History of Architecture in Puerto Rico Essay

Puerto Rico was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493. He named the place San Juan Baustista and sooner or later the people called it Boriquen Tierra del alto senor or the Land of the Noble Lord. Juan Ponce de Leon became the country’s first governor . Upon his arrival, he constituted a colony in Caparra until such time that Caparra had to be moved to a nearby location with a sound environment. The name Caparra was changed to Puerto Rico which means Rich Port because its harbor is among the best in the world (Everyculture. com, n. d. . Antilles has a series of islands closely situated together with extends more than one thousand miles from Florida all the way to Venezuela or South America. There is the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico together with Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Haiti form part of the Greater Antilles. Puerto Rico is the smallest island in the easternmost part of Greater Antilles with a roughly rectangular shape (Solboricua. com,1998). The element, design and architecture of a particular place is as much important as everything else. It is architecture that gives meaning to the place. Good architecture is a reflection of a country’s triumphs and adventures. Architecture at its best light makes the outline of the country. Buildings, cathedrals and homes scream out the personality of the nation and the people . A simple architecture can turn a piece of art into a masterpiece but great architecture breathes life into anything thereby enabling it to achieve a harmonious blend with the society. It is evident in the country’s architecture that Puerto Rico has a substantial amount of Spanish influence during the course of time. The condensed, twisting cobblestone can be similarly compared with Andalusia of Spain. San Juan, otherwise known as La Ciudad Amurallada which is the capital city was founded in 1521. San Juan has a classic example of Spanish architecture, it is home to hundreds of reminiscent historical events. It has more than four hundred years of history stored inside a military threshold. The landmarks of the San Felipe del Morro are considered as one of Puerto Rico’s most prized treasures. After the commonwealth renovation, San Juan was turned into one of the most amazing tourist spot in the world. The city was built using Spanish plans which was organized to make intersecting and perpendicular streets and plazas all over the city. Spanish architecture was brought back in the country during the American occupation. The families belonging to the elites built fortresses and castles that resemble Art Deco structures (Everyculture. com, n. d. ). Puerto Rico has been the home of 16th and 19th century architecture. This country has been the home of classical, contemporary and medieval architecture. Gothic architecture can be seen as well in the San Juan church which was built in the 16th century. The El Morro Fortress is considered an international site. This is a six-level fortress that was built in 1540 and was finished in 1589. The name San Felipe del Morro was adopted in honor of King Phillip II. This building is filled with dungeons and tunnels. It is now under the administration of the National Park Service. Along side the El Morro is the San Cristobal Fort. This ancient structure provided one of the largest defense in the history of America. Like the El Morro, it also contains mazes and tunnels which are built to stand on its own if ever the others would fall. Another architectural wonder in Puerto Rico was the Plaza del Mercado which was an old market that had been revived and turned into a piece of tourist spot. The government allocated a substantial amount of their budget in order to restore their heritage (The Puerto Rico Channel, 2009). The part of Old San Juan is the home of breathtaking tourist attractions. Every year, more and more people go to Puerto Rico rather than any place in the Caribbean. This is the perfect place to see if people want to get a picture of the Old World. There are several plazas such as the Plaza de San Jose. In the center of it stands the statue of Ponce de Leon made entirely of bronze. Plaza del Quinto Centenario has Christopher Columbus’ statue about forty feet made in ceramic and granite which can be interpreted to mean as a symbolism of American roots. It was the work of one of the country’s top artist, Jaime Suarez. Another interesting site would be the Plaza de Armas which has four statues each over a hundred years old, symbolizing the four seasons. Plaza de Colon otherwise known as Columbus Square contains tablets made in bronze in order to remember the significant aspects of his life. The Plaza de la Rogativa’s main attraction was the sculpture of the procession of a pious lady. This piece of art signifies an important event which happened in that same place in 1797. In that year, a British troop lead by Sir Ambercrombie sailed onto the coast of San Juan bay with the plan of attacking the city and taking control. The plan failed so they resulted in alternate plan of blocking the port of the city in the hopes of starving the residents until they come into a point of surrender. The whole town grew desperate so the governor told the people to call for divine assistance. In response, all the women in town gathered and formed a procession carrying bells and torches. When the British heard the bell and saw all the lights, they thought that reinforcements came to the aid of the people so they left ( Puerto Rico, 2009). It is a wonderful thing that Puerto Rico imbibed the rich culture of Spain during its colonization but as good as it may be, the country also has its own pure and uninfluenced Puerto Rican architecture. An example would be its very own Caribe Hotel. Its colors, structure and striking murals reflect its own rich culture and not Spain’s. The main feature of of this hotel is that it was once a part of the medieval fort that the Spanish explorers used (The Puerto Rico Channel, 2009). The beauty of this country is that it never runs out of sights that stand out during the course of time. A person can look every direction and see pieces of architecture lying all over the country such as fortresses, parks, churches and buildings. La Fortaleza was built as a defense against attacks of the Indians. This structure was the very first among the several military concentration camps that were constructed along side the San Juan Bay. The original structure underwent changes because of the passing of the time so in the late 1800’s, this building was reconstructed. Puerto Rico also has its very own Madrid in the heart of San Juan city, it is called Alcadia. When it comes to churches, Puerto Rico has a handful. The San Juan Cathedral, the second oldest cathedral in the west was built in 1521. The very first building was made of wood but it got destroyed by a hurricane two times, once in 1540 and again in 1598. The Cathedral standing today was the result of efforts to restore the structure that once was in order to preserve the its heritage. In the church lies the tomb of the country’s first ever governor Ponce de Leon. The San Jose Church was the first ever church and monastery of Saint Thomas Aquinas which was constructed by the Dominicans in the memory of Saint Thomas de Aquinas and also to serve not only as a refuge but a sanctuary as well. Puerto Rico is a country blessed with museums. The Pablo Casals Museum is considered a Spanish legacy . It contains artifacts, memorabilia and library full of tapes of festivals and concerts. Casa de los Dones or the House of the Two Foyers is Puerto Rico’s home of the Indians located at the streets of San Juan. It is full of archaeological exhibits. The Asilo de Beneficencia was built to help poor people. It was constructed during the 1800’s . The place now offers exhibits everyday, it is called the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. Puerto Rico’s White House called the Casa Blanca was the former residence of Governor Ponce de Leon and his children’s children for over two hundred years. After the military took over, they used it as home for the commanders. The White House today holds over several rooms each designed with a different period associated with the history of the house (Puerto Rico, 2009). Many art lovers and scholars firmly believe that architecture greatly contributes to the pillar of success of any nation. Puerto Rico is a classic example that architecture gives life to the nation. Through a country’s architecture, its history can be fully appreciated. Somebody once said that the present can never be understood without knowing the past. In the same way, the value of Puerto Rico’s deep and rich culture can never be fully appreciated without the beaming architectural structures of the fortresses, cathedrals and museums. These architectural pieces holds in time all that the country went through, from the time when the island was first discovered until the Spanish colonization and the modernization. Every memory that the country holds dear are steps away from each other. Taking a look and examining the historical landmarks all over Puerto Rico enables any person to take a trip down the country’s very own memory lane. The country itself is a living memorabilia of everything that went through its nation and this fact can be greatly attributed to its architecture.

Immigration in the 1920’s

The way people were treated in the early 1920s would be considered outrageous today, but the discrimination has not come to a hault just yet. After carrying on for years, immigration laws are still being established today. Immigration has had a huge impact on modern day America because it created the quota laws, which have successfully helped the immigrants find their place in this society today, and discrimination has decreased dramatically, but has not concealed itself from this problem completely. The immigrants wanting to come to our country saw our world as a new start or even a new life for them, that’s when 1920s they decided to take immigration laws to the extreme to keep the massive flow of people out, â€Å"In 1919 a bill was introduced to suspend all immigration entirely while congress worked out a permanent plan for a more tightly restrictive policy† (Wepman 242). Although this law was only temporary, just shortly after more things started changing, â€Å"Signed by President Harding on May 19, 1921 called ‘the most important turning-point in American immigration history. An act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States. † (Wepman 242). The limiting of the immigrants into the United States wasn’t the worst part, â€Å"One of the most painful results of the new quota restrictions was that they made no distinctions for personal relationships and often seperated families. †(Wepman 244). With of the family troubles that the immigrants had to deal with, â€Å"After the civil war the former slaves began to drift away from the rural south, where more than 90 percent of the black population of the United States had lived in antebellum era. †(Archdeacon 131).Even though right before World War I started, â€Å"Immigration dropped to new lows. During the 1930’s the annual quota was never completely filled, the total numbering less than 100,000 a year, and many emigrated out of the country. †(Daniels 247). With all these quota laws and such, that didn’t stop the discrimination from occurring. Many things with discrimination and the process of going through Ellis Island changed a lot over the 1920s. After World War I the immigration level reached an all time high after the lull during the war. â€Å"The Immigration Act of 1924 created a permanent quota system (that of 1921 was only temporary), educing the 1921 annual quota from 358,000 to 164,000. † (Wepman 243). Eventually they negotiated enough and got the number of immigrants down to 154,000.The whole point of the quota acts was to maintain the â€Å"character† of the United States. Although President Johnson wanted to eliminate all immigration not everyone did, â€Å"The unions, which had approved Johnson’s idea of banning all immigration, accepted it as a good compromise, and the New York Daily news applauded it for its protection of American job market from a flood of aliens willing to work for low wages. (Wepman 242). Now, as we are in the 21st century, and the economy at one of its lowest points, the immigrants of the world today are lucky to get a job with a minimum wage pay or even a job because of their race. After all these new laws were set, they had to have some kind of protection to keep the immigrants out, that is when they created Border Patrol. There was an over flow of laborers coming from the South which resulted in the establishment of U. S. Border Patrol on May 8, 1924.The Border Patrol consisted of over 450 officers; â€Å"Their main job was to ride the Mexican border on horseback seeking out smugglers and the hiding places of illegal aliens. †(Tischauser 100). Not only did they create the Border Patrol, they mad a ten-dollar visa fee with an additional six-dollar head tax for each applicant trying to get through. That new rule alone limited down the number of people to cross the border because only very few Mexicans made enough money to pay that fee. â€Å"During the first three years of operation, the Border Patrol turned back an annual average of fifteen thousand Mexicans seeking illegal entry. †(Tischauser 100).These numbers looked great for congress but the number of illegal immigrants started to become outrageously large, â€Å"Because of such fears, Congress, in 1929, voted to double the size of the Border Patrol and demanded a crackdown on illegal entry, and increased Border security. †(Tischauser 101). Although the 1920s was filled with glamour, there were other sides to this nation with horrible discrimination and racial issues. The Ku Klux Klan was a racist group of people that would do anything and go to any extreme to get the racial segregation they wanted and the white supremacy.There are over 40 different Klan groups that have previously xisted, â€Å"At first, the Ku Klux Klan focused its anger and violence on African-Americans, on white Americans who stood up for them, and against the federal government which supported their rights. Subsequent incarnations of the Klan, which typically emerged in times of rapid social change, added more categories to its enemies list, including Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and different groups of immigrants. † (Anti-Defamation League). Throughout the years, the Klan had reached over four million members and just as they hit their peak, until people started realizing how racially absurd this group of Klansmen really was.Not shortly after that the Klan had split at the Democratic presidential convention and the public did not heed this very well, â€Å"by the end of the 20's, a power struggle among the top positions of the Klan caused the group to split. The Klan quickly fizzled out with the conviction of the head of the Indiana Klan. Only a handful of Klansmen was the remainder of the millions that so previously had approved of the Klan's violent acts† (Keeney). After all was said and done, the simplest way to put the KKK was, â€Å"they became champions of vigilante justice against bootleggers, wife-beaters, and adulters. (Keeney). Although the Klu Klux Klan â€Å"saw themselves as protecting the American family† (Kenney 1), many of the quota laws would set immigration up to fail. In our society today, we could have possibly reached an all time low in racism. In the state of Arizona, the governor has now passed a very sketchy law, â€Å"It requires police officers, â€Å"when practicable,† to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment. †(New York Times). Having the discrimination back in the 1920s has carried on throughout the years, to the point where if a person walking down the street looks slightly Hispanic, police can demand to see documents that prove you are a citizen of this country that we live in. Immigrants’ back then thought they had it bad, the United States now bring all that racial hate back. . Immigration has had a huge impact on modern day America by setting the quota laws, the immigration acts, creating Border Patrol, and by trying to help people realize that even though you are from a different racial descent, you are still just as important as anyone else. Even though people may look at those of different ethnicities as less capable to do your job, they are actually the ones that are doing all the dirty work that we don’t want to do, so in the long run, we should be thanking them. Although Arizona has brought about the discrimination again, mostly throughout the United States people keep their hateful comments to themselves, and you don’t really find many gang members out there anymore, but everyone walking down the street should watch their back because you never know what’s coming for you. Works CitedArchdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American. New York: The Free Press, 1983Daniels, Roger. Coming to America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990Wepman, Dennis. Immigration: From the founding of Virginia to the closing of Ellis Island. New York: Facts on File Inc. , 2002Strelssguth, Thomas. The Roaring Twenties. New York: Facts on File Inc. , 2001â€Å"Racism in the 1920s: The rise of the KKK and anti-immigration. † Kim Kenney. 15 January 2009, 2 May 2010. http://americanhistory. suite101. com/article. cfm/racism_in_the_1920sâ€Å"Racial and Ethnic Discrimination† 2 May 2010. http://law. jrank. org/pages/9625/Racial-Ethnic-Discrimination. html

Barangay Management Information System

More specifically, what is a project? It’s a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result. A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal.So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies. The development of software for an improved business process, the construction of a building or bridge, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into a new geographic market — all are projects. And all must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget results, learning and integration that organizations need. Project management, then, is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projec ts effectively and efficiently.It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to business goals — and thus, better compete in their markets. It has always been practiced informally, but began to emerge as a distinct profession in the mid-20th century. PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide) identifies its recurring elements: Project management processes fall into five groups:InitiatingPlanningExecutingMonitoring and ControllingClosingProject management knowledge draws on nine areas:IntegrationScopeTimeCostQualityProcurementHuman resourcesCommunicationsRisk managementAll management is concerned with these, of course. But project management brings a unique focus shaped by the goals, resources and schedule of each project. The value of that focus is proved by the rapid, worldwide growth of project management: as a recognized and strategic organizational competence  as a subject for training and education as a career path.

The Right to Live or Die Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Right to Live or Die - Essay Example Another one is a comatose patient who for a time cannot think because of the current state of his brain and body. And two, there are other species besides ours who have a biographical sense because they too have thoughts, emotions etc. According to Moreland, they probably have more value than humans who have only the so-called biological life. Advances in the 21st century have allowed both doctors and patients to have more options regarding different diseases and conditions. Different methods of resuscitation, ventilation and testing procedures have made the many lives easier. However, the right to withhold or discontinue treatment has brought unto people the emergence of ethical problems. In the past, the concept of being "brain dead" was unheard of, but nowadays the idea has saved many recipients of organ donors. The Church has been an active participant in the debates of different medical practices. Organ donation, pain management and natural death are all concepts that they are okay with since it deals with life and its different dimensions. On the other hand, abortion and euthanasia both deal with death, effectively exterminating life. Ethics may be defined as the basic principles of the right action, specifically in reference to a certain person or profession. Ethical compliance and professional competence come hand in hand especially in the practice of medicine, which coincidentally deals with the issue of life. In the article "Traditional Principles of Medical Ethics," discusses how religious principles apply to patient care. The recent legalizations of abortion in some parts of the world have aroused disagreements in the medical and religious practices. Moreover, normal people and citizens have become either disillusioned or confused regarding their own predicaments on the issue. And with a dynamic society such as ours, to agree unanimously on moral issues is quite impossible to achieve. Biomedical Ethics or Bioethics which applies to both people's ethical and moral principles regarding issues concerned with human life is then considered. As the "Traditional Principles of Medical Ethics" article said, "Western medicine was founded on our Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman heritage, where the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person are paramount for decision-making in patient care." The article also mentioned seven principles of medical ethics: a Moral Code and Moral Justification, the Doctor-Patient Relationship, Patient Autonomy, Beneficence (the Good Samaritan), Non-Malificence (Do No Harm), Justice, and Moral Integrity. According to the code of ethics, all of these seven must go together in order to achieve the ideal type of patient care. The Moral Code and Moral Justification guide the physician in whatever he does. The bible clearly declares the sanctity of life, saying that we were created in God's image and likeness. And as all of us were created in such a manner, we are supposedly called to respect the dignity of each one's claim to life. Of course if we were to talk about life, one specific rule

You decide Vancouver symphony orchestra Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

You decide Vancouver symphony orchestra - Essay Example Therefore, we have to reevaluate and determine their first priorities. The festive season comes with spending. Therefore, the company has to lay down proper strategies to boost the tickets sales. We look forward meeting everyone, any queries, suggestions and thoughts will be discussed in the meeting. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra was one of the most established orchestras of the 1980’s. It had a large number of fans, who always flocked in events to attend their functions. It attracted both subscribers, former members and those that were never subscribers. Suddenly, there was a change of events after 1986 with a steady decline in ticket sales. This prompted the need to reexamine the reasons why there was a decline in ticket sales. A questionnaire was developed and apparently out of the 2400 questionnaires only 614 respondents completed. Subscription revenue was on a steady decrease, which was a matter of high concern. There is the need to try and outline the reasons for the sudden decline of the orchestra, their cause and the possible ways of solving the problem. There is also need to assess the positives and negatives of this market approach. Over and above, identify the strengths of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the possible reason that led to its bankruptcy with the basis to the data that is available and also provide the proper recommendations needed. In this article, the personnel in charge will try to identify, evaluate and scale down the specific preferences of all the groups of persons that attended the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. They will also come up with possible solutions to solve the situation. They will also address issues concerning proper event planning and timing that suits most of the clients, need to inquire and know the number one priorities by the clients, their preferences and tastes and device ideas that are centered towards redeeming the fame of VSO and

Personal and Professional Practice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personal and Professional Practice - Assignment Example This paper analyses each of the two concepts within the framework of how they relate to the business. To begin with, personal practice is mainly concerned with an individual. In this regard, it refers to what an individual believes to be right. This implies that, personal practice varies from person to person and is contingent on the person’s beliefs, experience, culture, philosophy and religion, inter alia. In other words, personal practice greatly depicts a person’s traits and character. For instance, it may include transparency, honesty, and confidentiality, among others. As a fact, personal traits, characters and practices have great effects on a business in a plethora of ways. Thus, it is important for a company to establish measures aimed at fostering proper personal practices. This may be achieved through for example, the establishment of a code of conduct which is meant to set out rules and guidelines by which people in company are expected to abide in the cours e of their practices and activities within the company. All employees, agents, representatives, officers and other people inclined to the company in various capacities are obliged to align their practices with the requirements of the code of conduct. Thus, personal practice is greatly determines by such a code of conduct. Anyone who violates any of the regulations in whatsoever way is entitled to a disciplinary action. Therefore, as people carry on with their day to day activities within the business, they are expected to portray exemplary personal practice as it affects a business in a profusion of ways. First and foremost, it is expected that people should always comply with rules and regulations in all their endeavours. Robbins and Judge (2010) posit that, obeying the law forms the foundation upon which a business establishes its ethical standards. Thus, it is expected of employees, officers, agents, representatives plus any other person related to the company to portray consecra ted obedience to the rule, laws and regulations of the state or country within which a company operates. Conflicts of interest also affect personal practice to large extents. A conflict of interest usually transpires when individual’s private interests tend to interfere with the interest of the company (Porter, 1998). For instance, it may occur when an employee of given company opts to work for a competitor, customer or even supplier of the company. It is therefore required that people attached to a certain company in any way should avoid both direct of indirect business interactions with any of the company’s competitors, suppliers or customers. As such, personal practice in place should enhance respect for this requirement. Personal practice may also affect a business with regards to insider trading. Usually, employees and other persons attached to a company in various positions, have unlimited access to a company’s confidential information. It is expected of t hem to keep such information confidential and not to reveal it for trading purposes to another person, business, company or entity. It is unethical and illegal therefore, for anyone of them to use the non-public and confidential information for personal financial gain. With regards to corporate opportunities, employees, officers, agents and other personnel in the company are prohibited from

Analyze what Takaki means by the racialization of savagery. How did it Essay

Analyze what Takaki means by the racialization of savagery. How did it influence crosscultural relations between Europeans and Native Americans and transplan - Essay Example Takaki meant that racialization of savagery is how one defines the multi-cultural diversity confined in the country that time. It's the political correctness that seemed to hug the essence of scholars and literary greats that was. It is the greed and hope and the changing demographics we have only seen recently but happened to unfold throughout history shaping its people in the process. The very boundlessness of this ethnic and racial difference generated a need to impose interior borders. The idea of preserving racial homogeneity while becoming a multicultural society baffled the policymakers of the new nation. Thus, the introduction of trade opened the market for interaction, perspectives and views that helped fuel multiculturalism and its ensuing debates. Cohesiveness in a society and its norms were preserved to be later handed down to generations ahead. Cross-cultural relationships were formed and various frontiers we... Assumptions are born and labels are attached to the non-conforming to be "accepted" against the standards of that time. A need for others to confirm identity to what one is not has become rampant so long as acceptance followed. Typical European influence early on played a major part against Native Americans and several other fair-skinned or darker skinned peoples believing that black was heathen, foul, stained, dirty, vile, barbaric, and without god or laws, while white symbolized goodness, purity and innocence. Laws and trade and treaties were made to favor white people and punishments were harsher for black or darker skinned citizens. Being made to believe they were natural slaves, even then, multi-culturalism was prevalent but was ignored or subdued, and was set apart as minorities and lower-class citizens. The European assumption prevailed and the English-American identity was defined as black conscious and white favoring. The integration of historical studies to the current cultural and societal issues relate the origins and differences as well as views, patterns and themes that speak to each individual and subliminally suggest or influence his/her outward behavior towards an ethnic or socially different group or individual stems from the past. His acceptance of a people or not is dictated by a lot of factors that may or may not be the general idea accepted now but a reflection of how his race shaped his personality. Injustice, mainly evidenced through the early legal system, injustice in cultural and religious identity, and injustice in the most basic of human interaction, money. The book, and the author described the stark discrimination by the Anglo (white) race played against races that were

Summary, analysis and response paper for Media studies Assignment

Summary, analysis and response paper for Media studies - Assignment Example Students even Google during lectures if they listen from teacher something unknown. It really is an information age where we are free t o learn without borders, thank to open course ware regime and free resources like Wikipedia, Khan Academy, etc. Prof. Sherry Turkle, Director, MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, says that MIT hosts brightest students in the world. But there’s something wrong with them as they think that multitasking can serve them best which is not right. Mr. David Jones, Associate Professor with MIT also says that students are multitasking and they are â€Å"distracted by everything† that’s why they are not performing as much as they should be due to these distractions that could be a laptop, a phone and etc. This attitude of students is also affecting the teaching method of teachers. A study conducted by NASA on chronic multitasking youths shows that at a time, people can do one task better than more than one task. Multitasking affects the productivity of individuals. Another concept is the affects of multi task to brain. Another study at University of California reveals that there is a 2 fold increase in use of brain while searching on Google than reading a book. In this video a chapter is reserved for providing information about the youth of South Korea. Gaming craze has resulted in addiction in South Korea that government is seriously concerned about the psychological changes on the youth. This video also emphasizes on teaching with technology. Technology has made it easy to teach students with state of the art technology. Although interviews conducted in this video shows students who believe that they can do multitasking with equal required attention but a teacher at MIT observed that the level of intellect is decreasing in new tech savvy generation. With a lot of types of entertainment in their hand, these students are not concentrating on their studies. Our mutual

Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal Essay

Comparison between Country Lovers and The Proposal - Essay Example Then we will analyze the similarities and differences between a short story and play. Whether a literary piece is a short story or play, as long as they are categorized in the same theme there will always be similarities, with that being said regardless of similarities when comparing two literary works differences can always be found as well. The short story, Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, is story about two children from different ethnicities who formed a relationship that later turned sexual. This story takes place on a South African farm, where ethnicity had a major influence on how people were classified. Being a person with white skin, one automatically had superiority over a person with black skin. The boy, Paulus Eysendyck, was fond of Thebedi, the daughter of the help. For years, Paulus went back and forth to school and every time he was home, he engaged in secret activities with Thebedi. As they grew older, their relationship turned sexual and eventually a child was crea ted. Paulus was unaware of the child until after birth. Thebedi had married Njabulo, even though Njabulo knew that the child was not his. When Paulus returned for the holidays from veterinary school, he was surprised to hear Thebedi had a child and rushed to her home to see the child. The next day he returned and poisoned the child. Paulus was charged with murder and a trial began. Thebedi appeared at the court date with a new child in hand by her husband Njabulo, only to find out that he was a free man. The evidence was circumstantial to the courts and another white man gets away with murder. The objective of this story was to express the issues racial relationships faced in the South Africa from 1949-1994 (Driver, 1994). The Proposal by Anton Chekhov is a play that displayed how one word or sentence can send an ordinary conversation down a path of no return. The play is a one act comic farce set during Chekhov’s Russia, a time when marriage was seen as a way of gaining econ omic wealth for a majority of the people. In this play, the marriage concept is satirized to show the real purpose of marriage, which is for materialistic gain as opposed to true love. Ivan VassilevitchLomov was the neighbor of Stephan StepanovitchChubukov, and his daughter Natalya Stephanovna. Ivan came to Stephan’s home one day to ask for Natalya’s hand in marriage. Stephan was overjoyed and agreed to the marriage. Stephan went and got Natalya so Ivan and her can talk. Before Ivan could ask the question they began to argue about a small area of land and who it belonged to. That went on for a little while, until Ivan left. Once Stephan found out Ivan left, he told Natalya why Ivan came. Natalya begged her father to return Ivan. Once he returned the father brought up marriage, Ivan and Natalya agreed and then they kissed. The content of both stories is similar but different. They both involve a male and female engaged in some sort of relationship. In the Country Lovers , the two grew up together and gradually built a relationship. Whereas in The Proposal, Ivan and Natalya were long time neighbors and Ivan felt he was getting old so he asked a woman who he knew for a long time hand in marriage. Paulus and Thebedi’s relationship was forbidden because of race, but Ivan and Natalya’

How Literature Reflects Communities Essay Example for Free

How Literature Reflects Communities Essay Authors have historically used various literary works to reflect the societies in which their live. To this end, the actions of characters in literary works reflect existing social concepts whereas the surrounding society’s behavior mirrors on specific characters’ behaviors. In essence, societies and communities are normally depicted as mutually affecting each other. Notable cases of literary works in which such reciprocal interaction is demonstrated are the three short stories namely: William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily; Flannery OConnor’s Good Country People; and Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson. To illustrate, through his A Rose for Emily story, Faulkner describes Emily Grierson as being negatively affected by her surrounding society. In turn, Emily’s actions negatively impact of her compatriots. Likewise, through the Good Country People story, OConnor describes the character named Joy Hopewell as negatively impacting on the people around her. Consecutively, the society in which Hopewell lives demonstrates an attitude that negatively affects her. In a similar version, Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson story illustrates the character called Miss Moore being negatively affected by her surrounding society. In response, Miss Moore demonstrates behaviors and attitudes that negatively impact on her compatriots. All in all, OConnor through Good Country People Faulkner through A Rose for Emily – as well as Bambara – through The Lesson short stories describe their protagonists as reciprocally affecting and being affected by their societies in a negative way. For example, in Bambara’s The Lesson story, Miss Moore’s condescending opinion towards her compatriots especially the children with which she spends most of her time attracts disproval from the surrounding community. Consequently, both the children as well as the adults disrespect Miss Moore. For instance, Bambara notes that ‘the grown-ups (talk) †¦.. when †¦. behind her back like a dog,’ thus showing utter disrespect for Miss Moore (). Moore’s irritatingly patronizing nature is evident when she ‘looks at’ her students ‘ like she readin tea leaves’ (). The author thus presents a picture of an individual and the surrounding society mutually affecting each other in a negative manner. Likewise, through the A Rose for Emily story, Faulkner shows that Emily’s unbecoming behavior invites rude responses from her compatriots. For instance, Emily demonstrates impoliteness when she demonstrates stubbornness towards her society’s pleas that she pays taxes. She even firmly removes the society’s representatives from her house. Abruptly summoning Tobe her manservant Emily instructs him to ‘Show these gentlemen out’ (). In reaction, the society demonstrates indifference towards her as is evident from the narrator’s assertions that the society does not know of Emily’s sickness. To this end, the narrator remarks ‘We did not even know she was sick’ (). Similarly, through his Good Country People story, OConnor depicts Joy Hopewell as a character who demonstrates haughtiness towards her compatriots notably Mrs. Freeman and Hopewell ‘s mother the result being that she becomes painfully alienated from her society. For example, because she is educated , Hopewell mocks all people around her as is evident from her remark that her mother is ‘bloated, rude, and squint-eyed’ (). In reaction, society alienates Hopewell , thus making her to beg her mother to wholesomely accept her. A deeply remorseful Hopewell cries out to the mother saying ‘like I am’ take me (). In conclusion, the issue of individuals negatively reacting with their surrounding communities is clearly evident through the 3 stories, Good Country People, The Lesson, as well as A Rose for Emily. Good Country People’s Hopewell suffers segregation due to her arrogant attitude towards her compatriots. Likewise, A Rose for Emily’s Emily suffers segregation due to her condescending view of her society. Lastly, The Lesson’s Miss Moore’s is disrespected by society owing to her attitude of viewing her compatriots as being unknowledgeable.

Breast Cancer and Palliative Care Issues

Breast Cancer and Palliative Care Issues Hina Mirza The purpose of this writing is to highlight issues of the patient in palliative consideration, which a patient faced throughout the disease process and at terminal stage of illness. Moreover, it will drag one’s attention towards some strategies to deal patient with advance cancer. A 54 year old female with known case of ductal cell carcinoma of left breast, came to the hospital with the complaint of oozing and pain in fungating wound large in size present at the primary site of tumor. When I encountered the patient, she was very drowsy and unable to talk due to mouth ulcers that have been developed a week ago. Upon taking history from the patient’s attendants, they verbalize that the patient got breast cancer for 1.5 years and since then she was on homeopathic treatment. Moreover, the patient initially didn’t inform anyone about her disease, not even to her husband. Later, when symptoms got exacerbate she disclosed her problem to the family members. Consequently, she was taken to a cancer hospital, where a doctor recommended her for a biopsy. Thus, the results revealed breast carcinoma. Even after, she didn’t consult to the doctor and continued her homeopathic medication. While taking care of the patient, I got an opportunity to approach her about the reasons behind postponement in the diagnosis and the variables that make her condition decline. One of the reasons she gave in regards to not counseling a specialist or not having a legitimate treatment was monetary instability, an alternate reason was absence of awareness with respect to tumor treatment and misconceptions identified with its side effects. Besides, after a time of 1 year when her condition got crumble and a tumor in her breast uncovered as fungating wound, a relative took her again to the cancer hospital, from that point she was referred to the Baitul Sukoon for palliative consideration. The patient verbalizes torment because of mouth ulcers and as indicated by speciali sts her tumor has been metastasized to different parts of the body including liver and brain. Moreover, the patient likewise expressed that she will give priority to the treatment other than surgery on the grounds that she is afraid about losing her breast and it will alter her body image. In addition to it, the patient’s attendant stated that her nutrition pattern has been also effected which causes weakness. The patient was prepared and very much aware of her condition. For a week she has been on laxatives and as indicated by the specialist she had developed encephalopathy. Following 2 weeks of hospitalization; she died because of deteriorated condition. Breast cancer is a serious health issue among women throughout the world. According to a consultant at Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital, in Pakistan it is estimated that 1 in 9 women develops breast cancer once at any stage of their life. Cancer affects a person not only physically, but also cause spiritual, sexual, and psychological distress. When considering a physical domain of the patient in palliative care, she was suffering from pain and mouth ulcers which as a result altered her communication pattern. On the other hand, she was very drowsy, her dietary intake has also decreased and the patient has not passed stools for 2 days. Looking forward to the above mentioned symptoms firstly, mouth sore is among common indications in cancer patient in light of the fact that when patients are in critical condition, they lack oral hygiene as a result becomes more prone to infection. In addition to it, infections in cancer patients remain a major complication due to effects of malig nancy i.e. neutropenia. These patients require prompt antibiotics (Bodey, 2004). As the patient mentioned in the above scenario was getting augmentation. As indicated by literature, oral cavity plays a vital role in communication and dietary pattern and in cancer patient alterations in the oral cavity is common because of the certainty of diminished in preventive consideration (Eilers Million, 2011). Secondly, impaired oral cavity results in decreased intake of food that is critical at this stage of cancer. Decline in nutrition is considered normal at the terminal stage of life as a result malnutrition, cachexia is commonly found in patient with palliative care (Capra, ferguson, Ried, 2001). Thirdly, the patient was showing symptoms of encephalopathy. As literature evidenced that as an outcome of some metabolic disturbance, encephalopathy is a common clinical syndrome in cancer patients (Lore, Anne, Patrick, Simon, 2012). Relating it to the above scenario, the patient has been be d ridden for 2 months, not passing stool and she has been on laxative since 2 weeks. The purpose of giving laxative was to prevent hyper ammonia in the body which can cause encephalopathy. According to Willson, Nott, Broadbridge, Price (2013) hepatic encephalopathy as a result of liver infiltration is common among metastatic malignancy. Analyzing the psycho-social factors that becomes hindrance to care and approach to treatment as part palliative care were fear related to losing her breast, unawareness of the patient and her family members about disease and treatment options linked with socio-cultural barriers, financial issues, and preference towards alternative drugs i.e. homeopathic treatment. According to a research it was found that patients with breast cancer who consulted a doctor had fear of mastectomies. Firstly, the reason behind fear was lack of awareness about treatment option available for breast cancer such as procedures that are less invasive like lumpectomies. Due to the fact, women avoid availing proper check up and maintained non-compliance to the cancer therapy (Memon et al., 2013). Secondly, among socio-cultural barriers, lack of information related to disease due to low education reported by women. This ultimately delays the approach to health care, even with prominent signs and symptoms of a di sease such as nodule, edema and erythema. One of the reasons behind avoidance is social myths, society including friends and family gives different meaning to these symptoms, which minimize its seriousness. Moreover, cultural barriers have strong impact on getting awareness related to breast cancer. According to Banning, Hassan, Faisal, Hafeez (2010) many Asian women do not perform self breast examination because of a taboo related to touching own body parts, feeling embarrassment to discuss intimate body parts and to consult a male physician. According to literature myths around the pathology of breast cancer causes late diagnosis and hindrance to care (Goncalves et al., 2014). Thirdly, cancer treatment is considered financially devastating burden to the family because they have to pay for the treatment by themselves (Daher, 2012). Therefore, initiating treatment becomes psychologically distressing for the patient and for the family. Relating it to the scenario, the patient didnâ €™t disclose her problem to the family member due to myths and unawareness related to disease. Lastly, in my opinion the main factor that contributes to delay in diagnosis and worse the patient’s condition was preferences for homeopathic medicine and this again could be linked with lack of awareness related to the availability of treatment options. According to a research it’s commonly reported that individual with cancer seek alternative medicine due to misconception associated with treatment options (Daher, 2012). Moreover, unconventional methods, including traditional herbal medicine and healers over doctors for cancer treatment also reported in a study of women associated with delay seeking medical advice (Memon et al., 2013). Numerous factors contribute towards, delay and obstruction in treatment of breast malignancy. In terms of prioritize the variables that add to delay in diagnosis were unawareness related to the options available for treatment, socio-cultural hindrances, choosing alternative medicine, and financial issues. On individual level health professionals must respect autonomy of the patient and inclination of treatment. It is ones obligation to explain potential harm of such alternative treatment. Besides, when health care prrovider experience patients with breast tumor, they should explain its risk factors and preventive measures to the patient and their family members for precautionary purpose. On hospital level, staff should be well trained to deal cross culturally and care for the patient with interdisciplinary aspects and according to patients needs. These can include care according to patient’s comfortability level, counseling patient’s family regarding disease and helping them to select suitable and appropriate treatment options. Moreover, the Government should organize an awareness program to educate the patient with respect to primary prevention, which includes awareness related to self breast examination, treatment options that are less invasive as a secondary prevention and tertiary prevention that should include the concept of palliative care, and information about the institution that provide palliative and hospice care. On the other hand, female health care professionals should be given first priority to be trained to deal with culturally sensitive issues. Together, these contributions can help to eradicate issues related to breast cancer and will support patients suffering from it. References Banning,M., Hassan,M., Faisal,S., Hafeez,H. (2010). Cultural interrelationships and the lived experience of Pakistani breast cancer patients.European Journal of Oncology Nursing. doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2010.05.001 B-Articles. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.shaukatkhanum.org.pk/news-a-events/events/228.html BODEY,G. (1986). Infection in cancer patients: A continuing association.American Journal of Medicine. doi:10.1016/0002-9343(86)90510-3 Capra,S., Ferguson,M., Ried,K. (2001). Cancer: impact of nutrition intervention outcome—nutrition issues for patients.Nutrition. doi:10.1016/S0899-9007(01)00632-3 Daher,M. (2012). Cultural beliefs and values in cancer patients.Annals of Oncology. doi:10.1093/annonc/mds091 Eilers,J., Million,R. (2011). Clinical Update: Prevention and Management of Oral Mucositis in Patients with Cancer.Seminars in Oncology Nursing. doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2011.08.001 Gonà §alves,L.C., Travassos,G.L., Almeida,A.M., Guimarà £es,A.N., Gois,C.F. (2014). Barriers in health care to breast cancer: perception of women*. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1590/S0080-623420140000300002 Kingsley,C. (2010).Cultural and Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Cancer Screening, Early Detection and Care in the Latino Population. Lore,L., Anne,S., Patrick,S., Simon,V.B. (2012). Neoplasm Related Encephalopathies. InMiscellanea on Encephalopathies A Second Look(pp.91-120). INTECH Open Access Publisher. Memon,Z.A., Shaikh,A.N., Rizwan,S., Sardar,M.B. (2013). Reasons for Patient’s Delay in Diagnosis of Breast Carcinoma in Pakistan. Retrieved from DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2013.14.12.7409 Willson,K.J., Nott,L.M., Broadbridge,V.T., Price,T. (2013). Hepatic Encephalopathy Associated With Cancer or Anticancer Therapy.Gastrointest Cancer Research,6(1), 11-16. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3597933/

Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry

Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry The issue of grievance handling has not been new in organizations and it has been one of the most persistent problems of all times. In the course of running an organization, there are many complaints that are handled daily by the management which constitute the process of grievance handling. Grievances are common not only in organization but also in our social life. However it has been shown that the nature of the grievances is not that important than the process that is used to handle the grievances. Before we look at the process of handling a grievance in an organization, let us look use first understand the nature of a grievance. What is a grievance? (Dentron and Boyd 2005, p. 61) A grievance can be defined as any complaint that is raised by an individual worker of a group of workers in an organization. A grievance is usually raised in allegation of violation of the terms of agreement in the workplace. Therefore it can be said to a complaint that is raised and which is aimed at expressing the dissatisfaction of the employees by what is happening in the organization. A grievance however differs from a complaint in that while a complaint can be verbally expressed, a grievance is usually stated in writing. A grievance can be caused by many things. It has been shown that some of the most controversial issues which usually ends up in a grievance include the discharge of employees from their workplace, lack of a process of collective bargaining for the employees which can be used to express their dissatisfaction, unfair labor practices, and others which are likely to happening in the work places. (Rahul 2005, p. 31) Therefore we can expound on this point by looking closely at the process which is usually used to handle these complaints. For the effective functioning of an organization, there is usually a need to look at the welfare of the employee. Any management will recognize that the employees are the most important asset that an organization holds and therefore the most important thing in the management of the resources of an organization will be first to look at the welfare of the workforces. It has been shown that most of the grievances which hare not well looked at often precipitate to a form of dissident by the workforce which in most case comes as strike. A strike in an organization will not only have economic effect on the organization but it will also have effects on the image of the management of the organization. Therefore many organizations have come up with an effective procedure that can be used to handle complaints of het employees. In order to ensure that there is less participant of the workforce in mass movement of labor unions, many organization came up with human resource departments which are well positioned to handle the complains of the employees. Therefore it is the duty of the human resource department to come up with a well structured way that can be used to look at the welfare of the workforce. The human resource department is the one which is entrusted with the duty of handling all the complaints regarding the employees. Human resource department must come up with a grievance handling procedure. (Finegan 2004, p. 71) A grievance handling produced clearly defines a process which is used by the organization to look at the complaints that has been given by the employees. It presents a process of initial resolving of the complaints through arbitration. It is a process that is used to indentify and resolve the companies in a timely manner in order to promoted the prevail a constructive discussion between the management and the representatives of the employees. therefore the aim of the grievance procedure is to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place that is used by the management to look at the issues that pertains to employees in order to ensure that there is constructive resolving of the complains at they arises. (Dana 2001, p. 231) The hospitality industry has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In a short period of time, the industry has grown short of its former self. In the last few decades there has been increased travelling by people all over the world. This has been enabled by the increasing wave of globalization which has opened the world and increased the interaction between people. As a result individuals have been able to travel from one corners of the world to the other with no political or legal limitation. The improve modes of transport has been the main factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the industry. The industry has been one of the most important industries in the world that have been supporting the increased globalization and polarization of world culture. Therefore there has been unprecedented growth of the industry in a very short period of time. The industry has been offering supportive services in the tourism sector. Apparently tourism has emerged to be one of the most important industries in the world. It has been fueled by increased spending culture in the world and increased openness. Tourism has taken many dimensions in its growth in areas of cultural tourism, business tourism, leisure tourism, education tourism, medical tourism, and other areas. In all these segments, individual usually travels away from their homes to go to foreign countries. Therefore they need to be accommodated and given other services. In this regard the hospitality industry comes in hand as it offers them support in accommodation and other necessary services. The hospitality industry has therefore hinged its growth on the tourism sector. (Leornard 2001, p. 52) One of the emerging natures of the hospitality industry has been diversity that has been experienced in the customers that the industry target and also in the workforce. There has been an increasing trend in the industry towards culture convergence in which one hospitality facility in the world is serving people of diverse culture. Therefore there has been an aspect of standardization of culture in the industry. Cultural homogeneity is considered to be one of the competitive factors that need to achieve in order to survive in the competitive market. With the market become more diverse due to divers needs of the customers, the hotel industry have therefore tended to have a divers nature of employees in order to help their customers to feel at home every time they are being served. Therefore there has been an increasing trend of multicultural workforce in the industry. This of course has come with its own challenges to human resource management. One of the most challenges that faces any human resource management is a multicultural workforce is the way to handle complains by the employees. Many a times, employees feel that their welfare is not looked at as needed in the organization and there are usually incidences of unfair treatment of the employees. But due to the diverse nature of the employees, the human resource department may not be in a position to come up with standardized way of dealing with all the demands that employees have. Therefore there are incidence of complaints that are based on the favors in the workforce and discontent in the allocation of duties. Many of het case studies that have been presented about complain in the hospitality industry have all been based on issue of favors in the workforce which arise due to the diversity in the workforce. Therefore in the contemporary human resource management issues, diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry have been one of the causes of complains in the workforce. The hospitality industry is one of the most hectic industries as visitors check in and checks out. As a result there is a lot of work that needs to be done by the workforce. The nature of services in the industry is based on the fact that the visitors have to feel as comfortable as they want and find value for the amount of money that they are charged. Therefore there has to be a lot of work that is done by the employees in order to meet the demands of the visitors. Some of the visitors can be a little nagging and may require excessive attention than others. Going by the nature of definition of the duties the employee have to perform some employee will always find themselves doing extra work that they have not bee assigned at the time they were hired. Therefore there is usually a conflict with their supervisors who have to make sure that the guest gets all what they want and therefore will have to assign extra duty to the employees. At the end to the day employees will feel that they have done more that they are supposed to do in their duties. This has been shown to be another source of complains from the employees who feels that they are unfair treated and their initial duty assignment is not respected. (Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008) In most cases supervisors are faced with a hard task of ensuring that employee perform all the duties that they have been assigned to and also perform the extra duties that the guests wants to be attendee to. Therefore there is a situation between the supervisors and the employees. The hospitality industry peaks with seasons. This means that there are periods when there will be an inflow of guest while there are other seasons when there will be less guest checking in. In there regard there is a fluctuating need of employees in the industry. When the season peaks, the industry will need to hire more employees and when the season is low the industry will need to lay off some of the employees. In this regard the tourism industry is most affected by the seasonality. Most of the hotels which operation in leisure industries will find the there are periods when there will be more guest especially during holidays and weekend while there are other when there will be less guest. The industry is also prone to political stability and other factors and therefore the times when there is a serene atmosphere will see an inflow of guest while the times when there is political turmoil there will be less guests who will be checking in. As a result the industry is force to keep on hiring and lying off some of the workers. It has continuously become difficult for the industry to hire more employees on permanent bases due to the fact that there are period when the industry will need more workers while the off seasons will need less workers. Therefore there is a factor of the way in which employees are hired and retained in the industry. This has been one of the most contentious issues especially when it come to the labor unions which have been arguing that there is need for the industry to hire employee on permanent bases. There are a times when the industry is forced to lay off the employee unexpected due to the prevailing circumstance. For example in Kenya which is one of the famed tourism destinations in Africa, the last year skirmishes had a negative effect in the industry. It is recorded that though it was the high season when the tourism and hospitality industry expected a great inflow of guest, more than 10,000 employees were laid off. This was due to massive cancellation of bookings that had been done. The industry has apparently hired more workers in anticipation for the high season that had just started to pick up. There has been a conflicting situation in the industry as the employee who had been hired on contracted bases want to be paid all the money as their contract had defend while the industry is trying to recover from a massive losses incurred due to the massive cancellation. The hospitality industry has also been shown as one of the industry which pays the workers low salaries. This has been caused by the fact that the industry sometime will need to hire more employees and other times it will have to lay off some the employees. Due to the fact that the industry goes on of very lean seasons when it has to maintain its operation, there have been incidence of some players in the industry paying their employee very low salaries in a bid to cover the expense in the low season. Therefore there have been conflicts between the workforce and the management on the issue of salaries. This is one of the most conflicting issues that have led to formation of labor unions in the industry. Most of the operators in the industry agree with the fact that the industry pays less money to its employees especially during the low seasons but they try to equate that with the operation of het industry during that period. It has been shown that although the industry has been growing at a high rate, there have been fewer incidences of increased salaries for the workforce even at times when the industry is performing well. There has also been incidence of customer complain in the industry. It has been shown that in most cases customer have been complains about the quality of service that they receive from particular employees in the industry and also from the facility in general. This has been a difficult situation for the human resource department especially since it has to ascertain the nature of the conflict between the employee and the guest. In most case the guest may have rubbed the employee on the wrong side and therefore there must be a way of asserting the truth before punishing the employee. Though the issue of customer complains has been shown to be a responsibility attached to the customer service department, at the end of the day it ends up as a management issue that has to be resolved. Both hotel and hospitality industries fall under any industry in the country. Therefore they are exposed to the same labor laws like any other industry. However the nature of employee relation in the industry has been changing due to some of the factors that have been shown. Although there has been increasing labor unionization of the industry there has also some legal aspects that have been protecting the employees in the industry. One of the laws that protect employee in the industry has been the National Labor Relation Act which are aimed at redressing complain of any employees that has been unlawfully discharged from their duties. Through the law the employee is able to seek redress in the law court. However there has been conflicting situation when it comes to address this issue and when it comes to the application of the law. This is because every time an employee is dismissed from their duties for a genuine reason, they run to the court to place complains and what follows is an argument about the rights of het employees. Although the employer has the responsibility of recognize the rightist of the employee, there has been the question of the responsibility of the employee especially when it comes to the nature of the operation of the industry. Being in an industry that calls for meticulous performance of duties in order to ensure the satisfaction of the employee, there has been incidence where the employee have been dismissed on the ground of misbehaving with the guest or failing to perform their duties and what follows is a lawsuits for the company. (Mitchell, 2007) There has been increasing misinterpretation of the National Labor Relation Act when it comes to the employees working in the hospitality industry. There has been a need to becoming familiar with the law and its interpretations. There has been misinterpretation of the act when it comes to the employers also. It has been shown that there are many incidences when the employers back off from their earlier salary agreement and fire off employee who complains. But the law has shown the act is inclusive even of the employee who works in the hospitality industry who are likely to work for part time bases. Holiday Inn has been one of the most prosperous hotels that have become major player in the hospitality and tourism industry. It has been able to spread its wings all over the world and has grown to be a multinational in a very short period. It has positioned itself in all the corners of the world which have tourism potential and therefore it has a world wide presence. Like any other play in the industry, the hotel has been receiving a number of complains from the customers as well as from the workers themselves. Since the hotel has been relying on tourism activities in its overseas operation, the hotel has been experience same problems as we have mentioned above which are all hinged on the satisfaction of the employee and on other factors. But is has successfully put in place a mechanism that is used to handle all these complains. It has been dealing with a range of complains about its employees and at the same time there have been complains from the employees on the way they are beign treated. (Dilts 2006, p. 34) In order to handle all these complains, the hotel first steps which were aimed at streamlining it relationship with the employees was the formation of the human resource department which was supposed to look at the welfare of the employees. The human resource department was apparently responsible for looking at the welfare of the employee and also it was to handle complains from the employee. Therefore it was given the authority to deal with issue of hiring and firing of the employees. In areas where the hotel has been hiring seasonal workforce, it has been putting the employee on a contractual agreement where they are supposed to be paid according to there performance and not on the bases that eh were hired. This has been made in order to avoid many complains that come from the workforce once they are dismissed from their employee when the low seasons comes. The hotel has also made sure that it has put in place a board that is supposed to scrutinize all the complains that are received from the employees so that it can look into the way of making sure that they are well addressed. The board or the arbitration body is supposed to work in close conjunction with the human resource department to make sure that there is a well defined procedure that is followed while dealing with the complains. Therefore there have been systematic efforts by the hotel that has been aimed at reducing the level of complains with the workforce. These efforts have also been aimed at ensuring that all the employees are handled as equal and that complains are dealt with as a matter of urgency. From time to time there will be complains from the workforce. These complains are most of the time genuine and they indicates that there is a problem that need to be fixed somewhere in the work process. The human resource department that has been given the mandate of dealing with the issue of these conflicts understands that employees are the most important treasure that ht organization holds. It has to deal with the employee well, so that it will gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore it is good for the management to come up with proper way of dealing with these complains in order to avert further action from the employee. Most of the time if these complain is not dealt with they are likely to precipitate to strikes which will have a negative effect on the productivity of the industry and also on the image of he industry. The tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the industries that have been suffering major grievances from employee due to issues of off and on season employment and low payment. There have been major labor action in the industry which has been caused by these complain that has been expressed by the workforce. Therefore there is need for the players in the industry to handle some of these complains well and take the example of Holiday Inn which has come with effective mechanisms that are meat to deal with the problem firmly. Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008, Hospitality and Hotels: Employment and Labor, Retrieved from http://www.andrewskurth.com/industries-22.html on 10th May 2008 Dana, D 2001, Conflict Resolution, McGraw Hill Dentron, K. Boyd, C 2005, Employee Complaint Handling, Greenwood Publishing Group Dilts, D 2006, Cases in Collective Bargaining industry relations, McGraw Hill, New York Finegan, J 2004, The rigorous customer-complain, Harvard Business Review12 Leornard, A 2001, The service Driven Company, Harvard Business Review 69 Mitchell, M 2007, Union organization Trend in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieved from http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2363 on 10th May 2008 Rahul, J 2005, Corporate Reputation, John Willey, New York Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry The issue of grievance handling has not been new in organizations and it has been one of the most persistent problems of all times. In the course of running an organization, there are many complaints that are handled daily by the management which constitute the process of grievance handling. Grievances are common not only in organization but also in our social life. However it has been shown that the nature of the grievances is not that important than the process that is used to handle the grievances. Before we look at the process of handling a grievance in an organization, let us look use first understand the nature of a grievance. What is a grievance? (Dentron and Boyd 2005, p. 61) A grievance can be defined as any complaint that is raised by an individual worker of a group of workers in an organization. A grievance is usually raised in allegation of violation of the terms of agreement in the workplace. Therefore it can be said to a complaint that is raised and which is aimed at expressing the dissatisfaction of the employees by what is happening in the organization. A grievance however differs from a complaint in that while a complaint can be verbally expressed, a grievance is usually stated in writing. A grievance can be caused by many things. It has been shown that some of the most controversial issues which usually ends up in a grievance include the discharge of employees from their workplace, lack of a process of collective bargaining for the employees which can be used to express their dissatisfaction, unfair labor practices, and others which are likely to happening in the work places. (Rahul 2005, p. 31) Therefore we can expound on this point by looking closely at the process which is usually used to handle these complaints. For the effective functioning of an organization, there is usually a need to look at the welfare of the employee. Any management will recognize that the employees are the most important asset that an organization holds and therefore the most important thing in the management of the resources of an organization will be first to look at the welfare of the workforces. It has been shown that most of the grievances which hare not well looked at often precipitate to a form of dissident by the workforce which in most case comes as strike. A strike in an organization will not only have economic effect on the organization but it will also have effects on the image of the management of the organization. Therefore many organizations have come up with an effective procedure that can be used to handle complaints of het employees. In order to ensure that there is less participant of the workforce in mass movement of labor unions, many organization came up with human resource departments which are well positioned to handle the complains of the employees. Therefore it is the duty of the human resource department to come up with a well structured way that can be used to look at the welfare of the workforce. The human resource department is the one which is entrusted with the duty of handling all the complaints regarding the employees. Human resource department must come up with a grievance handling procedure. (Finegan 2004, p. 71) A grievance handling produced clearly defines a process which is used by the organization to look at the complaints that has been given by the employees. It presents a process of initial resolving of the complaints through arbitration. It is a process that is used to indentify and resolve the companies in a timely manner in order to promoted the prevail a constructive discussion between the management and the representatives of the employees. therefore the aim of the grievance procedure is to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place that is used by the management to look at the issues that pertains to employees in order to ensure that there is constructive resolving of the complains at they arises. (Dana 2001, p. 231) The hospitality industry has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In a short period of time, the industry has grown short of its former self. In the last few decades there has been increased travelling by people all over the world. This has been enabled by the increasing wave of globalization which has opened the world and increased the interaction between people. As a result individuals have been able to travel from one corners of the world to the other with no political or legal limitation. The improve modes of transport has been the main factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the industry. The industry has been one of the most important industries in the world that have been supporting the increased globalization and polarization of world culture. Therefore there has been unprecedented growth of the industry in a very short period of time. The industry has been offering supportive services in the tourism sector. Apparently tourism has emerged to be one of the most important industries in the world. It has been fueled by increased spending culture in the world and increased openness. Tourism has taken many dimensions in its growth in areas of cultural tourism, business tourism, leisure tourism, education tourism, medical tourism, and other areas. In all these segments, individual usually travels away from their homes to go to foreign countries. Therefore they need to be accommodated and given other services. In this regard the hospitality industry comes in hand as it offers them support in accommodation and other necessary services. The hospitality industry has therefore hinged its growth on the tourism sector. (Leornard 2001, p. 52) One of the emerging natures of the hospitality industry has been diversity that has been experienced in the customers that the industry target and also in the workforce. There has been an increasing trend in the industry towards culture convergence in which one hospitality facility in the world is serving people of diverse culture. Therefore there has been an aspect of standardization of culture in the industry. Cultural homogeneity is considered to be one of the competitive factors that need to achieve in order to survive in the competitive market. With the market become more diverse due to divers needs of the customers, the hotel industry have therefore tended to have a divers nature of employees in order to help their customers to feel at home every time they are being served. Therefore there has been an increasing trend of multicultural workforce in the industry. This of course has come with its own challenges to human resource management. One of the most challenges that faces any human resource management is a multicultural workforce is the way to handle complains by the employees. Many a times, employees feel that their welfare is not looked at as needed in the organization and there are usually incidences of unfair treatment of the employees. But due to the diverse nature of the employees, the human resource department may not be in a position to come up with standardized way of dealing with all the demands that employees have. Therefore there are incidence of complaints that are based on the favors in the workforce and discontent in the allocation of duties. Many of het case studies that have been presented about complain in the hospitality industry have all been based on issue of favors in the workforce which arise due to the diversity in the workforce. Therefore in the contemporary human resource management issues, diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry have been one of the causes of complains in the workforce. The hospitality industry is one of the most hectic industries as visitors check in and checks out. As a result there is a lot of work that needs to be done by the workforce. The nature of services in the industry is based on the fact that the visitors have to feel as comfortable as they want and find value for the amount of money that they are charged. Therefore there has to be a lot of work that is done by the employees in order to meet the demands of the visitors. Some of the visitors can be a little nagging and may require excessive attention than others. Going by the nature of definition of the duties the employee have to perform some employee will always find themselves doing extra work that they have not bee assigned at the time they were hired. Therefore there is usually a conflict with their supervisors who have to make sure that the guest gets all what they want and therefore will have to assign extra duty to the employees. At the end to the day employees will feel that they have done more that they are supposed to do in their duties. This has been shown to be another source of complains from the employees who feels that they are unfair treated and their initial duty assignment is not respected. (Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008) In most cases supervisors are faced with a hard task of ensuring that employee perform all the duties that they have been assigned to and also perform the extra duties that the guests wants to be attendee to. Therefore there is a situation between the supervisors and the employees. The hospitality industry peaks with seasons. This means that there are periods when there will be an inflow of guest while there are other seasons when there will be less guest checking in. In there regard there is a fluctuating need of employees in the industry. When the season peaks, the industry will need to hire more employees and when the season is low the industry will need to lay off some of the employees. In this regard the tourism industry is most affected by the seasonality. Most of the hotels which operation in leisure industries will find the there are periods when there will be more guest especially during holidays and weekend while there are other when there will be less guest. The industry is also prone to political stability and other factors and therefore the times when there is a serene atmosphere will see an inflow of guest while the times when there is political turmoil there will be less guests who will be checking in. As a result the industry is force to keep on hiring and lying off some of the workers. It has continuously become difficult for the industry to hire more employees on permanent bases due to the fact that there are period when the industry will need more workers while the off seasons will need less workers. Therefore there is a factor of the way in which employees are hired and retained in the industry. This has been one of the most contentious issues especially when it come to the labor unions which have been arguing that there is need for the industry to hire employee on permanent bases. There are a times when the industry is forced to lay off the employee unexpected due to the prevailing circumstance. For example in Kenya which is one of the famed tourism destinations in Africa, the last year skirmishes had a negative effect in the industry. It is recorded that though it was the high season when the tourism and hospitality industry expected a great inflow of guest, more than 10,000 employees were laid off. This was due to massive cancellation of bookings that had been done. The industry has apparently hired more workers in anticipation for the high season that had just started to pick up. There has been a conflicting situation in the industry as the employee who had been hired on contracted bases want to be paid all the money as their contract had defend while the industry is trying to recover from a massive losses incurred due to the massive cancellation. The hospitality industry has also been shown as one of the industry which pays the workers low salaries. This has been caused by the fact that the industry sometime will need to hire more employees and other times it will have to lay off some the employees. Due to the fact that the industry goes on of very lean seasons when it has to maintain its operation, there have been incidence of some players in the industry paying their employee very low salaries in a bid to cover the expense in the low season. Therefore there have been conflicts between the workforce and the management on the issue of salaries. This is one of the most conflicting issues that have led to formation of labor unions in the industry. Most of the operators in the industry agree with the fact that the industry pays less money to its employees especially during the low seasons but they try to equate that with the operation of het industry during that period. It has been shown that although the industry has been growing at a high rate, there have been fewer incidences of increased salaries for the workforce even at times when the industry is performing well. There has also been incidence of customer complain in the industry. It has been shown that in most cases customer have been complains about the quality of service that they receive from particular employees in the industry and also from the facility in general. This has been a difficult situation for the human resource department especially since it has to ascertain the nature of the conflict between the employee and the guest. In most case the guest may have rubbed the employee on the wrong side and therefore there must be a way of asserting the truth before punishing the employee. Though the issue of customer complains has been shown to be a responsibility attached to the customer service department, at the end of the day it ends up as a management issue that has to be resolved. Both hotel and hospitality industries fall under any industry in the country. Therefore they are exposed to the same labor laws like any other industry. However the nature of employee relation in the industry has been changing due to some of the factors that have been shown. Although there has been increasing labor unionization of the industry there has also some legal aspects that have been protecting the employees in the industry. One of the laws that protect employee in the industry has been the National Labor Relation Act which are aimed at redressing complain of any employees that has been unlawfully discharged from their duties. Through the law the employee is able to seek redress in the law court. However there has been conflicting situation when it comes to address this issue and when it comes to the application of the law. This is because every time an employee is dismissed from their duties for a genuine reason, they run to the court to place complains and what follows is an argument about the rights of het employees. Although the employer has the responsibility of recognize the rightist of the employee, there has been the question of the responsibility of the employee especially when it comes to the nature of the operation of the industry. Being in an industry that calls for meticulous performance of duties in order to ensure the satisfaction of the employee, there has been incidence where the employee have been dismissed on the ground of misbehaving with the guest or failing to perform their duties and what follows is a lawsuits for the company. (Mitchell, 2007) There has been increasing misinterpretation of the National Labor Relation Act when it comes to the employees working in the hospitality industry. There has been a need to becoming familiar with the law and its interpretations. There has been misinterpretation of the act when it comes to the employers also. It has been shown that there are many incidences when the employers back off from their earlier salary agreement and fire off employee who complains. But the law has shown the act is inclusive even of the employee who works in the hospitality industry who are likely to work for part time bases. Holiday Inn has been one of the most prosperous hotels that have become major player in the hospitality and tourism industry. It has been able to spread its wings all over the world and has grown to be a multinational in a very short period. It has positioned itself in all the corners of the world which have tourism potential and therefore it has a world wide presence. Like any other play in the industry, the hotel has been receiving a number of complains from the customers as well as from the workers themselves. Since the hotel has been relying on tourism activities in its overseas operation, the hotel has been experience same problems as we have mentioned above which are all hinged on the satisfaction of the employee and on other factors. But is has successfully put in place a mechanism that is used to handle all these complains. It has been dealing with a range of complains about its employees and at the same time there have been complains from the employees on the way they are beign treated. (Dilts 2006, p. 34) In order to handle all these complains, the hotel first steps which were aimed at streamlining it relationship with the employees was the formation of the human resource department which was supposed to look at the welfare of the employees. The human resource department was apparently responsible for looking at the welfare of the employee and also it was to handle complains from the employee. Therefore it was given the authority to deal with issue of hiring and firing of the employees. In areas where the hotel has been hiring seasonal workforce, it has been putting the employee on a contractual agreement where they are supposed to be paid according to there performance and not on the bases that eh were hired. This has been made in order to avoid many complains that come from the workforce once they are dismissed from their employee when the low seasons comes. The hotel has also made sure that it has put in place a board that is supposed to scrutinize all the complains that are received from the employees so that it can look into the way of making sure that they are well addressed. The board or the arbitration body is supposed to work in close conjunction with the human resource department to make sure that there is a well defined procedure that is followed while dealing with the complains. Therefore there have been systematic efforts by the hotel that has been aimed at reducing the level of complains with the workforce. These efforts have also been aimed at ensuring that all the employees are handled as equal and that complains are dealt with as a matter of urgency. From time to time there will be complains from the workforce. These complains are most of the time genuine and they indicates that there is a problem that need to be fixed somewhere in the work process. The human resource department that has been given the mandate of dealing with the issue of these conflicts understands that employees are the most important treasure that ht organization holds. It has to deal with the employee well, so that it will gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore it is good for the management to come up with proper way of dealing with these complains in order to avert further action from the employee. Most of the time if these complain is not dealt with they are likely to precipitate to strikes which will have a negative effect on the productivity of the industry and also on the image of he industry. The tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the industries that have been suffering major grievances from employee due to issues of off and on season employment and low payment. There have been major labor action in the industry which has been caused by these complain that has been expressed by the workforce. Therefore there is need for the players in the industry to handle some of these complains well and take the example of Holiday Inn which has come with effective mechanisms that are meat to deal with the problem firmly. Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008, Hospitality and Hotels: Employment and Labor, Retrieved from http://www.andrewskurth.com/industries-22.html on 10th May 2008 Dana, D 2001, Conflict Resolution, McGraw Hill Dentron, K. Boyd, C 2005, Employee Complaint Handling, Greenwood Publishing Group Dilts, D 2006, Cases in Collective Bargaining industry relations, McGraw Hill, New York Finegan, J 2004, The rigorous customer-complain, Harvard Business Review12 Leornard, A 2001, The service Driven Company, Harvard Business Review 69 Mitchell, M 2007, Union organization Trend in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieved from http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2363 on 10th May 2008 Rahul, J 2005, Corporate Reputation, John Willey, New York

A Comparison of Ginsberg and Kerouac Essay -- comparison compare contr

A Comparison of Ginsberg and Kerouac   Ã‚  Ã‚   The 1950s saw a period of great material prosperity in the United States. After World War II G.I.s came back to take charge of the family again. Women no longer had to work and could return to the home to nurse their newborn babies. Housing, automobiles, and white picket fences were in high demand. Televisions became commonplace, making possible the rapid distribution of visual information- not to mention the sitcom. McCarthy had started to purge the U.S. of those pesky Communists, ensuring a democratic future for all. While the blacks, of course, could not realize it, virtually everyone else saw the fulfillment of the American Dream.    In their writings of the mid-1950s, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac describe an America recently converted to the religion of the T.V. Ginsberg witnesses and records big blue Buicks in driveways of identical box houses. With Walt Whitman he watches whole families peruse the peaches in late-night supermarkets. Conversely, Kerouac describes a spiritual journey that takes him back and forth across the U.S. Both Ginsberg and Kerouac use Buddhist ideals and methodology to criticize the current state of American society. They seek after a more honest and equal American Dream.    Ginsberg and Kerouac are an interesting comparison because of their unique symbiotic relationship. Not only was each a literary influence on the other, but they actually appear in each other's works. In Ginsberg's "Sunflower Sutra," he and Kerouac sit between a railroad and a river to watch the sun set over San Francisco. Kerouac points out a sunflower, and Ginsberg begins one of his mystical visions ...    The primary image in the poem is a ... ...g to live in a real world. He does what he can, and gives the rest up for port wine.    Kerouac and Ginsberg envisioned a dream that no one can live up to. Like everyone else, they are good at telling you what's wrong, but cannot come up with the right answer nearly as quickly. From the evidence of the texts, I would give Kerouac more credit than Ginsberg, because he was less hypocritical and made his best attempt at reaching his spiritual goal. Ginsberg, however, definitely did his part in pinpointing the errors of a generation. Consequently, all are Holy and Beautiful.    Works Cited Ginsberg, Allen. "Sunflower Sutra." Howl and other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights, 1956. Rpt. in The New American Poetry. Ed. Donald M. Allen. New York: Grove Press, 1960. 179-181. Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Books, 1976.

From the Depths of My Soul :: Personal Narrative essay about myself

From the Depths of My Soul    ``Songs my father taught me'' should be the title of everything I play. His teachings took place from my first breath to his last. They are profoundly present in every moment that I am with the guitar. He taught me to love her, to care for her and to give myself to her.    Many times I went to sleep listening to him playing classical guitar, or woke up to the sound of a Bach gavotte! While walking in the old part of town, he would call my attention to the moonlight illuminating the narrow streets, or smell the flowers perfuming the old city, and then tell me``This is the Fandanguillo of Turina!''    I saw my father under persecution by the republicans and later decorated with honors by the democrats. I saw my father in poverty and I saw him financially successful. One thing remained untouched - his love of music, his love of the guitar. He practiced with the same devotion when there was no sight or hope of a successful career as he did later when success did come. The collection of music I play in homage to him was an essential part of the repertoire he always kept with him and gave to my brothers and me so that through our love of it we could search for beauty and that unattainable perfection that is the guiding light of all the great servants of music.    My father was a genius; he is an immortal man. I always wanted to believe in immortality. I always wanted to believe in eternal life, and intellectually I did. But in my heart, I had my doubts. In the last moments that my father and I spent together, he took these doubts away. He taught me that indeed there is a God. He taught me that there is eternal life, and we made a pact that we would soon be together, reunited, and in full recognition of each other.    My father taught me many things. When he was alive we had the most beautiful and most perfect love affair that two people could have. My father was the greatest guitarist known to me, and everything in me is only an offspring of that magnificent tree of music that he was. And everything that passes from me to future generations will be an offshoot of that beautiful root that was completely ingrained in the earth of music.

USEC Capital Budgeting Case Questions

In one paragraph (max 5 sentences), describe the general situation faced by USEC: USEC is the lead supplier of enriched uranium, which is used to fuel nuclear reactors. Due to an expiring contract with a power supplier, the production of Uranium fuel became very expensive at the current Paducah plant. USEC created a new plant called APC in an attempt to advance technology and become the low cost producers in the Uranium industry. Mackovjak is a financial analyst tasked with the evaluation of USEC. In order to properly value USEC, Mackovjak needs to evaluate APC and their contributions to USEC.2) What is the Weighted Average Cost of Capital for USEC in July 2006? (Assume the expected return on the market is around 11%)WACC= .10703We calculated a = .134 which we calculated using the expected return equation: . Our equation looked similar to this: For the equity we assumed the number of shares outstanding for 2006 which was 86.1 million *10.8 (price per share) 930 million The debt was g iven in the capital market conditions at 475 million (making D+E equal 1405 million) For we used the yield to maturity, which was given at 0.0904 The tax rate was estimated based on the 2005 data to be roughly 40 percent.3) After determining the relevant Cash Flows for the project, what is the NPV? *FCF were calculated in the excel spreadsheetWe were using a $20 fixed price due to an agreement for the Uranium however this changed as the agreement expired and we were required to buy Uranium at market price. Sales= (Production *SWU price)Cash Costs= (Production of APC* Market price )+ (Production of APC* Enrichment costs) *When APC became functional, enrichment costs were reduced by half Non Cash Costs= DepreciationCurrent assets= production* inventory (this was only used in 2012) Market price* production (was used for 2013 and after) Current liabilities= 1 % of DOE for initial research of centrifuge technology Net working capital= current assets – current liabilities (we found the change in Networking capital) Operating cash flow= S-C(1-T)+TDChanged in fixed asset= capital expenditureWe used these values to calculate a future cash flow using the equation: FCF= operating cash flow -increase in networking capital -increase in fixed assets.In order to find the NPV of the project we took the FCF from ACP alone. We had to recognize that the lease on Paducah was not associated with ACP, however a one percent royalty was added to current liabilities on the ACP projecting. In order to check our initial estimation we compared the networking capital of the APC project to 5% of sales that was recommended by another analyst Craig Weise. Every year the value was positive and above 5% reinforcing our decision that USEC will take on the project. Based on our calculated NPV of the project we determined that APC would return 2,020,167,627 dollars.The cost of the project is 1.7 billion so the difference in return and cost is a positive 320,167,627 dollars. Thus USEC will take on the project and therefore the company is undervalued. Mackovjak, the financial analyst, seeing that the company is undervalued should pitch to upper management they should take a long position in USEC.From the syllabus: â€Å"Write-ups should be self-contained Word documents, running 2-3 pages or less, including exhibits. Separate spreadsheets containing original calculations should be attached to the email, but exhibits should be placed within the Word document, not left to be found somewhere in the spreadsheet.† Please conform to these exhibition expectations in future write-ups. As to your spreadsheet:For Paducah, the CFs shown would be irrelevant, as â€Å"with ACP, Paducah operates in 2006-2010, and without ACP, Paducah operates in 2006-2010†, so Paducah CFs irrelevant to ACP valuation in 2006-2010. But necessary to estimate from 2006-2010, so that when lost 2011-2025, Paducah CFs are  already escalated and easily estimable. In that regard, all CFs to th e NPV calc are too high as you have included irrelevant 2006-2010 CFs for Paducah, but more importantly, have ignored all Paducah CFs lost from 2011-2025 as suggested by the case comments given in class the prior day to case discussion.Further, your Paducah OCF format of (S-C)(1-T)+TD should only contain cash costs in â€Å"C† and your spreadsheet shows that â€Å"C† contains Capital Expenditures. Capital Expenditures is ALWAYS outside of OCF, with (S-C)(1-T)+TD – ChgNWC – Yearly CapEx., which you do, thus effectively double deducting for CapEx. You did not return NWC at the end of the project.For ACP, Uranium Costs are basically ZERO in your valuation after 2012. This error SEVERELY underestimates costs, and overestimates FCF and thus NPV. Further, in your â€Å"double 2011† method, a Uranium cost of $21? Where is this from? For Depreciation in ACP, you are using Depreciation for Paducah (Old), not the Capitalized Plant Bldg costs. Further, your a nalysis does not seem to include the $1.7b cost anywhere, other than in the text of this document where you apparently take a t=0 PVCF and subtract amounts that sum to $1.7b, but occur across 5 years (thus ignoring discounting of the capital costs, and including 100m of a sunk cost in your NPV). Finally, your methodology of PV’g does not use the spreadsheet effectively. As with any hard number entry, if you wanted to change this, you would have a significant task ahead of you.Please think about using functions, or at the very least using equations that refer to a single cell containing WACC, and sequential cells containing 1,2,3, etc. for â€Å"T†. Overall, a submission with many errors; some to be expected, and some that appear to be unexplained or work potentially done too quickly without review. I would very much suggest that you use FAR fewer hard numbers in the spreadsheet calculations, and layout more of the assumed values as separate cell entries (the tax rate, the UrRawMatls quantity, the SunkCost, the WACC). If you ever had to go back and change some of these things, it is far easier to change one cell than try to remember ALL cells that contained the hard number entry.