Contemporary Issues in Judaism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary Issues in Judaism - Research Paper Example The first practice among Jews that often invites criticism is circumcision. According to Jewish tradition, circumcision is the mark of a covenant between man and God. Circumcision is conducted on the eighth day of a baby, and is preformed by a mohel. Usually, the mohel visits the baby one or two days before the ceremony and verifies that the child is fit for circumcision. Through the circumcision, the foreskin of the penis is removed so that the entire glans and corona are exposed. While the traditionalists believe that there is no issue in continuing with the practice of circumcision, there are people like Dr. Peter Ball (n. d.) who believe that the practice is both unwanted and barbaric. There are umpteen numbers of reasons put forward by scholars to show that circumcision has its own disadvantages. Firstly, it leads to increased intolerance to clothing as the glans, when unprotected, is highly sensitive. In addition, too much rubbing against clothing results in the glans’ l osing sensation. As a result, it leads to less sexual satisfaction. Moreover, studies have proved that circumcision can make people feel mutilated, incomplete, and hence depressed. Despite all the points, the advocates of circumcision point towards the fact that many peoples in the world including many Africans, Christians and Muslims practice circumcision. In addition, they claim that circumcision is a happy occasion as it is the time of making a new covenant with God. Yet another issue that deserves attention is the relation between feminism and Judaism. It is generally claimed that Judaism promotes feminism. This is so because the feminist movements often have a large number of activists from Jews. According to one feminist (Thalia, 24 May 2011) who is a Jew, the holy text Torah teaches people to accord the same respect to all people. An example provided is the building of the Tabernale. In Exodus 35:1, it is read: â€Å"Moses assembled the entire assembly of the Children of Isr ael†, and evidently, there was no differentiation between males and females. Though the traditionalists do not allow women to serve as actual rabbi in orthodox synagogues, there are women who claim to be the leaders of Jews, and recently, Sara Hurwitz was ordained as ‘rabba’- the feminine gender of ‘rabbi’. Admittedly, a look into the Jew principles proves that Jewish ideology promotes the wholeness of a human being and not a role change. In fact, according to Scholars, Judaism believes in being a part of the society while remaining unique, in being a part of a community while maintaining ones own individuality, and in being a part of the world while also being a woman. This understanding of wholeness in ones personality is the reason why many people claim that Jewish women are feminists. However, what happens in today’s world in the name of feminism is actually ‘careerism’. In other words, it is the struggle to give up womenâ€⠄¢s traditional roles and the effort to appropriate men’s roles. Thus, as Heller (2008) points out, the wholeness of personality as taught by Torah is different from the feminism as seen in today’s world. Another issue, abortion, is a matter serious dispute within the Jewish community even now. In order to see if Judaism allows abortion, one should see how Judaism treats a fetus. According to Eisenberg (2004), ‘chalacha’ (Jewish law) considers a fetus as a full-fledged human being. So, one can conclude that destroying a fetus amounts to murder. In addition is the proof that Torah suggests punishment for purposefully causing a woman to miscarry. However, there are people who argue

Journal 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Journal 2 - Essay Example Human Resource Development can be defined as the process of preparing or enhancing competencies, skills, attitudes and the knowledge of the employees in an organization. The employees can qualify to be called human resources when they become useful components in the organization by acquiring the ability to play their roles efficiently (Kuchinke, 2010). Human Resource Development ensure that the staffs are able to work efficiently. Therefore, this process aims at producing knowledgeable, competent and skilled employees that will be able to work optimally toward realizing the organization goals and objectives. Human Resource Development is conducted through various ways such as career planning, organization development, training, and development, which help in imparting appropriate skills and knowledge onto the employees. Human Resource Development is a continuous process that takes a proactive approach in order to capacitate employees in their different roles and ensuring that they ac hieve their full potential. This process also helps to better the lives of the employees, as it concentrates on all-around development of the human resources (Poell, 2011). In conclusion, Human Resource Development is a crucial process that focuses on the development of the employees both at the workplace and in other aspects of their lives. It is done through training and development, whereby suitable knowledge and skills are imparted on the employees, thus making them competent and knowledgeable (Kuchinke,

Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds

Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds ADSORPTION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ON DIFFERENT TIMBER SPECIES Marco Vasconcelos1, Nereida Cordeiro1,2* ABSTRACT Due to the health issues associated to VOC, this work aims to study the adsorption of these compounds onto timbers, in order to improve air quality. For this task, inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to characterize surface properties (surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption). Dispersive component of the surface energy (ÃŽ ³SD) ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2, corresponding to Amburana and Courbaril respectively. Yellow Pine shows higher values of the specific free energy of adsorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs), indicating a higher number/energy of polar active sites. On the other hand, the enthalpy of adsorption values (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs) don’t go in agreement with à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs, probably due to its temperature-dependence. That said, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values indicate a basic surface and Amburana establishes stronger interactions with polar probes while Yellow Pine establishes stronger interactions with cyclohexane. Additionally, the â€Å"thermodynamic compensation effect† was evaluated on these samples, being observed linearity in Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. The slope was similar between the different species, indicating a similar adsorption mechanism. Keywords: Inverse Gas Chromatography, Surface Properties, Wood Fibers, Volatile Organic Compounds, thermodynamic compensation effect 1. INTRODUCTION Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are organic compounds produced in industries, motor vehicles, power plants, etc. They are usually distinguished by boiling temperatures under 250 ºC, at standard atmospheric pressure (1 atm), and with high vapor pressures, surpassing 0.5 kPa at 25 ºC (Dobre, Pà ¢rvulescu, Iavorschi, Stroescu, Stoica, 2014). The aforementioned compounds have harmful impact on human health, such as eye and throat irritation, damage to the liver, central nervous system and carcinogenic effects, due to prolonged exposure (Das, Gaur, Verma, 2004). Therefore, reducing the VOC concentration on the atmosphere is an important task in order to improve air quality and avoid health issues. Wood fibers consist in both dead and living cells, being at a macroscopic level organized within a layer of xylene, in the wood. From the chemical point of view, consists mostly in cellulose, followed by hemicellulose and lignin. Due to the hydrogen bonds established by the hydroxyl groups of cellulose of the surface, it affects strongly on the properties of the material, such as hydrophobicity and therefore its reactivity (Hodzic, Shanks, 2014). About 80.5% of the wood fibers are used in the paper industry and around 17% for wood fibers modification (composites: Kazayawoko, Balatinecz, Romansky, 1997; Adusumali, Reifferscheid, Weber, Roeder, Sixta, Gindl, 2006; Cao, Hu, Liu, 2008). In this work, Inverse gas Chromatography (IGC) was used to characterize the surface properties (surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption) of Amburana, Yellow Pine, Grapia, Courbaril and Brazilian Mahogany to evaluate the adsorption of some VOC (Chloroform, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate, benzene and toluene). Additionally, the â€Å"thermodynamic compensation effect† was studied to investigate the mechanism of thermodynamic adsorption on the different samples analyzed. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Materials Methane (>99.99% purity) was used an inert reference probe and the carrier gas utilized was helium (>99.99% purity), both supplied by Air Liquide Company. The probe molecules were supplied by Sigma–Aldrich with GC grade (>99% purity). 2.2 iGC analysis iGC measurements were carried out, at least, in duplicate, on a commercial inverse gas chromatograph (Surface Measurements Systems, London, UK) equipped with a flame ionization (FID), thermal conductivity (TCD) and mass spectrometer (MS) detectors. Standard glass silanized (dymethyldichlorosilane; Repelcote BDH, UK) columns with 0.4 cm ID and 30 cm in length were used. About 1.5 g of timber sawdust mesh 40-60 was packed by vertical tapping for 10 min. The columns, with the samples, were pre-treated for 2h at 343 K and 10 ml/min of flow rate, to remove the impurities adsorbed on the surface and 2h at the measurement conditions. After pre-treatment, pulse injections were carried out with a 0.25 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l gas loop. The iGC system was fully automated with purpose written control software (SMS iGC Controller v1.3) and data were analyzed using iGC Standard v1.3 and Advanced Analysis Software v1.21. The presented results are the average of the values obtained for each sample with a standard deviation minor than 5%. Measurements of the dispersive interaction were made with n-alkanes (n-decane, n-nonane, n-octane, n-heptane and n-hexane) at 298 K, at 0% RH. The carrier gas (Helium) flow rate was 10 ml/min. To acid-base studies cyclohexane, benzene, chloroform, toluene and ethyl acetate were used at 0% RH. Heat of sorption measurements were done with the polar probes at 298 K, 0% RH, and 10 ml/min flow rate. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Dispersive component of the surface tension The solvent–sorption properties of the timbers were studied at infinite dilution condition in order to remove the interactions between the probe molecules adsorbed at the surface of the samples. The methane injection allows the calculation of the dead time and subtracts it to the retention time in order to obtain the retention volume (Thielmann, 2004). The corrected net retention volume VN is given by: where Vd is the mobile phase hold-up volume (called dead volume), and VR the measured retention volume. The 0 superscript indicates a correction for the column pressure drop given by j: where where T is the column temperature, F is the exit flow rate at 1 atm and 273.15K, tR is the retention time and t0 is the mobile phase hold-up time. The dispersive component of the surface energy, as well as the specific free energy of sorption, was measured with dispersive and acid-base probe molecules. The relation between the retention volume and free energy of sorption à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G ºS is given by the following equation: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S = RTln VR0 + K where R is the gas constant and K is the De Boer or Kemball/Rideal constant depending on the chosen reference state (De Boer, 1953; Kemball Rideal, 1946). Moreover, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S is related to the energy of adhesion WA (between probe molecule and solid) by the equation: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S = NAaWA where a is the cross sectional area of the adsorbate and NA the Avogadro constant. According to Fowkes (1964), the dispersive contribution of the work of adhesion WA is given by: WA = 2(ÃŽ ³SDÃŽ ³LD)1/2 with ÃŽ ³SD and ÃŽ ³LD as the surface tension of the adsorbent and the adsorbate respectively. Combining the equations above: Thus, the dispersive component of the surface tension (ÃŽ ³SD) values could be calculated based on the plots of RT lnV0R vs a(ÃŽ ³LD)1/2 for the adsorption of n-alkane probes, as illustrated in Figure 1. Good linear correlations (0.9991-0.9996) were obtained for the n-alkane series for all samples analyzed. The calculated ÃŽ ³SD values are given in Table 1 and show very similar results between the different timber species. The surface energy ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2, corresponding to Amburana and Courbaril respectively. These values are similar to those reported by Kazayawoko, Balatinecz, Romansky (1997) and Shu, Xu, JinWei, BaoLi (2007) for wood flour (35.6 mJ/m2 at 323K) and ashtree wood meal (36.52 mJ/ m2 at 323K) respectively. Gouveia, Cordeiro and John (2011) reported various lignocellulosic fibres (flax, hemp, kenaf, agave, agave hybrid pineapple, and sisal), with ÃŽ ³SD values ranged from 37.17 to 51.37 mJ/ m2 (at 298K). In the same article aforementioned, it’s also explained that variations in the ÃŽ ³SD values can be due to the different composition, growing conditions of the fibers and method of extraction. The latter is justified due to the fibers being usually covered by a layer of wax, and may interfere with elutant-fiber interactions. When removed during the method of extraction it’s expected to change drastically the surface energy. 3.2 Polar probes sorption studies A widespread approaching to the Lewis acid/base surface interactions can provide better perceptive of the chemical-physical properties of the timber surfaces. The presence of acid and base active sites on the surfaces increases the possibility of specific intermolecular interactions with solvents and others compounds. The specific free energy of sorption, à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs was determined by the distance between the alkane line and the points corresponding to the ΔG ºs value of polar probes (Gamble, Leane, Olusanmi, Tobyn, Supuk, 2012). à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs = RTln(VN) – RTln(VNref) The à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values are given in Table 2 and represented in Figure 2. Chloroform was used as an acid probe on this work. The values ranged from 0.53 to 2.50 kJ/mol, corresponding to Brazilian Mahogany and Yellow Pine respectively. Based on the results obtained, the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values of Chloroform decrease in the following order Pine > Grapia > Courbaril > Amburana > Mahogany. This observation indicates that Yellow Pine may have a higher quantity/energy of active sites with basic character compared to the other fibers. A similar order was observed on Cyclohexane, indicating that Yellow Pine might also have a higher quantity/energy of active sites with apolar character. Although, the same order is not observed in ÃŽ ³SD, since that for the surface energy were used n-alkanes and due to the shape of cyclohexane and consequent different steric hindrance, it will have different interactions with the surface. On the other hand, Brazilian Mahogany shows the lowest à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values for the overall probes, indicating a lower quantity/energy of active sites. Ethyl acetate was used as a basic probe in Amburana, Yellow Pine and Courbaril. The interaction of this probe, alongside chloroform, with the timber surface indicates the presence of both acidic and basic sites on the solid surface. 3.3 Heat of sorption measurements In the infinite dilution region, where the isotherm is linear, VN should be measured at a range of column temperatures and ln(VN/T) plotted vs. 1/T, which yields the heat of sorption à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs according to (Conder Young, 1979): To determine the enthalpies of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾HS) of the VOC’s in the timber species, the specific retention volume (VN) was measured at different temperatures (293 to 298K) and the retention diagrams ln VN vs 1/T were plotted (Fig. 3-7). Some of VOC ´s couldn’t be used in some of the timber species because the retention time was too low to make accurate calculations due to the peak overlap. The à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values are given in Table 3, determined at three different temperatures. Good linear correlations (>0.99) were obtained for the probes used, as shown in Figures 3-7. In this work, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values for the basic probes (Ethyl acetate; Higher DN/AN*) were lower than the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values for the acid probes (Chloroform; Lower DN/AN*), indicating a basic character of the solid surface. Cordeiro, Mendonà §a, Pothan and Varma (2012) and Gouveia, Cordeiro and John (2011) observed the same basic character in macro and nanobanana fibers, flax, hemp, kenaf, agave, agave hybrid pineapple, and sisal. For chloroform, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values decreased in the following order: Amburana > Brazilian Mahogany > Grapia > Courbaril > Yellow Pine. At first sight it indicates that Amburana establishes stronger interactions with the surface, compared with the other timbers. On the other hand, Yellow Pine establishes the weakest interactions with chloroform. A similar order was also observed for cyclohexane, for the exception of Yellow Pine, that shows the highest à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs value for this probe. The results don’t go in agreement with the ones obtained from the specific free energy of adsorption study, probably due to the fact that the temperature might influence the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values and therefore it might mislead to incorrect conclusions. Thus, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values will give a better insight of which timber is advised (or not) to remove VOC from the atmosphere since it already have in account the temperature. Being said, the results indicate that for polar probes Amburana have stronger interactions while for apolar probes Yellow Pine have stronger interactions. 3.4 Entropy of Sorption calculation The linear dependence between ΔHS and ΔSS is called â€Å"Thermodynamic Compensation Effect†. Normally, stronger intermolecular interactions (related to ΔHS) result in less degrees of freedom of the elutant, leading into a greater order of the system, decreasing the entropy of the system (Liu L., Guo Q-X., 2001). The entropy of sorption was directly calculated according to: Figure 8 represents the entropy-enthalpy correlation, being only observed on Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. All three dependences are linear and almost parallel, with a slope between 2.7910-3 and 3.7310-3 K-1. Therefore, these three samples follow the previous equation. According to Korolev A. et al., (2011), a similar slope indicates similar adsorption mechanism on the samples studied on this work. Since all the samples have similar composition, it was expected the same adsorption mechanism between them. 4. CONCLUSION IGC was used to evaluate different surface properties, namely surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption. The ÃŽ ³SD values were measured at 298K and ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2. These variations between results are due to different composition, growing conditions and method of extraction. The results don’t go in agreement between enthalpy of adsorption and the specific free energy of adsorption probably due to the influence of the temperature on the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs. In Yellow Pine were observed higher à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values for chloroform and cyclohexane compared to the other fibers, indicating a higher quantity/energy of active sites with basic and apolar character. In Amburana, Yellow Pine and Courbaril, the basic probes showed lower à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values compared to acid à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values, indicating a basic character. The same was observed on other fibers found in literature. Amburana establishes stronger interactions with Chloroform while Yellow Pine establishes stronger interaction with cyclohexane, compared to the other timber species. The â€Å"Thermodynamic Compensation Effect† was only observed in Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany, with linear fits almost parallel. The slope ranged between 2.7910-3 and 3.7310-3 K-1. Similar slopes indicate similar adsorption mechanism, which makes sense due to similar composition. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT References Adusumali R-B, Reifferscheid M, Weber H, Roeder T, Sixta H, Gindl W. Mechanical properties of regenerated cellulose fibres for composites. Macromolecular Symposia 2006, 244: 119–25. Cao S., Hu B., Liu H. Synthesis of pH-responsive crosslinked poly[styrene-co-(maleic sodium anhydride)] and cellulose composite hydrogel nanofibers by electrospinning. Polymer International 2009, 58: 545–551. Cordeiro N., Gouveia C., John M. J. Investigation of surface properties of physico-chemically modified natural fibers using inverse gas chromatography. Industrial Crops and Products 2011, 33: 108–115. Cordeiro, N., Mendonà §a, C., Pothan, L. A., Varma, A. Monitoring surface properties evolution of thermochemically modified cellulose nanofibres from banana pseudo-stem. Carbohydrate Polymers 2012, 88, 125–131. De Boer, J.H., 1953. The Dynamic Character of Chemisorption, 2nd Ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford. Gamble J., Leane M., Olusanmi D., Tobyn M., Supuk E., Khoo J., Naderi M., 2012, Surface energy analysis as a tool to probe the surface energy characteristics of micronized materials A comparison with inverse gas chromatography; International Journal of Pharmaceutics; 422: 238-244 Kemball C., Rideal, E.K. The Adsorption of Vapours on Mercury. I. Non-Polar Substances. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 1946, 187: 53–73. Korolev A., Shiryaeva V., Popova T., Kurganov A. Enthalpy–entropy compensation effect on adsorption of light hydrocarbons on monolithic stationary phases, Journal of Separation Science 2011, 34, 2362-2369. Liu L., Guo Q.-X. Isokinetic relationship, isoequilibrium relationship, and enthalpy–entropy compensation. Chemical Reviews 2001, 101: 673–695. M. Kazayawoko, J. Balatinecz, M. Romansky. Thermodynamics of adsorption of n-alkanes on maleated wood fibers by inverse gas chromatography. Journal of Colloid Interface Science 1997, 190: 408-415. Thielmann F, 2004, Introduction into the characterization of porous materials by Inverse Gas Chromatography, Journal of Chromatography A, 1037: 115–123. Zhao S., Lin X., Song J. Shi B.. Surface characterization of ashtree wood meal by inverse gas chromatography. Chinese Science Bulletin 2007, 52: 1178-1181. Conder, J., Young, C. (1979). Physicochemical measurement by Gas Chromatography. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. TABLE CAPTIONS Table 1 – Dispersive component of the surface tension (ÃŽ ³SD). Table 2 – Specific free energy of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºS). Table 3 – Enthalpy of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾HS). Table 4 – Entropy of sorption (ΔSS). Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 FIGURE CAPTIONS Figure 1 Energy of adsorption vs a(à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ §DL)1/2 for n-alkanes on the timbers (Amburana, Grapia, Courbaril, Brazilian Mahogany and Yellow Pine) surface at 298K and 0%RH. Figure 2 – Specific free energy of the adsorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs) of Chloroform and Cyclohexane onto samples analyzed at 298K. Figure 3 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Amburana timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 4 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Yellow Pine timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 5 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and benzene measurement on Grapia timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 6 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Courbaril timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 7 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and toluene measurement on Brazilian Mahogany timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 8 – Entropy-enthalpy compensation effect on Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

How can Gatsby be called Great Essay -- F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gats

The title of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ can be seen as incredibly ironic: not only can the ‘greatness’ of the eponymous character be vehemently contested, he is not even named ‘Gatsby’. In fact, he is a criminal, James Gatz, who, although he appears to be an epitome of the idealistic American Dream, having grown from an impoverished childhood into a life of excess and splendour, he has obtained everything through crime and corruption. Indeed, it has been said that ‘The Great Gatsby’ is â€Å"a parable of disenchantment with the ‘American Dream’† , and it is, for the American Dream is the idea that â€Å"through hard work, courage and determination, one could achieve prosperity.† James Gatz did not obtain his prosperous lifestyle through â€Å"hard work†, but rather through felony. Of course, it may seem that he ‘worked hard’ for it, and there is no disputing hi s determination and perhaps even his courage, but the â€Å"hard work† on which the American Dream is based is not the work of criminals. Of course, we cannot deny that Gatsby has achieved a great deal in his lifetime, all, apparently, in the name of love. Indeed the narrator of the story, Nick Carraway, describes Gatsby as having â€Å"an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person†, and this forms the basis of his opening argument for the greatness of Gatsby. We must, however, examine the reliability of the narrator. Nick says himself that he is â€Å"inclined to reserve all judgement†, but then quickly goes on to say how â€Å"it has a limit†, that he cannot reserve judgement on everyone, and also that Gatsby was â€Å"exempt from my reaction†, following this with how Gatsby â€Å"represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn†,... ...l of Daisy, either. After all, Nick himself says that â€Å"Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply†, and one can assume that this would also be true for Daisy: Wilson would not have shot Daisy as he does Gatsby: it would appear that his â€Å"romantic readiness† was eventually the cause of his murder. The fact that he was killed by Wilson is deeply ironic: the underdog, the only poor character we see in the novel, running a â€Å"bare†, â€Å"whitewashed† garage under the god-like eyes of â€Å"Doctor T. J Eckleburg†, kills the prosperous, rich, idealistic hero, showing not only the â€Å"disenchantment of the ‘American Dream’†, but also that there really is no place for Jay Gatsbys in the world: the qualities which Nick perceives as â€Å"great† slowly pave the way for his defeat. Was Gatsby â€Å"great†? No, he was simply naively idealistic in a society completely deficient in morality. How can Gatsby be called Great Essay -- F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gats The title of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ can be seen as incredibly ironic: not only can the ‘greatness’ of the eponymous character be vehemently contested, he is not even named ‘Gatsby’. In fact, he is a criminal, James Gatz, who, although he appears to be an epitome of the idealistic American Dream, having grown from an impoverished childhood into a life of excess and splendour, he has obtained everything through crime and corruption. Indeed, it has been said that ‘The Great Gatsby’ is â€Å"a parable of disenchantment with the ‘American Dream’† , and it is, for the American Dream is the idea that â€Å"through hard work, courage and determination, one could achieve prosperity.† James Gatz did not obtain his prosperous lifestyle through â€Å"hard work†, but rather through felony. Of course, it may seem that he ‘worked hard’ for it, and there is no disputing hi s determination and perhaps even his courage, but the â€Å"hard work† on which the American Dream is based is not the work of criminals. Of course, we cannot deny that Gatsby has achieved a great deal in his lifetime, all, apparently, in the name of love. Indeed the narrator of the story, Nick Carraway, describes Gatsby as having â€Å"an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person†, and this forms the basis of his opening argument for the greatness of Gatsby. We must, however, examine the reliability of the narrator. Nick says himself that he is â€Å"inclined to reserve all judgement†, but then quickly goes on to say how â€Å"it has a limit†, that he cannot reserve judgement on everyone, and also that Gatsby was â€Å"exempt from my reaction†, following this with how Gatsby â€Å"represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn†,... ...l of Daisy, either. After all, Nick himself says that â€Å"Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply†, and one can assume that this would also be true for Daisy: Wilson would not have shot Daisy as he does Gatsby: it would appear that his â€Å"romantic readiness† was eventually the cause of his murder. The fact that he was killed by Wilson is deeply ironic: the underdog, the only poor character we see in the novel, running a â€Å"bare†, â€Å"whitewashed† garage under the god-like eyes of â€Å"Doctor T. J Eckleburg†, kills the prosperous, rich, idealistic hero, showing not only the â€Å"disenchantment of the ‘American Dream’†, but also that there really is no place for Jay Gatsbys in the world: the qualities which Nick perceives as â€Å"great† slowly pave the way for his defeat. Was Gatsby â€Å"great†? No, he was simply naively idealistic in a society completely deficient in morality.

Equality and Diversity Essay

It would be very discouraging for children to be subjected to discriminatory beliefs that are held by either myself or other teachers for example my cousin wanted to be a ballet dancer when he was a child but after teasing from other members of the family suggesting that dancing is only for girls and gay men he did not continue to attend classes. This was something that he regrets as it was a dream of his and now he has grown up he wishes he had been encouraged to dance. By taking any of families or, friends or even my own beliefs in to school is unfair on the children I am there to support. They could be made to feel that if because of their background or who they are means they cannot aspire to be what they want to be so will not reach to achieve their full potential.As with another example my father-in-law is sexist and believes that a woman’s place is in the home cooking, cleaning and looking after the children and if I was to take that to school with me I could treat the girls differently dismissing their work and only encouraging the boys, giving the girls the false idea of they are not good enough. For example: â€Å"Both men and women teachers have low expectations of girls intellectual skills’ since it is thought that girls are inherently less intelligent than boys† (www.right-to-education.org) The support I give the children should be fair and equal in order for every child to feel safe, an equal part of society and that they are worthwhile. Each child should feel that their opinions count and that they have a voice that should be heard, they should not feel excluded or feel that they can exclude any other person because their race, religion, background, sex as this can affect their self-esteem, their confidence and will in turn effect their learning as proved by Jane Elliot in the â€Å"brown eyed-blue eyed experiment† (The Eye of The Storm) in 1968 where the children wearing the collar (to show they were the lesser pupils) took longer than they did the day before when they weren’t wearing the collars in a card pack reading practice. The children had low expectations of themselves and their body language changed (they looked shrunkeninto themselves). To challenge discriminatory behaviour there are many different methods that could be used for different types of discrimination for example if I heard a child being racist, calling each other names such as â€Å"paki† I would go to them straight away and say: â€Å" Excuse me children I heard what you just said why are you calling each other names?†Ã¢â‚¬Å" We don’t use language like that at school how do you think that has made Ron feel?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What do you think would be right thing to say to him†. It is my responsibility and I am legally obliged as a T.A to challenge any kind of discriminatory behaviour. If there were problems in the playground at lunchtime when the boys were excluding the girls from football at lunchtime I could make changes to the playground so I would have an assembly to explain to the children why they would be having a week plan for the use of the footballing area and it would be as follows: Monday: Girls only netball. Tuesday:Boys only football.Wednesday: Mixed netball.Thursday: Mixed football.Friday: Something completely diffrerent, a team building game to get them working together.After this I would find from them what has worked well and what hasn’t.If children in year7 were sending offensive emails I would use the computer to suite to get them to research the consequences of their actions which they will then present to the class or in assembly. This would give them an insight into how such behaviour can affect the victims, they would also be made to apologise to the person or people they were harassing.| | In conclusion by not discriminating we give every child the same opportunities and support them equally, every child has the same right to an education no matter their background, race, religion, sex or disability. Children will have confidence in who they are and will be more productive in the classroom.| | Excellent and thoughtful answer. This also covers 4.2.5 – just add this at the top of the page. SJ 4.3.13

Contrast and Compare Approaches to Hrm Within Two Diverse Countries?

Contrast and compare approaches to HRM within two diverse countries? Introduction Human resource management (HRM) means the activities of management in the employment relationship (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). The use of strategic HRM in an organisation helps function with its various activities like training n development, motivation, recruitment, employee selection, leadership, communication and reach their milestones. HRM strategy helps an organisation to focus on its micro-strategic issues. It also helps to provide a robust and link between its various activities conducted in a HRM department (Beardwell, 2004). This essay will cover the importance of understanding HR practices of two diverse countries. The study of comparative HRM is necessary to build a bridge between two different cultures. For example UK there is high rate of part time jobs due to a wide range of social and economic reasons. On the other hand, part time jobs in other parts of Europe are comparatively less. To know these difference and to easy cross culture businesses comparative HRM is necessary. In the past half century with the rise in globalisation, international human resource management (IHRM) has gained popularity. However the study of international and comparative HRM is regarded as an expensive and time consuming research (Adler, 1984; Brewster et al, 1996; Tregaskis et al, 2003). Hyman, R 1999 says that cross broad expansion has created a need for the deep knowledge of IHRM to avoid complex business issues Models of HRM In HRM, there is no specific approach or single way to implement it. HRM is a style of management which can be measured and defined or even compared against an ideal model. There are two approaches or models of HRM – soft Model and hard Model. Hard HRM emphasize the â€Å"resource† aspect of HRM, Legge refers to this as â€Å"Utilitarian Instrumentalism†. The hard HRM model focuses on the critical integration of human resource policies, systems and activities with business strategy. The hard HRM model characterizes human resources as factor of production. This means that the human resource is not the only resource capable of turning the production into wealth. Human Resources are viewed as passive, to be provided and deployed as numbers and skills at the right price, rather than the source of creative energy (Legge, 1995, p. 66-67). Hard HRM model requires calculations and deep thinking as required by any other branch of management. Thus it communicates through the tough language of business and economics. This emphasis on the quantitative, calculative and business-strategic aspects of managing the â€Å"headcount† has been termed human asset accounting (Storey, 1987). The hard HRM model is closely related to scientific management as it treats human resource which posses some skills/attributes that the firm requires. In contrast to hard HRM model, soft HRM model focuses on human relations rather than treating it as commodity. Soft HRM places an emphasis on â€Å"human† and is associated with the human relations school of Herzberg and McGregor (Storey, 1987). Legge refers to this as â€Å"Developmental Humanism† (Legge, 1995, p. 66-67). The soft model approach treats employees as valued asset of firm which gives the firm a competitive advantage over others through employees professional skills, commitments, adaptability and performance. Employees are proactive rather than passive inputs into productive processes, capable of development, worthy of trust and collaboration which is achieved through participation (Legge, 1995, pp 66-67). The soft Model inspires employee’s resourcefulness by increasing employee commitment, participation and involvement. Walton (1985, p. 79) suggests that â€Å"a model that assumes low employee commitment and that is designed to produce reliable if not outstanding performance simply cannot match the standards of excellence set by world-class competitors† and discusses the choice that managers have between a strategy based on imposing control and a strategy based on eliciting commitment. (Legge, 1995) in her analysis says that â€Å"use of HRM styles like hard and soft models in an organisation has always been debatable†. These models are primarily within normative, or prescriptive, models of human resource management. Soft HRM is associated with the human relations movement, the utilization of individual talents (McGregor, 1960). Soft HRM is also associated with the goals of flexibility and adaptability and implies that communication plays a central role in management (Storey and Sisson 1993). Hard HRM, on the other hand, stresses on the importance of ‘strategic fit', where human resource policies and practices are closely linked to the strategic objectives of the organization (external fit), and are coherent among themselves (internal fit) ( Baird and Meshoulam,1988). In UK, firms generally rely on numerical forms of flexibility than ualitative form. Both of these are supported by soft HRM models and theories of flexible specialisation. Hence UK employment system has failed to adopt best practice of HRM models. Almond, 2001 says in times of short term pressure if there is a lack of institutional lock-in to soft HRM firms resort to management unilateralism. However in Russia employees are tr eated as human capital and are used to generate revenues for the organization. In Russia predominantly hard HRM model approach exists. The employee is like commodity which is found worthy if there is a short supply or plays a central role in company’s goals. The implementation of the hard Model varies from company to company depending on the calculations and quantitative approaches in a rational manner. In Russia the companies have authoritative, hierarchical, bureaucratic type of structure whereas in UK the companies have participative management approaches, team concepts, and greater employee involvement. The Russian companies center of focus so far have been towards the technical aspects of their business – how to efficiently produce a product or provide a service, how to increase revenues and how to stay afloat in the market. However with the globalization of economies, many of them have started realizing the importance of other aspects of business – Human capital management, organizational structure, compensation, training, motivation and communication. In Russian, organizations perceived HR as a compliance function, existing to fill out forms and enforce rules, rather than a strategic part of organizational performance and success. However in UK the companies look at HR management as a strategic approach to an overall growth of the company. In this essay, using theories and literature, I will try to identify some of the key different HR practices and policies in Russia as compared to those of western countries like UK. Compensation, bonuses, incentives: In Russia, many of the small and mid size companies have no standard compensation system. There were no systematic, equitable pay scales and incentive structures flexible enough to withstand periods of growth and change. Most of the Russian companies’ main goal is to provide full employment. Unlike UK and American companies, Russian companies paid bonuses and incentives to their employees irrespective of their performance. However incentive pay was a traditional and integral part of the Russian compensation system. Most of the bonuses were divided equally across the organization or among members of a specific work group. Since employees received incentives regardless of individual performance, they came to see them more as an entitlement than as a reward for good performance (Puffer & Shekshnia, 1996). This approach complemented with the Russian culture of collectivism and high uncertainty avoidance. Unlike Russian culture, UK culture is more about individualism and social responsibility. In UK HR practices, the compensation system is focused towards employee’s performance. Management of individual performance: In Russia the HR have a different approach towards management of Individual performance and constructive discipline. Russian organization practices extensively the use of fines as a central focus of discipline systems. The employees are fined for every conceivable infraction. In fact some companies in Russia posted a list of standard fines to the employees as a reminder to the consequences of breaking rules. In contrast to this, UK HR practice follows a positive reinforcement and effective feedback techniques. The companies in UK have a formal performance appraisal and a feedback system. This helps in keeping track of an employee performance and interest and gives them effective feedback. Motivation techniques: In Russia the HR practice follows a centralized planning system on individual motivation. The company through its experience tries to motivate employees in ways which work best at that time. The basic technique of their motivation is to provide monetary benefits to the employees. This creates an even more expectation despite of employee’s lackluster performance. However in UK, the HR practices not only focused on employee’s motivation but also to maintain a high level. The HR in UK uses non-monetary strategies to motivate employees. Some of them are job enrichment, cross-training, and organizational support of training and education. Recruiting and staffing: The recruitment and staffing procedures in Russia is completely different from UK. In Russia, the HR practices do not lay emphasis on spending time and money for recruiting qualified employees. The companies in Russia do not spend on advertisement for recruitment. The whole recruiting and staffing procedures is rudimentary. In contrast the UK HR practices have organized application and selection process such as testing, group and individual interviewing. The companies in UK spend a considerable amount of money on advertisement to recruit qualified employees. More over recruiting and staffing is considered as one of the central strategies of HR management in UK. Internal Communication: Russian and British companies both realize the importance of good internal communication for smooth running of the business. However the communication happens more naturally in UK than in Russia. In fact internal communication is a key challenge in Russia. Lack of this communication between people is a problem in smooth running of the business. In Russia there is a common belief that if you tell too much you are losing the power. Russians love to talk about daily affairs except the core things for the company. Historically Russian organizations have been good at vertical flow of information but very poor with horizontal flow of information. In both Russia and UK, companies use formalized mechanisms to increase internal communication flow. This system includes instruments like intranets, newsletters, regular department/company meetings, suggestion boxes/systems, etc. The formalized mechanism seems to be more useful for Russia, since UK employees indicates that by the time the information was available via formal channels, they often already knew much of the information from informal channels. In UK, employees were much more likely to share useful information with another employee through informal channels than was the case in Russia. Training and Development: Training and development formed more competitive HR strategies in UK than Russia and were more formalized in the UK than Russia. The UK employees have more diverse backgrounds and work in areas which they are not originally trained. Hence they require more formalized training. In UK all the trainings and development is supervised and coordinated by the HR department. The HR department strictly monitors the training progress. In UK, the initiative for training comes from individual, superiors or the HR department. The trainings are conducted once the HR department has the formal discussion with the employee. However in Russia, the practice of on the job training is more prevalent. In Russia an informal training approach is used as most of the people have the desired skill set for the job. When talking about training and development for Russian employees, many HR and senior managers in Western firms maintain that a mix of hard and soft approaches and styles is necessary. Conclusion The HRM is transitioning from the traditional model which was focused only on administrative issues to a new HRM paradigm which lays emphasis on the strategic dimension of human capital management. The new responsibilities of HR require an integration of human capital in corporate strategy, to overcome the complex and diverse global labor market and to be able to incorporate young employees differing values and expectations than their predecessors. Due to global economic downturn, investments in human capital are not likely to be a high priority for organization whose very survival is threatened by the global downturn. But for companies with strong balance sheets and compelling business models, the economic downturn presents important opportunities to strengthen their HR management capabilities and position them for the inevitable rebound: Utilizing slack time to engage employees in professional development and technical training programs. This serves both to sharpen skills and to preserve morale during tough times. Opportunistic hiring of talented individuals caught in downsizing at weaker enterprises, which augments the company’s human capital base for long-term growth Promoting cross-divisional and cross-functional collaboration. This improves utilization of human resources and encourages teamwork between employees who previously had little or no contact. While termination of employees is an avoidably painful process, how companies manage downsizing is an important component of human resource management. Generous treatment of departing workers – including high-quality placement services and severance packages – not only creates goodwill among former employees who will speak favorably about the company and who may indeed return as â€Å"boomerangs†. It also burnishes the company’s image as an attractive workplace (â€Å"employer brand†) and thereby strengthens its capacity to recruit and retain talented persons when the economy recovers. Bibliography Beardwell, J. And Claydon, T. (2007) Human Resource Management: A contemporary approach. 5th ed. , Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd http://www. goinglobal. com/hot_topics/russia_jerome_education. asp http://mams. rmit. edu. au/d4lhtsmk45c. pdf http://www. rsmmcgladrey. com/pdf/managinghrglobal. pdf