AUDIT & ASSURANCE - SCENARIO - AUDIT OF SUNSHINE LIMITED Essay

AUDIT & ASSURANCE - SCENARIO - AUDIT OF SUNSHINE LIMITED - Essay Example This particular aim is of significant importance for the reason that we would want to arrive and formulate the suitable and appropriate audit opinion based on a financial statement that is actual and exact. Further more, with this particular approached we will not only be able to detect material misstatements in the previous financial statement. But, it will also show to us how some factors like adequacy of internal controls, the nature of transactions that company utilises, how the company monitors and oversees the production, how responsive is the management in addressing issues, how the company responds to human resources and human relations concerns, the possibility of senior management oversight and similar concerns within the company itself may contribute to risk and to financial statement that is materially misstated. And as a rule of the thumb in the business environment, a materially misstated financial statement may lead to an inappropriate audit opinion. And an inappropria te audit opinion may in effect lead to estimations that are detrimental to the company’s growth, profit, and solvency. Second, the market of the company is highly competitive and volatile. As such is the market environment of the company, risk-approached will help us center on divisions and facets of the company that are more susceptible to risks and problems like sales, auditing, and personnel hiring. This specific strategy in auditing will allow us to focus and zero-in on the more ‘problematic’ departments and divisions of the company while maintaining the supposition that good policies are in placed and are being observed. At the same time, this style of auditing will present to us the conditions that allow the less problematic departments to function in a manner that is aligned to the company’s goals and objectives. Thus, allowing room for the possibility of coming up with a more

Google and Search Essay Example for Free

Google and Search Essay Mission Statement â€Å"Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.† While other companies were busy cramming the most ads possible on their homepages or squeezing every last hour of productivity out of employees, Google created an enjoyable experience for every party involved in the company including users, employees, and investors. Google’s success has come as a direct result of keeping people happy. History of Google Google was founded by two Stanford University computer science graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. When the two met in 1995, they argued about every topic they discussed except for the best approach to solving one of computing’s biggest challenges: retrieving relevant information from a massive set of data. By January of 1996 the two had begun collaborating on their first search engine. It was named BackRub for its unique ability to analyze â€Å"back links† pointing to a given website, and quickly earned a growing reputation among those who had seen it. By 1998, the two had bought a terabyte of disks to create their first data center and renamed their search engine â€Å"Google†; which was a play on the word â€Å"googol†, referring to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros, a reference to their goal of organizing the immense amount of information available on the web. Initially, Page and Brin had unsuccessfully tried to find companies to license their technology, but ended up raising an initial investment of almost $1 million when they decided to build a business on their own. And, by the end of that year, Google was answering 10,000 search queries per day and began to receive public recognition. They appeared on USA Today and were named one of the Top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines by PC Magazine. By early 1999 Google was answering over 500,000 searches per day, and their meteoric rise began. By the end of 1999, Google had raised another $25 million from venture capitalists, moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California, grew to answering over 3 million searches per day, and received a slew of recognition, including being named on Time magazine’s Top Ten Best Cybertech list of 1999. They also went global with the introduction of versions in ten other languages for users to search in their native tongue, and still they were just getting started. Google continued to grow, developing strategic partnerships, developing new features, developing new services, and fulfilling over 34,000 search requests per second. Ultimately, Google became the technology powerhouse that we know today. They achieved the status of having over 72% of the search engine requests in the United States. They also added a multitude of other services, including video, email, mapping, images, an operating system, an internet browser, internet protocol phone service, and many, many others. Executive Summary Google is a global technology leader focused on improving the ways people find and use information. We maintain the world’s largest online index of websites and other content and, via our automated search technology, make this information freely available, nearly instantly, to anyone with the Internet connection. Google primarily generates revenue by delivering relevant, cost-effective online advertising. Businesses use our AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party websites that comprise our Google network use our Google AdSense program to deliver relevant AdWords ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience. Situation Google, currently headquartered in Mountain View California, is now a strong leader in the technology sector, specifically in the â€Å"Internet Information Provider† industry. With a market capitalization of $199.88 billion, Google is almost five times larger than its nearest competitor, Baidu Inc. They produce $10.29 billion in operating cash flow each year and have $33.38 billion in cash reserves. Clearly, they are a financially strong company with extensive resources. Their business, as originally founded, remains focused on search technology with the Google search engine available on more than 150 Google domains, presented in many different languages. They have also created a tool to enable users to translate search results between languages. Other search tools included the ability to search for stock quotes, sports scores, news headlines, local addresses, images, videos, patents, maps, and much more. And, for information that is not already available online, Google is working to digitize it with projects like Google Books and the Google News Archive. Google’s dominance in the search engine field allows the company to generate the majority of its revenue through advertising. Hundreds of thousands of advertisers use Google AdWords to target potential customers as they search for terms relevant to the products and services they offer. Advertisers do this by bidding to have ads appear with search results on a â€Å"pay-per-click† basis. They can even target a specific geographic area. Another product offered by Google in the advertising genre is GoogleAdSense, which allows blog and website owners to generate additional revenue by allowing Google to place relevant ads on their sites. In order to help advertisers, Google provides tools such as Google Analytics, Website Optimizer, Insights for Search, and Ad Planner which are tools to help advertisers measure results and be more efficient. Google also offers a variety of apps that are intended to make it simpler for people to share information and get things done together. Apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, among others, allow users to have access to free programs and tools that are not accessed through individual computers, but are stored on internet servers. This is called â€Å"cloud computing† and it makes information portable, so that it is accessible anywhere and through any device that the user has internet access. Perhaps the most recent front of development, Google also has entered the mobile market. Through a variety of tools and partnerships, Google tries to make their products available on mobile devices so that users can access Google Maps, Youtube, and other services through any mobile phone. Taking this concept to the next level, Google has created and released the Android operating system. This is a free operating system that any developer can use and any hardware manufacturer can install on any device. This OS puts a comprehensive line up of Google products at the smart phone user’s fingertips, instantly. SWOT Analysis of Google: Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis Strengths: * Already number one search engine has established name, in which its users trust * Dependable, reliable, and fast * Needs very little end user marketing * Has a simple interface and it gives comprehensive results without confusing users * Many products and services (desktop, Mobile, web), allowing users to meet many of their technology needs through Google * Interface with 88 different languages Weaknesses: * Dependent on search based advertising for nearly all revenue * Weak in social networking presence * Search queries only answered with 50-60% accuracy * Rising cost for data center Opportunities: * Allow vendors to pay for advertising on localized search results * Develop social networking site or integrate products with existing sites * Develop feature to enable chat between Google users, especially those using Google products to collaborate on documents * Find entry into huge gaming market Threats: * Privacy issues regarding content ownership * Competition from Yahoo, MSN, Bing, Baidu, etc. * Imposed Censorship Porter’s Five Forces Model Rivalry Among Competing Firms: Low. There are certainly other search engines, but Google is clearly the dominant player in the field. Also, while other companies offer competing options for many of Google’s products, nobody offers nearly as complete a mix of products and services. This allows Google to keep consumers engaged across a wide range of products and inspires brand loyalty. For example, someone likes the Google search engine, so they decide to try Google Docs. After coming to see Google Docs in a positive light, they decide to use Google Group to collaborate on documents. Seeing the benefit of Google Groups, they decide to use Google Calendar for their scheduling, etc. Over time, Google comes to be associated with good quality and helpful tools, so when a new product offering comes out, consumers instantly assume it is a good product and want to use it. Also, in Google’s primary revenue stream, pay-per-click search based advertising, Google has no real competition, and as long as Google dominates the search engine field they have little chance of losing advertisers to a competitor. Potential Entry of New Competitors: Low. There are few technology companies that have the knowledge and resources to mount a serious challenge of Google’s dominance. Google has developed proprietary technology that is hugely successful. It would be extremely difficult for a competitor to enter the field and duplicate Google’s technology, so unless Google loses its position on the cutting edge and is surpassed by the next technological improvement, they are a difficult target for new competitors. Potential Development of Substitute Products: Low. Some of Google’s products face possible substitutes in the market. For example, consumers could use a GPS instead of Google Maps, but Google’s primary business is based around their powerhouse search engine which is difficult to substitute. It would be nearly impossible to effectively search the vast amount of information available through the internet and retrieve relevant information without the help of a search engine. As for Google’s primary revenue source, search based advertising; it is difficult to imagine a substitute product that would allow advertisers to pinpoint their marketing to potential customers who are actively demonstrating an interest in a related topic. Targeted advertising that the advertiser pays for only when it shows a measureable result will always be attractive to businesses as long as the pricing structure remains reasonable, and with Google’s auction style approach, it is virtually ensured that the price will not exceed what the market will bear. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Low. Since Google’s products and services are primarily technology and information based, it has very limited exposure to suppliers. Google is not buying raw materials to produce or manufacture tangible goods. Unless a massive societal shift occurs that limits Google’s access to information, Google will not be at the mercy of suppliers for their primary resource. The only aspect of Google’s business in which suppliers might exercise bargaining power would be servers. However, several manufacturers produce hard disks for storage of information and Google’s size and massive use of storage servers gives them the bargaining power. Bargaining Power of Consumers: Low. Most of Google’s products and services are offered at no cost. Google’s paying customers, namely advertisers, have no equivalent service to divert their spending to. Other search engines simply don’t have the volume of use or the supporting tracking and planning tools that Google has. Problem definition Summary statement of the problem: The primary problem that Google faces can be summed up in one word, â€Å"SIZE†. The size of Google makes it extremely difficult to maintain its past innovation and growth performance. Due to the success that Google has enjoyed in its relatively short history, it will be increasingly difficult to identify and capitalize on opportunities that are sufficient to continue to grow and develop at such an astronomical pace. At the same time, Google’s position as a dominant industry player puts it in a position to be an attractive target for competitors to emulate and challenge for market share. Summary statement of the recommended solution: In order to best address this challenge, Google must do several things simultaneously. Google must recognize and remember that its success stems from being on the cutting edge. Google cannot afford to sit on the sidelines when new technologies come to market. They must always look for opportunities to capitalize early. Similarly, Google should not only continue to seek attractive acquisition targets, but also invest in RD in order to keep the technology pipeline active. Structurally, Google must avoid a centralized control structure that views new growth opportunities from the perspective of their current size and performance, because truly great growth opportunities are not always easily recognizable in the early stages. What better example of that than Google itself?

Longitude Essay -- essays research papers

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is written by Dava Sobel. The book is called Longitude because it is about a clock maker who was able to determine longitude. Determining longitude was the superlative scientific question in the eighteenth century that Galileo and Newton were not able to resolve.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The principal inspiration behind the invention completed in this book is that many sailors were lost at seas as a result of their ignorance regarding longitude. So, without the competence to determine longitude, many innocent lives were disintegrated at seas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  England’s Parliament was desperate for an answer to this problem. So, in 1714 England’s Parliament offered 20,000 pounds to anyone who invented a method or a device for measuring longitude and then proved successful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a result, a Frenchman, sieur de St. Pierre, frowned on the moons of Jupiter as means of determining longitude. He theorized that longitude could be found by the position of the moon and select stars. At the time, Dr. Edmond Halley proved this theory wrong. After many observations, Halley concluded that the moon’s rate of revolution around the earth was accelerating overtime.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Harrison was a simple clockmaker and a self-educated person who was accredited for finding longitude by means of a timeke...

Succubus Heat CHAPTER 21

There was really only one thing I could say. â€Å"You're here to kill me.† That would have been a great cue for him to say something like, â€Å"No, of course not† or â€Å"Why would you think that?† Any of those responses, or a variation, would have been immensely reassuring. Instead he said: â€Å"Not yet.† â€Å"Shit.† I took a couple steps back, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Even if I'd been in full succubus mode, there was no way I could fight against him. Roman was a nephilim, Jerome's half-human bastard son. Nephilim were a kind of odd mix between lesser and greater immortals. Nephilim hadn't been around since the universe's creation, but they had been born immortal and could potentially possess the same range of powers as a greater immortal. Roman was every bit as strong as Jerome, but unlike my boss or his equals, Roman didn't answer to any higher power. He was rogue, which made him dangerous when he was pissed off. And he had every right to be pissed off at me. Angry at the way Heaven and Hell hunted their kind down, Roman and his twin sister Helena had gone on a vigilante hunting spree to get back at other immortals. I hadn't known that when he and I were dating, and eventually, I'd been instrumental in stopping them-and getting his sister killed. â€Å"What are you doing here then?† I asked at last. Roman's posture was casual as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He looked exactly as I remembered, enormously tall compared to me, with soft black hair and those gorgeous eyes. â€Å"You sound disappointed,† he said. â€Å"Do you want me to kill you?† â€Å"No! Of course not. But I can't really think of any other reason you'd be here. Somehow I doubt you're here for a social call.† Despite my fear, my sarcasm still managed to function. Carter had told me it was unlikely Roman would ever return to Seattle, knowing that he and Jerome would be on the lookout. Except, I realized uneasily, Jerome was no longer here to keep watch. â€Å"I'm here to help find my illustrious sire.† Roman's voice was smug as he spoke, and I was sure he was taking a great amount of pleasure in watching my reaction. I hoped he was satisfied because while my jaw didn't exactly hit the floor, it came pretty close. â€Å"Bullshit.† â€Å"Why don't you believe me?† â€Å"Because you have no reason to!† My fear was being overridden again, this time by incredulity. â€Å"You hate Jerome.† â€Å"Yeah, that's true.† â€Å"Stop playing with me then. You're not here to help.† â€Å"No? Then how come I helped you with the seal's notes?† â€Å"You didn't-† I froze for a moment. â€Å"Oh lord. That was you.† â€Å"Really,† said Roman amiably. â€Å"You should be a lot nicer, considering all the things I've done for you.† â€Å"Yeah? I don't recall you wasting your time wandering aimlessly along beaches.† â€Å"Nah. I've been too busy blowing up stoves and carrying injured damsels to bed.† I sank into a chair and closed my eyes. â€Å"It really wasn't Carter.† The angel had been telling the truth about noninterference. I opened my eyes again. â€Å"And you gave me the matches, didn't you? That's exactly the kind of fucked-up thing you'd do.† He put on an offended air. â€Å"That was pretty nice of me, considering how you looked like you were ready to have a withdrawal seizure then and there.† â€Å"This doesn't make sense. You can't be here to help find Jerome. What's really going on?† â€Å"Does the reason matter if I help find him?† â€Å"Yes! It matters if you want to find him, only so you can promptly destroy him.† â€Å"I don't want to destroy him.† â€Å"I have no reason to trust you.† His eyes narrowed a bit. â€Å"And I have no reason to trust you, if memory serves.† I shrugged, almost too weary to be afraid anymore. â€Å"Well, then, we're even, huh? Except, of course, that you can channel your mistrust into blowing me off the face of the earth.† â€Å"And you could tell the demon horde out there that there's a nephilim in the city.† Roman laughed. â€Å"Oh, they'd love that, wouldn't they? If one of them could hunt down and kill a nephilim, that'd pretty much cinch their position here.† â€Å"Yeah, like I'd get a chance to tell anyone.† I sighed. â€Å"Roman, if you're not going to destroy me, then what exactly do you want with me? Why did you save me all those times?† â€Å"Because you're the only one in this fucking town with any chance of finding Jerome. And you can move around a lot more freely than I can.† â€Å"Um, last time I checked, you're the one in the Junior Smiting League, not me. I don't have any pow-abilities right now to defend myself.† â€Å"Yeah, but if you're caught poking around, people aren't going to declare open season on you†¦I mean, aside from that bitch demoness.† I grimaced at the memory, and Roman pushed forward. â€Å"Look, Georgina, we can sit and argue whether I'm going to kill you or not, or we can try to figure this out and get your boss back. Then we can explore me killing you in more depth.† â€Å"God,† I groaned, standing up. I needed my cigarettes. Roman watched me light up. â€Å"New habit since I was last around.† â€Å"Old one, actually. And I'm not in the mood for lecturing.† I sat back down, feeling much more settled with my nicotine. Aubrey wandered out shortly thereafter, apparently not afraid of a sociopathic-yet still eerily sexy-immortal hanging out with us. â€Å"So, what's there to figure out? It was Grace. You said you saw the seal around her neck.† Roman eased himself into a chair from my kitchen table and scooted up. â€Å"I did. Makes sense that she'd keep it as close to her as possible, though that takes some balls to have it out in the open that much.† â€Å"So why won't you let me tell anyone, then?† He tsked. â€Å"Think, Georgina. Who are you going to tell? Which demon in this whole mess do you think you can trust? None of them like Jerome. None of them want him back.† â€Å"I was going to tell Hugh.† â€Å"You can't tell anybody . I was walking along with you today when Cedric popped in.† It figured. There was no telling how long Roman had been following me invisibly. â€Å"If he was telling the truth about not telling Nanette about your theories, then that means one of your friends tipped her off.† â€Å"No,† I said stubbornly. â€Å"It's more likely that Cedric was lying. None of them would have betrayed me.† To my complete and utter astonishment, Aubrey jumped on Roman's lap. He scratched her head absentmindedly. â€Å"Well, believe what you want, but I don't think it's safe to tell anyone yet. Except me, of course.† â€Å"Right. The guy who wants me dead.† â€Å"Eh, we can talk about that later. For now, let's go over what we know.† I wasn't really keen on the casual way we were tossing around my impending doom, nor did I like that I still didn't know why he was here. Keeping my mind on Jerome did help, though, and it was nice to finally have someone to truly brainstorm this stuff with. â€Å"We know Grace was the demon who helped with the summoning,† I said. â€Å"There could be more, you know.† â€Å"Yeah, but there's only one archdemon position.† â€Å"True. Just don't rule other possibilities out. She and that other demoness here are pretty tight.† I thought about Mei, whose poker face was as good as Grace's. â€Å"Yeah†¦although, they seem to be operating pretty independently now. But, for the sake of argument, we'll stick with Grace. So, we know she was part of the summoning and has half of the seal. What we don't know: where the other half of the seal is, who helped her, and where Jerome actually is.† â€Å"Kind of daunting,† he mused. A thought suddenly came to me. â€Å"Wait a minute†¦you might make this simpler. A greater immortal can break up Jerome's prison. With you, we don't need to actually find the whole seal to free him-or get the half we know about from Grace.† Roman turned sheepish. â€Å"Well†¦I don't know for sure that I can do that.† â€Å"Why not? You've got the same powers as Jerome.† â€Å"My strength is the same as his when it comes to fighting and whatnot, but I don't have exactly the same powers. I'm not truly a greater immortal. I don't know if I could break him out without the seal.† â€Å"Lovely. We're back to where we started.† â€Å"I don't know. We should just take this one step at a time. Let's keep trying to find him and figure out where the other half of the seal is.† â€Å"We're running out of time,† I murmured, stubbing out the cigarette. â€Å"So, why are you smoking again?† â€Å"That's not really important right now,† I snapped. â€Å"I don't know. If I had a mortal body, I'd be kind of worried about that.† â€Å"I'm not mortal. And I'll be back to my normal self in a few days at most. Probably much sooner.† â€Å"Is it because of Mortensen?† â€Å"We are not talking about that right now.† â€Å"Never thought you'd be one to take a break-up so hard, seeing how easily you deal them out. In fact†¦has anyone ever even broken up with you before?† I fixed him with a glare, so annoyed that I didn't care if he wanted to try to kill me. â€Å"We are not talking about that right now.† â€Å"Fine, fine. What other info do we have, then?† I racked my brain. â€Å"The cult†¦the Army of Darkness. I think there's a connection with Jerome's summoning and their activities. Whoever's controlling them-well, Grace, I guess-times their stunts to take attention away from other things.† I recapped what I knew of their stunts and what they lined up with. â€Å"Not all of their activities correspond exactly to some part of the summoning, though. At least not that I know about.† Roman was thoughtful. â€Å"Hmm†¦well, it's possible some may not line up with anything. A few may be red herrings, sort of to establish their presence. I didn't always follow you to Canada, so I don't know exactly what they're like.† â€Å"Wow. Your stalkerdom has limitations.† â€Å"Seemed like a big pain,† he said. â€Å"Aside from maybe going to Tim Hortons.† Nephilim couldn't teleport like greater immortals, so he was limited with normal transportation when following me around. Uneasily, thinking of my activities with Seth, I wondered just how much Roman had spied on me. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd taken a front-row seat to my intimate activities. If he wasn't going to mention it, I wasn't going to. â€Å"They've been quiet ever since the day of the summoning, when they were down here. I guess Grace has nothing left for them to do,† I said. â€Å"Likely†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His mind was still apparently spinning with suspicion. â€Å"But if I were you, I'd talk to them again.† I cringed. â€Å"No†¦I want to be done with them. You don't know these guys like I do. It's ridiculous.† â€Å"All I know is that you've got to turn over every rock you can find-no pun intended-if you're going to rescue Jerome.† â€Å"Oh, I've got to, huh?† I asked. I didn't really like the presumption in his voice. â€Å"I thought you were going to help find him too?† â€Å"I will. Tomorrow. When are you going to search again?† I thought about it. â€Å"Noon. After work.† There was a knock at the door, and I moved over to the eye hole. â€Å"It's Dante,† I murmured. To his credit, he usually knocked first before using his key. I rested my hand on the knob and gave Roman a questioning look. â€Å"I'll find you at noon,† he said. â€Å"Hold the door open a sec after you let him in.† Roman turned invisible, and I pulled the door open. Dante came in, and I stood there a few more moments until I felt the sweep of someone moving past me. Everything had happened so quickly today that I barely had time to realize that not only I had just made contact with the guy who wanted to kill me, but I'd also just made arrangements to spend time with him. Man. This was going to keep me up when I tried to sleep later. I shut the door and gave Dante a quick kiss on the cheek. He was carrying a bag, and I had to do a double-take. â€Å"Did you buy something from Macy's?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I somehow imagined you stepping into a department store would be like a vampire stepping into the sunlight-I mean, current situation aside.† Dante rolled his eyes and set the bag down. Crossings his arms, he leaned against the wall. â€Å"Well, maybe I'm in stasis too. Forget about this for a sec and tell me if you've gotten yourself on any demon's shit list today.† There it was again, the sweet concern in spite of his best efforts. â€Å"Not that I know of, but hey, the day's not over yet.† I glossed over the specifics of who I'd gone searching with, mainly emphasizing that my time at the beach hadn't turned up anything. I also mentioned Cedric's visit and his claims that he hadn't told Nanette about my suspicions. Dante seemed skeptical of that. Finally, I wrapped up with Grace's appearance, and at that point I faltered. I wanted to tell Dante about my amazing discovery, about how Grace had the seal. Yet Roman had urged me to keep it all to myself. Why? Was he really that mistrustful of everyone? Did he have his own ulterior motives? Against my better judgment, I bit my lip on telling Dante about my discovery. It killed me to do it, particularly since I had a feeling Dante could have some insight. Roman's warning was too strong, however, as was my fear that he might actually still be around invisibly. And of course, I could hardly tell Dante about Roman. Fortunately, Dante didn't pick up on any omission of information. â€Å"You had kind of a full day, succubus. Did the corporate demon ever come talk to you?† â€Å"Not yet. I haven't had a chance to talk with the gang to see if he's been making the rounds.† I eyed the Macy's bag, dying to know what was in it. Dante kicked it behind him. â€Å"What are you going to tell him?† I shrugged. â€Å"I don't know. I'll tell him what I know about Seattle, and as far as recommendations†¦well, I don't know.† I could no longer trust Grace, and Mei's role was still a mystery. Dante noted my change of feelings but not the reasons. â€Å"From what you'd said before, I thought you were a fan of Grace and that other demoness.† â€Å"Mei,† I supplied. â€Å"I don't know. It's all just wearying.† Eager to shift away from the subject, I pointed at the bag. â€Å"Are you going to tell me what's in that?† He gave me one of his mocking grins. â€Å"Why do you think it has anything to do with you?† â€Å"Because there's no way you'd shop at Macy's for yourself. You dress only marginally better than Carter.† Dante shook his head, wearing a long-suffering look. â€Å"Fine, fine. I'll keep it for myself.† He picked up the bag and headed off down the hall. After a few moments, I followed and tackled him in the doorway to my bedroom. â€Å"Come on! Give it up.† I snatched the bag away, but my victory was small since he didn't put up a fight. I opened it up and gasped at what I found. Folds and folds of shimmering purple fabric, silk the color of new spring crocuses. Hesitantly, I lifted it out of the bag, revealing a long, ankle-length robe. I looked up at him in astonishment. â€Å"What's this?† â€Å"You're the one with years and years of higher learning,† he pointed out, looking extremely pleased with himself. â€Å"You tell me.† I held it up, gauging its height. It looked just about perfect. â€Å"It's gorgeous. What's the occasion?† â€Å"I was tired of hearing you bitch about that ratty one you've got. And tired of seeing it, to be honest.† He ignored my glare. â€Å"Besides, you've had a, uh, difficult time lately. Even for you.† I thought back to other things, like the flowers and breakfast. All the attempts at dinners. â€Å"Dante-â€Å" He pressed a finger to my lips. â€Å"Look, be quiet a second. I'm not blind. I can tell how much all of this is stressing you out. And fuck, if I could get my hands on that bitch demon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Anger glinted in his eyes, and he took a moment to shake it off. â€Å"Anyway, you can keep making your jokes or whatever and keep doggedly doing your best to sleuth away and find Jerome, but you're running yourself into the ground. You're depressed. You're distracted. When we talk, it's like your mind's somewhere else. Same with our sex life.† I opened my mouth to argue, but I wasn't sure what to say. He was right. I had been distracted, but a good part of that-particularly during intimate activities-hadn't had anything to do with Jerome. It had been Seth on my mind. Dante kept speaking before I could get a word out. â€Å"See, now, you're going to apologize. Because that's what you do-but there's no need, succubus. If anyone gets some selfish time right now, it's you. In another week or so, things'll be back to normal, and I'll be the selfish one.† Something in my heart twisted. Everyone said he was scum, but in the end, it turned out I was the untrustworthy one. I averted my eyes. â€Å"So where's the robe fit in?† â€Å"Something to cheer you up. Since your wardrobe's been trimmed.† â€Å"Dante, you've been getting me a lot of stuff lately. You don't have to throw money at me-money you don't have-to make me feel better.† â€Å"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't ‘throw' it,† he remarked dryly. â€Å"And anyway†¦I'm not really the kind of guy who does, like†¦the candles or the moonlit beaches or recites poetry.† I grimaced. â€Å"I don't mind staying away from beaches for a while.† â€Å"But,† he continued, â€Å"I know you well enough to know that mochas and silk make you smile, and that, at least, is something I can do.† My heart twisted further, and I reached out to catch hold of his hand. I understood what he was saying. It wasn't in his nature to do over-the-top romantic gestures, but material purchases were something he could handle, and it was the only way to show me he cared. My guilt redoubled because no matter what he said, I knew he was tight on cash. Yet, my actions and fixation with Seth were worrying Dante enough that he felt he had to do something. I was driving him to it. â€Å"You're sweet,† I said. â€Å"But don't worry. It'll be our secret.† He brushed his fingers through my hair. â€Å"Not that sweet. Look in the bag.† I did. Underneath the robe, unnoticed by me, was a bottle of bubble bath. I held it up questioningly. â€Å"I thought we could take a bath together.† I laughed. â€Å"That's almost romantic. You might be closer to moonlit beaches than you think. Although, my bathtub's kind of small.† â€Å"I know,† he said. â€Å"That's what I meant about it not being very sweet. Mostly I want to see what kind of interesting positions we can cram ourselves into while naked and in a small space.† â€Å"Well, thank God that in a world gone mad, some people never change.† It turned into a wet, soapy mess, but it was more fun than I expected. No matter what he claimed, the whole feat was semi-romantic. Conversation was easy and light, and we laughed and joked a lot. I almost forgot about Seth-almost. But when things started to get a little hot and heavy, I pulled back. No matter how sexy it was to be wet and naked with someone, it just didn't feel right if that person wasn't Seth. What made me feel worse was that Dante was accommodating about my mood. He figured my lack of desire was part of my stress, and so we eventually left the tub as chastely as we'd entered. We toweled each other off and then curled up on the couch and watched TV together while I tried not to feel too guilty about the purple robe wrapped around me. I decided the next day to finally add myself back to the bookstore's work schedule. I only put me down for part-time shifts until the demon business was settled, but at this point, it seemed unlikely I'd be recalled to Canada again. My limbo status couldn't last forever if I wanted to keep my job; Warren's leniency would only last so long. Roman and I had our plans to go to Edmonds at noon, so for my first official day back, I only worked a morning shift. Part of that shift involved coming in before the store was even open, and I welcomed the solitude. The store always soothed me, and if ever there was a time I needed soothing, it was right now. It was short-lived, however, since my other coworkers began trickling in not long after my arrival. Maddie was among them. â€Å"Hey,† she said brightly, popping into my office. â€Å"Is this another check-in or are you back for good?† â€Å"For good, I think. Not that it matters. It looks like everything's been fine without me.† She grinned and shut the door behind her. â€Å"Oh, we've missed you, believe me. No one's been here to referee my fights with Doug.† I laughed and watched her sit down. â€Å"Well then, I guess I got back just in time. Nice shoes.† Maddie extended her legs and admired her candy apple red pumps. â€Å"Thanks. Nordstrom's having a sale.† The brown leather Mia heels I currently wore were among my favorites, but after a week now with no shape-shifting, my wardrobe was starting to make me stir-crazy. It was kind of like my hair, I realized. I hadn't realized how dependent I was on shape-shifting to enhance my appearance. I'd lauded myself for living like a human when in truth, I'd been cheating the whole time. Seeing my wistful look, Maddie asked, â€Å"You want to go downtown for lunch and check it out?† I shook my head with regret. Looking at shoes sounded a lot better than looking at rocks. â€Å"Can't. I've got to meet someone.† â€Å"Ah, well, let me know when you get some time. You know I'm game.† Silence fell, and Maddie shifted uncomfortably. She bit her lip, like she wanted to say something. I started to prompt her, but she spoke first. â€Å"So, what did you think of the condo listings?† â€Å"Oh, they were†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fuck. I'd never even read through them. Roman and Dante had spent more time looking at them than I had. Which one had Dante mentioned? â€Å"They were great. I really liked that new one-the one where you can still get in on the choices and stuff.† Her eyes lit up. â€Å"Ooh, yeah. I loved that one too. I actually looked them up on the builder's website. It doesn't look like there are many left, but there has to be at least one, or they wouldn't be listed. We should go down there and talk to them in person.† I smiled, feeling horrible about the lie. â€Å"Sure†¦but it may be awhile before I can get a break. We'll have to do it and the shoe trip at the same time.† Maddie nodded, face kind and sympathetic. â€Å"No problem. I understand.† More silence fell, and I realized it wasn't the condos that she wanted to talk to me about. That had been a distraction to build up her own courage. â€Å"Maddie, what's going on?† Her cheery look disintegrated into something much more glum. It was startling. I was so used to her always being in a good mood that the thought of something upsetting her was on par with the laws of physics breaking down. She met my eyes and immediately looked away. â€Å"Oh God. I can't believe I'm about to bring this up.† I was seriously worried now. â€Å"You can tell me. It's okay. What's up?† She sighed. â€Å"It's Seth.† Oh, fuck.

Two Found American Writers

Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor were two deeply religious American writers of different backgrounds. They wrote with devotion to their Christian faith. These two Puritans showed dedication to their families and to their writing. An analysis of Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor’s poetry revealed two noticeable differences: the audience and their views of death. Bradstreet and Taylor wrote with the same purpose. Both accepted God’s will even if it was not to their advantage. They praised God through sickness and in health. In â€Å"To My Dear Children† Bradstreet writes, â€Å"Not to set forth myself, but the glory of God† (235). She wants everyone to know that she is a good writer but that she writes to glorify God. In the same poem she writes how even through illness she, â€Å"communed with my heart and made my supplications to the most High who set me free from affliction† (235). She makes it clear that she did not blame God for her illness but continued to praise him through her affliction. Bradstreet was often sick through her lifetime and probably through child birth. In â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband† she praises the heavens for her husband, â€Å"The heavens reward thee manifold† (226). She was thankful for everything God had given to her, especially for the love of her husband. Unlike Bradstreet, Taylor did not suffer from illness, but a few of his children died at infancy. He praised God for taking his children from the suffering they were experiencing. In â€Å"Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children,† Taylor wrote â€Å"In Prayer to Christ perfumed it did ascend† (303). He was not angry that his children had died and accepted it as God’s will. He wrote as personal worship. These two writers wrote to preserve the teachings of God but their audiences were different. Bradstreet wrote to her family and children, reaching out to them through her writings. She wanted her children to learn from her mistakes and to be grateful to God just as she was. In â€Å"Contemplations† she write how thankful she is for God’s creations, â€Å"Admired, adored for ever, be that Majesty† (216). In â€Å"Before the Birth of One of Her Children† Bradstreet writes, â€Å"No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,† making it known to her children that they should be good to God and not worry about pleasing other people but themselves. Through her writing she writes to teach her children her own Christian faith and beliefs to guide them through their own personal developments. She empathizes the importance of understand the importance of doing God’s will. Edward’s writes to prepare himself for meditation. He writes for his own benefit and to better understand his purpose in life in the way it will please God. Taylor sees himself as an instrument of God. In â€Å"Upon a Wasp chilled with Cold† Taylor compares himself with a wasp saying, â€Å"Lord, clear my misted sight that I May hence view Thy Divinity† (305). In other words, Taylor asked that God clear his sight so that he can do God’s will. Taylor writes for his own benefit so that he can build a closer relationship with God. Bradstreet and Edward had different views when it came to the way they perceived death through their writings. When Bradstreet wrote about death it was about separation and it caused her a great deal of sorrow. Through her writing she tries to prepare her family for death. In â€Å"Contemplation† she writes about time being the enemy on earth and that, â€Å"Here’s neither honor, wealth, nor safety; Only above is found all with security† (222). In â€Å"Before the Birth of One of Her Children† she writes that death is part of life, â€Å"irrevocable† (225). Further she tells her unborn children to remember her and to protect her other children from a stepmother if she is to die. In â€Å"To My Dear Children† Bradstreet writes, â€Å"if I perish, I perish: but I know all the Powers of Hell shall never prevail against it† (238). Bradstreet prepares herself for death, she is not afraid, but wants to prepare her children for when the time comes. Taylor’s purpose is to build a closer bond with God. He wants to reach out to God and create a unity worthy of him. He doesn’t write to ask that his family follow his footsteps, but he writes to God directly. In â€Å"The Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor† written by Taylor is a good example of him writing to God to forgive his soul because he has been inclined to sin. He writes to God to let him know that the dog or sin is causing him to, â€Å"from Thy Pasture stray† (299). He wants God to help him keep the sin away so that he can find Grace, preparing for the afterlife. In â€Å"upon Wedlock, and Death of Children† when Taylor loses one of his children he says, â€Å"At that unlooked for, dolesome, darksome hour. In Prayer to Christ. † Taylor knows that during a time of mourning most people would be angry, but he is not and instead he prays. Taylor takes the negativity of death and use is it to reach peace within him by praying to Christ. He saw death as a necessity to the order of life. Bradstreet and Taylor both show love for their spouses and families. They were truly devoted Puritans who through their writing expressed differently their righteousness and sovereignty of God. Although, both choose different audiences and had different views of death they had a common purpose to accept God’s will through any difficulties in their lives and praise God always through sickness and in health.

An Open Life By Joseph Campbell Essays - Joseph Campbell, Lecturers

An Open Life By Joseph Campbell Essays - Joseph Campbell, Lecturers An Open Life By Joseph Campbell In the novel, An Open Life, by Joseph Campbell, I agree that life is like a novel and that disasters result in structuring a great aspect of your life. If you really think about what Mr. Campbell is saying, he is right. Looking back at my life with all the ups and downs I have experienced, made me who I am now, which is a great thing. I had an experience with a boyfriend which caused me to get a great job to make as much money as my Mother. A reading that makes me agree with Mr. Campbell quote, was when I read my Mothers journal that she kept from the start of my birth until I was ten. An observation that I got to see was from the movie Dont be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood. In this movie, Ashtray becomes a man by observing on how his friends are. I agree with Joseph Campbell, that life is like a novel. An experience I had with the opposite sex made me who I am now. One evening my boyfriend and I agreed that we would go out with some friends, and go our separate ways. When he left, I called my friend to see if she wanted to do something. We ended up going to the movies. During the movie I noticed that my friend wanted to tell me something but backed off for a while. When she could not hold it any longer, she told me to look back. When I did, I saw my now ex-boyfriend making out with a girl. I was devastated when I had seen that, I even ended up quitting college for this. I was thinking about this all day and forgot to realize that I had a math exam the next day. So what I did was that I quit college. My Mom was very upset that I had quit for such a reason. It was impossible living with my Mom when this had happened. She did not like the fact that I quit school and did not even have a job to take advantage of. But a couple of weeks later, opportunity came ringing on the phone. My aunt called and told me that she was looking for an assistant. I went the next day for an interview and got hired on the spot. Till this day I am working at Century 21 Su Casa, a real estate company, making almost as much money as my mother. Sometimes I think that if this would have never happened, where would I be or what would I be doing? If this disaster would have never happened to me, then my life would be different than how it is now. Reading my Mothers journal makes me agree with Mr. Campbell. She had kept this journal from my birth until I was ten years old. According to my Mom thought now for me was the right age to learn where I came from and the disasters my Mom had to go through. In this journal she states that when I was younger my mother left my father because of his drinking problem. When this happened she had to claim welfare for about one year. During this year my mom could have just decided to stay on welfare for the rest of her life, but she got smart, went to college and got a degree in Business. If my mom would have not gotten smart during this period we would have probably still been on welfare, but thanks to mom she gave us a better life. She now has more than enough money to support us both. Nothing could be better, we have our own house, and each a car. This proves that problems whether big or small structure a great aspect of your life. By observing the movie, Dont be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood, we see that Ashtray by observing on how his friends made him to become a better person. What I observed from this movie was that Ashtrays friends were playing with women and not take responsibility

Politics by other means essays

Politics by other means essays In 1990 a new political theory began being argued. It was based upon the idea that elections had become supplanted by other forms of political conflict between contending interests. The 2000 election was the first true fit to this new theory. The post-election, the 5 week period between the times the voters went to the polls and when the Supreme Court ultimately decided the winner. It can be argued that the election was actually less important and represented less than the court case which directly followed the election. Ginsburg and Shefter began their argument by recognizing that American politics had undergone another transformation in the historical line of its existence. They suggested that competitors in the political process no longer sought victory by solely out-mobilizing their opponents in the political arena. Rather, the participants sought to rely on institutional weapons of political struggle as legislative investigations, media revelations, and judicial proceedings to weaken their political rivals and gain power for themselves. They blame this transition on the electoral process and not the combatants. From the 1930s to the 1060s, political power was dependant on winning elections. The powers of the past, such as the Democratic majority enjoyed by Andrew Jackson, the post-Civil War Republican majority, and the Democratic coalition of Roosevelt, owed its authority and power to the voters alone. These coalitions were controlled by self-interested parties which carried across racial boundaries. Once the issues of race and civil rights came to the forefront of American politics in the 1960s, these alliances soon feel apart. There were two parties of equal ability that emerged from the break-up of Roosevelts New Deal coalition. Democrats represented the ideas of organized labor, racial minorities, government employees, and middle class liberals. The...

Why Britain Attempted to Tax the American Colonies

Why Britain Attempted to Tax the American Colonies The attempts by Britain to tax its North American colonists in the late 1700s led to arguments, war, the expulsion of British rule and the creation of a new nation. The origins of these attempts lay, however, not in a rapacious government, but in the aftermath of the Seven Years War. Britain was attempting to both balance its finances and control the newly acquired parts of its empire, through asserting sovereignty. These actions were complicated by British prejudice against the Americans. The Need for Defense During the Seven Years War, Britain won a string of major victories and expelled France from North America, as well as parts of Africa, India, and the West Indies. New France, the name of France’s North American holdings, was now British, but a newly conquered population could cause problems. Few people in Britain were naà ¯ve enough to believe that these former French colonists would suddenly and wholeheartedly embrace British rule with no danger of rebellion, and Britain believed troops would be needed to preserve order. In addition, the war had revealed that the existing colonies needed defense against Britain’s enemies, and Britain believed that defense would be best provided by a fully trained regular army, not just colonial militias. To this end, the post-war government of Britain, with a major lead taken by King George III, decided to permanently station units of the British army in America. Keeping this army, however, would require money. The Need for Taxation The Seven Years War had seen Britain spend prodigious amounts, both on its own army and on subsidies for its allies. The British national debt had doubled in that short time, and extra taxes had been levied in Britain to cover it. The last one, the Cider Tax, had proved highly unpopular and many people were agitating to have it removed. Britain was also running short of credit with banks. Under huge pressure to curb spending, the British king and government believed that any further attempts to tax the homeland would fail. They thus seized upon other sources of income, one of which was taxing the American colonists in order to pay for the army protecting them. The American colonies appeared to the British government to be heavily undertaxed. Before the war, the most that colonists had directly contributed to British income was through customs revenue, but this barely covered the cost of collecting it. During the war, huge sums of British currency had flooded into the colonies, and many not killed in the war, or in conflicts with natives, had done rather well. It appeared to the British government that a few new taxes to pay for their garrison should be easily absorbed. Indeed, they had to be absorbed, because there simply didn’t seem to be any other way of paying for the army. Few in Britain expected the colonists to have protection and not pay for it themselves. Unchallenged Assumptions British minds first turned to the idea of taxing the colonists in 1763. Unfortunately for King George III and his government, their attempt to transform the colonies politically and economically into a safe, stable and revenue-producing- or at least revenue-balancing- part of their new empire would flounder, because the British failed to understand either the post-war nature of the Americas, the experience of war for the colonists, or how they would respond to tax demands. The colonies had been founded under crown/government authority, in the name of the monarch, and there had never been any exploration of what this really meant, and what power the crown had in America. While the colonies had become almost self-governing, many in Britain assumed that because the colonies largely followed British law, that the British state had rights over the Americans. No one in the British government appears to have asked if colonial troops could have garrisoned America, or if Britain should ask the colonists for financial aid instead of voting in taxes above their heads. This was partly the case because the British government thought it was learning a lesson from the French-Indian War: that the colonial government would only work with Britain if they could see a profit, and that colonial soldiers were unreliable and undisciplined because they operated under rules different from those of the British army. In fact, these prejudices were based on British interpretations of the early part of the war, where cooperation between the politically poor British commanders and the colonial governments had been tense, if not hostile. The Issue of Sovereignty Britain responded to these new, but false, assumptions about the colonies by trying to expand British control and sovereignty over America, and these demands contributed another aspect to the British desire to levy taxes. In Britain, it was felt that the colonists were outside the responsibilities which every Briton had to bear and that the colonies were too far removed from the core of British experience to be left alone. By extending the duties of the average Briton to the United States- including the duty to pay taxes- the whole unit would be better off. The British believed sovereignty was the sole cause of order in politics and society, that to deny sovereignty, to reduce or split it, was to invite anarchy and bloodshed. To view the colonies as separate from British sovereignty was, to contemporaries, to imagine a Britain dividing itself into rival units, which might lead to warfare between them. Britons dealing with the colonies frequently acted out of fear of reducing the crown’s powers when faced with the choice of levying taxes or acknowledging limits. Some British politicians did point out that levying taxes on the unrepresented colonies was against the rights of every Briton, but there weren’t enough to overturn the new tax legislation. Indeed, even when protests began in the Americans, many in Parliament ignored them. This was partly because of the sovereignty issue and partly because of contempt for the colonists based on the French-Indian War experience. It was also partly due to prejudice, as some politicians believed the colonists were subordinate to the British motherland. The British government was not immune to snobbery. The Sugar Act The first post-war attempt to change the financial relationship between Britain and the colonies was the American Duties Act of 1764, commonly known as the Sugar Act for its treatment of molasses. This was voted in by a large majority of British MPs, and had three main effects: there were laws to make customs collection more efficient; to add new charges on consumables in the United States, partly to push the colonists into buying imports from within the British empire; and to change existing costs, in particular, the importing costs of molasses. The duty on molasses from the French West Indies actually went down, and an across the board 3 pence a ton was instituted. Political division in America stopped most complaints about this act, which started among affected merchants and spread to their allies in assemblies, without having any major effect. However, even at this early stage- as the majority seemed slightly confused as to how laws affecting the rich and the merchants could affect them- colonists heatedly pointed out that this tax was being levied without any expansion of the right to vote in the British parliament. The Stamp Tax In February 1765, after only minor complaints from the colonists, the British government imposed the Stamp Tax. For British readers, it was just a slight increase in the process of balancing expenses and regulating the colonies. There was some opposition in the British parliament, including from Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Barrà ©, whose off the cuff speech made him a star in the colonies and gave them a rallying cry as the â€Å"Sons of Liberty,† but not enough to overcome the government vote. The Stamp Tax was a charge applied on every piece of paper used in the legal system and in the media. Every newspaper, every bill or court paper, had to be stamped, and this was charged for, as were dice and playing cards. The aim was to start small and allow the charge to grow as the colonies grew, and was initially set at two-thirds of the British stamp tax. The tax would be important, not just for the income, but also for the precedent it would set: Britain would start with a small tax, and maybe one day levy enough to pay for the colonies’ whole defense. The money raised was to be kept in the colonies and spent there. America Reacts George Grenville’s Stamp Tax was designed to be subtle, but things didnt play out exactly as he had expected. The opposition was initially confused but consolidated around the five Resolutions given by Patrick Henry in the Virginia House of Burgesses, which were reprinted and popularized by newspapers. A mob gathered in Boston and used violence to coerce the man responsible for the Stamp Tax’s application to resign. Brutal violence spread, and soon there were very few people in the colonies willing or able to enforce the law. When it came into effect in November it was effectively dead, and the American politicians responded to this anger by denouncing taxation without representation and looking for peaceful ways to persuade Britain to scrap the tax while remaining loyal. Boycotts of British goods went into effect as well. Britain Seeks a Solution Grenville lost his position as developments in America were reported to Britain, and his successor, the Duke of Cumberland, decided to enforce British sovereignty by force. However, he suffered a heart attack before he could order this, and his successor resolved to find a way to repeal the Stamp Tax but keep sovereignty intact. The government followed a twofold tactic: to verbally (not physically or militarily) assert sovereignty, and then cite the economic effects of the boycott to repeal the tax. The ensuing debate made it quite clear that British Members of Parliament felt the King of Britain had sovereign power over the colonies, had the right to pass laws affecting them, including taxes, and that this sovereignty did not give the Americans a right to representation. These beliefs underpinned the Declaration Act. British leaders then agreed, somewhat expediently, that the Stamp Tax was damaging trade and they repealed it in a second act. People in Britain and America celebrated. Consequences The result of British taxation was the development of a new voice and consciousness among the American colonies. This had been emerging during the French-Indian War, but now issues of representation, taxation, and liberty began to take center stage. There were fears that Britain intended to enslave them. On Britain’s part, they now had an empire in America which was proving expensive to run and difficult to control. These challenges would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War.

Water Rocket Design Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Water Rocket Design - Research Paper Example The typical construction of a water rocket consists of household materials such as discarded plastic bottles, water, duct tape etc. Typical water rockets are constructed out of plastic bottles. The plastic bottles may be used individually or in combination after cutting out their bases and joining them together. Water is filled inside the plastic bottle rocket body but some space is left empty. The plastic bottle filled with water and partially empty is then turned upside down and sealed. This aids preserving the water inside. Compressed air or other gas injected into the water filled plastic bottle pressurizes the water inside. Typical sources of compressed air include bicycle pumps or portable air compressors. Similarly, other gases such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen may be used using compressed gas cylinders. However, using nitrogen may be dangerous given the high compression ratios used to store nitrogen. The compressed gas tends to provide the means to store potential energy ins ide the rocket body. The stored potential energy is releasable from the rocket when desired. The mass fraction of the water rocket increases with the use of water. This allows the provision of greater impulse when compressed air and water escape from the water rocket body. In addition to water, other additives are also used to increase the mass fraction of water rockets. ... This paper will look into the construction of water rockets to teach students mathematical principles while looking into learning styles, safety and other pedagogical considerations. Water Rocket Design Principles Water rockets are a direct application of Newton’s third law of motion describing action and reaction. The release of compressed gas and water allows the rocket to lift itself skywards for considerable distances. The exact physics behind water rockets depends in large part on the stored energy inside the rocket and the air drag encountered by the moving rocket. However, a lack of standardized construction techniques means that a number of different physics models are used to delineate how water rockets operate. The final outputs from a water rocket include the total height achieved as well as the total duration of flight. These outputs depend on a number of different inputs including the pressure of compressed gas, the volume of water used, the nozzle configuration a nd the weight of the water rocket body. The relationship between these inputs and outputs are expressible in a variety of different ways. Various models are available to delineate the relationship between these inputs and outputs. However, none of the available models guarantees a high degree of accuracy so these models can be best used as approximations. Mathematical Relationships In order to simplify the relationship between the inputs and outputs for a water rocket, students were presented with a simple water rocket mathematical model. The physics behind water rockets requires exploration of advanced concepts such as (Gommes, 2010): incompressibility of water; compressibility of

Microeconomics - Types of Markets Research Paper

Microeconomics - Types of Markets - Research Paper Example In the long run, the firms are ought to make a normal profit and the market price is determined by the forces of demand and supply. However, an important point to note is the situation in the long run equilibrium. If demand increases to a great extent, the price will rise. Therefore, the demand curve will shift upwards causing firms to make supernormal profits. More firms would join the industry and hence, the price will fall again settling at the equilibrium rate. Also, if the average costs are greater than the average revenue then most firms would go out of business. Once the supply curve falls, prices tend to rise. Perfect competition means there should be no imperfections in the market which may arise due to lack of knowledge or immobility of resources. Nonetheless, these factors are unrealistic in this world. One of the important reasons why perfect competition does not exist in the real world is the economies of scale. In most of the industries, a firm has to be quite large to experience economies of scale. But in perfect competition, firms have an insignificant market share and are too small to achieve economies of scale. Once a firm expands and achieves economies of scale, it would lower its costs and gain market power. The firm can reduce the prices and drive out the smaller firms from the industry. Hence a perfect competition can only survive in an industry where there are no economies of scale. Although the perfectly competitive market model is not applicable to the real world setting, it plays a significant role in economic analysis and policy. The model can be used as a criterion to judge the deficiencies of the real world industries and can help the government to articulate policies towards the betterment of the industry. A single industry that produces a product is called a monopoly. This is not it, however, no close substitutes are present and barriers to enter and exit the market are high.  Such barriers include patents, heavy investments, copyrights or achieving economies of a scale comparable to the monopoly.  

Stooge Concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stooge Concept - Essay Example n of heaping torture upon one individual, it is a necessity for the mental well being of the many, in order that the utopian condition of the city might be preserved. In a similar manner, Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† is based upon the same theme of one individual becoming a scapegoat to bear the brunt of frustration and anger that others feel – the sacrifice of the one to preserve the happiness of the many. Crane’s â€Å"The Blue Hotel† also reiterates this theme of selection of a scapegoat elected to suffer in order that the happiness of others and their utopian existing state can be maintained. LeGuin’s story progresses through there phases – the first shows suggests an idyllic existence, fortunate that the citizens of Omelas enjoy. But the dark undertones to the story are revealed in the second half of the story where the existence of the one child locked in filthy, miserable conditions within a broom closet is revealed to the reader – it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition and neglect.† (LeGuin 281). The existence of the child is known to the citizens of the town – it sometimes begs for release and promises to be good, because it is suffering so much from being naked, covered with sores and left to sit in its own excrement. Most of the citizens view the child and are shocked at its pitiable state, however although they would like to do something to help the child, they cannot because â€Å"to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance for the happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.† (LeGuin 282). Therefore, many of them try to rationalize the suffering to themselves by arguing that after so long, the child would not even appreciate freedom – â€Å"it would probably be wretched without walls about it to protect it, and dakness for its eyes and its own excrement to sit in.† (LeGuin 283). The third part of the story deals with the reaction to this revelation, and how some people walk away from the

Strategic Management and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategic Management and Leadership - Essay Example The major European countries where General Motors has strong sales network are Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Turkey, France, Spain and Ukraine. Chevrolet, Cadillac, GM Daewoo, Buick, â€Å"Opel, Vauxhall and Saab (Europe), Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac, Wuling and Holden are among the major brands that Company is offering to its clients. In Europe, GM has been offering Saab in Sweden, whereas it offers Opel and Vauxhall brands in France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and others. It must be highlighted that GM planned to sell its European Operations because of huge losses it incurred due to uncertain business conditions but then rejected the offers of some buyers or corporations which were interested in purchasing General Motors majority stake. (Company’s report, 2009) I will first discuss this issue in detail in this paper using relevant frameworks such as PEST, Porter’s five forces, Core Competences and Financial Analysis for external and internal analysis respectively. I will then present SWOT analysis, Product-market expansion grid or Ansoff matrix and finally an analysis of key stakeholders of General Motors. The paper will be supported with relevant references, tables and charts. As I mentioned in the above section that General Motors offers Opel and Vauxhall as the major brands in Europe. Although the GM constantly developed, assembled and marketed new vehicles yet it was unable to earn respectable profits from its European operations due to uncertain economic climate that I will elaborate later. The end result was that GM announced its bankruptcy because of unbearable costs and also decided to either close or sell off its Opel/Vauxhall units to avoid further losses. It must not be forgotten that Gm Europe remain involved in restructuring in past to control mounting losses. The decision to sell off European Operations was

ARTEMIS DESIGNER JEWELLERY AND GIFTS ASPIRATION TO BE FULLY ONLINE Essay

ARTEMIS DESIGNER JEWELLERY AND GIFTS ASPIRATION TO BE FULLY ONLINE - Essay Example The business is family-owned and it is run by a mother and daughter team named Catherine Amesbury and Carrie Mullan. Artemis has a supply of various collections of gifts and jewellery for various occasions. Products available in the shop range from fashion handbags to hand crafted pottery to decorative lights to small token gifts to decorations and stylized soaps. Other supplies available in the business are silver jewellery, which customers choose and can customize to meet their taste. Also known as, the home of Catherine Amesbury Contemporary Jewellery, the business is a mixed model of both the traditional form of business and e-commerce. This means that the customer can either visit the shop physically or access the services of the business online. The customer can browse, request for modifications and buy products through an internet-enabled system on their website or visit their physical store and ask for the same services. Advantages of E-commerce over Traditional Business An E -commerce form of business can offer numerous advantages both to a business and to its customers1. The first advantage is that the costs involved in opening and running a fully online business are lower than the costs involved in starting and managing a traditional business. ... According to Goel (2012), one can sell his/her products at any time of the day with a single click of the mouse. As a result, more customers are likely to visit the website and make their purchases at the convenience of their time without having time constraint2. The other advantage of an online business over a traditional business is that the enterprise will command a larger market share because of being able to have a worldwide market. As Goel (2012) asserts, because of the internet, a business will have global visibility, which makes it network with other businesses and consumers of their products. This will increase its market share, in addition to augmented economies of scale3. A larger market share will mean more sales hence more profits to a business compared to the ones realized in a traditional business set up. According to Botha, Bothma, and Geldenhuys (2004), an online business is not limited by geographic barriers, which characterize brick and mortar businesses. Customers from any part of the world can access the products that a business has unlike in traditional businesses where only the customers at a given geographical zone can access it. Therefore, customers from all over the world will be able to see the company’s products increasing the customer base of the business. This will increase the overall sales made by the enterprise leading to larger profits. All that a customer needs to do is to search for companies that have a given product, and with proper use of Search Engine Optimization, the business will have many visitors adding unto the list of potential buyers from across the globe4. The cost and time used to process orders is significantly reduced with e-commerce because manual

EMC Plc Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

EMC Plc Strategic Management - Essay Example What’s more, existing companies have barriers to new entrants such established market strength and shares of the already established firms, cumbersome process of registration, high initial capital outlay, and developed brand loyalty amongst existing customers. As such, new entrants are likely to find it difficult to penetrate into such existing markets and industries calling for efficient and effective strategies. Regarding established industries and market, automotive industry and market is one of the deeply established with many players but controlled by few. Some of the great players within the industry include GM, Ford, Daimler, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Hyundai Motor, Mazda, and Fiat amongst others (Nieuwenhuis & Wells, 2005; p 69). European Motor Company (EMC) operated as part of a large industrial conglomerate with interests in the aerospace, defence and medical sectors before is acquisition several years ago to an automotive group who made significant investment in the company for a few years. Nevertheless, the automotive group felt unable to support the business any further because of a rapidly declining market share. The following is an analysis of EMC Plc and the automotive industry. Main analysis of this paper focuses on both internal and external market factors. Attaining such an analysis is possible through various strategic management tools and models such as PESTLE, SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, and Critical Success Factors that have so far been of importance to the organization. In addition, this analysis focuses on strategic direction of EMC Plc covering a period of 5 years (Nieuwenhuis & Wells, 2005; p 75). Such strategic direction employs the use of strategic defining tools and concepts such as mission, vision, overall target markets, strategic rationale, as well as financial objectives. The analysis winds up by providing strategic development and progress coupled with reflective portfolio. In order to attain these, the paper is divided into three parts with different sections. Part 1: Initial Strategic Position and Intentions 1.1 External and Internal Initial Situation Industries and firms face different factors both from within and outside. External environmental factors refer to those that business organizations and industries have no control over for instance, political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, legal, and environment. On the other hand, internal environmental factors are those that a firm or industry may control such as the strengths, weakness, threats, and opportunities (Watson & Head, 2009). The following discussion uses various tools to explain automotive industry’s environmental factors and their effects on EMC Plc’s operations. 1.1.1 PESTLE Analysis EMC Plc is likely to experience political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, legal, and environment as illustrated in Appendix 1(a). EMC Plc experiences political stability and advantages from various political factors such as degree of government involvement in business activities, the serene political atmosphere that European

ARTEMIS DESIGNER JEWELLERY AND GIFTS ASPIRATION TO BE FULLY ONLINE Essay

ARTEMIS DESIGNER JEWELLERY AND GIFTS ASPIRATION TO BE FULLY ONLINE - Essay Example The business is family-owned and it is run by a mother and daughter team named Catherine Amesbury and Carrie Mullan. Artemis has a supply of various collections of gifts and jewellery for various occasions. Products available in the shop range from fashion handbags to hand crafted pottery to decorative lights to small token gifts to decorations and stylized soaps. Other supplies available in the business are silver jewellery, which customers choose and can customize to meet their taste. Also known as, the home of Catherine Amesbury Contemporary Jewellery, the business is a mixed model of both the traditional form of business and e-commerce. This means that the customer can either visit the shop physically or access the services of the business online. The customer can browse, request for modifications and buy products through an internet-enabled system on their website or visit their physical store and ask for the same services. Advantages of E-commerce over Traditional Business An E -commerce form of business can offer numerous advantages both to a business and to its customers1. The first advantage is that the costs involved in opening and running a fully online business are lower than the costs involved in starting and managing a traditional business. ... According to Goel (2012), one can sell his/her products at any time of the day with a single click of the mouse. As a result, more customers are likely to visit the website and make their purchases at the convenience of their time without having time constraint2. The other advantage of an online business over a traditional business is that the enterprise will command a larger market share because of being able to have a worldwide market. As Goel (2012) asserts, because of the internet, a business will have global visibility, which makes it network with other businesses and consumers of their products. This will increase its market share, in addition to augmented economies of scale3. A larger market share will mean more sales hence more profits to a business compared to the ones realized in a traditional business set up. According to Botha, Bothma, and Geldenhuys (2004), an online business is not limited by geographic barriers, which characterize brick and mortar businesses. Customers from any part of the world can access the products that a business has unlike in traditional businesses where only the customers at a given geographical zone can access it. Therefore, customers from all over the world will be able to see the company’s products increasing the customer base of the business. This will increase the overall sales made by the enterprise leading to larger profits. All that a customer needs to do is to search for companies that have a given product, and with proper use of Search Engine Optimization, the business will have many visitors adding unto the list of potential buyers from across the globe4. The cost and time used to process orders is significantly reduced with e-commerce because manual

The needs of future generations are being met by the current policies Essay - 1

The needs of future generations are being met by the current policies of sustainable development - Essay Example According to the research of Waas, Verbruggen and Wright (2010, p. 631) the concept of sustainability comprises of the initiation of development measures which â€Å"†¦contribute in meeting the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. The need for developing sustainable solutions to be implemented across the Arabian Peninsula is most urgent essentially because of legitimate environmental concerns regarding the incidence of air pollution in the region. The primary causes of air pollution specifically in Arabian economies which rely upon the production of oil can be attributed to 1) an increase in population 2) a rise in industrial activity and 3) the extensive use of private vehicles for commute (Ettouney and Saqer, 2012). The discussion and analysis which has been conducted in this paper explicates upon the incidence of air pollution in the urban or metropolitan centers of Gulf States including Umm Alhyman, Riyadh , Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Jeddah. Moreover, the research also proposes a framework for promoting sustainable solutions to combat this issue and advises the respective governments of the Arab States to enforce effective policies to address this crucial issue. The incidence in air pollution measures in Kuwait has been a critical topic of assessment for researchers which aim to establish the extent of the damage which has been caused by related and significant determinants. Moreover, the scope of the examination is also focused upon identifying effective tools and models which can be adapted and executed to identify fundamental trends (University of Queensland, 1993). The research of Ettouney, Abdul Wahab and Elkilani (2009) follows this pattern by launching three comparable yet distinct models to report findings on the level of air pollution in Kuwait and its subsequent health and ecological

Christian University Essay Example for Free

Christian University Essay This essay is a review of the book Shiloh- In Hell Before Night written by James Lee McDonough. James Lee McDonough was born on June 17, 1934 in Nashville, Tennessee. It is here that he spent his childhood. Regarding his education, the author attended Lipscomb High School. He received his higher education at David Lipscomb College where he attained a BA degree in 1956. He later went to M. A Abilene Christian University where he attained an M. A degree in 1961. The author received his PhD from the Florida State University in 1966. He was to be appointed as a Professor of History, a post he held in Lipscomb, Pepperdine and Auburn universities. Currently, he is a retired professor of history at Auburn University. The author was lauded by the Army for his role in furthering knowledge in military history and has received many accolades for his efforts in military history scholarship . Besides Shiloh- in Hell before Night, the author has written many other books. These include Chattanooga – Death Grip on the Confederacy, Five Tragic Hours; Stones River- Bloody Winter in Tennessee, Nashville; The Western Confederacy’s Final Gamble and War in Kentucky: from Shiloh to Perryville. His other books which are still in print include Sky Riders; History of the 327/401 Glider Infantry, ‘War so terrible’: Sherman and Atlanta and The Battle of Franklin. Moreover, he has written more than 30 articles, and reviewed close to seventy books . Shiloh- in Hell before Night was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 1977. At the time of writing the book, the author was a scholar at the David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tennessee where he was a history professor. Having attained all the academic qualifications mentioned, he was well qualified to write the book. In this book, the author has used both primary and secondary sources. He makes great use of primary sources when he lets the participants in the war narrate their experiences. Among the primary sources which the author has utilized include recollections, letters and personal diaries of the combatants. For instance, the personal diaries of Thomas Lovemore, Samuel Watkins, Clarence Buell, William Tecumseh Sherman, R. F Learned and Braxton Bragg are utilized. Regarding secondary sources, the author cites writers who have made contributions on related subjects such as D. W. Reed, Shellby Footes, Lloyd Lewis and John Duke. He also cites magazine articles such as the Richmond enquirer, Chicago Times, and New Orleans Daily Picayune. Other secondary sources which the author has made use of include personal diaries, letters and official records. This book is an attempt by the author to provide an overview of the battle of Shiloh. This battle took place in 1862 at Shiloh near the border between Tennessee and Mississippi and was a defining moment in America’s Civil War. The action begun in February 1862 when the Union Army pushed the Confederate Army, which was led by General Albert Johnston at that time, compelling them to surrender most of Tennessee. Major General Ulysses Grant was the commander of the Union Army and come spring, he assembled a 40,000 strong force close to Pittsburg Landing just next to the Tennessee River. The intention of the Union Army was to attack the rail intersection of Corinth, Mississippi, which was an important infrastructural facility. Before they could attack however, they were ambushed by the Confederates who attacked them when they were close to the Shiloh Church. This event occurred on April 6th, 1862. The total number of Confederate troops who made the march were no less than 44, 000 and were led by Johnston and General P. G. T Beauregard. As the author writes, the element of surprise worked well for the Confederates as they were able to repulse the Union Army’s right flank by one and a half kilometer after battling for three hours. However, the Union Army withstood the assault and its left flank remained largely unmoved. The area of action where the Union forces withstood the confederate attack was called the ‘Hornet’s Nest’. By late evening, Johnston lay dead, having been injured on the leg. Beauregard assumed control of the Confederate Army upon the death of Johnston and called off the action later in the day. The Union Army got reinforcements later during the night. The reinforcements were led by Major General Don Carlos Buell and Lew Wallace. Beauregard turned down pleas by General Nathan Bedford Forrest that the Confederates attack when he saw the arrival of the reinforcement. With the reinforcements, the Union Army was able to repulse the Confederates and Beauregard surrendered before evening and retreated to Corinth. The battle of Shiloh was costly as it led to the deaths of more than 23,000 people. This book is important as it was the first scholarly attempt at describing the battle of Shiloh. It redefined the way people viewed the battle, what with its treatment of aspects deemed to be controversial. In a major departure from the prevailing thoughts, the author asserted that the death of Johnston did not in any way influence the outcomes of the battle. Additionally, he avers that there was no respite whatsoever following this death. Another major assertion which the author makes is that Beauregard’s decision to halt the attack was the right one and that, contrary to the dominant thought; the Confederates did not have any real opportunity on the evening of April 6th. What’s more, the author posits that the arrival of the reinforcements led by Buell did not have any noticeable impact on the outcome of battle on the first day. The author also asserts that the main activity of the entire battle was the conflict at Hornet’s Nest. He avers that Grant was able to erect the last line of defense at Pittsburg Landing primarily because the Sunken Road was able to withstand the Confederate offensive. The author does not stop there as he holds Braxton Bragg responsible for the Confederates’ inability to pry open the Hornet’s Nest. This, as he explains, was occasioned by Bragg’s inability to assemble the 18,000 troops required to mount the offensive. The purpose of the author is to provide an accurate, irrefutable and personalized rendition of the battle of Shiloh. Through this book, he hopes to give the reader an overview of the events preceding and occurring during, and immediately after the 48 hour battle. By and large, it can be said that the author achieved this purpose. He wades through the occurrences, giving reasonable explanations which rationalize such controversial questions as what made the Union Army to be ambushed in surprise. The author also provides judgment on whether Beauregard exercised judicial restraint when he halted the battle on the first day. He gives us sneak previews on what went into the preparations of both sides, discuses the personalities and experiences of the generals and shows us what was done wrong. The author also delves into the role of the Confederate and Union generals, assessing the various command decisions and returning judgment on the leadership ability. Through all these, he achieves his purpose as the reader is able to understand what happened, why it happened, when it happened, where it happened and most importantly, how it happened.

Main Reason Behind Trade Union Decline Commerce Essay

Main Reason Behind Trade Union Decline Commerce Essay Trade Union decline is today common across the world. However, in the first half of the last century unions were at the zenith of their power, and were almost synonymous with employment relations in most of the industrialised nations. They were perhaps the only vehicle for employee voice through collective bargaining and industrial action in those times (Freeman and Medoff, 1984). Since the early 1950s, the union movement started seeing a downfall in the United States (Blanchflower and Bryson,2008). While the effect was more pronounced and early in the USA, the trend soon caught up in the UK and European nations. By the 1980s, the effects started to show dramatically on union membership and density figures in UK. Countries like Australia (Waddoups, 2001), Japan, India, and China (Kuruvilla et al.,2002) have also seen a southward trend in membership since the 1990s. Even in a country like Germany where the union membership has not declined sizeably, a variety of factors suggest that u nion power has been declining (Katz, 2005). In the UK, as per the WERS2004 data, aggregate membership density fell from over 50% in the late 1970s to around 30% by 2000. The number of workplaces with union members present fell from 73% in 1984 to 54% by 1998. The proportion of workplaces where unions are recognised by employers fell from 53% in 1990 to 45% in 1998. The number of employees whose pay is determined by collective bargaining fell from around 70% in the late 1970s to 27% in 2004 (Bryson and Forth, 2010). But why is membership so important? Unions derive power by controlling the supply of labour through union organisation and thus union membership is an indicator (or rather a prerequisite) of trade union power (Blyton Turnbull, 2004 p138). The other headspring of union influence is their voice within the political arena and the ability to clog businesses through industrial action. All of these have taken a hit since the 1980s owing to multiple influences arguably leading to membership decline. The scope of this essay is to examine the critical reasons for this decline through the workers lens largely in the UK, with support from similar trends in other parts of the world. It is now beyond dispute that union membership and density have fallen beyond imagination causing much agony to unionists, but, what needs to be explored is whether the perception of unions in the eyes of the worker has indeed diminished. Hence Diminishing Worth, Increasing Woes might have been an apt title for this essay. The CBIs Director of Employment Affairs had once quoted: collective bargaining no longer presents itself as the only or even the most obvious method of handling relations at work; fewer employees and employers feel the need for union mediation in their dealings (Gilbert 1993: 252 as cited by Claydon in Beardwell,1996 p144); Millward et al, (2000) have also concluded that union membership decline was the result of a withering of enthusiasm on the part of workers ( cited in Charlwood, 2003); So, one might be tempted to agree that workers no longer see value in membership; but there is not one single reason which can be attributed to this precipitous fall in union membership. A myriad of factors like the political landscape of the times along with the legal reforms, some macro and micro-economic issues, and the socio-demographic changes have to be considered. In fact, some researchers have looked internal to hint that unions are the architects of their own fall (Dunn, 2009). In order to understand the reasons for decrease in union membership, it might be prudent to ask , Why do workers join a union? Why or Why Not Unions?: The main motive for employees to join a union comes from a pluralist view where they feel they have different interests from managers (Bacon in Redman Wilkinson, 2006). Waddington and Whitstone(1997), provide the top two reasons as to why employees continue to join unions; first, to get support if there was any trouble and second, to improve their pay and conditions. Guest Dewe, advocate a relationship between job dissatisfaction and willingness to unionise (1988); Ratified to some degree by Charlwood,(2002). The rational choice theory explains that workers are inclined to join a union if the benefits they receive exceed the cost of joining (Guest and Dewe,1988). The sociological point of view provided is that, an individuals social context, parental occupation and pattern of social interaction are likely to influence the desire to be a union member (Guest and Dewe,1988; Visser, 2000). Therefore, people do come with a pre-conceived belief whether to join or not join a union which might get subsequently modified based on their experience and political inclination(Charlwood, 2002). Hyman was quoted on BBC News, (2004), being a union member has ceased to be the social norm, and a new generation has grown up who not only are not trade unionists, but whose parents have never been in unions either. John Monks (2001), former General Secretary of the TUC, also confessed, there is a general assumption among non-union workers that unions are for blue collar workers with problems, not white collar workers with opportunities (Blyton and Turnbull,2004 p141). These socio-psychological contexts are to be borne in mind before we look at the other reasons which might have influenced workers attitudes and thereby union membership. Thatcherism: 10 Downing Street is considered to be the place where it all began; where the future of employment relations in the UK was rewritten by the conservative government under Mrs Thatcher in 1979. The impact of the iron ladys legislative reforms on trade unions and membership is an all time favourite with most writers. The exclusion of unions from any role in national policy making, encouraging management to assume greater control within the workplace (Waddington, as cited in Edwards 2003 p216) were direct hits on the source of the Unions power. At the peak of union membership and density in 1979, almost 40 per cent of all trade unionists (23% of all workers) were covered by a closed shop (Dunn and Gennard, 1984). So in 1980, when closed shop agreements were almost made illegal, coverage fell to 8% and in 1990 to 2 %.(Millward et al., 2000 as in Blyton and Turnbull 2004). The 1982 Employment Act, also delivered a severe blow to the Unions which had its desired repercussions ( Taylor, 2000). In fact, the WERS98 data indicates that only a minority of members (46%) believe that unions can make a difference to what it is like to work here'( Cully et all,1999, p213) Blyton and Turnbull suggest the reason behind this cynical view might be the impact of the legislation that weakened both individual and collective employment rights (2004). Hence government legislation combining with employer policies can be seen as a synergistic project to create a potent gradualist route to union exclusion (Smith and Morton 1993: 100 as cited in Beardwell 1996 p156). But this might not hold true in hindsight today, since the Conservatives have lost power for over 15 years and yet the trend has not reversed or even rectified even after some of the future governments have taken a liberal view of the unions with the statutory support for unions reinstated in 1999. In his book charting the growth and leadership of the TUC, Robert Taylor (2000) indicates that the union leadership wa s well aware of the changing times much before the Thatcher government came into power and that the termites of ineffective leadership had already hollowed the unions from within; so when the winds blew hard after the winter of discontent the structure just fell apart as a natural process. Union De-recognition: Managements attitudes towards unions and their growing indifference to union recognition has also been considered to be an additive to union decline (Disney et al., 1995). Ackers and Payne are of the view that, businesses are increasingly turning hostile to unions (1998). Edwards, mentions a unitary view where unions are looked upon as external pathological elements causing disturbance [to management] (2003). Encouraged by the changing legislations, management in the private sector did not miss the opportunity to sideline unions. While they did not really work towards de-recognition, they carefully eliminated collective bargaining rights affecting pay conditions from unions in newer and private sectors (Beaumont and Harris, 1995). This has been a key determinant in membership decline as mentioned by Bryson and Forth, (2010). Thus, Charlwood, (2003) agrees any withering of enthusiasm for unions on the part of the workforce was a response to the assertion of manag erial prerogatives. Undoubtedly, the presence of a union is the least required for an employee to join a union. Green (1990), for example, found that ( using data from the general household survey) 30% of female part-time workers were Union members, but where a union was available to join, the membership rose to almost 60%. The 1998 British Social Attitudes survey shows 40% of non union employees expressed a willingness to join a union if they had one. If all these people join a union then membership will increase by 3.2 million, this is consistent with similar studies in North America (cited in Charlwood, 2003). Rise of HRM: When the news of alternative practices in non unionised companies like IBM and HP travelled the Atlantic in the early 80s, it affected management practices here in the UK and Europe as well. It has been suggested by Lucio and Weston(1992, as cited in Blyton Turnbull,1992) that unions were unable to focus on the emerging issues concerning employment such as health and safety, equal opportunities, worker participation and others and continued to reflect on the narrow areas of pay and conditions; and as they neglected to tie the new issues back into collective bargaining , the legislative framework surrounding these issues left management the task of unifying these rights within Employment relations as HRM. In a study of an IBM plant in the UK by Dickson et al(1988), employees identified with the individualistic ethos of the company and deemed no requirement for a Union, since the company provided them with good pay and conditions, fair performance management systems and i ncentives, opportunities for growth and development, job security and grievance mechanisms, and a positive ER climate which might have been the functions of a union (cited in Redman and Wilkinson,2006). The rise of newer practices of voice representation and direct employee participation have added to the agony of traditional IR practitioners. These HRM strategies are perceived by trade unionists as an encroachment into their territory (Blyton and Turnbull, 1992) However, empirical evidence does not support this view in totality. The first general finding from WERS98 is that HRM practices are strongly associated with a recognised union presence (Cully et all 1999). Guest (2001), mentions in the 1998 IPD survey among union members 26% employees felt they were more fairly treated because they were union members; only about 3 percent felt that they were treated less fairly. This means about 69% were indifferent about unions; a similar trend showed in non union members where almost 70% thought union membership made no difference. It also showed that workers are more likely to put credence to a union at work where they felt management did not have great HRM practices (Storey, 2001). Workforce Composition: In the 1950s union membership was largely concentrated among the 3M workers male, manual and manufacturing (Visser, 2000). Between 1999 and 2009, the pedigree of union members became more feminized, older, educated, dominated by workers in non-manual jobs and those working in the public sector (Bryson and Forth, 2010). Many researchers (Brown et al., 1997; Millward et al., 1992, Bryson and Gomez, 2005, Towers, 1989) have argued that the changing composition of the workforce, like the shift in employment from manufacturing to services and the growing labor market participation of women and part- time workers have been important contributory factors to lesser propensity to unionisation . However, this is just a symptom, not a diagnosis of the problem. As Kelly(1990) pointed out there is no reason why a decline in manufacturing or growth of female employment should automatically signal a decline in union membership'( as cited in Blyton and Turnbull, 2004 p142). A point worth considering is that with the rise in real wages, workers had no stipulation to join unions, while the rampant unemployment of the times provided employers with wider choices and hence an opportunity to resist unionisation. The increase in free-riding and never- membership have also posed a setback to unions as mentioned by Bryson and Forth(2010). There are currently almost three million free-riders among the eight million covered employees in Britain. This increasing trend is causing more problems for trade unions since they are representing such workers in collective bargaining without receiving anything in return in terms of membership dues. By 2006-8, half of all employees were never- members (Bryson and Forth,2010). This might be attributed to a rise in individualism among workers as opposed to a collective approach in the past or it might be an indication of failure to organise on part of the Unions. Failure to Organise: Undoubtedly, the perception of union power has diminished over the years leading to the waning of appetite to join unions. One of the primary causes might be that Unions could not organise themselves well in the changing years to retain their agenda or increase their agenda. Whether pressurised by legislation or de-recognition by management, unions have accepted concessions in collective bargaining in recent years, which has led to further erosion of their perceived powers. Trade unions were initially slow to meet the neo-liberal challenge posed by the Conservative government, with the consequence that its impact was amplified. Until 1987, the majority of unions openly opposed the legislation and hoped for the election of a Labour Government that would repeal the legislations (Taylor, 2000; Edward 2003). Millward et al, (2000) and Machin (2000) believe the key reason for union decline is their failure to organise workers and gain recognition for collective bargai ning in new firms and workplaces. The poor organisation of the union leaders and stewards has also led to a loss of faith in members and left no choice for workers but to renounce their collective rights and give in to the devils bargain in lieu for a more individualistic employment contract. Geary, (2006) found that only 24 percent of non union employees in unionised companies were ever asked to join the union and the remaining 76% were never even approached. In difficult times as these, this lackadaisical approach has cost unions a lot more than what they could anticipate. Union Response and Future Trends: Unions of late have embarked on a series of reforms to policy, structure and activity to pull up their act (Williams, 1997; Wright ACAS, 2011). In spite of the decline in membership, Unions still have many areas of opportunity. As Hyman (1997) has indicated, workers have a broad range of potential and competing interests, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (as cited by Heery, 2003) and Unions as representatives have the choice both in terms of picking the interests and the methods. Some studies suggest that HRM initiatives introduced over the past 20 years have had little impact on workers perceptions of them and us ( Kelly and Kelly 1991;Dart and Turner 1999) So unions will benefit if they were to take a more proactive approach rather than reactive to HRM practices. Guest (in Storey, 2001) mentions that WERS98 offered a list of nine conventional items like pay, payment systems, grievances handling, health and safety and training. There was no negotiation with union re presentatives over any of these nine issues in half the workplaces where unions were recognised. On a average unions negotiated on only 1.1 of the nine issues while non-union reps negotiated over 0.9 issues. Hence, the picture that emerges is one of limited industrial action. There are almost half of all organisations and a majority in the private sectors where there is neither a union presence nor great HR practices this could be an opportunity for unions. the other ray of hope for unions is that, the percentage of employees in British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) who say the workplace union is doing its job well has been rising since 1997 both among union and non-members (as seen in Fig 1. Bryson and Forth, 2010). There is thus some support for the notion that unions have re-oriented themselves in recent years. Fig. 1 Percent age agreeing union doing its job well, 1983-2008 (Note: Employees working 10+ hours in unionised workplaces.) Source: British Social Attitudes Survey. In conclusion, it cannot be denied that the perceived power of unions has been severely affected and this could have led to workers not seeing value in their membership. The reason why workers might have been indifferent to unions are manifold but the key reason that emerges is the inability of the unions to organise and sell their benefits to their customers. The legislation, alternative management practices, undoubtedly aided the workers feelings and so the statement given cannot be the main reason for trade union decline. But if we take the BSA in fig 1. above, this notion is slowly giving way to some expectations from unions. While the image and brand of trade unions has been severely affected and the damage is considered beyond repair by many, as Purcell (1993) said, this is the end of institution IR, but there are areas where unions can make a difference only if they organise themselves well and there are pockets of opportunity if they are willing to look beyond traditional IR practices. But can they reverse the trend? Do they have the will or skill to do it ? Only time can tell.