Government Involevement in Promotion of Chinese and Asian Cities Essay

Government Involevement in Promotion of Chinese and Asian Cities - Essay Example This has been a fourth consecutive year that china has been recording an economic growth of 10 percent. There have also been marked growth in other nations like Cambodia, Lao People Democratic Republic, Mongolia, and Vietnam which have been recording a growth of 7.5-10.5 percent. Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand have recovered a moderate growth at the rate of 5-6 percent annually while Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island countries recorded a pickup in growth in the same period. However political unrest in other country as Timor-Lest and Tonga saw the two countries record a poor growth. There has been declining poverty in the region with number of those living below the poverty line or on less than 2 dollars reducing to 30 percent of the population in the region. (The World Bank 2007, p. 3) This growth has been attributed to number of factors which has been stimulated by revolution in the economic outlook and increased investment in the region. There has been strategy that have been carried out by the government with the support of the private sector which has seen an increased growth in the economy with promotion of trade and enhancing environment for appropriate governance. This has seen increased social order and growth of new settlements in cities. However the financial sector has been plying a crucial role in the development of infrastructure in the region which has been the bases for the improved economic growth. (Xinhua 2005, p. 65) One of the most import characteristic of the emerging Asian Tigers has been growth in new settlement and commercial cities. There has been emergence of skyscrapers and well managed cites which have integrated the need to integrate environment sustainability and beautiful secure cities. There has been emergence of some cities like Tokyo, Shanghai, and others which are the hub of the commercial activities in the region. This has been as a result of consorted efforts from the government and from the private developers where the government provides for the planning while the private developers provides for funds. (NMA 2008, p. 7) It is not enough to developed secure and beautiful cities which are not open to the world. Therefore there have been efforts which have been aimed at promoting these cities to the outside world in order to make them a choice for majority of the investors. This is because most of these cities have been built based on commercial activities and hence their promotion has also been assessed on the commercial viability of these companies. There has also been effort in ensuring the there is an increased level of awareness from the citizens about the need to take care of their cities in order to maintain them. Therefore we can say that the effort of the Asian government to promoted their cities have been aimed on the outsiders and also on the citizens of the countries especially the residence of these cities in order to enhance capacity building and maintenance for the cities. (Hirgik 2006, p. 4) There have been efforts that have been provided by the government of these cities that have been aimed at making sure that they become competent cities in the world. This is because the more attractive the cities are, the more they are likely to attract FDIs which are the factors that

The monetary policies of the united states and other countries Research Paper

The monetary policies of the united states and other countries - Research Paper Example Furthermore, since the US is essentially the largest economy globally, its monetary policies also encompass substantial financial and economic effects locally and international. Monetary policies influence the performance of countries’ economies as indicated through factors such as economic output, employment rates and inflation. In the US, the Federal Reserve controls the country’s monetary policy. The US federal government uses the country’s monetary policy to control the economy. When money supply grows too fast, inflation rate also increases and conversely, when money supply is too low; economic growth also declines rather substantially. The US Federal Reserve uses the country’s monetary policies to establish inflation targets aimed at sustaining steady inflation rates of between 2 and 3 percent. The purpose of the US monetary policy is to dictate the performance of the economy as indicated through employment rates, inflation and other equivalent econo mic factors. Monetary policies work by influencing demand within the economy, particularly with regard to companies and people’s willingness to spend money on products and services (Havrilesky 73). This influence is one of the most positive effects of US monetary policies. Another notable consequence of the US monetary policies is to deterring inflation expectations from spiraling to high magnitudes. This is particularly because inflation expectations are an integral determinant of the prevailing inflation rates. Therefore, monetary policies aim at maintaining long term inflation expectations anchored. Stability in inflation expectations emanates from effective monetary policies. In essence, the populace’s belief that inflation will remain stable over the long term lies in its belief that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy will effectively deliver stable and low inflation in the long term. In addition, monetary policies affect the national economy, especially with regard to financial markets (McConnell and Brue 303). Whenever the Federal Reserve increases monetary supply and enhances the availability of credit, interest rates, which influence the amount of money borrowers pay for loans, will decrease substantially. The US policy allows the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates and maintain low rate to encourage businesses to borrow investment capital. Low interest rates also stimulate individuals to borrow money to buy goods such as real estate and automobiles. For instance, in the late 1970s, the US monetary policy provided loan interest rates of 8% and an inflation rate of at least 10%. This led in diminished borrowing as financial institutions reduced their lending. However, monetary policies produce adverse results when money and credit supply grows at a faster rate than production of products and services. This phenomenon pushes prices up and ultimately results in an increased inflation rate. Ineffective monetary policies caus e inflation, which is a serious issue, particularly for most Americans who live on fixed earning. This is because such people’s income remains constant while their capacities to purchase goods and services decreases (Everett 175). When banks anticipate high inflation, they increase interest rate to cushion themselves against losses. When money and credit supply grows rather slowly, interest rates are likely to rise, resulting in decreased spending on investments, as well as conventional, durable

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility in UK Firms Dissertation

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility in UK Firms - Dissertation Example Other than the research design, studies need to provide an understanding of the research rationale, sample and sampling procedure, data and collection methods, as well as the data analysis process. The following chapter provides a deeper analysis of the methodology employed in conducting this study. Research Design Approach Research studies take the form of qualitative, quantitative, or both. Whereas quantitative designs use numerical data, qualitative designs use non-numerical data and information to make analysis towards achieving the aim of the study. In order to realise the objectives of this research, a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches was employed. On the one hand, the study utilized available research data on the subject of CSR policy and performance among major corporations in the UK. In order to identify a sample space to draw information from, a recent research by Highflier’s Research (2011) on the Top 100 Graduate Employers in the UK for the year 2011 and 2012 was used. Secondary data and information regarding CSR in respect to UK firms provided a good foundation and basis for conducting a detailed analysis hence conclusions and recommendations. Apart from the use of secondary data especially the research study conducted by Highflier’s Research (2011), the study also collected additional information and data from the available literature that addresses the concepts and aspects of CSR with respect to UK firms. Such literatures formed the bigger part of the literature review section. Specific information obtained from the various literatures included the CSR policy frameworks as well as performance of UK firms in respect to the same strategic move. The literatures... The research selects three firms, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury and uses them to represent the entire population. These firms are UK-based and of late have been seen as very successful in respect to CSR policies and performances. The sampling method that was used was the stratified sampling, which involves selecting specific firms that have heard significant impact, whether positive or negative, on the business environment on the basis of the topic under discussions. The three firms formed the case studies that needed to be analyzed in order to arrive at the conclusion. However, there were information and data required regarding the client’s perception on the firms’ CSR policies and performances. Again, it was difficult to conduct interviews on all the clients of the three firms. Consequently, 150 clients were selected randomly and a semi-structured interview was performed on them identifying firstly the firm of choice and then their views on the CSR policies as well as per formances. As much as we praise the importance of CSR practices to the organisation, the ultimate effectiveness of such practices is best felt by the public. It is true that interviewing senior corporate managers can serve good in understanding the environment underpinning their CSR policies. Nevertheless, this option is both resource consuming and might be subject to faked information as managers strive to safeguard their business secrets. On the other hand however, company clients are more open in airing their views on businesses and their practices

UK's Fastest Growing Companies Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

UK's Fastest Growing Companies - Dissertation Example Leadership is an important element of businesses in our modern era. Leadership in entrepreneurship involves the building of teams with complementary talents that can enable a business to attain its objectives (Timmons and Spinelli, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚   In essence, financial leadership is entrepreneurship in its own right. This is because entrepreneurship is about the combination of factors of production for the best results for the owners of a business   Ã‚  Ã‚   This suggests that a strong leadership is an indispensable tool for businesses. This is because the kind of leadership structure it has creates the framework for the pooling of resources for the attainment of a specific goal. In the era of privatization and the optimization of resources, leadership is central and essential in every business venture.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Timmons and Spinelli (2006) identify five main attributes of a leader in a business venture which include self-concept, intellectual honesty, pacemaking, courage, and communication. Self-concept is about a vision and a realistic approach to division of power for the attainment of results. Intellectual honesty suggests trustworthiness and high standards of integrity that a person in a leadership position has and encourages his/her followers to build and observe. Pacemaking refers to the ability to inspire and drive the attainment of set standards and visions.

National origins Essay Example for Free

National origins Essay As a playwright Euripides always had a tendency to explore less popular tragic myths, or to look at uncommon versions of popular tragic tales, such as he did with Helen. In Ion however, Euripides takes this idea even further and totally rewrites the myth of Ion. According to Athenian Myth, Hellen was the eldest son of Deucalion and Pyrrha and he married the nymph Orseis, by whom he had three sons, Dorus, Aeolus and Xouthos. Dorus and Aeolus gave their names to the Dorian and Aeolians respectively, whilst Xouthos married the Athenian princess Kreousa, having two children with her before dying in exile in the northern Peloponnese. The first of these sons, Achaeus, returned to Thessaly, his fathers homeland, whilst the second son, Ion, was recalled to Athens where he died leading the Athenian forces against the Eleusians. His people were later driven from the Peloponnese and founded the Ionian colonies in the East. This is probably all the Athenians knew about the man named Ion, not much more than a name in their histories. Euripides however, presents a completely different story. Kreousa is the son of Erectheus, who sacrificed his other daughter to the gods on order to ensure a victory over King Eumolpus of Eleusis. Xouthos is a Thessalian, a son of Aeolus, and allied to Athens in a war against Chalcis, a town on the island of Euboea, and is married to Kreousa as a reward for his services to Athens. He then invents the story that Kreousa was raped by the God Apollo before she was married to Xouthos and gave birth to a child whom she abandoned in a cradle in a cave in the Long Rocks where Apollo had raped her. Apollo however, sent Hermes to rescue the child and take him to Delphi where he was raised by Apollos priestess and worked in the temple. This is all explained to the audience by Hermes, who also says that later the boy will be renamed Ion, so the audience know exactly who the boy is. Xouthos and Kreousa however, arriving at Delphi to ask Apollo for an oracle on why they can not have children, have no idea who the boy is. Xouthos is told by Apollo that when he leaves the temple the first person he meets will be his child. The first person he meets is the, as yet not renamed, Ion and Xouthos immediately explains to him what has happened and renames him Ion because he is the first person Xouthos met. Kreousa, unfortunately receives news of this from another source and reasons that Ion must be his son by another woman and the two of them are plotting to oust her and seize control of Athens. Therefore she concocts a plan to kill Ion and sends one of her slaves to poison him at the feast Xouthos is planning. Ion is saved, fortunately, due to Apollos intervention and he learns that it was Kreousa trying to kill him. He chased her to Apollos altar where she took sanctuary. Ion shouted that he would kill her and, hearing this, Apollo sends the Pythia out to show Ion the c radle he was brought to Delphi in. Kreousa recognises the cradle and realises that Ion is her son, then proves this by telling Ion correctly what is still in the cradle. Ion, Kreousa and Xouthos then return to Athens. This story is not created entirely by Euripides, it is a familiar story of a child of a royal family, raised abroad for whatever reason, and meeting his parents without recognising them. This is very similar to the stories of Oedipus Rex, in Sophocles play, Cyrus, and several other mythological Greek figures. The plot development is also very similar to his other plays, especially Electra and Helen. The plays involve lost siblings, mother / son, father / daughter, husband / wife etc who meet after a separation of many years and fail to recognise each other. Usually after they recognise each other but sometimes before there is usually a plot to kill those who they feel are in the wrong or to escape to some safe place. Ion is unusual in this since the Kreousa is plotting to kill Ion, whom she has not yet recognised, but abandons her plot when she realises who he is. The story Hermes tells at the beginning of the play about the rape of Kreousa by Apollo, and the life of the young Ion is told in such a manner that it recalls many of the foundation myths of Athens. The first of these is the myth of Cecrops, first King of Athens. He was said to be, autochthonus (which translates literally as born of the very earth), and half man half snake. Secondly, the myth of Ericthonius who was also believed to be autochthonus and given, in a chest, to the daughters of Cecrops to guard by Athene with strict instruction not to look inside. The daughters did and were driven insane by what they saw, reputedly either half man half snake like Cecrops or possibly even fully snake. Thirdly Erectheus was the son of Pandion, the son of Ericthonius and the nymph Praxithea.

True and something believed to be true

True and something believed to be true In the gospel of John in the New Testament (18:28-40), Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor. Pilate, who is a sensible and experienced man, is perplexed as to what Jesus has done to warrant a meeting with him. After a short exchange between the two men, we begin to see truth in two different ways. On the one hand, Jesus has a very firm idea (18:37): You are right in saying I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. To which Pilate merely replies: What is truth? as if to say, You think truth exists independently of everyone as a standard by which we can judge our beliefs?[1] The question, what is truth, is central to everyday life and the ways of knowing help us begin to answer it. When you know something, you are certain about it and have no doubts regarding the matter; when you believe something, you merely think it is true and are not completely certain about it. There are many things that people assume are true but a quick look at specific ways of knowing might prove otherwise. The ways of knowing-language, perception, reason and emotion-serve to distinguish the truth and remind people that some claims arent meant to be taken at face value. There are many types of perception. Nave realism is a view of perception that asserts that we directly perceive the world as it is. Objects are simplified; the way that things smell, look, taste, sound and feel is how they smell, look, taste, sound and feel. We hear a sound when a tree falls because the tree made a sound when it fell. Though, reasonably, there is a lot more to perception. For example, Though thing s may appear to be colored to us, our experiences of color are merely representative of the surface properties of objects[2]; the physical property of reflecting certain wavelengths of light and the actual color as we experience it are two different things.[3] This eventually leads to the idea of representative realism, which suggests that perception is not as simple and passive of a process that the naive realism is. Representative realism follows the idea that we simply are not able to obtain enough information about our surroundings with our senses. Instead, it involves the person; we supply most of the content of our experience.[4] For example, to most people touching a table means that contact had been made. But this perception is a mistaken one; science refutes that claim and states that when someone touches a table, no physical contact had taken place. According to physics, the table is made up of millions and millions of atoms and it is in their nature that when coming into contact with another atom, they repel each other. So when a hand, also made up of millions of atoms, comes into contact with a table, the atoms repel each other and scientifically, the hand touched nothing. Our sense of perception allows us to take the claim of touching the table to be a true claim and there is little or no doubt regarding it. But after studying the ways of knowing that involves perception, it has been ascertained that it has several weaknesses and learning about them helps us re-evaluate what we considered to be true. Language is a matter of syntax, in this case, representation of meaning. When communicating, the first step is to encode meaning in syntax and then convert it back into something significant. Thus language is the medium of communication. But not everything can be expressed in language, though it is a dynamic part of peoples lives language changes. Words go out of fashion, they start to mean different things and people invent words and different ways of stringing them together. So things that might have been one thing during a certain period of time might not be the same now, and since knowledge also differs with every language, something that is considered to be the truth in one language may not be in another. The quest for knowledge and truth is limited by our language and its ability to control what we can and cannot know.[5] Language is ubiquitous and something that surrounds us so completely that we rarely are consciously aware of it. Language is relevant to the theory of knowledge because it is the primary way we acquire knowledge about our surroundings. But truth sometimes becomes ambiguous due to the variety of interpretations of language. For example, the U.S government has been accused of approving the usage torture such as water-boarding on extrajudicial prisoners by the CIA. The government denied it as torture and instead claimed that it is an enhanced interrogation technique. The truth remains ambiguous in this case , is it really a severe technique of interrogation or is it torture? Water-boarding is classified as torture but the government manipulated the words used to describe the action to blur the truth of the matter. Language can be misinterpreted because what one person means when they have said something may not be what another person understands. If a person sometimes does not understand the implied meanings of certain words, they can be misled to believe that it is something else, leading to misunderstandings. Meaning is an integral part of language; to discover the truth, one must first try to understand what is meant by this sentence before the decision of whether this sentence is true or not can be made. Emotion sometimes makes it harder for us to differentiate between what it true and what is believed true. Strong emotion distorts the other ways of knowledge.[6] Emotion influences the way we think and many of our intuitions are based on gut feelings, so when it is linked with find ing the truth, it can be described as a sixth sense, or having a feeling, we do not know that there is truth in what we believe, we just feel it.[7] Feelings cannot be trusted all of the time because we do not know whether or not they are indicating the truth. Because emotions affect the way we perceive, perhaps finding the truth based on emotions isnt the best way to start, it does one thing. It allows belief to bloom. Peoples strong beliefs considering some matter is able to power their notions that what they believe is in fact the truth, and even though it may not be, it is the truth to them. A definition of knowing could be the awareness of the truth of something; for instance a belief or faith in something; which is regarded as truth beyond any doubt.[8] To reason means to let logic take the reins of trying to find the truth. People are able to use past experiences to work out what has happened in situations. Rationalists believe that reason is the most important way to find kn owledge. The central principle of rationalism is that we can discover important truths about reality through the use of reason alone.[9] Cogito ergo sum, a famous saying by a famous rationalist Renà © Descartes, was used as the foundation to build a rational system of philosophy. The two ways of reasoning are deductive and inductive. Deductive reasoning allows a person to work from a general case to a more specific instance whereas inductive reasoning is reasoning from a specific case or cases to a general rule. Deductive reasoning uses a general claim to classify something. So it can sometimes be unreasonable to come to a conclusion and simply claim it as the truth without being more thorough about the matter. For instance, the premise all humans are mortal is true, and we know that Socrates is human, so we are able to come to the conclusion that Socrates is, indeed, mortal. Another example uses another premise, everyone who drives at 90 mph is breaking the law, and we know that P aul is breaking the law, so do we come to the conclusion that Paul is driving at 90 mph?[10] No, it is important to remember that when coming to such a conclusion, that it can be a conclusion of an invalid argument. Inductive reasoning goes beyond the immediate evidence of our sense, so we cannot always trust it to be truth.[11] People have a tendency to generalize too fast and jump to wrong conclusions, a result of faulty and unjustified reasoning. Confirmation bias makes these generalizations even worse as people tend to only remember the facts that support what they believe and leave out anything that goes against what they have believe to be the truth. Truth is hard to find when reason and logic are clouded with prejudice. There is a huge difference between knowing something is true and believing that it is true. The various ways of knowing have many drawbacks and may lead one to believe something is true when it isnt. Understanding these shortcomings can only help us recognize that claims of knowledge cannot be taken at face value. Bibliography Goleman, Daniel. Know Thyself, Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books, 2005. Print. Holt , Tim. Theories of Perception. Theory of Knowledge. 2006. theoryof knowledge.info, Web. 10 Jan 2010. . Orwell, George. Politics and the English Language, Norton Reader. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 6th ed., 1984. Print. Sacks, Oliver, The Case of the Colorblind Painter, An Anthropologist on Mars. New York: Knopf, 1995. Print. Southwell, Gareth. Knowledge. Theory of Knowledge. 2006. Philosophy Online, Web. 09 Jan 2010. . Trochim, William. Deduction and Induction. Research Methods: Knowledge Base. 20 Oct 2006. Social Research Methods, Web. 10 Jan 2010. . Van de Lagemaat, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print. Van Dyke, Frances. Venn Diagrams and Logic. Illumination; Resources. 2010. thinkinfinity.org, Web. 09 Jan 2010. . Whiteley, C.H.. Physical Objects as Not Reducible to Perceptions, in Klemke, E.D., A. David Kline, Robert Hollinger, eds. Philosophy: The Basic Issues. New York: St. Martins Press, 1982. Print. [1] Southwell, Gareth. Knowledge. Theory of Knowledge. 2006. Philosophy Online, Web. 09 Jan 2010. . [2] Whiteley, C.H.. Physical Objects as Not Reducible to Perceptions, in Klemke, E.D., A. David Kline, Robert Hollinger, eds. Philosophy: The Basic Issues. New York: St. Martins Press, 1982. 90. Print. [3] Holt , Tim. Theories of Perception. Theory of Knowledge. 2006. theoryof knowledge.info, Web. 10 Jan 2010. . [4] Sacks, Oliver, The Case of the Colorblind Painter, An Anthropologist on Mars. New York: Knopf, 1995. 32. Print. [5] Orwell, George. Politics and the English Language, Norton Reader. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 6th ed., 1984. 392. Print. [6] Van de Lagemaat, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 146. Print. [7] Goleman, Daniel. Know Thyself, Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books, 2005. 50. Print. [8] Van de Lagemaat, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 160. Print. [9] Ibid, 143. [10] Van Dyke, Frances. Venn Diagrams and Logic. Illumination; Resources. 2010. thinkinfinity.org, Web. 09 Jan 2010. . [11] Trochim, William. Deduction and Induction. Research Methods: Knowledge Base. 20 Oct 2006. Social Research Methods, Web. 10 Jan 2010. .

My Philosophy of Teaching :: Education Traveling Personal Narratives Essays

Philosophy of Education As people we all have experiences that are unique to only ourselves and it can be argued that it is through these experiences that we mold individual personalities. Not all of these experiences can be positive or enjoyable ones. Sometimes the hardest of all experiences are the ones in which we take memories and tools that make ourselves stronger people. Thankfully the experience that I am going to depict that had specific value to me was both enjoyable and positive in how it shaped my future. It was a year long trip that I took with my parents that spanned all the way across my eighth grade year of school, and reached nearly every continent of the world. This experience not only brought me to new places but also brought me to new realizations about the world that surrounded me. Though despite all of its glories this experience taught me a hard lesson as well which is what it means to be truly grateful. If one is not grateful towards his or her own belongings then it is im possible to really appreciate and enjoy the possessions and connections that can make life wonderful live. After a long drawn out seventh grade year where hormones and puberty hit me like a ton of bricks I felt like I needed some time off to clear my head. Fortunately my parents had the same idea but instead of just taking a little time off they, as well as myself, were willing to do something extraordinary that none of us would forget any time soon. It was set. My eighth grade year would be spent not in public school, but rather through home schooling. The greatest part is that my schooling would not take place at home and would continue as we were traveling. The continents we traveled to included Africa, Australia, Europe, and parts of South America and Asia. The countries we visited within those continents are numerous except each one was fun and interesting in its own way. All of the continents we visited are very different from each other and we had a blast at each one doing various things based on what that continent had to offer socially and geographically.