Monday, January 27, 2020

How Important Is Energy Sustainability Environmental Sciences Essay

How Important Is Energy Sustainability Environmental Sciences Essay Thesis statement: With non renewable resources of energy being consumed at a very rapid rate, sustainability of energy has become the need of the hour. In the current context of meeting the global energy demands nuclear energy meets every reasonable criterion for sustainability. The increase in the concerns about the harmful side-effects of global warming, coupled with a faster dwindling of the conventional sources of energy, have led to a renewed interest in nuclear energy. After the Cold War, nuclear energy development was largely forgotten for many years until this renewed desire among developed nations for the availability of alternative energy sources to meet their ever increasing energy demands. With the prices of oil and global warming concerns rising steadily, the clean-burning properties of nuclear power are becoming much more attractive. Nuclear energy is viewed as an ideal replacement for the non renewable sources of energy for the four following main reasons. Firstly Nuclear energy produces the most energy than any non-renewable resource. Secondly high reserves of uranium are found on earth which is the raw material for nuclear reactors. Thirdly there is no release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons du ring a nuclear reaction. Finally the amount of waste produced is the least of any major energy production process. Although there are various risks involved when using nuclear energy, I will argue that nuclear energy is the best source of energy to replace oil and also I will argue that nuclear energy wastes are treatable, can be recycled and possess no threat to mankind.   Of the various advantages of nuclear energy, its efficiency is by far the most important. One of the major criterions that determine an efficient source of energy is the amount of energy it produces and how it impacts the environment. It is a basic energy fact that the fission of an atom of uranium produces 10 million times the energy from an atom of carbon than does coal. Nuclear energy extracts by far more energy from the natural resource Uranium than does the exploitation of oil or any other natural resource. In 1950s Dr. M. Hubbard, Geologist at Shell, said that US Oil would peak in 10 to 15 years. He was laughed at and in the 1970s we ran out of Oil. His statement was based on a Discovery Bell Curve which said oil production continues to go up even after the oil discoverys drop off and that the rate that we run out of oil can be measured on the lack of new discoveries. Heres a quote from NEIs website: Nuclear plants are the lowest-cost producer of baseload electricity. The avera ge production cost of 1.87 cents per kilowatt-hour includes the costs of operating and maintaining the plant, purchasing fuel and paying for the management of used fuel. These facts prove nuclear energy as the most efficient form of energy over its competitors, including oil, coal, wind, hydroelectric, and near-term solar power.   Many people are of the opinion that uranium is a rare metal, but its about as common as copper or tin and 40 times more common than silver. Uranium, the chief source of nuclear fuel, is vastly abundant, which makes this resource similar to other renewable resources. As per the NEAs (Nuclear Energy Agency) findings, uranium resources of total 5.5 million metric tons and an additional 10.5 million metric tons remain undiscovered-a roughly 230-year supply at todays consumption rate in total. Bernard Cohens, Professor of Physics at Pittsburgh University, 5 billion year estimate is based on extracting uranium from seawater, which the Japanese have already shown to work. Cohen calculated that we could take 16,000 tons per year of uranium from seawater, which would supply 25 times the worlds present electricity usage and twice the worlds present total energy consumption. He argued that given the geological cycles of erosion, subduction and uplift, the supply would last for 5 billion years w ith a withdrawal rate of 6,500 ton per year. His comments support the fact that uranium is a renewable resource of energy.   Among the many benefits of nuclear power, the main advantage of nuclear power over other methods is that it is a clean way to produce energy as it does not result in the emission of any of the poisonous gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide. With the pollution levels in the atmosphere greatly affecting the general climatic conditions, nuclear energy is definitely a preferable option when compared to burning of fossil fuels (Dujardin 2007). Production of nuclear energy doesnt contribute to emission of green house gases as it does in the case of fossil fuels. Also, going by the alarming rate at which the fossil fuels are burned, it is predicted that, the coal and oil deposits across the world are expected to deplete by end of this century. Uranium deposits, on the other hand are here to remain for a long time, and even if they get depleted, alternative sources in form of plutonium and thorium also exist.   Nuclear energy is also considered to be renewable depending on the type of reactor that is being used. A special type of reactor design called a breeder reactor can create or refine radioactive elements as a part of its functioning (Young, 1998). There are breeder designs that, once operating, can refine uranium, turning even natural uranium into fuel-grade uranium that can be used by other standard reactors. Some breeder designs create plutonium as a byproduct, which can be used for either power generation or in nuclear weapons. Currently, there are 442 reactors operating in the world, 130 of which are in the United States. Another 12 are being built in foreign countries. With the current technology, only 1% of the energy available in uranium is able to be captured by thermal reactors. This energy makes up between 11% and 18% of the total energy available in the world. Developing technologies that would allow us to capture more of this available energy is at least 15 years away, but with incentives, these advances could be a realistic part of our future. The potential is not the only part of the advantages of nuclear energy.   Nuclear energy has another advantage in that it is relatively inexpensive to produce when compared to conventional methods of energy production. Uranium is reasonably cheap to mine, and easy to transport to reactors around the globe, making nuclear energy. While the cost of producing other forms of energy has risen steadily over the last 26 years, the cost of producing nuclear energy has dropped, over the same period of time, with an average finished cost between 3 and 5 cents per kilowatt (Makhijani Saleska, 1999). The potential is not the only part of the advantages of nuclear energy. Regardless of the various definitions of renewable, nuclear power therefore meets every reasonable criterion for sustainability, which is the prime concern.   Both, the disadvantages and advantages of nuclear power plants have to be taken into consideration when determining whether this source of energy is efficient for development of power or not. While the critics of nuclear energy have been citing the various nuclear power plant disasters that have occurred in the past as one of the main reason for refraining from use of nuclear energy, its proponents are confident that it has the ability to sustain the energy requirements of the entire world, in a safe manner. Overall, however, I believe that the use of nuclear energy greatly outweighs any other sources of energy.  

Sunday, January 19, 2020

American Racial Discriminations against Middle Easterners and the effect it has on Middle Easterners since 911

â€Å"Middle Easterns† is not just a race residing in several countries around the world; it has evolved to depict different semantic meanings as to the term of people born in the Middle Eastern culture and way of life. (Wikipedia) The Middle East is composed of countries in the territory of Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Palestine (now Israel), Jordan, Egypt, The Sudan, Libya, and several states belonging to the state of Arabia (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates).Geographically characterizing Middle Eastern communities, it has enlarged over the years to include three other countries in the North Africa region which is Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco with associated foreign policies. The Middle East is a territory that is surrounded by the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Wikipedia) Middle Eastern is a modern term coined by Americans for Arabs and for people who reside in the region of the Middle East.These are Semitic people speaking the Arabic language and are generally not specified to particular residency in the Middle East. The distinction of Arabs must be clearly defined as the common perception of Arabs is that they are Muslims. Not all Arabs are Muslims, and not all Muslims are Arabs. Arabs are considered by the short lived Arabian league to be those of Arabic descent and speaking the Arabic Language. They must have originated from an Arabic country and strictly follow the rules and tenets of Arabic culture. (â€Å"Poll: Majority of US Muslims suffered post September 11 bias†, 2002)The paper will discuss the implications of the perception on Middle Easterns and the changes after the September 11 attacks in the United States. In this exposition, discrimination against Middle eastern will be evaluated and the extent to which it happened after the 9/11 attacks. The study shows what life was for Middle Eastern s before the attacks, and what they had to experience after. The study will not only focus on discrimination against Middle Easterns but also to discrimination per se on people belonging to different races.Discrimination happens due to decisive factors which differentiates one person belonging to a race from another. It is a way to make clear distinctions and act towards another person based on prejudice. It can happen through in three different ways; either base on their appearance, language, and religion. MIDDLE EASTERN DISCRIMINATION The society will more likely discriminate an individual because of what he looks like. Visual discrimination is the easiest way to discriminate someone. This is because appearance is readily available for a person to judge on especially when people base their perception on skin pigmentation.Even on how a person dresses constitutes formation of prejudices against them. Difference in religion also contributes to discrimination, not just the religion Is lam, but also other religious orientations as well. Religious discrimination is a one rampant occurrence after the 9/11 attacks. This is acting of ones bigotry against persons’ beliefs, rituals and customs in the particular religion he holds. Finally, the distinction between the different languages people speaks also accounts for discrimination to happen. Differences in language or in accent can generate misunderstanding among people.Discrimination is carried through many ways an(â€Å"DISCRIMINATION INFORMATION FROM LITERATURE REVIEW†)d forms. Middle Easterns are not just the ones affected by this act of prejudice, but all those other nationalities perceived as different. The stereotypes that greatly motivate discrimination can be attributed to how the American media portrays people. The media has adverse perpetuations in people who are different from the Americans. The American media affects how the people perceive Middle Easterns, whether physically, by religion or with language.Discrimination takes on different forms and is carried out to unlimited extent, from hate crimes to employment discriminations. (â€Å"DISCRIMINATION INFORMATION FROM LITERATURE REVIEW†) DISCRIMINATION BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11 2001 Discrimination against people with Middle East cultures is known even before the 9/11 event. But this had escalated dramatically over the years, particularly after the 9/11 attacks. They have been the subject of hate crimes, assaults and harassments due to their difference in color, race and religion.The perception of Arabs as terrorist is believed to have started in 1973 with the Arab- Israeli war and oil-embargo. The Iran hostage crisis in 1979, the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 and the beginning of the Persian Gulf crisis added to the hostility of the American society against the Middle East culture. Prior to 911, Middle eastern were already a subject of contempt and distrust. Their portrayal in mainstream media as either lying vi llains or evil warlords has vilified their image to the American public. Fictional books, particularly after 1973 exhort American and Israeli courage under the face of their Arab oppressors.Middle Easterns were tagged as terrorists due to the perception that they are oppressors in their war against Israel. The American interest over Israel had contributed to the terrorist perception it generated. Even cartoons, like Aladdin imprint in American children the image of those coming from the middle east as liars and villains. (EEC, 2002) Before, little was known about the world that middle Easterns came from. The only feedback that the general public had was when the media reports that another terrorist attack has been perpetrated by Arab terrorists, or another take on the deemed inequalities in their culture and religion.In particular, Anti Arab sentiments have already taken hold before 911, due to the perception that these middle easterns are the oppressors in their war against Israel. The American interests in Israel have led them to promote the state at the same time portraying Muslims and the Arab world as oppressors and terrorists. Each terrorist attack by the Muslim world was broadcasted with the effect of making them the new pariahs of the world. The media and the government were very instrumental in defacing the image of middle easterns. And these acts further intensified after the tragedy that occurred on September 11 2001.THE TRAGEDY ON SEPTEMBER 11 2001 The September 11, 2001 attacks often referred to as just 911 was composed of a series of terrorist suicide attacks against the United States of America. On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists whose were purportedly with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four commercial passenger airplanes. The hijackers took control of the aircraft using small knives to scare and immobilize the passenger and crew. Two of the planes (United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11) were crashed in the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.In Arlington County, Virginia a third airplane (American Airlines Flight 77) was crashed into the United States Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. The fourth airplane crashed into a field adjacent to the town of Shanksville in Pennsylvania. The plane did not reach its reported desired objective of crashing into the U. S. Capitol due to the attempt of some passengers and crew members to regain control of the plane. In addition to the19 hijackers, 2,973 people died; another 24 are missing and presumed dead. (Wikipedia) DISCRIMINATION AFTR SEPTEMBER 11Nine days after the terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush declared to the nation that â€Å"no one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith. † His words were a little too late and apparently ineffective. After 911, there have been a large number of r eported incidents of discrimination against Middle Eastern people in the United States. Security checks in airports were tightened and Middle Eastern personas well as persons perceived to be Middle Eastern were unjustly subject to more stringent security measures.(CNN, 2001) In the three days that succeeded the 911 terrorist attacks, CNN reported that at least 300 reports of Middle Eastern being harassed and abused were received by the Council on American-Islamic relations. This number tripled the amount of received reports in the year before September 11. The most common complaints were people yelling verbal abuse like â€Å"Get out of our country! Go back to your own†, as well as the calling of insulting names like Arab dogs, whores, and other vile monikers. (CNN, 2001)The FBI also reported an increase in Muslim crimes in the US in the year 2001. The US government is also said to have detained about 1200 Middle Eastern and South Asians with the assumptions that they are ass ociated with the terrorists. A report on the study by the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) released in September 18 2005, showed an increase of more than 30% of discrimination, harassment and violations complaints against Muslim. The CAIR, the country’s largest Muslim organization had evaluated the implications of the 9/11 attacks to the Muslim community.Such incidents of discrimination, harassments and violation complaints were reported to be 1, 972 in 2005, more than what is reported in the previous year. The organization concluded the report as the highest statistic since it started doing reports on anti-Muslim activities in 1995. The organization began its yearly reporting of crime incidents towards Muslim in the year 1995 after the Oklahoma bombing. The bombing of the federal government building in Oklahoma, pointed by the mass media to have done by Arab radicals, triggered the anti-Muslim perception of the people and as a result tagged the Muslim community as villains of peace.The year 2005 reported 153 cases of anti-Muslim hate crimes and marked a 10% increase of hate crimes over the year 2004, and a dramatic 50% increase from the year 2003. Hate crimes are acts of discrimination against persons belonging to a certain race, culture or religion. (cite source) These crimes involve murder, attacks on religious institutions, shootings, vehicular assaults and verbal threats against the person. This become evident after the 9/11 attacks as the whole Muslim community were scrutinized for their involvement with the attacks.(â€Å"Class action lawsuit filed against the US government†, 2002) There were several hate crimes reported after the 9/11 attacks. Balbir Singh Sodhi in Mesa Arizona, associated with a different religion from Islam, was killed with no reason at all. It has been reported that the reason for his death was just mere association with terrorist, particularly the assumption that he looks the same as the terrorist therefo re he too is a terrorist. There has been similar incidents like what happened to Sodhi after the 9/11 attacks. In Dallas Texas, Waqar Hassan was shot to death in his own convenience store.The 46 year old Pakistani was apparently mistaken for an Arab following the 911 tragedy. His murderer, Mark Stroman, was also found guilty of killing another man, Vasudev Patel, with the same motive. (BH. , 2002) Murders without regard to affiliation, actual race and citizenship were committed after the Sept 11 attack. The list includes Adel Caras a Coptic Christian who originated from Egypt, American citizens Amil Almansoop and Jawed Wassel and Abdo Ali Ahmed among others. It would seem that the pain of the tragedy of 911 was enough reason for the murderers to perform their act.The aftermath showed that some people felt it was ok to target Middle Easterners and even people who look like them either as revenge or just as an object to vent their rage. Most murderers did not even attempt to camouflag e their act. Marks Stroman was rumored to have bragged that he just that did what every American wanted to do but didn’t have the nerve. After 911, the amount of reports of employment discrimination against Middle Easterns showed an increase. In a report of the US Equal Employment Commission in May 2002, they showed that 488 complaints were received regarding post 911 employment discrimination.Additionally, 301 of those reports were about Middle Easterns being forced out of employment. Numerous reports also abound of people ostracizing Middle Eastern co workers in the office. The united states government also aided in portraying the Middle Easterns as having direct links to terrorists. After the September 11 tragedy, the United States detained 1200 people. These were of Middle East and South Asian descent, further fueling the perception that the Arabs and the Muslims had something to do with the September 11 attacks. What’s more troubling is that in Sept. 17, 2001, int erim regulation issued by the U. S.Department of Justice allowing detention without charge for at least 48 hours in emergency situations. This regulation was used in great effect in detaining those of Middle Eastern origin. The rule was invoked in the immigration of Middle Easterns following the attack. About 763 individuals were detained and about half of them were deported. Jorge Martinez of the United States Department of Justice explains that they did not single out Arabs, they were simply following up on leads and clues. However, the proceedings regarding these immigration cases are shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Identities and charges were not officially released.According to the Justice Department, this is simply to protect the privacy of the proceedings as well as the persons involved. Most of the information that were obtained showed that those detained were held on minor visa violations and on other terrorist unrelated criminal charges. The immigration judges presiding in the trials were allowed to hold their court proceedings in secret. The release of some detainees accompanied the news that rough treatment and solitary confinement were being used in these persons. (HRW, 2003) The effect of the attacks on Middle eastern communities across the country is even more troubling.Fear and paranoia has changed the way of life that these people were accustomed to. The numerous reports of physical injury and verbal abuse against Middle Easterns have induced some to refrain from showing signs of their ethnicity. The wearing of scarves and other telltale signs of their culture has made them visible targets to public contempt and most were not willing to undergo the risk that that entails. Withdrawal from civic life also came as a result of the 911 attacks. Middle Easterns stayed at their homes, and went out only when necessary due to fear of being a recipient of abuse.Muslim communities avoid congregating in order not to be subject to suspicion by others. Middl e eastern children were ostracized in their schools, most were bullied, called names and physically assaulted. (HRW, 2003) Prior to the 911 attacks, Muslim Middle Eastern families gave generously to charities and fundraisers. This is in accordance to the practice of zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam. However, the U. S government had a crack down on Muslim charities and charity benefactors, saying that they were a front for fundraising by terrorist organizations.In Chicago, two local Muslim charities, the Global Relief Foundation and Benevolence International Foundation, were investigated and shut down due to alleged terrorist links. A wave of paranoia has been sweeping Middle Eastern communities since the 911 attacks. Reports of the government’s methods in obtaining intelligence information from these communities have resulted in a feeling of fear and dread among individuals. Many has reported having been followed, eavesdropped upon, and watched. Federal agents have bee n known to search Middle Eastern residence without due notification or even the necessary warrants.Questioning by these agents without regards to the rights of the individual has made Middle Easterns wary and afraid. Reports of new faces in Mosques and in internal gatherings have made many wary. Islam is a religion based on tolerance and love. Because of this, Middle Easterns which have grown in this culture silently suffer the indignities and abuse being shown to them. However, a new generation of middle easterns, those who have grown in American soil, are rising up and asserting their rights as individuals and as Americans. Communities have begun to band together and combat the discrimination against them.Groups like The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Alliance of Iranian Americans (AIA), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the National Council of Pakistani Americans (NCPA) have provided a voice to those victim to racial discrimination. The y have acted by providing data, reports, denouncing claims and by filing suits against the perpetrators. But to some this is not enough. Many young middle easterns who have experienced this discrimination have talked about fighting back. CONCLUSION Discrimination against a particular people, religion or culture is a widespread occurrence even in these times.Discrimination comes in many forms. The Middle Eastern people have suffered discrimination on American soil before and after the September 11 attacks. Prior to 911 they have endured verbal abuse, harassment, racial profiling and even hate crimes. And after the tragedy, they suffered and are still suffering much more of these. They have been treated with distrust, unearned hate and contempt. Their rights have been trampled on and their liberties taken away from them. They have known fear and paranoia. And most have resolved to be victims no longer and fight back. The September 11 attacks struck a painful blow to the American natio n.The wounds of the victims and survivors are now healing. But the wound that its effects have wrought on the Middle Easterns in America still bleeds. References BH. (2002). 9/11 Fuels Anti-Arab Crime. Boston Herald. Class action lawsuit filed against the US government. ( 2002). Retrieved October 23, 2006, from http://www. adc. org/index. php? id=1540 CNN. (2001). Hate crime reports up in wake of terrorist attacks. Retrieved October 24, 2006, from http://www. cnn. com/2001/US/09/16/gen. hate. crimes DISCRIMINATION INFORMATION FROM LITERATURE REVIEW. from http://www. d. umn. edu/~lbelote/srseminar/mideast/PAPER4.HTM EEC. (2002). EEOC Provides Answers About the Workplace Rights of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and Sikhs. Retrieved October 24, 2006 from http://www. eeoc. gov/press/5-15-02. html HRW. (2003). We Are Not the Enemy. Human Rights Watch: A Journa, l(14(6)), 1-39. Poll: Majority of US Muslims suffered post September 11 bias. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2006 from http://www. cairnet. org/asp/article. asp? articleid=895$articletype=3 Wikipedia. September 11, 2001 attacks. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/September_11,_2001_Terrorist_Attack#_note-CBS

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Training and Development Program for Bass Pro

Training and Development program for Bass Pro Shops Top Managers Training and Development Final paper Bass Pro Shop Company Overview Bass Pro Shop (Outdoor World) is a private retailer known of selling hunting, fishing and camping gear related to all outdoor and recreational activities that started in Missouri in 1972. By 1974, Bass Pro Shops became very popular and its first catalog first was mailed out. Soon, it became the world's largest mail order sporting goods store. Around 1995, Bass Pro Shops Sportsman's Warehouse opened in Atlanta, Georgia, its first store outside the state of Missouri.Today, Bass Pro Shops became one of America’s premier outdoor retail leaders serving over 75 million sportsmen. Bass Pro Shops have over 39 stores within the US and have several other stores that do not fall under the Outdoor World flagship brand The article we will be analyzing for this paper is called, Bass Pro Failed to Hire Blacks and Hispanics at its Stores Nationwide, EEOC Says in Suit. The article was press released on September 21, 2011 by The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World is being accused in a nationwide federal lawsuit of discriminating against qualified black and Hispanic employees and applicants since 2005 (EEOC, 2011). Bass Pro Shops is additionally being accused of retaliation against employees who were against the discriminatory practices, firing them or forcing them to quit their jobs. They also destroyed or did not save documents associated to internal discrimination complaints that made racially derogatory remarks about minority employees and employment applications.In the lawsuit it cited examples from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Indiana showing a national pattern of discrimination. Analysis of the EEOC Article This topic and article was chosen by our team from the EEOC website for the following reasons: 1) It is a credited article 2) It includes the findings and the fact based upon the EEOC filled t he lawsuits against Bass Pro 3) It is well written, accurate, verifiable, clear and concise 4) Broad in its coverage: (a) It addresses the main aspects of the topic; and b) It stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail 5) Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each. 6) It is very detailed in the findings and investigation processes. 7) It provides information and help for those who have been discriminated against and never dared to file a lawsuit or complain. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency charged with enforcing antidiscrimination laws in employment.The EEOC found evidence of nationwide discrimination by Brass Pro under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, â€Å"which prohibits discrimination based on race and national origin, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who complain about employment discrimination and requires them to keep certain employment recordsà ¢â‚¬ . (EEOC, 2012) Bass Pro is been held responsible for consistently denying jobs to qualified minorities based on their race (African-American), ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino) or national origin not their skills, knowledge, abilities or work experience.The EEOC did an investigation and found statistical evidence based on the number of minority employees working nationwide for this employer that Bass Pro has engaged in discriminatory hiring procedures. The underrepresentation of minority employees and applicants was so noticeable that the possibility that it could happen without discrimination is extremely small. The EEOC found plenty of data to accuse Bass Pro with a national pattern of discrimination. In the lawsuit there were a number of examples of racially derogatory remarks made by management at different Bass Pro stores.Some of the examples are the following: â€Å"it is getting a little dark in here, you need to hire some white people†, â€Å"Hispanics are wetback s†, â€Å"Hispanics should be shot at the boarder by the Border Patrol†, â€Å"hiring black candidates did not fit the corporate profile. † (Samuel, Post, 2011) The EEOC also specified in the lawsuit that Bass Pro did not offer any evidence that the company is using fair hiring practices. On the EEOC website you can find what is considered Race/Color Discrimination and Harassment.The EEOC considers harassment to include, â€Å"racial slurs, offensive or derogatory remarks about a person’s race or color. Harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision such as the victim being fired or demoted † (EEOC, 2011). The reason Bass Pro is being sued by the EEOC is because they believe they have a case against them based on the evidence and data they collected throughout the investigation. Needs Assessment Organizational Analysis:The top manager s of Bass Pro Shops are reluctant to apply diversity practices on their recruitment processes, which has significantly damage their reputation and organizational climate. The successful implementation of a training and development method focused on promoting diversity will attract more customers and skilled employees to Bass pro shops stores. Thus, improving the reputation of the company in both employees and customers. The lawsuits derived from their discrimination practices has already damage Bass Pro’s reputation and might jeopardize their cost structure.Thus, the implementation of a diversity training method is a good strategy to change the top managers mindset and promote the benefits of having a diverse workforce across the organization. Person Analysis: The top managers of bass pro shops need to be trained to understand the importance of having diverse workforce across the organization. This means, that trainers should ensure that the managers are committed with the tr aining before the implementation of the program.According to (Brighthub, 2011) it is essential for managers to understand the problem they are involved in and be mentally committed to change their mindset regarding discrimination acts. On the other hand, the managers of Bass pro shops have sufficient technical skills that allow them to utilize technological equipment and understand software solutions that the training program might contain. Task Analysis: The task analysis would be focused on the top manager’s job. The activities that the program contain involve the interaction of top managers with non-white employees.The main objective of the interactive activities is to break up with the existing bias that top managers have of non-white employees. Thus, the creation of activities that require the collaboration of both managers and employees will improve the knowledge and skills that top managers require to get along with non-white employees. Recommendation: According the in formation stated in the article, Bass pro shops have four main issues that we as consultants are trying to address by the implementation of a training and development program for the top managers of the organization.The four main issues include, the misconception of the basic assumption, which is the organization necessity to hire only white people in order to maintain customers satisfaction; the legal implications derived from their discriminatory practices against afro-American and Hispanic people in their hiring policies; the potential high costs of losing the case and the bad reputation the organization might build with these discriminatory practices. According to (Noe, 2010), There are six stages that the training and development method should accomplish in order to positively impact the main issues that the organization is facing.These include: Ensuring Managers’ Readiness for Training & Creating a Learning Environment in an open dialog with diversity counselors. This i s very important because managers can get feedback regarding their performances. That way, the manager can evaluate the employees perspectives regarding his/her own diversity practices. According to (PACT Training, 2006) The development plan of a succesful training and development program should always start with the definition of the learning outcomes. There are two learning outcomes of the training and development plan for Bass Pro Shops.The first learning outcome is to increase the knowledge of top managers about discrimination acts, and the seccond learning outcome is to build in top managers, skills and behaviors that enables them to effectively apply diversity practices. If managers successfuly learn how to apply these two expected outcomes, there must be a decrease in the number of complaints and litigations against the Bass pro shops. Thus, reducing the potential costs derived from lawsuits and improving their public image. A Cost-benefit analysis will also be a part of the developing plan.Costs such as the purchase of the training program, learning materials, equipments, facilities, and the salary of trainers will be included in the analysis. Some of the specific benefits that the program will pursue include: improvement of managers performance derived from diversity practices, increase of the number of customers, increasing sales of products, and cost saving derived from a decrease in lawsuit payments. Selecting Training Method The training program has to be in adherence to the legislation.Bass Pro Shops need a training program that helps its managers to understand when their behaviors violate the equal employment opportunity laws. Some of the strategies used to enforce this knowledge include: †¢ Encourage managers to learn about Title VII online. Managers can the web to self-train their knowledge about laws. When the self-training is finished, use evaluation test such as online tests or paper-based tests to evaluate the learning outcomes. †¢ Use case studies (Noe, 2010), to encourage anagers to understand the legislation. Managers might find in case studies, a more practical exercise to learn about behaviors that may violate the law. †¢ Incorporate diversity-related news items into the content of the program (PACT Training, 2006). For example, the article mentioned that Abercrombie & Finch had to paid over $50 million dollars to settle employment discrimination suits in 2004. This type of news might increase the awareness of top managers about the implications of engaging in discriminatory practices. Conduct adventure learning activities that encourage the interaction of top managers with non-white employees (Noe, 2010). These type of activities promote trust between the two groups, which allows top managers to deeply observe the characteristics of non-white employees. Thus, improving the managers ability to hire based on skills qualifications rather than hiring based on a specific race. Monitoring and evaluatin g the program There are different techniques that Bass pro Shops can use to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the training program.Bass Pro Shops can use test methods to evaluate the impact of the training. These test can be conducted online and paper-based, and they will be focused in measuring the training outcomes. Some of the tests that Bass pro shop can use to evaluate the training program include: Performance appraisal and pretest/posttest evaluation methods (Noe, 2010). Both of these evaluation methods will strive to evaluate the extent to which the top managers apply diversity practices in the organization, and how the results are aligned to what was taught, practiced and expected.Additionally, they will also measure the extent to which the employees performance has improved as a result of the diversity practices. Bass pro shops can also encourage managers to research about workforce diversity best practices and continuously put new practices into action as a part of the monitoring process of the program. These new practices maximize the skills, satisfaction and retention of the employees as well as promoting a continuous learning environment. References Basspro. com (2012). Retrieval April 3, 2012, from Bassproshop Website: http://www. basspro. com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC? storeId=10151&ca

Friday, January 3, 2020

Definition and Examples of Clitics in English Grammar

In English  morphology and phonology, a clitic is a  word or part of a word that is structurally dependent on a neighboring word (its host) and cannot stand on its own. A clitic is said to be phonologically bound, which means that its pronounced, with very little emphasis, as if it were affixed to an adjacent word.   Clitics are usually weak forms of functional elements such as auxiliaries, determiners, particles, and pronouns. Examples and Observations of Clitics Certain tensed forms of auxiliary verbs have, in addition to their weak forms, clitic versions, which merge phonologically with an adjacent word, their host. Thus, weve is pronounced like weave, and hell like heel, while Im rhymes with time, and so on. . .The clitic forms of am, have, and will consist of a single consonant: /m, v, l/. In the case of are, it is not possible to give a satisfactory representation for the clitic itself, as the host clitic combination may not be phonologically divisible into two corresponding parts. For example, theyre in BrE is usually homophonous with locative there.(Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2002) Clitics s and ve One interesting property of clitics that differentiates them from other affixes is that while an affix will be limited to attaching to a stem that is a particular type of lexical category, such as a verb,  a clitic is  not so limited. It can attach to entire phrases or even words with other clitics. Consider the English possessive clitic s and verbal clitic ve  in the following examples (which indicate things that can be said, even if they wouldnt necessarily be captured this way in orthography):- The students assignment- The student of psychologys assignment- The student that we inviteds assignment- The student dressed in reds assignment- The student who went outs assignment- The mens assignments have been done, but the womensve not.(Dani Byrd and Toben H. Mintz,  Discovering Speech, Words, and Mind. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) Proclitics and Enclitics There are . . . instances where two words are combined without forming a compound in the usual sense. The negative word not and a relatively small number of frequently occurring words (mostly verbs) can be contracted and attached to other words. Usually, they are attached at the end as enclitics: shes (she is or she has), dont (do not). Occasionally they are proclitics: dyou (do you), tis (it is). The combination of both types of clitics appears in tisnt. Although they are not isolated orthographically or in other respects, we can regard these clitics as reduced forms of words.(Sidney Greenbaum, The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University. Press, 1996) Clitics and Affixes The distinction between clitics and affixes is naturally fluid: e.g. English -nt in havent or arent is a clitic by some criteria but has been claimed as an affix by others. So too is the boundary between clitics and full words: e.g. unstressed to is a clitic, by some relevant criteria, in I have to [haftÉ™] go.(P.H. Matthews, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford University Press, 1997) Controversies With Clitics In  phonology, the prosodic structure of clitics is much debated. Mostly, clitics are prosodically deficient in that they fail to meet prosodic minimality conditions. For instance, unlike prosodic words, clitics need not consist of a full vowel. Moreover, clitics often exhibit different phonological behaviour from other categories... From a morphological point of view, it is questionable whether a distinct morphological category of clitics is linguistically desirable beyond a purely descriptive means. In recent analyses, it has been proposed to accommodate clitics in one of the categories word or affix. The syntactic status of clitics is no less controversial. As for pronominal clitics, one of the main problems is whether they are arguments as proposed by Kayne (1975) and many others, or whether they are functional heads as proposed by, e.g., Sportiche (1996). (Birgit Gerlach and Janet Grijzenhout, Introduction. Clitics in Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. John Benjamins, 2000) EtymologyFrom the Greek, leaning