Early Western Philosophy of Religion Essay

of the classical three laws of rational thinking. Claiming that every proposition is either true or not true, the first law summarily excludes the possibility of a middle-of-the-road alternative between two extremes. The second law states that it is not possible for something to be both true and not true at once and in the same contextual framework. The third law ascribes specific traits to everything. In other words, no two things are similar to each other (De Riemer, 2009). Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the torchbearers of the Gregorian mission, challenged the validity of the law of the excluded middle by raising questions about the moment of death, when a person is alive and yet to die. Such a brief transition, according to him, does not conform to the basic assumption stated in the law of the excluded middle, for the dying instance falls in a temporal void where this law is nonfunctional (Stump & Kretzmann, 2001, p. 112). He, however, supported the law of noncontradiction on the basis of having certitude of knowledge about a given statement. Thus, he argued that â€Å"If there is one sun, there are not two† (Ibid, p. 163). In a way, Augustine endorsed inductive reasoning to substantiate his viewpoints on the foundational laws of thought. However, when it came to analyzing the law of identity, he discarded epistemological reasoning and embraced the core of Christian worldviews. The law of intrinsic essence of every being was, according to his opinion, a hypothesis that is relative to the monistic identity of the highest form of Being, e. g. God Himself. In other words, it is possible to develop collective identity given that it finds a stake similar to God’s image (Ibid, p. 87). Cosmological accounts of creation have been put forward by many of the early as well as modern thinkers. Various scientific theories have proved beyond doubt that our universe is not infinite. This proposition is tempting enough to ask what lies beyond the periphery. St. Thomas Aquinas, the medieval theologian and one of the seminal thinkers of his time, argued vociferously in favor of God’s existence on a cosmic level. His magnum opus Summa Theologiae is considered to be one of the treasure troves of philosophical treatises on creationism. Aquinas takes natural theology as the starting point of his argument. For nature, laws of existence are not rigid. It is possible for natural things to be born and destroyed, implying that everything is and is not at the same time. But it is truly impossible for anything to outlast its own expiration. What this means is that any form of existence is preceded by another form and that this chain continues backward till the creation of something that served independent of its own necessity for the sake of its succeeding creations. That something is nothing but what we believe as God (Meister, 2009, p. 67). I, despite being an atheist, strongly endorse the line of reasoning Aquinas used to prove God’s existence. He arrived at his intended position by means of teleological assumptions and subsequent cancellations – if A is true, A cannot be not true. This method of double negation, I believe, holds the secret to success of his originative theological account. References De Reimer, H. T. (2009). Infallible Logic, A Visible and Automatic System of Reasoning. Charleston, South Carolina: BiblioBazaar, LLC. Meister, C. (2009). Introducing Philosophy of Religion. New York: Taylor & Francis. Stump, E. , & Kretzmann, N. (2001). The Cambridge companion to Augustine. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Lament †Gillian Clarke, Poem Imagery Analysis Essay

Gillian Clarke, the writer of Lament, uses imagery in his poem in the form of animals and nature to express the consequence of war and greed on the innocent. He uses nature imagery to show that the very thing that was meant to nurture us is being destroyed. Clarke uses imagery to mourn the destruction of the innocent and nature. He also uses imagery to show how appalling the consequences of human nature are to its surroundings. Clarke explains that â€Å"for vengeance† â€Å"the green turtle† suffers with â€Å"her pulsing burden in search for the breeding ground† and that for something that starts life, she is being put at burden for. He points that from this burden, which was put on to her by human nature, â€Å"her eggs laid in the nest of sickness†. When Clarke uses this image he intensifies the idea that the innocent egg cannot choose its life and lies in the birth place of sickness. All of this is because of the same cause, and Clarke shows us that by repeating the word â€Å"For†. We as the reader connect with the idea as Clarke uses his images with the life cycles and the innocent. The idea of mother nature is really emphasized in the poem. Clarke uses imagery to represent this image. He gives nature a comforting â€Å"lap† which shows us that nature is very nurturing. The word â€Å"lap† is an image of comfort and a mother-like feature, thus it represents the idea of mother nature. The effect of this is that we feel more sorrow as we read through the poem; we feel that we are destroying something that gives us a home, food, and much more. Clarke makes us see that it is not onlz us who are in the â€Å"ocean’s lap† but the â€Å"cormorants in his funeral silk†¦ the dugong and the dolphins,† and something as massive as the whale; they are the ones suffering from the destruction of the lap, which is caused by humans, according to the writer. He uses these animals to make us realize that innocent creatures also are under the care of nature, and as we destroy nature, we are destroying life itself for many. It is not only the innocent creatures that are suffering, but within our own kind. Clarke uses an innocent â€Å"boy who joined for the company,† to show us that even children are going into war for silly reasons and eventually in vain. This boy is â€Å"the farmer’s son† and we are brought back to this idea that the innocent poor son of some father, is suffering. The fact that he is someone’s son makes us relate to the father’s sorrow of having his son shipped of to war. It could have been anyone’s son but the author says a farmer, so we imagine this kid with a poor background and a humble past going into war. War is something in this poem that is described indirectly. The idea of war is brought up by the use of all the images of dying races. It is also brought up by the consequences of war on the earth itself. â€Å"The burnt earth and the sun put† symbolizes that war and greed has burnt the earth and mother nature. It also mentions that the sun is put out, meaning that something that gives light and life, is put out. The sun is the source of light of a new day, without it there is no new day, and so the life cycle ends. The poet then uses this image of â€Å"the ashes of language†. Language is something that is used to communicate. Without language the world is barbaric. Communication is something that is destroyed when war and greed takes place and therefore, the writer summarizes the effects of war in greed in this sentence as chaos. Gillian Clarke uses these images of nature and life to express this final consequence.

Caret Internet Cafe Essay

1. Executive Summary Internet becomes one of the most important aspects in communication. Not only for browsing, do research, communicating, but also playing game and access social media. Internet already becomes a lifestyle, without it some people will get frustrated. Warnet are very popular in Indonesia, for they allow those who cannot afford computers the advantage of being online and participating in global communications,† Rudy Rusdiah, the chairman of the Indonesian Internet Kiosks Association (Awari) said. During the economic crisis in 2008, it was very difficult for a great number of the population to purchase a computer, let alone afford the cost of installing a phone line. The introduction of Internet cafes or kiosks and their growth in the nation has been beneficial to the public. There is a diverse variety of warnet in Jakarta. They range from the street-side computer terminals to plush cafe environments. In current situation, the competition of computer manufacturer and the increasing of income level of people in Jakarta made the situation a bit change; many of people can affordable computer, smart phone and mini gadgets become people choice to suitable with their needs. Still the need of internet connection is become bigger a line with the growth of population in Jakarta. This business plan will make a design of what internet cafe can provide as a new unique services that different with common warnet in the past. The price war of computer and electronic device make an affordable price for people to buy it, therefore focusing in providing computer is no longer effective in 2013. Instead the traffic of internet user is become an issue, for example the telkomsel 3g connection become bad and the price is high. Selling the internet connection itself can help people to get high speed connection for downloading, playing, browsing, and do their stuff. Most warnet in Indonesia providing thei r customer a computer access which is need extra capital for it. Usually warnet offer internet access and rent per hour for using that computer. The cost to invest and maintain the desktop is quite high comparing with the productivity income that one desktop can give. Moreover if the customer didn’t have the sense of belonging that will decrease the durable of computer. Because the rapid growing of technology and the price of  electronic device is decrease easily after new technology appears, the consumptive of customer become booming and if investors follow to invest their money in electronic device such as computer the depreciation will dramatically go down. CARET Cafe Internet offer customer with high speed internet access without providing customer the desktop. The computer or the gadget itself is already become prime device that almost everybody have. This place also offer games that can be access by giving copy game trough HD or flash disk. The game will be updated twice a month to make customer feel enjoy playing the game without buffering the update. Customer can bring their own laptop and the place will be p roviding sockets. The internet access for each room will have password for Wi-Fi access and each user will need to register the id and password in the counter in order to access the internet. The place will be as big as 200m2 separated with 5 rooms that each rooms can fit 15 persons. And each room can be booked for gaming tournament or even for meeting room. The room will be sound proof and also have chair and table set. There will be a cleaning service that will maintain the cleanliness of each room. This business will sell high speed internet access, cozy place, food and beverages. The unique point of this business is no need investment in desktop, only focusing on high speed internet access and the router. CARET will have a canteen that offers food with low medium price range of 20.000-50.000. For the drinks customer can have a coffee and tea blended drinks. The food and beverages will only become complement as the business grow, this element can be improve further more. Target market of this busin ess will aim. Student: Student that need a fun place to spend their time with friends and playing together Student that need a place to do their assignment with internet connection Gamers: People that have passion in playing game and searching cozy and fast internet Businessman: People that search a place to conduct meeting during lunch break The business is unique that we provide place and connection with a cozy moreover, what they need such as meal and drinks are there. It’s a place where people can spend a lot of their time to play, do assignment, hanging around, and as a meeting point. The main investment in this business will be: Investment a place in good place near campus. Investment in IT support such as modem, Wi-Fi routers, and software that can create multiple ID and password for same Internet connection. Investment in furnishing the place to create a signature of modern and cozy place. Investment in Sofa, chair and table approximately 75 chairs and 10 sofas at beginning. Investment in coffee roasters and cafe stall. Investment in kitchen and food equipment 2. Description of the Business This business focusing on give a convinience place for the customers, and the customer will be paid based on hourly for accessing the Wi-Fi. The front counter will have HD or flash disk that contain of many game customer can play just ask to copy it trough their laptop. The mission is to bring modern and fun athmosphere in the place. Cleanliness of the place Fast connection Comfortable seat Variety of updated games provided. Usually common warnet will be fully of the customer because of the game trend, and this business will also trying identify what kind of games that trend in this time. Objectives Short-term Description Gain awareness from people around the location Fulfill the place 80% of capacity Distribute pamphlet around campus and office Using buzz marketing Give a free one hour internet connection To make the place active and attract more customer to come, by inviting gamers to conduct a game tournament. Long-term Description Remapping people mind set about warnet Noticed by businessman Open franchise Give a positive value that warnet not always need to provide computer rather providing high speed internet connection Create a unique place that comfort not only for student, but also for customer which need a place to conduct a meeting. Leverage the business trough other investor capital Picture 2.1 Business Process Diagram Key Elements Type of business Warnet Product or services High speed internet connection and cozy place Unique selling point Only providing connection and comfort place without providing desktop Growth Potential Can attract new segment customer, that not only focus in gaming customer, but a worker staff that want to conduct a meeting during break time. 3. Marketing Range population in South Jakarta shown as bellow, the target market is age around 15-50 which reach 1,375,570 peoples and if the 22.1% is willing to connected with internet there will be 304000 people that will be our target market. The market is targeted for people who in the productive age that use internet as a tool to gain information and have fun with friends. Based on internet research, there are listed 12 warnets spread out around South Jakarta. There will be 25000 target markets for each warnet if the target equally distributed. Barriers to entry Warnet have common things on sale, which are computer rental and internet connection, while CARET will follow the market behavior that only focusing on internet connection and cozy place. There are several things that can avoid competitor to copy such a business: 1. Strategic location(Near Campus Bina Nusantara JWC and Moestopo) 2. IT technology that make a modern business model and secure place 3. Focusing on high speed internet connection that can reach 20mbps 4. Can freely download without any limitation 5. Facility that include projector and good place to even conduct a meeting 6. Clean and full furnish place that make it cozy and different with common warnet 7. Have a cafà © inside that provide drink and meal Competitor Analysis Based on research in South Jakarta, HANANET have quite high internet connection around 7.2 mbps that in average warnet in South Jakarta only have 2-5mbps. The strength on HANANET: 1. Stable and high internet connection 2. Unique product that can give package play for 100.000 in whole day Weakness: 1. Bad environment for play, no separation smoking area 2. The properties not managed well The rate per hour is Rp6,000,- Sales Projection The full capacity of CARET is for 100 peoples in the first month of opening, the target capacity will be 80% loaded because the need of internet connection, roughly 20% only from BINUS INTER student will spend their free time connected with internet. People around such as student will be delight to buy these services. 1 CARET will be better than the competitor because of the modern environment there are: 1. Separated smoke room 2. Cleanliness that maintain by cleaning service /hour 3. Cafà © that provided food and drinks 4. High speed connection that reach 50mbps 5. Facility that also support for meeting purpose Promotion First of all to make customer notice that there is a new place that provide high speed connection, CARET will give a brochure and a free one hour coupon for new customer. Latter on the data will be collected for customer behavior analysis. The brochure will be spread around 2 campuses BINUS INTERNATIONAL and Moestopo. Under CARET management team, the business will be handled by creating a basic goal for each semester. The main goal will be become a pioneer in developing warnet without computer and be the first top tier warnet in South Jakarta. Picture 3.1 BizNet Package promotion For the Internet connection CARET will use BizNet that have a business package that can reach 50mbps. The Advantage using BizNet: Internet access services up to 20 Mbps Safe, fast and very stable The connection uses RJ-45, can be directly connected to a router, firewall, proxy or existing LAN switches Direct peering with multiple Tier-1 provider in the world, large bandwidth capacity for the International and local Picture 3.2 BizNet Internet connection Expense for each month will be define as bellow, for Internet connection CARET will use the best package from BizNet which is can reach 50Mbps, and for router itself, CARET using approximately 10 routers that can cover 100 user at the same time. The technician has a credible skill focusing in maintain stability and sustainability of the connection. ATK are including markers, paper and operational worksheet. Identification and planning for key risk The risk that warnet usually face is the electricity problem or unstable connection for external risk. For the internal risk there will be unprofessional staff in the wrong management that use the facility for own interest. Risk can be avoid, acceptance, mitigate, or transfer. The risk will be classified as: External Risk 1. Electricity problem and unstable connection: Risk avoid: By using genset, power supply and for the connection there will be a technician that can handle such a problem by issuing some teamwork with BizNet 2. Irresponsible Customer Risk avoid: By placing security and CCTV camera around the place 3. Second Liner competitor Risk mitigation: Reducing the risk by creating a unique services such as Saturday tournament and get a link for food and beverages trough franchising example: Chat time, share tea Internal Risk 1. Undedicated staff, low morale staff: Risk avoid: Conduct a month meeting to evaluate work performance and conduct a briefing in the morning.

Individual Project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Individual Project 2 - Essay Example According to Redding (2000), contrary to common belief, there are effective programs for rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is a comprehensive approach that intervenes in the multiple systems affecting juvenile delinquent behavior. This includes the child, family, school, peers and community. The system has been so designed to improve family relations, improve the caregiver discipline practices, decrease the youth’s association with peers who are delinquent, and increase association with peers who are pro-social. This program is meant to keep the youth engaged in positive recreational activities and improve vocational performance. Support is provided through the extended family, neighbors, and friends so that the caregivers are able to achieve the goals. This is a multi-modal family-based system approach and the rate of reduction in recidivism is much higher than standard programs. Interventions have to be multi-modal because there is not just one cause for the delinquent behavior in the youth. Multi-modal program identifies the risk factors and provide treatment accordingly. The possible risk factors could range from child (mental health problems, substance abuse), family (poor parental supervision, ineffective discipline practices), school (truancy, poor academic achievement), peer (association with delinquent peer group, gang membership), and community (neighborhood violence, drug markets) risk factors. As such, it is essential to involve all the groups in the correction or rehabilitation therapy. Community based programs have always been found to be more effective than residential programs. Each organization brings a variety of strengths into the process and this enhances the chances of success. The most significant feature of this therapy is that it is on a highly individualized basis and the treatment is developed in collaboration with the family. The family

The French Revolution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The French Revolution - Assignment Example The theme of equality and freedom must have been a major factor leading to the revolution. People wanted to be free and equal. The oppression by the absolute monarchy was no longer needed. As a result, the people came together to address the mismanagement by the King and also make all people equal (Robinson 87). This revolution can thus be remarked as the new beginning and as a result the ‘modern era’ was born. The Catholic Church was also not needed because it had favored the social order that had existed in France for years. This revolution is undoubtedly seen by many people as the beginning of a new world. The power of the aristocrats was drained and the church was also weakened. Women and men were now free to participate in policy issues and political developments in the country. This was a new beginning for France and the entire world as well. Personally, the French Revolution was a major historical event which brought an end to an established social order. Personally I have been surprised to learn that the Monarchy was brought to an end in a very brutal way because the people were bitter. As well, I had never thought that very many people were killed using the guillotine for treason or having opposed ideas to the revolutionary ideology. Also, from what I have understood from the documentary, it cannot be ascertained for sure when the Revolution ended because it led to a one-man leadership which was similar to that of the monarchy government. Very little did I know that this revolution marked a new era. ... This revolution can thus be remarked as the new beginning and as a result the ‘modern era’ was born. The Catholic Church was also not needed because it had favored the social order that had existed in France for years. This revolution is undoubtedly seen by many people as the beginning of a new world. The power of the aristocrats was drained and the church was also weakened. Women and men were now free to participate in policy issues and political developments in the country. This was a new beginning for France and the entire world as well. Personally, the French Revolution was a major historical event which brought an end to an established social order. Personally I have been surprised to learn that the Monarchy was brought to an end in a very brutal way because the people were bitter. As well, I had never thought that very many people were killed using the guillotine for treason or having opposed ideas to the revolutionary ideology. Also, from what I have understood fr om the documentary, it cannot be ascertained for sure when the Revolution ended because it led to a one-man leadership which was similar to that of the monarchy government (Ross 42). Very little did I know that this revolution marked a new era not only in the country but across the world (The French Revolution). It is agreeable that we all children of the French Revolution. By the time the revolution was coming to an end, many societies were influenced positively and staged revolutions of their own in order to end all forms of oppressive regimes. After this was achieved, the modern era was born and formal governments were established across the western nations and in Asia. Later the same ideology was transferred to different nations in Africa and Latin America. This means that we are

Energy Conservation Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Energy Conservation - Lab Report Example The gravitational potential energy of an object refers to the energy an object possesses due to its location relative to a reference point. Considering an object close the Earth’s surface the gravitational potential energy is given as (Cutnell et al. 18) Where g is the gravitational acceleration, m is the mass if the object and y are the vertical position of the object relative to an arbitrary reference point. The following graphical plot illustrates the variation of kinetic and potential energy of the oscillating systems studied in this lab For a swinging pendulum (oscillatory system) there is the constant conversion of energy to kinetic energy, potential energy and back to kinetic energy however the total energy at any given time is always a constant. The energy stored in compressed springs or elastic objects is another form of potential energy that is mathematically given as (Cutnell et al. 25). Notably, when there is no energy input into the system, the total mechanical energy will remain constant. The linear plot shown in the printout shows the constancy of mechanical energy with time defined by same slope over given time. Using the K/m and y values shown in the table of results above the following graphical plot was obtained that shows the relationship between the K/m and the vertical displacement Using the Excel graphical plot above the gravitational acceleration was evaluate because for an oscillating system like a pendulum maximum potential energy (maximum displacement) is experienced when the kinetic energy is at a minimum. Equally maximum kinetic energy for a simple pendulum corresponds to the point where there is minimum vertical displacement. At the point where K/m is equal to zero, the potential energy of the system is at a maximum this corresponds to the point where the value of the arbitrary displacement is 0.1089. The potential energy per unit mass at this point

'The employment relationships is based on a contract entered into by Essay

'The employment relationships is based on a contract entered into by equal parties but it is in fact a relationship characterised by parties with unequal power' - Essay Example While employment and the process of working for a particular employer may be defined in legal terms with contract documents and legal definitions which try to be as exact as possible, it is the psychological contract between the employer and the employee which is difficult to define and creates the inequality in the relationship. Any company would like to keep individuals working for the company engaged and motivated in their work. However, the process of engaging individuals as well as providing the motivation to all concerned parties is not an easy one (Vance, 2006). Establishing the psychological contract requires careful management, an understanding of what motivates certain individuals and understanding the work-life balance which prevents employees from burning out (Erdogan, 2005). These responsibilities may be considered as a part of the equation on the side of the employer but then dedication and devotion must also be offered from the employee to create a balanced psychological contract. There are several examples of companies employing effective policies and others where the policies may not be that effective and these can be discussed in the light of theoretical analysis to show how company policies can influence the employment relationship with a view to the psychological contract. Robinson and Rousseau (1994) suggest that the psychological contract is significant for all sides of the employment contract and those employees who are given employment with the company always hope to obtain more benefits from their employment in future. As per the meaning of the term the psychological contract is the implicit contract of various understandings between the company and the workers as they relate to both the expectations of the employees and the obligations of the employer (Emott, 2006). For example, as reported by Welch (2005), when employees are heavily rewarded for high performance

Reasons why a Large Company in One Country Might Wish to 'Go Global' Essay

Reasons why a Large Company in One Country Might Wish to 'Go Global' and the Various Ways it Could Expand its Operations Oversea - Essay Example Going global has become the norm because it offers the companies a range of opportunities to move ahead further and increase their profits in the long run (Orr & Sohal). It makes them realize their due potential and the risks that they could take to achieve supremacy within their line of business. Nearly all companies wants that it expands its operations within the far flung areas of the world in order to increase its sales and bring new customers into the equation. The large companies are no exception to this rule as they look to exploit the weaknesses of their competitors and build upon the strength that possesses within their folds. What is even more significant is the fact that these companies have started to understand the nuances related with growing far and wide which essentially allows them to develop in an out and out manner. The senior management domains within these companies are looking at exploring newer markets because they believe that the unique customers provide a go lden opportunity for the company under consideration and the outsourcing debates are also settled in an amicable way (Townsend, Cavusgil & Yeniyurt, 2004). This is indicative of the numerous discussions that are being done within the going global perspectives and which have more or less touched upon the new understandings of growth and development for the sake of the companies in the modern times. These companies are doing their best to find out where the opportunities lie and what is it like to tap them before their competitors are able to do just the same. Hence the intention is to bring along all the necessary resources and find new avenues and routes which will eventually build upon the profits and expand left, right and center around the world. The companies are therefore looking at areas from where they can cut down on costs and bring in more profits. This debate comes directly under the realms of the outsourcing ones because third world countries are seen as the most helpful ones, where they bring cheap labor with them yet look at establishing offices which cut down on costs immensely. In essence, the entire world has come out as a whole new ball game for the companies which earlier used to believe in a single local marketplace. Now the times have changed and that too for all the right reasons as has been evidenced by recent examples of some companies which have made it big around the world by exploring newer markets (Gregory & Shi, 1998). One of the other reasons behind companies going the global way is because they have started to realize that just being limited to a single place would not allow them to grow beyond a certain measures. Thus they need to enact strategies and find pathways which will double or tripe their expected sums in the coming times. This is the reason why these companies are always on the look out for newer markets, diversified product forms tailored for new and potential customers, and local market suited products and services. I n essence, the role of the companies within such a fray is a precisely sensitive one since they have to decide who to hire, where to purchase all the resources and how to go about doing operations within a new country which effectively is quite a risky process. The companies have also realized the fact that the local laws and regulations are also something which must be

Nurse Staffing Issues Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nurse Staffing Issues - Research Paper Example It has been reported that due to lower level of wages, very less people work as NAs, especially in areas where economic conditions are worse. In these areas NAs are paid less than what they can receive as welfare and even health insurance coverage provided to them is less than the amount of medic aid. Due to lower level of wages offered in the field of nursing, NAs work permanently in other jobs and some even have jobs as permanent NAs. Low compensation and heavy work load which drains NAs both emotionally and physically have contributed to the high turnover rate experienced by the field of nursing. In certain health care facilities, the organizations experience a continuous process of training, hiring new nurses and recruiting new ones as in these organizations, nurse turnover rate is very high. Although NAs have to serve and provide aid to acute patients and they are paid less, they still try to provide the best help. Various reasons have led to the retention of NAs although they are not paid well and their job is demands high amount of emotional as well as physical contribution. One reason that contributes to this retention is the NAs personal commitment towards those who require help. Various health care facilities in nursing facilities have made efforts to retain their nurses. Efforts made by them include: assigning one NA to one patient on full time basis, acknowledging the efforts incorporated by NAs and assigning leadership positions and responsibilities especially to NAs who have reached senior level.

Business Concept Description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Concept Description - Essay Example Small-scale producers gain through Rare Tea’s buying harvests up-front by saving associated costs for their distribution. What is unique about the product of Rare Tea is the presence of trust it places with its small-scale producers that could generate high-standard quality of best-tasting tea in the world. Adhering to this leads to buyer-producers relationship, which the bottom line is to hold fast to product quality and sustainability, while Rare Tea continues to take charge of the entire distribution through buying harvests up-front. Ensuring the best quality and sustainable supplies of best-tasting tea leaves is a remarkable way of giving high value for customers’ needs. This is to make sure that the customers will always have the quality product the moment they need it. In addition, the existence of fair trade from farm to customers would guarantee generating the right price for the product. The Rare Tea, as a small-scale company is trying to beat highly established vast private tea farms. Its long-standing relationship with producers under small-range farming allows it to explore vast opportunity across the world as there are independent tea farmers waiting for their break. Aggregating all their productions could help Rare Tea Company address the prevailing market demand for quality tea products. As a small company, Rare Tea needs to expand, which would require funding coming from highly established financial institutions. Potential investors seeing Rare Tea’s business sustainability may express possibility to start their investment with the

Hate Crimes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hate Crimes - Essay Example These prejudices are not inborn but rather they are a result of the prejudices which children are exposed to through their families, friends, teachers and the media. This prejudices and biases lead to various stereotypes of different groups. Even the parenting style and personality factors were found to have an effect on the offenders of hate crimes. Creating a stereotype image of a certain group often lead to bad judgments. Hate crimes can be prevented if even at an early age, children are taught that not all people are alike, that each one is a unique person. As such, individuals must learn to respect and accept the diversity of people in communities. Bias and prejudices may not be totally eradicated but they should be kept at a level which does not develop into hate so as not to lead to violent crimes. Tolerance of other people’s differences must be instilled in children at an early age. The government has led the way in preventing hate crimes by making policies and regulations which prevent racial discrimination and promote equality especially in the workplace. Government should provide economic opportunities to minority groups since it is believed that there is a link between economics and hate crimes. Local community leaders must be more aware of the presence of extremist groups who are tremendously prejudiced against certain groups. Reading the chapter makes one think whether hate crimes can be prevented or at the very least, be minimized. Another question is whether there is a way of detecting a person who will most likely commit a hate crime and if detected, can he be swayed into doing otherwise? Is there a way of controlling or limiting one’s prejudices and biases so as not to move one from committing a hate

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay Example for Free

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay This research was commissioned by the Transatlantic Council on Migration, an initiative of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), for its seventh plenary meeting, held November 2011 in Berlin. The meeting’s theme was â€Å"National Identity, Immigration, and Social Cohesion: (Re)building Community in an Ever-Globalizing World† and this paper was one of the reports that informed the Council’s discussions. The Council, an MPI initiative undertaken in cooperation with its policy partner the Bertelsmann Stiftung, is a unique deliberative body that examines vital policy issues and informs migration policymaking processes in North America and Europe. The Council’s work is generously supported by the following foundations and governments: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Open Society Foundations, Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Barrow Cadbury Trust (UK Policy Partner), the Luso-American Development Foundation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. For more on the Transatlantic Council on Migration, please visit: www. migrationpolicy. org/transatlantic.  © 2012 Migration Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Migration Policy Institute. A full-text PDF of this document is available for free download from www. migrationpolicy. org. Permission for reproducing excerpts from this report should be directed to: Permissions Department, Migration Policy Institute, 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, or by contacting [emailprotected] org. Suggested citation: Kymlicka, Will. 2012. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Table of Contents Executive Summary. 1 I. Introduction.. 2 The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism. 3 . II. What Is Multiculturalism?.. 4 A. Misleading Model. 4 . B. Multiculturalism in Context 5 . C. The Evolution of Multiculturalism Policies.. 7 III. Multiculturalism in Practice. 10 A. The Canadian Success Story 10 B. The European Experience. 13 . IV. The Retreat from Multiculturalism.. 14 A. Rhetoric versus Reality .. 14 B. Proliferation of Civic Integration Policies. 15 . V. Conclusion:The Future of Multicultural Citizenship. 21 Appendices 26 Works Cited 28 About the Author.. 32 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Executive Summary Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity — commonly termed â€Å"multiculturalism† — emerged in the West as a vehicle for replacing older forms of ethnic and racial hierarchy with new relations of democratic citizenship. Despite substantial evidence that these policies are making progress toward that goal, a chorus of political leaders has declared them a failure and heralded the death of multiculturalism. This popular master narrative is problematic because it mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and misidentifies not only the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered but the options for addressing these problems. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. This report challenges four powerful myths about multiculturalism. First, it disputes the caricature of multiculturalism as the uncritical celebration of diversity at the expense of addressing grave societal problems such as unemployment and social isolation. Instead it offers an account of multiculturalism as the pursuit of new relations of democratic citizenship, inspired and constrained by human-rights ideals. Second, it contests the idea that multiculturalism has been in wholesale retreat, and offers instead evidence that multiculturalism policies (MCPs) have persisted, and have even grown stronger, over the past ten years. Third, it challenges the idea that multiculturalism has failed, and offers instead evidence that MCPs have had positive effects. Fourth, it disputes the idea that the spread of civic integration policies has displaced multiculturalism or rendered it obsolete. The report instead offers evidence that MCPs are fully consistent with certain forms of civic integration policies, and that indeed the combination of multiculturalism with an â€Å"enabling† form of civic integration is both normatively desirable and empirically effective in at least some cases. To help address these issues, this paper draws upon the Multiculturalism Policy Index. This index 1) identifies eight concrete policy areas where liberal-democratic states — faced with a choice — decided to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups and 2) measures the extent to which countries have espoused some or all of these policies over time. While there have been some high-profile cases of retreat from MCPs, such as the Netherlands, the general pattern from 1980 to 2010 has been one of modest strengthening. Ironically, some countries that have been vociferous about multiculturalism’s â€Å"failure† (e. g. , Germany) have not actually practiced an active multicultural strategy. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. However, not all attempts to adopt new models of multicultural citizenship have taken root or succeeded in achieving their intended effects. There are several factors that can either facilitate or impede the successful implementation of multiculturalism: Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 1 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Desecuritization of ethnic relations. Multiculturalism works best if relations between the state and minorities are seen as an issue of social policy, not as an issue of state security. If the state perceives immigrants to be a security threat (such as Arabs and Muslims after 9/11), support for multiculturalism will drop and the space for minorities to even voice multicultural claims will diminish. Human rights. Support for multiculturalism rests on the assumption that there is a shared commitment to human rights across ethnic and religious lines. If states perceive certain groups as unable or unwilling to respect human-rights norms, they are unlikely to accord them multicultural rights or resources. Much of the backlash against multiculturalism is fundamentally driven by anxieties about Muslims, in particular, and their perceived unwillingness to embrace liberal-democratic norms. Border control. Multiculturalism is more controversial when citizens fear they lack control over their borders — for instance when countries are faced with large numbers (or unexpected surges) of unauthorized immigrants or asylum seekers — than when citizens feel the borders are secure. Diversity of immigrant groups. Multiculturalism works best when it is genuinely multicultural — that is, when immigrants come from many source countries rather than coming overwhelmingly from just one (which is more likely to lead to polarized relations with the majority). Economic contributions. Support for multiculturalism depends on the perception that immigrants are holding up their end of the bargain and making a good-faith effort to contribute to society — particularly economically. When these facilitating conditions are present, multiculturalism can be seen as a low-risk option, and indeed seems to have worked well in such cases. Multiculturalism tends to lose support in high-risk situations where immigrants are seen as predominantly illegal, as potential carriers of illiberal practices or movements, or as net burdens on the welfare state. However, one could argue that rejecting immigrant multiculturalism under these circumstances is in fact the higher-risk move. It is precisely when immigrants are perceived as illegitimate, illiberal, and burdensome that multiculturalism may be most needed. I. Introduction Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity have been in a state of flux around the world for the past 40 years. One hears much about the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism. † Indeed, this has become a kind of master narrative, widely invoked by scholars, journalists, and policymakers alike to explain the evolution of contemporary debates about diversity. Although people disagree about what comes after multiculturalism, there is a surprising consensus that we are in a post-multicultural era. This report contends that this master narrative obscures as much as it reveals, and that we need an alternative framework for thinking about the choices we face. Multiculturalism’s successes and failures, as well as its level of public acceptance, have depended on the nature of the issues at stake and the countries involved, and we need to understand these variations if we are to identify a more sustainable model for accommodating diversity. This paper will argue that the master narrative 1) mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, 2) exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and 3) misidentifies the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered and the options for addressing these problems. 2 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we need first to make sure we know what multiculturalism has meant both in theory and in practice, where it has succeeded or failed to meet its objectives, and under what conditions it is likely to thrive in the future. The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism The master narrative of the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism† helpfully captures important features of our current debates. Yet in some respects it is misleading, and may obscure the real challenges and opportunities we face. In its simplest form, the master narrative goes like this:1 Since the mid-1990s we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism. From the 1970s to mid-1990s, there was a clear trend across Western democracies toward the increased recognition and accommodation of diversity through a range of multiculturalism policies (MCPs) and minority rights. These policies were endorsed both at the domestic level in some states and by international organizations, and involved a rejection of earlier ideas of unitary and homogeneous nationhood. Since the mid-1990s, however, we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism, and a reassertion of ideas of nation building, common values and identity, and unitary citizenship — even a call for the â€Å"return of assimilation. † This retreat is partly driven by fears among the majority group that the accommodation of diversity has â€Å"gone too far† and is threatening their way of life. This fear often expresses itself in the rise of nativist and populist right-wing political movements, such as the Danish People’s Party, defending old ideas of â€Å"Denmark for the Danish. † But the retreat also reflects a belief among the center-left that multiculturalism has failed to help the intended beneficiaries — namely, minorities themselves — because it has failed to address the underlying sources of their social, economic, and political exclusion and may have unintentionally contributed to their social isolation. As a result, even the center-left political movements that initially championed multiculturalism, such as the social democratic parties in Europe, have backed 1 For influential academic statements of this â€Å"rise and fall† narrative, claiming that it applies across the Western democracies, see Rogers Brubaker, â€Å"The Return of Assimilation? † Ethnic and Racial Studies 24, no. 4 (2001): 531–48; and Christian Joppke, â€Å"The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy,† British Journal of Sociology 55, no. 2 (2004): 237–57. There are also many accounts of the â€Å"decline,† â€Å"retreat,† or â€Å"crisis† of multiculturalism in particular countries. For the Netherlands, see Han Entzinger, â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism in the Netherlands,† in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-States, eds. Christian Joppke and Ewa Morawska (London: Palgrave, 2003) and Ruud Koopmans, â€Å"Trade-Offs between Equality and Difference: The Crisis of Dutch Multiculturalism in Cross-National Perspective† (Brief, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, December 2006). For Britain, see Randall Hansen, â€Å"Diversity, Integration and the Turn from Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom,† in Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, eds. Keith G. Banting, Thomas J. Courchene, and F. Leslie Seidle (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2007); Les Back, Michael Keith, Azra Khan, Kalbir Shukra, and John Solomos, â€Å"New Labour’s White Heart: Politics, Multiculturalism and the Return of Assimilation,† Political Quarterly 73, No. 4 (2002): 445–54; Steven Vertovec, â€Å"Towards post-multiculturalism? Changing communities, conditions and contexts of diversity,† International Social Science Journal 61 (2010): 83–95. For Australia, see Ien Ang and John Stratton, â€Å"Multiculturalism in Crisis: The New Politics of Race and National Identity in Australia,† in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West, ed. I. Ang (London: Routledge, 2001). For Canada, see Lloyd Wong, Joseph Garcea, and Anna Kirova, An Analysis of the ‘Anti- and Post-Multiculturalism’ Discourses: The Fragmentation Position (Alberta: Prairie Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Integration, 2005), http://pmc. metropolis. net/Virtual%20Library/FinalReports/Post-multi%20FINAL%20REPORT%20for%20PCERII%20_2_. pdf. For a good overview of the backlash discourse in various countries, see Steven Vertovec and Susan Wessendorf, eds. , The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices (London: Routledge, 2010). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 3 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE away from it and shifted to a discourse that emphasizes â€Å"civic integration,† â€Å"social cohesion,† â€Å"common values,† and â€Å"shared citizenship. †2 The social-democratic discourse of civic integration differs from the radical-right discourse in emphasizing the need to develop a more inclusive national identity and to fight racism and discrimination, but it nonetheless distances itself from the rhetoric and policies of multiculturalism. The term postmulticulturalism has often been invoked to signal this new approach, which seeks to overcome the limits of a naive or misguided multiculturalism while avoiding the oppressive reassertion of homogenizing nationalist ideologies. 3 II. What Is Multiculturalism? A. Misleading Model In much of the post-multiculturalist literature, multiculturalism is characterized as a feel-good celebration of ethnocultural diversity, encouraging citizens to acknowledge and embrace the panoply of customs, traditions, music, and cuisine that exist in a multiethnic society. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown calls this the â€Å"3S† model of multiculturalism in Britain — saris, samosas, and steeldrums. 4 Multiculturalism takes these familiar cultural markers of ethnic groups — clothing, cuisine, and music — and treats them as authentic practices to be preserved by their members and safely consumed by others. Under the banner of multiculturalism they are taught in school, performed in festivals, displayed in media and museums, and so on. This celebratory model of multiculturalism has been the focus of many critiques, including the following: It ignores issues of economic and political inequality. Even if all Britons come to enjoy Jamaican steeldrum music or Indian samosas, this would do nothing to address the real problems facing Caribbean and South Asian communities in Britain — problems of unemployment, poor educational outcomes, residential segregation, poor English language skills, and political marginalization. These economic and political issues cannot be solved simply by celebrating cultural differences. Even with respect to the (legitimate) goal of promoting greater understanding of cultural differences, the focus on celebrating â€Å"authentic† cultural practices that are â€Å"unique† to each group is potentially dangerous. First, not all customs that may be traditionally practiced within a particular group are worthy of being celebrated, or even of being legally tolerated, such as forced marriage. To avoid stirring up controversy, there’s a tendency to choose as the focus of multicultural celebrations safely inoffensive practices — such as cuisine or music — that can be enjoyably consumed by members of the larger society. But this runs the opposite risk 2 For an overview of the attitudes of European social democratic parties to these issues, see Rene Cuperus, Karl Duffek, and Johannes Kandel, eds. , The Challenge of Diversity: European Social Democracy Facing Migration, Integration and Multiculturalism (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2003). For references to â€Å"post-multiculturalism† by progressive intellectuals, who distinguish it from the radical right’s â€Å"antimulticulturalism,† see, regarding the United Kingdom, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2000), and â€Å"Beyond Multiculturalism,† Canadian Diversity/Diversite Canadienne 3, no. 2 (2004): 51–4; regarding Australia, James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); and regarding the United States, Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), and David A. Hollinger, Post-ethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, revised edition (New York: Basic Books, 2006). Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism. 3 4 4 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE of the trivialization or Disneyfication of cultural differences,5 ignoring the real challenges that differences in cultural and religious values can raise. Third, the 3S model of multiculturalism can encourage a conception of groups as hermetically sealed and static, each reproducing its own distinct practices. Multiculturalism may be intended to encourage people to share their customs, but the assumption that each group has its own distinctive customs ignores processes of cultural adaptation, mixing, and melange, as well as emerging cultural commonalities, thereby potentially reinforcing perceptions of minorities as eternally â€Å"other. † This in turn can lead to the strengthening of prejudice and stereotyping, and more generally to the polarization of ethnic relations. Fourth, this model can end up reinforcing power inequalities and cultural restrictions within minority groups. In deciding which traditions are â€Å"authentic,† and how to interpret and display them, the state generally consults the traditional elites within the group — typically older males — while ignoring the way these traditional practices (and traditional elites) are often challenged by internal reformers, who have different views about how, say, a â€Å"good Muslim† should act. It can therefore imprison people in â€Å"cultural scripts† that they are not allowed to question or dispute. According to post-multiculturalists, the growing recognition of these flaws underlies the retreat from multiculturalism and signals the search for new models of citizenship that emphasize 1) political participation and economic opportunities over the symbolic politics of cultural recognition, 2) human rights and individual freedom over respect for cultural traditions, 3) the building of inclusive national identities over the recognition of ancestral cultural identities, and 4) cultural change and cultural mixing over the reification of static cultural differences. This narrative about the rise and fall of 3S multiculturalism will no doubt be familiar to many readers. In my view, however, it is inaccurate. Not only is it a caricature of the reality of multiculturalism as it has developed over the past 40 years in the Western democracies, but it is a distraction from the real issues that we need to face. The 3S model captures something important about natural human tendencies to simplify ethnic differences, and about the logic of global capitalism to sell cosmopolitan cultural products, but it does not capture the nature of post-1960s government MCPs, which have had more complex historical sources and political goals. B. Multiculturalism in Context It is important to put multiculturalism in its historical context. In one sense, it is as old as humanity — different cultures have always found ways of coexisting, and respect for diversity was a familiar feature of many historic empires, such as the Ottoman Empire. But the sort of multiculturalism that is said to have had a â€Å"rise and fall† is a more specific historic phenomenon, emerging first in the Western democracies in the late 1960s. This timing is important, for it helps us situate multiculturalism in relation to larger social transformations of the postwar era. More specifically, multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Prior to World War II, ethnocultural and religious diversity in the West was characterized by a range of illiberal and undemocratic relationships of hierarchy,6 justified by racialist ideologies that explicitly propounded the superiority of some peoples and cultures and their right to rule over others. These ideologies were widely accepted throughout the Western world and underpinned both domestic laws (e. g. , racially biased immigration and citizenship policies) and foreign policies (e. g. , in relation to overseas colonies). 5 6 Neil Bissoondath, Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada (Toronto: Penguin, 1994). Including relations of conqueror and conquered, colonizer and colonized, master and slave, settler and indigenous, racialized and unmarked, normalized and deviant, orthodox and heretic, civilized and primitive, and ally and enemy. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 5 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE After World War II, however, the world recoiled against Hitler’s fanatical and murderous use of such ideologies, and the United Nations decisively repudiated them in favor of a new ideology of the equality of races and peoples. And this new assumption of human equality generated a series of political movements designed to contest the lingering presence or enduring effects of older hierarchies. We can distinguish three â€Å"waves† of such movements: 1) the struggle for decolonization, concentrated in the period 1948–65; 2) the struggle against racial segregation and discrimination, initiated and exemplified by the AfricanAmerican civil-rights movement from 1955 to 1965; and 3) the struggle for multiculturalism and minority rights, which emerged in the late 1960s. Multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Each of these movements draws upon the human-rights revolution, and its foundational ideology of the equality of races and peoples, to challenge the legacies of earlier ethnic and racial hierarchies. Indeed, the human-rights revolution plays a double role here, not just as the inspiration for a struggle, but also as a constraint on the permissible goals and means of that struggle. Insofar as historically excluded or stigmatized groups struggle against earlier hierarchies in the name of equality, they too have to renounce their own traditions of exclusion or oppression in the treatment of, say, women, gays, people of mixed race, religious dissenters, and so on. Human rights, and liberal-democratic constitutionalism more generally, provide the overarching framework within which these struggles are debated and addressed. Each of these movements, therefore, can be seen as contributing to a process of democratic â€Å"citizenization† — that is, turning the earlier catalog of hierarchical relations into relationships of liberaldemocratic citizenship. This entails transforming both the vertical relationships between minorities and the state and the horizontal relationships among the members of different groups. In the past, it was often assumed that the only way to engage in this process of citizenization was to impose a single undifferentiated model of citizenship on all individuals. But the ideas and policies of multiculturalism that emerged from the 1960s start from the assumption that this complex history inevitably and appropriately generates group-differentiated ethnopolitical claims. The key to citizenization is not to suppress these differential claims but to filter them through and frame them within the language of human rights, civil liberties, and democratic accountability. And this is what multiculturalist movements have aimed to do. The precise character of the resulting multicultural reforms varies from group to group, as befits the distinctive history that each has faced. They all start from the antidiscrimination principle that underpinned the second wave but go beyond it to challenge other forms of exclusion or stigmatization. In most Western countries, explicit state-sponsored discrimination against ethnic, racial, or religious minorities had largely ceased by the 1960s and 1970s, under the influence of the second wave of humanrights struggles. Yet ethnic and racial hierarchies persist in many societies, whether measured in terms of economic inequalities, political underrepresentation, social stigmatization, or cultural invisibility. Various forms of multiculturalism have been developed to help overcome these lingering inequalities. The focus in this report is on multiculturalism as it pertains to (permanently settled) immigrant groups,7 7 There was briefly in some European countries a form of â€Å"multiculturalism† that was not aimed at the inclusion of permanent immigrants, but rather at ensuring that temporary migrants would return to their country of origin. For example, mothertongue education in Germany was not initially introduced â€Å"as a minority right but in order to enable guest worker children to reintegrate in their countries of origin† (Karen Schonwalder, â€Å"Germany: Integration Policy and Pluralism in a Self-Conscious Country of Immigration,† in The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices, eds. Steven Vertovec and Susanne Wessendorf [London: Routledge, 2010], 160). Needless to say, this sort of â€Å"returnist† multiculturalism — premised on the idea that migrants are foreigners who should return to their real home — has nothing to do with multiculturalism policies (MCPs) premised on the idea that immigrants belong in their host countries, and which aim to make immigrants 6 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE but it is worth noting that struggles for multicultural citizenship have also emerged in relation to historic minorities and indigenous peoples. 8 C. The Evolution of Multiculturalism Policies The case of immigrant multiculturalism is just one aspect of a larger â€Å"ethnic revival† across the Western democracies,9 in which different types of minorities have struggled for new forms of multicultural citizenship that combine both antidiscrimination measures and positive forms of recognition and accommodation. Multicultural citizenship for immigrant groups clearly does not involve the same types of claims as for indigenous peoples or national minorities: immigrant groups do not typically seek land rights, territorial autonomy, or official language status. What then is the substance of multicultural citizenship in relation to immigrant groups? The Multiculturalism Policy Index is one attempt to measure the evolution of MCPs in a standardized format that enables comparative research. 10 The index takes the following eight policies as the most common or emblematic forms of immigrant MCPs:11 Constitutional, legislative, or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism, at the central and/ or regional and municipal levels The adoption of multiculturalism in school curricula The inclusion of ethnic representation/sensitivity in the mandate of public media or media licensing Exemptions from dress codes, either by statute or by court cases Allowing of dual citizenship The funding of ethnic group organizations to support cultural activities The funding of bilingual education or mother-tongue instruction Affirmative action for disadvantaged immigrant groups12 feel more at home where they are. The focus of this paper is on the latter type of multiculturalism, which is centrally concerned with constructing new relations of citizenship. 8 In relation to indigenous peoples, for example — such as the Maori in New Zealand, Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Australia, American Indians, the Sami in Scandinavia, and the Inuit of Greenland — new models of multicultural citizenship have emerged since the late 1960s that include policies such as land rights, self-government rights, recognition of customary laws, and guarantees of political consultation. And in relation to substate national groups — such as the Basques and Catalans in Spain, Flemish and Walloons in Belgium, Scots and Welsh in Britain, Quebecois in Canada, Germans in South Tyrol, Swedish in Finland — we see new models of multicultural citizenship that include policies such as federal or quasi-federal territorial autonomy; official language status, either in the region or nationally; and guarantees of representation in the central government or on constitutional courts. 9 Anthony Smith, The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). 10 Keith Banting and I developed this index, first published in Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka, eds. , Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Many of the ideas discussed in this paper are the result of our collaboration. 11 As with all cross-national indices, there is a trade-off between standardization and sensitivity to local nuances. There is no universally accepted definition of multiculturalism policies and no hard and fast line that would sharply distinguish MCPs from closely related policy fields, such as antidis

Heart Diseases and Stem Cell Transplantation

Heart Diseases and Stem Cell Transplantation Abstract According a report published by the World health organization about the most prevalent causes of mortality for the time periods of 2000 and 2011, it can be seen that Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of mortality. There are many conditions that can lead to heart failure. Such conditions are raised blood pressure, myocardial infarction as well as atherosclerotic heart disease. Ischemia leads to necrosis of the myocardial cells due to lack of oxygen resulting in permanent loss of heart muscle. Stem cell therapy allows us to restore the motor function of the heart by delivering stem cells to the site of function loss. The aim of this review is to highlight key points about the different stem cell types that are being researched. Most importantly we will look at how and why recent advances are better suited for treatment of different conditions of the heart. This shall be argued by looking at the ways in which the stem cells used are obtained and transplanted as well as keeping in mind the natural behavior and purpose of the different classes of stem cells. Different Stem cell Types Being Researched The two classes of stem cells that have been researched the most are mulitpotent and pluirpotent stem cells. Pluripotent cells have a greater potency then multipotent stem cells meaning that only specific classes of multipotent stem cells can be used to restore cardiomyocytes. Multipotent Stem cells c-Kit+Cardiac Stem Cells These cardiac stem cells exhibit c-Kit+ which is a surface receptor that has tyrosine kinase activity. There have been successful studies using these types of cells for myocyte regeneration. According to Sheng and co-workers (2012) use of these stem cells has led to regeneration of cardiomyocytes in the ventricles. SCIPIO, is a phase 1 study conducted by Bolli et al. This study looked at patients who suffered from an MI and then had cardiac stem cells introduced into their left ventricle. They published their results in 2011 showing that left ventricular function improved from the initial ejection fraction that was below 40%. Makkar et al. in 2012 published findings for the CADUCEUS study. This study again introduced CSCs into patients LV just after an MI. Results showed no harm being done to the patient as well as an increase in the ejection fraction of the LV. Fuentes and Kearns-Jonker in 2013 released results were application of ephrin A1 can improve CSC treatment in rats. Ephrin A1 is a human protein important for moderating cell maturation that is introduced before transplantation of CSCs occurs. Most notably repopulation of the damaged area (infarct) was twice as much and as well as having improved systolic function as well as reduced number of complications such as arrhythmias. Bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSC) BMSCs are obtained from that patients bone marrow and then used to treat the same patient. BMSCs have been being used for a long time due to ease of acquirement as well as the fact that they don’t elicit an immune response when used. According to Sheng and co-workers (2012) BMSC therapy hasn’t lead to notable changes in patient quality of life with only temporary mild increase in ventricular systolic function. BMSCs release beneficial paracrine effects (Lee et al., 2005). Paracrines have a number of roles including cessation of apoptosis in sites of ischemic heart damage and stimulation of host vascular (angiogenesis) and cardiac tissue (cardiomyogenesis) growth. Inter-conversion of cells from 1 type to another as well as joining of 2 or more cells to become one cell results in formation of endothelial and ventricular muscle tissue from the precursor stem cell (Lee et al., 2005). Pluripotent stem cells Such cells are capable of forming all 3 primary layers. Embryo Stem cells (ESCs) ESCs are obtained from the mass of cells inside the blastocyst and are capable of self renewal. Compared to adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells have more inherent ability to replace damaged tissue in the heart. This is due to them being pluripotent they replace not only the muscle lost but also perform angiogenesis. Advancements in regulation of developmental pathways for ESCs have enabled improved results. BMP inhibitor improves the conversion of ESCs to cardiomyocytes but in so doing reduces conversion to other tissues of mesoderm origin (Hao et al., 2008). Hao and his co-workers (2008) also state that dorsomorphin can become a great tool for stem cell therapy in the future. Wnt/ÃŽ ²-catenin signaling control with the use of XAV939 improves ESC differentiation into cardiomyocytes. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) Gene Transplantation Direct gene delivery For different forms of gene delivery the catheter has to both compatible to the site targeted as well as not having any property causing injury or eliciting an immune response. Naimark et al. compared the use of Nitinol stainless steel and Stiletto catheters for epicardial administration as well as endocardial showing that Stilletto catheters were twice as effective. Intrapericardial injection Advantage of this method of delivery is that there is no exposure of the heart and other organs. The use of intrapericardial infection in dogs has shown they endure the pain with not too much distress highlighting that the patient will undergo less distress compared to open surgery (March et al., 1999). This percutaneous method introduces the genes into the pericardial sac which then migrates into the myocardium. (Kawase et al., 2007) There are varying approaches to how to perform the injection. Fromes and coworkers used a transdiaphragmetic method. What was observed was that injection of the stem cells on their own lead to no gene expression difference in the myocardium. Stem cell expression results at the end of week one improved significantly with addition of proteinase in the injection fluid. Endocardial injection Microsphere retention varies according to volume used and site of injection. Endomyocardial injection had 28% greater retention then epicardial administration. Further retention can be obtained with the use of 10 ÃŽ ¼L rather then 100 ÃŽ ¼L. Greater spread of the adenovirus which encoded lac-Z was observed going to other organs in lower volumes too (Grossman et al., 2002). Use of fluoroscopy proved that this method is safe and that gene expression is present in 81% of the pigs used. Specimens used showed no symptoms and signs of cardiac arrhythmia or disturbance of blood flow. Patients suffering from chronic ischemia can develop complications such as perforation of the ventricle due to its thin nature as well as effusion of fluid in the pericardial sac decreasing cardiac output (Gwon et al., 2001). Intramyocardial injection This method has shown great success in many studies due to direct delivery of vector to site of damage. Injection of reporter gene into cardiac tissue and expression of the gene is feasible in canine myocardium. Response showed to be directly proportional to the volume of plasmid DNA used. Interestingly gene expression was uniform throughout the left ventricle independent of the level of injury. Stem cell expression gradually weakens over time showing greatest activity at the end of the first week (von Harsdorf et al., 1993). Use of plasmid DNA for cardiac muscle shows unique property of the tissue in being able to uptake DNA via the use of T tubules. Weakened expression after the first week is due to immune defensive mechanisms targeting transfected cells (Acsadi et al., 1991). Use of plasmid DNA vectors in early studies showed low efficiency in terms of transduction and time interval in which it is active; this lead to the use of adenovirus to transfer of ÃŽ ²-galactosidase gene an d plasmid. However results showed poor expression after day 7 as well as immune reaction generation (Guzman et al., 1993). Use of rAAV proved to be a more successful vector for the LacZ gene showing no immune response generation or inflammation at the site of injection. Expression was strongest after 1 week during weeks 4 to 8 showing very little results in the first 2 weeks. An increase in efficiency in terms of number of cells that undergo transduction due to perfusion was observed. Half of the cardiomyocytes showed LacZ gene expression (Svensson et al., 1999). BetaARKct gene produces a peptide that improves betaAR (beta-adrenergic receptor) signaling which is seen to diminish after a myocardial infarct. BetaAR function is interfered upon by G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2. BetaARKct gene product will eliminate G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 interference. rAAV6 was used as a vector. Introduction of the BetaARKct gene further increased the efficiency of the intramyocardial injection with improved transduction cell number and length of time interval expression is strongest – up to 12 weeks from start of experiment. Long term use of BetaARKct gene lead to raised cardiac contractility as well as a turn around in ventricular remodeling (Rengo et al., 2009). Transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promoted angiogenesis in damaged myocardium and diminished anginal pain (Koransky et al., 2002). Transvascular gene delivery Some diseases such as pulmonary and essential hypertension, long QT syndrome and congestive heart failure require not just a percentage of their cells to undergo transduction but rather the entire myocardium. This can only be done by a method that ensures global delivery to the myocardium (Donahue et al., 1997). This is because it’s not just a group of cells that are contributing to the disease but rather every cell. E.g. Intramyocardial injection in these conditions would be useless as it only affects a small area. Selective coronary catheterization with antegrade intracoronary delivery A single pass method yields poor transduction values showing phenotype expression in only 5% of cardiac muscle at most (Ding et al., 2004). For optimal transduction to take place prolonged exposure time via occlusion of blood supply was necessary. The coronary arteries and coronary venous sinus were the tested targets with the latter producing almost 5 times increase in transduction (Logeart et al., 2001). Donahue and coworkers worked on rabbit myocardium observing key conditions for 96% of myocardial cells to undergo transduction. These parameters included increased virus concentrations, increased exposure, performing experiment at 37 °C, increased coronary flow rate and use of crystalloid media with specific compositions. Almost maximal transduction could be achieved with improved microvascular permeability in a decreased coronary perfusion time period of 2 minutes. Lowered Ca2+concentration coupled to bradykinin or serotonin pretreatment and raised virus concentration achieve this (Donahue et al., 1998). Use of catheters to occlude the aorta and venous return in the right atrium in rodents was coupled to cardiopulmonary arrest with the use of esmolol and acetylcholine for 2 and 5 minutes in order to increase viral incubation time proved to increase transduction response in 43% of cardiac muscle after 3 days. Minimally invasive surgical intervention is still required but the fore mentioned method shows a 400 time improvement in phenotype expression contrasted to the sham-operated group. S-Nitroso-N-acetyl-DL-penicillamine and histamine use failed to improve microvacular permeability (Ding et al., 2004). Nonselective (indirect) intracoronary delivery Using a number of injections to transfer genes with the use of surgery has been studied in research extensively (Guzman et al., 1993). Transduction of human beta 2- adrenergic receptor (betaAR) gene in patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure can restore the cardiac beta-adrenergic receptor system. betaAR function is also compromised in acute myocardial function upset. The betaAR signaling pathway is the main target of most drugs on the market today for heart failure treatment (Parsa et al., 2003). Use of catheter to deliver Adeno-beta 2 adrenergic receptor into the left ventricle in rabbits produced at most a ten fold increase in beta 2- adrenergic receptor expression. After 3 weeks improved myocardial function was observed. Left ventricular pressure was improved as a result of increased myocardial contractility and improved ventricle loading conditions. Isoproterenol receptivity was also observed to increase (Maurice et al., 1999). This indirect method of virus introduction wi ll result in virus transport in the systemic circulation possibly resulting in ÃŽ ²-AR overexpression in the lungs and liver. Larger doses of the virus result in systemic ischemia and decreased cardiac function (Parsa et al., 2003). According to Hajjar and coworkers gene transfer in vivo results in transduction occurring in more then one location. In vivogene delivery involving adenovirus mediated transmission of betaAR kinase carboxyl terminus (betaARKct) or betaAR has shown that use of betaARKct prohibits smooth muscle hyperplasia in vascular intima after angioplasty. BetaARKct use improves ventrivular function via improved betaAR signaling via genetic inhibition of GÃŽ ²ÃŽ ³-ÃŽ ²-adrenergic receptor kinase. Over expression of betaAR improves cardiac function (Eckhart et al., 2000). Gene delivery in vivo improves ventricular contractility as well as adjustment of ECG intervals (Hajjar et al., 1998). Global phenotypic changes can be improved via increased transduction with the use of an improved method of to deliver the viruses. Introduction of the catheter into the left ventricular cavity followed by movement superiorly to end in the aortic root is coupled with pulmonary artery and ascending aorta occlusion. As a result a transcoronary perfusion gradient is generated; which improves viral delivery. This method has a number of modifications such as prompting of asystole pharmacologically, hypothermia use to lengthen cross-clamp interval and occlusion of the distal aorta (Beeri et al., 2002), (del Monte et al., 2001) and (Hajjar et al., 2000). Selective coronary sinus or coronary venous catheterization with retrograde delivery Intracoronary delivery involves systemic spread of the vector due to the brief interval in which the vector can adhere to the coronary endothelium. This is the great disadvantage of the fore mentioned method as coronary flow and endothelial permeability have a large contribution (Logeart et al., 2001). Contrasted to intracoronary delivery, retrograde delivery results in improved expression of the delivered gene (Kaye et al., 2007). Adeno-associated viral vectors do not induce an immune response and cause no inflammation. AAV vectors facilitate long-term gene expression (Sakata et al., 2007). Retro-infusion has proven to transfer AAV vectors efficiently as a long term method of gene transfer. This is due to improved endothelial permeability and lengthening of adhesion time for the vector (von Degenfeld et al., 2003). Systemic spread of vector to liver and lungs was observed however with lack of gene expression due to use of an enhanced myosin light chain promoter sequence (Raake et al ., 2008). Studies have proved that a single administration is enough in order for efficient regional myocyte transfection to occur. The advantages of only a single administration being necessary include minimal washout and controlled dwell times promoting longer exposure. The genes human developmentally regulated endothelial locus-1 and green fluorescent protein were used in this study (Hou et al., 2003). Pulmonary and hepatic transgene expression can be avoided with the use of adjusted models of myocardial gene delivery. Kaye and coworkers established a high efficiency percutaneous closed-loop system. This closed loop system permits increased transduction in the cardiac muscle due to higher concentration of vector present. This method reduces peripheral systemic spread that results in decreased transgene expression outside the heart in the lungs and liver (Kaye et al., 2007). Bridges states that usage of the percutaneous closed-loop system just mentioned would result in loss of more then 99% of the vector to the systemic circulation and not to the myocardium. On close examination of results obtained 2,639 vector genomes/ mg DNA were found in the heart contrasted to 69,595 vector genomes/ mg DNA in the liver. It was suggested that lack of hemiazaygous vein control results in this systemic spread. Ex vivotechnique Many studies have been carried out on the use of transplantation model for gene transfer. In the study done by Griscelli and coworkers recombinant adenoviruses are injected into coronary vessels of the organ then the heart is transplanted. This study carried out on piglet hearts have emphasized prolonged exposure time for vector contact to the heart. The advantage of using such a transplantation model is that this takes place with no coronary flow. Expression of transferred gene was noted with little presence of the transferred genome in hepatic and pulmonary tissues (Griscelli et al., 2003). Wang and Knechtle experimented on and compared 2 different methods of vector delivery prior to transplantation; myocardial injection and perfusion. Injection produced a higher degree of transgene expression. Perfusion resulted in greater overall distribution of transgene expression. Use of these methods only provides as a short term method of gene transfer (Wang and Knechtle., 1996).

Reviewing The Novel No Name Woman English Literature Essay

Reviewing The Novel No Name Woman English Literature Essay Kingston and Tan, both of stereotypical immigrant background, use their memories of deceased mother to build credibility in their respective articles. In Tans Mother Tongue, major themes of language and identity throughout the essay revolves around how the mothers past lives in china affect their daughters lives in this country; just as the daughters childhood experiences effect their identities and adult lives. Likewise, Kingston uses a similar approach by introducing the mother character early on in the essay, with the narrators mother telling her a story which she must never repeat about the aunt she never knew. However, unlike Tans descriptive approach on mother-daughters daily lives, Kingston focuses on the clear parallel between her aunts tragedy and her own deprivations as the daughter of immigrants: the repression of sexuality, individuality, and generational shame. Despite their differences, the power of the spoken and written word is the common theme which gave birth to its relative themes in both respective articles. Being a talk-story meant to be kept silence, No Name Woman is written instead of spoken; Mother Tongue revolves around the narrator and her mothers spoken English, and again, is written instead of spoken. Stylistically, No Name Womans distinctive accomplishment lies within the cross boundaries between genres, dictions, styles, between fact and fiction. The narrator makes radical leaps in time and space, spanning over 100 years of Chinese-American history, combining Chinese myth, family history, and American individualism and rebelliousness. On the other hand, being a significant part of Tans childhood, the limitation in language of Tans mother has more or less influence over her writing style. She criticises her past attempt to create wittily crafted sentence that could prove her mastery over the English language, That was my mental quandary in its nascent state. A terrible line, which I can barely pronounce. This explains the lack of imaginative detail, metaphor and personal musings in Mother Tongue, in which was exerted strongly in Kingstons work. However, it is the simplicity of Tans language that evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth without the extr avagance of time leaping, non-linear talk-stories to reveal the same emotions, ideas or a simple truth both authors wish to impact on the readers themselves. It is clear that both Tan and Kingston are reaching out to other Chinese-Americans who share their feelings of displacement and frustration. So easy to read., a verdict given by Tans mother upon completion on readings of Tans work, highlights the purpose of Tans essay in increasing the awareness of language in family, home, peer, and work communities: allowing English literatures not only accessible to mainstream Americans, but also the minorities of limited English comprehension. Being a product of the sixties, No Name Woman contains traces of the civil right and womens liberation movements of that time, where Kingston proposes: Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil she obeyed him. However, it is her struggle to make sense of her mothers story according to her mothers traditional Chinese code of beliefs, that she shares her questions and concerns directly to Chinese-Americans: Chinese-Americans, when you try to unde rstand what things in you are Chinese, how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies? Having to state that, as an immigrant story for a nation of immigrants, both Kingston and Tans work are nevertheless intended as well for a mainstream audience. The lives Kingston and Tan have to battle through are interesting ones. The opening words of The Woman Warrior set the tone for much of the rest of the memoir, You must not tell anyone, my mother said, what I am about to tell you In fact, after being silence all her life, Kingston becomes a rebellion of sorts by breaking the silence and asserts power over those who have held her back. Such form of rebellious nature is nevertheless expressed in Tans Mother Tongue as she breaks stereotypic cycle surrounding Asians, Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me. However, such depiction of unique experience in literature, as present in both Kingston and Tans work, can arguably be deemed reprehensible for its threat to distort Chinese-American reality. As the subject is forbidden, Kingston knows nothings about her aunt beyond the broad details of the story. This presents us with a dichotomy of the ambiguous nature of talk- story a blend of the real and fantasies. Similarly, Tan makes generalisation of the English spoken in other Asian-American families, not to mention her emphasise on math and science, in which Tan describes as what happened to me, not what happened to every Asian-American. The confusion and ambivalence they feel as the author, who were once the listeners, parallel ours. However, just as Kingston writes of No Name Woman: Unless I see her life branching into mine, she gives me no ancestral help, it enables readers to make allowances for Kingston and Tans reinterpretation of mothers word from their own American perspective, thereby encouraging readers too to alter ideas from each article according to their own perspectives. I believe that each of us was Amy Tan, or Maxine Hong Kingston, in some point of our lives. Whether it is through silence, or through talking, reading both authors pieces is like having a prophetic, riddle-like dream: one cannot help but to be drawn into its stories by their distinctive writing style, concepts of cultural language and identity, and its reflection on the readers themselves. With this comes an important point: sometimes we must be far away from home, or to be separated from our roots somehow, in order to realize and appreciate what we really have.

James Baldwin Essay -- essays papers

James Baldwin Another Country and Go Tell it on the Mountain are two of James Baldwin's most analyzed novels. Some see both novels as great additions to American literature, while others criticize Baldwin's unique writing style used in both works. Another Country has been called a true American classic, and also a literary failure. At any rate, it is an extremely controversial novel filled with controversial characters. The majority of the novel is filled with either talk or fornication, and at least halfway through the novel the talk takes over and begins to control it. Baldwin's Another Country is divided into categories. These categories, including black/white, hetero/homosexual, and male/female are constantly brought up throughout the novel. The novel is divided into three sections and covers four narratives. Each narrative focuses on two characters, and the eight main characters interact throughout the novel. All of the pairs focus on the categories that were mentioned before. Rufus Scott and Leona make up the first pair of characters. Rufus is a black jazz ...

Ecstasy: Greater Affects on Women? :: science

Ecstasy: Greater Affects on Women? Ecstasy: Are Women More Susceptible To Brain Damage? The rave scene. It’s becoming a popular way to ‘kick-back’ for high school and college kids. â€Å"Everyone† is doing it at parties. Unfortunately, this party isn’t all fun and games. Drugs are prevalent at raves. Ecstasy, one of the most popular drugs abused there is like the tiny insects that aren‘t widely feared, but can be deadly. It looks small and innocent, but its more harmful than you may think. Ecstasy is actually C11H15NO2, which means. New studies show women may be at an even greater risk to prolonged effects of the drug ecstasy- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. It is commonly known that ecstasy produces great levels of serotonin. These chemicals are released in the brain, generating a false sense of happiness, self-esteem, and increase sexual drive. Prolonged exposure to the drug can result in a lack of serotonin altogether, leading to depression and many other mental illnesses. Ecstasy is commonly classified as a stimulant. Ecstasy is most often found in pill form, although it is also sold as a powder. Imprints on the pill classify them into ‘brand names’. Frequent users are known to buy from the same ‘brand’ just like most all consumers prefer one brand of milk or orange juice. The drug is easy to find and can range in prices from $20 - $50 per tablet. Since demand at the club scene is so high, buyers are sometimes sold imitation ‘X’, a drug that could contain any number of substances. Any other variant of Ecstasy could also be found with a mixture of drugs. Ecstasy is called: MAMA, X, XTC, Adam, The love drug, and many other names still being created. (www.ecstasy.org) Dutch studies grouped participants into three categories of users: moderate, heavy, and ex-users. Moderate use is classified as less than 50 tablets; heavy is more than 50 tablets; and ex-users were reportedly off ecstasy for at least one-year before the study. Users had to abstain from all drug use for 3 weeks before the study was conducted. The three groups were also categorized by gender and age. The study revealed that MAMA use might result in lowered levels in the density of serotonin transporters in the brain. It also suggests that the degree of those levels was partially dependent on sex. Moderate users of both male and female participants did not seem to lead to a large reduction in the production of serotonin.

Ethic Leaders

Include a live link to your source so that we may visit the site. http://pressroom. target. com/leadership/gregg-w-steinhafel Identify the leader and the company or organization. Mr. Gregg W. Steinhafel serves as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Target Brands, Inc. Mr. Steinhafel has been the Chairman of Target Corp. since February 1, 2009 and its Chief Executive Officer since May 01, 2008 and President since August 1999. Mr. Steinhafel has gained meaningful leadership experience and retail knowledge.Target Corporation, originally the Dayton Dry Goods Company and later the Dayton Hudson Corporation, is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. The company is ranked at number 38 on the Fortune 500 as of 2012 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Its bull’s-eye trademark is licensed to Wesfarmers, owners of the separate Target Australia chain which is unrelated to Target Corporation. Provide a brief overview of the company's core business.Target set high standards for—where you shop. They aim to be a place where guests and team members will always find more than they expect. Their mission and values set the stage, and day-to-day innovation, teamwork and community partnerships reflect who they are. Their mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling their Expect More. Pay Less.  ® brand promise. Describe the position of this person and his or her overall duties and responsibilities.As Chief Executive Officer, he is responsible for determining the strategy and clearly articulating priorities as well as aligning and motivating to execute strategy and clearly articulating priorities as well as aligning and motivating to execute effectivel y and ensure continued success. As president, Steinhafel had companywide responsibility for merchandising, stores, global sourcing, product design and development, presentation, supply chain and Target. com. Identify how and why this person demonstrates a strong sense of business ethics and organizational values. What has this person accomplished? Steinhafel has een instrumental in developing and promoting Target’s unique corporate culture, in which 365,000 talented and diverse team members collaborate and innovate to make Target a fun and convenient shopping experience, providing access to highly differentiated products at affordable prices and sustaining the company’s legacy of giving and service. Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income to non-profit organizations that support the communities where Target does business. Today, that giving equals more than $4 million a week. He also believes that donating time, talent and resources is equally imp ortant as the income they give.Target gives hundreds of thousands of hours volunteering in their communities every year. Target helps build safe, strong and healthy communities to all their guest and works closely with partners and organizations. They support educational programs, provide basic needs to families in crisis, and practice sustainability throughout their business—and that’s just the beginning. Throughout the year, Target provide education grants to local K-12 schools to support educational field trips, early childhood reading programs and participation in the arts.Target donated millions of books to kids and their school libraries through Target Books for Schools Awards and their Target School Library Makeover program. Steinhafel is a member of the Business Roundtable, Business Council and the Minnesota Business Partnership. In 2010, he was appointed to the Council for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. In 2012, Steinh afel began a two-year term as chairman of the board for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). That is why I have chosen Greg Steinhafel for this discussion assignment. Explain why you selected this person.I have chosen Gregg Steinhafel because he exemplifies great leadership skills and good corporate culture. He is one of those leaders who never use the word â€Å"I† when referring to his company. Steinhafel takes his place out in front of several hundred thousand Target team members, insisting that â€Å"we†Ã¢â‚¬â€œmeaning the discount retailer’s top brass–â€Å"are the coaching staff that help design the playbook, but implement it at the same time. † He believes in team work and helps support his employees. I have always admired leaders who doesn’t take all the credit and realize it’s the company as a whole that makes it grow.What can you learn from this person? What would help you to create a better ethical environment in your place of work or in your future career? Gregg Steinhafel can be a great mentor because I can learn to be a reliable leader/person that helps supports the community, value employees and know not to take recognition by myself but to share it with the company. I know I can help build an ethical environment by being a good example towards others. I can make sure I establish strong ethic values by building trust and complying by the standards.