Thursday, December 26, 2019

Medeas Monologue by Euripides (Mother Character)

In one of the most chilling monologues in all of Greek Mythology, Medea seeks revenge against the heroic yet callous Jason (the father of her children) by killing her own offspring. Found in the play Medea by the Greek writer Euripides,  this monologue offers an alternative to the traditional female monologues found in classic literature. In the play, Medea kills her children (offstage) and then flies away on the chariot of Helios, and while many have argued that this play demonizes women, others contend that Medea represents literature’s first feminist heroine, a woman who chooses her own destiny despite the hand she was dealt by the gods. Although not the typical  mother character monologue, Madeas monologue  is deeply expressive of the difficulty and multiplicity of the emotions love, loss, and revenge, making it a truly excellent audition piece for female actors who want to convey their ability to portray a depth of complex emotions. Full Text of Medeas Monologue Taken from an English translation of the Greek play by  Shelley Dean Milman  found in The Plays of Euripides in English, vol ii, the following monologue is delivered by Medea upon discovering Jason has left her for the princess of Corinth. Upon this realization that shes been left alone, Madea attempts to take control of her own life and says: O my sons!My sons! ye have a city and a houseWhere, leaving hapless me behind, withoutA mother ye for ever shall reside.But I to other realms an exile go,Ere any help from you I could derive,Or see you blest; the hymeneal pomp,The bride, the genial couch, for you adorn,And in these hands the kindled torch sustain.How wretched am I through my own perverseness!You, O my sons, I then in vain have nurtured,In vain have toiled, and, wasted with fatigue,Suffered the pregnant matrons grievous throes.On you, in my afflictions, many hopesI founded erst: that ye with pious careWould foster my old age, and on the bierExtend me after death—much envied lotOf mortals; but these pleasing anxious thoughtsAre vanished now; for, losing you, a lifeOf bitterness and anguish shall I lead.But as for you, my sons, with those dear eyesFated no more your mother to behold,Hence are ye hastening to a world unknown.Why do ye gaze on me with such a lookOf tenderness, or wherefore smile? for theseAre your last smiles. Ah wretched, wretched me!What shall I do? My resolution fails.Sparkling with joy now I their looks have seen,My friends, I can no more. To those past schemesI bid adieu, and with me from this landMy children will convey. Why should I causeA twofold portion of distress to fallOn my own head, that I may grieve the sireBy punishing his sons? This shall not be:Such counsels I dismiss. But in my purposeWhat means this change? Can I prefer derision,And with impunity permit the foeTo scape? My utmost courage I must rouse:For the suggestion of these tender thoughtsProceeds from an enervate heart. My sons,Enter the regal mansion.  [Exuent SONS.]  As for thoseWho deem that to be present were unholyWhile I the destined victims offer up,Let them see to it. This uplifted armShall never shrink. Alas! alas! my soulCommit not such a deed. Unhappy woman,Desist and spare thy children; we will liveTogether, they in foreign realms shall cheerThy exile. No, by those avenging fiendsWho d well with Pluto in the realms beneath,This shall not be, nor will I ever leaveMy sons to be insulted by their foes.They certainly must die; since then they must,I bore and I will slay them: tis a deedResolved on, nor my purpose will I change.Full well I know that now the royal brideWears on her head the magic diadem,And in the variegated robe expires:But, hurried on by fate, I tread a pathOf utter wretchedness, and them will plungeInto one yet more wretched. To my sonsFain would I say: O stretch forth your right handsYe children, for your mother to embrace.O dearest hands, ye lips to me most dear,Engaging features and ingenuous looks,May ye be blest, but in another world;For by the treacherous conduct of your sireAre ye bereft of all this earth bestowed.Farewell, sweet kisses—tender limbs, farewell!And fragrant breath! I never more can bearTo look on you, my children. My afflictionsHave conquered me; I now am well awareWhat crimes I venture on: but rage, the causeOf woes most grievous to the human race,Over my better reason hath prevailed. Even Euripides contemporaries found the monologue and play to be shocking to the Athenian audiences at the time, though this may have stemmed more from the artistic liberties Euripides took in retelling Medeas story—the children historically were said to have been killed by the Corinthians, not by Medea—and the play itself was ranked third of three at the Dionysia Festival where it premiered in 431 B.C.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The Colors Of Racism By John Steinbeck And Of Mice And...

The Colors of Racism in Of Mice and Men The struggle of racism in America is one which has been regularized in American society. The devaluation and undermining of colored individuals has become commonplace, due to social injustice. In particular, racial discrimination prevails among African American societies due to the color of their skin, and the stereotypical notions of racial superiority that the white race illuminates. For over three-hundred years, the African American communities have been oppressed due to a mere lack of social equality and respect. Due to the precedent of slavery set before the nineteen thirties, the social conditions were deemed as horrific and unthinkable. A teeming amount of victims of racial discrimination choose to accept their discriminatory experience, while others choose to transform these insults and manifest them into an effort towards social equality. Those individuals who chose to stand up against oppression were the self-starters and doers of the twentieth century. These individuals that opposed the prejudice and ruthlessness of the racial disposition are the foundation for the coming centuries. In An Overview of Of Mice and Men, Kevin Attell suggests that Crook s acceptance of his inferiority among his counterparts, is what garners a substantial amount of incivility and vulgarity within the realms of ranch, due to social injustice. Crook’s acceptance of his inferiority to his white counterparts is what further drives theShow MoreRelatedDiscrimination And Prejudice By Harper Lee And Of Mice And Men1238 Words   |  5 PagesDiscrimination and prejudice were very common acts in the early and middle 1900’s. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck prejudice is displayed by the acts of hate towards someone’s color of skin. People of color were the majority, that were treated unfairly. During this time in the southern states, black people had to use separate drinking foun tains, bathrooms, churches, and even go to separate schools. Even though much of discrimination was driven towardsRead MoreRacial Discrimination In John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men899 Words   |  4 Pagesis someone to talk to. What about having to kill a friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of an average migrant worker? How would anybody feel? These situations in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men illustrates two key points throughout the story; discrimination and loneliness. In Of Mice and Men, Crooks, the black stable hand, is the definition of racial discrimination. He is isolated from the community of white migrant workers because of his racial status. Crook mentioned thisRead MoreAmerican History : The Dark Past1556 Words   |  7 PagesMockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck have maintained their long standing positions in American literature. 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The pervasive emotion experienced by all of the characters in Of Mice andRead MoreThe American Dream In John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men761 Words   |  4 PagesIn Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife to demonstrate the American Dream. This is unattainable but is their motivation to carry on their daily on the ranch lives. George and Lennie’s actions revolve around their American Dream. In a conversation between George and Lennie they discuss their dream, George states â€Å"... We’re gonna get the jack together a nd we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres, an’ a cow and some pigs† (Steinbeck, 14)Read MoreDiscrimination Of Mice And Men919 Words   |  4 Pages Discrimination of Mice and Men â€Å"Listen to me, you crazy bastard,† â€Å"Don t you even take a look at the bitch.In the book â€Å"Mice and Men† People in the story uses mean phases and words to use against people that is not the same as them or that does not look like them.In the quote it shines light on how people treat each other during the book and on how they act when they are near each other.In John Steinbeck s Novel Of Mice and Men, the author illustrate that peopleRead MoreJohn Steinbeck s Of Mice And Men959 Words   |  4 Pagesthey act when they are near each other. Instead of saying nice words, they bring people down in Mice and Men. Individuals in the story use mean phrases and words to use against people that are not the same as them or that doesn’t look like them. Why does the author use derogatory terms in his book Mice and Men, what message was he trying to send to his readers? â€Å"In John Steinbeck s novel Of Mice and Men, the author illustrates that people discrimina te against one another because they want to feelRead MoreAnalysis Of John Steinbeck s Of Mice And Men Socratic Seminar 1873 Words   |  8 PagesOf Mice and Men Socratic Seminar Responses to Questions 1. Steinbeck has his characters use racially derogatory terms. Why do you think he uses this language? Given the context of the story, are these terms necessary? Is there any evidence to suggest that Steinbeck shares his characters’ bigoted views of minorities? 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Loneliness is common in many peoples lives and that is also true for the lives of the characters of the book. Almost all characters in the book are lonely in one way or the other. The main characters of the book are George and Lennie. Even though these two seem to have each other, they are both lonesome in a way. Lennies mental retardation isolates him from many people. George is the only person

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Homosexuality and Morality Click Now To Get Solution

Question: 1. What makes an activity, desire or pleasure sexual? Can we give a non-circular definition here? 2. Critically assess the different definitions of perversion that have been offered. Are any of these definitions correct or helpful? (Answer with reference to two or more of Nagel, Solomon, Goldman and Scruton) 3. Is sex without love somehow morally deficient? 4. What is sexual objectification? Under what circumstances (if any) might it be morally permissible? 5. Is prostitution morally permissible? Answer with reference to at least two competing moral viewpoints (e.g. liberal, Marxist, radical feminist, consequentialist, virtue ethicist, Kantian) on the topic. 6. Is masturbation morally permissible? Answer with reference to at least two competing moral viewpoints (e.g. Natural Law, consequentialist, virtue ethicist, Kantian) on the topic. 7. Is pornography morally permissible? Answer with reference to at least two competing moral viewpoints (e.g. liberal, Marxist, radical feminist, consequentialist, virtue ethicist, Kantian) on the topic. 8. Is homosexuality morally permissible? An swer with reference to at least two competing moral viewpoints (e.g. Natural Law, consequentialist, virtue ethicist, Kantian) on the topic. 9. Should same-sex marriage be legalized? Explain your answer with reference to arguments that have been offered for and against by philosophers. Answer: Homosexuality is the state of sexual desire or conduct towards a person or persons of the same sex. Homosexuality is something which is romantic and has attracted sexually to the same sex discrimination of he/she looks, with the feeling that there is nothing in the world more important than the one the person is enjoying his/her movements with. Homosexuality is somehow recorded as a controversial topic and as a different theorists have given their different viewpoints. However, a judgement on the immorality by the divine sources is flawed; it runs contrary to building modern intellectual structure and makes it difficult to predict what actions are wrong and what are right. On medical basis homosexuality is a neurotic disease which has a high tendency to overwhelm the whole personality. It is caused because of psychological disease. The immorality of homosexuality is decided on the grounds of consequentiality, where evaluation is based on general happiness and the amount of suffering it causes (Haiderl, 1999). Rationally, every that act which increase the level of personal happiness should be morally permissible and acts which bring suffering should not be morally permissible. Homosexuality is the persist pattern of romance, emotions and sexual attraction in terms of compatibility with the people of the same sex. The most common terminology used in homosexual people is gay for males and lesbian for females. The major factors used for defining homosexuality include sexual behavior, attraction and sameness. So all these factors work together in harmony There are chances that a life partner who is first attracted towards opposite sex may may later on be attracted towards a person of the same sex. So applying labels is not an accurate way to describe one sexual ability (George, 1997). Nicholas Tonti Filippini, one of the Australias leading voices in the debate on same sex marriage, claims that in some countries, the law doesnt make any discrimination among people with same sex marriages. As per such laws, everyone is free to make their choices. Children are a production of heterosexual relationships and such marriage creates children's rights. The hard fact wi th homosexual holders is that they cannot produce their own children and the children either comes from a previous relationship or by some surrogacy or technical measures. Therefore a complex array of parental relationship is set up of the birth mother, genetic, gestational (Nicholas Tonti, 2011). There are many arguments made by controversial assumptions of mixed feelings of homosexuality about the facts, that it is good or bad for the society. But decisions are made for the average person's satisfaction of discrimination and not necessarily on the basis of laws (A Schopenhauer, 1966) The Ruse is a philosopher of science who made contributions to the history and analysis of philosophical with biological science and contributed to give epistemological causes of homosexuality. Just like him, the viewers of same sex marriage have different views of union between two women and two men. Thus, this proposal denies the truth of physiological, psychological and biological differences between women and men. Human race, growth and development of the child are affected by this kind of relationship. Such types of relationships are less strong, less stable and less valuable as viewed by their friends and family. So this has an adverse effect on their health and well beings and society, including level of high mental disturbance in such couples. (Michael Ruse, 1990). Violates morality of Natural Law Aristotle the father of natural law classified the act of homosexuality as existence of both forms made up of male and female. The relationship between human beings is not just a marriage. It is the bonding which relies on human nature and thus ruled by natural law. The fundamental rule of law is to the strive for good done and elude the evil, as the law is immutable and universal it is applied to the entire race of human, equally (Hinton, 2003). Therefore sexual activity which violates the natural law should be properly governed. If homosexuality is morally permissible, it will end the humanity of preserving the genetics or species. This disturbs the natural law. This fact cannot be denied that for normal growth of a child, it should have mother and father both, but with homosexuality, child always faces difficulties in his bringing up by homosexual couples. This leads to the weakening of the overall personality development of the youth (Robin, 2006). Morality on virtue ethics Virtues are acquired qualities which are potential for the state of character and mind on the basis of moral and intellectual values. The question arises, is homosexuality immoral according to virtual ethics? According to the theorists of virtue ethics, if anything is wrongly considered as immoral, then the only result is the guilt. As per this theory, if there are reasons for considering anything as the right, at the same time there are reasons for considering it as wrong. People who dont wear their helmets may cause serious harm to themselves, but it cant be said that their action is immoral (Aranzadi, 2013). Virtually and ethically, living in a free city and in a free nation, there should be no restriction on the people and their thoughts. Major ethical theories are not philosophically wrong and are as follows (Simson, 1997): Utilarianism states that morality is achieved and guided on ground of actions. If such action brings happiness its best it should be maximized, but if it brings sadness, then it should be minimized on the benefit of cost analysis. Homosexuality does not cause any major harm to the person's sadness, but its true that it causes unprotected sex (Lewis, 2005). Utilitarianism doesnt make a difference on emotions or encourage egoism. As per this theory, it is wrong to punish or harm others to benefit yourself. To have a moral decision acceptable there is a need to take the right decision procedure to produce good results at higher level without any bad results (Mucciaroni, 2011). Categorical Imperative directs that an act of an individual should be logical and rational, so that rationality can be practiced with others also. Homosexual behavior comes up with this law by just having a sex on personal enjoyment without disrespecting or hurting anyone. If the sexual act between men and women is accepted, then it should also be be permissible for the same sex with the same reasons of enjoyment. To have an action morally permissible on the basis of the categorical imperative is that the action in the same situation should be rationally appropriate for each and everyone. If they get the satisfactory actions, then that action is morally permissible (Kriz, 1997). Aristoelian ethics, virtue has two parts, which states that an individuals personhood flourishing is the only goal that they promote and second that make habits in a way to achieve personal happiness. For action to be morally permissible in this ethics consideration is given only to the sensitivity of the situation for personal happiness. Like fighting or harming is something bad and immoral, but if its in a self defense than its satisfactory (Mooney, 2008). Stoic ethics, virtue agreed that our character, thoughts are important element for our reasons and beliefs. An irrational thought gives a wrong emotion and a rational thought gives a right emotions. Hence, any kind of sexual behavior can cause appropriate or inappropriate beliefs. As sex is a beautiful thing in the world and allow ourselves to be pleasured. Stoic theory gives the thought of all types of sufferings by judging irrational values. There is belief that homosexual behavior is perfectly virtuous in all senses. Stoic ethics, virtue is an ethics on true moral thoughts which brings an appropriate emotions and actions (OBrien, 2005) Conclusion By the argument, views, laws and virtues it is concluded that according to the ethical theories homosexuality is morally permissible. To accept it as something like a slippery slope argument which relies on the fact that one occurrence may lead to another. To achieve homosexual morally, just make strong ethical standards through which they govern our society and lives with it without any discrimination. Changes to the natural law and ethics if necessary, will make decision difficult to accept for possibilities. This may be rewarding for someone and hard for others to accept. Such homosexual people may insist for their rights more openly by feeling less shame about their sexual attractions and their lives. What is needed is the family of love and acceptance to avoid their physical and mental health problems. According to Utilitarianism this act is morally permissible if its results are more beneficial with less harm. Many philosophers found ethical virtues useful as they help to make decisions about right and wrong for various actions. It is generalized that its harm to not consider personal happiness of others if they are rational to avoid their mental and physical illness. These theories help a lot to strengthen the rational behaviors and evaluated the beliefs to make strong bonding of human life and emotional response to motivate us to promote the values for good life Biblography Eskridge, William N.,, Jr 1997, "A jurisprudence of "coming out": Religion, homosexuality, and collisions of liberty and equality in American public law", The Yale law journal, vol. 106, no. 8, pp. 2411-2474. George, R.P. 1997, "Public reason and political conflict: Abortion and homosexuality", The Yale law journal, vol. 106, no. 8, pp. 2475-2504. Haider-Markel, D. 1999, "Morality policy and individual-level political behavior: The case of legislative voting on lesbian and gay issues", Policy Studies Journal, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 735-749 Same-sex Marriage | Marriage Laws - Nicholas Tonti-Filippini2011-09-06 The metaphysics of sexual love - A Schopenhauer, EFJ Payne1966 Haider-Markel, D. Joslyn, M.R. 2008, "BELIEFS ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF HOMOSEXUALITY AND SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF ATTRIBUTION THEORY", Public opinion quarterly, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 291-310. Homosexuality: a philosophical inquiry - Michael Ruse1990 Heinze, J.E. Horn, S.S. 2009, "Intergroup Contact and Beliefs about Homosexuality in Adolescence", Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 937-51. Kriz, L. 1997, "Sex and the Church: Gender, Homosexuality, and the Transformation of Christian Ethics", Library Journal, vol. 122, no. 11, pp. 76. Lewis, G.B. Brooks, A.C. 2005, "A Question of Morality: Artists' Values and Public Funding for the Arts", Public administration review, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 8-17. Mooney, C.Z. Schuldt, R.G. 2008, "Does Morality Policy Exist? Testing a Basic Assumption", Policy Studies Journal, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 199-218. Mucciaroni, G. 2011, "Are Debates about "Morality Policy"' Really about Morality? Framing Opposition to Gay and Lesbian Rights", Policy Studies Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 187-216. Murphey, D.D. 1994, "Homosexuality and the principles of a free society", The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 105. O'Brien, J. 2005, "A Sociology of Religion and Homosexuality", Contemporary Sociology, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 462-465. Robin, B.K. 2006, "The Deep Structure of Law and Morality", Texas Law Review, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 877-942 Simson, M., Stuttaford, G. Zaleski, J. 1997, "One Nation, After All: What Middle-Class Americans Really Think About God, Country, Family, Poverty, Racism, Welfare, Homosexuality, Immigration, The Left, The Right, and Each Other", Publishers Weekly, vol. 244, no. 52, pp. 44. Tijsseling, A. 2010, "Lost Intimacies. Rethinking Homosexuality under National Socialism. Gender, Sexuality, Culture, Vol. 4.]", International Review of Social History, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 532-534. Aranzadi, J. 2013, "The Natural Link Between Virtue Ethics and Political Virtue: The Morality of the Market", Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 118, no. 3, pp. 487-496. Crossan, M., Mazutis, D. Seijts, G. 2013, "In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making", Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 113, no. 4, pp. 567-581. Dierksmeier, C. 2011, Thomas Aquinas on Justice as a Global Virtue, Social Science Research Network, Rochester. Hinton, B. 2003, "A Critical Look at Finnis's Natural Law Ethics and the Role of Human Choice", Journal of Value Inquiry, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 69. VanDrunen, D. 2008, "Review of "A Shared Morality: A Narrative Defense of Natural-Law Ethics" by Craig A. Boyd", Journal of Markets and Morality, vol. 11, no. 2.

Monday, December 2, 2019

My Deepest Fear Essay Essay Example

My Deepest Fear Essay Essay One of the biggest lies of all time told is that slumber is the best speculation. For as I lie down to rest each dark. I toss and turn for hours on terminal. troubled by the happenings of each twenty-four hours. overwhelmed by the errors I’ve undeniably made. and haunted by the errors I will doubtless do tomorrow. The restlessness caused by my insecurities neer ceases to get the better of me. And in an effort to get away the experiential panics of being. I write. Until my diary is filled to the end†¦until my eyes easy descend. I write†¦ I have been reading since I was two old ages old. Because it is by and large non in the nature of yearlings to grok modest literary plants. I did non read books. Alternatively. I read my milieus. analysing both periods of pleasance and pieces of disparity. subconsciously retaining non the former but the latter. And as books come to life in the head. mirroring gesture images. I remember my childhood as such. Watching my female parent. so immature. being beaten by legion â€Å"boyfriends† proved damaging to my guiltless mind. Not merely were these work forces crushing her. they were crushing this thought of normality into my caput that I’d sum to nil greater. We will write a custom essay sample on My Deepest Fear Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on My Deepest Fear Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on My Deepest Fear Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer I’d achieve nil more than what my female parent had. holding had two kids at 18 with no high school sheepskin to decrease unforgiving fortunes. And I sit in school feeling as if my dreams. at the really root of them. hold dried up like raisins in the sun†¦I sit in my categories penetrating my fate so intently that I am simply feigning to understand what is being taught. Therefore. despite the words of the august Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. my deepest fright is. in fact. that I am unequal. I fear that I am non good plenty and the undertaking of confuting this apprehension has been backbreaking. cognizing that every twenty-four hours. something has tried to destruct me and has merely fallen short. And I am diffident if this item is worthy of jubilation. And I wonder†¦has my tegument colour betrayed me? Has my inkiness. this skin color which I was taught to happen so beautiful. stricken me with the imprecation of holding to turn up in a poorness consumed vicinity. dependent upon the authorities to house and feed me ; the same vicinity that gunned my male parent down and took the lives of several of my equals. It can’t be†¦that my skin color has become so obvious that I am invariably holding to alter my frock. and adjust my tone to suit the demands of a disapproving bulk. Some position my sable race with contemptuous oculus. My colour is a devilish dye†¦to those who don’t see. that I am human first before I am black. Or is my sex the perpetrator? Has my being a adult female determined my destiny? Because as a member of an intersectional community it is known all excessively good that I am stricken by these procedures of sexism. and subjugation ; non working independently of one another. but interconnected. organizing a kind of junction. or intersection. of mul tiple signifiers of favoritism. But this can’t be†¦because harmonizing to female parent Maya Angelou. I am a adult female phenomenally†¦ And I know all excessively good that the caged bird sings for freedom. I have been so long stricken by the rough worlds of my upbringing†¦and I have been so long weltering in self-pity that I have forgotten my heritage and it shames me. Kings and Queens of Africa inhabit me. Affonso and Amina. Idris and Makeda. who are my ascendants. would certainly be affronted to cognize that I have non realized what it has been in my nature to make: get the better of. defy. and amaze. And it is here that my African roots assert themselves. coercing me to mount the foothills of my uncertainty. the mountains of my false lower status. and extremums least traveled by. And as I stand at the precipice of life’s enigmas. this Pennsylvania State University precipice. I am all of a sudden intertwined with a household consummated non merely of the people of my fatherland. Africa. but of the woods of Asia. the Waterss of the Caribbean. the jungles of South America. and the mountains of Europe†¦these people of changing colourss. sexes. and civilizations who have defied quandaries much different than my ain. And we stand. hushed. equal. en masse. And it is here that I hear Mr. Mandela speak to me. â€Å"As we are liberated from our ain fright. our presence automatically liberates others. † †¦whether it be those of our ain lineages†¦or those of line of descents wholly dissimilar.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Solute Definition and Examples in Chemistry

Solute Definition and Examples in Chemistry A solute is defined as the substance that is dissolved in a solution. For solutions of fluids, the solvent is present in greater amount than the solute. Concentration is a measurement of the amount of solute present in a chemical solution, with respect to the amount of solvent. Examples of Solutes Usually, a solute is a solid that is dissolved into a liquid. An everyday example of a solute is  salt in water. Salt is the solute that dissolves in water, the solvent, to form a saline solution. On the other hand, water vapor is considered a solute in air, because nitrogen and oxygen are present in much larger concentration levels in the gas. Different Types of Solutes When two liquids are mixed to form a solution, the solute is the species present in the smaller ratio. For example, in a 1 M sulfuric acid solution, sulfuric acid is the solute while water is the solvent. The terms solute and solvent can also be applied to alloys and solid solutions. Carbon may be considered a solute in steel, for example.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Bronsted-Lowry Acid Definition

Bronsted-Lowry Acid Definition In 1923, chemists Johannes Nicolaus Brà ¸nsted and Thomas Martin Lowry independently described acids and bases based on whether they donate or accept hydrogen ions (H). The groups of acids and bases defined in this manner came to be known as either Bronsted, Lowry-Bronsted, or  Bronsted-Lowry acids and bases. A Bronsted-Lowry acid is defined as a substance that gives up or donates hydrogen ions during a chemical reaction. In contrast, a Bronsted-Lowry base accepts hydrogen ions. Another way of looking at it is that a Bronsted-Lowry acid donates protons, while the base accepts protons. Species that can either donate or accept protons, depending on the situation, are considered to be amphoteric. The Bronsted-Lowry theory differs from the Arrhenius theory in allowing acids and bases that dont necessarily contain hydrogen cations and hydroxide anions. Key Takeaways: Bronsted-Lowry Acid The Bronsted-Lowry theory of acids and bases was proposed independently in 1923 by Johannes Nicolaus Brà ¸nsted and Thomas Martin Lowry.A Bronsted-Lowry acid is a chemical species that donates one or more hydrogen ions in a reaction. In contrast, a Bronsted-Lowry base accepts hydrogen ions. When it donates its proton, the acid becomes its conjugate base.A more general look at the theory is as an acid as a proton donor and a base as a proton acceptor. Conjugate Acids and Bases in Bronsted-Lowry Theory Every Bronsted-Lowry acid donates its proton to a species which is its conjugate base. Every Bronsted-Lowry base similarly accepts a proton from its conjugate acid. For example, in the reaction: HCl (aq) NH3 (aq)→ NH4 (aq) Cl- (aq) Hydrochloric acid (HCl)  donates a proton to ammonia (NH3) to form the ammonium cation (NH4) and the chloride anion (Cl-). Hydrochloric acid is a Bronsted-Lowry acid; the chloride ion is its conjugate base. Ammonia is a Bronsted-Lowry base; its conjugate acid is the ammonium ion. Sources Brà ¶nsted, J. N. (1923). Einige Bemerkungen à ¼ber den Begriff der Suren und Basen [Some observations about the concept of acids and bases]. Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas. 42 (8): 718–728. doi:10.1002/recl.19230420815Lowry, T. M. (1923). The uniqueness of hydrogen. Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. 42 (3): 43–47. doi:10.1002/jctb.5000420302

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Marketing Planning and Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Planning and Communications - Essay Example On the shore on the other hand, were millions of inhabitants who had barely recovered from the rampage of Hurricane Katrina and the like. The Gulf of Mexico was also polluted with 5 million barrels of crude oil and methane gas, surpassing the Exxon disaster within four days (Sachs, 2012). Biggest Corporate Fine in US History British Petroleum has so far put aside $42 billion payable as fines, compensation to the victims and well as restoration costs (the economist, 2013). In other words, the company has paid 14 billion for restoration and clean up of the site, 17.5 billion as compensation to individuals and small businesses, $4 billion in the form of criminal charges to the Department of Justice as well and $3.5 billion as penalties for oil leak under the America’s Clean Water Act (the Economist, 2013, p.66). Integrated Marketing Communications According to Percy (2008) integrated marketing communications is about planning, it aims at delivering a consistent and effective mess age. IMC applies to all forms of communications, be it consumer, business-to-business or corporate. Furthermore, by consistent message we mean that the message must have the same visual feel throughout media so as to form a distinct image that can be linked to the brand. Ensuring the proper implementation of IMC requires a strategic plan, the process begins by identifying the target audience and understanding their purchase decisions and behaviours. Strategic IMC for the BP Brand In 1997, the then CEO of BP John Browne was determined to make BP the world’s largest oil company through exploration, acquisition and marketing. Browne was of the impression that the consumers could be taught to identify with a brand of gasoline. But making the consumer identify with an oil brand was exceedingly hard as people hated oil companies and perceived them as villains following the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. With increasing awareness about climate change, oil companies were the worst perfo rming product category in terms of brand affinity (Sachs, 2012). Browne made significant changes to the approach of the company, including investments in solar energy research and withdrawal from oil- interest group Global Climate Coalition. These efforts were perceived positively by the consumers as British Petroleum was no longer resisting the fight against climate change with was now an active participant. By 2000, the company’s name was changed to BP with the tagline â€Å"Beyond Petroleum†, furthermore the company shield was replaced by helios. This new look was received positively by the masses, so the company further invested in advertising to supplement their green stance on the environment. Over the next few years the company built extensive brand equity, and John Browne one of the most popular CEOs in the world was granted knighthood. The truth in fact was very different from the facade created by green advertising because in reality the company was not makin g any significant progress in alternative energy. In 2010, BP’s operations comprised of drilling the world’

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Soft Systems Thinking vs. Hard Systems Thinking Essay

Soft Systems Thinking vs. Hard Systems Thinking - Essay Example Both have specific applications and uses for us humans who constantly learn from using these systems thinking. Systems thinking is a rather new concept and one that analyzes a given specific question relating to human systems or systems that involves humans in some other way. This study explores the various quirks and advantages of using these ways of thinking. It also explores how systems can be applied anywhere from everyday, mundane things to the most complicated problems ever. Systems thinking can be though of as a train of ideas and procedures that can help lessen our burden in problem solving if properly executed. Thus with this knowledge, a firm understanding is needed on how these systems work and function to the arrival of a solution. Given today's global problems, our world leaders have utilized time and again that systems thinking does work and the benefits outweighs the negative feedback from these. This study was. To compare and contrast the two different types of thinki ng systems and the way they influence our lives. This paper also manages to determine the details behind these concepts and also to have a better understanding of what systems thinking is all about and it's relevance to our modern society where problems are as common as anything else under thee sun. With this, all that if for you dear reader to go on and find out how these ways of thinking works. The term system is der... Also, one or more components may or may or may not have independent or alternate functions, but they are still part of the same system. Examples of systems are committees within a civic group, the various body organ systems, the ecosystem, socio-economic systems etc. Systems can either be natural such as the ecosystem and the body organ systems or they may be artificial such as electronic systems and farms ("What is system thinking" 2004). For a system to work, each of its components must work together in order to produce something. Its elements must complement each other and must have a certain synergy between them. Elements in a system may have direct or indirect relationships with each other. There are also system types that can be considered as open or closed. An open system's production and function can be influenced by the external environment or it can have an influence on the environment. A closed environment on the other hand is independent and may not be influenced by the external environment or it does not have an influence on the environment. Another classification of systems is physical and conceptual systems. Physical systems are systems are systems that exists materially that it, it has form, mass and is generally tangible. Conceptual systems exist theoretically and do not have form, mass or any other physical characteristic. Conceptual systems are often used for the visualization of certain ideas ("Sys tem", 2006). Another classification of systems is living or biological systems which are composed of living elements or organisms themselves, interacting or performing various functions as a whole. Non-living systems composed of the environment and

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Theories of International Trade and Investment Essay Example for Free

Theories of International Trade and Investment Essay Objectives: 1. Theories of international trade and investment 2. why do nations trade? 3. How can nations enhance competitive advantage? 4. Why and how do firms internationalize? 5. How can internationalizing firms gain and sustain competitive advantage? Mercantillism: belief popular in 16th century National prosperity results from maximizing exports and minimizing imports Nonmercantillism: today some argue nation should run a trade surplus labot unions protect domestic jobs farmers keep crop prices high manufacturers some rely on exports Free Trade: absense of restrictions to the flow of goods/services among nations ** Best because it leads to: more/beter choices for consumers/firms lower prices of goods for consumers/firms higher profits/better worker wages imported input goods usually cheaper higher living standards for consumers costs are lower greater prosperity in poor countries Competitive Advantage: foundation concept of international trade. Answers how nations can achieve and sustain economic success/prosperity Superior features of a country that provide it with unique benefits in global competition comparitive advantages are derived either from natural endowments/deliberate national policies **In a firm: Distinctive Assets/competencies/capabilities that are developed or acuired Ex: Saudi Arabia has a natural abundance of oil petroleum products Ex: France climate/soil for producing wine Absolute Advantage: country should produce only those products in which it has absolute advantage or can produce using fewer resources that another country Comparative Advantage: Beneficial for two countries to trade even if one has absolute advantage in the production of all products. **Efficiancy in which it can product the product is the most important Ratio of production costs is key This pplies to all goods shows how countried use scarce resources more efficiently Limitations of Early Trade Theories: Fail to account for international transportation costs Govts distort normal trade / selectively imposing protectionism (tarrifs) or (subsidies) Services some cant be traded. Others can be traded freely over internet Factor Proportions Theory: Factor Endowments Theory each country should produce and export products that need high production Import goods that and don’t need production ** Leontief Paradox revealed that countries can export products that use less resources and be successful International Product Life Cycle Theory Each product and its associated manufacturing go through 3 stages of evolution: introduction inventor country enjoys a monopoly in manufacturing/exports. Ex: TV Set maturity Products manufacturing becomes standardized other countries start producing and exporting the product standardization manufacturing ceases in innovator country becomes net importor of the product. Totally under globalization cycle occurs quickly New Trade Theory economies of scale are an important factor in some industries for superior international performance. Even in absense of superior comparative advantage some succeed best as their volume increases Ex: commercial aircraft industry has very high fixed costs need high volume sales to achieve profit Critical Role of  Innovation in National Economic Success Innovation is KEY source of competitive advantage Firms innovate in 4 major ways: 1. new product/improve an existing product 2. new manufacturing 3. new marketing 4. new ways of organizing Many innovative firms in a nation leads to national competitive advantage Critical Role of Productivity in National Economic Success productivity is the value of the output produced by a unit of labor or capital it is a key source of competitive advantage for firms the greater the productivity of the firm, the more efficiently it uses its resources aggregate productivity is a key determinate of the nations standard of living Michael Porters Diamond Model: Sources of National Competitive Advantage Diamond Model Factor Conditions: quality and quantity of labor, natural resources, capital, tech, know-how, entrepreneurship, other production Ex: an abundance of cost-effective and well educated workers give china a competitive advantage in the production of laptops Related Supporting Industries: presence of suppliers, competitors, complementary firms that excel within a given industry Demand Conditions at home: strengths and sophistication of customer demand firm strategy, structure, and rivalry: the nature of domestic rivalry, and conditions that determine how a nations firms are created, organized, and managed Industiral Cluster suppliers/supporting firms from the same industry located within the same geographic area strong cluster can be sxport platform for a nation Proactive economic development plan employed by the govt. nurture/support promising industry sectors with potential for regional or global dominance Tax Incentives Monetary fiscal policies Rigorous educational syst em Investment in national infrastructure strong legal regulatory systems

Friday, November 15, 2019

My Personal Search For A Meaningful Existence :: essays research papers

My Personal Search for a Meaningful Existence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I am the representative embodiment of my nihilistic culture. I am narcissistic, insatiable, petty, apathetic and I am above all an emotional invalid. Yet, up until very recently, I was not consciously aware that I was guilty of having any of these wholly pejorative attributes, because I had unconsciously suppressed my inherent will to attain a meaningful existence, in favor of the comfort and security that complacency and futility provide. There exists in me a void, that is not uncommon to find in the members of my Eurocentric society, which is derived from the conscious or unconscious knowledge that our culture is entirely devoid of meaning. This is, more specifically, the plight of my generation, which has been defined by its disillusionment, apathy and inaction, rather than its accomplishments, beliefs or ideologies. Escapism is the safety mechanism that enables our flight from actuality, and subsequently our ability to exist, because we have been cursed with a wealth of advantages and a lack of restrictions. For example: I am free to choose my own religion, I am not stifled by or subjected to economic disadvantage, I am not bound to subservience by an oppressive or tyrannical government, I am blessed with a myriad of conveniences by my technologically advanced society, and I come from a nurturing and supportive family, so who the hell am I to complain about my circumstances. The only explanation I can give, in retort to my profession that I have been cursed by my inherent advantages, is: since my life is completely devoid of any profound suffering, it is subsequently lacking any meaningful happiness, because man only experiences these feelings in terms of their relative relationship to one another. Thus, I vainly invent my own wholly unfounded reasons to bemoan my existence, in the same way that a hypochondriac invents his psychosomatic illnesses, because the longer we feign to have a justifiable cue for suffering, the more that that suffering actualizes itself. The primary source of my anxieties is derived from the inherent knowledge that I am condemned to be free, in a society of relatively few restrictions, which subsequently requires me to be the master of my own destiny. Thus, I am not only culpable for determining my own fate, but I am also wholly responsible for finding a meaningful purpose in my existence, which instills me with an intense feeling of trepidation, because I'm not sure I'm ready to shoulder such a profound responsibility. I live in a nihilistic society, that is founded on man's narcissistic will to pleasure and power, that

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Compare and contrast mesopotamia and egypt Essay

Both Mesopotamia and Egypt have different universal views, which then affected their culture. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia have unpredictable flood patterns. This affected their view of the universe because the inability to prepare for floods leads the Mesopotamians to believe that the world was harsh and unforgiving. In contrast, the predictable, opportune floods of the Egyptian Nile led to a trust in supernatural powers. These polar opposite views also were seen in and affected the religious opinions of the afterlife. Due to the accounts Gilgamesh, a hero in an Egyptian epic, the afterlife is seen in a terrorizing light, whereas Mesopotamians looked forward to it. A huge division in these Middle Eastern civilization’s cultures were the formation of urbanization, and class systems. In Mesopotamia, a structured 3-part class system was developed, along with Hammurabi’s Law Code. The top class included land owning males and artisans, as well as royals and warriors. The middle class contained dependent people attached to land, and at the bottom was slaves employed for domestic work. Also the freedoms and some rights of women were lost around the second millennium. In Egypt, there too were classes, yet they weren’t as enforced and structured. Woman were held at a higher standard here because they weren’t secluded in the process of urbanization and class structure, like they were in Mesopotamia. Economically, both regions participated in trade that was under state control, and their economic growth was related to commerce. Although, Mesopotamia relied solely on imports, while Egypt had an import export system within its region along the Nile. Mesopotamia was very poor in resources. In contrast, Egypt was well endowed with resources, yet practiced isolationism, which made global economic trade through commerce impossible.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Implementing Relationship Marketing: the Role of Internal and External Customer Orientation

Developing an internal and external customer orientation will facilitate the implementation of relationship marketing principles by businesses. Relationship marketing highlights the need for an external customer orientation, which in turn raises the need for customer-oriented employees. Employees will only be customer-oriented if an internal customer orientation is evident in the business. Four constructs pertaining to the internal customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province were identified.After checking for internal consistency, effect sizes were determined for these constructs analysing the practical significance of employees’ as opposed to management’s opinion on the underlying constructs. Similarly, four constructs referring to the external customer orientation of the same businesses were identified. The four identified constructs underpinning an external customer orientation were also checked for internal consistency and the practical significance of customers’ as opposed to management’s opinion on the underlying constructs was determined through effect sizes.It was found that the identified businesses lack both an internal and external customer orientation. Recommendations are made to improve internal customer orientation for the sake of an improved external customer orientation. An improved external customer orientation will facilitate implementation of relationship marketing principles in these businesses. INTRODUCTION According to Saren and Tzokas (1998:187) researchers in relationship marketing have come to realise that there is a need for detailed empirical evidence on how this approach could be implemented in order to promote a beneficial customer-business relationship.Morris, Brunegee and Page (1998:360) and Fornier (1998:343) argue that a lack of knowledge and consensus about relationship marketing and the activities involved in the implementation thereof has led to diffi culties in operationalising the construct. This study addresses this concern by arguing that a relationship marketing orientation is facilitated by management being sufficiently orientated to the needs and expectations of employees (internal customer orientation) as well as to those of customers (external customer orientation).The internal and external customer orientations of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province were investigated by means of effect size analyses. The goal and objectives of the study are subsequently explained, followed by a theoretical exposition on the interface between relationship marketing as well as internal and external customer orientation. A description of the research methodology is followed by the empirical results on internal and external customer orientation of the businesses that participated in the study.Conclusions are drawn from these empirical findings. Finally, managerial implications are discussed based on the concl usions. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The goal of this study is to explore internal and external customer orientation as elements facilitating relationship marketing implementation by small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province. This goal will be achieved through the following objectives: to explore the interface between relationship marketing, and internal and external customer orientation; †¢ to report on empirical findings related to internal and external customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province; and †¢ to consider the managerial implications of the above empirical findings for managing these retailers. FOSTERING INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION TO FACILITATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETINGSheth and Parvatiyar (1995:261) define relationship marketing as â€Å"an orientation that seeks to develop close interaction with selected customers, suppliers and competitors for va lue creation through co-operative and collaborative efforts†. This definition suggests that businesses should pursue profitable business relationships. Morgan and Hunt (1994:22) define relationship marketing as â€Å"all marketing activities directed towards establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges†. This definition sets out the ultimate goals of relationship marketing, but does not show what relationship marketing entails.Attempts have been made to address this limitation by emphasising the dimensions and activities of relationship marketing. These dimensions and activities include (Too, Souchon and Thirkell, 2001:290): †¢ customer retention; †¢ product benefits; †¢ quality improvement; †¢ customer service; †¢ customer commitment by the business; and †¢ frequent contact with the customer. The first four issues refer to the business’ customer orientation while the last two relate to customer relationsh ip management practices.Kotler and Armstrong (2001:9, 667-681) indicate that relationship marketing is the process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders. According to this definition, relationship marketing does not end with customers, but includes all stakeholders (i. e. employees, channel members, stockholders and others). Relationship marketing advocates the establishment of long-term and profitable relationships between (both internal and external) partners or stakeholders (Zikmund and d’Amico, 2001:8).These relationships are not naturally sustained and should therefore not be taken for granted (Day, 2000:25). Long-term and profitable relationships are only established when trust, commitment and service are inculcated in relationship partners (Buttle, 1996:8-9). Stakeholder relationships also have to transcend functional boundaries (Beth, Burt, Copacino, Gopal, Lee, Lynch and Morris, 2003:67-68). Rela tionship marketing advocates that an engineer should, for example, take time to see how he could best design the product to satisfy the customer’s needs.The same applies to the accounting department – it should develop credit and payment terms that will best suit the customer while it needs also realising a profit for the business (Ostroff and Smith, 1992:22-23). In this respect Day (2000:24-30) argues that the ability to create and maintain relationships depends, inter alia, on the integration of key internal processes in the business. The implementation of relationship marketing therefore depends on a well-developed internal (employee) and external customer orientation.Taher, Leigh and French (1996:218) argue that in order to be customer-oriented, marketers should provide exceptional performance in quality, delivery and cost competitiveness (i. e. customer orientation). The business should also understand how customers measure value and how these value expectations c an be met. To win orders, a business should exhibit an external customer orientation that manifests the relative strength of the business in relation to its competitors (Koufteros, Vonderembse and Doll, 2000:526).To attain lasting customer orientation careful attention should be given to detail, meeting promises and swift response to the requirements of customers – i. e. competitive capabilities. The same authors define competitive capabilities further as a business’ ability to meet customer expectations compared to its competitor’s ability to do the same. Day (2000:28) argues that a customer orientation should be â€Å"immediately evident† in the mindset of those who deal directly with the customer. Kennedy, Goolsby and Arnould (2003:77-79) found that the development of an external customer orientation will be facilitated by: leadership. Staff members must experience â€Å"an unbroken circuit of passionate, sincere, unified and committed leadership from top levels to local managers†; †¢ centrality of customer requirements and performance feedback. This will also assist in achieving the required inter-functional co-ordination and alignment; and †¢ collection and dissemination of external customer data. This data, however, only becomes conducive for customer orientation development when it is widely circulated in the business to become a shared organisation-wide platform from which decisions are made.Patterson and Smith (2001:438) also support this notion. It is stressed that customer orientation should be explicit, otherwise the business risks over-serving unprofitable accounts and wasting resources that might be allocated to profitable customer groups. In this respect Reinartz and Kumar (2002) distinguished between customer groups and suggested ways of managing each group for increased profitability. Relationship marketing raises the need for customer orientation, which in turn raises the need for customer-oriented employees.Bendapudi and Leone (2002:83) indicate that customers form relationships with employees who serve them, and that these relationships may be stronger than the customer’s relationship with the business represented by the employee. Employees will not be able to develop social relationships with customers if they were not recruited and trained with this in mind (Patterson and Smith, 2001:438). Without customer oriented employees it will be difficult to implement customer orientation because employees are the ones who have to make it happen.If customer-orientation is lacking, the implementation of relationship marketing will suffer. This is because dissatisfied customers will never develop good relationships with the business (Engel, Blackwell and Miniard, 1995:47). Attracting, developing and motivating employees as internal partners foster an internal customer orientation (Conway and Willcocks, 2000:81). Day (2000:28-29) recalls the efforts made by many businesses to m ake employee satisfaction and retention a top priority in recognition of the damage that high employee turnover and disgruntled employees can cause to customer relationships.Employee performance and attitude play an important role in service delivery to external customers. Employee satisfaction impacts on employee attitudes, which in turn influence employee performance and interaction with external customers. Employee interaction with external customers obviously plays a pivotal role in the ultimate success of the business (Lewis, 1989:41). Strauss (1995:62-77) distinguishes between internal customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. He argues that internal customer satisfaction entails employees’ satisfaction with the performance of internal suppliers (workflow satisfaction).Internal customer satisfaction should, however, not be confused with employee satisfaction – i. e. the satisfaction of employees with their working conditions. He argues further that interna l customer satisfaction reflects in external customer satisfaction. For purposes of this study the identified relationship between internal and external customer satisfaction is acknowledged, but the distinction between internal customer orientation and employee satisfaction is rejected. Employees in small- to medium-sized textile retailing businesses are not dependent on intricate internal workflow processes.As they derive their workflow inputs directly from management, a distinction between management inputs (relating to Strauss’ employee satisfaction concept) and workflow inputs will be vague. Strauss (1995:63) himself points out that if managers are prepared to take responsibility for quality and act as role models, they can expect commitment from their employees – which will eventually result in improved bottom-line results. Sasser (2003) explains the relationship between employee and customer satisfaction in terms of value the business creates for employees, who in turn will be able to create value for customers.If the value created for employees and customers exceeds costs, value is being created for investors. Internal customer orientation is the result of a conscious management decision about the â€Å"organizational setting† (Strauss, 1995:68). Concerning this organisational setting Malherbe and Pearse (2003:2-12) found significant positive relationships between job enrichment characteristics and job satisfaction, and eventually between job satisfaction and service quality in the South African retail industry.Chaston (1995:332-349) investigated possible actions to establish a stronger internal customer orientation in UK clearing banks, and concluded, inter alia, that management’s improved understanding of internal customer needs will be helpful in this regard. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Small- to medium-sized textile retailers from six selected towns and cities in the North-West Province were investigated to assess their interna l and external customer orientation. Retailers from Brits, Klerksdorp, Lichtenburg, Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Rustenburg were sampled.These cities and towns were chosen on the basis of their geographical representation in the province. They also represent the largest centres of economic activity in the province. A sampling frame of 61 small- to medium-sized textile retailing businesses were constituted by using information obtained from the Potchefstroom City Council, the Bureau of Marketing Research and Braby’s databases. The sampling frame included independent tailoring businesses, textile, fabrics, and cloth retailing businesses (retailers, merchants or distributors).Forty-eight (N1=48) of the 61 business owners/managers were willing to participate in the study and were subsequently interviewed. One hundred and four (N2=104) employees, as found on the 48 premises, were also interviewed. Finally, two hundred and thirty (N3=230) customer responses were gathered using avail ability sampling for periods of two hours at each of the 48 business premises. Separate questionnaires, incorporating close-ended structured items, were developed for management, employees and customers as three separate groups of respondents. Owners/managers had to respond to 77 items.Thirty one (31) of these items pertaining to internal customer orientation were duplicated in the employees’ questionnaire, requiring respondents to respond to them from an employee’s perspective. Thirty-three (33) of the items on external customer orientation related to owners/managers were also put to customers, requiring them to evaluate it from their perspective. Respondents had to respond to the items according to a four-measure Likert scale where: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree and 4 = strongly agree. The responses were statistically processed with the help of SAS software (SAS Institute Inc. 1999). The reliability of constructs associated with internal and external customer orientation was tested by means of Cronbach’s Alpha values and average inter item correlations (Clark and Watson, 1995) as reported below. The practical significant difference between specifically defined constructs for employees and owners/managers (internal customer orientation) as well as for customers and owners/managers (external customer orientation) is indicated by using effect sizes. Effect sizes are calculated as availability sampling was used instead of random sampling.As explained above, the six cities and towns, the businesses who participated in the study, the interviewed employees and the interviewed customers of these businesses were not randomly selected. Statistical inference is therefore not relevant. This eliminates the use of t-tests and p-values as a technique to analyse statistically significant differences between means of responses from management and employees (or management and customers). Unlike t-tests, effect sizes are independent from s ample size, as a standardised difference based on the maximum standard deviation between compared groups is calculated (Steyn, 2000).The effect sizes (d-values) were calculated by using the following formula (Cohen, 1988:20-27): [pic] where: †¢ d = effect size; †¢ [pic] is the difference between means of two compared groups (e. g. management and employees or management and customers); and †¢ [pic] is the maximum standard deviation of the two compared groups. To calculate effect sizes, the maximum standard deviation is used instead of a mean standard deviation to allow for a more conservative approach to practical significance (Steyn, 2000). Cohen (1988:20-27) gives the following guidelines for interpreting effect sizes: †¢ d ? 0. indicating no practically significant effect; †¢ d ? 0. 5 indicating a moderate effect that could be significant if more data had been collected; and †¢ d ? 0. 8 or larger indicating a practically significant effect. EMPIRICAL RESULTS Empirical results regarding both the internal and external customer orientations of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province are subsequently discussed. Empirical results: internal customer orientation Four constructs associated with internal customer orientation, as well as the items comprising these constructs, are reported in Table 1.The items comprising these constructs are also indicated. The four constructs exhibited Cronbach’s Alpha values all greater than 0. 6, indicating â€Å"good or adequate† reliability of the measurement scale (Clark and Watson, 1995:315). Average inter item correlations ([pic]) are also reported in Table 1. Clark and Watson (1995:316) indicate that the average inter item correlation should also be used as a measure of internal consistency. They recommend that the average inter item correlation should lie between 0. 15 – 0. 50.It is evident from Table 1 that the average inter item correlations fall within this range, indicating internal consistency of the constructs. TABLE 1 CRONBACH’S ALPHA AND AVERAGE INTER ITEM CORRELATIONS FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION |Construct |Cronbach’s Alpha |Average inter item | | | |correlation ([pic]) | |1. Management’s involvement with employees |0. 752 |0. 1 | |Applying management principles strictly | | | |Seeking people who can think of new strategies | | | |Culture of supporting staff | | | |Treating staff the same as external customers | | | |Creating an enabling culture for staff creativity | | | |Exercising staff chievement recognition and reward | | | |Following fair disciplinary action | | | |Development and training of staff | | | |Appreciation of staff contribution to business success | | | |Conducting formal performance appraisals | | | |Making staff a part of solutions | | | |Aggressively competing for talented staff | | | |2. Employee development through communication and participative management |0. 713 |0 . 4 | |Promoting staff learning | | | |Encouraging a learning culture | | | |Practising participative management | | | |Marketing the business’ vision to staff | | | |Creating messages to inspire staff action | | | |Understanding the reality staff experiences | | | |Consulting staff with regard to leadership style | | | |Maintaining a two-way channel of communication in the business | | | |3. Acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential |0. 659 |0. 5 | |Incorporating knowledgeable staff inputs into business decisions and activities | | | |Acknowledging that staff is the business’ primary asset | | | |Involving current staff in the process of appointing new staff | | | |Giving responsibility and accountability to staff for their respective performance | | | |areas | | | |Collaborating with staff to draw up strategies, plans and objectives | | | |Arranging for staff to visit customers | | | |4. Satisfaction of customer needs is realised through an integra ted effort by all |0. 623 |0. 5 | |involved in the business | | | |All departments working in collaboration with customer focus in mind | | | |Successfully satisfying customers’ needs and wants | | | To indicate the practically significant differences between employees’ and owners’/managers’ view on internal customer orientation, effect sizes were calculated on the respective constructs. These effect sizes are reported in Table 2. Practically significant effects on constructs 1, 2 and 3 are revealed. Construct 4 only revealed a small effect.TABLE 2 EFFECT SIZES FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Construct description |Business owners |Employees |Effect size | | |Mean |Standard deviation|Mean |Standard deviation| | |1. Management’s involvement with employees |3. 103 |0. 447 |2. 787 |0. 445 |0. 707 | |2. Employee development through communication and |3. 137 |0. 504 |2. 767 |0. 504 |0. 734 | |participative management | | | | | | |3. Acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential |3. 086 |0. 557 |2. 674 |0. 554 |0. 40 | |4. Satisfaction of customer needs is realised through an |3. 489 |0. 695 |3. 327 |0. 750 |0. 216 | |integrated effort by all involved in the business | | | | | | Empirical results: external customer orientation Four constructs relating to external customer orientation, as well as the items associated with these constructs, are reported in Table 3. The correspondent Cronbach’s Alpha values for the four constructs are all above 0. 6, indicating â€Å"good or adequate† reliability of the measurement scale (Clark and Watson, 1995:315).Average inter item correlations ([pic]) are once again reported in Table 3. These correlations fall within the range of 0. 15 – 0. 50 indicating internal consistency of the constructs (Clark and Watson, 1995:316). TABLE 3 CRONBACH’S ALPHA AND AVERAGE INTER ITEM CORRELATIONS FOR EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION |Construct |Cronbach’s Alpha |A verage inter item | | | |correlation ([pic]) | |Building customer relationships through the efforts of employees is important |0. 762 |0. 7 | |Attracting, maintaining and enhancing relationships with customers | | | |Establishing and maintaining profitable customer relationships | | | |Maintaining a mutually committed long-term oriented relationship with customers | | | |Moving customers from one level of the relationship to the next | | | |Extending priority treatment to regular customers over irregular ones | | | |Interacting with regular customers | | | |Forging long-term committed relationships with customers | | | |Employees developing business relationships with customers | | | |Fostering an intimate understanding between customers and staff | | | |The business’ offer to customers is geared towards satisfying customer needs |0. 665 |0. 6 | |Delivering an offer exactly as required | | | |Extending quality and durability as the business’ core offer | | | |Deliverin g superior offers not available from competitors | | | |Continue improving the total offer to customers | | | |Delivering a tailor-made offer to customers | | | |Viewing delivery of the offer from customers’ perspective | | | |Delivering customer satisfaction |0. 642 |0. 6 | |Offering high levels of customer service | | | |Managing and maintaining the delivery of customer satisfaction | | | |Successfully satisfying customers’ needs and wants | | | |Custom fitting service to customers’ particular requirements | | | |Delivering services to the satisfaction of customer desires | | | |Customer orientation of employees |0. 619 |0. 6 | |Instilling customer orientation among staff | | | |Formulating and realising a customer orientated mission statement | | | The effect sizes on the respective constructs for the practically significant difference between customers’ and owners’/managers’ view on external customer orientation are reported in Table 4. Practically significant effects are revealed on constructs 2 and 3, while construct 4 exhibit a moderate effect size. Construct 1 revealed a small effect size.TABLE 4 EFFECT SIZES FOR EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Construct description |Business owners |Employees |Effect size | | |Mean |Standard deviation|Mean |Standard deviation| | |1. Building customer relationships through the efforts of |3. 303 |0. 557 |3. 100 |0. 442 |0. 364 | |employees is important | | | | | | |2. The business’ offer to customers is geared towards |3. 408 |0. 423 |2. 928 |0. 465 |1. 32 | |satisfying customer needs | | | | | | |3. Delivering customer satisfaction |3. 528 |0. 445 |3. 202 |0. 399 |0. 733 | |4. Customer orientation of employees |3. 360 |0. 591 |2. 991 |0. 635 |0. 581 | CONCLUSIONS From the above empirical results the following conclusions regarding the internal and external customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers included in this study can be drawn. Internal custom er orientationFrom the effect sizes reported in Table 2 it is evident that management and employees differ significantly (practically significant effect sizes) on the following issues: †¢ management’s involvement with employees (construct 1). Management feels more involved with employees than employees experience it to be the case ([pic] > 0); †¢ employee development through communication and participative management (construct 2). Management is of the opinion that employee development takes place through communication and participative management, while employees do not experience the same ([pic] > 0) ; and †¢ acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential (construct 3).Management feels that employees expertise’ and potential is acknowledged, while employees do not feel the same ([pic]> 0). An small effect size was calculated for construct 4. Management and employees therefore agree that satisfying customer needs is realised throu gh an integrated effort by all involved in the business (construct 4, Table 2, [pic] and [pic] both > 3. 0, indicating agreement on the Likert-type scale). External customer orientation As far as external customer orientation, as reported in Table 4, is concerned, owners/managers and customers differ significantly (practically significant effect sizes) on: †¢ whether the businesses’ offer to customers is geared towards satisfying customer needs (construct 2).Management feels it to be the case, while customers differ significantly ([pic] > 0); and †¢ delivery of customer satisfaction (construct 3). Customers feel significantly less satisfied than management thought them to be ([pic] > 0). As far as customer orientation of employees is concerned, a moderate effect size was determined (Table 4, construct 4). Owners/managers are of the opinion that employees are customer-oriented ([pic] > 3. 0) while customers do not experience it to the same degree ([pic] & lt; 3. 0). Table 4 also indicates an insignificant effect size on construct 1. Management and customers therefore agree that it is important to build customer relationships through the efforts of employees (construct 1, [pic] and [pic] both > 3. 0). MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONSWhen considering the internal customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers participating in this study, it is evident that employees do not feel appreciated by management. Employees indicated that management is not involved with them and that their expertise and potential is subsequently ignored. They also do not feel empowered through communication or participative management initiatives (or rather the lack thereof) from management’s side. Management and employees agree on a basic principle of the marketing concept (Barnes, 2001:7), namely that customer satisfaction is dependent on an integrated effort of all involved in the business. From the above it is clear that a certain amount o f goodwill is evident among employees.Employees recognise the importance of an integrated effort of all involved in the business to satisfy customer needs. It is recommended that management of these businesses capitalise on this aptitude of employees. Communication with employees on matters relating to management of the business will encourage employee participation, paving the way for the implementation of participative management techniques. This will draw on the latent expertise and potential of employees and will ultimately contribute to employee development and a sense of management involvement. As indicated by the empirical results, small- to medium-sized textile retailers participating in this study lack a pronounced external customer orientation.Customers do not regard the businesses as being geared towards satisfying their needs. They are also of the opinion that employees of small- to medium-sized textile businesses are not sufficiently customer-oriented. By improving thei r internal customer orientation as suggested above, the external customer orientation of businesses may take a turn for the better. This may contribute to greater customer satisfaction as the interaction between customers and (more appreciated, and thus better satisfied and motivated) employees improve. After all: management and customers both agreed that the efforts of employees are important to build customer relationships.This is consistent with Sasser’s (2003) exposition that an improved internal customer orientation will contribute towards a better external customer orientation that will result in more satisfied customers.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Death of a Salesman Essay Essay Example

Death of a Salesman Essay Essay Example Death of a Salesman Essay Paper Death of a Salesman Essay Paper Essay Topic: Death Of a Salesman Literature Playwright Auther Millers, Death of a Salesman, uses Willy Loman as a tragic figure. As Willy struggles to be a successful salesman and provide as the man of his house, he causes suffering to his family. His actions have his wife constantly worrying, his sons unsuccessful in life, and tension between his family. The life of Willy Loman is that of a salesman. In his desire to become an American success, he desperately tries to sell a productive image to his clients, his family, and society. Unfortunately, Willys ambition to become prosperous and well-liked by his family and by society overrides his sense of morality when attempting to project a successful image. He uses a great emphasis on his supposed native charm and ability to make friends. He raises his two sons, Biff and Happy, teaching this way to success. He tells them stories of his work in New England, where he is well known and very much liked. The firm Willy had been working at for 32 years has taken him off of salary. Will ends up being fired when it should be his time of retirement. This evokes sympathy towards Willy as he did not die his ideal death of a salesman and seems to live by measuring how successful people are by the size of their funeral and therefore his own funeral reflects truly how unsuccessful his career as a salesman was. In â€Å"Death of a Salesman† Willy suffers a metaphorical death, the death of his dream of financial success. By the plays conclusion Willy is jobless and broke. Willy has a conversation with his brother Ben, who has been dead for some time, and concludes the best future for his family, especially Biff whom Willy is desperate to become successful, would be for him to kill himself as the insurance company would pay out $20, 000, enough to make Biff successful in Willy’s mind, â€Å"you end up worth more dead than alive.† The irony of Willy killing himself is that he is killing himself to give Biff money in order for him to become a successful business man however the insurance company will not make a payout for suicide and Biff has no intention of following in his father’s footsteps. This evokes sympathy for Willy as he is trying to do the best for his family however he still cannot provide for them even through his death. During the play â€Å"Death of a Salesman† the title is significant as there is a physical death of a salesman in the respect that Willy dies and he is a salesman. Through killing himself Willy hopes to provide the financial support, which he has been failing to gain for many years, for his family that is required. The death of Willy is not honourable as he desires and is sorry ending to his unsuccessful life in business. In conclusion the title of the play is significant as it in further understanding of the events, which occur in the play. Miller uses the title to convey both a physical and metaphorical death and in order for the reader to understand the ending to their full capability.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The American Economy at the End of the 20th Century

The American Economy at the End of the 20th Century After a tumultuous century embroiled in world wars and financial crises, the United States economy at the end of the 20th century was experiencing a period of economic calm wherein prices were stable, unemployment fell to its lowest level in 30 years, the stock market boomed and the government posted a budget surplus. Technological innovations and a rapidly globalizing market contributed to the economic boom near the end of the 90s, then again between 2009 and 2017, but many other factors - including presidential policy, foreign affairs, and domestic innovations and foreign supply and demand needs - affected the rise of the American economy as it entered the 21st century. Long-term challenges like poverty, especially for single mothers and their children, and environmental quality of life still faced the nation as it prepared to enter a new century of technological development and rapid globalization. A Calm Before the Turn of the Century With the presidency of Bill Clinton at the tail end of George Bush Sr.s one-term presidency, the economy of the United States stabilized in the mid-1990s, creating a status in the economy as it prepared to enter a new millennium, finally recovered from two world wars, a 40-year Cold War, a Great Depression and several large recessions, and enormous budget deficits in government in the last half of the century. By 1998, the  gross domestic product  (GDP) of the U.S. had exceeded $8.5 trillion, achieving the longest uninterrupted period of expansion in American history. With just five percent of the worlds population, the United States was accounting for 25% of the worlds economic output, outproducing its closest rival Japan by nearly double the amount. Innovations in computing, telecommunications, and life sciences opened up new opportunities for Americans to work as well as new goods to consume while the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the strengthening of Western and Asian economies offered new business ventures for American capitalists. Uncertainty at the Edge of the Millennium While some may have rejoiced in the new expansion in technology and the economy of the United States, others were skeptical of the rapid changes and feared some of the long-term challenges American hadnt resolved yet would be forgotten in the blur of innovation.   Although many Americans had achieved economic security by this point, with some even accumulating large sums of earnings, poverty was still a large issue facing the federal government and a substantial number of Americans lacked access to basic health coverage. Industrial jobs in the manufacturing field also took a hit at the end of the millennium, suffering setbacks as automation began to take over jobs and certain markets saw a decrease in demand for their goods. This resulted in a seemingly irreversible deficit in foreign trade. Ever the Market Economy As the United States passed into the early 2000s, one principle remained strong and true in terms of its economy: it was and would always be a market economy wherein the economy works best when decisions about produce and what prices to charge for goods are made through the give-and-take of millions of independent buyers and sellers, not by government or by powerful private interests, according to the State Department website. In this  free market economy, Americans feel that the true value of a good or service is reflected in its price, guiding the production end of the economy to only produce what is needed according to the supply-and-demand model, which leads to peak  economic efficiency. As is the tradition in all things concerning American politics, it is essential to limit the governments involvement in determining the economic market of its country in order to prevent an undue concentration of power and promote the pluralist foundation of the United States.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

4th amendment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

4th amendment - Essay Example Scaros (2011) describes the Katz case where such a violation did occur. In the case, Katz, who was the petitioner, did not know that the FBI had fixed an eavesdropping device on the telephone booth he used that documented his conversations. He was found guilty, but on appealing, the majority of seven judges on the jury judged that his 4th amendment rights had been violated by the FBI. In the same way, the gathering of my phone records and emails without my consent and knowledge is a violation of the amendment. In the case, the court noted that as long as an individual would logically know that their conversation is and remains private, then such a conversation is protected by the 4th amendment (Scaros 2011). In support of the view that it is a violation, and it amounts to unreasonable search, Hess and Orthmann (2011) argue that warrantless search is validated when approval for the search is given or if no right to privacy exists. Hence, as gathering phone records and emails is not undertaken with a search warrant or my approval, then it violates the 4th amendment and is unreasonable (Hess and Orthmann

Friday, November 1, 2019

International Business Environment Assenment Essay

International Business Environment Assenment - Essay Example The company has maintained at a stable growth of just below 8% in terms of currency revenue and over 5% organic revenue growth. The company has also witnessed a stable profit growth over the past years and last year the company recorded a 9% increase in the operating profit growth margin. Consequently, other business branches in places like North America are performing exceptionally well and are experiencing high levels of customer retentions. Business operations in places like Europe are also firm despite the increasingly harsh economic conditions, which are likely to remain so. The company has also unveiled strategies that will enable it operate competently in the, market and make it own the largest share among their competitors. The current year’s cash flow is quite impressive and is maintained at the top peak. This has enabled the company to indulge in further investment and engage more investors and shareholders in the market. The business also has sufficient amount to aw ard its shareholders. The years also witnessed a number of acquisition in terms of which have also made a significant contribution to the company growth. In addition, the business has experienced growth in some areas due to increased outsourcing from various parts of the world. This enables them to produce a variety, which in return meets various customer needs. The retention rate of the business is high with a 94.3% stand. The company director also attributed the high growth rates to the price increase that was made on the commodities. They are also creating strategies that enable them get high sales in low sales regions such as Japan and Europe. Overall, the company is doing excellent except for the flat sales volumes in Europe and Japan. The company has also instituted strategies to introduce new products that may help in boosting sales in these places. Associated British Foods Associated British foods are equally a very strong player in the food industry. Their multinational eff ect has grown and they are currently competing very strongly against their worldwide competitors. With over 46 branches worldwide, the company has ensured high productivity in terms of o productivity. In regards to financial performance, the company registered an increase in their turnover rate. In 2009, the company had $9255 while in the year 2012 the company had $12252. This signifies a trend of excellence in performance and the manner in which the company operations are done. There is also an increase in the operating adjusted profits from $664 in 2009 to $1077. The company motivates its employees by paying them 130% of their salaries. This in turn led to an increased 20% in terms of achievement of the company objectives. Consequently, the company has set financial targets in every branch that they have, and these operate competitively to achieve the objectives. The company also capitalizes on bonus reduction to increase its net revenues. Identify and provide an assessment of how the key factors within the international business environment

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Eat at my restaurant cash flow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Eat at my restaurant cash flow - Essay Example Net income values are a good indicator of the business progress. Obtained via accrual accounting, net income value shows the net profits or losses that the company achieves in the specified period. Moreover, net income values can easily be obtained from the income statement and represents the difference between all accounting revenues both direct and indirect and all accounting expenses. As matter of fact, many investors depend on net income figures to make investment decisions. Perceptibly, dividends are always proportional to net income. Therefore, if the trend of net income figure is increasing then the company can attracts investors due to expected rise of the shares. The implication is that, the firm can easily access capital, and to be precise equity, hence stands a better chance to expand. However, profitability and insolvency is not always guaranteed by positive net income figures. Note that, allow net income values could be as a result of a high expenses figure which might h ave originated from high depreciation of assets. If the value of these expenses is one time, or rather does not influence s operational saes, then the net income figure falsely predicts the firm’s financial status. It’s to the opinion of many scholars that cash dictates financial position and thus, cash flow predicts long term profitability. Literary a positive net cash flow from operating activities implies that the business is collecting more cash that it’s spending and positive trend predicts a bright future.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Setting and hardening of hydraulic cements Essay Example for Free

Setting and hardening of hydraulic cements Essay In August 2004, Adriatic IV was on location over the Temsah gas production platform, off Port Said, Egypt in the Mediterranean. During the drilling of natural gas well by rig, a gas blowout occurred during the drilling operation. Due to this blowout, the whole Petrobel platform was burnet out. This platform was owned jointly by BP, Italys ENI and Egypts General Petroleum Corporation was damaged beyond repair and Egypt’s petroleum minister ordered its destruction. An engineering firm Tacon designed the platform. Tecon developed the basic structural design along with offshore structure SASP, of the platform jacket for Petrobel Egypt. Tecon was responsible to perform the foundation design and all naval and installation analysis. Tacon also developed all A. F. C. structural drawings. [Tecon] The blowout on the offshore of the platform was the consequence of annular flow after cementing using spooled wellheads. Following part of case study shows why blowout occurred with all analysis. TEMSAH: Temsah is a gas production platform owned jointly by BP, Italy’s ENI and Egypt’s General Petroleum Corporation located in the off port said, Mediterranean Sea. On 10th August 2004, the Adriatic IV was working as usual on the Temsah platform. The rig was drilling natural gas well when a blowout occurred during the drilling operations. Reports and various other sources stated that there was an explosion followed by fire, which was initially contained on the jack-up. [JWC] The fire then spread to the Petrobel-run platform where it continued to rage for over a week before being brought under control. There were more than 150 workers on the jack-up as well as on the platform. All the workers on the jack-up and platform were evacuated with no casualties, due in part to the prior recommendation that production activities be ceased as a precautionary measure. The firefighters battled for almost a week to control the fire burning on a rig pumping natural gas out of the Mediterranean Sea as reported by Egypt’s semiofficial news agency. Oil Ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Middle East News Agency (MENA) that workers were drilling holes in a leaking well to release gases to contain the fire, while firefighters are dousing the platform with seawater. [JWC] It took almost a week to control over the fire. According to the, Global Santa Fe, Adriatic IV was sunk and not salvageable. The platform, owned jointly by BP, Italys ENI and Egypts General Petroleum Corporation was damaged beyond repair and Egypt’s petroleum minister ordered its destruction. Almost one year after this accident, the Temsah was fully repaired and production at Temsah field started in a full-fledged manner. It was back on stream at full production rates. 2. Cement types and cementing structure The above blowout caused due to the cementing structure and method. Discussed here is the cementing process that probably caused the blowout. After running 9 5/8 Casing to 2754 meters, performing a cement job, waiting on cement for 14 hours, and setting the casing slips, the well started to flow from the 9 5/8 by 13 3/8 annulus, while installing the primary packing (sealing element). The flow consisted of salthingyer and gas. The wells on the Temsah NW platform were shut in and the gas lines to and from the platform were depressurized. Thus the wells on the W. Akhen platform were shut in, as the gas, production lines go through the Temsah NW platform. On-essential personnel were evacuated from the rig. Nipped up the BOP and space out riser. Shut in pressures were 1480 psi. Shortly thereafter the flange between the wellhead B section and the riser below the BOPs started leaking salthingyer and gas. Since the initial incident, the flow had continued through the leaking flange and increased. Remedial efforts to date had not been successful in containing or controlling this flow. When cement casing is done in the well, Blowout Preventers are usually picked up to set the slips on the casing to hold it in place. Due to this, well is open to the world. Cement is counted on to hold any gas down hole, but if the cement is lighter than the bottom whole pressure, the well will come in. The way to avoid this is to wait longer on the cement to set and monitor any gas migration to surface. This process was not done, which would have probably prevented the blowout on the platform. Facilities for placing cement: Wellheads are nothing but the end connection to concentric well casings, which are cemented into the ground. The critical purpose of this wellhead is to provide a base onto which safety equipments (blow-out preventers) is installed throughout the drilling phase of a well and to which production flow control equipment is attached, before a well can safely put into the production. To confine the downhole pressure to the smallest inner casing and eventually the production tubing, wellheads contain annular seals, which serve to isolate the last casing into the high pressure resistant wellhead housing body. [UNEP] Type of cement: The type of cement used in the well was Hydraulic cement. Hydraulic cements are materials that set and harden after being mixed with water, because of the chemical reactions with the mixing water. After hardening, the Hydraulic cements retain strength and stability even under water. The key requirement for this strength and stability is that the hydrates formed on immediate reaction with water be essentially insoluble in water. Most construction cements today are hydraulic, and most of these are based on Portland cement, which is made primarily from limestone, certain clay minerals, and gypsum in a high temperature process that drives off carbon dioxide and chemically combines the primary ingredients into new compounds. Setting and hardening of hydraulic cements is caused by the formation of water-containing compounds, which are formed as the result of reactions between cement components and water. The reaction and the reaction products are referred to as hydration and hydrates or hydrate phases, respectively. As a result of the immediate start of the reactions, a stiffening can be observed which is initially slight but which increases with time. The point at which the stiffening reaches a certain level is referred to as the start of setting. Further consolidation is called setting, after which the phase of hardening begins. The compressive strength of the material then grows steadily, over a period that ranges from a few days in the case of ultra-rapid-hardening cements to several years in the case of ordinary cements. Non-hydraulic cements include such materials as (non-hydraulic) lime and gypsum plasters, which must be kept dry in order to gain strength, and oxychloride cements, which have liquid components. Lime mortars, for example, set only by drying out, and gain strength only very slowly by absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to re-form calcium carbonate through carbonatation. [Wikipedia] 3. Time scale The time scale for the cement specifies the amount of time in years the cement will provide the strength to the structure. Time scale of cement structure truly determines the quality of the cement structure. Time scale for the cement structures must be longest it can be. The time scale for the Egypt Temsah was more than hundreds of years. It was a building structure into the Mediterranean Sea with very strong and rigid foundation. Mediterranean sea, Port Said, well of Temsah was built with concrete materials. Wellheads were also made with the same kind of cement materials. [UNEP] Cement Success: Cement success is nothing but the successful completion of a cement structure in the various testing methods. Cement is assumed to be successful when any benchmark for the structure is completed. For-example in Egypt Temsah the platform was destroyed after many decades. This total age or decade specifies the cement success.