PNEUMONIA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PNEUMONIA - Essay Example Pneumonia can make an individual very ill even to the point of death. However, the disease can transpire in young, as well as healthy individuals, but is more dangerous in older adults, babies and persons with other illness or weakened immune systems. Pneumonia is often caused by a bacterium, the Streptococcus Pneumoniae, especially in people who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and are victims of alcoholism. Such individuals are vulnerable to contracting pneumonia from Klebsiella, as well as Hemophilus Influenza. This category, although occurring temporarily, has some association with the bacteria known as the Mycoplasma Pneumoniae (Krause, 2012). Subsequently, the attacking organisms results in a variety of impact, in part, by irritating to an overly enthusiastic status to the immune responses within the lungs. Therefore, the small blood vessels within the lungs tend to develop leaks; hence, protein-rich fluid seeps through the alveoli. However, this tends to mark a less serviceable region for oxygen-carbon dioxide conversions; hence, the affected victims tend to develop oxygen rundowns while holding hypothetically risky carbon dioxide (Krause, 2012). Conversely, ill persons respire faster in conjunction to result in more oxygen, as well as release of more carbon dioxide. However, when these secretions are augmented, the leaky vessels often tinge the mucus with blood. The mucus plugs tend to diminish the efficacy of gas conversions within the lungs. Nonetheless, the alveoli tend to fill up with fluids, resulting in the debris from a vast number of white cells that get released to combat the infection (Krause, 2012). Therefore, the pneumonia condition often starts when an individual breathes the relevant germs into lungs. What follows is usually the disease after accessing a cold, as well as a flu. Conversely, the sickness will tend to make a person find it difficult for his/her lungs to fight against the

Great Critical Thinkers Essay Example for Free

Great Critical Thinkers Essay Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804 Kant was the last influential philosopher of the modern Europe. He became famous for his theory of knowledge during the Enlightenment. Kan’ts thought was very influential in Germany during his life, moving philosophy beyond debate between nationalists and empiricists. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 1869 1948 Ghandi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of india during the the Indian independence battle with Britain. He pioneered Satyagraha , resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence! This concept helped India to gain independence, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation!. Was cruelly assassinated during his daily meditation. Sigmund Freud 1856 1939 Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression,and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for treating psychopotology.He was early neurological researcher into cerebral function. Freud’s work remains influential in clinical approaches, and in the humanities and social sciences. He is considered one of the most outstanding thinkers of the first half of 20th century, in terms of originality and intellectual influence.Steve wozniak with Steve jobs and Ronald Wayne.Their inventions and machines are credited with contributing significantly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970’s. Edwin Hubble changed the way we see our universe! By demonstrating the existence of galaxies other than our own, the milky way. He is also famous for his Hubble LAW, and helped establish that the universe is expanding.

The Distribution of Ink-Printed Text Versus Hypertext :: Internet Net World Wide Web Media

The Distribution of Ink-Printed Text Versus Hypertext While browsing Radiohead's website (www.radiohead.com) one particular page of hypertext caught my eye. This page displayed was what looked to me like a scanned-in copy of ink-print text, which read: How To Construct a Dadaist Poem by Tristan Tzara. I had heard of Dadaism previous to this discovery, but hadn't the slightest idea about the man who had authored these simple instructions on how to construct a dadaist poem. So with the help of my mouse and keyboard I quickly erased the Radiohead URL (Internet address) and typed in that of a search engine called Hotbot (www.hotbot.com). After arriving at the homepage for Hotbot I typed my inquiry into the empty "search" box and the search engine immediately displayed a list of related homepages and topics on Tristan Tzara. I clicked on the first result entitled "Tzara" which led me to the homepage of The International Dada Archive. In reading-over the summary and history of the Dada artistic movement of the early twentieth century I began to see that many of its distinctive characteristics are the same characteristics found at the core of Radiohead's artistic movement; both groups, the Dadaists and Radiohead had/have an affinity for assaulting cultural values through live performances, and the distributing of leaflets, magazines, and newspapers. However, Radiohead has recently replaced the older method of distributing leaflets, magazines, and newspapers with the newer method of simply posting a website on the World Wide Web. Now, if an admirer or audience member wants to read Radiohead's poetry or view their latest artwork they only have to type Radiohead's URL (www.radiohead.com) into any browser and instantly it is delivered to the screen of their personal computer. The Dadaists and Radiohead both had/have an affinity for assaulting cultural values or in other words presenting their audience members with present-day cultural values in a way that made/makes those cultural values appear mundane. The Dadaists attacked cultural values through different types of live performances. "The real spirit of Dada was in events: cabaret performances, demonstrations, declarations, confrontations, the distribution of leaflets and of small magazines and newspapers... and actions which today we would call guerrilla theater." The Dadaists used a combination of live performance and the passing-out of ink-printed text on leaflets, magazines and newspapers to accomplish what they termed "...undermining and exposing what they saw as the stale cultural conventions of a decayed European Civilization..." (Shipe, International Dada Archive IDA).

The World of Telecommunications Essay -- Telecommunications Technology

The World of Telecommunications We are in the midst of a global information revolution driven by the convergence and proliferation of information and communication technologies. The telecommunications sector is changing at warp speed, driven by technological innovation that results in new equipment and services, and also by new entrants and alliances between companies with experience in a wide range of information industries from telecommunications to broadcasting to computer hardware and software to publishing. Three major trends are driving these changes: the rapid introduction of new technologies and services;the restructuring of the telecommunications sector; and globalization of economies and of communications. Together these developments are not only changing the world of telecommunications, but the ways people work, learn, and interact. The Death of Distance"The death of distance as a determinant of the cost of communications will probably be the single most important economic force shaping society in the fi rst half of the next century." The death of distance could have profound implications for both individuals and organizations. The ability to work "anytime, anywhere" allows "road warriors" to work without offices on planes, in hotels, and at client sites, and enables information workers to telecommute from their homes rather than traveling to work. This flexibility can be two-edged for individuals, who can work wherever they choose but may never escape the "virtual workplace." Organizations may reduce their overhead costs and improve their productivity, but they must also learn how to manage their decentralized work force. One major technological trend is the extension of "information superhighways" in the form of broadband networks; another is the increasing ubiquity of communications using wireless technologies (that will, however, initially provide access to squirts rather than floods of information). Personal communications networks using microcellular technology will allow people in urban areas not only to talk on pocket-sized telephones, but to transmit and receive data using wireless modems. In rural and developing areas, these services may be available from low earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite systems. On an international level, the death of distance has profound implications for the globalization of industries and nation al economies. ... ...munities, Growth, Competitiveness, Employment: The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century, (White Paper). Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, Europe and the Global Information Society, Brussels: European Commission, 1994. Industry Canada, The Canadian Information Highway, Ottawa: Industry Canada, April 1994. Information Highway Advisory Council, Canada's Information Highway: Providing New Dimensions for Learning, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, Ottawa: Industry Canada, November 1994. Industry Canada, 1994. The G-7 is an association of seven major industrialized world powers: Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States . Commission of the European Communities, 1994. Hudson, Heather E., Global Connections: International Telecommunications Infrastructure and Policy, New York: Wiley, 1997, pp. 279-80. Cane, Alan, "Transforming the Way We Live and Work," "International Telecommunications: Financial Times Survey," Financial Times, October 3, 1995, pp. 1-2. Gregston, Brent, "Power and Privilege," Internet World, November 1995, p. 96. Schwankert, Steven, "Dragons at the Gates, " Internet World, November 1995, p.112.

Hospital Organization

Hospitals continue to be the largest segment of the health care industry, measured by economic volume and delivery of a wide range of professional services. HEALTH CARE SERVICES The different segments of the health care delivery system provide various combinations of services. The specific combination offered depends on a variety factors that prevail in a location, including state and local licensing laws, reimbursement structures, availability of medical personnel and facilities, and the demographic details (such as age and industrial distribution) of the potential patient population.The unique aspect of the health care industry from an audit perspective is the health care delivery system – the revenue cycle. The other cycles are essentially similar to those in manufacturing or selling enterprises. Services are generally described by a six-level classification. Those levels indicate, but do not strictly define, the type of organization, the level of medical treatment involved , or the severity of, or prognosis for, the medical situation. The levels are: †¢Preventive – Health education and prevention programs provided by business and other organizations, such as schools and family planning clinics. Primary – Early detection and routine treatment of health problems, such as are often provided by physicians’ offices, industrial and school health units, and hospital outpatient and emergency departments.†¢Secondary – Acute care services, typically provided by medical personnel, through hospitals, using elaborate diagnostic and treatment procedures. †¢Tertiary – Highly technical services, such as for psychiatric and chronic diseases, provided through specialty facilities and teaching hospitals. †¢Restorative – Rehabilitative and follow-up acre, typically provided by home health agencies, nursing homes, and halfway houses. Continuing – Long-term, chronic care, typically provided by geriatric d ay care centers and nursing homes. The growing economic magnitude of the health care system has led to increased regulatory activities focusing on health care. This increase in regulation interacts with a growing demand for more health care and for increasingly technical and complex methods of providing it. The largest and most evident regulatory activity involves reimbursement by state governments. Other regulatory activities are concerned in varying degrees with the availability and quality of health care.There are continued initiatives by state government to link such regulations to reimbursement in order to enforce compliance. The presence of multiple regulatory systems influences the demand for and the nature of professional accounting services required by health care institutions. Those systems often emphasize reporting requirements, and health care institutions tend to view compliance reporting as a major use of accounting data. Auditing services in particular are affected be cause the regulatory agencies rely heavily on the attest activities of the health care institution’s independent accountant.STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION Patient care is the essential function of a hospital. Other vital roles include medical education and research. Recently, many larger general hospitals have become total community health centers, providing a wide range of outpatient services in addition to traditional impatient care. One characteristic of the growth of the health center concept is the emergence of such diverse related organizations as real estate holding companies and medical management companies.These organizations are a response to changes in the reimbursement, regulatory, tax and financial environment facing hospital management. Such nontraditional organizational structures and patterns of activity are needed to provide adequate financial resources to support the delivery of health care by hospitals. Some observers see these changes as leading to major multi hospital systems, so that in the future a few major health entities may control the majority of the hospital beds in the country. Hospitals may be classified by type of ownership and mode of operation, as follows: Government – Hospitals operated by governmental agencies and providing specialized services to specific groups and their dependents, such as the military, veterans, government employees, the indigent and the mentally ill. †¢Investor-owned (proprietary) – Hospitals owned by individual proprietors or groups of proprietors or by the public through stock ownership. The objective of such hospitals is to operate for profit. †¢Voluntary nonprofit – Hospitals operated under the sponsorship of a community, religious denomination, or other nonprofit entity.This is the largest category (in number of hospitals), comprising two major types: teaching hospitals and community hospitals. a. Teaching hospitals – Generally university-related hospitals, t heir health care service activities combine education, research and a broad range of sophisticated patient services. Large community hospitals affiliated with medical schools and offering intern and resident programs are also considered teaching hospitals. b. Community hospitals – Hospitals that traditionally are established to serve a specific area, such as a city, town, or county, and usually offer more limited services than teaching hospitals do.Hospitals may also be categorized by the type of care provided, as short-term (acute), general, long-term general, psychiatric, and other special care. The mode of a hospital’s operation and type of care occur in various combinations, such as government psychiatric or short-term pediatric. THIRD-PARTY REIMBURSEMENT OR PAYMENT A major difference between health care entities and commercial enterprises is that the recipient of health care services – the patient – in most cases does not pay directly for the service s. Instead, payment is made by some other organization.The payment is often referred to as a â€Å"third party†. Typically, a hospital’s most significant patient revenue sources are its reimbursement contracts with third parties. In each case, there is an identifiable group of patients whose health care services are paid for, in whole or in part, by the third party. The amount of the reimbursement, as well as the eligible class of patients and other administrative matters, is covered by regulations or contracts. The major third parties are governmental agencies. Of these, the state government is the largest.Medicard is state-administered third-party reimbursement program designed to underwrite hospital costs of the medically indigent and those eligible for certain types of public welfare. Medicare is a third-party reimbursement program administered by the Health Care Financing Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services. State governments have long be en involved in reimbursement for health care services, and their involvement has increased through participation in the Medicard Program. Recently, the continued growth of third-party expenditures for reimbursement has fostered a number of state-based cost control programs.Of increasing importance are a wide variety of controls at the state level, usually referred to by terms such as state rate control. The state government has been quite active in encouraging or supporting such programs. The impact of governmental and commercial third parties on hospital is affected by when the reimbursement or payment is determined and the basis of the reimbursement or payment. Third-party reimbursement systems are either retrospective or prospective. Retrospective refers to third-party reimbursement systems that determine the amount to be paid after the services have been performed.In prospective payment systems, the amount is determined before the services have been performed. Reimbursements or payments are usually based on either the costs (to the hospital) of services performed for eligible patients or the amounts charged by the hospital for such services. The regulations or contracts of the third party contain specific provisions designed to ensure that only certain costs or charges enter into the determination of the reimbursement or payment. There are also provisions to ensure that reimbursement or payment is made only for services to eligible patients.Third-party payers can be expected to continue to refine their approach as the volume of payments increases. The difference between the hospitals established rates for services rendered and the amounts received or receivable from third-party payers known as a contractual allowance and is shown as a deduction from gross patient revenues on the statement of revenues and expenses. PAYMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS Under many retrospective reimbursement and prospective payment contracts, the hospital is paid throughout the year on a n interim basis.The payment is based on estimates of costs expected to be incurred during the year in serving patients. At the end of the fiscal year, a reimbursement report is filed with each third party, and any difference between the final cost settlements, by providing an independent basis for third-party reliance on the hospital’s accounting records. Reimbursement reports typically include cost-finding calculations that segregate direct costs by cost centers and allocate overhead costs from indirect or nonrevenue-producing centers to revenue-producing centers, using one of several allocation methods.Departments that provide direct patient services such as nursing, laboratory, and radiology are examples of revenue-producing centers, while support or overhead units such as laundry, dietary, and administrative services are typical nonrevenue-producing cost centers. This allocation produces an operating cost for each revenue-producing center, consisting of its direct costs p lus its share of indirect costs. After all costs have been assigned to revenue-producing centers, they are apportioned to the various third-party payers. STATISTICSDepartmental activity or usage statistics are employed in most cost-finding methods used to allocate overhead costs to revenue-producing centers. Some statistics, such as square feet of space, may remain unchanged from prior years. The auditor should, however, inquire whether changes have occurred. Simple observation is helpful; a new wing, department, or floor plan means that statistics must be updated. Certain statistical information is generated by the various transaction cycles. Examples of statistics that are generated in the buying cycle are: Payroll pesos – Used to allocate employee benefits, health and welfare costs, and other compensation costs. †¢Hours worked – Used to allocate nursing administration costs and sometimes employee cafeteria costs. †¢Full-time equivalent employees (FTE) â₠¬â€œ Sometimes used to allocate employee cafeteria costs. Other statistics utilized in cost-finding and third-party reimbursement are generated by departmental activity studies and surveys. Examples of such statistics are pounds of laundry, housekeeping hours of service, social service hours, and cost of drugs and medical and surgical supplies issued to nursing stations.Medicare regulations require a study of at least four 2-week periods annually. FUND ACCOUNTING The audit guide prescribes the use of fund accounting for the external financial statements of nongovernment, not-for-profit hospitals. Fund accounting entails the maintenance of separate or group accounts for hospital resources according to the spending objectives set by donors, other outside sources, or the board of trustees. (Investor-owned hospitals are regarded as business enterprises and report as such. ) Two broad classes of funds are used: †¢Unrestricted funds, which encompass assets other than those that are r estricted, as defined below.Many authorities believe that this class of funds should be referred to as general and that the term unrestricted is misleading, since restrictions other than those imposed by donors or grantors may be placed on assets of these funds. A reserve account maintained under a bond indenture provision is an example of an asset that is included in unrestricted funds but is restricted as to use. †¢Restricted funds, which encompass assets that are subject to restrictions imposed by specified external parties, that is, donors or grantors. Examples are plant replacement and endowment funds. AUDIT STRATEGY AND RISK ASSESSMENTIn many ways, the accounting systems and controls that operate in health care institutions are the same as those in any other industry. Because of regulation by governmental agencies and consumer group pressures, however audit concerns for hospital client is expanded considerably. Those concerns, fee pressures because of the nonprofit nature of many institutions, and competition among firms all create a need for this audit analysis to streamline audit procedures and improve audit efficiency as much as possible. In developing an audit strategy for a hospital engagement, the auditor had a thorough understanding of the patient mix.The geographic location of the hospital, the range of service it provides, and state regulations influence the age, financial status, and insurance coverage of the patient population. In particular, the audit strategy will vary depending on whether the services are rendered on a charge-paying or cost-reimbursement basis. If most of the hospital’s services will be paid on a cost-reimbursement basis; the propriety of costs incurred is a primary concern of the auditor. The accuracy of departmental revenue classification is also important in the cost apportionment process.The payment is made either directly by the patient or by third parties based on actual charges billed; auditing statistica l data and departmental cost classification is deemphasized since those data do not affect revenue. In planning hospital audit, it is important to have an understanding of the hospital’s current financial position and financial trends. Analyzing financial ratios may lead to a fuller understanding of the hospital’s operations and problems than could be obtained from reviewing raw data. It is also helpful to compare the hospital’s operations and financial position with those of the other institutions.Inherent risk in considerations in the health care industry revolves around the third-party reimbursement structure. A key concern is billing procedures, which are complicated by the very significant involvement of third parties. TYPICAL TRANSACTIONS, INTERNAL CONTROLS, AND AUDIT TESTS PATIENT REVENUE CYCLE The major source of revenues in a hospital is services provided to patients. Revenue was recorded, at hospital’s established rate, on the accrual basis at t he time services are performed. Patient service revenues are recorded separately by source (laboratory revenues) and by patient type (inpatient or outpatient).Additionally, the source of payment of each patient is essential information that was captured by the accounting system. Hospitals generally billed inpatients after completion of a patient’s stay in the hospital. The actual amount received by the hospital may vary depending on contractual arrangements between the hospital and the patient or a third-party payer. Services rendered to private-paying patients are billed at the established rates, except that courtesy allowances may be granted to doctors, employees, or members of religious orders and charity allowances may be granted as determined by patient needs and hospital policy.To understand the hospital’s patient revenue cycle, the auditor should become familiar with the various functions and departments that may serve patients and should also understand how tho se functions and departments relate to accounting for patient revenue. SUBSTANTIVE TESTS OF ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Hospital receivables have several characteristics not normally found in receivables of commercial organizations. First, full-rate charges to patients for services received may be settled for an amount less than the full rate because of contractual arrangements with third-party payers courtesy, charity, or other policy discounts.In addition, large amounts of receivables are paid by third-parties, and payment may be made by a single payer or combination of payers (e. g. , commercial insurance, Medicare, Medicard, workers’ compensation and the patient. ) Since a patient may have more than one insurer, it is possible for duplicate payments to be made on the patient’s account. This results in credit balances in accounts receivable, which are characteristic of hospitals with aggressive billing procedures.The auditor should review the components of these credit bala nces, and if they are significant, consider reclassifying them. Since the hospital must refund duplicate payments, the auditor should review controls over issuance and use of refund checks to determine that they are for valid credit balances and that they are payable to the proper payee. In most hospitals, accounts receivable are classified according to the patient’s billing status, generally using the following categories: †¢Inpatient:Admitted but not discharged (commonly referred to as â€Å"in-house patients†) Discharged but not billed (accounts awaiting final or â€Å"late† charges, or unbilled as a result of a backlog in billing procedures – which might indicate a control weakness) Discharged and billed †¢Outpatient: Unbilled Billed These categories of inpatients and outpatients may be expanded further to indicate private-paying status or third-party responsibility for payment. The existence and accuracy of accounts receivable are normally tested by reviewing subsequent cash receipts.The validity of admitted-but-not discharged patient receivables can be tested by comparing accounts with the daily census report or by relying on compliance tests of admitting function. Confirming balances with patients may be difficult, and the auditor should consider confirming other items, such as number of days spent in the hospital, types of insurance coverage, or, at least, the policy number and insurance company. This information confirms that the patient was in the hospital. Negative confirmations generally produce adequate results for the â€Å"self-pay† or patient portion of the bill.Typical responses for the third-party portion state that the patient believes the bill will be paid by the insurance company or that the patient is unable to confirm because of insufficient information. NONPATIENT REVENUES Revenues from sources other than patient charges consist of interest on invested funds, unrestricted gifts and grants, tr ansfers from restricted funds, and expenditures of restricted fund assets for the benefit of unrestricted (general) funds. Audit steps for material nonpatient revenues should include, but not limited to: †¢Confirming investment activity with banks or an external trustee. Reviewing date and documents underlying gifts, grants, and bequests, such as board minutes, correspondence, and acknowledgement receipts. †¢Reviewing research or grant documentation. †¢Confirming pledges (or otherwise obtaining satisfaction as to their existence) and evaluating their collectability. BUYING CYCLE Payroll. Hospital employees may be classified as professional and nonprofessional. Examples of professional staff are registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses. Nonprofessional employees include orderlies, housekeeping and maintenance personnel, and kitchen staff.Control over both professional and nonprofessional time is critical since salary costs constitute a significant portion of ho spital costs. Generally, the same payroll audit procedures used in other organizations of comparable size also apply to hospitals. Compliance testing of total payroll costs should include tests of controls over classification of costs by department, which is important for purposes of reimbursement and also for cost reporting. Misclassification of a reimbursable cost to a no reimbursable cost center could result in failure to receive reimbursement for that cost.The auditor typically reviews the appropriateness of the account distribution and traces amounts to the payroll register or distribution summaries. Those registers or summaries are tested for mathematical accuracy and then agreed to the appropriate general ledger accounts. Other Expenses. Hospital expenses are typically classified by departmental function (such as nursing services and laboratory services). Proper classification of costs by department is important for financial statement purposes as well as cost reporting and r eimbursement.The auditor should test the propriety of the general ledger account distribution by reference to purchasing documentation. Fixed Assets. Controls over the acquisition of property, plant, and equipment by a hospital should be the same for a commercial enterprise. Some hospital departments own and use expensive, highly specialized equipment, such as nuclear magnetic resonance devices. Department heads should, of course, but that involved in capital budgeting and purchasing decisions, but that involvement should not extend to overriding controls that have been instituted for purchases generally.

The Changing Meaning of School

The Changing Meaning of School The Changing Meaning of School The Changing Meaning of School By Maeve Maddox Since Shakespeare’s time at least, children have been portrayed as being reluctant to go to school: the whining school-boy with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school.  - As You Like It, II:vii,148-150. That’s a sad fate for school, a word that originated in the context of enjoyable leisure time. Our word school comes from Latin schola, â€Å"learned leisure.† Schola was free time during which educated men could sit around and talk about ideas. The talk might lead to lecturing and arguing, so from meaning â€Å"free time for talking about ideas,† schola came to mean debate, dispute, lecture, dissertation. More and more definitions were added. A schola could be â€Å"a place where learned disputations are carried on.† Then, the followers of a favorite lecturer or philosopher were called â€Å"a schola.† Note: School in the expression â€Å"a school of fish† derives from Middle Dutch schole, â€Å"flock of animals.† In modern English, school has numerous meanings and occurs in several idioms. School can mean any of the following: An establishment or institution for the formal education of children or young people. The building or set of buildings used by a school. A place, environment, experience, etc., which forms or develops a persons character or behavior. A group of people who follow or are influenced by the teaching of a particular person, or who share similar principles, ideas, or methods. A group of people who share a particular opinion, practice, or custom. A particular type of doctrine or practice as followed by a group of people. An institution in which instruction of a particular kind is given. A department in a college or university. Here are a few examples of these different uses: A painting of Mary Stuart by an unknown artist of the School of Clouet hangs at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Spenser  earned his degree  in the  school of hard knocks, so he is ready when a Boston university hires him to recover a rare, stolen manuscript. You have to understand,  hes definitely old school when it comes to  understanding different cultures. This is a discussion of Marxism-Leninism as a  school of thought as opposed to a political practice. The Colorado School of Mines Board of Trustees announced that  Paul C. Johnson  is the finalist for president of Colorado School of Mines. The Missouri  School of Journalism at  University of Missouri in Columbia is a journalism school which may be the oldest formal journalism school in the world. 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 Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of RhymeProved vs. ProvenInspiring vs. Inspirational

Free Essays on Dining Etiquette

Table manners play an important part in making a favorable impression. They are visible signals of the state of our manners and therefore are essential to professional success. Regardless of whether we are having lunch with a prospective employer or dinner with a business associate, our manners can speak volumes about us as professionals. Napkin Use The meal begins when the host unfolds his or her napkin. This is your signal to do the same. Place your napkin on your lap, completely unfolded if it is a small luncheon napkin or in half, lengthwise, if it is a large dinner napkin. Typically, you want to put your napkin on your lap soon after sitting down at the table (but follow your host's lead). The napkin remains on your lap throughout the entire meal and should be used to gently blot your mouth when needed. If you need to leave the table during the meal, place your napkin on your chair as a signal to your server that you will be returning. The host will signal the end of the meal by placing his or her napkin on the table. Once the meal is over, you too should place your napkin neatly on the table to the right of your dinner plate. (Do not refold your napkin, but don't wad it up, either.) Ordering If, after looking over the menu, there are items you are uncertain about, ask your server any questions you may have. Answering your questions is part of the server's job. It is better to find out before you order that a dish is prepared with something you do not like or are allergic to than to spend the entire meal picking tentatively at your food. An employer will generally suggest that your order be taken first; his or her order will be taken last. Sometimes, however, the server will decide how the ordering will proceed. Often, women's orders are taken before men's. As a guest, you should not order one of the most expensive items on the menu or more than two courses unless your host indicates that it is all right. If the... Free Essays on Dining Etiquette Free Essays on Dining Etiquette Table manners play an important part in making a favorable impression. They are visible signals of the state of our manners and therefore are essential to professional success. Regardless of whether we are having lunch with a prospective employer or dinner with a business associate, our manners can speak volumes about us as professionals. Napkin Use The meal begins when the host unfolds his or her napkin. This is your signal to do the same. Place your napkin on your lap, completely unfolded if it is a small luncheon napkin or in half, lengthwise, if it is a large dinner napkin. Typically, you want to put your napkin on your lap soon after sitting down at the table (but follow your host's lead). The napkin remains on your lap throughout the entire meal and should be used to gently blot your mouth when needed. If you need to leave the table during the meal, place your napkin on your chair as a signal to your server that you will be returning. The host will signal the end of the meal by placing his or her napkin on the table. Once the meal is over, you too should place your napkin neatly on the table to the right of your dinner plate. (Do not refold your napkin, but don't wad it up, either.) Ordering If, after looking over the menu, there are items you are uncertain about, ask your server any questions you may have. Answering your questions is part of the server's job. It is better to find out before you order that a dish is prepared with something you do not like or are allergic to than to spend the entire meal picking tentatively at your food. An employer will generally suggest that your order be taken first; his or her order will be taken last. Sometimes, however, the server will decide how the ordering will proceed. Often, women's orders are taken before men's. As a guest, you should not order one of the most expensive items on the menu or more than two courses unless your host indicates that it is all right. If the...

Free Essays on Impression As A Facade

AN IMPRESSION AS A FAÇADE In the poem â€Å"Richard Cory† by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the tragic irony of Richard Cory’s life which was sought after with empty desire by everyone is revealed when he takes his own life and quickly becomes nothing for everyone to see. This poem leaves much to the imagination as it also leaves much room for interpretation. This poem shows that people who â€Å"have nothing compared to a rich man† actually have more than they think. The poem opens with a speaker who exclaims, Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored and imperially slim. (Robinson 640) These lines describe Richard Cory’s physical appearance. Cory is a man who is noticed when he walks down the street because of the nice clothes he wears and his clean-cut look. People even in this day and age see things like this just walking down the street. We see â€Å"bums† sitting on the side of the street and we can’t help but think that the â€Å"bum† must wish that he or she were in our shoes (sometimes literally). In the second verse of the poem, we find the lines, â€Å"And he was always quietly arrayed,/And he was always human when he talked† (Robinson 640). These lines describe Cory as a man who has everything together. He is described as a man who knows what to say at the right time. He knows what people should hear from him so that they will think even more highly of him. Unfortunately, many of us know people like this. Sometimes we can see through the faà §ade, but most of the time the problems are so well masked that we just assume that everything is all right. I’m not sure if money is the root of all evil, but I am sure that it does cause a whole lot of problems and headaches for people. Richard Cory’s unquestionable wealth is shown to us in line 9 which states, â€Å"And he was rich-yes, richer than a king† (Robinson 6... Free Essays on Impression As A Facade Free Essays on Impression As A Facade AN IMPRESSION AS A FAÇADE In the poem â€Å"Richard Cory† by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the tragic irony of Richard Cory’s life which was sought after with empty desire by everyone is revealed when he takes his own life and quickly becomes nothing for everyone to see. This poem leaves much to the imagination as it also leaves much room for interpretation. This poem shows that people who â€Å"have nothing compared to a rich man† actually have more than they think. The poem opens with a speaker who exclaims, Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored and imperially slim. (Robinson 640) These lines describe Richard Cory’s physical appearance. Cory is a man who is noticed when he walks down the street because of the nice clothes he wears and his clean-cut look. People even in this day and age see things like this just walking down the street. We see â€Å"bums† sitting on the side of the street and we can’t help but think that the â€Å"bum† must wish that he or she were in our shoes (sometimes literally). In the second verse of the poem, we find the lines, â€Å"And he was always quietly arrayed,/And he was always human when he talked† (Robinson 640). These lines describe Cory as a man who has everything together. He is described as a man who knows what to say at the right time. He knows what people should hear from him so that they will think even more highly of him. Unfortunately, many of us know people like this. Sometimes we can see through the faà §ade, but most of the time the problems are so well masked that we just assume that everything is all right. I’m not sure if money is the root of all evil, but I am sure that it does cause a whole lot of problems and headaches for people. Richard Cory’s unquestionable wealth is shown to us in line 9 which states, â€Å"And he was rich-yes, richer than a king† (Robinson 6...

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and International Essay

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and International Trade Law - Essay Example The main objective of the treaty is to conserve and sustainably use plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. In addition, there must be fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that arise in the use of plant genetic resources (Curci 3). Achieving the main objectives of the treaty has several implications on the intellectual property rights. In addition, the treaty has several implications on the conservation of genetic resources. The general regime on access to genetic resources and benefits sharing are some of the provisions in the treaty that are relevant to the intellectual property rights. In the treaty, bilateral negotiations were made between genetic provider countries and other user countries. According to Biber-Klemn and Cottier (217), the main elements of the treaty include: the affirmation of the sovereign rights of the provider states over their genetic resources; the creation of environmentally friendly genetic resources that can bring benefits to user countries; and the access to a country’s genetic resources by other nations being subject to Prior Informed Consent (PIC). The access to and the transfer of genetic resources technology in the treaty states that countries engaging in the contract must cooperate subject to national legislation and international law (Lewinski 69). This is to ensure that such intellectual property rights are supportive and do not go against the established objectives of the treaty, according to Lewinski. The rights of farmers are also included in the treaty, particularly Article 9 of the treaty. Article 9 recognizes the contribution of local traditional communities and farmers to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources for the purpose of food and agriculture production. In addition, the article places the responsibility for the realization of the rights of farmers by the national governments. The contracting parties should ensure that there is protection and promotion of

Analytical Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analytical Report - Assignment Example Even though it looks like an external problem, it has a significant impact within the company’s actual market performance. From the business definition, it is true that this may act as stepping stone for the company to maintain effective operations. Market research refers to the process of appreciating the ability of a given product to satisfy the needs of the customers through obtaining information related to it. Research and investigation works through accessing the emerging trends in the market, demographic structure and the buying habits exhibited by the customers. All these three aspects have made market research a suitable tool towards increasing the market share and potential coverage. The four major ways in which the company would feel the significance of the tool include: enabling effective communication, identifying and understanding opportunities, pinpointing problems that are characteristics of operations and acting as a benchmark for evaluating success (Mazzoni et al, 2007). The following is a chart showing the cycle for carrying out a market research The market research will allow the company to identify existing opportunities in the market towards establishing an empire of loyal customers. As stated in the case, the company exhibits inability to compete in the market because of the inability to adapt to the existing technological advances embraced by its competitors (Wei, 2008). The most perfect way to solving this would require the company to gather information about the market niche. The market niche information, obtained through market research and investigation will help in orienting the company to use other alternative ways for increasing market share and coverage. For instance, through market research, the company may realize that there is existing empty space such as the inability of the competitors to

Advantages and disadvantages of alternative dispute resolution over Assignment

Advantages and disadvantages of alternative dispute resolution over litigation in international business - Assignment Example According to the American Bar Association, ADR is an â€Å"an array of non-binding and binding dispute resolution methods that entail the application of third-party neutrals to help the parties in contract controversies through a systematic settlement process† (ABA, 1999).2 Similarly the United States Code in section 571 explains that ADR comprises of the following aspects, conciliation, facilitation, mediation, fact-finding, mini-trials, arbitration and ombudsmen, the above aspects can be combined in ADR. As noted by Shamir ADR is applied in different civil law policy situations, and not just in global Institutionalized in a lot of court systems and justice systems around the world.3 Though ADR is accepted by globally, it has some disadvantages, thus this paper aims at examining the advantages of ADR over litigation. For clarity of the issue, the paper will begin by giving an overview of the concept of ADR. Use and Cost of litigation According to Nolan-Haley litigation has be en mostly used as a traditional way of resolving disputes, whether they are local or international business transactions.4 Prior to the introduction and development of ADR process such as arbitration, the only formal method or resolving disputes between two or more parties was litigation. In the same way equity was introduced in the English legal justice system which came in stages to control the ruthlessness and inflexibility of the common law, is the way ADR was introduced to control litigation. Litigation is a costly process for businesses, particularly in cases that involve significant issues such as patent, infringement, breach of important business contracts, antitrust laws and securities. In these cases, a lot of money could be lost by a company. For example Real Networks Inc, a public traded company in its 2004 annual press report indicated that it has used about 15,000,000 in only one antitrust litigation case.5 This goes on to show how costly litigation is, and this aspect of court cases is well known to companies. It is because of such cases that ADR methods have become more popular as a way of resolving disputes. Indeed, records from the American Arbitration Association indicated that in 2005 alone, the number of cases forward to the body was 142,000, an increase from 159,000 recorded in 2004. However, the most common ADR method used to resolve disputes is arbitration, which in the past ten years has been highly used by various companies in resolving their disputes. Shamir explains that, the high costs of litigations are caused by the long duration related with litigation. In many cases, litigation goes on for years before a conclusion is made.6 This occurs owing to the slow system of the courts and judges in completing cases and the many adjournments made. Therefore as the cases drags on, the costs also keeps increasing. In other cases, the net expenses of litigation can be impacted by other factors like the sum of money under dispute, the nature of the legal representative , the nature of the dispute (if its local or international) and the length of case. This means that the total cost of the litigation can not be predicated correctly and this makes budgeting for such a litigation to be a tough call. A good example is a case that involved AMOCO CATs7, which ended up as a high profile case. The amount of money spend on that case from the time the case started to the end of the case was 12 million pounds. Again, in another case of Amoco V. British American Offshore, the legal expenses of that case stood

Forensic Science 5.1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Forensic Science 5.1 - Essay Example Carbon strip involves the use of an activated carbon strip to absorb the vapors from debris and then mixed with a solvent for analysis. Solvent wash is used when the debris cannot be easily vaporized due to high boiling point. Subsequently after sample preparation gas chromatography is used to separate the chemicals for identification and assessment (Gaensslen, 2008). 2. There are two main objectives of investigating a fire scene: (1) to identify the cause of fire and (2) its origin. Since fires burn upwards, the burn patterns are important in trying to understand the direction or fire and how it possibly started. Then points of origin are looked for to analyze the origins of fire. 3. Whenever an explosive detonates, it causes much more damage than the usual fire. Explosions are characterized by a special kind of combustion that occurs more quickly and is capable of giving off large amounts of heat quite quickly. Hence, the intensity of an explosion is great. Igniters, primers, or detonators are used along with main charge that causes a lot of damage when they explode. 4. Chromatography is common separation and analysis technique common to both in investigating an explosive or fire debris. Infrared spectrography is more common for analyzing explosives in addition to gas chromatography. However, the nature of an explosion differs greatly from a normal fire. 5. Examination of an unexploded device is different because unlike having debris or other physical evidence, unexploded devices have to rendered safe, examined for all the components, and identified in terms of their chemical make-up. However, exploded devices involve microscopic investigation and gas chromatography. 11. Trace evidences are small-sized physical evidences that are used to make connections between criminal and/or victim. Transfer materials on the other hand are those that are found on objects as a result of being transferred because of contact (Gaensslen, 2008). 14. A control sample

Freedom of Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Freedom of Speech - Essay Example A very popular case of a Christian student of a public school, wearing a tee-shirt proclaiming ‘Homosexuality is shameful’ was found offensive by the school and illegal constitutionally by the federal court. The main reason cited by the judges was that it offended the sensibilities of the minority, in this case, that of sexual orientation and that ‘it interfered in their learning’. The reaffirmation of the illegality of the student’s case raised many pertinent cases and the main point of the case remained wide scope of free speech. Does declaring one’s point of mind or personal preferences should really be constituted as illegal and if that is so, what is the relevance of freedom of speech as awarded by the 1st amendment of the constitution? In the present time, freedom of speech is being taken as a fashion statement. While exerting their right of expression by words or deeds, people must ensure that their personal freedom does not impinge on somebody else’s rights and in any way violate their sense of self-esteem, religiosity or as stated sexual orientation. Freedom of speech is universally accepted as a right for free expression so long as it is confined to themselves and nonoffensive for others. It is equally true that people have been exercising this right for a long time for peaceful purposes through various means like media, public speeches, and debates etc. The controversial issues, being discussed publicly and hotly debated at public platforms, have produced some highly relevant results, favored by masses. Controversy, at times, becomes necessary for the dissemination of information which is so necessary for the resolution of disputed issues and controversial topics.

Forensic Science 5.1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Forensic Science 5.1 - Essay Example Carbon strip involves the use of an activated carbon strip to absorb the vapors from debris and then mixed with a solvent for analysis. Solvent wash is used when the debris cannot be easily vaporized due to high boiling point. Subsequently after sample preparation gas chromatography is used to separate the chemicals for identification and assessment (Gaensslen, 2008). 2. There are two main objectives of investigating a fire scene: (1) to identify the cause of fire and (2) its origin. Since fires burn upwards, the burn patterns are important in trying to understand the direction or fire and how it possibly started. Then points of origin are looked for to analyze the origins of fire. 3. Whenever an explosive detonates, it causes much more damage than the usual fire. Explosions are characterized by a special kind of combustion that occurs more quickly and is capable of giving off large amounts of heat quite quickly. Hence, the intensity of an explosion is great. Igniters, primers, or detonators are used along with main charge that causes a lot of damage when they explode. 4. Chromatography is common separation and analysis technique common to both in investigating an explosive or fire debris. Infrared spectrography is more common for analyzing explosives in addition to gas chromatography. However, the nature of an explosion differs greatly from a normal fire. 5. Examination of an unexploded device is different because unlike having debris or other physical evidence, unexploded devices have to rendered safe, examined for all the components, and identified in terms of their chemical make-up. However, exploded devices involve microscopic investigation and gas chromatography. 11. Trace evidences are small-sized physical evidences that are used to make connections between criminal and/or victim. Transfer materials on the other hand are those that are found on objects as a result of being transferred because of contact (Gaensslen, 2008). 14. A control sample

Advertisment procedure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Advertisment procedure - Essay Example Division of audience into small groups because of the increasing number of media outlets is called audience fragmentation. The increasing number of television channels, internet related ad technologies, digital signage etc have opened new opportunities for the advertising people and it is difficult for them to attract a wide range of people towards their ads because of the audience fragmentation. Most of the television like medias depends on their ad revenues and in order to get a substantial revenue from ads they need to attract as much as audiences or viewers as possible. Audience fragmentation is a major threat for such television like medias. Business media consolidation is a term used to refer the phenomenon of majority of the media outlets being owned by a small number of corporations. For example, Keith Rupert Murdoch has almost monopolized world of entertainments by introducing variety of print and television medias like, New York Post, The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, American satellite TV systems, Star networks, Fox networks, etc. In order to conquer the internet, he started the social networking website like myspace.com. Such media consolidation is a big threat to the advertising world since, these corporate which controls majority of the media will try to execute their missions and visions through these media in order to safeguard their interests. The Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations aim to ensure that credit advertisements give a clear and balanced view of the nature and costs of the credit on offer. The Regulations extend to all forms of advertising, including in print (for example, newspapers, circular letters, flyers, catalogues or billboards), on television or radio, on the internet, on teletext or by way of telephone canvassing (Credit advertising).

How to Succeed in College Essay Example for Free

How to Succeed in College Essay For most, the collegiate experience represents a major cornerstone in life. Attending college can provide identity, give direction and fortify the foundation of its students. Success in college means always demonstrating responsible decision making. Attendance policies and rules of participation may not appear to be significant, but they can move a student to the right or to the left in the grading scale. It is also crucial to adhere to rigid standards that command accountability. Some Professors are adamant about participation and class involvement. Academia mandates setting goals and becoming objective. You will discover that these habits, when applied, enhance the window of opportunity for success to enter. Confidence is an essential part of being a successful college student. Likewise, a student that lacks this sort of discipline, readiness and mental strength will most likely be lackadaisical and less likely to thrive in college. The first key to succeeding in college is attendance. Being present and on time ensures that pertinent knowledge is ascertained. Most of all, showing up on time for every class allows the individual to develop positive attendance habits that are just as important in the job market. These habits reflect a sense of dependability to professors and employers alike. A student simply cannot gain information from a lecture if they are not present. Nonetheless, being present is only half of the equation. The next step is class participation. Professors want to see that their students can apply what is being taught to them. This element may stimulate debate, or even trigger thorough research on something in particular. At the college level, participation and attentiveness really exercise the mind. Consequently, when students work in groups, are involved in research and share opinions they are able to hone their communication skills. Subsequently, it is critical for any college student to set goals and concise objectives for accomplishing them. Individuals with something to work toward are most likely to thrive in any c ollege or university. Goals provide the determination to fuel students through adversity; school related or not. Objectives should be well-defined. They are actually small steps indicative of levels of accomplishment and success. For college students, enormous goals are not far-fetched, nor do they seem impossible to reach when clear  objectives exist. Students who regularly set goals and objectives possess more ambition and drive than those who do not. Goal-oriented people have a more resilient work ethic due to the fact that they can see the progression of their hard work when they arrive at specific objectives. This hard work creates a sense of gratitude and individual accomplishment. Ultimately, college students must be prepared mentally and harbor a positive attitude. Self-confidence must be present if anyone is to endure the investment and sacrifice that pave the way to becoming a college graduate. A confident student is one that can evade social distractions and work through personal adversity to get to the finish line. Successful college students and college graduates are mentally poised. This frame of mind beckons the hard-working college student to accept challenges, explore new modes of learning and to appreciate their individuality. A confident mind is a mind for success. The rigors of college can, at times, seem overwhelming. With so much information to process, students are bound to enter their respective careers with a solid grasp on what they are doing. Success in college is contingent almost completely on attitude and fortitude. The college freshman will discover that the road ahead is bumpy, demanding and can be painstaking. The graduating senior will be indebted forever for the journey. The investment is precious; the success affiliated with reaching the destination is boundless.

Robert F Kennedys Rhetoric

Robert F Kennedys Rhetoric The aim of this thesis is to conduct research into a selection from Robert F. Kennedys 1968 presidential election campaign speeches, in order to outline the key features of his utterances that earned him success in inspiring masses and frightened the power structure. One of the reasons I have decided to conduct research into Robert F. Kennedys rhetoric is personal. The speech given on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. has drawn my attention to Robert Kennedys unique talent as a public speaker. The other reason is driven by the fact that there is a lack of literature directly discussing the aspects of Robert F. Kennedys rhetoric. With this work I want to demonstrate that the domain of Robert F. Kennedys rhetoric is one worthy to be explored and to suggest the topic for further research. In Chapter 3, entitled Corpus Description and Evaluation I describe the events and the target audiences of the analysed public addresses. In addition I also delineate the main linguistic aspects of the particular speeches and I explain in what terms the analysed material meets the research criteria. In Chapter 4 I describe political speech as an individual genre within the domain of political discourse. I also explain from what perspective Robert Kennedys selected addresses fall under the genre of political speech. I devote Chapter 5 to Robert Kennedys biography, character study and the historico-political background of the time for several reasons. During the analysis of the core research material I lay great emphasis on the contextual meaning (Firth 1957 in Downes 1998: 371) of Robert Kennedys utterances. Therefore I want to make the reader familiar with the context and the so called member resources (Fairclough 1989) within the discourse of Robert Kennedys selected addresses. Fairclough describes these member resources as prototypes which people have in their heads and draw upon when they produce or interpret texts including their knowledge of language, representations of the natural and social worlds they inhabit, values, beliefs, assumptions, and so on. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] they are social in the sense that they have social origins they are socially generated, and their nature is dependent on the social relations and struggles out of which they were generated [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Fairclough 1 989: 24) I regard Chapter 6 as the body of the thesis. This is the reason why its title is identical with the title of the thesis. Within this chapter I devote separate subchapters to the discourse strategies and different aspects of Robert Kennedys rhetoric. I describe the ways of addressing the target audiences, the forms of interaction between Robert Kennedy and his audiences and the methods of confrontation of the target audiences. I examine the degree of Robert Kennedys subjectivity and personal involvement in the selected addresses and I also introduce to the reader the means of persuasion applied by Robert Kennedy and his rhetorical idiosyncrasies. Chapter 6 as the most complex and most extensive unit of the thesis is intended to provide information essential for answering the research questions formulated in the following chapter. 2 Research Objectives, Hypotheses and Methodology The main objective of the analysis of Robert Kennedys selected public addresses is to point out to what degree are his discourse strategies and rhetorical devices predetermined by factors like the topics covered, the speech events and the nature of the target audiences. According to Stanley Fish there are two ways of language that have shaped the history of Western thought: on the one hand, language that faithfully reflects or reports on matters of fact uncoloured by any personal or partisan agenda or desire; and on the other hand, language that is infected by partisan agendas and desires, and therefore colours and distorts the fact which it purports to reflect. It is the use of the second kind of language that makes one a rhetorician, while adherence to the first kind makes one a seeker after truth and an objective observer of the way things are. (Fish 1989 in Richards 2008:6-7) I will analyse the discourse strategies and the rhetorical devices in Robert Kennedys selected public addresses with an additional intention to prove that in terms by Fish he is a seeker after truth and an objective observer of the way things are. During the writing process I will concentrate my effort on answering the following research questions: Are the discourse strategies and rhetorical devices predetermined by the topic rendered by the speaker? Are the discourse strategies and rhetorical devices predetermined by the speech event and the nature of the target audience? I would like to build my hypothesis on Hallidays statement that all language functions in contexts of situation and is relatable to those contexts. The question is not what peculiarities of vocabulary, or grammar or pronunciation can be directly accounted for by reference to the situation. It is which kinds of situational factor determine which kinds of selection in the linguistic system. (Halliday 2009: 94) Through my research I will attempt to prove that Robert Kennedys rhetorical devices and discourse strategies in his selected utterances are predetermined by situational factors like the topic, the speech event and the nature of the target audience. I hereby underline that I will analyse the contextual meaning (Firth 1957 in Downes 1998) of Robert Kennedys utterances in order to substantiate my theory of predetermination. From the methodological perspective, I subject the research material to a qualitative political discourse analysis. I will conduct a critical reading of the transcripts of the selected public speeches and simultaneously listen to the audio recordings of the addresses in order to outline also those aspects of Robert Kennedys utterances which cannot be exposed only through the analysis of their transcripts. These are especially the paralinguistic features, like the tone of voice, intonation, gestures etc. The audio recordings will help me to clarify ambiguous situations where the question what is said? will not allow for any adequate judgements. In order to avoid lengthy repetitions of the titles of the selected speeches I have decided to deploy an indexing method. Therefore I will further refer to the University of Kansas address as Speech A, to the Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King as Speech B and to the Cleveland City Club address as Speech C. Through the research I will refer to Robert Francis Kennedy as Robert Kennedy or RFK. The core research material has been selected according to the following research criteria: public speeches with a classical rhetorical organizational pattern public speeches delivered to target audiences of different nature addresses with various speech events addresses with various topics of moral values utterances free of partisan agendas In my work I predominantly rely on the following literature: The factual information for Robert Kennedys biography, character study and the historico-political background of the time I retrieve from Robert Kennedy and his Times (1985) written by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and from RFK: His Life and Death (1968) written by Jay Jacobs. The book RFK: Collected Speeches (1993) edited and introduced by Edwin O. Guthman and C. Richard Allen contains valuable information about the events and the context of the selected public addresses. The theoretical knowledge for the analysis of the discourse strategies and rhetorical devices in Robert F. Kennedys selected public addresses I gain from the following works: Language and Power (1989) by Norman Fairclough is an especially useful source for critical discourse analysis as it contains several demonstrations of discourse analysis in practice. I use his model for the interpretation of the utterance meaning in the analysed material from the position of the analyst. I draw on his conception of the member resources within a discourse, which justifies my decision to introduce to the reader the historico-political context of the analysed material and some biographical facts about Robert F. Kennedy. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics (1995) by Jenny Thomas provides me with the theoretical knowledge to decipher the illocutionary forces and the implicit meanings of Robert Kennedys particular utterances. Through the analysis of the selected addresses in Chapter 6 I rely on her model of interpreting illocutionary forces to understand the meaning of Robert Kennedys utterances depending on their context. Language and Society (2009) by M.A.K. Halliday (edited by Jonathan J. Webster) furnishes me with the conceptions of the field, tenor and mode of the discourse, which allows me to identify, what is linguistically important in a given utterance in relation to its context. I build my hypotheses on Hallidays theory that external factors determine the individuals selections in the linguistic system. Through the whole analysis of the selected addresses in Chapter 6 I rely on the above theory to identify to what degree are Robert Kennedys utterances predetermined from a linguistic perspective by factors, like the topic rendered, the speech events and the nature of the target audiences. 3 Corpus Description and Evaluation The analysed resource material of this thesis consists of a selection of three significant speeches of Robert F. Kennedys public addresses during his 1968 presidential campaign. Namely, in chronological order, the speech from March 18th, given at the University of Kansas, the Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King from April 4th, delivered in Indianapolis and the Remarks on the Mindless Menace of Violence in America, delivered at the Cleveland City Club on April 5th. I would like to start the corpus description with some quantitative statistics about the analysed material. The most extensive of the texts in subject is the University of Kansas address which consists of 3942 words and 17 386 characters without spaces, the second text, which is the transcript of remarks on Martin Luther Kings assassination is composed of 618 words, counting 2653 characters without spaces and the last one, the Cleveland City Club address comprises 1080 words and 4700 characters without spaces. In the following pages of this chapter I will describe the analysed texts individually. My description will predominantly focus on the context behind the public addresses, including a portrayal of the setting and the occasion. At the end of the chapter I will also explain the reasons for integrating these particular speeches into the research. The University of Kansas address (further referred to as Speech A, in abbreviated form: SA) was delivered by Robert F. Kennedy just two days after the announcement of his candidacy for the President of the United States. It was the second real public speech of his freshly started campaign. He came to Kansas with doubts about his popularity, since the state was largely rural with a conservative majority, where he, as a liberal and a critic of the military efforts in Vietnam, could not expect much affability. (Kennedy and Guthman and Allen, 1993: 323) To his and his staffs surprise, their warm reception at the campuses disproved their assumptions. With twenty thousand people present, Robert Kennedy drew the largest crowd in campus history. (Kennedy and Guthman and Allen, 1993: 327) He came to the university to talk to young people, the group of citizens his campaign program predominantly aimed at. The purpose of his speech was to express his viewpoint towards the situation within the c ountry and towards the War in Vietnam, to inform and confront his audience with the problems the country was facing and to persuade them to vote for him in the election. As usual when talking to young people he began his address with his famous self-deprecating humour to set a friendly atmosphere and create a positive relationship with the target audience before he moved on to sensitive topics. The points of his argument lined up in the following order: the polarization and violence within the country, the alarming conditions of poverty in certain areas of the country and the progress of the War in Vietnam. The way Robert Kennedy renders the above mentioned issues is descriptive, with linear organisation of the topics covered. The style of addressing his audience could be characterised as direct, confrontational and contemplative. Robert Kennedys interaction with the target audience is most noticeable in this address. This speech is argumentative and demonstrates a high degree of RFKs personal involvement as he frequently asserts his own beliefs, demands and opinion. The persuasive strategy through argument dominates the address. The Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King (further referred to as Speech B, in abbreviated form: SB) was delivered in Indianapolis in the evening of April 4th 1968. RFK was heading for Indianapolis to give a speech to a mostly black American community in the city ghetto as a part of the rally. Before boarding the plane he was told that Martin Luther King had been shot in Memphis, Tennessee. Right after their plane landed he was informed that Martin Luther King had died of the injury. The crowd had been gathering for the rally in the ghetto for one hour before Robert Kennedy arrived. They were already fired up, albeit they could not have heard any official news about the assassination. Some of them were armed and violent. Robert Kennedy was advised by the police representatives not to go there, because they would not be able to defend him if mob violence broke out. RFK decided to face the danger and talk to his audience, thus taking up the unpleasant role to be the first to inform them about the death of Martin Luther King. Robert Kennedys words were meant from his heart. He alluded to the assassination of his brother. He alleviated the tension and literally tranquilized the audience. He asked the people to seek peace in their faith as a tribute to Martin Luther Kings legacy. On this occasion RFK spoke to an audience of mostly black people from the ghetto of the city. His tone of voice was moderate. Every single word of his utterance showed empathy and his personal involvement in the issue. He used simple, but at the same time delicate language and short sentences built up from sophisticated words. He managed to draw the audiences attention to terms like love, wisdom, understanding and compassion toward one another. His purpose was to shift the attitude of the crowd, to move and inspire them. He applied persuasion through emotions and through his own character. The style of the address is lyrical and emotional, obviously determined by the tragic event. This speech was built up solely from Robert Kennedys own words. It was delivered without a written template, only from the memory of RFKs own notes. For this reason this address shows several traits of extemporaneousness. As a reaction to Martin Luther Kings assassination the whole country was in flames that night, there were violent demonstrations, riots and boycotts initiated by African-American communities for revenge. In Indianapolis there were no significant protests registered. The Cleveland City Club Address (further referred to as Speech C, in abbreviated form: SC), was delivered by Robert Kennedy in Cleveland, Ohio on 5th April 1968. After the Indianapolis speech on Kings assassination, RFK cancelled his oncoming campaign appearances. (Kennedy and Guthman and Allen 1993: 358) However he was persuaded by some African-American community leaders to keep his address, scheduled for the next day at the Cleveland City Club and to make it a plea for ending the violence. (Kennedy and Guthman and Allen 1993: 358) RFK addressed his speech to a crowd of mostly white executives at the City Club. As usual, he conveyed his message in a moderate, soft tone of voice. The primary purpose of the speech was to express his concern about the violence in the country and to put the reasons for this growing violence in the country into focus. The overall organisation of the topics is associative. The content of the speech is confrontational and contemplative. The beginning and closing paragraphs are built up from merely simple sentences, while the core of the address consists of complex philosophical units. The style of RFKs utterance is emotive for he attempted to persuade the target audience through emotions and through his own reasoning. This is the most lyrical address of the given selection with numerous examples of figurative language. My decision to include in the research exactly these three public speeches of Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign was determined by several factors. During the process of selection I took into consideration the previously formed research hypotheses. This approach directed me to choose speeches which adequately demonstrate to what extent were the rhetorical devices used predetermined by the target audience, the speech event and the topics covered in them. My first criterion was to select speeches that are organized according to the classical rhetorical pattern, that include introduction, argumentation and conclusion. Since all of the selected speeches are built on this pattern, they evidently meet the first criterion. The second criterion for the selection was the target audiences character. My firm intention was to analyse several of RFKs public addresses delivered to audiences of a different nature. With the given selection I managed to adhere to the plan. The speech at the University of Kansas was delivered to students, a community of young people the predominant target group of Robert Kennedys campaign. The remarks on the assassination of Martin Luther King addressed mostly black uneducated ghetto people of various age groups. The Cleveland City Club speech was given in front of mainly white executives of a higher social class. The above brief descriptions of the target audiences of the selected speeches indicate substantial heterogeneity from social perspective. The size differences between the audiences are also remarkable, with the University of Kansas crowd as the largest and the Cleveland City Club attendees as the smallest. The third criterion for the selection was the event of the particular speeches. Here I also attempted to seek variability in order to provide more objective evaluations of the rhetorical devices determined by the event of the utterance. The University of Kansas speech was an ordinary political speech during Robert Kennedys campaign rally. He covered the main points of his program: the divisions, the poverty and the War in Vietnam. He explained why he was running for the presidency and asked for the audiences support. The speech on Kings assassination was most affected by the occasion. Robert Kennedy could not deliver his pre-prepared speech instead he transformed the appearance into an honest tribute to Martin Luther Kings memory and legacy. The third speech, the Cleveland City Club address was still influenced by the happenings from the day before. Robert Kennedy again had to reformulate his initial message. Although he spoke about issues also included in his campaign proclamation, one can scarcely call his address an ordinary campaign speech. Not once he did mention his candidacy nor did he ask for any support directly. Briefly we can summarise the speech events as follows: an ordinary campaign rally at a university campus, an extemporaneous tribute to the legacy of an assassinated public leader in a city ghetto and a plea for reconciliation and non-violence in front of an audience of distinguished executives. The fourth and the most important criterion for the selection was the content of the individual speeches. Hereby I admit a relatively higher degree of subjectivity, since in this case the criterion was considerably conditioned by my own interpretation of the messages. I attempted to choose those addresses from Robert Kennedys 1968 campaign speeches which most of all prove the extraordinary phenomena of his rhetoric. The University of Kansas speech was selected for his involvement, objectivity and for the emphasis of moral obligation over material values. The lyricism and spiritualism and the calming effect of the carefully chosen words in the Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King were all factors of great importance that determined my choice for this piece of rhetoric. The Cleveland City Club address is remarkable for Robert Kennedys concern about humanity. It is an emotive call for peace and reconciliation of mankind. I chose this utterance in addition to its many uniq ue qualities especially for the philosophic thoughts and prophetic words it communicates, which more than forty years later still appear to be relevant. The fifth criterion was to select speeches that are free of any partisan agendas and manifestations. Robert Kennedy in the selected addresses does not enforce any programs or any political ideologies he rather draws his audiences attention to the real conditions in the country which affect them all. Nonetheless he categorically distinguishes himself from hiding the truth in illusions and empty promises. I was lead by the above assumptions during the selection of the core research material. I hope the fact that the selected speeches evidently meet all the criteria defined justifies my choice.

Media Analysis of Coverage of One Event Essay examples -- Compare Cont

Media Analysis of Coverage of One Event In various articles written about Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco’s visit to Cuba, the emphases are placed on different points, as the event is described from various angles. The Cuban newspaper Granma goes into more depth about Blanco and her entourage’s activities during their visit to Cuba, as well as giving a more detailed background of pertinent information about United States-Cuba relations, in the context of the embargo. La Nueva Cuba approaches the event from a different angle by providing more specifics about how this particular transaction will take place. There is also a brief compare and contrast of the ways that the United States and other nations choose to deal with Cuba, especially in matters of financing purchases. The Daily Advertiser chooses yet another facet of the issue to focus on. Because it is a Louisiana paper, it has a more domestically-oriented agenda. As a result, the article centers on Louisiana and Blanco, rather than Cuba and the United States as a whole. None of these reports reflect particularly badly on either Cuba or the United States, though each reporter’s preference is shown by the particular scope through which the respective pieces are written. The title of the Granma report is â€Å"Louisiana se acerca mas a Cuba,† a very curious title which creates a feeling of intimacy between the two entities. A mechanical analysis reveals the purposeful use of a reflexive verb only for Louisiana, rather than for both Louisiana and Cuba (i.e. â€Å"Louisiana y Cuba se acercan†). This depicts Louisiana as the active participant of the two, the one that is taking the initiative to align itself closer to Cuba. This way of describing the situation makes sense conside... ...is a smaller regional paper that is more concerned with domestic affairs than international relations. An examination of three articles from different sources but about the same event reveals the different ways of manifesting what is of great or negligible importance, how an entity chooses to present itself, or how the government prefers to have itself portrayed. The various angles chosen to approach the issue, as well as the use of supporting details illustrates the personal preference of the reporter and his or her reflection of each nation, state, or person featured in the report. Although these three articles from the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, Cuba’s conservative Granma, or the more liberal La Nueva Cuba do not exhibit criticism for either the US or Cuba, they showcase subtle opinions about the newly established trade agreement between Cuba and Louisiana.

Billy Sunday Essay -- Essays Papers

Billy Sunday For almost a quarter century Billy Sunday was a household name in the United States. Between 1902 when he first made the pages of the New York Times and 1935 when the paper covered his death and memorial service in detail, people who knew anything about current events had heard of the former major league baseball player who was preaching sin and salvation to large crowds all over America. Not everyone who knew of the famous evangelist liked him. Plenty of outspoken critics spoke of his flashy style and criticized his conservative doctrines. But he had hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of loyal defenders, and they were just as loud in their praise as the critics were in their criticism. Whether people stood for or against the Reverend William A. Sunday, they all agreed that it was difficult to be indifferent toward him. The religious leader was so extraordinarily popular, opinionated, and vocal that indifference was the last thing that he would get from people. His most loyal admirers were confident that this rural-breed preacher was God’s mouthpiece, calling Americans to repentance. Sunday’s critics said that at best he was a well-meaning buffoon whose sermons vulgarized and trivialized the Christian message and at worst he was a disgrace to the name of Christ (Dorsett 2). There are elements of truth in both of these views. He was often guilty of oversimplifying biblical truths, and at times he spoke more out of ignorance than a heavenly viewpoint. He was also a man with numerous flaws. He spoiled his children, giving them everything that they asked for. He put enormous responsibility on his wife, burdening her with many aspects of his ministry. He always noticeably sought the applause of the crowd for his own praise. He often confused the will of God with his own social and political agenda. He even sometimes compared the gospel of Jesus Christ with special interest and American foreign policy. Nevertheless, Billy Sunday was a sincere man whose life was fundamentally changed by his response to an evangelist’s call to repent of his sins, to believe that Jesus Christ died in his place for those sins, and to follow Christ in thanksgiving by worshiping and obeying him. Following this spiritual rebirth, the convert became deeply devoted to Jesus Christ. A devotion manifested in living out many of ... ...ee baseball seasons stood up at the street preacher’s invitation and abruptly announced to his teammates on the curb, â€Å"Boys I bid the old life good-bye.† Billy considered going down during the invitation but did not. After several days of agonizing over this Billy went back to the mission and decided, â€Å"With Christ you are saved, without him you are lost† (Sunday â€Å"Satan† 4). He â€Å"committed† his life that night to a cause that he saw was more important than any baseball game ever played. Despite becoming largely famous after being traded to Philadelphia, it would be the results of that decision at the Pacific Garden Mission that the world would remember Billy Sunday for. Some applauded Sunday and his methods; others did not. But there is no question that Sunday’s sensational career was a phenomenon Americans would not soon forget. Works Cited Dorsett, Lyle W. Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1991. Ellis, William T. Billy Sunday: The Man and His Message. n.p., 1914. Sunday, Billy. Billy Sunday’s Sermons. Omaha: Omaha Daily News, 1915. Sunday, Billy. Face to Face With Satan. Knoxville: Prudential Pub, 1923.

American Immigration History Essay

American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: the colonial period, the mid-19th century, the start of the 20th century, and post-1965. Each period brought distinct national groups, races and ethnicities to the United States. During the 17th century, approximately 175,000 Englishmen migrated to Colonial America.[11] Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived as indentured servants.[12] The mid-19th century saw mainly an influx from northern Europe; the early 20th-century mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe; post-1965 mostly from Latin America and Asia. Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants—perhaps as few as 400,000—crossed the Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries.[13] The 1790 Act limited naturalization to â€Å"free white persons†; it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s.[14] In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year,[15] including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States.[16] The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died.[17] In 1875, the nation passed its first immigration law, the Page Act of 1875.[18] The peak year of European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country.[19] By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States.[20] In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The 1924 Act was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s.[21] Most of the European refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were barred from coming to the United States.[22] Immigration patterns of the 1930s were dominated by the Great Depression, which hit the U.S. hard and lasted over ten years there. In the final prosperous year, 1929, there were 279,678 immigrants recorded,[23] but in 1933, only 23,068 came to the U.S.[13] In the early 1930s, more people emigrated from the United States than to it.[24] The U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will.[25] Altogether about 400,000 Mexicans were repatriated.[26] In the post-war era, the Justice Department  launched Operation Wetback, under which 1,075,168 Mexicans were deported in 1954.[27] First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same†¦. Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset†¦. Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia†¦. In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think. — Ted Kennedy, chief Senate sponsor of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.[28] The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act, abolished the system of national-origin quotas. By equalizing immigration policies, the act resulted in new immigration from non-European nations, which changed the ethnic make-up of the United States.[29] While European immigrants accounted for nearly 60% of the total foreign population in 1970, they accounted for only 15% in 2000.[30] Immigration doubled between 1965 and 1970, and again between 1970 and 1990.[31] In 1990, George H. W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1 990,[32] which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40%.[33] Appointed by Bill Clinton,[34] the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800,000 people per year to approximately 550,000.[35] While an influx of new residents from different cultures presents some challenges, â€Å"the United States has always been energized by its immigrant populations,† said President Bill Clinton in 1998. â€Å"America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants [†¦] They have proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most innovative, the most industrious of people.†[36] An analysis of census data found that nearly eight million immigrants entered the United States from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other five-year period in the nation’s history; 3.7 million of them entered without papers.[37][38] Since 1986 Congress has passed seven amnesties for undocumented immigrants.[39] In 1986 president Ronald Reagan signed immigration reform that gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants in the country.[40] Hispanic immigrants were among the first victims of the late-2000s recession,[41] but since the recessionâ₠¬â„¢s end in June 2009, immigrants posted a net gain of 656,000 jobs.[42] Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011. ————————————————- Contemporary immigration Until the 1930s most legal immigrants were male. By the 1990s women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants.[46]Contemporary immigrants tend to be younger than the native population of the United States, with people between the ages of 15 and 34 substantially overrepresented.[47] Immigrants are also more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age.[48] Immigrants are likely to move to and live in areas populated by people with similar backgrounds. This phenomenon has held true throughout the history of immigration to the United States.[49] Seven out of ten immigrants surveyed by Public Agenda in 2009 said they intended to make the U.S. their permanent home, and 71% said if they could do it over again they would still come to the US. In the same study, 76% of immigrants say the government has become stricter on enforcing immigration laws since the September 11, 2001 attacks (â€Å"9/11†), and 24% report that they p ersonally have experienced some or a great deal of discrimination.[50] Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S. were heavily influenced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. After the attacks, 52% of Americans believed that immigration was a good thing overall for the U.S., down from 62% the year before, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.[51] A 2008 Public Agenda survey found that half of Americans said tighter controls on immigration would do â€Å"a great deal† to enhance U.S. national security.[52] Harvard political scientist and historian Samuel P. Huntington argued in Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity that a potential future consequence of continuing massive immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico, might lead to the bifurcation of the United States. The population of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US fell from approximately 7 million in 2007 to 6.1 million in 2011 [53] Commentators link the reversal of the immigration trend to the economic downturn that started in 2008 and which meant fewer available jobs, and to the introduction of tough immigration laws in many states.[54][55][56][57] According to t he Pew Hispanic Center the total number of Mexican born persons had stagnated in 2010, and tended toward going into negative figures.[58] More than 80 cities in the United States,[59] including Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego,San Jose, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Detroit, Jersey City, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Baltimore, Seattle,Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine, have sanctuary policies, which vary locally.[60] ————————————————- Effects of immigration Demographics The Census Bureau estimates the US population will grow from 281 million in 2000 to 397 million in 2050 with immigration, but only to 328 million with no immigration.[77] A new report from the Pew Research Center projects that by 2050, non-Hispanic whites will account for 47% of the population, down from the 2005 figure of 67%.[78] Non-Hispanic whites made up 85% of the population in 1960.[79] It also foresees the Hispanic population rising from 14% in 2005 to 29% by 2050.[80] The Asian population is expected to more than triple by 2050. Overall, the population of the United States is due to rise from 296 million in 2005 to 438 million in 2050, with 82% of the increase from immigrants.[81] In 35 of the country’s 50 largest cities, non-Hispanic whites were at the last census or are predicted to be in the minority.[82] In California, non-Hispanic whites slipped from 80% of the state’s population in 1970 to 42.3% in 2008.[83][84] Immigrant segregation declined in the first half of the century, but has been rising over the past few decades. This has caused questioning of the correctness of describing the United States as a melting pot. One explanation is that groups with lower socioeconomic status concentrate in more densely populated area that have access to public transit while groups with higher socioeconomic status move to suburban areas. Another is that some recent immigrant groups are more culturally and linguistically different than earlier group and prefer to live together due to factors such as communication costs.[85] Another explanation for increased segregation is white flight.[86] â€Å"The lesson of these 236 years is clear – immigration makes America stronger. Immigration makes us more prosperous. And immigration positions America to lead in the 21st century.† President Obama, July 4, 2012 A stronger GDP means a better standard of living for Americans.Immigrants start small businesses.Immigrant-owned businesses create jobs for American workers.Immigrants boost demand for local consumer goods. More than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or a child of immigrants. According to thePartnership for a New American Economy these companies employ more than 10 million people worldwide and generate annual revenue of $4.2 trillion. Immigrants innovate as scientists and engineers.Immigrants develop cutting-edge technologies and companies.Immigrant scientist and engineers positively impact wages.Fixing our broken immigration system is critical to bilateral trade and U.S. exports. Fixing our broken immigration system will help increase international travel and tourism to America. merica’s immigration system is broken. Too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers and there are 11 million people living in the shadows. Neither is good for the economy or the country. Together we can build a fair, effective and common sense immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. The President’s plan builds a smart, effective immigration system that continues efforts to secure our borders and cracks down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. It’s a plan that requires anyone who’s undocumented to get right with the law by paying their taxes and a penalty, learning English, and undergoing background checks before they can be eligible to earn citizenship. It requires every business and every worker to play by the same set of rules. The Know Nothing movement was an American political movement that operated on a national basis during the mid 1850s. It promised to purify American politics by limiting or ending the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants, thus reflecting nativismand anti-Catholic sentiment. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholicimmigrants, whom they saw as hostile to republican values and controlled by the pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, but met with little success. Membership was limited to Protestant males. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class membership fragmented over the issue of slavery. The most prominent leaders were ex-President Millard Fillmore (the party’s presidential nominee in 1856), Massachusetts Congressman Nathaniel P. Banks,[1] and former congressman Lewis C. Levin. Social Irish immigration was opposed in the 1850s by the nativist Know Nothing movement, originating in New York in 1843. It was engendered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants. In 1891, a lynch mob stormed a local jail and hanged several Italians following the acquittal of several Sicilian immigrants alleged to be involved in the murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy. The Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at limiting immigration overall, and making sure that the nationalities of new arrivals matched the overall national profile. After the September 11 attacks, many Americans entertained doubts and suspicions about people apparently of Middle-Eastern origins.[citation needed] NPR in 2010 fired a prominent black commentator, Juan Williams, when he talked publicly about his fears on seeing people dressed like Muslims on airplanes.[127] Racist thinking among and between minority groups does occur;[128][129] examples of this are conflicts between blacks and Korean immigrants,[130] notably in the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, and between African Americans and non-white Latino immigrants.[131][132] There has been a long running racial tension between African American and Mexicanprison gangs, as well as significant riots in California prisons where they have targeted each other, for ethnic reasons.[133][134] There have been reports of racially motivated attacks against African Americans who have moved into neighborhoods occupied mostly by people of Mexican origin, and vice versa.[135][136] There has also been an increase in violence between non-Hispanic Anglo Americans and Latino immigrants, and between African immigrants and African Americans.[137] A 2007 study on assimilation found that Mexican immigrants are less fluent in English than both non-Mexican Hispanic immigrants and other immigrants. While English fluency increas es with time stayed in the United States, although further improvements after the first decade are limited, Mexicans never catch up with non-Mexican Hispanic who never catch up with non-Hispanics. The study also writes that â€Å"Even among immigrants who came to the United States before they were ï ¬ ve years old and whose entire schooling was in the United States, those Mexican born have average education levels of 11.7 years, whereas those from other countries have average levels of education of 14.1 years.† Unlike other immigrants, Mexicans have a tendency to live in communities with many other Mexicans which decreases incentives for assimilation. Correcting for this removes about half the fluency difference between Mexicans and other immigrants.[138] Religious diversity Immigration from South Asia and elsewhere has contributed to enlarging the religious composition of the United States. Islam in the United States is growing mainly due to immigration. Hinduism in the United States, Buddhism in the United States, and Sikhism in the United States are other examples.[139] Since 1992, an estimated 1.7 million Muslims, approximately 1 million Hindus, and approximately 1 million Buddhists have immigrated legally to the United States. Os Imigrantes e as Religià µes A maior religià £o dos EUA à © o cristianismo, cerca de 78,4% da populaà §Ãƒ £o à © cristà £. Tradicionalmente a maioria dos americanos eram majoritariamente protestantes, mas pela primeira vez em 2011 o grupo atingiu porcetagem menor que metade da populaà §Ãƒ £o. Ainda assim os americanos continuam sendo de maioria protestante somando 48% ou ainda ma maioria crentes 51% somando afiliaà §Ãƒ µes mà ³rmons. O cristianismo foi introduzidos durante o perà ­odo da colonizaà §Ãƒ £o europeia. O cristianismo à © uma das religià µes que mais cresce nos EUA. Isto se deve, entre outros fatores, pelo elevado nà ºmero de imigrantes latino-americanos e filipinos que o paà ­s recebe a cada ano. A regià £o com a maior concentraà §Ãƒ £o de catà ³licos à © o Nordeste, que apesar de ter sido colonizada por puritanos, recebeu grande nà ºmero de imigrantes catà ³licos europeus (principalmente alemà £es, irlandeses e italianos) a partir da segunda metade do sà ©culo XIX. O Norte, à ¡rea de forte influà ªncia da Igreja Batista, por outro lado, à © a regià £o com a menor porcentagem de catà ³licos. Os  Ingleses, Alemà £es, Escoceses, Holandeses, Noruegueses entre outros do norte europeu introduziram o Protestantismo, enquanto os franceses, espanhà ³is e irlandeses trouxeram o Catolicismo. Apesar de seu status de religià £o mais difundida e mais influente nos EUA, o Cristianismo està ¡ num declà ­nio relativo contà ­nuo. Quando o nà ºmero absoluto de cristà £os foi levantado de 1990 a 2001, a porcentagem cristà £ da populaà §Ãƒ £o caiu de 88.3% para 79.6%. O Judaà ­smo à © a quarta maior preferà ªncia religiosa nos EUA. Os judeus atuais està £o presentes nos EUA desde o sà ©culo XVII, embora a imigraà §Ãƒ £o em grande escala nà £o tenha ocorrido atà © o sà ©culo XIX, em maior parte por causa das perseguià §Ãƒ µes na Europa Oriental. O CIA Fact Book estima que 1% dos americanos pertencem a esse grupo. Aproximadamente 25% dessa populaà §Ãƒ £o vive em Nova York. O Budismo entrou nos EUA durante o sà ©culo XIX com a chegada dos primeiros imigrantes da à sia Oriental. O primeiro templo budista foi estabelecido em San Francisco em 1853 pelos chineses-americanos. Ao longo do sà ©culo XIX, missionà ¡rios budistas do Japà £o vieram aos EUA. Simultaneamente a estes processos, certos intelectuais dos EUA ficaram interessados pelo budismo. O sà ©culo XX foi caracterizado por uma continuaà §Ãƒ £o das tendà ªncias do sà ©culo XIX. A segunda metade, pelo contraste, viu uma emergà ªncia de correntes principais do movimento budista que tornou-se uma massa e um fenà ´meno religioso social. Estimativas do nà ºmero de budistas nos Estados Unidos variam de 0.5% a 0.9%. No que diz respeito a histà ³ria do Islà £ nos EUA, ainda que muito pequena, a populaà §Ãƒ £o muà §ulmana aumentou extremamente nos à ºltimos cem anos. Boa parte do crescimento foi por causa da imigraà §Ãƒ £o e pela conversà £o. Atà © um terà §o dos muà §ulmanos americanos sà £o africanos que se converteram ao Islà £ durante os à ºltimos setenta anos. A imigraà §Ãƒ £o muà §ulmana aumentou em 2005, assim como mais pessoas de paà ­ses islà ¢micos se tornaram residentes legais permanentes nos EUA do que qualquer ano, nas duas dà ©cadas anteriores. A estimativa de muà §ulmanos nos EUA à © de 2,35 milhà µes (0,8% do total da populaà §Ãƒ £o). A primeira vez que o Hinduà ­smo entrou nos Estados Unidos nà £o està ¡ claramente identificado. No entanto, grandes grupos de hindus emigraram da à ndia e de outros paà ­ses asià ¡ticos desde o Ato pela Imigraà §Ãƒ £o e Nacionalidade de 1965. Durante as dà ©cadas de 1960 e 1970, o fascà ­nio pelo Hinduà ­smo contribuiu para o pensamento New Age. Atualmente, as estimativas de hindus nos Estados Unidos sugerem um nà ºmero de quase 800.000 pessoas, ou cerca de 0.4% do total da populaà §Ãƒ £o. A religià £o hindu està ¡ em crescimento nos Estados Unidos, nà £o sà ³ graà §as a imigraà §Ãƒ £o, mas tambà ©m devido a conversà £o de muitos ocidentais. Place of birth for the foreign-born population in the United States Top ten countries| 2010| 2000| 1990| Mexico| 11,711,103| 9,177,487| 4,298,014| China| 2,166,526| 1,518,652| 921,070| India| 1,780,322| 1,022,552| 450,406| Philippines| 1,777,588| 1,369,070| 912,674| Vietnam| 1,240,542| 988,174| 543,262| El Salvador| 1,214,049| 817,336| 465,433| Cuba| 1,104,679| 872,716| 736,971| South Korea| 1,100,422| 864,125| 568,397| Dominican Republic| 879,187| 687,677| 347,858| Guatemala| 830,824| 480,665| 225,739| All of Latin America| 21,224,087| 16,086,974| 8,407,837| All Immigrants| 39,955,854| 31,107,889| 19,767,316|