Monday, December 23, 2019

Colombian Culture VS American culture - 769 Words

Culture can be seen from the interaction of many things such as history, activities and developments. It is also represented in the form of people live. Living in two different countries is a unique experience that gives you a new way of thinking. In my case I have lived in Colombia and now in the United States. Despite bearing some minor similarities, the differences between this to countries are notable in geography, festivities, economic and food. Colombia is located in South America, is divided into five regions: Andina, Pacifica, Caribe, Amazonica and Orinoquia. It has thirty-two states. Colombia is bordered to the north by Panama, to the east by Venezuela and Brazil, south to Peru and Ecuador, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which has several islands as the Archipelago of San Andrà ©s, Providencia and Santa Catalina. Colombia has the largest number of species per unit area in the world, total is the second most diverse country in the world after Brazil. United Sates is located in North America where its 48 states and Washington DC, the capital district. Between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, and is the only U.S. stat e that is not in America. The country alsoShow MoreRelatedDifferences Between Family And Family Systems3063 Words   |  13 PagesPart 3:Culture/Language (4%, 3-5 pages) 1. Marriage/Family Systems Colombia just like most Latin American countries, they value family very important since it follows the Roman Catholic church teams by which they bid by. Most Colombians tend to have a nuclear family which basically concepts of the father, mother, and children as the main basic household unit. Majority of families that adopt to the nuclear family system are families in urban areas where it is much more developed and both parentsRead MorePitbull Vs Malum Who Are Maluma And Pitbull, And How Did They Get Into The Music Industry1294 Words   |  6 PagesPitbull vs Maluma  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Who are Maluma and Pitbull, and how did they get into the music industry, how successful are they now? Maluma and Pitbull are two well known artists that share the same genre of music, but also have their differences in other genres of music they play,but have other difference in how they got into the industry. There music is known for the Reggaeton, hip hop and pop. Their musical classification is different to each other. Even though they do share the same genre, they haveRead MoreUnited States Department Of State1748 Words   |  7 Pagesare disturbing, but understanding them is important.   Cartels are lucrative money-making organizations, and conservative estimates list their average yearly revenue between $6.2 billion and $7.1 billion (Campbell 159). They move drugs across the American border to hundreds of cities around the country, all while buying off local officials and using gruesome attacks against anybody who opposes them.   With all of this income, the cartels are able to outfit themselves for violence. They purchase theRead MoreChiquita Banana Essay3057 Words   |  13 Pagesfrom multinational corporations. In 1997, Chiquita’s South American subsidiary began funding Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group that made a deal with Chiquita to protect the company’s local employees from murder and violence in Colombia in exchange for â€Å"security payments.† The payments were not acknowledged on Chiquita’s books until September 2000, when an internal investigation by Chiquita of its South American arm revealed the payments to the company’s board of directorsRead MoreThe Role Of Aviation Industry : A Developing Country Based On Agriculture And Oil Reserves3368 Words   |  14 Pagesfourth largest country in South America with a population of 46 million (July 2014 est.) The country is split into 32 departments (provinces) and the capital district is Bogota. The national language of Colombia is Spanish and the currency used is Colombian Peso (1USD =1,868.00 peso). Colombia has civil law system influenced by the Spanish and French civil codes. The government is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch. Even though there had been drug related problemsRead MoreEssay on Its Time to End the Drug War2704 Words   |  11 Pagesfrom increasing (fig 1) and reaching the high levels that the DEA desires in order to discourage drug use in the US (Almeida). The DEA and the US are fighting a losing battle with the Colombian and Mexican cartels. This is a recent problem which is due to a shift from smuggling Asian heroin to Mexican and South American that accounts for around 75% of the US’s heroin (Rhodes, 1999). The profitability of the business will always appeal to a group willing to accept the risks for the reward. US policyRead MoreAmerican Popular Culture and Its Impact in a Globalized World8501 Words   |  35 PagesAmericans, after all, did not invent fast food, amusement parks, or the movies. Before the Big Mac, there were British fish and chips. Before Disneyland, there was Copenhagens Tivoli Gardens (which Walt Disney used as a prototype for his first theme park, in Anaheim, a model later re-exported to Tokyo and Paris). Ââ€" Richard Pells 1. Introduction No matter what corner of the world, it is more than unlikely to walk up to an adoles-cent, mention the names Jennifer Lopez, MadonnaRead MoreRealism Theory and Narcoterrorism Essays7379 Words   |  30 Pagesby the UNSC as â€Å"terrorist groups that rely on narcotics to finance their operations†. While conducting research about narco-terrorism and it’s history, involvement, and impacts I have decided to narrow the focus to the impact of cocaine in Latin American countries, specifically Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, and Mexico. Nations Involved Every nation in the world is involved in narco-terrorism whether it is directly or indirectly, licitly or illicitly. Because funding of narco-terrorism is based onRead MoreInternational Marketing Research10714 Words   |  43 Pagesproduct launch in Thailand? Why did the company fail in spite of coming up with a trendy and fashionable product? The reason for the company’s failure in Thailand was that they did not identify themselves, advertising in this case, with the Thai culture and totally misjudged the social customs of Thailand. The company could have been more knowledgeable about this had their information from international marketing research been accurate. This is not an isolated case, but stems from one of the manyRead More Embryonic Stem Cell Research Provides Revolutionary and Life-saving Breakthroughs3846 Words   |  16 Pagescell research...today is in many ways analogous to the treatment of dissections.† Stem cell research will contribute to modern medi cine in ways we can only imagine, but it needs federal funding and guidelines to get there as soon as possible. Many Americans who have fallen victim to Multiple Sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs Disease no longer have the luxury of time, a commodity currently being wasted by political posturing to satiate a vocal and misleading minority. Stem cells have been in use since the

Colombian Culture VS American culture - 769 Words

Culture can be seen from the interaction of many things such as history, activities and developments. It is also represented in the form of people live. Living in two different countries is a unique experience that gives you a new way of thinking. In my case I have lived in Colombia and now in the United States. Despite bearing some minor similarities, the differences between this to countries are notable in geography, festivities, economic and food. Colombia is located in South America, is divided into five regions: Andina, Pacifica, Caribe, Amazonica and Orinoquia. It has thirty-two states. Colombia is bordered to the north by Panama, to the east by Venezuela and Brazil, south to Peru and Ecuador, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which has several islands as the Archipelago of San Andrà ©s, Providencia and Santa Catalina. Colombia has the largest number of species per unit area in the world, total is the second most diverse country in the world after Brazil. United Sates is located in North America where its 48 states and Washington DC, the capital district. Between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, and is the only U.S. stat e that is not in America. The country alsoShow MoreRelatedDifferences Between Family And Family Systems3063 Words   |  13 PagesPart 3:Culture/Language (4%, 3-5 pages) 1. Marriage/Family Systems Colombia just like most Latin American countries, they value family very important since it follows the Roman Catholic church teams by which they bid by. Most Colombians tend to have a nuclear family which basically concepts of the father, mother, and children as the main basic household unit. Majority of families that adopt to the nuclear family system are families in urban areas where it is much more developed and both parentsRead MorePitbull Vs Malum Who Are Maluma And Pitbull, And How Did They Get Into The Music Industry1294 Words   |  6 PagesPitbull vs Maluma  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Who are Maluma and Pitbull, and how did they get into the music industry, how successful are they now? Maluma and Pitbull are two well known artists that share the same genre of music, but also have their differences in other genres of music they play,but have other difference in how they got into the industry. There music is known for the Reggaeton, hip hop and pop. Their musical classification is different to each other. Even though they do share the same genre, they haveRead MoreUnited States Department Of State1748 Words   |  7 Pagesare disturbing, but understanding them is important.   Cartels are lucrative money-making organizations, and conservative estimates list their average yearly revenue between $6.2 billion and $7.1 billion (Campbell 159). They move drugs across the American border to hundreds of cities around the country, all while buying off local officials and using gruesome attacks against anybody who opposes them.   With all of this income, the cartels are able to outfit themselves for violence. They purchase theRead MoreChiquita Banana Essay3057 Words   |  13 Pagesfrom multinational corporations. In 1997, Chiquita’s South American subsidiary began funding Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group that made a deal with Chiquita to protect the company’s local employees from murder and violence in Colombia in exchange for â€Å"security payments.† The payments were not acknowledged on Chiquita’s books until September 2000, when an internal investigation by Chiquita of its South American arm revealed the payments to the company’s board of directorsRead MoreThe Role Of Aviation Industry : A Developing Country Based On Agriculture And Oil Reserves3368 Words   |  14 Pagesfourth largest country in South America with a population of 46 million (July 2014 est.) The country is split into 32 departments (provinces) and the capital district is Bogota. The national language of Colombia is Spanish and the currency used is Colombian Peso (1USD =1,868.00 peso). Colombia has civil law system influenced by the Spanish and French civil codes. The government is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch. Even though there had been drug related problemsRead MoreEssay on Its Time to End the Drug War2704 Words   |  11 Pagesfrom increasing (fig 1) and reaching the high levels that the DEA desires in order to discourage drug use in the US (Almeida). The DEA and the US are fighting a losing battle with the Colombian and Mexican cartels. This is a recent problem which is due to a shift from smuggling Asian heroin to Mexican and South American that accounts for around 75% of the US’s heroin (Rhodes, 1999). The profitability of the business will always appeal to a group willing to accept the risks for the reward. US policyRead MoreAmerican Popular Culture and Its Impact in a Globalized World8501 Words   |  35 PagesAmericans, after all, did not invent fast food, amusement parks, or the movies. Before the Big Mac, there were British fish and chips. Before Disneyland, there was Copenhagens Tivoli Gardens (which Walt Disney used as a prototype for his first theme park, in Anaheim, a model later re-exported to Tokyo and Paris). Ââ€" Richard Pells 1. Introduction No matter what corner of the world, it is more than unlikely to walk up to an adoles-cent, mention the names Jennifer Lopez, MadonnaRead MoreRealism Theory and Narcoterrorism Essays7379 Words   |  30 Pagesby the UNSC as â€Å"terrorist groups that rely on narcotics to finance their operations†. While conducting research about narco-terrorism and it’s history, involvement, and impacts I have decided to narrow the focus to the impact of cocaine in Latin American countries, specifically Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, and Mexico. Nations Involved Every nation in the world is involved in narco-terrorism whether it is directly or indirectly, licitly or illicitly. Because funding of narco-terrorism is based onRead MoreInternational Marketing Research10714 Words   |  43 Pagesproduct launch in Thailand? Why did the company fail in spite of coming up with a trendy and fashionable product? The reason for the company’s failure in Thailand was that they did not identify themselves, advertising in this case, with the Thai culture and totally misjudged the social customs of Thailand. The company could have been more knowledgeable about this had their information from international marketing research been accurate. This is not an isolated case, but stems from one of the manyRead More Embryonic Stem Cell Research Provides Revolutionary and Life-saving Breakthroughs3846 Words   |  16 Pagescell research...today is in many ways analogous to the treatment of dissections.† Stem cell research will contribute to modern medi cine in ways we can only imagine, but it needs federal funding and guidelines to get there as soon as possible. Many Americans who have fallen victim to Multiple Sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs Disease no longer have the luxury of time, a commodity currently being wasted by political posturing to satiate a vocal and misleading minority. Stem cells have been in use since the

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Urban form and sense of security Free Essays

string(417) " be defined in terms discreet qualities which secure a safe feeling to any particular group \(weaker group\) of people discussed above neither can it be defined in terms of any quality which acts at a particular scale \(micro to macro as discussed above\), but is a quality which is a complex of all the above mentioned factors at all scales acting upon any person at any particular time in a particular urban space\." This study tries to explore human perceptions of security In urban environments, by Investigating the impact of design actors in the built environment on an individual’s perception of personal safety in that space. This study was carried out within the context of an urban design study rather than within a human psychology-based study. To validate these factors a site from the traditional fabric of Mohammedan is studied and is compared with the same factors at a site in the newer fabric of the city. We will write a custom essay sample on Urban form and sense of security or any similar topic only for you Order Now The paper finally attempts to establish the relevance of the traditional urban form within contemporary city developments, in achieving better sense of security in public spaces. Understanding of the basic theme a. Deflation of Sense of security Sense of security In simple terms can be defined as a human feeling that makes the person convinced that he she is safe and secure in a particular place or context. The person with a sense of security is not feared of any force which can be a person, a group of persons or an animal or any other manmade / ‘supernatural’ force which can put them in danger (physical or mental damage). People develop specific fears as they learn about certain people, objects, animals or natural/ ‘supernatural’ forces. A child was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory might fear even other white, furry objects Kenny P. Joy I 2 traumatic accident. For example, if a child falls into a well and struggles to get out, he or she may develop a fear of wells, heights (acrophobia), enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), or water (aqua phobia). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected in relation to fear. L Variation in the definition. The definition of sense of security varies from person depending on their age, gender, and cultural background. In all of these categories there is a weaker section which is feared of the other group or some external force, be it manmade or ‘supernatural’. In the case of gender, women being weaker by physical strength fear f attacks of men on them in form of sexual assault, rape, eve teasing etc. Whereas in the case of age, children, being weaker in physical strength, associated lack of mental maturity in understanding the reality, make them fear of adults or even ‘supernatural’ powers who can pose harm to them. Often cultural backgrounds affect the sense of security since form, color, light, sound, smell and other characteristics which are a part of any space will have different meanings in different cultures. The concept of sense of security is not confined to people who belong to any of the weaker groups of these categories but is applicable to any person. For example an able bodied adult male who does not belong to those weaker groups, also is prone to dangers of attack or theft in the public by criminals or animals. The fact that he is also in danger, inculcates a lack of sense of security within him. Here, when it was discussed about the about the victim of such an attack losing sense of security, we should not 1 http://en. Wisped. Org/wick/Little_Albert_experiment 3 forget that the sense of security of these criminals too are in question. They are again in a fear of danger from being caught by police. Though these are some of the basic factors that determine a person’s sense of security, sense of fear in various forms is generated in a person due to the physical character and quality of the space where he is placed. For a person, the sense of security within an urban space is primarily linked with the level of familiarity, which means a sense of fear is generated in the person automatically in an uncertain environment. Fear can channel one’s energies away from areas of perceived threats and into directions that seem safe. Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat and is a basic survival mechanism in response to a specific tumulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Factors that determine sense of security in an urban space. Acre level to micro level. At a macro level the location and the context of the urban space of study determines the sense of security of the person using it. This factor has an impact on the way a person moves within a city through preferential selection of routes which give him a sense of security. The next factor that affects the sense of security includes characters at precinct level – legibility and permeability. Legibility of the space makes a person free from getting clueless in an unknown urban space by aging the place more graspable for the user. Permeability helps in removing the feeling of a strange enclosure for a user in an unknown place with provision of number of visible alternative routes. These qualities are predominantly dictated by the form of the urban space. 4 Further going down into smaller levels, there are fine elements within the urban space including visual and non visual elements, which makes the space feel secure for the user. They include factors such as width of the space or street, lighting level, sound, smell, architectural details, artifacts, etc.. Besides characteristics of a space, he sense of security is also created by the kind of people who are associated with the space directly or indirectly. This dimension which comes into the picture while defining the sense of security is territorial definitions. When the territories of an urban space is defined well by the associated people through physical elements like form, character, details etc. Or non physical elements like activities, sound, smell, their cultural expressions etc. It creates a sense of non belonging or unfamiliarity (often attached with fear) for a person entering into the transition space. Definition of an urban space that offers sense of security: The sense of security of an urban space cannot be defined in terms discreet qualities which secure a safe feeling to any particular group (weaker group) of people discussed above neither can it be defined in terms of any quality which acts at a particular scale (micro to macro as discussed above), but is a quality which is a complex of all the above mentioned factors at all scales acting upon any person at any particular time in a particular urban space. You read "Urban form and sense of security" in category "Papers" Time become another factor defining the sense of security as various processes along he time, make the visual and non visual qualities of the space change accordingly. Time determines the type and intensity of activities happening in any urban space changing the level of sense of security throughout the day. The sense of security in urban space is relatively high when the perceived activity level of a particular urban 5 space is high for which time is a very important factor to be considered. The lack of activities, proper lighting, attack of dogs etc create an environment in Mohammedan city wherein beyond midnight and before dawn level of sense of security will be extremely low. Since the control of built form design has little to do with the perceived sense of security during the odd hours of the night, the study limits its scope into the non – odd hours. Relevance of sense of security in urban design: Sense of security adds on to the quality of an urban space. Proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime, and improvement of the quality of life. Recent trends and concepts of urbanism across the world, being learnt from the mistakes of the past forms of unsustainable urban development, have been stressing and demanding distance friendly urban spaces and networks to get integrated with mass public transit systems. Sense of security, therefore becomes an essential quality of the urban streets and other spaces to bring in people into walking who have once left walking and resorted to private vehicles. Establishing the relationship of sense of security with the design of urban space Factors that determine sense of security in an urban space: The above discussion identifies two key factors whose subcategories can be listed down as the elements that determine the sense of security in the urban pace which include: The form of the urban space: This multidimensional element can be broken down into further sub elements such as street width, built form height, street enclosure ratio, building setbacks, texture of the surface, porosity of the built envelope, the size or the footprint of the buildings and permeability. Relation of the interiors with exteriors: Though the discussion is predominantly about the sense of security in urban space or the space between buildings, the spatial configuration and the relation of the interiors with the exterior spaces is an important factor. The elements which define this relationship are as follows: Compound wall, position of the entrance into the buil ding, level difference of the ground level with the pedestrian surface level, presence of parking space in front of the building, amount of vegetation in front of the building, percentage of openings in the building elevation etc. Validation of these factors through case studies of urban spaces in traditional urban form: To understand and validate these findings in reality, urban spaces in the traditional built fabric of Mohammedan: Teen Darwin precinct with neighborhoods around (fig 1). The dense built fabric with low rise attached built structures housing a mix of uses predominantly residential and typology plays an important role in the keeping up the perceived sense of security. Urban spaces in between purely residential built environments often interact with the pedestrians very weakly and the level of activity is very less. This space gets activated as more and more building uses and activities like commercial or cultural activities gets inserted into it as what is seen in the site under study. The urban form is characterized by narrow pedestrian scale streets with small building footprints. The built form itself evolved out of strong social relations which in these neighborhoods. The territoriality was strongly marked by an area within which the inmates engaged themselves throughout the day – the flower shop, temple, vegetable and grocery shop, work place (often at not so far distance from the neighborhood till recent times). The public space seeps into the residential transition 7 spaces (verandah). The presence of large openings on the building fade always gives the pedestrian a sense that people can see him or in other words gives a sense f presence of people (rather than alienated or lonely) while moving through these public spaces. The In short, the perceived level of activity is high which in turn maintains a high level of natural surveillance. This traditional fabric essentially thus maintains a high level of perceived activity throughout the day and even late hours of the night. Fig 1 – Site map (Source – Google Earth) Fig 2 – Built form (source – Author) Contemporary scenario: Understanding the changes occurred to the urban form structured by new principles which are predominantly non pedestrian and how it affected sense of security in public spaces: The perceptions and meanings of security have changed over time as technology transformed the form of the cities and the way in which they work. The built form which was predominantly fine grained became coarser and coarser as well as loosely packed. This transformation was in fact a product of the process of evolution of the urban form which got mutated by the insertion of automobile movements. The new age lifestyle redefined the character and qualities of living and work environments. As Kenny P. Joy I 8 making them shift to new comfortable and faster modes of movement through automobiles. This in turn affected the pattern of distribution of facilities and various building uses essentially disturbing the pedestrian scale of streets. The conventional planning principles made cities which are large grained with wide roads and segregated activity zones for different activities. This made the Indian city devoid of it original character and vibrancy created by a vibrant mix of activities or land uses. The city became more and more complex in its physical and social systems which supported it. Crimes rates rose in new forms and the sheer number which in turn affected the notion of public space as an alien space. People took time to associate themselves with public spaces and minors generally are discouraged in using public spaces especially in odd hours. Though systems to ensure security through police or security personnel as well as technological advancements (like CATV surveillance, mobile tracking systems etc. Have been put into use in public spaces, they work in their own limitations. Moreover for a pedestrian using the public space, these systems are additional backup systems of security which still hold a second place after the basic instincts or the responses to the environment through which he / she s moving. Demonstration through a case study: The si te selected for understanding the change happened in the urban form is the newly developed area on the western side of Mohammedan – Nehru Magna Junction precinct (shown in fig 3). The site is located along BRATS corridor – a conventionally planned area in the Western side of Mohammedan city. The neighborhood and the adjoining commercial belt got developed into its current form after the insertion of the BRATS corridor in 2010. 9 Fig 3 – Site plan (Source – Google Earth) It has got a mix of housing typologies ranging from low rise apartments cluster of mall footprints as well as taller apartment complexes with few or nil commercial spaces in the ground floor. Since the streets are designed for vehicles, the street widths are large and lack elements make them pedestrian friendly. The built form includes typically, discreet built forms forming islands (or array of islands) within open spaces unlike the previous case where the open spaces formed the islands in between the built form. The spaces between the buildings which contained human activities in the previous case became spaces of movement here. Relationship of the built form with on street pedestrian became weak due to many factors. The built form of especially the residential neighborhoods is characterized by residential buildings separated from the street space with a compound wall needing for more privacy within the property. The low rise built forms as residences or the second Kenny P. Joy I typology found are the tall apartments which may or not have commercial space in the ground floor. A family claim to a territory diminishes proportionally as the number of families who share that claim increases. (Oscar Newman. Creating Defensible Space). In these tall apartment blocks, the number of dwellers is so high hat, they hardly take any responsibility or rather use it considerably to a basic level of activity. This makes the space further inactive and less maintained bringing down the level of sense of security of that space. The other qualities of urban form that determine the sense of security includes permeability and variety. Conclusion This study examines the relationship and role of urban form and typology in determining the level of activity as well as natural surveillance which are the quintessential determiners of sense of security any urban space. In above discussions on case studies, a significant trend observed is the evolution of built arms to achieve more privacy. When the built form is evolved out of a process in which pedestrian behavior, activities and his response with nature is structuring principle, the sense of security a pedestrian enjoys is much higher than in an urban space within a built form structured by behavior and movement pattern supported by automobiles. Mohammedan city current growth is through a form of development which is a characteristic of the latter case. In the contemporary urban development where dimensions of privacy, demands of new lifestyle and perceptions of security eve changed urban form, the traditional urban form may not be possible to be recreated as it is, but the principles of the same can be incorporated within to create urban spaces which may not render a sense of fear in the users. 11 Reference Books Phaedra,Shills, Khan, Camera and Errand, Shills. How to cite Urban form and sense of security, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Mexican Immigrants free essay sample

Do Mexican immigrants bring more harm than good to the U. S economy? After studying about what Mexican American immigrants mean to the United States Economy, I would have to conclude by saying they do not bring more harm than good to our economy. I arrived at this conclusion because I believe Mexican immigrants actually stabilized the economy and help those who can’t afford to pay very high wages to sustain their employees. The theories about how Mexican immigrants take up natural born citizen’s jobs and bring those wages of the market down are ludicrous. These theories also say that immigration effects low-skilled jobs in the United States, but give a weak argument that hasn’t surfaced to reality. The last key thought I am going to explore is what are the overall advantages and disadvantages of Mexican immigration. The notion that the United States is better off without any immigrants is mind boggling to me and I am not taking this stance because I myself migrated to this country from Somalia. We will write a custom essay sample on Mexican Immigrants or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Yes there are lot problems that arise from illegal immigration no matter what ethnic groups are brought up, but that has nothing to do with how this impacts our economy as a whole. Mexican immigrants come to the United States for one reason and one reason only and that is to better their families financially. So how can we turn around and say that they bring more harm to this economy. One argument that anti-immigration advocates keep clinging to is the concept of how Mexican immigrants contribute to a higher unemployment rates in metropolitan areas of Texas and California. The truth is that although the United has seen significant rise of unemployment in conjunction with more Mexican immigrants entering this country; unemployment rates are not affected by immigrants taking up lower wage jobs. There is no base to support this argument that immigration is bad for the economy. One other propaganda of anti-immigration a advocates is the believe of how Mexican American are bad for drug pharmacy businesses by trafficking drugs across the border of Mexico and that there are high number of Mexican immigrants involved with crimes. Again this is totally false because a small number of minority Mexican immigrants are involved is these types of crimes and there percentages are not higher than other minority groups that migrate to this country who commit these crimes. There are way too many ethnic groups involved in selling drugs on the streets (which prevents the government from putting taxation on it) besides Mexican immigrants, so to put the whole blame on one ethnic group is unfair. Mexican Immigrants spend what they earn back on the economy way more then they spend sending back home to Mexico. When they take jobs that someone with advance skills or training might not settle for they are seen as people who bring the economy down? If anything this would further help grow small business across the United States and put more people to work. This is why I can conclude by saying that while there are drawbacks of immigrants who enter this country illegally; I can certainly say there are way more good than bad that can come from Mexican immigrants. There is no denying what they mean to this country’s economy; I can’t believe there is even an argument over this. Mexican immigrants actually drive the economy when comes their marketability of Cinco de Mayo and other festivities they hold yearly. Lastly, the labor market throws out numbers that spouse to explain how immigrants negatively impact the economy, but what those numbers fail to mention is the details of how they can arrive at this conclusion and different factors affecting their findings.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Organisational Learning against Learning Organisation

Introduction Different scholars have proposed a variety of definitions of organisational learning. As one scholar defined it, organisational learning is the process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding (Garvin, p. 77).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational Learning against Learning Organisation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It may also be regarded as a process of detecting and correcting error. A learning organization is, therefore, an organisation that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge (Argyris, p.8). According to Argyris (1977), it is also an organisation that is good at modifying its own behavior in order to â€Å"reflect new knowledge and insights that make it grow into the future†. This paper provides a comparative analysis and evaluation of organisational learning by looking at two different organisations. One is the organisation wher e I work and the other is HP. Assessing the Need For several years now, my organisation has placed so much emphasis on the need for all staff members to keep learning and upgrading themselves. As a result, so much energy has been spent trying to organisation information in a way that makes it easy for everyone to access it. Part of what my organisation has done to facilitate the culture of learning is to ensure that as people do their work they get to deposit any critical information in a central database that may be used by any staff member willing to do so to learn and benefit from the skills of more skilled staff members.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To a great extent, this has made it possible to maintain crucial information and make it available for other staff whenever an employee leaves the organisation. HP came to realise the need for knowledge management in 1995 (Hewlett Packard, p.4). Clearly, the leadership at HP understood the importance of knowledge management and knew that it was possible to leverage on the knowledge the organisation had gathered over the years. To meet the ever demanding expectations of customers, HP management understood that effective knowledge management is an important requirement to ensuring that the organisation can progress successfully. This created a healthy ground for the organisation to develop strong ties with its clients who knew that at any time when they were faced by challenges, HP would be there to deal with their problems (Hewlett Packard, p.4). However, this did not make sense to many of HP’s consultants. In the same way, clients could not at first understand the need for knowledge management as they all felt that they were getting for value for their money and as such, were satisfied with the services that HP was offering. Through different approaches, HP was able to get feedback from both i ts consultants and clients. Although there were mixed feelings regarding the need for knowledge management for the good of the organisation, an analysis by the company resolved to move on with plans to ensure that knowledge was managed well to provide a good background for organisational learning. Building Blocks Organisations that focused on learning are apparently skilled at five activities. These activities include systematic problem solving, experimentation with new approaches, learning from their own experience and past history, learning from the experiences and best practices of others, and transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organisation (Garvin, p. 81).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational Learning against Learning Organisation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For many companies, these are activities that are commonly practiced. Creating systems and processes that supp ort these activities have been found to add great value to the operations of the organisation. In the following paragraphs, my organisation is compared with HP in light of the five activities that have been mentioned above. In my organisation, problems are dealt with in a very unique way. There are systems that have been structured to facilitate the process of problem reporting and solving. At any time, when a user encounters a problem, he or she is expected to log the problem and record the necessary details that may aid during problem solving. When the right person to address the problem arrives, he or she will go through the logged problems, solving them where possible (Stata, p. 4). Once a problem has been solved, the solution is document and other accompanying details such as the date when the problem was solved, are also included. HP on the other hand, relies heavily on scientific methods rather than guesses on what should be done in different cases. The underlying objective i s, however, the same for both organisations.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More My company works hard to innovate and benefits tremendously from having a team of talented staff who also happen to be quite inquisitive and are never afraid to try out new things. Through various innovations, the company has been able to survive in the face of stiff competition that characterises today global market. When the company innovates, a lot of documentation is done to accompany the innovation and to ensure that critical information regarding important discoveries is not lost. This creates a foundation for all employees, whether new or existing to learn. Through its research department, HP is always trying out new things with the intention of either coming up with new products or improving the existence products. It is always important and beneficial for companies to evaluate themselves to determine which direction they are moving towards. On many occasions, companies have grown out of evaluating themselves and making changes based on past experiences. With relevant inform ation at hand, an organisation can make informed decisions that will move the organisation forward. Time and again, the management at my company meets to review progress from time to time and based on the outcome of the evaluation, make recommendations to make changes in the company which may include hiring new staff, restructuring operations and intensifying marketing campaigns. Apparently, HP also uses this approach and the company is keen to learn from its own successes and failures. Learning what worked and what did not work and improving operations on this basis happens to be an essential process for HP (Hewlett Packard, p. 6). Once a project comes to an end, the team that was involved in it is presented with an opportunity to share with the rest of the team what they went through. It is through such forums that successes are highlighted and failures also noted. It is important for one to understand that these forums are never created to criticise any one incase a project did n ot meet the expectation of the key stake holders. Another very useful strategy is to learn from others. It is true that companies can learn from best practices of other companies to determine where to make changes in order to improve its own operations. My company has strong partnerships with other companies operating in the same industry and from time to time, employees from the different companies meet at different forums (Levitt March, p. 7). During such meetings, ideas are exchanged and staff members from different organisations get an opportunity to learn from one another. In its operations, however, HP does not seem to employ this strategy. Transferring knowledge makes it possible to spread the culture of learning throughout the entire organisation. This ensures that learning goes beyond just being a local affair. This is an approach that is also used by HP. Information gathered from one project is made available and may be used in other projects. This ensures that subsequent projects are delivered to very high standards as most of the information will already be available. Conclusion From the discussion presented in this paper, it is obvious that learning should be an ongoing activity in any organisation that desires to grow. By presenting employees with the opportunity to learn, an organisation will be assured of improved efficiency. Improved performance, on the other hand, will serve as a good means of attracting clients. A learning organisation is able to win provide its clients with high quality services and in the end the confidence of clients is boosted. A common mistake that most businesses fail to do is to treat customers well and to retain them. Whenever customers are happy, they the company can be assured of getting repeat business from these customers. Where an organisation is not consistently involved in learning, however, there is a danger that it will not fail to meet the expectations of the customers and when this happens, the company ri sks losing valuable customers. It is, therefore, important to ensure that an organisation is not left behind for whatever reason. References Argyris, C 1977, Double Loop Learning in Organizations, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1977. Garvin, DA 1993, Building a Learning Organization, Harvard Business Review, July-August 1993, 78-91. Hewlett Packard n.d., An Organizational Wide Program to Share Knowledge between Projects, to Learn from Success and Mistakes and to Capture Reusable Material from Engagements, Hewlett Packard, Bristol, UK. Levitt, B and March, J 1988, Organizational Learning, American Review of Sociology, vol. 14, 1988. Stata, R 1989, Organizational Learning-The Key to Management Innovation, Sloan Management Review, Spring 1989. This essay on Organisational Learning against Learning Organisation was written and submitted by user Keira Reid to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Health Care Economics Essays

Health Care Economics Essays Health Care Economics Paper Health Care Economics Paper Almost all current factors influencing health care, such as, increasing medical care service demand, pharmaceutical prices, medical care organizations’ competition and medical care experts’ remuneration,   involve economics. Absence of comprehension regarding fundamental economic standards leads to erroneous decision-making by making persons develop opinions on the basis of feelings and feelings as opposed to logical economic standards (Schafermeyer, 2000). The health care structure in America to some extent represents the principles, aims, and beliefs found in free-market industrialist financial systems governed by contention. Physicians’ competition occurs locally for principal care doctors and amongst specialists on broader geographical extents. Medical doctors and associated practitioners also do compete, for instance, between optometrists and ophthalmologists as well as between psychologists and psychiatrists. Administered care arrangements depict lesser medical care service (tests and hospitals) utilization. Physician conduct is one factor affecting medical care and thus competition as well occurs in location, professional conduct plus waiting duration. The conduct of big urban plastic surgeons, for instance is significantly different compared to country pediatricians’. Therefore, demeanor is linked with health care options, costs, payments, and services. Demeanor is as well linked to state public medical care funding and physician education (Fisher, 2006). The economic law that states that a demand curve slopes downwards is probably the most fundamental of economic principles. It implies that demanded quantity decreases with increasing commodity prices. Demand curves have commodity prices on the perpendicular axes, commodity quantities on horizontal axes, and negatively inclined lines illustrating the relationship between the two entities. Other factors influence commodity demand with Income being probably the most apparent factor in general. Regarding health care, another key aspect is persons’ health condition. Reduced health Care is demanded when health conditions improve. Elevated revenue moves demand curves away from the origins for normal commodities, and reverses to the origins for inferior commodities. Improved health moves demand curves back inwards (Fisher, 2006). Reports regarding a vicious fresh influenza will lead to increased flu medication demand, thus making demand curves shift outwards. This implies that increased flu medication is needed compared to previous figures for every price. Flu medication demand also demonstrates seasonal patterns by moving outwards with the approach of fu periods. Alternatively, many health services’ demand curves sift outwards with Age. Outward demand curve movement implies that, for whatever price stage, there is increased demand following shifts as compared to demand levels at such prices prior to the movement. Demand curves shift as a   reaction to entities different from price, or, as a reaction to factors influencing demand that are not explicitly represented on a single of the graph axes. Such movement is referred to as demand change. Following price change, movement is made from a single demand curve point to a different same curve point. This implies movement happens the length of such curve, however, the curve position, in relation to axes, remains constant. Such an alteration is called demanded quantity change. Therefore, price changes leads to demanded quantity changes and changes in other factors, causing demand curve shifts, leads to demand alteration. Learning the behavior of demand when one decisive factor is altered is vital. Elasticity is a standard responsiveness measure. Commodity price demand elasticity is calculated as a proportional alteration in demanded quantity divided by the proportional price alteration that led to the demanded quantity modification. Since demanded quantity and price are always inversely proportional, own-price demand elasticity always is negative. A minus (-) 3 elasticity implies that a 1% price elevation leads to a 3% demanded quantity reduction (Greenberg, 2002). Demand is regarded as being elastic when own-price demand elasticity is bigger than 1 in total values. Alternatively, when own-price demand elasticity is smaller than 1 in complete value, such demand is regarded as being inelastic. With demand elasticity amounting to minus (-) 1, such demand curves are said to depict unit elasticity. Linear demand curves, having constant curve slopes, have elasticity changing with movement along the demand curves. With extremely low prices, demand becomes inelastic; high prices depict elastic demand. Starting with extremely reduced prices, thus large demanded quantities, and raising such prices, shifting upwards and towards the left along demand curves, demand elasticity progressively shifts from inelastic towards elastic, intersecting at the curve midpoint. Such point’ demand elasticity becomes unitary (Ferguson, 2002). Calculated commodity demand elasticity thus depends on the prices where such calculation was done. High prices lead to increased demand elasticity, although commodity nature remains constant. However, Consumer reactions to price alteration do change; increasing prices makes consumers increasingly responsive to additional alterations. Demand elasticity also influences commodity nature. General doctors’ services demand is very elastic (approximately -0.2) in America. Demand for a specific doctor’s services is much more, (approximately -3.0). The disparity arises due to the fact that for particular physician services, generally additional alternative supply sources are available, as compared to general physician services. Visit demand generally is quite inelastic, however specific physician’s visit demand is somewhat extra elastic owing to presence of different supply sources like walk-in hospitals and crisis rooms (Fisher, 2006). User charges imposed on every office-category visits have comparatively little influence on demanded quantity, however, charges imposed on office-category visits to crisis rooms have greatly bigger influence as regards minimizing demanded quantity since3 it prompts persons to adjust from looking for assistance at crisis rooms and seek such from different sources.

Friday, November 22, 2019

BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA

BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA The case deals with boundary disputes, it is therefore essential to list treaties which deal with boundary disputes and it is also important for the court to interpret the provisions of a treaty in the present case and this can only be done in terms of customary international law on the subject matter as reflected in Articles 31 and 32 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties because it has various means of developing peaceful cooperation among nations regardless of their constitutional and social systems. Article 2(1) of the Vienna Convention[1969] established the definition of a treaty; it went ahead to state that â€Å"treaty† means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation; LIST OF TREATIES ON BOUNDARY DISPUTES Boundary Waters Treaty   [ 1 ]   (Treaty Between the United States and Great Britain Relating to Boundary Waters between the United States and Canada; 36 Stat. 2448; T.S. 548) — The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C.on January 11, 1909, The purpose of this treaty is to prevent disputes regarding the use of boundary waters and settle all questions pending or that may arise between the United States and Canada involving the rights, obligations, and interests of both nations along their common frontier. The treaty establishes the International Joint Commission, with three members appointed by each country, to review and make recommendations on disputes and other issues involving U.S./Canada boundary waters. The Treaty of Asurar   [ 2 ]   Ali- This treaty was signed on February of 1639 between the Mughal commander Allah Yar Khan and the Ahom commander Momai Tamuli Borbarua, According to the treaty, the boundary between the Mughals and Ahoms was fixed on the Barnadi River in the northern bank [ utarkul] of the Brahmaputra River and the Asurar Ali [Ali is causeway in Assamese] in the southern bank [dakhinkul]. The Ahom king recognized the supremacy of the Mughals in Kamrup, and the Mughal fauzdar agreed not to interfere in the Ahom kingdom. Trade and commerce between the two regions was permitted afterwards. The Treaty of Tartu   [ 3 ]   -This treaty was made between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed on 14 October 1920 after negotiations that lasted for four months. The treaty confirmed the border between Finland and Soviet Russia after the Finnish civil war and Finnish volunteer expeditions in Russian East Karelia. Ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in Moscow on December 31, 1920. The treaty was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on March 5, 1921. HISTORY PROCEEDINGS ON THE CASE CANAZ TREATY(1858) The border between the Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans is defined by the course of the San Juan River which flows to the east and the Caribbean. The bo rder was established in 1858 by the Canas-Jerez Treaty, negotiated between Costa Rica and Nicaragua at the conclusion of a military conflict which finally ended the possibility of a trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in this region of Central America. According to the terms of the treaty the south bank represents the start of Costa Rican territory; however Nicaragua maintains sovereignty over the river itself. Costa Rica has the right to navigation for commerce.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Resourcing Talent - R-PartB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Resourcing Talent - R-PartB - Assignment Example Diversity in an organization enables the organization to have the base of its employees made up of different people bringing together divergent views and ideas. The divergent workforce includes various generations of workforce including generation X, Generation Y and Baby Boomers. Generation X is attracted into the organization through creating a conducive environment that enables them to develop more on their skills and also learn. They are also lured by job positions that provide for independence, proper communication ad for individual potential improvement. Generation Y gives much weight to the benefits of the job as opposed to the salary and can be attracted via by upgrading the organizations offices with the modern and ergo-friendly furniture which would make the generation feel to be working in a healthy environment. Increases creativity as the employees come with a variety of remedies to help the organization soar to greater heights. The more the diverse ideas in an organization the higher the chances of solving a problem in the best way as everyone will be brainstorming to produce his/her best. Divergent language skills. An organization with employees from the different backgrounds enjoys a wider market due to the competency in communication using the various languages. This increases the geographical market coverage of the organization to as far as being a global market. Increases productivity as the employees will offer technical advice to the employer on how to best serve the clients using the newly introduced ideas .Diversity increases the employee’s morale boosting their efficiency. Diversity helps in building on the image of the organization as it indicates that the organization is not discriminatory in offering job opportunities enabling such firms to attract more employees with new talents as they retain the already existing ones. To achieve diversity in the attraction of senior managers, high potential

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Philosophie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophie - Essay Example The second part, on the other hand, will compare some important concepts that have been forwarded by each of them in order to underscore some important lessons. The last part will conclude this paper by stating the relevance of each of their views in the subsequent studies on the philosophy of the mind—how their analyses guided various schools of thought pertaining to metaphysica and the mind-body problem (philosophies of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, and Martin Heiddeger). To Plato, the physical world is nothing but an immitation of a perfect world, as stated clearly in the article entitled "Plato Overview" (Clark 1). Physical objects are construed as beings lacking the state of perfection. In this regard, the humans’ acquisition of sensible experiences gives them what Plato called ’opinions or beliefs’ (Clark 2). Such position, as reinforced in an academic paper entitled "Temporal Platonic Metaphysics," is based on the assumption that: (1) physical objects can only be regarded as imperfect versions of their perfect counterparts and (2) humans’ senses can only grasp these imperfect characteristics of physical objects (Mikovic 1). Following this reasoning and connecting this to his position on the nature of the human mind, Plato then recognized the need to transcend physicality as he regarded humans as more spiritual than physical. In Plato’s renowned metaphor, humans are souls trapped in physical bodies. Such conception of the state of ’being trapped’ is both revolutionary and developmental—revolutionary because it introduced the concept of non-materiality as another facet of humanity, and developmental because it highlighted the proper way through which the spiritual or ideal state of objects could be grasped. While humans gain sensible experiences through the physical contact with physical objects (as mediated by the five senses), such occurrence is made possible by the author and governor of the visible world of appearances called

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Cause of WWI Essay Example for Free

The Cause of WWI Essay WWI started in 1914 and ended in 1918. WWI was known as the Great war before WW2 happened as it was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Also the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand has been blamed as the catalyst for WWI (Spielvogel Book). The major players in WWI were the Triple Entente- Britain, France, Russia and the Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy. The reason for the assassination was because of Nationalism, Militarism and the Alliance that played the biggest part. Learning about WWI helps us understand todays conflicts because for example the geographic lines that were drawn after WWI in the middle east is a huge driver of modern conflicts with the fall of the Ottoman empire and Persia, plus there is a lot of more facts that would help us understand more. Nationalism is a force that can be positive, together a nations people, or negative, from national pride resulting in negative conflicts (Norman 571). Sadly in this case, nationalism was a negative act that played a part in ass the assassination. National tensions had risen so high that even the slightest wrong doing of a nations rights by another might be considered a cause for war. Serbians wanted to expand the size of their country to include places outside Serbia that had ethnic Serbian populations living in them, what they want is a bigger country they will call Greater Serbia this will include places like Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and would mean taking chunks out of other neighboring countries like Romania. They want all the Serbian people to live together in one country, but they dont want these people to move to the current Serbia they want Serbia to take over the countries that these people live in. Now the way nationalism played a role in the assassination is because if the Serb terrorists had not killed Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, Austria would have never declared war on Serbia. The reason why the Serb terrorists killed Franz Ferdinand was because they did not like an Austrian ruler ruling a Serb country thus making an act of nationalism. So that gives you a better understanding of why nationalism played a huge role in the assassination. One other major factor that played a major role in the assassination was Militarism. Militarism is the belief in having a strong army force and navy (Joll 575). This belief led to an arms race in Europe, which was when the countries were making more deadlier weapons than their rival nations. 65 million men were mobilized during WW1, and 8. 5 million were killed, 21 million were wounded, and 7. 7 million were POWs. So just over 1 in 7 soldiers were killed a further 1 in 3 were wounded and 1 in 9 were captured. So over half of all soldiers that took part were killed, wounded or captured. Britain was an island nation and thus wanted to rule the waves. militarism leads to suspicion and thus it was one of the causes. Also Eight to Ten million soldiers swallowed each other up and when they did they eat up all Europe more bare than any swarm (Engels 153). So now as you can see how militarism had a big affect on everyone in the assassination. The last factor that took place in the cause of the assassination was the alliance. The Alliance was probably the second biggest factor in the assassination because militarism was directly because of industrial revolution, and everyone had nationalism but alliances made it a world war (McCutcheon 566). Alliances drew everyone into a big fight when it should have been a internal issue. Europes major powers had been divided into the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia). The alliance system did cause WWI to the extent of the size of the war by bringing and pulling countries in to the war. The triple alliance promised each country to provide military support in the case of war. When the Triple Entente was created, it did not ask for reciprocal arrangements for support, though it did allow a large variety of arrangements and negotiations to occur. One negotiation was the support in war though. Alliances pulled countries into the war because if they werent followed, a consequence of retaliation would be expected. The alliance system was a major cause of the assassination because it had produced preventable tensions, but was incapable to resolve long-term issues, and created unrealistic expectations among the countries involved. Nationalism, Militarism and Alliance were the major causes in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Todays and WWI conflicts are similar in a way because back then there was a major revolution in military technology, but no change in tactics, and today we have adapted our tactics to our technology. Another way todays Conflicts and WWI have similarities is there was a lot of new Technology never seen before in world war 1 like tanks, machine guns and airplanes. Today there is new technology in the war against terrors. A difference between WWI and todays conflict is that back then we were fighting nations and alliances, today we are fighting for fanatic terrorists who take no regard towards any code of honor, Its all out kill. A nation will die when all the weapons are taken away (Zola 559). Learning about WWI does help us understand about todays conflicts in many ways.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Kaleidoscope Essay -- Descriptive Essays

Kaleidoscope â€Å"Some are transformed just once / And live their whole lives after in that shape. / Others have a facility for changing themselves as they please.† -Ovid It finds its way into my hands—the small kaleidoscope—a trinket my grandfather passes along to me after finding it at the bottom of his toolbox one afternoon. â€Å"Hold it up to the light, Lauren,† he advises me, upon witnessing my attempts to unlock the kaleidoscope’s magic by aiming it towards the shadowy pavement. With hands clasped, eyes squinted, and head cocked, I finally spot the colored chips, a glittering lattice of blue, green, and yellow, stagnantly arranged and defined. â€Å"Turn it, now,† my grandfather orders, smiling. Suddenly, the clear composition unravels. It becomes a moving color war, triangles and rectangles interacting, skirting around one another to form patterns that linger only fleetingly before changing again. I gasp, intrigued. â€Å"That’s the beautiful part,† my grandfather observes. â€Å"It’s beautiful when it’s turning.† The challenge of cleaning out my desk drawers in preparation for the move to New York results in my stumbling across an old coloring book. I leaf through the pages, startled by the number of pictures I’d left only partially colored. With quick, shaky movements, it seems as if I had simply jumped from shading one image to the next, as if there were something complete about leaving the figures incomplete. Sitting at my desk, fourteen years older, I laugh at my rendition of Big Bird, whose characteristically yellow feathers I had made blue and whose feet (I suppose I had decided) were altogether undeserving of color. And yet I get a sense that thi... ... of wholeness, but the acceptance that I’ll always be a work-in-progress that creates the satisfying illusion of completeness. Although ignorant of his own words, my grandfather has gotten it right: It is beautiful when it’s turning. We, as human beings, are not able to ossify what we perceive to be our â€Å"identity†; it will be forever changing—a kind of surreal, confounding, and complex reflection of our human experience. We possess innumerable facets, like little tubes of color that remain separate until some creative force removes all the caps and mixes them together. It is that mà ©lange that initiates a masterpiece of identity—a masterpiece that is ever changing and never quite finished, but fulfilling in its progression. And it is precisely this understanding that makes the next stroke of the brush a little bit clearer, the portrait itself a bit more revealing.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Canadian law: An introduction Essay

              A person that has been convicted of crime is sentenced for three main purposes; deterrence, retribution, and protection of the public. The degree to which these three objectives are achieved is subjective since incidents that make up a case are isolated and differ. In the case of Ferguson, the accused was charged with manslaughter with a firearm. According to Canadian criminal law, the minimum penalty for this offense is 4 years’ incarceration. However, the defendant in this case got 2 and a half years conditional sentence which meant that he could enjoy his freedom to a certain extent. However, the court of appeal stepped in and restored the four year incarceration sentence that is prescribed by law (R. v. Ferguson, 2008). However, this sentence only met two the sentencing goals; deterrence and protection of the public.                  With the sentence, the accused was deterred from engaging in a vice similar to the one that he had been convicted of again. Consequently, this meant that the public was protected from the perpetrator of the crime. Viewing this goal from a logical point of view, it was achieved partly. This is because the public was only protected from the perpetrator the crime and not the crime itself hence the goal achieved was a significant reduction of the threat posed to the general public. The third goal being retribution was hardly achieved. This is because the criminal was given the minimum sentence and this was after the initial ruling was overturned by the court of appeal. This creates a mindset that there is a possibility for one to be punished rather leniently for a man-slaughter.                  Another case that can be used to examine the purposes of sentencing is the case of R. v. Readhead (R. v. Readhead, 2008). In this case, the accused was sentenced to 2 and a-half years imprisonment. Again, this case makes the matter of sentencing convicted persons, with regards to the cultivation of marijuana for trafficking purposes, subjective. This is because the scale of production may vary. In this case, the sentence that the accused was given was appropriate since it served all the three sentencing purposes. It deterred further production and circulation of the drug from this specific source, consequently protecting the public, and it also aided in the retribution of the convicted individual because the sentence served was very heavy if compared to the quantity of the drug that he was found with.               In the case of R. v. Horon, The accused was a young man that was convicted for driving under the influence. Being young, the accused showed a great potential of retribution but due to the reverence of public protection with regards to drinking and driving, a sentence was deemed necessary therefore creating a state of imbalance as to the degree to which the sentencing goals were achieved (Boyd, 319-21). In the arguments presented for this case, the judges referred to the case of R, v. Gutoski January 4, 1990 where the charge was for driving while impaired and for such a case, a sentence was necessary notwithstanding the reasons for driving while impaired due to the risk posed to the general public (Boyd, 320). In this case, the case of R. v. Horon, all the three sentencing goals were achieved only that they were a little stringent on the convict as the possibility of retribution without a sentence was overlooked. Canadian Family Law                Since the 1960’s, the Canadian family law has experienced major changes that have been depicted in the cases involving family over the years. The case of Aspe v. Aspe (Aspe v. Aspe, 2010) is one that shows how some of the changes have been effected in the family laws of Canada. The main issue in this case was spousal support. Before the 1985 divorce act was passed, spousal support as well as children support was mandatory for the man. However, the spousal support was subject to change after the 1985 act. This is because the ruling on this issue was subject to consideration as section 15.2(6) states the need for economic advantages and disadvantages to be recognized, the consequences apportioned, all for the purpose of promoting self-sufficiency (Douglas, 2001). In this case, the ruling made did not alter the spousal contribution that the court had earlier prescribed. This is because it took into consideration Mr. Aspe’s financial position and at the same time examined Ms. Aspes’s financial liabilities and determined that Mr. Aspe was in no position to increase his contribution with regards to his annual income, expenses and debts as well.               In the case of Bain v. Bain (Bain v. Bain 2008), the dominant issue was the custody of the children. The appellant wanted the terms of the custody arrangement to be revised so that they could favor both parties. According to the arrangement, the appellant had been granted access, information and visiting rights while the respondent was to house the children and care for them as prescribed in the divorce act (Douglas, 2001). However, the appellant was applying for joint custody, which was not granted by the court. In this particular case, the judge took the children’s best interests into account because the children were relatively young. This meant that the best arrangement would be for the respondent, to retain most of the custody rights but at the same time grant access to the appellant as the father of the children. On the other hand, the ruling with regards to child support was necessary since the court examined the appellant’s financial capa bilities and prescribed a contribution that would not strain him.                  The Moge v. Moge (Moge v. Moge, 1992) can be compared with that of Bain v. Bain to showcase the changes made in the Canadian family law. The parties in this case were married in the mid 1950’s and separated in 1980. The court ruled that the man was to give the ex-wife a monthly contribution of $150 as spousal and child support. At some point, the woman was laid off from her place of employment and the man had to increase his support to $400 a month. However, this ruling was overturned and the man was required to pay the initial $150. This shows that prior to the 1985 act, the criterion for determining support was the means and needs, which overlooked the other criteria stated above.                  In the case of Barkley v. Barkley (Boyd, 253), the issue raised is of same sex and heterosexual marriages and how it is treated by Canadian courts. When divorce arises in a same sex marriage, the court treats the parties similar to how they treat straight couples. However, the issue is in heterosexual marriages as is seen in this case. Mr. B argued that it was not in the best interest of Lynn’s custody to be given to her mother in full due to her sexual orientation. Mr. B argued that this would influence her negatively.                   In conclusion, the family laws in Canada have experienced changes that have impacted the rulings of cases in a major way. These changes act as a guideline to be implemented in various cases depending on the facts as presented. References Aspe v. Aspe, 2010 BCCA 508. Bain v. Bain, 2008 BCCA 49. Boyd, N. (2011).  Canadian law: An introduction. Toronto: Nelson Education. Douglas, K. (27 March, 2001). Divorce Law in Canada. Moge v. Moge, [1992] 3 S.C.R. 813.R. v. Ferguson, [2008] 1 S.C.R. 96, 2008 SCC 6.R. v. Readhead, 2008 BCCA 532. Source document

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Marketing Plan for Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts Essay

Competition among hotel and hospitality business has increased enormously as customers are getting more educated and fashionable. They’ve been demanding more luxurious services and products which urge organisations to focus on better marketing and strategic planning. Hotels and firms now believe that personal and strong relationships with potential customers is key to competitive advantage in today’s competitive business environment. The idea of developing and upholding the relationship between customers and organisations through comprehensive marketing plans took a while. Before, organisations were more vigilant to improve their line of products and services only. Strategic Marketing planning was introduced by theorists and policy makers when they identified the need and scope of long-term relationship with individual customers and it greatly influenced the market. â€Å"How internal and external factors are essential for hotel and hospitality business and how they possibly can affect the business in positive or negative way†? To answer these questions, this research study will mainly focus on some key factors of hospitality business and they will be discussed at length in order to establish a more explicable analysis (Steven Pike, 2008). Table of contents Executive Summary2 Introduction3 Critical Evaluation and Major Findings3 Conclusion3 Recommendations3 References3 Introduction Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts is prestigious brand of InterContinental Hotel Groups chain which operates in more than 100 countries all over the world. Crown Plaza shares its mission statement that â€Å"To create great hotels guests love† and has earned great competitive advantage over its competitors in Hotel and Hospitality business. Undoubtedly, some hotel of such prestige and luxury cannot afford to disappoint its base of customers and will keenly observe those parameters and strategies which help keep the customers revisiting the hotel. The essential need for marketing planning can be perceived though this idea and therefore this research study will incorporate the concept of strategic marketing for Crown Plaza hotel. For this, I will meticulously study the existing practices of marketing planning in Crown Plaza Hotel and carefully observe all parameters so that this study can help other hotels and the organisation itself in future (Abdullah and Zahir, 2009). To maintain competitive advantage and keep organisation out from critical business situations, Crown Plaza needs efficacious marketing plans to evaluate and determine potential risks and threats, thus devising strategies for flourishing development. The comprehensive marketing plan would facilitate Crown Plaza hotel to determine its current position among its competitors, its strengths, its weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated. The determination of weaknesses and subsequent planning to neutralize, even turning them into strengths will help organisation to meet its corporate mission (Mumel and Snoj, 2007). As hotel and Hospitality business is full of opportunities and promising business environments, Crown Plaza hotel can earn great benefits from such opportunities. And last but not least, threats and risks associated with hotel industry which can seriously damage the reputation of Crown Plaza hotel it gained through the span of time. All these circumstances provoke the need of an integrated, well-structured and analytical approach. SWOT analysis is one of the acute solutions available for critical evaluation of market needs (Anja Bà ¶hm, 2008). Broad information is required from Hotel, its competitors, its business environment and overall market to acquire a resourceful market analysis. Obviously it will require performing environmental and competitor’s analyses as well to add comprehensiveness to the study. SWOT analysis is one such tool that can easily compact and present the process of analysis by critically evaluating internal and external factors associated with Crown Plaza hotel. It will, therefore, provide combination of all results that will help Crown Plaza hotel to observe its resources and capacities against competitive and business environment in which it operates. It will also help hotel to develop generic strategies basing upon careful observation of various factors associated with it and their critical analysis. SWOT analysis is an integrated instrument which comprises key organisational and environmental attributes. Potential strategic plan development is among key objectives of SWOT analysis which examines strengths and weaknesses within the organisation (internal factors) and threats and opportunities that come along the way (external factors). The main objective of this study is to provide an essential added value to Crown Plaza’s strategic development while delivering an analysis gadget to hotel’s management to process its internal and external factors. In this regard, SWORT analysis in close vicinity of micro and macro analysis tools will serve the purpose. This assignment is furthermore aimed at analyzing valuable approaches and practices to discuss explicit issues associated with Crown plaza hotel in specific, and hotel and hospitality business in general including employee loyalty, increased sales, customer satisfaction etc (BNET Staff, 2007). Critical Evaluation and Major Findings To convey SWOT-driven analysis and marketing plan for Crown Plaza hotel, it is essential to acquire information regarding its potentials, its competitors, environment and other associated factors. The potential analysis of Crown Plaza hotel can be identified independently by analysing current market situation. This analysis could serve as valuation method for organisation to develop new range of products and services. The potential market analysis will help the Crown Plaza hotel to use its investment assets effectively. It needs to invest a handsome amount of money and resources into customer relationship management so those potential customers become loyal to brand and products. There are seven skills which can be employed by crown plaza to build a strong and long-lasting relationship with its customer base and they are; targeting, preparation, assessing, committing, connecting, solving, and last but not least managing. To â€Å"keep† customers, it is essential for hotel industry to keep track of all these eight factors which will ensure a definite success. (Keller, 2008) As far as competitors analysis is concerned, the Crown Plaza hotel has many rivals in the market thus it will require hotel’s management to keep an eye on various marketing strategies developed by its competitors and how they implemented them successfully. For example, CLASS was among successful strategic plans implemented by Ritz Carlton Hotel, principally aimed at providing the loyal customers with three basic amenities, Recognition, Personalisation and Status. These three services were core factors in success story of the Ritz. As concept of developing strategic marketing plans is directly related with customer satisfaction, the management of Crown Plaza hotel should provide a great line of products and services to satisfy its royal customers. They cannot afford to let customers suffer poor quality products and services. It won’t only be a threat to business but â€Å"culture† of the Crown Plaza hotel. For sustainable income and reputation of the hotel, the role of strategic building process is never dying and there is always a need to identify key factors upon which customer satisfaction is dependent (Saunders et al, 2009). In this regard, Recognition builds huge levels of loyalty among customers as they think of their association with one of world’s greatest hotels whenever they enter into it with a strong belief in their hearts that they are recognised. And surely they will be treated as important guests and will be provided with superior services and facilities. Personalisation is basically another giant step towards customer retention which should be aimed at providing more customized services to the customers. Services not only provided but designed according to taste of customers which they find amusing and satisfactory. A customer goes happily and is more willing to revisit if he knows that this one particular service or one particular staff members can satisfy his appetite. Lastly, the status earned by the Crown Plaza must be shared and celebrated by its loyal customers. They should not only feel the prestige whenever they step into Crown Plaza but pride themselves to be a part of it. Status is in fact the most important factor of luxury segment of world’s greatest hotels (Ferrel and Hartline, 2008) Based on SWOT analysis of internal and external environment and business factors associated with Crown Plaza including assessment of internal factors through 7S framework and 5Ms, and external factors through PESTEL analysis, following results were carried out; Internal FactorsStrengthsAspirational Hotel’s Locations all over the world, Luxury environment, PrioityClubRewards, confirmed suite upgrades, online reservations, organized hotels chain, mini bar etc. WeaknessesGlobally acknowledged strategic plan, not enough hotels as compared to associated brands, less valuable travel packages, costly packages etc. External FactorsOpportunitiesPeak tourist seasons, long-term potential growth of hotel industry, unique experience of plaza hotel in heritage hotels. ThreatsEconomic conditions, changing trends, increased competitive environment etc. All these factors can be addressed with help of a comprehensive marketing plan which is equally applicable to scattered chains of Crown Plaza hotel all over the world. Nevertheless, The Crown Plaza hotel has substantially earned a position in global hotel industry by focusing on the better relationship with customers. The policies including customized services, reward points, gift certificates, privacy concerns etc. have helped the management to retain increased amounts of profits to the organisation. These policies were formulated to engage the customers in the future and assured of their revisit (Ezinemark, 2012). Conclusion This Study not only determined those key factors but challenges that can affect Crown Plaza’s business in future. Hotel industry in 21st century cannot survive without taking care of certain parameters and in hotel industry customer satisfaction is key parameter. If you cannot satisfy your customers, your competitors will. No organisation Crown Plaza hotel has substantially earned a position in global hotel industry by focusing on the better relationship with customers. The policies including customized services, reward points, gift certificates, privacy concerns etc. have helped the management to retain increased amounts of profits to the organisation. These policies were formulated to engage the customers in the future and assured of their revisit (Smithers, 2009). Apart from luxurious services and products, that one thing Plaza customers admire most is privacy given to them. Crown Plaza has successfully managed to provide its customers with VIP suites and rooms which they find private and relaxing. More big suites were announced by management with highlighted â€Å"privacy†. This one step could actually retain maximum number of Ritz customers in the future. There are number of factors which can be contributed as weaknesses of Crown Plaza hotel. Nevertheless, these factors are generally associated with hotel industry all over the world and certain demographic and economic conditions are responsible. Crown Plaza hotel have potential to overcome such weaknesses, thus it can be accounted as powerful strength for Crown Plaza hotel in the future (Paul and Richter, 2007). Recommendations Hotel and hospitality industry contributes heavily to world’s economics and business and most basic element of this industry is its loyal customers. Any organisation failing to achieve customer retention cannot and will not survive in today’s market for sure. To serve this purpose, organisations invest unhesitatingly in strategic planning practices which ensure greatest customer satisfaction. This research study will also prove helpful contribution to hotel and hospitality industry, especially its luxury segment. The Luxury segment was picked by the researcher as its rich in culture, standards and demands higher levels of customer satisfaction. Nevertheless it will require higher level of efforts and resources to formulate research study of its kind. References Abdullah and Zahir, 2009. â€Å"Evaluation of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) Techniques: Driver Perspective, European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems. Anja Bà ¶hm, 2008, the SWOT analysis BNET Staff. (2007). The CBS Interactive Business Network. [online] Available at: [Accessed 29th November 2012] Ezinemark, 2010. â€Å"InterContinental Hotels Group PLC – SWOT Analysis – Market Research Report On Aarkstore Enterprise† [online] Available at: [Accessed 29th November 2012] Ferrel, O. C., & Hartline, M. D. (2008). Marketing Strategy (4 ed.). South-Western. Keller, K (2008) Strategic Brand Management, 3rd Ed, New Jersey: Pearson education Inc Mumel, D. & Snoj, B. (2007). â€Å"The analysis of questionnaires for hotel guests satisfaction – comparison between Croatia and Slovenia†. 4th International Conference Global Challenges for Competitiveness: Business and Government Perspective Nadine Pahl, Anne Richter, (2007) SWOT Analysis – Idea, Methodology and A Practical Approach. GRIN Verlag. Saunders et al (2009) Research methods for business students, 5th ed. Essex: Pearson education Limited. Smithers, R (2009) Marks and Spencer launches UK’s greenest till roll, [Online] Available from < http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/15/marks-and-spencer-sustainble-till- >[Accessed on 12 May 2011]. Steven pike, (2008) Destination Marketing: an Integrated Market ing Communication Approach, Elsevier Inc

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Four Ps of proposal writing - Emphasis

The Four Ps of proposal writing The Four Ps of proposal writing People who have the gift of being able to write a persuasive proposal tend to go a long way, regardless of whether theyre in sales or the Civil Service. Yet far from being a dark art, the skill of effective proposal writing is something you can teach yourself.  In fact, theres one formula that can bring you success time and time again. We call it the Four Ps. Position This is where you should start. Establish where the client or reader is at this moment. Your proposal might well be read by several different decision-makers – at different levels – in the organisation, but this will be the one thing that has everyone in consensus from the outset. In sales, don’t begin with a long-winded introduction to your company: you’ll make a much better impression by showing you’ve taken the time and interest to get to know your prospective client. Problem Despite the name, this could be a negative or a positive. There may be a problem to address, or the opportunity of a lifetime could be in sight. All it means is making it clear that a change must be made. Salespeople: again, the focus is on them, not you – their needs, not your product. Make it clear you understand those needs, using facts and figures as appropriate. Possibilities Here you can cover all the potential routes, including taking no action, with pros and cons for each. Don’t try to gloss over any possible downsides: it could look like they haven’t occurred to you. Rise above trashing competitors by name, though you can argue the flaws of their ideas – if you know them. If there’s only one option, you won’t need this section. Proposal This is your recommended route, with your reasons for it. Be succinct and specific. Make it very clear how your proposal relates to what the client or reader has asked for. They should be left with no doubts about why they should go with you, why they should do it now and what they need to do next. Ok, so we can’t completely guarantee you a win every time. But this is always the best p-p-p-place to start. For more help perfecting your proposal writing, why not arrange an  in-house bid, tender and sales-proposal writing course for your team, or book a spot on one of our bid-writing courses for individuals?

Monday, November 4, 2019

Speech Class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Speech Class - Essay Example The smoke-free laws are based on the rationale that it is fundamental to protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke and such people run the risk of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, emphysema etc. The strong evidences of the link between passive smoking and lung cancer remind everyone about the importance of controls over smoking in public places. According to Michael Calnan, â€Å"Control over smoking in public places has become of increasing importance as a measure which governments might adopt, mainly because of the attention given to the increasingly strong evidence of a link between passive smoking and lung cancer than CHD. Certainly, it is a measure that might be favored by those who place great emphasis on the freedom of the individual and who are antagonistic towards more direct government intervention through fiscal policy or controls on tobacco promotion.† (Calnan, 56) Therefore, I strongly believe that smoking in public places must be checked by stro nger governmental intervention considering the facts that it is highly harmful for non-smokers, it causes pollution of the public places, and it is a strong case of violation against individual liberty. Smoking in public places should be prohibited, because such practices illustrate strong cases of violation against individual liberty, and the public smokers not only challenges the health issues of the people around, but also the basic freedom of human beings to live a healthy life. Whereas there are already strong oppositions against such practices, I feel there should be stronger activities to counter these practices of apparent violation of basic human rights. The regulatory activities to limit smoking in public places have been on a tide over the past few decades which include a variety of both public and private sector initiatives. â€Å"More recently, antismoking efforts have been fueled by growing evidence of adverse

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Questions about Gender and Generation Management in the workplace Essay

Questions about Gender and Generation Management in the workplace - Essay Example the organisations achievement of objectives (Bagilhole & White, 2013) It helps in coordinating the various generations in the workplace because all their opinions matter and everyone’s input is valued and incorporated in the firm’s means of achieving the objectives. 2. I would prefer working with generation X due to the fact that it’s a generation made of young people who can make quick decisions and have innovative minds. Their fast decision making tendencies helps in moving the firm forward and achieving the set objectives which increases the value of the firm. Also, the innovative minds helps in coming up with new ways of doing things and processes gives the firm a competitive edge against competitors. 3. Generation Y would be most challenging to manage and lead due to the fact that it is made up of quite older people who are a bit resistant to change. Most of them get stuck with rules and procedures set earlier, and are not willing to change. This makes incorporating valuable changes in an organization difficult; and of course this means that the firm cannot move forward as fast as expected or as planned. 4. The average age for retiring from work is 60. Some of primary reasons as to why people should retire are; it is a state requirement for civil servants to retire, they are no longer as productive as before and also to concentrate on something else they had wished to do. The reasons are individual and others come from external forces like the state requirement for civil servants to retire in order to give way for other qualified citizens to get the chances to work. 5. Generation X is impatient and at the same time dismissive. Most children born during this era display a lot of impatience in most things they undertake in their day to day activities, including undertakings at school, work and even at home. They also dismiss most of the ideas offered by other people mostly the older generation including their parents and other older siblings. On the

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Corrections Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Corrections - Research Paper Example 17 states are in the spotlight where the population of prisoners is higher than the capacity of the prison cells to hold them, which not only causes problems for the prison policies but also shows that the facilities designed for the captives are lacking. It was observed that at the end of 2013, Illinois alone housed 48,653 prisoners while, the prisons are modeled only to hold 32,075 prisoners. This meant that the prison system is operating at 151 percent of its actual capacity. North Dakota accordingly has been housing 150 percent of its prison capacity capacity(Wilson). Prisons in all the states in America are facing the issue of overcrowding and inmates tend to take advantage of it. If prison budgets are not increased, then there will be no facilities for inmates to get back on track which means the cycle of crime is to continue without an out. As the prisoner influx increases, the number of prison guards is seen to be decreasing. In 2005, the government reduced the number of guards which means that the imbalance of ratio not only proves hazardous to life inside the prison but might impact the life outside the prison walls as well (McLaughlin). There are many ways by which the problem of overcrowding can be overcome which includes updating laws and reviewing the prison state conditions. Tackling prison overcrowding is an important issue that needs to be dealt with. If the budget of the prisons is not increased to sustain prisoner influx, then it is deemed that it might promote the states to have an early release option for prisoners. California is one such example where the overcrowding situation led the Supreme Court to order to reduce the population of its prisoners by 30,000 on the base facts that it was against the constitution (McLaughlin). In conclusion, serious efforts need to be made to reduce the inmate population and control the influx while sustaining a population that is not

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Gated Communities and Segregation in The Tortilla Curtain by T.C.Boyle Essay

Gated Communities and Segregation in The Tortilla Curtain by T.C.Boyle - Essay Example Though segregation based on race, ethnicity, religion, etc., is now illegal, there are still some practices among the citizens like the existence of gated communities that cause segregation and racism. Although, one section of people views gated communities as a feasible and practical way of living, other sections view it as ‘islands’ which promote segregation. This issue of gated communities forms a subtle but a key part of the novel, The Tortilla Curtain written by T.C. Boyle and published by Viking Press in 1995. Boyle is a ‘Distinguished Professor’ of English at the University of Southern California and lives in the Santa Barbara. He has written over 12 novels as well as more than 100 short stories winning, with many of his works reflecting the issues and lifestyle of people living in California including The Tortilla Curtain. â€Å"The Southern California writer T. C. Boyle captures the separation that marks daily life in Los Angeles.† (Fuller, B ridges and Pai 145). Boyle sets his novel in the Topanga Canyon where the lives of two couples, who live an entirely different lifestyles, cross each other with tragic and at the same thought-provoking results. The main protagonist couple, Delaney, a sensitive writer about nature and Kyra Mossbacher, an obsessive real estate agent, move in to a newly gated community nestled among the natural surroundings called Arroyo Blanco. The other couple is the Mexican illegal immigrants, Candido and his pregnant wife America Rincon, who enter the American borders illegally wanting to achieve the American Dream of a prosperous life, but live in an awful condition in a makeshift camp deep in the Topanga Canyon. When a freak car accident involving Delaney and Candido happens, it leads to further interactions between the couples with their opposing worlds intersecting in a problematic and tragic manner. The interactions between the couples mainly arise due the setting of the gated community. Boyle paints the picture of a strictly conforming gated community, where all the houses were white with orange roofs. â€Å"†¦lay the massed orange tile rooftops of Arroyo Blanco† (Boyle 74). The private community gives a sense of exclusivity. The concept of a gated community, with a homeowners association, is to provide a safe neighborhood with all the facilities. However, when viewed from another perspective, by facilitating families of similar races and class to live closer together, while ‘ignoring’ other sections of the people, it is leading to segregation. Part 2: Gated community is the term given to the residential neighborhoods which have a surrounding wall and a main gate for entry. This form of residential living has become a key part of the new housing market, particularly in the urban areas. It is viewed as a new form of urbanism, under which public spaces in various geographical territories are being privatized. They have thus become a â€Å"symbol of metropolitan fragmentation and social segregation†, with segregation happening mainly along economic and racial lines (Le Goix 76a). Le Goix (9) further states that â€Å"gated communities are located within every kind of middle class and upper-class neighborhoods, with half of them are located within the rich, upper-scale and mostly white neighborhoods, and one third are located within