Travelling Through the Dark by William Stafford

Visual Analysis of a Beuford Smith Photograph essays

Visual Analysis of a Beuford Smith Photograph essays The piece which I will analyze was shot by Beuford Smith, and is titled These Colors Dont Run. It was taken in 1999 and is a silver gelatin print. It is displayed in Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in the Schine Student Center at Syracuse University. The issue at the heart of Smiths print appears to be race and racial tensions, as with many of the other works on display. However unlike some of the others it was not taken in the period during and before the sixties. Rather than this time, which we view as the era of racial change and the peak of racial tension in America, it was taken in 1999 a time were less attention is given to any remaining tension. Nor does the print depict an actual event which we view as a symbol of racial tension, like Million Man March in Washington D.C. and Three Placards, June 14, Anti-Apartheid Rally, Central Park, New York New York City. How exactly is Smith commenting on our current situation and what is he saying? The print is done in black and white making one think that it was in fact taken during the civil rights movement. However this assumption is quickly found to be wrong as one investigates the boys shirt which has the words Operation Desert Storm. By having viewers make this assumption and then find out that it is not so the color serves to emphasize that this is about a current issue. Also the black and white coloring makes it feel more like a factual documentation. The two focal points of the piece are the young African American boy on the out side of the shop and the elderly white woman seated at the counter looking through the glass. The boy has a sad look on his face and has his hands on to caf style tables on the sidewalk. His stance seemed determined his gaze is fixed on something in the street. Although we can assume the boy is not actually thinking of racial issues his appearance may be intended by Smith to represent the larger African American society, un...

Merchants PLC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Merchants PLC - Essay Example The capacity of raising funds depends on the resources from which funds might be accessible. The company forms of partnership and sole proprietor have limited chances for raising funds. Banks will generally only desire to finance businesses where there is a revenue stream or short risk assets i.e., assets which can safeguard loans. The company can raise money by several ways by increasing short- term and long-term capital; they can also include -issue of shares and debentures, loans from financial institutions, loans from banks, public deposits. â€Å"Capital may also be raised by development taxes levied on either developers or households, or both. For example, a value-capture tax may be levied on the estimated increase in land value due to the development of related infrastructure.† http://www.appliedeconomics.com.au/pubs/papers/pa03_trans.htm The main benefits of the sources of finance for the company includes decreasing the reliance on outside sources of finance; it raises the credit value of the company, allowing the company to withstand complicated circumstances and allowing the company to accept a constant dividend policy. â€Å"Merchants has for many years focused on a simple proposition, to deliver a high and rising income stream, together with long term capital growth through investing predominantly in large UK companies.† http://www.alliancetrustsavings.co.uk/resource/taking-stock/june2012/merchants-trust-plc.htm

Impact of Job Satisfaction on Staff Turnover Literature review

Impact of Job Satisfaction on Staff Turnover - Literature review Example Nature of work is one of the primary factors which help in the development of job satisfaction among the employees. The interest level of the employees in the nature of job which is imposed by the employer guides the job satisfaction. If the employees face person role conflict, then the job satisfaction of the employees will never be high. Person role conflict deals with the fact that employees have to undertake tasks which does not suit them and they are either under qualified or overqualified for the job. The role play of an employee in the job should also provide opportunity for them to utilize their skills which they have learned over the years. The employees should be provided with autonomy in carrying out their jobs. Another important job related factor which helps in the building of the satisfaction is the clarity in the role to be played by the employees. If the employees are made clear regarding the roles which the organization expects from them in carrying out, then a signi ficant amount of satisfaction is generated within them. Proper training regarding the jobs also helps in the development of job satisfaction among the employees as they generate confidence within them through the training process. The employee participation has been one of the crucial aspect in modern times and effective participation of employees in the decision making process of the organization generates a feeling within the employees that they belong to the organization and are an important part of it. This feeling within them in turn imbibes satisfaction regarding their job (Lee, 1991, p.9). The work pressure which an employee has to experience generates the satisfaction level within them. Often employees are dissatisfied with their job owing to the excessive job pressure which they have to face (Spector, 1997, p.24). The above study does not incorporate the factor of place of work and the ambience of the workplace which also often can raise dissatisfaction among the employees in the workplace. Pay package: Pay package is the most important criteria which dominates the level of job satisfaction among the employees. Employees always look for a better pay package and the pay package often helps in balancing the other limitation which an employee may face in an organization. The inclusion of additional facilities in the pay package helps to raise the satisfaction level of the employees and the fulfillment of the demand for increment in the salary structure makes them satisfied in their job. Other than the salary which the employees receive, often employees

CSR & Ethical Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CSR & Ethical Practice - Essay Example One advantage of business ethics is that it helps an organisation to achieve competitive advantage (Shaw, Barry, & Panagiotou, 2010). A company that engages in ethically sound business practices improves customer loyalty and trust. In this case, the consumers become loyal to the brand even if the company is facing difficult financial times. Therefore, companies will always set their ethical standards depending on organizational values. In the long run, consumer confidence increases with ethical responsibility. According to Carroll (2013), the underlying assumption is that business ethics benefits the society since it is the main basis for social responsibility among organisations. On the other hand, business ethics leads to more accountability and integrity in the organisation. The implication is that sound business ethics obligate company employees to become more responsible in certain operations like financial reporting (Choi, & Pae, 2011). Another remarkable strength of business ethics is that it makes organisations realise that their success is more than profitability (Carroll, 2013). Some of the models of business reporting like the triple bottom line approach came up as a result of business ethics and corporate social responsibility. In this case, companies focus their reporting on people, planet, and profit (Slaper, & Hall, 2011). Therefore, ethically companies have the obligation to report their financial performance, environmental as well as social performance. The triple bottom line approach recommends that company survival depends on their ability to make profits, encourage sustainable and ethical business conducts (Henriques, & Richardson, 2013). The underlying assumption is that business ethics is a prerequisite for sustaining an investment. Consumers have confidence on the company that protect environment and contribute to the well-being of the society (Choi, & Pae, 2011). On the contrary, business ethics has a negative effect

Building Materials Used in Construction

Building Materials Used in Construction In the world of construction, the king of building materials is concrete. It is the most common material and it constitutes the base of a lot of constructions like buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels, water pipes dams etc. It is an absolutely indispensable tool of civil engineers that is used for more than a century. Before its existence the largest portion of constructions was covered by two other materials, wood and stone, while the last years is very widespread the use of the reinforced concrete; which is concrete with bars of steel in it. Concrete Analysis We can say that concrete is a type of an artificial stone, a mixture of four elements; cement, water, sand and aggregates that is succeed by the process of hydration. This process converts the slushiness mixture into an artificial stone just in a few hours. The tight concrete continue to harden for many years but in the seven fist days has already taken more than 70% of its total resistance and in 28 days will have take practically its total resistance. Making the concrete we should be very careful to the proportioning. Cement and water are the two chemically reactive elements while sand and aggregates are chemically inactive. The proportions of each material in the mixture affect the properties of the final hardened concrete. As the cement (created by crushing up clay and limestone together and roasting it in a kiln) content increases, so does the strength and durability of the concrete (a good rate is 12%), the water should be pure and not overtop the 17% because the mixture will b e weak and as it concerns the aggregates, too much fine aggregate gives a sticky mix while too much coarse aggregate gives a harsh mix. All these materials together give to concrete some properties and the basic property is that concrete has a very high resistance in compression but low resistance in tension. For this reason, as it mentioned before, we use a lot the reinforced concrete; because the steel bars can handle the concrete in tension. As exists the term of resistance so on the opposite will be another term, this of fatigue. Explanation of Fatigue Fatigue is a process of progressive, permanent structural change occurring in a material which is subjected to conditions that produce time fluctuating stresses and strains. The structural changes appeal in cracks or complete fracture after a sufficient number of fluctuations. The fatigue process occurring in concrete has been under investigation since about 1900 with the majority of the significant work having been done during the past twenty years. This process has been observed in concrete under repeated compressive and flexural loading and small amounts of experimental work show that it also occurs under reversed flexural loading and repeated tensile loading. Reasons of damage on concrete In perfect conditions, that means an artificial environment of a laboratory and without considering the human mistake, concrete can last without any corrosion about 50 years. But in our environment the fatigue of concrete will start to appear in 30 years and after that the construction need to be watched and maintained. We can examine the fatigue of concrete with two different points of view; macro scale and micro scale. As it concerns the fatigue of the concrete from a macro scale view we can refer the following reasons. Concrete is a mixture of materials that is decayed in time so the first reason of the fatigue of the concrete is because of its old. Another cause is the intense alkaline environment of the atmosphere and this phenomenon is appeared especially at the urban centers because of the exhausts that are coming out from vehicles and factories. The proximity of the concrete in the water environment, such as big amounts of salt in the air and big amounts of moisture, is also an erosive factor. Furthermore, the boisterous change of the temperature as much as in winter and summer months in combination with the high amounts of moisture cause intense shrinkages and expansions on concrete. It is characteristically observed that the boisterous change of temperature per 10Π¿ C doubles the velocity of corrosion in concrete. Earthquake is the most dangerous reason of all. It can affect the concrete less or too much. It can cause a damage that is invisible but this may affect the building for years creating a bigger damage later. But the earthquake also can cause a complete fracture of concrete. The last important reason tin the macro scale view is the fire. During the fire the most common problems that are presenting are firstly the fracture part of the concrete because of the violent development of pressures from the evaporation of the water contain in concrete, secondly the thermal expansion of the concrete which also leads to fracture and finally the various change of stresses on concrete because of the abrupt freezing extinguishing of fire. If we want to study it from a micro scale view we could refer the following causes of the fatigue on concrete : Sulfate Deterioration. Sodium, magnesium, and calcium sulfates are salts These sulfates react chemically with the hydrated lime and hydrated aluminate in cement paste and form calcium sulfate and calcium sulfoaluminate. The volume of these reaction byproducts is greater than the volume of the cement paste from which they are formed, causing disruption of the concrete from expansion. Alkali Aggregate Reaction. Certain types of sand and aggregate, such as opal, chert, and flint, or volcanics with high silica content, are reactive with the calcium, sodium, and potassium hydroxide alkalies in portland cement concrete. These reactions, though observed and studied for more than 50 years, remain poorly defined and little understood. Some concrete containing alkali reactive aggregate shows immediate evidence of destructive expansion and deterioration. Other concrete might remain undisturbed for many years. Petrographic examination of reactive concrete shows that a gel is formed around the reactive aggregate. This gel undergoes extensive expansion in the presence of water or water vapor (a relative humidity of 80 to 85 percent is all the water required), creating tension cracks around the aggregate and expansion of the concrete. If unconfined, the expansion within the concrete is first apparent by pattern cracking on the surface. Deterioration Caused by Cyclic Freezing and Thawing. Freeze-thaw deterioration is a common cause of damage to concrete constructed in the colder climates. For freeze-thaw damage to occur, the following conditions must exist: The concrete must undergo cyclic freezing and thawing. b. The pores in the concrete, during freezing, must be nearly saturated with water (more than 90 percent of saturation). Water experiences about 15 percent volumetric expansion during freezing. If the pores and capillaries in concrete are nearly saturated during freezing, the expansion exerts tensile forces that fracture the cement mortar matrix. This deterioration occurs from the outer surfaces inward in almost a layering manner. The rate of progression of freeze-thaw deterioration depends on the number of cycles of freezing and thawing, the degree of saturation during freezing, the porosity of the concrete, and the exposure conditions. Acid Exposure. The more common sources of acidic exposure involving concrete structures occur in the vicinity of under-ground mines. Drainage waters exiting from such mines can contain acids of sometimes unexpectedly low pH value. A pH value of 7 is defined as neutral. Values higher than 7 are defined as basic, while pH values lower than 7 are acidic. A 15- to 20-percent solution of sulfuric acid will have a pH value of about 1. Such a solution will damage concrete very rapidly. Acidic waters having pH values of 5 to 6 will also damage concrete, but only after long exposure. Construction Defects. Some of the more common types of damage to concrete caused by construction defects are rock pockets and honeycombing, form failures, dimensional errors, and finishing defects. Honeycomb and rock pockets are areas of concrete where voids are left due to failure of the cement mortar to fill the spaces around and among coarse aggregate particles. Solutions Generally when a crack affects the performance of the structure, then we will repair it to restore its structural properties. Epoxy injection is typically the basis for this type of repair, with or without added reinforcement. The injected epoxy is actually stronger than the concrete and can restore the concrete strength. To use epoxy injection to repair a crack, the crack is first cleaned by vacuuming or flushing with water to get out any dirt or contamination. The cracks on the surface are then sealed with an epoxy gel to prevent the injected epoxy from running out. Injection and venting ports are installed and the epoxy is injected. High pressure is not used since that could actually widen the cracks. Once the cracks have been filled, the ports and surface seals are removed, typically by grinding the surfaces flush with the concrete matrix. When concrete is too deteriorated for epoxy injection, then all unsound concrete is removed and new concrete is placed. (http://www.concretene twork.com/concrete-repair/structure.html) (accessed 17/04/2011) Portland cement mortar may be used for repairing defects on surfaces not prominently exposed, where the defects are too wide for dry pack filling or where the defects are too shallow for concrete filling and no deeper than the far side of the reinforcement that is nearest the surface. Repairs may be made either by use of shotcrete or by hand application methods. Replacement mortar can be used to make shallow, small size repairs to new or green concrete. Surface grinding can be used to repair some bulges, offsets, and other irregularities that exceed the desired surface tolerances. Excessive surface grinding, however, may result in weakening of the concrete surface, exposure of easily removed aggregate particles, or unsightly appearance. The dry pack concrete repair technique shall be limited to areas that are small in width and relatively deep, such as core holes, holes left by the removal of form ties, cone-bolt and she-bolt holes, and narrow slots cut for repair of cracks. Epoxy bonded dry pack shall be used for critical repairs or for repairs expected to be exposed to severe service conditions. Dry pack mortar shall consist of type I or II Portland cement, clean sand that will pass a 1.18-mm sieve, and clean water. Epoxy-bonded concrete is defined as freshly mixed Portland cement concrete that is placed over a fluid epoxy resin bond coat on hardened existing concrete. Epoxy-bonded concrete repair may be used when the depth of repair is 30 cm à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 50 cm or greater. Resin injection is used to repair concrete that is cracked or delaminated and to seal cracks in concrete to water leakage. Two basic types of resin and injection techniques are used to repair Reclamation concrete. Epoxy Resins and Polyurethane Resins. Conclusion Without concrete, the history of constructions would not be the same and our concern must be to make it stronger and friendlier to the environment and make even more impressive constructions.

The American Christian Worldview :: essays research papers

The American Christian Worldview All across the United States Christians are talking about this term called Worldview. What is it anyway? Many times, we release our guard and end up allowing society to change our thinking into what the rest of the â€Å"popular culture† thinks of our very being. As Christians, we should be giving scriptural backup for whatever conclusions one makes about this culture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Every society has a culture. Each culture has a different method of thinking. One of the major issues each culture eventually deals with is their basic theology. If I were to ask someone who God was, the answer would vary depending on which part of the country I was in. This is where the development of worldview begins. People within that culture begin to migrate towards those who have the same beliefs in fellowship. Those people who have the same beliefs begin to form a culture. After a culture is formed, cultural studies begin taking form. In a religious community, the members of that community begin to form a standard of ethics to live by. After the individuals form a religious community, start a culture that culture begins to do cultural studies. Those cultural studies are a basis for the individuals to set boundaries of accepted ways to produce or consume culture in their community. The next step in this process deals with aesthetics. Aesthetics are the ways in which the culture communicates their beliefs and values. After all these concepts have taken their course, the individual has developed a worldview. Starting back at the very beginning of this process is the most dangerous aspect of this entire process we follow to gain a worldview. In today’s society there is a variety of versions of â€Å"God.† Depending on which God you believe in, your community and culture could be very far fetched from what the truth is. The overlying theme behind every formation that coincides with any worldview can be asked in one question. What is the purpose of my life? As Christians, we should be involved in society’s version of â€Å"popular culture.† We are called in the Bible to be the salt of the world, as the salt we shouldn’t be merely consuming the culture in which we live in, we should be part of it, adding everything we can.