogue 2: Identify two (2) thought leaders relative to quality management. Research each to determine their core ideas and contributions. Synthesize your thoughts about each into a one paragraph (per leader) that contains important and meaningful statements about each thought leader, their contributions, and the relevance of the contribution today regarding the work of project managers. Joseph M. Juran Dr. Juran devoted 70 years to his books, thoughts, and life work revolutionizing the philosophy of total quality management. His developed quality management ideas work around the quality trilogy of Quality Planning, Quality Improvement, and Quality Control. Through the Juran Institute, Dr. Juran has maintained the capability to continually broaden the experiential learning of economist, scientist, and engineers around his work. Dr. Juran’s teachings and guidance focus efforts on the customer and their needs, optimizes the product for those individuals, optimizes the processes involved, and ensures that the process will actually produce the product. Dr. Juran understood that the human component (the customer, the manager, the scientist, the engineer) was an integral piece of the quality process. His lessons contributed to the rise of the Japanese economy after his hands on workings with the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers. The push of information today has allowed th ese theories to flourish. Customer satisfaction is an ever pressing position for large and small businesses. Today’s managers would be hard pressed to understand the human factor, if individuals like Dr. Juran did not lay the ground work to focus efforts on the human factors. Genichi Taguchi Taguchi was a Japanese Textile Engineer that understood the processes and influences of small and large businesses. He realized there were variables within management’s control and others that we not. His major contributions/theories were the following: The Loss Function- an equation to quantify the decline of a customer’s perceived value of a product, as the quality declines; Orthogonal Arrays and Linear Graphs- tools to identify and isolate the items concerned when dealing with effective costs and time; Robustness- the identified course of developing products and processes that perform uniformly regardless of the uncontrollable forces.

My role model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My role model - Essay Example And this lady, born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu with ethnicity of Albania left her nation, kin and known environment and initiated her mission in India and served the poor, sick, orphans across the globe for more than forty five years. Thesis Statement This essay intends to examine and explore the way by which my life was motivated by the great works of the great lady called Mother Teresa. My Role Model Since my childhood only life of Mother inspired me to a great extent. She had that desperation, courage and strength to stand beside the poor and needy. Her life inspired me and captivated my spirit totally and very soon, I inculcated to stand by the side of the people who are really in need and distress. Once my locality was hit by a storm and after the calamity was over, by instinct, I felt to stand by the people who were the victims of the catastrophic calamity. While working for the people in distress, I recalled Mother again and again and it provided me immense mental and physical s trength to work like monster along with the disaster management cell of my area. We all are privileged with the love and care of our parents. We are blessed with a family that stays by our side through our thick and thin. But Mother took the pain to metamorphose herself into a universal Mother. She had love for all the children of the world. She loved us, like the son of God loved the mankind. This profound love for the children who are angles of heaven as Mother has seen them helped her to establish homes for the destitute. I was moved by the hardships and struggle Mother Teresa had to undergo to establish her homes in the city of Kolkata of India. I still do not have that much courage to stand beside the orphans in a way Mother stood and dedicated her life towards them. But the clarion call from inside helped me to sponsor a child for her education in one such homes. Whenever I meet her and spend some time with the child, I feel so blessed and happy from inside. This feeling canno t be made parallel with any other material pursuit in the world. Mother had immense potential. She worked for the sick across the globe. Not only she went for relief at the outbreak of any epidemic but laid the foundation and homes for the people who are suffering from acute congenital disease like tuberculosis and leprosy. She had immense network that launched awareness for HIV Aids, Tuberculosis and Leprosy. Her Leprosy mission is outstanding and she worked and contributed a lot to eradicate and aware people against HIV and Leprosy in the south-east Asia in particular. Her mission for the eradication of these diseases had spread across the globe very fast as well. While in my high school days when a community programme was launched for spreading the awareness against the HIV positive infection, I took active part in it. Under that programme, I got the opportunity to spread the awareness into the red light area of the city and meet the people, especially the women and children of t hose areas who live in darkness and get lost in that dark abbey of life easily. Along with awareness, these people need the light of education and care, love and empathy. The course of my life changed to a great extent after visiting this section of the society and in future I look forward to work for these underprivileged at a greater scale and on a more serious note. Conclusion Blessed Teresa of Kolkata is an entity which

Article analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article analysis - Term Paper Example Health care in America faces relevant pressing issues that need immediate attention. Statistics provided by the AFL-CIO (â€Å"What’s Wrong With America, par. 2) reveal that 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Hacker (â€Å"Health Care for America†, par. 2) averred that â€Å"health insecurity is not confined to one part of the population. It is experienced by all Americans: those without insurance as well as those who risk losing coverage; those who are impoverished as well as those with higher incomes who experience catastrophic costs; those who are sick or injured as well as those who are just one sickness or injury away from financial calamity†. The Obama administration planned to reinforce the universal health care system for (almost) all Americans regardless of age, income, policyholder, gender or race. Incorporated in this universal health care plan is a National Health Insurance Exchange which would oversee current private insurance policyholders. Issues emerged on concerns that covering the uninsured entails paying higher taxes to subsidize this cost. In line of the economic crisis, these reforms are evaluated in the light of current budget constraints, specifically on education and Medicare programs. Further, the Miller averred that congressional leaders continue to divulge opposing views regarding the changes that were to be implemented and how to implement them. The cause of the disagreement was basically on public option, â€Å"a government-run insurance scheme, and how to pay for the remainder of reform† (BBC News, 2010, par. 19) The Republicans consistently opposed Obama’s healthcare reform indicating that healthcare would be "more bureaucratic and expensive" (BBC News, 2010, par. 25). They â€Å"focused on reducing the cost of health care and included only modest increases in insurance coverage† (Miller, 2010, 1103). The Democrats, on the other hand, supported Obama’s bill requiring â€Å"most Americans to

Local landfills and their effect on the environment Research Paper

Local landfills and their effect on the environment - Research Paper Example The City mainly handles its waste management by contracting them out to Local Waste Services. There are some local waste services in the city that operate some landfills, but Grove City majorly allowed SWACO to handle its waste management procedures, which involves the collection and disposal of solid waste at the Franklin County Landfill (Grove City 2011). Apart from SWACO, other waste management companies that are used by people in Grove City 2 include Tri-County Industries, Inc., and Franklin Road Recycling Solution, both of which also operate landfills. Studies have shown that one of the problems of the 21st century in the United States is waste—the country is going through a phase of mountainous waste-production, which is estimated to be millions of tons of waste yearly (Rahm 1-2). As a result of this, city administrators often find themselves at the crossroads to design a functional process for collecting and disposing of these waste materials. For many years now, landfi lls have been the appropriate systems for the disposal of waste in the United States. ... the positive effects of SWACO landfill admired by the Grove City administration are highlighted in the remaining part of this paper, comparing them with that of other local waste services. Tri-County Industries handle the waste materials for residential, industrial and commercial clients located in Grove City, Ohio. The company utilizes its big size and years of experience to help clients cut the cost of disposing of their waste in landfill (Tri-County Industries, Inc. 2011). But Tri-County Industries Landfill has some negative impacts on 3 Grove City residents: according to a recent court case against Tr-County, its landfills located at Pine and Liberty have strong bad odor, lighting issues and noises could be heard at night (Allied News 2011). Similarly, Frank Road Recycling Solutions, for over 75 years, has provided its customers in Grove City, Ohio with good waste-disposal and recycling solutions. These solutions were aimed at helping them do away with their operational waste and protect the environment (Frank Road Recycling Solutions 2011). But Frank Road Recycling Solutions Landfill does not provide the green opportunities offered by SWACO Landfill. Therefore, both Tri-County Industries, Inc., and Frank Road Recycling Solutions do not match the positive effects of SWACO as described below. Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) was created as a waste-management agency with other 51 solid waste districts by Ohio General Assembly in 1989. SWACO was specifically established to help Ohio residents proactively dispose of their waste materials (SWACO 2011). And SWACO landfill provides the following positive effects in Grove City, Ohio. Solid waste materials are disposed of at SWACO landfill while customers are strongly encouraged to recycle some recyclable

Education, Theatre Design and Technical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education, Theatre Design and Technical - Essay Example As by means of all of the arts, theatre is very hard to assess. Over and over again, writers and those who spoke for myself to me mentioned that multifaceted activities such as drama and theatre cannot be assessed with existing standardized, multiple choice, norm-referenced profitable tests. Technical and superficial aspects of theatre (speaking loud enough, facing downstage, etc.) can be measured objectively. Original aspects such as the difficulty of character, plot innovation, and compassion to time and space are much harder to measure. Cecily O'Neill et al. note that linking to others, postponement of disbelief, and making aid to the work, gaining insight, and height of language and understandings all need to be noted in student development in theatre. There are extremely little experience crossways the broad educational world of ways to assess these cognitive and affective domains. A central danger in evaluating student progress in theatre lies in the temptation to assess only t he technical and real and to ignore or diminish the original and artistic aspects (Racine, S. J., 2001, 31-41). On the surface, it appears that little or nothing has happened or is happening in the field of assessment in theatre education. No books have been written, ERIC cites only two articles, and classroom teachers seem uninvolved with the issue. Scratch the surface, however, and it is a different matter. For years, theatre educators have been using methods of assessment that are only now being explored by educators and researchers in other fields. As well, a flurry of activity is happening in theatre-education assessment (Raskin, J. 2000). In order to discover the current status of assessment in theatre education, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) selected "Assessment" as the title of the primary file it would expand for its newly establish a national database. This file attempts to bring together and make accessible a list of as many identified sources as possible on appraisal and evaluation for theatre in education in the United States at the present time. It comprises books, articles, conferences, unpublished studies, conferences on arts assessment, and researchers in the field as well as related materials from linked fields and other relevant information. Each item was checked by an AATE researcher and is interpreted.