Human Cloning The Ethical Issues Essays - Cloning,

Human Cloning: The Ethical Issues Ever since the successful cloning of an adult sheep, world has been buzzing about the historical event. Dolly the sheep has redefined the meaning of the words identical twin. Not only does she look like her mother, she has the same genetic makeup as her. This experiment was not only was thought of as impossible, but unthinkable. It was achieved in July 1996 by Dr. Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Roslin, Scotland. Dolly was announced to the public when she was seven-months old, on February 23, 1997. Since the birth of Dolly, the Wilmut's Institute has cloned seven more sheep from three different breeds. This process that successfully worked with the sheep, is now being tested with humans. In response to the global research, President Bill Clinton immediately ordered a ban on the federal funding of human cloning in U.S. research. This issue is not to be taken lightly. On the surface, human cloning looks like the perfect solution to end many of society's problems, but in actuality it has tremendous side effects. Human cloning is an unethical procedure that has detrimental negative psychological effects. Cloning is the process that ends in one or more plants or animals being genetically identical to another plant or animal. There are two procedures that can be called cloning: embryo cloning and adult DNA cloning. Embryo cloning is also known as artificial twinning. This form of cloning has been used by animal breeders since the late 1980s and in mice experiments since the late 1970s (Human Cloning 1). The procedure consists of splitting a single fertilized ovum into two or more clones and then transplanting them into other females. This process has not been used to clone human embryos due to the Regan and Bush administrations that banned the public funding of human embryo and fetal research during most of the 1980s and early 1990s. The ban was finally lifted under Clinton's presidency. After this ban was removed, the first known human embryo cloning was done under the supervision of Robert J. Stillman at the George Washington Medical Center in Washington DC. They used seventeen flawed human embryos. They all had been fertilized by two sperm and had an extra set of chromosomes. The embryos would never have developed into fetuses. In October 1994, the embryos were successfully split (Human Cloning 1). This experiment began the public controversy over the ethics of cloning. The government now had to set guidelines. They included the use only of embryos that had already been created for the use of in vitro fertilization, because many of these are either thrown out or frozen. Other procedures were banned, such as implanting the human embryos in other species and cloned embryos into humans, moving the nucleus from one embryo to another, and the use of embryos for sex selection. The first documented case of successful adult DNA cloning was the Dolly case. Adult DNA cloning, in the case of Dolly, started when a cell was taken from the mammary tissue of a adult sheep. It was then fused with an ovum after the nucleus had been removed. To start the developing, the egg was shocked with an electric pulse. 29 out of 277 of these special eggs began to divide. They were all implanted in sheep, but only 13 became pregnant and only one lamb, Dolly, was born. Animals that have been cloned run the risk of being infertile and having a lower life expectancy. Although Dolly has been the most publicized animal that has been successfully cloned. There have been other attempts. A monkey has been cloned and many embryos have been made of a cow, but none have survived (Can we Clone 1). The monkey has been the closest animal to the human to be cloned. This makes the issue of successful human cloning more realistic. But will it's uses be ethical? Simply put, human cloning is playing God. Manufacturing will replace procreating. Instead of the parent and child being on the same level, the parent would have power over the child. The child would be designed by the parent to serve some purpose. According to the Human Cloning: Religious and Ethical Aspects article, there are numerous uses that would have positive

Cultural Event Report Essay Example

Cultural Event Report Essay Example Cultural Event Report Paper Cultural Event Report Paper Cultural Event Report Name: Course: Date: Cultural Event Report The Smithsonian American Art Museum was located in Washington DC. As it was close enough, I decided to take a visit and see what it had to offer. The day of the visit was on 5th December. In my opinion, I felt that by studying the art quietly on my own was the best way to gain an understanding of the assignment. At the entrance of the museum, I was greeted by a friendly woman at the front desk who also handed me a map of the museum and a pamphlet. The museum was very clean and large. On realizing this, I felt confident that I would get the two pieces of art that interested me enough to note. Inside the museum, I noticed that it had been designed according to the broad variety of American art. Some of the significant artists that stood out from where I was standing included Thomas Moran, Winslow Homer and Edmonia Lewis. The hallway was designed at the center of the museum where it branched into the different rooms. The two main public areas held most of their artwork: the Lunder Conservation Center and the Luce Foundation Center for American Art. Of the two, the Luce Foundation Center for American Art was more prominent as it presented all the art in glass cases. Some of the artwork included sculptures, paintings on screens and crafts (Fitzgerald, 2008). The Lunder Conservation Center on the other hand had behind-the-scenes expositions of preservation work. The center was designed in a way that displayed the conservation staff doing the work in recreating and preserving artwork. At the museum, one of the artworks that impressed me the most was the Renwick Gallery. The Renwick Gallery concentrates on the American craft and the decorations from the 19th to the 21st century. The gallery lies in the national Historic Landmark building that was originally the Corcoran gallery of Art. The history of the gallery described that it was first built in 1874 but was later relocated to another site. Efforts by Secretary of the Smithsonian S. Dillon Ripley and President Lyndon B. Johnson made sure that the building was turned over to the Smithsonian administration. The Ghost Clock and the Game Fish were the most spectacular aspects. After finishing with the Renwick Gallery, I walked around the outer compound and had a few snacks before finally ending up at the American Art main building that had several paintings on display. The Smithsonian American Art Museum contains a lot of history on America and other countries that shaped the continent. Her I learnt that the museum doubles up as an exhibition center where over 14 galas have been organized that focus on America culture and history. The famous â€Å"Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow† exhibition was hosted at the same museum in 2011. The museum has also embraced technology to improve the provision of relevant information to the customers that come. They have online tours that I browsed through courtesy of the free wireless internet at the site. I also noted that the Major Rafael Soriano paintings were very pricey and uniquely painted in a life-like manner (Slowik, 2006). I realized that the museum was a vital source of history for America based on several observations. First, the museum is home to many artists of the Renaissance and post- Renaissance eras that helped shape the economic and political dimensions. Artists such as Karen LaMonte and Albert Ryder have produced extraordinary works that reflect global cultures as well as the experiences by Americans. The influence of modernism on the artistic expressions within America has been great and diverse in nature. Modernism applies the past artistic works to create new works. It began in the 20th century when artists started to reflect on the effects and events of the two world wars that were later followed by the Industrial Revolution. English poets for instance started focusing on the uprising Christianity within America when writing their pieces. My visit of the Smithsonian American Art Museum ended with me joining part of our guided tour of the rest of the facilities. References Fitzgerald, O. P., Smithsonian American Art Museum. (2008). Studio furniture of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum. East Petersburg: Fox Chapel Pub. Slowik, T. J. Smithsonian American Art Museum., (2006). America’s art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. New York: Abrams.

Greek art- archaic to Hellenistic period- art history Essay

Greek art- archaic to Hellenistic period- art history - Essay Example Under the Kore category, viewers will see first the â€Å"New York Kouros,† an example of Archaic style, which depicts Egyptian influence through its use of the Egyptian canon of human proportions like symmetrical patterning with the shoulders, hips, and knees on parallel lines. Influence also extends to the upright stature and frontal stance but the Archaic style was unclothed with a washboard stomach, clenched fists and the left leg striding forward. Careful attention was given to the texture of his hair with its seashell-like curls which almost look like wig. Next will be the Severe style, specifically the marble statue of a crouching Herakles as an archer which is a sculpture from the east pediment of the late archaic Temple of Aphaia in Aegina. It is far different from the Archaic style since Severe style do without the rigid upright poses of the previous style and lean towards a more relaxed asymmetrical stance with natural poses as depicted with Herakles crouching in a naturalistic manner of an archer ready for combat. The musculature is definitely rounder and the figure is now clothed and shows geometrical forms as shown in the linearity of the folds and patterns on his armor suit. The "Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus" by Praxiteles is last on the Kouros line and is an example of the Hellenistic style. It shows a distinct physical expression since his eyes looks past the child his holding as if in a dream-like state. It is similar with the â€Å"New York Kouros† with its nude, standing position and frontality but like the Herakles sculpture it has a natural musculature but much more refined but still depicts a perfect god-like body. Another similarity with the Herakles sculpture is that it is made of marble and depicts an asymmetrical balance achieved through Hermes’ posture with his left arm bearing the infant Dionysus

Movie review 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2 - Movie Review Example It represents crime scenes. The director presents this perception when Paul’s wife and daughter are killed and raped respectively, his boss sends him specifically to New York to fight crime (Brian and Winner, 2003). The role race plays in the film is evident when Kersey kills more black muggers with the intent of increasing the number of the white muggers. Race is used to indicate that most for the criminals in the setting were of the black origin and this necessitated the discriminative killing (Brian and Winner, 2003). Gender plays a significant role of indicating that the muggers targeted women in their criminal activities. This is evident from the killing of Kersey’s wife, rape of Kersey’s daughter and the killing of a young woman at the parking garage. In essence, gender is used to show that, women fall victims of the muggers’ criminal activities. Gender is represented as an indicator of the safety loophole. This implies that women needed more safety measures than their male counterparts (Brian and Winner, 2003). Class plays a key role of enhancing criminal activities. It is represented by drug barons who engage in a fierce competition in selling hard drugs such as cocaine. They kill each other’s accomplices. For instance, Zacharias gang competes with brothers Jack and Romero’s gang. This is an elite class but grossly involved in criminal activities. This leaves the society a rotten and unsafe place for peaceful dwelling (Brian and Winner, 2003). The film reflects the political situation of the society. There is no political willingness to solve the problems facing the subjects. The coordination between the police and the Kersey indicates a rotten political set up. The film reflects the aspects of racism in fighting crime and this extends to the broader perspective of a racist political milieu existing tin the society (Brian and Winner,

Cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cold war - Essay Example The domestic influence of the Cold War brought to their prominent leadership anti-communist presidents such as Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon who not only waged political and cultural battle with the Soviet Union, but also fought with the latter in the endeavor to achieve greater favor for the American economy. Though the nature of Cold War bore domestic consequences upon local affairs, political battles between the Soviet Union and the United States were mostly staged on an international level. By the time ‘Sputnik’ took off, most schools functioned as fighting grounds in allowing intellectual ideas to flourish over ideological conflicts of the 50s and this incident drew education to a sense of drastic reformation that appeared to radicalize certain schools of thoughts in various levels. Democratic enthusiasts would normally stress that acquisition of good scholastic foundation was beyond primary necessity, being an accountability and contribution to gaining victory over th e communists so that state and federal sovereignties expressed support through generous funding of academic institutions. Fields of maths and sciences had been able to receive more than sufficient financial assistance with adequate books and facilities.

Environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability ABSTRACT Universities, as centres for training responsible and knowledgeable humans, prepare students to respond to the intellectual, social, and personal challenges that they will face in community. To this end, universities will take use of various resources. In this regard, the question which rises is to what extent the world leading universities take their environmental responsibility into consideration and how committed they are to environmental sustainability. This paper aimed to explore this issue by studying the world top 10 ranked universities. The study sample included Harvard University (US), University of Cambridge (UK), Yale University (US), University College London (UK), Imperial College London (UK), University of Oxford (UK), University of Chicago (US), Princeton University (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), and California Institute of Technology (US). The required data was collected through the content analysis of the websites and annual reports of the mentione d universities. Findings of the paper showed that all the studied universities were involved in a number of various environmental activities and were committed to their environmental responsibilities. The findings of the paper can be a benchmark for other universities. Since the environment is an important pillar of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and vital part of sustainability, the findings have important implications for CSR policy of universities. INTRODUCTION All humans have a moral obligation to preserve the planet and there is no excuse for doing nothing to improve the environmental state of the globe. This also applies to institutions of higher education (Christensen et al., 2009). Organizations such as companies or universities are usually responsible for the severe environmental degradation we have witnessed (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar, 2008; Hoffman and Woody, 2008; Haden et al., 2009). Nowadays, higher education institutions can cause significant environmental impacts (Jabbour, 2010). Many of them, due to their large size, expressive movement of people and vehicles, high consumption of materials, and strong development of complex activities, may be considered as small towns (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar, 2008). Therefore higher education institutes have a great environmental responsibility toward society. This could be through training graduates with suitable environmental knowledge as well as environmental plans and programs to reduce waste and preserve environment. Now, the question which arises is how aware universities are toward their environmental responsibilities toward society. To answer this question, this study will investigate the issue among world top 10 universities through reviewing their website content and annual reports. Although previous studies have been conducted in this area, they are mainly case studies considering only one university. This study, however, considers 10 International universities at the same time and tries to provide a general picture of how aware and responsible world top universities are toward environment. Since the environment is an important pillar of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and vital part of sustainability, the findings of this study have important implications for CSR policy of universities. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN UNIVERSITIES Sustainability is a pattern of resource use which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The main idea of sustainable development is to achieve the lasting satisfaction of human needs. Environmental management may be defined as the study of all technical and organizational activities aimed at reducing the environmental impact caused by a companys business operations (Cramer, 1998, p. 162). Although initially targeted for companies, this definition can also be applied to service sector and universities. Universities apply various resources to provide quality education for students. This, in turn, will cause impacts on the environment. Several simple examples of these impacts are electricity consumption, production of waste and CO2 emission caused by daily printing of large numbers of papers. A number of dimensions define environmental management practices (Aragà Ã…’n-Correa, 1998; Klassen Angell, 1998; Klassen W hybark, 1999). As Cà ©spedes-Lorente et al. (2003) mention, Peattie and Ringler (1994) drew a distinction between software and hardware environmental activities. Software activities are those focused on organizational issues such us systems, procedures, audits and manuals, whereas hardware activities are concerned with technological change to reduce the environmental impact of the firm. Environmental sustainability refers to the environmental actions or impacts of what we do. There are a number of studies considering the issues of sustainability and environment in higher education. A study by Wright (2010), examined how a cohort of university presidents and vice-presidents in Canadian universities conceptualize sustainable development, sustainable universities, the role universities play in achieving a sustainable future, key issues facing the university, and the barriers to implementing sustainability initiatives on campus. They showed that although the majority of participants we re well versed in the concept of sustainable development, they were less familiar with the concept of a sustainable university. However, majority of them were dedicated to having their university become more sustainable. The participants also listed financial predicaments, lack of understanding and awareness of sustainability issues amongst the university population, and a resistance to change as the main barriers in the path of sustainability. Pollock et al. (2009) also insisted that complex and ineffective governance, traditional disciplinary boundaries, and the lack of a shared vision at academic institutions often hinder universitys progress toward leading the world to a more sustainable and desirable future. Furthermore, a study by Rauch and Newman (2009) in Yale University explored how an institutional target can lead to greater community action and long-term commitment than if no specific target is established. METHODOLOGY Similar to a related study by Capriotti and Moreno (2007), this paper used a content analysis methodology to analyze the websites of the top 10 world universities ranked by Times Higher Education (THE, 2009). This research studied the content of the university official websites and tried to identify universities environmental practices, procedures and plans. To this end, we have reviewed all the related web pages of the universities (including news, media, department web pages, etc.) and not just direct links from the homepage. The study sample included Harvard University (US), University of Cambridge (UK), Yale University (US), University College London (UK), Imperial College London (UK), University of Oxford (UK), University of Chicago (US), Princeton University (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), and California Institute of Technology (US). FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The findings of this research shows that world leading universities are in some way or another involved in environmental practices and committed to their environmental responsibility. Table 1 summarizes the diversity of the areas which these universities are involved in. Table 1 Environmental practices of studied universities Environmental Practice 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions a a a a a a a a a a Reduction in the use of fossil fuels and increase in the use of renewable resources a a a a a a a a a a Waste recycle and management a a a a a a a a Reduction of water use a a a a a a Green buildings and environmentally responsible architecture a a a a a a a Running an specialized environmental centre/ network a a a a a a a a a a Reduction of the environmental impact due to the use of paper a a a a Increase of environmental awareness among staff students a a a a a a a a a a Minimisation of environmental impact due to materials and services used by the university a a a a a a a a Minimisation of environmental impact due to travel a a a Maintenance of university sites in an environmentally sensitive way a a a a a a Green purchasing for university procurement a a a a a 1: Harvard University (US), 2: University of Cambridge (UK), 3: Yale University (US), 4: University College London (UK), 5: Imperial College London (UK), 6: University of Oxford (UK), 7: University of Chicago (US), 8: Princeton University (US), 9: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), 10: California Institute of Technology (US). With the growing concern on climate change around the globe, most of the universities are taking this issue into consideration. For instance, Harvard University monitors and publishes its greenhouse gas emissions statistics across its various schools in North America campus. As shown in their report (Harvard, 2008), the university managed to totally decrease its greenhouse gas emission to the amount of -2.3% in year 2008 compared to year 2006 in their North America campus. At Harvard, they also notice the issue of green buildings through defining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects. As mentioned in their environmental report (ibid.), LEED is a rating system for green buildings and provides a nationally accepted third-party verification that a building project meets the highest performance standards. Similarly, in University of Cambridge, a student network named Architecture sans Frontià ©res (ASF) considers the possibilities of a new socially and environmen tally responsible architecture. Through lectures and exhibitions, this network aims to get people thinking about how buildings can respond to the needs of society and the environment (Cambridge, 2007). Yale University also has an office of sustainability where they run various projects such as LEED rating. Similarly, California Institute of Technology utilizes the LEED standard to ensure its buildings meet and maintain a high level of energy, water and resource efficiency. In another instance, Imperial College London was recognised by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) for the efforts of the Facilities Management department to reduce its carbon production. Interestingly, University of Chicago has an interesting website called green guide where they provide information related to health and environmental topics at the University of Chicago and share tips with visitors on how to live a greener life (Chicago, 2006). The university also provided eco-tip of the month in its website. Overall, all the studied universities take their environmental responsibility seriously and are involved in this regard. CONCLUSION This study showed that world leading universities are aware of their environmental impacts and have taken necessary steps toward sustainability. Many of them have defined annual plans with objectives to achieve. This can be considered as a benchmark for other universities around the globe. However, the key to success of such plans is commitment from all levels of management specially top leaders. As discussed by Wickenberg (2006) and cited by Axelsson et al. (2008), the norm support given by the leaders of the universities is necessary and crucial to success in local implementation of sustainability plans. This is supported by the research of Christensen et al. (2009) who showed that in spite of adopting an environmental policy and signing an agreement to work for sustainable universities, Aalborg University (Denmark) failed to reach its objectives due to the lack of commitment from top management, the missing acceptance from technical staff, and a narrow understanding of the univers itys environmental impacts. Other universities and their leaders can benchmark these plans and culture to organize their own sustainability and environmental plans. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The first author would like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for supporting this research through providing Vice-Chancellor Award. REFERENCES Alshuwaikhat, HM and Abubakar, I 2008, An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: assessment of the current campus environmental management practices, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 16, pp. 1777-85. Aragà Ã…’n-Correa, J A 1998, Strategic proactivity and firm approach to the natural environment, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 556-567. Axelsson, H, Sonesson, K, and Wickenberg, P 2008, Why and how do universities work for sustainability in higher education (HE)?, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 469-478. Cambridge, 2007, Resources: Volunteering opportunities, Retrieved on February 22, 2010 from http://webservices.admin.cam.ac.uk/outreach/pages/activities.jsp?category=50. Capriotti, P, and Morenob, A 2007, Corporate citizenship and public relations: The importance and interactivity of social responsibility issues on corporate websites, Public Relations Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 84-91. Cà ©spedes-Lorente, J, Burgos-Jimà ©ne, J D, and Alvarez-Gil, M J 2003, Stakeholders environmental influence. An empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 333-358. Chicago, 2006, Green Guide, Retrieved on February 22, 2010 from http://greenguide.uchicago.edu. Christensen, P, Thrane, M, Jà ¸rgensen, T H, and Lehmann, M 2009, Sustainable development: assessing the gap between preaching and practice at Aalborg University, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 4-20. Cramer, J 1998, Environmental management: From fit to stretch, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 162-172. Haden, SS, Oyler, PH and Humphreys, JH 2009, Historical, practical and theoretical perspectives on green management: an exploratory analysis, Management Decision, Vol. 47, No. 7, pp. 1041-55. Harvard, 2008, Summary of Environmental Performance at Harvard, Retrieved on February 22, 2010 from http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_09_36_39Green.pdf. Hoffman, AJ and Woody, JG 2008, Climate Change? Whats Your Business Strategy?, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Jabbour, C J C 2010, Greening of business schools: a systemic view, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 49-60. Klassen, R D, and Angell, L C 1998, An international comparison of environmental management in operations: The impact of manufacturing flexibility in the US and Germany, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 177-194. Klassen, R D, and Whybark, D C 1999, Environmental management in operations: The selection of environmental technologies, Decisions Sciences, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 601-630. Peattie, K, and Ringler, A 1994, Management and the environment in the United Kingdom and Germany: A comparison, European Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 216-225. Rauch, J N and Newman, J, 2009, Institutionalizing a greenhouse gas emission reduction target at Yale, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 390-400. THE 2009, Times Higher Education, online, retrieved 09 December 2009, from http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html, Accessed on: December 09, 2009. Wickenberg, P. (2006), Norm supporting actors and structures at the very local level of implementation of sustainable development, in Holmberg and Samuelsson (Eds), Higher Education, in Drivers and Barriers for Implementing Sustainable Development in Higher Education. Education for Sustainable Development in Action (Technical Paper No 3), UNESCO Education. Wright, T 2010, University presidents conceptualizations of sustainability in higher education, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 61-73. 2

Recreational Property Negligence :: essays research papers

M E M O R A N D U M TO:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   FROM:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   DATE:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   RE:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cole Gershwin- Immunity for Negligence on Recreational Property _________________________________________________________ I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  STATEMENT OF FACTS Our Client, Mr. Cole Gershwin, is considering suit against the Chicago School District for injuries sustained as a result of tripping in a pothole. Gershwin, a teacher at Washington Elementary School, alleges that on October 10, 2000 at 12:20 pm, he was walking from the school to the teacher’s parking lot, and tripped in a pothole and fell. The walkway where Gershwin fell is adjacent to a parking lot that was converted from a portion of the playground area. The walkway is used by teachers to travel to and from the parking lot. The walkway is marked with yellow stripes and is bordered on the southern edge by orange construction cones that the school is going to replace with additional fencing. There is a sign on the fence separating the parking lot from the walkway that reads: â€Å"Walkway for Teachers Only.† Students occasionally use the walkway as a â€Å"safe† zone for games of tag. II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  QUESTION PRESENTED Whether school property, classified as recreational and cursorily used by students during their recreation, immune from civil action under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act 3-106; when the school has the area sectioned off implying that it does not intend for the property to be used recreationally. III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CONCLUSION No. The elements necessary to make the property recreational are not satisfied in this situation. The school district shows no intended use of the property for recreational purposes, nor does it show permitted use of the property for recreational purposes. Although the walkway is occasionally used by children for games of tag, this is incidental usage of the property, and thus  § 3-106 is inapplicable. Additionally, the primary purpose of the walkway is to facilitate travel to and from the parking lot, making the walkway nonrecreational in character. IV.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DISCUSSION Immunity from liability is determined by examining the character of the property in question. In order to establish immunity, the school board must show intent for the property to be used for recreation, or that the property is permitted to be used for recreational purposes, where that use is not incidental. Factors that weigh on the court’s decision to identify property as recreational include the overall usefulness of the walkway to facilitate access to the recreational facility, the primary purpose of the walkway, and viewing the property in question as a â€Å"unified whole.

Mistakes Managers Often Make

While working in a book bindery as a summer job, I came across a manager who broke one of the 101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make.   The rule broken was: showing favoritism not based on performance. This bindery, worked in a factory like setting, and hired most people for minimum wage.   The salary offered attracted a range of people from students, to housewives, and foreign speaking Americans.   I accepted the position for minimum wage, and was happy to be busy for the summer months.   What I was not happy with was the favoritism that ran rampant throughout the bindery. My manager began showing signs of favoritism in very small ways, but as the summer wore on, the signs of favoritism began growing and growing.   It seemed that this particular bindery hired relatives, friends and anyone who knew anyone.   Obviously, this can be an asset as well as a negative.   In my case, it was a definite negative.   My manager had several relatives and friends working there that were her obvious favorites.   Since I was not related and had known her previously, I began to notice a pattern of more difficult jobs going to me, and the easier jobs going to those that she knew or liked better than me. When I brought this to her attention I was told that there was no favoritism going on and was making something out of nothing.   As this pattern continued, other workers began to take notice and become irritated.   They were reluctant to confront her due to the fact that they knew I had, and not only received no satisfaction, it seemed that I was no even more unpopular. The jobs that came my way now were ugly.   The books were extremely heavy to pack, messy to inspect and often scattered throughout the bindery so I had to go find them.   I noticed my workload and noticed the workload of the favorite ones was much, much different.   Theirs consisted of paperback books, that needed little to no inspecting and were light to pack and always on the same cart in the same place. I finally was able to convince a few people to come forward so that the issue could be resolved.   Unfortunately they did not receive satisfaction either.   In fact, they were labeled troublemakers and their workload drastically changed for the worse very quickly. At this point, I felt personally responsible for their unhappiness and difficulty at work so I decided to take the next step.   As professionally as I could be, I spoke to Human Resources about the situation.   I was assured that it would be addressed with the person immediately and I would not find any further unfairness.   I was sure that this was the end.   Work would return to normal and the workload would be evenly distributed again soon. What I did not expect was further unfairness.   This manager now truly detested me and her actions were completely obvious.   Now my jobs were piling up and all nightmare jobs.   My coworkers that had come forward now seemed to be getting a break.   All their bad jobs were coming my way instead.   I knew that this had gone from a professional disagreement to a personal one.   I didn’t know what to do.   I wanted to stand up for myself but feared future retaliation. This was just supposed to be an easy summer job.   I wasn’t sure if it was worth all the headaches.   Still, I knew what I had to do.   I made an appointment with the Vice President to discuss the matter.   He boasted of an open door policy and this time I was positive that it would be handled once and for all. My coworkers were nervous for me and still upset about what had transpired between them and her.   They were not interested in coming forward with me, and I didn’t blame them.   This was supposed to fun. Nevertheless to support me, they began taking frequent breaks, working slower, coming in late and caring less and less about the condition of the books that were being sent out.   I have to admit, although not intentional, my attitude had gotten worse which directly resulted in less care with the books.   Work in this part of the bindery was grinding to a slow halt.   Our division was getting further and further behind but nothing was done.   We were just instructed to work harder and faster. My meeting with the Vice President went well and the days after that went along much smoother.   Unfortunately by the time this meeting took place, the summer was almost over and we were still weeks behind in production. I left that summer wondering how this had happened at all.   It was a simple issue I had thought.   I had expected maturity and professionalism.   I didn’t know that people like this, with this type of mentality existed in upper management.   I learned that this type of person exists on all levels and what was a simple issue that could have been resolved in five minutes, dragged on for almost three months and resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars being lost or wasted. During my meeting with the Vice President I explained how simple this issue really was and the only reason it had gotten to him was because it had not been handled in the first place.   I let him know that employees need a person they can go to when issues arise. I suggested a non-bias person that could listen and act appropriately.   Having to go through the chain of command is a good way to start but when the problem isn’t resolved there has to be someone available, without the busy schedule of the Vice President.   The whole situation was an eye opener and taught me not only how to stand up for myself professionally but how to make suggestions that may help a company avoid these mistakes in the future.

Postal Service As a Monopoly Essays - United States Postal Service

Postal Service As a Monopoly Essays - United States Postal Service Postal Service As a Monopoly In the United States economy most markets can be classified into four different markets structures. But, each and every market in the United States is completely unique from the others. Generally the best type of market structure for the general public is per-fect competition because it creates the lowest possible price for the public. There are some exceptions were perfect competition isnt the best choice for the public on account of various reasons. The United States Postal Service is one of them and since the Postal Service is a monopoly, it is its own market. This paper will discuss the budget dilemmas that the postal service has faced for the past twenty years and if it is in the best interest of the economy for the United States Postal Service to continue as a monopoly. The first time there was talk of privatizing the Postal Service was in1979 when the Postal Service was losing vast amounts of money in the long run. But since the Postal Service is a necessity for America, the government had to subsidize the service in order for it to continue in operation. In 1979 the United States Postal Service had a cash flow of $22.5 Billion and was additionally receiving $176 million from investing(#1, Intro). Even with this added revenue the Postal Service was still greatly under funded on its own (#1, Intro). During this time it was discussed to privatize the postal service and introduce competition because of the extreme losses that the service was experiencing. A positive argument for privatizing the Postal Service was with numerous competitors in the market there would be more efficiency and the public would receive lower prices. But this would also increase the usage of resources, for example airplanes and cars. One of the problems the Post Office had was its receipts from consumer purchases that were submitted the next day after the transaction (#1, i). If the receipts were submitted earlier the postal service would receive more money because they could invest that money sooner (#1, i). Another way the Postal Service could increased profits was by competitively selecting banks that would give them higher interest rates and such (#1, ii). Probably the most relevant and final way to improve the budget of the Postal Service is to improve the bookkeeping poli-cies and banking techniques (#1, ii). Not only did the Post Service propose to increase profits but they also proposed to cut costs in a number of ways. There were three methods that were proposed in 1946 for the protection of salaries that no longer exists (#2, Intro). These have to do with the rural mail carriers. Under this antiquated method of delivering mail the Postal Service was los-ing money to any mail that went to "rural" areas (#2, i) There are 48,000 mail carriers that deliver mail to millions of families that are considered to be living in rural settings; this costs the postal Service 858 million dollars a year (#2, i). This is a fairly easy problem to fix considering how much money is being lost. It was proposed that money loss could be significantly cut down if the Postal Service corrected the following problems. The rural mail carriers were assigned a certain amount of time to deliver to a specific rural area, this method was out of date and because of this the carriers have free time for which they got paid for (#2, ii). The next problem was that other mail routes based pay on how many miles the route covered, so the carriers were getting paid by the mile (#2, iii). With this problem fixed the Postal Service could saved 26.8 million a year (#2, iii). There was also an hourly rate that was in effect which indirectly promoted inefficient service (#2, iii). A stop to this could have saved the Postal Service $255,000 a year (#2, iii). From the num-bers mentioned above, it can be seen why the United States Postal Service was losing so much money. These problems did indeed eventually did get solved over the past fifteen years and now the Postal Service is making record breaking profits. Now in the first quarter of the fiscal year 1996 the Postal Service already has a net income of $1.2 billion (#3, 1). Now not only is the Postal Service just breaking even, but they are also making a profit. On top of that, the 1.2 billion dollar figure is 115 billion dollars better then the quarterly forecast predicted (#3,1). It is incredible that

Free Essays on A Pirate Looks At Fifty

Buffett manages to describe so many interesting things in his life that the reader almost has to keep reading to hear the stories behind these events. â€Å"I sang and worked on a fishing boat, went totally crazy, did a lot of dope, met the right girl, made another record, had a hit, bought a boat, and sailed away to the Caribbean.† This little excerpt alone is more excitement than most people can fit into their entire autobiography. Apart from capturing the reader’s attention early, this book separates itself from others I have read by the way Buffett tells his story. â€Å"My writing style is a rather unrefined stream of consciousness; I don’t know when to stop telling the story.† It is in this writing style that Jimmy managed to put down on paper the stories of his life in such a way that it feels like you are his life long friend and that you are there with him as he talks about the incredible adventures he has experienced. The reader makes a real connection with Buffett as a person. ... Free Essays on A Pirate Looks At Fifty Free Essays on A Pirate Looks At Fifty The book A Pirate Looks At Fifty by Jimmy Buffett is a remarkable look back on one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century’s life as told by Buffett himself. The reader joins Jimmy on a journey through the Southern Hemisphere as he celebrates his 50th birthday. As he travels from country to country Buffett takes time, between fishing, surfing, and lounging, to tell the reader about his incredible life. Buffett wrote the book in such a manner that the reader feels as if they are there with him on the beaches of some small country in South America just hanging out trading stories about old times. This is by far the most interesting book I have ever read. The thing that separates A Pirate Looks At Fifty from other autobiographies lies in the first two pages of the book. Buffett is able to capture the reader’s attention immediately by trying to describe his life in â€Å"four hundred words or less†. In these four hundred words Buffett manages to describe so many interesting things in his life that the reader almost has to keep reading to hear the stories behind these events. â€Å"I sang and worked on a fishing boat, went totally crazy, did a lot of dope, met the right girl, made another record, had a hit, bought a boat, and sailed away to the Caribbean.† This little excerpt alone is more excitement than most people can fit into their entire autobiography. Apart from capturing the reader’s attention early, this book separates itself from others I have read by the way Buffett tells his story. â€Å"My writing style is a rather unrefined stream of consciousness; I don’t know when to stop telling the story.† It is in this writing style that Jimmy managed to put down on paper the stories of his life in such a way that it feels like you are his life long friend and that you are there with him as he talks about the incredible adventures he has experienced. The reader makes a real connection with Buffett as a person. ...

Modernism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Modernism - Essay Example The researcher states that modernism was a rebellion against realism. It is argued that modernism is the rejection of tradition and its inequities. In another dimension, modernism encompasses of actions of those that felt that the traditional forms of art, literature, social organization and real life were becoming obsolete and that they were not going in line with new social economic and political situations of an emerging industrialized world. The assertion by Henry James that ‘the whole of anything is never told’ could be both true and false. The novel is about dreams that do not come true. This can be argued to be intercession on wishes, hopes, success and failure on what life would do to a strong and imaginative woman of the nineteenth century who supposedly has almost everything and almost every person to presume that all her wishes and hopes would be realized. In other words, the whole story is about hopes and disappointments in life. In fact, the novel is an outl ine of the big cosmopolitan world of European culture and history which is composed of big ambitions, riches, class and above all, what such a life would do to people of such a culture. One thing that interested James is the idea of imagination as an instrument of thought. According to James, it is through the working of his characters’ imagination or lack of it that he was able to define their destinies. However, the meaning of imagination according to James is a very large subject which is evident by the way the word has been used and scattered all over his work. However, according to James, the definition of imagination could be narrowed to mean among other things, what turns observed experience into understanding (James and Luckhurst 2009). Given that James is a realist, imagination should be a product of other primary factors such as real knowledge and real experience which in the case of the novel, lacks from the woman character. Nonetheless, the imagination according t o James is much more applicable in real life and should be intense and active normally accompanied by knowledge (Matthiessen and Kenneth, Murdock 1947). The woman character in the story is seen to lack knowledge and instead mistakes beauty for truth. Due to lack of knowledge, she fails to see the real picture of the man she falls in love with (James and Luckhurst 2009). Amazingly, the man she falls in love displays his disregard for money, something she takes as evidence that the man has no greed for money while in the real sense, the man’s disregard for money is actually nothing but greed. In fact, according to the woman character in the story, human wishes without knowledge acts as a barrier towards getting the real picture of the situation (James and Luckhurst 2009). The wishes act as a shadow as they make individuals create a picture of wishes towards other individuals and situations as a quench of justifying their wishes to be true. It is very real that even when wishes covers the truth in real life situations, especially when people ironically present the art of living in a different perspective, people are unable to discover the masking of such individuals even when something warns them. In the case of the woman in the story, the man she falls in love with presents himself with ironic elegant about the art of living though he has such a look of plentitude and fulfillment, something the woman is enchanted about though in her enchantment, something warns her but she goes unheeded (James and Luckhu

Review of the Current Macroeconomic Situation in the US Essay

Review of the Current Macroeconomic Situation in the US - Essay Example Unemployment situation in the US Young Americans are one of the worst sufferers of recession that has followed the global financial crisis of 2008. Although almost all open economies in the world have been affected at varying levels, research suggests that unemployment situation in America is grave. While other developed and developing economies have gradually been able to create employment opportunities for citizens, rate of unemployment in the USA for the age group of 16 years to 24 years is approximately 16.2 percent. This rate of unemployment is considered very high by policy makers in USA and also other countries across the globe. It has been apprehended that even if the rate of unemployment falls over the years, the impact of current unemployment would linger around for several years in the near future. Over the next ten years, members of the American labor force would experience a drop in total expected earnings by US $20 billion. Building on recent research reports published by Center for American Progress, economists have estimated that approximately US $22,000 per person has been lost in earnings (Ayres, 2013). This loss in earnings (depicted by fall in wages) holds serious economic implications for individuals, private corporations as well as the government. Higher unemployment would result in delay in repayment of student loans that would lead to ballooning of student-loan debt (Ayres, 2013). In the short term, the delay in repayment of debt would lead to loss in earnings by the financial institutions. These institutions would be unable to extend fresh debts, thereby, foregoing opportunities of higher earnings. Besides, the long... This essay aims to comprehensively observe current set of macroeconomic policies, carried out by American government to tackle the economic consequences of global financial turmoil In the essay, the stability in the price level is regarded the main aspect, that affects healthy economic growth in the country. One of the major reasons of concern for the US government is the high rate of unemployment prevalent in the economy. It is undoubted that the economy is recovering, but at an unsatisfactory rate. This rate of growth is frustrating for the economists and policy makers in the economy, since such rates of growth are deemed insufficient. In order to take the economy to higher levels of growth, economic performance by the country has to be boosted up. Different aspects of the economy have to be considered for the study of performance of US economy. These aspects are represented by the variables, such as rate of inflation and unemployment and level of recession in the economy. Persistent weakness of the housing market in U.S. is one of the major concerns for the economy. The US economy is characterized by tightening of credit conditions and availability of credit in different sectors in the economy, which is responsible for deleveraging of the U.S. households. The government has adopted contractionary fiscal policies along with accommodative monetary policies. Policy of large scale asset purchases is aimed at sustaining downward pressure on the long term rates of interest that would support the mortgage and real estate markets