A Dirty Job Chapter 26

26 ORPHEUS IN THE STORM SEWER Charlie parked the van sideways in the street and ran up the steps of the Buddhist center calling her name. The huge front door was hanging askew by one hinge, the glass broken, and every drawer and cabinet had been opened and the contents scattered, every piece of furniture overturned or broken. â€Å"Audrey!† He heard a voice to the front of the house and ran back out on the porch. â€Å"Audrey?† â€Å"Down here,† she called. â€Å"We're still under the porch.† Charlie ran down the steps and around to the side of the porch. He could see movement behind the lattice. He found a small gate and opened it. Inside, Audrey was crouched with a half-dozen other people and a whole crowd of the squirrel people. He scrambled into the crawl space and took her in his arms. Charlie had tried to keep her on the line during the drive over, but a few blocks away the battery in his phone had died, and he had tried, for those few terrifying moments, to imagine losing her – his future, his hope – after his hope had just been awakened again. He was so relieved he could barely breathe. â€Å"Are they gone?† Audrey asked. â€Å"Yes, I think so. I'm so glad you're all right.† Charlie led them out of the crawl space and back into the house, the squirrel people staying close to the walls and moving quickly so as not to be seen from the street. Charlie felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Irena Posokovanovich smiling at him. He jumped up a couple of steps and screamed. â€Å"Don't shock me again, I'm a good guy.† â€Å"I know that, Mr. Asher. I was wondering if you'd like me to park your van for you before it gets towed away.† â€Å"Oh yes, that would be nice.† He handed her the keys. â€Å"Thank you.† In the house, Audrey said, â€Å"She just wants to help.† â€Å"She's creepy,† Charlie said, but then he caught what he thought was a look of disapproval rising in Audrey's eyes and he quickly added, â€Å"In a completely sweet way, I mean.† They went directly to the kitchen and stood before the open pantry. â€Å"They got them all,† Audrey said. â€Å"That's why they didn't hurt us – they weren't interested in us.† Charlie was so angry he was having trouble thinking, but without an outlet, he just shook and tried to keep his voice under control. â€Å"They just did the same thing at my store. Something did.† â€Å"There must have been three hundred souls in here,† Audrey said. â€Å"They took Rachel's soul.† Audrey put her arm around his back, but he couldn't respond other than to walk out of the kitchen. â€Å"That's it, Audrey. I'm done.† â€Å"What do you mean, you're done, Charlie? You're scaring me.† â€Å"Ask your squirrel people where I can get into the storm sewer system. Can they tell you that?† â€Å"Probably. But you can't do that.† He wheeled on her and she jumped back. â€Å"I have to do that. Find out, Audrey. Everyone into my van. I want you at my building, where you'll be safe.† They were all gathered in Charlie's living room: Sophie, Audrey, Jane, Cassandra, Lily, Minty Fresh, the undead clients from the Buddhist center, the hellhounds, and fifty or so of the squirrel people. Lily, Jane, and Cassandra were standing on the couch to get away from the squirrel people, who were milling on and around the breakfast bar. â€Å"Nice outfits,† Lily said. â€Å"But ewww.† â€Å"Thank you,† Audrey said. Sophie was standing next to Audrey, looking her up and down as if trying to guess her weight. â€Å"I'm a Jewess,† Sophie said. â€Å"Are you a Jewess?† â€Å"No, I'm a Buddhist,† Audrey said. â€Å"Is that like a shiksa?† â€Å"Yes, I think it is,† said Audrey. â€Å"It's a type of shiksa.† â€Å"Oh, I guess that's okay, then. My puppies are shiksas, too. That's what Mrs. Ling calls them.† â€Å"They're very impressive puppies, too,† Audrey said. â€Å"They want to eat your little guys, but I won't let them, okay?† â€Å"Thank you. That would be nice.† â€Å"Unless you're mean to my daddy. Then they're toast.† â€Å"Of course,† Audrey said. â€Å"Special circumstances.† â€Å"He likes you a lot.† â€Å"I'm glad. I like him a lot.† â€Å"I think you're probably okay.† â€Å"Well, right back at you,† Audrey said. She smiled at the little brunette with the heartbreaking blue eyes and the attitude, and it was all she could do not to scoop her up and hug the bejeezus out of her. Charlie jumped up on the couch next to Jane, Cassandra, and Lily, and then realized as he looked across the room at Minty Fresh that he still didn't stand taller than the Death Merchant, which was a little unnerving. (Minty seemed focused on Lily, which was also a little unnerving.) â€Å"You guys, I'm going to go do something, and I might not come back. Jane, that letter I sent you has all the papers making you Sophie's legal guardian.† â€Å"I'm out of here,† Lily said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, catching her by the arm. â€Å"I want you here, too. I'm leaving you the business, but with the understanding that a percentage of the profits go to Jane to help with Sophie and will also go into a college fund for her. I know you have your career as a chef, but I trust you and you're good at the business.† Lily looked like she wanted to say something sarcastic, but shrugged and said, â€Å"Sure. I can run your business and cook, too. You do your Death Merchant thing and raise a daughter.† â€Å"Thanks. Jane, you'll get the building, of course, but when Sophie grows up, if she wants to stay in the City, you always have to have an apartment for her.† Jane jumped off the couch. â€Å"Charlie, this is crap, I'm not letting you do anything – â€Å" â€Å"Please. Jane, I've got to go. This is all in writing, I just want you to hear what I wanted in person.† â€Å"Okay,† she said. Charlie hugged his sister, Cassandra, and Lily, then went to the bedroom and gestured for Minty Fresh to follow him. â€Å"Minty, I'm going into the Underworld after the Morrigan – after Rachel's soul, all the souls. It's time.† The big man nodded, gravely. â€Å"I'm right there with you.† â€Å"No, you're not. I need you to stay here and watch over Audrey and Sophie and the others. There are cops outside, but I think their disbelief might make them hesitate if the Morrigan come. You won't do that.† Minty shook his head. â€Å"What chance do you have down there alone? Let me come with you. We'll fight this thing together.† â€Å"I don't think so,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm blessed or something. The prophecy says, ‘The Luminatus will rise and do battle with the Forces of Darkness in the City of Two Bridges.' It doesn't say, the Luminatus and his trusty sidekick, Minty Fresh.† â€Å"I am not a sidekick.† â€Å"That's what I'm saying,† said Charlie, who wasn't saying that at all. â€Å"I'm saying that I have some sort of protection, but you probably don't. And if I don't come back, you'll need to carry on as a Death Merchant in the City – maybe get the scales tipped back for our side.† Minty Fresh nodded, lowering his gaze to the floor. â€Å"You'll take my Desert Eagles, then, for luck?† He looked up and was grinning. â€Å"I'll take one of them,† Charlie said. Minty Fresh slipped out of his shoulder-holster rig and adjusted the straps until they fit Charlie, then helped him into the harness. â€Å"There are two extra clips in here, under your right arm,† Minty said. â€Å"I hope you don't have to fire it that many times down there or you will be one deaf motherfucker.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. Minty helped him get his tweed jacket on over the shoulder holster. â€Å"You know, you might be heavily armed, but you still look like an English professor – don't you have some clothes more appropriate for fighting?† â€Å"James Bond always wears a tux,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah, I understand the line between reality and fiction seems a little blurred here lately – â€Å" â€Å"I'm kidding,† Charlie said. â€Å"There are some motocross leathers and pads in the shop that will fit me if I can find them.† â€Å"Good.† Minty patted Charlie's shoulders, like he was trying to make them bigger. â€Å"You see that bitch with the poison claws, you light her up for me, okay?† â€Å"I'll buss a cap in da hoe's ass,† Charlie said. â€Å"Don't do that.† â€Å"Sorry.† The hardest part came a few minutes later. â€Å"Honey, Daddy has to go do something.† â€Å"Are you going to get Mommy?† Charlie was crouched in front of his daughter, and he nearly rolled over backward at the question. She hadn't mentioned her mommy a dozen times in the last two years. â€Å"Why would you say that, honey?† â€Å"I don't know. I was thinking about her.† â€Å"Well, you know that she loved you very much.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"And you know that no matter what, I love you very much.† â€Å"Yeah, you said that yesterday.† â€Å"And I meant it yesterday. But this time, I really do have to go. I have to fight some bad guys, and I might not win.† Sophie's lower lip pushed out like a big wet shelf. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, Charlie chanted in his head. I can't handle it if you cry. â€Å"Don't cry, honey. Everything will be okay.† â€Å"Nooooooooooo,† Sophie wailed. â€Å"I want to go with you. I want to go with you. Don't go, Daddy, I want to go with you.† Charlie held her and looked across the room to his sister, pleading. She came and took Sophie from his arms. â€Å"Noooooo. I want to go with you.† â€Å"You can't go with me, honey.† And Charlie ducked out of the apartment before his heart broke again. Audrey was waiting in the hall with fifty-three squirrel people. â€Å"I'm driving you to the entrance,† she said. â€Å"Don't argue.† â€Å"No,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm not losing you after just finding you. You stay here.† â€Å"You creep! What gives you the right to be that way. I just found you, too.† â€Å"Yeah, but I'm not much of a find.† â€Å"You're an ass,† she said, and she walked into his arms and kissed him. After a long time, Charlie looked around. The squirrel people were all looking up at them. â€Å"What are they doing here?† â€Å"They're going with you.† â€Å"No. It's too risky.† â€Å"Then it's too risky for you, too. You don't even know what could be down there – this thing that broke into your store wasn't one of the Morrigan.† â€Å"I'm not going to be afraid, Audrey. There might be a hundred different demons, but The Book of the Dead is right, they are only keeping us from our path. I think these things exist for the same reason I was chosen to do this, because of fear. I was afraid to live, so I became Death. Their power is our fear of death. I'm not afraid. And I'm not taking the squirrel people.† â€Å"They know the way. And besides, they're fourteen inches tall, what do they have to live for?† â€Å"Hey,† said a Beefeater guard whose head was the skull of a bobcat. â€Å"Did he say something?† Charlie asked. â€Å"One of my experimental voice boxes.† â€Å"It's a little squeaky.† â€Å"Hey!† â€Å"Sorry, uh, Beef,† Charlie said. The creatures seemed resolute. â€Å"Onward, then!† Charlie ran down the hall so he wouldn't have to say good-bye again. Ten yards behind him marched a small army of nightmare creatures, put together from the parts of a hundred different animals. It just so happened that at the time they were reaching the staircase, Mrs. Ling came downstairs to see what all the commotion had been about, and the entire army stopped in the stairway and looked up at her. Mrs. Ling was, and had always been, a Buddhist, and so she was a firm believer in the concept of karma, and that those lessons you did not learn would continually be presented to you until you learned them, or your soul could never evolve to the next level. That afternoon, as the Forces of Light were about to engage the Forces of Darkness for dominion over the world, Mrs. Ling, staring into the blank eyes of the squirrel people, had her own epiphany, and she never again ate meat, of any kind. Her first act of atonement was an offering to those she felt she had wronged. â€Å"You want snack?† she said. But the squirrel people marched on. The Emperor saw the van pull up near the creek and a man in bright yellow motorcycle leathers climb out. The man reached back into the van and grabbed what looked like a shoulder holster with a sledgehammer in it, and slipped into the harness. If the context hadn't been so bizarre, the Emperor could have sworn it was his friend Charlie Asher, from the secondhand shop in North Beach, but Charlie? Here? With a gun? No. Lazarus, who was not so dependent on his eyes for recognition, barked a greeting. The man turned to them and waved. It was Charlie. He walked down to the creekbank across from them. â€Å"Your Majesty,† Charlie said. â€Å"You seem upset, Charlie. Is something wrong?† â€Å"No, no, I'm okay, I just had to take directions from a mute beaver in a fez to get here, it's unsettling.† â€Å"Well, I can see how it would be,† said the Emperor. â€Å"Nice ensemble, though, the leathers and the pistol. Not your usual sartorial splendor.† â€Å"Well, no. I'm on a bit of a mission. Going to go into that culvert, find my way into the Underworld, and do battle with the Forces of Darkness.† â€Å"Good for you. Good for you. Forces of Darkness seem to be on the rise in my city lately.† â€Å"You noticed, then?† The Emperor hung his head. â€Å"Yes, I'm afraid we've lost one of our troops to the fiends.† â€Å"Bummer?† â€Å"He went into a storm sewer days ago, and hasn't come out.† â€Å"I'm sorry, sir.† â€Å"Would you look for him, Charlie? Please. Bring him out.† â€Å"Your Majesty, I'm not sure that I'm coming back myself, but I promise, if I find him, I'll try to bring him out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to open this van and I don't want you to be alarmed by what you see, but I want to get into the pipe while there's still some light from the grates. What you see coming out of the van – they're friends.† â€Å"Carry on,† said the Emperor. Charlie slid the door open and the squirrel people hopped, scampered, and scooted down the bank of the creek toward the culvert. Charlie reached into the van, took out his sword-cane and flashlight, and butt-bumped the door shut. Lazarus whimpered and looked at the Emperor as if someone who was able to talk should say something. â€Å"Good luck, then, valiant Charlie,† said the Emperor. â€Å"You go forth with all of us in your heart, and you in ours.† â€Å"You'll watch the van?† â€Å"Until the Golden Gate crumbles to dust, my friend,† said the Emperor. And so Charlie Asher, in the service of life and light and all sentient beings, and in hope of rescuing the soul of the love of his life, led an army of fourteen-inch-tall bundles of animal bits, armed with everything from knitting needles to a spork, into the storm sewers of San Francisco. They slogged on for hours – sometimes the pipes became narrow enough that Charlie had to crawl on his hands and knees, other times they opened into wide junctions like concrete rooms. He helped the squirrel people climb to higher pipes. He'd found a lightweight construction helmet fitted with an LED headlamp, which came in handy in narrow passages where he couldn't aim the flashlight. He was also bumping his head about ten times an hour, and although the helmet protected him from injury, he'd developed a throbbing headache. His leathers – not really leathers, but more heavy nylon with Lexan pads at the knees, shoulders, elbows, shins, and forearms – were protecting him from bumps and abrasions on the pipes, but they were soaked and rubbing him raw at the backs of his knees. At an open junction with a grate at the top he climbed the ladder and tried to get a look at the neighborhood to perhaps get a sense of where they were, but it had gotten dark out since they s tarted and the grate was under a parked car. What irony, that he would finally summon his courage and charge into the breach, only to end up lost and stuck in the breach. A human misfire. â€Å"Where the hell are we?† he said. â€Å"No idea,† said the bobcat guy, the one who could talk. The little Beefeater was disturbing to watch when he spoke, since he really didn't have a face, only a skull, and he spoke without ever making the P sound. Also, instead of a halberd, which Charlie thought should have come with the costume for authenticity, the bobcat had armed himself with a spork. â€Å"Can you ask the others if they know where we are?† â€Å"Okay.† He turned to the damp gallery of squirrel people. â€Å"Hey, anybody know where we are?† They all shook their heads, looking from one to another, shrugging. Nope. â€Å"No,† said the bobcat. â€Å"Well, I could have done that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Why don't you? It's your _arty,† he said. Charlie realized he meant â€Å"party.† â€Å"Why no Ps?† Charlie asked. â€Å"No li_s.† â€Å"Right, lips. Sorry. What are you going to do with that spork?† â€Å"Well, when we find some bad guys, I'm going to s_ork the fuck out of them.† â€Å"Excellent. You're my lieutenant.† â€Å"Because of the s_ork?† â€Å"No, because you can talk. What's your name?† â€Å"Bob.† â€Å"No really.† â€Å"Really. It's Bob.† â€Å"So I suppose your last name is Cat.† â€Å"Wilson.† â€Å"Just checking. Sorry.† â€Å"‘S okay.† â€Å"Do you remember who you were in your last life?† â€Å"I remember a little. I think I was an accountant.† â€Å"So, no military experience?† â€Å"You need some bodies counted, I'm your man, er, thing.† â€Å"Swell. Does anyone here remember if they used to be a soldier, or a ninja or anything? Extra credit for ninjas or a Viking or something. Weren't any of you like Attila the Hun or Captain Horatio Hornblower in a former life or something?† A ferret in a sequined minidress and go-go boots came forward, paw raised. â€Å"You were a naval commander?† The ferret appeared to whisper into Bob's hat (since Bob no longer had ears). â€Å"She says no, she misunderstood, she thought you meant horn blower.† â€Å"She was a prostitute?† â€Å"Cornet _layer,† said Bob. â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"It's the boots.† The ferret waved him off in a â€Å"no worries† way, then leaned over and whispered to Bob again. â€Å"What?† Charlie said. â€Å"Nothing,† Bob said. â€Å"Not nothing. I didn't think they could talk.† â€Å"Well, not to you,† said Bob. â€Å"What did she say?† â€Å"She said we're fucked.† â€Å"Well, that's not a very good attitude,† Charlie said, but he was starting to believe the go-go ferret was right, and he leaned back into a semisitting position in the pipe to rest. Bob climbed up to a smaller pipe and sat on the edge, his feet dangling over; water dripped from his little patent-leather shoes, but the floral pattern brass buckles still shone in the light of Charlie's headlamp. â€Å"Nice shoes,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah, well, Audrey digs me,† said Bob. Before Charlie could answer, the dog had grabbed Bob from behind and was shaking him like a rag doll. His mighty spork clattered off the pipe and was lost in the water below.

Formal Analysis of Durer’s Knight, Death and the Devil

Uriah Funk Leila Armstrong Art 110 7 February, 2013 Formal Analysis of Durer’s Knight, Death and the Devil My first impression upon looking at Durer’s â€Å"Knight, Death and the Devil† is one of impending doom met with courage and a feeling of resigning to one’s fate. The figure of the Knight is surrounded by the figures of Death on his sickly horse and the beast faced Devil, along with a treacherous landscape that seems to fold in upon itself and hold other unseen dangers.The knight marches forward seeming to ignore the threats, as he leaves the safety of the city behind he is safe in his armor upon his loyal steed, for now. This engraving was done on copper; giving it a warm earthy tone. The absence of other colors gives the piece a dark feeling. Durer’s etching uses light very realistically, giving the figure of the horse especially a very convincing sheen. The absence of light behind the figures lends an abyssal element of danger connecting the literal dangers of Death and the Devil in the upper part of the work to the implied dangers in the lower part of the etching.With the abundance of hatching and cross hatching, lines appear from the texture of the objects and figures themselves, while other line work is direct and bold such as along the armor work of the knight. The eye is drawn to the left along the work at first by the implied motion of the knight and his dog. Other directional forces like the knight’s pike and sword as well as the trees in the background and the devils horn and spear draw the eye back across the space.The magnificent etching makes full use of shape, volume, shading, mass, size, scale, and texture to create an almost scientific realism that would not be out of place in biology textbooks. Durer uses space in the piece to create a sense of closing in around the knight with all of the darkest parts being immediately around the horse and rider. The only open space, or escape, is the sky above a nd behind the knight and he is not heading in this direction, further increasing the sense of danger. Atmospheric and linear perspective while present is minimal and only serve to reinforce the claustrophobic feel of the foreground.At first, the composition seems quite stable, the knight presenting a strong vertical line and his horse firmly grounding the rider, yet the relationship with background characters creates precarious unbalanced shapes. Overall these elements present a foreboding scene for the knight no matter how stable the stance of his horse and rigidity of his spine. The piece gives a very humanist feel, with texture, shading, and mass of the figures and objects having a down to earth almost touchable quality. Other elements like the lizard and skull suggest symbolism that intrigues the viewer to further investigation.Created by Albrecht Durer in 1513 Germany, the piece, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has a connection to a religious literary work titled H andbook of a Christian Soldier. The engraving is 9. 6in x 7. 5in on copper. The small size probably allowed for detail in the work as well as to be useful in book illustration. Works Cited â€Å"Albrecht Durer: Knight, Death, and the Devil (43. 106. 2)†. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/works-of-art/43. 106. 2 (October 2006)

An Effective Mechanism to Diminish Arbitrary Exercise of Discretionary Power

An Effective Mechanism to Diminish Arbitrary Exercise of Discretionary Power â€Å"If judicial review of administrative decision is the heart of administrative law, then concept of natural justice is one of the suppliers of blood to that heart. It is inherent in rule of law and our thirst for justice. † Abstract Natural justice is considered to be as old as the system of dispensation of justice itself. Since its move toward administrative adjudication, it has been the defender of fairness and justice in exercise of discretionary power of administration. The artificial distinction between judicial and administrative adjudication has blurred. Natural justice ensures the minimum procedural fairness in administrative adjudication. Right to fair hearing before an impartial and unbiased forum has been the key to ensure fairness and diminish arbitrariness in exercise of discretionary power. This paper seems to propose that the battle between fairness and arbitrariness, however, has been a continuous one and natural justice keeps its role as diminisher of arbitrariness open to play. 1 Introduction Natural justice, as a concept relating to administrative adjudication, can be defined as the unwritten law of fairness. This age-old principle has been applied to administrative and adjudication process to ensure procedural fairness and to free them from arbitrariness. In Bangladesh, there is no statute providing for procedural fairness which administration should follow in exercise of discretionary power. It is natural justice which invokes the minimum fair procedures which should be followed in administrative decision making. This paper, in part two, will show that the concept of Natural Justice and its application in Justice delivery system is not new. It seems to be as old as the system of dispensation of justice itself. The Principles were accepted as early as in the days of Adam and of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Then this paper will move to look into how concept of natural justice was invoked into the administrative decision making. It will be  shown that initially the principles of natural justice used to be applied to courts of law alone but later on from judicial sphere it extended, to the tribunals exercising quasi-judicial functions and then to the statutory authorities and the administrative authorities, who have upon them, the responsibility of determining civil rights or obligations of the people. After examining application of the concept in administrative adjudication, the paper will concentrate in examining two basic principles of natural justice to how these principles diminish arbi trary exercise of discretionary power. In this part, it will be revealed that natural justice ensures minimum procedural fairness in administrative decision making. It precludes a partial and biased tribunal from adjudicating. It obliges the tribunal to provide show reasons of its decisions with precisions. While fair tribunal is less probable to decide arbitrarily, showing reasons for the decision decreases significantly limits the scope of whimsical and arbitrary decision making. In at the end of the paper, it will be proposed that the Battle between fairness and arbitrariness has been a continuous one and natural justice has fought to defeat arbitrariness. Since its move toward administrative adjudication, natural justice has been the defender of fairness and justice in exercise of discretionary power of administration. 2 Natural justice: the ‘unwritten law of fairness’ Natural justice implies fairness, equity and equality. This age-old principle has been applied to administrative and adjudication process to ensure procedural fairness and to free them from arbitrariness. Different jurists have described the principle in different ways. Some called it as the unwritten law (jus non scriptum) or the law of reason. It has, however not been found to be capable of being defined, but some jurists have described the principle as a great humanising principle intended to invest law with fairness to secure justice and to prevent miscarriage of justice. With the passage of time, some principles have evolved and crystallised which are well recognized principles of natural justice. Today the question of control of administrative discretionary power is perhaps the most critical and crucial problem of administrative law. In modern democracies the role and jurisdiction of administrative agencies is increasing at a rapid pace. The concept of Rule of Law would loose its validity if the instrumentalities of the State are not charged with the duty of discharging these functions in a fair and just manner. However, there is no statute laying down the minimum procedure which administrative agencies must follow while exercising decision-making powers. This minimum fair procedure refers to the principles of natural justice. Lord Viscount Haldane outlined principle of natural justice in the following word: â€Å" those whose duty it is to decide must act judicially. They must deal with the question referred to them without bias and they must give to each of the parties the opportunity of adequately presenting the case made. The decision must come to the spirit and with the sense of responsibility of a tribunal whose duty it is to meet out justice. † Natural justice, as a concept of common law, represents higher procedural principles developed by the courts, which every judicial, quasi-judicial and administrative agency must follow while taking any decision adversely affecting the rights of a private individual. The principles of natural justice were associated with a few ‘accepted rules’ which have been built up and pronounced over a long period of time. The word ‘Natural Justice’ manifests justice according to one’s own conscience. It is derived from the Roman Concept ‘jus naturale’ and ‘Lex naturale’ which meant principle of natural law, natural justice, eternal law, natural equity or good conscience. Lord Evershed, Master of the Rolls in Vionet v Barrett (1985, 55 LLJ QB, 39, Page 45) remarked, â€Å"Natural Justice is the natural sense of what is right and wrong. There is no statute laying down the minimum procedure which administrative agencies must follow while exercising decision-making powers. This minimum fair procedure refers to the principles of natural justice. Natural Justice is an expression of English common law. Lord Viscount Haldane outlined principle of natural justice in the following word: â€Å" those whose duty it is to decide must act judicially. They must deal with the question referred to them without bias and they must give to each of the parties the opportunity of adequately presenting the case made. The decision must come to the spirit and with the sense of responsibility of a tribunal whose duty it is to meet out justice. † While the term natural justice is often retained as a general concept, it has largely been replaced and extended by the more general duty to act fairly. Parpworth in his ‘Constitutional and Administrative Law’ views that linguistic difficulties with natural justice have forced the courts, in recent time, to use fairness as a concept to ensure minimum procedural propriety. Lord Parker C. J. in Re H. K. [1967] 2 Q. B. 617, 630 (C. A.) said that ‘[it] is not, as I see it, a question of acting or being required to act judicially, but of being required to act fairly’. Concept of natural justice has a close relation with fairness. The Supreme Court of India outlined the relation of fairness with natural justice in the following words: ‘Indeed, natural justice is a pervasive facet of secular law where a spiritual touch enlivens legislation, administration and adjudication, to make fairness a creed of life. It has many colours and shades, many forms and shapes and, save where valid law excludes, it applies when people are affected by acts of authority. It is the bone of healthy government†¦.. Thus ‘natural justice’, as a concept relating to administrative adjudication, can be defined as the unwritten law of fairness. In Bangladesh, there is no statute providing for procedural fairness which administration should follow in exercise of discretionary power. It is natural justice which invokes the minimum fair procedures which should be followed in administrative decision making. 3 The First Man’s experience with natural justice: A Twenty First Century Analysis The concept of Natural Justice and its application in Justice delivery system is not new. It seems to be as old as the system of dispensation of justice itself. The Principles were accepted as early as in the days of Adam and of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. According to the Bible and Quran, when Adam amp; Eve ate the fruit forbidden by God, the God did not pass sentence on Adam before he was called upon to defend himself. Concept of natural justice was known to Greek and Romans. Aristotle, before the era of Christ, spoke of such principles calling it as universal law. Justinian, in the fifth and sixth Centuries A. D. called it jura naturalia i.

The Causes and Psychological Effect of Bullying in High School Essay

The Causes and Psychological Effect of Bullying in High School - Essay Example These types of bullying are often carried out on the victims based on their sexuality, gender, race, religion, abilities, body size, and age among other features (Carey, P. 34). From these factors that promote bullying, it is apparent that the power imbalances that favor and promote bullying could be social, economic, and physical powers. Although bullying affects the bullied more than the bully, the stereotypical notion that the bullied is never affected by his/her actions should be revised. That is to say, the portrayal of a bully as some tough and self-confident individual who conquers all his/her victims no longer stands. Besides harming their victims, high school bullies are also emotionally, physically, and psychologically affected by their actions (Carey, P. 89). In fact, psychological instability has been identified as a major cause of bullying tendencies in high school bullies. It can therefore be asserted without fear of contradiction that ‘true bullies’ are qu ite rare since most bullies are also affected or bullied by their actions. This paper therefore explores the causes of bullying and the emotional and psychological effects of high school bullying on bullies. Causes of High School Bullying Despite the recently reported increased awareness of bullying in high schools, little has been achieved as far as reducing the cases of bullying in schools are concerned. This situation may be due to the fact that the identification and the tackling of the real causes of high school bullying are still quite big challenges to parents and teachers. There are numerous causes of high school bullying that are however quite apparent and concerned parties such as teachers and parents should take them into account. In other words, it appears that the only affective solution to high school violence is the identification of the variety of reasons for which high school students become bullies. The first cause of high school bullying is frustration. The cause of frustration in these cases could be impairments and such impaired students may be resentful if such impairment is not being recognized. These impairments include allergy, undiagnosed PTSD, learning disabilities, autism, deafness, and dyslexia among other difficulties. The frustration particularly stems from the fact that these impaired students are expected to perform at par with the other able-bodied classmates. The matter is made worse by the fact that no attempts are made to identify the source of their frustration. The second cause of high school bullying is bad or lack of role models for high school students at home and the larger communities they come from. Absence of proper role models to look up to results in high school students missing the opportunity to learn positive behavior skills. Coupled to this cause is abuse at home, which results in abused children expressing their anger on their classmates. Family neglect just like home abuse causes retardation in childrenâ₠¬â„¢s emotional, psychological, and behavioral developments. The other causes of high school bullying are undue influence from friends or crowds, conduct disorders, personality disorders, and antisocial disorders. Psychological and Emotional Effects of Bullying There are several psychological effects that researchers have found high school bullies to be prone to including low self-esteem, childhood and adulthood behavioral problems, and depression disorders and other psychological disorders. Besides

Microtubules Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Microtubules - Essay Example aments, which demonstrate diverse turnover rates, are closely associated with actin binding proteins which differ, and it has been postulated that they determine the differences in turnover rates. This plasticity of the internal structure of the actins is responsible for the difference in filament turnover rates in different cellular locations. This is accomplished through direct control of the filament stability and through modulation of protein binding affecting the stability of the filaments (Kueha et al., 2008). These, therefore, are mechanoskelatal proteins which convert energy released by hydrolysis of ATP or from ion gradients and generate mechanical forces. The most important feature of these proteins that while they bind, they carry their own cargo, and hence movement at a specific direction of this protein as a result of microtubular shortening would result in movement of the cargo from one location to the other within the cell. This allows an avenue of movement of the cellular proteins to the target area where further chemical reaction may take place. Thus, this is an example of accessory protein which in association with the cellular microtubules can cause sliding movement between the microtubules that are adjacent and at the same time causes movement of the cytoplasmic particles along a single microtubule to its target (Gibbon, 1988). Recent studies on accessory proteins associated with microtubules demonstrate that cytosolic dyneins are associated with retrograde transmission of intraxonal vesicles within neural tissues, and the forward motion of such vesicles is effected by another accessory protein, namely, kinesins. At the same time, within the brain neural tissues accessory proteins have been located which vary in molecular weights and binding... This essay focuses on the discussion of the microtubules, that on the molecular level comprise of tubulin molecules, which in turn are a heterodimer comprising of globular polypeptides, alpha and beta tubulin which are closely related and tightly linked. Many cellular functions are controlled by these microtubules which essentially are mediated through polymerisation and depolymerisation, which are controlled by nucleotide GTP. Following synthesis, there are molecular rearrangements within these microtubules are stabilized with accessory proteins, which are specific for particular tubulin. In this assignment from different cellular examples, these interactions between the specific accessory proteins and the microtubule molecular structure will be examined in order to describe the structures and functions of these specific accessory proteins. It has been demonstrated in the essay, that within the cell, there is continuous modification of microtubules which is conferred through a proce ss of binding to other proteins. These are known as microtubule associated proteins or accessory proteins. The two main roles that these microtubule-accessory protein complexes perform are stabilization of the microtubular molecular structure against disassembly and more importantly mediation of their interactions with other components of the cell. The most significant and ubiquitous protein associated are ATPases which transduce energy also known as microtubule motor proteins which induce a sliding between adjacent microtubules.

Feasibility study of a business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Feasibility study of a business - Research Paper Example There are restaurants however the quality, taste and service of these restaurants are not up to the mark. And even if, there are good quality restaurants, then they charge too high prices therefore it becomes difficult for people to go to restaurants on a regular basis. These opportunities would allow the newly introduced restaurant, Hamara Khana to make a mark in the UAE food mark. United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the growing countries in the world particularly in the Middle East Region. Investors around the world have been evaluating the feasibility of investing in the country (Gimbel, 2007). There are several opportunities available for investors and for businesses. Because of advantageous business conditions in the country, UAE is considered as the 14th best country in the world to start a business according to the report published by World Bank (Economy Rankings, 2011). The lifestyle and living standard of UAE has improved over the years (Human Development Report, 2010). This report analyses the opportunities that are prevailing in the United Arab Emirates market for opening a new restaurant. Almost 60% of the total population of UAE comprises of South Asians which includes Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Thai etc (National Bureau of Statistics, 2010) and therefore this report identifies and evaluates the feasibility of opening a new South Asian Restaurant particular that offers foods to Pakistani and Indians as both are high in numbers in UAE. The name of the restaurant is ‘Hamara Khana’ which means Our Food in Hindi (National Language of India) and in Urdu (National Language of Pakistan). Although, there are few restaurants offering food for South Asians however the market still looks promising and therefore this report will analyse the feasibility of opening a small restaurant in UAE. The idea of the business is to start a new restaurant, Hamara Khana. The restaurant would be offering

Proprietary Rights and Corporate Torts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Proprietary Rights and Corporate Torts - Essay Example This paper considers some of these cases that applied intentional tort against defendants who have gained wrongful access to company files and properties, and discusses the impact of their use on corporate law. Methodology This research paper was conducted initially by gathering suitable materials such as books and cases that are related to the subject. The method primarily used is data mining on the subject of intentional torts, including classifications thereof, and corporate cases that involve intentional torts. This entailed electronic searches of relevant materials and a subsequent search for primary sources such as cases from various jurisdictions and secondary sources such as books. The next stage is to actually get a copy of the sources thus gathered either electronically or on tape. Finally, the data gathered were summarized and presented. Intentional Tort and its Application in Corporate Trespass Cases A look at case law across the country reveals that a number had applied intentional torts in corporate trespass cases. This is true in the states of New York, Ohio, Virginia, California and Indiana, among others. In CompuServe Incorporated v Cyber Promotions, Inc and Sanford Wallace, 1 a preliminary injunction was granted to the plaintiff in an action for trespass to chattels. ... Similar cases to the foregoing are AOL v LCGM , 2 AOL v IMS, 3 AOL v NHCD 4 where the defendants were charged with trespass to chattels, among others, under Virginia common law for sending unsolicited email advertisements to AOL subscribers, and Hotmail Corporation v Vans Money Pie Inc, 5 where defendant deceitfully used Hotmail accounts as addressees. In all those cases, trespass occurred with intermeddling of personal property without authorization or when the use amounts to the impairment of its value. Other similar cases are EarthLink, Inc. v Carmack 6 decided in Georgia, and Tyco International (US) Inc. v Doe, 7 decided in New York. Three cases, viz., eBay v. Bidder’s Edge, 8 Register.com v Verio, 9 and Oyster Software Inc. v. Forms Processing Inc., et al, 10 used crawlers/search robots to search plaintiffs’ websites. In eBay, auction listings were obtained from the plaintiff’s site, in Register.com, domain name registrants and in Oyster, meta tags. The cour ts ruled that the acts constituted trespass to chattel because they interfered with possessory right without authorization and damage ensued. The Sotelo v DirectRevenue, LLC 11 case, on the other hand, involves the use of spyware and the defendant was an internet-based company that provided internet games for download bundled with spyware, which allowed pop-ups while users use the internet. The trespass to chattel was justified due to lack of authority and electronic contact that caused damage to the computer. In Thrifty-Tel, Inc., v Bezenek 12 the defendants were the parents of minors who had tapped into a telephone system by cracking its authorization and access codes using computer technology. Initially tried for conversion, the cause of action was

New Pharmaceuticals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

New Pharmaceuticals - Essay Example Secondly, the labeling of the drug is verified and its contents are determined. Thirdly, the methods of manufacturing adopted are verified for their effectiveness in retaining the drug’s â€Å"identity, strength, quality and purity† in adequate measures. The NDA has been so designed as to reveal the whole history behind development the drug such as animal studies, human clinical trials, mechanism of action of the drug on the body, methods of manufacture and packaging (NewDrugApplication). Development Process Discovery or invention of a new drug usually involves selecting a few say five out of more than 5,000 new compounds that are considered safe enough to conduct trials in humans and pre-clinical evaluations lasting for three to six years. From the five compounds selected, only one is approved by the FDA for introduction in the market for treatment. The research process involves the following sequence; Target identification, target prioritization/validation, lead ident ification and lead optimization. Once the drug is optimized through in vivo and in vitro studies involving animals, it is used in human volunteers as an investigational drug. There are a number of phases of testing of drug on humans consisting of Phase I Clinical studies, Phase II clinical studies, Phase III clinical studies, Phase IIIb/IV studies and Post Approval studies. Phase I meant for verification of safety and tolerability in humans lasts for six to nine months. Usually 20 to 100 healthy volunteers are given the investigational drug for a short term for documentation as to how the drugs is absorbed, distributed, metabolized in the body and excreted from the body. Phase II determines the effectiveness and further safety of the candidate drug on the humans. This phase would last for a period of six months to three years. In Phase III, the drug undergoes randomized and blind clinical trials involving several hundred to thousands of volunteering patients for whose diseases the d rug is intended. Phase III b is usually the immediate pre-approval stage. Post approval stage involves testing of the drug introduced in the market focusing on unknown side effects and other risk factors (PPD). Cost of development It has been estimated that new drug discoveries have increased human life expectancy and economic gains from new drugs are estimated to be more than $ 500 billion per year. In view of the above said prolonged development phases, a company has to incur costs not less than $ 800 million to $ 2 billion per drug. In once instance, Pfizer has reported an investment of $ 800 million for Phase III trials alone for one drug. The cost is huge because the U.S. F.D.A. approves just one drug out of five compounds selected out of 5,000 to 10,000 compounds originally studied. It takes at least 12 to 15 years for discovery and development of a drug. Though the patent period is 20 years for a drug, effective period available to the drug developer is hardly 12 years in vie w of the time consumed in the developmental period when the drug developer is allowed to use the drug along the way on volunteers (Masia n d ) Works Cited Masia, Neal. The Cost of Developing a New Drug, Focus on Intellectual Prperty Rights. n.d . 27 March 2011

School Administration in Texas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

School Administration in Texas - Essay Example 3. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed in order to redesign a number of federal programs which aim at the improvement of both primary and secondary schools. The improvements were made possible by increasing the accountability standards for all schools in Texas. It also provided more flexibility to parents to choose the school that should be attended by their child/children. The act also additionally focused on reading and also Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was aimed to be re-authorized. According to this Act, all the schools were required to distribute the contact details of each and every student to the military recruiters. The theories of standard-based education reform were enacted according to the act. Those theories were based upon a belief which says that if high expectations and goals were set, then every student would succeed. 4. Totally three kinds of funds comprise to generate funds for the funding for public schools in Texas. The three taxes are local funds, state funds and federal funds. If we consider the fiscal school year 2002-2003, the school funding was comprised of 49 percent from local taxes, 41 percent from state taxes and 10 percent from the federal sources. Based on the differences in the local property wealth and the population of students, these revenues may differ in the percentage. Area III: How the System Works - Expenditures Objectives of Budgeting: The following are some of the important objectives of Budgeting: It aims at providing a yardstick based on which future results can be compared. If any material variances exist against the budget, it is possible for the management to take actions basing upon the establishments of the budget. Direct capital expenditures can be most profitably directed by using budget. Budget is a guide to management decisions when affected by unforeseen conditions. In order to achieve maximum profitability, budgets help to plan and control earnings as well as expenditures. Adequacy in working capital and scarcity in resources can be planned and anticipated by making use of budgeting. Decentralization of responsibility to individual managers is possible. Methods of Budgeting: Different methods of budgeting are used for developing budgets. Affordability Method: In this method of budgeting, the budget is developed depending on the ability to spend. The major disadvantage in this method is that the allocations of funds are always arbitrary as the figure may have a short fall or exceed. Incremental Budgeting: This method is based on a particular department or functions on that of the previous period and is adjusted to inflation by a percentage increase. The advantage of this budget is that it is stable and there is a gradual and planned change. The disadvantage is that is assumes that work activities will remain same and it gives no scope to developing ideas. Zero Based Budgeting: This means, budget starts from a base of zero for each budgeting period. The proposed activities are then assessed and prioritized. Optimum utilization of resources is the primary advantage

Book summary of Montana 1948 Essay Example for Free

Book summary of Montana 1948 Essay Race, social status and gender are three factors, in which society uses to judge people. Although many people do not agree with this aspect, our society embraces it by categorizing all people under theses three factors. Those who consider themselves to be better then others, attempt to belittle those whom they consider to be weaker. These people are often known, as the Fringe of society. Montana 1948 is an excellent example of this struggle between the weak and the strong. Montana 1948 is a very good example of what it was like to be part of the fringe of society. The author does an extraordinary job at depicting certain struggles of power between the characters in the book. The reason these struggles are so easy to pick up on is because the narrator describes the characters to full detail. This allows for a further enhancement of the book to which you can become more acquainted with the characters. There for you can predict the struggles between characters. One of the main struggles in this story is between the Fringes of society and those who have power. By power I mean those who are able to speak for themselves and defend themselves. Good examples of power, in the society of Montana 1948, are the white men. Those who would be considered a fringe would be the Native Americans, women, and children. It is obvious, in the story, that men had the power. The male characters in the book prove this; such as Wes, his father, and Frank. Each character has a certain overpowering attitude over the other. Wes being the character, which most frequently shows up in all the scenes, is able to take over the scene with his overpowering attitude. This is true because several occasions in the book demonstrate the wifes reluctant ness to make decisions on her own there for always seeking Wess approval; If my mother said it, it was so, yet my fathers confirmation was still necessary page 43. This demonstrates the superiority that Wes had over the family, hence putting the wife on the fringe of the household. Frank on the other hand is more of an easy going character, but since he was a doctor and was his fathers favorite, he is given more liability and credit over Wes. Frank was witty, charming, at smiling ease with his life and every thing in it. Along side his brother my father soon seemed somewhat prosaic. Oh, stolid, surely, and  steady and dependable. But inevitably, inescapably dull. Nothing glittered in my fathers wake the way it did in Uncle Franks, page36. In this case Wes has always had to struggle with Frank over favoritism over their father. This favoritism is apparent when their father gets up in front of a large crowd to address his son Frank as a war hero, Now Id like to bring my son up here. Page 37. The favoritism is also imminent in the way the father addressed the speech, He simply said my son. And why wouldnt the county sheriff be called on to make a small speech? page37. The last character, which is considered to be the most powerful in the book, and a scene-stealer, is Grandpa. Obviously as the head of the family he has power over his sons, but his high social status and wealth also puts him above and beyond most people. This power to which he attains allows him to do most anything he pleases, without having any confrontations from the towns people. He didnt call for silence. That wasnt his way. He simply stood there; his feet planted wide, his hands on his hipspage37. He assumed that once people saw him, they would give him their attention. And they did page37. This example clearly demonstrates the Grandpas superiority over all the people. These where the main characters, in the story, and they demonstrated what it was like to be above the Fringe. Being part of a fringe, means that you do not have much say around others. Native Americans are a common example of what a fringe is like. They isolate themselves from the town, because white people put down Native Americans due to their race. Native Americans are not the only people part of the Fringe. At times women may be considered that also. For they are not described by the narrator as much as men, hence showing favoritism of men over women by the author. It is true that Native Americans and women are not as socially high as men.

Different types of assessment in the education system

Different types of assessment in the education system Formal assessments are given in a formal environment and are distributed by testing companies that provide statistical data related to large reference groups. Informal assessments are what teachers do on a daily basis throughout their classrooms to measure the amount of material the students comprehend. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the formal and informal assessment techniques used for measuring student progress in the schools educational system. The first formal assessment examined was the standardized achievement test. Test of this type provides a level of achievement with a specific reference group. Achievement test measure the schools in broad state mandated goals; there are several advantages and disadvantages to formal assessments such as achievement test (Miller, Linn, Gronlund, 2009). Advantages in giving achievement test vary from students, parents and school administration. First, students learn when a demand of certain learning proficiency is expected of them. If there is no standard to set students goals of achievement; there will be no expectations and student success will be absent. Parents, communities and the school will be able to identify the students knowledge by comparing their students to other schools in specific reference groups. Educational systems are able to measure and set goals to work more efficiently and increase productivity to achieve national, state and regional standards. A second advantage is that achievement tests can highlight gaps and show areas in which improvements need to be made. Many times it may show the need for student improvement, but often it shows a need for continued teacher education, improvement in teaching practices and the allotment of monies to be spent on resources for the classrooms. A disadvantage in achievement testing could produce careless performance of standards and have a negative impact on students. First disadvantage is that standards are vague and uncertain in subject areas. Difficulties occur when standards are not concrete pertaining to what knowledge the students should have at that level. A second disadvantage to achievement testing is the standards that are imposed by federal and state. Those standards can create problems by forcing content related specifications without considering the different needs, opportunities to learn and skills that may be appropriate for specific districts or states. Another type of formal assessment examined was the aptitude test. As in the achievement test, the aptitude test provides qualities of good assessment such as: reliability, standardization, validity and practicality. The primary purpose of the aptitude test is to assess students general capability to learn. This test is supposed to help predict their general academic success. All standardized test have their advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of the aptitude test is the practicality. The standardized aptitude test takes less time to assess the students than informal testing procedures. They are easily administered by giving explicit directions to each student in the same manner. Machines to the grading and computers track the levels of achievement to different reference groups. A second advantage to aptitude test is objectivity. A standardized aptitude test does not have emotion or biases. It is completely objective in assessing the students achievement gains. High expectations are set for the students in objectively by specific reference groups and it holds them accountable to the standards in the effort to high achievement gains. A disadvantage in an aptitude test is the amount of pressure placed on the curriculum being taught in the classroom. This affects how the teachers teach their student and how much meaningful learning actually takes place in the classroom. It is a misconception that what is taught in a classroom and what the students are tested on is one in the same. Most often what the students are tested on do not always match up to the instructional content and objectives of the classroom curriculum (Ormrod, 2003). A second disadvantage to aptitude testing is the negative impact it holds over the students, teachers and school. School systems hold their school accountable when test scores do not continually improve. This places pressure on the teachers to get students to raise their scores. However, this can lead to dishonesty on the part of the teachers and principals. They exclude students who may have special needs or other considerations. With the pressure to improve constantly, the right thing to do becomes clouded. Teachers may feel the need to cheat to keep from having low performance scores in their classrooms to maintain their job. Informal assessment is conducted daily in the classroom setting. It is used by the teachers as a form of evaluation to determine the students level of comprehension. This type of evaluation will allow for immediate assessment for the teacher to review during instruction to the student. Informal assessment may consist of assigned homework, group cooperation activities, one on one interview with student and teacher created checklists. The first type of informal testing is homework. A teacher assigns homework to be completed at the end of formal instruction or to be completed outside the classroom. Advantages to using this type of assessment is that it allows the students to take their time to get the assigned work completed before due date. This can alleviate stress for the student who is a slower worker. Another advantage to using homework as an assessment is that it is easy for the teacher to grade. The teacher may wish to allow the students to grade their own papers. The rationale behind this process it that the students will see the errors they made, corrections will be given by the teacher and a clearer understanding of the mistakes will provide the student with a new perception. A disadvantage to using homework as an assessment is the fact that students can cheat. They may not do their own work; this would not provide a clear depiction of the students performance. Another disadvantage is the student has use of their notes, books, and other resources to help recall the information. Therefore, an accurate measure of student comprehension cannot be achieved. A second informal assessment is group cooperation activities. Assessments of this type allow the teacher to observe the students and see the students use what they have learned from the formal instruction. The first advantage to group learning is that it allows the student to engage and learn from their peers. Things are discussed and thought out by each member of the group to arrive at the final answer. The second advantage is that the teacher can observe the students and make decision concerning the review of particular items that may be unclear and need to be explained further. The teacher can adjust her lesson plans to meet those needs immediately. A disadvantage to group cooperation activities is that if not monitored closely the students may see this time as free time or busy time. Teachers cannot expect the students to break off into groups and stay on task if not monitored. The students need to know the teacher is coming to their group to check on the task at hand. They have to know they will be held accountable to their part of the group work. This brings up the second disadvantage. Group cooperation activities cannot be used for teacher preparation time. The teacher who uses this time to grade papers for another class or simply take a break will bring chaos to the classroom. A group cooperation activity is a process thought out and organized by the teacher to create a powerful explorative learning tool which has to be monitored to make student assessments. The third type of informal assessment is a one on one interview with a student. This allows the teacher to assess the students level of knowledge and understanding over the content of the course. An advantage of the interview is that it allows the student to explain to the teacher what he or she does not fully understand. This helps the teacher to adjust the instruction to help that particular student. Another advantage is that it can assist in parent teacher conversation over their students progress. It allows the teacher to give suggestions for additional help at home. A disadvantage to a one on one interview can be that it is time consuming. It requires that a teacher schedule a private meeting with each individual student. Another disadvantage is that the one on one interview does not provide a clear concept of the students knowledge. The student may not be able to express or communicate the content they are having difficulty understanding. And the final informal assessment is a checklist. It is created by the teacher to contain certain qualities, information, or skills and knowledge that they want to see exhibited by the students after a unit has been completed. The first advantage is that it does not take a lot of time and can be completed over a period of time when the teacher sees a display or lack thereof from the student. Another advantage is that the checklist is made by each individual teacher and he or she can cater it to the skills and knowledge they want the students to achieve from the unit based on the amount of material covered. A disadvantage to a checklist is that it does not inform the teacher where additional instruction is needed. It cannot determine the knowledge and skills that students are meant to learn throughout the course. Another disadvantage is that while the short term goals for student assessment are being met, long term goals and objectives are missing from the information on the checklist. Most schools and teachers use a variety of assessments to test the students knowledge and comprehension of subjects. It is important that the teacher uses multiple methods of evaluation to assess the content being covered in the course so that we can better provide for the educational needs of the students. Students differ in their abilities to test just as we differ in our ability to test the knowledge taught. The more often we assess the students and make adjustment to our teaching the more successful the student will be. The students future will be successful and the teachers will have validation for their teaching skills.

Douglass Narrative and Browns Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown :: Compare Contrast Brown Douglass Essays

Douglass' Narrative and Brown's "Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown" Aside from the many obvious differences between Douglass’ Narrative and Brown’s â€Å"Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown†, I found an important similarity. Although they are not told with the same style or point of view, I think the way both narratives are introduced are practically the same. This is because they both introduce themselves in relation to their families. For William Wells Brown, he begins to tell about his family in the just the second sentence, and for Frederick Douglass, it starts in the second paragraph. First of all, this is important because it sort of allows whites to see validation for black existence free of slavery. This is because white people can actually relate to family structure and the overall notion of family values. Another important aspect is that both men point out that they are of mixed blood. Their fathers were white men. That obviously establishes a connection with white readers, be it negative o r positive. A major goal of these authors is to get the white reader to want to abolish slavery. If they feel connected to Brown or Douglass, they might feel sympathy and therefore want to free them, or they could possibly feel against the mixing of races and therefore getting slaves away from whites (freeing them) might prevent this. Either way, the goal is realized. (The latter one might not be great in terms of preventing colonization though). Thirdly, they both reach out to readers by showing their broken family and how hard separation is for them. Whites, with their view of the family as sacred, might see this as something that needs to be changed. Because both authors opened their narratives with family and its importance to them, they appealed to people who might have originally felt no sympathy for them. I think that Brown includes his â€Å"Narrative† as an introduction to Clotel for two main reasons. I think it shows that he himself has been intimate with, or, at least that he has a great understanding of the situations presented in the novel because he has experienced being a black (mixed black) too.

Book Report on A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells Essay -- Modern Utopia W

Book Report on A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells H. G. Wells’ book, A Modern Utopia was published in 1905. This book seems to be unique for two reasons. As Wells tells us, it is told from the point of view of "a whitish plump man" that he calls the "Voice" (1). This allows the book to be what Wells calls, "a sort of shot-silk texture between philosophical discussion on the one hand and imaginative narrative on the other" because the Utopia that we visit in the story is the one inside the mind of the "Voice" or the narrator (ix). He (the Voice) is talking to a friend, a botanist that continues with him on his journeys, about utopian thought when suddenly these two men have been transported past Sirius to Utopia, the Voice’s ideal planet that is exactly the mirror of Earth, from geology to each individual person. Sometimes the narrator describes what is actually going on around them, what they are actually doing in Utopia, but more often he talks about what he thinks Utopia should be like, and the reader must interpret this as how this Utopia is, since this Utopia itself is in his imagination. The plot is this: the two men find themselves on this new planet by a feat of imagination. They find a coin on the ground, which pays for the inn at which they stay for a few nights. They speak to a man who dislikes the government and prefers Nature and simplicity. Because they are running out of money, the two men go to the Public Office to try and find work, where they are fingerprinted. The fingerprints surprisingly identify an existing citizen of Utopia, the record of the men’s duplicate. Because of the confusion, the men are shipped to a toy-carving factory in Lucerne, where, because the authorities figure out that they have doubles... ...es not appear in any utopian visions of the ancients, and thus marks this world different from those of antiquity. This brings up an interesting question; since this world is based on capitalism, is it attainable from our present capitalist society? Why or Why not? Is it possible to have a capitalist utopia? The Voice’s double argues that wealth is not power. Is this true? Could it be true under different circumstances? This Utopia is also a global, World State. Is this feasible? Is this necessary? This Utopia proclaims itself imperfect. Is this an oxymoron? Is a society that admits room for improvement a Utopia? The ruling class of this Utopia, the Samurai, is a voluntary ruling class. What problems would this involve? What problems would it solve? Works Cited Wells, H. G. A Modern Utopia. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.

Choose to scenes from the film that illuminates the text of Educating :: English Literature

Choose to scenes from the film that illuminates the text of Educating Rita by Willy Russell When the play was written there was a still a cultural divide between the uneducated (as in no higher education) working class and the cultural and educated upper class but higher education was slowly being madeavailable to the masses. This was partly due to Open University (OU) with provided a university education to those who normally would have not been able to go due to employment or the fact that they might feel they wouldn't fit in, like Rita, because of the cultural differences. Rita feels she needs an education to fill her life, as she knows that something in her life is not right and so she turns to the part of a life she doesn't have -education and knowledge of culture- to fill the gap. However as we find out this is not necessarily what she is missing, but in her search for an education she finds 'a new Rita', she even changes her name back to Susan. Susan is Rita's real name, however when she started OU she changed it to Rita after Rita Mae Brown, someone who she thinks writes literature, but in fact writes "pulp- fiction" stories, because at this time she thinks all books are literature- this shows the cultural difference. The play Educating Rita by Willy Russell gained great popularity especially during the early eighties. There has also been a movie made from it starring Julie Walters and the more famous Michael Caine. As so often the case, the movie was more elaborate with additional scenes, some of which were spoken of or retold by the actors in the play. The movie also included several actors while the play only featured two, Frank and Rita. In this essay I am going to explore how the film illuminates parts of the text when performed on stage. Although most of the details are small and subtle, they have a great impact on how the story portrayed. The movie offers much more background information on other characters and events that are important to the story. The play is much more restricted in the sense that a great many things are bound not to happen on stage, especially as there are only two characters. In fact nothing taking place outside Frank's office can be seen by the audience. All action is then confined within the stages four walls. When Frank invites Rita to his home for dinner in the play the

Learning Communities Essay

Concorde Career Institute Orlando has been an educational institution for over 25 years. This organization provides fast-track, health-related programs in various fields. As with any educational institution, proprietary or not, there are many employees-all part of many different departments. Concorde Orlando has developed of a learning community to some extent, but the findings presented in Assignment Two support a need for further development in many areas. Concorde has committed itself to providing online and in-person training in order to continue to connect members of its current learning community. This training usually covers a variety of different objectives and the training is usually provided by outside companies. By utilizing outside agencies to provide training materials, the needs of the organization and its employees are not being evaluated nor met. A more personalized training, tailored to specific and immediate needs is a must. Stronger leadership and a more cohesive working milieu are also imperative. Concorde’s major concerns should be focused upon its communication and teamwork approach but, there are many more areas of that require attention. A cohesive, functional learning environment takes dedication and time. Once those areas are better executed, it can begin to build upon the foundation it has begun to lay. Concorde Career Institution, as a corporation, makes statements that it supports a mature learning environment. The mission statement seems to promote an idealistic working atmosphere that fosters independent thinking, creativity, and a teamwork approach to education. Reality has proven to be different. A motivated and strong team leader should be put into place-one that can appreciate the benefits of a well-built and maturely developed learning community. Concorde Orlando provides a yearly employee evaluation. This valuation is meant to appraise employee performance, acknowledge strengths and identify weaknesses. The employee evaluates himself, and then subsequently, so does his/her immediate supervisor. Depending on the evaluation’s results, it may produce an action plan. This action plan recognizes areas that need to be improved on, provides a strategy by which to improve them and a date in which a reevaluation should take place. Concorde does not necessarily discuss findings in employee performance evaluations with the employees; therefore organizational expectations are not known. This causes confusion and ambiguity. Many organizations have begun to favor consultants when evaluating employee performance. This can assure independent and neutral employee performance feedback. There is research that supports consulting as a strategy for improving teachers’ implementation of classroom interventions. † Results have supported that internal consultants are able to assess and briefly increase teachers’ treatment integrity with performance feedback† (Sanetti, et. al, 2013). There is a call, however, for organizations to realize that being proactive instead of reactive is a more logical approach when it comes to employee performance. According to a 2012 Global Workforce Study,† a survey of 32,000 employees across 30 countries, calls for employers to focus on engagement. The report defines such engagement as the intensity of employees’ connection to their organization based on three factors: the extent of their discretionary effort committed to achieving work goals, an environment that supports productivity in multiple ways, and a work experience that promotes well-being† (T&D, 2013). This of course will improve overall employee performance and benefits the organization as a whole. The â€Å"group think† theory suggests that people from similar areas of work and backgrounds have ideas that are familiar are accepted without examination, while those that are unfamiliar are rejected without open consideration (Martin, 2006). Groups affected by group think do not tolerate opinions that do not coincide with their own. A learning community can be especially susceptible to group think when its community members are similar in background, shielded from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making. At Concorde, group thinking does not habitually exist. Concorde does consider the input of the community, holding biannual meetings in which area affiliates give their input on school progress, its students and offers suggestions for change. This organization seems to value the input and opinions of others. Community members can feel included when they participate in creating the future direction of their learning community. They will make better decisions when they respect social, environmental and economic needs. When a shared vision is used to devise goals that guide local leadership, the community is well on its way to creating a better, sustainable place for the community (Grunkemeyer and Moss, 2010). Shared visions are an important characteristic of any successful learning community. Concorde Orlando is no exception to this fact. This organization has a clear set of goals to accomplish, and department leaders do communicate these company visions with employees. There does not seem to be a comprehensible plan in place, however, as to how to achieve them. Often times, multiple meetings are held in order to impart the company vision community members. Because we live in a world that is constantly changing and moving, organizations are challenged with conditions that seem to change at the speed of light. Often times, initiatives are poorly planned and executed. These errors can cause crippling effects within an organization. More and more, organizations have come to depend on teamwork. According to Ofoegbu, O. , et. l (2012) â€Å"Teamwork may be an appropriate managerial approach to reducing politics by increasing employees’ understanding and control, particularly in organizations whose strategic objectives call for employees to work in teams. † Most modern organizations have realized the value and benefits of teamwork and Concorde Orlando is no exception. Most projects are completed by teams. Most issues are resolved through the input of various community members. Many community outreach activities are also organized and carried out by teams. With enrollments being the number one company goal, Concorde Orlando heavily relies on teamwork in order to achieve this. Unfortunately, inappropriate team leaders are often chosen, resulting in poorly executed plans. This can cause major project delays and â€Å"do-over’s†. Dennis J. Elrod (2012), states that â€Å"Great leaders are always learning, whether it’s from those above them in the hierarchy, their peers, or those they lead. They also don’t let opportunities to improve pass them by, so it pays to always be on the lookout for things that may improve your leadership style. There are many different types of leaders and many different types of leadership styles. Leaders not only concern themselves with the organizational goals, but also about the people who are involved in the process. Autocratic and hierarchical models of leadership dominated many businesses and organizations for years. The workplace environment changes from generation to generation. Today, community members are no longer content to go to work in complete obscurity. Employees want to feel significant, stimulated and challenged. Being an effective leader builds a sense of belonging within its learning community. Effective leaders not only increase employee retention, but also improve employee efficiency. Employees are more willing to follow efficient leaders than non-effective individuals. Choosing the right leader is the difference between success and failure. A great team leader needs to understand the organization’s goals and be able to understand what drivers are needed in order to motivate the team members. It is the leader’s job to ensure that great ideas are smartly implemented. The team leader must be able to sell his vision, the organization’s goals and the rewards reaped from the fruits of their labor. He must be able determine which team member could execute what parts of the project, resolve conflicts, and encourage each team member’s creativity and input. Concorde Orlando has a long standing history of ineffective leadership and a very high turn-over rate. During the last year, there have been several personnel changes in the Campus President, Academic Dean and program director positions. This instability and low employee retention ratio in its leadership roles have compromised Concorde Orlando’s credibility with the student body, its employees and the community. Concorde Career Institute has not been a pioneer in the field of communication. Issues are slow to be resolved, meetings are full of redundant material and there is a general fear of communicating with administrators for fear of retaliation. Great communication starts with listening and observing, and this organization has not trained its leaders to do that. Training is requisite in order to learn how to effectively communicate with others in a work environment. Currently, there is no communication training available at Concorde. The same communication methods that have been in place for years are still practiced today. Reevaluation of these methods is needed in order to have more successful communication within its learning community. Internet access provides opportunities for classrooms throughout the world to communicate and collaborate in real time. In the same way, members of the learning community can experience these open new ways of thinking. â€Å"A compendium of organizations and businesses is dedicated to encouraging an emphasis on skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, computer and technology skills, communication, and self-direction skills in US schools and schools worldwide. The educational challenges of the 21st century open up possibilities that, until now, have been beyond imagination† (Roth, 2010). Concorde does utilize different methods of training its employees in order to maximize learning potential. What seems to have been most successful within this learning community is peer leadership. â€Å"Peer leadership contributes to the success of collaborative group learning† (Popejoy and Asala, 2013). Group learning allows all members to be actively involved. When community members are involved in learning processes with their peers, they are more likely to feel comfortable. Concorde Orlando supports and encourages all types of learning models, therefore increases the chance of successful outcomes. Concorde Career Institute-Orlando could be classified as being well on its way to developing a mature learning community. Though this learning community is fraught with quite a few weaknesses, it also has an impressive set of strengths. As long as someone has the initiative and fortitude to move this community forward, Concorde Orlando can prove to be a great success.

Production and Supply of Exotic Vegetables Essay

Greenhouse cultivation started on commercial basis 20 years ago in India. At present more than 25000 greenhouses exists in India cultivating roses, gerbera, carnation, Anthurium, orchids, and vegetables like Capsicum, tomatoes, cucumber and exotic vegetables. India contributes only 1% to the total area under greenhouse in the world. At present Gujarat has around 450 operational greenhouses and will have more than 800 operational greenhouses in 2013. Hence, it’s the time now to promote greenhouse farming to have sustainable agriculture with quality produce in the hands of the consumers. Greenhouse technology has been promoted by the central government and state government on large scale. The farmers are not utilising it in an efficient way mainly because of cultivating the crops as same as they are cultivating in the open field. Hence, the core concept of greenhouse gets vanished away. The research paper is with reference to the research conducted on Controlled environment cultivation in Gujarat. It includes the various aspects of production, operation, supply chain and marketing, subsidies given by various horticulture departments at Central and State level. There is a lot of opportunities and improvements needs to be done at farmer’s level. It includes grabbing the right market at right time which can be achieved only when they transplant at right time keeping in mind the nearby market. Also, the farmers have to change their mind set about the overdose of fertilizers and pesticides which is not beneficial to crops but in turn invites more of pests and disease and deteriorate our soil micro flora and fauna. Since, cultivation in greenhouse in itself is an advantage, increasing the cost of cultivation takes them away from gaining the real advantage. For which it is necessary that they should follow the package of practise as given by the horticulturists of the state government department. Maintenance is another aspect which should be kept in mind like time and schedule of irrigation, weeding, earthing up, right time for tieing the plant, stage of picking the fruits etc. Also, if there is any attack of pest or disease they should consult entomologists or pathologists rather than blindly applying the chemicals as given by the retail stores to sale and promote their brand.

Data Base

†¢Review and describe the most important criteria for selecting internetworking devices at the core, access, and distribution layer in a computer network †¢ †¢The most important criteria for selecting internetworking devices includes; processing speed, reputation and viability of the vendor, ease of configuration, number of ports, support for security standards such as WPA or 802. 1i, ability to tune the transmit power, support for QoS features, amount of memory†¦etc. †¢ †¢ Describe the key criteria involved in selecting WAN technologies and WAN providers. Discuss which criteria is the most important from your perspective and state why. The criteria used to evaluate and select a WAN provider will vary from company to company. While cost may be the most important factor for one company, reliability may be the deciding factor for another.Enterprises should choose a WAN provider based on the criteria that are most important to them include the extent of ser vices and technologies offered by the provider, the geographical area covered by the provider, best network access for each application flow, maximizing application performance, continuity and network usage, takes into account the end-to-end characteristics of each available network (quality and bandwidth) to decide in real time the best access for each application flow quality parameters like network delay, jitter and loss, as well as the available bandwidth.Evaluated in real-time, these criteria are weighted according to the type of application flow: voice will usually look for the fastest path while email may prefer the largest one.

Innovative Hr Practices to Maintain Work Life Balance of Employees

INNOVATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES FOR MAINTAINING WORK-LIFE BALANCE OF EMPLOYEES Author – [pic] Mr. Virendra Gadiwar, Miss Puja Shedge & Prof. Poonam Vatharkar. INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 1. 1. Background†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3 1. 2 Defining work life balance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦. 3 1. 3 meaning†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 2. 1 Importance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 2. Advantages†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 2. 3 Techniques influencing work life balance†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 6 3. OBJECTIVE OF CONDUCTING SURVEY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 3. 1 How the survey help?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ . 8 4. 1 Method of data collection†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 4. 2 Research Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 5. ANALYSIS OF DATA. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 5. 1 Tabular Representation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 12 5 . 2 Diagrammatic Representation. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 6. FINDINGS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 7. CONCLUSION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 14 1. INTRODUCTION: 1. 1 Background The role of work has changed throughout the world due to economic conditions and social demands. Originally, work was a matter of necessity and survival. Throughout the years, the role of â€Å"work† has evolved and the composition of the workforce has changed. Today, work still is a necessity but it should be a source of personal satisfaction as well. One of the vehicles to help provide attainment of personal and professional goals is work-life benefits and programs The issue of work-life balance has developed out of demographic and social changes that have resulted in a more diverse, declining workforce, different family and work models. Supporting work-life balance (WLB) is seen as a way of attracting and retaining the labour force needed to support economic well-being. In organizations and on the home front, the challenge of work/life balance is rising to the top of many employers’ and employees’ consciousness. In today’s fast-paced society, human resource professionals seek options to positively impact the bottom line of their companies, improve employee morale, retain employees with valuable company knowledge, and keep pace with workplace trends. However, experience has shown that policy on flexible work practices needs to be supported by strategies to achieve effective implementation. This research provides suggestions and options for Human Resources Managers on developing and managing equitable flexible work practices. It has been designed to provide practical advice to assist organizations in achieving successful implementation of these policies which would be a key initiative for inclusion in an organizational WLB. 1. 2 Defining work-life balance: 1. †Work life balance is about effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and the other activities that are important to people. It’s not saying that work is wrong or bad, but that work shouldn’t completely crowd out the other things that matter to people like time with family, participation in community activities, voluntary work, personal development, leisure and recreation† . â€Å"Working practices that acknowledge and aim to support the needs of staff in achieving a balance between their home and working lives† 3. â€Å"people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual's right to a fulfilled life inside and outside work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society. † UK organization Employers for Work-Life Balance 1. 3 Meaning : In recent years there is a dramatic change in much organization with respect to work-Life balance (WLB) which is named as flexible work time arrangements, the sensitivity of topic is reflected by its idea which is to provide personal work style preferences. This arrangement is famous for job satisfaction, commitment, and engagement of an employee. When we talk about flexibility the first thing which we relate it with is relaxation, relaxation in terms of tasks, duties, responsibility, but when we particularly talk about WLB it means that we are talking about nontraditional great schedules and working away from campus. There are a significant percentage of employees already involved in flexible time arrangements that they do not work the standard schedule of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm which is being followed by the most of the organization. Variable arrangements provide for daily, weekly, monthly, or annual fluctuations in scheduling. Flexible arrangements are a broad term we are not only talking about daily scheduling but it may vary to monthly or even annual rearrangements of time. In flexible arrangements we are not bound to an old stereotypical standards but a fair customize scheduling. Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and unrealistic. Life is and should be more fluid than that. Your best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow. The right balance for you when you are single will be different when you marry, or if you have children; when you start a new career versus when you are nearing retirement. 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK : 2. 1 Importance: 1) Productivity : Managers can increase the productivity of employees by responding to their need to balance work and personal obligations. This positive approach by managers can: ? Inspire increased loyalty and commitment from employees. ? Retain employees and make savings on the costs of employee turnover, training and absenteeism. ? Examine how work-life balance policies affect another variable such as job satisfaction or organizational commitment, and then correlate these variables to productivity. 2) Job Satisfaction : When work extends into family time, it can create stresses which then extend into the workforce. One meta-analysis suggests that there is a consistent negative relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction. As far as work-life balance policies can reduce the conflict between work and family, they can increase job satisfaction. There is no strong empirical evidence of a positive association between high employee satisfaction and high productivity, but job satisfaction does have a clear negative relationship to absence and turnover. A satisfied workforce may be valuable because employees are then less likely to be absent and consequently affect the bottom line. Other commentators suggest that work-life balance policies can increase organizational commitment. Higher levels of organizational commitment are then correlated with lower turnover and better job performance. 3) Saving Costs : The work-life balance important to reduce for the cost of an organization such as, ? Reduced staff turnover: †¢ Estimated cost of replacing a manager: †¢ Estimated cost of replacing an employee. Organizations are rest upon the assumption that work-life balance policies will improve staff retention. Reducing staff turnover leads to lower costs, as recruiting new staff is a costly process. Staff loss leads to direct costs and indirect cost. Direct cost associated with recruiting, such as advertising, interviewing. However indirect costs associated with the loss of institutional knowledge and contacts. Greater staff retention also reduces training costs. Having staff staying longer in a firm, increases the returns on investments made in their training. There is Cost savings also if work-life balance policies reduce absenteeism. 2. 2 Advantages: a. Enables extension of working hours. . Improves recruitment and retention of staff. c. Gives some scope to match peak staffing with peak demand for departments where the work pattern is unpredictable. d. A staff is able to fit domestic commitments in around the start or finish of the ordinary working day. e. Staff is able to miss the worst of the rush hour. f. Choosing to work early or late when there are fewer interruptions. g. Staff abl e to log extra hours worked and takes time back later. h. Staff able to consolidate credit hours into a half-day or day off. 2. 3 Techniques Influencing Work-Life Balance: |SR. NO. TECHNIQUES | DESCRIPTIONS | |1 |flexible work agreement |An agreement documenting specific flexible working arrangements negotiated between an individual employee | | | |and workgroup manager, signed by the employee and workgroup manager, and approved by the corporate manager| |2 |flexible working |Flexible working arrangements define the flexibility in working conditions available to specified groups | | |arrangements |of employees and the parameters within which individual agreements can be negotiated | |3 |flexi time |A flexible arrangement of working time, which allows employees to negotiate how and when hours will be | | | |worked within limits and conditions set by the corporate manager. |4 |compressed weeks |An arrangement which enables employees to exchange an agreed reduction in their salary ove r a specified | | | |period for extra periods of leave. The period or periods of purchased leave are planned in advance and | | | |funded by salary deductions spread evenly over the total period of the agreement. | |5 |job share |An arrangement where one full-time job is shared between two or more people. Each person works part-time | | | |on a regular on-going basis. | |6 |Part time |in basic terms this applies to staff who work fewer hours than full time, e. g. orking 20 hours over 3 | | | |days rather than 37 hours over 5 days | |7 |Voluntary reduced hours |a temporary reduction in working hours should be available in | | | |all forces, but may be given a different name | |8 |Annual hours |works on the basis of agreeing a fixed number of hours over a year, then calculating the hours on a | | | |monthly basis, i. e. instead of a five-week shift pattern | |9 |Career breaks |Taking an unpaid break in your career. | |10 |Home/tele working |staff working mainly from home or at a geog raphically separate site and | | | |Communicating with their HQ /base station via phone and e-mail. | 3. OBJECTIVE OF CONDUCTING SURVEY : The main objective of our survey is to focus on employee satisfaction with organization policies so as to control level of stress, lack of productivity, lack of moral etc. which effect employee retention and turnover. Therefore to achieve high employee satisfaction and engagement different innovative human recourse policies could be adopted. To address this issue, our survey is conducted to investigate the innovative human recourse policies to maintain work life balance of employee that aims to improve satisfaction and engagement. 3. 1 How The Survey Help? A comprehensive evolution of Work-life balance can best be seen as a â€Å"check up† on the human resources policies of your organization. Like any check-up, you learn both what is working well and where there are areas needed improvements. When conducted on regular basis, systematic method for assigning employee satisfaction will let you identify key trends and pattern among employee attitude towards the WLB, thereby enabling you and your company to anticipated and act on upcoming problems and issues. As a result, an human recourses policies study conducted this will enable you to use the information from your employee as a tools for change within your organization. We strongly believe that human resources policies studies should represent a mutual exchange of information between employee and organization. To fulfill this simple principle, there is a critical need to make employee feel that they are part of the research process. For maximum effectiveness, employee must believe that work-life balance have values to them as well as to the organization, that believes in clarity demostaticting to employees this study is an opportunity to be heard and directly influence human resources policies . This approach not only measurable impact on participation rates but also effect the degree to which employee trust the outcomes when finding are reported back to them. For these reasons, all questionnaires are carefully designed for a case of use, including straightforward wording a clean layout and simple navigation. 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4. 1 Method of data collection: The survey was developed by a department team comprised of representatives from several organization, institutions, and the business farms. Evaluations provided technical assistance, and the team reviewed on human resources polices for maintain work-life balance. Following extensive discussion, the team determined the basic structure, format, questions, and methodology for administering the survey. Each workgroup member was asked to include participants from management, professionals, and support staff. The purpose of the test was to determine the following: a) Determine which technique will influence the Work life balance in human resources policies. b) Determine if the employee feels about work-life balance. c) To solicit suggestions for improvement of the human resource policies. d) To solicit information on employees willingness to participate in such a Survey. e) To solicit information on ways to encourage employee participation. 4. 2 Research Methodology: Research can be define as â€Å" process of systematic inquiry that is design to collect, analysis, interpret and use to understand, describe, predict or control an educational physiological phenomenon or to empower individuals in such contexts. This research undertaking is designed to be a descriptive study about objectives, types of data, sources of data, questionnaires, sampling and sample design. a) Collection of Data: There are two kinds of data can be taken as the survey is concern about they can be , i. Primary data ii. Secondary data From the above types of data the data can be extracted as following: Primary Data: It includes the Questionnaires taken for the survey includes ten factors with the rating options. Secondary Data: It includes the literature review as follows: ? There is clear evidence of a strong business benefits in the case studies, however these conclusions are context specific, and not necessarily general sable. There is No â€Å"one size fits all† business case for work-life balance policies. ? The larger, econometric studies are less common that the case study work but they do find a correlation between productivity and the presence of work-life balance policies. ? The evidence of the business benefits of work-life balance policies is reasonably strong, and increasing. There are many incentives for the usage of WLB policies – according to a 2002 National Development Plan Study, the level of family friendliness of the workplace (as measured in terms of number of family friendly policies available) was significantly correlated with the work satisfaction of fathers and mothers. The benefits of such policies included employee satisfaction, attracting/retaining employee productivity, reduced labour turnover, reduced absenteeism and improved business results. b) Questionnaire: Quantitative data in this study is collected through a questionnaire that was distributed to IT sector employees. The purpose of the questionnaires is to know about the employee satisfaction with organization policies which effect employee retention and turnover. The questionnaire is designed to determine the actual and perceptive view of the employee. To do this, the employees were asked to complete the questionnaire in two ways. First, they were asked close ended questions like â€Å"yes/no† according to their perception. Secondly, they were asking open ended questions in which they can write anything according to related question. c) Sampling: A process of selecting no. of units for a study in such a way that the unit represent the large group from which they are selected. The sampling can be defines as â€Å" a finite subject selected from population with the purpose of investigation of particular objective is called as sampling. The sapling method for this survey was a â€Å"simple random sampling†. The simple random sampling is the easiest from all probability sampling it assure that all the members in the population are included in the list and then randomly selected the desired no. of sample. 5. ANALYSIS OF DATA Processing and analysis of data involved open and closed ended questions related to work life balance which are performed the summarized collected data and organizing it in a manner that it gives the answer to the research question and objective. The questionnaire was as below, â€Å" This study is being undertaken for purely academic purpose on work-life balance i. e. flexible timing at the work place. The information collected will be treated as confidential and no means will be revealed in the research. Please read these questions and select appropriate option. † 1) Please specify about you- a) Gender : Male Female b) Age Group : Under 18 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65 &above 2) What is your working time? 3) Do you want any changes in your timing? Yes No 4) If the flexible working times would be offered to you, will it help in your personal life? Yes No ) Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance, the organization will be more effective and successful? Yes No 6) Which of the following techniques of maintaining the work life balance are used by your Organization? | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | a) Part time job b) Job sharing c) Compressed hours d) Voluntary reduce hours e) Flexi timing f) Annual hours g) Term time working h) Variable working hours i) Carrier breaks ) Over working allowance 7) Which technique /s you want your organization to introduce so as to maintain your work life balance? 8) Do you feel it will enhance your performance at work? Yes No 9) In your view does the techniques helps to increase employee commitment towards the organization? Yes No 10) Do you think that there will be direct co- relation of work-life balance and employee satisfaction? Yes No 11) According to you does work-life balancing techniques help for reducing the level of stress? Yes No 5. 1 Tabular representation Srs no |Question no |response |No of response |Percentage of response | |1 |1(a) |Male |24 |57. 14 | | | |female |18. |42. 86 | |2 |1(b) |a)under 18 |0 |0 | | | |b)18-24 |10 |23. 81 | | | |c)25-34 |25 |59. 52 | | | |d)35-49 |7 |16. 7 | | | |e)50-64 |0 |0 | | | |f)60-above |0 |0 | |3 |3 |a) Yes |30 |71. 43 | | | |b) No |12 |28. 57 | |4 |4 |a) Yes |28 |66. 66 | | | |b) No |14 |33. 33 | |5 |5 |a) Yes |38 |90. 48 | | | |b) No |4 |9. 52 | |6 |8 |a) Yes |40 |95. 3 | | | |b) No |2 |4. 76 | |7 |9 |a) Yes |41 |97. 61 | | | |b) No |1 |2. 38 | |8 | 10 |a) Yes |41 |97. 61 | | | |b) No |1 |2. 38 | |9 |11 |a) Yes |40 |95. 23 | | |b) No |2 |4. 76 | 5. 2 Diagrammatic representation 6. FINDINGS – From the survey and above given tabular statements we can able to interpret the data. The survey conducted through IT employee from them 24(57. 14%) are male and 18(42. 86%) are female, under which 10(23. 81%), 25(59. 52%) and 7(16. 67%) are in 18-24, 25-34 and 35-49 age group respectively. Among the respondents 30(71. 43%) wants to change in their current timing and 12(28. 57)does not want 28(66. 66%) feels that If the flexible working times would be offered to them, then it will help in their personal life and 14(33. 33%) doesn’t feel that it would help. 38(90. 8%) think that if employees have good work-life balance, the organization will be more effective and successful and 4(9. 52%) don’t think this way. 40(95. 23%) feel that if they suggested any techniques of work life balance which suitable for them, then it will enhance their performance at work and 2(4. 76%) not feel so, 41(97. 61%) feels that the suggested techniques will helps to increase their commitment towards the organization. From the respondents views 41(97. 61%) feels that there will be direct co- relation of work-life balance and employee satisfaction and 1(2. 38%) don’t feel so. 40(95. 23%) views on the work-life balancing technique help for reducing the level of stress. 7. CONCLUSION On the basis of survey done on â€Å"Innovative Human Resource Policies for Maintaining Work-Life Balance of Employees† conclusion can make as follows: While performing on work life balance policies in organization the sex (male/female) should be considered priory. It is concluding from survey, as the employees’ are the major assets of an organization their satisfaction (that is 97. 61% feel) will play great role for the growth and development of organization. A committed workforce is the hallmark of a successful organization. Committed employees are more productive and work with a focus on quality to increase organization goodwill. However the employees are the organizations most important audience and they hold the keys to organizational success.