Airplanes The Better Transportation Essay

Planes The Better Transportation Essay Planes: The Better Transportation Essay Planes: THE BETTER TRANSPORTATION In 2008 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated mishap insights for the whole nation. They found that mishaps happened with 1.27 fatalities per 100 million vehicles voyaged. The National Transportation Board discovered just 20 mishaps for U.S air bearers. Nobody kicked the bucket and just five individuals were genuinely harmed in 2008. In spite of the fact that they may be various approaches to travel, the two planes and vehicles can be costly, have issues, and be agreeable. The two planes and vehicles can be costly. For instance, a year ago we ventured out to Colorado via vehicle. From time to time we halted at a service station to refuel. Since gas costs are going up, refueling your vehicle can get costly. For full circle we wound up spending a little more than 600 hundred dollars in gas. Be that as it may, going via plane can appear to be less expensive. The plane won’t need to refuel in light of the fact that the tank holds more than that of a vehic le. A ticket for one individual reaches from 200-300 hundred dollars. Accordingly, it truly relies upon the individual of the amount they might want to spend. Also, the two planes and vehicles can have expected issues. When out and about you may encounter some vehicle inconvenience. On our approach to Colorado, my uncle made a U-turn, yet wound up hitting the control. At the point when we got off we’d seen that the tire had been popped. While driving your vehicle may simply stall. For planes, your flight may be deferred. You may end up stranded in rush hour gridlock while heading to the air terminal. Despite the fact that planes and vehicles can have issues, planes have less issues than restrict to a vehicle. At last,

Real Estate Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Land - Statistics Project Example The whole shows up very scary for a white collar class resident. In any case, the arrangement was simple for Sam as all he needed to do was sell his own littler 2-BDRM 600 square feet level for US$135,000 and compensate for the distinction with the assistance of home loan credit. At the point when he had bought it, the value added up to US$70,000 which he had raised with the assistance of home loan advance and settled up two or three years prior. Luckily for Sam, the individual who bought his old level was outsider who settled up the sum Sam was taking a gander at without a mumble. Incidentally, the one from whom Sam had bought the level he is currently living in was additionally an outsider who was in a rush to sell as he was moving out of the United States. Along these lines, the standards in purchasing and selling of properties are unblemished in spite of the fact that they may have hindered somewhat because of the present downturn. For Sam's situation, he spared a noteworthy sum having bought a recycled level in an exceptional area. A fresh out of the box new level in a similar area would have cost him at any rate 25% more. One may need to pay the specialist some commission. Notwithstanding, in spite of the commission, the general sparing is very high when contrasted with buying a shiny new level. Typically, when somebody buys realty, the person in question has long time designs as a primary concern. Aside from lodging operators, few may decide on buying properties for business purposes. The typical thought for acquisition of property is private or business. At that point the property may stay in the hands of the proprietor for a considerable length of time except if the individual intends to sell it prior for reasons unknown. Once more, typically no one ponders the market estimation of the level in light of the fact that, as inhabitants, they would prefer not to arrange the level. They need the level for their private or business reason. They can't manage without the level as it accommodates their way of life. In this manner, the market esteem just fills in as a glory issue as opposed to any benefit or misfortune in business terms. In like manner, properties bought for business also are not plainly impacted by advertise patterns since the buy depends on long haul prerequisites. On the off chance that a firm wants to buy property for business use, it will by all methods pass by the patterns of its asset report instead of moan about the market patterns. Chain retailers and diners, for example, MacDonald have fueled their essence through reasonable utilization of land. Land is a grand strategy for monitoring riches for the individuals who have the way to buy property and create and d'cor it. So in the event that you are exceptionally rich, interests in properties will most likely make you more extravagant. This is on the grounds that when you are rich, you will put resources into doing up the property and the situations and this will normally add to the property's worth. Besides, as individuals understand that you have bought certain property in a specific area, they will promptly purchase adjoining properties pushing property costs all the while. For example, if

IHTFParadise A Journey of Depression at MIT

IHTFParadise A Journey of Depression at MIT A good friend of mine, Angelina G., wanted to write a guest blog post about her depression experience at MIT, and I truly think that she beautifully describes IHTFP at MIT. I hope this post touches you like it did for me, and that you enjoy the read. - It was a rare beautiful Thursday in the New England fall. I walked out of the Convention Center holding my name badge and a newly earned certificate and dragged my legs back to the bus station. I had earned the certificate by presenting my UROP research at another university’s undergraduate research conference. Unlike the weather, I was not beaming. I felt heavy. Two days later, I woke up at 3 pm after sleeping for 14 hours. With my eyes wide open, I lay on my bedâ€"a strange feeling emerged. I didnt care for work or research; I didnt care to eat; I didnt care to get off my bed. I looked around my room. Messy for the past month, it was cluttered with piles of dirty laundry, p-sets, paper, scarves, and pencils. The drawers were splayed open and covered with papers that were probably important. The room reeked of the moldy coffee that had been sitting in the coffee filter for the past few days. After staring at the ceiling for half an hour, I eventually, slowly pulled myself out of bed. Though I had never liked alcohol, after a few hours of contemplation, I got myself completely drunk. I couldn’t stand up properly, so I went back to bed. I lay down. When I woke up again, it was 9 pm, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything in the past 24 hours. Yet I didn’t feel hungry, nor did I have any desire to eat. I felt sad that I had even woken up. Somehow dreams and knocking myself unconscious from drinking felt better than reality. Something was wrong. The next day Lauren messaged me and asked me to go on a walk with her along the Charles River. It was drizzling. Standing in front of the statue of the Alchemist with an umbrella, I waited for her while observing Mass Ave. The street was busy as usual, with MIT students walking between the Student Center and Lobby 7. Lauren appeared, holding a package of chocolate chip cookies. We started walking. Lauren and I shared the cookies. I confided in her that for the first time in my life, I felt utterly unmotivated. It was as if all of my energy and motivation were suddenly gone. I used to feel guilty sacrificing work time to have long talks with friends. I hadnt done anything for the last few days and I didnt care. In fact, I started asking myself questions that I had never thought about before. Why am I here, at MIT? Why am I majoring in what I am majoring in? Why do I exist? I lost hope. I started to see no reason to live. I stopped seeing the point of going to college and suffering through all the pset deadlines, exams, and countless all-nighters. The worst part of it allâ€"I didn’t even know what had happened to me. “Maybe you’re depressed,” Lauren said quietly. She told me about her depression experienceâ€"how she crawled out of the cave little by little over the past two years, yet was still in love with the Institute. “I felt like hot shit in high school, like everyone else here did. But MIT humbled me. It challenged me physically, mentally, and emotionally. It made me more confident. And oddly enough, more spiritual,” she told me. She convinced me to go to a yoga studio on our way back, so we kept walking to Central Square. We did yoga. Then we walked back to campus. Drago, another friend of mine who lived in Lauren’s dorm, offered to walk me back. He had become extremely worried when he heard that I had been only sleeping and drinking, as he “recognized it as a patternâ€"a pattern for depression.” “So what’s the trigger?” He asked. “I don’t know. I just feel guilty.” “Why are you feeling guilty?” Well, that was a long story. At the beginning of the semester, I was lucky enough to work on an independent research project with a research scientist. I highly cherished the opportunity as it was the first time I could conduct “real” research, in which I needed to formulate the problem myself, to read lots of papers, and to try out my own ideas. I was so excited by the project that I stayed up from 1 am to 5 am every night to work on it. I couldn’t find any other time for it because all my other waking hours were completely occupied by classwork and other commitments. I didn’t even feel tired by this working pattern with four hours of sleep every day; instead, I was so exhilarated by the research process that I felt more energetic during the day. Finally, with hard work, we got some initial results. This led to an opportunity to present my findings at the conference. Two weeks before the conference, I met with the professor in my lab and pitched the project and my approach to her. She frowned and critiqued just about everything about my project, from the problem to my approach, to my results. The joy and excitement I had had for the project was suddenly replaced with shame. All the hard work, time, and energy I had poured into the project only highlighted how incompetent I was. It hit me hard. I had worked extremely hard but failed to meet the expectations of my supervisor. I felt guilty because I made someone disappointed in me. I felt ashamed of my work and the fact that I had presented something that my professor didn’t like, something that’s not “legit,” at the conference. I felt ashamed of myself. I felt ashamed, void of value and purpose. I just hated everything. Drago and I sat down in my room and talked for the next three hours. He made me talk through every triggering scene of my research drama. I was full of pain and guilt. Depression can be vastly different from person to person, and I still feel grateful to this day that Drago was able to catch my symptoms before they developed further. The next few weeks were a blur. I remember dressing myself in oversized sweatshirts and sweatpants to go to class. I turned my head away whenever I saw someone I recognized. When I was outside, I wished I could magically disappear or hide. Throughout these weeks, Lauren and Drago talked to me more, supporting me the entire time. Week by week, things started to turn around. By accepting my research failure as a part of my past and as something I began to treasure as much as all the triumphant times I had ever had, I realized that if everything I had ever possessed (success, money, fame, title, etc.) were stripped away from me, there was still something worth living for: family, friendship, love, and maybe also spirituality. My depression started going away. I was lucky to have received an immense amount of support early on, since it could have gotten substantially harder had I let it persist longer before seeking help. Thankfully, I have completely rebounded. This whole experience has transformed me. My priorities have shifted from my own academic and career success to my mental health, family, and friends. My confidence no longer comes from external acknowledgements, but from my inner self. I have learned to be confident in my vulnerabilities. In fact, I feel confident because I am aliveâ€"the fact that I can see colors, feel different textures, smell the good and the bad, and feel love, joy, and sadness is simply amazing and worth living for. I am valued in this world, because I am alive. Depression reveals itself in different forms. I admit I have only experienced depression once, and the severity and duration of my depression was nowhere close to what some of my friends have experienced. Some of them have confined themselves in their rooms or a dorm’s basement for weeks, months, and even years without anyone noticing that they had withdrawn from the world around them. Some have had frequent anxiety attacks, unable to move for hours lying on the floor. Some are still depressed but they force a smile onto their faces when they greet you and tell you they are doing “okay.” Others decide to take on an impossible course load and commitments to make themselves feel that they are not lagging behind. Yet despite of all these different forms, they share one thing in commonâ€"they are all facing incredible challenges while trying to keep up with MIT’s fast pace. They are some of the strongest human beings I know. It bothers me when I hear people say that they have never known anyone who is depressed. In my experience, I have only been able to get to know a personâ€"and to find out that they are depressedâ€"when I have been willing to make time to listen, and to support them as much as I can. Since freshman year, I have known many MIT students who were depressed, some of whom were among my closest friends, not all of whom showed it on the surface. I could never have carried on and accepted my past if Drago and Lauren hadn’t spent hours and hours taking walks with me, listening to me, and supporting me. I am one of the lucky few who have received an immense amount of support from depression Day 1. People who have depression are also just people they are not crazy or dangerous. Something unfortunate has happened to them, and they just need to be cared for a little more. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I decided to join a student organization so that I could help promote campus mental health awareness. Later, my experience with depression made me reflect deeply on what is effective and what is not effective in helping MIT’s student body in mental health issues. The key, as I have observed, is to genuinely care for each other. I have learned that little things, such as checking on friends who are going through a difficult time when I take study breaks, can make a big difference. When I greet someone and ask how their day is, instead of rushing off, I have learned to dedicate at least three minutes to have a real conversation. Conversations matter. During the time I was depressed, due to the intense nature of school, I felt incapable of reserving space and time to heal over the cause of my depression. It was Lauren and Drago’s conversations with meâ€"plus their wonderful presence in my lifeâ€"that ultimately granted me the space and time to reflect deeply, to heal, to live through the experience rather than to hide from it and let it eat me up inside. Even though they had both been severely depressed before, and perhaps because of it, they approached me with compassion and the eagerness to listen; they did not brush me off by telling me that dropping a class would solve all of my problems; they kindly suggested that I seek professional help without disenfranchising me with the all so common taglineâ€"“Go see Mental Health! They will fix you!” Indeed, I lost all hope to live during my depression. Without Lauren and Drago, I would probably have stayed in that mental state for months, or even years. Their warm presence made me see hopeâ€"the hope to liveâ€"because love, friendship, and the genuine human connections we shared were more than sufficient reasons worth living for. In my case, that was the fundamental source of recovery. I remember that when I was a freshman, I thought I would never become depressed. Forget freshman yearâ€"even right before I had depression, I still thought I would never become depressed. Why would I? I had always been an extremely resilient person. Even at MIT, I excelled academically. Yet, whenever peers referred to me as “one of those people,” I felt distanced. In fact, I felt cut off from the bonds that connected us. The truth is everyone is struggling through the same things together. Each one of us can be vulnerable, but all of us can be strong if we bond as one caring community. My experience with depression has given me a much broader perspective of what depression can be composed of. When I check on friends, instead of giving one-line statements, I have learned the importance of listening. Personally, I have truly found paradise. The process of understanding my vulnerabilities and pulling myself out of depression has transformed how I think of the world around me, how I interact with others, and how I treat myself. I have become much more confident from inside out; I have learned to take notice of the blue sky, the colorful leaves when the seasons just start to change, and the beautiful human beings around me at MIT. Ironically, I have started to truly enjoy MITâ€"both the good and the badâ€"because I now see MIT as an experience full of richness I am fortunate enough to go through as opposed to something that I can use to reach a certain goal in life. I have become more resilient, more empathetic, and more meditative. It has made me see the meaning of living and self care, of living in the moment, of going to the Institute, and of caring for others. On a day-to-day basis, I have begun to more attentively listen to my inner voice and needs. There were more unexpected events that came after my depression. Instead of hiding from my emotions, I was able to directly identify what was making me uneasy. I dedicated time for myself to sit down and think through events and recover. I call this granting myself reaction time in the midst of psets and upcoming deadlines. To foster the kind of caring and giving environment we are all proud to be part of, I encourage you, my friend, to walk out of your dorm room now and genuinely ask how the person living next to you is doing. The world needs us. That’s why we are all at MIT going through the ups-and-downs togetherâ€"to make the world a much, much better place. Together, we can also make this place a paradise. ** Special acknowledgement to all of my friends who have shared with me their invaluable advice, perspectives, and stories while I was writing this post. Many thanks to Lauren and Drago who have cared for me in my lowest times and helped me get my life back on track. Special recognition for my pillow pet giraffe, whose beautiful name I borrowed as my pen name. You all are a wonderful bunch. 3

IHTFParadise A Journey of Depression at MIT

IHTFParadise A Journey of Depression at MIT A good friend of mine, Angelina G., wanted to write a guest blog post about her depression experience at MIT, and I truly think that she beautifully describes IHTFP at MIT. I hope this post touches you like it did for me, and that you enjoy the read. - It was a rare beautiful Thursday in the New England fall. I walked out of the Convention Center holding my name badge and a newly earned certificate and dragged my legs back to the bus station. I had earned the certificate by presenting my UROP research at another university’s undergraduate research conference. Unlike the weather, I was not beaming. I felt heavy. Two days later, I woke up at 3 pm after sleeping for 14 hours. With my eyes wide open, I lay on my bedâ€"a strange feeling emerged. I didnt care for work or research; I didnt care to eat; I didnt care to get off my bed. I looked around my room. Messy for the past month, it was cluttered with piles of dirty laundry, p-sets, paper, scarves, and pencils. The drawers were splayed open and covered with papers that were probably important. The room reeked of the moldy coffee that had been sitting in the coffee filter for the past few days. After staring at the ceiling for half an hour, I eventually, slowly pulled myself out of bed. Though I had never liked alcohol, after a few hours of contemplation, I got myself completely drunk. I couldn’t stand up properly, so I went back to bed. I lay down. When I woke up again, it was 9 pm, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything in the past 24 hours. Yet I didn’t feel hungry, nor did I have any desire to eat. I felt sad that I had even woken up. Somehow dreams and knocking myself unconscious from drinking felt better than reality. Something was wrong. The next day Lauren messaged me and asked me to go on a walk with her along the Charles River. It was drizzling. Standing in front of the statue of the Alchemist with an umbrella, I waited for her while observing Mass Ave. The street was busy as usual, with MIT students walking between the Student Center and Lobby 7. Lauren appeared, holding a package of chocolate chip cookies. We started walking. Lauren and I shared the cookies. I confided in her that for the first time in my life, I felt utterly unmotivated. It was as if all of my energy and motivation were suddenly gone. I used to feel guilty sacrificing work time to have long talks with friends. I hadnt done anything for the last few days and I didnt care. In fact, I started asking myself questions that I had never thought about before. Why am I here, at MIT? Why am I majoring in what I am majoring in? Why do I exist? I lost hope. I started to see no reason to live. I stopped seeing the point of going to college and suffering through all the pset deadlines, exams, and countless all-nighters. The worst part of it allâ€"I didn’t even know what had happened to me. “Maybe you’re depressed,” Lauren said quietly. She told me about her depression experienceâ€"how she crawled out of the cave little by little over the past two years, yet was still in love with the Institute. “I felt like hot shit in high school, like everyone else here did. But MIT humbled me. It challenged me physically, mentally, and emotionally. It made me more confident. And oddly enough, more spiritual,” she told me. She convinced me to go to a yoga studio on our way back, so we kept walking to Central Square. We did yoga. Then we walked back to campus. Drago, another friend of mine who lived in Lauren’s dorm, offered to walk me back. He had become extremely worried when he heard that I had been only sleeping and drinking, as he “recognized it as a patternâ€"a pattern for depression.” “So what’s the trigger?” He asked. “I don’t know. I just feel guilty.” “Why are you feeling guilty?” Well, that was a long story. At the beginning of the semester, I was lucky enough to work on an independent research project with a research scientist. I highly cherished the opportunity as it was the first time I could conduct “real” research, in which I needed to formulate the problem myself, to read lots of papers, and to try out my own ideas. I was so excited by the project that I stayed up from 1 am to 5 am every night to work on it. I couldn’t find any other time for it because all my other waking hours were completely occupied by classwork and other commitments. I didn’t even feel tired by this working pattern with four hours of sleep every day; instead, I was so exhilarated by the research process that I felt more energetic during the day. Finally, with hard work, we got some initial results. This led to an opportunity to present my findings at the conference. Two weeks before the conference, I met with the professor in my lab and pitched the project and my approach to her. She frowned and critiqued just about everything about my project, from the problem to my approach, to my results. The joy and excitement I had had for the project was suddenly replaced with shame. All the hard work, time, and energy I had poured into the project only highlighted how incompetent I was. It hit me hard. I had worked extremely hard but failed to meet the expectations of my supervisor. I felt guilty because I made someone disappointed in me. I felt ashamed of my work and the fact that I had presented something that my professor didn’t like, something that’s not “legit,” at the conference. I felt ashamed of myself. I felt ashamed, void of value and purpose. I just hated everything. Drago and I sat down in my room and talked for the next three hours. He made me talk through every triggering scene of my research drama. I was full of pain and guilt. Depression can be vastly different from person to person, and I still feel grateful to this day that Drago was able to catch my symptoms before they developed further. The next few weeks were a blur. I remember dressing myself in oversized sweatshirts and sweatpants to go to class. I turned my head away whenever I saw someone I recognized. When I was outside, I wished I could magically disappear or hide. Throughout these weeks, Lauren and Drago talked to me more, supporting me the entire time. Week by week, things started to turn around. By accepting my research failure as a part of my past and as something I began to treasure as much as all the triumphant times I had ever had, I realized that if everything I had ever possessed (success, money, fame, title, etc.) were stripped away from me, there was still something worth living for: family, friendship, love, and maybe also spirituality. My depression started going away. I was lucky to have received an immense amount of support early on, since it could have gotten substantially harder had I let it persist longer before seeking help. Thankfully, I have completely rebounded. This whole experience has transformed me. My priorities have shifted from my own academic and career success to my mental health, family, and friends. My confidence no longer comes from external acknowledgements, but from my inner self. I have learned to be confident in my vulnerabilities. In fact, I feel confident because I am aliveâ€"the fact that I can see colors, feel different textures, smell the good and the bad, and feel love, joy, and sadness is simply amazing and worth living for. I am valued in this world, because I am alive. Depression reveals itself in different forms. I admit I have only experienced depression once, and the severity and duration of my depression was nowhere close to what some of my friends have experienced. Some of them have confined themselves in their rooms or a dorm’s basement for weeks, months, and even years without anyone noticing that they had withdrawn from the world around them. Some have had frequent anxiety attacks, unable to move for hours lying on the floor. Some are still depressed but they force a smile onto their faces when they greet you and tell you they are doing “okay.” Others decide to take on an impossible course load and commitments to make themselves feel that they are not lagging behind. Yet despite of all these different forms, they share one thing in commonâ€"they are all facing incredible challenges while trying to keep up with MIT’s fast pace. They are some of the strongest human beings I know. It bothers me when I hear people say that they have never known anyone who is depressed. In my experience, I have only been able to get to know a personâ€"and to find out that they are depressedâ€"when I have been willing to make time to listen, and to support them as much as I can. Since freshman year, I have known many MIT students who were depressed, some of whom were among my closest friends, not all of whom showed it on the surface. I could never have carried on and accepted my past if Drago and Lauren hadn’t spent hours and hours taking walks with me, listening to me, and supporting me. I am one of the lucky few who have received an immense amount of support from depression Day 1. People who have depression are also just people they are not crazy or dangerous. Something unfortunate has happened to them, and they just need to be cared for a little more. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I decided to join a student organization so that I could help promote campus mental health awareness. Later, my experience with depression made me reflect deeply on what is effective and what is not effective in helping MIT’s student body in mental health issues. The key, as I have observed, is to genuinely care for each other. I have learned that little things, such as checking on friends who are going through a difficult time when I take study breaks, can make a big difference. When I greet someone and ask how their day is, instead of rushing off, I have learned to dedicate at least three minutes to have a real conversation. Conversations matter. During the time I was depressed, due to the intense nature of school, I felt incapable of reserving space and time to heal over the cause of my depression. It was Lauren and Drago’s conversations with meâ€"plus their wonderful presence in my lifeâ€"that ultimately granted me the space and time to reflect deeply, to heal, to live through the experience rather than to hide from it and let it eat me up inside. Even though they had both been severely depressed before, and perhaps because of it, they approached me with compassion and the eagerness to listen; they did not brush me off by telling me that dropping a class would solve all of my problems; they kindly suggested that I seek professional help without disenfranchising me with the all so common taglineâ€"“Go see Mental Health! They will fix you!” Indeed, I lost all hope to live during my depression. Without Lauren and Drago, I would probably have stayed in that mental state for months, or even years. Their warm presence made me see hopeâ€"the hope to liveâ€"because love, friendship, and the genuine human connections we shared were more than sufficient reasons worth living for. In my case, that was the fundamental source of recovery. I remember that when I was a freshman, I thought I would never become depressed. Forget freshman yearâ€"even right before I had depression, I still thought I would never become depressed. Why would I? I had always been an extremely resilient person. Even at MIT, I excelled academically. Yet, whenever peers referred to me as “one of those people,” I felt distanced. In fact, I felt cut off from the bonds that connected us. The truth is everyone is struggling through the same things together. Each one of us can be vulnerable, but all of us can be strong if we bond as one caring community. My experience with depression has given me a much broader perspective of what depression can be composed of. When I check on friends, instead of giving one-line statements, I have learned the importance of listening. Personally, I have truly found paradise. The process of understanding my vulnerabilities and pulling myself out of depression has transformed how I think of the world around me, how I interact with others, and how I treat myself. I have become much more confident from inside out; I have learned to take notice of the blue sky, the colorful leaves when the seasons just start to change, and the beautiful human beings around me at MIT. Ironically, I have started to truly enjoy MITâ€"both the good and the badâ€"because I now see MIT as an experience full of richness I am fortunate enough to go through as opposed to something that I can use to reach a certain goal in life. I have become more resilient, more empathetic, and more meditative. It has made me see the meaning of living and self care, of living in the moment, of going to the Institute, and of caring for others. On a day-to-day basis, I have begun to more attentively listen to my inner voice and needs. There were more unexpected events that came after my depression. Instead of hiding from my emotions, I was able to directly identify what was making me uneasy. I dedicated time for myself to sit down and think through events and recover. I call this granting myself reaction time in the midst of psets and upcoming deadlines. To foster the kind of caring and giving environment we are all proud to be part of, I encourage you, my friend, to walk out of your dorm room now and genuinely ask how the person living next to you is doing. The world needs us. That’s why we are all at MIT going through the ups-and-downs togetherâ€"to make the world a much, much better place. Together, we can also make this place a paradise. ** Special acknowledgement to all of my friends who have shared with me their invaluable advice, perspectives, and stories while I was writing this post. Many thanks to Lauren and Drago who have cared for me in my lowest times and helped me get my life back on track. Special recognition for my pillow pet giraffe, whose beautiful name I borrowed as my pen name. You all are a wonderful bunch. 3

Analysis Of Nella Larsen s Passing - 880 Words

Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, Passing, is the story of two African American women, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, living in New York in the 1920’s. However, the two women are African American by ancestry rather than outward appearance because both possess light enough skin to be able to pass for white. African Americans passing as white was a common occurrence in post-Civil War America. Passing concerns itself with themes of identity, race, belonging, and oppression, yet Larsen muddles the conventional ideas of identity. Skin color is no longer an accurate measure of race, thus the concept of American space acting as a defining aspect of race and identity is central to this novel. Although this novel is fictitious, a close reading of Passing illuminates the cultural normatives of 1920’s America and disproves common misnomers about life for African Americans during this time. Furthermore, when focusing specifically on Larsen’s treatment of American space in the novel it becomes clear that there was no true place refuge for African Americans living in the United States during this time, not even one’s own home. It is nearly impossible to overstate the plight of American Americans throughout the course of United States’ history, and Passing helps to display the slow, grudging path that led towards freedom for African Americans. Initially introduced to the country as slaves, African Americans were stripped of all basic human rights. Believed to be less than human, AfricanShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Nella Larsen s Passing1731 Words   |  7 PagesNella Larsen’s novella Passing, set in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s, tells the story of the reunion of two childhood friends, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, and the resulting exploration of race and finding of one’s identity. The novel is titled for the central theme of racial â€Å"passing,† enacted by Clare Kendry, who passes as white with her husband, John Bellew, serving as the catalyst to the tragic events that propel the plot. Passing is defined as â€Å"the ability of a person to be regardedRead MoreAnalys is Of Nella Larsen s Passing2113 Words   |  9 PagesEarly reviewers of Nella Larsen’s Passing focused on Clare as the protagonist. Readers reacted to her passing as white and her innate desire to return to her roots and the problems that came with it. Contemporary critics such as Mary Mabel Yeoman focus on Irene as the protagonist and her racial passing. They see her as a character that is living and behaving in an anti-black way. The change in opinion is because our society’s view of race has evolved over time, but this alone does not explain theRead MoreAnalysis Of Nella Larsen s Passing, Issues Of Race, Identity, And Privilege1626 Words   |  7 PagesIn Nella Larsen’s Passing, issues of race, identity, and privilege are explored. Irene Redfield, the African American wife of a doctor, is herself â€Å"passing† in the Drayton Hotel’s rooftop garden when she comes across Clare Kendry, a childhood friend. Clare is passing as white in her daily life with her husband believing that she is a white woman. Although Irene does not approve of Clare’s passing, and tension exists among the characters, Irene grows to feel sympathetic for Clare and becomes closerRead MoreFeminist Literary Analysis Of By Nella Larsen2280 Words   |  10 PagesFarkhanda Wajibul English 102 Prof. S. Dillion Feminist Literary Analysis Paper 2 20 March 2015 â€Å"A Lesson in Oppression† From the beginning of time and around the world, women have been subjected to patriarchal oppression in various forms. From economic hardships such as wage gaps or an inability to own property, to social mores such as submission in marriage and sexual objectification, women are systematically treated as second- class citizens without a voice. African American women have facedRead MoreLiterary And Scholarly Works : Giovanni s Room By James Baldwin2163 Words   |  9 Pagesbecause they want to understand how these communities are formed, and how the residents of these neighborhoods perceive their identity. This discussion included in this paper will be based on the analysis of literary and scholarly works. For instance, it is possible to refer to such authors as Nella Larsen and Yomme Chang who describe isolated ethnic communities. Furthermore, one can examine the novel Giovanni’s Room written by James Baldwin who examines the reasons why the representatives of the

Christianity A Christian Nation - 1188 Words

Following Jesus in America seems to be a very touchy subject in today’s time. Freedom of religion is practiced in America, and Americans are encouraged to practice whatever they choose. John Fea and Stephen Prothero debate the topics of America being founded as a Christian Nation and the idea of Jesus being followed in America. America was and is Christian, still, but was not founded on Christianity. Fea does not answer the question regarding America being founded as a Christian nation (Fea 245). Prothero gives some opinion about Jesus in America, but says Jesus is viewed different in the eyes of many Americans (Prothero 9). As much as I want to think that America was founded as a Christian nation, I cannot agree with it. The people who created the constitution may have had some Christian principals, but the constitution has no evidence of God in it. In the sense of Jesus, Americans do not follow Him in a certain way. Jesus is made out to be the person that suits anyoneâ€℠¢s identity at his or her discretion. One of the most interesting traits of Fea’s Was America Founded as a Christian Nation is not giving a definitive answer to the question he is debating (Fea 245). Fea gives examples to make the reader think and come to a decision on their own. Although Fea gives the opportunity for the reader to make the decision on his or her own, he gives examples to support each side of the argument. An example that supports the argument comes from the beginning of the book when FeaShow MoreRelatedAmerica s Identity Of A Christian Nation1234 Words   |  5 Pagestime, America could be seen as a culture vulture. As far as religion goes, there are several different ways to approach this question was America founded as a Christian nation? And should it pursue a unique identity of a Christian Nation? 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My parents are Sikh immigrants from the Punjab region of India. Even being raised in a Sikh family, I was always familiar with the religion. Our school breaks were scheduled around Christian holidays, we said the Lord’s Prayer before all of our football games, and I was even taken to church, where

Comparing Hercules by Walt Disney and Creating the Myth...

One of the greatest Greek mythological stories portrayed in a movie would be Hercules. Hercules is a well-known hero; he displays a supernatural individual who has to overcome the villain and his bad monsters. In â€Å"Creating the Myth† by Linda Seger, she argues that the hero myth as many obstacles (the death experience, the road back, the reborn) that he or she need to overcome to be transformed into a hero. However, these obstacles play a very important role in the hero’s stage of initiation. The movie â€Å"Hercules† by Walt Disney and the creator Alan Menken, we encounter the characters of the movie which are Hercules of course, Philoctetes the trainer, Pegasus the horse, loyal companion, Megera the love of Hercules and Hades the†¦show more content†¦Later in the movie we are introduced with Philoctetetes (a goat) the trainer who trains Hercules in gaining valuable exercises and activities that he may later has to challenge. Hercules then encounte r with 12 tasks and he overcome them all with his bare hands Phil Comes to realize that Meg Hercules love is betraying him, Hercules ignores him treating him unfair and leaves him. Unfortunately, Hercules found out that it was true ad felt awful forgave Phil he needed him at the end Hercules being a kind individual listened to all the good advice that Philoctetes had to offer. Secondly, without his courageous personality Hercules could not have overcome many obstacles. Hercules gained experienced of a quality hero and achieved appreciation â€Å"the hero is now ready to move into the special world where he will change from the ordinary into the extraordinary† (Seger 3) because he transformed into a new individual. Seger states that â€Å"this happens at the first turning point of the story† which is called the initiation (road of trials) therefore the hero is ready to begin with his task. For example, in the movie, Hercules encounters with many challenging task which were a battle of series monsters that were sent by Hades. His most important challenge was to rescue the tough-talking beautiful girl Megara who is secretly involved with hades to posses Hercules in falling in love with her and take over his power. But they both fall in love and it becomes

Public Service Delivery Managing with External

Question: Discuss about the Public Service Delivery for Managing with External. Answer: Introduction This particular report is mainly aimed to identify all the crucial as well as the key factors in the service delivery for the government agencies. On the other hand, three important recommendations are also aimed to be established in this study through which issues associated with the service delivery can be mitigated. Apart from that, this report has the aim to deploy an e-government service delivery infrastructure with the help of which the new service for an imaginary developing country can be implemented. Moreover, the three suggestions are also aimed to be provided in this report, which are the key processes or the strategies through which the user needs can be integrated into the service design. Key Factors in Service Delivery for Government Agencies According to Demydov et al., (2015), the effective coordination of the service delivery can easily increase the service quality as well as can also benefit the providers of service. The benefits incorporate much effective utilization of resources as well as improved relationships of working. The Human Service delivery process is complicated in the modern Western societies with the higher expectations in community who are competing the requirements. The human service delivery is often delivered under the fiscal barriers. The specialization can also be meant that the individual agencies or the service providers implement the expertise for delivering a very specific service, yet communities, families as well as individuals (Khosa, 2015). Therefore, it is very crucial for recognizing the fact that the distinctions between the community-initiated as well as the whole-of-government approaches are often blurred, in cases particularly where the community-initiated are taken up by the program s of whole of government due to their perceived success in order to deliver the real results. It is also clear regardless of such distinctions through the analysis of both the approaches that the certain factors in association with the coordination of the service delivery can lead to the positive outcomes for the indigenous Australian. There are few significant as well as crucial factors in the service delivery for the Government agencies, which are crucial in delivering such outcomes such as: Supporting the non-indigenous as well as indigenous staff Applying an approach based on strengths Investing resources as well as time into the consultations of community (Gabris et al., 2014). Ensuring the cultural appropriateness On the other hand, there are four key elements for the successful delivery systems of the services necessary for the government agencies are the customer experience, employee engagement, service quality as well as the service culture. According to the survey done by the Digital Transformation agency of the Australian Government, it can stated that the government agencies should follow the above mentioned and analyzed factors in order to make the government processes less stressful as well as less complex for the people (Brown, Potoski Van Slyke, 2015). This is simply because the government agencies have an ethical obligation for delivering the service with the best quality as the public servants within the quickest possible time. As per data presented in the survey, it can be seen that most of the people are comfortable with the utilization of the digital channels for interacting with the federal government agencies (Erickson Glazer, 2015). Running a successful service company shou ld be synonymous with the delivery of the excelling service. This survey has provided that all of the factors identified in this section are the key elements in the service delivery for government agencies. Major Recommendations for the Service Delivery Accomplishing the goals of the service delivery is very crucial as well as a big challenge for numerous governments. It can be stated that the local government of a particular country should have the facilitated delivery of service (Reddick Turner, 2012). Therefore, the failure in the provision of the promised public services as well as the goods is the consequence of the immediate failure of the reformation of the public sector as it has been the case in numerous developing and the developed countries as well (Schnoll, 2015). Therefore, in case of the government agencies in Australia, these agencies can follow three significant recommendations in order to resolve as well as overcome the issues associated with the service delivery served by the public sectors in the country. These are as follows: Focusing on the problem management process for the service delivery The government agencies in Australia should adopt as well as build a proper and an effective problem management process in order to provide a perfect service delivery. This is simply because that the process of problem management for the delivery of service is mainly focused on the reducing incidents as well as the impacts of those incidents on the operations of a particular organization (Papadomichelaki et al., 2013). The problem management process should help the clients of the government agencies in Australia in terms of reducing the incidents as well as their impact on the operations. It can address the underlying cause of several incidents and it also attempts to address as well as detect the major reasons of issues. Implementation of the Effective Regional Service Delivery Model The problems or the issues in association with the service delivery process of the government agencies in Australia can be mitigated with the help of the proper implementation of the effective Regional Service Delivery Model. The Regional Service Delivery Model is easily customizable as well as permits the local governments for determining how to collaborate as well as pool the resources most effectively. The Regional Service Delivery Model possesses the sharing economy in order to help the governments in Australia for delivering the services that their citizens need on the basis that is as needed (Papadomichelaki Mentzas, 2012). The citizens can enjoy the real advantages without incurring long term costs and the increase in the tax as a result of the sharing solutions. Adoption of the Cohesive Service Delivery Theory This particular theory can also play a two significant roles in terms of resolving the issues in relation to the service delivery process of the government agencies in Australia (Schnoll, 2015). First role of the implementation of this theory is the facilitation the understanding the distinct factors by contributing to the delivery service. On the other hand, the second role is to justify and inform the policy and development program and the implementation for public participation, e-governance and good governance resulting in the effective service delivery. E-government Service Delivery Infrastructure Proposal E-government has become the global or the international phenomena. Over the last decade, there have been some great as well as significant innovations in the e-government. Most of the governments of several countries over the world have developed the detailed strategies to realize their programmes of e-government (Luftman et al., 2013). The objectives of these particular programmes generally vary over the countries, still there are many commonalities. The proper implementation of e-government strategy or the e-government service delivery infrastructure can be significant for the establishment of the imaginary developing country. In other words, it can also be stated that the e-government would be very simple regarding the application of the communication as well as the information technology to all the aspects of the business of the government agencies (Egan, 2013). Therefore, it makes sense in terms of improving the effectiveness as well as the efficiency in the achievement of the o utcomes of the program as well as policy. There are few significant objectives behind the implementation of the proper e-government strategies proposal for a new service for an imaginary developing country. These are as follows: To deliver citizen services as well as integrate the organizational silos over the common channels To design the technology architecture such as standards, data as well as infrastructure for the public sector. To map the path from the pilot experiments towards the scalable as well as sustainable systems. To generate the savings with the help of the application of the IIT in the backend processes or the other areas of programs. To handle the enhancing or the incrementing costs of the IIT in the government To enhance or maximize the effectiveness of the initiatives of ICT within the government. To implement the institutional frameworks as well as right policy from the beginning To pursue the real or the actual goals of the economic development just not technology push. There are few significant e-government service delivery structure within its infrastructure which would be effective for the implementation of the new service for an Imaginery developing country (Beloglazov et al., 2014). These are as follows: Process One This particular process incorporates the definition of the vision as well as the goals, setting up the taskforce of high level leadership, ensuring consistency with the priorities of the economic development, assessing the status as well as securing the political support (Schnoll, 2015). Process two - This particular process incorporates putting in place e-government management framework, assessing the needs for priority for the government services, secure funding, establishing the partnerships with the private sector where feasible as well as designing service delivery, data sharing as well as the technical infrastructure (Alford O'Flynn, 2012). Process three - This particular process incorporates the development of the plan of time-bound implementation, security of the stakeholder buy-in of the plan of implementation, strategy implementation in phases, publicizing and measuring progress as well as evaluating results and making the corrections in the course (Merrill et al., 2014). Suggestions into Integrating User Needs into the Service Design The proper as well as the effective integration of the user requirements into the service design of the government agencies is very important and crucial as well. Therefore, in order to accomplish an effective service design, three major suggestions should be maintained as well as followed. These are as follows: Customer feedback In order to gain a positive customer feedback, it is important to properly incorporate the elements continuous improvements, account management as well as customer intelligence (Khosa, 2015). Therefore, it must be stated that user needs can be integrated into the service design if the positive customer feedback can be achieved with the help of the incorporation of the service design elements. Operations review Operation review is the major or the crucial checkpoint of management, which should be occurred at the specified intervals aligned normally to the period of measurement stipulated in the Service Level Agreement as well as the Operating Level Agreement documents (Erickson Glazer, 2015). Therefore, it can act as the crucial suggestion, which is necessary to be accomplished for integrating the needs of the user into the service design. Service Quality It can be considered as the important or the key suggestion for the integration of the necessities of the users into the service design. The service quality simply incorporates the performance, process as well as the strategic management systems. This process design or this strategy is the basic towards the design of the entire model of service management (Reddick Turner, 2012). Therefore, with the help of providing a good service quality, the clients can get help for fulfilling their mission and supporting them in the pursuit of the organizational purpose of them. Conclusion After conducting the entire discussion in this particular report, it can easily be stated that this report has successfully identified all the crucial as well as the key factors in the service delivery for the government agencies. On the other hand, three important recommendations have also been successfully established in this study through which issues associated with the service delivery can be mitigated. Apart from that, this report has also successfully deployed an e-government service delivery infrastructure with the help of which the new service for an imaginary developing country can be implemented. Moreover, the three suggestions provided in this report those are the key processes or the strategies through which the user needs can be integrated into the service design. References Alford, J., O'Flynn, J. (2012).Rethinking public service delivery: Managing with external providers. Palgrave Macmillan. Beloglazov, A., Banerjee, D., Hartman, A., Buyya, R. (2014). Improving Productivity in Design and Development of Information Technology (IT) Service Delivery Simulation Models.Journal of Service Research, 1094670514541002. Brown, T. L., Potoski, M., Van Slyke, D. M. (2015). The impact of transaction costs on the use of mixed service delivery by local governments.Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation,1(4), 239-267. Demydov, I. V., Strykhalyuk, B. M., Shpur, O. M., Mohamed, M. E. H., Klymash, Y. V. (2015). The structural-functional synthesis of cloud service delivery platform after service availability and performance criteria. , (1), 144-159. Egan, G. (2013).The skilled helper: A problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping. Cengage Learning. Erickson, R., Glazer, S. (2015).U.S. Patent No. 9,009,058. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Gabris, G. T., Koenig, H. O., Thurmaier, K., Maher, C. S., Nelson, K. L., Piker, K. A., ... Rapp, C. (2014).Alternative Service Delivery: Readiness Check. Icma Publishing. Khosa, M. M. (2015).Empowerment through service delivery. Human Sciences Research Council. Luftman, J., Zadeh, H. S., Derksen, B., Santana, M., Rigoni, E. H., Huang, Z. D. (2013). Key information technology and management issues 20122013: an international study.Journal of Information Technology,28(4), 354-366. Merrill, J., Dai, H., Zhu, J., Kapur, S., Banerjee, S., Elder, D., ... Medved, J. (2014).U.S. Patent No. 8,892,708. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Papadomichelaki, X., Mentzas, G. (2012). e-GovQual: A multiple-item scale for assessing e-government service quality.Government information quarterly,29(1), 98-109. Papadomichelaki, X., Koutsouris, V., Konstantinidis, D., Mentzas, G. (2013). An analytic hierarchy process for the evaluation of E-Government service quality.International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR),9(1), 19-44. Reddick, C. G., Turner, M. (2012). Channel choice and public service delivery in Canada: Comparing e-government to traditional service delivery.Government Information Quarterly,29(1), 1-11. Schnoll, H. J. (2015).E-government: Information, technology, and transformation. Routledge.

Research Proposal on Drug Trafficking Essay Example

Research Proposal on Drug Trafficking Essay Drug trafficking is the illegal production, transportation, and trade with drugs. It is evident that the existence of drug trafficking is the international problem which requires rapid solutions. The harmful impact of drugs is known all over the world, that is why the majority of drugs, even the lightest of them are prohibited. Drugs are known to cause substantial psychological influence of the individual, and most of them produce addiction so that the person spends her money to purchase more and more drugs because she can not survive without them on the psychological and physical level. Drug trafficking is probably the most profitable business because billions of dollars are spent on them all over the world annually. The income received from drug trafficking will never improve the economics of the country because this business is most often controlled by severe criminals who use the finance for their good. Drug trafficking is a dangerous phenomenon which can spoil the economic development of the country because if a significant number of traffickers are concentrated in a particular place, the production rates reduce because of the increase of the name of the drug addicts. No wonder, the countries of South America, Africa, South Italy have economic problems being the centers of the world drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is a dangerous phenomenon not just because of the harmful effect of drugs on the human health, but because of the numerous social problems which are caused by drugs: addiction, crime, unemployment, suicides, prostitution, etc. The drug addict is ready to do everything to purchase the following dose of drugs and starts to commit crimes if there are no alternatives. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Drug Trafficking specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Drug Trafficking specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Drug Trafficking specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Drug trafficking is a serious problem which requires a solution. The student can try to solve the answer to this eternal question completing a research proposal which would suggest the analysis of the most relevant and troublesome issues of the problem. One should study the history, geography and social aspects of drug trafficking, evaluate the consequences of this phenomenon, observe the methods and efforts which are taken to reduce the impact of this problem. The quality and the right techniques should be applied in the process of the investigation to persuade the professor of the urgency of the topic. The young professional can succeed in the process of writing relying on the high-quality well-formatted free example research proposal on drug trafficking composed by the real expert in this issue. It is a smart decision to take advantage of a free sample research proposal on drug trafficking which can teach the student to compose the text professionally and format the paper according to the standards of his educational institution. If you want a PhD degree expert to help you with academic proposal writing, check the following writing service:

Art Imitating Life Imitating A essays

Art Imitating Life Imitating A essays The late 1950s saw a new movement in the art world this became known as "pop art" due to the fact that the artists in this movement with this movement manly Andy Warhol and Roy Lichensten of the unites states as well as David Hockney and Derek Boshier of Great Britain, used elements of popular culture as main sources of their work. A good example of this is Warhole's screen prints of Marilyn Manroe, where he took a famous icon of the time and used a mass production technique to make her into a work of art. Lichenstine looked at a different element of popular culture youth culture- comic books. He used this style of painting and drawing to create a comic strip image. For example "Wham", although looks screen-printed it was infact panted by hand dot by dot. Hockney was influenced by graffiti a part overlooked by his contemporaries, he used it in the form of messages scrawled across the background of his paintings . Hockney said that he did this in order to make it clear to the viewer what the picture was about. Derek Boshier painted a series of pieces based on ideas he got from a toothpaste commercial. "identi-kit man" was his way of suggesting how easy it was for companies to manipulate people with the use of advertising and create mass markets. The whole ideas of pop art, as to take things from everyday life and make them into a piece of artwork. These things were those, which the people of post-war Britain were not ready to consider art in any way. There was a thing like Campbell's soup can of Warhol, The kitchen utensils of Tom Wesselman and Richard Hamilton and child like scribbles of David Hockney. Due to the art boom, in the 1960s and clear trends through pop art That designers were able to pick up on these and incorporate them into their work, influenced by fashion icons, movie stars, technology, and motorcars. Although the artists did have some overlapping styles, pop art focuses more on the subject and less on styl...

Cultural Particularity vs. Universal Humanity Essay

Cultural Particularity vs. Universal Humanity - Essay Example Collective and individual identities are antithetical to each other according to neoconservative ideas. The main point of both of them is that â€Å"racial group membership robs a person of an important aspect of humanity† (Maya 79). This theory insists that individuality is a property of people, who a not included to the crowd or collective. So these persons are seen as individuated ones and they lack human agency. The neoconservative theory describes the fact of being human, configuring racial and cultural particularity against universal humanity.The idea of â€Å"being human† contains the ethnic, gender and racial trappings. In some varieties the racial identity is represented as the dangerous and harmful event to human possibility -â€Å"though it espouses black pride, it is actually a repressive identity that generates a victimized self-image, curbs individualism and initiative, diminishes our sense of possibility, and contributes to our demoralization and inertia † (Maya 81). The idea of the phrase is that the ideal human should appear as unsexed and deracinated creature, which is having only rationality. All of the mentioned figures, such as Steele, Rodriguez, Carter, and Chavez, understand the word "racial" as non-"white" identity and the conclusion they make is that "white" identity is not seen as an identity by race. They paradoxically agree with the existence of "white" people, despite the racialization â€Å"white† process and refer to "male" not meaning gendered identity.

Homework2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Homework2 - Essay Example The GDP comparison of the Arab nations and the developed countries broken down above helps to deinstitutionalize the myth that the Arab world possesses a stronger economy as a result of having large reserves of oil. The sum totals of all the Arab league nations’ GDP only serve to march that of France and the United Kingdom (Noland & Pack 152). Even when combined together, the GDP of Arab league nations’ still fall below the individual GDP’s of Germany, Japan, and the United states. These figures serve to show that Arab world economy world is not as strong as it gets thought to be when compared to the economies of developed nations. A majority of the Arab league nations’ heavily rely on oil as their major source of GDP and export. Their economies thus are less diversified as they largely depend on oil when compared to the economies of developed countries such as the US, Germany, Japan, France and the UK (Tucker 526). There is need for the countries that fal l in the Arab world to diversify their economies so as to raise the level of their GDP to a competitive level against the developed

Safety Of Road Workers On Maintenance Of Highways Construction Essay

Safety Of Road Workers On Maintenance Of Highways Construction Essay Highways maintenance and road workers ensure that roads and pavements are safe and well maintained in towns, cities and rural areas throughout the country of operation. They might also build new roads and look after the repair, building and resurfacing of the countrys motorway networks. Highway maintenance safety involves safety of workers working on highway or road network services including road markings, pothole patching, road signs, road and footpath resurfacing, gully or drain cleaning, flooding, safety barriers, school crossing patrols, winter maintenance (snow removal), vegetation control, emergency services installing cats eyes, digging access trenches for cable and pipe laying, applying specialist surface treatments (such as high friction surfacing) traffic lights, fencing and street lamps and many more. All these maintenance activities need proper road safety awareness and control when they are executed, so working safely is aimed at staff from any road sector with no super visory or managerial responsibility to be made aware of the risks involved. It is of utmost importance to provide the essentials of health and safety for everyone at work to have an understanding of why they must work safely and this can be achieved by training road workers through the use of seminars and workshops. In Britain, roads are some of the busiest and dangerous in the world, but in today`s traffic conditions, it shows that live in carriageway of any highway is a very-very dangerous place to work and injuries to road workers have been increasing against the national trend. Road workers or operators will often be responsible for setting up warning signs, cones and temporary traffic lights and redirecting pedestrians. They may also manage traffic flow while colleagues are working, communicating with another operator via radio or hand signals further down the road are commonly used devices. As a road supervisor before conducting roadwork jobs, review the required tasks, location, and time of day to determine the necessary equipment, personnel, and materials required.   Plan how you will control traffic along the road and within the construction zone.   Have enough trained flaggers to complete your work.   Gather the signs, cones, flags, drums, and/or message boards that you will need for the job.   Inspect your signage to make sure it is in good repair and highly visible.   Clean or discard dirty equipment with limited visibility. Get training on traffic control and safe work practices.   Set up and maintain your roadside work zone properly.   Get training on the equipment that you will use and drive, from the smallest tool to the largest moving vehicle.   The operation of tools and equipment must be according to the manufacturers recommendations.   Know the hazards of the chemicals and materials that you use and get training on the personal protective equipment that you are required to wear, including its uses and limitations.   Wear high visibility garments on your legs and chest.   Wear your assigned persona protective equipments, including a hardhat, safety shoes, and work gloves.   Consider earplugs or muffs, safety glasses, and fall protection depending on the job task. In the work zone, workers must watch for fast-moving motorists and large construction equipment.   Set up parking zones for your working vehicles such that they have safe entrances and exits from the highway that is maintained and group your vehicles on the same side of the road for visibility.   As a supervisor you can set-up the job site and tasks to minimize the need to cross the active road time and again and also  set up traffic lanes within the jobsite for clear access and visibility. When working on road, work facing traffic and stay alert, or station a lookout to watch oncoming traffic.  The workers should have an escape route or a plan of action in place for any emergencies.   Watch for backing vehicles because the driver often has a limited view.   Practice good communication and make sure all vehicles have backup alarms.   If you are flagging, acting as a lookout or traffic director you must remain alert,  do not drink, smoke, or have a conversation while performing these duties. Road work is a physical job requiring strength and endurance, worker must  stay fit so that their bodies can do the work.  Road work occurs in all types of weather and throughout the year.  They should wear appropriate clothing for the climate.   Light coloured layers and sunscreen protect them during the hot months while layers of moisture-wicking clothing protect you in the cold.   The road workers must get plenty of rest, eat right, and drink no-alcoholic drink s enough to stay healthy and alert on the job. From the Road Workers Perspective, there are few jobs more important than highway maintenance. It may go largely unappreciated by the end customer the motorist, but road workers are looking after some of the busiest roads in the world in the face of continued growth in Britains vehicle fleet, and the inevitable consequences of that growth for wear-and-tear on the network. And by helping to tackle congestion, road workers are directly supporting the British economy. And they do this despite working in some of the most difficult conditions that anyone has to tolerate. The risk of death or injury at work, faced daily by the workers who maintain Englands motorways and trunk roads, is highlighted by the results of a recent industry survey. Almost one in five workers suffers some injury caused by passing vehicles in the course of their careers while working on our road network. More than three-quarters suffer verbal abuse from drivers, and many have reported having objects thrown at them by motorists. Road Workers even change the light bulbs in the central reservation. Surveys have been previously contacted and road workers were asked if they had experienced near miss, verbal abuse, slight personal injury, major personal injury caused by road users vehicle and the responses were: 13% of road workers surveyed had sustained slight injuries; 3% had sustained major injuries; 77% had suffered verbal abuse from passing drivers 54% had a near miss with a vehicle 40% had experienced missiles deliberately thrown at them From these studies road workers felt most at risk during the morning and evening peak travel periods and in the early hours of the morning. There are believes that there is a vital need to educate drivers to start taking the problem of speeding and the outcomes of speeding more seriously. The habitual speeders know that other people dont necessarily disapprove of their actions in the same way as they disapprove of drink-driving syndrome. It took a long time to change attitudes to drink-driving, but by communicating the message at every opportunity, with intelligent advertising and marketing, the Government can and has eventually succeeded in most countries, likewise today, drink-driving is socially unacceptable in the community. Therefore a similar change is required with speeding and peoples attitude to road works. In UK, Highway Traffic Management Agency was launched in 2005 and since it was launched issues that dominated are the road maintenance safeties. Its goal is to have zero road injuries and zero fatalities by getting a reasonable balance between the needs of the road user and the safety of road workers using a risk based approach as a short term. The long-term aim was to plan future improvements that make the working environment safer, including: design for maintenance/operation, which has the added benefits of whole-life cost savings, less interventions and less congestion; reduce road workers exposure to live traffic and lessen the risks to road workers when on the network; highlight the importance of road workers and their safety to the public by raising awareness and the industry consistently maintaining the highest standards. Finally it was to improve road user awareness and responses by improving driver education. At a general level, the government has taken the Road Safety Bill through Parliament, including new drink-driving legislation, driver training schemes, and a revised penalty system and is looking at improvements to the speed camera network and working with the police to fight back against anti-social use of roads. The Highways Agency Road Worker Safety Action Plan was unveiled at the conference held in 2006, with some of potential solutions listed in the including a review of procedures to reduce the exposure of road workers to live traffic and cut the risks of working on the highway. A review of maintenance priorities so workers dont have to be on the network so often more targeted speed limits at road works which can be altered to match safety requirements. Improving of the accuracy and content of variable message signs to give road users more warning of works and the presence of road workers also improving the training of workers on high-speed roads, the promotion of better driver awareness and improved driver education, also finally the development of an incident and near-miss reporting centre. The Importance of Traffic Management When considering the traffic management plan for any major scheme the safety and security of both the travelling public and the workforce is the primary aim. By the very nature of road works operations, the element of risk is introduced when managing traffic on high speed roads. The first essential element is to reduce the risk by reducing the speed. This can be achieved to a certain extent through the use of traffic management measures but experience has proven that the only reliable way of achieving consistently reduced speeds is through the use of safety cameras. The introduction of a temporary speed limit and safety cameras is done in conjunction with the respective Safety Camera Partnership, who follow a risk assessment process which considers the level of exposure to risk of the public and the workforce. This is the reason that a variety of different traffic management measures can often be found at road works sites. However, the biggest single risk to road workers occurs not i n major schemes but during routine maintenance operations and emergency lane closures. During these operations it is often only a line of cones that separates the workforce from high speed traffic. During these operations there is a clear need for motorists to act responsibly and respect the rights of road workers. Planning Road works Traditionally, if there is one thing that causes motorists more frustration than any other, it is the overnight appearance of a forest of cones with little or no warning or information as to the reason. Hopefully, this aspect is largely becoming a thing of the past as a significant amount of planning is now undertaken prior to any major road works scheme. Such projects are now often planned several years ahead taking cognisance of issues such as the optimum time and the likelihood of reliable weather where this is a requirement. The substantial rise in traffic volumes over the past decade has significantly impacted on road works planning, through not just the increased maintenance requirements brought about by the additional volume, but through the challenges to keep congestion at a minimum as any reduction in available road space can have significant consequences for journey times. While safety and security are the primary drivers when planning road works, contractors also incorpora te extensive consultation with affected local communities and a targeted media campaign designed to advise drivers who use the affected route of the proposed works and levels of disruption. This forward planning and awareness through the media allows for drivers to plan their journey accordingly. Engineering technology on road worker`s risk. This can be achieved both through measures at the construction stage and through the use of new and improved technology for maintenance operations. New construction processes and standards mean a much longer design life can be achieved at the outset, significantly reducing the amount of routine maintenance operations required. In addition, where a maintenance requirement is identified during construction, the facility to achieve this without significantly impacting on traffic flow is considered carefully and where appropriate, additional engineering measures are introduced. In respect to maintenance operations on existing structures and highways the Highway Traffic Management Agency has been actively involved in developing technology in association with the Highways Agency, and over the past few years a number of innovative solutions which have had a positive impact on safety have been introduced. New techniques to improve safety and reduce congestion at road works on high-speed road s, for example, are now undergoing trials. Automated cone laying machines, fixed to the rear of a traffic management vehicles, can place and collect standard road cones without the need for road workers to stand in a live carriageway next to fast moving traffic. The machines accurately positions cones on the road surface at 15mph laying up to 40 cones per minute and reducing the time taken to establish and remove temporary traffic management. Road users will benefit from the shorter period of time taken to change from normal carriageway to a coned-off area. Using the new machines, traffic cones will be laid and taken up more quickly, removing manual handling and enabling more routine maintenance work to be undertaken during each closure so reducing the frequency of road works and congestion. A new barrier transfer machine, which can lift 12 tons of concrete safety barriers for motorway road works into place at a speed of 7 mph, is also now in operation, offering a higher level of b arrier protection to motorway road workers. The mechanical broom which are now mostly used have improved the road worker`s safety and compared to manual sweeping. In June 2006, a new revised Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual was launched that gives guidance on best practice for temporary signing and management of traffic on the highway. Also it was designed to make traffic management for road works safer and less stressful for both workers and drivers. It talks about new measures like flashing cones on the approach to works; mobile carriageway closures; and improved incident management. It also encourages more effective use of speed limits at road works. Drivers should expect consistent limits to be set depending on the work being carried out, without confusing variations. That should be combined with speed detection equipment and other methods of persuading people to reduce speed. RECOMMENDATIONS Changing the behaviour of risk-taking drivers tends to require hard interventions, which require the involvement of police or other law enforcement organisations. For complying drivers, soft interventions such as the Respect campaign can be used; other interventions that could be applied to the issue of road worker safety and driver behaviour can include: Training road workers By training road workers through the use of seminars and workshops can make them aware of their risks and conscientious those involved on how best they can be aware of the job related risks. Improving driver skills There is a need for further training of professional drivers and specific training of all drivers to raise their awareness of the issues of driving through road works. Better self knowledge The public are an important partner in improving safety through road works. There is a need for greater awareness of personal skill levels and abilities to encourage better self pacing and improved behaviour when driving. This can be achieved through a high profile advertising campaign to raise the public profile of road worker safety. Such an approach aims to demonstrate the risk to drivers and road workers from speeding through road works. Improving the task It is important to ensure that the driving task when approaching and driving through road works is made as simple as possible to prevent overloading drivers with information. All those involved in applying the principles contained in the Traffic Signs Manual: Chapter 8 need to review their road works layouts in order to make the driving task as easy possible for an uninformed driver CONCLUSION It can be concluded that the behaviour of drivers towards road workers indicates that there is little respect for road works and road workers. At best the works and workers are tolerated, at worst the works are ignored and workers are abused either verbally or physically. Changing the attitude of drivers to road works is essential to improve the safety of both road workers and the drivers passing through road work sites. The behaviour of road drivers is directly or indirectly the cause of most road accidents, including those at road works. Influencing driver`s behaviour to prevent accidents at road works will improve road worker safety as well as that of the road user.

Friends Essay -- essays papers

Friends Friends are a necessity in every child’s life. They are there to comfort, to laugh with, and to create wonderful memories. All of a sudden a child grows up and gets thrown into college. His or her friends go to other colleges, and they both realize that they aren’t going to have those close friendships anymore. It has happened many times before, and it will happen many times again. What one needs to know is that college isn’t a place to mope around; it is a place to rejoice and meet new people. College is a place where one develops skills in meeting new people and creating new friendships. This skill is not just learned and then lost. It is a skill that can be used anywhere and any time thought life. The hardest part is to get the ball rolling and start meeting new people. College is not a difficult place to meet people. They are everywhere; in dorms, in classrooms, and simply walking around outside. Although this is a perfect atmosphere for meeting people, some may still have difficulty. The greatest challenge about meeting people is not only the hoping that...

Brazil’s Political Factor in Business

Political factor by ashraful islam Trade Policies in political factor Brazil's economic history has been influenced remarkably by foreign trade trends and policies. Successive cycles of export booms in such commodities as sugar, gold and diamonds, rubber, and coffee played major roles in Brazilian development before World War II. In the 1930s, the collapse of coffee prices signaled a turn inward, resulting in a nascent industrialization. In succeeding decades, industrial development was fostered deliberately through restrictive trade policies, making Brazil a relatively closed economy by the mid-1960s.Only in the early 1990s did Brazil begin significant liberalization of its trade policies, and even these reforms were modest by comparison with those in a number of other Latin American nations. Government intervention in foreign trade has a long history in Brazil, reaching back to the colonial period when Portugal forbade Brazilian trade with other nations. Following independence in 1 822, Brazil opened its ports and expanded its trade with other nations, particularly Britain. Extensive government regulation of trade continued, however, with tariffs providing over half of the government's revenue before World War I.Other forms of intervention in trade included the 1906 coffee price support plan, which was a sophisticated attempt to exploit Brazil's monopolistic position in the world coffee market. Before World War II, trade policies were used mostly as a source of revenue or as a response to specific groups such as the coffee producers, rather than as a means of achieving national economic goals. In the early 1950s, Brazil began to use trade policy in a more deliberate way to promote industrialization. The forced reduction in Brazilian imports after 1929 had resulted in the first major industrial growth in Brazil, centered in Sao Paulo.Heeding this apparent lesson, policy makers in the 1950s argued that measures that deliberately reduced imports would stimulate d omestic production, thereby encouraging technological development and increasing employment in activities that were regarded as more â€Å"modern† than Brazil's traditional agricultural and extractive activities. The steep rise in world oil prices that began in late 1973 soon ended Brazil's move toward greater trade openness. The approximate balance between imports and exports in the early 1970s became an unprecedented US$4. billion deficit in 1974. Although record levels of external capital flows financed this deficit, Brazilian policy makers responded by restricting imports. In June 1974, import financing for many products was suspended, while tariff rates on more than 900 items were doubled. Over the year, restrictions were increased further, and in 1975 the government required that imports be paid for in advance with deposits that did not earn interest or any correction for inflation. On the export side, further measures were taken to promote exports, especially for manuf actures.Despite these measures, Brazil's trade balance remained in deficit for most of the 1970s. The combination of tightened import controls, real depreciation, and the fall in domestic demand induced by the restrictive macroeconomic policies of the early 1980s resulted in a sharp adjustment in Brazil's external accounts. The magnitude of the adjustment appears to have surprised even many of its proponents, both in the Brazilian government and among creditors. After 1983 the massive trade surpluses averaged more than 3 percent of GDP, compared with negative or negligible levels through most of the 1968-82 period.In 1984, as the full effects of the adjustment program were felt, exports were about double imports, and Brazil's trade surplus reached an unprecedented 6. 1 percent of GDP, far exceeding the comparable shares in other important economies such as Japan (3. 5 percent of GDP) and West Germany (3. 8 percent). By 1984 it was clear that the successful external adjustment had a domestic price, as inflation accelerated to more than 200 percent at annual rates. Trade policy consequently began to be viewed as a potential instrument for internal stabilization, with some import liberalization viewed as a potential contributor to reduced inflation.In late 1984, a number of the direct controls on imports were cut back, and the number of products on the negative list was reduced substantially. Import financing requirements were also relaxed through exemptions, and tariff surcharges were replaced by smaller additions to the legal tariff. On the administrative side, the Cacex policy of import restrictions for balance of payments purposes was reduced. Although import licenses were not abolished, their approval became a relatively routine operation, and by 1991 most licenses were being issued within five working days.The CTIC became primarily a reporting and registration agency, which had little of the discretionary power formerly exercised by Cacex. The former CPA, w hich had been far overshadowed by Cacex, was replaced by an agency coequal with the CTIC, the Technical Coordinating Office for Tariffs (Coordenadoria Tecnica de Tarifas–CTT). With the shift in emphasis in trade policy from discretionary administrative control to the automaticity of published tariffs, many of them limited by Brazil's treaty commitments, the CTT's role in formulating import policy became significantly greater than the CPA's had been.Early in 1991, the Collor de Mello government announced a series of tariff reductions to be phased in over the 1991-94 period. These were among the most far-reaching and significant reductions in Brazilian trade protection in several decades. Earlier tariff reductions often had been largely cosmetic, only reducing rates that were prohibitive to high levels that still barred many imports. The 1991 reforms went much further, and in many sectors reduced rates to about a third of their level in the early 1980s.Equally important, the re forms reduced the wide variability or dispersion of tariff rates that were once characteristic of Brazilian trade policy. The overall trend in Brazilian trade policy is clear. By the mid-1990s, Brazil had become a much more open economy than it had been a decade earlier. priorities in terms of business support Market Overview The Federative Republic of Brazil is Latin America's biggest economy and is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of land mass and population with about 192 million people.Brazil’s economy, the 6th largest in the world, grew 2. 7% in 2011. Growth slowed due to reduced demand for Brazilian exports in Europe and Asia, despite solid domestic demand and a growing middle class. During the past decade, the country has maintained macroeconomic policies that controlled inflation and promoted economic growth. Inflation was at 6. 5% in 2011, and urban unemployment reached a historic low of 6. 0%. Interest rates, though high compared to the rest of the wo rld, remained historically low at the Central Bank benchmark rate of 8. 0% as of July 2012. In 2011, the U. S. as Brazil’s largest source of imports followed by China, Argentina, Germany, and South Korea. U. S. merchandise exports to Brazil in 2011 were US$42. 9 billion, and U. S. imports from Brazil were US$31. 3 billion. Market Challenges Brazil has a large and diversified economy that offers U. S. companies many opportunities to export their goods and services, and U. S. exports are increasing rapidly. Doing business in Brazil requires intimate knowledge of the local environment, including both the explicit as well as implicit costs of doing business (referred to as the â€Å"Custo Brasil†).Such costs are often related to distribution, government procedures, employee benefits, environmental laws, and a complex tax structure. Logistics pose a particular challenge, given infrastructure limitations posed by nearly a decade of economic expansion. In addition to tariffs, U. S. companies will find a complex customs and legal system. Market Opportunities There are few, if any, sectors in Brazil that do not have excellent short term opportunities. Certain sectors of the Brazilian market have experienced higher than average growth, such as air transportation, telecoms, oil and gas, and mining.Under the second phase of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC II), the Government of Brazil will spend R$955 billion (the equivalent of around US$470 billion) in development of the country’s energy generation and distribution system, roads, railroads, ports, and airports as well as stadiums as it prepares for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. Other promising areas for U. S. exports and investment include agriculture, agricultural equipment, building and construction, aerospace and aviation, electrical power, safety and security devices, environmental technologies, retail, and transportation.The Brazilian national oil company Petrobras' expans ion may represent the largest global business opportunity in the oil & gas sector until 2020. The offshore pre-salt oil deposits discovered in 2006 and 2007 are estimated to exceed 60 billion barrels in probable or recoverable reserves, and could place Brazil among the world’s top ten oil-producing countries. Petrobras anticipates that it will invest $224 billion in exploration and development through 2015. Brazil is one of the largest IT markets within the emerging economies. IT end-user spending in Brazil is expected to grow to $134 billion in 2014.The largest share of spending will be on telecom equipment, representing 72% of the market, followed by IT services at 13. 3% and computing hardware at 11. 9%. In the years leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will host several international mega-events. In 2011, Brazil hosted the World Military Games and the Pan-American Maccabi Games and in 2012, Rio de Janeiro hosted the Rio+20 global environmental su stainability conference. In 2013, Brazil will host a papal visit and the World Youth Day event as well as the soccer Confederations Cup.In 2014, twelve Brazilian cities will host the soccer World Cup. The Government of Brazil expects to invest $106 billion in the preparations for these events. These investments, which will include outlays for infrastructure, construction, transportation systems, port improvements, public security, and airport infrastructure upgrades, will present significant commercial opportunities for U. S. companies. Most of the major infrastructure upgrades will be carried out through Public-Private Partnerships under Brazil’s Growth Acceleration Program. Market Entry StrategyBrazil’s business culture relies heavily on the development of strong personal relationships. Companies need a local presence and must invest time in developing relationships in Brazil. The U. S. Commercial Service encourages U. S. companies visiting Brazil to meet one-on-one with potential partners. One of the best ways for U. S. companies to enter the Brazilian market is by participating in local trade shows or using the U. S. Commercial Service’s Gold Key Service (GKS), through which they can meet with pre-screened potential clients or partners.It is essential to work through a qualified representative or distributor when developing the Brazilian market. Some firms establish an office or joint venture in Brazil. Further discussion of these alternatives can be found in the â€Å"Marketing Products & Services† chapter. It is very difficult for U. S. companies to get involved in public sector procurement without a local Brazilian partner. Education of the workforce Despite being one of the world's most populous countries, Brazil does not have a single university ranked in the top 100 internationally.Of its college graduates, 5 percent are engineers, far below the rates of countries such as China and South Korea, according to Brazilian busin esses. Since Brazil's education system is falling short, Vale, like several other Brazilian companies, has decided to build its own. â€Å"For years, technical education was not the main focus of the government,† said Marco Dalpozzo, Vale's global human resources director. â€Å"Mining was not seen for the last 20 years as a great opportunity or a vocational business opportunity for the country. So you have professions for which Vale had to create their own entire system of education. Over the past few years, several Latin American countries have enjoyed soaring growth rates as they exported oil, minerals and agricultural products around the world. In Brazil, gross domestic product more than doubled, to $1. 3 trillion, in the five years ending in 2007, while inflation dropped to 3. 6 percent, a quarter of the 2003 level. Yet recent studies have shown that workers in Latin America have less education than those in East Asia and Eastern Europe and that the percentage of studen ts enrolled in high school is far lower than in developed countries.In Colombia, one out of every 700,000 people receive PhDs, compared with one in 5,000 in developed countries, wrote Jeffrey M. Puryear and Tamara Ortega Goodspeed in a contribution to a book published this year titled â€Å"Can Latin America Compete? † â€Å"The region's limited number of scientists and advanced degree recipients weakens the region's competitiveness by limiting countries' ability to use and generate knowledge, and to carry out research,† they wrote.For younger students, Latin American countries have focused in recent years on building schools and expanding access to public education, rather than improving the quality of that education, said Emiliana Vegas, a senior education economist at the World Bank. Teachers' pay raises are based on longevity rather than performance, and few parents are used to demanding more rigorous standards. â€Å"Most Latin American parents have less educatio n than their kids. They feel their kids are already receiving an advantage they didn't get,† said Vegas, who co-authored the book â€Å"Raising Student Learning in Latin America. In the most recent results of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's triennial tests of 15-year-olds from 57 countries, the Latin American countries that participated, including Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, consistently scored near the bottom. â€Å"It's not just that kids need to go to school, they need to learn in school,† Vegas said. Brazil – quality of port infrastructure Quality of port infrastructure, WEF (1=extremely underdeveloped to 7=well developed and efficient by international standards)Definition: Quality of Port Infrastructure measures business executives' perceptions of their country's port facilities. The rating ranges from 1 to 7, with a higher score indicating better development of port infrastructure. Source: World Economic Forum, Global Compet iveness Report |Year |Value | |2007 |2. 63 | |2008 |2. 52 | |2009 |2. 65 | |2010 |2. 94 | |2011 |2. 70 | Airports The Brazilian airport network has long been lamented as underdeveloped and poorly maintained. The network is run almost exclusively by Infraero, an authority that reports to the country? s defense ministry.In operation for 37 years, Infraero has more than 28,000 employees and contractors assisting in the management of 67 airports throughout the country. These airports handle 97 percent of all air traffic in the country, with more than 2 million takeoffs and landings and over 113 million passengers annually. 11 The company? s charge is quite difficult, considering that the airports are spread across a country the size of the contiguous United States Roadways Like the United States, Brazil is heavily dependent on its road system for transportation. However, there is great disparity in the quality of these road networks.Despite constituting 68 percent of Brazil? s transport needs, only 12 percent of the country? s 1. 6 million kilometers of roads are paved. 20 The consequence of these infrastructure deficiencies is slower and more expensive transport – costs can be up to 35 percent greater on unpaved roads. 21 This affects the booming agricultural sector greatly, as many of the goods are produced in remote locations with poor road conditions. Rail Brazil? s national rail network consists of approximately 28,000 kilometers of track, and most of it is operated by private concessionaires.These concessions have been utilized for 12 years, and the government is reviewing its concession model to make better use of the rail network. â€Å"One of the main objectives of the changes is to put abandoned or low-capacity stretches back into operation. †29 As part of the Ministry of Transport? s National Plan, Brazil will consolidate a new rail network, developing almost 12,000 additional kilometers of track. 30 These rail lines will serve areas of ag ricultural and mineral productivity and enable the increased transfer of cargo between transportation modes.Additionally, the rail lines will be implemented in planned corridors that are specifically designed to link production and consumption regions, as well as production and shipment areas (like ports). The MOT is also studying the feasibility of a corridor that will link railways from Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Economic factors by ashraful islam Economy – overview: Characterized by large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries, and Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets.Since 2003, Brazil has steadily improved its macroeconomic stability, building up foreign reserves, and reducing its debt profile by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments. In 2008, Brazil became a net external creditor and tw o ratings agencies awarded investment grade status to its debt. After strong growth in 2007 and 2008, the onset of the global financial crisis hit Brazil in 2008. Brazil experienced two quarters of recession, as global demand for Brazil's commodity-based exports dwindled and external credit dried up.However, Brazil was one of the first emerging markets to begin a recovery. In 2010, consumer and investor confidence revived and GDP growth reached 7. 5%, the highest growth rate in the past 25 years. Rising inflation led the authorities to take measures to cool the economy; these actions and the deteriorating international economic situation slowed growth to 2. 7% for 2011 as a whole, though forecasts for 2012 growth are somewhat higher. Despite slower growth in 2011, Brazil overtook the United Kingdom as the world's seventh largest economy in terms of GDP.Urban unemployment is at the historic low of 4. 7% (December 2011), and Brazil's traditionally high level of income equality has dec lined for each of the last 12 years. Brazil's high interest rates make it an attractive destination for foreign investors. Large capital inflows over the past several years have contributed to the appreciation of the currency, hurting the competitiveness of Brazilian manufacturing and leading the government to intervene in foreign exchanges markets and raise taxes on some foreign capital inflows.President Dilma ROUSSEFF has retained the previous administration's commitment to inflation targeting by the central bank, a floating exchange rate, and fiscal restraint. | | | | |Brazil Interest Rate | | |The benchmark interest rate in Brazil was last reported at 7. 25 percent. Historically, from 1999 until 2012, Brazil Interest | | |Rate averaged 16. 6 Percent reaching an all time high of 45. 00 Percent in March of 1999 and a record low of 7. 25 Percent in | | |October of 2012. In Brazil, interest rate decisions are taken by The Central Bank of Brazil's Monetary Policy Committee | | |(CO POM). The official interest rate is the Special System of Clearance and Custody rate (SELIC) which is the overnight lending | | |rate. This page includes a chart with historical data for Brazil Interest Rate. | [pic] Brazil Income Taxes 2012 Last partial update, May 2012Individual Income Tax: Brazil's individual income tax rates for 2012 are progressive, from 7. 5% to 27. 5%. Personal annual tax rates 2012 (BRL) |Income (BRL) |% | |1-18,799 |- | |18,799-28,174 |7. 5 | |28,174-37,566 |15 | |37,566-46,939 |22. 5 | |over 46,939 |27. 5 |Note: Nonresidents pay a flat 27. 5% tax on income earned in Brazil Corporate Tax: Brazil's combined corporate tax rate for 2012 is 34%. The tax consists of a basic tax of 15%. There is also a surtax of 10% for annual income of over BRL 240,000, about $ 110,000. Additonal 9% are added for social contribution on net profits. Capital Gains: Capital gains of companies are added to the regular income. Individuals: Pay 15% tax on capital gains, dividend incom e from local companies is tax exempt. Residence A foreign company is resident if incorporated in Brazil.An individual is resident when holding a permanent visa, or a temporary visa with an employment agreement, or even without an employment agreement, when staying in Brazil for more than 183 days within 12 months. Brazil Tax Deductions †¢ Losses are carried forward indefinitely. In future years only 30% of the current year taxable income can be set off against the loss. †¢ Depreciation is deducted using the straight line method. Companies working in 2 shifts can claim 150% of the standard rates, while companies working in 3 shifts are entitled to 200% of the standard rates. Companies involved in development of technical research can use accelerated depreciation for tax purpose. †¢ There is no company consolidation for tax purpose. †¢ Thin capitalisation rules relating to interest expenses are in effect in Brazil from 1. 1. 2010. Brazil Personal Credits and Deduct ions For Brazilian residents, the first annual income of BRL 18,799 is tax exempt. There is a standard monthly deduction for each dependant. Education expenses are deductible, up to a limit. Deductions are also permitted for social security payments by an employee, payments to private Brazilian pension plans, up tp a limit, and for alimony payments.Deduction of Tax at Source In Brazil tax is deducted at source from the following payments to non residents: Dividend- 0%. Interest- 15%/25%. Royalties- 15%. Services -15%/25%. Social Security The contributions by the employer and the employee are subject to to ceiling defined by law. Employer: 37. 3% of the gross salary, 28. 8% social security and 8. 5% for severance fund. Employee: 7. 65%-11% of the gross salary. The employee's payment, which is capped, is based on a â€Å"contribution salary table†, provided by the government.