Why Has the UN Security Council Been So Unsuccessful in Its Attempts Essay

Why Has the UN Security Council Been So Unsuccessful in Its Attempts at Managing World Order - Essay Example To achieve the United Nation’s objective, significant effort has been evident. Nevertheless, in most cases, the results have fallen far short from the goals. In order to meet its goals, the UN has regularly held global conferences to address the security issues. Several factors have contributed to the UNSC’s unsuccessful management global order. One of the factors is the lack of transparency of the council. There have been conflicts regarding the restructuring of the council (Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, 2005). The members cannot agree on whether to expand the council or let it remain the same. Additionally, lack of democracy in the council has made some states to have a negative attitude towards it. Some of these states do not trust it, and this makes it difficult for it to maintain peace among the conflicting states. The UNSC cannot settle the dispute among the sates that fail to trust it because they will not give it permission to do it. Lack of impleme ntation of resolutions According to Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (2005), in recent years, the United Nations Security Council has adopted resolutions, but relevant persons fail to implement them basing on their ignorant nature. For this reason, violation of international laws has been evident; hence, conflicts worsening (Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, 2005). ... Therefore, people do not believe that the UN can bring them peace. Craving for power According to Karen (2011), The UN has not achieved much as far as peace is concerned because of the craving for power. Craving for power has made the governing class in all countries to be hostile to the inadequacy of the nationwide autonomy. The powerful minorities influence the masses, and many of them already have an objective for destructions (Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, 2005). This has hindered the United Nation Security Council from achieving it goal of maintaining the world order. UK and US war against Iraq According to Karen (2011), The United Nations suffered a great setback when UK and US announced war against Iraq. They declared war against Iraq claiming that it posses huge quantities of mass-destructive arms. The US defined its actions as ‘pre-emptive’ measure, but until now, no WMD existent and they US still carry out its activities in Iraq. The third world co unties are opposing the US’s actions against the Iraq, and are blaming the United Nations Security Council for failing to prevent this. Hence, this has lowered the relevance of the UN Security Council globally. The individuals who believe in the collective response to global security issues could see the difficulties that the UN underwent because of the Iraq war. This is because the war made the confidence in the multilateral system to be undermined. Disagreements in reformation According to Knight (2001), the UN General Assembly has been debating for many years regarding the council reformation but has never reached an agreement. The G4 proposed to be the permanent members of the Security Council. Their permanent membership would augment the Council members. This proposal was opposed by

The role of gold and the gold commander

The role of gold and the gold commander This chapter will examine the role of Gold, attempt to identify what makes an effective Gold Commander, and seek to establish the extent to which the interaction between Gold and Silver requires technical knowledge and understanding. The chapter will also explore the cultural component of Gold Command, and whether organisational culture places informal barriers in the path of direct entrants being accepted to undertake the role within the Fire Rescue Service. The author intends to define and explain the research question in the context of contemporary ideas and thinking, and to develop a good understanding and insight into relevant previous research and the trends that have emerged (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003) The Gold Commander is expected to exercise leadership, which traditionally would have been developed whilst operating at the operational and tactical level (following the normal career progression path). However, the recent appointment of senior managers within the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) who have joined as direct entrants since the introduction of new appointment and promotion regulations, which has allowed multi-tier entry (ODPM, 2004) will have evidenced leadership skills, which will generally have been developed as a result of working in other occupations. As has been mentioned in a previous chapter, Adam Crozier is an example of a businessman who has demonstrated an ability to adapt and excel in different occupations, and exercise effective leadership with support from subject matter experts. With jobs as diverse as the Football Association and Royal Mail, is it possible that given an appropriate level of support, and a nominal amount of training, Crozier could also demonstrate effective leadership as a Gold Commander? A business leader may lead a team and make difficult decisions through an economic crisis, in the same way that the Gold Commander is responsible for leading their team, albeit remotely from the personnel who will be working at Bronze and Silver level. As it is recognised that effective leadership processes represent a critical factor in the success of teams in organisations (Zaccharo et al., 2001, quoted in Flin et al., 2008: 132), it is clear that the role of the Gold Commander in leading the team is vitally important to a successful outcome. The leader needs to be effective in order to play a positive role in the resolution of an incident, and it is therefore necessary to define what effective actually means, Oxford Dictionaries online simply states its meaning as successful in producing a desired or intended result (http://oxforddictionaries.com accessed 24/11/10). However the measure of that success, and therefore effectiveness, is very subjective, indeed in the case of a tragi c incident involving loss of life, the quality of the leadership may be subject to scrutiny by judicial review or public enquiry. The Role of the Gold Commander During an emergency it may be appropriate to implement strategic or Gold command, however the FRS will rarely instigate a Gold Commander solely for an FRS operation, which has minimal impact on other organisations. However, whilst a Principal Officer1 may be the Incident Commander at a large, complex, or high profile incident, they will be operating at the tactical level when in command. In this situation Gold command is not applicable, although some co-ordination at Silver level is likely to be required. If the same incident required a higher degree of interoperability and a Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) were formed (HMG, 2009), it will require the attendance of a commander, who may be a lower ranking officer, but who nevertheless should have an appropriate level of experience and authority to act. This individual, formally known as the Fire Gold Commander, will set tactical parameters for Silver to operate within, and will not be expected to direct or take charge of operations on the actual incident ground. As soon as circumstances permit the Principal Officer should assume command, indicating that the positions are role related (ICS, 2008, p.21-24). However, the Police will routinely designate Gold Commanders, who will assume overall command and have ultimate responsibility and accountability for the response to an incident. The Police Gold will have a secondary role to establish and chair the SCG in order to coordinate the emergency or major incident (ACPO, 2009 p.26). This would suggest a different expectation of the role of the respective Gold Commanders, with the levels of culpability/accountability appearing to contrast somewhat. If the Police Gold Commander is required to ratify and review the progress of Silver Commanders tactical plans (ACPO, 2009 p.25) and the Fire Gold Commander is required to set tactical parameters for Silver to operate within, and prioritise the personnel and resource demands (ICS, 2008), the latter suggests a more hands-off approach. This may explain why Police Gold Commanders appear to be more reluctant to accept direct entrants at the senior level. 1 Chief, Deputy or Assistant Officer 2 Gold Silver Bronze Experiential Decision Making The definition of an appropriate level of experience as stated above is subjective, and clearly open to debate. It raises the question of whether the skills required for effective command at the operational and tactical level, are identical to those required for strategic command? Since 1985, researchers have been trying to establish how decisions are made during stressful non-routine situations, with Fire Commanders being of particular interest (Klein et al, 1993). The study of Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) is concerned with how experienced people, working as individuals or groups in dynamic, uncertain and often fast paced environments, identify and assess their situation, make decisions and take actions whose consequences are meaningful to them and to the larger organisation in which they operate Zsambok and Klein (1997) (cited in Flin and Arbuthnot, 2002. p. 207). It has been stated that decisions made under stress do not follow traditional decision-making processes, and inst ead fireground commanders rely on their well developed sense of intuition (Gasaway, 2007). The amount of information required to make a decision will depend on the experience and intuition of the commander, and this has been referred to as thin slicing by Gladwell (2005) which means making very quick decisions with small amounts of information, or the concept of thinking without thinking, or the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience. Gladwell contends that thin-slicing can have its uses or can be a mistake. If one takes a small amount of information to generalise or make decisions in whole then decisions may be made that really are incorrect. However, sometimes a small amount of relevant information is all that is required to make decisions and act. Gladwell hints that ultimately we should only rely on thin-slicing when our intuition has been honed by experience and training as truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking. Clearly, the ability to thin slice derives from experience of the situation or similar environment, where the commander has successfully or unsuccessfully dealt with an incident and can anticipate the next problem that may arise, which links to recognition primed decision making (RPD). The question of whether thin slicing has its place in the SCG environment is debatable, as RPD is not usually associated with Gold level decision making, for strategic commanders may need to be discouraged from making decisions based on intuition, if a more analytical approach is more appropriate (Fredholm 1997, cited HMG 2008). Flin and Arbuthnot (2002, p. 214) considered the fields of aviation, military and the police, and suggested that Incident Commanders (IC) may adopt one of four decision strategies, depending on their assessment of the available time and level of risk: Recognition primed (intuition, gut feel) (If X then Y- little conscious effort need to retrieve Y) Procedures (written or memorised) (If X then Y conscious search) Analytical comparison of the different courses of action available (If X, which Y?) Creative (designing a novel course of action) (If X, have no Y, design new Y). The decision strategies are based on increasing levels of mental concentration, not just to retrieve information from the memory stores (long term memory), but to consciously operate on or think about the information retrieved (working memory) (Flin and Arbuthnot, 2002). Most of the studies involving NDM have related to decision making in dynamic environments where there is little time for the luxury of creative or analytical problem solving (HMG 2008). So how are prior operational and tactical experiences of a Gold Commander utilised, when faced with never before experienced occurrences such as the Buncefield Fire, the largest fire in Europe since 1945 which relied on creativity rather than prior experience to resolve successfully? (Wilsher, 2006) If decision making is dependent on the experiences of the decision maker, it must also rely on the ability of the Gold Commander to be self reflective. If an individual is unable to effectively reflect and learn from their experiences, they will be unable to apply the learning to future events. Considering Kolbs experiential learning cycle (as shown in figure 1), it could be that they have twenty years experience, or one years experience, twenty times. So time alone is not a pre-cursor to being an effective Gold Commander, its what has been learnt from the experiences during that time. Figure 1 Kolbs Learning Cycle (University of Leeds 2010) Leadership One of the key responsibilities of the Gold Commander is to work with partner agencies (ICS, 2008 p24). This will require a positive working relationship both before an incident occurs, as true interoperability is built on mutual understanding, familiarity and trust (ACPO, 2009). According to Goleman (2002: 51-52) relationship management relies on the most visible tools of leadership including persuasion, conflict management and collaboration. More recently, this was confirmed by Bradberry and Greaves (2005), and of course collaboration, and to a lesser extent persuasion, are components of leadership which will often be tested in the Integrated Emergency Management (IEM) environment. Much research has been conducted to quantify the desirable attributes required for effective leadership (Kets de Vries 1993; Higgs 2002, Parry and Meindl 2002). Although there are many different types of leaders, people will often prefer to work with a leader who has outstanding soft skills. Evidence in creasingly shows that the higher one goes in an organization, the more important EI can be (Kemper, 1999, p. 16). The Gold Commander should have developed self awareness, as the leadership of an organisation or team, can influence the work environment and affect everything from morale, to effective performance. The selection and development of leaders is amongst the oldest of personnel functions (Fiedler 2001), but much of early leadership selection was conducted by birthright (Northouse 2007). Throughout the past century considerable research has been conducted into leadership which can largely be placed into three primary categories; leadership traits, leadership behaviours and the situational context of leadership (Sashkin and Sashkin 2003). Northouse (2007) states that Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse. 2007: 3). Flin et al (2008: 129) suggest that leadership relates to the personal qualities, behaviours, styles and strategies adopted by the team leader. They further suggest that leaders come in various forms, with some being task specialists, and others good with people. Trait theories of leadership were popular during the early to mid 1900s, and worked on the assumption that great leaders are born great (Sashkin and Sashkin 2003) and that by defining the necessary traits of effective leaders the secrets of leadership could be unlocked (Densten 2003). If leadership was a result of definable traits then it would be reasonable to expect that a defined list of those traits would have been found after over 100 years of research. This has not been found. The main criticisms of the trait theories are that they fail to take account of the situational and contextual aspects of leadership, and many of the definitions of various traits are highly subjective (Northouse 2007). The debate continues as to whether an individual must possess a definite set of characteristics in order to be a leader in any given situation. Some authors have suggested that the traits necessary for battlefield leadership would be effective in a school environment, dismissing the impact of the situation (Sadler 1997). Research indicates that there are varying opinions on the level of requirement of these very different qualities. Annotating these qualities into a list form results in a comprehensive summation but does the Gold Commander have to possess all, or just some of them? Conversely, if the list is not exhaustive and it is possible that someone might have other leadership qualities. How does that equate? Emotional Intelligence Commanding an emergency clearly requires effective leadership, and by its very nature a dynamic incident will sometimes require an autocratic style, but is this always necessary? Is it the case that in the Gold environment, the application of softer skills is more advantageous, with Emotional Intelligence (EI) becoming a more important component? EI was first mentioned in an unpublished thesis in 1986, and was the subject of a US article published in 1990, where it is described as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions (Mayer and Salovey, 1990). Since that time there has been a vast amount of research and published information on the subject of EI, evidenced when the author searched for books titled Emotional Intelligence on the website of an online bookseller, returning a total of 9507 results (Amazon UK November 2010). Golemans original work is open to some debate as he seems to contradict his theory by suggesting that emotion is a biological reaction on the one hand, whereas EI can be learnt and developed. Whatever the case, it is clearly more art than science, as the interpretation of EI is subjective. It would appear that the wide interest in the subject is due to the emerging recognition of the power of EI, both in terms of personal development, with the suggested opportunity to transform an individuals life experience, health and happiness, and for transforming the effectiveness of work organisations. The developing argument is that levels of emotional intelligence are inextricably linked to levels of performance, particularly in senior positions within an organisation, a viewpoint which is often repeated (Sparrow and Knight 2006). Some organisations have embraced the principles of EI, including the Royal Air Force, which in 2002 completed a comprehensive review of leadership development, leading to the establishment of the RAF Leadership Centre. The centres website informs that the RAF seeks a particular contribution from its leaders and lists nine attributes required for effective leadership. The second attribute listed, is concerned with the possession of EI, described thus; Emotionally Intelligent Self-awareness is one of the key foundations of effective leadership. Leaders who know themselves will be able to develop self-control and subsequently understand the needs of others. This will enable them to manage relationships at all levels better and remain calm under pressure. Thus individuals will be able to function as part of a wider team, invariably multidisciplinary, increasingly joint and often multinational, in the delivery of military capability http://www.raf.mod.uk/pmdair/rafcms/mediafiles/1E8488F4_5056_A318_A8AB0AC2CFC4589A.doc. (accessed 29/11/10). In 2006 the Centre for Leadership was established at the Fire Service College. The strategy for the development of tomorrows FRS leaders is enshrined within the leadership model Aspire (HMG 2008) which has been developed in response to the identification of the importance of excellence in leadership. The model is underpinned by the FRS core values, linking transformational models of leadership, and guiding behaviours to influence leadership actions and results. The Aspire model contains some elements which can be linked to EI, including; Openness to Change Situational Awareness Confidence Resilience Effective Communication The author finds it somewhat surprising that, whilst it is obvious that the RAF has recognised the connection between emotional intelligence and effective leadership, there is no direct mention of EI within the Aspire Leadership Model and Framework for the FRS. This is somewhat disappointing Notwithstanding the above, the FRS has recognised the value of people management competences, in addition to task competencies, and that both competency sets need to be included in assessing, training and evaluating effective incident commanders. The non-technical skills of an organisations emergency response personnel are as important as their technical expertise and knowledge and application of emergency operating procedures (Crichton and Flin, 2001). Competence A dictionary definition (www.dictionary.reference.com) of competence is: the quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification or capacity. Whereas Harvey (2004) describes it as the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities at a level of expertise sufficient to be able to perform in an appropriate work setting However acquiring skills are only part of the equation, for it is necessary to effectively perform a role as defined by Boyatzis: Effective performance of a job is the attainment of specific results (i.e. outcomes) required by the job through specific actions while maintaining or being consistent with policies, procedures conditions of the organisational environment. (Boyatzis, 1982:12) He further contends that maximum performance occurs when an individuals capability is consistent with the job demands and the organisational environment. (Boyatzis, 2007:2). Figure 2 Boyatziss model for competencies and effective performance Boyatzis model illustrates how an individuals personal values, knowledge, competencies and abilities contribute to performance in terms of the overlap with the job demands and the organisational environment. In simple terms this means that the bigger the overlap the better the performance. For the purpose of this research paper, Flins (1996) definition will be followed, which is the ability to perform consistently within an occupation to the standards expected in employment. The National Occupational Standard for a Fire Gold Commander working at the Strategic Level is EFSM 1 (www.skillsforjustice-ipds.com/nos/en/EFSM1.doc accessed 7/12/12). This standard details the technical skills and understanding which are required at this level. However, there is no mention of non-technical skills, as these are contained within the National Strategic Manager Personal Qualities and Attributes (CLG, 2009). In the emergency services, competency requirements for key decision makers are still very much based on rank rather than proven skill or ability though there is a move to change this. In the FRS, there is a shift from rank to role, where there is a role map of competences under the Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) designed to be relevant to each level in the service. However, as with any cultural shift, it will take some time for this reality to assert itself through all ranks within the FRS (Devitt, 2009). The author finds it interesting to note that whilst there is a role map for Brigade Manager, strategic uniformed mangers within the FRS still prefer to title themselves, Chief Fire Officer. Does this perhaps suggest that the senior leadership of the FRS are not culturally ready to embrace modernisation in its truest sense? Culture Organisational culture is a system of shared values, and beliefs about what is important, what behaviours are appropriate and about feelings and relationships internally and externally. Values and cultures need to be unique to the organisation, widely shared and reflected in daily practice and relevant to the company purpose and strategy. (CIPD, 2011). In simple terms it can be referred as the way we do things around here. The leader will be affected by the culture in which they operate, and its values, structure, hierarchy and rules will dictate how they are likely to command an incident, and ultimately whether they will be judged to be effective or ineffective (Devitt, 2009 p.37). Devitt refers to the work of Reiner (1991) who studied senior police officers and identified four different types of Chief Constable, the barons, bobbies, bosses and bureaucrats. Reiner contended that their different leadership styles will be reflected in the culture of the organisation which may influence the Chair of an SCG, and thus the style and approach with which a strategic multi-agency response is operated. If the Chair of an SCG adopts the style of a boss, who controls mainly through authority not power, dont suffer criticism gladly, and see community policing as idealistic in the face of an overwhelming tide of crime, this will clearly affect the dynamics of the group Devitt (2009). Chan (1996) undertook a study of police culture, and refers to Bourdieus relational theory, which explains cultural practice as the result of interaction between cultural dispositions (habitus) and structural positions (field), situating culture in the social and political context of police work. Sackmann goes on to describe the essence of culture as the collective construction of social reality. Her cognitive model encompasses all forms of shared organised knowledge: the form of things that people have in their minds; their models for perceiving, integrating, and interpreting them; the ideas or theories that they use collectively to make sense of their social and physical reality (Sackmann 1991: 21). She classifies cultural knowledge within an organisation into four dimensions: dictionary knowledge, which provides definitions and labels of things and events within an organization; directory knowledge, which contains descriptions about how things are done generally in the organization; recipe knowledge, which prescribes what should or should not be done in specific situations; and axiomatic knowledge, which represents the fundamental assumptions about why things are done the way they are in an organisation. Axiomatic knowledge, often held by top management, constitutes the foundation for the shape and future of the organisation. These may be adjusted or revised from time to time as a result of critical evaluations or growing experience. Sackmann sees cultural cognitions as being held by groups rather than individuals. These cognitions are socially constructed, and may be changed or perpetuated by organisational processes through repeated applications. In time, these cognitions are imbued with emotions and acquire degrees of importance; they also become habits of thoughts that translate into habitual actions. With the FRS implementation of the modernisation agenda under the National Framework (although this has recently changed with the election of the coalition government), some senior fire officers are reluctant to readily accept that direct entrants or non-operational staff may be effective at undertaking a Gold Command role, whilst a number of Police Gold Commanders have expressed th eir opposition to the idea, as evidenced by the authors research..

F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

Money and The Great Gatsby "Her voice is full of money Pg. 127)," is a major contributing sentence to the story. This sentence, which comes from the character by the name of Jay Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald relates this story to many, stating that money can buy anything, including the love of a woman. This feeling that Gatsby has acquired baffles Nick Carraway. Throughout the story, the truth comes out of why Daisy becomes part of Gatsby, which is because she wants him just for his riches. In the Novel The Great Gatsby, the book strongly relates to "The American Dream." In Gatsby’s case, the dream is that through acquiring wealth and power, once can also gain happiness. To reach his idea of what happiness is, Gatsby must go back in time to relive an old dream. To do this, he believes he must first have wealth and power. Jay Gatsby is a man who does not wish to live life in the present because it offers him nothing. He spends a majority of his life trying to recapture his past, in which he eventually dies in pursuit of it. The reason he wishes to relieve the past is because he had a love affair with the rich Daisy Buchanan, who he had, fell deeply in love with. However, he knew they could never get married due to their difference in economic and social statuses. He wants to marry her, but because of this problem he leaves her in order to gain wealth and social status in order to reach her standards. Once he reaches this goal, he buys a house close to her in which he tries to "impress her." Jay thinks money will take care of everything, in which he realizes it doesn’t make life out like it ought to be. Gatsby refuses to give this up until he reaches fulfillment of his American Dream. The sad thing is that he never does, and ends up dying. The question of money and sociability’s authority over life is a big factor in many people’s lives. Many people in today’s world try to buy love with money. That is not really a "true love." Both of the people in the relationship should love each other for WHO they are, not what they are or have. Some people do not understand this concept. That is why separations, divorces, etc.

Gitanjali: Rabindranath Tagore Essay

Gitanjali is a collection of 103 Bengali poems which were translated to several languages like in English, and other European languages. The meaning of the term explains the nature of the book. Gitanjali, the term comes the merger of two words ‘git’ and ‘anjali’, ‘git’ means song and ‘anjali’ means offering. Therefore, it means ‘Songs of Offerings’. Gitanjali is a book to feel and cherish, the greatest book of a great writer. Tagore wrote poems for various moods, be it love ,devotion, stories, sorrow, joy even realism. Rabindranath Tagore has provided Western culture with strong example of Eastern Philosophy in both prose and poetry. Tagore had written his Gitanjali (song offerings) in Bengali, and after he learned from William Rothenstein of Western interest in them, he translated them into English. Chiefly for this volume, Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, the same year that Macmillan brought out a hard-cover copy of his prose translations of Gitanjali. This poem shows the charm of humbleness: it is a prayer to help the poet open his heart to the Divine Beloved without extraneous words or gestures. A vain poet would produce vain poetry, so this poet wants to be open to the simple humility of truth that only the Divine Beloved can afford him. As Yeats says, these songs grow out of culture in which art and religion are the same, so it is not surprising that we find our offerer of songs speaking to God in song after song, as is the case in #7. And the last line in song #7 is a subtle–or perhaps not so subtle–allusion to Bhagavan Krishna. According the Paramahansa Yogananda, â€Å"Krishna is shown in Hindu art with a flute; on it he plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the human souls wandering in delusion. † W. B. Yeats, in the introduction to Tagore’s Gitanjali, writes that this volume has â€Å"stirred my blood as nothing has for years . . . .† He explains, â€Å"These lyrics . . . display in their thought a world I have dreamed of all my life long. † Then Yeats describes the Indian culture that he feels is responsible for producing this remarkable work: â€Å"The work of a supreme culture, they yet appear as much the growth of the common soil as the grass and the rushes. A tradition, where poetry and religion are the same thing, has passed through the centuries, gathering from learned and unlearned metaphor and emotion, and carried back again to the multitude the thought of the scholar and of the noble. † He contrasts the art of his own culture: â€Å"If our life was not a continual warfare, we would not have taste, we would not know what is good, we would not find hearers and readers. Four-fifths of our energy is spent in this quarrel with bad taste, whether in our own minds or in the minds of others. † Yeats might seem harsh in his assessment of his own culture’s motivation to art, but, no doubt, he has correctly identified the mood of his era. Yeats having been born of Western culture, his birth dates are famous as the markers of two horrendous Western wars 1865 and 1939. So his rough estimate of the artists being motivated by warfare is quite understandable. On the other hand, his assessment of Tagore’s achievement is accurate. As Yeats tells us, Tagore’s songs are not only respected and admired by the scholarly class, but also they are sung in the fields by peasants. Yeats would never have expected his own poetry to be accept by such a wide spectrum of the population. My favorite Gitanjali poem (song offering) is #7: My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union. They would come between thee and me. Their jingling would drown thy whispers. My poet’s vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O Master Poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music. Gitanjali poem #7: My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union. They would come between thee and me. Their jingling would drown thy whispers. My poet’s vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O Master Poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music. These words are metaphysical yet have a beautiful message hidden. A message that is subtle yet clear. It says that love is liberated from all the social constraints†¦ pure feelings. It is a free bird just in need of communion. Human love and celestial love are brought parallel†¦ like Jayadeva does in his GeetGovind. Vaishnavs like Jayadeva derived inspiration from Lord Vishnu and his most admired avatar, Krishna. But, Tagore saw elements of similarity between human and celestial love in the Baul community of Bengal and translated them into his poetry. I feel that literature like this binds the whole country into one, highlighting pure emotions like love. The universal yet multiple culture of our country is displayed in this beautiful string of songs as one, the universality lying in emotions and the multiplicity in the many types of cultures. This string is not that of pearls or stones but of love and one that brings us closer to divine. Tagore, like Chaucer’s forerunners, writes music for his words, and one understands at every moment that he is so abundant, so spontaneous, so daring in his passion, so full of surprise, because he is doing something which has never seemed strange, unnatural, or in need of defence. These verses will not lie in little well-printed books upon ladies’ tables, who turn the pages with indolent hands that they may sigh over a life without meaning, which is yet all they can know of life, or be carried by students at the university to be laid aside when the work of life begins, but, as the generations pass, travellers will hum them on the highway and men rowing upon the rivers. Lovers, while they await one another, shall find, in murmuring them, this love of God a magic gulf wherein their own more bitter passion may bathe and renew its youth. At every moment the heart of this poet flows outward to these without derogation or condescension, for it has known that they will understand; and it has filled itself with the circumstance of their lives. The traveller in the read-brown clothes that he wears that dust may not show upon him, the girl searching in her bed for the petals fallen from the wreath of her royal lover, the servant or the bride awaiting the master’s home-coming in the empty house, are images of the heart turning to God. Flowers and rivers, the blowing of conch shells, the heavy rain of the Indian July, or the moods of that heart in union or in separation; and a man sitting in a boat upon a river playing lute, like one of those figures full of mysterious meaning in a Chinese picture, is God Himself. A whole people, a whole civilization, immeasurably strange to us, seems to have been taken up into this imagination; and yet we are not moved because of its strangeness, but because we have met our own image, as though we had walked in Rossetti’s willow wood, or heard, perhaps for the first time in literature, our voice as in a dream. REFERENCE: 1. Rabindranath Tagore. Gitanjali. Electronic text center. University of Virginia .

Nat King Cole

David Chen MUEL 2752 Dr. Daniel Jones Pre-Rock Era Project: Nat King Cole There is no questioning Nat King Cole’s place as one of the most influential and important American popular musicians in history. Although he was initially known as an innovative and skilled jazz pianist, his singing allowed him to become highly successful in the realm of popular music, more specifically in the big band and jazz genres. Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919 (Ruhlmann par. 3). His family moved to Chicago in 1921, where he began to play the piano at age four and took classical lessons at age 12 (Ruhlmann par. ). When he was 15, Cole dropped out of high school in order to pursue a career as a jazz pianist (Ruhlmann par. 4). In 1937, Cole formed the King Cole Trio and began doing live performances and occasional recordings for small labels as well as some radio work. After releasing successful singles such as â€Å"That Ain’t Right† and â€Å" All for You,† the King Cole Trio was signed by Capitol Records in 1942 (Teachout par. 15). Cole began to utilize his voice increasingly, and critics began to notice the King Cole Trio’s increasing tendency to emphasize popular music as early as 1945 (Teachout par. 0). In 1951, Cole officially disbanded the King Cole Trio and continued his successful career as more of a standup singer than as a pianist (Teachout par. 25). Cole continues to sell great quantities of music today. However, despite his popularity, Cole has often been the subject of criticism. Many criticize Nat King Cole for compromising his artistic integrity as a jazz musician in order to achieve commercial success. Some even consider his increasing popularity and shifting musical style to be â€Å"betrayal† (Ruhlmann par. 1). One article from NPR music argues that Cole’s â€Å"singing clearly betrayed his jazz sensibilities,† while another even goes as far as to call Cole a â€Å"failed jazzman† (NPR par. 5, Teachout par. 5). Contrary to these critics, Nat King Cole’s transition from pure jazz into popular music only added to his greatness as a musician and as a prominent public figure. Cole still must be considered one of the most important and influential jazz musicians in American music history, and his conversion from pure jazz to the commercial realm of music in fact allowed him to break important racial oundaries in the world of popular culture. Despite accusations that his transition into popular music weakened his integrity as a musician and an artist, Nat King Cole left an indelible mark upon both jazz and popular music during his lifetime. Gunther Schuller, author of The Swing Era, remarks that Cole was â€Å"not only one of the most outstanding jazz pianists of his day but stylistically one of the most advanced† (Teachout par. 4). Many important jazz pianists were influenced by the piano playing of Cole, including Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Hank Jones (Teachout par. 4). It is clear that while Cole is often known only as a popular singer, jazz musicians appreciate his tremendous skill and artistry as a jazz pianist. Nat King Cole’s influence upon jazz did not stop at his playing and improvisational skills. When invited to play at a Hollywood nightclub called the Swannee Inn, Cole decided not to use a drummer (Teachout par. 14). Inadvertently, Cole had utilized the â€Å"jazz trio†, a lineup that consisted only of a piano, guitar and bass. While Cole was not the first to use this setup, jazz experts often argue that he was the first to fully grasp the musical possibilities of this unique instrumentation. According to Terry Teachout of American Scholar, most pianists in groups without drummers tended to overplay in order to fill the musical space and provide additional rhythm; Cole, however, simplified his playing and created a new type of jazz sound (Teachout par. 15, HOWZE par. 6). The King Cole Trio’s lineup was emulated by numerous musicians, including Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Charles Brown, and Ray Charles, and, some assert, helped lead the way in small band jazz (Ruhlmann par. ). Cole explored entirely new territory in jazz, surpassing the influence of other popular musicians of his time. Rather than staying within the confines of jazz as the world knew it, Cole actually created new styles and novel ways of using old instruments, thus furthering the development of jazz as an art form. Nat King Cole’s conversion from pure jazz into popular music, while despised by some, actually increased his significance in popular culture and music. Cole’s status as a popular singer in fact allowed him to reach audiences and to break boundaries he could never have broken as a pure jazz musician. Starting in the 1930s, Cole’s piano style and jazz instrumentation defined the jazz-piano trio; however, it was not until he began to sing that he became a â€Å"consummate and world-famous entertainer† (HOWZE par. 1). Connaitre Miller, a fine arts professor at Howard University, notes that Cole was the first jazz singer promoted on television (Foster par. 6). It was mainly Cole’s popularity as a singer, and not as a jazz musician, that allowed him to be featured on television. If Cole had remained within the confines of instrumental jazz, he may have silenced jazz critics who accuse him of betraying jazz, but he also would not have been able to spread his jazz-influenced singing to such a wide audience as the one afforded him by his television appearances. Nat King Cole’s popularity as a jazz singer even allowed him to challenge racial boundaries of his time. The King Cole Trio was, according to Terry Teachout, about as popular as a black unit could be within the confines of jazz and show business, and â€Å"[broke] through the concrete ceiling that kept most black musical acts from reaching the highest peaks of celebrity† (Teachout par. 14). On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC and became the first of its kind hosted by an African-American (Noble). On one notable occasion, Nat Cole was not allowed to stay at certain hotels or visit certain casinos in Las Vegas. Eventually, Cole sought legal action against those hotels and clubs, using his celebrity status to challenge Las Vegas’s intolerant system (HOWZE par. 6). While Cole’s status as a pure jazz musician may have been jeopardized by his transition into popular music, this very transition allowed him to effectively attack significant racial issues, an undertaking he could not have dreamed of as a jazz musician with a much smaller following. Nat King Cole may be the perfect example of an artist turned popular entertainer. As a jazz musician, Cole was almost unparalleled. Nat King Cole was certainly considered by jazz fans, musicians, and critics to be a leading jazz pianist, and often played in respected jazz venues such as the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts (Murph par. 8). Furthermore, Cole all but pioneered the â€Å"jazz trio,† a lineup that was highly emulated and influential in the development of jazz, proving that he was not only a highly skilled and respected jazz musician, but also an innovative and original one. Later, as a popular singer, he gained a tremendous monetary and commercial success as well as a massive audience. Even though he lost the respect of certain jazz purists, he gained much more influence upon pop culture, and using this influence, Cole popularized and cemented jazz’s influence on popular music while even addressing racial boundaries of his time. These accomplishments would have been much more difficult, or even impossible, to achieve if Cole had remained a pure jazz musician. In this sense, studying the career of Nat King Cole may yield important insights pertaining to the boundary between classical and popular music. As a purely classical musician, a musician such as Nat King Cole may be much more respected within followers of that particular musical genre; however, throughout history, musical figures who have crossed the line between classical, artistic music and popular music are much more memorable than those who do not. By entering popular culture, musicians are much more likely to have the ability to affect significant issues of the time. For example, Bono of U2 or Angelina Jolie possess a relatively great sphere of influence when it comes to political causes. If neither were as engrained in popular culture as they are, it would be safe to say that they would not bring as much attention to the issues they care about. By gaining popularity, prominent figures also gain influence within popular culture and maybe even on the course of history. Although sometimes criticized by jazz purists, Nat King Cole’s commercial success in fact allowed him to affect American popular culture in unprecedented ways and secured his status as one of the most important musicians of his time. Works Cited Foster, Shivonne. â€Å"Cole’s Memory, Legacy is Unforgettable. † The Hilltop (2007). March 2010 < http://www. thehilltoponline. com> Howze, Margaret â€Å"Jazz Profiles from NPR: Nat ‘King’ Cole: the Pianist. † NPR 2010. 9 March 2010 http://www. npr. org/programs/jazzprofiles Murph, John. â€Å"Nat King Cole: Getting their Kicks. † Jazz TimesMay 2009. 9 March 2010 http://jazztimes. com Noble, Amy. â€Å"The Story of Nat King Cole. † March 1998. 9 March 2010 http://members. pcug. org. au Ruhlmann, William. â€Å"Nat King Cole. † All Music Guide 9 March 2010 http://www. pandora. com Teachout, Terry. â€Å"Nat King Cole. † American Scholar 61. 3 (1992): 437-443. 6 March 2010 http://web. ebscohost. com/

The economic policy of Germany in 1933-1941 Essays

The economic policy of Germany in 1933-1941 Essays The economic policy of Germany in 1933-1941 Paper The economic policy of Germany in 1933-1941 Paper Essay Topic: Claim of Policy Cited in Mein Kampf and Zweites Buch are Hitlers four main aims concerning economic policy. First, Hitler aimed to create an autarkic system, which would enable Germany to sustain broader hegemony within Europe. Secondly, he intended to target above all the lands in the east. Third, since the latter inevitably involved expansion- and therefore conflict- the economic infrastructure would have to accommodate a considerable increase in military expenditure. But, fourth, he needed the support of the German people and could not therefore risk severely depressing their living standards in any quest for military supremacy. Thus the fundamental question is, did Hitler prioritise any of his aims? The incentive of this is essay is to analyse the Guns v butter debate over the priority of rearmament or the consumer- both expanded, but from 1936 onwards guns were the priority. Hitler came to power after the worst of the Depression. The 1929 Wall Street Crash affected German industry resulting in recession. Six million became unemployed where the employed suffered due to reduced hours and low earnings. Consumer demand fell, as a result of which there was a decline in small shops. Businesses and banks were heavily bankrupt and the Middle class had to rely on soup kitchens as welfare favoured factory workers. In addition they could not purchase overseas-the depressed economy had all the effects of a social catastrophe! To remedy the situation, Chancellor Bruning (1929-32) had introduced a series of deflationary measures, which were intended to promote early recovery even at the expense of accelerating short-term economic decline. There is evidence that his policies were beginning to work: unemployment was already on the downturn and Hitler was able to claim credit for recovery. The period 1933-6 was dominated by the Economics Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, whose New Plan of 1934 was intended to promote Germanys exports, reduce imports, strengthen the currency and establish a series of bilateral trade agreements with those less developed countries which were rich in raw materials. Additionally Germany refused to pay reparations, they directed scarce raw materials to key industries and more critically the control by government of all aspects of trade and currency exchange (growing role of state). For a while therefore there was economic equilibrium. Between 1935 to 1936, however, an economic crisis forced Hitler to make a decision about future priorities. He therefore introduced in 1936 the Four Year Plan, the intention of which was to develop substitutes for essential raw materials, which Germany lacked and to move to a war footing the result was an increase in the rate of rearmament. Military expenditure increased from 1. 9 billion marks in 1933 to 5. 8 billion at the start of the Four Year Plan, rising to 18. 4 billion in 1938 and 32. 3 billion in 1939. The overall aim of the Four Year Plan was to make the armed forces and the economy ready for war within four years. In addition there were another three priorities- one; increase in agricultural production, two; retraining of key sectors of the labour force and three; government regulation of imports and exports. Accompanying rearmament was a series of measures to create a more disciplined workforce. In place of the trade unions, the workforce had to accept membership of organisation such as Strength through Joy (KdF) and Beauty of Labour (SDA) while, at the same time, coming to terms with falling living standards. Two key issues arise from the above outline. One is Hitlers overall economic strategy, more precisely his schemes for territorial expansion and hence the pursuit for restored prestige. The second is the way in which this affected the German people in terms of economic stability and living standards. Historians have often debated the fact that Hitler via economic policy merely wanted to restore the prestige of Germany. Indeed this is true in that Hitler wanted to restore Germanys power to the former Bismarckian success of 1862-90. More crucially Hitler had to detach Germany from the terms of the embarrassing Treaty of Versailles. The Versailles Treaty had robbed Germany of the prestige it maintained in Europe before the First World War. The Treaty was a major setback for Germany, as it resulted in severe population loss and economic loss, primarily in the loss of Alsace and Lorraine and huge reparation payments. Other land lost was Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium, the controversial Polish Corridor and Poznania, Eastern Upper Silesia, Memel and Lithuania. The Rhineland was demilitarised and additional clauses of the treaty included disarmament and the humiliating War Guilt Clause. The overall effects on Germany were: loss of 13% of its territory, 12% of its population or figuratively 6. 5 million German people. The loss of 48% of its iron ore, 16% of its coal and 15% of its agricultural production. Hitler looked at these figures and realised that the Allied forces had ravaged Germany. Additionally he felt Bismarcks successes had been undermined, especially in the loss of Alsace and Lorraine to the French. Thus it was his duty to retrieve what Germany had lost, it was a personal fervent belief on Hitlers behalf to restore the devastated Germany to its former glory. Subsequently Hitler set out to quash the terms of the treaty through rearmament, autarky and pursuit of Lebensraum. All three aims were geared towards inevitable war in the east. Hence the economy needed to be concentrated on war and restoration of kudos rather than living conditions. In Zweite Buch he argued that Germany should abandon its former pursuit of economic power through colonies or attempts to dominate Western Europe and, instead, should be turning our eyes towards the land in the east. In this way Lebensraum could be fulfilled, large peasant communities would eventually be established in the future in Poland and Russia on land carved out of these countries by the German army. German domination would also ensure self-sufficiency in all raw materials and food as well as guaranteed outlets for manufactured goods. Autarky would underpin the future economy; Lebensraum would give autarky geographical cohesion; and rearmament would provide the means of achieving Lebensraum. Accordingly in 1934, Schacht introduced the New Plan promoting and heightening autarky. The Four Year Plan was aimed at making the armed forces and economy ready for war in four years. Hitler made this intention clear in the Hossbach Memorandum, as a result of which Goering, at the Four Year Plan Office, was instructed to place the German economy on a war footing by promoting autarky and developing substitutes for any essential materials which Germany had to import. From 1936 to 1939 rearmament dominated economic growth, exports fell and standards of living were held as growth in the economy was devoted to military spending. From 1936 to 39 two thirds of Germanys industrial investment was devoted to production of steel, iron ore and tools. The production of steel was three times greater than that in Britain and the production of coal was two times greater. From 1939 the German air force increased and was five times greater, including a vast battle fleet and army. Standards of living declined even though Hitler denied this. And by 1939 danger of the economy overheating due to labour/ raw material shortages and the rise in some prices rendered the economy unstable. Previous to 1939 Hitler realised that there just was not enough resources, this conflict with reality led the Nazis to assume a policy of expansionism into the east. Here Hitler was also fulfilling his ideological goal of Lebensraum. After invading Austria and Czechoslovakia Hitler received growing hostility from the elites, army and businessmen as invasion posed a grave risk to the economy. Germany was not ready for until the mid 1940s. However Hitlers miscalculations over the Polish crisis led to Britain and France declaring war on Germany before her plans were complete. Despite the fact that the economy was overheating Hitler achieved success with the Blitzkrieg 1939-1941. It was the only way in which Germany could grow from limited mobilisation by steadily expanding its economic base through a series of rapid and specifically targeted conquests. Blitzkrieg was as much an economic strategy as a military device. By 1941 Blitzkrieg seemed to have produced the required momentum for the achievement of the early stages of Lebensraum. Germany had gained military and economic control over Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Ukraine and a sizeable area of European Russia, as well as direct influence over Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. With these victories, the economic dimension of Lebensraum became clearer. Then came total war, which wrecked the new economic order. Total war is often projected as the logical final step: the total mobilisation of the economy to enable it to achieve the final stage. Actually, it was a response to failure to achieve a rapid victory through Blitzkrieg. It was an admission that the previous delicate balance between consumer and military needs could no longer be maintained. Above all, it was a struggle for survival as, from 1942 onwards; the tide began to turn with the military recovery of the Soviet Union and the entry of the United States into the war. Despite the best efforts of Armaments Minister, Albert Speer, the German economy proved far less adaptable to total war than those of its three main rivals. It was massively out produced in terms of war material by the United States and the Soviet Union, while even Britain, with a smaller, economic base, managed to maintain a larger output of aircraft and artillery. It seems the total war was a desperate attempt to cling on to the Lebensraum already achieved rather than its logical completion. There is an open debate about the relationship between Blitzkrieg and total war. Either the Blitzkrieg economy was the initially successful step towards Lebensraum, which was then reversed by the disasters of total war. Or the drive for Lebensraum through total war was impeded by the intrusion of Blitzkrieg. Thus far, it seems from the analysis that Hitler was trying to restore prestige by retrieving lands lost due to the Versailles Treaty. He was also determined to achieve autarky and massive rearmament to assist the war effort. War itself was a means to restore Germany to the glorious days of the Bismarckian era, when there was unmitigated German hegemony. It was also fundamental to Hitlers belief concerning struggle, All nature is one great struggle between strength and weakness, an eternal victory of the strong over the weak The nation which would violate this elementary law would rot away. Hence, Hitlers economic policy was an attempt to create a war economy that fulfilled ideological beliefs and key foreign policy endeavours. Now, the question remains- during the years 1933 to 41, were the German people better off as a result of Hitlers economic policies? There seemed to be much to support the view that Germany was experiencing a return to prosperity after the trauma of the Depression- the time of recovery. For one thing, unemployment was in rapid decline. The figure had stood at 4. million in 1933, dropping thereafter to 2. 7 million in 1934, 2. 2 million in 1935, 1. 6 million in 1936, 0. 9 million in 1937, 0. 4 million in 1938 and a mere 0. 1 million by 1939. This was far more rapid than in the reduction of unemployment in comparable economies such as the United States and France, while Britain still had 1. 8 million on the dole in 1938. Corresponding with the decline in unemployment was an increase in wages. Falling to a low in 1933 of 70 per cent of their 1928 level, these had recovered to 75 per cent by 1934, 80 per cent by 1936 and 85 per cent by 1938. Thus by a decisive factor more and more people became better off during the six years after 1933. They were also part of a general increase in prosperity represented by a steady growth of Germanys national income from 44 billion marks in 1933 to 80 billion in 1938. This was particularly impressive since the 1938 figure was actually greater than the 72 billion of 1928, despite the fall in the value of the mark in the meantime. The workforce benefited at certain key outlets within the economy as the production of some consumer goods seemed to take off. Germans, for example, became the worlds largest owners of radio sets, while progress was also made in developing the comparatively cheap Volkswagen car. Added to these benefits was the vast range of activities provided in Strength through Joy: these included concerts, operas, theatres, cabaret, films, guided tours, sporting events and gymnastics, cruises and hikes. Meanwhile Beauty of Labour did much to improve working conditions, reduce problems such as noise levels and increase cooperation and solidarity in the workplace. Certainly the workforce as a whole was far better off than that in the Soviet Union. It was not, generally, in constant dread of being denounced to the Gestapo or being forced to reach unrealistic targets by being driven to breaking point. Overall it is easy to see why contemporaries should have seen Nazi Germany as a country undergoing a transformation in its economy to the ultimate benefit of its people. There are, however, fundamental problems with this line of reasoning. Its underlying assumption is that any improvements after 1933 were due directly and solely to Hitlers policies. But this flawed, on two accounts. First, there is more continuity between the early polices of the Third Reich and the later policies of the Weimar Republic than is often realised. Secondly, the policy of Bruning created a dynamic, which was of double benefit to Hitler. In ruthlessly taking control of the economy, Bruning intended to deal forcefully with the problems as quickly as possible in order to enable Germany to come through the other side of the economic crisis more quickly than any of the other leading industrial powers. This benefited Hitlers reputation by creating a huge peak of unemployment, which Hitler could not help but alleviate. And, by the time that Hitler had come to power, the worse was over as Brunings policies were beginning to have an admittedly belated impact. Hitler inherited a disastrous situation, which was just about on the mend. There was also reduced attention to consumer needs. Workers were producing proportionately more in terms of heavy industrial goods and armaments than they consumed. It can also be deduced from import and export figures that the general flow of trade was not in the consumers interest. The consumer suffered in two ways the imposition of tight import controls by Schacht and the huge drop in consumer goods from abroad. As to the new employee organisations, these may have had certain benefits and attractions, but they were very much in line with the aims of a totalitarian regime. The workforce was strictly regulated even down to its use of free time. This was done partly to break any desire to revive consumer habits, which would draw off resources from rearmament, and partly to keep open the channels of propaganda and indoctrination. The KdF and SDA were therefore no substitute for the trade unionism, which had been banned by Hitler in 1933. It has been discovered that the employment figures under the Nazi regime are artificial. Jews, some married women, political prisoners in concentration camps and so on- disappeared from the unemployment registers for ideological reasons. The Nazis claimed to have eliminated unemployment, but only because they had created a distorted economic system. Additionally workers had to pay their dues new employee organisations, and the organisations greatest scam, the Volkswagen, brought in tens of millions of marks- and not one car was delivered! In reality, the German workforce was putting in longer hours for a fractional notional increase in wages. In real terms wages were in decline compared to the increase in the standard of living. The input that workers had put into the economy was substantial but largely one-way: it fed into rearmament but received few consumables in exchange. Returning to the initial question the German people were not much better off and it seems that the standard of living was falling, not rising! Conclusively, it would seem from my analysis that the restoration of prestige was more important than the achievement of economic stability or the raising of the standard of living, in relation to economic policy of Germany in 1933-41. Indeed, Hitler forced the economy to execute his ideological beliefs, in particular, the quest for Lebensraum by means of conflict. To achieve his aspirations he had to discount the welfare of his workers- after all, Lebensraum would be the German nations long-term economic salvation. Hence, guns were more significant than butter. However, it would be ludicrous to claim that the German people did not benefit from the regime at all. If anything, success in foreign policy gave them hope of a better and united future, devoid of chaos.

How to Get the Best Dartmouth Peer Recommendation

How to Get the Best Dartmouth Peer Recommendation SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Not only is Dartmouth a very competitive school to get into, it also has an unusual requirement on its application: a letter of recommendation from a peer. This Dartmouth peer recommendation is in addition to two letters from teachers and one from a school counselor. This guide dives a little deeper into what Dartmouth is looking for in a peer recommendation, and how you can get a great one that will impress admissions officers. First, how does Dartmouth describe this special reference letter? Dartmouth's Guidelines for Peer Recommendations Dartmouth "strongly encourages" applicants to send a peer recommendation, which, when applying to such a selective school, should read as "requires." Once you have your recommender, you'll invite her to submit her letter as the "Other Recommender" on the Common Application. When most students come across this requirement, they think, "Dartmouth already has three other reference letters about me. Why does it want another one?" Good question.What exactly is Dartmouth looking for in this peer rec? According to Dartmouth, it wants to get a fresh perspective on you: "We don't want another letter from a teacher, coach, or other supervisory presence in your life; we have enough of those. Ask a peer who can provide fresh insight into your interests and your character." In terms of who qualifies as a peer, Dartmouth says it can be "a friend from school, or camp, or your neighborhood. It might be a teammate, someone from your community of faith, or a co-worker. Perhaps a cousin, a sibling: it doesn't matter." What does matter about who you ask is that this person knows you well and is qualified, by virtue of her relationship with you, to speak to your character and provide an honest and heartfelt recommendation. As Dartmouth says, "Just be sure that the person who writes your Peer Rec can express your strengths and the qualities that you have to share" and "is able to provide us with context about who you are, and what you could bring to our college community." Dartmouth is flexible about whether you ask a friend or relative, and they want someone who presents your strengths and a vision of what you'll contribute to college. Besides what Dartmouth has to say about the peer recommendation, is there anything else that makes it different from a teacher or counselor rec? How Is the Dartmouth Peer Recommendation Unique? Dartmouth is a highly selective and academically rigorous college. In its upcoming Class of 2019, 95% of the class were in the top 10% of their high school classes, and over 38% were valedictorians. That's why a lot of peer recommenders think that they need to rave about their friend's intelligence and academic feats. But that approach might be a mistake. Your teacher recommendations, along with the rest of your application, can speak to your love of learning and commitment to education. Your peer recommender, though, is a great person to talk about your character and personality, as well as to give admissions officers a sense of how you'll interact socially when you arrive to campus. Of course, your recommenders can speak to your boundless curiosity or commitment to a certain area, but they shouldn't feel confined to talking about academic ability. They don't have to emulate a teacher or counselor recommendation. Instead, they can be less formal and more personal. They can show the Dartmouth admissions committee that not only do you have the academic credentials to make it there, but you're also a caring, loyal, funny, or energetic friend. Given that the peer recommendation can focus on your awesome personal qualities and strength of character, who should you ask for this unique reference letter? Someone overwhelmed with schoolwork and college applications might not have time to write you a great letter. Who Should You Ask for a Peer Recommendation? The most important factor in choosing someone to write your peer recommendation is the strength of your relationship with that person. You should choose someone who knows you well and can write insightfully about your personality and goals. The best letters include anecdotes and examples of times that you demonstrated your strengths. Rather than just speaking about what a selfless friend you are, for example, your recommender could describe how you helped her memorize her lines for the school play every day for two weeks. Stories will both make the letter more memorable and paint a more colorful picture of who you are and what values motivate your actions. When choosing your recommender, you also want to be confident that this person admires you and will provide an outstanding, positive recommendation.If there's any potential conflict of interest - for instance, if your friend also has her heart set on getting accepted to Dartmouth - then you might want to reconsider your choice. You should feel confident that your peer recomender genuinely wants to help you get accepted and is motivated to put in the time and effort to write you an exceptional letter. Apart from choosing a close friend who knows you well and can share meaningful stories with the Dartmouth admissions committee, you should consider your friend's writing skills. Is she able to express her ideas clearly and effectively? Can she communicate a powerful endorsement that will stick out to admissions committees? Will she put in the effort to choose her words carefully and not fall into cliches? The best letters take time and effort to craft and often go through several revisions. You want to make sure your friend is able to spend time on your letter to make it the best it can be. It could also be a good idea to share guides, like this one, with your friend about peer recommendations and suggestions on what to include to make the letter stand out. Besides being thoughtful about who you choose as your recommender, what else can you do to get a great peer recommendation for your Dartmouth application? Tell your peer recommender everything she needs to know! Communicate With Your Recommender After asking your friend to write you a peer letter of recommendation, the conversation shouldn't end there!To help your recommender write you a great letter customized to Dartmouth, you should share lots of important information with her. First, make sure she understands the purpose of the peer recommendation, like how she shouldhighlight your primary strengths and personal qualities. Share with her the importance of using examples, along with explaining how she knows you and what she sees you bringing to the Dartmouth campus. Since Dartmouth is such a competitive school, you may be emphasizing a particular interest in your application or plan for future study. Your friend's recommendation can corroborate the story you're telling about yourself, as well as add to it. If you're focusing on your love of literature, for instance, then your friend could talk about the weekly book club you run or the touching poem you wrote her for her birthday. Her recommendation can complement your story and add a personal and memorable touch. She can also make sure she's not repeating too much that's already present in your application, but instead is adding the "fresh perspective" that Dartmouth's looking for. Along similar lines, you should share information about Dartmouth, if needed, so she knows more about the college you're applying to. You can tell your friend all about why you want to go there and what your goals are. Let her know how important the peer recommendation is for helping admissions officers get to know a side of you that your teachers and counselors might not show. Emphasize that peer recs don't have to focus on academic ability, but instead can shed light on personality and social skills. Recommendation letters for college are generally kept confidential, so it's your friend's decision if she wants to share the letter with you for revision or feedback. Even if she doesn't, you can share your ideas with her and help brainstorm. That way you can contribute to what ultimately goes into the letter. Be proactive about sharing resources and information with your peer recommender, and reap the benefits with an outstanding letter. Final Thoughts While a mediocre peer recommendation probably won't sink your application, a strong one could do a lot to paint you as a successful future Dartmouth student. Be thoughtful about who you choose, and make sure to give her enough time and information to do a thorough and effective job. While your peer recommender may want to keep her letter private, you can be confident that the person you asked supports you, knows you deeply, and has the skills and desire to write a great letter. Make sure your friend knows your deadlines (November 1st for early decision and January 1st for regular decision), and how to submit her letter to the Common App. Then all that's left for you to do is send her a big thank you for helping you get into this exciting school! What's Next? Are you thinking about who to ask for your teacher recommendations? Read more about who to ask for a strong letter of recommendation and exactly how to frame your request. If you're applying to a school like Dartmouth, you want to put the same careful planning into the rest of your application as you do your peer recommendation. For help in this, check out our guide on how to build a versatile college application. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Thank You After Interview Email

Thank You After Interview Email Despite the dour news reports, many companys are hiring! This article will help you write a thank you after interview email that helps you get the job. After a lengthy search process, two candidates qualified for the final interview with two vice-presidents for a lucrative sales position with an excellent company. After the interview, the vice-presidents were equally impressed with both candidates and unsure who to hire. Then, they received the candidate's thank you after interview email, and one was immediately hired and the other immediately excluded. Let's look at the thank you after interview email and examine what worked and what did not. (Note: The ideal candidate would demonstrate both a proven strong sales track record AND have the personality to build sincere business relationships with established company clients. Up until these emails were received, they appeared equally qualified.) HIRED From: ClaudiaLastName@youremailhost.com (Neutral, professional email address) Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2011 10:09 PM To: Smith, Mike Subject: Thank you from Claudia LastNameDear Mike:Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I enjoyed our remote office venue! (Nice reminder of their meeting and her flexibility. The conference room they had booked for the interview was locked so the interview occurred in an airport restaurant.) I am proud of my 24 plus years of sales and management experience. I am a top sales performer eminently comfortable with all aspects of sales, and sales management. I am even more excited about this position after meeting with you and learning it requires diligent focus on relationship building. This is the area of sales I most enjoy and cultivate. When you speak with my references, I'm sure they'll attest to my genuine interest in learning about their businesses and our long-standing relationships. Susan Demers at Summit Team, who is on my reference list, and I worked together on a customized customer service project that is particularly similar. (This comment is great: targeted directly to the job requirement, with specific testimony to her ability, and includes a reference link). I excel in: ââ€" ª development of sales opportunities ââ€" ª building long-term customer relationships ââ€" ª high level computer literacy ââ€" ª attaining results (This long bullet list is a wordy and lacks specificity. All sales professionals should possess these characteristics so it doesn't add much but unnecessary length. Better would be to pick two or three traits that best match this job and demonstrate her suitability. For example, since relationship building is so important, bullet three specific examples which demonstrate this.) Again, thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and Matt. It would be an honor to be considered and hopefully become a part of the COMPANY NAME team to assist schools to manage the financial aspects of their education mission most efficiently. (Great close - she demonstrated she understands the company mission and where she fits in.) Kindest Regards, (Appropriate closing salutation.)Claudia LAST NAME †¨(555) 555-5555 Business Email WritingThis is a great example of matching content and tone to her readers, the two hiring vice-presidents. She engaged and convinced them because all content addressed their focus and issues, not hers. And, this writing skill earned her a great position. NOT HIRED From: seektheburn@youremailhost.com (If you have an unusual personal email address that reflects a personal interest, create a more neutral email account for your job search. Let's hope this address reflects an exercise enthusiast rather than a proclivity towards pyromania.) Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2011 3:41 PM To: Smith, Mike†¨Subject: Meeting (Vague subject line) Mike, (Business email salutations for more formal email communication should use a colon, following business letter format. Personal messages and very informal email business communication use a comma. Also, there should be an appropriate professional business salutation included: "Dear Mike:" is best.) Thanks for meeting with me today. You guys make a great pair. ("You guys" is much too familiar and slang for business communication between people who have only met once, particularly in a job search. These "guys" were two company vice-presidents who had the final hiring decision.) I definitely appreciate the gentle banter. (About what? It seems the writer is trying to make a connection, but it falls far short. How does this statement convince his readers, the hiring vice-presidents, why he will best fill in their position?) I am excited about the possibility of coming aboard. I am confident that I can make a positive contribution to help grow the business. My experience speaks for itself. (Really? Unless the only job requirement is confidence, there is no other relevant content introduced here that demonstrates job suitability. Since this position is equally about sales and fostering relationships with clients, understanding their business needs by listening well, and problem solving, it was this paragraph that cost him the job. The vice-presidents felt he was too self-focused, and even too arrogant, for the position. They needed a highly skilled sales professional which implicitly requires competitiveness, hustle and focus, and he met that requirement. But, they also needed someone who listened to clients, and this paragraph made them think he lacked that skill. One vice-president commented, "If he can't write a thank you email without alienating us, what will he do to a client sales proposal?") To Good Tidings! (Avoid trite, meaningless closings. How does good tidings relate to this situation?)Steve (A job thank you message requires a closing salutation, such as "Best regards," not just a name.) The overall tone and content of this email was fully writer focused. All business communication should be reader focused. In this case, the message needed to include content and tone that would resonate to the two vice-presidents who interviewed him. It needed to convince them he would be the best person for their particular job. Instead, it was all about him and his perspectives.His lack of reader focus cost him a lucrative job he really wanted. Business Email writing is a requisite skill. Invest in your career growth in this Email Course.

Strategic Human Resources Management Bachelor Essay

Strategic Human Resources Management Bachelor - Essay Example This paper contributes to the work/life balance and work/non-work conflict literature by analyzing the literature of various studies, which examine the attitudes and experiences relating to work/life balance among UK, employees in the first 10 years of their careers. Specifically, the analysis explores the extent to which work/life balance matters, the extent to which it is being achieved and the factors that determine perceptions of work/non-work conflict, including the state of the psychological contract between employer and employee, work involvement and organisational support. The potential impact of work/non-work conflict on organisational commitment is examined, and the policy implications for employers considered. Corporate leaders understand that employees' work and family lives rare inextricably linked. They al ways have been but today, with increased pressures in both domains, the overlap and the challenges created are increasingly obvious and complex to resolve. Solving the paradox seated in an organisation's need to be optimally productive and the individual's need to find quality time to meet domestic responsibilities, to establish, maintain and grow relationships and to relax and re-charge, is the great challenge of the new millennium. Most managers have yet to overcome the conundrum for themselves let alone help employees resolve it in their lives. The prospects for easing the work/ life imbalance dilemma lie, at least in part, in establishing what is creating it. 'Know thy enemy' and so forth. Enemy number one must surely be the 'time distribution imbalance' trap - consistently committing too much time to work where this is having a detrimental impact on personal life. However, the concept of 'work-life balance' means different things to different people, and there are always shades of grey. What is an imbalance to one person is perfectly acceptable to another. In addition, commercial realities cannot be ignored. Somehow, the needs of key customers and/or other stakeholders must be met or they will take their patronage elsewhere. These and the myriad of other related issues are why the problem is so vexed and why many leaders effectively suspend their attempts to solve it. It ends up in the 'too hard' basket. However, given the gravity of the problem and the potential upside that comes with finding a remedy, at some point the issue must come back to the fore. So where to start Most managers agree that a so-called 'quality work environment' reduces the employment stresses that can spill over to staff's personal lives and create distress. The quality work environment bundle might include job characteristics such as work time flexibility, individual responsibility and autonomy, the physical office environment, pay, equity and advancement conditions. Lastly, but certainly not least, the nature of interpersonal relations in the office is very important. For some time, it has been argued that achieving a 'balance' between home life and work life is increasingly a priority for many people. As long ago as the late 1980s, Scase and

Any thing realated to linguistics and teaching English as a foreign Essay

Any thing realated to linguistics and teaching English as a foreign language - Essay Example Littlewood (1983) noted "Learning refers to conscious process of internalizing a second language. Learning to use a second language freely is a lengthy and complex process. Different people have different criteria for learning language, few stress on accuracy (grammar, vocabulary, listening, written production etc.) while others on fluency (reading, phonology, spoken production, accent, etc.) but almost everyone agree that our primary purpose of language development is to be able to speak in the target language. However, in recent years the stress is on how to teach languages, which is increasingly guided by the dominant aim of promoting the learner's communicative competence. Similarly, all the recent definitions of language learning also involve communicative point of view by one way or another. "Language learning is a neutral response to communicative needs," says Littlewood (1983). The approach that needs to be taken according to is not all about sentence structure and vocabulary but "it must also involve an understanding of how people use these linguistic forms in order to communicate." suggested Woodhead; Miller; Oshea (1981). Bourges (1964) also claims that "some basic awareness of the total linguistic process" is very essential," otherwise students can never be competent to use the second language. There fore, the learners must be aware of the value of their learning and how will matter in all spheres of his life outside the classroom, in which it has to be written and spoken. English for what English is an international language. However, for most of the third world countries, it has a position of second language. At present, English is fast gaining grounds in Non-Western countries; most of them fall in 'developing' countries category. English is no longer a language of West but it has become a language of the person who uses it. Second language learning (English) has become a necessity to most of us, for some the reason is instrumental for others it is personal. Most of us, in this situation learn second language for instrumental purpose. Recently, it has been realized that most of the students will need second language for knowledge, societal, career, or entertainment's sake. River (1983) noted that "consumers are not only students, but also the society of which they are a part." Therefore, second language is one institution that learners must master in order to perform proficiently in other subject areas as well as in society. The main component, which makes English primary for learners, is that knowing a second language will more or less give surety of a better economic status. As job markets have become increasingly competitive now and it's not enough to know one language, since all the official work is done in English. For a perspective employee, English is a need and an added advantage to progress quickly by accessing any related knowledge through different channels. As River (1984) says "people's personal attitude towards the second language matters a great deal, as also a degree and nature of socio-economic demands for it." Spoken language is also required to keep the up social relationships. Colleges and schools have a role to perform since they introduce them to a wider

Application of Microscopy in Biomedical Sciences Lab Report - 1

Application of Microscopy in Biomedical Sciences - Lab Report Example New applications are used to find the path of the unexpected discoveries (Suhling, French and Pillips 2004). Atomic Force Microscopy is the most important technique used in the biomedical applications, but it cannot compete with the traditional electron microscopy and confocal microscopy because of speeds at which later techniques capture the images (Haupt, Pelling and Horton, 2006). Some other scholars also emphasized on the importance of confocal microscopy used for the observation of living cells. Use of the confocal microscopy is now common as non-ionizing radiations are employed, which are also used for the tissue preparation and study of the living cells. TGFÃŽ ² stands for the transforming growth factor ÃŽ ², a family of the secreted factors, which are involved in the growth regulation, migration, differentiation, apoptosis, adhesion in the multistep processes for the wound healing, and angiogenesis. For the epithelial cells, the most important factor of family TGFÃŽ ² is the TGFÃŽ ² 1. It also acts as the growth inhibitor and expresses the early gene JunB. TGFÃŽ ² 1 also plays an important role for the morphology and transcriptional programme of cells. Endothelial cells differ from the epithelial cells, and show the additional features in order to achieve the specific functions. In these cells, the TGFÃŽ ² 1 also controls the process of angiogenesis (Var on et al., 2008). TGFÃŽ ² performs the dual role as metastasis promoter and tumour suppressor and keeps the balance between Smad3 and Smad2. Smad2 is found to be deleted or mutated in human cancers. ROCK Inhibitor such as Y27632 is used for inhibition of the GFP expression (Stuelten et al., 2007). Anti-Endo180 and B3/25 used as the anti-transferring receptor were taken from the Medical College in New York. American Diagnostic Inc. provided the Mouse anti-human LDLR and Mouse anti Human Upar. The wild type known as the Endo 180 was

Is nature a synonym for natural resources (in social anthropology) Essay

Is nature a synonym for natural resources (in social anthropology) - Essay Example It is under Cultural anthropology that the issue of dualism falls. Dualism is the postulation that two opposing ideas mutually exist in nature. It epitomises the dichotomy of issues that characterise any analysis of culture. As stated, this dichotomy usually pits two issues that are diametrically opposed to each other. Such issues include reason versus passion; masculine versus feminine; and good versus evil (Layton, 1998, 11). This paper endeavours to delve into the issue of Cultural Anthropology with specific reference to the notion of dualism. It analyzes the divide between the natural and cultural as a dualist issue deeply rooted in the western thoughts on anthropology in society. Dualism in religion is also analyzed in addition to the universal feature of strained relations between males and females in society. The Natural and Cultural in Anthropology In anthropological terms, nature denotes physically occurring and existing phenomena that shape the environment in which man live s. Such physical things in many cases predate man and are used by him to shape his existence (Rosaldo, 1993, 150). However, nature is also viewed as the state in which man is born or created. The nature of man is therefore that which constitutes man in his entirety including behaviour and beliefs (Bridgeman, 1983, 11). On of the long enduring anthropological controversies involve the role of the male versus that of the female in human society. This is one of the human universals since females are discriminated against in all human societies (Ortner, 1974, 67). In most analyses, women are seen as closer to nature while males are seen in terms of culture. There are a number of reasons for this universal divide. Chief of these is the fact that females are regarded in terms of their role of child bearing and the bulk of the work of rearing (Ortner, 1974, 68). As a result of this perception women are seen as being there mainly to play this biological role regarded in many parts of the wo rld as inferior to that of males. The perception of females as inferior beings are further perpetuated in three main ways. These are cultural, symbolic and social-structural devaluation (Ortner, 1974, 69). Cultural devaluation is achieved in the form of equating natural biological processes that only females go through such as menstruation, pregnancy, child birth and lactation with nature. The woman is therefore seen as closer to nature simply because she undergoes these processes. The bond between woman and child is therefore seen as natural since in the early stages of life, the baby depends so much on the mother for its survival (Ortner, 1974, 74). This results in the degrading of the woman’s role into that of a domestic servant and home keeper who has to stay closer to the offspring while the man roams about. This liberal roaming of the man enables him to formulate the rules of culture which at times involve the prescription of do’s and don’t s for the women . For instance in some cultures women have to undergo exclusion after menstruation before they can be allowed back to play their normal social roles in the society. One example of such a culture is that of the Crow tribe in Montana (Ortner, 1974, 70). Among them, females played a fairly predominant role in social activities such as the Sun Dance, but their role automatically

International business DISCUSSION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

International business DISCUSSION - Essay Example ed out (this is just an extremely concise portrayal, in the event that you are intrigued by bookkeeping, counsel your bookkeeping educator for more data). The monetary supervisor or advisor places essential accentuation on choice making. It utilizes the money related explanations ready by bookkeepers to settle on choices about the associations monetary condition and to exhort others about conceivable misfortunes and benefits. In a few cases, money is more a sort of initiative position. A monetary director need to arrangement with fund, as well as with matters of trade and profit, bookkeeping, detail, math, and administration. Individuals working with stocks and bonds need to comprehend and investigate how the underlying organizations are performing. How a given organization is going to perform throughout retreat? Should they offer or purchase stocks or bonds. How a lessening in the investment rate in England may influence the tasks an organization has in that nation. Back likewise bargains a considerable measure with danger. Subordinate securities (alternatives, prospects, swaps, and so on) are utilized to support against conceivable build in

Walt Disney Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Walt Disney - Research Paper Example He always had found memories of yesterday that he wanted to combine with today in making animated stories. He was the bridge from the past and his love of history to the future as we know it today. He was a pioneer like never known before. He had one of the most fertile and unique imaginations of his day and of our day. He took what made people dream and made those dreams come true at a time when it was difficult even to have dreams. Walt Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois to Elias Disney an Irish Canadian and his mother Flora Call Disney who was German American. He was one of four boys and 1 girl. His family moved to Marceline Missouri where he grew up. He showed a very early interest in sketching and drawing and his parents encouraged him. He began to sell small sketches to his friends and neighbors when he was about 7. In school, he was often in trouble because he chose to doodle instead of doing his schoolwork. He had family that worked on the railroad and he was able to get summer jobs selling popcorn, soda pop and candy to the travelers. This is where he learned to love railroads and later built the scale railroad for friends and neighbors. He also went to his first movie house in Marceline. He was fascinated. The first movie he saw was the recreation of the crucifixion of Christ. He loved nature and wildlife and often just took long walks. He had a great sense of family like so many that grow up in an agrarian society. Later, his family moved to Kansas City. By this time, he had developed a talent for acting and performing as well as his drawing. He was often known to imitate Charlie Chaplin as an entertainment for his friends. He often snuck out of the house late at night to perform in the local theaters or to tell his friends stories that he had made up. Walt Disney tried to enlist in the service in 1918 but was not allowed to

International business DISCUSSION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

International business DISCUSSION - Essay Example ed out (this is just an extremely concise portrayal, in the event that you are intrigued by bookkeeping, counsel your bookkeeping educator for more data). The monetary supervisor or advisor places essential accentuation on choice making. It utilizes the money related explanations ready by bookkeepers to settle on choices about the associations monetary condition and to exhort others about conceivable misfortunes and benefits. In a few cases, money is more a sort of initiative position. A monetary director need to arrangement with fund, as well as with matters of trade and profit, bookkeeping, detail, math, and administration. Individuals working with stocks and bonds need to comprehend and investigate how the underlying organizations are performing. How a given organization is going to perform throughout retreat? Should they offer or purchase stocks or bonds. How a lessening in the investment rate in England may influence the tasks an organization has in that nation. Back likewise bargains a considerable measure with danger. Subordinate securities (alternatives, prospects, swaps, and so on) are utilized to support against conceivable build in

Oxygen Saturation Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Oxygen Saturation - Lab Report Example My control variables were the temperature of the water, and the pH level of the water. Other, un-measureable variables included the main food supply and natural predators of the gammarus pulex. The Kick-Sampling method was used in this experiment and was found to be effective in accurately determining the number of shrimps at a specific site. Due to my findings, I have concluded the null hypothesis to be false. The number of shrimps per site is directly related to the dissolved oxygen content of said site. There will be more gammarus pulex (fresh-water shrimps) present within a fresh-water habitat in accordance with the increase of the concentration of dissolved oxygen. If there is a greater amount of oxygen in the water, which may be affected by organic pollution, then there will be more oxygen available for the respiration of aquatic species living in the stream. As aerobic organisms, the fresh water shrimp require oxygen for their survival. I believe that Fresh-water habitats with greater amounts of dissolved oxygen will attract more gammarus pulex. This apparatus is used to measure the flow rate of water at different sites of the river Riber Brook. It is needed due to the current preference of the gammarus pulex. This meter will be able to alleviate, or bring to attention, the possible reasons for species diversity. This spoon will be used to count the ... 15 water sample bottles Impellor/ flow meter This apparatus is used to measure the flow rate of water at different sites of the river Riber Brook. It is needed due to the current preference of the gammarus pulex. This meter will be able to alleviate, or bring to attention, the possible reasons for species diversity. Oxygen meter The Oxygen meter is used to measure the amount of dissolved oxygen in the river Riber Brook. It is needed to record the oxygen saturation, which will be compared to the amount of gammarus pulex. Plastic spoon This spoon will be used to count the number of shrimps at each specific location, which will then be transferred into the palette. It is necessary to count the shrimps in order to compare to the amount of oxygen in each site. Temperature This will be used to measure the temperature at test locations of the river Riber Brook. Temperature can affect oxygen concentration of water, so it is necessary in order to be able to explain any abnormal amount of dissolved oxygen. Palette This is used to collect and count the number of fresh water shrimps present. It was also used to ensure the shrimp's welfare in the test. pH probe This probe will be used to measure the pH of certain test sites of the water of the river Riber Brook. An abnormal pH could affect the number of shrimps collected. pH levels are recorded in order to adequately assess findings. Pond net This pond net is used to collect the sample of shrimp from the river. The net is used due to its efficiency at procuring shrimps, as well as its gentleness to the shrimp. Plastic tray ( deep tray) This will be used to hold the sample obtained from the net, so that fresh water shrimps can be identified. I have used a tray in order to ensure the