The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Book Review

Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, is a self help book that is a shortened route to spiritual enlightenment. One needs to become aware of the present moment in order to experience joy in life. It's important to live in the present in life because the current moment is all we have. This can be done by controlling the mind in order to become untangled from it. The unconscious mind, the egoic mind, and the â€Å"pain bodies† all need to be addressed and dealt with for enjoyment of life to it's fullest potential. Our mind is our worst enemy, according to Tolle. This is because it loves to get itself into problems. The unconscious mind is always thinking. It is constantly looking back on the past, or ahead into the future, and ignore's the focus on enjoying the current moment. â€Å"When thought isn't connected with consciousness, it becomes insane and destructive† (24). Your unconscious mind will always be reflected in the body as an emotion, which has a strong physical component that is felt in the body. This emotion should be felt in the body, without it controlling you. Emotional pain is the main cause of physical pain. â€Å"The more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer†(33). By accepting the â€Å"now†, you are more free from pain and suffering. This enables you to experience joy in life by being satisfied with the current state in which you are in. This means you are free from the emotions that arise from the unconscious mind thinking compulsively. The egoic mind that focuses on the past and future does not exist because nothing ever happened in the past or the future. Everything happened in the â€Å"now†. Past and future obviously have no reality of their own† (50). There has never been a time in your life that there was not the now, nor will there ever be. Many of us are ruled by our thoughts, emotions, reactions and desires. Often we feel a lack of completeness, a wanting, needing, or craving for something more. This could be money, success, power, recognition, or even a special relationship. Our n ormal state becomes focused through thought on these things, which need to be out of our focus in order to get full pleasure out of life. â€Å"Don't let your egoic mind take over your whole life† (49). Awareness of the present moment and allowing ourselves to enjoy living in it will contribute to our enjoyment of life. There are negative emotions, or â€Å"pain bodies† that our mind brings up which can interfere with our enjoyment of living in the present moment. Some forms of this pain include resentment, hatred, self-pity, guilt, anger, depression, and jealousy. Negativity can be stopped from arising by being fully present. This negativity is resistance that triggers the emotional pain-body. This is when minor situations result in intense negativity. The ego thinks that it can manipulate reality to get what it wants through negativity. Once we have got our hands on something negative, we don't want to let go. â€Å"Negativity is totally unnatural. It is a psychic pollutant, and there is a deep link between the poisoning and destruction of nature and the vast negativity that has accumulated in the collective human psyche† (189). When we notice negativity has risen within us, we need to use it as a signal to â€Å"be present† and get out of our minds. By doing so, we can increase our enjoyment of life because we are living in the â€Å"now† and dealing with whatever it may bring before us. In the current world, some of us are chasing after temporary pleasures, such as success, fortune, and things we desire. All this stress and worry over these things are not worth it at all. What's more important is to live in the current moment. It's important to realize that Tolle's teachings can apply to anyone who seeks to increase their enjoyment of life. Focusing on the present moment allows us to enjoy the life we are living, instead of being trapped in a non-existent world of reoccurring thoughts of the past and future.

Journal Entries for habit

Journal Entries for habit one and two Habit 1: Be Proactive According to Stephen Covey, being proactive is part of human nature and humans are responsible for their own lives. He indicated the details of a social map which consist of Genetic determinism (Ancestors), Psychic determinism (Parents) and Environment determinism (Boss or something in the environment). The proactive concept was explained further using the Stimulus and Response relationship and the catalyst story of Viltor Frankl. Between Stimulus and Response, man has the ability or freedom to choose.This means one can decide how to reactive to thing or how to handle each situation. What matters most is how we respond to what we experience in life. We need to take initiative and this means recognizing our responsible to make things happen. We need to act or be acted upon. In Covey’s own words, reactive people are also affected by their social environment, by the â€Å"social weather. † When people treat them w ell, they feel well; when people don’t, they become defensive or protective. Proactive people are still influenced by external stimuli, whether physical, social, or psychological.But their response to the stimuli, conscious or unconscious, is a value-based choice or response. Proactive people aren’t pushy. They’re smart, they’re value driven, they read reality, and they know what’s needed. Another important issue he raised in the book is for people to expand their circle of influence. Habit two: Begin with the end in mind According to Covey, â€Å"Begin with the End in Mind† is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined.It further means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. Using the principle that all things are created twice, Covey said the unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscienc e enable us to examine first creations and make it possible for us to take charge of our own first creation, to write our own script. â€Å"Habit 2 is based on principles of personal leadership, which means that leadership is the first creation. Leadership is not management. † Stephen Covey said as he explained the second habit.He further in the book explained that, in business proactive powerful leadership must constantly monitor environmental change, particularly customer buying habits and motives, and provide the force necessary to organize resources in the right direction. Later in the book, Covey stated that, the most effective way he knows to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal/ family/ organizational mission statement or philosophy or creed. It focuses on what one wants to be and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based.Visualization and affirmation were also talked about. Shairay Jones Journal Entries for habit three and four Habit Three: Put first things first. To Covey, we are responsible for our own effectiveness, for our own happiness, and ultimately for most of our circumstances. The third habit is the personal fruit of habit 1 and 2. In Habit 3 according to Covey, we are dealing with many of the questions addressed in the field of life and time management. He used an illustration of four quadrants to show the essence of this habit and time management.Quadrant I stood for both urgent and important things. Quadrant III stood for urgent but not important things. Quadrant IV – not important, not urgent things while Quadrant II which is the heart of effective personal management stood for not urgent, but important things. These things to him are what we should put first before any other thing. He also talked about ‘gofer delegation’ and ‘stewardship delegation’ (taking control and giving control out respectively). Part three: Publ ic Victory At this part, Covey talked about the Paradigm of Interdependence.He asked us to remember that effective interdependence can only be built on a foundation of true independence. Private Victory precedes Public Victory. In the same way, Algebra comes before calculus. To expatiate on this point, Covey noted that independence is an achievement. Interdependence is a choice only independent people can make. So the place to begin building any relationship is inside ourselves, inside our Circle of Influence, our own character. Stephen further recollected an incidence he had with his two sons to explain what attending to little things meant.To him, Small discourtesies, little unkindnesses, little forms of disrespect make large withdrawals in our lives. In relationship for instance, the little thing are the big things. Keeping commitments, Clarifying expectations, showing personal integrity, apologizing sincerely when we make a withdrawal from our emotional bank are important things to do to make deposits in to our emotional banks. Covey mentioned that, with the paradigm of the Emotional Bank Account in mind, we’re ready to move into the habits of Public Victory, or success in working with other people.Habit 4: Think win-win (Principles of Interpersonal leadership) Under this heading, Covey narrated his personal experience at work with a company and at the end he noted that, whether you are the president of a company or the janitor, the moment you step from independence into interdependence in any capacity, you step into a leadership role. You are in a position of influencing other people. And the habit of effective interpersonal leadership is to think win-win. In addition, I learnt from this book that, win-win is not a technique but a total philosophy of human interaction.The principle of win-win begins with character then moves to relationship. Everything else is built on character. Maturity is the second foundation for win-win. To Covey, Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration. To go for win-win, you not only have to be nice, you have to be courageous. You not only have to be empathic, you have to be confident. You not only have to be considerate and sensitive, you have to be brave. That’s why we need to be internally matured, according to Stephen Covey.The third characteristic of a win-win case is the abundance mentality, the paradigm that there is plenty out there for everybody. From the foundation of character, we build and maintain win-win relationship. Shairay Jones Journal Entries for habit five, six, and seven Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Principles of Empathic Communication Stephen Covey began this session by saying this â€Å"if I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. To him this principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication. It shows how we have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take the time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first. There is a link between character and communication. Communication is the most important skill in life. In addition to communication, Covey emphasized emphatic listening, another important factor aiding the fifth habit. We must always seek first to understand before seeking to be understood.Empathic listening means listening with intent to understand and that is needed for habit 5. Diagnosing before we prescribe is also needed for this habit. Habit 6: Synergy Principles of Creative Cooperation â€Å"Synergy is the essence of Principle-Centered Leadership. It is the essence of principle-centered parenting and it catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people. All the habits we have covered prepare us to create the miracle of synergy†. Stephen Covey. He defined synergy to mean that, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.He illustrated this in different scenarios and talked about synergistic communication. He explained that, when you communicate synergistically, you are simply opening your mind and heart and expressions to new possibilities, new alternatives, new options. He talked about synergy in the classroom and in business. Another important thing he talked about was what he called Negative synergy. He also talked about valuing the difference; this to him is the essence of synergy, the mental, the emotional, and the psychological differences between people.And the key to valuing those differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are. Part four: RENEWAL Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw Over here, he spoke about the principles of balanced self-renewal. This final habit involves taking time to sharpen the saw and it surrounds the other habits on the Seven Habits paradigm because it is the habit that makes all the others possible. According to him, it involves preserving and enhancing the greatest asset we have. Us) â€Å"Sharpen the Saw† basically means expressing all four motivations (physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional). It means exercising all four dimensions of our nature, regularly and consistently, in wise and balanced ways. To do this, we must be proactive, according to Covey. He also used the physical dimension, mental dimension, socio/emotional and the spiritual dimension paradigms to explain this point. Furthermore, he noted that balanced renewal is optimally synergetic.The things you do to sharpen the saw in any one dimension have positive impact in other dimensions because they are so highly interrelated. He, at the end, talked about Inside out again by quoting the words of Ezra Taft Benson†¦ â€Å"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment.The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. † Shairay Jones Advance Reading Seminar The 7 habits of highly effective people Questions 1. What made Stephen R. Covey write the book? 2. Does he think the 7 habits are still relevant today? 3. Did he think the book would have the type of effect it had on the people? 4. Did the book influence him? How? 5. What habit had the most influence on him? 6. Where did he come up with the seven habits? 7. How does he fell to know that his book sold over 15 million? 8. Did he buy the book when it first came out?

Kolcaba’s Theory of Comfort Essay

Within the context of theory illustrates a demanding yet creative shaping of plans, structured requirements, and prediction of a provisional, determined, and systematic sight of phenomena (Chinn, 2011). Nursing theory is a crucial function within the nursing practice. Theories afford nurses with the distinctive facets that are in encompassed within patient care and the nursing profession. Clarification of practice governance, and expectations are also integrated within contextual framework of nursing theory. It bestows various manners to acquire data, examine and study, and foresee the practice of nursing and the outcomes of patient care (Parker, 2010). Kolcaba’s middle range theory of comfort captivated my interest because my impression of comfort curtails that of positive patient outcomes. Comfort is not solitary to just physical ailments, but emotional and psychological measures in addition. Throughout my experiences and years as bedside registered nurse, I can attest that patient requests stem largely from the factor of being made comfortable. As stated above, this not only embraces physical comfort, but something unassuming as a comforting touch or positive attitude to render the positive outcome and a content patient. Absorbing how theory influences practice has been an impediment that I have recently overcame. I was unmindful that certain situations and decision making were reinforced through the use of theory. Examination of the importance of nursing theories, more in depth review of Kolcaba’s theory of comfort, and theory of comfort in nursing practice, education, and research will be reviewed further. Importance of Nursing Theories Separately from the governance of practice and foundation for the practice of nursing, theories furthermore propounds opportunities for nurses in the sense of practical application. Measurable changes and enrichment of the profession occur when nursing theories are incorporated into practice. The benefits of having a defined frame of theory in nursing produces superior patient care, heightened professional repute for nurses, progressed interaction among nurses, and direction for exploration of the practice and education. Theories also illustrate the quality of the nursing profession, and serves as a reservoir of knowledge with the examination of the essential requirements of patients and necessary interventions. In addition, specialized rationales are provided. Succeeding medical doctors orders are not exclusively to the context of nursing care. Nursing care incorporates not only a compassionate attitude but passion for care of patients. The caring component of nursing cannot be measured, rather dissected through theory within the clarification of what nurses do. Systemically this is all supported through abundant theories and theorist. The nursing profession emphasizes on holistic care which is defined as treatment of the whole person. Within this skill is the admittance of problems that are biomedical but also opportune clarification of the well-being and health of a human that introduces added indicators of disease that are non-visualized (Powers, 2011). Kolcaba’s Theory of Comfort The origination of Kolcaba’s theory of comfort stemmed was first established in the 1900’s. Founder, Katherine Kolcaba, concluded that for a positive patient outcome to accomplished, comfort is a crucial obligation. Katherine organized a representation for exploring, analyzing, and gauging the care of the patient. Historically, she believed that the product of the profession of nursing is comfort. According to Kolcaba (2010), comfort is achieved in a few diverse ways to include transcendence, relief, and ease. Transcendence represents the aptitude to overcome the lack of comfort sensed by patients through their awareness to cease. Patients are able to rise above their challenges. For example, a post-operative below the knee amputee patient may experience great physical pain from the surgery as well as psychological trauma from the intervention. Pushing forward to regain strength and independence would be an instance of transcendence. Relief constitutes any ordered analgesic medication that can be given to the patient or  non-pharmacologic interventions such as distraction or repositioning. This structure of comfort is experienced as relief. Anxiety reducing measures such as anxiolytics or inducing expression through conversation or other forms of communication can be facilitated. These actions can be constituted as placing the patient at ease. In my day to day professional practice experiences, I come across different situations where comfort may be the only measure to take in a particular patients care. Pharmacological therapy interventions are important for adequate relief, but non-pharmacological interventions are just as imperative. A simple caring touch and tone conditions the patient to an enhanced state. This particular theory affords nurses a better comprehension and obligation to comfort in the practice setting. Nurse are the forefront of healthcare. We have the ability to promptly identify the demands the needs of the patient. Kolcaba’s theory of comfort conforms into the nursing metaparadigm with relation to the three concepts presented: transcendence, relief, and ease. There is a clear consensus about the concepts which includes health, nursing, person, and environment of the metaparadigm. Kolcaba elaborated on the four various experience backgrounds that comfort is achieved. These include environmental, physical, social, and psychospiritual (Kolcaba, 2010). Theory of comfort in nursing practice, education, and research Kolcaba’s theory of comfort guides research in assorted ways. It challenges the nurse to examine the correlation among holistic interventions and different comfort measures. It also imposes a contention between comfort and â€Å"health seeking behaviors†. If the product is positive, than it enhances future endeavors and postulates additional motivators to provide comfort. Institutional outcomes are also examined (Koehn, 2000). References Chinn, P.L., & Kramer, M.K. (2011). Integrated theory and knowledge of development in nursing (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby/Elsevier Koehn, M. (2000) Alternative and complementary therapies for labor and birth: an application of Kolcaba’s theory of holistic comfort. Holistic Nursing Practice. 15(1):66-77 Kolcaba, K. (1992). Holistic comfort: Operationalizing the constructs as a nurse-sensitiveOutcome. Advances in Nursing Science, 15(1), 1-10, p. 6. Kolcaba, K. (1994) A theory of holistic comfort for nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing 19: 1178-1184 Kolcaba, K. & DiMarco, M.A. (2005) Comfort theory and its application to pediatric nursing. Pediatric Nursing, 31(3), 187-194 Parker, M.E., & Smith, M.C. (2010), Nursing theories and nursing practice (3rd ed.) Philadelphia, P.A.: F.A. Davis Company Powers, B.A., & Knapp, T.R. (2011). Dictionary of nursing theory and research (4th ed.). York: Springer Publisher Company

Gender and History in Modern South Asia Essay # 1 - 2

Gender and History in Modern South Asia # 1 - Essay Example It is this form of scholarship; Chandra has identified this as an indirect form of colonization of the third world woman. This western feminist discourse and the historical perspective of the life of a woman has produced and constructed a third world woman with a distorted image (Mohanty, 1988). This essay discusses the three analytical principles identified by Chandra Mohanty that are used in the western feminist discourse about the third world. The western feminist discourses have used different methodological principles to create a third world woman with a distorted image over the years. The analytical principles applied by the Western feminist discourses include â€Å"The strategic location or the situational categorization of women/ women as the category of analysis (women and context of analysis), the methodological universalism and the subject of power and struggle they imply and suggest in their discourse† (Mohanty, 1988). The principle of the strategic location of the third world women as the category of analysis or, we are all sisters in the struggle, is identified by Chandra as being in use by the Western feminist discourse. The Western feminist scholars tend to classify and categorize the third world women in their group with their unique desires and interests. The scholars view these women as a group that shares oppression together as a result of socio-economic and cultural systems (Mohanty, 1988, p. 66). They depict women objects facing the consequences of their history. By the Western feminist scholars discursively classifying the third world women in a group, they imply the women are a vulnerable, powerless, exploited and sexually harassed category of persons. Chandra notes that the Western scholars have labeled the third world women victims of some cultural and socio-economic systems that have rendered them weak and powerless. Thus, their scientific, economic, legal and sociological discourse s show how the third world woman has been oppressed

Business 101 - Assignment Questions Research Paper

Business 101 - Assignment Questions - Research Paper Example In the capitalism context, making profits is the key motive of operation. Under capitalism, resources are privately owned, and so are the implications of the underlying activities (Rae & Hill, 2010). To the businesses, these rights and freedoms come at price. Capitalism makes business owners accountable to the society and to the market economy in which they conduct their business. Pollution, taxation, and social responsibility are other key aspects that make business owners hate capitalism. Most importantly, capitalism encompasses business competition, a critical factor that determines the success or failure of a business. Demand line shows the quantity of a product that would be bought at a given price level. In this respect, changes in market demand will affect quantity of a product demanded in that market. Desirable products correspond to high quantities of demand, and vice versa (McEachern, 2012). on the same note, changes in price affect the quantity demanded of a product. The same principle applies as far as paper and related products are concerned. A demand line shift to the left for paper follows the above-discussed principle. This move represents a scenario where paper would become a less desirable product. The less desirable a product becomes, the lower the quantity demanded and subsequently bought of that product. The demand line, therefore, would shift to the left to represent a decline in the quantity demanded of paper at a given price level. A left shift in demand line, therefore, is negative. It is attributed to reduced paper demand and a subsequent decline in the price level. Business entities are required to comply with relevant rules, regulations, or laws. In particular, taxation is a fundamental practice in the economic setting. Federal taxes apply to incorporated business entities, which are treated as separate taxable business entities. In other words,

Enterprise Database Management System Term Paper

Enterprise Database Management System - Term Paper Example The growing scale of data demands a better and reliable method to manage and access them. Such a demand has yielded in the development of Database Management Systems. Every organization needs some sort of information to be stored and accessed all the time and as a result, Database Management Systems have become an integral part of every organization. A database is nothing but a repository of data where the information are stored in an organized way so that any kind of complex details can be retrieved easily. For example, one may have the details of all employees contact information, but to retrieve the names of all employees who live in a particular place, then the organization of the data in the database could be easily queried upon to retrieve the information. (Rob, Coronel & Crockett, 2008) A DBMS is nothing but software that helps in managing the data stored in the database. As with every other software there are several products of DBMS that are available to help an organization to manage data. Some of the operations that are performed by a DBMS include the basic functions such as adding, deleting and modifying data. (Hoffer, 2009) There are four important characteristics for any DBMS that determine its purpose and usage in an organization. They are, There are several types of modeling languages that are currently available. These include relational, object oriented, network oriented and hierarchical languages. These languages determine the way the data is organized in the databases. (Hoffer, 2009) The efficiency of a DBMS is measured by the number of transactions that can be run concurrently at a given time. The level of concurrency depends on how well the DBMS uses deadlock prevention mechanisms that restrict update access to a data by allowing only one user access a particular data at a time. (Kedar, 2009) The database systems form the basic groundwork for any enterprise. There are obvious

The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop - Essay Example But this initial impression of a sedentary, large old fish being caught with a struggle is belied when the poet sees the evidence of the tremendous battles the fish has already gone through in referring to it as â€Å"a five haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw.† The poem is therefore a tribute to the beauty and the miracle of survival. This is where the poet crates sympathy for the fish by combining both simile and metaphor as she mentions the five â€Å"old pieces of fish line† with their â€Å"five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth†, describing them as â€Å"medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering.† The fish with its aching jaw full of hooks, emerges as a symbol of pain and suffering, a battle embittered veteran of the waters. The poet has used the battered image of her boat and the grizzled old veteran fish of the waters, neither of which is particularly beautiful, in conjunction with an pool of oil bilge that produces a rainbow towards the end of the poem. â€Å"Rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!† before she lets the fish go at the end highlights the beauty that exists in the ugly old fish – it has survived. As the poet stares into its eyes, this is â€Å"the victory† that â€Å"filled up the little rented boat† and the realization of its beauty is highlighted t hrough the simile of the rainbow. Bishop has used the device of parallelism very effectively in this poem to enhance the beauty of sheer survival in this poem. She starts the poem with the parallelism of â€Å"didn’t fight, hadn’t fought at all† but hangs a dead weight, â€Å"battered and venerable and homely† and leads it into the repetition of â€Å"rainbow, rainbow, rainbow† to show the discovery of the beauty of the fish’s sheer struggle for survival, which is why she lets it go. While reading the poem initially, the reader gains the impression that the poet finds

Alternative Assessment Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alternative Assessment Analysis - Essay Example Various forms of formal alternative assessments are the portfolios, projects, and journals. These kind of assessments have specific guidelines and formally specified performance indicators that are used to measure students learning. The major situation in which these kinds of assessments are appropriate is actually, when the learning attribute measured is specific and can be practically revealed. A good example is the assessment of a student’s ability to plan, manage, and implement a program related to their field of study. In such a case a project or a portfolio can be very appropriate to assess the student’s skills. The most conspicuous form of an informal alternative assessment is observation. This kind of assessment is informal since it has no specific indicators that can show the level of performance of a student. It is also one kind of an assessment undertaken informally and sometimes the student might fail to realize that he is being assessed. This kind of assessment is very appropriate when it comes to assessing competency of some aspects of learning that the student might try to hide. A good example is the assessment of pronunciation and communication ability of a student. There was a time our teacher used observation form of assessment in assessing our ability to communicate back in elementary school. Most of us were not aware that it was an assessment until the teacher told us so after we had completed the task that was assigned to us. The assignment was simple since each of the students was to use five minutes to explain to the teacher his most exciting moments of the class. Later, after the teacher informed us that it was an assessment he showed us the rubric that he was using to mark the assessment. He later told each of us his score in the assessment, where he had gone wrong, and what he needs to improve. He also told us various types of instructions that he has decided to introduce in order to counter the

HNC Summer School Project Briefing (Mechanical Engineering) Essay

HNC Summer School Project Briefing (Mechanical Engineering) - Essay Example expected limit, the automatic system through its sensors will be able detect the change in temperature and automatically activates the coolants to propel in order to decrease the temperature. The project outline and describes the design and the working principles of an automatic cooling system. The design of a cooling system will encompass the use of sensors to control the temperature change as well as the use of a thermistor. Primarily, a thermistor is a kind of resistor whose resistance varies or fluctuates due to temperature change. The thermistor consists of a sensitive material which is able to detect even small changes of temperature variation. The change in temperature will be converted to electrical signal and carried to the amplifier. The amplifier then augments the electric signal and send it to the comparator. At this juncture, analysis is done by the comparator by comparing both the input signal and the reference signal. Principally, the relay device is activated when the input signal is larger than the reference signal which control temperature at different capacity levels. Likewise, the propeller is deactivated by the relay device when the temperature drops gradually below the limit. This process will be repeated continuously as long as there is a temperature change. Fundamentally, Manufacturing, industrial and mechanical machines or other appliances are ineffective in one way or another but majorly due to heating effect due to lack or inadequate coolants. These machines are subjected to heating effect while under operation. Sometimes the heating effect might be too high and unmanageable interfering with the operation of the machine thus can lead to inefficiencies. The heating effect lowers the effectiveness of the machines at the same time increasing the operational and maintenance costs (Allen and Lasecki, 2001). Most of the coolers which have been used since time in memorial requires more manpower to operate and are time consuming. Introduction

Describe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe - Essay Example time for students as they don’t need to leave the university to look for various services.ISU has well trained, equipped and experienced lecturers who teach the students and provide them with knowledge on their various courses. In addition, the university has a well equipped library and resource center where they do their private studies and research. The University offers different leisure time activities for both children and adults. These activities benefit the students, campus staff, and their children. The University hosts an extraordinary variety of events: lectures, performances, exhibitions, concerts, readings, film screenings, and more, many of which are student planned and run. The University events calendar keeps track of all daily happenings on and around campus. Many relatives, friends, and many other people visit the campus during the fun times. The university supports student efforts to take the lead in shaping the learning and living environment. Many student organizations work with the Student Activities Office and other university groups to plan events and bring exciting guests, artists, and speakers to campus. The ISU community is well-equipped with everything that could be found anywhere else outside the University.ISU has a website where one can obtain help and information on the University. The has a meeting room, where students hold various meetings for both academic and co-curricular matters. The meeting room is updated with technology, river views, Wi-Fi, and a welcoming, knowledgeable staff to help make meetings a success. The University has a bookstore where students get books and other learning materials easily and at low costs. It also has a game center. The game center serves as a hub for experiential education, persuasive play research, and innovative production in the fields of games for change. The game center seeks to encourage collaboration and establish a foundation for research at ISU on serious games and virtual

Coca Cola vs. Pepsi Cola Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Coca Cola vs. Pepsi Cola - Research Paper Example The Company recognizes the cost of postretirement benefits, which consist principally of medical benefits, during employees’ periods of active service. The Coca-Cola Co. is adopting a cash-balance pension plan for new and current employees. Under the cash-balance plan design, employees will receive annual age-heighted credits equal to a percentage of pay. Those credits will start at 3 percent of pay and increase with age. Employees’ cash-balance plan accounts also will be credited with interest. Coca-Cola’s move to a cash-balance plan comes at a time when many major employers are phasing out their defined-benefit plans and offering only defined-contribution plans. But Coca-Cola executives rejected such an approach. Coca-Cola, which last year reported $31.9 billion in operating revenue—up from $28.9 billion in 2007—is the third major employer to adopt a cash-balance plan since 2006, when Congress passed the Pension Protection Act. On the other hand a pension from PepsiCo is an important benefit that can help employees make the most of their retirement years. Add Social Security, any benefits payable from other PepsiCo plans as well as personal savings, and employees have the formula for a sound financial future. To be eligible to participate in a PepsiCo pension plan, one must be either a full-time employee or a part-time employee working at least 1,000 hours in a year at PepsiCo or a subsidiary of PepsiCo that sponsors the plan. The best part about Pepsi’s pension benefit is that it is provided to employees at no cost. Employees do not have to contribute any of their current compensation to receive a pension. There are no payroll deductions from their pay check and there are no out-of-pocket costs to pay. PepsiCo contributes amounts on employee’s behalf to the Plan for their exclusive benefit in accordance with Federal tax law. Measurement of Pension Costs and Obligations The determination of pension costs and ob ligations is based on the attribution of pension benefits to periods of employee service and the use of actuarial assumptions to calculate the present value of such benefits. Actuarial assumptions reflect the time value of money and the probability of payment. The following three key economic assumptions determine pension costs: The discount rate The salary scale The expected long-term rate of return on plan assets Pepsi’s Annual pension and retiree medical expense amounts are principally based on following components: (1) the value of benefits earned by employees for working during the year (service cost), (2) increase in the liability due to the passage of time (interest cost), and (3) other gains and losses as discussed below, reduced by (4) expected return on plan assets for their funded plans. Significant assumptions used to measure Pepsi’s annual pension and retiree medical expense include: the interest rate used to determine the present value of liabilities (dis count rate); certain employee-related factors, such as turnover, retirement age and mortality; for pension expense, the expected return on assets in their funded plans and the rate of salary

Million Dollar Baby Tragedy Essay Example for Free

Million Dollar Baby Tragedy Essay She’s younger, she’s stronger, and she’s more experienced. Now what are you going to do about it? † Next round starts, Maggie knocks her out in a few seconds. Maggie being seven years older than a normal fighter is not as quick on her feet and is inexperienced. But after this fight Maggie shows that she is dignified and a serious fighter. Maggie demonstrates that she is courageous and dignified which is part of what makes a movie, a tragedy. Maggie also shows Million Dollar Baby is a tragedy because her downfall is caused by a human emotion, her competitiveness. After a bunch of fights in a row the narrator concludes, â€Å"Maggie always did like taking ‘em out in the first round†. This illustrates that Maggie does not like making it a good long fight where both competitors gain experience. Maggie likes to win, hitting them hard and quickly, letting her competitiveness get in the way. The narrator later says, â€Å"boxing is an unnatural act. ‘Cause everything in it is backwards. You wanna move to the left, you don’t step left; you push off your right toe. To move to the right, you use your left toe. Instead of running from the pain like a sane person would do, you step into it. That’s what Maggie did, all the way to the World Championships†. Instead of backing away from the pain she turned into every hit because backing away from the pain means she loses. Getting hit multiple times a fight, Maggie reveals a bad hit will not keep her from winning. Maggie’s competitiveness is a key part in Million Dollar Baby being a tragedy. Million Dollar Baby is a tragedy because after her downfall, Maggie learns she can achieve more than she knows; if she works hard enough. Maggie has been constantly trying to get Frankie to train her since day one. Frankie after watching Maggie on the speed bag says, â€Å"If I take you on† interrupting Frankie, Maggie says â€Å"You won’t regret it. † Frankie sighs and continues â€Å"God this is a mistake already.. I’m going to try to forget the fact that you are a girl. † Frankie does not train girls, ever; Maggie was persistent and got Frankie to train her, an impossible task. She worked hard enough and was able to get an incredible trainer to train her. Maggie is in the hospital after her downfall, getting punched after the bell and now being paralyzed, she is going to lose her legs, has to breathe out of a breathing tube and will never fight again. Maggie says to Frankie, â€Å"I can’t be like this, Frankie. Not after what I’ve done. I’ve seen the world. People chanted my name. Well, not my name†¦ some damn name you gave me. I was in magazines. You think I ever dreamed of that’d happen? † In this quote Maggie exhibits that she is ready to die, she has achieved more then she could ever dream of. Maggie learns that she can do anything if she puts her mind to it. Since Maggie is courageous and dignified, has a human characteristic which amplifies her downfall and learns she can achieve more than she knows; Million Dollar Baby is a tragedy. Being an excellent fighter, Maggie was so thankful for the life she and Frankie made for her. Maggie clearly displays that working hard pays off and anyone can do the impossible, who would have thought a 37 year old, who has had zero training, would train less for a year and be a world champion contender? Like Eddie Dupris, the narrator of million dollar baby says â€Å"It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream nobody can see but you. †

Importance of Social Responsibility Disclosure

Importance of Social Responsibility Disclosure 1.0 Introduction Though some of the country around the world is rich in resources, but there are still have a possibility that ran out of the resources. Beside that, there are also a large number of countries around the earth that lack of resources. Because of this, as a people living in this earth, we should protect the resources from exhaust. We should not be so selfish and should cherish the resources, so that other people could also enjoy use of the resource. As a big community, we should not think ourselves interest only, we should also think for others. Think that everyone can has a chance to use the resources and also how to value the resources so that others have a chance to use it. We can start doing social responsibility to ensure that the limited resources are not run to waste. As an opening of this introduction, we begin by defining social responsibility. Social responsibility can be defined as a theory from the perspective or ideological whereby a specific entity, being the person, organization, government, corporation, non-profit organization and etc., has a responsibility to make good decision and take sustainable action that will develop benefit of the society and enhance the welfare and interests of the public. In another meaning, we also can define social responsibility as whatever a specific entity done, the intention is to improve the welfare or the interest of the society. Although it is not mandatory for the entity to accomplish social responsibility, but the entity should also has some conscience. In addition to protect their own benefit, the entity should also concern the society’s welfare and interests. In the beginning of the introduction, we have defining the social responsibility. Now we will look on what is corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is the social responsibility that implements by an organization. Corporate social responsibility is about how a company using their own knowledge intelligently to earn profit for the company beside that still can protect the interest of society. They are not only being concerned with their own benefit, but they also concern with the interest and welfare of the society. Corporate social responsibility also gives a picture of how a company supervises their business processes to generate an overall positive impact to public. The initiation of corporate social responsibility involves several issues that related to company’s concern behavior in its social atmosphere except the company’s economic sphere which the company traditionally associates with. To implement corporate social responsibility, the organization must take in mind of the society welfare in beside to fulfill its own benefit in doing the business. The organization should not be self-interested in consider that the interest of the organization is their main objective. They should not think that increase stock price and short-run profit is the most important thing to the company. Service the society also an important objective and it is as important as the profit of the company. The company also should concern with the society ethically other than earning profit and increase stock price. The company’s stakeholders are not only the shareholders and investors, but also include the employees, customers, government, communities, suppliers, and special-interest group. So the company should also concern other stakeholder’s interest and what they are desired for. Commonly, the company using their own policy as a built-in, self-legalize instrument which incorporate into their business model to monitor the business processes and activities, so that their business obedience to the law and regulation, ethical standard, and international norms. It also ensures that the company not only pays attention to their profit and stock price but also the interest and welfare of the society. Implement social responsibility not only bring benefit to the society, but also give benefit to the company. Because implement social responsibility can add value for the positive image of the company. Public listed companies in Malaysia nowadays are required by Bursa Malaysia to disclose their social responsibility in their annual report. They can built their own corporate social responsibility report or refer to Bursa Malaysia’s corporate social responsibility framework. The report is not mandatory to follow, it is just a reference. When operate in businesses, there are several main areas that firms should concern and responsible for. It is because the businesses will give some impact on these main areas. According to Vinsign website, there are six main areas of social responsibility, which is community and environment, the employees, governments, consumers, providers of finance and other organizations or groups. For example, the firm should concern about environmental issue, such as rainforests disappearing and they can take action by reducing using paper or do not waste any paper when doing businesses or help the government to plant more trees. For employees’ issues, they should treat every employee fairly and should concern about their safety during work, welfare, training and development. Corporate social responsibility disclosure discloses information on what the firms have done for the sake of the community. It also shows the disclosure of firms’ action on what they have been contribute to the welfare of the society and what they will do in the future for the welfare and interest of the society. Usually the disclosure is disclosed in a social responsibility report and publishes in company’s website or annual report of public listed companies. For public listed company in Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia has ruled them to disclose their social responsibility disclosure in their annual report. It is mandatory for them to disclose in annual report recently and most of them comply with the rule to create a good image to the society and government. Corporate social responsibility disclosure is very important to company’s stakeholder. The stakeholders of the company always take note to the disclosure because the disclosure shows what the company plan to do and have done for the welfare of the society. A recently report shows that most of the investors are invest in firms that have involve greatly in social responsibility. With actively involve in the activities of social responsibility, the company can increase their positive image emerge to the society. It can bring advantage to the companies with having increasing number of investors invest in the company and attract more supplier cooperates with them. Some companies disclose their social responsibility voluntarily. According to â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in Malaysia† written by several author, companies are disclosing their social information for various reasons. The reasons can be classified into three broad categories, which is pressure from the government and market, enhancing corporate image, and top management awareness. Companies also disclosing their social information because of they think that they should informing the public what they have done for the public and will done for the sake of the public. Before companies release the social responsibility disclosure in their report, they have to think about the question of how much information should they publish in the report, how much information are enough to the viewer of the report and which information are useful to the viewer of the report. It is very important for the companies to think about the questions because the interest groups are based on the information to make certain important decision making. Different groups of stakeholder look for different type of social responsibility information. For example, employees and future employees of a company are more concerned with human resource issues in the social responsibility report. The public and government are more concerned on philanthropic issues in the report. The quantities of the information are not regarded as important, qualities of the information disclosed by companies are more think greatly of to the stakeholders. In spite of quantities of the information disclosed, useless information disclose to stakeholder will not help them in certain decision making. According to â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in Malaysia† written by several author, companies in Malaysia are more concern in human resources issues. Useless or unclear social responsibility information will lead to some problems, such as damage companies’ image, penalties from government and dissatisfied of stakeholders. When this situation happens, the company may lose their intellectual capital and most of the investor decides not to invest in the company since the company cannot fulfill their expectation for the information from the report. Large firm in this research mainly refer to public companies listed in Bursa Malaysia. Bursa Malaysia has built a corporate social responsibility framework for the public company as reference which has mentioned earlier in this research. According to Bursa Malaysia website, it mainly focuses on four main areas, which is environment, community, marketplace, and workplace. Bursa Malaysia encourages public listed companies to involve in corporate social responsibility and disclose it in annual report. Why public listed company been encourages to involve in corporate social responsibility? According to Bursa Malaysia, they believe that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is key to sustainability. Bursa Malaysia say that â€Å"sustainability is a process and it is a business approach used to create long term value by seizing the opportunities and managing risks that emerge from the economic, environmental and social developments†. For example, by protecting the environment, it can help in conserve the natural scarce resources from being destroy or no need to confront with the situation of some resources become extinct. This can help the company to use the natural resources everlasting and the next generation also can enjoy it. Social responsibility involvement are very important to the public listed company and also others small and medium company in Malaysia. It is because social responsibility involvement can help increase competitive advantage of the company compare to others company in same sector. Involve in social responsibility activities can also improve the relationship between the company and the society. Other than become distinctive compare to other company and enhance the relationship with the society, social responsibility activities also can increase public image of the company, increase the stock price of the company, and can help to solve problems that the community faces. Involving in social responsibility activities bring a lot of advantages to company but still many companies are not willing to involve in social responsibility activities and disclose it. It is mainly because most of the companies think that social responsibility is not so important to them, profit of the company are their priority. Unfamiliar with what information to disclose are also one of the reason they rarely involve in social responsibility activities. Most of the companies are not sure which information is important to stakeholders although the company involves in social responsibility activities. 1.1 Problem Statement The problem in corporate social responsibility is that not every public listed company in Malaysia is sincere in voluntary involves in social responsibility. As a large company which listed on Bursa Malaysia, the company is required by Bursa Malaysia to disclose corporate social responsibility in their annual report in recently year. Some of the small company even didn’t implement social responsibility because of the company thinks it is not their obligation to implement it and for small firm, social responsibility disclosure are not mandatory. They are not aware of the advantages that the social responsibility brings to them and importance of the social responsibility information to the society. Some of the company didn’t disclose social responsibility because of they not sure what to disclose and how much information should disclose. Even though some companies have made the respective disclosure, the information they disclose may be irrelevant and as the result it is not useful to the stakeholders. 1.2 Objective The objective of this research is to find out the important of the social responsibility and social responsibility disclosure to different sector among public listed companies. This can understand through the involvement of the public listed company in the social responsibility and their key disclosure areas. The study aims to study how different of industries disclose their social responsibility activities and further to evaluate their awareness to the social responsibility. It also aims to study how willing are the public listed company disclose their social responsibility activities to the society without conceal anything from the society. The higher the willingness that company discloses their social responsibility information, the more the information that company will disclose. Not merely disclose what the company plan to do in the future, but also what the company have done that achieve from previous year social responsibility activities planning. Another objective is to find out the relationship between size of firm and the extent of corporate social responsibility practices. This study is to see whether it is the truth that the larger the firm is, the greater the involvement of the firm in the social responsibility. Whether it is only large firm will involve in social responsibility and disclose it out to the stakeholders or not. 1.3 Contribution The contribution of this research is to increase the number of companies and the willingness of companies to participate in social responsibility practices. From this research, the company will find out the importance of involvement in social responsibility activities and advantages that social responsibility activities bring to them. So that, the public listed company is more wiling to involve in social responsibility activities and disclose the information to its stakeholder. Beside that, the public also can see how corporate social responsibility will improve their living and enhance their welfare and interest. The community will more appreciate what the company has done for them and then will have more and more investor wiling to invest in the company. 1.4 Conclusion In conclusion, corporate social responsibility is about how you should as a corporation. Although, corporate social responsibility in nowadays is still not much concern by the public listed company, but in the future they will identify the importance of social responsibility. From this awareness, the company is more willing to involve in social responsibility activities and disclose the information to the society. From the advantage that the community receives from the social responsibility, they will become more concern with the issue of the social responsibility. Thus, the community acts as a watchdog to concentrate on what the public listed company plan to do and what they have done for the welfare of the society. The company views the community as an important stakeholder, so the company is more willing to improve the community’s living. Community can survive without business but business cannot exist without community. Chapter 2 Background of Study Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) was established on 1 March 1993 under the Securities Commission Act 1993, the Securities Commission is a self-funding statutory body with investigative and enforcement powers. It reports to the Minister of Finance and its accounts are tabled in Parliament annually. The SCs many regulatory functions include: Supervising exchanges, clearing houses and central depositories; Registering authority for prospectuses of corporations other than unlisted recreational clubs; Approving authority for corporate bond issues; Regulating all matters relating to securities and futures contracts; Regulating the take-over and mergers of companies Regulating all matters relating to unit trust schemes; Licensing and supervising all licensed persons; Encouraging self-regulation; and Ensuring proper conduct of market institutions and licensed persons. Underpinning all these functions is the SCs ultimate responsibility of protecting the investor. Apart from discharging its regulatory functions, the SC is also obliged by statute to encourage and promote the development of the securities and futures markets in Malaysia. Bursa Malaysia is an exchange holding company approved under Section 15 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, which is regulate by Securities Commission Malaysia. It operates a fully-integrated exchange, offering the complete range of exchange-related services including trading, clearing, settlement and depository services. Bursa Malaysia today is one of the largest bourses in Asia with just under 1,000 listed companies offering a wide range of investment choices to the world. Companies are either listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad Main Market or ACE Market. In assisting the development of the Malaysian capital market and enhancing global competitiveness, Bursa Malaysia is committed to maintaining an efficient, secure and active trading market for local and global investors. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a central management concern at Bursa Malaysia. For Bursa Malaysia, CSR means integrating open and transparent business practices into our business operations which are based on ethical values and respect for employees, communities and the environment. The way they do business is designed to deliver sustainable value to the society at large and to all stakeholders, including their shareholders. On 5 September 2006, Bursa Malaysia launched a CSR Framework as a guide for Public Listed Companiess in implementing and reporting on CSR. The Bursa Malaysia CSR Framework looks at four main focal areas for CSR practise – the Environment, the Workplace, the Community and the Marketplace, in no order of priority. With effect from 31 December 2007, all public listed companies are required to disclose their CSR activities or practices (and of their subsidiaries) and if there are none, a statement to that effect. Listing Requirements (Appendix 9c, Part A (29)). Listing Requirements (Appendix 9c, Part A (29)) is about description of the corporate social responsibility activities or practices undertaken by the listed issuer and its subsidiaries or if there are none, a statement to that effect. Failure to comply with any of these Requirements will amount to a breach in respect of which actions may be taken or penalties may be imposed or both. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Framework for Malaysian Public Listed Companies The Bursa Malaysia CSR Framework is in fact a framework, and not a template. This framework does not tell the whole story of CSR and neither does it have all answers. It is a bit like running shoes: One size does not fit all. The CSR Framework is basically a set of guidelines for Malaysian Public Listed Companies (PLCs) to help them in the practice of CSR. As the Prime Minister mentioned in the 2006 budget speech, from now on, all PLCs are required to disclose their CSR activities. Some PLCs may be doing corporate social responsibility even without realising it. The directive from the Prime Minister is really an opportunity for logical thinking about CSR. It is meant to encourage Malaysian PLCs to become more engaged in being socially responsible, and to make the way they approach the process of CSR, part of the way they normally work and think. According to Bursa Malaysia, CSR means it is not about how a firm spends money, but about how the firm makes money. CSR is defined as open and transparent business practices that are based on ethical values and respect for the community, employees, the environment, shareholders and other stakeholders. It is designed to deliver sustainable value to society at large. There is no universal approach to CSR. Companies are free to adopt what suits them. CSR is not about compliance or philanthropy or public relations. It often involves cultural transformation in a company as it integrates CSR concepts into its operations and decision making. Vitally, CSR involves communicating the company’s actions to its stakeholders and encouraging their feedback. The Bursa Malaysia CSR Framework looks at 4 main focal areas for CSR practice. They are: the Environment, the Workplace, the Community and the Marketplace, in no order of priority. The Environment When looking at the environment, CSR can focus on a variety of issues. Most of the people worry about energy, how to use it more efficiently and how to reduce the way its emissions damage the climate. Here in Malaysia, bio fuels have become a topical issue. There are other aspects as well. Companies live amongst some of the richest biodiversity in the world. Protecting the flora and fauna is essential. The Community Companies live within the community. They depend on the community in many ways and the community depends on them. Supporting employee involvement in community issues enriches the community and the company. Supporting education, such as adopting a school, is another possible activity. Companies can be creative in looking at how they can contribute to children, youth development and the under-privileged. The opportunities for company interaction with the community are vast. The Marketplace The Marketplace is where companies find important stakeholders – their shareholders, suppliers, and customers. Companies can interact responsibly with this group in a number of ways, such as supporting green products or engaging in only ethical procurement practices. Helping to develop suppliers and other vendors is another way of contributing. Raising the standards of Corporate Governance within the company so that it meets shareholder expectations is a further consideration. The Workplace Companies draw their employees from society and so everything they do with their staff needs to be socially responsible, whether they are dealing with basic human rights or gender issues. A quality work environment and health safety are obvious considerations, as is the way in which, if companies believe in CSR, they inculcate in their employees, the values which the company holds dear. Ideally, companies should consider all 4 CSR dimensions when crafting their own visions. But that does not mean a company must do everything. For some companies there will be focal areas or initiatives that do not apply. The important thing is that the company uses the framework to help it identify its choices and priorities. Individual CSR initiatives will depend on the nature of each company’s business, its inclinations, and its resources. However, sometimes a company will adopt initiatives that may even have indirect impacts. Like most PLCs, Bursa Malaysia is exploring the framework to see what suits companies best as an exchange. 3.0 Introduction There are some different points of view of the corporate social responsibility definition from several parties. Corporate social responsibility is defined as the duty of the organisation to respect individuals’ rights and promote human welfare in its operations (Manakkalathil and Rudolf, 1995; Oppewal et al., 2006). According to Carrol (2000a), businesses not only have the economic responsibility of being profitable and the legal responsibility to follow the laws or ground rules that guide their ability to achieve their economic requirements, but they also have ethical responsibilities that include a range of societal norms or standards. From this two definition, it can see that individuals’ rights and human welfare is more important than profit earning and organization is try to balance them, so that the interest of public did not deprive. Malaysian Government’s point of view by our Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak in a corporate social responsibility conference held in June 2003 at PWTC, Kuala Lumpur referred to corporate social responsibility as â€Å"a concept whereby corporation integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and their interactions with stakeholders on a voluntary basis†. It is a process of providing information which does not have purely financial implications designed to discharge social accountability. Companies should recognize their corporate social responsibilities not only to their shareholders but also to the society they operate in. This sustainability concept calls for a company to operate in a responsible manner that takes full account of their business impact on the environment, people and the community. Corporate social responsibility can also be defined as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 1999). In general, CSR embraces all organizational activities relating to the organization and society. These may include employees support (safety, job security, profit sharing, employee participation, treating employees fairly and equitably etc.), community support (activity involved in education, health and housing related supportive activities, philanthropic activities), product/services support (product/service quality, product safety, delivery, research and development etc.), and environmental support such as; sustaining the eco-friendly environment, producing environmentally friendly products, waste management, recycling etc. (Staples, 2004; and Sen a nd Bhattacharya, 2001). In the last decade Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an issue that has increasingly attracted attention from the business, political, and public spheres (Brammer, and Palevin, 2004). In emerging capital markets, such as Malaysia, this issue also tends to be a strategic issue for public listed companies. Malaysian firms incorporate CSR into their corporate governance agenda to become good corporate citizens in the Malaysian capital market. They also seek to increase the pool of enhancement in the recognition and profile of corporate domestic firms who can gain better recognition from the perspective of international and local investors. Furthermore, the push towards better CSR practices is also important to be consistent with the overall national agenda, particularly in achieving Vision 2020, meeting the objective of the National Integrity Plan and as a tool for generating greater economic and capital market growth (Corporate Governance, 2004). Tay Kay Luan (2005a), cited the Malaysian government’s stand on CSR issues is that all organisations in the country should take account of the economic, social and environmental impacts of their activities, and should be encouraged to act and address the key challenges which arise from these impacts on their core competencies. Moreover, the government is taking stand that the existing legal framework and regulations are sufficient to improve corporate behaviour. Gray et al. (1987) define social reporting as â€Å"†¦ †¦the process of communicating the social and environmental effects of organisations’ economic actions to particular interest groups within society and to society at large. As such, it involves extending the accountability of organizations (particularly companies), beyond the traditional role of providing a financial account to the owners of capital, in particular, shareholders. Such an extension is predicted upon the assumption that companies do have wider responsibilities than simply to make money for their shareholders†. Chan (2002), Godfrey et al. (2000), and Gray et al. (1996) describe corporate social disclosure as voluntary reporting of social and environmental information relating to an organisation’s interaction with its community, shareholders, physical and social environment to outsiders through corporate annual reports. Although the disclosure is based on corporate’s voluntary, but it as been motivated to disclose in recent year. According to Godfrey et al. (2006), corporate social responsibility is motivated by legal regulation, management accountability and shareholder activism. Voluntary corporate social disclosure gives information to the public regarding a company’s activities that relates to the community. Companies that operate in a developed world have moved to include sections on social issues within their annual reports. These sections give information on their responsibility towards reducing hazardous impacts on the environment, improving waste management, showing compliance with Environmental Quality Regulation 1989, better efforts to protecting their employees and other social issues affecting the public. The disclosures were towards an increasing trend. However the level of disclosures itself are still low. (Teoh Thong,1984; Foo Tan,1988;Ho,1990 and Shireenjit Zuaini 1 998). The Malaysian government’s incentive to further promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) among public listed companies (PLC) is very encouraging in Malaysia. The honorable Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, in his keynote speech at the Corporate Social Responsibility Conference on 21 June 2004 had made it clear that CSR helps improve financial performance, enhance brand image and increases the ability to attract and retain the best workplace, contributing to the market value of the company. The growth of public awareness about CSR has put pressure on corporations, profession and governments to increase the amount of social information in corporate reports. More recently, in the 2007 budget speech, the Malaysian Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has stressed the importance of corporate social responsibility reporting by requiring companies to disclose their CSR activities in the annual report. Corporate social reporting is one approach how companies published or disclosed their corporate social responsibility activities. One way to reduce the gaps between company and its stakeholders is by reporting the activities to the stakeholders or through additional disclosure. Teoh and Thong (1984) pointed out that the philosophy of the top management and legislation were the primary factors contributing to corporate social awareness in Malaysia. More recently, Malaysian executives and managers were found to have positive attitudes towards corporate social responsibility, although the extent of their involvement in corporate social responsibility is lower today than it was a decade ago (Abdul Rashid Ibrahim, 2002). Mohammad Jamil, Alwi, and Mohamed (2001) similarly found that CSR disclosure in Malaysia is generally low, especially with regards to fair business information. This also appears true for environmental information (ACCA, 2002). The level of CSR was again confirmed to be low in recent studies conducted by SRI (2003) and Ramasamy and Hung (2004). Since in Malaysia, corporate social responsibility is voluntary, the choice of social issues reveals the Government’s priority or the particular responsibility which companies have. Therefore by having corporate social responsibility, the company would have better reputation and this would increase its chances to secure contracts from the Government as it is seen as being socially responsible. Companies would be able to attract and retain good employees which would in turn benefit them financially in the long run. Corporate social responsibility may be able to strengthen stakeholder relations as reporting promotes corporate transparency and instills greater confidence and trust

An Exposition of Amos 5

An Exposition of Amos 5 With a view to an audience within a stated contemporary ministry setting, provide an exposition of Amos 5 As I engage to expound the book of Amos I would want to do an exposition of Amos 5 which with a view of a mixed Audience of men and women between the ages of 20 to 50 years of age and also young people who most of them are under the age of 20 years. The audience is a mixture of different nationalities that have different cultural background. According to Hasting (1963:28) writing in the dictionary of the bible, he says that Amos was one of the earliest prophets who prophesied in the 8th century B.C. Amos is known to have come from Tekoa and according to the dictionary of the bible, he prophesied when Israel and Judah were strong and prosperous. Though there was prosperity in Judah and Israel the book of Amos portrayed a lot of injustice taking place during that period. In (chapter 4) of Amos and verse (1) it talks of how the poor are oppressed and they are crushed. (Amos 1:1) The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa-the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] was king of Israel. According to this verse, it makes us understand that Amos was a shepherd, and also understand that Amos may not be the one who wrote the book;(Thorogood 1992:10) cites that, the book of Amos is a collection of the Prophets words. We cannot be certain who actually wrote it, or when it was written. When we come to chapter 5 of Amos it can be hard trying to understand what specifically he is trying to address when he talks of a virgin Israel in verses 2. It is hard to interpret the book without first having understood some of the things that Amos is saying, for example, where he says, This is what the Lord says to Israel: Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing (vs. 4-5). Not knowing what Bethel, Gilgal and also Beersheba means one can not interpret what he was implying. Patte (2004:282) makes us understand that Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were sacred places because they were memorials connected to the ancestors and history of the conquest of the land without having this knowledge it is a hard one to understand. The writings of Amos are regarded as Oracles, this is highlighted by Heaton(1977:73 ) Amos cultivate d the practice of embodying in his oracles quotations of his opponents claims. So this is to affirm that Amos was writing oracles. Wolff (1977) in his book of Joel and Amos cites that the literary tradition hardly allows us to recognize more than two dozen short individual oracles, so he is implying that Amoss writing was literal and he cites three basic type of speech found in the book of Amos (i) The messenger speech which he says that it is tied to what Amos was told to say by God. (ii) The free speech witness speech, this he says promotes relationship with the listener. (iii) Vision report, that one he says that it cannot be said with certainty whether is rhetorical or literary in Origin. When Amos is starting to speak the oracles he is using within and in front the text where he is addressing the children of Israel and tells them in verses 1-7 to hear what the Lord is saying and what will happen to them. As Amos is speaking in chapter 5:1-3, he regards the children of Israel as people who are already dead, and is lamenting over their state and seems there no hope for them when he says, Fallen and no more to rise. He compares them to a virgin woman engaged but now she has been forsaken. So he uses metaphor when he is addressing them. This may mean that Israel is glorious but their glory is gone. In verse 4-10 it is a call for them to call God even in their crisis, it is surprising that in the beginning, he speaks to them; It portrays them as people who have been utterly destroyed and no hope to rise again. In verses 4 he tells them to seek the Lord and live. On the other hand, he tells them, what not to seek Bethel and not to enter Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba fo r there are consequences when they do that. Marsh (1959:53) gives the meaning of the word seek and he says the word translated seek originally meant to ask for an oracle from some diviner, and then to offer worship and obedience to God. Applying this few verses as I address my audience bearing in mind the state of the nation that we are in where there have been a crisis in the economy and a lot of cuts in so many sectors that some services that the government used to offer are not longer there, I would bring to their attention to how the nation has declined and probably try to mention, maybe is because of the evil that is done in the nation. I would also encourage them to seek the Lord and not to put their trust in the systems, as Amos was encouraging the children of Israel to seek God and not seek the sacred places. When Amos is warning the people not to seek Bethel or go to Gilgal and having now understood that Gilgal was a sacred place as cited by Patte(2004:282), he is encourag ing them to worship the true God rather than go and worship those sacred places whereby even if they are sacred places they are not God themselves. I would, therefore, encourage my audience to worship the true God rather than men, bearing in mind that most of my audience are from African background where there is a tendency of worshiping the men of God. In verses (10 Amos talks of people hating correction or rather discipline and hate he who tells the truth. So I as address my audience I would encourage them to speak the truth and allow themselves to be corrected by the word of the Lord. Since my audience is a mixture of young people who most of them are under the care of their parents I encouraged them to adhere to discipline and obey their parents.[G1] In (verses 11-12) Amos talks of how the poor are oppressed, and he tells them because they have done these things and even extracted wheat unjustly from them even the house they have built they will not live in them. Amos was pronouncing judgment. As I bring this to my audience I would speak to them, warning them not to oppress each other and especially the old oppressing the young even on those who are married, men not to oppress women. I would speak to men oppressing women with confidence having some background knowledge how African women at times are regarded as not equal to their men and they tend to be oppressed. Amos changes his tone in verses 14 and he gives the people hope that if they seek the Lord they will live. What I see when I look at the previous (verses 12 and 13) he is telling them to stop oppressing the poor and they will live. So I would tell the audience that, when we are doing injustice to one another we are not seeking God, and God is not with us because after A mos telling the Israelite how they have oppressed the poor he tells them to seek the Lord in order for them to live. Amos here was like implying that God was not with the Israelite because they were oppressing the poor. Amos follows verses 14 with verse 15 by saying that they should hate evil, and my understanding I will interpret that not rendering injustice and oppressing the poor is what God hates. As a result of them hating evil, they will escape the calamity that Amos is speaking in (verses 16) which he says there will be wailing as the Lord passes across the land. The Israelite will understand the in a better way when they remember what happened while they were escaping Egypt when there was wailing in the camp of the Egyptians. Amos is saying that the wailing will be so great that, they will even call for people to help them to wail. As I would address my audience I would focus them on treating each other well and not oppressing others, this is because loving God is loving and treating other people justly, we cant say we love God and yet you treat others badly and oppress them. According to Patte(2004:282) in the commentary, he says that The horizontal relationship to neighbors is inseparably bound to the vertical relationship with God. To avoid punishment from God we have to love God and treat people well. Though God had sworn of bringing destruction we see in (verses 15) that he will leave some from the remnant of Joseph may be the ones who will carry on his purpose on the earth. This reminds me the day of Noah where he had to destroy everything apart from Noahs family. Amos in verse 17 is using literal language that he is going to pass through them and their vineyard will be wailing. This may not mean that God is the one who is going to pass the land himself; but may be the adversary. As I share this verse I may bring to the attention of my audience that the Lord may not necessary come to punish our wrong doing but things might happen when we dont live according to what the Lord has expected of us. In Verses 18 he is warning those who have been waiting for the day of the lord, may be expecting a reward, and instead he is telling them it will be darkness instead of lights. In other words, things will be so bad instead of being good and this is as a result of their actions. Most Probably they Children of Israel have been expecting God to come and reward them and have victory among their enemies. Thorogood(1992) in his book a guide to Amos commented that Amos did not share hope with the Israelites instead he predicted a day of darkness instead of light. Even in our day, we might be expecting great things from God because we believe in him, and instead, we find ourselves going through difficult times. Therefore it is important to check our ways and see whether there are people we are oppressing or doing things that cannot please God. Maybe the children of Israel thought because they have a covenant relationship with God, they can do anything and God turns a blind eye. Amos portraye d the day of the Lord they have been expecting a very gloomy day, in that they will be running from one problem thinking they have escaped they find themselves in another major problem. Amos uses allegory a lot; as he writes when he is talking about a lion, a bear, and even a serpent. Maybe he using this because for him being a shepherd has had encountered all these animals. If I were to use allegory I would use things that my audience would understand. In verses, 21-24 Amos is narrating how the Lord is not pleased by the sacrifices that they offer unto him and even their worship unto God. He said if justice and righteousness are not found in them, their rituals are in vain. Maybe they thought by observing the rituals and offering sacrifices they will please God even if they oppress the poor and put heavy taxes on them. I would also address the same issue to my audience that it is not by how much we do for God, or how much money we give to the Him; is about acting according to what he requires. Marsh (1959:57) as he comments on verses 21-24 cites that Israel had all externals of true religion-fine churches and cathedrals, great festivals popularly observed (everyone went to church on such days, moving rituals solemnly impressive sacrifices, beautiful music, and well-trained choirs. But such externals do not, of themselves, beget communion with God. In other words, outward rituals and appearance do not appeal to God. We must go beyond rituals and do what God want us to do. In verses, 25 Amos is like narrating what God is asking Israelites that they never offered him any sacrifices and that they carried idols with them. It is like he is saying that while they were not established they didnt offer any sacrifice to God and yet he took care of them. But now that God has established them the wont honor him, instead, he is saying they carried idols with them. Having an audience who some of them have come from hardship I would bring to their attention to remember wher e God has brought them from, some from great hardship and yet God has established them. I would encourage them to honor God and keep his commands. Amos has mentioned two things they carried which are sikkuth their king, and chiun their idols which according to Wintle (2015:1146) commenting in South Asia Bible commentary refers to these idols that the Israelites carried as Assyrian deities. This shows as if the Israelites regarded other gods more than the true God. They were holding unto what they may be; thought is the righteous way than do what God had instructed them to do. As we read these verses today we would also ask ourselves as Christians are we exalting things in our lives more than we exalt the Lord, and this can be true even in the audience I am addressing, in that some many have valued their jobs, families children or as a people we regard rituals more than we regard God. In conclusion, as I have looked at the book of Amos chapter 5 I can conclude and say that this chapter can speak to us as the church of today that we need to deal with injustices in our society and live righteous lives, and that will be a true worship unto God. Amos has reminded us the need of humility in our worship. Thorogood 1992:66) says that the closer our worship is linked with the rest of-of our life the more helpful it is likely to be, This means that we need to be conscious every time, that we have a relationship with God; and we can worship him anytime not only when we are gathered together. As Amos highlighted the injustices and oppression done to the poor by the children of Israel we also need to learn as Christians to treat each other well even when we are in different social status. Bibliography D.D, J. H. (1963). Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T.and T Clark. Heaton, E. W. (1977). The Old Testament Prophets. London: Anchor Brendon Ltd. Marsh, J. (1959). The Torch Bible Commentary series: Amos And Micah. Great Britain: Northumberland Press Limited. Patte, D. (2004). Global Bible Commentary. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Thorogood, B. (1992). A Guide to Amos. London: Spck. Wintle, B. (2015). South Asia Bible Commentary, One Volume Commentary on the whole Bible. Michigan: Grand Rapids, Michigan. Wolf, H. W. (1977). Hermancia, Joel, and Amos. United Kingdom: Fortress Press [G1]Deleted:h

Case Management Essay -- BUsiness, Insurance Companies, Clients

The focus of this paper is case management. Case management has evolved into a diverse profession which includes many disciplines and is exercised in many settings. Case management involves the process of coordinating multiple services on behalf of clients and has been practiced now for several decades. Many disciplines have engaged in case management and identify themselves as case managers. Case managers work with many populations and settings and play an important role in today’s society. The following analysis explores how case management developed, how it is defined, its components, and how it relates to other nursing care delivery models. All these aspects are reviewed with the purpose to show the importance of case management in the health care organization. Case Management Case management has become the standard method of managing health care delivery organizations today. In recent decades, case management has become widespread throughout healthcare areas, professionals, and models in the United States; and has been extended to a wide range of clients (Park & Huber, 2009). Regardless of the setting, case management ensures that care is oriented to the client, while controlling costs at the same time. Case management delivers quality care to patients in the most cost effective approach by managing human and material resources. Client advocacy is a strong underlying theme for all case management activities. Case managers share the same goals and standards of practice, but are multidisciplinary and have diverse academic educational backgrounds and work environments (Park & Huber, 2009). The need for case management and case managers continue to increase as new service needs, and populations are recognized.... ...jured, chronically ill, and high cost cases (Jacob & Cherry, 2007). Conclusion Only within recent decades case management has been introduced, but has been proven to be a significant segment of the healthcare workforce today. There have been several changes to case management over the last few decades, and the future for case management is very diverse. Case management offers many benefits to both the client and the health care organization. In addition, case management plays a key role in a client’s road to recovery. Most importantly, case managers have a vital role overseeing their client’s transition from the hospital setting back into the community and ensuring all service needs are met. Moreover, the opportunities and need for case managers working with many populations and settings are great, and may ultimately lead to better health for individuals.

Physics of Bowling Essays -- physics bowling sport sports

Aside from being one of the most accessible (and best!) sports out there, many aspects of bowling can be expressed with physics. Achieving maximum power, throwing a hook ball, and getting good pin action can all be broken down into physics issues and represented with equations. I will cover four aspects of bowling that can be explained with physics terms and show you how to use this knowledge to optimize your game. Gravitational Potential Energy Depending on the height from which the bowler drops the bowling ball, the ball will have a certain amount of potential energy. If the bowler bowls with a straight ball, the potential energy of the ball will not affect their game very much. It will, however, draw attention to the bowler when they drop the ball sufficiently high as to broadcast sonic reverberations of the ensuing lane-punishment for the rest of the bowlers to hear (and laugh at). Thus, it is in the straight-ball bowler's best interests to keep the ball as close to the lane as possible upon release. Bowlers who bowl with a hook-ball have even more at stake. The more potential energy the ball has upon release, the longer it will bounce as it travels down the lane. This translates into less opportunity for a hook-ball to catch friction against the lane. Remember, the horizontal velocity is independent of the vertical velocity, hence (assuming the ball is always thrown with a force parallel to the horizon) the ball will take the same amount of time to reach the pins, regardless of how much time it spends airborne. Direction of the Initial Force For maximum impact, the bowler must release the ball with a force perfectly parallel to the horizon. Since the horizontal velocity is independent of the vertical velocity, an... ... an elastic collision. The pins bounce against one another because their momentum is conserved during the collision(s). To achieve the most pin action, the bowler must put plenty of energy into the system and also find a direction of impact to efficiently distribute the kinetic energy. During pin action, some of the energy is transformed into sound. If the bowler's throw produces a single, loud *dink* sound, they are hearing the audible period punctuating their failure of a throw. On the other hand, if the bowler's throw produces a sound not unlike a marble statue being clubbed to death, this means two things. First, there must be lots of pin action to be producing all of those collision sounds; second, the bowler is very strong, has thrown the ball parallel to the horizon, and has hit the pins at an angle capable of distributing the kinetic energy efficiently.

Taiwan :: History

Taiwan For centuries, Taiwan has been ruled by alien regimes. Modern Taiwanese history is a chronicle of the Taiwanese' struggles against oppression and fight for independent survival. Since 1945, Taiwan under the Kuomintang (KMT) regime has been subject to the threat of China's invasion. Even though recently the tensions across the Straits of Taiwan has loosened gradually, to Taiwanese, the unification policy stressed by both the KMT regime and the Chinese government still poses a grave danger of a forced and forcible merger with China. On August 31, 1993, the People's Republic of China issued a document titled, "The Taiwan Question and the Reunification of China." Circulating in seven languages, this diplomatic white paper manifested its intent and ambition of annexing Taiwan through its distortion of history, misconstruction of international law and treaties, and disregard for the will and welfare of the Taiwanese. Though less dogmatic and more pragmatic than before, the KMT's response remains ambiguous and problematic: the KMT still insists that the Communist regime cannot legitimately represent China, while emphasizing its own capability of resolving this "Chinese problem" eventually. Under such circumstances, we think it necessary to explicate our point of view from the perspective of the Taiwanese. China released a paper that states that "Peaceful Unification" and "One Country, Two Systems" are the basic principles of its Taiwan policy. The paper lists four guidelines: one China, coexistence of two systems, extensive autonomy, and peaceful negotiation. China warns that the Taiwan question is a purely domestic issue and thus to be solved under the premise of "One China." It further pronounces that peaceful unification is a fixed policy of the Chinese government. However, this government will reserve the right to take all action necessary, including military action, to protect its territorial integrity and governing authority. As a note directed at foreign states, the paper delivers its intention to keep out foreign intervention. "The Chinese government is not obliged to any foreign country and makes no promise whatsoever." In our opinion, the Chinese assumption and interpretation of the Taiwan issue are extremely absurd. Taiwan by no means is a part of the People's Republic of China, whether from the perspective of history, international law, or reality. This being the case, what position does the PRC have to formulate the "peaceful unification, one China" policy which aims at devouring Taiwan? China's chauvinistic ambitions are clearly manifested in light of this.

Agricultural Marketing Information Systems in Africa Essay

DISCUSSIONS: 1. Briefly discuss an agricultural marketing information system using figure 4.1 as a guide. Agricultural marketing information system in the information system used in gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about prices and other information relevant to farmers, animal rearers, traders, processors and others involved in handling agricultural products. Market information systems play an important role in agro-industrialization and food supply chains. 2. How might the South African system be seen as an effort at increasing market accessibility and competitive advantage? The new system was designed to enable producers to best satisfy consumer demands, assist them in making deals with international brokers and distributors, and at the same time make a profit. In doing so, they had exposed agriculture to the vagaries and demands of the global system of trade. The policy had been designed to make it easier for producers to export a range of products, offer greater market access and at the same time encourage farmers to expand their operations. The marketing information system was an effort to increase market accessibility and gain competitive advantages at the international markets. 3. Assess the suitability of the Esoko system for Africa. Studies carried out to assess the impact of Esoko services revealed real improvements in farmer incomes due to services such as Esoko price alerts. This investment not only offers high social impact for small holder farmers, but in the longer-term, the platform has the potential to impact the information dissemination and overall efficiency of agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, it help solve information asymmetry or shortcomings and integrates smallholder farmers into the formal value chain by providing a robust communications infrastructure that allows smallholder farmers to be reached quickly and served inexpensively through mobile phones, a medium that is everywhere and easy-to-use. The platform enables multiple stakeholders in the value chain to push critical information to small-holder farmers such as market prices, agronomic and training tips, while also providing the ability to survey farmers to understand their needs and desires. 4. Briefly discuss whether South Africa should have develop a system like Esoko rather than opting for a web-based solution. A web based solution is a complex answer to a problem that could simply addressed by solutions that could easily be grasp by the farmers and the producers as well. Given that according to studies only 17% of the South African population have accessed to the internet. We could not also deny that South Africa have a low literacy rate. This also imply that the use of computers and internet would not that easy as expected for the farmers. On the other hand, system like Esoko can be easily digested. It is a simple connection for the farmer and producers that could be easily spread through the continent. Only the need of a simple mobile phone and a subscription for the case of Esoko.