A Christmas Memory and Money Essays

A Christmas Memory and Money Essays A Christmas Memory and Money Essay A Christmas Memory and Money Essay Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol Money can buy a lot of things but it cannot buy good health, respect, love, inner peace etc as these only come from good principles. A person can have million in his bank account but still feel poor because he is not content with his life, more money gives him only minimal satisfaction. Security come from within from knowing that what you have is enough for you to be happy, it comes from believing in your self. All of us tend to think that happiness comes from outside i. . through money. A short story that supports this notion is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote it is the tory of a child who does not get anything for Christmas except handed down and worn out except for a kite but he is still satisfied and goes out to fly it. In another instance was when the family was offered money for a new Christmas tree but they refused it believing that their old tree was more precious and nothing could replace it. Both these examples reflect the importance of contentment and satisfaction over money. First and foremost, money is a medium of exchange. You use it to buy things. No one can live without money. We need to buy food and many basic necessities of life which are impossible to be bought without money. A rich man is seen in the society with respect and people around carry an honorable position for that man whereas a poor person is seen by people with the eyes of hatred and they do not poses a good impression. Mostly all of us try to be as rich as others and compete in this modern age, but only a few people are able to fulfill their dreams about being a millionaire, The importance of money becomes very clear when a person has no money, Money for a poor person is everything, it becomes very important for him to earn so that he can fulfill his basic needs. However, recently everyone has become consumption oriented. We want to buy anything that is new on the market and catches our interest and we are falling prey to the attractive packaging and advertisiments of a product. Thus we buy things that we have little need for which in turn makes us want more money. Money enables us to afford a better quality of life; more money means bigger and better houses and cars, better quality products, better entertainment etc. Another advantage is less stress in paying bills and other household expenses. Money may also allow a person to persue his dreams, for example a person who wants to attain higher education may not be able to without money. Literature also supports this in many places, one such example is where Charles Dickens in another Novel A Christmas Carol'[2] shows how love is pushed aside for money. This happens when young Ebenzer Scrooge had made a promise to a girl Belle to provide for her, however Belle chooses a crooked businessman Jacob as he offers her a quick gain of fortune to the girl. A number of quotations from the book the great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald[3] also highlight the importance of money. One such quote mentioned the effect that money has on Gatsby when he is unable to even speak in front of Daisy Buchnan as he gets intimidated by her wealth. This shows how wealth encompasses every aspect of our lives, so much so that it even reflects in the voice and mannerisms of a person. Another description from the same book is about a character Tom whose wealth has given him a lot of power. It allows him to treat others how ever he likes and his elitist nature also makes him power. Money may be a motivator it influences human activity from geological exploration to politics. Money itself may not be evil, it is the greed for money that becomes the root of evil. Despite popular arguments I believe that money does not make the world go around. we have created the monster and allowed it to take over and control our lives. 4]Even though money does have some importance in our lives as every aspect of our lives revolves around money, but if we tried to be content with less we may not face such dependency. The variety of products that we are faced with makes it very difficult for us to be content with what we have. We have made money so central to our lives that we place it above life and even happiness. This never ending pursuit of money has made the society a selfish one . People forget that there are many things that money cant buy. A Chinese proverb summarizes this argument very well by saying that money can buy a house but it cannot make a home, that it can not buy time, sleep knowledge, health, respect and a good life only the material aspects can be bought but not ones that come from within. Stephen R. Covey in his book seven habits of highly effective people also mentions that some of us tend to be centered around money and so our sense of security and happiness is directly related to how much money we have and since its human nature to never be satisfied with what one has he is likely to remain unhappy most of the time. Even a huge increase in wealth is unlikely to satisfy such a person. For this purpose we need to alter our centres to what we really want at the end of our lives. Money can buy a lot of things but it cannot buy good health, respect, love, inner peace etc as these only come from good principles. A person can have million in his bank account but still feel poor because he is not content with his life, more money gives him only minimal satisfaction. Security come from within from knowing that what you have is enough for you to be happy, it comes from believing in your self. All of us tend to think that happiness comes from outside i. e. through money. A short story that supports this notion is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote it is the story of a child who does not get anything for Christmas except handed down and worn out except for a kite but he is still satisfied and goes out to fly it. In another instance was when the family was offered money for a new Christmas tree but they refused it believing that their old tree was more precious and nothing could replace it. Both these examples reflect the importance of contentment and satisfaction over money.

What Made Us Americans essays

What Made Us Americans essays As an American citizen, have you ever given any thought of the land that your standing on? Do you know as an American, you give part of yourself to this nations character? Well, you do. For several intellectual generations, a dispute has raged over the concept of the frontier, as articulated by Fredrick Jackson Turner in 1893. He posed his belief that the American frontier was at the root of American exceptionalism. The result is that to the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics (Turner, 549). The Frontier created a new exceptional person- an American. He promoted that the American character was shaped by the continuous confrontations Americans had with an ever changing frontier that moved civilization westward. Turners conclusion about American characteristics is not because of the frontier, but of the American people who have accomplished many people dreams and made American what it is today. Turners thesis is useless as a guide for the presen t and future, because the Frontier did not make American and its people exceptional. The frontier can be used objectively to gain a knowledge about the history and process of western expansion. But many Americans would not admit to say that they are proud of what our people did to the early settlers (Indians). American Frontier experience has been involved its own environment problems, contacts with Indians, and economic and social organization. Long before the white man set foot on American soil, the American Indians, or rather the Native Americans, had been living on this land. When the Europeans came here, there were probably 10 million Indians north of present-day Mexico and they had been living here for quite some time. So, when the Europeans started to arrive in the 16th- and 17th-century they were met by Native Americans. It was the Europeans' cultural arrogance, coupled with their ...

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP BY EXECUTIVES Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP BY EXECUTIVES - Case Study Example This involves turning strategy into needed outcomes and behaviours, conveying these goals, evaluating progress, giving feedback, and empowering the workforce (Ashby & Miles, 2002) through performance-driven incentives and penalties. Studies show that several organisations remain dependent on conventional performance determinants. Conventional tools of performance determinants intended for the economy of the industrial period, which puts emphasis on physical assets and financial strategies, are now incapable of coping with the dynamic business environment (Ashby & Miles, 2002). Hence, there is a movement away from conventional ideas so as to address the intricacy and ever-changing business environment. According to Hagen and colleagues (1998), some of the challenges CEOs face today in relation to performance determinants are great expectations from stakeholders, demands from and threat of global and local competitors, adoption of sophisticated production technology, and demands for premium and dependable products/services from consumers. In the meantime, organisational performance can also be threatened by sub-units within an organisation making decisions which are incompatible. An organisation structure, which can be either decentralised or centralised, has considerable effect on the level of non-financial and financial strategies to be integrated into the performance measurement process (Ncube & Washburn, 2006). Usually one problem confronting an organisation is that different sub-units are taking part in the general process of decision making. Irreconcilable decisions can have varying consequences for each sub-unit. Acquiring consensus from all stakeholders is a constant problem. When a firm’s general strategy relies on the decisions of all its sub-units, as stated by Bass (2007), firm-wide support is needed. Large-scale strategic planning and assessment is critical. This planning has to focus on the

Presuasive abbreviated outline Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Presuasive abbreviated outline - Research Paper Example The New York State DMV states that a driver with a blood alcohol content of 0.08, just above the legal limit, is four times more likely to cause a traffic accident than when sober. Underage drinkers are at even higher risk, being three times more likely to be involved in a fatal alcohol-related crash. (NYSDMV) Therefore, it is vital that our justice system impose penalties to act as a deterrent to these behaviors, and be strict enough to convince drivers to think twice. However, after an analysis of the current legal situation with regard to DUI/DWI penalties, it becomes clear that the current punishments are too harsh for the crime. Preview Statement: In order to analyze the strictness of DUI and DWI laws, we will first look at the current laws on the books, how violations are determined, and finally the success of those laws. I. Current DUI Law A. Legal intoxication - BAC at or above 0.08 in all states. Is â€Å"pre se† law, a finding of BAC at the requisite level is conside red a violation regardless of circumstance (FindLaw DUI Basics) B. Zero tolerance laws (FindLaw DUI Basics) i. target drivers under 21 ii. range from any (above 0.0) to negligible (0.1-0.2) BAC iii. usually involve higher penalties, such as longer periods of license suspension (NYSDMV) C. Most states have penalties that increase with each offense (FindLaw DUI Basics) D.

Corporate Governance Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Corporate Governance - Case Study Example Long term capital structures have been indicated to more advantages to the firm over short-term capital structure decisions (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 97). Matters of equity and debt can also be well analyzed through the capital structure. Evidently, the capital structure would help prove useful in sustaining the interests of managerial agents and the firm owners. U.S.-based firms could integrate elements of the corporate governance practices to make better decisions by coming up with policies that will help their firms gain public trust. Additionally, US firms can improve the ethics of the firm, corporate governance and social responsibility (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 317-23). In the event that the mangers are compelled to comply with the set regulations, then the level of ethics will be adhered to across the board. Having a strict code of conduct will allow for compliance of set standards and regulations. This means that all the decisions made will be done

Privacy-handling Techniques and Algorithms for Data Mining

Privacy-handling Techniques and Algorithms for Data Mining VIVEK UNIYAL ABSTRACT Data mining can extract a previously unknown patterns from vast collection of data. Nowadays networking, hardware and software technology are rapidly growing outstanding in collection of data amount. Organization are containing huge amount of data from many heterogeneous database in which private and sensitive information of an individual. In data mining novel pattern will be extracted from such data by which we can use for various domains in decision marketing. But in the data mining output there will be sensitive, private or personal information of a particular person can also be revealed. There will be some misuse of finding these types of information, and it can harm the data owner. So in distributed environment privacy is becoming an important issue in many applications of data mining. Techniques of Privacy preserving data mining (PPDM) are provide new direction to solve issues. By PPDM, we can find a valid data mining results without underlying data values learning. In this dissertation we have introduced two algorithms for privacy handling concern. One is k-anonymization in which information corresponding to any individual person in a release data cannot be distinguished from that of at least k-1 other individual persons whose information also appears in release data. In this algorithm we are achieving the k-anonimyzation some values must be suppressed or generalized in database. K-anonymity have record linkage attack mode and l-diversity can have attack mode of attribute linkage. KEYWORDS: Data Mining, Advantages and Disadvantages of Data Mining, Privacy handking, K-anonymization Algorithm, L-diversity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all the people who have extended their cooperation in various ways during my dissertation. It is my pleasure to acknowledge the help of all those individuals. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dissertation supervisor, Mr. Govind Kamboj without whom none of this would have been possible. He provided me always the essential direction and advice during the work. I am grateful to him to give a shape towards completion of my dissertation. Without his supervision and support, this work would not have been completed successfully in time. I am grateful to the President, Vice President, Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Head of the Department of the Graphic Era University for providing an excellent environment for work with ample facilities and academic freedom. I would also like to thank the teaching and non-teaching staff for their valuable support during M.Tech. Last but not the least; I am grateful to all my teachers and friends for their cooperation and encouragement throughout completing this task. (Vivek Uniyal) M.Tech( Computer Science Engineering) TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATES DECLERATION iii ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF FIGURES x 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Problem Statement 1 1.2 Overview 1 1.3 Advantages of data mining 3 1.4 Disadvantages of data mining 4 1.5 Why privacy-handling is required in data-mining 4 1.6 Motivation 6 1.7 Organization 4 2. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE SURVEY 7 3. METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES 13 3.1 Randomization method 13 3.2 Group based anonymization methods 14 3.2.1 K-Anonymity framework 14 3.2.2 Personalized privacy-preservation 15 3.2.3 Utility based privacy-preservation 15 3.2.4 Sequential releases 15 3.2.5 The l-diversity method 15 3.3 Distributed privacy-preserving data mining 16 3.4 Detailed description about K-anonymity and l-diversity 16 3.4.1 Data collection and Data publishing 16 3.4.2 Privacy Data publishing 17 3.4.3 Algorithm of k-anonimity 19 3.4.4 l-diversity 24 3.4.1.1 Lack of diversity 25 3.4.1.2 Strong background knowledge 25 4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT 27 4.1 Introduction 27 4.2 Experimental result 27 4.2.1 Result of proposed k-anonymity and l-diversity 27 5. CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK 33 5.1 Conclusion 33 5.2 Scope for Future Work 33 PUBLICATION OUT OF THIS WORK 34 REFERENCES 35 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PPDP Privacy-preserving data publishing PPDMPrivacy-preserving data mining QID Quasi-Identifier LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Data mining a step included in the process of knowledge discovery 1 Figure 1.2 Typical data mining system architecture 2 Figure 1.3: Record Owner, Data Collection and Data Publishing 17 Figure 1.4: Hospital Database 18 Figure 1.5 Taxonomy tree for JOB, SEX, AGE (QID attributes) 20 Figure 1.6 Hospital table Original record in data base 21 Figure 1.7 Table of Sensitive record (Publishing data) 21 Figure 1.8 Table of External Data ppt table 22 Figure 1.9 Resulting data after linking the sensitive and ppl table 22 Figure 1.10 Research table (generalized with k-anonymous published data) 23 Figure 1.11 Extended table (For linking like generalized voter list) 23 Figure 1.12 For checking the k- anonymity 23 Figure 1.13 Result of linking the table research to extended 24 Figure 1.14 Hospital original data record Project 28 Figure 1.15 Comparing the Un-Generalized published and extended data tables 29 Figure 1.16 Comparing Generalized Extended and Sensitive table records 30 Figure 1.17 Table for k-anonymity and l-diversity 32 Figure 1.18 Plotting exact l-value and distinct l-diversity value in weka 33 Figure 1.19 Plotting exact l-value and entropy l-diversity value in weka 33

Law of Diminishing Returns :: essays papers

Law of Diminishing Returns The Law of diminishing returns is a key one in economics. It is used to explain many of the ways the economy works and changes. It is a relatively simple idea; spending and investing more and more in a product where one of the factors of production remains the same means the enterprise will eventually run out of steam. The returns will begin to diminish in the long run. If more fertilizer and better machinery are used on an acre of farmland, the yield will increase for a while but then begin to slow and become flat. A farmer can only get so much out of the land, and the more the farmer works, the harder it gets. The economic reason for diminishing returns of capital is as follows: When the capital stock is low, there are many workers for each machine, and the benefits of increasing capital further are great; but when the capital stock is high, workers already have plenty of capital to work with, and little benefit is to be gained from expanding capital further. For example, in a s ecretarial pool in which there are many more secretaries than computer terminals, each terminal is constantly being utilized and secretaries must waste time waiting for a free terminal. In this situation, the benefit in terms of increased output of adding extra terminals is high. However, if there are already as many terminals as secretaries, so that terminals are often idle and there is no waiting for a terminal to become available, little additional output can be obtained by adding yet another terminal. Another application for this law is in Athletics, for runners, their investment is the time and energy put into training and the yield is hopefully improved fitness. Early in their running careers or early in the training program a couple of weeks of regular training would be rewarded with a considerable increase in fitness. Having achieved a very fit state though, two weeks of regular training will achieve a barely perceptible increase in fitness.

Fast Food Restaurants Essay

Fast Food restaurants are great for the price at which one can obtain the food you want at a fast pace. With so many different food choices there are many opinions about the different varieties of food places and which one is the best. Chickfila, according to Business Insider’s, won the â€Å"best overall† category in the Business Insider’s fast food Reader’s choice awards over restaurants like Chipotle and McDonalds. I believe that Chickfila’s quality of food, their company, and the employees in the company is what makes Chickfila the best in the fast food industry. Chickfila is known for their quality of food. Compared to most fast food restaurants who used processed meat and sometimes their â€Å"meat† does not actually contain real beef or chicken. For example, Chickfila’s nuggets are whole meant and the chicken sandwiches are boneless, hand-breaded, and cooked in 100% peanut oil. Their waffle fries are different from other fast food restaurant which makes them unique and better. Also, their milkshakes make them stand out because of the homemade, handspun ice-dream, ice-cream; and Chickfila also offers seasonal flavors. Compared to most restaurants that have condiments like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, BBQ, etc. Chickfila has an even wider variety of different condiments like honey BBQ, buffalo, Chickfila sauce, honey mustard, spicy mustard, and many different salad dressings. Lastly, food wise, another major thing Chickfila promotes is a healthier option. Though fast food in general isn’t healthy Chickfila offers a more specific menu to tend to a healthier diet. McDonalds for example, their Big Mac and Salad are no different in their healthiness. Chickfila over the past few years made healthy, healthier; they spent over $50 million dollars perfecting the grilled chicken recipe. Not only is the quality of food excellent compared to other fast food franchises but the company and their policies exceed great expectations. One  unique thing about Chickfila is they are closed on Sundays for rest and worship. Though people that run Chickfila do not have to be Christian but they are required to have: humility, passion for service, compassion, and geniuses. Chickfila exemplifies great character and has an â€Å"everyone welcome† policy which occurred because of a comment Dan Cathy, the CEO of Chickfila made, about gay/homosexuality, but he apologized for these comments and said that everyone is welcome. Chickfila is known for its high quality food, great company values and lastly the employees that work there. Most fast food restaurants are about speed but Chickfila is all about being swift and assertive. There manners are exquisite and make you feel helped and welcomed when they say â€Å"my pleasure† after you have been helped. Another reason their people and company are better than most fast food places is because they spend around $1million dollars every year evaluation service and do quarterly phone survives with customers in exchange for a free chicken sandwich. Though I assume most restaurants also do these kinds of surveys, Chickfila is really the only one I have seen effort and change and promotion of what people are saying. The employee’s standards are held higher standard which focuses on â€Å"servant leadership†. Chickfila is the best fast food restaurant in the fast food enterprises because of their high quality fresh and healthy food choices. Their company demonstrates great qualities and good moral standards and is consistent throughout each restaurant chain. Also, their employees are held to a higher standard than most employees at other restaurants. There company exemplifies true respect, leadership, and high quality food that in my opinion make Chickfila the best fast food restaurant chain in the business.

Biography of Robert Hooke, the Man Who Discovered Cells

Biography of Robert Hooke, the Man Who Discovered Cells Robert Hooke (July 18, 1635–March 3, 1703) was a 17th-century natural philosopher- an early scientist- noted for a variety of observations of the natural world. But perhaps his most notable discovery came in 1665 when he looked at a sliver of cork through a microscope lens and discovered cells. Fast Facts: Robert Hooke Known For: Experiments with a microscope, including the discovery of cells, and coining of the termBorn: July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, the Isle of Wight, EnglandParents: John Hooke, vicar of Freshwater and his second wife Cecily GylesDied: March 3, 1703 in LondonEducation: Westminster in London, and Christ Church at Oxford, as a laboratory assistant of Robert BoylePublished Works: Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon Early Life Robert Hooke was born July 18, 1635, in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, the son of the vicar of Freshwater John Hooke and his second wife Cecily Gates. His health was delicate as a child, so Robert was kept at home until after his father died. In 1648, when Hooke was 13, he went to London and was first apprenticed to painter Peter Lely and proved fairly good at the art, but he left because the fumes affected him. He enrolled at Westminster School in London, where he received a solid academic education including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and also gained training as an instrument maker. He later went on to Oxford and, as a product of Westminster, entered Christ Church college, where he became the friend and laboratory assistant of Robert Boyle, best known for his natural law of gases known as Boyles Law. Hooke invented a wide range of things at Christ Church, including a balance spring for watches, but he published few of them. He did publish a tract on capillary attraction in 1661, and it was that treatise the brought him to the attention of the Royal Society for Promoting Natural History, founded just a year earlier. The Royal Society The Royal Society for Promoting Natural History (or Royal Society) was founded in November 1660 as a group of like-minded scholars. It was not associated with a particular university but rather funded under the patronage of the British king Charles II. Members during Hookes day included Boyle, the architect Christopher Wren, and the natural philosophers John Wilkins and Isaac Newton; today, it boasts 1,600 fellows from around the world. In 1662, the Royal Society offered Hooke the initially unpaid curator position, to furnish the society with three or four experiments each week- they promised to pay him as soon as the society had the money. Hooke did eventually get paid for the curatorship, and when he was named a professor of geometry, he gained housing at Gresham college. Hooke remained in those positions for the rest of his life; they offered him the opportunity to research whatever interested him. Observations and Discoveries Hooke was, like many of the members of the Royal Society, wide-reaching in his interests. Fascinated by seafaring and navigation, Hooke invented a depth sounder and water sampler. In September 1663, he began keeping daily weather records, hoping that would lead to reasonable weather predictions. He invented or improved all five basic meteorological instruments (the barometer, thermometer, hydroscope, rain gauge, and wind gauge), and developed and printed a form to record weather data. Some 40 years before Hooke joined the Royal Society, Galileo had invented the microscope (called an occhiolino  at the time, or wink in Italian); as curator, Hooke bought a commercial version and began an extremely wide and varying amount of research with it, looking at plants, molds, sand, and fleas. Among his discoveries were fossil shells in sand (now recognized as foraminifera), spores in mold, and the bloodsucking practices of mosquitoes and lice. Discovery of the Cell Hooke is best known today for his identification of the cellular structure of plants. When he looked at a sliver of cork through his microscope, he noticed some pores or cells in it. Hooke believed the cells had served as containers for the noble juices or fibrous threads of the once-living cork tree. He thought these cells existed only in plants, since he and his scientific contemporaries had observed the structures only in plant material. Nine months of experiments and observations are recorded in his 1665 book Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon, the first book describing observations made through a microscope. It featured many drawings, some of which have been attributed to Christopher Wren, such as that of a detailed flea observed through the microscope. Hooke was the first person to use the word cell to identify microscopic structures when he was describing cork. His other observations and discoveries include: Hookes Law: A  law of elasticity for solid bodies, which described how tension increases and decreases in a spring coilVarious observations on the nature of gravity, as well as heavenly bodies such as comets and planetsThe nature of fossilization, and its implications for biological history Death and Legacy Hooke was a brilliant scientist, a pious Christian, and a difficult and impatient man. What kept him from true success was a lack of interest in mathematics. Many of his ideas inspired and were completed by others in and outside of the Royal Society, such as the Dutch pioneer microbiologist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), navigator and geographer William Dampier (1652–1715), geologist Niels Stenson (better known as Steno, 1638–1686), and Hookes personal nemesis, Isaac Newton (1642–1727). When the Royal Society published Newtons Principia in 1686, Hooke accused him of plagiarism, a situation so profoundly affecting Newton that he put off publishing Optics until after Hooke was dead. Hooke kept a diary in which he discussed his infirmities, which were many, but although it doesnt have literary merit like Samuel Pepys, it also describes many details of daily life in London after the Great Fire. He died, suffering from scurvy and other unnamed and unknown illnesses, on March 3, 1703. He neither married nor had children. Sources Egerton, Frank N. A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 16: Robert Hooke and the Royal Society of London. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 86.2 (2005): 93–101. Print.Jardine, Lisa. Monuments and Microscopes: Scientific Thinking on a Grand Scale in the Early Royal Society. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 55.2 (2001): 289–308. Print.Nakajima, Hideto. Robert Hookes Family and His Youth: Some New Evidence from the Will of the Rev. John Hooke. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 48.1 (1994): 11–16. Print.Whitrow, G. J. Robert Hooke. Philosophy of Science 5.4 (1938): 493–502. Print.

Urk is not a standard spelling

Urk is not a standard spelling Urk is not a standard spelling Urk is not a standard spelling By Maeve Maddox Yes, it’s in the Urban Dictionary, but then, what isn’t? I’ve begun noticing the spelling â€Å"urk† where standard English calls for irk. Headline on the Keene-Valley (NY) Forum: what urks me most Blog title: Stuff That Urks Me Twitter Tweet: One thing that URKS ME THE MOST is people who cross the street when it clearly says DONT WALK! irk: to irritate or disgust (as a person) usually by reason of tiresome or wearying qualities -Merriam-Webster The etymology of irk is uncertain. It may be related to O.N. yrkju â€Å"work.† The modern use of the verb irk with the meaning â€Å"annoy† dates from the late 15th century. The adjective irksome, â€Å"bothersome,† dates from the 1510s. (Online Etymology Dictionary) English orthography makes use of five different letter combinations to spell the /er/ sound: er her, after, determine ir sir, stir, girdle, bird ur urn, turn, burn, spurn, pursue, murder, burr, cur (w)or work, word, world, worm, worship ear early, earth, earl, earn, learn, heard, pearl, search, yearn Yes, it does seem excessively irksome to have five ways to spell one sound, but that’s the way it is. The best way to deal with it is to pay attention to words that contain the /er/ sound the first time you have occasion to write them. Romalda Spaldings mnemonic is an effective way to remember the five spellings: Her first nurse works early. In this sentence the spellings occur in the order of their frequency. Most of the time the /er/ sound is spelled er. The er of early, on the other hand, represents the /er/ sound in only a few English words. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterHomogeneous vs. Heterogeneous20 Clipped Forms and Their Place (If Any) in Formal Writing

Flexibility for 421 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Flexibility for 421 - Essay Example Changes in organisational, economic and employment conditions have brought about innovations in work systems, including flexible work policies and practises. Employees have been experiencing conflict among demands from personal, family, and social responsibilities; such conflict can significantly reduce workers’ well-being which, in turn, may influence organisational outcomes including absenteeism, performance, productivity, and turnover. Companies can effectively improve work-life balance among employees through the provision of flexible work arrangements (Schmidt and Duenas 2002). UK employees continue to feel increased stress and tension in their work environments, due to work intensification and increased work pace. These have created the need for flexible work to achieve balance between work and non-work demands (Green 2006). The application of flexible working practises enables employees to manage their workload, as well as when and where they can carry out such tasks fo r them to effectively attain stability between professional and personal activities (Lewis 2003). Flexible work practises can bring about a wide range of positive outcomes for employees. When employees are given the freedom of choice with regards to their work patterns, job satisfaction can be increased (Hyman and Summers 2004). In remote working, for instance, aside from increased employee satisfaction, there has also been an increase in worker autonomy and independence. Moreover, the use of flexible work arrangements has led to reduced levels of stress and pressure among employees. Although remote workers, such as those who work at home or make use of telecommuting, experience a decrease in stress levels, others on the contrary assert that flexible work practises can bring about further stress and ill mental health. This is in comparison with those who work onsite (Tietze and Musson 2005). Nonetheless, work flexibility has caused positive outcomes such as improvements in achieving work-life balance. Organisations have also benefited from such practises through increased productivity, enhancement of work quality, and improvement of financial performance. Decreases in absenteeism and increased employee loyalty, commitment, and retention rates are also apparent outcomes of flexible work practises (Branine 2003; Greenhaus and Powell 2006). However, it is important to understand that although work flexibility may allow employees to manage their work patterns, positive outcomes have not always been achieved. Critics assert that focusing on choice and balance suggests having control over one’s life decisions, although these have to be considered in relation to the constraints brought about by gender, norms, and organisational culture. Flexible work practises should not merely focus on achieving balance between work and family, as flexible workers may experience certain challenges due to other factors outside the work-family context (Ransome 2007). 1.1.1 Flex ible Work Practises: An Overview Flexible working arrangements have served as a means for attracting, retaining, and motivating employees. This is especially true as work environments become more demanding and intense in terms of work pace and intensity. These practises also serve to align individual goals with organisational objectives (Lambert, Kass, Piotrowski, and Vodanovich 2006). Flexible work pr

The Human Experience and Communication in Movie Assignment - 1

The Human Experience and Communication in Movie - Assignment Example b) Relational needs; the younger brother expresses dissatisfaction about his relationship with the father and reveals that they have not talked for the last ten years. They later meet in an intensely emotional scene at the end of the film after the older brother arranges for a meeting with the father. c) Identity; to find a personal identity, the brothers try to relate with the less fortunate like the lost children in Peru and the lepers in Ghana. They try to find their purpose in life by helping the less fortunate stigmatized groups of people 2 a) Self-awareness; the journey makes the brothers more aware of themselves when they find out the privileges they have in life. They also find their main purpose in life is to be of use to others by helping them for example by helping the AIDS victims in Ghana and hospitalizing the abandoned disabled children in Peru. b)Adaptability; the brothers learn to adapt to different situations, places and to different people they come across. They have to adapt to the situation in New Yorks cold streets by asking for food and building a cardboard shelter. They adapt to the situation of the lepers in Ghana and the homeless in Peru c) Empathy; throughout the film the brothers show empathy to people in different kinds of situations, they empathize with the homeless in the streets of New York by putting themselves in their shoes, then with the abandoned disabled children in Peru who they take to clinic for treatment and with the AIDS victims and lepers in Ghana. d) A person’s cognitive complexity is their ability to analyze a situation from different angles. The brothers analyze life from different perspectives from the problems in the first world in New York and Peru and the third world problems in Africa. They also explore interpersonal relationship  problems between father and son and try to solve all these problems e) Ethics; the brothers are improving their social ethics by practicing their social responsibility towards the society. They have decided to abandon an attitude of apathy and chosen to be concerned with what is going on in the society around them.