Seven Essay -- Film Movie Movies

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For this report I choose the movie Seven. This movie was released back in 1995 and stars Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gweneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, John McGinley, and Kevin Spacy. Seven was directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew K. Walker.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The movie begins with the usual old cop, who is about to retire, and teams up with a young, ready to take on the world cop. The first act begins promisingly, with two cops being assigned to their first case together. One is white and the other is black and they have vastly different investigative styles. Each murder, being investigated by Lieutenant William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt), is based on one of the Seven Deadly Sins, which are Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Pride and Lust. The detectives find an enormously fat man who is forced to eat himself to death-Gluttony. The detectives discover a high profile lawyer who is made to cut off a pound of flesh for Greed. They find hooker who has been killed by having sex with a man that we will just say?s wearing an apparatus on his body for Lust. A runway model is forced to choose death or disfigurement for Pride. Sloth was a man that had been tortured for a whole year. He had been barely kept alive and his hand had been cut off for his fingerprints. He is the only victim that does not die but is a complete vegetable in such a fragile state that he would be better off dead. For envy and wrath we will come back to in a bit. The kil...

Human Rights Essay

The issue regarding human rights’ violations became prominent for the first time after the Second World War. After the war the foundation of the United Nations acted as an impetus towards the initial development of the framework regarding the Human Rights. At first the crimes committed by the Nazi regime in its occupied countries had been in focus. Before that there have only been some limited attempts made regarding forbidding international slave trade and standardizing working conditions. The initial efforts made in this regard were in the form of declaration. Further progress was made in 1946 when the ECOSOC set up a Commission on Human Rights and later a Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was formed. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) This was the beginning of the UN Human Rights regime. This paper will discuss the emergence and development of the UN Human Rights Regime. The paper will also discuss the overall performance of the UN Human Rights programme during the last 60 years, its achievements and failures, pros and cons as well as given an insight about the future prospects of the Human Rights regime in the 21st century. UN Human Rights Regime: The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This was the basis and foundation of the framework later developed for the protection of human rights in later years. Since it was an initial effort the Universal Declaration was a non-binding declaration, which means that non of the members of the United Nations were legally bounded, neither any body of the United Nations has been given the legal right to bound, judge or sanction any legal action against the members of the United States. Nevertheless, if any state violates human rights, then its exercise will no longer be considered an internal matter and it could be brought to the agenda of the principal organs of the UN. In this manner the sovereignty of the states over their citizens was restricted and the principal of non-interference in domestic affairs was not as valid as it has been in the past. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) Since the Declaration was non-binding, thus there was no legal framework, which could be enforced upon the member states at that time. In this sense the Human Rights regime was not properly functional because it has no legal authority over sovereign states. After the adoption of the declaration the second phase was the development of legally binding framework and codification of the human rights. It took almost 18 years for the member nations to agree on the International Covenant of Civil and Political rights and International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural rights, as they were formally adopted by the UN General assembly in 1966. But simple approval by the General Assembly was not enough, as the legal binding of these two codifications will come into effect only when a sufficient number of member states have ratified the codifications from their respective houses of legislatives. This also took more than 10 years and finally in 1976 both covenants were ratified by sufficient number of states. In the next 30 years the number of countries, which have ratified the covenant has reached to 154 for the first and 151 for the second covenant. (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006) In 1993 the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was appointed. The High Commissioner is appointed by the Secretary General He is responsible for working with all level of governments internationally in order to achieve the objective of protecting human rights across the globe. In a broader sense the High Commissioner has the responsibility to encourage and defend the human rights whether they are civil, political, economic, social or cultural. (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the (OHCR), 2009) The United Nations human rights regime consists of several bodies and programmes like the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, as well as several treaty monitoring bodies like Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Human Rights Committee, Committee against torture, Committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women, and Committee on the rights of the Child. All these committees as well as the Commission of Human Rights and the Sub-Commission to Promote and Protect Human Rights are the subsidiaries of the UN General Assembly. There are also several Country and Thematic Special Rapporteurs, and working groups which work under the Commission of Human Rights. Another important organ of the Human Rights regime is the International Court of Justice. The era of the UNCHR can be divided into to parts, the first from its foundation to 1966 and the second from 1966 to 2006, when finally it was retired. During the first 20 years the UNCHR main operations were to draft the standards and prepare a number of international human rights instruments. During this period the UNCHR refrained from making judgement or allegations against any circumstances, which were considered strictly domestic affairs of that state, unless the Security Council deemed it as threat to peace when the matter comes forward on the Security Councils agenda. During this period the Commission did not directly dealt with human rights’ complains. Beginning with 1967 the UNCHR began to establish itself as a legal body and was authorised to deal with and investigate human rights violations and monitor compliance of international human rights law by the states. Later on the Commission broadened its domain to economic, social and cultural rights also. (Human Rights, 2009) The generalization and vagueness of the articles regarding human rights in the UN charter and the contradictory interpretation of these articles by many states has practically barred the UN to take any effective action in this regard. The same is the case of most of UN organs, which have the responsibility to monitor human rights abuse in the member states. There has been a general criticism on the effectiveness of the UNCHR and its subsidiaries. The main reason of the ineffectiveness was because of the absence of supranational authority, divisive power politics, and imposition of crippling by member states, which has plagued the ability of swift and effective UN actions in defence of human rights. (Human Rights, 2009) There are many cases in which major world powers deliberately thwarted the efforts made by the UN in order to protect their own political interests. Moreover the actual responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights rests in General Assembly and its subsidiary organs as mentioned above. Ironically neither the General Assembly nor its subsidiaries have any legal sanction over the member states. The only UN organ with this authority is the UN Security Council, which is not the most desirable and affective platform to solve human rights issues. This is because many permanent Security Council members like Russia and China have the worst human rights promotion or protection record and are mostly accused off human rights abuse within their jurisdiction. Therefore it is highly unlikely that they will allow the Security Council to pass any resolution against their or their allies interests. Opposition by China and Russia preventing the Security Council to take action against Serbian persecution of Albanians is an example. (Human Rights, 2009) On the contrary Security Council is sometimes accused off being manipulated by the world powers to pursue their own political agenda regardless of the human rights condition on the subject states. Held, McGrew, Goldblatt &Perraton, 2006) There have been many cases where the human rights violations were deliberately ignored by the political powers like in Sudan, where the Arab militia virtually annihilated the ethnic African population, or in Chechnya, where the Western countries did not dared to intervene fearing that it will infuriate Russia, or in Tibet, where China is responsible for alleged human rights violations like genocide, racial discrimination etc. Since all the subject states in these situations either have direct influence in the Security Council in the form of Veto power or they are close allies with those who have it is near impossible in the current circumstances that they will be held responsible for the human rights violations they have committed in the above mentioned regions. Another important part of the Human Rights regime are the NGOs. Many international human rights NGOs like the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International etc has done a great job in highlighting and bringing forward several human rights violations across the globe. These NGOs have a remarkable ability of social networking with their domestic counterparts in the subject state and with the help of these domestic movements and NGOs they not only dig out hidden or concealed human rights violations practiced by many authoritarian regimes in the region, but they have also help to defame, demonise and discredit such governments and state among the masses, thus making difficult for them to continue their practices. The New Developments in the 21st Century:Â  The 21st century started with global events like the 9/11 which entirely changed the scenario and the circumstances in which the Human Rights Regime as to operate. During the War against terror the United States and her allies set aside all the international human rights laws and denied to give the detainees they have caught during the Afghan war the rights of detained military personnel according to the Geneva convention. They put them in an isolated facility in the Guantanamo Bay and barred them from any legal aid or proper hearing the courts. They were also allegedly tortured to the worst degree. The same happened when the U. S led coalition toppled Saddam and established a prison in Abu Ghuraib. The CIA has been accused of snatching the suspects from their homes across the globe and holding them in private prisons run by the CIA without any proper jurisdictions. Most of the people in these cases were not the real terrorist at all. All this deliberate negligence and violation of human rights by Western countries, particularly the United States who has championed themselves for the human rights in the last six decades has raised concern in the world about the future of the human rights regime. Most third world countries are now compelled to think about the double standards of the West regarding the human rights. They now think the international human rights law is only another continuation Western colonialism and the West has used it to achieve its own interests and punish those who stand against them. This has further discredited the UN Human Rights programme among the masses. (Archibugi, 2008) In March 2006 the General Assembly voted to replace the UNCHR with the UN Human Rights Council. The UNHRC is currently the highest UN body, which monitors, promotes human rights and prevents any human right abuse across the globe. It is an inter-governmental body within the UN System. The difficulties and disabilities, which had plagued the UNCHR in the last 60 years, still exist in this new regime. The council is merely acts as an advisor to the General Assembly, which can only advice the Security Council, where the Veto power acts as the primary obstacle in achieving the goals regarding the Human Rights. Moreover the United States has always reacted negatively regarding the Council. U. S. voted against it during the foundation resolution and still did not seek a seat in it. United States and many of its allies have raised concerns regarding the biased behaviour of the Council against Israel in particular. (Lazaroff & AP, 2007) The overall analysis of the last 60 years of the Human Rights regime exhibits that despite its certain weaknesses the UN Human Rights programme has done well to establish and promote human rights across the globe.

The Role of Performance Appraisal to Motivate Employee

How to Use Performance Appraisals to Motivate Employees By Ken Lloyd from Performance Appraisals and Phrases For Dummies Motivation is the process that energizes employees and propels them to pursue their goals. Well-designed and well-executed performance appraisals have a strong motivational impact. Appraisals have the power to motivate employees because they provide a number of interconnected benefits: They demonstrate the need for improvement. If employees don’t have a clear understanding of how they’ve been performing, they can’t be motivated to make any improvements. They meet higher-level psychological needs.Researchers continue to find that recognition is one of the most powerful forms of motivation for large numbers of employees. Although you can find numerous possible sources of recognition on the job, performance appraisals are an opportunity for employees to receive formal, significant, and enduring recognition from their manager. They build a sense of personal value. When managers take the time and effort to carefully review, analyze, document, and discuss performance with employees, the underlying message to the employees is that they’re important and valuable, and this alone is quite rewarding, whether the feedback is positive or not.They enhance personal development. Performance evaluations are motivational for employees who are looking to enhance their personal learning, growth, and development. Appraisals are a highly valuable source of information, insights, and tools necessary for such progress. Performance appraisals are similarly motivational for employees whose needs are centered on achievement, goal attainment, and sensing personal effectiveness, respect, and trust. They turn employees around. When employees are performing poorly, performance appraisals can provide the wakeup call that they need to get refocused and reenergized.With performance appraisal, however, the purpose of the session is not strictly disc iplinary, so the employee is more likely to walk in with a more receptive and open mind. As a result, your comments regarding an employee’s questionable performance have an excellent chance of being heard and generating action as a result. They increase satisfaction. When performance appraisals meet the employees’ needs in such areas as gaining recognition, sensing achievement and competence, experiencing growth, and meeting objectives, they’re also contributing to the employees’ job satisfaction, and this is one of the most important elements at work today.When employees are satisfied, some of the most visible indicators are reduced turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness. On the flip side, when employees are subjected to a shoddy or even nonexistent performance appraisal system, the opportunities to fulfill these higher-level employee needs are substantially reduced. How to Use Performance Appraisals to Motivate Employees By Ken Lloyd from Performance Appr aisals and Phrases For Dummies http://www. dummies. com/how-to/content/how-to-use-performance-appraisals-to-motivate-empl. html

Brief Overview of The Freedmens Bureau

Brief Overview of The Freedmens Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 to assist newly freed African-Americans and displaced whites following the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau provided freed African-Americans and whites with shelter, food, employment assistance, and education. The Freedmen’s Bureau is considered the first federal agency devoted to the social welfare of Americans.   Why was the Freedmen's Bureau Established? In February of 1862, abolitionist and journalist George William Curtis wrote to the Treasury Department suggesting that a federal agency be established to help formerly enslaved people. The following month, Curtis published an editorial advocating for such an agency. As a result, abolitionists such as Francis Shaw began lobbying for such an agency. Both Shaw and Curtis assisted Senator Charles Sumner draft the Freedmen’s Bill- one of the first steps to establishing the Freedmen’s Bureau. Following the Civil War, the South was devastatedfarms, railroads, and roads had all been destroyed, and there were an estimated four million African-Americans who had been freed yet had no food or shelter. Many were also illiterate and wanted to attend school.   Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. This agency was also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau in March 1865. Created as a temporary agency, the Freedmen’s Bureau was part of the War Department, which was headed by General Oliver Otis Howard. Providing assistance to both African-Americans and whites who were displaced following the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau offered shelter, basic medical care, job assistance and educational services.   Andrew Johnson's Opposition to the Freedmen's Bureau Just one year after its establishment, Congress passed another Freedmen’s Bureau Act. As a result, the Freedmen’s Bureau was not only going to present for another two years, but the U.S. Army was commanded to protect the civil rights of African-Americans in former Confederate states. However, former President  Andrew Johnson  vetoed the bill. Soon after Johnson sent Generals John Steedman and Joseph Fullerton to tour sites of the Freedmen’s Bureau. The purpose of the generals’ tour was to reveal that the Freedmen’s Bureau was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, many southern African-Americans supported the Freedmen’s Bureau because of the aid and protection provided.   Congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau Act for the second time in July of 1866. Although Johnson vetoed the act again, Congress overrode his action. As a result, the Freedmen’s Bureau Act became law.   What Other Obstacles Did the Freedmen's Bureau Face? Despite the resources that the Freedmen’s Bureau was able to provide to newly freed African-Americans and displaced whites, the agency faced many problems. The Freedmen’s Bureau never received enough funding to provide for people in need. In addition, the Freedmen’s Bureau only had an estimated 900 agents throughout southern states. And in addition to the opposition that Johnson presented in the existence of the Freedmen’s Bureau, white southerners appealed to their political representatives at the local and state levels to end the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau. At the same time, many white northerners opposed the idea of providing relief solely to African-Americans following the Civil War.   What Led to the Demise of the Freedmen's Bureau? In July of 1868, Congress passed a law that closed the Freedmen’s Bureau. By 1869, General Howard had ended most of the programs associated with the Freedmen’s Bureau. The only program that remained in operation was its educational services.  The Freedmen’s Bureau closed completely in 1872. Following the closing of the Freedmen’s Bureau, editorialist George William Curtis wrote, No institution was ever more imperatively necessary, and none has been more useful.  Additionally, Curtis agreed with the argument that the Freedmen’s Bureau had averted a â€Å"war of races,† which allowed the South to rebuild itself following the Civil War.

Protists Organisms in the Kingdom Protista

Protists Organisms in the Kingdom Protista Protists are organisms in the kingdom Protista. These organisms are eukaryotes, meaning they are made up of single or multiple cells which all contain a nucleus enclosed by a membrane. The protists are a diverse group of eukaryotes that cannot be classified as animals, plants, or fungi. Organisms in the Protista kingdom include amoebae, red algae, dinoflagellates, diatoms, euglena, and slime molds. How Protists Are Defined Protists are defined by  how they obtain nutrition and how they move.  Protists are typically divided into three categories, including animal-like protists, plant-like protists, and fungus-like protists. Protists vary in how they move, which can range from cilia, flagella, and pseudopodia. In other words, protists move by microscopic hair that flaps together, by a long tail that moves back and forth, or by extending its cell body, similar to an  amoeba. Nutritionally,  protists tend to gather energy in a variety of ways. They can either eat food and digest it inside of themselves, or they may digest outside of their bodies by secreting enzymes. Other protists, like algae, perform photosynthesis and absorb energy from sunlight to make glucose. Animal-Like Protists Some protists look like animals and are typically referred to as protozoa. Most of these types of protists are made up of a single cell and are similar to animals in nature because they are  heterotrophs and able to move around. While they are not considered animals themselves, it is often thought that they may be a shared ancestor. Examples of animal-like protists include: Zooflagellates – flagellaSarcodines – extensions of cytoplasm (pseudopodia)Ciliates – ciliaSporozoans Plant-Like Protists There is also a large and diverse group of protists that are plant-like and known as algae. While some are single-celled, others like seaweed have multiple cells. For example, one type of protist in the marine environment is  Irish moss, which is a species of red algae. More plant-like protists include: DinoflagellatesDiatomsEuglenoidsRed algaeGreen algaeBrown algae Fungus-Like Protists Lastly, there are funguss of fungus-like protists may include: DictyosteliomycotaMyxomycotaLabyrinthulomycotaOomycetes The Benefits to Our World Protists are important to the world in several ways. You may be surprised to learn that chalk is made from the fossil shells of protists, which is helpful in our classrooms and our childrens creativity and play. Additionally, protists produce oxygen which is helpful for the planet. Many protists have a high nutritional value which can help improve illnesses. Protists like protozoa are used in foods like sushi and are good for our water, as protozoa are used to prey on bacteria and help to clean water for us to use.

THE COMPLEXITY OF MANAGEMENT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

THE COMPLEXITY OF MANAGEMENT - Research Paper Example e the business to compete with its competitors and also deal with the other four factors of competitiveness as outlined by Michael Porter, which include threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products, threat of bargaining power of suppliers and the threat of bargaining power of customers. In management, the threat of bargaining power of the employees is also a relevant factor that any business executives must be able to strategically manage in order to secure the future of the business. Business management is therefore any process that is geared towards safeguarding the interests of the business (Stacey, 2000). This indicates that business management is a complex process and cannot be defined in one sentence. The processes of business management are many and varied and in most cases require a team of experts in various fields in order for it to be complete. However, the core functions of management are as follows; Like has been identified, management is a process that involves the present as well as the future. In this regard, forecasting becomes a very important part of business management. It is only by knowing or forecasting the future that the business managers can prepare for it. Any business that fails to forecast, or provides misinformed forecasts will have a troubled future and any problems in the future are likely to affect the organization in an adverse way thus making it hard for the business to be resilient against poor market conditions. This kind of scenario was seen in the previous global economic recessions, especially America where even big multinationals had to either close their doors of business or had to file for bankruptcy. Good business managers must take this function with seriousness in order for them to be able to navigate the business across all kinds of economic weather (Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems, 2007). They must carry out due diligence with regard to the future and anticipate any problems that may arise in the

International business paper exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International business paper exam - Essay Example It is a capitalist world-economy because the accumulation of private capital, through exploitation in production and sale for profit in a market, is its driving force; it is "a system that operates on the primacy of the endless accumulation of capital via the eventual commodification of everything" (Wallerstein, 1998). A polity is a "system of creating value through the collective conferral of authority" (Meyer, 1980). Nation-states are, of course, the invention of early modern times, institutions produced by the rise of capitalism. Capitalism required a jettisoning of the feudal regime with its patchwork of autonomous sovereignty. Difference was absorbed into the homogeneity of the nation-state, producing a unified legal code that protected private property and the investment of the capitalist and allowed for the circulation of a single currency. This economic act was, of course, represented as the creation of a harmonious community of people with a common language and a coherent culture and worldview. World culture theory is a label for a particular interpretation of globalization that focuses on the way in which participants in the process become conscious of and give meaning to living in the world as a single place. In this account, globalization "refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole"; in other words, it covers the acceleration in concrete global interdependence and in consciousness of the global whole (Robertson, 1992). From economic point of view globalization theories are devided into two theories: neoclassical and Marxist. Reassessing economic theories of globalization. Attention to the economic processes that shape positionality alters our ideas about the spatial dynamics of globalization. Much of the received wisdom of how markets work, both in neoclassical and Marxist economic theory was developed under the assumption that economies have no spatial extent. This received wisdom can be questioned, however, because the production of positionality challenges some key theoretical claims emanating from economics: the stability of market-based equilibria, the possibility of regional economic equality, the social benefits of free trade or land markets, the likelihood that rational choices lead to expected outcomes, the stability of class alliances, and the theory of value (Harvey 1982; Sheppard and Barnes 1990). It follows that the contrasting grand narratives about globalization associated with these two economic theories, of globalization as modernization and globalization as polarization, respectively, are also questionable. The global capitalist economy is better conceived of as an out- of -equilibrium, complex and contested spatiotemporal system whose long-term outcomes are unknowable. 2. Differences in national business systems Initially differences in national business systems (NBS) could be explained by institutional differences. In order to be effective, business firms would not only have to behave rationally toward the market and be technologically efficient as organizations, they would simultaneously have to behave effectively toward the institutional context in which they operated. Thus, if the different European states constitute different formations of institutions, business firms will in effect organize differently