Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 33

Research Paper Example It is the sixth vastest nation in the world and its neighboring nations include East Timor, New Zealand, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It is estimated that human habitation in the country started between 42,000 and 48, 000 years ago. For approximately 40, 000 years, the country had been inhabited by roughly 750, 000 to 1,000,000 Indigenous people who spoke diverse languages. However, this number declined rapidly after settlement due to infectious diseases. The Aboriginal Protection Act of the year 1869 led to the separation of children from their communities and families, which also contributed to the reduction in the number of the indigenous people. During the European settlement, most of the Australians were horticulturalists and hunters as well as gatherers. They also had strong spiritual values that were grounded on a major belief in Dreamtime and reverence to the land. Since the year 1951, the US and Australia became military allies after signing the Anzus treaty. After the Second World War, immigration from regions such as Europe and Asia were promoted. Consequently, the country’s culture, image, and demography were transformed (Macintyre et al. 2008; Index Mundi, 2014). Australia is the only largest nation across the globe that covers the continent. Although it has an increased space reserved for fertile lands and have various natural resources, roughly one-third of the nation is a desert. Most of the deserts are located in rural remote regions where there are high temperatures, less or no vegetation, and there is little water. Its land area comprises of around 7.7 million square kilometers and its most southerly point is the South, which is 38 degrees, 08 minutes latitudes (Index Mundi, 2014). The country has an economic zone that is 370.4 kilometers and the driest as compared to other nations. Most of its farms

TERMS AND CONDITONS Essay Example for Free

TERMS AND CONDITONS Essay Parents, Guardians and Participants over age 18, please carefully read the TERMS AND CONDITIONS below and provide your signature demonstrating that you have read and understood them. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL CALL THE PHONE NUMBER GIVEN AT THE END OF THIS APPLICATION FORM. 1. The CYC Summer Program is a week long volunteer program of Credit Valley Conservation for high school aged youth living or going to school in the Credit River watershed area. 2. CYC agrees to provide evidence of a student’s volunteer participation for their community involvement hours requirement for high school graduation or for any other request for verification of volunteer hours upon the completion of their time with us (i. e.: we sign your form at the end of the week). 3. Credit Valley Conservation will not pay a salary or hourly wage to CYC participants. 4. CYC week long programs offer up to 35 hours volunteer time to high school students. Credit for additional hours can be obtained from CVC by participating in other CVC run volunteer events. 5. CYC will provide transportation to and from the assigned meeting place and all CYC work or activity sites only. 6. Transportation to and from the designated meeting place each morning will be the participants’ responsibility. 7. Volunteer contributions accumulate each day once a participant is picked up by the CYC Crew Leader in the morning at the assigned meeting place and stop once returned to the meeting place at the end of the day. 8. Only actual volunteered time will be reflected in our records and on any document CVC provides as evidence of volunteered time. For civic holidays, cancellation of a day’s activities, or for any reason a participant has missed a day, volunteer hours will not be calculated. 9. Each day volunteers will be given a break for lunch and routine breaks in both the morning and afternoon. 10. Participants will be supervised by CYC Crew Leaders and CVC staff. 11. Participants shall return any equipment or supplies provided to them unless otherwise stated. 12. Participants for the week are expected to be present on the first day of each new week for health and safety orientation, code of conduct information and other relevant training or preparation. 13. Continued participation in CYC is dependant upon adherence to all rules, safety guidelines and any instructions as given by CVC staff including CYC’s Code of Conduct as found on our website www.creditvalleyca.ca/cyc. 14. In the event that a health and safety policy or safety standard is being or is about to be violated, or if a person is in any jeopardy, immediate action will be taken by the site supervisor in charge to restore and/or maintain safety at all times. This may result in some of the following actions but not limited to: the cancellation of or alteration to a CYC activity, the removal of any number of individuals from the activity or the program, or refusal to permit an individual(s) from participating in an activity on the grounds that it may constitute a safety policy violation or failure to meet a safety standard. 15. Participants must report all injuries, no matter how slight, to their supervisor. 16. CVC reserves the right to terminate this program or the placement status of any participant at any time for failure to comply with these terms and conditions. INFORMED CONSENT, MEDICAL, PHOTOGRAPHIC RELEASE GENERAL PERMISSION, Parents, Guardians, and participants over age 18 please carefully read the paragraphs below and provide your signatures in the spaces provided demonstrating that you have read and understood them. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL CALL THE PHONE NUMBER GIVEN AT THE END OF THIS APPLICATION FORM. INFORMED CONSENT ELEMENTS OF RISK Certain RISKS OF INJURY, DANGERS and HAZARDS are inherent to participation in  this Activity. The dangers and hazards include but are not limited to: falling on or over steep, uneven, slippery or jagged ground, walking where branches, rocks, roots, fences or other obstacles or hazards may cause a person to trip or fall, walking through or beside streams, creeks, rivers, ponds and lakes, injury from tools like shovels, hammers or other hand tools, sudden extreme weather conditions, encounters with wildlife, interaction with vehicle traffic and miscellaneous health problems related to over-exposure to the sun, insect bites, fatigue and exertion. These dangers and hazards can be beyond the control of CVC and may result from the Participant’s actions or inactions, or the actions or inactions of others including CVC, or a combination of all the aforementioned. The chance of an injury occurring can be reduced by carefully following instructions at all times while engaged in the Ac tivity. If you choose to participate in the Activity, as previously described, you must understand that you bear the responsibility for any injury that may occur. MEDICAL TREATMENT I/ We consent for the Participant, in the event of injury or illness while under the supervision of the Credit Valley Conservation (CVC), to receive first aid and/or any further medical attention that potentially may be required to the extent determined by, and at the discretion of CVC staff, emergency medical services, and licensed medical professionals. PHOTOGRAPHIC RELEASE [To be read and signed by all Participants and by Parents of Participants under the age of 18 years] I/We agree to grant permission for images of the Participant captured during the activity through use of video, photo and digital camera, to be used by CVC for promotional purposes including internet, social marketing media, printed materials and appearance in local news media and do hereby waive any rights of compensation or ownership. Application Check List: On-line Applications: Is all required information entered? A parent or guardian has read and understood the TERMS AND CONDITIONS and INFORMED CONSENT, MEDICAL, PHOTOGRAPHIC RELEASE GENERAL PERMISSION? These pages have been signed by a parent or guardian (or by the participant if they are over the age of 18) These pages are ready to be mailed, emailed or faxed to CVC within one week of completing the on-line application. (They must be submitted in order for application to be deemed complete. Remember that incomplete applications will not be considered for placement). You are able to receive emails from [emailprotected] in order to receive confirmation of acceptance to program. You will have to respond to this email to confirm attendance. Ensure emails from us will not go into your junk folder.

Historical Validity in The Alamo :: essays research papers

Historical Validity in â€Å"The Alamo†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the 2004 release, by Touchstone Pictures, â€Å"The Alamo† takes a famous story told throughout time and recreates it on the screen once again. This time was it really any better than the other releases? Maybe the flashy effects and better film quality could interest you in this movie but the real question is how valid is it. To the average person this story looks as if they have recreated it perfectly, but to a historian it might not look so genuine. Although this movie does depict many things with absolute efficiency some things are left out. Almost completely ignored in this movie are important instances in history such as the cowardly James Fannin and the battle at Goliad. This is an important part of the story that has been left out. It could have been nice to know what happened to the one person who could have helped but refused to due to his own growing situation. Also in the movie James Bowie is portrayed as a mildly sick person whereas in real l ife he deathly ill. He was known to have typhoid fever and a bad case at that. Beyond the fallacies in this movie there were many great things that were put to the screen. One of the best in my opinion is the removal of the â€Å"line† that was drawn in the dirt by Travis. According to much research the line was actually a story drawn up years later to help signify the sacrifices these men had made. They correctly portrayed how the men were outnumbered in this fight and the effort and courage that was put forth in this battle to defend the Alamo. The last and most controversial issue in the movie is how did David Crockett really die? In this movie they give him the courageous death that he was thought to have.

Research and Analyze a Real Life Conflict Essay

The problems arising from today’s workforce diversity are caused not by the changing composition of the work force itself but by the inability of work organizations to truly integrate and use a heterogeneous work force at all levels of the organization (Ibarra, 2003). Granted, some corporations are including diversity goals in their strategic planning and are changing organizationwide policies, but even those changes are focused mainly on internal processes of the organization. This article’s main argument is that organizations need to expand their notion of diversity to include not only the organization itself, but also the larger systems that constitute its environment. Organizational policies and actions that are inclusive can benefit all system levels from the individual worker through the work organization to the wider community. The concept of â€Å"the inclusive workplace,† introduced here, refers to a work organization that is not only accepting and using the diversity of its own work force, but also is active in the community, participates in state and federal programs to include working poor people, and collaborates across cultural and national boundaries with a focus on global mutual interests. The inclusive workplace is defined as one that values and uses individual and intergroup differences within its work force cooperates with and contributes to its surrounding community alleviates the needs of disadvantaged groups in its wider environment collaborates with individuals, groups, and organizations across national and cultural boundaries. The social work profession can play a key role in the conceptualization and implementation of such a model for the workplace. The value system reflected in this model is congruent with basic social work principles, and the skills needed to implement programs to increase workplace inclusion are consistent with professional social work skills and competences. The issue of diversity and inclusion takes on special urgency in human services organizations. Women and racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented among the clients of human services agencies as well as in their staff (Henderson, 2004). The extent to which workers from diverse backgrounds feel included in the organization may have a direct bearing on their job satisfaction and commitment and influences the quality of services provided as well as the workers’ own health, mental health, and social functioning. This article presents a conceptual framework relevant to social work practice on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. The question addressed by this article is not whether diversity is good for the organization, but how to manage it effectively. Viewed from an ecosystems perspective, the notion of organizational inclusion–exclusion is used as a focal point to examine two models–value-based and practice-based–for understanding and managing workplace diversity. The recent emphasis on the diversity of the work force in human resource management is based on historical developments. Civil rights legislation from the 1960s on had outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, pregnancy, national origin, age, and disability, excluding these factors from employment decisions (the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [P.L. 88-352], Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 [P.L. 95-555], Age Discrimination Act of 1978, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 [P.L. 101-336], Equal Pay Act of 1963 [P.L. 88-38], and Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 [P.L. 93-508]). Triggered by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s plea that people should be judged by their character, not by the color of their skin, the intent of these laws was to provide equal opportunity to all. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 requiring â€Å"employers doing business with the federal government to develop affirmative action plans to assure equal employment opportunities in their employment practices.† The main rational for affirmative action programs was to compensate for past discrimination and to correct current discrimination. However, with the recent backlash against affirmative action programs (for example, California Governor Wilson’s [R] initiatives in roiling back affirmative action programs), companies may no longer be proactive in recruiting and retaining women and ethnic minority workers, unless they realize that such policies work to their benefit. Forecasts about the future predict an aging work force in which increasing numbers of women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups will participate. By 2020 white non-Hispanic people will represent 67 percent of the work force (down from the current 76 percent), Hispanic presence will be 14 percent (up from its current 9 percent), Asians will represent 6 percent (up from today’s 4 percent), and African Americans’ share of the work force will remain 11 percent (Ibarra, 2003). These work force demographic changes will mirror population demographic trends and will vary by region and state. The western states are rapidly becoming more diverse as Hispanic and Asian populations grow. The human services work force also is becoming more diverse with particularly high representation for women at more than 65 percent. These changes suggest not onl y a more diverse workplace, but also a more varied client pool in human services organizations, and they underscore the need for social work to develop practice paradigms for more inclusive work environments. The nature of opportunities for female, ethnic minority, and older workers has implications for the lives of these workers and their families, for organizational effectiveness, and for society as a whole. As a result of civil rights legislation, affirmative action programs, and workplace policies to promote diversity, acquiring a â€Å"boarding pass† to corporate America has become less of a problem for women and ethnic minority workers than being included in the corporate culture and power structure (Ibarra, 2003). Exclusion from organizational information and decision-making networks has been identified as one of the most significant problems facing today’s diverse work force. The inclusion–exclusion experience is one that has deep social–psychological roots for human beings, given their dependence on others for the provision of even the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing (Henderson, 2004). Mor-Barak and Cherin (1998) conceptualized inclusion–exclusion as a continuum of the degree to which individu als feel a part of critical organizational processes such as access to information, connectedness to coworkers, and ability to participate in and influence the decision-making process. Research on social demography in the workplace indicates that women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups commonly find themselves excluded from networks of information and opportunity. Similar trends are evident in human services organizations where women and ethnic minority groups, particularly African American women, are more likely than other employees to occupy the lowest-ranking positions. These experiences, in turn, are linked to limited job opportunities, delays in career advancement, and higher rates of turnover (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). Clearly in democratic countries, where equal opportunity is an important national value, promoting fairness and economic opportunities to underachieving members of society is the right and ethical thing to do. Exclusionary organizational practices are destructive for individuals who suffer from their economic, emotional, and social consequences as well as for organizations. Work organizations, therefore, need to create and sustain a culture that accepts individual differences and encourages differential contributions to the work environment. In other words, they need to strive to become inclusive organizations. The welfare-to-work reform efforts can be conceptualized as an opportunity to make the work place more inclusive with respect to socioeconomic status. Welfare reform, enacted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), ended 60 years of public assistance programs in which the sole criteria for continued aid was dependency, poverty, age, or disability. A key component of the act is the termination of welfare benefits after a maximum of 60 months, with the expectation that benefit recipients will find jobs by that time. Because of welfare reform, more and more welfare recipients will enter the labor force. Traditionally, employers have had limited involvement or interest in welfare reform and have not viewed working poor people as an element in organizational life worth substantial investment. An inclusive workplace sponsors and supports projects to help former welfare recipients overcome barriers to employment. The programs focus on overcoming barriers to employment faced by mothers with young children, who make up the majority of AFDC recipients and poor families (Giagalone & Beard, 2004), and assists former welfare recipients with child care, transportation, housing, and health care expenses, which are the main barriers to employment faced by this group (Ibarra, 2003). The programs also provide on-the-job training to allow welfare recipients to improve their job skills and increase their wages and benefits. The economic benefits include improved wages for this segment of the population that increases the pool of consumers with discretionary income. Also, better treatment of low-wage employees who are often frontline workers improves the company’s customer relationships. In addition, value-based organizational practices are often attractive to customers. Companies gain a more loyal work force (given that it is treated well) that is committed to the organization and has lower turnover rates as a result (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). With the expanding economy and the current and anticipated labor shortages, employers may need to expand their employee pools by taping into the potential resource of former welfare recipients. A strong corporate commitment to hiring and retaining former welfare recipients that includes help with employment barriers can facilitate the difficult transition and increase the chances of long-term employment. In addition, opening up advancement opportunities for this population may increase their chances of obtaining higher-paying jobs with better benefits that will release them from the vicious cycle of low-paying jobs that do not leave much income above the job-related expenses such as child care and transportation. The main obstacle here is a limited corporate vision. Companies often focus only on the immediate needs and objectives of the company rather than considering the bigger picture that includes moral and ethical values as well as labor-force trends and the larger organizational environment. The other obstacles are stereotypes held by management and workers against welfare recipients and against people of color. The latter is based on a common misconception that the majority of welfare recipients are people of color when, in fact, the majority are white (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). Social workers can help organizations overcome the â€Å"one-size-fits-all† approach that has been wide spread in the area of diversity training. The risk of this approach is that although these interventions may be effective in sensitizing workers to people who are different from themselves, they do not deal with organizational structures and policies that may foster wrong treatment of people from diverse backgrounds. In the context of human services organizations, the need to understand exclusionary practices is particularly important in light of the disproportional representation of women and ethnic minority individuals in their staff (Ibarra, 2003). With their knowledge of human behavior, discrimination, empowerment, and group dynamics, social workers can initiate focused interventions such as diversity training, work groups with women and ethnic minority constituencies, and mentorship programs to facilitate the inclusion of women and ethnic minority workers in management and supervis ory positions. Using an ecosystems approach, the model outlines four systems levels, from the micro to the macro, that are relevant to understanding and implementing the model. Although this approach is well embedded in social work values and principles, one must remember that the workplace is a host environment that is often not open to social work intervention. To propose such innovative programs to businesses, social workers need to be entrepreneurial in their approach and be able to translate their ideas into â€Å"business language.† For this reason, this article provides research-based data that demonstrates the benefits of inclusive organizational policies for the company’s economic well-being. The use of such data is essential when approaching management with an innovative idea for a program to help, for example, former welfa re recipients, or for a community-based shelter for the homeless. References Giagalone, R. A., & Beard, J. W. (2004). Impression management, diversity, and international management. American Behavioral Scientist, 37. Henderson, G. (2004). Cultural diversity in the workplace. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Ibarra, H. (2003). Personal networks of women and minorities in management: A conceptual framework. Academy of Management Review, 18.

Greek Mythology Essay

Odysseus was considered to be the epitome of what a Greek man should strive to be. He was a courageous and clever warrior who earned arete through his feats during the Trojan War. The ancient Achaean male modeled themselves after great men like Odysseus, but the real question is who do Greek woman model themselves after. Clytemnestra’s plight and eventual death is a perfect example of how married women were expected act compared to married men. Also, women like Penelope in The Odyssey were criticized for being untruthful, but men like Odysseus were praised for exceptional cunning in the same epic poem. Calypso is a goddess who is aware of these double standards and makes an eloquent plea to the gods of Olympus, but her speech falls on deaf ears. Essentially Ancient Greek culture had staggering gender inequalities that led to females being confined to the whims of males. Many tales demonstrate how differently married women were expected to act compared to men. When King Agamemnon departed from Mycenae to siege Troy he tricked his wife, Clytemnestra, into sacrificing their daughter to the gods. During the ten years Agamemnon was gone Clytemnestra plotted with her lover, Aegisthus, revenge. Once King Agamemnon returned, he was murdered by the duo, but the gods deemed this act unacceptable. If Clytemnestra were a man the tale would have most likely ended here. But Apollo and Athena hid Orestes until he was of age and convinced that he should follow with the worst crime any Greek could ever commit, matricide. After the murdering his mother, Orestes was haunted by the Furies (who were known for pursuing particularly heinous criminals and exacting revenge, Chiekova, 10/23) until nearly succumbing to madness. Eventually Orestes was given trial, and Athena’s deciding vote expunged his horrible deed. A woman taking a lover was disgraceful in Achaean culture, and a women killing her husband simply unheard of. Women were viewed as objects than could be possessed or traded like Helen of Troy was, and so Clytemnestra needed to be punished. On the other hand married men like Zeus had dozens of affairs (including deceiving Clytemnestra’s mother Leda by appearing as a swan Chiekova, 10/23) while Hera remained faithful to him. The tale of Aphrodite and Hephaestus is another prime example, in which Aphrodite was shamed before all the gods for laying with Ares. The examples of similar myths can be listed ad nauseam, but essentially Greek women were forced to be loyal and obedient while the men took whatever lovers they so desired. Another example of gender inequalities in ancient Greek Culture can be seen in Penelope’s tribulations with the suitors. As Odysseus left for the Trojan War and did not return with Nestor and Menelaus, some assumed he was dead. Under the pretext of courting Penelope, the suitors proceed to spend their days at Odysseus house and feasting on the livestock. They disrespected and abused the traditional host-traveler relationship and yet still Penelope was left to be the antagonist (Chiekova, 10/26). If she agreed to marry a suitor, she would be dishonoring Odysseus but the longer she did not pick a suitor the more damage they caused. In Richmond Lattimore’s translation of The Odyssey the suitors verbally attack Penelope, â€Å"For she holds out great hope to all, and makes promises to each man, sending us messages but her mind has other intentions. And here is here is another stratagem of her heart’s devising (The Odyssey, Book 2, page 41, lines 90-93). † The suitor goes on to describe her cleverness; Penelope declares she will marry a suitor once she finished knitting a funeral shall, but every night she would secretly un-wind the threads, effectively stalling the suitors. These suitors claim that Penelope is being disrespectful for not choosing one of them to marry and call her a liar for supposedly leading them on but never choosing a man. In the same epic poem commended Odysseus for outsmarting and escaping the Cyclops, evading the sirens, and eventually killing the suitors. Both Odysseus and Penelope were incredibly intelligent but because of Achaean double standards, Penelope was portrayed as a liar (at least to the suitors) and Odysseus a hero. Calypso seems to be the only individual aware of, or at least concerned with the mistreatment of Greek women. When Odysseus retells his time spent with Calypso, he adjusts the story to give the perception that he was held prisoner and bemoaned every moment on the island. However, Homer gives insight of how Odysseus actually felt and writes, â€Å"the nymph was no longer  pleasing to him, (The Odyssey, Book 9, page 92, line 150). † This statement implies that at some point Odysseus did enjoy himself with the goddess on the island, but has become bored with her. After seven years Odysseus finally decides that he should return home, but Calypso insists that he should stay and enjoy the extravagance of immortality with her. This is against the ideals of Homeric Greek women as she displays a dominant and manipulative side, which threatens male supremacy. Eventually Zeus sends Hermes as a messenger to command Calypso to allow Odysseus to return home. Calypso retaliates by making a passionate plea, â€Å" You are hard-hearted, you gods, and jealous beyond all creatures beside, when you are resentful toward the goddesses for sleeping openly with such men as each has made her true husband, (The Odyssey, Book 9, page 91, lines 118-120). † Calypso continues to give three examples of past goddesses being chastised for taking a lover, but ultimately her speech does nothing. She is forced to yield Odysseus or risk angering the all mighty Zeus. Calypso embodied the struggle of Homeric women and pleas with the gods to see the double standard Greek culture imposed. Ultimately she is viewed as an object of physical pleasure and must yield to Zeus and Odysseus’s wishes, further stigmatizing women as being inferior. Analyzing Homeric culture through the lens of a woman provides a stark contrast to the life of a man. Women were subjugated to the commands of men, with little or no personal freedom. The females who broke the culture mold, paid the price. Clytemnestra eventually was murdered by her own son for exacting revenge on her deceitful husband, Penelope was ridiculed for using intelligence to navigate her way through a difficult situation, and Calypso was bullied into giving up the man she loved. Ultimately Achaean women were meant to be objects of desire that exist to satisfy men and the Homeric myths only propagated this idea. Works Cited Chiekova, Professor â€Å"Introduction to Greek Mythology† Lecture. Bliss Hall. Ewing. 10/23, 10/26, . Oral. Lattimore, Richmond, trans. The Odyssey. New York: Harper and Row Books, 1967.