Making of the A-Bomb :: essays research papers

The machine gun mechanized war. Artillery and gas mechanized war. They were the hardware of the war, the tools. But they were only proximately the mechanism of the slaughter. The ultimate mechanism was a method of organization-anachronistically speaking, a software package. "The basic lever," the writer Gil Elliot comments, "was the conscription law, which made vast numbers of men available for military service. The civil machinery which ensured the carrying out of this law, and the military organization which turned numbers of men into battalions and divisions, were each founded on a bureaucracy. The production of resources, in particular guns and ammunition, was a matter for civil organization. The movement of men and resources to the front, and the trench system of defence, were military concerns." Each interlocking system was logical in itself and each system could be rationalized by those who worked it and moved through it. Thus Elliot demonstrates, "It is reasonable to obey the law, it is good to organize well, it is ingenious to devise guns of high technical capacity, it is sensible to shelter human beings against massive firepower by putting them in protective trenches." What was the purpose of this complex organization? Officially it was supposed to save civilization, protect the rights of small democracies, demonstrate the superiority of Teutonic culture, beat the dirty Hun, beat the arrogant British, what have you. But the men caught in the middle came to glimpse a darker truth. "The War had become undisguisedly mechanical and inhuman," Siegfried Sasson allows a fictional infantry officer to see. "What in earlier days had been drafts of volunteers were now droves of victims." Men on every front independently discovered their victimization. Awareness intensified as the war dragged on. In Russia it exploded in revolution. In Germany it motivated desertions and surrenders. Among the French it led to mutinies in the front lines. Among the British it fostered malingering. Whatever its ostensible purpose, the end result of the complex organization that was the efficient software of the Great War was the manufacture of corpses. This essentially industrial operation was fantasized by the generals as a "strategy of attrition." The British tried to kill Germans, the Germans tried to kill British and French and so on, a "strategy" so familiar by now that it almost sounds normal. It was not normal in Europe before 1914 and no one in authority expected it to evolve, despite the pioneering lessons of the American Civil War. Once the trenches were in place, the long grave already dug (John Masefield's bitterly ironic phrase), then the war stalemated

Operational Plan Essay

Offices Assistant Operational Plan Goal Increase the sales in each store by 10% by June 2013 Objectives: a) include graphic design services b) Acquisition of additional printer, photocopier and delivery van. c) Reorganize of fixtures and fitting within the store to make space for the equipment d) Multi-skill current retail product staff to include service knowledge. e) Increase in human resource requirements. Strategy In order to increase the sales, the company will need to employee 10 more people with costumer service background, and provide the correct training of the products and services. Consultation Stakeholder Role in the Problem Consultation Method Senior Management Team Decision Maker feedback session email communications newsletters Store Manager Develop an operational plan Meetings group meetings interviews Employees Implementers of the plan Focus groups Brainstorming sessions Feedback sessions. Suppliers Supply equipment Email communication Newsletters Customers Email communication Newsletters Media Involved in the advertisement ex Email communication Newsletters Actions: In order to complete the organization goal and objectives the following are the action that should be taken: a) Include a graphic designer The Marketing department need to advertise the position of graphic designer. Responsible: Manager of the area Timeframe: 18 Oct 2013 to 18 of November 2013 Budget: 500 b) Acquisition of additional printer, photocopier and delivery van To increase the sales, The Company will need to provide additional equipment. Responsible: Store Manager Time frame: 20 Oct 2013 to 18 of November 2013 Budget: 2500 c) Make space for the new equipment Reorganize of fixtures and fitting within the store to make space for the equipment. Responsible: Store Manager Time frame: 15 Oct 2013 to 20 November 2013 Budget: 1000 d) Training Multi-skill current retail product staff to include service knowledge. Responsible: Store Manager and team members Time frame: 18November to 30 November 2013 Budget: 2000 e) Recruitment 10 more people have to be hired. Responsible: Store managers and Manager of specific Areas. Time frame: 20 Oct to 18 November 2013 Contingence plan If the strategy of increasing the sales 10% by next year doesn’t work after the high season(November to January). We will need to focus more in how to advertise more the products and services provided. Because we already have the trained people to continue to project. The Marketing department need to focus in a strategy to get more costumers to increase the sales. Outcome: To increase the sales by 10% by next year. The company need to invest in the project $6000. That include a graphic design services, acquisition and organization of new equipment. Recruitment and training. Approval Name Position Date Sing Carolina Prieto Senior Management Carolina Prieto David Garcia Store Manger David Garcia

Agenda Setting Theory. Summary

Agenda Setting Theory I. The original agenda: not what to think, but what to think about. A. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw regard Watergate (American political scandal – 1970’s. It ended in President Nixon resigning from office) as a perfect example of the agenda-setting function of the mass media. B. They believe that the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience (importance) of items on their news agendas to the public agenda. II. A theory whose time had come. A. Agenda-setting theory contrasted with the prevailing selective exposure hypothesis, reaffirming the power of the press while maintaining individual freedom.Agenda-setting theory set to prove that we don’t have as much control over our beliefs as we would like to think. (selective exposure: says people know what they are interested in, and what they believe/find important. They choose to expose themselves to media sources that provide them with information that matches their interests and c onfirms their existing beliefs) B. The hypothesis predicts a cause-and-effect relationship between media content and voter perception, particularly a match between the media’s agenda and the public’s agenda later on. causal relationships are different than correlational relationships – note how the findings change between studies). III. Media agenda and public agenda: a close match. A. In their groundbreaking study, McCombs and Shaw first measured the media agenda. B. They established the position and length of story as the primary criteria of prominence (i. e. where it was in paper – front page – and how long of an article it was – more writing equals more important (discourse makes meaning)) C. The remaining stories were divided into five major issues and ranked in order of importance. D.Rankings provided by uncommitted voters (uncommitted = undecided; these are people who have not made up their minds yet) matched closely with the mediaâ⠂¬â„¢s agenda. IV. What causes what? A. McCombs and Shaw believe that the hypothesized agenda-setting function of the media causes the correlation between the media and public ordering of priorities. B. However, correlation does not prove causation. 1. A true test of the agenda-setting function must show that public priorities lag behind the media agenda. (this would prove that one comes before another and is the cause of the other) 2.McCombs and three other researchers demonstrated a time lag between media coverage and the public agenda during the 1976 presidential campaign. C. To examine whether the media agenda and the public agenda might just reflect current events (reality), Ray Funkhouser documented a situation in which there was a strong relationship between media and public agendas. The twin agendas did not merely mirror reality, but Funkhouser failed to establish a chain of influence from the media to the public. (this was the Vietnam War example) D.Shanto Iyengar, Mark Pet ers, and Donald Kinder’s experimental study confirmed a cause-and-effect relationship between the media’s agenda and the public’s agenda. V. Who sets the agenda for the agenda setters? A. Some scholars target major news editors or â€Å"gatekeepers. † B. Others point to politicians and their spin-doctors. C. Current thinking focuses on public relations professionals. D. â€Å"Interest aggregations† are becoming extremely important. VI. Who is most affected by the media agenda? A. Those susceptible have a high need for orientation or index of curiosity. B.Need for orientation arises from high relevance and uncertainty. VII. Framing: transferring the salience of attributes. A. Throughout the last decade, McCombs has emphasized that the media influence the way we think. B. This process is called framing. 1. A media frame is the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration. 2. This definition suggests that media not only set an agenda but also transfer the salience of specific attributes to issues, events, or candidates. C. There are two levels of agenda setting. . The transfer of salience of an attitude object in the mass media’s pictures of the world to a prominent place among the pictures in our heads. (what to think about) 2. The transfer of salience of a bundle of attributes the media associate with an attitude object to the specific features of the image in our minds. (how to think about it) VIII. Not just what to think about, but how to think about it. A. Two national election studies suggest that framing works by altering pictures in the minds of people and, through the construction of an agenda with a cluster of related attributes, creating a coherent image.B. Salma Ghanem’s study of Texans tracked the second level of agenda setting and suggested that attribute frames have a compelling effec t on the public. C. Framing is inevitable. D. McCombs and Shaw now contend that the media may not only tell us what to think about, they also may tell us who and what to think about it, and perhaps even what to do about it. IX. Beyond opinion: the behavioral effect of the media’s agenda. A. Some findings suggest that media priorities affect people’s behavior. B. Nowhere is the behavioral effect of the media agenda more apparent than in the business of professional sports. C.McCombs claims â€Å"Agenda setting the theory can also be agenda setting the business plan. † D. Will new media continue to guide focus, opinions, and behavior? 1. The power of agenda setting that McCombs and Shaw describe may be on the wane. 2. The media may not have as much power to transfer the salience of issues or attributes as it does now as a result of users’ expanded content choices and control over exposure. X. Critique: are the effects too limited, the scope too wide? A. McC ombs has considered agenda setting a theory of limited media effects. B. Framing reopens the possibility of a powerful effects model.C. Gerald Kosicki questions whether framing is relevant to agenda-setting research. 1. McCombs’ restricted definition of framing doesn’t address the mood of emotional connotations of a media story or presentational factors. 2. Although it has a straightforward definition within agenda-setting theory, the popularity of framing as a construct in media studies has led to diverse and perhaps contradictory uses of the term. D. Agenda-setting research shows that print and broadcast news prioritize issues. E. Agenda-setting theory reminds us that the news is stories that require interpretation.

Breaking the Rules

Every company has a set of rules and they should not be broken at any time, but flouting the rules to complete a customers request is not at all wrong, as it is nothing but good customer service, sensing the urgency of the request. Nancy was also rewarded on this basis only; because she took the matter into her hands, and did what she thought was right by reciprocating to the customers request even though she knew that she was breaking the rules. The only thing on her mind was that she wanted to solve the customer’s problem and didn’t want to lose a valuable customer.Her only thought was to provide good customer service to the customer who was in such urgency. The most important thought on her mind was that she should solve the customer’s problem at any cost, and she had to decide how to react, and the decision Nancy took was totally justified, even if she was breaking the rules. Her decision solved the customer’s problem, and he was able to get the spare part he needed on time. Nancy had other options also, she could have told the customer that no distributor was available at that time, and that she could not help the customer.She also could have told the customer that rules did not permit her to send the required spare part directly to a customer. She could also simply ignore the call, as if it had not come at all and got back to her work. Nancy knew that good customer service is always important for a customer to keep coming back to the same company, and Nancy who is a loyal employee of the company, did exactly what she thought was right and got rewarded for what she did. Breaking the RulesNancy was obviously a very good and loyal employee of the company that she was working for, because she did not think of the outcome of breaking the rules, but her most important thought was to provide prompt and good customer service. The manner in which she dealt with the situation is proof enough to judge her behaviour. She didn’t even think twice before writing a personal check for $ 150 to compensate the loss of the same amount to the company, as the distributor refused to pay the dealer, because he was not a regular dealer.This sort of action itself shows that the manner in which Nancy behaved and handled the situation was commendable even if that meant that she had to break the rules. Her loyalty and tactfulness were the main factors that influenced her very much while taking the decision. The reputation of any company should be the primary concern of each and every employee, nobody should behave or act in such a manner towards a customer, that it gives a bad reputation to the company.If the reputation of the company is at stake, than it is alright for an employee to break a rule, if he thinks it would improve the reputation of the company. In this manner the company can also try to modify their set of rules if the need arises. The employees should be encouraged to employ a particular strategy and to break an y particular policies the company has in order to provide good customer service. And such employees should also be properly rewarded for breaking the rules, while keeping in mind the company’s reputation and proper service to the customers.Any company which encourages employees to break policies is a very good company for the customers as well as its employees and investors. A good employee with tact for good customer service goes a long way in improving a company’s reputation. Breaking the Rules Breaking a rule is far better than creating a scene in front of a customer. If there is any rule in the company that has been made only to increase the profits of the company, and to avoid losses, and it does not favour the customer, then the company has to face the wrath of the customer.Therefore it is better to have rules made in such a manner that they also benefit the customer. Every employee should try to judge the rules of the company which are coming in the way of the g rowth of the company, and should try to bring this to the notice of the management, so that they can modify these rules. It is the responsibility of the employee to study each and every rule, and to see if the rules are still meeting the needs of the company, and if only a part of any rule is applicable, then they should try to change or rectify the remaining part of the rule, so that it benefits their company.The employee should try to solve a problem by first defining it, and seeing what needs to be done, to overcome the problem, voicing out the difficulties might help when any other employee might come out with a solution. If any idea is offered and an employee doesn’t like it, he can offer a different perspective to that problem. It is the job of the employee to always think of new strategies and methods to satisfy the customer and to provide better customer service. It is better to challenge the rules which do not add to an employee’s growth or the company’ s growth, than to accept them.Every company should encourage its employees to think in a diverse manner, and to not blindly follow the rules but be creative in their attitudes towards the customers, bending any rules which do not contribute to the growth of the company is very much necessary for the company as well as the employee’s career growth. Good customer service should be the main motto of every employee to attain the confidence of the management. References Customer Service Etiquette, Illium Software Blog, Retrieved on 18 November 2007, http://blog. iliumsoft. com/?p=54 Encouraging Independent Thought, Service Untitled, Retrieved on 18 November 2007, http://www. serviceuntitled. com/category/culture/ John Groth, Career Management: Break the Rules for Career Success, Articlesbase, Retrieved on 18 November 2007, http://www. articlesbase. com/career-management-articles/career-management-break-the-rules-for-career-success-262123. html Laurie Brown, When Good Customer Serv ice Rules go Bad, Retrieved on 18 November 2007, http://www. babyshopmagazine. com/fall07/when-good-customer-service-rules-go-bad. html

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Critical Book Review Essay

At the beginning of the 18th century, Africa became a target of European imperialism. Prior to the said period, Africa only served as trading post for ensuring the flow of goods to Europe. It was also one of the chief sources of slaves. The Portuguese established small settlements on the Cape of Good Hope and Eastern Africa. The Spaniards colonized some parts of Western Sahara and Morocco. During this period, much of Africa was still unknown to the Europeans. It was a land of mystery and barbarism (from the descriptions of Spanish and Portuguese chroniclers). From 1850 to 1870, the European powers divided Africa into several colonies. The British received Sudan, Egypt, South Africa, and most of central Africa. North Africa, except Libya (which was allocated to Italy) was given to France. Germany received Tanzania, Togo, Cameroon, and Western Africa. The Spanish and Portuguese retained their possessions. At the Berlin Conference (headed by Otto von Bismarck), the European powers were surprised at Belgium’s insistence of acquiring colonies in Africa. After a careful review of territorial arrangements, the European powers agreed to give Belgium Congo. King Leopold’s insistence on acquiring Congo was essentially based on two reasons. First, according to official record, he wanted to stop the so-called Arab slave trade. The Arab slave trade had its origins in the Portuguese slave trade in the 16th century. The Arabs provided a significant supply of slaves to the Portuguese. King Leopold wanted to put an end to this practice as it jeopardized the dignity of the Christian religion. Second, King Leopold wanted to increase his property holdings. King Leopold believed that the future and prosperity of his country depended on acquisitions in Africa. Leopold witnessed the progress Britain enjoyed after it acquired a significant number of colonial possessions. The same thing can be said about France and Germany. Leopold wanted to make Belgium an equal partner of the other European powers in propagating European culture and ideology to Africa. General Summary The first chapters of the book provided insight to the colonization of Congo. Henry Stanley, a known advocate of African colonization, wrote a general account of the African life. The account was full of exaggerations and promises, that is, stimulants to pressure the European powers to colonize Africa. Stanley described the Africans as ‘submerging in the ways of barbarism and cannibalism’ – a description that he never saw. The deep prejudice of Stanley towards the people of Africa can be shown in his later writings. He argued that there is a need to educate and train the African people in order that they may become self-sufficient – by self-sufficient, one means the right to self-govern. Stanley’s belief was predominant among European scholars – an element of the so-called ‘white man’s burden hypothesis. ’ In any case, Stanley’s accounts made impression to the rulers of Europe – most of which were keen to acquire more colonies for wealth and prestige. Although it is erroneous to assume that Stanley’s account was the actual cause of European colonization of Africa, Stanley’s account provided sufficient justification for the colonization of the continent. The middle chapters of the book dealt with the main opponent of the Congo government. George Washington Williams was a man of righteous standing – worthy of the name he carried. Most of his life was devoted to denouncing the evils of European imperialism in Africa. He opposed the ‘collectivization of the Congo people’ as a means to increase the wealth of the king. He proposed for a general education program that will train the Congo people to become ‘self sufficient’ – a satirical word Williams used in his writings. He argued for the abolishment of forced labor – a method which he deemed unChristian and immoral. He exposed the true nature of the ‘humanitarian motive’ of the king, arguing that it was merely a front to increase the king’s popularity in Europe. The death of Williams in 1891 did not end the criticisms against the Congo government. Other individuals like William Sheppard and Roger Casement followed the steps of Williams. The intensity of the criticisms forced King Leopold to sell the Congo state to Belgium. The last chapters of the book dealt with the legacy of King Leopold in Congo. His legacies are as follows: 1) The establishment of tobacco and rubber plantations throughout the Congo State resulted to famine and forced conscription. Because much of the agricultural land was utilized for tobacco and rubber plantations, the production of agricultural crops decreased by about 70%. Many people died from starvation and disease. Many people who worked in these plantations lost their arms, legs, and noses because most of the equipment used were unsafe. Those who failed to meet the required quota were either thrown into prison or sold to wealthy landowners. Children, women, and the elderly were required to work for about 16 hours a day – worse than the factory system in Europe; 2) King Leopold destroyed the cultural life of the people of Congo. The royal governors neglected and even repressed cultural practices in an attempt to inculcate Western values to the Congo people. Of course, such effort failed. It was impossible to inculcate Western values because the Congo people saw it as the driving force of oppression. In any case, the royal governors succeeded in destroying the cultural life of the Congo people by increased brutality – only by brutality would people lost faith on their own way of living. The King’s Ghost The brutality of the Congo State was first and foremost the reflection of the king’s image. In private, he expressed his deepest prejudice to the Africans – which in his view were nothing but primates and sources of labor. Yes, he disgruntled slavery, so long as it does not concern the Europeans. The white man’s burden was essentially based on prejudicial philanthropy. The king only possessed prejudicial qualities and never philanthropy – a very concept which he himself despised. In any case, his death did not signal the end of oppression in Congo. The oppression continued until Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960 – the year in which European imperialism in Africa ended – or supposed to have ended. The King’s Property It was Stanley’s description of the Arab slave trade which made significant impression to King Leopold. From the official records, Leopold argued that the only barrier to prosperity in central Africa was the Arab slave trade – a phenomenon that must be stopped. However, King Leopold wanted Congo for the following reasons: 1) Leopold saw Congo as a source of wealth and income. Upon acquiring Congo, Leopold proceeded to institute repressive administration tasked to extract wealth from the country. Ivory, minerals, and other precious objects were acquired by forced labor. Populations were ‘collectivized’ in order for the system to be more efficient and cost effective. When Henry Stanley became governor of the Congo State, he instituted policies that further the suffering of the Congo people. Tobacco was planted instead of traditional crops in a significant portion of Congo’s agricultural lands. Congo’s tobacco would be sold to Europe at a considerable price. The effect: there was widespread famine in Congo; 2) King Leopold wanted to build his reputation as a ‘philanthropist’ in the eyes of the European powers. Leopold initially doubted this approach, arguing that it was generally deviant from the methods used by other European powers. Stanley advised him that such approach was the most appropriate. He would gain fame and more importantly an important economic base in Africa. His ulterior motive of ‘becoming a philanthropist’ was somehow facilitated by his eradication of the Arab slave trade in Congo – which in actuality, he replaced by forced labor. A Picture of Congo The followers of Williams painted a general picture of Congo. According to them, Congo was: 1) A land of opportunity where the people can be exploited and robbed of their possessions. For the Europeans, the most priced asset of a colony was its inhabitants. Forcing inhabitants to work for about 16 hours a day was excruciating for the Europeans. It demanded more creative means of ‘persuading’ people to increase their quotas; 2) A land of desolation where famine and disease were everywhere. The syllabus of European imperialism called for the introduction of science and medicine to alleviate peoples’ sufferings. The Congo State did the opposite. Instead of allotting food and medicine to the poor, it used its official coercive powers to destroy life, property, and liberty; 3) A land of primates whose hands tittered with mud and suffering. A group of primates (Africans) for Leopold would never equal a poor Belgian. From King Leopold’s view, the efficacy of effective colonial rule rested on the laurels of brutality. If the colonized people were ‘primitive’, then it was the work of the colonizer to further the suffering of the people. The hand of the primate, remarked Leopold was worth more than the mind of a European gazer (but never his personality). Conclusion Hochschild’s picture of Congo is accurate in three respects. First, most of the accounts used were directly derived from personal accounts of former slaves, plantation workers, and prisoners. Although it is possible that the accounts might be a little exaggerated, the flow of theme is generally in unity. Two things are certain. First, King Leopold acquired the Congo State for his personal use (increase his wealth and prestige). Second, his policies led to increased suffering to the Congo people. In any case, one cannot deny the fact that the ravages of European imperialism were also present in other parts of Africa. Only in Congo were the ravages greatly manifested itself in the policies and directives of the royal governors. This is not a proclaimed hypothesis; this is fact – a reality that every individual must know. Bibliography Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1998.

Characteristics of Anthroponyms

Viktoriya Melnychuk; Khmelnyts’kyi regional MAN department; Shepetivka educational complex #1; form 11; Tarnavska Olena Myhaylivna, the candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of department of English philology of the Volynskiy national university named after Lesia Ukrainka. The purpose  of this paper  is to analyze anthroponyms, their semantic, social pragmatic and functional characteristics of  anthroponyms (based on the novel  John Updike  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Centaur†). The full communication, that is correct perception, evaluation and interpretation of information, is impossible without knowing the specific set of anthroponyms and their functions in language and text. The names of famous personalities, literature characters make up a significant part of knowledge, necessary for understanding and assessment of the culture different people. Therefore, our research is relevant. The subject of the research is semantic, social pragmatic and functional characteristics of  anthroponyms (based on the novel  John Updike  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Centaur†). Anthroponomastics  , a branch of  onomastics, is the study of  anthroponyms  , the names of  human beings. Anthroponyms often preserve lexical elements that have dropped out of the standard  lexicon  of a  language. The subdivisions of anthroponymy include: given names, surnames, clan names, matronyms, patronyms, teknonyms, nicknames, ethnonyms. Allusion is the main feature of the anthroponyms. Allusion is a brief reference to some to some literary or historical event commonly known. Allusion is a subtype of metaphor. Metaphor denotes expressing remaining on the basis of similarity of two objects: the real object of speech and the one whose name is actually used. But there is only affinity, no real connection between the two. Most of anthroponyms in the novel John Updike â€Å"The Centaur† are the individual, which expressed their own names, surnames, status names and perform the nominative function.

Critical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Analysis - Essay Example We can draw such a conclusion because he is asking his wife if she is reading the letter while in his mom’s presence. This can be found in the beginning of the song, when he sings â€Å""If youre reading this and my mamas sitting there†¦" The soldier hopes that his family will read his letter, so they can know about what has happened to him, as well as receive reassurance and encouragement to go on. The diction that Tim McGraw uses in his song portrays two different tones. The tones are of sadness, as well as encouragement. The words that he uses to portray sadness is when he is talking about how he will not be able to give his wife another kiss and how he cannot be there to witness the birth of his little girl. He also talks about how he will no longer be there to spend the rest of his life with her. Though he has told her this, she gives his wife encouragement. He tells her that it is okay to move on and be with someone else. He offers reassurance to his wife and his family that he is okay up in heaven and is at peace. NO longer is he being tormented by war. NO longer is he hurting. In addition to the point of view diction that Tim McGraw uses to get his strong and powerful message across to his listeners, he also uses allusions to speak of the dead soldier’s spiritual state. For instance, Tim McGraw makes a reference to the child’s prayer by singing â€Å"Now I lay me down† meaning that he is talking to God, and his family should also do the same. The reference to this prayer can also mean that he is resting in peace, no longer suffering from the ravages of war. Tim McGraw also makes references to heaven, as his song contains a line that states that he is with God watching down on his wife, his family, and his unborn baby girl. Finally, Tim McGraw references the Christian hymn, Amazing Grace. This reference is to pain the picture how powerful the Christian hope is and how it can get one through the trials of losing someone. Furthermore, it provides